THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
This Halloween, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Icarus let the devil ride out!
2,148) Creedence Clearwater Revival — “Sinister Purpose”
Written, of course, by John Fogerty and appearing on CCR’s Green River LP, this song has a “sinister riff” (Thesp88, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wyWTol4wk4) and “some of the most evil lyrics ever commercially released”. (RoachDoggJr2112, https://starlingdb.org/music/ccr.htm#River) To sum it all up, it’s as “catchy as hell”. (SaiyanScum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wyWTol4wk4) Ha, ha, ha, ha!
Best Classic Memories writes:
“Sinister Purpose” might be [CCR] at their most subtly dangerous. It doesn’t shout darkness; it smirks, letting the shadows quietly take over. . . . [It] slips in . . . like a knowing glance you’re not entirely sure you should trust. And that’s exactly the point. The magic lies in its title—a phrase that feels like a whispered rumor. The kind that lingers in your mind, nudging you to rewrite the story in your own head. Musically, the groove is tight, almost playful, but there’s an eerie imbalance beneath it all—something just slightly off, in the most captivating way. If that tension pulls you in, there’s a deeper story waiting—one that reveals why Fogerty was so drawn to crafting songs that feel less like statements… and more like secrets.
Leonafonte adds:
“Sinister Purpose” picks up The Devil and Daniel Webster story that inspired “Bad Moon Rising”. This time the singer takes the role of Mr Scratch, the Devil, and says that he will come to get you and that the roots of the earth will shake. The ‘sinister purpose’ of the title is the Faustian bargain: “I can set you free/ Make you rich and wise/You can live forever/Look into my eyes”. The highlights of the song are John Fogerty’s “sinister” guitar solos and fills. The on-beat rhyming couplets of the verses are hokey, but the chorus works well. It’s not a major song, but it fits into the overarching theme of Cody Junior’s smouldering world.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine tells us of Green River:
If anything, CCR’s third album Green River represents the full flower of their classic sound initially essayed on its predecessor, Bayou Country. One of the differences between the two albums is that Green River is tighter, with none of the five-minute-plus jams that filled out both their debut and Bayou Country, but the true key to its success is a peak in John Fogerty’s creativity. Although CCR had at least one cover on each album, they relied on Fogerty to crank out new material every month. He was writing so frequently that the craft became second-nature and he laid his emotions and fears bare, perhaps unintentionally. Perhaps that’s why Green River has fear, anger, dread, and weariness creeping on the edges of gleeful music. This was a band that played rock & roll so joyously that they masked the, well, “sinister” undercurrents in Fogerty’s songs. “Bad Moon Rising” has the famous line “Hope you’ve got your things together/Hope you’re quite prepared to die,” but that was only the most obvious indication of Fogerty’s gloom. Consider all the other dark touches: the “Sinister purpose knocking at your door”; the chaos of “Commotion”; the threat of death in “Tombstone Shadow”; you only return to the idyllic “Green River” once you get lost and realize the “world is smolderin’.” Even the ballads have a strong melancholy undercurrent, highlighted by “Lodi,” where Fogerty imagines himself stuck playing in dead-end towns for the rest of his life. Not the typical thoughts of a newly famous rock & roller, but certainly an indication of Fogerty’s inner tumult. For all its darkness, Green River is ultimately welcoming music, since the band rocks hard and bright and the melancholy feels comforting, not alienating.
Oh, and “Sinister Purpose” plays over the end credits of the ’15 cult classic Green Room, which Aymanati describes as: “A band straying into a secluded part of the Pacific Northwest stumbles onto a horrific act of violence. Because they are the only witnesses, they become the targets of a terrifying gang of skinheads who want to make sure all the evidence is eliminated.” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4062536/)
Here is the trailer:
2,149) Icarus — “The Devil Rides Out“
Here’s a jaunty, “jazzy” little song “with lots of horns!” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) and a simple message: “You better watch out when the devil rides out”!
It “wasn’t written for the [’68 UK horror] film [The Devil Rides Out] at all, but rather after the film was made. Turns out Icarus was inspired by the pre-release marketing for [the movie] to write this song. . . . However, it was totally released in tandem with the premiere of the film and the band themselves were even invited to the shindig.”(Halloween Shindig, https://halloweenshindig.com/track319/)
Hello Everyone: Popsike Sparks From Denmark Street 1968-70 writes:
At the time of their 1968 debut 45 “The Devil Rides Out”, Icarus were primarily a songwriting vehicle for keyboardist Iain Hines and bassist/singer Glyn Havard. While the latter had been taking his first tentative steps as a session musician, Hines was something of a music industry veteran…..in early 1968 he had recorded a song called “Supersonicelectroniccatastrophicpsychedelicfreakout” cut in a Denmark Street studio that happened to be next door to the headquarters of Spark Records. Impressed by what they heard, Spark invited Hines to make a single for them. Inspired by the publicity surrounding Hammer’s treatment of Dennis Wheatley’s notorious satanic pot-boiler, Hines and Havard came up with “The Devil Rides Out”….. [T]he 45 appeared in July 1968 . . . . Despite the publicity surrounding the film the single wasn’t a hit, but the track was blasted out over the PA at the film premiere, despite not actually featuring in the film. In July 1969 Icarus recorded a single for Pye, but sadly the superb “Yellow Balloon” and the slow psychedelic blues “There’s An Easy And A Hard Way Of Living” failed to appear at the time. When Havard left, Hines put together a new line-up which released the concept album The Marvel World of Icarus before falling apart.
Burdockman, https://www.45cat.com/record/srl1012
Jazz Rock Soul adds:
Havard hailed from the Welsh village of Natyglo, where he played in local beatsters The Chartists and trained as a journalist. In 1966, he moved to London, where he did session work . . . . Hines grew up in Glasgow, where he provided early backup for Alex Harvey [see #440, 684, 1,859] and led a series of bands called The Jets. In May 1960, The Jets flew to Hamburg for a residency at the Kaiserkeller club . . . . During his time in Germany, he bonded with fellow UK exile Paul McCartney; the two listened to Everly Brothers records . . . . During the beat era, Hines worked as a freelance music writer and maintained band memberships in London (The Echoes) and Hamburg (The Krewkats). . . . Icarus became an actual band with drummer Ray Steadman and guitarist Les Karski. However, Hines put them on hold to work with his brother on The Mind Robber, an autumn 1968 five-part Doctor Who serial, in which Iain played a clockwork soldier. . . . In early 1969, Hines and Havard backed Unit 4 + 2 singer Tommy Moeller on his single “Cookbook” . . . and joined the band’s late-period lineup alongside . . . guitarist Tony Duhig . . . . When Pye cancelled the [“Yellow Balloon”] single, Havard decamped for Persia with Duhig. Upon their return, they formed Jade Warrior with Duhig’s July [see #937, 1,117, 1,811] bandmate Jon Field. Havard released three albums on Vertigo with Jade Warrior . . . . Iain Hines formed a new Icarus with Unit 4 + 2 drummer Allan Price . . . . and teenage brothers David (guitar) and Jonathan Plotel (bass). . . . The Icarus lineup of Hines, Curtain, and the Plotels grew to six with Irish showband saxophonist Norrie Devine and London pub singer Steve Hart. Hines conceived an album inspired by superheros from the Marvel Universe. Sessions commenced in late 1970 . . . . As the project dragged through 1971, the Plotels grew restless and departed for a tour behind singer Darren Wells. . . . As Pye announced the album’s release date, Hines hired guitarist John Etheridge and bassist Jim Wyllie, recently of Carlisle harmony popsters 22nd Street People. In June 1972, Pye International released The Marvel World of Icarus. It features songs devoted to prominent Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, and Daredevil . . . . Pye purportedly mislead Icarus on the album’s release date, which was slated for June 1972 but pushed to October when the band got booked for a three-month tour of Romania . . . . After Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu halted the tour and deported Icarus back to the UK, Pye told them that Marvel demanded all royalties from the album. Therefore, Pye cancelled The Marvel World of Icarus and destroyed all unsold copies. However, release records indicate that Pye did, in fact, release the album in June 1972 while Icarus were away in Romania. . . . Those who’ve spoken to the parties involved now speculate that Pye — a pop label with little interest in the post-psych underground — fabricated the story of a Marvel royalties dispute to soft-terminate Icarus.
Here is the Spanish punk group La Moto de Fernan (’21):
Here’s the film’s trailer:
Here’s a review:
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 1,600 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.
