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

The Source — “It’s Me I’m Running From”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 10, 2026

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

2,116) The Source — “It’s Me I’m Running From”

Some great songs ended up on the soundtracks of exploitation movies — such as this “great-sounding country [rock] tune . . . with some pretty solid picking at least partially performed by the short-lived San Diego rock band The Source. . . . includ[ing] singer-guitarist Richard Bowen” (slipcue, https://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/regional/states-california_01.html) from the ’70 gangster flick A Bullet for Pretty Boy.

Slipcue writes of the soundtrack:

Classic LA exploitation-film knockoff soundtrack music, with a smidge of genuine SoCal country-rock in the mix, alongside factory-made psych-rock and groovy hippie-pop ballads. American International Records was the musical wing of American International Pictures (AIP) the fly-by-night indie movie studio that nurtured the career of exploitation auteur Roger Corman, among others. [The soundtrack’s producer and co-writer of “It’s Me” (along with Guy Hemric) Harley] Hatcher came to the company in the late 1950s, and started a long professional partnership with producer Mike Curb [see #57] ‘way back in 1964. He worked his way through the music industry for decades in every role imaginable . . . working on a mix of low-budget soundtracks and various see-what-sticks singles and whatnot.

https://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/regional/states-california_01.html

R.D Francis writes of Hatcher, the Source, and Richard Bowen:

American International Records’ producer Harley Hatcher, with vocalist and chief songwriter Richard Bowen, crafted an artful, progressive rock-fusion of folk and gospel with country and bluegrass elements that strike a chord of Harry Nilsson’s [see #1,168, 1,298, 1,854, 1,941] soundtrack breakthrough with “Everybody’s Talkin’” from Midnight Cowboy (1969). There’s dashes of the Monkees’ [see #1,718] unjustifiably-scoffed, post-Don Kirshner output in the grooves of the Source’s all-too-brief catalog (one album, two singles) . . . . While there’s a pinch of “Jim Morrison,” courtesy of the San Diegan’s best-known single, “Phantom in the Rain,” the Source’s remaining seven-song output is . . . more akin to Michael Nesmith’s matured, countrified solo steps with the First National Band. . . . Harley Hatcher’s introduction to the music business occurred in 1960 while serving in the United States Army[] . . . in Kaiserslautern, Germany. There, he met fellow soldier and record producer Richard Podolor. While gaining national prominence as the producer for three of the late ’60s biggest bands in Three Dog Night, Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf . . . Podolor invited the then 21 year old to Los Angeles to record four songs, with “The Twirl” b/w “All I Need Is You” becoming Hatcher’s first solo-single, released in 1965. The Podolor union introduced Hatcher to an 18-year-old producer and songwriter named Mike Curb, where he became the chief songwriter for artists on the Sidewalk Productions’ roster produced by Curb. Moving into production in 1964, Hatcher made his bones with Davie Allan & the Arrows (“Apache ’65”), then scoring his first A.I.P soundtrack for the biker film, The Wild Angels (1966). Then . . . Dick Clark tapped Harley Hatcher to write and produce seven songs to the soundtrack of the Clark-produced Killers Three (1968) . . . . It was that B-movie soundtrack work where fans of all things Roger Corman know Hatcher best: for scoring and writing as well as performing songs for A.I.P’s 1967 projects The Glory Stompers and Wild in the Streets . . . Satan’s Sadists (1969), and the . . . music-centric Christsploitation flick, Soul Hustler (1973). . . . Under the tutelage of Harley Hatcher, the concept of utilizing the A-Side of a soundtrack as a mini-album (EP) to promote an A.I.R artist was used . . . . [on Pretty Boy, with a]n unknown band from San Diego, California, the Source . . . chosen for the task. Recording . . . eight songs with Harley Hatcher as producer, six songs were used for the film. It began in 1967 when Warner Bros. had a $70 million box office payday on a $2.5 million investment with the Arthur Penn-directed gangster film, Bonnie and Clyde. . . . quickly instigat[ing] a slew of “(criminal) lovers on the run” duplicates . . . . American International Pictures co-opted the infamy of 1930’s American bank robber and faux-folk hero, Charles “Pretty Boy” Arthur Floyd. The actor chosen for the lead in the . . . film was A.I.P’s go-to actor to appeal to the teen market: Fabian Forte. . . . The San Diegans’ debut single, “Yesterday Is Gone” b/w “Phantom in the Rain,” was issued as a standalone release — and not available in any A.I.P film. Of the remaining six songs from the 1969 recording sessions, Harley Hatcher wrote three . . . [and] Richard Bowen contributed [three]. A second and final single, “It’s Me I’m Running From” b/w “Gone Tomorrow,” directly promoted the film. . . . Another soundtrack contribution by the Source appears in the frames of Joe (1970), an early John G. Avildsen counterculture-revenge drama . . . .

https://rdfranciswriter.medium.com/richard-bowen-the-source-and-circle-sound-studios-0297b26a09a6

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

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The Idle Race — “Hurry Up John”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 9, 2026

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

2,125) The Idle Race — “Hurry Up John”

“Then she rolled me up and said I look very strange without a head”

From the Idle Race’s (see #30, 343, 491, 1,246) second LP — The Idle Race — “a brilliant ‘tour de force‘” that “featur[es] an extraordinary guitar riff that mimics the sound of Scottish bagpipes”. (Music for the Bunker, https://musicaparaelbunker.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-idle-race.html?m=1) “Guitars that sound like bagpipes were not invented by Stuart Adamson of the Skids and Big Country. Jeff Lynne did it first.” (frederickharrison3085, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=02Sv_aHT7Qc&list=RD02Sv_aHT7Qc&start_radio=1&pp=ygUbdGhlIGlkbGUgcmFjZSBodXJyeSB1cCBqb2huoAcB0gcJCTUMAYcqIYzv&ra=m)

“Hurry Up John has been called a “phased freakbeat rocker” (Jazz Rock Soul, https://jazzrocksoul.com/artists/the-idle-race/), “crazed, proto-psychobilly” (Lejink, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/idle-race/idle-race/), even “quite unnerving”. (John Reed, liner notes to the CD comp Insane Times: 25 British Psychedelic Artyfacts from the EMI Vaults) Matthew CordIn writes:

Man do I love the deep-pitched guitar solo that blasts the final song onto the scene, a true rock entrance. Then the drums join with equal fervor. When the band sings a surreal song in unison, it hits you with its pop-like harmony and punk energy. The composition is effortless yet somehow also mysterious and wonderful… equal parts mind-blowing and familiar. Lastly, the song naturally shifts into its grand ending and leaves you with a winking, final two notes. “Hurry Up John” is a timeless garage rock song that feels like it could have inspired bands like Nirvana.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/idle-race/idle-race/

As to the LP, Music for the Bunker writes:

[T]he melodies, arrangements, and production surpass the quality of their previous work, a difficult feat, but one achieved by Lynne and her band. The melodic aspect is particularly brilliant on this album; every track is flawless. As the record spins, one impressive melody follows another.

https://musicaparaelbunker.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-idle-race.html?m=1

James Turner gives a bit of the early history of the Idle Race:

The Birmingham music scene in the early to mid ‘60s was incredibly incestuous, and when Roy Wood, guitarist and vocalist with Mike Sheridan [see #1,299, 1,606] and the Nightriders, left to join embryonic Brumbeat supergroup the Move (so named because all members had ‘moved’ to join this new group), the Nightriders found a new guitarist, lost Mike Sheridan and . . . found themselves advertising for a replacement [guitarist] . . . . Eighteen year old guitarist Jeff Lynne . . . was the successful applicant, and . . . the band found themselves putting [him] front and centre . . . . [T]he band’s name evolved from The Nightriders to the more pastoral Idyll Race before settling on The Idle Race, partly because Jeff didn’t want the 9-5 . . . . Jeff [said]“My Mum would come bounding up the stairs, ‘ Come on you lazy bugger, get out, get to work!’ This time she came up, I was holding the sheets down going ‘ Nope, listen, Mum I’ve never got to get up, ever again. I’m a professional musician now ‘ That was the greatest feeling because I was so fed up with (bang, bang, bang) ‘Get up you lazy git!’” . . .

https://wearecult.rocks/the-idle-race-birthday-party

I’ll now let Mark Deming take over:

Unsung heroes of the U.K. pop-psych community, the Idle Race earned plenty of critical acclaim but little commercial success during their 1966 to 1972 lifespan. They did, however, help launch the careers of several British rockers of note, most significantly Jeff Lynne, who first presented his talents to the world on the group’s 1968 debut album, The Birthday Party. The band also introduced Lynne to Roy Wood, paving the way for their later work together in the Move and Electric Light Orchestra. . . . [T]hey evolved from an early rock combo to a beat group, then into a psychedelic band, and fading into tough, working class rock. Full of sparkling melodies and imaginative arrangements that made exceptional use of the then-novel Mellotron, . . . The Birthday Party was an album whose impact and influence would far outstrip its meager sales figures, and Lynne stepped up to produce their self-titled second LP in 1969. . . . The quartet of Jeff Lynne, Greg Masters, Dave Pritchard, and Roger Spencer found themselves in a changing musical landscape where beat music and R&B were giving way to newer and more innovative sounds, and Lynne’s Beatlesque songwriting reflected the trends towards psychedelic pop. . . . The American label Liberty Records was launching a U.K. branch, and after Roy Wood put the Idle Race in touch . . . the group became one of the new label’s first signings. . . . [T]he Idle Race released their debut single, “Imposters of Life’s Magazine” . . . in October 1967, and “Here We Go ‘Round the Lemon Tree” . . . followed shortly after, though a recording of the A-side by the Move led to the Idle Race’s version stalling on the charts. . . . The Birthday Party was released in October 1968, and quickly earned praise for its witty and sparkling tunes and inventive arrangements and production, many taking advantage of the Mellotron keyboard. . . . Liberty’s misguided promotion of the release and their failure to issue a single from the album after it arrived in stores prevented [it] from finding an audience. After th[is] commercial disappointment . . . Lynne was offered an opportunity to join the Move by Roy Wood, but Lynne chose to stick with his group and work on their second album. Lynne was producer on 1969’s The Idle Race, which put the band’s music into a slightly less eccentric but similarly pop-friendly context. Despite another set of strong reviews, [it] fared no better commercially . . . and Liberty chose not to release it in the United States. Lynne grew increasingly frustrated with the group’s failure to score a hit, and when Wood reached out to him again in early 1970 with another offer to join the Move, he accepted.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-idle-race-mn0000081981

In the interest of space, I’ll omit a discussion of the post-Lynne IR.

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.

“Heya” Special Edition: J.J. Light/Jeronimo: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 8, 2026

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

Warning: If you are from continental Europe, read no further — this song by American Navajo J.J. Light was a big hit — twice, the second time by the German band Jeronimo! If you are from America, keep reading. The song wasn’t even released in the U.S.

2,123) J.J. Light — “Heya”

J.J. Light’s “Heya” is “a sonic delight, blending multiple genres such as blues, traditional and psychedelic rock, all sprinkled with the artist’s Native American influences” (Julien Sterckx, https://www.lesuricate.org/il-etait-fois-45-tours-j-j-light-heya/), “combin[ing] hard rock and ethnic influences into something that’s new and refreshing” (Jason, https://therisingstorm.net/jj-light-heya/). It is “outstanding, driving, mid to uptempo psych rock with a powerful beat including searing guitar passages, the title word being used repetitively to great effect in J.J.’s enthusiastic, attractive vocal” (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/j_j-light/heya-on-the-road-now/), “great, with wonderfully bizarre lyrics and a powerful electric guitarist cutting through in all the right places.” (Mickey Rat, https://www.45cat.com/record/15228)

Bayard:

J.J. Light was Jimmy Stallings who had formerly been a bass player with the Sir Douglas Quintet [see #383, 1,061, 1,729]. He hooked up with Bob Markley of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band [see #197, 488], members of that band playing on his excellent 1969 album Heya!, which is a psych rock album reflecting Stallings’ Navajo heritage. However, the album and this single of the title track from it were never released in the United States, although the 45 did quite well commercially in some European countries, particularly France, Germany and Italy.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/j_j-light/heya-on-the-road-now/

In fact, “Heya” reached #12 or 13 in Germany, #15 in France, #5 in Belgium, #6 in Austria, and #8 in Switzerland. (PC_Music, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/j_j-light/heya-on-the-road-now/, https://hitparade.ch/song/J.J.-Light/Heya-127)

Mark Deming writes of Jim Stallings and his LP Heya!:

Jim Stallings was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who had been knocking around the Los Angeles music scene for a few years when he met Bob Markley, a wealthy hipster and producer who had worked with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Markley took Stallings under his wing, scored him a record deal, and christened him with a new stage name, J.J. Light, which was imagined to better fit his Native American heritage. J.J. Light scored an international hit single with 1969’s “Heya,” and the album of the same title sold respectably in Europe, Scandinavia, and South America, but for some reason the LP was never released in the United States, and a follow-up recorded later the same year was never released at all; Stallings became a member of Doug Sahm’s Sir Douglas Quintet, joining in time to play bass on the classic Together After Five album. . . . Heya! is an engaging exercise in psychedelia lite; Stallings’ songs are strong and to the point while boasting radio-ready melodies alongside lyrics that often deal with Native American issues, and his vocals are gutsy and passionate without sounding ragged . . . . Stallings also had some fine help in the studio, including keyboard man Larry Knechtel, drummers Earl Palmer and Jim Gordon, and guitarists Gary Rowles and Ron Morgan . . . , and the music isn’t afraid to cut deep while leaning toward the sunny side. The unreleased . . . . songs and performances are as good if not better than what Stallings brought to his first album . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/heya%21-mw0000579988

As to the LP, Jason adds:

Heya is a diverse program that rocks hard in spots but also showcases a unique brand of music that is no doubt influenced by Stallings’ Native American roots. . . . a hard rock sound that’s laced with country and folk roots. Sure, there are a few excellent psychedelic cuts that will catch your ear first . . . . [b]ut folk-rock and country numbers . . . give the album its diversity and display a strong Bob Dylan influence. . . . [T]he lp sold large numbers in Europe, Japan, South America, and New Zealand.

https://therisingstorm.net/jj-light-heya/

As to what happened to Stallings, Wikipedia tells us:

Stallings was sent to promote the single in England, where he performed “Heya” on the Eamonn Andrews show. After that he became ill, and had to spend some time in a London hospital, before he returned home to Los Angeles. . . . Michael Bryan Kelly Liberty Records: a history of the recording company . . . . Lee Mendel of Liberty’s international division [said:] “[H]e had this hit and was totally unable to cope with success. We sent him over to England, and he couldn’t get off the plane. It may have been the first time he was ever on a plane. Our man with the British company, who is a very good friend, still often talks [twenty-three years later] about trying to get J. J. Light off the plane to do promotion. Unfortunately they took him off the plane into a nursing home.”

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

Here is an alternate take:

2,124) Jeronimo — “Heya”

German hard rock band Jeronimo released a blistering cover of “Heya”, reaching #13 in Germany. (https://sacharts.wordpress.com/2022/05/08/jeronimo-germany/) Possibly even better than the original, “[i]t almost drove my parents crazy”! (wolfroth4973, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfmzOCNVEAw) “Anyone who doesn’t want to tie-dye their shirt, grow their hair, and smoke a kilo of weed to this music is dead. Peace.” (TheSajagin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUYiXzEUWxY

AndMetalForAll writes:

From Germany, Jeronimo are a progressive rock trio founded in 1969. The group featured Ringo Funk (drums and vocals), Michael Koch (guitar) and Gunnar Schafer (bass). The band is most famous for their eponymous second studio album released in 1971. Jeronimo played a solid progressive rock mixed with hard rock elements. The trio remained active for only four years before its disbandment in 1973. The band’s major representative is their drummer and vocalist Ringo Funk, who played in several bands after Jeronimo’s disbandment. The history of these German natives started in 1969 and very quickly the band rose up to the spotlight with two hits released in 69/70 entitled “Heya Heya” and “Na Na Hey Hey.” Jeronimo almost immediately gained huge fame throughout Europe . . . . [T]he band’s debut [LP] . . . Cosmic Blues. . . . was a solid debut with some very good tracks, showing a bit of what was yet to come. Although it contains progressive/hard rock characteristics, Cosmic Blues has a more commercial inclination in terms of its musical direction. Personally, it is my least favorite album of the trio. The album received good reviews . . . . In addition to the release of their first album, the band presented alongside Creedence Clearwater Revival an exclusive compilation entitled Spirit Orgaszmus that really put Jeronimo in an entire new “landscape of fame.” With Steppenwolf the trio toured successfully through Germany and in the same year partook in the legendary Progressive Pop Festival in Cologne. Following that, Jeronimo shared the headlines with such groups as Deep Purple and Golden Earring [see #63, 163, 319, 1,215, 1,504, 1,560, 1,572, 2,111] and Golden Earring at various European open-air festivals. . . . [T]he band released their most successful and admired album in 1971 . . . Jeronimo. . . . It’s definitely their most progressive and hard rock studio album. The band performs at top level and technically the album is one of the best works of the early ’70s, with very powerful and complex instrumental parts. Very good group performance, with the trio combining very well in crucial instrumental moments. . . . The hard and heavy vein that the band wanted to show and is known for is well defined in this album. . . . In 1972 Jeronimo released the very good Time Ride which featured the style of the previous album. Even though it didn’t have the same reception as the others, it’s in my opinion their second best. It was in this release that the band “saw their fame” fade away. . . . [T]he band disbanded in 1973. I have to assume that is due to the lack of support after Time Ride‘s release.

https://metalstorm.net/pub/article.php?article_id=1332

Wikipedia adds (courtesy of Google Translate):

In 1970, the LP * Spirit Orgasm of Jeronimo and Creedence Clearwater Revival* , pressed on pink vinyl, was released, featuring one side with tracks by Jeronimo and one side with songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Due to its unusual cover design (a penis ejaculating on the musicians), the album became a prototype for later releases in the progressive genre. . . . In 1971, Jeronimo toured Sweden and Switzerland . . . . A performance in Lausanne as part of a UNICEF project was broadcast worldwide on television in 1971. Despite their success, the band broke up in 1972 . . . . Drummer Ringo Funk joined Atlantis, and Rainer Marz became a highly sought-after studio guitarist . . . . Marz also became a permanent member of Kurt Hauenstein’s live band, Supermax.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimo

Here is “Heya” live (starting at 8:55):

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

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Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Ice — “So Many Times”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 7, 2026

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

2,122) Ice — “So Many Times”

I’ve played the A-side (see #2,006) of Ice’s (see #322) first single, here’s the B-side — a beguiling “hidden psych gem” (GStraitKISS1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2NoZCxj9dU), a “delightful short two minute[s of] romantic mellowness”, a “dreamy tune[]” with an “exquisite intro” that leaves one “[i]mmediately hooked”. (oldrock, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/ice/anniversary-of-love-so-many-times/#google_vignette)

“So many times I’ve loved and lost” — but still hopeful, still a believer in love.

Think Like a Key Music cracks the Ice:

Born from Sussex University’s creative cauldron in 1967, this mysterious outfit turned their complete lack of live appearances into pure mystique, armed with Hammond organ wizardry and arrangements sophisticated enough to make jazz cats weep. With just two official singles — . . . “Anniversary (Of Love)” [see #2,006] and the mind-bending “Ice Man” [see #322]—they carved a unique British rock niche proving less really is more.

https://www.thinklikeakey.com/artist/424488-ice?lang=nl

All Music Guide breaks the Ice:

UK psychedelic pop quintet formed in the mid-60s while John Carter (bass), Glyn James (vocals), Lynton Naiff (organ), Grant Serpell (drums) and Steve Turner (guitar) were attending Sussex University in Brighton, Sussex, England. Their debut single, ‘Anniversary (Of Love)’, was released in 1967 after the group signed a recording contract with Decca Records. . . . A second single followed a year later, but “Ice Man” also failed to impress commercially. . . . The band was later joined by expressive vocalist Linda Hoyle and pursued a jazz rock direction under the new name of Affinity [see #1,055, 1,364, 1,410]. Serpell was later a founder member of Sailor.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ice-mn0000074210#biography

Jo-Ann Greene wields the Ice-pick:

This late-60s Brit band received a leg-up from the BBC, and even made the occasional TV appearance, but lack of label support brought Ice’s spread to an abrupt halt. . . . [W]hat strikes one immediately is just how eclectic and unique Ice were. [“Iceman] is a wonderful piece of psychedelia whimsy, but the group were also equally adept at vocal-drenched pop, delicate rock ballads delivered in a very English fashion, and more emotive R&B/soul-fired numbers. . . . [F]inally, you begin to see their label’s problem, for how do you package a psychedelic pop/rock-R&B-soul band for the mass market, even if the group did boast a superb singer, phenomenally intricate arrangements, and a totally unique musical vision?

https://www.allmusic.com/album/ice-man-mw0000248639#review

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Tages — “It’s My Life”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 6, 2026

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

2,121) Tages — “It’s My Life”

“One of [the] grooviest tunes” (Dylan Cameron, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pAMeDA_o90) by Sweden’s greatest band of the ’60’s (see #286, 1,282, 1,353, 1,358), “a bit of stomping mod rock” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/studio-mw0001278543) that “growls out dark guitar distortions straight from the Move arsenal under workout vocal leads.” (Brendan, https://therisingstorm.net/the-tages-studio/)

As to Tages’ Studio LP, Wikipedia tells us:

On 4 December 1967, Tages released their fifth studio album Studio. A blend of psychedelic music, rock and Swedish folk music, it was largely written by bassist Göran Lagerberg and producer Anders Henriksson. . . . [who had] introduc[ed] them to elements of Swedish folk music . . . . Studio had become a commercial failure . . . . [taking] a toll on the band, particularly Lagerberg, who considered the album to be “some of the best” he had written . . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street

Richie Unterberger adds:

Tages were more well equipped than most other bands from Scandinavia to move with the times after the beat era waned, considering that unlike most such bands, they sometimes sounded pretty close to an actual mid-’60s British group. Considering how adeptly they’d absorbed British Invasion styles, it’s unsurprising that the 1967 album Studio finds them getting into much more florid pop-psychedelia, with various ornate production dabs, bouncy whimsy in much of the songwriting, and touches of soul and orchestration in the arrangements. Perhaps it’s a testament to 1967 British psychedelia being harder to assimilate and copy than Merseybeat or mod, but though this is a carefully produced and ambitious set of songs, the material itself just isn’t up to the level of the probable inspiration. None of the songs are either great or lousy; they’re just average examples of approaches that were in fashion . . . . More typical were upbeat midtempo cuts that sounded something like audio equivalents to amiable strolls by hip tourists through London . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/studio-mw0001278543

Hey, I was once a hip tourist amiably strolling through London, and I’ll take the audio equivalent anytime!

As to Tages, Unterberger opines that:

The[y] were without a doubt, the best Swedish band of the ’60s and one of the best ’60s rock acts of any sort from a non-English speaking country. Although the group’s first recordings were pretty weak Merseybeat derivations, in the mid-’60s they developed a tough, mod-influenced sound that echoed the Who and the Kinks. More than any other continental group, the Tages could have passed for a genuine British band . . . . Big throughout Scandinavia, the group actually made a determined effort to crack the English market in 1968, playing quite a few U.K. shows and releasing records there; they failed, and disbanded at the end of the year.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tages-mn0000155257#biography

And Nostalgia Central tell us:

The band released a number of singles and LPs in their native Sweden to considerable success, making the Swedish Top 10 more than a dozen times. Though remembered as one of the finest non-English speaking bands of the 1960s, they failed to ever really break into the US or UK markets. In . . . 1967 . . . they signed directly to Parlophone and one of their singles . . . was the (at the time) very controversial She’s Having A Baby Now which many radio stations refused to play because of the subject matter. The Tages also produced one of the world’s first psychedelic albums, named Extra Extra in 1966. Then they wanted to create a pop-music that was totally Swedish by learning old Swedish folk-music. After this, they produced their fifth and last album – named Studio – at Abbey Road in 1967. The album is very influenced by Swedish folk music and psychedelia and is remembered as the finest album from the sixties from a non-English speaking country (it has been called the ‘Sgt Pepper Of Sweden’).

https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-t/tages/

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

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Castle in the Sky Special Edition: Simon Dupree and the Big Sound/Blonde on Blonde: I Shall Be Released: Simon Dupree and the Big Sound — “Castle in the Sky”, Blonde on Blonde — “Castles in the Sky”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 5, 2026

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

A unjustly unreleased ’68 Simon Dupree and the Big Sound pop-psych gem became a ’70 Blonde on Blonde prog/psych A-side. Different styles, equally stellar results. Don’t just fly a kite, join me and we’ll “fly through skies of azure blue”.

2,119) Simon Dupree and the Big Sound — “Castle in the Sky”

“Castle” is among the songs that the Shulman brothers’ sister Evelyn King, along with Paul Smith (a relative of her husband), wrote for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (see #51, 96, 1,728, 2,118). It is “haunting melodic psychedelic” (johnbravo5076, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzjWeNJjpg), a “magnificent find” (liner notes to the CD comp Insane Times: 25 British Psychedelic Artyfacts from the EMI Vaults), “trippy, spacey . . . one of the finest pieces of psychedelic pop/rock ever to come out of EMI (or, more properly, never to come out from EMI . . . )”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-of-my-past-mw0000465383) It “never ceases to lose its beautiful power over me.” (cilohtac4257, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ih7fXhBKsI&list=RD7Ih7fXhBKsI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUxc2ltb24gZHVwcmVlIGFuZCB0aGUgYmlnIHNvdW5kIGNhc3RsZXMgaW4gdGhlIHNreaAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) Me neither.

“Castle” would have appeared on SDBS’s second LP, which was shelved after the failure of the “For Whom the Bell Tolls” single. (David Wells, liner notes to Part of My Past: The Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Anthology)

Bruce Eder gushes (totally appropriately) over SDBS:

The group’s early soul-oriented sides are killers, exciting, totally convincing pieces of British-made R&B that . . . should have placed them head-to-head with the likes of Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group. Even when they move into a slightly trippier sound . . . the group still utilizes a basic soul backing . . . . [Then there came the] trippy psychedelic ballads with Mellotron accompaniment, often with punchy acoustic rhythm guitars. It’s all very pretty and inventive in a pop context, and rivals or surpasses the psychedelic sides of . . . most other EMI artists of the era this side of the Beatles and maybe the Move.

“Simon Dupree” was vocalist Derek Shulman, one of a trio of brothers (Ray and Phil being the other two) from Portsmouth, England, who started out in music as R&B fanatics and first formed a group in 1964. . . . [T]heir repertoire was focused . . . on the songs of [soul artists like] Wilson Pickett [see #1,397, 1,903], Don Covay, and Otis Redding [see #1,333, 1,385] . . . . Simon Dupree & the Big Sound came about in the course of their search for a flashy name. . . . [which] worked locally, because the group prospered on the club scene, its earnings reaching £300 a night . . . . [T]hey were signed to EMI’s Parlophone label . . . and cut a pair of powerful R&B-style songs in 1966, “I See the Light” [see #96] and “It Is Finished.” Success on the club scene didn’t necessarily result in serious record sales, however, and the group’s debut, as well as its follow-up records, “Reservations” . . . and “Day Time, Night Time” [see #51] . . . didn’t make much of an impression. Their debut album, Without Reservations, containing the first fragmentary examples of the group’s original songwriting, was released in August of 1967, just in time to be overlooked as cheerfully irrelevant . . . . Then, in October of 1967, the group’s management and record label decided to try moving Simon Dupree & the Big Sound in the direction of psychedelia. . . . The result was “Kites,” a song recorded in the early fall of 1967 . . . . The bandmembers were unhappy with the new song and the sound they were being asked to create, but they tried to make the best of it . . . . The melody was Asian-sounding, and the presence of actress Jackie Chan reciting some poetry over the music didn’t detract from the single’s “Eastern” sound. “Kites” wasn’t R&B, but it was the right song at the right time, and it made the British Top Ten, a major commercial breakthrough for the group. Unfortunately, the band was never able to follow it up, and after several abortive attempts at another psychedelic-style single . . . called it quits in 1969. . . . In 1970, the Shulman’s were back at the core of a new group, having made the leap past psychedelia and far from R&B in the progressive rock group Gentle Giant.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-of-my-past-mw0000465383, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-dupree-the-big-sound-mn0000036893#biography

2,120) Blonde on Blonde — “Castles in the Sky”

The Welsh band and apparent real estate moguls Blonde on Blonde [see #227, 267, 1,089, 1,620, 1,807] turned the pop-psych “Castle” into prog/psych “Castles”, equalling SDBS’s achievement. It is “superb” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Part of My Past: The Simon Dupree and the Big Sound Anthology), “[m]ost wonderful Welsh psych” (thomassmith8721, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9fanJ-SkbZc&list=RD9fanJ-SkbZc&start_radio=1&pp=ygUjQmxvbmRlIG9uIGJsb25kZSBjYXN0bGVzIGluIHRoZSBza3mgBwE%3D&ra=m), a “[f]reaking cool version of this song”. (grimson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fanJ-SkbZc)

Vocalist David Thomas says the band didn’t even like it!:

This song was the only one on the album [Rebirth] not written by Blonde On Blonde. We were persuaded to include it by the producer, John King, whose wife, Eve King, had written it with Paul Smith. To be honest, we didn’t like it at all. It felt too commercial and derivative, but for some reason, it was thought to be the best choice for a single. I was only 18, and it was my first time in a studio, so I gave it my best shot. Surprisingly, it became Tony Blackburn’s record of the week on BBC Radio One. My abiding memory is hearing this song on the radio as I walked towards the hospital bed occupied by my father. He had been taken ill shortly after we had dropped him off at work in the bandwagon. When I saw him, he was smiling proudly and talking about his son being a famous pop star to the group of women surrounding him. He was rather more popular than I realized!

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2024/03/blonde-on-blonde-interview-david-thomas.html

Bruce Eder writes of Rebirth:

Blonde on Blonde’s second album, Rebirth, was a more focused body of music than their debut; it also constituted the recording debut of the group’s second lineup: David Thomas (vocals, guitar, bass), Gareth Johnson (sitar, lead guitar, lute, electronic effects), Richard Hopkins (bass, keyboards), and Les Hicks (drums, percussion). . . . Whether they’re doing the spacy, airy, psychedelic pop of “Castles in the Sky” or the folky “Time Is Passing,” the group attack their instruments as though they’re performing live, and the effect is riveting throughout, even when the melodic content flags slightly. Thomas’ voice is powerful if a little over-dramatic at times, but when the band keeps things moving, there’s enough richness of content to carry the album and then some . . . . And for once with a band like this, trying to encompass psychedelia, folk-rock, hard rock, and progressive rock between two covers, they don’t over-reach on their magnum opus “Colour Questions,” the record’s 12-minute centerpiece. . . . The group’s prog rock impulses are also expressed on the album’s original closer, “You’ll Never Know Me/Release,” which is a tour de force for Richard Hopkins’ keyboard playing; unlike most of the competition, Blonde on Blonde seems not to have gravitated to the Moog synthesizer or the Mellotron, and the difference is refreshing . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/rebirth-mw0000083586

As to BoB (named after BoB Dylan’s double LP), Eder writes:

Blonde on Blonde . . . were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set. Garett Johnson played the guitar, sitar, and lute, while Richard Hopkins handled the bass, piano, harpsichord, cornet, celeste, and whistle, and Les Hicks played the drums. The addition of Ralph Denyer made them into a quartet with vocals; and Simon Lawrence . . . was with them briefly, as well, on 12-string guitar. The group took part in the Middle Earth Club’s Magical Mystery Tour, which brought them an initial splash of press exposure. They were also fortunate enough to open for the Jefferson Airplane on the[ir] British tour. All of this activity led to an approach by Pye Records producer Barry Murray, who got them signed to the label, and through whom they released their debut single “All Day, All Night” [see #1,620] b/w “Country Life [see #1,089].” Though decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band’s music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with Johnson’s sitar and lute embellishments and Hopkins’ harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — with Hicks getting into the act on the tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound. Their live performances were frequently divided . . . into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range. The group issued their first album, Contrasts, in 1969 . . . — that record showed more of the early but burgeoning influence of progressive rock, while retaining their early psychedelic coloration. That same year, the band played to the largest single audience of its entire history when they appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival. They also issued their second single “Castles in the Sky” . . . and LP Rebirth which featured a new lineup — Denyer had exited the band to form Aquila [see #1,783], ceding his spot in Blonde on Blonde to singer-guitarist David Thomas. . . . [T]heir third LP, Reflections on a Life . . . . failed to sell any better than their prior releases . . . and the group broke up in 1972 . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blonde-on-blonde-mn0000052978#biography

Eetu Pellonpää adds:

[Blonde on Blonde] was exploring the areas pioneered by 1967 psychedelic acts like PINK FLOYD [see #13, 38, 260, 1,949, 2,086], JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and CREAM, but in a much larger scale of influences . . . having a more wider musical palette than the bands . . . . Their music is a dance between contrasts of free impressionism paired with predefined melodic more carefully constructed elements, varying from streetwise side to high levels of spirituality, from folk tones, classical guitar runs and mantra like instrumental runs, bursting with oriental musical influences, introducing cosmic drones running hypnotically on varying time scales, and all this paired with hard rock tones of heavy psychedelic guitar . . . . Their lyrics are quite basic trippy poems, but also thoughtful, emotional and interesting at their best . . . . There is melancholy in their music, but there is also hope and happiness among it.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3298

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Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
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The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
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The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Simon Dupree and the Big Sound — “Who Cares”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 4, 2026

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

2,118) Simon Dupree and the Big Sound — “Who Cares”

This primo pop-rock/pop-soul breakup song is by the UK’s Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (see #51, 96, 1,728), the best band of three brothers since, well, you know.

Andrew Darlington muses:

There was a Spencer Davis in the Spencer Davis Group, a Manfred Mann in Manfred Mann, and even a Dave Dee in Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. But the first thing to realise about Simon Dupree & the Big Sound is that there was no Simon Dupree. The second is that the Big Sound were never even particularly Big. In fact – like the Bee Gees, they were essentially three brothers, Derek, Phil and Ray Shulman. Which is a lot of brothers, but not as many brothers as there were in the Jackson Five or the Osmonds . . . .

https://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2017/06/classic-albums-simon-dupree-and-big.html?m=1

Man, makes the band sound like the Holy Roman Empire!

Matt_K chimes in:

TBS were an old school American pop-soul band despite being formed around a trio of Scottish brothers. Despite their roots they weren’t the average white band, vocalist Derek Shulman, guitarist Ray Shulman and horn player Phil Shulman leading the band through . . . sunny soul with aplomb. They clearly want to be The Spencer Davis Group . . . but their sound is endearing and pleasing enough that they get away with it. . . . 60s psych-soul aficionados will enjoy digging up this gem.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/simon-dupree-and-the-big-sound/without-reservations-3/

And Bruce Eder gushes (totally appropriately) that:

The group’s early soul-oriented sides are killers, exciting, totally convincing pieces of British-made R&B that . . . should have placed them head-to-head with the likes of Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group. Even when they move into a slightly trippier sound . . . the group still utilizes a basic soul backing . . . . [Then there came the] trippy psychedelic ballads with Mellotron accompaniment, often with punchy acoustic rhythm guitars. It’s all very pretty and inventive in a pop context, and rivals or surpasses the psychedelic sides of . . . most other EMI artists of the era this side of the Beatles and maybe the Move.

“Simon Dupree” was vocalist Derek Shulman, one of a trio of brothers (Ray and Phil being the other two) from Portsmouth, England, who started out in music as R&B fanatics and first formed a group in 1964. . . . [T]heir repertoire was focused . . . on the songs of [soul artists like] Wilson Pickett [see #1,397, 1,903], Don Covay, and Otis Redding [see #1,333, 1,385] . . . . Simon Dupree & the Big Sound came about in the course of their search for a flashy name. . . . [which] worked locally, because the group prospered on the club scene, its earnings reaching £300 a night . . . . [T]hey were signed to EMI’s Parlophone label . . . and cut a pair of powerful R&B-style songs in 1966, “I See the Light” [see #96] and “It Is Finished.” Success on the club scene didn’t necessarily result in serious record sales, however, and the group’s debut, as well as its follow-up records, “Reservations” . . . and “Day Time, Night Time” [see #51] . . . didn’t make much of an impression. Their debut album, Without Reservations, containing the first fragmentary examples of the group’s original songwriting, was released in August of 1967, just in time to be overlooked as cheerfully irrelevant . . . . Then, in October of 1967, the group’s management and record label decided to try moving Simon Dupree & the Big Sound in the direction of psychedelia. . . . The result was “Kites,” a song recorded in the early fall of 1967 . . . . The bandmembers were unhappy with the new song and the sound they were being asked to create, but they tried to make the best of it . . . . The melody was Asian-sounding, and the presence of actress Jackie Chan reciting some poetry over the music didn’t detract from the single’s “Eastern” sound. “Kites” wasn’t R&B, but it was the right song at the right time, and it made the British Top Ten, a major commercial breakthrough for the group. Unfortunately, the band was never able to follow it up, and after several abortive attempts at another psychedelic-style single . . . called it quits in 1969. . . . In 1970, the Shulman’s were back at the core of a new group, having made the leap past psychedelia and far from R&B in the progressive rock group Gentle Giant.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-of-my-past-mw0000465383, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-dupree-the-big-sound-mn0000036893#biography

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Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
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Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
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The Impressions — “Sister Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 3, 2026

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

2,117) The Impressions — “Sister Love”

In the standout track from the Impressions’ (see #118, 285, 1,347, 1,544, 1,848, 1,939) third album, Curtis Mayfield sings of a woman who “hurts like the sting of a whip” but “[t]hen thrills your heart with her sweet lip”. Yeah, “we all got to put up with her sometime”!

John Bush is less than enthused about the LP as a whole:

The Never Ending Impressions, the first record to boast the full collaborative power of Johnny Pate and Curtis Mayfield, pushed the idea of the trio as a supper-club act, with covers of “Satin Doll,” “September Song,” and “Lemon Tree” among the questionable — if not misguided — covers. The group’s immense talents prevent any of these versions from being complete failures, but they sound much more assured on Mayfield originals like the ballad “I’m So Proud,” a Top 20 hit on both the R&B and pop charts. Scattered among the adult pop chestnuts are a few good songs, including the up-tempo “Sister Love” and a pair of great overlooked Chicago soul nuggets: “Girl You Don’t Know Me” and “A Woman Who Loves Me.”

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-never-ending-impressions-mw0000839597

Here are the UK’s Liverpool Five (see #1,600):

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Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
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The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
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The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
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The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Los Pasos/The Steps — “Yo Fui El Mejor”/”I Was the Best”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 2, 2026

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

2,116) Los Pasos/The Steps — “Yo Fui El Mejor”/”I Was the Best”

Here is magnifica Spanish pop-psicodelia, Los Pasos’ “best single, the most psychedelic. . . . [s]uperb Spanish pop from the sixties” (gerardop9633 (courtesy of Google Translate) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9riZEMWAiE), “advanced and personal baroque pop with a great production (reverb and tape effects, backward guitars, etc.)”. (liner notes the the CD comp Fading Yellow: Vol. 14: Spanish Popsike and other Delights 1967-1973)

Wikipedia tells us (courtesy of Google Translate) that “The band was the brainchild of French producer Alain Milhaud, who aimed to create a group capable of competing with Los Brincos [see #1,172, 1,570], the most successful [Spanish] band of the time. To this end, he recruited five young men from Madrid.” (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Pasos) Andrés Arévalo continues the story (courtesy of Google Translate):

[A]ll its members [José Luis González, Luis Enrique Baizán, Joaquín Torres, Álvaro Nieto, and Martín Careaga] came from other bands . . . . Manolo Díaz . . . offered them a song for their debut: “La Moto.” Moreover, the producer was none other than Alain Millhaud. However, the Frenchman had recently discovered his future protégé, Los Bravos [see #1,538, 1,686], and pressured Díaz to veto the release of the single by Los Pasos. . . . Los Bravos reached number one with it. . . . [which] would forever haunt Los Pasos and contribute to their distinctive image of resilience in the face of adversity. Given the situation, they signed with Hispavox . . . . From 1966 to 1969 they released around a dozen singles on that label—in addition to an LP [ — ] some truly brilliant, but all with a common denominator: excellence in vocal harmonies. In 1968, they starred in the grotesque film Long-Play . . . and contributed several songs to its soundtrack. This proved to be a minor setback, leading to a shift away from commercialism in their subsequent work. However, the results were never entirely satisfactory; their record label began to sideline them, sparking a conflict that ultimately led to a dead end. At that time, Los Pekenikes were in a similar situation, and two of their members [joined José Luis González, Luis Baizán from Ceuta , and Joaquín Torres to form . . . Taranto’s. Success was also elusive, but time has granted this project a unique place in the history of Spanish rock. Meanwhile, Álvaro Nieto would go on to join La Compañía, performing pop-folk versions of well-known zarzuela pieces. In any case, the group reunited after switching record labels. However, this new phase produced some entirely forgettable moments, intensified internal conflicts within the band, and marked a sad and understated end to such a remarkable career. . . . Their early work will, in any case, remain one of the most splendid vocal moments of the era.

https://lafonoteca.net/grupo/los-pasos/

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Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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The Dave Clark Five — “Hurting Inside”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 1, 2026

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

2,115) The Dave Clark Five — “Hurting Inside”

I love the Dave Clark Five (see #208, 320, 411, 412, 565, 716) for their glorious hits and underappreciated ballads, of which the melancholy “Hurting Inside” is a prime example. The ‘ 65 B-side to “I Like It Like That” is “a masterpiece in its own right” and apparently a “[m]assive hit in the Philippines”. (MikeBlitzMag, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mirN61uAQ&list=RDK7mirN61uAQ&start_radio=1&pp=ygUiVGhyIGRhdmUgY2xhcmsgZml2ZSBodXJ0aW5nIGluc2lkZaAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) The Mexican band Los Apson did a wonderful Spanish version titled “Nunca Sabré” (“I Will Never Know”).

“Won’t you come on home And please forgive me?”

It appears that at least at one time, the band had a more devoted following in the U.S. than in the UK. Gary Howman wrote in 2008 that:

The recent induction of the Dave Clark Five into the US Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame demonstrated how the group is more valued abroad than in their homeland. Although they enjoyed commercial success throughout the 60s in Britain, their chart career was uneven, their concert appearances few and their legacy overlooked. . . . Overseas it was always a different story . . . . In America, their reputation is especially high and their songs still feature on the radio, TV adverts and in occasional movies . . . . Tom Hanks enthusiastically introduced them at the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony and Bruce Springsteen has often referred to their impact on him. In the USA they enjoyed 17 Top 40 hits in just over two years, made six coast to coast tours and appeared a record 18 times on the top-rated Ed Sullivan TV show. In 1964, they were the main rivals to The Beatles . . . . It was estimated that through 1964 and 1965 The Dave Clark Five were selling a million records a month in America.

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/catch-us-if-you-can-463

Here are Los Apson:

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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I Shall Be Released: Powder — “Gladly”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 30, 2026

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

2,114) Powder — “Gladly”

Thomas and Richard Frost had a minor hit and created Visualize, one of the greatest lost albums of the 1960s (see #209, 211, 247, 385, 595, 775, 967, 1,733, 1,865). But before that these two Who-bsessed brothers ignited Powder (see #789, 1,556, 2,032), the first and greatest American mod band, giving us “splendid proto power pop” (Flipped Out Phil, https://flippedoutphil.substack.com/p/visualizing-the-california-superpop) from their second great lost albums of the 1960s. “Gladly” is “as good as any of the Creation’s work. . . . [and] would not be out of place on The Who Sell Out . . . because it’s that good”. (imiaxe, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_FcgL6KvI&list=RDM1_FcgL6KvI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUNUG93ZGVyIGdsYWRseaAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m)

Kieron Tyler writes that:

[“Gladly” is t]he archetypical Powder performance . . . . Waves of guitar surge, drums are attacked Keith Moon-style and the vocal is cleanly delineated with rich harmonies. The forward motion is relentless. As Sixties’ pop-art pop goes, it’s as forceful as anything on The Who’s second album A Quick One.

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-powder

Mark Deming gives us the story:

After the Beatles broke big in America in 1964, plenty of young American rockers began following the lead of their peers in the U.K., and very few did so with greater enthusiasm than Powder, a California-based combo whose explosive style was rooted in their enthusiasm for the Who [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912, 2,055], the Small Faces [see #969, 1,024, 2,113], the Creation [see #129, 165, 1,502, 1,643, 1,748, 1,950] . . . . [G]uitarist Richard Martin, aka Richard Frost, . . grew up in San Mateo, California, not far from San Francisco. Frost became a rock & roll fan at an early age, and had already played in a handful of local acts with his brother Thomas Martin (aka Tom Frost) when the British Invasion struck in 1964. The Frost Brothers formed a band called the Newcastle Five, whose jangly style was informed by the new British sounds and early folk-rock. The Newcastle Five were playing clubs in San Francisco when they were spotted by Ray Columbus, a rock & roll singer from New Zealand who had come to the United States in hopes of advancing his career. Colombus invited the Newcastle Five to be his backing band, and the new combo took on a new name, the Art Collection. . . . and released [with Columbus] a fine example of fuzztone proto-punk, “Kick Me,” [see #1,014] in 1966 . . . Columbus didn’t stay with the group long, and as the first waves of the San Francisco psychedelic sound began to appear, the Frost Brothers relocated to Los Angeles in search of an audience for their louder, wilder sounds. . . . [They] caught a lucky break in 1967 when they were hired to be Sonny & Cher’s [see #281-83, 1,021] backing group for a nationwide tour. In addition to a well-paying road gig, th[is] . . . gave the[m] connections with Sonny Bono, who had launched his own music production concern, Progress Production Company, with producer Denis Pregnolato. . . . Progress signed them to a deal, and the group cut an album . . . with Bono and Pregnolato as producers, that they planned to lease to Atco Records. However, the deal went sour when Progress demanded the publishing rights to the songs, and the album was shelved. Powder soon broke up . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/powder-mn0001251845/biography

Kieron Tyler talks more of the Powder sound:

Crescendo follows crescendo, and power chord follows power chord. For The Who, “I Can see for Miles” was the apex of this style. But this is not The Who. Instead, it is a band from California called Powder whose shelved album from 1968 was crammed with thrilling, British-influenced gems. . . . [that] filtered a British sensibility through an American outlook. . . . Martin confirms that “we were Who fanatics and got hold of the My Generation album before it was released in the States. People used to think we were from Britain because of our stage attire.”

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-powder

Alec Palao provides a vivid description: “Rich and Tom read the British mags like Rave, dressed in dandified threads brought directly from Carnaby Street . . . dug the latest hip UK sounds on import-only singles and albums . . . . and were forever being asked by fans whether or not they were from England.” (liner notes to the Biff! Bang! Powder CD comp)

Oh, what could have been. Derek Anderson writes:

Sonny Bono pitched the potential album to the wrong man. Sonny choose to take Powder’s recording to Atlantic Records’ Ahmet Erteugen. However, he was better known for jazz, R&B and soul. Only later, would Atlantic Records become a rock label. . . . So, it’s no wonder . . . Erteugen didn’t show any interest . . . . Following the disappointment of the recording sessions, Sonny and Cher’s management team decided to concentrate on Chastity, a film starring Cher. Powder were meant to contribute some of the music. However, in early 1969, drummer Bill Schoppe quit . . . . decid[ing] to wander down the spiritual path that was proving popular in San Francisco. . . . Powder’s biggest mistake was turning down Mercury Records to sign for Sonny and Cher’s management team. That must have seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime. It proved not to be the case.

https://dereksmusicblog.com/2014/12/10/powder-ka-pow-an-explosive-collection-1967-1968/

Kieron Tyler ponders their fate:

All it’s possible to think is “how did a band this great, this melodic and this potent escape attention at the time?” . . . After looking at their contemporary context, it becomes clear why Powder didn’t attract widespread attention. They simply didn’t fit in. . . . Rich Martin (later Frost) declares “we revelled in not conforming to the San Francisco sound – it was a badge of honour and a bit of rebellion against what was popular.” . . . Powder played San Francisco but weren’t part of the ballroom scene. They were suburban and definitely not hippies. . . . Musically, the San Francisco narrative for 1967 was . . . dominated by lengthy songs, jamming and a general looseness. . . . The kinetic, sharp-edged Powder were something else. Their heads were filled with neon visions of a concise mod-pop rather than notions of soundtracking journeys to inner space.

https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-powder

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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The Small Faces — “Understanding”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 29, 2026

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

2,113) The Small Faces — “Understanding”

Here is the “magnificent B-side of the Small Faces’ [see #969, 1,024] only No. 1, ‘All or Nothing’, a power-packed helter skelter of a ride fronted by [Steve] Marriott’s barnstorming vocal, sledgehammer guitar and that memorable whistle break.” (John Reed, liner notes to the CD comp The Freakbeat Scene) “Forgot how freakin’ good this is… took me right back to me and my Lambretta…” (NorthernSold1, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xr0tc1NTWEY&list=RDxr0tc1NTWEY&start_radio=1&pp=ygUddGhlIHNtYWxsIGZhY2VzIHVuZGVyc3RhbmRpbmegBwE%3D&ra=m)

Freakin’ good is an understatement. “You got to doooooooooo this thing we’re feeling”

While the Small Faces hardly need an introduction, here is an introduction by Bruce Eder:

Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. Outside Europe, all anybody remembers them for is their sole hit, “Itchycoo Park,” which was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range — but in England, Small Faces were one of the most extraordinary and successful bands of the mid-’60s, serious competitors to the Who [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912, 2,055] and potential rivals to the Rolling Stones [see #382, 298, 537, 579, 1,098, 1,403, 1,911]. Lead singer/guitarist Steve Marriott’s formal background was on the stage; as a young teenager, he’d auditioned for and won the part of the Artful Dodger in the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! Marriott was earning his living at a music shop when he made the acquaintance of Ronnie Lane (bass, backing vocals), who had formed a band called the Pioneers, which included drummer Kenney Jones. Lane invited Marriott to jam with his band at a show they were playing at a local club — the gig was a disaster, but out of that show the group members decided to turn their talents toward American R&B. The band — with Marriott now installed permanently and Jimmy Winston recruited on organ — cast its lot with a faction of British youth known as the mods, stylish posers (and arch enemies of the leather-clad rockers, sometimes with incredibly violent results) who, among their other attributes, affected a dandified look and a fanatical embrace of American R&B. The quartet, now christened Small Faces (“face” being a piece of mod slang for a fashion leader), began making a name for themselves on-stage, sparked by their no holds barred performance style. Marriott had a uniquely powerful voice and was also a very aggressive lead guitarist, and the others were able to match him, especially Jones, who was a truly distinctive drummer.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/small-faces-mn0000423267

Here are the Tages (see #286, 1,282, 1,353, 1,358):

Here is the Tony Jackson Group:

Here are the Sex Pistols:

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.

Nirvana — “Melanie Blue”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 28, 2026

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

2,112) Nirvana — “Melanie Blue”

This “transcendent” (Flight_Sensations (cortesy of Google Translate), https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nirvana/all-of-us/) song is nirvana — a “great example[] of tasteful melding of mildly progressive pop and real orchestral strings” (ClemofNazareth, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=14717), “us[ing] rippling harp and a cerise chorus to light . . . . [a] touching glimpse into post-hip domesticity”. (Andrew Darlington, https://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2017/03/nirvana-original-rainbow-chasers.html?m=1)

David Wells writes that “Nirvana’s [see #287, 391, 457, 1,238, 1,525, 1,712] sound involves “mystical, gently romantic lyrics . . . [with a] breathy falsetto and a gorgeous combination of soft psych/pop melodic flair and baroque-flavoured arrangements that incorporated the use of cello and French horn.” (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)

Steven McDonald sketches the band’s early history:

Nirvana appeared in 1967, starting as a six-piece led by Patgrick Campbell-Lyon from Ireland, and Alex Spyropoulos from Greece. They were quickly signed to the fledgling Island label, which had formed out of Chris Blackwell’s street-level R&B and rocksteady label operations, when Blackwell recognized a need to hook into the exploding psychedelic genre of the time. The first LP to emerge was the science-fiction concept album, The Story of Simon Simopath, which yielded their second single, “Pentecost Hotel” [see #287] (their first and third singles appeared on the follow-up, All of Us). The band’s early performances yielded something of an audience, but this did not translate into explosive sales in England or America, though the band achieved some success in Europe. Winnowing down to the core duo of Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos, Nirvana continued to release singles from All of Us, with the title track [see #1,525] going on to be selected as the theme song for The Touchables, while “Rainbow Chaser,” [see #1,238] an almost-hit, came to be considered a classic psychedelic outing.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nirvana-mn0000355142#biography

Let me sprinkle some Oregano:

Nirvana, the nonchalantly enigmatic duo of Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos . . . . releas[ed] a brace of the most airily accessible and mercilessly hooky albums to have floated into being in the culturally charged domain of 1967 and ’68, without sacrificing a neutrino of integrity. . . . [We must] ponder anew why Nirvana didn’t make a deeper impression on the malleable hearts of the record-buying public. They fared rather better in mainland Europe, admittedly, where their billowing, romantic, sumptuously arranged and gracefully baroque compositions were tailor-made for trailing fingers in petal-strewn lakes on warm nights and contemplating Greco-Roman statuary. Nevertheless, their comparatively brief entry in the historical record remains mystifying when they were the perfect panacea for intense times. [A]n ambrosial, benevolent air blew over them and lightly draped a paisley pattern over most everything they recorded. Theirs was a sonic picture unassailed by acid horrors . . . . For the most part, this was sweet-natured, serenely uplifting mood music for the watering of ferns and the lighting of joss sticks; and even in the hard light of 1968, when the compass-overboard hedonism of the previous year had tipped over into revolution, riots and a return to rock, you still had the option of sinking into Nirvana’s plushly-upholstered sound cave of incense, patchouli, silks and satins after a hard day at the barricades.

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/nirvana-uk

Was that a bit tongue-in-cheek? Who knows, but don’t bogart the patchouli.

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Golden Earrings — “I’ve Just Lost Somebody”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 27, 2026

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

2,111) Golden Earrings — “I’ve Just Lost Somebody”

This “[h]auntingly beautiful” (peperudi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl5PkTqJhZU) and “[d]reamy Psych Pop Ballad” (Vintage Vinyl Via Valves, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jYD50QmgmU) with “a harpsichord add[ing] a touch of the Baroque” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/miracle-mirror-mw0000841385) is the “song that made me fall so deeply in love with this special . . . band”. (edbertrand8887, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4o2Nal9AdM)

Wikipedia tells us (courtesy of Google Translate) that:

“Lost Somebody” was written by bass guitarist Rinus Gerritsen, but credited to Gerritsen and guitarist George Kooymans. . . . [T]he singer says that his ex-girlfriend has already disappeared from his life after a short relationship, but that he still wants to keep dreaming about her. To promote the single, a music video was filmed featuring a performance from the television program Moef Ga Ga, broadcast on April 3, 1968. The filming of this video took place [in a construction pit of thr Amsterdam metro] near the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. The single became a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number seven in the Top 40 and number eight in the Parool Top 20.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Just_Lost_Somebody, https://web.archive.org/web/20200313143718/http://members.ziggo.nl/casper.roos/story60.html#1968

Kieron Tyler adds:

Talking about the song, Rinus Gerritsen explained that “in those days you also had Paul and Barry Ryan [see #88, 264-66, 317, 671], who made this kind of film music with a lot of orchestral music. Our arranger Frans Mijts was the perfect man for this kind of orchestration. First George played it to us on the acoustic guitar and then we recorded it. The tape then went to Mijts, who wrote the orchestra score. This was then added to in the studio, and then it became apparent that we had a kind of overkill in the wind section – Mijts was originally a trumpet player, so it figures. Half of it was then left out and there we had a song that remains untouched by the passing of time.” He also said that the song had originally composed by George Kooymans [so Rinus didn’t write it?!] for Henk Smitskamp, the former bassist of rival Hague outfit The Motions [see #1,224, 1,260, 2,033], but producer Freddie Haayen said it was so good that they shouldn’t give the song away. . . . Although Miracle Mirror was issued in America by Capitol Records and “I’ve Just Lost Somebody” became a British single for the Major Minor label, The Golden Earrings weren’t getting much attention beyond the Netherlands.

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/12/golden-earrings-miracle-mirror-1967-68.html

The Earrings [see #63, 163, 319, 1,215, 1,504, 1,560, 1,572] are my favorite British beat group . . . from the Netherlands! But not only could they sound just as if they had washed up on a bank of the Mersey, a feat in and of itself, they also wrote great songs. Unlike some groups, they didn’t have the luxury of having Lennon and McCartney donate to the cause. The Earrings have earned a lot of good will in my book — everything that happened in the 70’s is forgiven! As Mark Deming writes:

Golden Earring were hailed as one of the hottest new bands in America when the song “Radar Love” . . . was released in 1973. Funny thing was, Golden Earring were hardly a new band; while they weren’t well known outside the Netherlands, in their native Holland they were major stars who had been scoring hits for eight years.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/just-earrings-mw0000454482

As to the Earring’s third album — Miracle Mirror — which includes “Lost Somebody”, Tyler writes:

Miracle Mirror was magnificent. Consummate psychedelic pop, this was as good as anything coming from Britain, yet it escaped attention beyond the Netherlands’ borders. A US release of the album got hardly any attention. . . . The third Golden Earrings album marked their creative peak to date. Back in 1968 they were fashioning world-class psychedelic pop, showcased on Miracle Mirror. . . .

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/12/golden-earrings-miracle-mirror-1967-68.html

Deming adds:

Change was in the air when the Golden Earrings made their third album in 1967; psychedelia was sweeping the U.K. and Europe and the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had raised the bar in terms of production and arranging styles. The Golden Earrings had made some changes of their own as well — rhythm guitarist Peter De Ronde had left the group, and lead singer Frans Krassenburg was replaced by Barry Hay. Miracle Mirror was very much an album of its time, and predictably sounds a great deal different than their first two LPs. Like Just Earrings and Winter Harvest, Miracle Mirror clearly reflected what was going on in the British music scene at the time (even though the band was Dutch), but the heady atmosphere of 1967 made room for musicians to follow a number of different paths, and the Golden Earrings were eager to investigate as many as they could in the studio. . . . You name the new-in-1967 sonic innovation, it’s probably somewhere on [the LP], but what hadn’t changed for the Golden Earrings was the songwriting talent of bassist Rinus Gerritsen and guitarist George Kooymans and the group’s uniform excellence in the studio; the confidence and sense of adventure that informed their first two albums was in full flower here, and if there are some moments on Miracle Mirror that sound a bit pretentious all these years later, the Golden Earrings’ instincts were spot-on most of the time, and this album has worn the test of time more gracefully than many other works from the first acid era.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/miracle-mirror-mw0000841385

Of the Earrings, Tyler tells us:

They were always melodic . . . their music combined the tough chunkiness of The Who [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912, 2,055] and 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] with the minor-key, brooding melodies of The Zombies [see #1,138]. . . . Where bands like the rough-hewn Outsiders [see #615, 664, 1,218] defined the edgy sound of Amsterdam, the more polished Golden Earrings defined the sound of The Hague. . . . The[ir] roots . . . lie in The Tornados, a band formed by 13-year-old George Kooymans and 15-year-old Marinus Gerritsen in 1962. . . . An instrumental outfit, their repertoire included Shadows and Ventures numbers. . . . The Hague . . . was stuffed with rock ‘n’ roll bands and competition was tough. . . . [The] boom was fuelled by bands made up from Indonesian immigrants. Indo-Rock had been born. . . . After the British Tornados’ Telstar became a Dutch hit in late 1962 . . . . the band chose The Golden Earrings, from the standard that Peggy Lee had a hit with in 1948. . . . [B]y the end of 1963, it became clear that the shifting musical climate meant the band would have to incorporate vocals. Frans Krassenburg became their singer in early 1964. . . . The[ir] break came in July 1965 . . . . Freddy Haayen saw the band at their regular venue Club 192 . . . . [and] said he worked for Polydor Records and that he wanted to record them. Actually, he was an architecture student who also worked as a trainee at Polydor’s warehouse. The Golden Earrings didn’t know this and duly turned up . . . to record four tracks . . . . Haayen had made good on his bluff and scored a deal with Polydor. Released in September, “Please Go” . . . reach[ed] number 10. . . .

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-golden-earrings-just-ear-rings-1965.html

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Tommy Hunt — “Searching for Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 26, 2026

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

2,110) Tommy Hunt — “Searching for Love”

How was this exquisite soul tear-jerker by former Flamingo Tommy Hunt not a huge hit? “Every girl I’ve had now has played me for a fool”

The Vintage Soul Machine tells us about Tommy:

Possessed with one of the most emotive voices in soul music, Tommy Hunt, should have had more solo success than he did. After being the lead singer of the Flamingos from 1956 until 1961, Hunt split to go solo and had a huge hit right out of the gate with, “Human”, in 1961. “I Am A Witness” in late 1963 was also a strong seller but after that, Hunt fell victim to the changing and evolving soul style dominated by Motown and Stax. By 1967, he was recording for Dynamo and released this single in the summer of 1967, a quality effort that didn’t get much push. Titled, “Searchin’ For Love”, the song showcases his vocal talents but the lack of commercial success continued and by 1968, he had moved to Europe where his following was on the upswing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaC4ire1SdU

Bruce Eder tells us more:

Pittsburgh-born vocalist Tommy Hunt’s recording career began at age 20, when he cut singles with his first group, the Five Echoes, in 1953. It was five years later, however, that he made his greatest mark on popular music, rock & roll, and R&B, as a member of the Flamingos from 1958 through 1961. Those years coincided with the group’s being signed to End Records, and the release of their biggest, most identifiable hit, “I Only Have Eyes for You” — Hunt’s dramatic background singing, coupled with the restrained piano backing, made it one of the transcendent documents of ’50s R&B. He can also be seen singing lead in a killer jump-blues performance in the juke box movie classic Go, Johnny, Go, as the group (back to a five-piece) mimes to their End recording of “Jump Children.” Hunt left the Flamingos in 1962 and signed as a solo artist with Florence Greenberg’s Scepter Records in New York. Greenberg reportedly wasn’t impressed with Hunt as a singer or an individual, but Luther Dixon, the company’s chief of A&R and general music director, loved Hunt’s voice, providing him with “Human,” which became a number five R&B hit in late 1961. Hunt continued with the label for another three years, until 1964, cutting a complete album . . . in late 1962. . . . In late 1963, following the departure of Dixon from Scepter, Ed Townsend became the company’s music director, and one of his very first productions was Tommy Hunt’s recording of Townsend’s “I Am a Witness[]” . . . . The single was Hunt’s last chart entry for the label, reaching number 71. Hunt left Scepter in 1964, and later moved to the Dynamo label, on which he had a charting single in 1967. He later moved to Europe, and performed in Germany and the United Kingdom, developing a strong following on the British Northern Soul scene. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Flamingos . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tommy-hunt-mn0000619868

Here is a nice video documentary on Tommy Hunt:

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

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The Art of Lovin’ — “You’ve Got the Power”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 25, 2026

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

2,109) The Art of Lovin’ — “You’ve Got the Power”

I can definitely hear the Jefferson Airplane comparisons on this wicked cool song and the accompanying LP of “psych-tinged folk-rock (or was it folk-tinged psych-rock?)”. (Stephen Haag, Music Museum of New England, https://www.mmone.org/the-art-of-lovin/) by Newton, Massachusetts’ Art of Lovin’. Ben Chaput says “They pretty much sounded like the Airplane would’ve sounded like if they had dumped the acid and switched to Jack Daniels!” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/944304523761907/posts/977005187158507/), though Patrick Lundborg says their style shouldn’ be confused with Jefferson Airplane at all. (The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.)

Musicbeetle writes of the album that “The female lead singer makes the record for me, sounding in turns like Grace Slick and Mama Cass [see #1,734]. . . . [E]xcellent organ and guitar playing . . . provide that sixties psychedelic sound that weaves the whole album together.” (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-art-of-lovin/the-art-of-lovin/) TimBukTwoTwos adds:

Absolutely superb atmospheric and cozy psych music throughout. The whole album just flows from song to song in a mist of haze, with a constant fantastic array of vocal and instrumental melodies. Of which are littered throughout aplenty, and are amongst some of the best psych music has to offer.There’s a few comments about this being a Jefferson Airplane rip off. This, to me, is better than anything Jefferson Airplane have released.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-art-of-lovin/the-art-of-lovin/

Paul Applebaum (vocals, guitar) wrote the song and sang along with Gail Winnick. The other band members were Johnny Lank (bass/lead guitar), Barry Tatelman (keyboard, saxaphone), and Sandy Winslow (drums, percussion). (Paul “Blowfish” Lovell, https://www.punkblowfish.com/ArtofLovin.html, Stephen Haag, Music Museum of New England, https://www.mmone.org/the-art-of-lovin/)

Here’s the 45 version:

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)

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Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera — “Dreamy”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 24, 2026

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

2,108) Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera — “Dreamy”

I’ve played Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera’s (see #375, 688, 1,818) A-side (see #1,818), here’s the B-side — “a tasty slab of pop psych” (Kevin Rathert, https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2022/07/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-long-nights-of-summer-the-elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-anthology-2022.html), “blissed out” (HiFiPig Magazine, https://www.hifipig.com/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera/), “folky, druggy and delightful” (John Barlass, https://atthebarrier.com/2022/07/22/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-long-nights-of-summer-the-elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-anthology-boxset-review/), and “show[ing] that the band had more good ideas than could fit on their LP.” (Bill Kopp, https://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2025/10/24/album-reviews-two-from-velvet-opera/)

The lyrics are certainly of a certain age: fall asleep and go “To a land where pumpkin is king And a magic panda sings songs of love to the wind”

“Dreamy” is from an LP that was a “minor masterpiece” (Jan Zarebski, https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera), that “combines the harmonies and underlying structure of soul-rooted English beat with the studio effects and whimsy of London’s psychedelic scene.” (https://jazzrocksoul.com/artists/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera/)

EGVO — it sounds like an olive oil, though I doubt any of them were extra virgin!

Jan Zarebski recounts:

Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera emerged from R&B/soul act The Five Proud Walkers after experiencing a conversion to psych following a support slot beneath Pink Floyd. Well… who wouldn’t? Their upbeat blend of the new scene with the primal beats of their earlier work got them noticed. The urgent, brilliant “Flames”, which they cut as their first single, became a cult hit, and a fledgling Led Zeppelin [see #110, 589, 1,998, 2,004] incorporated the song into their act. Unfortunately, that was as close as EGVO got to the big time, but their debut remains a rather superb slice of British psych-pop. . . . [Their] eclecticism and talent [was] on show, but it’s the group’s more general mastery of melody and rhythm that marks this album out. Rather like The Zombies [see #1,138] and, more obviously, The Beatles [see #28-29, 113, 132, 374, 422-23, 520-22, 545, 669, 779-81, 840, 872, 942, 1,087, 1,256, 1,437, 1,473, 1,910], EGVO found a tune wherever they looked, and the results stand up with much of the period because of that.

https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera

Why didn’t they make it big? Jo-Ann Greene says that:

This popular UK act, which adeptly mixed soul and psychedelic/progressive styles, evolved from Jaymes Fenda And The Vulcans, one of several bands to secure a recording contract following their appearance on the televised contest, Ready Steady Win. Former Vulcans songwriter John Ford . . . joined members of R&B band Five Proud Walkers, which included Dave Terry (vocals/guitar), Colin Forster (guitar) and Richard Hudson ( . . . drums). The new unit was named Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, in honour of lead singer Terry’s stage garb modelled after the preacher in the 1960 movie Elmer Gantry. Their excellent 1967 debut album included the pulsating “Flames’, which, despite regular appearances on BBC Radio 1″s Top Gear, failed to become a hit. . . . Although labeled a psychedelic band in their day, the Opera never sat comfortably in that strawberry field, partially because of the diversity of their sound, but also due to the simple fact they were just too far ahead of their time even for the psyched-out crowd. In fact, Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera continued to sound thoroughly modern for decades, while their myriad musical meanderings took them down wayward byways that later became stylistic highways — at least in their native U.K. . . . Growing disagreements over musical direction led to the departure of Gantry and Forster. The remaining members truncated their name to Velvet Opera, added Paul Brett (guitar) [see #625] and John Joyce ( . . . vocals) to the line-up, and recorded Ride A Hustler’s Dream. The album lacked the purpose of its predecessor, save for the excellent “Anna Dance Square”. The quartet fell apart when Hudson and Ford joined the Strawbs, with whom they remained until 1973. Having written several of the band’s most commercial offerings, the duo then left to pursue their own career as Hudson-Ford. By 1974, Gantry was fronting a band which, until checked by litigation, accepted illicit bookings as “Fleetwood Mac” while the genuine article were off the road. A year later, Gantry emerged once more as singer on Stretch’s solitary UK chart entry, “Why Did You Do It?”, before going on work with the Alan Parsons Project and Cozy Powell. Former member Colin Forster briefly worked with a new line-up of Velvet Opera in the early 70s.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-mn0000131151/biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-mw0000263215

Iván Melgar Morey agrees:

[T]hey were one of the most advanced bands from their era, blended with great respect R&B, Jazz Psychedelia a la early Pink Floyd [see #13, 38, 87, 260, 315, 922, 1,949, 2,086] and a touch of The Nice style, hard to say if they were inspired in Keith Emerson’s sound because they are coetaneous, but you can find many similarities. . . . Despite being a very good and incredibly advanced album for their era, never reached the popularity deserved, because it was too hard and eclectic for the average listener, but still remains as one of the most powerful and elaborate albums from the pre King Crimson Progressive Rock era.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2503

Here is EGVO live on the BBC on John Peel’s Top Gear — recorded on April 22, 1968 and first broadcast on May 19, 1968 (https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Elmer_Gantry%27s_Velvet_Opera):

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The Eyes — “You’re Too Much”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 23, 2026

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

2,107) The Eyes — “You’re Too Much”

The B-side of the Eyes’ (see #193) third single sounds as if it’s the illegitimate spawn of the Who [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912, 2,055] and Oasis — and I mean that in a good way! “[P]robably their finest moment” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), it’s a “barnstorming fuzz rocker with a brooding, somewhat menacing quality” (gilesi, https://cosmicmindatplay.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/classic-singles-81-the-eyes-man-with-money-youre-too-much-mercury-1966/), “one of the best pieces of proto-punk there is”. (23 Daves, https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2010/05/eyes-man-with-money-youre-too-much.html). Happening45 pegs it as “the sound of mod turning into psych” and “ha[s] to keep checking this was actually released in 1966 as it is so ahead of it’s time.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNiSDAwt4k0) It “freaked me out when I 20y.o. 38 fucking years later it still burns my brain i,m junkie for it.” (copiapoacinerea9267, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1uhRIC2PSI)

23 Daves muses that:

[T]he band screech monosyllabically about a very distracting lady. . . . Whilst this is going on to no obvious conclusion, a sharp, buzzing, ear-scarring wall of guitar noise takes place behind, led by an exceptionally dumb, rudimentary plectrum-plucked riff. . . . It’s the sound of a frothing great rock tantrum where the scream continues from point A to point B unabated. That’s a bloody good thing, in case you were in any doubt.

https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2010/05/eyes-man-with-money-youre-too-much.html

Richie Unterberger peers into the Eyes:

In 1965 and 1966, the Eyes released a clutch of singles that stand up to the Who’s work from the same era in their blend of extremely innovative guitar feedback/distortion and anthemic mod songwriting. “When the Night Falls[” see #193,] “The Immediate Pleasure,” “I’m Rowed Out,” “You’re Too Much,” and the dry “My Generation” satire “My Degeneration” are revered highly by British Invasion collectors. The bursts of electronic mayhem were quite advanced for the time, though like the Who they had hooks and harmonies to counterpoint the madness. They weren’t as memorable as the Who and didn’t approach commercial success. After a much softer fourth single [forced upon them by the label] and an ill-conceived album of Rolling Stones covers (recorded under the name the Pupils), the group disbanded.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-eyes-mn0000060128

Stephen Thomas Erlewine adds:

[T]he Eyes were among the greatest cult mod bands of their time, with a coiled power that recalls the Who at their peak. This, of course, is most apparent on “My Degeneration,” a sly dig at the Who that functions as both satire and homage, but their first three singles all had the taut, stylish energy of the Who circa 1965 . . . . The[ir album of Rolling Stones covers] while not much more than a fun curiosity, does prove that the band were exceptional mimics, capturing the frenzied energy of the “Route 66” and doing a version of “Satisfaction” that pumps up the fuzztoned guitar even louder the original. But the Eyes’ true peak were those four singles . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-arrival-of-the-eyes-mw0001045188

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Czerwone Gitary/Red Guitars — “Czekam na twój przyjazd”/”I Am Looking Forward to Your Arrival”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 22, 2026

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

2,106) Czerwone Gitary/Red Guitars — “Czekam na twój przyjazd”/”I Am Looking Forward to Your Arrival”

The “Polish Beatles” give us a “brilliant” (thelarch, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/czerwone-gitary/na-fujarce.p/) song from their ’70 album Na fujarce (On the Folk Flute) — featuring the classic combination of upbeat, effervescent, horn-infused music and despairing lyrics (about a man waiting at a train station for a woman he knows might never arrive, waiting so long that “a bird has even managed to build a nest in my hat”, vowing to wait forever, knowing “I probably won’t live to see you arrive”). (courtesy of Google Translate).

As to the LP, thelarch writes:

One reason for the dramatic 1969 [Krzysztof] Klenczon – [Seweryn] Krajewski split was the latter’s urge to try some more experimental and free approach. Indeed, the first post-Klenczon release by Czerwone Gitary is their most ambitious project, though only in parts – some tracks seem pretty conventional, even by the standards of the groups first three albums. . . . Unfortunately, the general public in Poland was less tolerant (the band got booed with the new material at the festival in Opole), and to avoid the adverse publicity Czerwone Gitary never took risks again reverting to plough the not-so-dangerous pop burrow. Which is sad for me.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/czerwone-gitary/na-fujarce.p/

Maciej Sienkiewicz tells us of Czerwone Gitary (courtesy of Google Translate):

Czerwone Gitary was one of the most popular and enduring Polish bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Formed in Gdańsk in January 1965, the original members included Krzysztof Klenczon (vocals, guitar), Jerzy Kossela (vocals, guitar), Jerzy Skrzypczyk (drums), Bernard Dornowski (vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and Henryk Zomerski (bass guitar, vocals, electric organs). Their first concerts took place in the Sopot Club “Non-Stop”, and they released their first single “Bo Ty się boisz myszy” (Because Your Afraid of Mice) shortly after. In 1965, after making their debut on Polish Radio, Czerwone Gitary went on a highly successful Autumn tour claiming, “We play and sing the loudest in Poland!”. In December 1965, Seweryn Krajewski replaced Henryk Zomerski. For their first months Krajewski and Skrzypczyk performed under the stage aliases “Robert Marczak” and “Jerzy Geret” – as music students they were at risk of being expelled for playing in a “bigbit” band. Their first album To właśnie my (Its Us) was recorded at the end of 1966 in only two days. The record sold 160,000 copies, but soon after its release Jerzy Kossela left the group. His duties as a frontman were taken over by Krzysztof Klenczon. The latter part of the 1960’s saw the group reach the apex of their popularity. Their next records (2 from June 1967 and 3 from 1968) both reached the top of the Polish charts. In 1969, Czerwone Gitary received a “Marble Record” at the MIDEM music fair in Cannes for the most popular band in the country. In June of the same year, the group also won first prize at the Opole Festival with their piece “Biały krzyż” (White Cross). In 1970 Krzysztof Klenczon left the band, and formed his own group, Trzy Korony. . . . Seweryn Krajewski became the principal composer, with Dornowski and Skrzypczyk continuing in their earlier roles joined by the guitar player and singer Dominik Konrad. However, Dominik Konrad would only stay with the band to record Na fujarce, considered by many to be their finest album. After the departure of Konrad the band continued as a trio and in 1971 recorded two more albums: Spokój serca and Consuela (in German, released in East Germany). Later the band would collaborate with the all-vocal band Alibabki . . . . This led to three albums . . . . The band also performed and toured extensively in the USSR and many Eastern Block countries effectively disappearing from the Polish scene.

https://culture.pl/en/artist/czerwone-gitary

Wikipedia elaborates (courtesy of Google Translate):

They achieved their greatest successes in the first five years of their existence, and the press sometimes referred to them as the “Polish Beatles” (or “Beatles of Eastern Europe”) due to their similarities – including their original playing style and stage expression – with the British group. The band was founded on January 3, 1965 . . . . From the very beginning, the band worked on its own style of composition, arrangement, and performance, which was intended to distinguish it from other artists, and for this reason, it rejected attempts to imitate foreign groups. Their work was aimed primarily at teenage audiences, but Krajewski and Klenczon – chosen as the group’s main songwriters as the band developed – also created songs for the older generation. . . . In December 1965, Henryk Zomerski left the band and was replaced by Seweryn Krajewski, who had previously performed as a guest in the band. . . . In the years 1965–1966 they performed seasonally, among others, at the “Non-Stop” club in Sopot, and also played during carnival balls. After a dozen or so weeks of work, they received an offer to record for the music department of Polish Radio, which they completed in February and June 1965 . . . . They also went on their first concert tour around Poland; for three months they often gave two concerts a day, usually in primitive halls with terrible sound systems, yet they gathered a group of admirers. Also in 1965, they received an invitation to audition for the 3rd National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, but they did not participate due to a lack of adequate financial resources. The following year, they performed outside the competition in the “Afternoon with Youth” concert during the 4th . . . Festival in Opole. Also in 1966, they released their debut album, To taki my” (That’s Us) , for which they received a silver record certificate in Poland for selling 160,000 copies. . . . In December of the same year, they participated in the first edition of the “Gitariada” competition in Warsaw, and their performance received positive reviews in the press, radio and television. As the popularity of Czerwone Gitary grew, the first conflicts began to arise between the band members, which led to Jerzy Kossela’s resignation from further cooperation in December 1966, and in April 1967 he formally left the band. In May 1967, the remaining musicians recorded an album entitled Czerwone Gitary 2 , which sold 250,000 copies. The following month they performed at the 5th [Festival in Opole] . . . for which Krajewski received the Polish Jazz Federation Award for his compositional debut. In 1968 they released the album Czerwone Gitary 3, for which they received a gold record certificate in Poland for sales of over 300,000 copies. . . . In the same year . . . they received the first prize of the Chairman of the Radio and Television Committee at the 6th [Festival in Opole] . . . . In the winter of 1968, they went on a three-month tour of the USSR, and in the same year they performed for the first time in the GDR [the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)], where they became a sensation. In January 1969, they received a trophy at the International Record Fair (MIDEM) in Cannes, awarded for the highest number of records sold in the artist’s country of origin . . . . They received an award for the most popular youth band in Poland from the editors of the weekly music magazine “Billboard”. In June . . . they received the Award of the Minister of Culture and Art at the 7th [Festival in Opole] . . . . Also in 1969, they received the Golden Microphone from the Polish-American Art Agency for “outstanding musical achievements” and the Golden Anchor of the Sopot Summer of ’69, i.e., first prize at the Festival of Youth Bands in Sopot. That same year, they released several more hits . . . and were hailed as the most popular youth band of the year. . . . In January 1970, they performed in the revue Our Madness at the Syrena Theatre in Warsaw . . . . In the same year, Krzystof Klenczon left Czerwone Gitary , disliking the idea of changing the band’s sound – Seweryn Krajewski wanted the group to start playing music bordering on jazz, soul and classical music. The remaining musicians, now without their former leader and musical director, recorded and released an LP entitled Na fujarce (On the Folk Flute) (1970), which is considered by some music critics to be the band’s best, but was rather lukewarmly received by fans. They also continued their career in the GDR, releasing there . . . in 1970 a single . . . and in 1971 – a longplay entitled Warszawa, which was an extended version of the album Czerwone Gitary 3.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czerwone_Gitary

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Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

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The Affection Collection — “The Collector”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 21, 2026

beginning at 22:31

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

2,105) The Affection Collection — “The Collector”

Sonny Curtis of Buddy Holly and the Crickets wrote “The Collector” for the Everly Brothers, but my affections lie with the Affection Collection’s version. The Collection propels this “slow-paced, slightly psychedelic waltz” (Matthew Greenwald, https://www.allmusic.com/song/the-collector-mt0008548266) with some slinky roller-rink organ (or Mellotron) and a general air of mystery. The band was from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and went to New Mexico to work with producer Norman Petty.

Matthew Greenwald writes of the song’s history:

One of the more interesting Everly songs of the period, “The Collector” has its origins from the novel of the same name, written by John Fowles. It’s a slightly demented take on a young man who kidnaps a young woman and takes her to the English countryside to add her to his “collection.” After reading the book, Don handed it to Sonny Curtis, who accurately wrote his version of it into song. A slow-paced, slightly psychedelic waltz, it would have been perfect as a title song for the film, had it been used as such.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/the-collector-mt0008548266

The AG’s ’69 LP is “well recorded, well sung, has a few very nice pop hooks, a dash of rock here and there along with plenty of youthful energy. . . . [I]f you enjoy Association [see #1,264]- Harpers Bizzare type pop then you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” (Goody9299, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-affection-collection/the-affection-collection/) Richie Unterberger, though, is dismissive:

An obscure five-piece group that recorded with producer Norman Petty at the famous Petty Sound Studios in Clovis, New Mexico, the Affection Collection put out . . . a self-titled LP on the Evolution label. . . . Their sound was very much generic American white pop/rock circa 1967-1968, rather like the albums Petty was doing with the Fireballs [see #1,152] around the same time. Sometimes it sounds like pop/rock acts such as Tommy James; at others it’s a little like the Five Americans; and at others, of course, it sounds a little like makeshift Buddy Holly, a sound Norman Petty never stopped trying to emulate, even past the mid-’60s. The Fireballs comparison is particularly begged since the[ir] guitarist, George Tomsco, helped write much of the material, and some of the tracks feature staccato Tex-Mex-rockabilly picking that sounds a hell of a lot like Tomsco himself. Not only that, several cuts also feature the eerie yet cheesy Mellotron-ish sound (which might be the Solovox, the primitive synthesizer) that Petty frequently employed with Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-affection-collection-mn0001367229

Eerie yet cheesy Mellotron-ish sound? That’s “The Collector”!

Here are the Everly Brothers:

Here is Sonny Curtis:

Here is the #1:

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Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

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