THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,542) Kathy and Larry — “Time”
Former teen idol and ace songwriter Keith Colley, three of whose compositions I have featured [see #718, 862, 1,128], wrote this “great . . . 1967 b-side [by an obscure group that] veers into some pretty flutey Jim Valley territory” (liner notes to Soft Sounds for Gentle People Presents . . . He & She) The flute is groovy, the groove is groovy, the whole song is groovy!
Soft Sounds also tells us that “[l]ooks like the ‘Larry’ of Kathy and Larry might’ve been Keith’s brother, as this tune was co-written by one ‘L. Colley.'”
Jim Valley? Jason Ankeny tells us that:
Best known to garage rock aficionados for his stint playing guitar with Paul Revere & the Raiders [see #109], Jim “Harpo” Valley later enjoyed a flourishing career making music for children. . . . Valley was raised in the Seattle area. At age ten, he picked up the trumpet, but the arrival of rock & roll prompted a move to guitar, and in high school he joined the popular local band the Viceroys, which cut the 1963 regional hit “Granny’s Pad.” In early 1965 Valley joined the Portland beat combo Don & the Goodtimes, sharing lead vocal duties . . . and writing their hit “Little Sally Tease.” A year later, he signed on with the Raiders, replacing lead guitarist Drake Levin. [He was n]icknamed “Harpo” per his physical resemblance to the legendary Marx Brother . . . . He . . . befriended the group’s producer, Terry Melcher, and members of the Melcher-produced folk-rock group the Gentle Soul, who encouraged Valley to write his own songs. When promises that the Raiders would record those songs never materialized, Valley left the group in 1967, writing and singing with folkies the Lamp of Childhood [see #694] while pursuing a solo career. With producer Curt Boettcher, he recorded the Dunhill label single “Try, Try, Try” to little commercial notice, and in the fall of 1968 completed a solo LP, Walking Through the Quiet. When Dunhill declined to release the record, Valley returned to his native Washington, working a railroad job and in 1971 issuing the Christian-themed Family on the Light label.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-valley-mn0001460378#biography
Steve Leggett tells us of Keith Colley:
While attending the University of Washington, Colley recorded a version of Dion’s 1959 hit “A Teenager in Love” at a local radio station, and the station promptly put the song in regular rotation. Jerry Dennon, owner of Jerden Records, heard Colley’s version of the song and signed him to the label. Colley’s contract was converted to Era Records, and Colley cut three singles for Era before signing with Unical Records. Legend has it that a song of Colley’s with a pretty melody but rather bland lyrics was translated into Spanish to disguise the song’s lyrical thinness and released as “Enamorado” in 1963 with Colley handling the vocal chores, even though his knowledge of Spanish was sketchy at best. The song was a regional hit in several U.S. markets, and Unical, anxious to follow up on the song’s success, had Colley track a couple more singles in Spanish, but history didn’t repeat itself . . . . Colley next hooked up with Vee-Jay Records, releasing a fine two-sided single, “Billy Girl” b/w “Welcome Home Baby,” a song Colley had written with P.F. Sloan . . . . Colley also signed on with Four Star Music Publishing around this time as a house writer, eventually releasing a pair of singles on Challenge Records, the publisher’s label. Increasingly, though, Colley began shifting his emphasis to songwriting, and in the early ’60s he cut countless demos of his songs, backed by some of L.A.’s finest session musicians, which resulted in his songs being recorded by an impressive list of artists, including the Newbeats, the Knickerbockers [see #718, 862], the Sandpipers, Jackie DeShannon, the New Christy Minstrels, Gene Vincent [see #1,128], and jazz great Chet Baker, who recorded a version of “Enamorado.” . . . Colley turned increasingly to the business side of the music scene as the 1960s waned, becoming an A&R man for Four Star, and eventually became a part of the administrative side of the publishing company.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keith-colley-mn0000063828#biography
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 