Faine Jade — “Don’t Hassle Me”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 13, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,844) Faine Jade — “Don’t Hassle Me”

Here is a stunning number from Faine Jade (see #314, 686) — Long Island’s Syd Barrett (see #87, 315, 922) — that “captures the spirit of rebellious youth”. (Faris Badwan, (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/27/the-lost-albums-loved-by-the-stars-from-ecstatic-gospel-to-italian-prog) “No! Don’t you hassle me! I am trying to be young, I am trying to be free”

Sundazed Records, which released the CD reissue of Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital, Jade’s only album (from which “Hassle” is drawn), says “[t]he brilliant psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll of Faine Jade passed through the orange-colored skies of 1968 like a pink and lavender comet, then was gone . . .” (http://tyme-machine.blogspot.com/2009/04/faine-jade-introspection-faine-jade.html) Dusty Groove Records adds:

[F]or this late 60s gem, [Jade] adopts a bit of a British accent, and a sound that echoes changes in music from London to the Sunset Strip. There’s a nice bit of fuzz on most of the tunes here — a heady psyche pop brew of Hammond and guitar, all brought into relatively tight focus, with some nice brighter tones on the best numbers. The real English influence is in the way that the vocals are recorded — a bit like the way The Byrds [see #1,430, 1,605] aped the UK a few years before — sweet, but a bit cold at the same time — with a sound that’s as compelling as the lyrics of the tunes!

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/181233/Faine-Jade:Introspection-A-Faine-Jade-Recital

Michael Saltzman says of the LP that:

[It is] one of the most highly-coveted lost psych classics, and it’s obvious why. Fronting a sparse combo complemented by a distant droning organ, the bespectacled Jade (born Chuck Laskowski in Long Island, New York) sings quirky, melodic tunes drenched in the flavour of their time. The feel is tense and fractured, with stabs of trebly guitar and jittery percussion, but the songwriting remains pithy and pop-radio accessible. . . . Syd Barrett-era Floyd [(see #13) is] the most obvious influence throughout (surprisingly, Jade claims he hadn’t heard of Barrett at the time of recording). 

https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/introspection-a-faine-jade-recital

Richie Unterberger adds that:

It’s hard to imagine that a 20-year-old New York guitarist fresh out of garageland would have been infatuated with Syd Barrett in 1968. However, Faine Jade’s 1968 album sounds as if he was besotted with Pink Floyd’s first LP, which was barely known in the States at the time. Jade’s vocals and songwriting uncannily evoke an American Syd Barrett with their evocative, cryptic lyrics, thick organs, and psychedelic guitar lines. . . . Faine, it’s fair to say, is somewhat blunted in comparison to Barrett’s madcap edge. More laid-back and grounded, he also deals more explicitly with hippie-era concerns like being hassled for being different and the necessity of being compassionate toward your brother, without being sappy or preachy.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/introspection-a-faine-jade-recital-mw0000778113

Here is a rehearsal instrumental track:

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