THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,978) The Fly-Bi-Nights — “Found Love”
Bayard writes that the B-side of the Atlanta band’s only single is “magnificent”, “sublime”, “hard driving garage psych with evocative organ . . . utterly fantastic guitar runs . . . and fine, reflective vocal[s]”. “[T]he intensity never flagging for a single moment.” “As all time killers go, [it] is AN ALL TIME KILLER.” (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-fly-bi-nites/come-on-up-found-love/) The song achieved belated recognition when it served as the soundtrack to Don Draper’s acid trip on Mad Men.
“How did the Fly Bi Nites record something as magical as [this], stick it on a B-side, then disappear into record-collector cult status?”(https://boringoldwhiteguy.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-thought-i-knew.html) How? I’ll tell you how — because the band members’ parents committed an unforgivable 60’s foul, breaking up the band by making their kids go to college and become lawyers and what not! Lead guitarist Bob Wade recalled that “The band probably broke up because everybody started going off to college.” (https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2023/06/the-fly-bi-nites-interview.html)
Lead singer Greg Presmanes tells us the history of the song in a super cool interview with Klemen Breznikar:
When I was a senior in high school we decided to record a song to sell at our band jobs for a dollar apiece. We recorded “Come On Up”, a cover song by . . . The Young Rascals. On the flipside, we wrote, and recorded our original song, “Found Love”. Although all the band members contributed to writing the song, Bobby Levinson, the rhythm player . . . came up with the essence of the chord progression, and I wrote the melody and most of the lyrics. . . . The preeminent rock ‘n’ roll impresario at the time was Bill Lowery. He sat in on the recording session and wanted to offer us a contract, to be the next big rock ‘n’ roll thing. However, the drummer[ Doug Freedman]’s dad told him that we could not do that because we were going to school. I recall 300 copies . . . being made. We never tried to distribute it . . . . I remember Doug being what I would call the “driving force” of the group. Everybody had a say, of course. Doug’s family connections got us a lot of gigs, Bar Mitzvahs and parties. He even had an uncle that was the manager of a local nightclub that was very popular; the Kitten’s Korner. A lot of big name (nationally known) groups played there and we did an “opening” once. . . . [W]e had managed to scrape up enough money to buy some studio time and got our original music onto a disc. There was a radio station in Atlanta (WQXI) that was “the” station for rock and the Kittens Korner did a lot of advertising with them. Enough people evidently badgered them until [“Found Love”] got played on the air. It was so popular that I remember the station played it all week . . . . I have always thought that one of the major things that made “Found Love” as popular as it is, is the arrangement itself. The band put the arrangement together, but I think it was probably the bass player and back up singer Tommy Dean, and the keyboard player, Steve Sherwood, who had one of the most important arrangement roles.
https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2023/06/the-fly-bi-nites-interview.html
As to the band’s history, Presmanes told Breznikar that:
In high school, in Atlanta . . . [I] played in my first band, The Echoes . . . . The drummer split off and formed his own band, The Fly-Bi-Nites, and I was drafted by The Echoes drummer [Doug Freedman] into The Fly-Bi-Nites, because he had heard me sing back up and lead on a few songs, while playing with The Echoes. I then played with The Fly-Bi-Nites for a few years until I went off to college. I was the lead singer for The Fly-Bi-Nites. We had a great run! We were pretty popular around the area and played lots of gigs, almost every weekend for years. . . . The Fly-Bi-Nites played a night spot, called the Kittens Korner, in Atlanta, a few times, and on one occasion opened for Dion and the Belmonts . . . . We were under aged and had to get notes from our parents allowing us to play in the night club. . . . When I was a sophomore in college, I got a call from the manager for a band, called The Amboy Dukes, which was pretty popular at the time[!!!] . . . . He offered me the job to replace their lead singer. I stayed on the phone with him at the dormitory for about an hour, but my parents had always told me not to rely on music as a career, so I turned him down.
https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2023/06/the-fly-bi-nites-interview.html
Two massive blown opportunities because of . . . parents!
Here it is on Mad Men:
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