THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,019) Tintern Abbey — “Beeside”
I’ve played the B-side (see #35) of the greatest double A-side of underground London, a single that is “little short of a masterpiece” (liner notes to the CD comp Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: Psychedelic Confectionery from the UK Underground 1965-1969), “arguably the best British psychedelic two-sider of the 1960s.” (liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: 82 UK Psych Classics) Here is the A-side, of course named “Beeside”, “a woozy slice of piano-led pop” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), “a paean to the joys of acid-induced indolence . . . a shimmering haze of Mellotron, clashing cymbals and throbbing bass lines, with [writer] David MacTavish’s spectral, gossamer-light vocal floating over the top like a message from beyond” (David Wells, Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era), “a landmark by which all other popsike should be measured. . . . [whose] beauty is in its frailty”. (cinique, https://www.45cat.com/record/dm164) “[N]o other song from the era is as atmospheric. It sounds like nothing else. It is perfect organic psychedelic music.” (cinique again)
“I can’t rest while the sun and the stars are so bright ‘Cause your friends are picking flowers, take away all my light”
David Wells tells us that:
[T]he band . . . came together in mid-1967 after meeting in a Chelsea dole queue [and] were . . . a regular attraction on the London-based late 60s underground circuit, helped in no small measure by the fact they were managed by Nigel Samuel, a teenage multi-millionaire who, among many other subterranean ventures, financed the counter-culture’s parish magazine, International Times . . . . [“A]t that stage he was looking for a pet psychedelic pop group”, recalls bassist Stuart Mackay . . . . “We were despatched to Carnaby Street to pick up all the latest psycedelic clothes, and he moved us into a house that had been the headquarters of IT[.”]
Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era
Richie Unterberger adds:
British psychedelic band Tintern Abbey were active for only the blink of an eye in the late ’60s, leaving behind just one single, “Beeside”/”Vacuum Cleaner,” made for Deram in 1967. But on the strength of that sole 45, they qualify as one of the very best (if one of the more obscure) one-shots of the British psychedelic era. . . . Tintern Abbey . . . [was] comprised of original members Don Smith, David MacTavish, Stuart MacKay, and John Dalton. In December of 1967, the band released their sole Deram single, employing a wistful melodic character rarely seen in the hard-rocking psychedelia of the time . . . . Smith left the band after the release of the single, and new guitarist Paul Brett [see #625] and keyboardist Terry Goldberg joined the fold. More recordings were made, and a second single was planned for a 1968 release, but the band broke up before it saw the light of day. In the decades that followed, a couple of members . . . had associations with other marginal bands on the British psych/prog scene. Vocalist/songwriter MacTavish was in Big Bertha . . . and a late version of the Velvet Opera [see #375, 688, 1,818] . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tintern-abbey-mn0000504845#biography
Oh, and Flashback notes that:
Regarding the ads in IT, [Tintern Abbey] weren’t at all popular, but their manager, Nigel Samuel, was a major backer of IT and was therefore well-placed to give them prominent coverage in the paper. Tintern Abbey were therefore included in a feature about hot bands in the ‘Pop Supplement’ that accompanied the March 8th-21st 1968 issue. In the following issue, columnist John Peel took the unusual step of condemning their inclusion, stating: ‘I was concerned about the economic pressures that ensured the prominence given to Tintern Abbey, who may be of great worth, but have yet to prove it.’ Some of us might beg to differ…
Here is “Busy Bee” (which had been the working title):
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