THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,772) Phillip Goodhand-Tait & the Stormsville Shakers — “Gonna Put Some Hurt on You”
Here is a scorching, exuberant version of Raymond Lewis’ 1962 R&B song that the never-quite-made-it Shakers were “convinced . . . could be a hit . . . . The B-side, ‘It’s a Lie’, found its way into an episode of . . . Danger Man, which helped [‘Some Hurt’] into the lower reaches [#40] of the influential Melody Maker charts”. (Phillip Goodhand-Tait, liner notes to the CD comp The Stormsville Shakers and Circus with Phillip Goodhand-Tait: One and One Is Two: Compete Recordings 1965-1967) In my opinion, the Shakers’ cover is the best recorded version of the song, a song that “embodied the early 1960s New Orleans sound perfectly”. (Jeff Hannusch, https://www.offbeat.com/articles/raymond-lewis-1933-2020/)
Bruce Eder tells us of Phillip Goodhand-Tait & the Stormsville Shakers:
The Stormsville Shakers were among the most promising R&B-based rock & roll bands of the British beat boom who did not find success. They had a great [live] reputation — and one fully deserved . . . but somehow never managed to get the right song out at the right time for a breakthrough as a recording act. Their roots went back to the third wave of British rock & roll’s early history, around 1960 — a young Phillip Goodhand-Tait, a pianist of some renown among the students at his school . . . , joined with a pair of friends in forming a band, which evolved along with its lineup through 1961, when, after a stint as Phil Tone & the Vibrants, they became Phil & the Stormsville Shakers (all the members were admirers of Johnny & the Hurricanes, who had . . . an album called Stormsville). . . . Their original sound was pure rock & roll, but they soon found room in their act for some serious American-style rhythm & blues. . . . This transition into R&B was only pushed further and harder when they were chosen as the backing group for visiting American R&B singer Larry Williams . . . soon they were playing songs by James Brown and other iconic American soul stars, and getting good enough at it that the material stayed in their repertory after the tour[, ]which also resulted in their backing Williams on two LPs . . . . [S]omehow, despite an ever-widening audience for their live performances, they could never get it together as a recording act. They played clubs such as the Flamingo and the Marquee in London, and crossed paths on the same bills with such American [blues and R&B] legends . . . . One new song, “Long Live Love” written by Chris Andrews (a friend of the band), that they were killing audiences with on-stage, ended up in the hands of Sandie Shaw [see #324, 1,259] , who scored a number one with it on Pye Records in 1965; meanwhile, the Shakers didn’t get a record out under their own name until the following year, and then it was an EP issued only in France (albeit on EMI). It died a death, as did the band’s immediate prospects for fame beyond the confines of the clubs they were playing, and by the time their next opportunity came along, the landscape under them had begun to shift — R&B and soul, at least as done by white English acts, had become passe, and psychedelia was starting to dominate the music scene. Worse yet, horn bands seemed to be out, and the Shakers had a pair of saxmen in their ranks. By 1967, the members decided that a change of image and sound was in order and the Stormsville Shakers morphed into Circus, a psychedelic outfit that lasted for a pair of singles and an album on Transatlantic. . . . Circus was a disastrous detour for the Shakers. I’m 1966, following the release of the French EP (which contained four of his original songs), Phillip Goodhand-Tait had been signed up as a composer by Dick James Music . . . . And by 1967, he’d begun to see some significant songwriting money start to come his way, while the rest of the band were living hand-to-mouth, still waiting for their big break. This sudden boost to his career did nothing to stabilize the band, and the Stormsville Shakers called it a day in 1968. Goodhand-Tait went on to a long career as a songwriter, producer, and session musician, in field far away from R&B.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/philip-goodhand-tait-the-stormsville-shakers-mn0000652716#biography
Here is Raymond Lewis:
Here is Alvin Robinson:
Here is Art Neville:
Here is Little Herman:
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
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