THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,634) The Oracle — Don’t Say No”
This “[w]onderful slice of pop-sike” was “[p]roduced by Curt Boettcher [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 707, 810, 1,002] and Keith Olsen” — “one of the best Curt Boettcher recordings . . . ever!” (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow Volume 2: 21 Course Smorgasbord of US Pop-Sike & Other Delights 1965-69) “This is so good. Not surprising as it’s the dudes from The Music Machine [see #171, 1,179, 1,406] and The Millennium [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 810, 1,002] with a song from Ruth Ann [Friedman (see #542)] who wrote Windy!” (ed_Selke, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy1qFSys4q4
“Can’t you see how dark my life is without you?”
Willywhitten4918 informs us that:
I sang lead on this cut. I was with the Oracle for their entire existence. . . .We were “discovered” by Keith Olsen, who was playing bass for The Music Machine. We opened for them in a high school gym in Lafayette, Louisiana. We opened our set with “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles… The whole Music Machine filed out of the dressing room watching with wide eyes and slack jaws… Keith approached us about doing a recording right after the show. It seems like a whole other lifetime ago now.
Oh, and willywhitten4918 adds that “Curt was a great guy. His partner at the time Kieth Olson was a real A-hole.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YejZ0NrlbUA) Ha, ha, ha!!!
Alec Palao writes of the Oracle:
Fostered by . . . Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen, The Oracle were actually discovered by Olsen’s previous band, The Music Machine . . . while on tour. This Lake Charles, Louisiana, six-piece was playing a gig under the name The Great Society in Texas when they caught Olsen’s ear. Encouraged to bring their harmony sound out West, the band drove to California and stayed with Curt Boettcher (who hoped to sign them as The Oracle to Hanna-Barbera). A bad acid trip ended their recording dreams, but not before the band had put a vocal onto an aborted Clinger Sisters master called “Don’t Say No.” The results were later issued on Verve Folkways, by which time the band had returned to their home town to cool out and come down from their time in the sun.
liner note to the CD comp Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
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