THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,500) The Hellions — “Daydreaming of You”
What do you get when you combine a Jackie DeShannon/Sharon Sheeley-written song, production by wildman Kim Fowley and a pre-supergroup with future members of Traffic, Spooky Tooth and Family? You get a classic “radio friendly” with “an American west coast feel” (Brumbeat, http://www.brumbeat.net/hellions.htm)’64 British beat number that shoulda been a hit— “a superior midtempo beat ballad with ringing guitar and a Searchers feel, nice group harmonies and [an] appealing vocal telling us he doesn’t know what he is doing, running red lights and answering the phone when the doorbell rings because he is perpetually daydreaming of the girl he desires”. (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_hellions/daydreaming_of_you___shades_of_blue/) It is “lively” and “jangly” — “I always think of this as a girls’ song, but this is classy.” (PL, https://jackiedeshannon.tripod.com/jdsas021005.html) Well, it was first recorded in ’63 by the Philly girl group the Dreamers!
Brumbeat tells us of the Hellions:
The Hellions were formed in 1963 when Jim Capaldi . . . got together with guitarists Gordon Jackson [see #1,261] . . . and Dave Mason . . . . The early Hellions line-up tried several bass guitarists before Dave Meredith . . . was chosen . . . . By 1964, the Hellions were becoming well known around Worcester . . . . The[y] “turned professional” and accepted an engagement at the famous Star Club in Hamburg, Germany in August of 1964 as backing group to Walsall singer Tanya Day . . . . The working conditions at the club were gruelling but the hard work paid off and the band became a much tighter unit due to the long hours of performing. Sharing the same hotel as the Hellions were fellow Midlanders The Spencer Davis Group [see #1,427]whose young vocalist Steve Winwood, found much in common musically with Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason. Following their return from Germany, The Hellions soon established a reputation as a musically proficient act and they were hired to provide backing to visiting celebrities such as Adam Faith [see #1,274] and Dave Berry [see #554, 778, 887, 955]. By the end of 1964, the group had made the right connections to secure them a residency at the trendy “Whisky-A-Go-Go Club” in London. While performing there, The Hellions were seen by visiting American record producer Kim Fowley [see #89, 449] and songwriter Jackie De Shannon [see #1,202] who was at that time writing hits [like “When You Walk in the Room”] for The Searchers [see #352, 394, 636, 1,278]. Jackie was impressed enough by the group to offer them a song to record and helped to arrange a contract for the Hellions with Piccadilly Records, a subsidiary of Pye. The Hellions first single . . . “Daydreaming Of You”, composed by De Shannon, was produced by Kim Fowley . . . . but neither it or two following underrated singles recorded by the band in 1965 managed to reach the charts. . . . The Hellion’s work schedule remained busy and they soon went on a UK tour to back the notorious American vocalist P.J. Proby [see #1,186]. The line-up was increased to five when John “Poli” Palmer . . . joined the band on drums later in the year which allowed Jim Capaldi more freedom to front the band as their lead vocalist. By 1966 with business expenses mounting, The Hellions moved back to Worcester, but the local music scene had changed while the group were away in London. Their record company issued a final Hellions single entitled “Hallelujah” but under the group name of The Revolution (the band did not find out about this until after the single’s release). By this time, Dave Mason had left to play guitar with a few other local groups while earning extra money working as a roadie for The Spencer Davis Group. Undaunted, Jim Capaldi brought guitarist Luther Grosvenor . . . into the line-up and the band’s name was changed to Deep Feeling . . . .
Here is the first recording of “Daydreamin'” by the Dreamers:
Here is a demo:
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