THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,956) The Zephyrs — “There’s Something About You”
Forget about “That Thing You Do”, cause “There’s Something About You”, a “Killer overlooked Organ Driven” (SAXONWAX, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMz2OBW9vpA) British beat number that “sounds kind of like an excellent lost Mindbenders [see #496, 1,253] track in its straight-ahead, up-beat, mainstream British Invasion attack”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/zephyrazation-mw0001352274) The Zephyrs got to perform it in Primitive London, that infamous ’65 exploito flick! Take that and stuff it in a box of chocolates, Tom Hanks!
Richie Unterberger says of the Zephyrs:
The obscure British Invasion band the Zephyrs released half-a-dozen singles between 1963 and 1965 without any notable success; the only one to make the U.K. charts, “She’s Lost You,” topped out at a mere Number 48 [with today’s song the B-side]. They were a decent group, though, mixing Merseybeat and R&B influences in different ratios, with an organ that made them a little similar to some other mid-1960s British rock bands with a mildly blues-jazz organ, like the Untamed. They also worked with a couple of important figures of British ’60s rock, those being producer Shel Talmy (far more famous for producing the Who [see #548, 833, 976, 1,912] and the Kinks [see #100, 381, 417, 450, 508, 529, 606, 623, 753, 865, 978, 1,043, 1,108, 1,330, 1,451, 1,591, 1,697, 1,784, 1,907] in the same period) and then-session guitarist Jimmy Page [see #110, 589] (who played on some of their tracks, including their best, a ferocious cover of Bo Diddley’s [see #1,326] “I Can Tell”). Other than that fleeting chart appearance, though, their highest-profile achievement was appearing as Slash Wildly & the Cut-Throats in the 1965 film Be My Guest, in which they played their single “She Laughed.” . . . Vinegar Joe, a ’70s British band that included guitarist Pete Gage, who had played (but not recorded) with the Zephyrs [and wrote today’s song].
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-zephyrs-mn0002293914#biography
As to Primitive London, the British Film Institute writes:
“Certain elements are clearly staged, so it’s neither fully documentary nor drama, but none the worse for it as the excellent camerawork captures den after den of iniquity, nailing the seedy atmosphere of late night London.” Phelim O’Neill, The Guardian, 2009 The sensational follow-up to Arnold Louis Miller and Stanley Long’s genre-defining British ‘mondo’ films West End Jungle (1961) and London in the Raw (1964), Primitive London sets out to reflect society’s decay through a sideshow spectacle of 60s London depravity – and managed to outdo its predecessors. Primitive London is a bizarre hotchpotch of loosely linked and entirely disconnected sequences. Here, we confront mods, rockers and beatniks at the Ace Café, cut some rug with obscure beat band The Zephyrs and goggle at sordid wife-swapping parties as we discover a pre-permissive Britain still trying to move on from the post-war depression of the 1950s. The film is an entertaining period piece, most interesting precisely because it provides an unusual counterpoint to the prevailing myth of ‘Swinging Sixties’ London.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/11c0431d-9fb3-582c-9358-3f2a854fb388/primitive-london (emphasis added)
Here they are on Primitive London (and performing “I Can Tell” on Ready Steady Go!):
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