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

Listen — “You’d Better Run”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 7, 2026

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

1,998) Listen — “You’d Better Run”

In 1966, Robert Plant was a young rascal, so it is entirely fitting that his first recorded performance is “a burning rendition” (Thom Jurek, https://www.allmusic.com/album/sixty-six-to-timbuktu-mw0000326489) of the Young Rascal’s “You Better Run”. Not only is it the best version I’ve heard, but 17 year old Plant sounds like, well, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant! — “even then you could hear his soulful baritone sound characteristic of LZ’s first two albums – though his upper range was amazing as well!” (Jeff Williams, https://countercultureuk.com/2025/03/18/exploring-led-zeppelins-musical-journey-a-documentary-review-by-jeff-williams/)

Plant doesn’t remember his effort with great affection:

[I] realised that tough, manly approach to singing I’d begun on . . . ‘You Better Run’ wasn’t really what it was all about at all. Songs like . . . ‘Babe I’m Going to Leave You’… I find my vocals on there horrific now. I really should have shut the f*** up!

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-robert-plant-hates-led-zeppelin-stairway-to-heaven/

Plant’s band was Listen. The other members were Geoff Thompson (drums), Roger Beamer (bass), and John Crutchley (guitar). (7226power, https://www.45cat.com/record/202456 (info from Midland Beat, July 1966, number 34))

Plant tells Jude Rogers how it went down:

“I’m 17, full of myself, in a youth club with Noddy Holder. . . . We’d borrow Noddy’s dad’s window-cleaning van for our gear, buckets clanking through the Black Country streets, so to have a record that was going to be pressed, have a dust sleeve – it was showing-off time.[ ] ‘Well, we’ve got this deal with CBS, Noddy.’ And Noddy goes: ‘That’s all right, we’ve got one with Columbia.’ And then I found out it was the same bloody song!” The track . . . was the first commercial release for both the N’Betweens (who became Holder’s band Slade [see #1,165, 1,247]) and Listen . . . although the label asked him to record their first single on his own. It was his first studio experience. “I still remember the pride and the thrill and the smell of fear; to walk in a studio and see session guys booked for me to sing. I was very, very nervous.” . . . “And here I was in the middle of it all, trying to create a style, looking at black soul singers and my heroes like Steve Marriott [see #969, 1,024].”* He still hears that nascent howl on Led Zeppelin’s debut three years later, too. “That nasal boy. It’s kind of cute now.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/nov/02/a-life-in-music-robert-plant-on-led-zeppelin-alison-krauss-and-his-endless-wanderlust

Apparently, “[d]uring the recording the band was replaced by session musicians leaving Plant as the only Listen member to appear on the record.” (Stuart Penney, https://andnowitsallthis.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-ones-that-got-away-near-misses-with.html)

* As to Steve Marriott, check out the Small Faces’ “You Need Loving” [see #969]. Decristo1021 says, “even the most diehard Plant fan has to admit that Robbie aped Steve’s delivery to a ‘t’…it’s uncanny….” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpnF62TNYoM) “You Need Loving” was on the Small Faces’ first LP, released in May 1966. Listen’s single was released in November 1966.

Here are the Young Rascals:

Here are the N’Betweens:

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A New Generation — “Police Is Here”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 6, 2026

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

1,997) A New Generation — “Police Is Here”

Before the Sutherland brothers (Gavin and Ian) (see #1,792) took Rod Stewart “Sailing”, they gave us a simply wonderful “delicate” and “pretty little song” (patrickney6584, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VafGypTEJ5M) . . . about being arrested?! “Police” is “infectious . . . well crafted, intelligent period pop” (liner notes to Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era), “folky-pop [with] Iain Sutherland[‘s] ear for melody and . . . pleasant voice” (jhendrix110, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/a_new_generation/police_is_here___mr__c/),”[o]ne of my favorite singles of all time”. (Mark Frumento, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJMZ6Y9WpJ8).

Vernon Joynson tells us all things Sutherland:

This was actually The Sutherland Brothers. They scored a minor hit with “Smokey Blues Away” and the flip side “She’s A Soldier Boy”. . . . The brothers signed to Island in 1972 and recorded two albums of melodic folk-based pop. . . . They . . . wrote and recorded as their second single “Sailing”, which . . . became a million-selling record for Rod Stewart. Their second album was made with the help of session musicians and their search for a permanent backing group resulted in them amalgamating with Quiver in 1973 to form The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver. . . . Their first album . . . was well received and they had a US hit with their first 45 “You Got Me Anyway”. . . . When Rod Stewart achieved his massive hit with “Sailing” the band was signed by CBS and soon registered a Top 5 hit with the wimpy pop ditty “Arms of Mary”. They also enjoyed two hit albums . . . .

The Tapestry of Delights Revisited

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I Shall Be Released: Those Fadin’ Colours — “Try Me on For Size”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 5, 2026

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

1,996) Those Fadin’ Colours — “Try Me on For Size“

South London lads take a pretty good track off the Electric Prunes’ [see #893] 1st LP and “transform[ it] from a[] . . . blast of US garage punk arrogance to engagingly wistful English psychedelic pop” (David Wells, liner notes to Let’s Go Down & Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967), an “amazing piece of Psych with a bit of Zombies [see #1,138] influence, a really amazing gem” that “due to bad planning . . . was never mastered and released.” (PsychedelicGuy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emfWCXFHW84)

David Wells:

A row with their record company, Ember, saw The Fadin’ Colours walk out just as their version of “(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet” was being readied for April 1966 release. Ember quickly matched the group’s lead singer Geoff Coppens with a Kent group called the Deckhands, who duly promoted the disc and adopted the name Those Fadin’ Colours. After leaving Ember, in March 1967 they were spotted playing at a Mayfair discotheque by producer Mike Vernon, who took them . . . in May to record “Blow Up” (Tomorrow’s [see #72] aborted title song to the iconic Swingin’ London film) and an Electric Prunes album track, “Try Me on For Size” . . . .But the tracks were turned down by Decca . . . .

liner notes to Let’s Go Down & Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967

The British Music Archive takes a deep dive:

The Kingpins originated from Addington, Croydon in South London. The band played “high society balls” in and around the capital. . . . The band made their recording debut . . . on 31st May, 1965. . . . record[ing] a version of The Yardbirds’ For Your Love and a group original . . . . [A r]ecord producer . . . persuaded the band to perform chart covers for a proposed budget LP to be released on Ember records. The band were re-named Those Fadin’ Colours and a single was released under this name by the band. The record featured a version of (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet . . . recorded . . . in 1966. As soon as the single was issued, the band were free to become The Kingpins again. Glyn Stevens and Geoffrey Coppens . . . departed . . . .

https://www.britishmusicarchive.com/artists/the-kingpins

Here are the Electric Prunes:

Here are the Prunes in Stockholm:

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Dick and Don (Addrisi) — “You’re Bad”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 4, 2026

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

1,995) Dick and Don (Addrisi) — “You’re Bad”

How was this song not one of the big hits of ’66?! A year before they wrote “Never My Love”, which the Association [see #1,264] took to #2, the Addrissi brothers wrote and recorded this killer (but too short!) effervescent pop rock gem (of course, with sad lyrics). I think Michael Jackson must have thought it (“You’re bad, you’re bad”) was about him (“I’m bad, I’m bad”)!

Bruce Eder tells us of the Addrisi Bros:

The Addrisi Brothers are best remembered today for their early-’70s Columbia hit “We’ve Got to Get It on Again,” and for writing the Association [see #1,264]/Fifth Dimension hit “Never My Love.” Don Addrissi . . . and Dick Addrisi actually date back as a musical team to the 1950s. Their parents were part of a family acrobatic act, the Flying Addrisis, but Don and Dick chose music as their career, and by the mid-’50s, with the help from comedian Lenny Bruce, who was a fan, they got their first professional representation. The family was initially lured out to California by the prospect of Don and Dick getting parts on The Mickey Mouse Club — that didn’t work out, but they were eventually signed to Bob Keane’s Del-Fi label, where they recorded a series of singles that veered from Everly Brothers-style rock & roll to somewhat more cloying teen-pop numbers. They never really hit it big, however, and after further attempts at recording success on Imperial and Warner Brothers, they turned their attention to songwriting — both were natural musicians and Don was a music school graduate, and they were signed to Valiant Records. During this period, they signed up a new vocal act called the Association, who eventually recorded “Never My Love,” an Addrisi Brothers original that went to number two on the charts and put them permanently on the map of songwriters. They re-emerged briefly as recording artists in their own right in the early ’70s with a one-off hit single for Columbia entitled “We’ve Got to Get It on Again,” and were probably most visible during that period as authors and singers of the title theme to the ABC series Nanny and the Professor — their harmony singing was as good as ever. They continued working together until Don’s death from cancer in 1984.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-addrisi-brothers-mn0000035013#biography

Check out this fantastic interview Larry Wayne Clark did with Dick Addrisi for the International Songwriters Association: https://www.songwriter.co.uk/page746.html.

Here is an unreleased version by the Knickerbockers (see #718, 862):

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Mike Vickers — “On the Brink”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 3, 2026

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

1,994) Mike Vickers — “On the Brink”

No, not “the Vicar’s Daughter” (see #78) — Mike Vickers! Manfred Mann man, future Beatles collaborator Mike Vickers gives us a “scooter rally stomper” (gandorthemagnificent1476, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeG31XCaIRw&list=RDHeG31XCaIRw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUZTWlrZSB2aWNrZXJzIG9uIHRoZSBicmlua6AHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) “which became something of a Mod Anthem at the time, and later a Northern Soul Anthem (two anthems in one!).” (Mike Vickers himself!, https://mikevickers.net/a-potted-biography/) It is “full of blowsy horns and high-end climaxes via its stomping beat, a pounding piano theme, and strings effected with an intense vibrato” (Mark Roland, https://www.electronicsound.co.uk/features/long-reads/mike-vickers-song-of-the-unsung/), a “Northern Soul anthem!!”, “monster instrumental” that is “still a powerful driving amphetamine driven piece of music that conjours up image’s of a young underground scene dancing their arse’s off”. (NaturalSoulBrother1, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeG31XCaIRw&list=RDHeG31XCaIRw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUZTWlrZSB2aWNrZXJzIG9uIHRoZSBicmlua6AHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m)

JustCazBolt says: “Huge dance halls heaving with wizzed up sweating scooterboys and scootergirls dancing for their lives, tugging hard on cigarettes, still holding a beer and not spilling it. Thank god I was there, thank god. Thank you god! Yes!”(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeG31XCaIRw&list=RDHeG31XCaIRw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUZTWlrZSB2aWNrZXJzIG9uIHRoZSBicmlua6AHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m)

martinward7239 says:

Hammersmith Sneakers club o a Monday or Tuesday night. Can’t remember exactly. Rode there on my PK50 with the Surrey Musketeers. Drank Pernod and black all night. Couldn’t dance for sh*t so didn’t. But watched in awe at those who could. Got left behind on the way back home but couldn’t get this song out of my head. Comes up on my music player every now and then and I’ll jump up and wriggle around a bit.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeG31XCaIRw&list=RDHeG31XCaIRw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUZTWlrZSB2aWNrZXJzIG9uIHRoZSBicmlua6AHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m

Bruce Eder:

Mike Vickers is best known as the resident multi-instrumentalist in the original Manfred Mann, but he has participated on and played significant roles in the recording of dozens of successful (and occasional monster hit) records by everyone from 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] to Gentle Giant, in addition to composing numerous film scores. Vickers’ jazz background and multi-instrumental skills made his musicianship a centerpiece of Manfred Mann’s sound; his guitar, sax, and flute highlighted their live shows and dozens of their sides from the beginning of their career in 1963 through his departure from the group in October of 1965. His exit from the lineup marked the beginning of the end for the original group. Vickers’ decision to leave Manfred Mann was apparently at least reasonably amicable, because the other bandmembers participated extensively on his debut solo album, I Wish I Were a Group Again, released in 1968, which is virtually a lost Manfred Mann record. Upon leaving the band, he began a career as a composer of film music, debuting with the comedy Press for Time in 1966. He also began a career as a composer, arranger, and conductor, working in the idioms of rock, jazz, and orchestral music. Among other projects, Vickers was the conductor of the 13-piece core ensemble playing behind the Beatles on their live broadcast (and record) of “All You Need Is Love” on June 25, 1967, and he later played synthesizer on their final album, Abbey Road. Since then, he has worked across the entire spectrum of English popular music, with singers as diverse as Cilla Black, Francoise Hardy [see #459, 476-77, 515], and Ella Fitzgerald in various capacities as arranger, orchestrator, or conductor, with groups as different as the Hollies [see #461], the Bee Gees [see #291, 353-54, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101, 1,125, 1,190, 1,321, 1,336, 1,343, 1,465, 1,584, 1,640, 1,685, 1,843], and Gentle Giant, and even turned up playing synthesizer on the original 1971 recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. The ’70s also saw him move into the scoring of films with more of an international exposure, including Dracula AD 1972 and At the Earth’s Core.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mike-vickers-mn0000490674#biography

Mark Roland adds:

A trained woodwind musician, Mike Vickers played guitar in Manfred Mann. Although he wasn’t that interested in the guitar, the band recognised they had a multi-instrumentalist onboard who was capable of putting together orchestrations that swelled their sound considerably. “I knew how to write for other instruments,” says Vickers, “and occasionally we used extras, like strings, and there were horns on one piece I think.” These modest orchestrations tended to happen when the rest of Manfred Mann weren’t in the studio. Vickers worked with hired players and the band’s producer John Burgess at the controls. Burgess was a producer at Abbey Road, where the Manfreds recorded for EMI imprint His Master’s Voice, which is how Vickers came to the attention of The Beatles’ producer George Martin. Vickers’ ambitions had long stretched beyond the pop treadmill he found himself on. Following a string of hits with Manfred Mann, he left the band in late 1965. His first extra-curricular success had come in the same year . . . called “On The Brink”, which was used as the theme tune for the BBC TV programme The Wednesday Play, and was released as a seven-inch single under his own name. . . . [It] resulted in Vickers being offered the chance to score a film, a comedy vehicle for Michael Bentine called The Sandwich Man. . . . “I left the band pretty soon after getting the film commission,” says Vickers. “I thought, ‘If I’m going to do this properly, I’m going to need lots of time to do it’.” More film and TV work followed, as well as sessions arranging pop hits for the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck. Vickers was seen as a safe pair of hands that could be turned to all manner of styles. His versatility, reliability and modesty are almost certainly why he got his first call to work with The Beatles. In 1967 . . . he spent a week helping with the orchestration of “All You Need Is Love” in the frenetic scramble to get The Beatles ready for their imperial performance on the Our World live broadcast.

https://www.electronicsound.co.uk/features/long-reads/mike-vickers-song-of-the-unsung/

Finally, Vickers himself:

John Burgess, the MM producer, asked me if I’d like to do some of my own material with session musicians. The result was “On the Brink” . . . . Some film producers heard it, and asked me to write a score for their next movie. I said yes, and gave in my notice to MM, in order to have plenty of time to write the music. This started a period in my life when I worked so hard that I still don’t know how I did it. I rapidly came into great demand as an arranger – someone who turns a rough voice & guitar demo into an orchestral piece or a brassy blockbuster. . . . It was non-stop work – finish an arrangement, start the next, go to a recording session, finish the second arrangement, start the next, go to another recording session, have meetings with singers and producers to discuss songs and choose keys, go to another studio for orchestral or vocal overdubs, go back home and finish the third arrangement and write three more. And so to bed, perchance to sleep, if my overloaded brain ever let me. I wrote a number of other music scores, for comedy films that weren’t funny, horror films that weren’t scary, adventure films that weren’t adventurous, and sex films that weren’t sexy. Odd, that. I also wrote commercials, and tons of library music. I bought a Moog Series III synthesizer, one of the first to arrive in the UK, and used it a lot in the studios, including programming all the electronic sounds heard on the Beatles’ Abbey Road.

https://mikevickers.net/a-potted-biography/

Here is Sounds Inc.:

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The Blackburds — “Absolument Hyde Park”/”Absolutely Hyde Park”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 2, 2026

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

1,993) The Blackburds — “Absolument Hyde Park”/”Absolutely Hyde Park”

French rock star Johnny Hallyday’s backing band, which included a pre-Foreigner Mick Jones (see #1,753, 1,974) and Tommy Brown (see #1,974), laid down this sizzling “soul-flavored British mod rock” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-state-of-mickey-tommy-mw0001671650) instrumental written by Jones and Brown. It was included on Hallyday’s EP Noir C’Est Noir (Black Is Black), which of course featured Hallyday’s version of Los Bravos’ (see #1,538, 1,636) “Black Is Black”.

Boris-85100 writes that: “This track can be considered emblematic of Johnny’s 1966 comeback, with its instrumental on par with the best British productions. Mick Jones and Tommy Brown were truly the two best musicians of his entire career, even though he already had excellent instrumentalists in his band”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUsReofzbd4)

Richie Unterberger tells us of Micky and Tommy:

It’s not well known, but long before he joined Foreigner — and even before he was in Spooky Tooth — Mick Jones made quite a few records with Tommy Brown, the pair working in France for much of the period. . . . encompassing recordings billed to several different monikers, including the State of Micky & Tommy, the Blackburds Nimrod, the J&B, and Thomas F. Browne. It may be that the singles they released as the State of Micky & Tommy, obscure as those 45s are, are the best known of the lot, especially “With Love from One to Five[]” . . . . [Their recordings are] fair, though not exceptional, music that reflects the British mod, pop/rock, and psychedelic trends of the time with occasional hints of French and Continental influences. “With Love from One to Five” is typical if classy 1967 orchestrated psychedelic pop; “Nobody Knows Where You’ve Been” strongly recalls the arrangements on Sgt. Pepper’s cuts like “Within You, Without You”; and “Frisco Bay” is nice dainty, dreamy pop with beatific Summer of Love lyrics and the lightest hints of raga-rock. All of those songs were found on singles credited to the State of Mickey & Tommy; the ones billed to the Blackburds are more like soul-flavored British mod rock that could serve as incidental film music, while Nimrod’s 1969 single “The Bird” . . . is a fairly strong relic bridging psychedelia with early progressive rock. The best track, however, is the relatively unheralded 1966 single “There She Goes” by the J&B, a quite haunting, dramatic song that’s a bit like a mini-soundtrack to a story of Swinging London heartbreak.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-state-of-mickey-tommy-mw0001671650

In Deep Music Archive adds that:

As guns for hire in the French Sixties scene, you couldn’t land a better gig than writing for celebrity superstar couple Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday. Not only did Micky And Tommy write for these artists but they also played guitar and drums respectively in Johnny Hallyday’s backing band. . . . Somewhere in the distant past, two hip kids went to France and had the time of their lives, one of them went on to be a superstar the other drifted into obscurity.

https://www.indeepmusicarchive.net/2015/05/23515-state-of-micky-and-tommy-with-love-from-1-to-5-1967/

You can find more details of their career here: https://techwebsound.com/artist/?artist=519.

Here is a cool video of Johnny Hallyday belting out “Noir C’Est Noir”:

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I Shall Be Released: Circus — “Mother Motha’s Great Sundance”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 1, 2026

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

1,992) Circus — “Mother Motha’s Great Sundance”

“From the ashes of Q’65 [see #108, 557, 913, 1,164, 1,227, 1,356] rose Circus”. (https://www.discogs.com/es/release/5113706-Circus-Medusa-Mother-Mothas-Great-Sundance-) This, the B-side from Circus’ unreleased ’68 single, is quite the freak show — a combination of disembodied vocals and rhythmic banging with an Eastern feel — sort of a mashup of Occupy Wall Street music making and the Star Trek opening theme, seemingly all put together by George Harrison [see #423, 545, 872, 942, 1,437] (like Wonderwall!)

Discogs opens the Circus:

. . . . Circus had everything to become the first Dutch super band, along the lines of a.o. Cream and Blind Faith. In January 1968 guitarist and composer Frank Nuyens and drummer/lyricist Jay Baar rose from the ashes of Q65. Marco Klein (James Mean) joined as keyboardist, Frank Verhoef became the bassist/singer. With them, Nuyens and Baar made the first recordings. Later they went into the studio with producer Hans van Hemert, for the complex basis of “Mother Motha’s Sundance”, meant as B-side for the single “Medusa”. Eventually their recording career never went beyond a test pressing of the single…. The single was shelved, but a sleeve for the original 45 was apparently printed and recently found in archive.

https://www.discogs.com/es/release/5113706-Circus-Medusa-Mother-Mothas-Great-Sundance-

Bruce Eder gives us some Q’65 history:

The Dutch quintet could have held their own with [the Pretty Things or the Yardbirds] or the Animals without breaking a sweat . . . . Q 65 have remained one of Europe’s best-kept star-caliber musical secrets for more than 30 years. . . . [They] first got together in 1965, in the Hague . . . “the Liverpool of the Netherlands,” with a music scene that had been thriving since the end of the ’50s. . . . The group’s professed influences were American soul acts . . . yet somehow, when they performed, what they played came out closer in form and spirit to the likes of the Pretty Things . . . and the Yardbirds than it did to any of those soul acts, at least at first. . . . With two successful singles under their belt, the group’s debut album, Revolution, followed in 1966. [It] was a powerful blues-rock album . . . . The album sold 3,500 copies, a respectable number in the Netherlands, and established the group sufficiently to rate a spot playing with the Small Faces, the Spencer Davis Group, the Kinks, and the Pretty Things when they toured Holland. During 1967, they didn’t release any LPs, but did get a solid extended-play single out called Q Blues, which did well at home. Their music during this period reached what was arguably its peak . . . . The group continued trying to make it as a blues-rock band for most of 1967. Their sound began to change late in the year, just as music was turning psychedelic, and around the time just before Wim Bieler was drafted into the army. His exit heralded the end of the Q 65’s classic period. [The band, with some new members, formed] a new, more psychedelic-oriented outfit, which eventually evolved into a group called Circus, which lasted, in varying lineups, for the year of 1968. . . . In 1969, a second Q 65 album was released, entitled Revival and made up of singles and latter-day tracks. The music was still powerful and very intense — perhaps too much so — if not as accessible. Had the lineup stayed intact, the group might even have found an audience. . . . [T]he Q 65 split up at just about this point.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/q-65-mn0000379341

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Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm — “Thinking Black”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 31, 2026

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

1,991) Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm — “Thinking Black”

Ike Turner (see #212, 329, 837, 1,866) gives us “[f]unk in all its beauty” (dr.romanvalentino9946, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_PBZd8M_BA), a “funky, groove-laden and rhythmically rich brassy delight”. (The Listening Post Blog, https://thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/song-of-the-day-ike-turner-the-kings-of-rhythm-thinking-black/) A.b.sproductionsllc says “Don’t care what anyone says, Ike Turner was one talented ass musician this song is a serious banger!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gZVoqWPGxc)

Dusty Groove tells us of A Black Man’s Soul, Ike Turner’s ’69 LP that includes “Thinking Black”:

[It is o]ne of the funkiest albums that Ike Turner ever recorded – done during a late 60s moment when his fame with Tina Turner was really on the rise – but much more like some funky 45 take on the pre-Tina work he’d been doing in the 50s! This set’s a batch of obscure funky instrumentals – and sounds like a strong compilation of rare 45s, filled with hard funky drums, nice breaks, and plenty of super-tight grooves. Nearly every cut’s a winner . . . .

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/610792/Ike-Turner-The-Kings-Of-Rhythm:Black-Man-s-Soul

Tim Sendra adds:

When he was out on tour in 1969 with his regular gig, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Ike Turner found the time to cut the instrumental album A Black Man’s Soul. Whenever he had some spare time he would drag the band into a local studio and lay down tracks, resulting in these 12 funky soul jams that sound like they were lifted from the soundtrack to a blaxploitation film. The band is tight and laid-back at once, with horns at the forefront most of the time. Turner came up with some fine grooves like “Thinking Black[]”. However, the record lacks Turner’s usual fire and flair and ultimately is too polite and slick to be very memorable . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-black-mans-soul-mw0001013271

For the record, I disagree with Sendra on that last sentence!

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Saffron — “Vision Is a Lonely Word”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 30, 2026

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

1,990) Saffron — “Vision Is a Lonely Word”

This is entrancing and “[m]esmerizing” (marchenprinz9533, https)://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6JUQqWJJeY) psych, guaranteed to put you in a trance (especially with the video). ChallengeTheNarrative asks “Is this what mushrooms are like?” and Derby1884 responds “Yes – but not the ones you buy in the shops!” (https)://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6JUQqWJJeY) Well, depends on the shop.

Who was, who is Saffron? Her origin and purpose is still a total mystery — sorry, 2001 on my mind. Is she Saffron Summerfield? Possibly.

LastFM:

Saffron Summerfield is a singer/composer and audio-visual artist from the UK, who started singing around the London folk clubs in the 1970s. She was a member of the Fairport Convention spin-off Trader Horne. After the group split up, Saffron continued her solo career and released her first two albums “Salisbury Plain” and “Fancy Meeting You Here”. She toured the folk and world music circuit in UK, Europe. USA, New Zealand and Hong Kong and gained considerable recognition. Today Saffron’s work involves ‘found sound’ and film with her own music blended with natural sounds, bird song and voices.

https://www.last.fm/music/Saffron+Summerfield/+wiki

Mother Earth Music:

Saffron’s career started in 1970s London Folk Scene. Gigging alongside artists like Sandy Denny, Al Stewart and Long John Baldry. She has recorded nine albums on her own Mother Earth Music label, written songs for two channel 4 films, BBC R4 Start the Week and numerous BBC and indie radio shows including a live recording on John Peel’s show with rock band FREE! All Saffron’s recordings have been distributed worldwide with high sales in Japan and USA. Many of her songs have been recorded by other singers and bands. One of the few women acoustic bottle-neck blues guitarists (check out Dungeness video) Saffron learnt from black blues musicians when visiting Mississippi in 1977. She has performed all over the UK, Europe, USA, New Zealand and Hong Kong and played at most major UK Folk festivals including Cambridge, Ely, Sidmouth, Edinburgh and Marymass. She has toured with Joan Armatrading and Fairport Convention (saffron was in Trader Horne – a spin-off from Fairport.

https://www.motherearthmusic.co.uk/about-saffron-summerfield

Here is Golly McCry (’99):

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Marty Paich and His Orchestra: “Swinger’s Holiday”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 29, 2026

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

1,989) Marty Paich and His Orchestra: “Swinger’s Holiday”

From an ultra-groovy movie — Ann-Margret’s ’66 swinging flick The Swinger, comes an ultra-groovy number, a “great” (https://www.dustygroove.com/item/382329/Ann-Margret-Marty-Paich:Songs-From-The-Swinger-Other-Swingin-Songs), “brash” instrumental that “showcases the talents of composer Marty Paich” (A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed, www.apessimistisneverdisappointed.com/2017/02/a-quick-review-of-reissue-of-soundtrack.html?m=1) The soundtrack music, “mostly “produced and composed by . . . Paich—is superb”. (The Recoup, https://therecoup.com/2017/03/02/ann-margret-songs-from-the-swinger-and-other-swingin-songs-el-records/)

Stevearh explains The Swinger:

In this 1966 comedy about a “good girl” trying to get published in a “bad girl” magazine, Kelly Olsson (Ann Margret) plays a newbie writer with an obsession to get published. Figuring on the “sex sells” angle Kelly writes a sexually provocative story called “The Swinger” for a popular girlie magazine. When she is turned down by the magazine’s sexist editor because she is “too innocent to know about such things”. Kelly sets out to prove him wrong by setting up an elaborate hoax to show him just how “debased” her life really is. . . . I loved the movie, although I love most campy 60’s flicks! …and Ann Marget is absolutely gorgeous!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061052/reviews/?featured=rw1173258&ref_=tt_ururv_c_1

Of course, The Swinger has its detractors. Stephen Vagg writes:

[It is] a hopelessly confused comedy with a few musical numbers where the star plays a girl who for some reason wants to impress the publisher of a girlie magazine so they publish her stories…? Or something. It feels like it was written by someone while drunk and Tony Franciosa is yet another male lead not worthy of the star. There’s a scene where Ann-Margret is in a bikini and rolls around in pint with beatniks. Teri Garr doubled her, which is cool. I think this film, a vehicle geared entirely around Ann-Margret’s talents, came close to killing her Hollywood career more than any other by virtue of its sheer incompetence.

https://www.filmink.com.au/surviving-cold-streaks-ann-margret/

Steve Huey tells us Marty Paich’s story:

One of the best-known arrangers of the post-World War II era, Marty Paich had much stronger jazz credentials than many of his peers, thanks to his active presence on the West Coast scene during the ’50s. Paich was born in Oakland, CA . . . . [H]e started out as a pianist, and was performing professionally at age 16. . . . [H]e wrote arrangements for local bandleader Gary Nottingham. Tapped for military service in 1943, he continued to arrange while serving as the leader of the Army Air Corps band through 1946. Following his discharge, he used the G.I. Bill to further his musical education, enrolling at UCLA to study arranging . . . . He earned a master’s degree from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1951, and quickly found work in the industry as both an arranger and pianist . . . . Paich soon graduated to higher-profile gigs, playing and arranging for Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers . . . over 1953-1954, and also serving a stint as Peggy Lee’s accompanist and musical director. He led his own groups as well, and in 1955 he began recording for a succession of labels . . . . He also toured with Dorothy Dandridge, and arranged (and performed on) the soundtrack to the Disney film Lady and the Tramp (1955). During the mid- to late ’50s, Paich wrote arrangements for a who’s who of West Coast jazz . . . . Perhaps his most notable work came with Mel Tormé, whom he often backed with a ten-piece group dubbed the Dek-tette . . . . Paich contributed the arrangements to altoist Art Pepper’s 1959 masterpiece Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics. . . . [O]ne of his greatest strengths as an arranger[ was] making relatively small groups sound like full-size orchestras. . . . Around 1960, he elected to move away from his own recording career to focus on arranging for pop (and sometimes jazz) vocalists. Over the course of the decade, he worked with the likes of Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Helen Humes, Al Hirt, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra [see #1,455], Barbara Streisand, Astrud Gilberto, and Mahalia Jackson, among many others. He also composed music for films . . . and television shows, winning an Emmy for his work on Ironside. In the late ’60s, he served as musical director on a succession of variety shows, including The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . . . and The Sonny and Cher Show. After the early ’70s, Paich’s activity began to tail off, though he still worked sporadically as an orchestra conductor and string arranger, both on movie soundtracks and for artists like George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John [see #175, 1,598], and Kenny Loggins . . . not to mention his son David Paich’s album rock supergroup Toto.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/marty-paich-mn0000858709#biography

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The Ray McVay Sound — “Kinda Kinky”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 28, 2026

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

1,988) The Ray McVay Sound — “Kinda Kinky”

This “Kinks kash-in” (23Daves, https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ray-macvay-sound-kinda-kinky.html) is a “[j]azzy R&B, Mod, Instrumental” (Sixty Arrows, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVgAuG3n-M) that “sounds like a cross between a late night chat show theme and The Kinks, which is no bad thing.” (23Daves again) A “brilliant tune[, ] used on pirate radio in the 60s[] as a dj theme” (john r, https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ray-macvay-sound-kinda-kinky.html), it is “[a]bsolutely AMAZING, heavy, pounding BIG Mod sound with plenty of Hammond & guitar licks” (Northernclub/Rockito, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7jYoEn1iPo) “radiat[ing] secondhand James Bondian bombast” (David Nuttycombe, https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287296/the-easy-project-20-loungecore-favourites/) — which is not a bad thing!

23Daves writes that:

This is a baffling but very sought-after single from the prolific easy listening master Ray MacVay . . . . Ray was perhaps more daring than many pseudo-James Last characters in the work he took on, attempting reggae, rock and country as well as the pop tunes that loaned themselves best to a nice and easy arrangement. . . . While the repetitive central riff on side A does owe a small debt to Ray and Dave Davies, the band don’t get a songwriting credit, and it seems that MacVay and Larry Page who does get credited [as producer and co-writer] — were just using their sound as a springboard. . . . Indeed, I’m slightly surprised nobody has dug this one up to use on a television programme at any point in the last fifty years. It’s also found some favour as a turntable hit with the mod club crowd, which has pushed up the asking price of copies over the years. So far as I’m aware, Ray Davies’ opinions on the single are unrecorded, though as it didn’t even come close to being a hit, perhaps that’s not surprising. Larry Page, however, was fascinated by the idea of The Kinks tracks being given the easy listening treatment . . . .

https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ray-macvay-sound-kinda-kinky.html

I must inform that Vernon Joynson, who is usually unerring, says that the Ray McVay Sound was a “middle-of-the-road band that was popular on the Mecca ballroom and cabaret circuit” and was “[u]nderstandably dreadful.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

The Grand Order of Water Rats tells us of Ray McVay:

Ray McVay is a celebrated British bandleader, saxophonist and arranger whose name is firmly linked with the enduring sound of big band swing. A veteran of the UK music scene since the rock’n’roll era of the 1950s, Ray first made his mark as a saxophonist and arranger, working through the dance band circuit of the 1960s and the disco years of the 1970s. His skill and musical direction led to regular appearances on radio and television, concerts at major venues, and performances for members of the Royal Family. His greatest achievement has been as conductor and leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra UK, the only officially licensed British version of the world-famous band. Under Ray’s direction, the orchestra continues to tour extensively . . . to audiences across the United Kingdom and around the world, including Russia, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates. Renowned for his dedication to authenticity and his ability to capture the unique energy of the swing era, Ray McVay has spent decades keeping the Glenn Miller sound alive for new generations of music lovers.

https://www.gowr.co.uk/all-water-rats/raymcvay

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The Motherhood — “Back in the Grass: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 27, 2026

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

1,987) The Motherhood — “Back in the Grass”

I’ve played the B-side (see #970), here’s the A-side — brooding jazz-funk from Klaus Doldinger’s Motherhood. It is also a track on the Motherhood’s “space-age bachelor-pad classic” LP I Feel So Free. (https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/motherhood-the-i-feel-so-free-cd/ZG.9104CD.html)

LPCD reissues tells us that:

Their rare debut album I Feel So Free has nine originals and a few unique cover tunes, with [Klaus] Doldinger’s searing alto and soprano sax and clarinet lines aided and abetted by the pounding drums of Udo Lindenberg and Amon Duul’s Keith Forsey. The overarching format is jazz, but as the material was recorded in 1969, here there are plenty of psyche leanings throughout the disc, as well as doses of funky soul.

https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/i-feel-so-free-2

Forced Exposure says:

The brainchild of legendary Berlin-born saxophonist and bandleader Klaus Doldinger, this psych-funk ultra-rarity was recorded and released in Germany in 1969. . . . With original copies changing hands for well over $600, it makes its welcome reissue debut here.

https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/motherhood-the-i-feel-so-free-cd/ZG.9104CD.html

As to Doldinger, Marios tells us:

Klaus Doldinger, best-known for leading the excellent fusion group Passport in the 1970s and ’80s, has had a diverse and episodic career. He started out studying piano in 1947 and clarinet five years later, playing in Dixieland bands in the 1950s. By 1961, he had become a modern tenor saxophonist, working with such top visiting and expatriate Americans as Don Ellis, Johnny Griffin, Benny Bailey, Idrees Sulieman, Donald Byrd, and Kenny Clarke, recording as a leader for Philips, World Pacific, and Liberty. His late 60’s recordings were under the name Motherhood. They released two albums I Feel so Free in 1969 and Doldinger’s Motherhood in 1970, both for the label Liberty. In I Feel so Free featuring nine funky, punchy originals and two covers from Beatles and Cream. The original vinyl copies changing hands for well over 500 euros. However, in 1970, he initiated a long series of fusion-oriented sessions for Atlantic that featured his tenor, soprano, flute, and occasional keyboards with an electric rhythm section. In addition to writing music for films (including Das Boot) and television in Europe, Doldinger has remained active as a player who occasionally explores his roots in hard bop into the late ’90s, but because he has always lived in Europe, he remains underrated in the U.S.

http://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-motherhood-i-feel-so-free-1969.html

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Shy Limbs — “Reputation”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 26, 2026

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

1,986) Shy Limbs — “Reputation”

This “baroque-rock monster” (Peter Paphides, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/apr/14/strangest-record-shops-in-britain) is itself the spawn of quite a monster — “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. “Reputation is “top Procol Harum type psychedelia with a phasey outro, great organ and an epic feel throughout” (ROCKPROF, https://www.45cat.com/record/4190), “a wonderful slice of psychedelia” that “ends in a psychedelic stew of panning and phasing.” (Dave Furgess, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/reviews/the-shy-limbs-reputation-love)

Clarkophile writes that “‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ — with its haunting, churchy organ, dramatic drum flourishes and general air of reflection — inspired a slew of up-and-coming psychedelic bands. I must admit that I have a soft spot for these dreamy knockoffs.”(https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/lesser-known-knockoffs-of-procol-harums-a-whiter-shade-of-pale.490868/) Mee too!

As to Shy Limbs, who lasted for two singles, “John Dickinson manned the keyboards [and generally handled vocals], Malcom Brasher was on bass, Andy McCulloch played drums and Greg [Lake] took care of the guitars [and did the vocals on ‘Love’, the B-side of ‘Reputation’]. Lake went on to briefly join the Gods before King Crimson[ and Emerson, Lake and Palmer].” (liner notes to the CD comp Mojo Presents: Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: Psychedelic Confectionary from the UK Underground 1965-1969)

Vernon Joynson shares that “Indeed the church organ sound is ideally suited to a wedding and when I got married in 1985 it was one of two records played when we walked out of the church!” ((interview with Klemen Breznikar), https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2011/09/vernon-joynson-interview-about-fuzz.html) What, the wedding band couldn’t reproduce it live?!!!

Here are I Profeti/The Prophets (in Italian):

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The Honeybus — “She’s Out There”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 25, 2026

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

1,985) The Honeybus — “She’s Out There”

Another “infectious” (45rpy, https://45rpy.wordpress.com/2018/09/30/honeybus-story-1970/) and impossibly gorgeous song by Honeybus, this one off the Story LP and written by Colin Hare.

Honeybus is one of my favorite bands (see #6, 52, 207, 434, 562, 605, 764, 1,100, 1,439, 1,582, 1,715, 1,833), with the honey being especially bittersweet with what should have been, what could have been. LN writes:

When I once lent a friend a copy of my beloved Story he quipped that it sounded almost like a 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] album from the 1960s that had somehow escaped release. I had for some time lacked just the right phrase to describe the album, and here it was; my friend had completely summed up my feelings about one of rock music’s true lost treasures in one neat soundbite.

http://lyndslounge.blogspot.com/2008/01/1000-great-albums-honeybus-story-1970.html

Jittery White Guy also puts it perfectly:

Honeybus had the pop touchstones of the Beatles and the Hollies [see #461], while balancing the more sunshiny, twee aspects of the early Bee Gees [see #291, 353-54, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101, 1,125, 1,190, 1,321, 1,336, 1,343, 1,465, 1,584, 1,640, 1,685, 1,843] with some mild touches of post-Sgt. Pepper psychedelia. . . . Their songs were unusually tuneful, some lovely little hooks paired with sweet harmonies, and it’s almost shocking to hear these songs today and realize the band had pretty much zero commercial success (at least here in the US).

https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2021/02/honeybus-story-1970.html?m=1

Bruce Eder beautifully ponders what made the band so special and what could have been:

Considering that most have never heard of them, it’s amazing to ponder that they came very close, in the eyes of the critics, to being Decca Records’ answer to the Rubber Soul-era Beatles. The harmonies were there, along with some catchy, hook-laden songs . . . . The pop sensibilities of Honeybus’ main resident composers, Peter Dello and Ray Cane were astonishingly close in quality and content to those of Paul McCartney [see #28, 132, 374, 521, 669, 779-81, 840] and the softer sides of John Lennon [see #29, 113, 520, 522, 781, 1,473] of that same era. What’s more, the critics loved their records. Yet, somehow, Honeybus never got it right; they never had the right single out at the proper time, and only once in their history did they connect with the public for a major hit, in early 1968. . . .

Dello and Cane . . . were the prime movers behind Honeybus. In 1966, they formed the Yum Yum Band . . . . A collapsed lung put Dello out of action in early 1966, and it was during his recuperation that he began rethinking what the band and his music were about. He developed the notion of a new band that would become a canvas for him to work on as a songwriter — they would avoid the clubs, working almost exclusively in the studio, recreating the sounds that he was hearing in his head. . . . It was a novel strategy, paralleling the approach to music-making by the Beatles in their post-concert period, and all the more daring for the fact that they were a new group . . . . The group was one of the best studio bands of the period, reveling in the perfection that could be achieved . . . .

They were duly signed to England’s Decca Records and assigned to the company’s newly organized Deram label . . . . The critics were quick to praise the band . . . [but their first two singles were commercially] unsuccessful. Then . . . their third release, “I Can’t Let Maggie Go,” [see #6] . . . . . . peaked at number eight. . . . [It] should have made the group, but instead it shattered them. Peter Dello resigned during the single’s chart run. He had been willing to play live on radio appearances and the occasional television or special concert showcase . . . but he couldn’t accept the physical or emotional stresses of performing live on a regular basis, or the idea of touring America . . . . Dello left . . . . [and] Jim Kelly came in on guitar and vocals, while Ray Cane . . . took over most of the songwriting, and Honeybus proceeded to play regular concerts. The group never recovered the momentum they’d lost over “Maggie,” however, despite a string of fine singles . . . . [that] never charted . . . . [T]he group had pretty well decided to call it quits once they finished the[ir] LP . . . . The Honeybus Story . . . was released in late 1969, but without an active group to promote it, the record sank without a trace. . . . [I]t was a beautiful album, with the kind of ornate production and rich melodies that had become increasingly rare with the passing of the psychedelic era . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/honeybus-mn0000259186/biography

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Lulu — “Rattler”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 24, 2026

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

1,984) Lulu — “Rattler”

The wistful “Rattler”, written by the Seekers’ Bruce Woodley, is one of the great railroad songs, deftly combining the themes of endless journeys and finally returning home to one’s love. It was first released by Herman’s Hermits (see #300, 613, 639, 841), then by the Dream Merchants, then Lulu (see #960), then the Seekers, then the Gingerbread Men, then Cliff Richard (see #630), and then Bruce Woodley himself. But only Lulu does it true justice. “Riding on some northern rail road . . . Rattler, take me home to my baby”

As to Lulu, Mark Deming tells us:

In the United States, Lulu is often thought of as a one-hit wonder, having scored a memorable number one hit in 1967 with the bittersweet and evocative “To Sir, With Love” . . . . In the United Kingdom, however, [she] . . . . would become an enduring star in pop music, on television, on-stage, and in the movies . . . . Lulu was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie . . . in Glasgow, Scotland. . . . After years of competing in talent contests, she was invited to join a local pop group, the Gleneagles, when she was 14. . . . [I]n 1962, the group was spotted by Marion Massey, who saw potential in the combo, in particular their charismatic lead singer. Massey became their manager, changed Marie’s stage name to Lulu, and dubbed the band the Luvvers. In 1964, Massey landed a recording deal for the group with Decca Records, and Lulu & the Luvvers’ first single, an enthusiastic cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Shout,” was a hit, rising to number seven on the U.K. singles charts. More chart successes followed . . . along with a steady stream of television, radio, and concert appearances that led to Melody Maker magazine naming Lulu Britain’s most promising new act of 1965. In 1966, Lulu . . . made her debut as a solo act. She signed a record deal with Columbia Records (the British label affiliated with EMI), struck a production deal with Mickie Most (best known for his work with the Animals, Donovan, and Jeff Beck), and set out on several concert tours . . . . In 1967, Lulu made her big-screen debut in the coming-of-age drama To Sir, With Love, in which she played . . . a student who learns important lessons about maturity and self-respect from teacher Sidney Poitier. The film became a hit in the U.K. and the U.S., and Lulu’s emotional reading of the theme song rose to the top of the American pop charts . . . . In the U.K., “The Boat I Row,” “Let’s Pretend,” and “Love Loves to Love, Love” were all major hits that year. . . . In 1968, Lulu became the star of her own television series . . . which aired . . . until 1975 — and scored more hit singles in the U.K. with “Me the Peaceful Heart,” “Boy,” and “I’m a Tiger.” In 1969, she made news when she wed Maurice Gibb . . , though the marriage would only last four years. Lulu also represented England in the Eurovision Song Contest that year, and her song, “Boom Bang-a-Bang,” not only won the competition for England but became a major U.K. hit, peaking at number two on the sales charts.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lulu-mn0000321321/biography

Here are the Seekers:

Here is Bruce Woodley:

Here are Herman’s Hermits:

Here are the Dream Merchants:

Here are the Gingerbread Men:

Here is Cliff Richard:

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The Poets — “I Am So Blue”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 23, 2026

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

1,983) The Poets — “I Am So Blue”

Scotland’s greatest ‘60’s band (see #47, 86, 223, 489, 1,311) give us a “haunting” (Pierre Perrone, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/george-gallacher-frontman-with-sixties-band-the-poets-8191324.html) and “subdued but effortlessly magical” (Lenny Helsing, https://psychedelicized.com/playlist/p/the-poets/) “first-rate British Invasion minor key composition[] similar to that of . . . the Zombies [see #1,138]” (jason, https://therisingstorm.net/the-poets-scotlands-no-1-group/) that “sorrowfully relates [the feelings of a man] so downhearted now his woman has left him”. (bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/music-review/bayard/the-poets/i-am-so-blue-i-love-her-still/129366897

The Poets’ music is “[m]ean, moody and utterly magnificent” (https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/wooden-spoon-singles-1964-67), their “unique sound . . . a chiming, mournful mix of 12-string guitars and plaintive vocals”. (https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher/) As their singer, songwriter and guiding light George Gallagher put it:

What was distinctly Scottish was that old Celtic self-pitying doom and gloom in our character and in the music, those minor melodies. . . . It’s just as well we remained a minor group; think of the kids that were saved from jumping off bridges[!]

http://www.richieunterberger.com/gallacher.html

Poets, I love you still.

As to George Gallagher and the Poets, the Herald (Scotland) writes:

[Gallagher had] an inherited regard for the principles of socialism and a love of football. Prodigiously gifted, he signed on as a youth player for Leicester City, aged 17. The solidarity of schoolmates won out and he became vocalist of a beat group, formed with his friends Hume Paton, Tony Myles, John Dawson and Alan Weir. They named themselves The Poets and – in an era when groups embraced gimmicks – created an appropriate look; vaguely Edwardian, with matching velvet jackets and tight trousers, and ruffled shirts intended to evoke Burns. The band were sporting this costume when, in 1964, they appeared in Beat News, a publication covering the Scottish music scene. It caught the eye of Andrew Loog Oldham . . . who was passing through Edinburgh Airport on his way to get married . . . . He . . . secured the singer’s address and made for Glasgow, where Gallacher lived. “It was a Sunday morning,” Gallacher would recount: “I was still in bed and my mother came in and said, ‘George, were you expecting the manager of The Rolling Stones?’”

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher

Lenny Helsing continues the story:

The Poets were quickly signed to Decca by . . . Oldham, who produced for them a brace of highly-innovative singles, all co-written by Gallacher, and guitarists Hume Paton and Tony Myles. . . . The Poets followed manager Oldham into his new Immediate label venture, cutting two singles there including . . . “Some Things I Can’t Forget,” the group’s preferred choice for [a] topside. This was over-ruled by ALO in favor of “Call Again”—“depressing stuff… and we were depressed that it was going to be our single,” recalled Gallacher . . . . In early ’66 . . . Gallacher left the Poets, disillusioned by lack of direction and momentum within the group, and the mess of ongoing management wrangles.

https://ugly-things.com/george-gallacher-1943-2012

Richie Unterberger adds:

[The Poets were] the best Scottish rock group of the mid-’60s. . . . [T]hey . . . alternated between mournful, almost fey ballads and storming mod rockers. . . . A minor hit single right out of the gate and a management deal with [ALO] seemed to spell probable success. But the Poets fell victim both to subpar promotion and numerous personnel changes . . . Their first single, a characteristically moody original called “Now We’re Thru,” made number 30 in the U.K. Yet that was to be their only taste of commercial success, despite a flurry of fine singles over the next couple of years. . . . [T]he . . . association [with ALO] may have worked against them, as he was naturally inclined to focus most of his energies upon the . . . Stones. The Poets were getting lost in the shuffle and discouraged, and by 1967 not one original member remained from the lineup that had first recorded.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-poets-mn0000355978/biography

Please read Richie Unterberger’s fascinating interview of Gallagher at http://www.richieunterberger.com/gallacher.html.

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Kim Weston — “Brothers & Sisters (Get Together)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 22, 2026

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

1,982) Kim Weston — “Brothers & Sisters (Get Together)”

“Killer funk with a message! Right on!” (atgunchev, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfUG-74lwAQ) “[R]ed hot funk amazing vocals”. (noelwalsh7979, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfUG-74lwAQ) “Woww, the heat coming off this track is intense!” (t_albino, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8NDMeO6beY)

Kim laid down this “self-penned [along with her husband William ‘Mickey’ Stevenson] tour-de-force . . . [that] should have been [a] huge hit[] . . . [a] brilliant & riveting survival anthem[] that inspire[s]” (Funk My Soul, https://www.funkmysoul.gr/kim-weston-1970-kim-kim-kim/), a “message song . . . featur[ing] brass like elephants trumpeting and a deep lowdown groove” (Ian McCann, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/kim-weston-kim-kim-kim-stax-album/), simply “brilliant . . . [with] wickedly hyperactive horns”. (mag1c_hands, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/kim-weston/kim-kim-kim/)

As to Kim’s ’71 Volt LP Kim, Kim, Kim, Funk My Soul enthuses:

Kim Weston recorded this incredibly great set of richly varied and stunning performances a number of years after leaving Motown and is in peak form in this lost masterpiece that should have made [her] a huge Superstar as nobody sings quite like this fiery Diva who has the greatest voice of any of the singers from the classic Motown sixties and could out sing everyone on that legendary label…[T]he lady can SING!!! . . . [She is] one of the greatest singers of her generation.

https://www.funkmysoul.gr/kim-weston-1970-kim-kim-kim/

Steve Huey tells us about Kim:

Best known as a duet partner of Marvin Gaye [see #229, 940, 1,738] , Kim Weston also charted with some of her own solo sides during the ’60s, although she never had . . . breakout success . . . . Born Agatha Natalie Weston in Detroit . . . she started singing in her church choir at age three, and by her teenage years had joined a touring gospel group called the Wright Specials. She signed with Motown during the company’s early days, scoring a minor R&B hit in 1963 with “Love Me All the Way.” The following year, she recorded her first duet with Gaye, “What Good Am I Without You,” but made the tactical error of turning down a chance to record “Dancing in the Street[]” . . . . She enjoyed her biggest solo hit in 1965 with “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” and followed it up in 1966 with the equally soulful “Helpless[]” . . . . Also in 1966, she cut an entire album of duets with Gaye, Take Two, which produced the Top Five R&B classic “It Takes Two.” By the time it was peaking on the charts in early 1967, however, Weston had already left Motown; she and her husband, producer William “Mickey” Stevenson, moved to MGM, but a pair of albums there . . . proved to be commercial failures. Weston subsequently recorded for Volt (Kim, Kim, Kim), People . . . , and . . . Banyan Tree, all without much success. She did, however, chart with her version of the anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” in 1970.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kim-weston-mn0000103162

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Jon — “Is It Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 21, 2026

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

1,981) Jon — “Is It Love”

A “hypnotic flower-pop offering” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), “sublime” (John Reed, liner notes to the CD comp Insane Times: 25 British Psychedelic Artyfacts from the EMI Vaults), a “sublimely lovely little song!” (Jessaka, https://www.45cat.com/record/db8249) Yes, sublime indeed, sounding decades ahead of its time. John Peel played “Love” on the final episode of his Perfumed Garden show on Radio London on August 14, 1967.

Piccadilly Sunshine tells us:

Formed around the keyboard talents of Stuart Cowell [lead guitar], Jon signed to EMI under the supervision of producer Peter Eden. Two highly credible singles failed to afford the band any welcome attention leaving Cowell and drummer Jim Toomey to join Still Life . . . . With psychedelia well and truly burying itself in the background, [Cowell] and Toomey formed progressive underground act, Titus Groan, a band who appeared alongside Comus in the British flick Permissive fearturing [about a] young groupie amongst the seedy undergrowth of the pop world.

liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era

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Sunshine Trolley — “Cover Me Babe”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 20, 2026

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

1,980) The Sunshine Trolley — “Cover Me Babe”

Man, I cannot live by Bread alone! Sure, Bread recorded this Randy Newman (see #174 and #1,168, 1,298, and 1,854 (performed by Harry Nilsson)) and Fred Karlin-composed song for the soundtrack to the ’70 film Cover Me Babe, but the Sunshine Trolley’s A-side cover is “PURE MAGIC!!” (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow: Volume 6: Another Rich Smorgasbord of Timeless US Pop-Sike & Other Delights), “simply superb sunshine pop with mind melting harmonies and a melody that suggests late 60s” (monocled alchemist, https://monocledalchemist.com/2024/05/18/1960s-music-discoveries-unveiled/), “obviously the better of the two [versions] being more cheerful and summer sounding!” (pigshitpoet, https://pigshitpoet.livejournal.com/1341177.html) “I actually kind of love the horn-accented cover version (not in the film) recorded by the Sunshine Trolley”. (theironcupcake, https://letterboxd.com/theironcupcake/film/cover-me-babe/) I kind of love it too!

John Lindquist says that the Trolley’s version is “very heavily-arranged (quite ‘un-Breadlike’ with lots of echo) production with a lead singer who sounded quite a bit like David Gates (but apparently wasn’t) . . . . produced by Tommy Cogbill & Chips Moman.” (https://jlindquist.com/bread/index.html) JasonMuga-gt7xd says “[It was r]ecorded in 1970, at American Sound Studios, Memphis Tennessee. The studio band, the 827 street band, Aka The Memphis Boys were the studio personnel.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFC8Ei6hqVE)

As to the movie, Vincent Canby wrote in his October 2, 1970, New York Times review that:

[It] is the sort of movie that needs the words of a critic less than it requires the services of an analyst, displaying, as it does, a compulsive need to ridicule itself, to deny its basic intelligence and to fail. It accomplishes all of these things with an idiocy that should warm the neurotic heart. The film is the second feature to be directed by Noel Black, the young man who gained a worthy reputation in some circles for his first feature, Pretty Poison . . . . In Cover Me Babe, Mr. Black and his scriptwriter, George Wells, are presenting a portrait of an artist as a student filmmaker. The movie opens with a long excerpt from a surreal short made by the hero, Tony Hall, and it’s so terrible, so full of the clichés of the avant-garde, that it seems — at least at first—that Mr. Black and Mr. Wells have some perspective about their subject. However, it’s quickly apparent that they didn’t.Tony is a rude, quarrelsome fellow who refuses to knuckle under to Establishment procedure. He turns down a chance to work for a major company, saying they’d probably want him to make movies with plots and characters. Instead, Tony seeks to capture reality on screen by running around town with a hand-held camera, shooting such things as a couple making love in a car, which he then juxtaposes with a shot of a mother trying to revive her drowned child, accompanied by a laugh track. . . . When his girl says that his new script makes no sense, Tony comes back with: “Does war make sense? Does cancer? Does a freeway smashup?” Lines like these prompt Melisse to go to bed with Tony: “He makes me feel alive. He shows me the way things are.”

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

OK, I gotta see this flick!

Here is Bread:

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Jimmy and the Strangers — “Walk On”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 19, 2026

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

1,979) Jimmy and the Strangers — “Walk On”

This hilariously “raw” and “moody” (Buckeyebeat, https://buckeyebeat.com/jimmystr.html) ’67 B-side out of a Dayton garage lopes along, fueled by bitterness and false bravado over a breakup. “You say that you don’t want me any more Well that’s just fine with me, honey Because my life’s been miserable too” This is not your Dionne Warwick’s “Walk on By”!

Buckeyebeat says that “Not much is known about this combo that recorded [its only single] on Brookville’s Wildwood label. The band is supposedly from a Dayton suburb.”(https://buckeyebeat.com/jimmystr.html)

Well, tonywroda762 does proclaim “That’s my uncle !!!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbPKDp0Fohs) But who’s Tony Wroda?!

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