THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,072) The Gremlins — “Blast Off 1970”
About to stream Bowie’s [see #9, 75, 464, 1,977] “Space Oddity” or Elton John’s [see #175, 1,598] “Rocket Man”? ABORT MISSION! For the real ultimate trip, blast off with the Gremlins’ (see #1,936) “mesmerising slab of primitive pop-psych” (Mark Johnston, liner notes to the CD comp The Coming Generation: The Complete Recordings 1965-68), “[s]upernaturally brilliant blast of psych garage” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjS2ley42Vs), “splendid mindwarper” (Baronvonrhubarbpostoffice, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si6UVTRvNg0), “[g]reat slice of rare New Zealand mod psych”. (oscarowski, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dM2zCdBGs)
Mark Johnston tells us of “Blast Off 1970”:
[It is the Gremlins’] most enduring single . . . . [Singer] Glyn [Tucker] had been inspired by the space race since US President John F Kennedy pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The record marks a radical departure from the formula of its predecessors, utilizing various studio gimmicks and sound effects to create a mesmerising slab of primitive pop-psych. Engineer John Hawkins even recorded Glyn’s spoken countdown with slapback echo and various filters to achieve that essential sci-fi effect. The record betrays influences of the exploding psychedelic scene that summer.
liner notes to the CD comp The Coming Generation: The Complete Recordings 1965-68
New Zealand Music tells us of the Gremlins:
Glyn Conway, the stage name adopted by Glyn Tucker . . . . successfully auditioned for [the Embers] as a rhythm guitarist/vocalist in 1962. . . . and he stayed with them until they folded in 1964. . . . [H]e got back together with guitarist Paddy McAneney and drummer Roger Wiles, who he had dabbled with earlier, and they added Peter Davies on guitar and Ben Grubb on bass and called themselves the Adventurers. In 1965 they changed their name to the Gremlins. Their first recording was made in late 1965 and consisted of two Glyn Conway originals. . . . [that] disappeared without a trace . . . . They continued to gig around the Auckland suburbs while trying to get a foot into the highly competitive city scene. In early 1966, Glyn meet up again with Gary Daverne, whom he had played with during his days with the Embers. Gary . . . had started a subsidiary label, Viscount, distributed through Eldred Stebbing’s Zodiac label. The Gremlins auditioned for Gary and he got them a recording session at Stebbing’s studio. . . . The boys believed that “Coming Generation” should be released as a single, but Gary deemed that it sounded lacklustre. The song had originally been the B-side of the US group, the Knickerbockers’s [see #718, 862] classic hit single “Lies”. Still believing they could make a hit of it, they re-entered the studio and re-recorded the version that was released in September 1966. [It] . . . was an instant hit, climbing to number 2 on the national charts. . . . The song was also entered in the 1966 Golden Disc Award and made it to the finals. They didn’t win, but as a result found themselves touring the country as part of the Golden Disk show. Before the end of 1966 an EP called The Coming Generation was released. . . . contain[ing] the title song and the rest of the songs recorded from the first session at the Stebbing studios. . . . The next single . . . . went nowhere. . . . At the beginning of 1967, Paddy McAneney left the group. This resulted in a reshuffle within the band. . . . [A] new single, “You Gotta Believe It” . . . was released in April 1967. . . . reach[ing] number 19 on the national charts . . . . The group then turned their attentions to the up-coming Golden Disc Awards for 1967. A new song was written for the event, called “Blast Off 1970” [and made the finals]. . . . Again they toured with the Golden Disc Spectacular and again they missed out on a prize at the awards. After the gruelling touring schedule, the group only gigged occasionally through to the end of 1967. A new single at the beginning of 1968 gave them new enthusiasm. It was “Never You Mind” . . . . [which] unfortunately again went nowhere. . . . Further line-up changes occurred . . . . Another single . . . was released. . . . contain[ing] two songs on the A-side, “Ballad Of A Busker” and “Listen To Me”. . . . another flop. The group decided to give it one more go and released their final single called “Kingsforth Hemmingseen” . . . late in 1968. As good as their songs were, the record buying public didn’t want to know . . . . Gremlins disbanded at the beginning of 1969.
“Glyn Tucker carried on playing in several bands before starting a long and distinguished career on the production side of the music industry.” (Grant Gillanders, https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/the-gremlins)
Here they are on TV:
Here’s the Auckland International Airport video. Grant Gillanders tells us that:
After producing the successful 1966 Loxene Golden Disc award, Wellington-based TV producer Christopher Bourn was put in charge of the 1967 programme. Bourn decided to make a drastic change and go outdoors. “The previous year’s event was a rather staid affair,” he recalls. “I wanted to escape the confines of the studio. The Monkees weekly television series was also an inspiration with its mix of slap stick and outdoor shoots.” Bourn’s brief was to produce a clip for each of the 1967 Loxene finalists for an early November screening. . . . [H]e was given a the list of finalists in early August, just three weeks before the public announcement, and a month before the public were invited to vote for their favourite disc. All clips were to be filmed on location on 16mm film. The Gremlins’ clip for . . . “Blast Off 1970” was shot at Auckland’s International airport at Mangere. . . . Glyn Tucker recalls: “I’m not sure if any permission was sought – we just bowled up, had a look around and set up on the tarmac outside the terminal. Chris had one shot in mind that he wanted, which was to have a Boeing 737 taking off behind us as we played. At the time I had some reservations about it, thinking that a Boeing 737 at Mangere did not come close to space travel, which is what the song was about, but I decided not to rock the boat”.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/loxene-golden-disc-chris-bourn-and-the-first-nz-music-videos
OK, 2001: A Space Odyssey [see #135] it’s not!
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