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

“I Won’t Be the Same Without Her” Special Edition: The Warner Brothers/Carole King — “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 30, 2026

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

Cut the Monkee business! The greatest version of this “fabulous statement of lost love and melancholy” (Matthew Greenwald, https://www.allmusic.com/song/i-wont-be-the-same-without-her-mt0011528006) by Carole King and Gerry Goffin was released by a garage band out of Peoria, Illinois, as a “reverb-equipped . . . folk-punker”. (Jeff Jarema, liner notes to the CD comp Oh Yeah! The Best of Dunwich Records) The second best version was the demo recorded by Carole King herself. Don’t just believe me, listen to ratfinkie62: “The Warner Bros. recorded the best Version. The demo is #2.” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FigZ38Ut46A&list=RDFigZ38Ut46A&start_radio=1&pp=ygUpQ2Fyb2xlIGtpbmcgd29uJ3QgYmUgdGhlIHNhbWUgd2l0aG91dCBoZXKgBwE%3D&ra=m)

2,146) The Warner Brothers — “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her”

Jeff Jarema writes that:

[The Warner Brothers were] Peoria, Illinois’ only Dunwich-produced combo . . . . Previous to working with [the Chicago label] Dunwich, The Warner Brothers released several 45s, among them a minor Chicago hit, “Please Mr. Sullivan” . . . in 1965. While strictly a novelty record, the group’s move to Dunwich resulted in a wild, double-sided uptempo blast (and arguably the label’s most continually overlooked single). The single . . . was an ace pairing of a reverb-equipped Goffin-King folk-punker on the plug side with an equally great (though measureably more depraved) flip. . . . [They] releas[ed] singles on a host of other labels . . . over the following year. Though unconfirmed, the band’s personnel supposedly included brothers Larry and Al Warner and two mysterious cats known only as Kenny and Crazy Tommy . . . .

liner notes to Oh Yeah! The Best of Dunwich Records

2,147) Carole King — “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her”

“This demo could have been perfect as a release on its own, the quality was great!” (adventuresinwhatever7203, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FigZ38Ut46A&list=RDFigZ38Ut46A&start_radio=1&pp=ygUpQ2Fyb2xlIGtpbmcgd29uJ3QgYmUgdGhlIHNhbWUgd2l0aG91dCBoZXKgBwE%3D&ra=m) Indeed — it sends a chill down my spine.

Oh, and as to the Monkees, Tim Sendra calls their version “the kind of melancholy Goffin and King ballad Nesmith was always able to knock out of the park.” And Matthew Greenwald writes:

A true lost Monkees classic, this excellent Gerry Goffin/Carole King song was originally cut in 1966, yet didn’t surface until 1969’s Instant Replay. A fabulous statement of lost love and melancholy, the overall atmosphere is strongly reminiscent of a cross between Buffalo Springfield and the Beatles. The pop sensibilities crossed with a slightly country/Tex-Mex element is brought out even more by Michael Nesmith’s tasteful production and sensitive vocals.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/i-wont-be-the-same-without-her-mt0011528006

I love Michael Nesmith, but I didn’t go bananas for the Monkees’ version.

Tim Sendra tells us of Instant Replay:

The year 1969 was a tough one for the Monkees. Their TV show was long canceled, their special 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee was kind of a disaster (running up against the Academy Awards), and Peter Tork left the band. Despite all this, Instant Replay, the album they released in February of 1969, is actually quite good. Made up of a couple older songs they dug out of the vaults and newly recorded tracks done separately by each member, there are moments of pop brilliance sprinkled throughout and each of the remaining Monkees truly shines (some more brightly or oddly than the others). . . . When you add up the catchy pop tunes, the weirdness, the heartfelt emotion, and the overall sound of the record, it stands with the group’s best work. Too bad it was ignored at the time and the band quickly splintered afterwards.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/instant-replay-mw0000201549

Here are the Monkees:

Here are the Twilights from Down Under (see #563, 1,667):

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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Philamore Lincoln — “When You Were Looking My Way”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 29, 2026

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

2,145) Philamore Lincoln — “When You Were Looking My Way”

Ethereal Donovan-like pop psych/folk from an “intermittently” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), no, “absolutely superb”, U.S.-only LP of “lush, orchestrated psychedelic folk that washes over you when you hear it” (Gabriel_II, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/philamore-lincoln/the-north-wind-blew-south-1) by Nottingham’s Philamore Lincoln (see #1,627).

“When you were walking my way Green and vermilion coloured my day”

Of the LP, James Allen writes:

Given its release date, [the LP] sounds like it could have been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years, as the wispy, Donovan [see #908, 1,036, 1,064]-like psych pop that takes up much of the album feels more like 1968 than 1970. . . . [O]verall, Lincoln’s gentle vocals and breezy delivery perfectly suit his songwriting (he penned every tune here himself) and producer James Wilder finds just the right arrangement for each track, making this a bit of a lost classic of the U.K. soft-psych world.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-north-wind-blew-south-mw0000842098

Beachbeatle1 enthuses:

Beautiful obscure baroque-psych-pop gem of soft folky material & a few rockers emerging in the twilight of the peace and love generation. . . . [A] terrific album whose gifted song writing & arranging breathy vocals simple drum and bass foundations & haunting string arrangements accentuate this eclectic LP. Look out for Jimmy Page playing lead guitar on several tracks . . . . A rare ornate beauty.

https://www.discogs.com/release/3283259-Philamore-Lincoln-The-North-Wind-Blew-South?srsltid=AfmBOopm8ss4NdSilaX9g6zvD-4XagO9qFVbpERqqxEVEcEbOSLn_1P1

RDTEN1 adds:

[The LP contains a] consistently interesting mix of genres including folk . . . country . . . and plenty of pop-psych moves. . . . [Lincoln] . . . had a knack from penning radio-friendly hooks that combined a variety of then-popular genres. Virtually every one of these ten tunes had commercial potential. . . . The album was also interesting from a marketing standpoint in that it was released in the US and Canada, but not the UK. Epic released the two Lincoln singles in advance of the album and their failure to sell may have convinced the label there was no market for the album in the UK.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/philamore-lincoln/the-north-wind-blew-south-1

And Gabriel_II has more to say:

[The] album specifically contains a decent number of famous names in terms of session musicians, most notably Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin contributing a guitar solo on “You’re The One”, not too long before he became famous. After the two Paladin releases, Lincoln . . . became disillusioned with the music industry and never really went back to it. . . . The record does try out a few different sonic palettes though, and I think this experimentation is fine for the most part. Generally it sticks into one of three categories: psychedelic folk, solid baroque pop song-writing, and two tracks that are much more like blues rock jams. Those two tracks . . . are not terrible tracks, but they don’t suit Phil’s style in my mind. . . . Considering Phil did all the flute playing and string arrangements too, it just comes off as an incredibly fascinating record with some of the best moments in psychedelic folk as a genre.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/philamore-lincoln/the-north-wind-blew-south-1

As to Mr. Lincoln, David Wells tells us that:

Philamore Lincoln was born Robert Cromwell Anson . . . In Sherwood, Nottingham. He started playing drums in his mid-teens before joining the RAF, where he played in a band . . . . It was at this juncture that Anson began to call himself Phil Kinorra in honour of his three favourite jazz drummers – Phil Seamen,Tony Kinsey and Bobby Orr. After leaving the RAF, Kinorra worked in summer shows and variety acts before coming down to London at the beginning of 1960 as part of an R&B band . . . . By early 1967, Julien Covey and the Machine had settled down to a line-up [with] Kinorra on vocals . . . . Linking up with Island label producer Jimmy Miller, Covey and the Machine cut a great single, “A Little Bit Hurt” . . . . Released in May 1967, [it] attracted a lot of support from the pirate radio stations and was popular in the club discotheques, but didn’t quite make the transition to national chart success. . . . According to press reports at the time, Julien Covey and the Machine were offered a five-year deal by Island, but the group split in the autumn of 1967, at which juncture John Moorshead joined the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. After a brief reunion with Graham Bond, Anson/Kinorra/Covey then underwent yet another musical metamorphosis and change of name, reinventing himself as Donovan style psychedelic folk troubadour Philamore Lincoln. Using this name, he released a September 1968 single for the NEMS label, “Running By The River” b/w “Rainy Day”. [The A-side] was a beguiling slice of folkadelia . . . . When NEMS collapsed in 1969, a number of its acts transferred to CBS, who had distributed the label. The excellent “Rainy Day” was resurrected . . . but there were plenty of new songs that attained the same heights. . . . The North Wind Blew South failed to garner much attention, and Lincoln’s next act was to produce the self-titled, May 1971 debut album for the progressive rock band Paladin, who included two of his former Julien Covey and the Machine colleagues . . . . After that, though, the Philamore Lincoln trail goes cold.

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/05/philamore-lincoln-north-wind-blew-south.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)

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.

I Shall Be Released: John Pantry — “Smokey Wood Air”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 28, 2026

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

2,144) John Pantry — “Smokey Wood Air”

Here is one of John Pantry’s “finest songs” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp The Upside Down World of John Pantry), an unreleased gem from ’68, a reverie about being alone in the forest on a frosty morning breathing in the smokey wood air. Oh man, does John Pantry [see #460, 494, 612, 761, 983, 1,242, 1,392] kick ass. OK, since he followed his calling and embarked on a notable career in Christian music and broadcasting after the 60’s came to a close, let me just say “Hallelujah” for John Pantry. A singer and songwriter for the ages.

Jason gives us a sense of Pantry’s B.C. history:

John Pantry is one of those artists that deserves to be heard by more people, especially those who value melodic British pop. . . . [He was] a talented studio engineer for IBC Studios (working with Eddie Tre-Vett), producing for the likes of Donovan, The Small Faces, The Bee Gees, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream. He was also a member of Peter & The Wolves, an accomplished mid 60s pop group from Leigh-on-Sea/Southend and had a major hand with many other IBC studio projects of the time: the Factory, Sounds Around, Wolfe, The Bunch and Norman Conquest. . . . Besides being a savvy studio technician, Pantry was a gifted songwriter and vocalist and an accomplished musician (. . . keyboards). . . . [O]ne of Pantry’s first groups, Sounds Around. . . . played straight pop with slight soul and psych influences – they released two singles in 1966-1967. Peter & The Wolves came shortly after Sounds Around’s demise (they were essentially the same group). This is the group with which Pantry is most associated, along with The Factory. . . . [Peter & The Wolves’] most productive period was probably the years of 1967-1969, where they released a string of pop gems [see #983, 1,392] . . . . It was around this time that John Pantry was asked to write two tracks for The Factory, a legendary psychedelic group who had previously released the classic “Path Through The Forest” 45 [see #5]. Pantry wrote and sang lead on the two Factory standouts, “Try A Little Sunshine” [see #460] and the more folk-like “Red Chalk Hill [see #761]” . . . .

https://therisingstorm.net/year/1968/page/5

“Smokey Wood Air” was “intended to be the follow-up” to Peter and the Wolves’ ’67 single “Lantern Light” (see #1,392). (David Wells, liner notes to The Upside Down World of John Pantry)

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.

I Shall Be Released”: Sugar Cube Blues Band — “We’ve Got to Get Away”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 26, 2026

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

2,142) Sugar Cube Blues Band — “We’ve Got to Get Away”

Haunting, desperate, chilling, unreleased Southern Gothic folk rock out of Grenada, Mississippi, courtesy of the Sugar Cube Blues Band (see #1,806). This is not your father’s “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”.

The band, which only got to release one single, doesn’t get any respect. Patrick Lundborg, who I usually agree with, writes:

A folkrock-psych transition duo showcase their unreleased 1967-68 recordings, with full band backing [though “Get Away” is just vocals and guitar] . . . . At best it’s reminiscent of mid-period Beau Brummels [see #713] or the Blue Things LP, though many tracks have desperate, strained vocals instead of the mellow Sal Valentino moves I would have preferred. Others have reported enjoying the vocals in a Sky Saxon [see #116, 446, 1,441, 1,491] way — decide for yourself.

The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.

OK, I’ve decided for myself, and I definitely report enjoying the otherwordly vocals. I detect zero Beau Brummels and zero Seeds, and I have to admit that it’s been many years since I listened to the Blue Things’ LP.

Richie Unterberger piles on:

From Grenada, MS, the Sugar Cube Blues Band were not a blues band, but more a garage-psychedelic group, as heard on their sole single, 1967’s “My Lasting Impressions.” That and about an album’s worth of unreleased material — some of it also garage-psychedelia, but some of it minor-keyed folk-rock, and some of it acoustic with a demo-like quality . . . .

An entirely unreleased album’s worth of material . . . . [I]t’s a mixture of folk-rock, folk, garage rock, and psychedelia, all written by singer Bill Crowder. While the range of songs is considerably greater than that of the average period garage band (if indeed the group could fairly be called a garage outfit), musically it’s average to below-average. The lyrics show greater ambition than the usual such act, and at times it sounds just a bit like the stranger groups recording on the Austin scene speared by the 13th Floor Elevators. But Crowder aims too high for his vocal range, and his straining, sometimes faltering singing can be frankly irritating at times, especially when exposed more nakedly on the acoustic folky tracks. There’s often a bent toward moody minor-keyed folk-rock, though “My Last Impression” is fairly typical ominous garage-psychedelia, complete with pounding fuzzy riff, half-shouted surly lyric, quasi-Eastern guitar solo, and swirling organ. But on the whole this sounds like the work of a band not really ready for or deserving of an album release.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sugar-cube-blues-band-mn0001820073, https://www.allmusic.com/album/sugar-cube-blues-band-mw0000957093

Not really ready for or deserving of an album release?! Richie, that is harsh!

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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Sandra Barry and the Boys (The Action)— “Really Gonna Shake”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 26, 2026

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

2,142) Sandra Barry and the Boys (The Action)— “Really Gonna Shake”

Before the Action [see #393, 429, 966, 1,773, 1,913, 2,020, 2040] became the greatest mod band of them all, they were Sandra Barry’s backup band, and she and the boys released this ”frenzied tongue-in-cheek raver” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://medium.com/@sterlewine/best-100-or-so-reissues-of-2016-3f47eb616144), “slight but catchy little single” (Jack Watkins, https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/return-british-soul-power), “memorable slice of girl group pop” that “is one of the highlights of . . . Barry’s career.” (Derek Anderson, https://dereksmusicblog.com/2022/09/13/girls-with-guitars-gonna-shake/). Of course, it was written by Reg King. And, of course, it never came close to being a hit. And the video — so cool it’s hot!

Jason Ankeny tells us of Sandra Barry:

British pop singer Sandra Barry began her performing career in infant talent shows before attending stage school; as Sandra Alfred, she made her earliest records in 1957 while co-starring on comedian Dave King’s television series, and also appeared on radio on the long-running Educating Archie. Roles in several of the St. Trininans film comedies preceded her 1963 re-emergence under the name Mandy Mason; a brief stint at Parlophone was followed a year later by another name change, this time to Sandra Barry. Backed by the Boys — singer Reggie King, guitarist Alan King, bassist Mike Evans and drummer Roger Powell, who would all later join forces with guitarist Pete Watson to become mod cult favorites the Action —she signed to Decca for 1964’s “Really Gonna Shake”; after the Boys broke off on their own, Barry was backed by the Jet Blacks, which featured future Led Zeppelin [see #110, 589, 1,998, 2,004] bassist John Paul Jones. When a handful of outstanding singles for Pye including 1965’s “We Were Lovers (When the Party Started)” and a cover of the Lloyd Price hit “Question” failed to catch on commercially, Barry spent the remainder of the decade out of the spotlight; in 1973, she resurfaced with yet another new stage name, Alice Spring, as the frontwoman of pub-rock combo Slack Alice.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-barry-mn0000240173

Tim Cooper adds:

[I]n a peripatetic career that never quite made her a star, Sandra became Alice Spring in the blues-rock group Slack Alice, a popular support act on the mid-’70s pub rock scene. Her first single came long before that in 1957 with “Rocket And Roll”/”Six Day Rock”, followed six years later by a name change to Mandy Mason, a new deal with Parlophone, and a 1963 single called “A Tear In The Eye”, followed by “A Sweet Love”, shamelessly copying Buddy Holly’s vocal hiccup. Moving to Decca Records, she recorded this song, “Really Gonna Shake”, with The Boys, released under the name Sandra Barry & The Boyfriends, in 1964. When that also flopped, she moved again to Pye Records and made a number of singles backed by Jet Harris’s backing band The Jet Blacks . . . . Moving into the ’70s, Sandra re-emerged as Alice Spring, fronting Slack Alice . . . and later in the decade, perhaps inspired by an early gig where the then unknown Sex Pistols supported them, she fronted a post-punk band called Darling, who released an album and several singles in 1979 . . . .

https://www.eatsdrinksandleaves.com/sandra-barry-the-boyfriends-really-gonna-shake/

As to the Action’s mod days, “Despite being fired from their support slot with The Who because Kit Lambert felt they provided too much competition for his fledgling band, they got their own Marquee residency and acquired a Mod following of their own.” (Tim Cooper, https://www.eatsdrinksandleaves.com/sandra-barry-the-boyfriends-really-gonna-shake/) Indeed they did: “When the band would come to Brighton to play, the Mods would wait on their scooters on the outskirts of town for the band’s van and then escort the group through the streets like conquering heroes.” (Erik Hage, https://www.furious.com/perfect/action.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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I Shall Be Released: The Spectrum — “It Doesn’t Seem to Matter”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 25, 2026

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

2,141) The Spectrum — “It Doesn’t Seem to Matter”

Here is unreleased at the time “prime late 60s psych complete with odd time changes, meandering melodies and a stunner of an arrangement” (PopJunkie, https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESowEB6zswFQQ4ZD0hEm60REbDq-hYBBUpevRBOJ94OSqVxda8wxz5Ibi9zZJAXQmkEeR6mDDPWU_0cPcnZDTdiikZZV5Ab0q2Ui7aMty4eX4_b2o67dRx56rUbixe5gmRqbEYawcTG_56Xfl6e_UQjsF8YObb5wqtKAOtiHd4_Z1yi7ZrgfXwT2E28zRbSu4YMxGP33b-Xr_h3c3NmxTDJ5ygncCa) that is full of pomp and circumstance by the UK’s Spectrum (see #1,676), who were way more popular on the continent. Oh, and the singer later went on to co-write “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” and “Don’t You Forget About Me”! (https://www.discogs.com/artist/339425-The-Spectrum)

As to the Spectrum, Fred Thomas writes:

British pop/rock band the Spectrum were formed in 1964, first going under the name the Group 5 with a lineup of vocalist Colin Forsey, guitarist Tony Atkins, bassist Tony Judd, keyboardist Bill Chambers, and drummer Keith Forsey. After issuing one single in 1965 . . . the band changed its name and achieved a number one hit in Spain with the debut single “Samantha’s Mine,” though the Spectrum would linger in relative obscurity in their home country for the remainder of their existence. Though their songs failed to chart in the U.K., they were featured performing the title song to the popular children’s television program Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, as well as contributing to various film soundtracks. Subsequent singles charted in Spain and Germany, and a self-titled full-length was issued only in Spain in 1969. After some minor lineup changes, the group released full-length The Light Is Dark Enough in 1970 and split up shortly thereafter.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-spectrum-mn0001270069#biography

Ian Canty offers the full Spectrum:

[T]he Spectrum story begins at the very start of the 1960s. Early participants included . . . Charlie Watts, but the band settled itself around singer/guitarist Colin Forsey, lead guitarist Tony Atkins and bass player Anthony Judd. They supported the Beatles in 1963 working under the name of Dale Stevens and the Group Five, but generally busied themselves with live work in and around the capital. . . . [T]heir first recording action was a cheapo LP of covers cut for the European market . . . under the snappier sobriquet Group Five. . . . After a debut single release with the oddly dated, Doo Wop-tinged “Little Girl” on EMI, they were snapped up by RCA, who through some sort of agreement with Screen Gems (“The Monkees” makers) decided that the time was right to repeat the Monkee modus operandi with a British band. Around this time both Colin’s brother Keith came in on drums and keyboard player Bill Chambers . . . also joined the band. Though trumpeting the band as the new Monkees the bands didn’t actually have much in common, the Spectrum being a working group in their own right for 7 years before the bigwigs at RCA “discovered” them. Around this time too came possibly the Spectrum’s biggest break, via a link up with the Gerry/Victoria Anderson “supermarionation” tv series “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons”. Apparently the Andersons heard the group on the radio and seeing they shared names with the security organisation in the show, decided the Spectrum should record a new end theme for the programme as well as having a Monkees’ like tie-in to the show. This resulted in the band having to wear Captain Scarlet outfits (well it was the 60s!), which meant the odd spectacle of the band being filmed messing about Monkees-style on the Portbello Road (the title of their current single at the time), dressed in their puppet uniforms and driving about in a Mini-Moke.

https://louderthanwar.com/the-spectrum-all-the-colours-of-the-spectrum-album-review/)

Discogs adds that:

But their third single, “Headin’ for a Heatwave,” hit number one in Spain, and their fifth single, a cover of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” reached the top spot in Germany during 1968. The group was also featured in the closing credits of the Gerry Anderson-produced series Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons, singing the title song, but this exposure failed to get them any significant sales and the song was never issued commercially . . . . This early record of mixed success seemed to be nothing up a hiccup in the career of Keith Forsey, who went on to play drums with numerous other artists, in addition to becoming a major songwriter (including co-authoring “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” and “Don’t You Forget About Me”) and producing Billy Idol, Nina Hagen, the Pointer Sisters, and the Psychedelic Furs, among numerous other artists, and writing several movie soundtracks.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/339425-The-Spectrum

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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I Shall Be Released: The Action — “Really Doesn’t Matter”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 24, 2026

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

2,140) The Action — “Really Doesn’t Matter”

Here is the blueprint for a soaring anthem that never was, extolling the virtues of procrastination. It’s another unreleased demo from the Action’s (see #393, 429, 966, 1,773, 1,913, 2,020) top contender for the greatest lost album of the 60’s. (Kevin Rathert, https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2019/01/the-action-shadows-and-reflections.html) It’s a bit unfinished and meandering, but nothing that George Martin couldn’t have fixed in the studio!

“Whatever you’ve got to do, do tomorrow, ’cause it really doesn’t matter anymore”

The LP that never was “deftly balances understated, sensitive rock with soaring anthems, and at its best it achieves both with muscle and melody.” (Matt Kritzer, https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2024/02/my-top-1000-songs-552-strange-roads.html) Matthew Sweet calls it “melodic mayhem … fueled by an emerging psychedelia … approached with a spirt of abandon”. (liner notes to the CD comp Rolled Gold) It came from “[a] mod band made up of genuine mods” (Andrew Sandoval, liner notes to Rolled Gold) that changed with the times.

As to the album, Matt Collar writes:

The term “lost classic” is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for . . . the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. . . . [This] goes beyond “lost classic” — it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. . . . By the time they recorded [Rolled Gold‘s] demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. . . . Prefiguring the coming psychedelic movement, the songs were epic, heartfelt, melodic socks to the gut . . . think The Who’s [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912, 2,055] Tommy meets The Byrds’ [see #1,430, 1,605, 1,965, 2,080] Fifth Dimension. Unbelievably, EMI . . . was not interested, and the tracks were shelved. . . . Playing like the brilliant missing link between mod and psychedelic rock, [it] is experimental without being silly or twee and emotionally mature without being pompous and boring. . . . [Some t]racks . . . are as good, if not better, than anything that charted during the late ’60s . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/rolled-gold-mw0000661275

As guitarist lan King recalled:

Gone were the days of the pill-popping mods who seemed to rave all night long. Different drugs came onto the music scene . . . so attitudes and passions changed. We were no exception. We began to experiment with new ideas, writing songs even, which was very exciting. We wanted to play our own stuff, instead of doing covers all the time.

liner notes to Rolled Gold

As to the Action, Bruce Eder tells us:

In the mid-’60s, the Action had a strong grassroots following among British mods. But despite the support of George Martin, they never managed anything close to a hit record. The Action were the most soul-oriented of the mod groups, favoring guitar-oriented covers of Motown tunes and R&B dance numbers of the day . . . . Martin’s production put the emphasis on Reg King’s impressive vocals and the group’s high vocal harmonies, in the process getting a unique sound. . . . The Action changed members and their sound as the decade progressed, and were reborn as Mighty Baby [see #1,646]. The band started out in North London during 1963 as quartet called the Boys . . . . [who] went out of existence in 1964, but didn’t split up, instead reconfiguring themselves as a five-piece. . . . the Action. [T]hey developed a tougher, harder sound that quickly made them favorites among mod audiences. The Action had a sound similar to the Small Faces [see #969, 1,024, 2,113] . . . . They were discovered by George Martin, who signed them to his newly founded AIR Productions in 1965 and got them a recording deal at Parlophone Records . . . . The Action debuted with an excellent single of “Land of a 1000 Dances” b/w “In My Lonely Room,” which failed to make the charts despite being an irresistible dance number and lovely ballad respectively, performed with genuine flair and inspiration, not to mention an authentic white soul sound from Reg King that was as credible as anything emanating from England at the time. The Action’s second single, “I’ll Keep on Holding On” . . . released in early 1966, was just as good . . . as their first, but saw no greater chart success. The Action maintained a serious following among the mods . . . but they couldn’t get a break with their records and were unable to get the exposure that would have bumped them to the next level. . . . [B]y late 1966 and early 1967, they were doing smooth soul-styled material . . . . [and] by mid-1967 the[y] had evolved . . . into a progressive folk-rock-based sound . . . . Though Martin still supported the music the Action were making, their lack of success meant that AIR could no longer keep them on the label and they were let go in 1967. They . . . soon were back in the studio cutting a new batch of songs that were all composed by the band and featured a heavier, more psychedelic sound. They sent the tape around to various labels, but were unable to drum up enough interest to sign a deal. . . . Reg King subsequently left the band to pursue a solo career, and . . . the outfit that remained, rechristened Azoth. . . . They eventually transformed themselves into a pure psychedelic outfit, Mighty Baby . . . .

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

Matt Kritzer writes that “You’ve gotta kinda close your eyes and imagine how it might sound with proper recording and some of the bum notes fixed, but as the blueprint for arguably one of the best records of the era you can get most of the way there.” (https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2024/02/my-top-1000-songs-552-strange-roads.html) Well, you don’t have to imagine: Sidewalk Society (’17), has done it for us, recording a whole cover album. Olav Martin Bjørnsen tells us:

Sidewalk Society have taken on the job of recording these songs in the manner they deserve, and they have done a smashing job of doing just that. Perhaps not always in the way The Action may have intended, but most certainly in a time typical manner of the age and from the age when these songs were crafted.

https://houseofprog.com/sidewalk-society-strange-roads-the-songs-of-rolled-gold-2017/

Matt Mead adds:

You can picture George Martin bringing this kind of clean and polished sound to each song if he was left to craft the original songs in Abbey Road. Sidewalk Society have been working on this tribute to the legendary band The Action for a long time – and it’s a classic – a true labour of love.

https://louderthanwar.com/sidewalk-society-strange-roads/

Here is Sidewalk Society:

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 Dramatics — “Bingo”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 23, 2026

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

2,139) The Dramatics — “Bingo”

“Whew”! Detroit’s Dramatics’ first A-side is a clear winner. “So glad I’ve got a winner Every day she loves me more and more”!

Richard writes of “Bingo”:

The song “Bingo” (b/w “Somewhere”) was issued twice on Wingate as by both the Dynamics and the Dramatics . . . . Due credit to the man Ron Banks himself and to Soulful Detroit for the background: Their first 45 [Dramatics] did not appear on Wingate until August 1966 however. The song “Bingo” was also erroneously credited to the Dynamics. Heikki uncovered the background in an interview with Ron Banks. “There was a group already here called the Dynamics. When they delivered the label copy and stuff to the record plant here in Detroit, they just thought it was a misprint and went ahead and put the Dynamics. So the first five hundred of that box came with the name Dynamics. We were upset about that. This was our first record…”

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/forums/topic/84695-dramaticsdynamics-bingo/

Wikipedia tells the Dramatics’s tale:

The Dramatics . . . formed in Detroit . . . in 1964 [with] Ron Banks . . . Larry Demps, Rod Davis, Elbert Wilkins and Larry Reed[. They] were originally known as the Sensations, but changed their billing to the Dramatics in 1965. Their first release in 1965 entitled “Bingo” was recorded for Wingate, a division of Golden World Records in Detroit . . . . By 1967, Motown had absorbed the entire Golden World Records operation. The Dramatics then moved to another local Detroit label, Sport Records, where they garnered their first minor hit single, “All Because of You”. After becoming victims in the July 1967 Algiers Motel incident, including the police killing of the group’s valet Fred Temple, Reed and Davis eventually left the group, and were replaced by William “Wee Gee” Howard and Willie Ford . . . in 1969. The Dramatics signed with Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee in 1968, but moved on after one unsuccessful release . . . . [P]roducer Don Davis re-signed them to Volt, a Stax subsidiary, in 1971 after the group teamed up with Detroit writer-producer, Tony Hester. They broke through with their first release recorded with Hester, “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get”, which Hester offered them after seeing the group perform in a Detroit nightclub. The song went into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 9 and climbing to number 3 in the R&B chart. . . . Their members at this time were Ron Banks, William “Wee Gee” Howard, Elbert Wilkins, Willie Ford, and Larry Demps. . . . This quintet are the five singers that the general public first got to know as The Dramatics. Shortly after the success of their first album, Howard and Wilkins left the group, and formed their own version of the Dramatics, recording the single “No Rebate On Love” on Mainstream Records. They were replaced by Larry James “L.J.” Reynolds and Leonard “Lenny” Mayes . . . . At the urging of Don Davis and Stax Records, the original group changed its billing to “Ron Banks and the Dramatics”. These two groups toured the concert circuit for four years before Banks’ group won a court battle, when they bought Howard and Wilkins out and gained full access to the name. Howard and Wilkins were forced to change the name of their group to “A Dramatic Experience”. Banks, Demps and Ford then had the trademark rights to the name, and then extended that right to Mayes and Reynolds. Through the 1970s, the group continued to have successful songs, including the Top 10 Pop, number 1 R&B hit, “In the Rain” in 1972, “Hey You! Get Off My Mountain” (number 5 R&B), “Me and Mrs Jones” (number 4 R&B), originally recorded by Billy Paul three years earlier, “Be My Girl” (number 3 R&B), and “Shake It Well” (number 4 R&B). “In the Rain” also reached number 5 on the Hot 100 pop chart and was their second million-seller. . . . The group moved from Volt in 1974 after three albums . . . . The group then signed for ABC in 1975 and transferred five years later to MCA, after ABC closed following its buy-out by MCA. Many of the Dramatics’ songs initially were written and produced by Tony Hester, including all the tracks on the first two Volt albums. Davis, then Banks and Reynolds took over production later in the 1970s and the early 1980s.

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

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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Raja Ahmad & Dendang Irama — “Oh Ya Ya”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 22, 2026

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

2,138) Raja Ahmad & Dendang Irama — “Oh Ya Ya”

Yé-yé is so yesterday — hop over to Pop Yeh Yeh from Malaysia and Singapore (which also got its name from the Beatles’ refrain “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah”) — like this joyous “boppy and happy” ’67 number with “male voice and chorus”. (Peter Hoflich, https://hoflich.com/Peter/blog/pop-yeh-yeh-psychedelic-rock-from-singapore-and-malaysia-1964-1970/)

Ghaz enlightens us about Dendang Irama:

[M]ost Pop Yeh Yeh musicians that had their hits topping the charts came from the Republic of Singapore (or the province of Singapore when it was a part of Malaysia before its independence in 1965). However, the neighboring country, Malaysia, had also an abundance of bands performing both on records and in films too, although at many times, their presence had not received the same level highlights as their Singaporean counterparts in the mass media. Dendang Irama was one of the pop yeh yeh bands formed in Kuala Lumpur under the patronage of P. Ramlee, the legendary film star who also composed and sing songs in both films and on records. Under his direction, they appeared on his film Masam-Masam Manis (Sour but Sweet) (1965), Nasib Do Re Mi (The Fate of Do Re Mi) (1966), Anak Bapak (Papa’s Pet) (1968) and Gelora (The Gale) (1970). . . . Following their appearance on films, Dendang Irama became one of the few pop yeh yeh bands being invited to perform live on Radio Malaysia and TV Malaysia at that time. Members of Dendang Irama consisted of Raja Ahmad (permanent vocalist), Othman Maulud (lead guitarist cum band leader), Hassan Sulaiman (rhythm guitarist), M. Yusoff Osman (bass guitarist) and Othman Abu Bakar (drummer). Their involvement with P. Ramlee that had shaped their musical career and popularity began to gain the trust from recording companies from both sides of the Causeway. In 1966, together with singer Jaafar Osman, they made their debut EP under EMI Singapore. . . .

https://menarigogo.blogspot.com/2024/12/focus-on-dendang-irama-pop-yeh-yeh-band.html

Sublime Frequencies tells us of Pop Yeh Yeh:

Until now, for some unknown reason, the psychedelic rock movement in Singapore and Malaysia, aka Pop Yeh Yeh, has never been given the worldwide attention it deserves. . . . The Pop Yeh Yeh era, which took place roughly between the years of 1964 to 1970, coincided with the rapid modernization happening at the time in Singapore and Malaysia. . . . Pop Yeh Yeh artists instinctively cross-pollinated electric sounds of the West with Malay melodies, and added their own local poetic voice to the lyrics they wrote — sung in Malay (and sometimes Bawean). The Pop Yeh Yeh musicians started out playing in styles inspired by Western groups like the Beatles and Cliff Richard, but they eventually succeeded in creating a sound all their own — a sound that is not only accessible to the Western ear, but also retains an undeniable Malay personality.

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES/photos/va-pop-yeh-yeh-psychedelic-rock-from-singapore-and-malaysia-1964-1970-vol-1-2lps/830492806965915/

Novocaine69 adds some historical context:

[The 60’s and 70’s] was . . . a time of great revolutions and reinventions in [South East Asian] SEA music. Western pop and later on psychedelic music was largely adapted, yet local musicians did not simply stick with copying but developed a fascinating blend between their homegrown roots and Western pop or psychedelia, ultimately culminating in unfortunately often all too short-lived unique musical styles. . . . War often put an abrupt end to these sparkling scenes. Extreme examples are the Khmer Rouge that systematically tracked down & executed artists & intellectuals or Vietnam where Western influenced musicians at times destroyed their recordings so as for them not to fall into the hands of the Vietcong. . . . In result to all these political upheavals and due to a lack of conservation what remains of SEA psych 40 years later are piles of broken fragments, flashes of genius & triviality that are often just the tip of the iceberg of music that has been. . . . More than occasionally there’s the paradox that there’s almost no information on a band or artists, while you can find virtually hundreds of vids on youtube, which indicates that actually much more of this music than assumed has survived in some form (often not the master tapes) in its native countries.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/novocaine69/weird-psychedelic-soundwaves-from-southeast-asia-in-the-60s-and-70s/3/?_wl_challenge_id=04decd0e88d121ec58c23ec2479bab2e&_wl_challenge_response=18a659d5ea5a461882769952e52efefe

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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Lazy Smoke — “There Was a Time”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 21, 2026

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

2,137) Lazy Smoke — “There Was a Time”

From Lazy Smoke’s (see #377) album of “surprisingly good”, “Beatles-tinged psyche rock, aided largely by a lead singer whose vocals conjure John Lennon” (Jittery White Guy, https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2020/06/lazy-smoke-corridor-of-faces-1968.html), here is a song whose “lyrics referred to the frustration of the times, to a time when things had been better and you didn’t have to lock your doors[.] It didn’t seem that we could get back to that relative peace.” (singer, guitarist, and songwriter John Pollano, liner notes to the CD reissue of Corridor of Faces) What, they had to lock their doors in Rishikesh?

“With dreamy, hazy arrangements and lush melodies, . . . John Pollano channels the spirit of The Beatles . . . crafting songs that feel like a quirky, lo-fi extension of Lennon’s more mellow, mid-60’s songwriting.” (Slacker Shack, https://slackershack.wordpress.com/tag/lazy-smoke/) Stu Shea adds:

The discerning listener to some of Corridor of Faces’ quieter tracks may hear similarities to some of John Lennon’s White Album material. Interestingly, Lazy Smoke recorded those tracks months before The Beatles was released. Despite being a “rock album,” C of F feels hazy, dazed, and lazy. The acoustic numbers are appropriately pastoral, with gentle guitar textures and beguiling melodies that flow effortlessly despite odd shifts in key and tempo.

http://tenrecords.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-song-day-lazy-smoke-under-skys.html

Richie Unterberger blows some smoke:

[It was an] obscure Massachusetts band of the late 1960s . . . . [t]heir biggest debt was to the Beatles [with] the resemblance commanded more attention due to the fairly close similarity of leader/chief songwriter John Pollano’s vocals to those of John Lennon. Pollano’s compositions bore a heavy Lennon stamp as well, often sounding like callower derivations of Lennon’s more sedate White Album-era tunes. They pressed a few hundred copies of one album for the tiny Onyx label in 1969 . . . before splitting. . . . Lesser imitations of the early Beatles aren’t hard to find, but it’s much tougher to locate diligent imitators of the group’s late-’60s sound. Here is one unheralded example . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lazy-smoke-mn0000147197/biography

Pollano adds that “The band was really broken up by the time that was all done, so nobody really cared about promoting [the LP]. The band members were off doing different projects in and out of music.” (liner notes to the CD reissue of Corridor of Faces)

Here is a demo:

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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Lloyds World — “Brass Bird”Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 20, 2026

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

2,136) Lloyds World — “Brass Bird”

“World class Aussie psych, with phasing and amazing guitar, very Brit influenced”. (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxgMa5RYQy8) All he has to remember this bird by is the brass bird she had given him . . . .

Kimbo tells us that:

A group of young musos who supposedly were well thought of by Robert Stigwood and 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, 2,089]. Signed to the Festival they released a couple of singles written by their guitarist Colin Stead, ”Pinky Lamour/Goodbye, Goodbye” (also released in NZ) and ”Brass Bird/Dandylion Wine” in 1968. They did the obligatory thing for Australian bands of the time who wanted to make it in the UK and set off on a cruise ship, playing their way to England. Unfortunately, when they got there Mr Stigwood seemed to have little time for them, and they fell apart.

https://historyofaussiemusic.blogspot.com/2013/09/lloyds-world.html

Discogs reports that [guitarist] George Christie and [drummer] Chris Pickup would join the UK’s the Red Squares and Colin Stead would join Australia’s Sweet Wine. (https://www.discogs.com/artist/3402365-Lloyds-World)

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Harry Nilsson — “Together”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 19, 2026

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

2,135) Harry Nilsson — “Together

From Harry Nilsson’s (see #1,168, 1,298, 1,854, 1,941) second LP — ’68’s Aerial Ballet — here is an “exquisite” (aaronwofford6282, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLiNHtw5vs&list=RDvhLiNHtw5vs&start_radio=1&pp=ygUWaGFycnkgbmlsc3NvbiB0b2dldGhlcqAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m), “wonderfully, breezy pop tune”. (lonely_panda, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nilsson/aerial-ballet/). Matthew Greenwald writes:

This breezy ballad was one of the highlights of Nilsson’s Aerial Ballet. It’s a graceful pop tune with mild and elegant classical touches. In this aspect, it’s not unlike Jimmy Webb’s more celebrated compositions of the period. There is a sense of syncopation in the melody, and this provides the hook in this hopeful love song.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/together-mt0011336186

And yet . . . “The lyrics alone touch the heart. Add the tune and the beautiful string and horn arrangement . . . and it touches the soul.” (aaronwofford6282, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLiNHtw5vs&list=RDvhLiNHtw5vs&start_radio=1&pp=ygUWaGFycnkgbmlsc3NvbiB0b2dldGhlcqAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) “Such a beautiful song . . . so insightful of the phases a relationship potentially can dissolve into. The lyrics and melody are so memorable”. (rusoviettovarich9221, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pTVpC2oV_2E&list=RDpTVpC2oV_2E&start_radio=1&pp=ygUWaGFycnkgbmlsc3NvbiB0b2dldGhlcqAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m) “If you have lived a little, you know every word of this. I ache for the hearts hurt. It is perfect.” (andymassingham, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLiNHtw5vs&list=RDvhLiNHtw5vs&start_radio=1&pp=ygUWaGFycnkgbmlsc3NvbiB0b2dldGhlcqAHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m)

Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes of the album:

Aerial Ballet . . . . offer[s] another round of effervescent, devilishly clever pop, equal parts lite psychedelia, pretty ballads, and music hall cabaret. . . . emphasizing his lighter edges and humor, writing songs so cheerfully lightweight — a love song about his mom and dad, an ode to his favorite desk, an address or two to a “Little Cowboy” — that it may be a little too cloying for some tastes . . . . Those are balanced by a couple major steps forward, namely “Everybody’s Talkin'” and “One.” The former finds Nilsson adopting a rolling folk-pop backing for a Fred Neil song, making it into an instant, Grammy-winning classic. The latter was the greatest song he had written to date, a haunting tale of loneliness reminiscent of McCartney, yet with its own voice. These are the songs anchoring an album that may be a little lightweight, but it’s engagingly, deliberately lightweight. If it’s a bit dated, it wears its old charms well.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/aerial-ballet-mw0000645332

Here is Nilsson on Playboy After Dark:

Here is an alternate take:

Here is Sandie Shaw:

Here are Keith Moon and Ringo Starr (’75):

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France Gall — “Made in France”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 18, 2026

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

2,134) France Gall — “Made in France”

France Gall (see #36, 1,361) “satirizing Swinging London”? https://www.roughtrade.com/en-us/product/france-gall/made-in-france-france-gall-s-baby-pop) I love it yé-yé-yé! Gall’s “60s output . . . is pluperfect music of its kind: so very French and so very pop that it’s sometimes scarcely believable.” (Oregano Rathbone, https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/made-in-france-france-galls-baby-pop) I believe!

“Made in” appears on Gall’s album 1968 (released in ‘67). Third Man Records writes:

Without a doubt this is the weirdest France Gall record. 1968 dives further into the psychedelia that she was hinting at on Baby Pop. Even with the addition of sitars and echoes of The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks and Pet Sounds era Beach Boys all over this record it is still 100% French and could only have been made by France Gall. The addition of English expat producer/arranger, David Whitaker, brought a new and welcome airiness to the mix that was lacking on Gall’s earlier recordings.

https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/third-man-records-releases-reissues-of-three-classic-france-gall-albums?srsltid=AfmBOoqJMpvgzBZbIMU_mJn-ahtYd_-j1Wr62HkVe9Spbufb71G4vpxs

Stewart Mason adds:

Definitely the weirdest record of France Gall’s career, 1968 (released in 1967) shows the influence of British psychedelia as it spread across the English Channel. . . . Even though echoes of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper (and others) are all over this, its French roots are still easily identifiable and unmistakable as French. Further, its performances, are easily identifdiable as Gall’s as they build on the ye-ye production experiments . . . from the singer’s two previous albums . . . . [T]his is an influential and essential album from the ye-ye scene of the mid-60s . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/1968-mw0000701140

Thom Jurek tells us about France Gall’s 1960s:

Although best known as the perky teenager who won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with the Serge Gainsbourg-penned “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son,” that entry only marked the beginning of a long and fruitful career for French pop singer France Gall. One of the original yé-yé girls . . . bringing the nascent pop style to the charts; it was called “yé-yé” as a nod to British Invasion bands and their “yeah-yeah” refrains. Gall also scored another, far more controversial hit with Gainsbourg’s “Les Sucettes”, which translates to “Lollipops.” It was packed with obvious double-entendres that the singer claimed not to know existed. The blatant sexuality, coupled with the naive innocence of the teenage singer, marked her career in the annals of pop history. . . . At age 15 in 1962, Gall was encouraged by her father to record some songs and send the professionally cut demos to music publisher Denis Bourgeois, who signed her to the Philips label immediately. The four-track EP Ne Sois Pas Si Bete (the standard in French pop music release format at the time) was an enormous hit, selling over 200,000 copies in France thanks both to the irresistible title track and the absolutely stunning cover photo. Gall released a series of similarly successful pop hits for the next several years, peaking with winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. Though many dismissed Gall as merely a Francophone Lesley Gore making fluffy and ultra-commercial pop songs with little substance, her hits from the era have endured the test of time. . . . Although Gall’s high, breathy voice was admittedly somewhat limited, she made the most of it. Even deliberately trite hits such as “Sacre Charlemagne,” a duet with a pair of puppets from a popular children’s show on French TV, have an infectious charm. More substantive tunes, such as the sultry jazz-tinged ballad “Pense a Moi” and the brilliant rocker “Laisse Tomber les Filles [see #36],” are easily as good as any pop single produced in the U.S. or Great Britain at the time. In 1966, Gall’s public persona shifted into a more mature phase, both musically and personally. . . . [coming] with that year’s controversial hit “Les Sucettes.” . . . [It] and its follow-up, “Baby Pop” are among Gall’s finest recorded moments; they are more musically sophisticated and varied than her early hits, yet remain just as catchy. The psychedelic era found Gall, under Gainsbourg’s tutelage, singing increasingly strange songs, like “Teenie Weenie Boppie” (a bizarre tune about a deadly LSD trip that somehow involves Mick Jagger) set to some of Gainsbourg’s most out-there arrangements. The excellent 1968 is Gall’s best album from the period . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/france-gall-mn0000799466#biography

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Fairfield Parlour/Kaleidoscope — “Aries”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 17, 2026

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

2,133) Fairfield Parlour/Kaleidoscope — “Aries”

From Fairfield Parlour (formerly Kaleidoscope (see #154, 336, 552)), one of the great unsung UK pop psych/prog bands, here is a “soaring” “richly detailed world seen through the eyes of British youth” (Benjamin Wheelock, https://www.salon.com/2015/04/21you_must_hear_this_fairfield_parlours_aries/), from an LP —From Home to Home — that is in vocalist Peter Daltrey’s words “a unique artifact of that strange interim period between psychedelia and progressive”. (https://www.salon.com/2015/04/21you_must_hear_this_fairfield_parlours_aries/) Daltrey adds:

There are a few tracks scattered through my recording career that are autobiographical and “Aires” is one of them. Whitey was a friend of mine. We did find a motorbike and as far as I know he did die when he was riding it. It was a great opener for the album and encompasses the mood.

https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/peter-daltrey/

Dave Thompson writes:

Between 1967 AND 1972, Kaleidoscope were one of the most adventurous, and intriguing, bands on the U.K. psych scene as they morphed into prog, folk and a wealth of other structures. . . . Signed initially to Fontana Records before shifting to the label’s prog imprint Vertigo, Kaleidoscope/Fairfield Parlour released some of the most glorious records of the era, three albums and a clutch of glorious 45s [including] “Flight From Ashiya” [see #552] [and] “A Dream for Julie[]” [see #336].

https://www.goldminemag.com/music-history/kaleidoscope-reignite-the-heady-days-of-u-k-psych-rock

Daltrey explains:

We changed our name to Fairfield Parlour after we shrugged off our psychedelic colours and embraced the progressive folk sound that was approaching. We didn’t feel the name Kaleidoscope was appropriate for our new sound and image. In retrospect I guess it was a bit of a mistake. We should have stuck to our guns, proud of our name. But at the time it seemed the right thing to do.

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2011/05/kaleidoscope-fairfield-parlour.html

Richie Unterberger explains:

The saga of Fairfield Parlour, though brief, is confusing because the group was really the same as Kaleidoscope . . . . Around 1970, Kaleidoscope changed their name to Fairfield Parlour, though the music was pretty much the same whimsical, fairy tale-ish blend of harmony pop/rock folk with late-’60s Beatles and Pink Floyd psychedelic flavors. They issued a 1970 LP on Vertigo, From Home to Home , which continued the directions they had staked out in Kaleidoscope, with slightly heavier rock arrangements. Shortly after its release, they worked on a double-LP concept album, White Faced Lady, based on the story of a troubled young woman who becomes a movie star, but descends into tragic death. Plans to join the RCA roster stalled when their contact at the label departed. The album was not issued at the time, though it finally appeared in the ’90s.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fairfield-parlour-mn0000335248

Read Benjamin Wheelock fascinating interview with Daltrey at https://www.salon.com/2015/04/21you_must_hear_this_fairfield_parlours_aries/.

Live on John Peel’s Top Gear show:

Live (’17)

An interview with Peter Daltrey:

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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 Fredric — “Red Pier”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 16, 2026

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

2,132) The Fredric — “Red Pier”

Here is a “[r]eally sweet, gentle pop psych tune” (grimson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKG6BAVww40), a “moody melodic garage ballad charmer B side” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSEmtQESrEg) from a band of Grand Rapids, Michigan, teens that soon after dissolved because Capitol Records was threatening its artistic integrity. Ben Maxwell writes in the liner notes to the CD comp Phases and Faces: West Michigan Psychedelia 1967-1969 The Complete Recordings that “This beautiful, ethereal track is timeless. Written overlooking the harbor in Grand Haven, this tune conveys the romantic innocence of youth.”

The band’s sole and self-released LP, Phases and Faces, is “[a] top notch pop album . . . . full of interesting and well-conceived songs, a nice mix of styles, and a few production moments that place it firmly in the psychedelic era.” (Aaron Milenski, The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.) Richie Unterberger is less enthusiastic:

From Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Fredric issued a rare, limited-run album in the late ’60s, Phases and Faces, that’s highly valued in some collector quarters. It would be ultimately inaccurate to call this garage psychedelia; it’s too clean-cut and poppy, with conscientious harmonies, guitar-organ interplay, and light lovelorn lyrics. They were a very young group, and it shows in the callow songwriting, despite the well-executed arrangements. . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-fredric-mn0000192356

On the other hand, Maxwell contributed some of the most adulatory and over-the-top liner notes I have ever read:

Phases and Faces, the only album by Grand Rapids Michigan quintet The Fredric, was released in 1968 . . . . Long considered a masterpiece by fans throughout the world, this once-in-a-lifetime merging of diverse elements is one of the most magical and extraordinary musical offerings in all of sixties music. . . . Lead vocalist Joe McCargar and Guitarist Bob Geis were high school mates in the mid-sixties, playing in a band. [Several days before o]ne of their first shows . . . in the summer of 1966. . . . the band lost their guitarist and drummer, but quickly found guitar-vocalist Steve Thrall as a replacement . . . . This move proved to be the genesis of what was to become the legendary Fredric sound. . . . [New d]rummer vocalist David Idema was the son of a family friend of McCargar’s parents. Ron Bera was added on keyboards, making use of his excellent skills. . . . A unique and inviting sound began to take shape. . . . [and t]he band approached a booking agent. Greatly impressed with the diversity of the original material, he encouraged them to develop and record. . . . In need of a new moniker, the group changed their name from Yesterday’s Children to The Fredric, on the way to their first show in Fredric, Michigan. . . . In the summer of 1967 Steve’s parents, in a vote of encouragement, let the band occupy their summer cottage on Lake Michigan as a retreat to perfect their sound. . . . The Fredric shared concert bills with The Boxtops [see #1,846], Tommy James and the Shondells, The Yellow Balloon [see #2,082] and other artists of the time. The Fredric played extensively throughout the Midwest and enjoyed an extensive fan base in West Michigan. . . . The Fredric fashioned a work that more than holds its own with any major work of the 60’s. . . . The entire album emits a warmth and deep humanity that is no accident. “We were a brotherhood[“, said Thrall]. . . . In June of 1970, The Fredric signed with Capitol Records and was promptly rechristened The Rock Garden by label executives. . . . Capitol saw the group as a pop hit unit, which caused great frustration among the members who wanted nothing to do with this commercialization of their music. . . . Explains Thrall, “It seems unbelievable as I look back, bowing out of a contract with Capitol Records. We were scheduled for several releases when the decision was made to dissolve the band. A decision had to be made between my conscience and the money. Capitol employed extra musicians and songwriters and they were spoon-feeding us. . . . I wnted no part of it.[“] . . . After the demise of the band, both Thrall and Idema pursued recording careers and continued to write together. Idema, now performing under the pseudonym, David Geddes, scored a mega-hit [in ’75] with “Run, Joey, Run,” and an album by the same name. . . .

It does no favor to the group to put it up there with the Beatles, but the boys (as Brian Epstein might say) did write and record some fantastic songs.

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

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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)
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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Ihre Kinder/Their Children — “Straße Ohne Ziel”/”Highway with No End”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 15, 2026

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

2,131) Ihre Kinder/Their Children — “Straße Ohne Ziel”/”Highway with No End”

From Ihre Kinder (see #553, 1,523), the first German rock band to sing exclusively in German, here is a “beautiful song” from their second album, with a dreamy, “deeper and more proggy feeling”. (DRÖMMARENADRIAN, https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1925#reviews) Kind of reminds me of Genesis’ Wind & Wuthering.

“Road without a destination. . . . And everyone goes along like this, and no one knows where” (https://genius.com/Ihre-kinder-strae-ohne-ziel-lyrics) Hey, Exis, you should have tried Route 66!

Prog Archives states that “[t]heir music combined influences from the American protest song (Bob Dylan), white blues music from England and – in a cautious way – the typical German electronic rock music of the early 70s to a progressive and unique mixture.” (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1925)

Silly Puppy explains:

Ihre Kinder . . . introduced the then radical notion of crafting rock songs in its own German language. The band was a continuation from the earlier pop band Jonah & The Whales . . . . After releasing an all but ignored [cover of] “It Ain’t Me Babe,” the band called it quits[. After] assembling a new team of noise makers vocalist/keyboardist Sonny Hennig and financier Jonas Porst . . . created a new band from scratch. . . . [Ihre Kinder] was one of the pioneers of German language rock and was met with great skepticism for having done so. . . . [Record labels] were [not] interested in this strange style of rock sung in German and [the album had to be] release[d] independently. Despite all efforts this debut album was met with little interest and the newly gestated Deutschrock had to wait a few more years for cultural acceptance.

https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1925#reviews

Edgar Klüsener gives us more history (courtesy of Google Translate):

They played acoustic folk and rich blues, oriental-tinged psycho-pop and rock-hard rock . . . [m]usically, the[y] . . . hardly differed from other German rock bands of the late sixties. And yet they were the beginning of a revolution. Because [they] sang exclusively in German . . . . In the early 1970s, the German language was still a sacrilege in rock music. Anglo-American idiom was cool, German, on the other hand, was discredited as the tongue-lashing of the escapist Musikantenstadl yodels and shallow-pink pop romanticism. Anyone who was self-respecting as a German rocker sang in English . . . . [They] . . . relied on poetic lyrics, a kind of psychedelic German beat lyrics, but could also be very clear and precise when they took up political topics. In 1970, the readers of the magazine “Musikexpress” voted the group the best German blues band. By then, at the latest, the band was well known even to high school students from the laboring suburbs . . . .
Nuremberg was . . . the city of Photo-Porst. In the 1960s, Hannsheinz Porst was at the head of the family business. He was a dazzling figure, a communist dressed as a capitalist . . . [who] turned the market-leading photo discounter into an employee company. . . . [and] had undisguised sympathies for the [Soviet Union]. [T]he German press liked to describe [him] as a madman, a spy, an ideological arsonist, a crackpot or a traitor to the homeland who was dangerous to the public. [H]is son Jonas. . . . played the impresario and put his father’s dough into a recording studio that was to become the important nucleus of German rock culture – and he put it into the band Your Children. The group’s first album, financed and produced by Jonas . . . was initially rejected by German record companies as far too uncommercial. The prevailing opinion in the recording industry was that the English and Americans were much better at rock music. Who wanted to hear German lyrics? . . . . In the end, a record company showed courage. Philips released the album, but so half-heartedly that it almost went under without a trace. At least, Hermann Zentgraf, the man in charge at Philips, subsequently signed the band to the Munich independent label Kuckuck, thus paving the way for their continued success . . . . Empty Hands was the title of their second album, released in 1970. Their goal was to speak to people in their own language and thus encourage them to listen. [They] sang about things not everyone wanted to hear about. The song “South Africa Apartheid Express,” for example, was a haunting examination of the racist apartheid regime . . . .

https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/popmusik-a-949347.html

Live in ’82:

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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Price and Sheridan — “Beautiful Sally”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 14, 2026

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

2,130) Price and Sheridan — “Beautiful Sally”

Two Brumbeat Move-rs and shakers come up with a gorgeous, sunshiny, bubblegummy “popsike delight” (Garwood Pickjon, https://popdiggers.com/rick-price-mike-sheridan-this-is-to-certify/) from an album — This Is to Certify [see #1,299] — that is “an astonishingly good collection of the post-Move recordings of Rick Price [see #1,726] , both solo and in his collaboration with Birmingham rock singer Mike Sheridan [see #1,606], originally . . . released circa 1970. The music is an often appealing mix of psychedelia, pop/rock, and art rock, rather McCartneyesque at times but in the best possible way”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-to-certify-gemini-anthology-mw0000378704) How was “Sally” not an AM radio hit?

“[T]he pair created some of the most beautiful music of the era . . . chockfull of timeless chamber pop. . . . [A] ‘honeybus’ baroque pop ride . . . was the main one they were taking on the This Is To Certify album”. (Garwood Pickjon, https://popdiggers.com/rick-price-mike-sheridan-this-is-to-certify/) The LP is “a 24 carat classic of the late 60s British baroque-pop genre, chock-full of winsome melodies, gossamer-light harmonies and exquisite string arrangements . . . that exists comfortably alongside the best works of Honeybus [see #6, 52, 207, 434, 562, 605, 764, 920, 1,100, 1,439, 1,582, 1,715, 1,833, 1,985, 2,096-98], or perhaps even the Move of ‘Beautiful Daughter’ and ‘The Girl Outside.’ (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Rick Price & Mike Sheridan: This Is to Certify: The Gemini Anthology) Jason writes:

This is one of the better albums coming from the Move family tree. It was released in 1970 though it has a clear 1967/1968 sound and is one of the best albums of its kind. Rick Price entered the Move sometime in the late 60s, contributing bass and guitar to “Shazam“, “Looking On” and “Message From The Country.” Mike Sheridan had previously been leader of the Nightriders which were a Birmingham group that specialized in the merseybeat sound and 50s rock n roll. The Nightriders were sort of a breeding ground for future Move members, most importantly Roy Wood. During Price’s tenure with the Move, he and Sheridan started writing songs together for the above album. Both Sheridan and Price share vocals and writing chores on an album that veers into power pop, psychedelia, sunshine pop and progressive pop. There are horn and string arrangements on this beautiful album that recall some of Paul McCartney’s soft moments on the Beatles’ classic White Album (think “Martha My Dear” or even the Move’s great “Beautiful Daughter”). . . . This is an exceptional if little known Move album . . . .”

https://therisingstorm.net/sheridan-price-this-is-to-certify-that/

As to Rick Price, Bruce Eder writes:

Rick Price was probably the least-known member of the Move, if only because he never really established a well-defined musical (or personal) identity of his own . . . . This is to Certify: The Gemini Anthology, released at the start of the 1970s, seems hardly to have sold at all in its own time. . . . Price was born in Birmingham, England . . . . His earliest band of any note was the Cimarrons, who sounded a lot like the Shadows (or tried to). . . . [H]e moved on to the Sombreros, who changed their name to Sight & Sound a little later. Their original focus was harmony vocals, their influences the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys, but by 1967 they’d started doing songs in keeping with the psychedelic boom. And by that time, Price had started a songwriting partnership with Mike Sheridan, the former leader of Mike Sheridan & the Nightriders. The group recorded three singles, “Ebenezer,” “Little Jackie Monday,” and “Alley Alley,” all co-written by the duo and none successful. The group eventually deteriorated into more of a musical comedy outfit. One day in early 1969, after a performance in front of a club audience that included Roy Wood, the leader/principal composer of the Move . . . offered him a spot in the group. He joined just as “Blackberry Way” was making its way up the U.K. charts to number one. He was with them through the brief period of cabaret performances, plus their first (and only) tour of the United States, and lasted two years with the group. Price even recorded most of the original bass parts to the first Electric Light Orchestra album, although the latter were re-recorded by Wood . . . . From there, Price moved into an ultimately unhappy contractual relationship with Gemini Records, recording This Is to Certify . . . . Then he was . . . in an outfit called Light Fantastic, who showed a lot of promise but could never get it together in terms of recording. This was followed by a stint in the progressive rock band Mongrel . . . . From there it was on to Wizzard, Roy Wood’s new band . . . . last[ing] through 1975, then Price moved on to the Wizzo Band, playing pedal steel guitar, no less.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-price-mn0000357165#biography

As to Mike Sheridan, 45cat.com writes:

[A]t age 19 Mike began to play piano in the Maypole pub on Saturday nights. One night a Teddy Boy approached Mike and said he was entering a competition in which the aim was to find the ‘Elvis of the Midlands’ and asked Mike to back him on piano. The ‘Elvis’ got through to the final round . . . but didn’t show up. Mike was asked if he’d like to continue and won the competition as a singing pianist. While working a regular Friday night playing piano . . . Cyril Viles asked Mike if he would like to join . . . The Chequers. Mike . . . joined . . . adopting the stage name of Mike Sheridan. . . . The group played a few gigs and members changed frequently . . . . Upon Billy King’s departure the group became Mike Sheridan and The Night Riders . . . . [A]n EMI producer for Columbia records, came up to Birmingham for a two day audition of local beat groups . . . . Mike Sheridan and The Night Riders were one of the five groups to pass the audition . . . . The five groups . . . were signed . . . to the Columbia label. [They] were sent the test recording of “Tell Me What’Cha Gonna Do” to rehearse. . . . [T]he single was a flop. . . . “Please Mr. Postman” . . . . failed to chart [but] sold well locally and gained the band a favourable reputation. . . . Roy [Wood] joined . . . after answering an ad in the Birmingham Post & Mail. . . . [and led] them into harmonies and introduced comedy into the act on stage by doing impersonations of Donovan and Dusty Springfield while wearing a suitable wig. The first single to be recorded with Roy Wood on guitar and backing vocals was a cover of The Shirelles’ “What a Sweet Thing that Was” . . . released in June 1964. This was followed by recording a version of The Rip Chords’ “Here I Stand[.]” In early 1965, the group went to Germany to undertake a series of bookings. Upon their return . . . the group name was changed to Mike Sheridan’s Lot. . . . Their final single released at the beginning of January 1966, was “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me” . . . . [T]he band had almost played throughout the entire country, acting as support for the likes of The Beatles, The Who, Small Faces, Them . . . and many others. Roy Wood left . . . to become a founding member of . . . The Move . . . . Mike Sheridan carried on . . . for a short while before he also left . . . . [A] young guitarist named Jeff Lynne . . . answered an advertisement in the local paper, bec[ame a] new member. . . . The Nightriders became The Idle Race. Mike Sheridan would later become a member of Sight and Sound that also included Rick Price, followed by recording as Sheridan and finally hooking up with Rick Price to record as Sheridan and Price. Mike Sheridan would also record an album of material with the members of Wizzard sans Roy Wood as Elmer Goodbody Jnr but only one single was released.

https://www.45cat.com/biography/mike-sheridan-and-the-night-riders

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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Cleo Randle — “Big City Lights” Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 13, 2026

Cleo Randle is performing on “It’s The Beat”, a Texas Soul/ R&B TV Show hosted by Hoss Allen.

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

2,129) Cleo Randle — “Big City Lights”

Searching for her baby under the big city lights — a “gorgeous funky and soulful blues screamer” (earlySounds45s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wXPIuGoPw), “[d]own-deep Chicago soul-blues with a forceful gospel delivery . . . one of the greatest shoulda-been hits of all time.” (Noomz-of-Earl, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnrM36ShEDg)

Tony Cummings tells us of Cleo Randle:

Cleo Randle was never to receive any recognition outside of her Chicago home town. In his book Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopaedia, Bil Carpenter wrote “with the big voice similar to Chi-Town neighbour Mitty Collier’s high-voltage range, Randle was a great performer of both gospel and R&B music in the ’60s who never made it big outside of Chicago”. Cleo was born Cleopatra Jackson and grew up singing in church. Possessing a power house voice she was soon singing in churches across Chicago both solo and with choirs. In 1965 she came to the attention of music biz entrepreneur Bob Lee. The ’60s were an era when hundreds of tiny independent record labels across the US, responding to the huge popularity of soul music, persuaded church-based singers to “crossover” and sing R&B. Lee was able to cajole Cleo to record some secular songs and the soulful ballad “Big City Lights” was released on Sta-Set Records, one of the many labels owned by Lee. The track got some local radio exposure . . . . But with no national distribution “Big City Lights” was quickly forgotten. Cleo played a few clubs but a year later had returned to her gospel roots and recorded a single for Checker, the powerful “Life In Heaven Is Free” backed by “No One Cares For Me Like Jesus”. Bil Carpenter briefly documented the last period of Cleo’s life. “She sang in the COGIC circuit under the leadership of Bishop L H Ford and Prof A Samuel Hawkins. Perhaps best known for the song “Walk With Me, Lord”, she passed away in March 2004 in Chicago.” In many ways the story of Cleo Jackson Randle has been replicated thousands of times in music industry history – a church-based singer of major talent given few opportunities to record and those recordings given even less chance of being heard by Joe Public. In Chicago, however, there are still churchgoers who remember Cleo’s spirit-lifting music.

https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Cleo_Jackson_Randle_A_gospel_music_great_with_a_tiny_recorded_legacy/58248/p1/

Here is Shakura S’Aida:l (‘08):

Here are the Devils (‘24):

Top Forty Most Viewed Posts

Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
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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)

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

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The Mods – “I Give You An Inch (And You Take a Mile)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 12, 2026

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

2,128) The Mods – “I Give You An Inch (And You Take a Mile)”

This “BOSS” (liner notes to the CD comp Teenage Shutdown: The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square!: 17 Paint-Peeling Garage-Punk Monsters!!!) ’66 garage rock “local smash” was “[h]ighlighted by Terry Smith’s snarling, Mick Jagger-inspired lead vocal” (Jason Ankeny, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-mods-mn0001841938), an “‘attitude-laden supreme put down’, to quote Tim Warren, the Crypt Records oncho”. (Johnny Sick, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZQp4xtQZ38)

Jason Ankeny give us every inch of the Mods:

One of any number of garage bands that performed and recorded under the name the Mods, this particular group — best remembered for the compilation staple “I Give You an Inch (And You Take a Mile)” — formed in Toledo, Ohio in 1962. Singer/guitarist Terry Smith and his brother, bassist Larry Smith, co-founded the group with their mutual best friend, rhythm guitarist Larry Music (amazingly, his real surname) — originally dubbed “Terry and the Blasters”, the teens began by playing covers of instrumental hits by the Ventures and other surf-rock acts, but the Beatles changed everything, and they soon began adding British Invasion hits to their repertoire. Drummer Terry Fitzsimmons signed on in early 1963, prompting a name change to the Imitations — some time the following year, the band entered Toledo studio A&T Productions to record a demo single, but the tapes never saw official release. In 1965, Fitzsimmons was drafted to serve in Vietnam, and was replaced by drummer Fred Jablonski. After taking top honors in the 1965 Toledo Battle of the Bands contest, the Imitations were awarded the opportunity to record a single for the local Peck label — though still best-known for their covers, they opted to record the brothers’ original song, “I Give You an Inch (And You Take a Mile),” renaming themselves the Mods in honor of the occasion. . . . [They] were hired on as the house band at Toledo’s Peppermint Lounge, once backing . . . Chuck Berry [see #361, 886, 1,340]. In 1966, the group signed to Detroit’s Impact Records, who insisted on a name change because of the overwhelming number of Mods across the U.S. — simply re-christened They the band recorded a handful of tracks before Terry Smith was drafted for military service, effectively bringing their career to a close.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-mods-mn0001841938

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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Clouds — “Make No Bones About It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 11, 2026

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

2,127) Clouds — “Make No Bones About It”

This early non-album A-side by the Scottish band that essentially created UK prog rock is “one of the behemoths of UK folky pop-sike dancers in my world” (oscarowski, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHaMzp87w1w), “melancholy, winsome but fast beat, groove”. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHaMzp87w1w) Alan Clayson writes that:

[I]t’d be 1969 before an attempt was made to bottle th[eir] onstage verve on disc. . . . [A]n exploratory Clouds single, “Make No Bones About It”, with composer [and organist Billy] Ritchie on lead vocals, in March . . . . Despite (or because of) a catchy chorus, critiques were disappointing and it made what would be a depressingly familiar journey to the deletion rack.

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/the-clouds-atlas

“I don’t doubt it that a dog would have a better life”

Bruce Eder tells us of Clouds:

Clouds were a promising psychedelic-cum-prog-rock band who never found the commercial success to match their critical raves. . . . [T]he trio’s roots were in Scotland and trailed back to the mid-’60s. Ian Ellis (vocals) and Harry Hughes (drums) originally teamed up as part of a Brit-beat band called the Premiers, formed in Edinburg in 1964. . . . It was decided that an organ would help the sound of the band, and Billy Ritchie joined. Bandleader/producer Cyril Stapleton recorded a few sides with the group in London but was unable to interest any record companies in their work, and it was at that point that the band disintegrated, leaving Ellis, Ritchie, and Hughes, who decided to go it alone as a trio, with Ellis taking over on bass in addition to his singing. They also took on a new name, 1-2-3, and began writing their own material, all in a decidedly psychedelic mode — coupled with their new sound, they soon found themselves lacking an audience in Edinburg, and headed for London, believing (correctly) that they’d get a better hearing there. They began building a cult audience among general listeners and a respectful following among their fellow musicians after a series of shows at the Marquee Club. . . . Ritchie’s playing and their overall sound began to attract serious critical attention. And they were signed up by Brian Epstein’s NEMS management company in the spring of 1967 . . . . died with Epstein that summer, however, and it was back to the London clubs for the trio. Lightning struck a second time when Terry Ellis, a young, aspiring manager and producer, saw them at a gig and signed them up. . . . [T]he group — now rechristened Clouds — was signed to Island Records. They also got to tour America, where the critical reception was more than enthusiastic . . . . Their debut album on Island, entitled Scrapbook, was a quasi-concept album, with beginning and end pieces and an array of songs that ranged from psychedelic pop to spaced-out, highly progressive and experimental art rock. Island put their work out in front of the British public throughout 1969, on singles and sampler albums, and heavily promoted their debut, and the critical response was highly favorable, as were their concert reviews. [But Terry Ellis’s management company] had made a decision to devote its efforts and promotional budget to a rival act, Jethro Tull. Gradually, Clouds got lost in the shuffle . . . . [I]n the U.S., an album called Up Above Our Heads appeared . . . while in England a second LP, Watercolour Days, was issued, showing up in 1971. Clouds called it quits late that year, their moment having past.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/clouds-mn0001534245

Please read Alan Clayson’s riveting history of Clouds, with the band’s bitterness front and center over how other UK bands translated their innovations into fame and fortune, without a word of thanks — https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/the-clouds-atlas.

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Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
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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)

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.

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