THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
A unjustly unreleased ’68 Simon Dupree and the Big Sound pop-psych gem became a ’70 Blonde on Blonde prog/psych A-side. Different styles, equally stellar results. Don’t just fly a kite, join me and we’ll “fly through skies of azure blue”.
2,119) Simon Dupree and the Big Sound — “Castle in the Sky”
“Castle” is among the songs that the Shulman brothers’ sister Evelyn King, along with Paul Smith (a relative of her husband), wrote for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (see #51, 96, 1,728, 2,118). It is “haunting melodic psychedelic” (johnbravo5076, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzjWeNJjpg), a “magnificent find” (liner notes to the CD comp Insane Times: 25 British Psychedelic Artyfacts from the EMI Vaults), “trippy, spacey . . . one of the finest pieces of psychedelic pop/rock ever to come out of EMI (or, more properly, never to come out from EMI . . . )”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-of-my-past-mw0000465383) It “never ceases to lose its beautiful power over me.” (cilohtac4257, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ih7fXhBKsI&list=RD7Ih7fXhBKsI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUxc2ltb24gZHVwcmVlIGFuZCB0aGUgYmlnIHNvdW5kIGNhc3RsZXMgaW4gdGhlIHNreaAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) Me neither.
“Castle” would have appeared on SDBS’s second LP, which was shelved after the failure of the “For Whom the Bell Tolls” single. (David Wells, liner notes to Part of My Past: The Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Anthology)
Bruce Eder gushes (totally appropriately) over SDBS:
The group’s early soul-oriented sides are killers, exciting, totally convincing pieces of British-made R&B that . . . should have placed them head-to-head with the likes of Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group. Even when they move into a slightly trippier sound . . . the group still utilizes a basic soul backing . . . . [Then there came the] trippy psychedelic ballads with Mellotron accompaniment, often with punchy acoustic rhythm guitars. It’s all very pretty and inventive in a pop context, and rivals or surpasses the psychedelic sides of . . . most other EMI artists of the era this side of the Beatles and maybe the Move.
“Simon Dupree” was vocalist Derek Shulman, one of a trio of brothers (Ray and Phil being the other two) from Portsmouth, England, who started out in music as R&B fanatics and first formed a group in 1964. . . . [T]heir repertoire was focused . . . on the songs of [soul artists like] Wilson Pickett [see #1,397, 1,903], Don Covay, and Otis Redding [see #1,333, 1,385] . . . . Simon Dupree & the Big Sound came about in the course of their search for a flashy name. . . . [which] worked locally, because the group prospered on the club scene, its earnings reaching £300 a night . . . . [T]hey were signed to EMI’s Parlophone label . . . and cut a pair of powerful R&B-style songs in 1966, “I See the Light” [see #96] and “It Is Finished.” Success on the club scene didn’t necessarily result in serious record sales, however, and the group’s debut, as well as its follow-up records, “Reservations” . . . and “Day Time, Night Time” [see #51] . . . didn’t make much of an impression. Their debut album, Without Reservations, containing the first fragmentary examples of the group’s original songwriting, was released in August of 1967, just in time to be overlooked as cheerfully irrelevant . . . . Then, in October of 1967, the group’s management and record label decided to try moving Simon Dupree & the Big Sound in the direction of psychedelia. . . . The result was “Kites,” a song recorded in the early fall of 1967 . . . . The bandmembers were unhappy with the new song and the sound they were being asked to create, but they tried to make the best of it . . . . The melody was Asian-sounding, and the presence of actress Jackie Chan reciting some poetry over the music didn’t detract from the single’s “Eastern” sound. “Kites” wasn’t R&B, but it was the right song at the right time, and it made the British Top Ten, a major commercial breakthrough for the group. Unfortunately, the band was never able to follow it up, and after several abortive attempts at another psychedelic-style single . . . called it quits in 1969. . . . In 1970, the Shulman’s were back at the core of a new group, having made the leap past psychedelia and far from R&B in the progressive rock group Gentle Giant.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-of-my-past-mw0000465383, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-dupree-the-big-sound-mn0000036893#biography
2,120) Blonde on Blonde — “Castles in the Sky”
The Welsh band and apparent real estate moguls Blonde on Blonde [see #227, 267, 1,089, 1,620, 1,807] turned the pop-psych “Castle” into prog/psych “Castles”, equalling SDBS’s achievement. It is “superb” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Part of My Past: The Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Anthology), “[m]ost wonderful Welsh psych” (thomassmith8721, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9fanJ-SkbZc&list=RD9fanJ-SkbZc&start_radio=1&pp=ygUjQmxvbmRlIG9uIGJsb25kZSBjYXN0bGVzIGluIHRoZSBza3mgBwE%3D&ra=m), a “[f]reaking cool version of this song”. (grimson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fanJ-SkbZc)
Vocalist David Thomas says the band didn’t even like it!:
This song was the only one on the album [Rebirth] not written by Blonde On Blonde. We were persuaded to include it by the producer, John King, whose wife, Eve King, had written it with Paul Smith. To be honest, we didn’t like it at all. It felt too commercial and derivative, but for some reason, it was thought to be the best choice for a single. I was only 18, and it was my first time in a studio, so I gave it my best shot. Surprisingly, it became Tony Blackburn’s record of the week on BBC Radio One. My abiding memory is hearing this song on the radio as I walked towards the hospital bed occupied by my father. He had been taken ill shortly after we had dropped him off at work in the bandwagon. When I saw him, he was smiling proudly and talking about his son being a famous pop star to the group of women surrounding him. He was rather more popular than I realized!
https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2024/03/blonde-on-blonde-interview-david-thomas.html
Bruce Eder writes of Rebirth:
Blonde on Blonde’s second album, Rebirth, was a more focused body of music than their debut; it also constituted the recording debut of the group’s second lineup: David Thomas (vocals, guitar, bass), Gareth Johnson (sitar, lead guitar, lute, electronic effects), Richard Hopkins (bass, keyboards), and Les Hicks (drums, percussion). . . . Whether they’re doing the spacy, airy, psychedelic pop of “Castles in the Sky” or the folky “Time Is Passing,” the group attack their instruments as though they’re performing live, and the effect is riveting throughout, even when the melodic content flags slightly. Thomas’ voice is powerful if a little over-dramatic at times, but when the band keeps things moving, there’s enough richness of content to carry the album and then some . . . . And for once with a band like this, trying to encompass psychedelia, folk-rock, hard rock, and progressive rock between two covers, they don’t over-reach on their magnum opus “Colour Questions,” the record’s 12-minute centerpiece. . . . The group’s prog rock impulses are also expressed on the album’s original closer, “You’ll Never Know Me/Release,” which is a tour de force for Richard Hopkins’ keyboard playing; unlike most of the competition, Blonde on Blonde seems not to have gravitated to the Moog synthesizer or the Mellotron, and the difference is refreshing . . . .
As to BoB (named after BoB Dylan’s double LP), Eder writes:
Blonde on Blonde . . . were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set. Garett Johnson played the guitar, sitar, and lute, while Richard Hopkins handled the bass, piano, harpsichord, cornet, celeste, and whistle, and Les Hicks played the drums. The addition of Ralph Denyer made them into a quartet with vocals; and Simon Lawrence . . . was with them briefly, as well, on 12-string guitar. The group took part in the Middle Earth Club’s Magical Mystery Tour, which brought them an initial splash of press exposure. They were also fortunate enough to open for the Jefferson Airplane on the[ir] British tour. All of this activity led to an approach by Pye Records producer Barry Murray, who got them signed to the label, and through whom they released their debut single “All Day, All Night” [see #1,620] b/w “Country Life [see #1,089].” Though decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band’s music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with Johnson’s sitar and lute embellishments and Hopkins’ harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — with Hicks getting into the act on the tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound. Their live performances were frequently divided . . . into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range. The group issued their first album, Contrasts, in 1969 . . . — that record showed more of the early but burgeoning influence of progressive rock, while retaining their early psychedelic coloration. That same year, the band played to the largest single audience of its entire history when they appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival. They also issued their second single “Castles in the Sky” . . . and LP Rebirth which featured a new lineup — Denyer had exited the band to form Aquila [see #1,783], ceding his spot in Blonde on Blonde to singer-guitarist David Thomas. . . . [T]heir third LP, Reflections on a Life . . . . failed to sell any better than their prior releases . . . and the group broke up in 1972 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blonde-on-blonde-mn0000052978#biography
Eetu Pellonpää adds:
[Blonde on Blonde] was exploring the areas pioneered by 1967 psychedelic acts like PINK FLOYD [see #13, 38, 260, 1,949, 2,086], JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and CREAM, but in a much larger scale of influences . . . having a more wider musical palette than the bands . . . . Their music is a dance between contrasts of free impressionism paired with predefined melodic more carefully constructed elements, varying from streetwise side to high levels of spirituality, from folk tones, classical guitar runs and mantra like instrumental runs, bursting with oriental musical influences, introducing cosmic drones running hypnotically on varying time scales, and all this paired with hard rock tones of heavy psychedelic guitar . . . . Their lyrics are quite basic trippy poems, but also thoughtful, emotional and interesting at their best . . . . There is melancholy in their music, but there is also hope and happiness among it.
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