Author Archives: georgefishman2

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,158) The Syd Dale Orchestra — “Eliana” If Swinging London had a theme song, it would be . . . OK, it would be “Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones. But had Austin Powers never shagged its way into our collective consciousnesses, itContinue reading “The Syd Dale Orchestra — “Eliana”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 28, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,157) Skip Bifferty — “Yours for at Least 24” Here is a rollicking, shuffling, UK pop psych album track from Skip Bifferty* (see #288), who “RCA allowed . . . to cut a full LP, which contained some notable psychedelic and experimental tracks”Continue reading “Skip Bifferty — “Yours for at Least 24”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March , 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,156) Kippington Lodge — “Turn Out the Light” Kippington Lodge* is “[b]est remembered as the vehicle for the earliest Nick Lowe . . . recordings . . . stemm[ing] from Lowe’s first band . . . which he formed with school pal, BrinsleyContinue reading “Kippington Lodge — “Turn Out the Light”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 26, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,155) Double Feature — “Baby Get Your Head Screwed On” Here is a mod-tastic A-side cover of a track off Cat Stevens’ first album — “gritty vocals combine with R&B guitar, percussion, cello, organ and horns in a superb production . . .Continue reading “Double Feature — “Baby Get Your Head Screwed On”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 25, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,154) Sandy Posey — “Patterns” Countrypolitan icon Sandy Posey blesses us with Barbara Cooper and Frank Catana’s alluring “supremely moody [song] (released by Cooper herself in 1967)[, which] showcases Posey at her finest”. (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2024/01/23/its-wonderful-to-be-in-love-cherry-red-reissues-sandy-poseys-complete-mgm-recordings/) “For countrypolitan)[, it has an] unusually broodingContinue reading “Sandy Posey — “Patterns”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 24, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,153) Los Cuatro Monedas — “Mira de Frente”/“Look Straight” First “Groovin’”, then “Groovy”, and now just an irresistible groove. This ‘71 B-side is “one of the[] best” (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow, Vol. 14: Spanish Popsike and Other Delights) fromContinue reading “Los Cuatro Monedas — “Mira de Frente”/“Look Straight”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 23, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,152) The Fireballs — “Groovy Motions” In the 60s, squares sometimes tried their hand at psychedelia and the results were expectedly awful, but sometimes they were positively groovy. There’s a whole CD comp — Marshmallow Skies — featuring both varieties. This ’68 B-sideContinue reading “The Fireballs — “Groovy Motions”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 22, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,151) The Sound Barrier — “Groovin’ Slow” This ’68 B-side is “an interesting slice of [UK] psychedelic pop” that “has a number of tempo changes before culminating in a hazy, disorienting ending”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited). The song is aContinue reading “The Sound Barrier — “Groovin’ Slow”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 21, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,150) Sun Dragon — “Far Away Mountain” This absolutely gorgeous and “achingly beautiful” ’68 UK B-side “is melodic, orchestrated pop of the highest order” (Stefan Granados, liner notes to the CD comp Listen to the Sky: The Others/Sands/Sun Dragon: The Collected Recordings 1964-73)Continue reading “Sun Dragon — “Far Away Mountain”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 20, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,149) The Enfields — “I’m for Things You Do” Did this ‘66 B-side, a “wonderful rocker” (On the Flip-Side, https://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2012/03/song-of-week-enfields-she-already-has.html) by a Wilmington, Delaware band, inspire Tom Hanks’ “That Thing You Do”? Only Gump knows for sure, but I do know that theContinue reading “The Enfields — “I’m for Things You Do”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 19, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,148) The Four Tops — “Look Out Your Window” From the fab Four Tops’ ’69 album Soul Spin comes a song with “a fantastic, brooding, ominous and dark quality that was as far away from anything most would have expected from a FourContinue reading “The Four Tops — “Look Out Your Window”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 18, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,147) Frabjoy & the Runcible Spoon (Godley & Creme) — “To Fly Away” From another contender for the greatest lost album of the 1960’s comes this “starkly beautiful” song, one of the ones that “entranced” Giorgio Gomelsky, who “immediately view[ed Kevin Godley andContinue reading “Frabjoy & the Runcible Spoon (Godley & Creme) — “To Fly Away”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 17, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,146) 5 Gentlemen — “Dis-nous Dylan”/“Tell Us Dylan” The 5 Gentlemen (see #724) were “the best French band of the mid-60s” (Fou de Rock, http://www.fouderock.com/rock_fr/five-gentlemen.html) and they give us a song that “satiri[z]es the earnestness of the music of pop-folk artists like Bob DylanContinue reading “5 Gentlemen — “Dis-nous Dylan”/“Tell Us Dylan”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 16, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,145) Fuchsia — “Me and My Kite” A whimsical British prog delight, the song, “a favourite amongst fans of the album and group, is a gorgeously twee pop-charmer with a sweet and achingly simple chorus”. (Aussie-Byrd-Brother, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=12662) It “could have easily been aContinue reading “Fuchsia — “Me and My Kite”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 15, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,144) The Flys – “Reality Composition #1” Here is one of the great garage kiss off songs. Man, those hurting on the inside teenage boys can put on quite a show of false bravado! “The vocals are ruff and ready and the soundContinue reading “The Flys – “Reality Composition #1”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 14, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,143) Dan Casamajor — “Leaving You Alone” This song is “[i]nstantly beautiful right from the beginning” (BlueParadoxical, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4lIoRMmBP4) — in fact, it is impossibly beautiful, sending shivers down my spine. It comes from a private press LP of “[v]ibrant 1960s-style folk . .Continue reading “Dan Casamajor — “Leaving You Alone”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 13, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,142) The Quotations — “Alright Baby” Exquisite Beatlesque kiss off song is a ’64 A-side by a band out of, yes, Liverpool. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Cleef tells us that: This 1964 record is by a Quotations group led byContinue reading “The Quotations — “Alright Baby”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 12, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,141) Poet and the One Man Band/Heads, Hands and Feet — “Bringing It All on My Own Head Our resident Poet (see #710, 855, 993) gave us a riveting “Santana-esque” (Michael Heatley, https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/home-from-home-themissing-album) song in ’68 that “sounds like SANTANA before SANTANA” (DmitryContinue reading “I Shall Be Released: Poet and the One Man Band/Heads, Hands and Feet — “Bringing It All on My Own Head”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 11, 2024”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,140) The Guess Who — “Heygoode Hardy” Here is a wild and infectious good time number from the LP that was the Guess Who’s (see #758) springboard to international success. The song, sung almost at an auctioneer’s pace, is a paean to HagoodContinue reading “The Guess Who — “Heygoode Hardy”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 10, 2024″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 1,139) Barbara Ruskin — “Euston Station” This “beautiful” ‘67 A-side by Barbara Ruskin “captures something perfectly and deserves to be as well known and as widely loved as the Waterloo Sunset”. (Yr Heartout, https://thelondonnobodysings.blogspot.com/2009/08/euston-station.html) Indeed. Mick Patrick writes that: [“Euston Station” was] votedContinue reading “Barbara Ruskin — “Euston Station”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 9, 2024”