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

The Gremlins — “The Only Thing on My Mind”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 8, 2026

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

1,936) The Gremlins — “The Only Thing on My Mind”

Off a ’66 EP, this affecting and “sublime” beat ballad written by the Gremlins’ Glyn Conway has a “meditative, almost hallucinogenic quality”, “encompass[ing] the idea of going off to war with the army, recreating the thoughts of soldiers cherishing the private thoughts of their sweethearts back home”. (Mark Johnston, liner notes to the CD comp The Coming Generation: The Complete Recordings 1965-68). Surprisingly, for all the influence of the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and Animals on New Zealand’s Gremlins, the song feels more American, more folk-rockish. Or maybe not so surprising, since their biggest hit was a cover of a Knickerbockers B-side (see #718, 862).

New Zealand Music tells us of the Gremlins:

Glyn Conway, the stage name adopted by Glyn Tucker . . . . successfully auditioned for [the Embers] as a rhythm guitarist/vocalist in 1962. . . . and he stayed with them until they folded in 1964. From there he landed a residency as compere/singer at the Papatoetoe Town Hall on Saturday nights. During this time he got back together with guitarist Paddy McAneney and drummer Roger Wiles, who he had dabbled with earlier, and they added Peter Davies on guitar and Ben Grubb on bass and called themselves the Adventurers. In 1965 they changed their name to the Gremlins. Their first recording was made in late 1965 and consisted of two Glyn Conway originals. The single released on Allied International was “Don’t Ya”/”But She’s Gone”. It disappeared without a trace . . . . They continued to gig around the Auckland suburbs while trying to get a foot into the highly competitive city scene. In early 1966, Glyn meet up again with Gary Daverne, whom he had played with during his days with the Embers. Gary . . . had started a subsidiary label, Viscount, distributed through Eldred Stebbing’s Zodiac label. The Gremlins auditioned for Gary and he got them a recording session at Stebbing’s studio. . . . The boys believed that “Coming Generation” should be released as a single, but Gary deemed that it sounded lacklustre. The song had originally been the B-side of the US group, the Knickerbockers’s classic hit single “Lies”. Still believing they could make a hit of it, they re-entered the studio and re-recorded the version that was released in September 1966. [It] . . . was an instant hit, climbing to number 2 on the national charts. . . . The song was also entered in the 1966 Golden Disc Award and made it to the finals. They didn’t win, but as a result found themselves touring the country as part of the Golden Disk show. Before the end of 1966 an EP called The Coming Generation was released. It contained the title song and the rest of the songs recorded from the first session at the Stebbing studios [including “The Only Thing on My Mind”]. . . . The next single . . . “Understand Our Age” . . . . went nowhere. . . . At the beginning of 1967, Paddy McAneney left the group. This resulted in a reshuffle within the band. Ben Grubb moved to organ, Peter moved to lead guitar, Glyn played 12-string rhythm guitar, Roger stayed on drums, and a new bass player by the name of Ces Good was recruited. With this line-up, a new single, “You Gotta Believe It” . . . was released in April 1967. . . . reach[ing] number 19 on the national charts . . . . The group then turned their attentions to the up-coming Golden Disc Awards for 1967. A new song was written for the event, called “Blast Off 1970”. . . . Again they toured with the Golden Disc Spectacular and again they missed out on a prize at the awards. After the gruelling touring schedule, the group only gigged occasionally through to the end of 1967. A new single at the beginning of 1968 gave them new enthusiasm. It was “Never You Mind” . . . . [which] unfortunately again went nowhere. . . . Further line-up changes occurred with Peter Davies leaving and being replaced by Daron Curtiss on lead guitar. . . . Another single, this time on the Zodiac label, was released. It contained two songs on the A-side, “Ballad Of A Busker” and “Listen To Me”. . . . another flop. The group decided to give it one more go and released their final single called “Kingsforth Hemmingseen” . . . late in 1968. As good as their songs were, the record buying public didn’t want to know . . . . Gremlins disbanded at the beginning of 1969.

https://www.sergent.com.au/music/gremlins.html

“Glyn Tucker carried on playing in several bands before starting a long and distinguished career on the production side of the music industry.” (Grant Gillanders, https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/the-gremlins)

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The Human Instinct — “Renaissance Fair”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 7, 2026

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

1,935) The Human Instinct — “Renaissance Fair”

New Zealand’s Human Instinct (see #271) recorded a “brilliant” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww31Q3NO_AY) and “spectacular”(thomassmith8721, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4eaTvYUrds) cover of the Byrds’ [see #1,430, 1,605] “Renaissance Fair” that “actually eclipses the original, the strings being an amazing addition”, “[s]imply stunning.” (LaughingStock, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOQ2cti4zG0) “Never bothered with The Byrds when the cover is so good”! (Vintage Vinyl Via Valves, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miqGA5cuPOU) Andrew Schmidt writes that:

The Human Instinct made [it] their own. Mike Hurst got the London Symphony Orchestra in to embellish the mystical, beautifully sung, upbeat psych-pop chugger. . . . [T]here were good reviews, but the single stiffed in February 1968.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/the-human-instinct-part-1-the-rock-and-roll-and-pop-years

As to the Byrd’s original, Bruce Eder tells us that:

“Renaissance Fair” is one of the[ Bryds’] under-regarded classics . . . . Considered a pleasant enough song today, it was actually a topical song . . . and . . . regarded as important enough to be included in the band’s set at the Monterey Pop Festival during the summer of 1967. David Crosby had attended the real Renaissance Fair, which was the first “Be In” in San Francisco, a peaceful event that gathered together hippies, freaks, flower children, and musicians, among many others, and immortalized it in this song, which is variously credited solely to Crosby and as a joint Crosby-Roger McGuinn composition. What makes it special, apart from the notably peaceful and joyous vibes behind the song, is the manner in which it incorporates musical elements that were already a part of the Byrds’ repertory — the banjo-style opening, the ethereal high harmonies, the use of amplified instruments turned down so that they have almost acoustic timbres. All of that, coupled with a great Chris Hillman bass part, helped make [it] a perfect synthesis of the group’s original electric-folk sound evolved into a new, more contemporary form of music and songwriting, almost hippie-folk music.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/renaissance-fair-mt0009175044

Mark Deming tells of the Human Instinct:

[The Human Instinct was a] celebrated New Zealand rock band whose music grew from psychedelia into hard rock during their lifetime . . . . Evolving from a Kiwi beat group called The Four Fours, the Human Instinct cut a handful of tough R&B- and freakbeat-leaning singles for Mercury in 1966 and 1967, and a pair of more adventurous psychedelic 45s for Deram in 1967 and 1968 during a sojourn in London. After returning to Auckland, they steered into hard rock with plentiful guitar heroics . . . . Their star began to fade in the mid-’70s, but despite plentiful lineup changes, the Human Instinct lived on as a live act . . . [I]n 1957 . . . a dance band [formed] to play a steady flow of gigs in Tauranga, a popular vacation destination in New Zealand. . . . They adopted the name the Four Fours . . . and recruited Bill Ward to play lead guitar and sing. Before long, [they] were performing regularly in Tauranga . . . . In 1960 . . . David Hartstone came on board, playing rhythm guitar and singing backups. . . . [T]he group decided to relocate to Auckland . . . . It didn’t take long for the Four Fours to become one of the busiest bands in Auckland, and 1965’s “Time Slips Away” b/w “Theme from an Empty Coffee Lounge” became a hit when the B-side unexpectedly won the favor of audiences. In late 1965, [they] began mapping out plans to move to England in hopes of winning a larger audience. . . . Maurice Greer . . . . join[ed] the band [as drummer]. . . . [T]heir first single for [Zodiac Records], “This Time Tomorrow” . . . was released in time for them to hit the road as the opening act for the Rolling Stones on their 1966 tour of New Zealand. After the release of “Go Go” . . . which became another NZ hit, [they sailed] . . . to London in September 1966. . . . When they arrived in England, they were billing themselves as the Human Instinct. . . . [They] quickly landed a recording contract with Mercury Records . . . . Their Mercury debut, “Can’t Stop Around” . . . was issued in November 1966 and found the band moving in a leaner and more R&B-influenced direction. After an initial period of struggle, the Human Instinct made an impact on the British club scene and were gigging regularly, headlining clubs . . . . While the group cut two more singles for Mercury . . . none made the charts, and after their deal was up, they signed with Deram Records, where producer Mike Hurst helped them put their growing psychedelic leanings up front on 1967’s “A Day in My Mind’s Mind” [see #271]. . . . [T]heir second Deram release, early 1968’s “Renaissance Fair” b/w “Pink Dawn,” was their most sophisticated to date . . . . [But,] . . . the Human Instinct were still without a hit record, and several members held work visas that were soon to expire. David Hartstone, who held a British passport, opted to stay behind, and the remaining members of the band chose to return to New Zealand and regroup. While Hartstone had agreed to take over payments on the group’s van, his bandmates were upset when he declined to ship their amps back home . . . . After the loss of their gear, Bill Ward became disillusioned and dropped out of performing for many years . . . . But Maurice Greer was determined to keep the Human Instinct alive, and he launched a new edition of the band with guitarist Billy Te Kahika (aka Billy TK) and bassist Peter Barton, which followed trends of the day into a sound informed by hard rock . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-human-instinct-mn0000804134#biography

Here are the Byrds:

Here are the Byrds at Monterey:

Here is the Orange Bicycle:

Here is In Wyrd:

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The Cleves — “Today/Don’t Turn Your Back/Today/Thirties/Today”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 6, 2026

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

1,932-34) The Cleves — “Today/Don’t Turn Your Back/Today/Thirties/Today”

From New Zealand’s Abbey Road, here is part of a suite of perfect pop rock songs (see #1,532-34) by the Cleves (see #1,532-34, 1,740) written for a short film by the to-be-famous Australian director Peter Weir.

I thought I was so creative in describing the songs as such — until I read Grant Gillanders saying the same thing! —

In 1970 the [Cleves] were commissioned to write and record the music for a short film called Michael, directed by a pre-Hollywood Peter Weir. The resulting soundtrack was released as an EP and is a 16-minute, 10-part suite of near perfect pop music segued together to form a thematic whole in a style not to dissimilar to side two of The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/clevedonaires

I thought of it before I read that, I swear!

MilesaGo: Australasian popular music, pop culture and social history 1964-1975 says:

Michael won the Grand Prix at the 1970 AFI [Australian Film Institute] Awards . . . . Along with the Bee Gees-like track “Don’t Turn Your Back”, the EP featured songs recorded for the soundtrack, segued together to form a thematic whole, which “combined certain elements of the British music hall tradition (as espoused by The Beatles) with a more esoteric pop flavour a la The Move”.

http://www.milesago.com/artists/ArtistFrames.htm

The Cleves were a brilliant Kiwi brand composed essentially of three siblings that was destined for great things. But it is a b*tch how things ended. Grant Gillanders tells us:

[T]he Brown siblings, Graham, Ron and Gaye, grew up on the family farm [in Clevedon]. . . . In the early sixties, with Gaye learning piano and Graham receiving drum lessons . . . Bill Brown arranged for his three children to have singing and choreography lessons with Pat McMinn of Opo the Crazy Dolphin fame. It was at an early talent quest when Ron and Graham were performing as a duo, that they were first introduced as The Clevedonaires . . . and the name stuck. . . . While still at school during 1963, The Clevedonaires started to become a bit more serious about their music and decided to form a four-piece band. School friend and neighbour Milton Lane was recruited on rhythm guitar and took his place alongside Ron (guitar) and Graham (drums), while Gaye was weened off the piano to handle the bass duties. . . . Proud parents Bill and Joy Brown supplied the emotional encouragement and support while physically handling the day-to-day management and transportation duties. . . . Ron [recalls] “Later on when we got a little bit older it wasn’t very cool to have the olds in view, so we used to send them away and arrange for them to pick us up later.” The Clevedonaires quickly built up a good local reputation with a mix of Shadows instrumentals, pop hits of the day and four-part harmony folk numbers. . . . [B]y late 1965 they were mixing it in the competitive Auckland city scene where they played at some of the top venues . . . . [T]hey were spotted by promoter and record label owner Benny Levin, who signed them to his new record label, Impact Records. Local songwriter Darryl Lawrence submitted two songs in a semi folk style to Benny for consideration as their debut single – ‘How You Lied’ and ‘Rooftops and Chimneys’. Both songs were subsequently recorded and released as the group’s first single. Although not a chart hit the record found favourable reviews . . . . By late 1966 the group had amassed a repertoire of 300 songs with Gaye now assuming the role of musical director . . . . During the day Graham, Ron and Milton helped out on their respective family farms while Gaye finished her schooling. . . . Milton found the workload too heavy and decided to leave. Enter Rob Aickin. . . . [who] took over the bass guitar from Gaye, who in turn introduced keyboards to the group’s sound, which was in the process of changing to a more rockier format. “We decided to drop the folky stuff from our repertoire,” reflects Ron, “and started doing a lot more of the harder edged British stuff from The Animals, The Kinks and The Yardbirds etc.” The new harder-edged sound . . . manifested itself on . . . their second single, released in March 1967. . . . The group auditioned for The We 3, a weekly television magazine show aimed at teenagers. . . . [and were] picked . . . as [the] resident group . . . . [F]our days before their first TV appearance . . . their mother Joy died suddenly. Two further singles were released on the Impact labels . . . The Clevedonaires were approached by an Australian entrepreneur to do a four month tour, entertaining American troops in Vietnam. . . . The group quit their day jobs and canceled all engagements for a month to concentrate on rehearsals . . . . [But] halfway through . . . rehearsals [came] the 1968 Tet Offensive . . . . [T]he group had no option but to pull out of the contract. . . . [They] decided to try their luck in Sydney. . . . head[ing] to the ski resort town of Cooma . . . where Benny Levin had arranged a regular gig at the Cooma Hotel. . . . Gaye recalls . . . . [“]We lasted for about two weeks before it got too much for us, so we rang Benny to get us out of the deal and we ended up playing in the Hume Hotel in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona.” . . . The Cleves (they now shortened their name) built up an unprecedented following among Sydneysiders who nightly would beat a path to the Hume Hotel. . . . [T]he group backed Dinah Lee for several nights at the Hume. Dinah was so impressed that she arranged for her road manager Bobi Petch to hear them perform . . . . [He] worked for Cordon Bleu Promotions, one of the top agencies in Sydney. This resulted in the group becoming the resident band at Lucifer’s, a new discotheque in Sydney, and signing up with . . . Cordon Bleu . . . . [T]he group returned home in December, 1968 . . . . After several engagements in . . . South Auckland . . . the[y] headed to Mount Maunganui for a summer engagement . . . . Once back in [Sydney] . . . they were in constant demand. . . . The Cleves’ first Australian recording was a promotional single made for . . . The Tintookies, a large-scale puppet show on Aboriginal history. The Cleves were approached . . . to perform at the after party for the Australian premiere of . . . Hair on 4 June, 1969 . . . . the party of the decade in Australia, with a veritable who’s who of the Australian music industry in attendance. The Cleves impressed all who attended . . . . [and] were signed by Festival Records shortly afterwards and started working with with ace producer Pat Aulton . . . . The poppy and almost vaudevillian “Sticks & Stones” was released . . . to glowing reviews . . . . B-side “Don’t Turn Your Back” was the first group-recorded composition and highlights the group’s rapidly maturing songwriting skills. Although not a chart hit . . . [it] received enough airplay to keep The Cleves’ name on everybody’s lips and complemented the glowing live reviews . . . . The . . . second single “You And Me” [see #1,740] was released during May 1970, the same month that they made their 100th appearance on Australian television. . . . In late 1970 the group started work on their . . . . debut album . . . described by . . . Ian McFarlane as “a prime example of where psychedelic pop gave way to a more progressive aesthetic”. . . . With a heavy touring schedule lined-up, Gaye was exhausted and unwell, so she took four months off and the group recruited Vince Melhouney (ex-Bee Gees) on guitar to fulfill their engagements. With an offer from Helen Reddy’s manager to tour the United States on the table, The Cleves instead took advice from . . . Melhouney who suggested . . . the UK. Recently married, Graham Brown decided to leave and was replaced by Ace Follington . . . The Cleves boarded the ship to the UK with two objectives in mind, first to write a batch of new songs and second to change the group’s name to something a bit more tougher sounding to reflect their new songs.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/clevedonaires

The new name was Bitch. Gillanders writes that:

Bitch found the biggest PA system they could find and set out to blow the roof off the Speakeasy. This paid instant dividends when several labels started bidding for them before they had even finished their set. In the end Warner Bros. made the best offer and quickly signed them to a NZ$50,000 contract. Warners sent them to Spring Cottage in East Sussex with instructions to take their time, write more material for an album, and – just as importantly – to write a hit record. . . . The single “Good Time Coming’ and tracks for the album were recorded at Morgan Studios . . . . [It] was a regional Top 10 hit in Germany and Holland . . . . With the album in the can and the relative success of the first single, the group was booked into George Martin’s famous AIR Studios in Central London to record the follow-up single “Wildcat” . . . . Bitch did what they did best and hit the club scene with abandon, and as in Australia, soon endeared themselves to fans and journalists alike. . . . Bill Harman, the group’s manager [recalls:] “The band were signed to the Warners arm of WEA records, an English amalgamation of US labels Warner Bros., Elektra and Atlantic. The album had been mastered and was complete, including artwork, when disaster struck. . . . When the A&R department of WEA found a new talent they would, in consultation with the parent companies, sign them to one of their three labels. Around the middle of 1973, when the Bitch album was all ready to go, the bosses of each of the three labels in the US became worried that the next Led Zeppelin would walk through the doors in the London office and promptly get signed to one of the other two labels. Consequently, they agreed to wind up WEA and proceed to operate as three separate labels in the UK. Former CBS UK boss Robbie Robinson, an accountant by trade, was put in as caretaker at Warners . . . . [and] was not prepared to action anything that involved company expenditure. This included distributing the Bitch album. Things dragged on for months and culminated in the Bitch recording deal being scrapped and the album ditched.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/bitch

Here is the “Don’t Turn Your Back” B-side:

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The Fourmyula — “Turn Your Back on the Wind”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 5, 2026

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

1,931) The Fourmyula — “Turn Your Back on the Wind”

From New Zealand’s greatest lost album, here is the Fourmyula’s (see #977, 1,398) “gloriously uplifting, string-elevated” (Graham Reid, https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/2944/the-fourmyula-the-complete-fourmyula-emi/), “moving epic that should have become a stadium singalong”. (Chris Bourke, https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/upper-hutt-leader/3495519/Stunning-comeback-from-natures-best) “Turn Your Back to the Wind” was released as an A-side, but inexplicably failed to be swept up into the charts. Back when people held up cigarette lighters at concerts, it would have drained many a tank.

Richard Thorne:

Returning to England the band made considerable headway, signing to the Decca label and releasing popular singles, en route to recording their first UK album. As Nick Bollinger tells it the band was justifiably proud of the sophisticated album they recorded at Decca’s studios in London in the middle of 1970, and Decca seemed enthusiastic too, hosting industry listening sessions for Turn Your Back On the Wind at their studio. . . . How cruel then that for various reasons, including love of a good woman (Wayne Mason headed back to NZ to marry), but mainly because of a major economic restructuring at Decca, the album was never released. Bollinger speculates that part of the problem may have been the album’s inspired variety, describing it as “… the summation of everything the Fourmyula had mastered over the past seven years”. Drummer Chris Parry (who went on to become The Cure’s long time manager) notes that with the influence of the London scene, the band were moving into rock, but at the same time were still at home with semi-acoustics and their trademark harmonies, the result being an album too eclectic to place. After he left the band it stumbled on in various guises, but by 1972 The Fourmyula were no more.

https://web.archive.org/web/20141030010334/http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/1895)

Nick Bollinger has done a nice podcast on the album: https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/essentialnzalbums/season-2/essential-nz-albums-fourmyula-turn-your-back-on-the-wind.

As to Fourmyula, Jason Ankeny writes:

The success of Fourmyula marked a major turning point in the development of New Zealand rock: to an industry long dependent on cover versions of international hits, this Hutt Valley-based quintet offered proof positive that native talent could reach the national charts on the strength of their own original material. Fourmyula evolved in early 1967 from the ranks of the Insect, a fixture of area high school dances and other social gatherings . . . . [T]heir popularity soared after they took home top honors in a “National Battle of the Sounds” competition, although the consensus was that they needed a stronger lead vocalist. Toward that aim, singer Carl Evensen was recruited . . . with [Martin] Hope now focusing solely on guitar duties. After buying an instructional book on songwriting, [Wayne] Mason and [Ali] Richardson penned Fourmyula’s first original composition, “Come with Me” [see #977] . . . . [O]vernight, Fourmyula became superstars, and Mason and Richardson quickly wrote a dozen new songs for release as their self-titled 1968 LP debut. Demand for the group was so high that HMV even issued two new singles, “Alice Is There” and “I Know Why,” simultaneously; both rocketed into the Top Ten, and after quickly recording a sophomore album, Green B. Holiday, the band toured Britain . . . . Fourmyula spent four months overseas, catching live appearances from groups including Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Spooky Tooth; acknowledging that their mod aesthetic was out of touch with emerging trends, they grew their hair out and adopted a heavier, louder sound which they intended to introduce upon returning home. New Zealand audiences were baffled . . . however, and after just one disastrous gig, they returned to their trademark four-part harmonies and softly psychedelic pop. Their third LP, Creation, appeared in late 1969, followed by the chart-topping single “Nature” [see #1,398]; Mason was now the group’s sole songwriter, and as the band returned to Europe to tour, his material again adopted a heavier approach. To avoid conflict with a similarly named group, Fourmyula rechristened themselves Pipp; after scoring a minor hit with the 1970 single “Otaki,” their fortunes dwindled, and by the following year, they were no more.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fourmyula-mn0001325005

Deutros adds:

On February 8, 1969, the Fourmyula sailed to England on the Fairsky. Once there, they were soon faced with the realities of international rock’n’roll. With very little work available for them, they spent a lot of time watching some of the major acts that were performing at the time. They did get a few poor-paying gigs, and after a lot of pestering to Decca, they had a recording session at Abbey Road. The result was a cover of Hans Poulsen’s “Lady Scorpio” and it was released in New Zealand in August and reached number 7 on the charts. . . . While they were in England they realised there was new music around and that they were out of touch with current trends. They stayed in England for four months and returned to New Zealand with the best musical equipment available, their hair longer, their music louder and themselves a lot wiser. [At t]heir first gig back in New Zealand . . . the crowd was in for a big surprise. This was a totally different band to the one that left New Zealand six months earlier. Their clothes were different, they looked different, but when they plugged into their massive stack of equipment, heads jerked back as they opened with a version of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times”. What followed was a set of covers from what they had heard in England and by the time they had finished, the audience just stood in total disbelief and silence. It wasn’t what the audience wanted and bowing to their pressure they had to revert to the style they had become famous for. . . . The Fourmyula spent most of October and November touring the country, trying to earn as much income as they could, so that they could return to England and have a decent go at making it big on the international circuit. They left in December . . . . [I]n the first few weeks of January 1970 [“Nature”] reached number 1 on the national charts. . . . Their third album [Creation] they had recorded before departure was also released. . . . When the boys received the news of the success of their single in New Zealand, they didn’t really care as that part of their life was behind them, as was the style of music that “Nature” represented. They were now free from audience demand and could concentrate their efforts on a more aggressive sound. . . . “Make Me Happy” . . . struggled on the charts, only making it to number 19. . . . Throughout 1970, Fourmyula performed extensively around Britain and Europe . . . . Their sound became heavier, but with Mason’s melodic touches, they could not be branded heavy metal. In mid-1970, Decca took a gamble and allowed the group to record an album. Out of those sessions came a track called “Otaki”. It was released in August 1970 . . . . [T]heir heaviest single[, it] made it to number 15. That was the last time the Fourmyula made it onto the New Zealand charts. Two more singles . . . were released and both failed miserably. . . . [“Otaki”] received no airplay and sold very few copies [in the UK]. Decca’s interest in the band waned and they kept postponing the release of the album, eventually advising the group that it would not be released at all. At that point enthusiasm in the band died. Wayne Mason was the first to leave. . . . The group continued as Pipp for a little while, but without success they slowly disbanded.

http://littleozziealbums.blogspot.com/2016/01/

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The La De Da’s — “Tales of the Nile”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 4, 2026

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

1,930) The La De Da’s* — “Tales of the Nile”

New Zealand’s La De Da’s (see #216, 846, 946) take a walk on the Wilde side with this wistful proto-prog number from The Happy Prince, which would have been the world’s first rock opera had it not taken over two years to get onto LP.

Andrew Schmidt writes that:

In their 12-year journey through New Zealand and Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, The La De Da’s never took a backward step. They conquered New Zealand with a passionate live show, a string of hard, uncompromising chart singles and two of the best NZ albums of the 1960s. Changing gear from R&B to psychedelia, The La De Da’s shifted base to Australia in 1967 and 1968 where they released New Zealand’s first rock opera, The Happy Prince. In England in 1969 they captured a fine version of The Beatles’ voodoo rocker ‘Come Together’ at Abbey Road studios before returning to Australia and success as pioneering festival blues rockers.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/the-la-de-da-s

The definitive Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975 tells us:

Formed in New Zealand at the very start of the beat boom, they were . . . . practically the only major group [Kiwi or Aussie] . . . who managed to ride out the massive musical changes of the Sixties and adapt to the new scene in the Seventies, emerging as one of Australia’s most popular hard rock groups during the first half of the Seventies. . . . [T]hey started off as blues/R&B purists . . . . moved into their ‘mod’ period – with covers of Ray Charles, Motown and Northern Soul favourites, replete with tartan trousers, satin shirts and buckle shoes. . . . [and then] plunged headlong into psychedelia (the obligatory concept album, covers of songs from West Coast outfits like Blues Magoos, paisley shirts, sitars, long hair and moustaches). They almost came unstuck after the inevitable — and ultimately futile — attempt to “make it in England”. . . . limped back to Australia, regrouped, and bounced back . . . .

Grant Gillanders tells us of the not-so-happy prince:

In late 1966 Bruce Howard and Trevor Wilson of The La De Da’s had a vision for a rock opera based on Oscar Wilde’s 1888 short story The Happy Prince.** As children growing up in the UK, both of them had treasured their Orson Welles and Bing Crosby 78rpm recording of the story. What started out as an “oh that would be a good idea” moment turned into a reality just a short time later while the group were touring the South Island in January 1967. . . . Howard spent the idle hours on the road experimenting with the new sounds the harmonium [he bought at a second hand shop] offered and thus was born their concept album, The Happy Prince. To put this into perspective, the off-Broadway production of Hair! was 10 months away, and The Who’s Tommy would not make its debut for 28 months. By mid-1967 . . . Howard and Wilson had over half of the opera written. In late 1967 they debuted four of the pivotal songs at Auckland’s Galaxie night club . . . . [T]hey decided to record it for Sunshine Records in Australia . . . . The sessions started in early 1968, but this was to turn into a nightmare. When they had recorded back home at Zodiac engineer John Hawkins and studio owner Eldred Stebbing respected the group and to a large extent let them produce themselves. This wasn’t the case at Sunshine where a producer was assigned to the project, a situation the group wasn’t used to. The constant bickering between producer and Howard, and some band members, started on day one. This vibe plagued the sessions until the group walked out on the project. It was to be a year later before recording started again from scratch when EMI (Australia) funded the project. Between the Sunshine and EMI sessions the group played the entire opera in Sydney, in front of an invited audience including impresario Robert Stigwood and Liza Minnelli, with the express purpose of wooing Stigwood to bankroll the project and produce a stage version. He was keen to pursue it but nothing ever eventuated. One person who encouraged the group was Melbourne poet Adrian Rawlins, who recorded the narration on the album. The Happy Prince was finally released in April 1969. It contained the group’s first new recordings in nearly two years, which reflected the scope of the project and the drain on the group. The La De Da’s only performed it once after its release before moving on with their career. If the group had recorded the album at Stebbing’s in late 1967, its likely release would have been in early 1968, and The La De Da’s would have been at the zeitgeist of international pop music – and their latter years could well have been a lot different.

https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/the-la-de-da-s-concept-album-the-happy-prince

Milesago.com adds:

While preparing for their second album, Trevor Wilson came up with an idea that was well ahead of its time (unfortunately a little too far, as it turned out). . . . to create what would later be called “rock opera”. . . . Unfortunately, Bruce Howard was his only ally in the band, but together they started to piece the work together, although it would take several years to come to fruition. It was also the seed of later divisions within the band. . . . After over 12 months in Australia, the La De Das were a hit on the live circuit, but they still hadn’t released any records, steadfastly refusing to record anything other than their cherished Happy Prince project. The chance finally came their way in late 1968. Jimmy Stewart . . . [, who] had recently set up a new independent label, Sweet Peach[,]. . . . approached The La De Das with an offer to record and release The Happy Prince. The delighted band began intensive rehearsals in preparation for recording at Bill Armstrong’s Melbourne studio. But as the year wore on, Sweet Peach repeatedly arranged sessions and then postponed them, and by November the deal had collapsed. This was a major disappointment for the band, who had worked for several months to arrange and rehearse the piece, and the failure of the deal was a massive letdown for Trevor Wilson. It was at this point that the saviour of The Happy Prince appeared. Melbourne writer, “cultural commentator” and hip identity Adrian Rawlins had attended many of the rehearsals and was profoundly impressed with the piece . . . . [H]e exhorted the band not to give up on the project and his enthusiasm convinced Trevor Wilson to give it one more try. Roping in support from . . . publishers Essex Music, and from EMI, he managed to stitch together a deal to record the album at last. . . . The Happy Prince was recorded over four weeks in early 1969 . . . . Hailed as the first Australian concept album, the ambitious LP was a suite of songs co-written by Howard and Wilson. Lead vocals were, for the sake of dramatic consistency, entirely by Phil Key. He gives a great performance . . . . [R]ave reviews from the critics did not transfer into sales. In fact the album died a death commercially, and the band came close to splitting after its release. The production is excellent and was a breakthrough for the time, although the material has been criticised as being patchy and rather overblown in parts. It was also the album was also marred (for some critics) by the rather campy narrated links, read by Adrian Rawlins — although considering that the original story is by Oscar Wilde, it’s hard to see why this should have been a problem!

http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm

* The name? —

The lads realised pretty quickly that “The Mergers” didn’t really reflect the toughness of their music . . . . They decided on something a bit more hardline — The Criminals — but Phil’s mother was less than impressed and after rehearsals one night at the Wilson house she jokingly suggested instead that they call themselves “something nice, like the la-de-das …”. Phil [Key] loved it, and the name stuck.

http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm

** Wikipedia on The Happy Prince:

The Happy Prince and Other Tales . . . is a collection of bedtime stories for children . . . first published in May 1888. It contains five stories that are highly popular among children and frequently read in schools [including] The Happy Prince . . . . In a town full of suffering poor people, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late “Happy Prince”, who has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the gold leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The people, unaware of their good deeds, take the statue down from the pillar due to its shabbiness (intending to replace it with one of the Mayor) and melt the metal in a furnace, leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow, which are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an Angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God, and they live forever in His “city of gold” and garden of Paradise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happy_Prince_and_Other_Tales

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Tony Summers and the Echoes — “I’m on the Right Side”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 3, 2026

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

1,929) Tony Summers and the Echoes — “I’m on the Right Side”

This infectious ‘66 beat number by New Zealand’s Tony Summers/Hayden Wood (see #1,018) was first released in ‘65 by the UK’s Blue Chips (“the debut record for the Blue Chips’ sixteen year-old drummer, Alan White, later to spend decades with Yes”). (richardwitt3121, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoCCmHLj2Qg)

Grant Gillanders knocks on Wood:

Anthony Paul Jones [was born] in Lower Hutt . . . . [He] left school . . . and decided to travel the world, but he only got as far as Bondi in Sydney. At the weekly Surf Club dance, Jones was coerced on to the stage to sing with resident band The Echoes. Their front man . . . was about to leave the band and they were impressed enough to offer him a job as the lead singer. Jones took on the stage name Tony Summers. A short time later the group was spotted by Spin Records A&R man and producer Nat Kipner, who offered to record them. Tony Summers & The Echoes released “I’m On The Right Side” . . . in early 1966 . . . . [which] wasn’t a hit but received enough airplay to get the group a support slot on The Rolling Stones Australian tour in February 1966 . . . . A homesick Jones returned to New Zealand in 1967, staying for a year before deciding to head to the UK. There he had a chance meeting with Nat Kipner, who had arrived in London with John Rowles . . . . [who] was riding high on the UK charts with “If I Only Had Time”[. Jones and Kipner got busy writing songs for future projects including Rowles’ debut album. One of the trio’s collaborations was a song called ‘Make Time Stand Still’. Rowles’ manager . . . was impressed . . . and arranged for Jones to record the track . . . . [which was] released in September 1968. . . . [It] was well received and . . . Jones [signed with] NEMS Records. . . . [where] it was decided to change Jones’ stage name to Hayden Wood. [His] debut NEMS single “The Lady Wants More”/”The House Beside The Mine” was released in September 1969. . . . Work immediately started on an album at Abbey Road with a budget of £10,000, including a 30-piece orchestra and 10 backing singers. Wood [was] given first option on a batch of songs from the up and coming writers, Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Three of these, “The Greatest Discovery”, “The Ballad of A Well Known Gun” and “Sixty Years On” were chosen and Wood became the first person to cover an Elton John song. . . . “Sixty Years On” was released as the lead single . . . . NEMS went into receivership the day after the single’s release, putting an immediate stop on activities including the album’s UK release. Wood managed to secure the master tapes, which he sent to New Zealand where the album was released in mid-1970. In the UK, Elton John’s publisher Dick James was impressed with Wood’s versions of Elton’s songs and he was quickly signed to James’ [label]. . . . In 1972 Hayden returned to New Zealand and established himself on the brewery circuit as a solo act . . . . [and] formed his own label Cherokee . . .

https://www.sergent.com.au/music/haydenwood.html

Here are the Blue Chips:

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The Montanas — “That’s When Happiness Began”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 2, 2026

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

1,928) The Montanas — “That’s When Happiness Began”

The Montanas (see #1,245, 1,724), Wolverhampton’s harmony pop heroes, give us a “fuzz-laden . . . frantic, emphatic piece of harmony-based freakbeat/garage rock” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/youve-got-to-be-loved-mw0000229331) for their second A-side, “their best 45, hard fuzz ‘freakbeat’ riffs here, cool freakout, a yell near the psych out end too, way cool” (Mome Wrath, https://www.45cat.com/record/7n17183), “simply one of the most infectious pop ravers I have ever heard”, with a “[f]antastic riff, great vocal harmonies, wild fuzz guitar break; it just doesn’t get any better than this”. (tymeshifter, https://rateyourmusic.com/music-review/tymeshifter/the-montanas/thats-when-happiness-began-goodbye-little-girl-2/20012019)

Tymeshifter asserts “How in the world this single didn’t become a smash hit is beyond me.” (same link) It’s beyond me too. But, “after a slow start, [it did] beg[i]n to pick up pirate Radio Caroline airplay and so became a steady seller in the Autumn of 1966.” (Brian Nicholls, http://www.brumbeat.net/montanas.htm) Then tymeshifter steps in it: “I feel it ranks right up there with anything The Beatles were doing at the time.” (same link) OK, tymeshifter, take a cold shower.

“Happiness” was written by the Love Brothers, or rather, the Addrissi (“Never My Love”) Brothers [see #1,693]. It was originally released by the L.A. garage rockers Grains Of Sand. Iron Leg ponders:

How the song got to the Grains of Sand and the Montanas is a mystery, as is which of those bands recorded it first. My suspicion is . . . that the song was making the rounds as a publisher’s demo, and both the Grains of Sand and the Montanas got a hold of it separately. . . . Either way, both versions are rife with kick-ass-ery, with the Montanas winning out by a nose, if by nose you mean a wild fuzz guitar solo. While the Grains of Sand is a powerful slice of West Coast garage pop, the Montanas kick up the energy level significantly, dragging the song into Freakbeat territory. . . . [T]he high energy, ever so slightly psyched-out vibe of the Montanas recording is a pretty fine example [of freakbeat].

Tymeshifter adds:

Both versions are just as good as the other’s, though with a slightly different sound. The Grains’ version is slightly more psychedelic, with a distinct punk vibe. The Montanas knew a great track when they heard one, and redid it as a wild freak-beat raver.

https://rateyourmusic.com/music-review/tymeshifter/the-montanas/thats-when-happiness-began-goodbye-little-girl-2/20012019

As to the Birmingham’s Montanas, Brian Nicholls writes that:

Their unique blend of R&B, pop, and classic covers together with their close harmony versions of Beach Boys see #667, 1,825] and Four Seasons [see #1,454] hits ensured sell-out crowds, particularly in the Midlands area where fans would literally queue before the venue opened to ensure a seat. . . . The Monts were also constantly in demand for live radio broadcasts on Radio One Club . . . . On 16 July, 1967 they appeared on ‘Easybeat’ performing “River Deep Mountain High”, “Morning Dew” and “Take My Hand” [see #1,693] and were told it was one of the finest live performances in the history of the show.

http://www.brumbeat.net/montanas.htm

Vernon Joynson adds that they were “essentially a mainstream harmony-pop band” who “issued a series of beautifully crafted mid-sixties singles that marked the development of beat into summer pop with even a hint of psychedelia, without getting the success they deserved.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) And Bruce Eder says that their “Pye Records recordings . . . [constitute] one of the more self-consciously beautiful bodies of music that one is likely to cross paths with from mid-’60s England.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/youve-got-to-be-loved-mw0000229331)

Bruce Eder gives us some history:

[T]heir sound was a kind of high-energy pop/rock, with chiming guitars and seriously elegant and robust harmonies, somewhere midway between, say, the Hollies [see #461] and the Ivy League. . . . generally run[ning] toward fairly punchy beats, chiming rhythm guitars, and high harmonies. . . . By 1967, they’d evolved a bright sunshine pop sound that, had they been based in America on a reasonably strong label, might’ve had them breathing down the necks of the Association [see #1,264]. . . .

The group originated in Birmingham in 1964 . . . . The[y] had a very theatrical presentation, which included bits of comedy between the songs. The Montanas were managed by Roger Allen, who was able to get them a contract with Pye Records, which brought them under the wing of songwriters Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. . . . [who] also wrote hits for Petula Clark . . . . They had three songs, “Ciao Baby,” “You’ve Got to Be Loved,” and “Let’s Get a Little Sentimental,” that were favorites among reviewers, and got very heavy radio play, all without scoring any major chart action in England. Somehow, however, “You’ve Got to Be Loved” managed to make the American Top 50 — but they lacked the resources to come to the United States to promote the record, and watched as it rose and fell from the sales listings, all under its own power. . . . Everyone who ever saw the Montanas perform live respected and admired them as one of the top bands in Birmingham; they were first-rate musicians and had a powerful sound playing live, and were deserving of a break and a hit. . . . Their reliance on outside songwriters, which had been a mere detail . . . in 1965, had become a liability by 1967, and their records, for all of their excellence, didn’t reflect the group’s actual sound, which was a lot less pop-oriented than their singles would have led one to believe.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/youve-got-to-be-loved-mw0000229331, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-montanas-mn0000891434#biography

Singer Johnny Jones ponders:

Tony Hatch was convinced he was going to get us away eventually . . . he spent an enormous amount of time and trouble with us. He produced all our releases . . . and he wrote some really strong songs for us. But in hindsight, we really should have gone over to The States once we found out “You’ve Got to Be Loved” was moving . . . that would probably have made all the difference . . .

liner notes to You’ve Got to Be Loved (Singles A’s & B’s): The Montanas

Here are the Grains of Sand:

Here is Mike Furber (see #596, 1,658):

Here is Gwynn Owen (see #1,761):

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The Kinks a.k.a. “The Tol-Puddle Martyrs” — “Nellie Bligh”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 1, 2026

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

1,927) The Kinks a.k.a. “The Tol-Puddle Martyrs” — “Nellie Bligh”

In ’68, the Kinks [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, 1,907] released this single in Australia in the guise of an obscure Australian band named the Tol-Puddle Martyrs (as they had done the prior year (see #1,653)). But there is no mistaking Ray Davies’ fingerprints. First, “This single sounds exactly like a Kinks cover” (verysixty, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/tol_puddle_martyrs/love_your_life___nellie_bligh/) with its “rather fey, extremely late-’60s Kinks-influenced perkiness” and “some of the most accurate emulations of the circa 1966-1967 Kinks sound, though with a rawer fuzz guitar than the Kinks were using at that point.” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-tol-puddle-martyrs-mn0001442992#biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-tol-puddle-martyrs-mw0000303751) Ranko1964 says “if it were a Kinks song [it] would be held up as another example of Ray Davies’ genius”. (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/tol_puddle_martyrs/love_your_life___nellie_bligh/) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!

Second, even the name of the band reflects Ray’s inimitable sense of humor — referring to “an 1834 incident in which six farm workers in Tolpuddle, England, were banished to Australia for unionizing, subsequently becoming known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs.” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-tol-puddle-martyrs-mn0001442992#biography) Or maybe they were martyred for trying to preserve the village green?!

But, why in the world did the Kinks engage in this lark? Well, as we know, Ray was deeply affected by his sister Rosy’s emigration to Australia in ’64. Wikipedia cites Thomas Kitts’ Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else in telling us that:

“Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home” [see #623] was inspired mainly by Rosy Davies, the sister of Ray and Dave Davies. She, along with her husband, Arthur Anning, had moved to Australia in 1964, which devastated Ray to a great extent. On the day that they moved, Ray Davies broke down on the beach after a gig. “I started screaming. A part of my family had left, possibly forever. … I collapsed in a heap on the sandy beach and wept like a pathetic child”, Davies said of the incident. Dave Davies added, “All of a sudden, the fact that they were really leaving finally hit Ray. He ran to the sea screaming and crying.” Rosy and Arthur’s departure later inspired the premise for the Kinks’ 1969 concept album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) [see #450].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_Won%27t_You_Please_Come_Home#:~:text=3.1%20Sources-,Background,Fall%20of%20the%20British%20Empire).

Well, when the Kinks toured Australia in ’65 in support of Manfred Mann [see #78-79, 146, 698, 1,344] (https://www.austourdbase.com/the-kinks.html), Ray and Rosy cooked up the Martyrs, maybe to calm nerves.

The Martyrs remained obscure out of necessity — they weren’t going out on tour! Richie Unterberger quips that: “[N]ot many people heard them outside of Australia at the time of their release. (Actually, not a whole lot of people heard them inside Australia either.)” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-tol-puddle-martyrs-mn0001442992#biography) Ha, ha, ha!!! Ranko1964 writes that these “guys from Bendigo didn’t have the same cache [as the Kinks] and regretably th[e single] sank without a trace.” https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/tol_puddle_martyrs/love_your_life___nellie_bligh/

In any event, the fake biography of the band goes like this, per Kimbo:

Formerly known as Peter & the Silhouettes (from Bendigo), they were one of the first regional pop/rock bands to be given the opportunity to record. The only two songs recorded were: “Claudette Jones” and “The Natural Man”, which appeared on a compilation album, titled The Scene From Northern Victoria showcasing the regional talent of the day. The Silhouettes changed their name to the Tol-Puddle Martyrs in 1966 and changed their line-up at the same time. . . . The band played up to four gigs a week in regional Victoria and southern NSW. In 1968 they were a finalist at the Hoadley’s Battle Of The Sounds won by The Groove. Their first single was released on the Pacific label ”Time Will Come”/”Social Cell” both sides being written by guitarist Peter Rechter. The single reached #6 on the Top Forty charts in central Victoria. The band then won a recording contract with Festival and travelled to Sydney to cut their second single, ”Love Your Life”/”Nellie Bligh” produced by Joe Halford. On the success of that record, they appeared on TV show Uptight. Unfortunately, they soon they disbanded when members got married or moved into another musical direction.

https://historyofaussiemusic.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-tol-puddle-martyrs.html

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Keith West — “On a Saturday”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 31, 2026

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

1,926) Keith West — “On a Saturday”

Ah, Saturday in Swinging London with Keith, a “fantastic slab of pop psych” that “[s]hould have been a huge hit” (AnthonyMonaghan, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=soYuUaFBJSE&list=RDsoYuUaFBJSE&start_radio=1&pp=ygUYS2VpeWggd2VzdCBvbiBhIHNhdHVyZGF5oAcB), “a gorgeous jazzy ballad” with “jumbo acoustic guitar, double bass [by Ron Wood] and manic offbeat drumming [by Aynsley Dunbar]”. (biffbampow, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5713) Martin Crookall writes that “Saturday” “conveys all it needs to to hypnotise, the beauty of the girl you are to meet, the sense of no urgency whatsoever, on those free Saturdays in summer when nothing matters but being and enjoying it.” (https://mbc1955.wordpress.com/2022/07/07/the-infinite-jukebox-keith-wests-on-a-saturday/) And, without saying, no thoughts of Tomorrow.

Tim Sendra writes of Keith:

Keith West is a talented singer and songwriter who got his start in the mid-’60s during the British Beat boom, then was a key member of the seminal psychedelic group Tomorrow [see #72] in the second half of the decade. At the same time that the band was struggling to release their self-titled debut album, West became a surprise pop star as lyricist and singer on “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera.” Neither the pop fame nor Tomorrow lasted long, and he issued a string of singles and solo albums in a laid-back singer/songwriter vein before transitioning to a behind-the-scenes career. West’s first band was Four + 1, who after releasing a cover of “Time Is on My Side” in 1965 evolved into the In Crowd. The group issued a string of singles in 1965, then when guitarist Steve Howe joined, they shifted their sound to incorporate early psychedelic pop and changed their name to Tomorrow. The band released the single “My White Bicycle” in 1967 and were regulars at psychedelic-oriented venues like Middle Earth and the UFO Club. Working with producer Joe Boyd, the band finished their self-titled first album in 1967. West also launched a simultaneous solo career with producer Mark Wirtz, releasing a few solo singles . . . in the late ’60s. The first of these, the ornately arranged slice of pop-psychedelia “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera,” was an unexpectedly huge smash, reaching number two on the British charts during the summer of 1967 . . . . The song was meant to be the first installment of Wirtz’s projected rock opera, but nothing else had been written, and a projected double album never materialized. West did release one more installment as a single, the even more rococo “Sam,” an ambitious orchestral-psychedelic production that briefly made the British Top 40. West’s solo success hindered the career of the much less pop-oriented Tomorrow, who had yet to even release their album when “Teenage Opera” hit. Although West was far more interested in working with Tomorrow than staging whimsical pop-psych operettas, the difficulty in balancing the two concerns led to Tomorrow’s premature demise in 1968. West did manage to release another solo single, 1968’s “On a Saturday,” then in the early ’70s he issued a handful of soft rock singles and an album in Germany, 1974’s Wherever My Love Goes. In 1975 he teamed with violinist John Weider to form the group Moonrider, issuing a single self-titled album before splitting. That marked the end of his recording career for the most part, though he produced a few bands, worked with his old partner Howe occasionally in the studio in the ’90s, and produced music for television and radio commercials.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keith-west-mn0000084412#biography

From Denmark, here are the Teenmakers (’69):

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The Hounds — “The Office Girl”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 30, 2026

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

1,925) The Hounds — “The Office Girl”

This ain’t nothin’ like a hound dog. It’s a dreamy Swedish dream about an office girl, “an attractive psych-pop tune, complete with wah-wah guitar, attractive four-part harmonies and… Accordion? . . . Nonetheless perhaps the best song the Hounds ever recorded.” (Virre Friberg, https://www.45cat.com/record/c207se) Petter writes:

[S]uper good. . . one of the best uses of wah-wah pedals ever, great bass line, great use of the organ, vocals like the Four Seasons [see #1,454]. And everything goes together perfectly. It’s “only” a pop song but it is absolute top class. Better than 80% of what the Beatles [see #422, 1087, 1,256] ever released.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-hounds/ill-take-you-where-the-musics-playing-the-office-girl/

Well, Petter, you had me until that last sentence!

The liner notes to the Electric Sound Show comp tell us that:

[They] scored numerous major hits in [Sweden] and Canada courtesy of two wisely-chosen cover versions, “Sealed with a Kiss” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. Jan Ahlen, Lars Wallander, Jan Bathe, Jan Onnerud and Hendrik Salander had already enjoyed their first hit with “Exodus” in 1966 and went on to wave farewell to stardom hitting the charts in April 1968 with “The Gipsy Cried”. The Hounds disbanded in the same year and went their separate ways.

liner notes to the CD comp Electric Sound Show: An Assortment of Antiquities for the Psychedelic Connoisseur

Lennart Wrigholm writes (courtesy of Google Translate):

The Hollies [see #461] were . . . a . . . source of inspiration for Swedish pop groups. However, it was required that these had extremely talented members at the time because The Hollies could, with their four-part singing, sweep the field with most of their competitors. In 1965, the album Hollies was released and on [it] was the group’s version of the folk song “Very Last Day”. In Swedish pop circles, English LP records were grateful objects for finding songs to make cover versions of and “Very Last Day” in particular appealed to many. Among others, the Stockholm group The Hounds made it as a[n A-side]. However, this prompted The Hollies’ Swedish record company to break out the song as a Swedish single in the summer of 1966 and the Tio i Topp* jury fell head over heels. It was number one for The Hollies for almost the entire summer. But The Hounds weren’t sorry about it and God knows that the group had singing skills that were enough for an entire church choir. Instead, they recorded the theme song for the film “Exodus” and thus produced one of the best singles made during the entire Swedish pop era. For once, even the Tio i Topp jury could appreciate quality because this was the group’s breakthrough. During the years 1966-68, The Hounds had six songs on the Swedish Top Ten list. Of these, the group’s cover of the American The Tokens’ [see #66, 923, 1,046] “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was the most successful. During this period, the group also made two LPs. Their hallmark became advanced vocals and although the eternal search for hit songs forced the group to mostly do covers for their singles, they developed their own composition [such as “Office Girl”, written by rhythm guitarist Hendrik Salander].

https://web.archive.org/web/20051210201404/http://www.musiklandet.se/ml/index.nsf/1?Open&a=re&id=7EEA03D69BD98607C1256D0F00484D13

* Wikipedia informs (courtesty of Google Translate):

Tio i topp was Sveriges Radio’s first music chart, and was broadcast between 1961 and 1974. The program premiered on 14 October 1961 . . . . The songs on Tio i topp were often guaranteed a place on the Swedish sales chart, Kvällstoppen.

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tio_i_topp

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The Yardbirds — “Still I’m Sad”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 29, 2026

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

1,924) The Yardbirds — “Still I’m Sad”

Leave it to the Yardbirds to give us “one of the most unusual and pioneering tracks of the British Invasion era” (Golden Oldies Music, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1648861329476762), what could be “the first rock/pop record to rip off a Gregorian chant[]”. (Wombat Reynolds, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-yardbirds-still-im-sad-the-oddest-rock-record-of-1965.336408/) This B-side backed “Evil Hearted You” in the UK (OK, technically a “double A-side” which reached #3) and “I’m a Man” in the U.S. (which reached #17).

Golden Oldies Music writes:

Departing from the band’s typical Blues-Rock style, this song features a dark, mystical atmosphere with a chorus inspired by Gregorian chants. The somber, droning chants combined with a steady, driving drumbeat create a profound sense of melancholy and isolation . . . . This track proved that The Yardbirds were not just skilled Blues musicians but also explorers of new sonic frontiers, incorporating electronic experimentation and Eastern influences into Rock, thus laying the groundwork for the future Psychedelic Rock movement.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1648861329476762

Chuckbarlow5532 recalls:

When this album was released I was in the 8th grade. One day in gym class a guy noticed that the shower and locker room had the perfect echoey acoustics and launched into this chant and soon 3 classes of boys (about 100) were chanting this song.The teachers freaked and thought we were devil worshiping or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONVXNH7D4Qw

Matthew Greenwald tells us:

A fabulous, early example of psychedelic pop, this exquisite ballad is one of the Yardbirds’ most treasured mid-’60s recordings. The main hook of the song refutes the standards of the pop “chart” ethos of the day, being led by a wordless, droning almost Gregorian chant, which mirrors the song’s main melody. Rather than including all of the instrumental virtuosity of the group’s other records, the song itself sounds as though it was conceived as a record, rather than a “performance” piece, and is filled with an undeniably full atmosphere. The lyrics are dark and foreboding, giving the listener a peek into the depressed and repressed mind of the lyricist. Different than anything that the band had cut before . . . paving the way for the band’s ever-growing cult status among the early “underground” movement of the time.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/still-im-sad-mt0007092776

Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty tell us how “Sad” came to be:

[Dreja]: “After “For Your Love” there was a realization among us that we didn’t want to stay trapped in the blues idiom….”
[McCarty]: “Even Mick Jagger said you can’t play 12-bar blues forever”
[Dreja]: “[Manager] Giorgio (Gomelsky) was encouraging us to write and we actually wrote most of this while driving to a gig in the van. The inspiration was “The Lion Sleeps At Night” (sic)
[McCarty]: “I dunno about that. Paul (Samwell-Smith) and I did it on a piano. We wanted to do something moody and we got Giorgio singing a Gregorian chant, which was perfect.”
[Dreja]: “We did it on Top Of The Pops with Giorgio dressed as a monk, which was great for Giorgio because he always wanted to be in a band anyway!”

liner notes to the CD reissue of Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds

Here are the Yardbirds on TV:

Here is Manfred Mann’s instrumental version:

Here is Manfred Mann live:

Here is Rainbow:

Here is Rainbow live:

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The New Wave — “Where Do We Go From Here”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 28, 2026

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

1,923) The New Wave — “Where Do We Go from Here”

“[A] Stunning & Hauntingly crafted song” (spacecadett47, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tc5u29ivvw), incomparable L.A. baroque pop by the New Wave (see #1,200) courtesy of Ken of Ken and Barbie fame — yes, that Ken. The duo’s Reid King commented that it “was written/composed 35 years before 9/11 happened, and it was not in release in 2001, but should have been the music behind the footage of that tragic time.” (reidaux, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tc5u29ivvw)

Scott Blackerby says the New Wave’s sole LP (Little Dreams) is full of “heavily orchestrated soft-pop moves. . . . Most of the songs boast fairly attractive melodies, though the arrangements are occasionally overwhelming and their lyrics suffer from standard college student angst, which probably drove young female English major crazy.” (Scott Blackerby, The Acid Archives (2nd Ed.))

Richie Unterberger’s opinion?

[The New Wave was] a soft rock sunshine pop duo . . . . The album is . . . so soft and pop-ish that its relationship to rock music is slight and it sometimes sounds geared as much or more to the adult pop market as the pop/rock one. Their material emphasizes breezy, samba-influenced close-harmony romantic tunes, acoustic guitars, and light percussion embroidered by vibes and some orchestration. The music is pleasant but fluffy . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-new-wave-mn0001891881#biography

Pleasant but fluffy?! It’s not toilet paper! (If you are from the UK, you wouldn’t understand that.)

Joe Marchese tells us of the New Wave and the LP:

King found inspiration in the tricky chords of the bossa nova. He mastered them and went on to write his own songs, often in collaboration with one-time child actor Thom Andriola, who performed under the stage name of Tommy André. By 1966, King and Andriola were recording demos, and one year later, they were signed to Canterbury Records. . . . [T]hey found themselves collaborating with rock royalty as The New Wave. Van Dyke Parks, Gene Page, Mike Post, Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye all added their magic to the duo’s debut. . . . The New Wave brought together the sounds of King’s beloved bossa nova with jazz, pop and classical strains, while the harmonies recalled late-period Chad and Jeremy [see #1,060] or even Peter and Gordon. . . . [They] wrote all but one of the songs on the[ LP] . . . and the one cover version was a rearranged version of Michel Legrand’s “Autrefois” from Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, or The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This was hardly Top 40 fare in 1967, adventurous though those times were. . . . . [T]he evocative, sometimes eerie sound of the vibraphone played a major role in the sound of The New Wave. Renowned [jazz] bassist Ron Carter . . . contributed bass to the record. . . . It’s no surprise that members of the famed Los Angeles “Wrecking Crew” participated in sessions . . . . Gene Page . . . was in the arranger’s chair and co-produced . . . . Van Dyke Parks was enlisted into service on piano while in the midst of work on SMiLE [see #1,825]. . . . The New Wave’s rich sound included harpsichords, strings and oboes, adding color to the most introspective songs on the LP as well as the sunnier cuts. The album performed well in the Los Angeles area, but Canterbury wasn’t behind it. King and Andriola continued to explore the boundaries of popular music, taking their sound in a less commercial direction (inspired by modern classical composition) and recording a second album in the U.K. that never saw release. But the New Wave’s self-titled LP has remained a favorite among sunshine pop collectors for its intelligent lyrics and quirky, moody, individual melodies.

Before Blondie and Talking Heads: Now Sounds Presents The Original “New Wave”

Reid King writes:

Two young sons of L.A. success originally formed Canterbury: Ken Handler and then-partner Norm Ratner. Ratner’s family owned a large carpet company in L.A. and Ken’s parents . . . founded Mattel toy company, and yes, Ken is that Ken, and his sister is that Barbie. The Handlers set Ken up with something to do and paid him well for running what was essentially a tax shelter for their toy business. The label did a lot of recording in about a two-year span but had little success to show for it — which seemed to be the point, since that way they could declare a loss. Despite their best efforts to fail, they found themselves releasing a reasonably successful bubblegum single in 1967 called “Yellow Balloon”. . . . During the summer of 1967 sales of the album were going well around Los Angeles and elsewhere. But just when the record needed even more of a promotional boost, Canterbury pulled these efforts away from the LP, and interest began to wane. We also had not received any payment, so we sent with our manager to BMI and asked if they had accrued any royalties from airplay and sales. We discovered that BMI had never been contacted by Canterbury to handle payments. When we went back to Ken . . . he got so mad that her tore up our contract and gave us our full freedom right then and there. At that point it became very clear to us that Canterbury was actually in business to lose money.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Little Dreams

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The Knaves — “Your Stuff”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 27, 2026

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

1,922) The Knaves — “Your Stuff”

Chicago garage rock perfection from “the quintessential long-haired juvenile delinquent rock ‘n’ roll punks” (the Monocled Alchemist, https://monocledalchemist.com/2024/12/07/the-knaves-your-stuff-sundazed/) who “look[ed] like a Windy City version of English R&B thugs The Pretty Things [see #82, 94, 153, 251, 572, 731, 892, 1,001, 1,327]”. (Jeff Jarema, liner notes to the CD comp Oh Yeah!: The Best of Dunwich Records) The song is “Utterly Brilliant” (PAULLONDEN, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKn-cnsVhvE), “[j]ust far out, [a] fantastic song” (charlesrlassiter, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKn-cnsVhvE) with “some nice stop-and-start tempos backing the salacious half-spoken vocal”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/leave-me-alone%21-mw0000413093)

Jeff Jarema writes that:

[The Knaves’] follow-up Dunwich [Records]-produced single, “Inside Outside”/”Your Stuff”, failed to get past acetate form. One theory is that the thinly disguised sexual suggestiveness of both sides was deemed unacceptable by [the Chicago radio station] WCFL [which had put “Leave Me Alone” on its playlist] and, more importantly [the Chicago powerhouse] WLS.

liner notes to the CD comp Oh Yeah!: The Best of Dunwich Records

Ken Voss tells the story of the Knaves:

In 1966 . . . [they] put out . . . “Leave Me Alone” b/w “The Girl I Threw Away[“, which] became a top five hit in Chicago. . . . [T]he All Music Guide[ states that] “The Knaves stood out a little from the garage crowed in their relatively heavy use of brooding folk-rock elements within their aggressive raunchy sound.” Classic Garage Rock concurs, “In the pantheon of ‘60s garage rock, arguably the most anti-authority anthem of them all is the Knaves’ ‘Leave Me Alone’.[“] Hailing from the northern suburbs of Chicago . . . [t]he Knaves formed in 1964. Howard Berkman (lead guitar, vocals), Mark Feldman (guitar), John Hulbert (guitar, harmonica), Neal Pollack (bass) and Gene Lubin (drums). Berkman, said to have been a child prodigy, played guitar in his early teens with a surf-rock band called The Jesters that included future folk legend Steve Goodman. Recalls Lubin, ” . . . . I . . . hooked up with an organ and bass player from Sunday school. We played beatnik coffee houses . . . . Then around the fall of 1962, I started college and met Howard Berkman. He was like 14 or 15 years old[.”] . . . The other [Knaves] were high school friends. Even though they had very little musical experience, there was a chemistry between them with Berkman becoming their mentor and instructor. Initially, they took on a “bad boy” image playing mostly covers embracing the British “rocker” subculture . . . . They built a following predominately in the Chicago underground music scene . . . . In 1966 the Knaves were introduced to Terry Sachan, who at the time was road manager for the Beach Boys [see #667, 1,825] . . . . Heading into the studio, under the production direction of renowned promo man and label owner Paul Gallis, the band recorded seven songs. Their debut . . . . [B-side] “The Girl I Threw Away” “deserves its reputation as one of the most outstanding fusions of Byrds-y folk-rock with morose ‘60s garage punk,” notes critic Richie Unterbuger. It was initially released on the small independent Glen label. Once it garnered enough popularity, it was licensed over to Dunwich for broader distribution. Then Neal Pollack got drafted, Stu Einstein stepped in to replace him. Despite the popularity their first record generated, when it came to release a follow-up “Inside-Outside” b/w “Your Stuff,” it appears Dunwich pressed so few copies that it was considered unreleased . . . . The Knaves never made very much money. With the label’s disinterest, and when their equipment was stolen out of their van, it spelled the end of the Knaves.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/illinoisrockandrollmusicarchives/posts/2381225912329783/

Howard Berkman told the Monocled Alchemist:

The difference between the Knaves and everybody else is we were terribly dysfunctional juvenile delinquent kids. The other kids, like the Shadows of Knight [see #184, 1,075], the Little Boy Blues, the Dirty Wurds and those guys, they had families to come home to, people patting them on the head, buying them a guitar, buying them an amp. I was always getting tremendous, tremendous resistance. None of us were getting anything but stormy seas from our people. We were really angry. . . . We all felt really stigmatized by this dysfunction that was in lives. We had this tremendous following among all the kids because they could really relate to that. We weren’t trying to be anyone else.

https://monocledalchemist.com/2024/12/07/the-knaves-your-stuff-sundazed/

Gene Lubin told the Monocled Alchemist:

[I]t was about provocation, because everything was in those days . . . the civil rights movement, the war protest. I think we felt it was our civic duty to send a wake-up call though we didn’t exactly have any idea as to what that might be. . . . You had this combination of a virtuoso guitarist like Berkman and then a bass player who was virtually practicing on stage. You had these layers of virtuosity and primitivism, which I think, gave it a unique sound. People just didn’t know what to make of it. . . . [O]ur first gigs were not suburban teenage clubs. Somehow or other, we got connected with some people that got us booked in these really hard-*ss places. They were practically burlesque halls. Our first gigs were playing . . . at . . . a nightclub mostly for conventioneers and tourists. We played on a tiny stage with a glass cage to either side of us with a gal in each one in a bikini go go dancing. I mean it was a hard place. There were prostitutes hanging around outside. . . . By the time we started playing for the teen clubs, we were a little hardened. There was nothing sweet about us.

https://monocledalchemist.com/2024/12/07/the-knaves-your-stuff-sundazed/

There was nothing sweet about them . . . except their music.

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Jerry Butler — “Since I Lost You Lady”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 26, 2026

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

1,900) Jerry Butler — “Since I Lost You Lady”

(see #347)

’70 B-side

Co-written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Jerry Butler, Si

Written-By – B. Butler*, J. Butler*, K. Gamble*, T. Bell*

collapses under it’s own sadness FunkMySoul, https://www.funkmysoul.gr/jerry-butler-1969-ice-on-ice/

John Bush:

Ice on Ice didn’t yield as many hits as its predecessor (The Ice Man Cometh), but for fans of mature uptown soul and smooth string-laden productions, it’s yet another success. The Butler-Gamble-Huff triumvirate began right where they’d left off less than a year earlier, and occasionally upped the energy level, as on the highlight “Been a Long Time.” True, there’s nothing on Ice on Ice up to the level of “Only the Strong Survive” or “Hey, Western Union Man,” but it’s a great place to go for more of Jerry Butler’s smooth, confident approach to late-’60s soul. https://www.allmusic.com/album/ice-on-ice-mw0000836296

Ben Beaumont-Thomas:

Born to a poor family in Mississippi and then raised in Chicago, Butler originally trained to be a chef – “Jerry could cook like somebody’s mama,” Smokey Robinson [see #182] later said – but became an influential and versatile musician who came of age as soul music evolved out of doo-wop and mid-century pop. He brought his gospel music background to bear on one of his earliest songs, “For Your Precious Love” . . . which he wrote and then performed with his group Jerry Butler and the Impressions, taking it to No 11 in the US charts in 1958.The group also featured Butler’s childhood friend Curtis Mayfield, who fronted them after Butler left for a solo career – they found further success with songs such as People Get Ready [see #118, 285, 1,347, 1,544, 1,848]. But the Butler-Mayfield collaboration continued, with Mayfield writing or co-writing a number of solo Butler songs, including “He Will Break Your Heart”, a No 7 hit in 1960. Butler also co-wrote other hits, such as Otis Redding’s [see #1,333, 1,385] “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”. Butler also found success with his takes on a series of pop standards, including “Moon River” and “Make It Easy on Yourself”, but his biggest hit of all was self-penned: ‘Only the Strong Survive’, which reached No 4 in 1969. It was co-written with powerhouse Philadelphia duo Gamble and Huff, and together they scored a number of other hits. He earned the nickname “Iceman” for his cool, collected demeanour on stage: “I came through a period when the Isley Brothers were jumping off the stage, and James Brown was sliding across the floor. But I am just a standup singer,” he said. A cover of “He Will Break Your Heart” became a US No 1 hit for Tony Orlando and Dawn in 1975, under the title “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)”. But his own musical success waned in that decade, and he ended up focusing on a beer distribution company he’d founded in 1973. Come the 1980s, he decided to move into politics, and in 1986 was elected to the Board of Commissioners in Cook County, Illinois – it acts as the legislature for the area, and oversees courts, prisons, healthcare and more. He held a position on the 17-strong board until his retirement in 2018. He was made a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Impressions . . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/21/jerry-butler-iceman-soul-singer-illinois-politician-dies-aged-85?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwY2xjawQxQD5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFyc1NFclFyd1R0WG5xUEJnc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHoVP_bLLR2FKE3HyrVC4f5t6_FZNfwJ68bmR6m8BtiBxZGUkwtI55kfy6Iel_aem_hx7_NL4rTne03XtlBaUO9w

Craig Lytle:

Jerry Butler’s recording career spanned seven decades and saw him release more than 50 albums, and his voice is one of the most distinguished in all of music. Soulful yet smooth as ice, his nickname, “The Ice Man,” epitomized his demeanor — and his sound. Butler moved from Sunflower, Mississippi, to Chicago at the age of three and grew up in the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects. He had initial music lessons as a young boy while a member of a church choir in Chicago. Curtis Mayfield, who was three years younger, was a member of the same choir. The two befriended each other and began a collaboration that would have an everlasting impact on music. The duo joined brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks and Sam Gooden to form the R&B group the Roosters. . . . In 1957, the quintet’s name was changed to Jerry Butler & the Impressions. Butler scored his first hit with the Impressions in 1958 with the timeless ballad “For Your Precious Love.” (He’d written the lyrics to the song when he was 16.) That same year, Butler and the Impressions cordially split, and Butler began his solo career. He released his first single, “Lost,” on the Abner label. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard R&B charts. Jumping over to Vee-Jay in late 1960, where his career blossomed, Butler had his first hit as a solo artist with “He Will Break Your Heart.” The single went to number one and stayed there for seven consecutive weeks. In 1961, he bounced back with two Top Ten singles: “Find Another Girl” and “I’m a Telling You.” In 1967, Butler signed with Mercury and teamed up with the production duo of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. His work with these two master producers and songwriters resulted in some classic recordings, including the outstanding album The Iceman Cometh. The record featured two number one singles (“Hey, Western Union Man” and “Only the Strong Survive”) and two Top Ten singles (“Never Give You Up” and “Are You Happy”). While Butler was always known for being a crooner, “Hey, Western Union Man” revealed that he was more than capable of singing uptempo songs. In 1971, Gamble and Huff formed their own label. Subsequently, Butler formed a creative workshop to help provide material for his forthcoming albums. He marketed songs that he didn’t use on his own albums to other artists. In the spring of 1971, he hit the Top Ten with the number eight single “If It’s Real What I Feel,” which was written by Chuck Jackson (the younger brother of Rev. Jesse Jackson). Butler continued his hitmaking tradition with “Ain’t Understanding Mellow,” a classic soul-ballad duet with Brenda Lee Eager that peaked at number three on the Billboard R&B charts. He scored a number six single with Eager with a remake of the Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and a solo hit with a remake of the O’Jay’s “One Night Affair,” which was also his last song to crack the Top Ten. Never one to categorize singers because he believed that a singer is a singer — not based on genre, but merely on a person’s ability to sing — Butler himself covered several styles of music during his lengthy music career. He had many highs, ranging from sharing the spotlight with such greats as Aretha Franklin to being the chairman of the board for the nonprofit Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Butler also became a force in another field: politics. In the mid-’80s, he was a significant campaign supporter of Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. A short time later, he himself became the Cook County (Illinois) Commissioner, and by the late ’90s, he was a Chicago City Alderman. In the meantime, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Impressions in 1991.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jerry-butler-mn0000329468#biography

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Vamp — “Floatin’”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 25, 2026

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

1,920) Vamp — “Floatin’”

This “rarely comped classic of UK psych[] featur[es] shimmering distorted guitar and detached drumming. . . . almost like a more lethargic version of Tintern Abbey’s equally lauded ‘Vacuum Cleaner'” [see #35]. (Mag1c_hand, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/vamp/floatin-thinkin-too-much/) A “[c]lassic cult favorite from [a] supergroup comprised of [former Pretty Things (see #82, 94, 153, 251, 572, 731, 892, 1,001, 1,327) wildman] Viv Prince, Andy Clark, Mick Hutchinson, and Pete Sears” (Leapday, https://www.45cat.com/record/584213), it is a “reflective ballad” with a “laidback, hypnotic atmosphere” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) that “really sounds like everyone involved in the recording was seriously stoned.” (Joël van Roode, https://www.pooterland.com/bands_compilations.html)

Pete Sears Vamps:

“VAMP” . . . stood for Viv, Andy, Mick, and Pete. Viv Prince from the “Pretty Things” on drums, Andy Clark on keyboards and vocal, Mick Hutchinson on guitar, and me on bass. We released a single in 1968 called “Floatin” . . . . I remember us sitting in this big-wig’s office at Screen Gems…and him bragging about how they’d made the “Monkeys” band out of nothing. We didn’t really hit it off with their approach to promoting music and our one single didn’t do so well. We had recorded another tune which included Sam Gopal on Tablas playing along with Viv on drums…more like the jam approach of the original “Sam Gopal Dream”…unfortunately it never saw the light of day and nobody knows where the acetate is. We broke up soon after that…Mick and Andy started “Clark Hutchinson” and made some cool albums. I started my own band called “Giant” with Viv Prince on drums…I played lead guitar.

https://petesears.com/music/1968-vamp-floatin-atlantic-records-london/

Here is Alex Williams on Viv Prince:

Viv Prince[ was] a drummer for the snarling 1960s British rock band the Pretty Things, whose taste for chaos, onstage and off, provided inspiration for fellow stick-wielding loons like Keith Moon of the Who [see #548, 833, 976] . . . . During his 18-month run . . . . [h]e got as much attention for his unhinged persona as for his scalding performances. It was no mean feat to be the maniac among maniacs in the Pretty Things, a ferocious outfit that partied incessantly and was generally considered a ruder, cruder version of the Rolling Stones [see #382, 298, 537, 579, 1,098, 1,403]. . . . The Pretty Things formed . . . in 1963, and Mr. Prince joined the next year. He had previously worked as a session drummer and played with various bands, including the Jazz Cardinals and Carter-Lewis & the Southerners . . . . Prince was recruited to bring an air of professionalism to the unruly Pretties. That is not the way it unfolded. “We were sort of novice lunatics, but they suddenly hand us, like, the high priest of lunacy,” Phil May, the group’s lead singer, said in an interview for Richie Unterberger’s book Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators and Eccentric Visionaries of ’60s Rock . . . . May recalled a young Mr. Moon . . . taking in Pretty Things gigs and looking mesmerized by Mr. Prince’s explosive fills. “Before that, playing drums was quite sedentary,” Mr. May said. “Boring. And through Viv, you’d suddenly realized that you could be a drummer, but also an extrovert. You could be a star.” . . . Eventually, Mr. Prince’s untethered personality became too much, even for the Pretty Things. He “was one of the great debauched people of our time, even worse than Keith Moon,” Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones once said. . . . “We had to sack him because he was so bad in the end,” Mr. May told Mr. Unterberger. “We couldn’t finish a concert.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/arts/music/viv-prince-dead.html

Oh, and Michael Hann notes that “after his sacking [Viv] apparently joined the Hells Angels, and was duly thrown out for bad behaviour”!!!(https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/the-pretty-things-drummer-viv-prince)

Here is Sears on Sears:

Pete Sears . . . has played keyboards or bass guitar with a large variety of artists . . . . His credits include the classic early Rod Stewart albums, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment, and Smiler . . . . Pete was bassist and keyboardist with Jefferson Starship from 1974 to 1978 . . . and from 1979 to 1987, he was with Starship, playing on over ten albums with the two bands. He contributed several songs to each album . . . . [and] collaborated on many songs with Grace Slick as lyricist . . . . In 1978, after Grace left the band for one album, Freedom at Point Zero, he began working with wife and lyricist, Jeannette Sears, and over the years they wrote many of Jefferson Starship’s songs . . . . [s]everal . . . ma[king] into music videos and . . . put into heavy rotation on MTV. . . . From 1992 to 2001, Pete played keyboards . . . in the Jefferson Airplane off-shoot, Hot Tuna. He also played in the Jorma Kaukonen Trio . . . . John Lee [Hooker] was . . . a guest on Pete’s album, The Long Haul. Pete’s other release, Watchfire, in 1988, included Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, David Grisman, and Mimi Farina [see #1,760]. . . . Over the years, Pete has worked on many benefits with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead including an early version of Ratdog, and in 2001 he formed his own band Dawn Patrol. He is currently a full-time member of Moonalice . . . . In 1964 and 1965, Pete toured Britain with the Sons of Fred, recording five singles . . . . [A]fter a brief stint on keyboards playing Motown songs with Fleur De Lys [see #32, 122] he formed the underground psychedelic band Sam Gopal Dream along with renowned guitarist, Mick Hutchinson and Tabla player Sam Gopal. . . . Pete . . . recorded keyboards with bluesman Freddy King’s European backing band, Steamhammer. In 1969, Pete worked as a session musician in London . . . . He . . . form[ed] Silver Meter with Leigh Stevens and Micky Waller, and later the original Stoneground . . . . Pete recorded piano and bass on Rod Stewart’s Gasoline Alley in 1970. In 1971, he played bass on the first Papa John Creach solo album . . . . [H]e joined The Long John Baldry Blues Band for their first tour of the United States. He was later a founding member of the San Francisco based band, Copperhead . . . . Pete played piano with bluesman Nick Gravenitas on the notorious Mill Valley Bunch album during this period . . . . He also formed a band, Sears, Schon, Errico with Greg Errico, and Neil Schon. . . .

https://petesears.com/about/

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Manolo y Ramón — “Lágrimas, sonrisas”/“Tears, Smiles”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 24, 2026

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

1,919) Manolo y Ramón — “Lágrimas, sonrisas”/“Tears, Smiles”

From Spain, by way of Swinging London, here is “a colossal pop epic with slightly psychedelic undertones” (Vincente Fabuel (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.efeeme.com/objeto-de-deseo-manolo-y-ramon/), “one of the best songs of Spanish (and arguably European) psychedelia”. (Bernardo de Andres (courtesy of Google Translate), https://mitocadiscosdual.blogspot.com/2013/09/duo-dinamico-viaje-hacia-abbey-road.html) While “[i]t went largely unnoticed at the time”, now it “is a mod-psych anthem, full of powerful vocals, [and] Hammond organ flourishes”. (Sweet Grooves Records (courtesy of Google Translate), https://sweetgroovesrecords.com/producto/manolo-y-ramon-lagrimas-sonrisas/) ¡Sí, nena!

Sweet Grooves Records explains (courtesy of Google Translate):

In 1970, the famous Spanish duo Manolo and Ramón, known as El Dúo Dinámico [the Dynamic Duo] since the early 1960s, changed their musical direction and name, recording a full album in London in a cool pop-psych style. With a dream team of session musicians (Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson, Billy Preston, and others) and arrangers associated with George Martin, the duo recorded 13 tracks, from which “Lágrimas Sonrisas” and “Adiós, Adiós, Goodbye” were selected for a 45 rpm release.

https://sweetgroovesrecords.com/producto/manolo-y-ramon-lagrimas-sonrisas/

Alas, the LP became “[a] truly ghostly record, with zero popular success at the time . . . barely heard by anyone . . . their most obscure work.” (Vincente Fabuel (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.efeeme.com/objeto-de-deseo-manolo-y-ramon/) Xesco 3penics explains (courtesy of Google Translate):

After the numerous success of Dinámico during the prodigious decade at the end of the 60s they entered a stage where they began to lose popularity. In 1969 Manolo and Ramón traveled to London to record . . . with the intention of finding a new sound and recorded under the baton of close collaborators of George Martin and most likely (because it seems that Ramón Arcusa has confirmed it in an interview [see https://www.efeeme.com/duo-dinamico-historia-en-movimiento/]) with great British musicians such as Jimmy Page . . . or Ian Anderson . . . . When they arrived in Spain with the recording under their arm, they saw how the small company CPI, with which they had signed as Manolo Y Ramón, closed its doors and was absorbed by Movieplay, which finally released a few copies of the album in 1970 and hardly promoted it. The British misadventures of Duo Dinámico, forgotten at the time . . . are 13 songs of pop melodies with baroque orchestrations, winds with a clear soul influence and fuzz guitars that bring the right dose of psychedelia. Most are melodic ballads but the album also has some super danceable songs full of groove!

https://3penics.blogspot.com/2019/09/manolo-y-ramon-manolo-y-ramon.html

As to Manolo and Ramón, Drago Bonacich tells us:

[They] met while working in an aviation company. After singing together at a Christmas party, these young music lovers decided to pursue a career naming their act Dúo Dinámico. They started with a live performance at a local radio station and recording an EP for the first time in 1959 . . . . Soon, Duo Dinamico was performing along with Luis Mariano, Lucho Gatica, even the Platters, and getting main roles in movies such as Boton De Ancla [Anchor Button] and Buscame A Esa Chica [Find that Girl for Me]. The pair wrote “La, la, la”, the song that won the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, performed by Massiel, while in 1972, after recording in London with producer George Martin, [they] decided to concentrate themselves in producing new acts, in addition, composing for prominent Latin artists. In 1986 Sony Music signed them up, releasing a self-titled album, followed by En Forma, featuring “Resistiré” [“I Will Endure”], which was chosen by Pedro Almodóvar as a main title for the movie soundtrack of Atame. Dúo Dinámico continued to perform in the years to come and in 2007 Quisiera Ser — a musical featuring 24 of their hits — began a run at the Teatro Nuevo Apolo in Madrid.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/d%C3%BAo-din%C3%A1mico-mn0000153965#biography

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? And the Mysterians — “Girl (You Captivate Me)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 23, 2026

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

1,918) ? And the Mysterians — “Girl (You Captivate Me)”

Did he just say that?! Yes, indeed, he did, on this captivating “killer fuzz/punk” (brucster99b, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb4V5QHx8RM) number that flipped “96 Tears” back upside down where it started. Question Mark later explained that the song’s “’real’ title is ‘Girl (You Masturbate Me)'”. (Bill Kopp, https://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2009/10/12/feature-question-mark-the-mysterians/)

The Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame elaborates:

The group was optimistic that their fourth single, “Girl (You Captivate Me)” . . . would put them back on top. The sound . . . featured Bobby[ Martinez]’s guitar played through a fuzz box to great effect and a snarling vocal by Question Mark. In an attempt to give the song more edge, Question Mark substituted the lyric “Girl you masturbate me” for the original line “Girl you fascinate me”; but Cameo-Parkway once again failed to give much promotion to the single. Somewhat surprisingly, the song was performed on American Bandstand on June, 10, 1967. The video . . . shows Question Mark lip-synching the song without any of the other Mysterians in sight. Perhaps because the lyric “masturbate” was altered when it was broadcast, it became a classic “mondegreen” (a term given to misunderstood song lyrics) for a large number of listeners. Many thought they heard “Girl you masticate me”, thinking that no song featured on AM radio or introduced by Dick Clark on American Bandstand would contain the word “masturbate”. But “Girl (You Captivate Me)” featured the unmentionable and, once the word got out, the song was taken off most radio playlists. As a result, the single barely scraped into Billboard at # 98. It would also prove to be the band’s final entry on the Hot 100.

https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/hall-of-fame/artists/289-question-mark-and-the-mysterians

Bill Kopp writes that:

The group’s sound was an amalgam of cheesy organ (Farfisa or Vox, depending on whom and when you ask), garage-rock arrangement and the sneering, menacing vocals of Question Mark. . . . While everyone in the band is of Latino heritage, Question Mark bristled at the idea of putting them in an “ethnic” category with Los Lobos and Thee Midniters [see #603]. “I just think of us as a rock n’ roll band. When you put on the radio all you hear is music. And you don’t even know if there’s females playin’ music. And you don’t even know if there’s a crow playin’ the music. You don’t know what’s playin’ the music. All you know is that you hear music, right? And that’s the way it should be.[“]

https://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2009/10/12/feature-question-mark-the-mysterians/

That is indeed the way it should be.

Steve Huey answers our questions:

It only took one song, the organ-driven number one smash “96 Tears,” to make ? & the Mysterians into garage rock legends. Eccentric frontman Question Mark (actually spelled “?,” once he had his name legally changed) cultivated an aura of mystery by never appearing in public without a pair of wraparound sunglasses; he frequently claimed he had been born on Mars and lived among the dinosaurs in a past life, and that voices from the future had revealed he would be performing “96 Tears” in the year 10,000. On a more earthly level, the Mysterians’ sound helped lay down an important part of the garage rock blueprint, namely the low-budget sci-fi feel of the Farfisa and Vox organs . . . . What was more, they were one of the first Latino rock groups to have a major hit, and ?’s sneering attitude made him one of the prime suspects in the evolution of garage rock into early punk. The Mysterians were formed in 1962 by bassist Larry Borjas, his cousin, guitarist Bobby Balderrama, and drummer Robert Martinez; they soon added vocalist ? (the general consensus is that he was actually Rudy Martinez, Robert’s brother, though a few sources identified him as Reeto Rodriguez) and organist Frank Rodriguez. By most accounts, all the musicians were born in Texas, of Mexican descent, and grew up in Michigan in the Saginaw/Bay City area. Taking their name from a Japanese science fiction film, the band played its first gigs in the small Michigan town of Adrian in 1964, and soon moved its home base from Saginaw to Flint. Larry Borjas and Robert Martinez were both forced to leave the band for military duty, and were replaced by bassist Frank Lugo and the Martinez brothers’ brother-in-law, drummer Eddie Serrato. Shortly afterward, ? wrote the lyrics a song he called “Too Many Teardrops” and showed them to the rest of the band; the title was changed first to “69 Tears,” and then the less suggestive “96 Tears.” The song became a hit at the Mt. Holly ski lodge/dancehall, where the band played regularly, and in early 1966 they recorded it for the small local label Pa-Go-Go, owned by the band’s manager. It became a regional hit in Flint and Detroit, attracting interest from several major record companies; ? decided to sign with the Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway . . . . Now blessed with national distribution, “96 Tears” raced up the pop charts and went all the way to number one in the fall of 1966, becoming one of garage rock’s all-time classics. The band’s first album . . . was released by the end of the year, as was its follow-up single, “I Need Somebody,” which just missed the Top 20. Released in early 1967, “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” was a minor hit, but the group’s second album, Action, sold disappointingly; moreover, Cameo-Parkway was experiencing financial difficulties, and was later taken over by ABKCO chief Allen Klein. The Mysterians departed, recording singles for Capitol in 1968 and Tangerine and Super K in 1969, to no commercial avail . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/-the-mysterians-mn0000567190#biography

Here is ? on American Bandstand:

Live ’07:

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Rejoice! — “Spring Flew In Today”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 22, 2026

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

1,917) Rejoice! — “Spring Flew In Today”

Rejoice! — spring is here, and here is some beautiful and “lilting” (Ted, https://wendy-city.blogspot.com/2019/) Marin Country folk rock backed by Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel of the Wrecking Crew. It’ll put a spring in your step!

Ted writes of Rejoice’s LP, Rejoice:

[T]he album is an intriguing late entry in the ampersand co-ed folk duo movement that spanned across the entire decade of the ‘60s. The proficient musical bed tilled by the Wrecking Crew musicians on lilting, albeit fleeting songs [like] “Spring Flew in Today” . . . makes it sounds like that Tom & Nancy Brown are layering their flowering vocals over a sweeping ’60s motion picture soundtrack. In other spots, you can hear the underlying tension of a ramshackle Bay Area couple bereft of their familiar Marin County-based accompanying band and not quite coalescing with the professional approach of the top flight L.A. studio musicians (Joe Osborn on bass and Larry Knechtel on piano & organ, besides the aforementioned Blaine). . . . While Rejoice! lacked the crystalline harmonic interplay of Blackburn & Snow or the turn up the AM radio factor of Friend & Lover, their opportunity to combine forces and record with members of the Wrecking Crew is beyond compare.

https://wendy-city.blogspot.com/2019/

Ray McGinnis tells us of Rejoice:

Rejoice was a band made up of guitarist Tom Brown, bass player Nancy Brown, pianist Dick Conte and drummer Michael Patrick Moore. They were from Marin County, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Browns’ were a husband and wife duo and their harmonies bear strong echoes of the coffee house folk circuit blended with the gentle, hazily psychedelic Bay Area sounds of the day. Rejoice was signed by Jay Lasker, then president of the Dunhill label. Rejoice originally went into the studio with Terry Melcher as producer in April 1968. Melcher was the only son of singer Doris Day and he had previously produced the Byrds’ [see #1,430, 1,605] albums Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn, Turn Turn[ and] all the albums for Paul Revere & The Raiders [see #109] from 1965 to 1968, including their string of hit singles . . . . Melcher had also been the producer of the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. . . . While in the middle of recording . . . album, Melcher’s father passed away and [he] was gone for about a week. . . . Months later, Tom and Nancy Brown, the singers and main songwriters, went back to Los Angeles with Steve Barri as producer and completed the Rejoice album. Bari was a successful producer for The Grassroots, most of Mama Cass’s solo career hits, Tommy Roe . . . and Alan O’Day . . . . Rejoice used the following studio musicians to complete the album: drummer Hal Blaine, bass player Joe Osborne and pianist Larry Knechtel. Hal Blaine and Larry Knetchel were both . . . with the legendary Wrecking Crew from Los Angeles. The Rejoice album was released in January 1969 and a single co-written by Nancy and Tom Brown, “Golden Gate Park”, spent one week on the Billboard Hot 100 at #96. This was mostly on the strength of the tune climbing to #10 in San Francisco and #20 in Seattle. It was a fine example of the sunshine pop tunes populating the charts in the late 60’s. . . . With no commercial success, later in 1969 Rejoice broke up . . . .

https://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2022/06/rejoice-rejoice-1968-us-pleasant-folk.html

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Jacqueline Taieb — “Le Printemps À Paris”/”Spring in Paris”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 21, 2026

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

1,916) Jacqueline Taieb — “Le Printemps À Paris”/”Spring in Paris”

Tunisian-born yé-yé great Jacqueline Taïeb (see #39, 1,305, 1,891) took Paris by storm with “7h du matin”/“7 in the morning” (see #39), about a schoolgirl waking up and wishing that Paul McCartney could help her with her English homework. Here, she tells us to “taste the dream of spring in Paris” through “lush orchestrated pop-rock with the kind of buoyancy that makes you want to go right out and take a stroll around Paris’ Jardin du Luxembourg”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/femmes-de-paris-vol-1-mw0000409204) Jean Bouchéty’s arrangement is enchanting.

Jacqueline recalls (courtesy of Google Translate):

The record company assigned me a genius arranger, Jean Bouchéty, a man who worked for Michel Polnareff, for example. He always recorded his arrangements in London, and I found myself at 17 in a London studio with big names, chosen by Bouchéty, who were on all the records I recorded at that period.

https://gonzai-com.translate.goog/jacqueline-taieb-interview-la-french-mademoiselle/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

And she recalls (courtesy of Google Translate):

My father, a dental surgeon, gave me a guitar for my 12th birthday . . . . [and] a slightly older friend taught me chords and my goal became to compose songs. I could no longer leave my guitar, I took it everywhere and sang the hits of the moment and my first compositions. The one that made friends laugh was “7 a.m.”. During the summer holidays in Tunisia, I am surrounded by friends and I put on my show. That’s when Rolande Bismuth, the editor of the already famous Michel Fugain, passed by and said to me “that’s what you’re doing, here’s my card, come see me in Paris in September”. I went there and it all started: contract then recordings in sight! All these titles were recorded in a great studio in “swinging London” at the end of the 60s, with crazy English musicians, led by Jean Bouchety, an exceptional arranger, who let me express my ideas despite being 18 years old. . . . Magical memories that often come back to me…

https://www.7×7.press/7-questions-a-jacqueline-taieb-la-lolita-chic

Wikipedia adds (courtesy of Google Translate):

Jacqueline Taïeb arrived in France at the age of 8 with her parents. She released her first album in January 1967, a maxi 45 rpm with which she achieved good success thanks to the title 7 hours in the morning. H[er] second album was released in April 1967 . . . . Several records followed without achieving the same success, and Jacqueline Taïeb temporarily disappeared from the French recording landscape. She reappeared in 1978, writing for others and producing several records under her own name, without however attracting the general public. At this time, she composed the title Ready to Follow you for Dana Dawson, a young singer from New York.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Ta%C3%AFeb

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Little Milton — “Spring”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 20, 2026

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

1,915) Little Milton — “Spring”

“We’ll be together the first of spring, baby” Yeah, baby, it’s spring! The legendary bluesman Little Milton (see #1,470, 1,645) turns soulward with “the hardest and jammiest of tunes [on his ’69 Grits Ain’t Groceries LP], the infectious ‘Spring’, with its ominous bass lines and Milton’s booming vocal attack”. (soulmakossa, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/little-milton/grits-aint-groceries/) He “would develop a rawer, funkier sound as the ’60s progressed. This fusion of blues and funky soul exploded on [the LP]”. (soulmakossa again)

Little Milton was little in no way other than that his dad was Big Milton. Steve Huey gives us some early history:

[D]ie-hard blues fans know Little Milton as a superb all-around electric bluesman — a soulful singer, an evocative guitarist, an accomplished songwriter, and a skillful bandleader. . . . [with a ] signature style [that] combines soul, blues, and R&B, a mixture that helped make him one of the biggest-selling bluesmen of the ’60s . . . . As time progressed, his music grew more and more orchestrated, with strings and horns galore. He maintained a steadily active recording career all the way from his 1953 debut . . . including notable stints at Chess (where he found his greatest commercial success), Stax, and Malaco. James Milton Campbell was born . . . in the small Delta town of Inverness, MS, and grew up in Greenville. . . . His father Big Milton, a farmer, was a local blues musician, and Milton also grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry radio program. At age 12, he began playing the guitar and saved up money from odd jobs to buy his own instrument from a mail-order catalog. By 15, he was performing for pay in local clubs and bars . . . . He made a substantial impression on other area musicians . . . and caught the attention of R&B great Ike Turner, who was doubling as a talent scout for . . . . [and] introduced the still-teenaged Little Milton to [Sam] Phillips, who signed him to a contract in 1953. With Turner’s band backing him, Milton’s Sun sides tried a little bit of everything . . . [but none] of them were hits, and [his] association with Sun was over by the end of 1954. He set about forming his own band . . . [and] pick[ed] up and mov[ed] to St. Louis in 1958. . . . [where he] befriended DJ Bob Lyons, who helped him record a demo in a bid to land a deal on Mercury. The label passed, and the two set up their own label, christened Bobbin. Little Milton’s Bobbin singles finally started to attract some more widespread attention, particularly “I’m a Lonely Man,” which sold 60,000 copies despite being the very first release on a small label. As head of A&R, Milton brought artists like Albert King and Fontella Bass into the Bobbin fold, and . . . the label soon struck a distribution arrangement with the legendary Chess Records. Milton himself switched over to the Chess subsidiary Checker in 1961, and it was there that he would settle on his trademark soul-inflected, B.B. King-influenced style. . . . Milton had his big breakthrough with 1965’s “We’re Gonna Make It,” which hit number one on the R&B charts thanks to its resonance with the civil rights movement. . . . [followed by] a successful string of R&B chart singles that occasionally reached the Top Ten . . . . Milton eventually left Checker in 1971 and signed with the Memphis-based soul label Stax . . . . [where he] began expanding his studio sound, adding bigger horn and string sections and spotlighting his soulful vocals more than traditional blues. Further hits followed . . . but generally not with the same magnitude of old.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-milton-mn0000300534#biography

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