THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,937) Larry’s Rebels — “Fantasy”
New Zealand’s hard-rocking Rebels take an exquisite excursion into psychedelia. “Taking their lead from the English childlike take on the genre, the strings back this Snow White tale splendidly.” (Jason Barnard, https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/i-feel-good-the-essential-purple-flashes-of-larrys-rebels-1965-1969/)
Grant Gillanders writes:
Their new single ‘Fantasy’ failed to make the national charts even after positive feedback and excellent reviews. It did however feature on a number of the country’s regional charts. . . . “We arranged for a few violinists and a harp player [from the Symphonia of Auckland] to play on ‘Fantasy’,” says [drummer] Nooky Stott. “Only problem was that the harp wouldn’t fit through the door of the studio, so she had to play in the adjoining garage with me standing in the doorway giving her the cues.” In a nice piece of ad-libbing, Larry [Morris] recites Nooky’s name as one of the seven dwarfs in the fairy tale themed lyrics. “Fantasy” was not released in Australia. “It’s not the sort of sound that the Australians go for,” revealed Russell Clark in the group’s March 1968 fan club newsletter.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/larry-s-rebels-part-2-dream-time
Guitarist John Williams recalls:
“Fantasy” begins with a harp. We had an orchestra in there. I couldn’t believe [manager and label owner] Russell Clark would spend the money on a full string section.
“Fantasy” has its detractors. Andrew Schmidt calls it a “less than successful take on psychedelia”. (https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/larry-s-rebels#) But Schmidt loves the Rebels:
Larry’s Rebels were New Zealand’s Animals [see #513, 949]. Our Paul Revere and the Raiders. The top notch local pop band with bluesy bite, who released a handful of vital discs, and for a brief few years were all over the media, the charts and the nation’s bedroom walls. The Rebels were Auckland’s first great homegrown pop band of the modern pop era; hard working and electrifying live. Their cover versions nipped at the heels of the originals.
Mark Deming adds:
[F]or five years they were one of the nation’s biggest and best beat groups. Larry’s Rebels were sometimes compared to the Animals in their homeland . . . and while they lacked the fierce blues power of the British band, they shared their talent for taking well-known songs and giving them a distinctive spin of their own. Singer Larry Morris had a strong, versatile voice that worked with sunny pop numbers and harder blues-based material, and guitarist John Williams . . . could play tough, howling leads dipped in fuzz and feedback; this was a band that could cover the Who [see #548, 833, 976] and the Creation [see #129, 165, 1,643, 1,748] and, if not surpassing the originals, deliver versions that had a backbone and a personality of their own. (And “Flying Scotsman,” an obvious lift from “Train Kept A Rollin’,” burns nearly as bright as the Yardbirds’ [see #1,924] variation on the theme.) Larry’s Rebels were stars in New Zealand and fared well in Australia, but they failed to break through in the U.K. and were unknown in the United States . . . .[They] could tackle moody pop . . . sneering R&B . . . raunchy garage punk . . . and proto-psychedelia . . . with equal confidence and skill.
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