THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
A classic but neglected ’64 soul B-side by the Tams magically becomes a classic but neglected ’65 British Invasion A-side by the Couriers. They both put a spell on me!
2,078) The Tams — “Take Away“
Atlanta’s Tams, best known as purveyors of Carolina “beach music”, give us sublime “moody soul blues” (Clegg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaDwJ8Kzwsg), or, as Cash Box put it, a “haunting cha cha blueser that can also make it to Hitsville”. (Cash Box, “Pick of the Week”, July 4, 1964, paulriofski7982, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Ug16DGKHg) Well, the A-side — Hey Girl, Don’t Bother Me” — certainly did, reaching #41 (#10 R&B).
Ron Wynn writes of the Tams:
A “beach” music favorite, Atlanta’s Tams were among the more popular up-tempo soul groups of the ’60s, although they were never able to break Motown’s pop stranglehold. Joseph Pope’s gravelly voiced leads were their selling point. He was joined by his brother Charles, Robert Smith, Floyd Ashton, and Horace Key. They began on Swan in 1960, then landed their first hit with “Untie Me” for Arlen in 1962. It peaked at number 12 on the R&B charts (number 11 pop). They moved to ABC-Paramount the next year, where they remained until 1968. They scored their biggest hit in 1963 with “What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am).” But many soul fans regard 1968’s “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy” as their ultimate hit, although it only reached number 26 on the R&B charts.
Michael Jack Kirby tells us more:
The “beach music” scene along the Carolina shore has been raging for several decades. Partiers danced and romanced to the sounds of specific rhythm and blues groups in the ’60s and continue doing so . . . . The scene’s most popular performers didn’t originate from any points along the seaside yet were destined to perform there again and again. . . . The Tams . . . are . . . the definitive “beach” act . . . . having an ideal vocal technique set in a tempo range just right for “shagging,” the signature swing-step move along the eastern seaboard . . . . Brothers Joseph and Charles Pope started the group around 1952 as The Four Dots, an all-teenage quartet with Robert Lee Smith and Horace Key. Several years later, “Little Floyd” Ashton made the act a quintet. Performing in A-Town dives for minimal pay took its toll; they began wearing patterned, multi-colored Scottish tam o’shanter hats that couldn’t help but attract attention. . . . [I]n ’62, [they] made a demo for former deejay and NRC Records owner Bill Lowery. NRC staffer Joe South, who’d made several recordings of his own but was still several years away from notching a major hit as a singer, penned “Untie Me,” produced . . . by Ray Stevens . . . . Charles handled the lead vocal and the band’s tuba player tingled spines . . . . Exceeding expectations, it hit number 60 on the pop charts and number 12 R&B in the fall of ’62. “Here Am I,” a single credited to Little Floyd, followed; the Tams did backing vocals on the B side, “My Baby Loves Me.” Three more Tams singles appeared on Arlen (most sides were penned by South) before Lowery secured a five-year contract for the group with ABC-Paramount. “What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)” was written by Ray Whitley, a pop-rock singer-songwriter from Atlanta with several singles on Vee-Jay in the early ’60s. . . . Joe Pope handled the lead vocal . . . and owned the frontman spot after the single landed in the pop top ten and became a Cash Box R&B chart topper in the early weeks of 1964. Joe took control on a two-sided charter, “You Lied to Your Daddy” (another Whitley grievance) and “It’s All Right (You’re Just In Love)[.]” Around this time, alcohol consumption got the better of Little Floyd and he was replaced by Albert Cottle. Whitley’s “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me” . . . nearly reached the top 40 while returning them to the R&B top ten in September. Joe South’s “Silly Little Girl” fit the Whitley mold and the Thomas brothers’ “Find Another Love,” a reissue of an earlier Arlen track, capped an eventful year. The next ten ABC 45s fared poorly . . . . “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy” (penned by Whitley with J.R. Cobb, a guitarist and songwriter with Jacksonville, Florida’s Classics IV) . . . got them back into hit territory in the spring of ’68. Even its quick tempo was surpassed by “Trouble Maker,” their chart swan song…in the U.S., that is. . . . The 1970s were rife with Tams records on Apt, MGM South and several other labels, yet in the U.S. the act mainly catered to the Carolina coast crowd. In England, meanwhile, ’60s soul songs were having a resurgence and “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me” was one of the hottest, a number one U.K. hit in the fall of 1971. . . . They had another Brit hit, “There Ain’t Nothing Like Shaggin'” in 1987, a top seller despite opposition from the BBC over the improper, non-dance definition of “shag” . . . !
2,079) The Couriers — “Take Away”
John Reed writes that:
The Couriers recorded this jazzy version of The Tams’ B-side to “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me” for release on Ember, who even went to the trouble of promoting the single in a picture sleeve. Sadly, this tactic failed to stimulate sales. [Bill] Kimber [see #646] later went solo before enjoying a successful career in the music busineess.
liner note the the CD comp Looking Back: 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets
Vernon Joynson calls it “a reasonable Zombies [see #1,138] -type beat number.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
The liner notes to the Piccadilly Sunshine comp tell us that:
South African-born . . . Kimber (real name William Charles Boardman) fronted a London band by the name of The Couriers in 1965. Upon meeting with Johannesburg-born producer Frank Fenter, the group relocated to South Africa appearing in a film that was to mirror the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. . . . Come 1967, Kimber departed from the Couriers to seek his fortune with a solo career. This new lease on life resulted in a handful of singles for Parlophone as William E. Kimber including two minor hits . . . . “Lazy Life” [see #646] . . . was issued by Polydor . . . . Kimber embroiled himself in the pop world with many pseudonyms such as: Quentin E. Klopjaeger . . . . [and] Waygood Ellis . . . .
liner notes to Piccadilly Sunshine: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era; Volumes 1-10
The Couriers released much more in South Africa: http://rock.co.za/files/couriers_index.htm.
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