THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,021) Brian Auger & Trinity — “Tiger”
From Brian Auger (see #1,031-33, 1,312), “one of the world’s funkiest organists” (Jon Harrington, liner notes to the CD comp Halcyon Days: 60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets), “this is wickedly purrfect…fake tiger skin clad..go go girls galore, groovy-gumbo, jive in the jungle, psyche lounge…… this soooooooo cool man……im stoned! PEACE!” (sunchilde68, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FcJ4ijg7g) Alex Gimenez calls it (courtesy of Google Translate) “a small modernist gem[ with] Auger mim[ing] the roar of a feline on the organ. The whole thing surprises with its groove and precision. Unsurprisingly, this record was a favorite among 1960s DJs.” https://croqmac.fr/45-tours-brian-auger-the-trinity-tiger-marmelade-1968/)
Matthew Greenwald is equivocal:
“Tiger” is sort of a fantasy/psychedelic rocker that uses the taming of a tiger as a sexual metaphor. Somewhat clumsily written and over-produced (especially the horn arrangement), the song and recording comes off as almost a novelty. However, Brian Auger’s whirling Hammond organ flourishes are indeed something to behold.
As John Riggins might have said, Come on, Matty baby, loosen up. You’re too tight.
Jon Harrington tells us how it went down:
Brian Auger swapped the piano for the Hammond after hearing Jimmy Smith’s seminal Back at The Chicken Shack LP. After Auger’s first two singles — covers of Mose Allison’s “Fool Killer” and Booker T. and the M.G.’s “Green Onions” — flopped his record company weren’t too happy, complaining that they were too jazzy. As a riposte, he decided to write a song that would get himself thrown off the label by combining 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] “All Day And All of the Night” riff played backwards with lyrics that spoofed the current Number 1 single “Wild Thing” by the Troggs. The joke backfired as the record company loved the track, it was a huge hit in France and continues to be a favourite among fans today.
liner notes to the CD comp Halcyon Days: 60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets
As to Brian Auger, William Ruhlmann tells us:
[H]is swinging, jazzy keyboards remained at the fringes of British rock through the 1960s. His roots were in R&B-inflected jazz . . . and he thrived during the late ’60s and into the 1970s by playing adventurous, progressive music . . . . [F]or decades, [Auger swung] between jazz, rock, and R&B . . . . [He] was raised in London, where he took up the keyboards as a child and began to hear jazz by way of the American Armed Forces Network and an older brother’s record collection. By his teens, he was playing piano in clubs, and by 1962 he had formed the Brian Auger Trio . . . . [In] 1964, he won first place in the categories of “New Star” and “Jazz Piano” in a reader’s poll in the Melody Maker music paper, but the same year he abandoned jazz for a more R&B-oriented approach and expanded his group . . . as the Brian Auger Trinity. This group split up at the end of 1964, and Auger moved over to Hammond B-3 organ . . . . By mid-1965, Auger’s band had grown to include guitarist Vic Briggs and vocalists Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, and Julie Driscoll, and was renamed Steampacket. More a loosely organized musical revue than a group, [it] lasted a year before Stewart and Baldry left and the band split. Auger retained Driscoll and brought in bass player Dave Ambrose and drummer Clive Thacker to form a unit that was billed as Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity. . . . Open, was released in 1967 on Marmalade Records (owned by Auger’s manager, Giorgio Gomelsky), but they didn’t attract attention on record until the release of their single “This Wheel’s on Fire,” (music and lyrics by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko) in the spring of 1968 . . . . The disc hit the Top Five in the U.K., after which Open belatedly reached the British charts. Auger & the Trinity recorded the instrumental album Definitely What! (1968) without Driscoll, then brought her back for the double LP Streetnoise (1968) . . . . Driscoll quit during a U.S. tour, but the Trinity stayed together long enough to record Befour (1970) . . . before disbanding in July 1970. Auger put together a new band to play less commercial jazz-rock and facetiously called it the Oblivion Express, since he didn’t think it would last; instead, it became his perennial band name. . . . Their initial LP, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, was released in 1971, followed later the same year by A Better Land, but their first U.S. chart LP was Second Wind in June 1972 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/brian-auger-mn0000625014#biography
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,400 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 