THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,632) John Carter — “Mr. Light”
Ivy Leaguer and UK songwriter extraordinaire John Carter (see #1,201, 1,304) visits Toytown and sings this exquisite demo written by Mickey Keen “featur[ing] a chuckling squirrel”. (Daz Lawrence, https://weirdbones.co.uk/climb-aboard-my-roundabout-the-british-toytown-sounds-1967-1974/)
Tim Sendra takes us on a tour of Toytown:
When Beatles released “Penny Lane” in early 1967, it struck a tinkling, twinkling chord with a generation of budding English eccentrics, oddballs, and bandwagon jumpers. Suddenly everyone and their Uncle Arthur embraced music hall-inspired, psychedelically inclined vignettes about little old ladies, tottling trains, precocious kiddies, and other topics previously deemed not very “rock & roll.” . . . [T]his mostly overlooked, sometimes derided variant of psychedelia is just as wonderfully weird and tuneful — and brilliant — as any other strain. Yes, it can be childish, it can be silly, and some of the songs here stretch the boundaries of believability, but that’s all part of the charm.
Sendra tells us about Carter:
One of the leading tunesmiths of the ’60s and ’70s English pop scene, John Carter was responsible for writing big hits and timeless classics like “Can’t You Feel My Heartbeat” by Herman’s Hermits, “My World Fell Down” by Sagittarius, and the Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul[]” . . . . the Ivy League’s “Funny How Love Can Be,” the Flowerpot Men’s “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” and “Beach Baby” for First Class. Typified by harmony vocals, simple melodies and, during the psychedelic era, very soft Baroque arrangements, the songs and productions Carter was a part of helped define the sound of English pop during his heyday. . . . Carter began writing songs at the age of 15 with classmate Ken Lewis. Inspired by the first wave of rockers . . . they worked up a batch of songs and in 1959, left their hometown [of Birmingham] for London . . . . find[ing] a publisher right away . . . . In 1960, they moved over to Southern Music and . . . began singing . . . under the name Carter-Lewis. . . . [and then] Carter-Lewis & the Southerners . . . . Between 1961 and 1964 they issued seven singles . . . . [t]heir sound was firmly rooted in the tradition of the Everly Brothers . . . . Though . . . a popular live act, the two songwriters quickly figured out that it made more sense financially to stay behind the scenes instead. Carter in particular exhibited no interest in becoming a pop star . . . . They soon shifted to cranking out demos . . . . [With] Perry Ford, [they] started . . . the Ivy League in late 1964 . . . . [W]hen the Rockin’ Berries turned down the song “Funny How Love Can Be,” the group released it themselves and had a Top Ten hit. Their sound was pitched somewhere between Del Shannon and the Beach Boys . . . . Carter left the band to head back to the . . . studio . . . with new [writing] partner Geoff Stephens. Along with songs penned for the Ivy League . . . the pair had hits with Manfred Mann, Mary Hopkin, the New Vaudeville Band, and Herman’s Hermits. Carter even ended up singing lead vocals on “Winchester Cathedral[.]” . . . [H]e was also working in the studio with a pair of songwriters, Robin Keen and Mickey Shaw, who he had signed to his newly formed music publishing company. Every week the pair would meet with Carter and play him the songs they had written. He’d pick his favorites and they would assemble a crack team of musicians to record them. Though they continued to work in this fashion for almost two years, they only issued one single, 1966’s “White Collar Worker,” [as] the Ministry of Sound. . . . Lewis left the Ivy League in 1967 and paired up with Carter again. . . . “Little Bit of Soul” [became a hit] . . . . [as did t]heir soft psychedelic confection “Let’s Go to San Francisco” . . . . Once again, Carter and Lewis decided not to go on the road and hired a band to go out and perform as the Flowerpot Men . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-carter-mn0000222625#biography
Mickey Keen, an “underrated guitarist [whose] skills can be heard in a bunch of good albums”. (Miguel Terol, https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/diner/2674/keene_mickey_a.htm) Keen also co-wrote “White Collar Worker” with Carter and Robin Shaw. Christian42 writes:
[H]aving a newly established publishing company meant that John was now actively seeking new songwriters to join him and his company. At the same time, he also needed a backing band to support him in recording demos of his songs. The first person he asked was Micky Keen, his former guitarist while in the Ivy League, and Keen was all too willing to join Carter. As he was also a burgeoning songwriter in partnership with Robin Shaw, he suggested that the latter be brought in as well. Carter gladly agreed, and suddenly he had both a guitarist and a bassist, as well as a new songwriting pair to join him. That the two were also solid vocalists was simply icing on the cake.
Keen was also the lead guitarist in ex-Strawbs John Ford’s and Richard Hudson’s Hudson-Ford in ’74.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
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.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 