Author Archives: georgefishman2

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,455) Frank Sinatra — “The Train” Frank Sinatra gave us a haunting song, but with “a ‘Mrs. Robinson’ jaunt” to it (Sam Sodomsky, https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/frank-sinatra-watertown/), written by the guys responsible for the Four Seasons’ psychedelic LP The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (see yesterday’s song!),Continue reading “Frank Sinatra — “The Train”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 9, 2025″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,454) The Four Seasons — “Wall Street Village Day” The Four Seasons’ “foray into sgt pepperland is a real beaut” (checklissteric, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOqO5d9j1PA), “a personal favorite of [Frankie] Valli’s, [who] call[ed] it ‘an incredible song’”, “a buoyant slice-of-life, highlighting the cultural differences between NewContinue reading “The Four Seasons — “Wall Street Village Day”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 8, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,453) Del Shannon — “Gemini” Del Shannon runs away to psychedelia, gracing us with this “real treat . . . [a b]rilliant song” (Baggingarea, https://baggingarea.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/del-shannon-gemini/) that“sounds like that imaginary chart hit in a parallel universe” (Brushbox, https://itstartswithabirthstone.blogspot.com/2016/02/album-reviews-55-del-shannon-further.html, “[a] fantastic 45 from a fantastically giftedContinue reading “Del Shannon — “Gemini”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 7, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,452) The Staple Singers — “I See It” “I see it . . . America can be . . . a land where man is equal and free” This inspiring ‘69 A-side by the Staple Singers (see #680) is “intense” and “non-chalantly struttin’”,Continue reading “The Staple Singers — “I See It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 6, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,451) The Kinks — “Big Black Smoke” Kinks Kronikles The B-side to the Kinks’ (see #100, 381, 417, 450, 508, 529, 606, 623, 753, 865, 978, 1,043, 1,108, 1,302, 1,330) #5 UK hit “Dead End Street” is “[a] two-minute study in character, DickensContinue reading “The Kinks — “Big Black Smoke”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 5, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,450) The Sound Magics — “Don’t You Remember” Nuggets-worthy British Invasion gold . . . from the Netherlands! Mike Stax writes that: The Sound Magics show superb melodic instincts on this haunting minor-key lament to lost love. Their vibrant three-part harmonies soar overContinue reading “The Sound Magics — “Don’t You Remember”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 4, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,449) The Cheques — “To Stone” I have no idea why this stunning moody garage rock number doesn’t show up on lists of the greatest garage classics. Greg Shaw does say that it is the “[b]est of 3 singles by this soul-influenced groupContinue reading “The Cheques — “To Stone”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 3, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,448) The Elopers — “Music to Smoke Bananas By” Don’t bogart that banana peel! This super cool psych instrumental, a Colorado band’s only A-side, is the “greatest acid instrumental ever” (lewisdye5627, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RCaZlEqh3s), with a “drony bass-line … building the basement for the fuzzedContinue reading “The Elopers — “Music to Smoke Bananas By”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 2, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,447) Al Kooper — “Brand New Day” On this New Year’s Day, let me play Al Kooper’s (see #642, 705, 804) “Brand New Day”, a “youthfully optimistic rocker” (Lindsay Planer, https://www.allmusic.com/album/easy-does-it-mw0000740238) — and let’s hope that “the years of night will pass foreverContinue reading “Al Kooper — “Brand New Day” : Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — January 1, 2025”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,446) Boudewijn de Groot — “Apocalyps”/“Apocalypse” The Dutch Master Boudewijn de Groot (see #107, 161, 305, 989, 1,216) — and I’m not talking cigars — is a “[t]roubadour with a Dylan-esque impact, who shoots to fame in [the Netherlands in] the ’60s andContinue reading “Boudewijn de Groot — “Apocalyps”/”Apocalypse”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 31, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,445) The Remo Four* — “Live Like a Lady” The Remo Four (see #1,437) give us Liverpool’s (by way of Hamburg) “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”: a raucous, infectious and “really nifty gender-bending original . . . its growling guitar sweetened by organ”.Continue reading “The Remo Four — “Live Like a Lady”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 30, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,444) Kippington Lodge — “Shy Boy” A delightfully twee Tomorrow (see #72) song done best and first by Kippington Lodge* (see #672), 1,156), about a boy whose “hair is never right His acne looks a sight The clothes he buys don′t fit tightContinue reading “Kippington Lodge — “Shy Boy”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 29, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,443) Norma Tanega — “Jubilation” Norma Tanega was so much more than “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog”. From a free spirit if there ever was one comes “a free love [folk] anthem” (Quinn Miller, https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2014/11/hey-people-come-free-with-me-new-voices-from-1966/) that’s “a sexy-as-hell come-on in which an oboeContinue reading “Norma Tanega — “Jubilation”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 28, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,442) The Candlelight — “That’s What I Want” This ’67 A-side is a marvelous UK folk-rock/baroque pop take on an oft-recorded John Carter (see #1,201, 1,304)-Ken Lewis beat nugget — “[t]he old Carter-Lewis ‘standard’ brushed up and given a cool Pop-sike treatment”. (linerContinue reading “The Candlelight — “That’s What I Want”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 27, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,441) The Seeds — “Gypsy Plays His Drums” (live at Merlin’s Music Box) The supremely seedy Sky Saxon and the Seeds (see #116, 446) “combined the raw, Stonesy appeal of garage rock with a fondness for ragged, trashy psychedelia” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-seeds-mn0000500664/biography), andContinue reading “The Seeds — “Gypsy Plays His Drums” (live but not really at “Merlin’s Music Box”): Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 26, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,440) The Majority — “All Our Christmases” Written by Barry, Robin and Maurice but never released at the time by the Bee Gees, this delightful Christmas song is “[a] very rare mixing of two different genres, pop/rock and the waltz!”, yet it “[w]orksContinue reading “The Majority — “All Our Christmases”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 25, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,439) The Honeybus — “Do I Figure in Your Life” The A-side of Honeybus’ (see ##6, 52, 207, 434, 562, 605, 764, 1,100) second single (’67) is “not just their, but virtually anybody else’s finest recorded moment . . . a mini-masterpiece .Continue reading “The Honeybus — “Do I Figure in Your Life”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 24, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,438) Louise Forestier — “From Santa to America” OK, I am not playing this song by the great French Canadian singer Louise Forestier (see #44, 149) on Christmas Day. As best I can make out the lyrics by the French Canadian singer, songwriterContinue reading “Louise Forestier — “From Santa to America”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 23, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,437) The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” Noel Gallagher is the one who saved from the cutting room floor this “hidden gem”, an “extremely strong piece of psychedelic pop” that “sounds exactly as though it was a track from theContinue reading “I Shall Be Released: The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 22, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,436) John Fitch & Associates — “Stoned Out of It” “[J]uggernaut funk” (Sounds of the Universe, https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/john-fitch-associates-romantic-attitude-stoned-out-of-it), so funky and groovy, you’ll be stoned out of it just by giving this B-side a spin. An American in London “blends rock and soul withContinue reading “John Fitch & Associates — “Stoned Out of It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 21, 2024”