Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊

The Action — “I’ll Keep on Holding On”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 18, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,913) The Action — “I’ll Keep on Holding On”

Here is the incomparable and iconic Action (see #393, 429, 966, 1,773) — inexplicably missing in action in the UK charts — with a mod classic, “a very rare example of the UK cover being better than the US original.” (On the Flip-Side, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5410) The Action’s version of the Marvelettes’ #24 (#11 R&B) hit managed to reach #42 on the Melody Maker charts” (My Friend Jack, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5410) — sadly, its best performing A-side.

But what an A-side. Mike Stax writes:

Along with the Small Faces [see #969, 1,024], the Action were the ultimate mod band. They had the look, the moves, and, above all, the sound. Their interpretations of Tamla-Motown material had a flair and conviction that were unmatched on the British scene, and it won them a fanatical club-circuit following. Their collective strengths are demonstrated to maximum effect on their version of the Marvelettes’ “I’ll Keep Holding On,” released as their second single, in February 1966. Reg King’s superb lead vocal and the group’s exuberant harmonies capture all of the joyful energy of the original, while the ringing Rickenbackers and . . . kinetic drumming infuse the track with an extra dynamism that is transcendent.

liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II (Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969)

Andrew Darlington adds:

[T]he single was critically well-received and became the closest they ever got to a chart hit. It’s fair to say most radio listeners were unfamiliar with the Marvelettes American hit, and the Action have a Power-Pop drive that shifts it into alternate gears anyway, the lyric urging the purposeful pursuit of the elusive object of his desire – “waiting, watching, waiting, watching, looking for a chance”. The record was well-familiar and highly-rated around the clubs. It came tantalisingly close. Their window of opportunity was definitely ajar, yet it failed to actually chart. Perhaps it was the high-point, the main chance, the moment at which – if they were going to break through big, this was their time.

https://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2011/06/action-everybody-wants-piece-of-action.html

As to the Action, Bruce Eder tells us:

In the mid-’60s, the Action had a strong grassroots following among British mods. But despite the support of George Martin, they never managed anything close to a hit record. The Action were the most soul-oriented of the mod groups, favoring guitar-oriented covers of Motown tunes and R&B dance numbers of the day . . . . Martin’s production put the emphasis on Reg King’s impressive vocals and the group’s high vocal harmonies, in the process getting a unique sound. . . . The Action changed members and their sound as the decade progressed, and were reborn as Mighty Baby [see #1,646]. The band started out in North London during 1963 as quartet called the Boys . . . . [who] went out of existence in 1964, but didn’t split up, instead reconfiguring themselves as a five-piece. . . . the Action. [T]hey developed a tougher, harder sound that quickly made them favorites among mod audiences. The Action had a sound similar to the Small Faces . . . . They were discovered by George Martin, who signed them to his newly founded AIR Productions in 1965 and got them a recording deal at Parlophone Records . . . . The Action debuted with an excellent single of “Land of a 1000 Dances” b/w “In My Lonely Room,” which failed to make the charts despite being an irresistible dance number and lovely ballad respectively, performed with genuine flair and inspiration, not to mention an authentic white soul sound from Reg King that was as credible as anything emanating from England at the time. The Action’s second single, “I’ll Keep on Holding On” . . . released in early 1966, was just as good . . . as their first, but saw no greater chart success. The Action maintained a serious following among the mods . . . but they couldn’t get a break with their records and were unable to get the exposure that would have bumped them to the next level. . . . [B]y late 1966 and early 1967, they were doing smooth soul-styled material . . . . [and] by mid-1967 the[y] had evolved . . . into a progressive folk-rock-based sound . . . . Though Martin still supported the music the Action were making, their lack of success meant that AIR could no longer keep them on the label and they were let go in 1967. They . . . soon were back in the studio cutting a new batch of songs that were all composed by the band and featured a heavier, more psychedelic sound. They sent the tape around to various labels, but were unable to drum up enough interest to sign a deal. . . . Reg King subsequently left the band to pursue a solo career, and . . . the outfit that remained, rechristened Azoth. . . . They eventually transformed themselves into a pure psychedelic outfit, Mighty Baby . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-action-mn0000029067/biography

Where the Action Is:

Ready Steady Go:

Here are the Marvelettes:

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The Who — Naked Eye”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 17, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,912) The Who — “Naked Eye“

Man, do Who disciples (quite justifiably) LOVE this “menacing and angst-filled” (willyboy2, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/additional/the-who/odds-and-sods/reviews/4/) “nugget[] of Who-ness” (Reginod, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/additional/the-who/odds-and-sods/reviews/4/), which never made it onto a record until ’74’s Odds and Sods collection. “Bought this LP in the cut out bins and it was one of the most revelatory records to my 1970s teenage mind, and this song especially. Thanks Woolworths!” (colleenmorgan1590, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooygukKGY90) And the Who’s rendition at the ’70 Isle of Wight Festival? “[W]ithout question, the greatest rock performance ever”! (navynugget7, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AIU-EHSnCc) “I dont know what it is, but somehow those 3 chords Pete plays from 2:10 to 3:10 contain the meaning of life.” (animalstudios619, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AIU-EHSnCc)

Oh, and in one of the greatest YouTube comments ever, Davo2003hd reminisces:

In 1979, I bought Odds and Sods from a cut-out bin for .99 cents. Best buck I ever spent. . . . I had an English class the next hour, and a Sonnet poetry assignment was due that next hour. Of course, I had not done it. Playing “Naked Eye” and reading the lyrics, I realized this would make a great poem. I rearranged it to fit the needed structure and turned it in. The next day, the teacher announced she was disappointed with our sonnets. Only one student understood the assignment and turned in a great poem. She read it out loud. I thought I was busted!!! Nobody ever knew!! I got an A+. I still have the poem and the .99c vinyl. I’ve loved this song for 45 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooygukKGY90

The liner notes to Odds and Sods tell us:

Produced by Pete Townshend at Eel Pie Studios, London late May 1970 (some sources claim this version was produced by Glyn Johns at Olympic Studios, Barnes May 1971). Pete Townshend: “Another track from the EP [What EP?]. This number was written around a riff that we often played on stage at the end of our act around the time we were touring early TOMMY.[“] . . . The melody . . . first appeared during end-of-show improvisations during the May/June 1969 North American tour (it can be heard in the final moments of “My Generation” at Woodstock). The version with lyrics was not incorporated into the live set until after it was recorded . . . .

https://web.archive.org/web/20070701183016/http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/Odds%26Sods.htm

Will Howard adds:

If you give a close listen to the versions of “Magic Bus” and “My Generation” on Live At Leeds and Live at the Isle Of Wight Festival 1970, you’ll find an absolute cornucopia of riffs, hooks and tossed-away little phrases that most bands would kill for. You’ll also find living proof that at his prime, Townshend was every bit the shredder that Page, Clapton and Gilmour were; he just preferred riffing away instead. One of these riffs, a chiming, descending pattern in F that sees singer Roger Daltrey give it his best Robert Plant howl over the top, might sound a little familiar to true The Who die-hards. This is because the chord sequence never left Pete Townshend’s consciousness, and he spent the next couple of years turning it into “Naked Eye”, a song earmarked for a potential single release. . . . He said the song “came to be one of our best stage numbers, this was never released because we always hoped we would get a good live version one day. But then we’re such a lousy live group…” Hell of a way to discover that Pete Townshend actually does have a sense of humour, right?

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/naked-eye-the-who-hit-that-never-was/

Here it is at the Isle of Wight:

Here it is in London (’71):

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I Shall Be Released: The Rolling Stones — “Cops and Robbers”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 16, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,911) The Rolling Stones — “Cops and Robbers”

Here is the Stones’ (see #382, 298, 537, 579, 1,098, 1,403) inspired live March 19, 1964, performance at London’s Camden Theatre (broadcast on the BBC program on May 9) of a ’56 R&B comic classic by Kent Harris (Boogaloo and His Galant Crew) (that was covered within a month by Bo Diddley (see #1,326)). It got released on a famous ’73 bootleg (https://www.45cat.com/record/tmqmaxi9001#google_vignette), but wasn’t officially released until the 21st Century.

Marcelo Sonaglioni writes that:

[It] captured a band still raw, still hungry . . . . Brian Jones’s harmonica cut through the arrangement with sharp, expressive lines, while Mick Jagger delivered the lyrics with a mixture of swagger and unease . . . . Jagger . . . sounded less like an imitator and more like a translator of mood.

https://rollingstonesdata.com/songs/cops-and-robbers-1964/

Jagger said in ’17 that “American music is what we loved. ‘Cops and Robbers’, ‘Down the Road Apiece’, they were staples of our Richmond club days, blues but sped up.” (https://www.timeisonourside.com/SOCops.html)

Bayard says:

“Cops and Robbers” . . . written by . . . Harris[] is an excellent novelty song with piano and brushed drums, slow to midtempo on the spoken verses and mid to uptempo with fine rolling piano on the sung choruses, as Boogaloo tells his humorous tale of his carjacking encounter with an inept robber. . . . [It] appeared on The Billboard’s Most Played R&B in Juke Boxes rhythm & blues chart at #9 for the solitary week of 10 November 1956.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/boogaloo-and-his-gallant-crew/cops-and-robbers-clothes-line-wrap-it-up/

Cashbox wrote: “Boogaloo delivers the novelty lyrics, telling the story of a comedy hold-up with good timing, milking every line for the most it contains. This deck could be the next novelty craze.” (https://www.45cat.com/record/nc443739us)

Bill Dahl writes:

[It is] a hip, hilarious musical playlet . . . . [F]riendly Kent’s the victim of a carjacking by a would-be bank robber. Despite the edgy subject matter, it’s hilarious. “That’s just another one of those, just playin’ around as a kid, writing funny stuff with my friends and cracking up laughing at it,” he says. Immediate competition came from a cover by one of Chicago’s finest young bluesmen. “Next thing I know, Bo Diddley had got hold to it,” says Harris.

https://blog.ponderosastomp.com/2013/10/kent-harris-rhythm-blues-boogaloo-gallant-crew/

As to Kent Harris and his alterego Boogaloo*, Dahl writes:

The Coasters latched onto his slice-of-inner city-life vignette “Clothes Line (Wrap It Up),” which they retitled “Shoppin’ For Clothes.” Bo Diddley dug the boisterous “Cops And Robbers.” Veteran orchestra leader Les Brown and budding country star Roy Clark both romped through his rollicking “Talk About A Party.” In actuality, Kent wrote and waxed the original versions of all three . . . [as] Boogaloo and His Gallant Crew. . . . Though his handful of vocal efforts were truly inspired, Harris eventually gravitated to a behind-the-scenes role as a songwriter, producer, and label owner. . . . [His sister] Dimples made her first platter for Savoy’s Regent subsidiary in 1951, and her brother took the plunge . . . after he returned stateside [from the Air Force]. “She got a deal recording for a company called Trend Records . . . . [S]he wanted me to sign with ‘em too.” . . . Out during the spring of ‘54, the first [single] split the vocals evenly between Dimples (“Hey, Mr. Jelly”) and Ducky Drake, the first of Kent’s whimsical performing sobriquets, singing “1992.” . . . Dimples helped her big brother get started in the songwriting field as well. “She got me a contract with a publishing company.[“] . . . Harris really found his niche at Sylvester Cross’ American Music. . . . Cross [also] operated Crest Records . . . . Someone at Crest thought as much of Kent’s singing as they did his songwriting. . . . [“]They said, ‘Well, we’d rather for you to sing ‘em,’ than the people who I was writing for. So I wound up singing ‘em.” . . . [“]After I was a writer. I said, ‘Matter of fact, as producer I can make more money,’” he reasons. “So when I got to the producing, I said, ‘Maybe I could make more money if I had a record company too.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll start a little record company.’ . . . It was just a way to get things started with my singers, because by then I was signing other singers.” . . . Harris played a part in the discovery of future Motown diva Brenda Holloway [see #1,313], in her mid-teens when he came across her in ‘62. . . . [“]I got her a recording contract with a company called Del-Fi Records, and we cut about three or four records with them.” . . . Kent founded his Romark label in 1960, named after his son.

https://blog.ponderosastomp.com/2013/10/kent-harris-rhythm-blues-boogaloo-gallant-crew/

* “As kids, we used to call each other different funny names, you know. And they were calling me that. So that one stuck to me. . . . That was another name that I used to put on those songs because I didn’t really like or want to use my name, Kent Harris.” (https://blog.ponderosastomp.com/2013/10/kent-harris-rhythm-blues-boogaloo-gallant-crew/)

Here is Boogaloo and His Galant Crew:

Here is Bo Diddley:

Here is the Downliners Sect:

Here are Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders:

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I Shall Be Released: The Beatles — “You Know What to Do”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 15, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,910) The Beatles — “You Know What to Do”

I find the second song George Harrison [see #423, 545, 872, 942, 1,437] wrote (about Pattie Boyd?) utterly charming, and while only a demo, full of possibilities. “Could this maybe be the most adorable example of George’s Scouse coming out in his singing?” (1982pencil, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmxDt8CPcas) But John, Paul, and George (Martin) were not fans, and that was that. “Pretty decent song. Better than some of the crap that made it onto Beatles For Sale.” (Scotttyist, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWAAwWdFIj8) Ha, ha, ha! It has the distinction of being named the Beatles’ [see #422, 1087, 1,256] worst song by Ultimate Classic Rock. (https://ultimateclassicrock.com/every-beatles-song/) WTF!?

The Beatles Anthology tells us:

Two demo recordings [were] taped by the Beatles . . . the day before they flew to Denmark to begin an inter-continental tour. The drummer on the first few dates of that tour was a substitute, Jimmy Nicol, drafted in at the eleventh hour after Ringo had been taken ill the morning of 3 June [1964]. The EMI recording session booked for the remainder of the day was thrown into disarray by Ringo’s disposition; instead of taping the fourteenth and final song for the album A Hard Day’s Night, John, Paul and George spent an hour listening to playbacks and running Nicol through some of the songs in their stage repetoire. Then, after the drummer had gone home to pack his suitcase, they remained at Abby Road, and, during a four-hour evening session . . . loosely recorded three songs . . . . lncorporating vocal, guitar, bass and tambourine tracks, this is believed to be the only existing recording of George Harrison’s second song composition . . . . (The first was “Don’t Bother Me”, issued on With the Beatles in 1963.)

liner notes to the CD comp The Beatles Anthology 1

The Beatles Bible adds:

The precise line-up on the recording is uncertain; there has been speculation that Harrison recorded it alone, although it is more likely that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also involved. A somewhat slight composition, its reception by the others in the group, and George Martin, may have discouraged Harrison from offering further songs until Help! in 1965. . . .

https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/you-know-what-to-do/

The Weeklings know what to do:

So does whoever did this cover:

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The Candymen — “Lonely Eyes”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 14, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,909) The Candymen — “Lonely Eyes”

Here is some real ear candy: Roy Orbison’s backing band (which later transmogrified into the Atlanta Rhythm Section) turns in “a real beauty, [its] influence coming from The Zombies [see #1,138] but with a taste of The Doors’ ‘Light My Fire’ [see #1,312] – who’s gonna complain?!” (Paul Vidal, https://www.bigvjamboree.com/THOSE-SWEET-SWEET-CANDYMEN.html) Not me!

Paul Vidal writes that:

Their vocal harmonies were superb and Rodney Justo’s singing was simply amazing. . . . The Candymen were top class musicians; they could duplicate other people’s wizardries with such ease that, ultimately, it was reflected too much in their own material and somewhat proved to be a creative dead end.

https://www.bigvjamboree.com/THOSE-SWEET-SWEET-CANDYMEN.html

Bruce Eder unwraps the Candymen:

The Candymen were an Alabama-spawned band probably best remembered today as the backing group for Roy Orbison. The group started life as the Webs, co-founded by guitarist John Rainey and a young lead singer/guitarist named Bobby Goldsboro, in Dothan, Alabama, in the mid-1960s. . . . They were good enough to attract the attention of local producer and studio owner Ed Boutwells in Birmingham, who made a few recordings of them. The band was making something of a living locally and even managed to survive the departure of Goldsboro for what became an immensely successful solo career; Rodney Justo, a drummer turned singer who had previously led a band called Rodney & the Mystics, replaced him on vocals. And they had a songwriter-in-residence of sorts in the person of Buddy Buie, a friend of Goldsboro. Their breakthrough came when they discovered that Roy Orbison was going to be appearing locally and would be in need of a backing band. As they were already conversant with his work, it wasn’t a stretch to pick up all the finer nuances of his repertory, and the result was that the legendary Texas-born singer asked them to become his regular touring band. In the process, picking up the name from one of his biggest hits, the Webs became the Candymen. Additionally, Buie was taken on as Orbison’s tour manager, and moved to Atlanta, where he became a top producer as well. Meanwhile, the Candymen worked regularly behind Orbison onstage, a gig that, in other times, would have gotten them huge exposure. However, the second half of the 1960s were not good times for Orbison at least commercially in the United States; signed to MGM since 1965, he released some very good records and sold a lot of them in Europe, but in the United States his career and his concerts passed with little notice, despite the quality of his music and the Candymen’s playing. . . . [They also] developed a serious reputation as a great live band in their own right. They became known for doing . . . Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band live, amidst other repertory that was usually considered beyond the reach of a lot of bands. They also cut a series of LPs as the Candymen for ABC Records. Ultimately, their gig with Orbison ended . . . . Buie’s career as a songwriter and producer brought the members of the band, in conjunction with members of the Classics IV, into what became the Atlanta Rhythm Section and a decade or more of hit records and healthy album sales.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/candymen-mn0000992319#biography

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The Electric Banana/The Pretty Things — “It’ll Never Be Me”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 13, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,908) The Electric Banana/The Pretty Things — “It’ll Never Be Me”

This “has . . . tasty guitar from [Dick] Taylor and would’ve fit nicely on The Pretty Things’ classic album S.F. Sorrow.” (https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2019/11/the-electric-banana-the-complete-de-wolfe-sessions-2019.html) And it’s a hoot seeing the Electric Banana (see #94, 251, 731, 892, 1,001) perform it during a groovy party scene in the classic Swinging London comedy What’s Good for the Goose, in which a “middle aged banker picks up two young free minded women on his way to a banker’s convention and falls head over heels for one of them.” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065205/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_stry_pl) The EB recorded “It’ll Never Be Me” and five other songs for the movie. David Wells writes that:

Blasting Hammond keyboards, swathes of blistering guitar leads and powerful lead vocals augmented by those soaring, surging harmonies and cryptic, highly literate lyrics — the Banana were clearly working at the peak of their creative powers. . . . “It’ll Never Be Me”, “Blow Your Mind”, “Alexander” (see #94) and the awesome “Eagle’s Son” (see #731) . . . were simply irresistible . . . as important a document of English acid rock as Sgt. Pepper, Piper at the Gates of Dawn or S.F. Sorrow . . . . In the parallel universe that they inhabited, The Electric Banana were superstars.

liner notes to the CD comp The Complete De Wolfe Sessions

The EB, of course, was the Pretty Things (see #82, 153, 572, 1,327) in disguise, making some much needed money by providing songs for films trying to be hip. Wells explains:

[The] Swinging London phenomenon had led to a profusion of groovy movies chronicling life [there] that, naturally enough, required an appropriately switched-on soundtrack for added verisimilitude. However, film companies soon discovered that the cost of licensing bona fide hit singles was prohibitively high [so, the music library de Wolfe] started searching for a young, vibrant pop group who were capable of providing an authentic but relatively inexpensive sound.

liner notes to CD comp The Complete De Wolfe Sessions

Richie Unterberger elaborates:

Asked point blank “did you record them only for the money?” in a 1985 issue of the Gorilla Beat fanzine, singer Phil May replied, “Yeah, because we needed money at that time to continue what we were doing. I mean, nobody gave us any money for S.F. Sorrow, we had it about pencil written, then [guitarist] Dick [Taylor] and I were quite broken at that time and we didn’t get large wages from the records.” Asked Gorilla Beat, “Did they come and say: ‘Write the music for this or that sequence?” May responded, “Every time we made a record and felt we had some songs left over, the guys came into the studio and bought the recordings we didn’t need. These songs were used in films, television series and so on. We were earning good money. This helped us to stay alive, really. What happened was, somebody would ring up de Wolfe saying: ‘Have you got some music backing for us. We got a sequence in a bar where a gangster shoots down another gangster and there is a jukebox playing in the background. So, what can I have?’[“]

http://www.richieunterberger.com/wordpress/the-electric-banana-the-pretty-things-by-any-other-name/

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The Kinks — “God’s Children”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 12, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,907) The Kinks — “God’s Children”

This song from the Kinks’ Percy soundtrack (see #100, 381, 417, 450, 508, 529, 606, 623, 753, 865, 978, 1,043, 1,108, 1,330, 1,451, 1,591, 1,697, 1,784) is ineffably beautiful — “Superb. Sublime. Perfect. Kinks.” (carspiv, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSciUplVZrA)

And for a quasi-comedy about the world’s first penis transplant, Ray Davies’ lyrics are, if not subversive, at least off-message.

“Oh, the good lord made us all And we are all his children And they got no right to change us Oh, we gotta go back the way the good lord made us all”

Cwitt1980 writes:

I admire this album. What can Ray Davies do to sabotage the success of the Kinks reinstated fame [following “Lola”]? Make a soundtrack. But it’s great. What’s even greater is that the movie is about obtaining a fake *. And what does Ray do? He writes “God’s Children.” Hilarious. Who put him up to this?

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-kinks-percy.113859/

Andy Gill asked Ray whether he wrote the soundtrack’s songs for the movie. Ray replied:

[I]t was a masterpiece of mismanagement! “Lola” had been a worldwide hit, and America was crying out for us to go back there, but our managers decided it would be nice if we did the soundtrack to a film! . . . [M]ost of it was done to fit . . . the film.

https://web.archive.org/web/20151030041033/http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/the-kinks-lola-versus-powerman-and-the-moneygoround-part-onepercy

Ah, Percy:

This film begins with an antique dealer by the name of “Edwin Anthony” (Hywel Bennett) on his way to deliver a chandelier on a busy city street. All at once, a man falls to his death from a skyrise building resulting in a piece of glass from the chandelier severing Hywel’s male organ. In yet another strange twist of fate, there just happens to be a noted physician by the name of “Dr. Emmanuel Whitbread” (Denholm Elliott) waiting for the opportunity to be the first surgeon to ever successfully transplant a male organ onto another person. To his credit, the operation turns out to be a huge success–in more ways than one. Things change, however, when news of this event is released to the public and Edwin becomes obsessed with finding out the identities of everyone his unlucky donor ever slept with.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067568/reviews/?featured=rw2045070&ref_=tt_ururv_c_1_hd

I think I’m gonna have to watch Percy, though it gets decidedly mixed reviews!

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Patricia Carli — “Le lion”/”The Lion”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 11, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,906) Patricia Carli — “Le lion”

All I can say is yé-yé! Italian/Belgian/French singer and songwriter Patricia Carli sings of her lionly man, who apparently is quite the beast. It was written by her husband Léo Missir along with J.-M. Rivat. I think Jay-Z would blush writing this for Beyonce!

“You are the master and I I am before you Nothing more than a kitten But when you want sometimes Oh mamamamama you love me like a lion Mama, it’s so good” (courtesy of Google Translate)

Passion Chanson (courtesy of Google Translate):

The Italian-Belgian singer-songwriter Patricia Carli was born . . . in the Italian city of Taranto, under the name Rosetta Ardito. At the age of four, she sang in the church of her village . . . and singing became a passion. At the end of World War II, she moved with her parents to Belgium, where her father found work in a coal mine. At 20, she seriously considered becoming a singer and entered various local and regional competitions. She was told that everything was decided in Paris, and, driven by her courage, she moved to the French capital, taking on various odd jobs, such as washing dishes in a restaurant . . . . She then approached the artistic world she so desired, went to auditions, and, by chance, met Nicole, Eddie Barclay’s wife, as well as the producer Léo Missir in the early 1960s. The latter fell under the singer’s spell and married her before producing her records. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the artist achieved success in 1963 with “Demain tu te maries (Arrête arrête)”[/”You’re getting married tomorrow (Stop, stop)”]. And she continued her career with the French adaptation of the Italian song that won the Eurovision contest in 1964 in the mouth of Gigliola Cinquetti: “Non ho l’eta”[/”I’m Not Old Enough”] which became “Je suis à toi”[/”I Am Yours”] performed by Patricia Carli at the San Remo Festival in Italy. Her popularity then allowed Patricia to perform at the Olympia in Paris as the opening act for Nancy Holloway and Gilbert Bécaud. But, as she [later] confided to Thierry Ardisson . . . [her] husband, who had done everything to make her famous, was nevertheless jealous of her fame and asked her to stop singing. She then devoted herself more and more to composing songs for other artists such as David-Alexander Winter (“Oh lady Mary”), Mireille Mathieu (“Pardonne-moi ce caprice d’enfant”[/”Forgive Me This Childish Whim”], “Donne ton cœur donne ta vie”[/”Give Your Heart, Give Your Life”]), Christian Delagrange (“Rosetta”, “Sans toi je suis seul”[/”Without You I Am Alone”], “Petite fille”[/”Little Girl”], “Reviens mon amour reviens”[/”Come Back My Love, Come Back”], “Tendre Cathy”), Daniel Guichard (“La tendresse”[/”Tenderness”], “T’en souviens-tu Marie-Hélène”[/”Do You Remember, Marie-Hélène?”]) or Dalida (“Comme tu dois avoir froid”[/”You Must Be So Cold”]). But she continued to record albums nonetheless. In the second half of the 1970s, Patricia Carli divorced, lost her mother, and learned that she would have to fight cancer alone, forcing her to curtail her activities. In 1978, she took advantage of a remission from the disease to release a single, “L’homme sur la plage” (The Man on the Beach), which was a great success.

https://www.passionchanson.net/2022/03/05/carli-patricia/

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October Country — “Cowboys and Indians”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 10, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,905) October Country — “Cowboys and Indians”

(see #624, 1,702)

Renowned producer, arranger, songwriter and musician Michael Lloyd wrote this ’68 A-side and produced October Country’s (see #624, 1,702) sole LP (“one of the better examples of . . . Lloyd’s overall influence and impact on the West Coast-based [sunshine pop/soft rock] genre” (Bryan Thomas, https://www.allmusic.com/album/october-country-mw0000460858)) Lloyd recalled the infectious and energizing song as “[m]ore of a conceptual type of thing” and “[p]erhaps influenced by the Beach Boys’ [see #667, 1,825] “Heroes and Villains”. (liner notes to the CD reissue of October Country) If you hone in on the lyrics, you realize that they are actually quite depressing (as sunshine pop does all the time), brilliantly and tersely describing a native American warrior’s thoughts as he ponders the tragic and inexorable fate of his people.

RDTEN1 takes us to October Country:

I’ve always wondered why so many harmony-rich mid-1960s pop groups seemed to come out of Los Angeles. Even more of a curiosity is why most of them vanished with little exposure or popular success. Well, here’s another one to add to the list . . . . Born into a religious home (both parents were practicing ministers), the early-1960s’ found brother and sister Caryle (aka Carol) and Joe De Franca following their parents across the country, singing in a succession of church choirs. By 1966 the family was living in Southern California, where the siblings decided to try to break onto the L.A. club scene as a folk act. Within a couple of months they’d recruited a full-fledged band with a line up consisting of drummer Jerry Pasternak who was then replaced by Chet McCracken, guitarist Marty Earle, bassist Bruce Wayne and keyboardist Bob Wian. Playing under a number of names, the band started out as a covers band, slowly working in some original material into their act. A succession of dances and private parties saw them graduate to performances on LA’s club scene including dates at Gazzarri’s, The Whiskey, The Sea Witch. That led to dates [as an opening [act] . . . at larger forums like The Palladium, The Aquarius Theater and The Swing Auditorium. They then graduated to playing local colleges and scored attention as an opening act for national touring outfits . . . . Their real break didn’t come until 1967 when director Denis Hoffman saw the band playing at a local college. Hoffman knew guitarist Marty Earle and convinced them to let him develop a project that followed their daily and professional lives as they tried to break into the LA music scene. Even though October Country came off as surprisingly “normal” (Joe’s hobby is amateur radio, his girlfriend’s name is Cricket – apparently a go-go dancer. Carol works at an L.A. nursery school) and conservative (look at the background), the resulting “film” convinced Epic Records president Len Leny to fly out to Los Angeles to see the band play at a club. He subsequently signed them to a contract. where they were teamed with red-hot writer/producer Michael Lloyd. The subsequently made their recording debut with the Lloyd-penned and produced single — 1968’s “October Country” b/w “Baby What I Mean” . . . . At Lloyd’s suggestion the adopted the song title as their name . . . releasing a sophomore single: 1968’s “My Girlfriend Is a Witch” [see #624] b/w “I Just Don’t Know” . . . With the two singles generating modest airplay the band underwent a personnel change with Eddie Beram replacing McCracken on drums. Epic then decided to finance an LP. Anyone who enjoys orchestrated, harmony rich material . . . will certainly find 1968’s October Country a pleasure. That said, in many respects this album was almost a Michael Lloyd solo effort. He produced, handled the arrangements, wrote nine of the eleven tracks and reportedly provided much of the instrumentation. Much to the group’s unending dismay, unhappy with what he considered to be sub-par band performances, Lloyd simply redid the backing tracks. Lloyd’s distinctive creative fingerprints were found all over the album. While neither of the De Francas was a singer, in the confines of this album their individual vocal shortcomings didn’t really matter that much. Surrounded by breezy melodies, complete with imaginative (and occasionally quirky) arrangements . . . [it] exuded a sense of joy and innocence that rock’s seldom come close to recapturing.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/october-country/october-country/

Wikipedia recounts Lloyd’s early years:

By the age of 13, he had formed his own band . . . at the same time continuing to take lessons in music theory and composition. He also started writing songs and pitching them to record labels in Los Angeles, including Tower Records, a subsidiary of Capitol. By Lloyd’s own account, Eddie Ray, the head of A&R at Tower, suggested that the teenage Lloyd work with Mike Curb, and the pair began collaborating on songs and record production. Other sources suggest that Lloyd and Curb were introduced to each other by Kim Fowley [see #89, 449], who had signed Lloyd to a song-publishing deal. Lloyd also recorded surf music as a member of the New Dimensions, a group that included Jimmy Greenspoon, later of Three Dog Night. Around 1964, Lloyd began performing with brothers Shaun and Danny Harris . . . . Together they formed a group initially called the Rogues, later renamed the Laughing Wind. They recorded demos with Fowley, who then introduced the band to Bob Markley, a law graduate and aspiring performer who had already had his own TV show in Oklahoma. With Fowley’s support and Markley’s financial backing, Lloyd became a member of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band with the Harris brothers, Markley and drummer John Ware, releasing an album, Part One [see #197, 488], in 1967. Fowley also released some of the Laughing Wind’s demos, with other tracks featuring Markley, as Volume One, credited to the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Lloyd left the band shortly afterward, but returned to contribute to their 1969 album Where’s My Daddy?. In 1967, Lloyd wrote songs and produced [a] Fowley[] solo album . . . . Curb allowed Lloyd to use his Hollywood Boulevard studios, and together with . . . Stan Ayeroff and Steve Baim . . . Lloyd wrote and produced an album, The Smoke . . . . Lloyd also provided the music for Steven Spielberg’s first short film, Amblin’, and worked with Curb on other movie soundtracks, including The Devil’s 8 . . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lloyd_(music_producer)

I knew that Fowley had to be somehow involved!

Lloyd recalled the making of the October Country LP:

The drummer was so nervous doing the songs that he got physically sick and left. . . . [H]ere we are . . . wondering where the drummer is, and he’s gone. . . . So I just played the drums, and the other guys in the band left, and I did all the instruments. Joe and Caryle and I sang all the parts. It wasn’t like we could come back tomorrow when the drummer feels better. We had no second chance on this. We had to do it. . . . In some ways, [October Country] was a group and in other ways, it was a bit manufactured because I was probably more into it than the other band members. I don’t believe that any of them continued on with music.

liner notes to the CD reissue of October Country

Lloyd talks about himself:

Referred to as a boy genius at the start of his career Michael Lloyd has certainly proven that right. . . . [T]he prolific and talented record producer has accumulated in excess of 100 gold and platinum records well over 72 albums and 34 singles collecting numerous #1 singles and albums. Lloyd’s records . . . rang[e] from Pop & Rock to Country & Jazz, R&B & Gospel . . . . His various chart records span five decades, from the 60’s to the present. Additionally, Lloyd has provided scoring, music supervision, song writing, song placement and or music producing for well over 100 motion pictures, 16 TV movies, 13 television specials & 35 television series. . . . As well as being the music supervisor for the motion picture, and the Dirty Dancing album . . Michael produced the blockbuster hits “I’ve Had The Time Of My Life” for Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, “Yes” by Merry Clayton [see #53] and “She’s Like The Wind” by Patrick Swayze. . . [H]e met Mike Curb, which began a long and fruitful friendship and business association . . . . Curb put Lloyd to work scoring motion pictures, and a few years later, when Curb became president of MGM Records, he brought Lloyd, then 20 years old, in as vice president of A & R. At MGM Records, Lloyd signed Lou Rawls, which generated Lloyd’s first major hit, “A Natural Man”. Some of the artists Lloyd has worked with over the years include Barry Manilow, Belinda Carlisle, Kimberley Locke, Dionne Warwick, Steve Holy, Natalie Grant, Bill Medley, Benny Mardones, Stryper, Jennifer Warnes, The Righteous Brothers, The Monkees, Shaun Cassidy, Eric Carman, The Bellamy Brothers, The Burrito Brothers, The New Seekers, Sammy Davis Jr., Air Supply, Carmen, Jeffrey Osborne, The Osmonds, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bill Medley, Tamara Walker, The Pointer Sisters, Leif Garrett, Susie Alllanson, Brush Arbor, Donny & Marie, Maureen McGovern, Roger Williams, Merry Clayton, Debby Boone, and Frank Sinatra [see #1,455] . . . .

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516083/bio/

Quite self-effacing!

Here is the Smoke:

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Toe Hold Special Edition: Wilson Pickett — “Toe Hold”, Al Kooper — “Toe Hold”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 9, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

Some great artists have recorded this Isaac Hayes/David Porter classic, including Johnnie Taylor (who did it first) (see #191, 390, 979), Sam & Dave (see #844) and Sharon Tandy (see #371, 441-42, 741, 1,485), but only Wilson Pickett (see #1,397) and Al Kooper (see #642, 705, 765, 804, 1,447) (“Al may be white, but he’s got soul!” (Bob Lefsetz, https://www.rhino.com/article/bob-lefsetz-welcome-to-my-world-al-kooper-primer)) gave it a toe hold to immortality. Oh, and by the way, that is Duane Allman on guitar with Pickett, inventing Southern Rock.

1,903) Wilson Pickett

The Wicked Pickett gives us a “stand-out gem[]” (Bryan Kluger, https://boomstickcomics.com/classic-waxxx-wilson-pickett-hey-jude/) that is a “[k]iller, funky, rocky soul belter[]” (Sounds of the Universe, https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/wilson-pickett-born-to-be-wild-toe-hold), “funky, hard-driving . . . with a powerful rhythm section and [a] fierce vocal performance. . . . showcasing the raw, upbeat side of Pickett’s sound.” (Round Flat Records, https://www.roundflat.com/shop/vinyl-records/wilson-pickett-hey-jude-180-gram-vinyl-record/?srsltid=AfmBOooF6d3sFAwUL3uitBwP1v0BBu_XUgN4M54sL1KVpziRKthcSLFH) “This song needs to be in a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack yesterday!” (larryschemeliajr.6590, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyHWGgvSzQY)

Mark Deming tells us about Pickett’s Hey Jude LP:

Wilson Pickett and the Muscle Shoals session crew with whom he cut most of his best work thankfully had the good sense to not try to go psychedelic when the pop charts went all day-glo in the late 1960’s, but that’s not to say they didn’t make an effort to change with the times. On Hey Jude, Pickett and producer Rick Hall decided to throw a couple of recent rock covers into the mix, and while Pickett’s version of “Hey Jude” suggests that he isn’t entirely sure what it is he’s singing about, he still belts it out with his typical level of commitment and builds up to a proper fury at the end; he sounds more comfortable with the neo-biker bombast of “Born To Be Wild”, a combination of artist and material that works far better than anyone would have a right to expect. But the most notable change in Pickett’s approach for this album was the addition of Duane Allman on guitar; his wirey, blues-accented leads don’t overpower the album, but they add a noticeably harder texture to the sound, and that seems to suit Pickett, one of the toughest soul shouters of his time, just fine. Most of the Hey Jude is dominated by hard Southern soul numbers like “A Man and a Half” and “Toe Hold”, and Pickett, one of the most dependable performers on the 1960’s soul scene, gives a typically con brio performance on all ten tracks, and the sharp report of the horn section and Allman’s blistering guitar makes for music just as potent as the wail of the lead singer, which is not an accomplishment to be sneered at.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/hey-jude-mw0000381325

Michael Little adds:

[T]he title cut is one of the most phenomenal songs ever recorded, and is in fact so great I would probably give this album an A even if every other song on it was a jingle for a cereal commercial. Pickett, whom I consider the best screamer in the history of soul and R&B, if not rock too, lays into “Hey Jude” like somebody just chopped his foot off with a hatchet, while the horn section kicks ass and Duane Allman, who was just beginning his career as a session musician, tears off one of the most brilliant and in-your-face guitar solos you’ll ever hear. . . . Fortunately Pickett fills out the album with a bunch of other songs that, while they can’t (what could?) compare with “Hey Jude,” are excellent in their own right. His voice is a miracle, his screams make Joe Cocker sound like a pee wee leaguer, and in short he turns in a whole slew of superb performances, demonstrating his mastery of phrasing and the wild scream even on those songs . . . that don’t quite measure up to the rest of the songs on the album. Putting Pickett, Allman, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section . . . and some great horn players together in the studio was a stroke of genius on Atlantic Records honcho Jerry Wexler’s part, and it paid off in a royal flush as the bunch of ‘em simply could not fail to turn an okay song into a great one. . . . Need I add that the horn section (Gene Miller and Jack Peck on trumpets, Joe Arnold and Aaron Varnell on tenor saxophones, and James Mitchell on baritone saxophone) all help to elevate these songs to a fever pitch? As do Barry Beckett on keyboards and piano and Marvell Thomas . . . on organ. As for Allman, it was these recordings that led Eric Clapton to look him up for a place in Derek and the Dominos, and while the fact that three guitarists played on the LP makes it difficult to know when he’s playing, I’m relatively certain that’s him tossing off short but brilliant bursts of pure cool on the revved up “Born to Be Wild,” as well as on the raucous “My Own Style of Loving” and the funky “Toe Hold[” (though Little inexplicably thinks it’s one of the lesser songs on the LP)] on both of which he shadows every Pickett utterance with a short, sharp, machine gun burst of notes. . . . Muscle Shoals guitarist Jimmy Johnson later stated that these sessions marked the creation of southern rock, which leads me to believe he was around to record the whole album. But it’s Pickett who owns this LP, thanks to his miraculous voice; it’s the purest expression of soul and R&B this side of Otis Redding [see #1,333, 1,385], with lots of great screams thrown in. As I said before, his perfect delivery and flights into screaming ecstasy make him as convincing and expressive a singer as any one who has ever opened his mouth. He can go from lady-killer to repentant lover in a heartbeat . . . . Listen to . . . the stutter-scat of the hard-hitting “Toe Hold,” and you’ll realize you’re in the proximity of a true master.

https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/graded-on-a-curve-wilson-pickett-hey-jude-2/

1,904) Al Kooper — “Toe Hold”

Kooper “hits a memorably funky groove” (Ian McFarlane, liner notes to the CD reissue of I Stand Alone and You Never Know Who You Friends Are) here. Natan Gesher complains that it “had an excessive use of horns, which were quite distracting”. (Natan Gesher, https://colossalreviews.com/music/i-stand-alone-by-al-kooper-vinyl-record-album-review/) WTF? More horns!

Bruce Eder goes into paroxysms of ecstasy over Al Kooper’s first solo album, I Stand Alone:

Al Kooper’s first solo album is a dazzling, almost overpoweringly beautiful body of music, and nearly as sly at times in its humor as it is impressive in its musical sensibilities — specifically, the overture serves its function, and also pokes knowing, savagely piercing fun at the then-current vogue for sound collage-type pieces (most especially the Beatles’ “Revolution #9”). Those looking for a reference point can think of I Stand Alone as a [very] close[] relative to [Blood, Sweat & Tears’] Child Is Father to the Man [see #765], drawing on a few remnants from the tail end of his tenure with the group and a bunch of new songs and compositions by others that Kooper wanted to record — one beautiful element of his career, that helped distinguish him from a lot of other talented people of the period, is that unlike a lot of other musicians who were gifted songwriters Kooper never shied away from a good song written by someone else . . . ; and he jumps in headfirst, as a stylist, singer, and musician, all over I Stand Alone. Stylistically, it’s a gloriously bold work, encompassing radiant soul, elements of jazz going back to the swing era, classical, pop, and even rockabilly — and freely (and masterfully) mixing all of them — into a phantasmagoric whole. . . . [F]or all of its diversity of sound and its free ranging repertory, and the unexpected edits and tempo changes, the album all holds together as a coherent body of work . . . that still leaves one kind of “whited out” . . . at the end — not even Sgt. Pepper does that anymore. On the down side, the sound effects that Kooper dubbed in between (and sometimes during) the songs may seem strangely distracting today, but they were a product of their time — this was the tail end of the psychedelic era, after all . . . though it’s hard to imagine too many people in the business keeping a straight face about such production techniques after hearing the fun this album has at their expense.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-stand-alone-mw0000459426

G.S. questions some of Eder’s rhetorical flights:

Bruce Eder even had to write a glowing review in which he drew comparisons with Sgt. Pepper, implying that I Stand Alone was actually the better album. It didn’t help, I think. A few people just bought the record expecting another Sgt. Pepper, and came away disappointed. . . . Eder [also] put forward the idea that the whole sound effect thing was effectively one large gag, a sort of parody on the abuse of sonic collages — he may have had some firsthand information on this, but it certainly does not come across that way from the music; this is not a Zappa [see #793] album, and parody and humor do not tie in all that much with Kooper’s image of a romantic idealist. They just come across as a bad distraction, an inevitable, perhaps, curse of the time, but something that you have to forgive the record for before giving it the deserved thumbs up.

https://only-solitaire.blogspot.com/2011/03/al-kooper-i-stand-alone.html

Anyway, Jason adds:

I Stand Alone is one of those records that’s inventive in a post Sgt. Pepper way, ambitious in its wide array of styles, experimental within a pop context and bound to confuse at least a few listeners. It’s amazing that Kooper’s solo work and the first Blood, Sweat and Tears record have never been reassessed for the great records they are. I Stand Alone is a strong listen all the way through, divided evenly between originals and well chosen covers. . . . it’s an excellent, elaborate production though and proof that strings and horns can work well in the rock n roll format. Other tracks see Kooper cover classics by Sam & Dave (Toe Hold) . . . . All the covers are great and Kooper gives his own individual stamp on each song but of course it’s the originals that grab your attention. . . . This is an undeniably great album . . . .

https://therisingstorm.net/al-kooper-i-stand-alone/

G.S. again:

Poorly promoted and scantily reviewed, I Stand Alone did not make Al a solo star in his own right . . . . The general idea is . . . [e]clecticism as a goal in itself, a musical celebration of life’s various sides on the part of an innocent, but creative bystander. A humble bystander, too . . . so there is no problem about mixing his originals with lots of covers (something you could easily be publicly castigated for in 1968 if you were aspiring to Art with a capital A, and which may actually explain some of the disinterest in the record). Both the covers and the originals are consistently swell, though. It is true that the covers add little to the impact already done by the original: there are no really drastic reinventions . . . . [T]he whole thing was recorded in Nashville[. . . .] possibly the least likely album to be recorded in Nashville that year, yet it still happened — Kooper must have stolen Roger McGuinn’s passport or something to dupe these guys . . . . [T]rue fans of the Koop will most likely treasure the record for a few jazz-rock and art-pop numbers that Al must have salvaged from the wrecks of the first lineup of BS&T. . . . So, any flaws? One — alas, a big one . . . . In order to ensure Conceptual Coherence, Al thought it necessary to provide all the songs with large bunches of meaningless sound effects. Sirens, explosions, laughter, shrieks of horror, crowd noises, animal noises — by 1968, everybody already knew that you could insert some dog barking into any song of your choice without being evicted from the Songwriters’ Guild, so the novel effect was no longer in action, and still the man plowed on. Sometimes these nasties creep up at the wrongest moment . . . and sometimes they just f*ck the song up . . . . In all other respects, I Stand Alone still stands alone as a unique singer-songwriter-art-pop-philosopher effort — I can think of no other album from 1968-69 with this particular kind of eclectic, yet highly individual sound.

https://only-solitaire.blogspot.com/2011/03/al-kooper-i-stand-alone.html

Al Kooper should have long ago been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Eder says that Kooper “by rights, should be regarded as one of the giants of ’60s rock, not far behind the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in importance.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/al-kooper-mn0000509524) Yup.

He should also have been inducted into the Chutzpah Hall of Fame. As the famous story goes, he bluffed his way into a Bob Dylan recording session. They took up Like a Rolling Stone, and as Richard Havers describes it:

“I’ve got a great organ part for the song,” [Kooper] told . . . producer [Tom Wilson]. “Al, . . you don’t even play the organ.” Before Kooper could argue his case, Wilson was distracted and so the twenty-one-year-old, “former guitar player,” simply walked into the studio and sat down at the B3. . . . During a playback of tracks in the control room, when asked about the organ track, Dylan was emphatic: “Turn the organ up!”

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/al-kooper/

Yes, that instantly recognizable organ riff!

Eder continues:

[H]e was a very audible sessionman on some of the most important records of mid-decade . . . . Kooper also joined and led, and then lost two major groups, the Blues Project [see #1,411, 1,709] and Blood, Sweat & Tears. He played on two classic blues-rock albums in conjunction with his friend Mike Bloomfield. As a producer at Columbia, he signed the British invasion act the Zombies [see #1,138] just in time for them to complete the best LP in their entire history; and still later, Kooper discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd and produced their best work.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/al-kooper-mn0000509524

Here are Sam & Dave:

Here is Johnnie Taylor:

Here is Sharon Tandy:

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I Shall Be Released: Wimple Winch — “Marmalade Hair”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 8, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,902) Wimple Winch — “Marmalade Hair”

UK freakbeat/psych masters cut this amazing pop psych demo in ‘68. I may be wrong, but I think I’m right that the lyrics might be a bit touchy nowadays: “I may be wrong, I think I’m right She’ll give in tonight”

Mark Deming writes of Wimple Winch:

Liverpool’s Wimple Winch are best known to obsessive collectors of U.K. freakbeat for a handful of rare but potent singles, such as the malevolent “Save My Soul” [see #49] . . . . Dee Christopholus (vocals and guitar), John Kelman (lead guitar), and Larry King (aka Lawrence Arendes, drums) were members of the beat combo the Four Just Four Men (who briefly became the Just Four Men), who start out playing pleasant but unremarkable instrumentals . . . and eventually moved on to pop vocal sides that make them sound like competent but unremarkable also-rans on the Merseybeat scene. They improved as they went along . . . . However, when bassist Stuart Sirrett left at the end of 1965 and Barry Ashall took over in early 1966, something kicked in with this band, which adopted the new name Wimple Winch and embraced a far more aggressive and compelling sound, with a crispness that suggested the mod sound that was coming into vogue, along with shades of psychedelia creeping into “Atmospheres” [see #384] . . . . None of the Wimple Winch singles were hits . . . . [but later demos] confirm the group was continuing to evolve and innovate even after it was dropped by Fontana, with the psychedelic influences moving comfortably to the forefront and pop-minded pastoral accents coloring the melodies. . . . [T]his is fascinating stuff for those enamored of the point where beat music fell under the lysergic influence, and reveals just how weird a seemingly ordinary, clean-cut band could get during the first era of acid.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/tales-from-the-sinking-ship-mw0000808821

Vernon Joynson adds that:

Their manager, Mike Carr, owned a club named The Sinking Ship near Mersey Square south in Stockport and, having become the house band, it wasn’t long before Wimple Winch secured a record contract . . . . In 1967 the Sinking Ship caught fire, and all the band’s gear was lost. They rallied to record some tracks that summer, but momentum was lost and they split soon afterwards. . . . When they disbanded in mid-1967, Lawrence Arendes joined Sponze, a jazzy progressive combo who backed Dave Berry [see #554, 778, 887, 955] on a 1969 45 “Huma Luma”/”Oh What a Life” . . . . They later evolved into Pacific Drift [see #550] . . . .

45cat.com says that the demos were done in ’68 — post-breakup:

Larry, Dee and Barry produced some unreleased recordings in May of 1968 including “Bluebell Wood”, “Lollipop Minds”, “Marmalade Hair”, “Coloured Glass” and “Those Who Wait”. A few months later, Dee and Larry with ex-Herman’s Hermits [see #300, 613, 639, 841] members Keith Hopwood and Derek Leckenby, gathered at the newly opened Pluto Studios in Manchester and provided four more tracks.

https://www.45cat.com/biography/wimple-winch

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The Stingrays of Newburgh — “Fool”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 7, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,901) The Stingrays of Newburgh — “Fool”

I pity the fool who doesn’t flip over this “cool piece of psych punk” (liner notes to the CD comp Tony the Tyger Presents Fuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes: Vol. 3: Stay Out of My World), this “exceptional . . . fast-paced, driving garage rock with powerfully ringing guitar by Tony DeVilleo and organ, supported by a strong bass and drums rhythm section, topped off by a forceful vocal from Octavius Graham”. (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-sting-rays-of-newburgh/if-i-needed-someone-fool/) Honestly, I don’t know why this song isn’t regularly chosen as one of the greatest garage rock songs . . . ever. “Baby, I’m not a fool!”

Boris tells us about the Sting-Rays of Newburgh, who came from, yes, Newburgh, New York:

The Sting-Rays of Newburgh featured Newburgh Free Academy students Ronnie Moskowitz, Tommy Kinsler, Autavis “Tave” Graham, Tony Davilio, and Bruce Shapiro. . . . While Tommy Kinsler was credited with writing the band’s original songs, it was guitarist Tony Davilio who wound up becoming a professional musician, arranger and composer. He went on to work on John Lennon [see #29, 113, 520, 522, 1,473] and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy album for which he won a Grammy Award. In 2004 Davilio wrote a book about his experience working on the album called The Lennon Sessions.

https://wpdh.com/did-you-ever-hear-about-the-beatles-of-newburgh/

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Betty Everett — “1900 Yesterday”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 6, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,900) Betty Everett — “1900 Yesterday”

This was an out-of-leftfield #33 hit by the house band at the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Garden Bar — but Betty Everett’s version is sooooo much better — “still an all-time fav”. (Otis, https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/103323), As pcno2832 puts it, “Wow. This is so much better than the elevator-music version. Too bad it wasn’t the one that became a hit.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jEhx_K74v4) But, best of all, Qutoobe recalls:

When I was a little boy (maybe 6 or 7) this record was a prize in a bag of Lay’s potato chips-no kidding! I loved it then and still love it. Imagine a little white boy in the midwest grooving’ on this while his mother tried to understand! I played it over and over, practically wore it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLHlgna265c

The hit version by Liz Damon’s Orient Express “spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 33 the week of February 13, 1971, while reaching No. 4 on Billboard‘s Easy Listening chart, No. 29 on the Cash Box Top 100, No. 15 on Canada’s RPM 100, and No. 16 on RPM‘s ‘MOR Playlist’.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Yesterday) Joe Viglione describes the Express’ version:

“1900 Yesterday” is as classic a slice of middle-of-the-road/adult contemporary music as you’ll find, and the hit single is up there with Ray Conniff’s Top Ten 1966 hit, “Somewhere My Love” . . . . Indeed, Liz Damon’s group of three frontwomen and six male musicians sounds as enamored of Ray Conniff and his sound as Ric Ocasek and the Cars were of the Velvet Underground [see #1,862]. . . . The record is absolutely delightful if you consider the strange combination of genres — girl group meets middle-of-the-road. The sounds are not strange bedfellows, it’s just that for the time this was the antithesis of hip, though that hit single keeps coming back — as wonderful a tune as the Five Stairsteps’ “O-o-h Child,” albeit lighter, much lighter. . . . a timeless hit single . . . worth hearing again and again.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/liz-damons-orient-express-mw0000079467

Ron Wynn tells us of Betty Everett:

Betty Everett sang gospel growing up in Greenwood, MS, before relocating to Chicago and moving into secular music. She began recording for Cobra in 1958, then joined Vee-Jay in the early ’60s and started to land hit records. Her original version of “You’re No Good,” though sung with fire and verve, didn’t make much impact until it was turned into a number one pop hit by Linda Ronstadt in 1975. Her next single, “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss),” was her first major release, peaking at number six pop in 1964. Her next success was the duet “Let It Be Me” with Jerry Butler [see #347], a soul version of the Everly Brothers tune that reached number five R&B that same year. Everett’s finest song as a solo act was 1969’s “There’ll Come a Time,” which reached number two on the R&B charts and also cracked the pop Top 30 at number 26. Everett was now on Uni, where she remained until 1970. She continued recording for Fantasy until 1974 and made one other record for United Artists in 1978.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/betty-everett-mn0000058361#biography

Concord Records tells us more:

A Sagittarian, she began singing in her mother’s church when she was six years old; she also played the piano. . . . Betty’s career has had its ups and down. She originally started singing the blues because, back in Greenwood, a blues singer came through town frequently, and she fell in love. As Betty puts it: “He didn’t come to Greenwood enough for me! Then I thought, ‘Well, maybe if I get out there and do what he’s doing, maybe I’ll see more of him.’” That’s exactly what she did! Her family moved to Chicago when she was 17, and she soon went on the road with Muddy Waters. She says she didn’t last long at that because she was too shy and too young. At one point, Ike Turner [see #212, 329, 837, 1,866] wanted to hire Betty (this in pre-Tina days), but, very inexperienced in the worldly-wise life of most r&b musicians, she called a relative and asked to be taken home. “Come pick me up, these people over here’s crazy!” It was in a Chicago club called The Hideaway that Betty Everett was first noticed by record company people.

https://concord.com/artist/betty-everett/

Wikipedia takes us aboard the Orient Express:

Liz Damon’s Orient Express was an American soft rock band from Hawaii, featuring lead singer Liz Damon, two female backup singers and a rotating backup band. The name apparently derived from the original backup band being entirely Asian. (Damon herself was of mixed European, Hawaiian, and Choctaw descent.) Their only song to make the Top 40 was “1900 Yesterday”. . . . Damon’s backup singers on the 1970 album At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village were her sister Edda Damon and Sydette Sakauye. In the early 1970s, Sakauye left and was replaced by Meri McPherson. While the Damon sisters and McPherson were constants, their backup band underwent numerous personnel changes. . . . The band was the house band at the Garden Bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for 18 months and recorded its first album, At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1970. Originally released on Makaha Records, it was then picked up by White Whale, who released it as an eponymous album and also released “1900 Yesterday” as a single. White Whale Records was under financial distress at the time (embroiled in a years-long dispute with their marquee band, The Turtles, and unable to develop any further acts other than a few one-hit wonders) and folded shortly after “1900 Yesterday” became a hit. Liz Damon’s Orient Express released Burt Bacharach’s “Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets” . . . in late 1971, and it became their second and last US chart single. . . . The group released three more albums during the 1970s, consisting mostly of covers. In 1979, the group released a comedy album. During the late 1970s, the band moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where they performed until their breakup in the mid-1980s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Damon%27s_Orient_Express

Here is Liz Damon’s Orient Express:

Here are the Lennon Sisters on the Andy Williams show, performing a questionable medley of “1900 Yesterday” and the Beatles’ “Yesterday”:

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Jeremiah — “Sweet Rebecca”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 5, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,899) Jeremiah — “Sweet Rebecca“

This insidiously catchy throwaway tune from ex-New Mix [see #1,184, 1,194] frontman David Brown “recall[s] those insidiously catchy throwaway tunes that McCartney [see #28, 132, 374, 521, 669, 779-81, 840] effortless[ly] churned out in the mid-1970s (complete with pounding keyboard stylings)”. (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jeremiah/jeremiah/) Yes, it “sound[s] like some McCartney could have done in his sleep”. (Odds and Sods, https://jhendrix110.tripod.com/OandS.html) Hey, I’d kill to be able to do something that McCartney could have done in the womb! The LP contains “[i]mpressive pastoral styled pop . . . . [t]erribly underrated [and] filled with earnest pop nuggets.” (universaltongue, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jeremiah/jeremiah/)

RDTEN1 tells us:

Based on the liner notes for their 1971 album, the short-lived Jeremiah featured a line-up of singer/multi-instrumentalist David Brown, bassist Karl Jarvi, drummer Denny Seiwell and lead guitarist Pat Walters. All four members has extensive musical backgrounds before pooling their talents. Jarvi and Walters played in a number of North Carolina-based outfits including The Barons and the Paragons. Jarvi and David Brown had been members of The 18th Edition and The New Mix. . . . Jeremiah offered up a very likeable set of orchestrated power-pop. Singer/ guitarist Brown was credited with penning all eleven songs and displayed a gift for writing Paul McCartney-styled pop. . . . [H]e had a highly commercial voice that occasionally recalled Eric Carmen doing his best Paul McCartney imitation. Emitt Rhodes [see #50, 156, 1837] would be another good point of comparison. That was good news if you were a fan of McCartney’s commercial leanings. Virtually every one of these songs would have sounded good on top-40 radio. . . . The downside was that like McCartney, these guys occasionally got too clever and soppy for their own good. Too many ballads gave the album a ‘sounds-the-same feel’. The album would have earned another star had they shaken up the tempo with a couple more straight-ahead rockers. Elsewhere the unsung hero was guitarist Walters. His tasteful solos managed to salvage even the most sentimental schlock . . . . Even with those criticisms this one was worth scoring. It’s an album I keep coming back to . . . .

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jeremiah/jeremiah/

Odds and Sods is less enthusiastic:

[Jeremiah is b]asically a solo album from . . . David Brown, in a pop singer-songwriter mode. (Tellingly, it was recorded with some of the musicians which Paul McCartney used for Ram and later comprised Wings. Drummer Denny Seiwell is even credited as a member of Jeremiah.) . . . The A side is largely gentle pop songs, but a few have a pulse . . . . Brown had the voice for his material, but light pop from this period is more pleasant than memorable. McCartney is an exception because he infused most everything with a goofy sense of humor . . . . The B side is better, with more a band feel, closer to The New Mix without the psychedelic lyrics or production. . . . Brown had such a good voice, and some strong pop instincts that I really wonder what happened to him after this. I guess he released another album, I Want to Be With You, as “David Brown and Jeremiah” the next year, then disappeared.

https://jhendrix110.tripod.com/OandS.html

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Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood — “The Look of Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 4, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,898) Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood — “The Look of Love”

Dig this “[r]aga take” (Soul Strut, https://www.soulstrut.com/Archive/bill-plummer-cosmic-brotherhood) on Burt Bacharach’s chestnut by Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood. Sitars keep falling on my head. Ouch!!! Jonny Zchivago’s reaction to the LP? —

“The world of Psychsploitation wasn’t confined to Pop Music. Jazz also had a large go at cornering the burgeoning Psych trade. I remember vividly first seeing this album in a crate . . . in the mid-nineties. A bloke in a business suit with no shoes or socks on, playing a Sitar!?

https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/2019/08/bill-plummer-and-cosmic-brotherhood.html?m=1

As Soul Strut says, “Far out, man!” (https://www.soulstrut.com/Archive/bill-plummer-cosmic-brotherhood)

The Listening Post Blog writes:

Already an accomplished jazz bassist at the time of the album’s release, Bill Plummer turned heads on the Cosmic Brotherhood with heavy Eastern and psychedelic influences that challenged contemporary ideas about jazz. . . . The result is an album that reflects a musician at the peak of his creative powers, unafraid to explore new ideas and sounds that meld into a cohesive, spectacular album.

https://thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/23/song-of-the-day-bill-plummer-and-the-cosmic-brotherhood-journey-to-the-east/

Soul Strut adds:

Bill Plummer is best known for his session work as an upright acoustic bass player jamming with the likes of Miles Davis, The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), Nancy Wilson, etc. In 1968 he released this oddball, groovy far eastern jazz record on the famed Impulse! label. Here Plummer explores the electric sitar as well as holding it down on double bass.

https://www.soulstrut.com/Archive/bill-plummer-cosmic-brotherhood

Light in the Attic Records sells it:

Welcome to the mind-expanding 1968 jazz recording of Bill Plummer and The Cosmic Brotherhood—where Eastern and psychedelic influences meld together to produce one of the trippiest jazz albums on Impulse Records. This LP is a . . . sonic travelogue, with the pop-psych spoken-word sitar freakout of “Journey To The East” to Bill Plummer’s swinging, rapid fire/cool jazz compositions, to his covers that go straight to the heart of any 60’s genre-crossing jazz fans. Featuring an incredible who’s who of the high-caliber talent bubbling over in the Los Angeles music scene at the time: Carol Kaye (legendary bass player of The Wrecking Crew), Maurice Miller (drummer in The Jazz Corps), Dennis Budimir (guitarist with Chico Hamilton Quintet, Ravi Shankar & Frank Zappa), Mike Lang (Piano with Flamin’ Groovies & Hal Blaine), Tom Scott (Saxophone with Gabor Szabo & Thelonious Monk), Ray Neopolitan (Bass for The Doors & Leonard Cohen), Milt Holland (Percussionist with The Wrecking Crew & Captain Beefheart), Bill Goodwin (Drums for Mose Allison & Tom Waits)

https://lightintheattic.net/products/bill-plummer-and-the-cosmic-brotherhood?srsltid=AfmBOopgzv6BGteT3pZt-AdvnJiD6UBFSpfDEa-1rCnrctWGwCDOKk6N

Psychedelicized plumbs Plummer’s depths:

Plummer was born in . . . Boulder, CO where he trained on piano, string bass, trumpet, marimba and vibraharp. At the age of 20, he moved to L.A. to pursue a career in jazz and picked up the sitar under the instruction of Ravi Shankar. In 1966, Plummer toured with Tony Bennett and Miles Davis and formed the Jazz Corps, an experimental ensemble that included Maurice Miller and Lynn Blessing. His love for Jazz and Eastern music came together on the . . . LP Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood where he blended the sitar with wind instruments, drums, stings and bells. . . . Plummer went on to become a very successful session musician, performing on a slew of movie and TV scores including The French Connection I & II, Bullitt, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, Mission Impossible, The Bionic Woman and Mannix.

https://psychedelicized.com/playlist/c/the-cosmic-brotherhood/

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Bobby Womack — “More than I Can Stand”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 3, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,897) Bobby Womack — “More than I Can Stand”

This majestic song by the great Bobby Womack (see #918, 919) only reached #90 (though it did reach #23 on Billboard’s R&B chart).

Henriettaparks586 says “OH MY GOD!!! LAWD!!! HAVEN’T HEARD THIS!! IN DECADES!!! THE PREACHER IS DELIVERING HIS SERMON!!! MORE THAN I CAN STAND!! IT’S TO DAMN SHORT!!!!” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B6_AX4zZjcE&list=RDB6_AX4zZjcE&start_radio=1&pp=ygUiQm9iYnkgd29tYWNrIG1vcmUgdGhhbiBJIGNhbiBzdGFuZKAHAQ%3D%3D) And GREATTECH recalls that:

I was a teenager in 1967 when this came out. I was in New Orleans, and this was MY JAM! We had a DJ named R.J.JENKINS on soul radio WBOK 1230 am that sang and narrated as it was playing….I found out what love and soul were all about. Bobby talked through his monologue “the preacher” before singing this song on the end. R.J. made you feel like you were at CHURCH when Bobby said “Everybody say yeah!” This was the most soulful jam in my young life…it made a BELIEVER out of me….I STILL love it at 68 years old. Just SAYIN’!!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aIzmbZnWY7I&list=RDaIzmbZnWY7I&start_radio=1&pp=ygUiQm9iYnkgd29tYWNrIG1vcmUgdGhhbiBJIGNhbiBzdGFuZKAHAQ%3D%3D

You can’t get any better endorsements than that!

As to Bobby Womack’s early solo career, Steve Huey writes that:

Able to shine in the spotlight as a singer or behind the scenes as an instrumentalist and songwriter, Womack never got his due from pop audiences, but during the late ’60s and much of the ’70s, he was a consistent hitmaker on the R&B charts . . . . [Sam] Cooke’s tragic death in December 1964 left Womack greatly shaken and the Valentinos’ career in limbo. Just three months later, Womack married Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell, which earned him tremendous ill will in the R&B community . . . . Womack found himself unable to get his solo career rolling in the wake of the scandal; singles . . . were avoided like the plague despite their quality. . . . To make ends meet, Womack became a backing guitarist, first landing a job with Ray Charles; he went on to make a valuable connection in producer Chips Moman, and appeared often at Moman’s American Studio in Memphis, as well as nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the process, Womack appeared on classic recordings by the likes of Joe Tex, King Curtis, and Aretha Franklin . . . among others. He recorded singles . . . without success, but became one of Wilson Pickett’s favorite songwriters, contributing the R&B Top Ten hits “I’m in Love” and “I’m a Midnight Mover” (plus 15 other tunes) to the singer’s repertoire. Womack had been slated to record a solo album . . . but had given Pickett most of his best material, which actually wound up getting his name back in the public eye in a positive light. In 1968, he scored the first charting single of his solo career with “What Is This?” and soon hit with a string of inventively reimagined pop covers — “Fly Me to the Moon,” “California Dreamin’,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco[]” . . . . A songwriting partnership with engineer Darryl Carter resulted in the R&B hits “It’s Gonna Rain,” “How I Miss You Baby,” and “More Than I Can Stand” over 1969-1970. . . . . [H]e contributed the ballad “Trust Me” to Janis Joplin[] . . . . He also teamed up with jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo . . . [on] Womack’s composition “Breezin’” (which . . . became a smash for George Benson six years later). . . . Womack played guitar on Sly & the Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On, a masterpiece of darkly psychedelic funk . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-womack-mn0000064509/biography

Here is Bobby Live. Tonybates7870 says “Great version. Kicks the sh*t out of the studio recording.” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QXB9_gd6G7A&list=RDQXB9_gd6G7A&start_radio=1&pp=ygUiQm9iYnkgd29tYWNrIG1vcmUgdGhhbiBJIGNhbiBzdGFuZKAHAdIHCQmuCgGHKiGM7w%3D%3D) I think they both kick sh*t, but in any event, here goes:

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Philwit & Pegasus — “My, What a Lovely Day It’s Been”Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 2, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,896) Philwit & Pegasus — “My, What a Lovely Day It’s Been”

My, what a lovely song — it’s been such a lovely day, and, in apparent response to John Lennon’s interjection in “Getting Better”, “it couldn’t get much better”! As John Paul writes, this is a song of “regal majesty . . . , as close as [Mark Wirtz’s] album gets to attaining its soaring, operatic pop aspirations . . . building and building to an explosion of flower-powered harmonies, strings, horns and a massive hook.” (https://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2025/09/philwit-and-pegasus-philwit-and-pegasus.html) The LP is “a lovely orchestrated harmony-pop concept album” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) where “[t]he influence of the most Baroque elements of the Beach Boys [see #667, 1,825] and late-’60s California sunshine pop can be felt at times . . . particularly on [‘Lovely Day’]”. (John Paul again)

The album as a whole has its ups and downs. John Paul writes:

Like so many albums released in the waning days of psychedelia and sunshine pop, the story of Philwit & Pegasus’ lone, self-titled release is not that of an actual band but rather a producer and his coterie of musicians. . . . [T]hat producer was Mark Wirtz . . . yet another hallmark of the era in which the underground fully erupted into the mainstream and beyond. But Wirtz had cred within the psychedelic scene having co-written and produced Tomorrow’s [see #72] “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera[]” . . . presag[ing] the “rock opera” floodgates opened by The Who [see #548, 833, 976] with the release of Tommy. . . . Wirtz’s concept for the teenage opera came out piecemeal over the course of the next four decades . . . . Wirtz’s songwriting skills were not entirely in keeping with his ambitions. . . . Philwit & Pegasus sounds very much a product of its time. There are elements of psychedelia, hints of folk rock and more than a little West Coast sunshine pop . . . . Presented as a thematic song cycle . . . Philwit & Pegasus borrows bits and pieces of Wirtz’s teenage opera to construct a loose narrative arc. . . . [and takes a] scattershot approach to assembling an arc or general theme . . . . [Wirtz] clearly spent a fair amount of time taking [Curt] Boettcher’s [see #1,881, 1,886] production work and the more baroque elements of the Beach Boys, post-Pet Sounds . . . . Were it built on stronger material, the album could well be granted the coveted “lost masterpiece” sobriquet. As it stands, however, it’s little more than a snapshot of a time when ideas far outweighed content. These ideas are well executed with a crack team of musicians (Wirtz himself acted only as producer) that included legendary session guitarist Chris Spedding . . . , Terry Cox (Pentagle), Joe Moretti (Gene Vincent), along with a half dozen or so vocalists who were proven hit makers – in Britain at least. . . . What the narrative of Philwit & Pegasus was actually meant to convey is anyone’s guess; the songs seem only vaguely related, and stylistically the album is all over the map . . . . By no means an outright failure, it’s is an interesting curio from a more ambitious era in pop music when, post-Pepper, it seemed anything was possible. . . . The album will appeal to those with a soft spot for baroque, sunshine pop that’s musically lush and gorgeous; if only it weren’t lyrically lacking, at times dissolving into wordless vocalizing and hippy-dippy cliches.

https://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2025/09/philwit-and-pegasus-philwit-and-pegasus.html

Richie Unterberger is less tolerant and more disapproving:

Philwit & Pegasus is an epic in search of a narrative or gripping theme, not to mention decent pop songs. . . . Wirtz thought he was devising an arty song cycle of sorts, or a movie on record. What it sounds like, however, is a collection of fairly unrelated unexceptional pop songs, decorated by occasionally ambitious grandiose instrumentation that sometimes puts it as close to easy listening as to pop/rock. The influence of the most Baroque elements of the Beach Boys and late-’60s California sunshine pop can be felt at times . . . as can . . . early mellow laid-back L.A. country-folk-rock. Then, however, you get to “And I Try,” which sounds like an even more overwrought Tom Jones tackling an MOR ballad. It’s an odd and not especially tasty mixture. . . .

Philwit & Pegasus were . . . an odd one-off studio project by producer Mark Wirtz. In the late ’60s, Wirtz was known primarily as the creator of rock-influenced easy listening mood music albums, and also as the producer of the fine British psychedelic pop band Tomorrow. . . . [His] idea was to make a sort of movie-on-record LP, and he wrote a song cycle of sorts with his girlfriend of the time, Maria Feltham. There really wasn’t a plot or narrative to the album, though Wirtz has said . . . that the theme was “struggle, fear, and fantasized happiness.” . . . [N]either [Wirtz nor Feltham] actually played or sang on the album. The vocal parts were taken by John Carter [see #1,201, 1,304], Peter Lee Stirling, Chas Mills, Guy Fletcher, and Roger Greenaway . . . . The conception and ambition behind Philwit & Pegasus were more interesting than its reality. It in fact consisted of mediocre pop songs that drew from both easy listening and rock, though the arrangements were lush and varied, at times influenced by folk-rock harmonies, at others by histrionic Tom Jones [see #330, 380, 1,691]-styled crooning, theatrical musicals, and the Beach Boys. The album flopped, and Wirtz moved to Hollywood the following year.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/philwit-pegasus-mw0000739960, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/philwit-pegasus-mn0000636066#biography

Tim Sendra tells us of Wirtz:

Producer, arranger, songwriter, and vocalist Mark Wirtz was one of the more underrated behind-the-scenes characters of the U.K. music scene in the 1960s. He was responsible for a number of classic psychedelic pop records, and his musical influence spread far beyond its commercial prospects. His recordings with Tomorrow on their 1967 self-titled album helped invent psychedelic pop . . . . Wirtz was also a fine producer of girl group sounds, mainstream pop, and, under the Mood Mosaic moniker, a first-rate creator of groovy easy listening music. His career petered out in the late ’70s, but as his music was rediscovered in the ’90s and 2000s, he took a well-deserved victory lap, writing and producing music until his death in 2020. Wirtz was born in Germany in 1943, growing up a music fan and a budding musician. He moved to London to go to art school, then . . . formed his first group, the Beatcrackers. They were soon signed to EMI under the name Mark Rogers and the Marksmen and issued a pre-Beat Boom novelty track . . . . It didn’t do much on the charts, but it did propel Wirtz into a career writing and producing artists, beginning with a stint working with Marlene Dietrich. He also worked with girl groups, female singers . . . and the pre-Hot Chocolate group the Soul Brothers. His first foray into concept albums was his work as a easy listening producer, making sunny orchestral versions of the hits of the day as well as Wirtz-written songs . . . . One of the tracks — “A Touch of Velvet – A Sting of Brass” . . . ended up being used as theme music by a number of TV shows. Wirtz got a job in 1967 as an in-house producer for EMI Records and worked on psychedelic Tomorrow’s classic single “My White Bicycle” and their self-titled debut album. At the same time, he had hatched a plan for a concept A Teenage Opera album called based around his lush psychedelic productions and songs about the characters of an imagined village. The first single — “Excerpt from ‘A Teenage Opera'” — featured Tomorrow’s Keith West on vocals and nearly topped the U.K. singles chart upon its 1967 release. Wirtz continued to work doggedly on the project, calling on all his skills as a writer and arranger. The second single, “Sam[]” . . . didn’t do quite as well in the charts. West left the project soon after, and the third single — “(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman” — failed to garner much radio or sales support. Wirtz put the project on the back burner and continued to write and produce songs for other artists and for himself . . . . Many of the songs used recycled pieces of the Teenage Opera; some, like Kippington Lodge’s [see #672, 1,156, 1,444] “Shy Boy,” [see #1,444] were definitely meant to appear on the album. He did eventually move on from the project, recording another concept album as Philwit and Pegasus. . . . Wirtz had left EMI by this point to become an independent contractor, helming sessions for vocalists like Samantha Jones [see #1,042, 1,045] and forming a bubblegum group called the Matchmakers. Nothing clicked commercially, and as a result he packed up and moved to Los Angeles. Once there, he tried his hand as a solo artist, releasing two . . . albums in 1973 . . . . Once again, his music didn’t connect with the record-buying public, and he went back behind the scenes to work as an arranger/producer for hire, scoring gigs with the likes of Dean Martin, Helen Reddy, and Leon Russell. By the time the ’70s ended, Wirtz had retired from the music business to raise a family and pursue his interest in comedy. He also wrote novels, worked a series of jobs, and took up painting. . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mark-wirtz-mn0000846575#biography

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I Shall Be Released: Bob Dylan — “Gypsy Lou”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 1, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,895) Bob Dylan — ““Gypsy Lou”

This rollicking folk song by Bob Dylan only exists as a publishing demo that was never taken up by other artists at the time (unlike so many other of his songs). Tony Attwood gives us the fascinating backstory and highlights its neglected role in Dylan’s artistic development:

Dylan’s interest in and involvement with the Beat Generation is well documented . . . . [His] use of the blues, folk, pop, and rock formats to take us to all sorts of new destinations combining new style, illicit drugs, the examination and re-examination of all types of religion, attacks on materialism, and an eternal concern with people… it is all the Beat Generation. And in among this all is that desire for bohemianism and spontaneity as ways of discovering new art forms. Ginsberg did it . . . Burroughs . . . Kerouac . . . and Dylan with… that’s the problem. Dylan, in the early stages, was not a Beat Poet, nor a Beat Musician. . . . He was in fact re-working the models of folk music and the blues. We find the occasional little experiment, like “Motorpsycho Nightmare” but the real leap comes with “Subterranean Homesick Blues” – Dylan’s first real Beat Poet piece. So what we have is Dylan interested in, perhaps fascinated by the Beat movement, friends with the leaders, but not artistically not really able to find his way in.

“Gypsy Lou” . .. is . . . the abbreviated story of Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb who together in New Orleans were at the heart of the local Beat community. It was written around 1961/2 . . . and recorded in August 1963 . . . . [I]t emerged before Dylan had any idea how to balance his interest in the Beat Generation and its poetry, with his own music, which was dominated by old English and American folk songs, and the blues of the 1920s. Gypsy Lou . . . was [The Outsider‘s] magazine’s typesetter, (and creator and retailer of hand-tinted French Quarter cityscapes and small paintings to tourists on Royal Street). The French Quarter of New Orleans was very much an artist, beat, creative, free spirit environment where social outcasts existed side by side with the genuinely talent artists – exactly the sort of place Dylan found exciting and intriguing in his early writing career. . . . Jon worked as a freelance writer and editor while together they ran the Loujon Press and . . . The Outsider[] for what they called “Bohemian fugitives”. . . . Gregory Corso and William Burroughs contributed to the magazine which . . . apart from having incredibly influential content . . . . ran 3000 copies of each edition (unheard of at the time) . . . . Jon and Gypsy Lou’s also moved into book publishing and had a hit with Charles Bukowski’s poetry: It Catches My Heart in Its Hands which made their name. They also published two books by Henry Miller . . . . It was at this time that Gypsy Lou gained her reputation. “Fiery” “flamboyant” and “jagged” were words used, but it was Jon . . . who bungled the robbery of a jewelry shop and served three years in prison . . . . [H]ere we have the bohemians, the eccentrics, the outsiders, the sort of people that Dylan came to write about later. . . . [o]nly it took Dylan a few years to find a way to express it. . . . [“Gypsy Lou”] is a sketch written out of frustration – frustration that Dylan has not yet found a way out of his dominant influences to become what he wanted to become (and of course ultimately did become) the first man to take the Beat Generation into its own unique form of music. . . . [T]hank goodness the Whitmark recordings exist . . . .

https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/1056

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The Living Daylights — “Jane”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 28, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,894) The Living Daylights — “Jane”

No, this is not A-ha’s theme song to the James Bond flick! Though it would make a great Bond song. The criminally neglected band “struts like a confident Kinks” (Tim Sendra, https://www.allmusic.com/album/lets-live-for-today-the-complete-recordings-mw0003736890) on this killer UK freakbeat/pop psych tune — sadly unreleased at the time except on EPs in France and Portugal (https://www.45cat.com/artist/the-living-daylights). The band recorded an unreleased LP that is a “lost freakbeat classic” (Tm Sendra, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-living-daylights-mn0001489240#biography).

Kieron Tyler brings the Living Daylights to life:

[T]he Essex-based Living Daylights[‘]. . . . first single was issued on 21 April 1967. “Let’s Live For Today” had a good chance. Lightly psychedelic, it was in the same bag as The Hollies – very melodic, catchy, engaging. But no dice, and all that subsequently appeared under their name was a second and last single, October 1967’s “Baila Maria”. Another flop, so that was it. The band spilt in early 1968. Between their two singles, they recorded an album which was never issued. “Let’s Live For Today” had a backstory which could have helped Living Daylights into the charts. There was a lot of interest in the song. It was originally issued in Italy in June 1966 as ‘Piangi Con Me”, a B-side by ex-pat British band The Rokes [see #1,370]. Next, it was covered in the Netherlands by The Skope as “Be Mine Again”. The Rokes then issued it in English as “Passing Through Grey”. British music publisher Dick James got the rights but didn’t like the lyrics, so had it reconfigured as “Let’s Live For Today”. Living Daylights had just come onto his books, so they recorded it. Another Rokes version – as “Let’s Live For Today” this time – was issued on the same day as the Living Daylights’ single. Neither single charted. However, the song was recorded in America by The Grass Roots and [the rest is history] . . . . In America, to compete with The Grass Roots, their “Let’s Live For Today” was deviously marketed as “the original hit English version”. . . . Years later, the[y] . . . got some attention when “Always With Him” – the B-side of “Baila Maria” – and “Let’s Live For Today” were included in 1984 on the first volume of the Rubble collection[] . . . . [The band recorded] a confident pop album with some great psychedelic touches. . . . Living Daylights were a fine band, one worthy of having an album released . . . . But after “Baila Maria” stiffed . . . the album was shelved . . . .

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/music-reissues-weekly-living-daylights-lets-live-today

Tim Sendra adds:

It’s hard to fathom that seemingly everyone involved with the group on the business side was so cloth-eared that they couldn’t hear just how good the album was. The songs that leaked out to comps over the years [including] “Jane[]” . . . gave a tantalizing glimpse of a band that was a combo of great players, singers, and writers. . . . [T]hree songs could have been hits . . . . The rest of the album has some similarly shiny gems; their producer Caleb Quaye [see #807, 1,169] penned the moody ballad “Cos I’m Lonely” . . . . [The LP not to be is] pretty close to revelatory and should be studied and enjoyed by all who consider themselves freakbeat aficionados.

[T]he Living Daylights recorded an album of rugged freakbeat and groovy post-beat pop in 1967 . . . . The band came together when two groups who were the toast of the Essex town of Harlow joined forces. Both the Naturals and the Guyatones built a large following with their beat group stylings; the former got as far as scoring a recording contract and releasing a few singles. One of them, 1964’s “I Should Have Known Better” almost broke into the Top 20, while another featured the first cover of a Pete Townshend [see #119, 548, 833, 976] composition (“It Was You”). By the time 1967 rolled around and the beat boom was giving way to freakbeat and psychedelia, the Naturals had broken up and the Guyatones were looking for a change. Their core membership (guitarist Garth Watt-Roy, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, and drummer Ron Prudence) welcomed refugees from the Naturals (vocalist Bob O’Neale and guitarist Dougie Ellis) into the fold. Rechristened the Living Daylights, they were taken under the wing of legendary publisher Dick James, signed to Phillips, and sent to the studio with producer Caleb Quaye. . . . Mixing together some catchy Garth Watt-Roy originals that leaned in the chunky freakbeat direction, a couple of Beatles covers . . . and a song penned by Quaye . . . the album never made it to record store shelves, a handful of songs were released on a French EP and the song “Always with Him” came out as a single later that year. The band continued to play live shows, hoping for a break that would inspire their label to issue their finished album. It wasn’t to be, though, and the group broke up in early 1968. The two Watt-Roy brothers and Prudence continued on together under the name the Greatest Show on Earth, signing to Harvest and making music in a more progressive vein. Once that band folded, the Watt-Roy brothers stayed active in the music business: Garth notably played in Fuzzy Duck, and Norman was a member of Ian Drury & the Blockheads and a session bassist.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/lets-live-for-today-the-complete-recordings-mw0003736890, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-living-daylights-mn0001489240#biography

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The Flame — “See the Light”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 27, 2026

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,893) The Flame — “See the Light”

Here is an A-side from a South African band so Beatlesque that it “had people wondering aloud” as “it certainly sounded like the Beatles from their ‘Daytripper’ period and the vocals were a little McCartney-like. . . . [I]n the absence of much information people speculated.” (Graham Reid, https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/fromthevaults/3306/the-flame-see-the-light-1970/) This “up tempo rocker in the mould of . . . “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” [has] a killer George Harrison style guitar sound, especially on the riff during the outro. [It] was chosen as the single to promote the album in the USA [where it reached #95] and UK (Peter Gough, https://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2012/05/flame-flame-1970.html?m=1) The “effervescent” song was “reprised at the conclusion of the effort in a slower, slinkier, and definitely funkier interpretation”. (Lindsay Planer, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-flame-mw0000404758)

The South African Rock Encyclopedia tells us:

Formed in 1962, The Flames featured core members Steve Fataar, Edries “Brother” Fataar, Ricky Fataar, and later Blondie Chaplin. Their multicultural background and genre-defying style made them stand out in apartheid-era South Africa, where they gained popularity with covers and original material that fused R&B, rock, and soul. Their 1968 chart-topping hit “For Your Precious Love” became a defining moment, showcasing their vocal harmonies and emotional depth. In 1970, the band relocated to London and caught the attention of Beach Boys member Carl Wilson, who produced their final album, The Flame, released on the Beach Boys’ Brother Records label. Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin later joined the Beach Boys, contributing to their early 1970s work. Though The Flames disbanded shortly after, their legacy endures as one of South Africa’s most influential and boundary-pushing musical acts.

https://sarockmusic.com/rock-legends/rock-legends-artists/the-flames/

Peter Gough tells us more:

[The band] was formed in 1963 by brothers Steve and Brother Fataar on guitar and bass respectively. . . . [V]arious members came and went until 1967, when third Fataar brother, Ricky (drums) and friend Blondie Chaplin (guitar, vocals) completed the ultimate line up. The band released several soul/pop covers albums in Africa and became one of the country’s most popular acts. In 1968 South Africa was becoming more segregated and made it impossible for the band to play to a white audience, so with Ricky still only 16 years of age, they left their home land, seeking success in the UK. Whilst playing in London they were spotted by Beach Boy [see #667] Carl Wilson (on a tip from Al Jardine) who liked the band so much that he signed them up to the Beach Boys new record label Brother. The Flame would be the only band, other than the Beach Boys to release music on Brother. The band moved to LA to record an album, with Carl Wilson taking the role of producer. The self titled LP was released in 1970. . . . [T]he whole album is comparable Badfinger at their best. “Don’t Worry Bill” and “High’s and Lows” are pure Abbey Road . . . . Following the album’s lack of big sales, Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin were asked to join the Beach Boys replacing Dennis Wilson who had broke his hand putting him out of action for a while and Bruce Campbell who had just departed. They are present on Carl and the Passions and Holland and contribute vocals and even songwriting credits on both albums. Ricky Fataar went on the play the role Stig O’Hara in the Rutles then moved into session work playing with artists like Ian McLagan, Bonnie Raitt and Crowded House. Blondie Chaplin released three solo albums and has played as a session guitarist with the likes of Rick Danko, David Johansen and the Rolling Stones [see #382, 298, 537, 579, 1,098, 1,403].

https://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2012/05/flame-flame-1970.html?m=1

Lindsay Planer adds:

[T]he Flames (they’d soon drop the “s” to avoid confusion with James Brown’s backup band) emerged out of the rich South African/Malaysian pop scene as a superb cover combo. They even scored a number one with an update of the Impressions’ [see #118, 285, 1,347, 1,544, 1,848] R&B classic “For Your Precious Love.” . . . [A]fter the quartet . . . had moved to England and were gigging around London that Al Jardine convinced fellow Beach Boys co-founder Carl Wilson to sign the Flame to the[ir] Brother Records label. The eponymously monikered platter would become their best-known thanks to Ricky and Chaplin’s association as part-time members of the Beach Boys circa the mid-’70s. During the drawn out legal and political processes that would allow them to earn a living Stateside, the Flame collaborated with Wilson (producer) and Beach Boys’ engineer of choice Steve Desper to craft this ten-song collection, which reflected the overwhelming similarities and obvious inspiration to the Beatles’ post Rubber Soul . . . period. Particularly, Lennon and McCartney’s progressive and keenly developed compositional style, which surfaces here as a running motif throughout the whole work.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-flame-mw0000404758

The one “dislike” is probably from Mike Love.” (lukehixon724, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MmosnYn4s) Ha, ha, ha . . .

Here is the reprise on the LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmL1EBHEZqw (starting at 37:05)

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