Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,638) Roberto Carlos — “Você Não Serve Pra Mim”/“You’re No Good For Me”
Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos (see #1,506), the King of Jovem Guarda, rocks out on the “first song recorded in Brazil with guitar distortion (fuzz)” (josenivaldosousa7044 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-C8iAbEL4), with “Renato Barros on the distorted guitar, Paulo César Barros with his furious bass lines, Tony rocking the drums, Cid Chaves on the tambourine and Lafayette rocking the Hammond organ.” (andynunes9519 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-C8iAbEL4) “I’m running out of adjectives to describe this song, damn it’s awesome!!!” (wilsondasilva8761 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-C8iAbEL4)
The song was written by Renato Barros, a founding member of Renato E Seus Blue Caps (see #1,011) along with his brother Paulo César Barros. Felipeantunes4485 writes that:
I had spoken to a friend of Renato Barros who confirmed the story. Roberto Carlos liked the song by Renato Barros’ band (“Você Não Serve Prá Mim”) and wanted to re-record it. However, to the surprise of Renato and his band, Roberto Carlos asked and demanded that the guitars have a very distorted sound and that the mood of the song be very psychedelic and radical. This was back in 1967!
However, trancosomarcus says that “Renato personally told me the story involving this song and it is different” (courtesy of Google Translate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-C8iAbEL4)
The song is on Roberto’s soundtrack to a movie he starred in — Roberto Carlos em Ritmo de Aventura/Roberto Carlos in Rhythm of Adventure — named the 24th best Brazilian LP by Rolling Stone Brasil! (https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_dos_100_maiores_discos_da_m%C3%BAsica_brasileira_pela_Rolling_Stone_Brasil) The plot? “While making a movie in Rio de Janeiro, the singer Roberto Carlos is kidnapped by an international gang that wants to make money with his songs in a computer, together with Pierre (José Lewgoy) , the villain of the movie, and sent to New York.” (Claudio Carvalhom, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188180/)
As to Roberto, John Armstrong tells us:
By 1994, with over 120 million album sales [around the world], Roberto Carlos had broken the record held by the Beatles. And he was only part way through his career. There have been the inevitable snipes of ‘cheese’ suffered by many a Latin crooner . . . . But the tide of tributes from younger Brazilian artists – Cassia Eller, Chico Science, Barão Vermelho and Skank in particular – and collaborations with other very non-cheesy superstars such as Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte and Jennifer Lopez, have quietened his detractors. So why is Roberto Carlos so culturally significant to Brazilians? A well-known Brazilian artist once confided to me in an interview: ‘We Brazilians love a sentimental song as much as we love a samba.’ Others say it is the way he sings these songs that sets him apart. The key to Roberto Carlos is that in the 50s he was trained under the magic of bossa nova, in the company of Jorge Ben and João Gilberto, before switching his repertoire to rock and pop in the 60s, becoming Brazil’s first big crossover artist. Soon, the albums were pouring out and selling by the cartload, and Carlos was dubbed the King of Jovem Guarda. This new-found fame gave him the artistic freedom, in time, to record whatever he wanted, from rock to bolero. When the right-wing military dictatorship took power in 1964, the artistic community responded with the Tropicalía movement which, in Gilberto Gil’s words, sought ‘a new perspective away from left-right binomial.” This meant unity amongst musicians and, perhaps surprisingly, the Tropicalistas who were associated with the left, supported the mass-market Roberto Carlos; his voice, his presence, was a beacon throughout the dark days of 1964 to 1989, and so he’s been regarded ever since. Roberto Carlos symbolises unity. There is a simplicity to his voice, a rare ability to synthesise complex arrangements and melodies into a soothing tone that washes over you and is overwhelmingly appealing. This makes Roberto Carlos more relevant today than ever. Never mind the white suit; the experience of thousands of Brazilians in a stadium, forgetting their divisions and coming together in tears of joy, is a very cool thing indeed.
[W]ith his partner and co-writer, Erasmo Carlos [no relation], he has penned over three dozen Top Ten charting singles. . . . [H]e initiated a major revolution in Brazilian music during the 1960s thanks to his fusion of Anglo-styled pop and rock and the second wave of Brazilian samba. His initial success coincided with the emergent youth movement in pop . . . that took over the world. Carlos was the leader of the country’s Jovem Guarda. He was the host of the TV show that became a generic denomination of a musical style and what was a definitive change of face to the Brazilian phonographic market and of the very art of marketing itself . . . . His light music, derived from British pop, and his (and Erasmo Carlos’) lyrics (happy, humorous, full of fashionable youth slang, and naïve though unexpectedly sexual) were deeply contrasting to the more serious MPB, with its somber images and protest songs. After all, Brazil was living in a dark period of the military dictatorship . . . . A few years later, in the late ’60s, Carlos (counseled by his advisors) changed his style to become the most successful romantic artist in Brazil[,] writ[ing] (always with Erasmo . . .) some of the most beautiful songs in this style . . . Though the adherence to a worn-out sentimental formula proved to be effective in commercial terms, it ultimately led him to be known, in the ’80s and ’90s, as a cheesy artist by youngsters and a portion of adult listeners. Nevertheless, the mid-’90s witnessed a resurgence of Jovem Guarda talents through tributes by new rockers . . . . At six, he lost one of his legs and began using a prosthesis. At nine, he debuted on his home city’s local radio. In 1955 . . . he started to get into rock . . . Two years later, Carlos performed at TV Tupi, singing “Tutti Frutti.” . . . [H]e became acquainted with Erasmo Carlos . . . . Carlos and Erasmo played together in Erasmo’s quartet the Snakes until Carlos was called . . . to [join] the Os Terríveis band, which played Elvis Presley covers on TV shows and live performances . . . . Carlos left the band to try to become a bossa nova artist. . . . In 1961, during the same year in which Carlos recorded his first LP . . . [Carlos] accepted the suggestion of the record company CBS and changed his style to youth music, starting to write songs with the composer/lyricist who would become his most important collaborator: Erasmo Carlos. The duo’s first hit was Carlos’ rendition for an Erasmo version of “Splish Splash” . . . . The album was recorded and launched in 1963 . . . accompanied by Renato e Seus Blue Caps . . . . In 1964, the LP E Proibido Fumar . . . had hits with the title track . . . and with Erasmo’s version of “Road Hog,” “O Calhambeque.” It . . . was considered high-selling then . . . . Carlos’ nationwide success was ascending, with more and more invitations for TV and radio shows and CBS wanting to take him to Argentina. That year, Carlos recorded the same repertory in Spanish . . . and the album Es Prohibido Fumar was released by the end of 1964 in Argentina. It was planned to also be distributed in Brazil, but as the military government considered anything in Spanish (the language of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara) dangerous . . . the album was simply taken out of the catalog by the recording company. . . . In the same year, Roberto Carlos Para a Juventude broke all records established by the singer . . . . On September 5[, 1965], Carlos opened the legendary show Jovem Guarda as the main host and also featuring . . . Erasmo Carlos by his side. The show gave the name and directives to the first musical scene produced especially for Brazilian youth . . . . After the show’s debut, Carlos’ popularity reached levels unimagined until then. Scoring hits in Argentina and Brazil, Carlos became the best-seller for CBS. . . . [H]is album Jovem Guarda . . . took only one week to push Help! out of number one on the Brazilian charts, selling almost 200,000 copies in one year. “Quero Que Vá Tudo Pro Inferno” became a nationwide hit . . . . After performing in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay . . . Carlos went to Europe in April 1966, singing in Portugal . . . . Returning to Brazil, he soon departed for a tour that started in South America, then Central and North America, where he sang in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, then Europe (London, Paris, Berlin, and Lisbon). Roberto Carlos, released in December 1966, went right to number one in the second week (remaining there until April 1967), and sold 300,000 copies in less than a year. Also in 1967, Carlos starred the feature film Roberto Carlos em Ritmo de Aventura (whose soundtrack sold 300,000 copies, staying at number one from December 17 until June 1968; the film also broke all box office records until then) . . . . In 1968, Carlos left Jovem Guarda, which due to his absence would soon cease to exist. His departure was a result of a mature decision to migrate from a youth idol profile to that of a romantic singer. . . . As a romantic singer, Carlos had several hits in the 1970s that still had his creative impetus . . . . In the early ’70s, Carlos became the top record-selling Brazilian artist, a position he would keep for many consecutive years. After 1976, his albums were selling over 1,000,000 copies.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,637) The Secrets — “I Think I Need the Cash”
Cliff Ward (see #1,418), 70s singer-songwriter extraordinaire and writer of the defining UK pop-psych masterwork “Path Through the Forest” (see #5), together with the Secrets (see #1,417) give us pop rock perfections, a “droll” number that is their “catchiest” song. (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967) He wants his diamond ring back “Cause I’m just about decided that we’re through . . . And what’s more than to point out, I think I need the cash”. Maybe Gary Lewis & the Playboys also needed the cash!
David Wells tells us that::
Led by Cliff Ward, Kidderminster band The Secrets were undertaking a tour of southwest English coastal resorts in the summer of 1966 when they were introduced to music industry all-rounder Eddie Trevett. Over the next couple of years, regular Trevett outlet CBS would issue five Secrets singles (the last two as Simon’s Secrets) that, although not wildly successful, were notable for Ward’s witty, erudite songs. Sadly . . . [“Cash”] was buried away on [a] B-side . . . and Ward would remain hidden from public view until his re-emergence a few years later as sensitive singer/songwriter Clifford T. Ward.
liner notes to the CD comp Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967
As to Cliff Ward, All Music Guide informs us that:
Clifford Thomas Ward . . . . typified the early 70s bedsitter singer-songwriter with a series of albums that were at best delightful and at worst mawkish. Ward left grammar school before A-levels to work as a clerk, but by 1962 was fronting local beat group Cliff Ward and the Cruisers. The group changed their name to Martin Raynor and the Secrets and made their recording debut for EMI Records in 1965, before recording several more tracks as the Secrets for CBS Records. In 1967 Ward enrolled at Worcester teacher training college to study English and divinity, after which he taught at Bromsgrove high school. His debut album appeared on disc jockey John Peel’s brave-but-doomed Dandelion Records label in 1972. His second album and his first release for Charisma Records, Home Thoughts, proved to be his finest work and gave him wider recognition. . . . The beautiful “Gaye” became a UK Top 10 hit but surprisingly the stronger “Home Thoughts From Abroad” and the infectious and lyrically excellent “Wherewithal” failed to chart. Mantle Pieces and Escalator contained a similar recipe of more harmless tales . . . . Ward’s refusal to tour and promote his songs did not help endear the singer to his record company, however, and he switched to the Phonogram Records label for 1975’s No More Rock ‘N’ Roll.
The best songs of Clifford T Ward . . . synthesised pop melody and an English poetic sensibility. His most creative years were the mid-1970s, when such songs as “Home Thoughts From Abroad” and “Gaye” brought commercial success and critical accolades. . . . [B]orn in . . . Worcestershire . . . . [b]y 1962, he had become the singer with Cliff Ward and the Cruisers, a proficient local beat group that won the 1963 Midland Band of the Year contest in Birmingham. As Martin Raynor and the Secrets, the group made a recording for EMI in 1965, and several more for CBS as the Secrets, though none was successful. . . . [H]e continued to make private recordings of his songs, and, in 1972, his tapes were passed to . . . John Walters . . . producer of John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show. However, his first album, Singer Songwriter, issued by Peel and Clive Selwood’s Dandelion Records, sold few copies. Soon afterwards, Dandelion closed but Selwood, by now Ward’s manager, placed him with the Charisma label.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,636) Richard Henry — “Oh Girl”
An American in London’s killer baroque/mod stunner (how often do you hear those two words together?!). How was this not a hit? “Seems to be a one record wonder full of promise of a hit but never really made it.” (colincarroll7954, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uirj12TvElU&pp=ygUVUmljaGFyZCBoZW5yeSBvaCBnaXJs)
Piccadilly Sunshine tells us:
Fulham[, London]’s finest songwriter Ted Fraser was partly responsible for this lone single by Richard Henry. Frazer had befriended American-born singer Henry in London when the two met on tour. Fraser had recently departed from the Flat Top Band, a local Blues act. The two musicians formed a professional songwriting partnership in the late sixties writing for Writer’s Workshop and Essex Music. It was this partnership that gave birth to Richard Henry’s single for Regal Zonophone. Although the record never gained the huge attention it deserved at the time, it did establish Fraser’s more fruitful career when he was offered a job in Spain touring with the Eddie Lee Mattison Band circa 1971. He has since become a more celebrated songwriter.
liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,635) Nick Garrie — “Evening”
Yet another gorgeous and contemplative gem from Nick Garrie’s (see #3, 19, 41, 65, 104, 137, 245, 362, 493, 871, 965, 1,088, 1,120) The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, a top contender for the greatest lost album of the 60’s. If Nick’s French record company’s owner hadn’t committed suicide on the eve of Stanislas’s release, who knows what might have been. Stunning songs — I was transfixed the first time I heard them and I have been a huge fan of Nick and his music ever since.
John Clarkson writes:
Nick Garrie’s 1969 album, The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas. is now seen to be a psychedelic folk/pop masterpiece. It has, however, only recently gained this reputation and for over thirty five years was largely unheard. The son of a Russian father and Scottish mother, Garrie’s early years were divided between Paris, where his Egyptian stepfather worked as a diplomat, and Norwich, where he attended a boarding school. He recorded The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas at the age of twenty in Paris with Eddie Vartan, who was a then fashionable French producer and the brother of the actress Sylvie Vartan. Garrie originally intended the album to have a sparser sound, but when he turned up at the studio on the first day of recording he found that Vartan had employed a 56-piece orchestra to expand on his more tender arrangements. The finished result is a compelling oddity and merges together Garrie’s wistful melodies and often abstract lyrics with Vartan’s colourfully extravagant orchestrations. It is . . . much deserved of the cult status it has since come to gain. Lucien Morrisse, the owner of Disc AZ, Garrie’s record label, committed suicide before The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas was ever released and for years it languished in obscurity, eventually starting to attract fan interest when tracks from it began to leak onto the internet. . . . only finally s[eeing] official release when it came out on CD on Rev-Ola Records in 2004 . . . .
Here are excerpts from a vintage interview (2010) that Clarkson conducted with Nick:
NG: I had just started teaching when I found out about it. I had done a PGCE course late in life and I typed in Nick Garrie as a joke because I hadn’t used the name since Stanislas and I couldn’t believe it when there was all these pages on it. I don’t know for sure, but I believe there was a company called Acid Ray who were in Korea and they must have bootlegged some tapes as they put out a compilation album called Band Caruso with “Wheel of Fortune” on it. I think that was the first thing on the web and it did quite well, so that is probably how the name got about. Things went from there.
JC: What did you feel troubled about when you were writing Stanislas?
NG: I wrote most of it when I was between nineteen and twenty. I was at Warwick University at the time, but I had spent so much of my life living in France that I had been called up for the French army as a national. Although I was eventually released from it, for a year I couldn’t go in to France and so I was essentially homeless.. . . .
JC: The suicide of Lucien Morrisse led to The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas remaining unheard for over three decades. Even before he died, you, however, imply again in your autobiography that Disc AZ didn’t know quite what to do with you and how to promote you. Do you think that too was a factor in Stanislas remaining undiscovered for so long?
NG: Absolutely, because it was never released at all. It was not as if it came out. No one ever heard it. I would go in to see them. We would talk about it. They would say that it would be in the shops next month and it never was. It went on like that for about six months, at the end of which I had had enough. To be honest as well at that stage I didn’t really like it much either. I didn’t like the arrangements, so after his suicide I gave a couple of copies to my stepfather and for me it was finished. I didn’t listen to it again or even really talk about much for years.
JC: How do you think it stands up now? Do you like it better?
NG: I do like it now, but I still don’t hear it through everybody’s ears. I have had a lot of correspondence with people who really love it, people from all over the world who say how much it has moved them, so it seems a bit churlish to say now that I didn’t really like it. They were songs, however, that I didn’t really recognise at the recording stage and again for a long time afterwards. . . .
JC: There is the story about Eddie Varden introducing you to a fifty six piece orchestra which you didn’t know about until you turned up at the studio. What did you expect the songs to sound like? Were they going to be just you and your acoustic guitar or were they going to involve a band?
NG: . . . . I knew that it wouldn’t be my guitar work because I wasn’t a good enough guitarist. I am still not, but I suspected that would be the basis of it. The first song that I started recording was Stanislas. I had no idea that was what we were playing though. [Eddie] would shove me in the booth and prompt me when and what I had to sing. He was using these mainly classical musicians who were all wearing cardigans and who didn’t think much of me anyway because I was a pop artist. But having said that he was really, really nice and was in many a sort of uncle or father figure to me.
JC: It seems that you had quite an odd relationship with him really because at one level he was very praising and told you that he thought that you would be the next Bob Dylan, but at another level he would do something like that and not tell you what was going on.
NG: I realised years afterwards that it was a terrific investment for them, this orchestra playing for two weeks with this guy who completely unknown completely unknown. I just never expected it and didn’t feel in a position to say very much about it. I think as well that it was just the way it was in those days. . . .
JC: How did The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas gain it audience? Do you know?
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,634) The Oracle — Don’t Say No”
This “[w]onderful slice of pop-sike” was “[p]roduced by Curt Boettcher [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 707, 810, 1,002] and Keith Olsen” — “one of the best Curt Boettcher recordings . . . ever!” (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow Volume 2: 21 Course Smorgasbord of US Pop-Sike & Other Delights 1965-69) “This is so good. Not surprising as it’s the dudes from The Music Machine [see #171, 1,179, 1,406] and The Millennium [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 810, 1,002] with a song from Ruth Ann [Friedman (see #542)] who wrote Windy!” (ed_Selke, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy1qFSys4q4
“Can’t you see how dark my life is without you?”
Willywhitten4918 informs us that:
I sang lead on this cut. I was with the Oracle for their entire existence. . . .We were “discovered” by Keith Olsen, who was playing bass for The Music Machine. We opened for them in a high school gym in Lafayette, Louisiana. We opened our set with “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles… The whole Music Machine filed out of the dressing room watching with wide eyes and slack jaws… Keith approached us about doing a recording right after the show. It seems like a whole other lifetime ago now.
Oh, and willywhitten4918 adds that “Curt was a great guy. His partner at the time Kieth Olson was a real A-hole.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YejZ0NrlbUA) Ha, ha, ha!!!
Alec Palao writes of the Oracle:
Fostered by . . . Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen, The Oracle were actually discovered by Olsen’s previous band, The Music Machine . . . while on tour. This Lake Charles, Louisiana, six-piece was playing a gig under the name The Great Society in Texas when they caught Olsen’s ear. Encouraged to bring their harmony sound out West, the band drove to California and stayed with Curt Boettcher (who hoped to sign them as The Oracle to Hanna-Barbera). A bad acid trip ended their recording dreams, but not before the band had put a vocal onto an aborted Clinger Sisters master called “Don’t Say No.” The results were later issued on Verve Folkways, by which time the band had returned to their home town to cool out and come down from their time in the sun.
liner note to the CD comp Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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The single was produced by Michael Chapman of the Blue Things. “They are said to have recorded several acetates”. (liner notes to the CD comp Fuzz, Flakes and Shakes: Volume 3: Stay Out of My World) The Express was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2012. The KMHOF tells us that:
Members of the band were Greg Gucker, Blair Honeyman, Eric Larson and Mike West. They left behind some excellent recordings, but they sounded even better live. Lead guitarist Greg Gucker, now known as Greg Hartline, wrote most of their material, but they also covered other songs of the day.
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When Beatles released “Penny Lane” in early 1967, it struck a tinkling, twinkling chord with a generation of budding English eccentrics, oddballs, and bandwagon jumpers. Suddenly everyone and their Uncle Arthur embraced music hall-inspired, psychedelically inclined vignettes about little old ladies, tottling trains, precocious kiddies, and other topics previously deemed not very “rock & roll.” . . . [T]his mostly overlooked, sometimes derided variant of psychedelia is just as wonderfully weird and tuneful — and brilliant — as any other strain. Yes, it can be childish, it can be silly, and some of the songs here stretch the boundaries of believability, but that’s all part of the charm.
One of the leading tunesmiths of the ’60s and ’70s English pop scene, John Carter was responsible for writing big hits and timeless classics like “Can’t You Feel My Heartbeat” by Herman’s Hermits, “My World Fell Down” by Sagittarius, and the Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul[]” . . . . the Ivy League’s “Funny How Love Can Be,” the Flowerpot Men’s “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” and “Beach Baby” for First Class. Typified by harmony vocals, simple melodies and, during the psychedelic era, very soft Baroque arrangements, the songs and productions Carter was a part of helped define the sound of English pop during his heyday. . . . Carter began writing songs at the age of 15 with classmate Ken Lewis. Inspired by the first wave of rockers . . . they worked up a batch of songs and in 1959, left their hometown [of Birmingham] for London . . . . find[ing] a publisher right away . . . . In 1960, they moved over to Southern Music and . . . began singing . . . under the name Carter-Lewis. . . . [and then] Carter-Lewis & the Southerners . . . . Between 1961 and 1964 they issued seven singles . . . . [t]heir sound was firmly rooted in the tradition of the Everly Brothers . . . . Though . . . a popular live act, the two songwriters quickly figured out that it made more sense financially to stay behind the scenes instead. Carter in particular exhibited no interest in becoming a pop star . . . . They soon shifted to cranking out demos . . . . [With] Perry Ford, [they] started . . . the Ivy League in late 1964 . . . . [W]hen the Rockin’ Berries turned down the song “Funny How Love Can Be,” the group released it themselves and had a Top Ten hit. Their sound was pitched somewhere between Del Shannon and the Beach Boys . . . . Carter left the band to head back to the . . . studio . . . with new [writing] partner Geoff Stephens. Along with songs penned for the Ivy League . . . the pair had hits with Manfred Mann, Mary Hopkin, the New Vaudeville Band, and Herman’s Hermits. Carter even ended up singing lead vocals on “Winchester Cathedral[.]” . . . [H]e was also working in the studio with a pair of songwriters, Robin Keen and Mickey Shaw, who he had signed to his newly formed music publishing company. Every week the pair would meet with Carter and play him the songs they had written. He’d pick his favorites and they would assemble a crack team of musicians to record them. Though they continued to work in this fashion for almost two years, they only issued one single, 1966’s “White Collar Worker,” [as] the Ministry of Sound. . . . Lewis left the Ivy League in 1967 and paired up with Carter again. . . . “Little Bit of Soul” [became a hit] . . . . [as did t]heir soft psychedelic confection “Let’s Go to San Francisco” . . . . Once again, Carter and Lewis decided not to go on the road and hired a band to go out and perform as the Flowerpot Men . . . .
Mickey Keen, an “underrated guitarist [whose] skills can be heard in a bunch of good albums”. (Miguel Terol, https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/diner/2674/keene_mickey_a.htm) Keen also co-wrote “White Collar Worker” with Carter and Robin Shaw. Christian42 writes:
[H]aving a newly established publishing company meant that John was now actively seeking new songwriters to join him and his company. At the same time, he also needed a backing band to support him in recording demos of his songs. The first person he asked was Micky Keen, his former guitarist while in the Ivy League, and Keen was all too willing to join Carter. As he was also a burgeoning songwriter in partnership with Robin Shaw, he suggested that the latter be brought in as well. Carter gladly agreed, and suddenly he had both a guitarist and a bassist, as well as a new songwriting pair to join him. That the two were also solid vocalists was simply icing on the cake.
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Richie Unterberger opines that “at their best, which was usually on [Tony] Rivers’ original tunes, they offer some decent melodic pop/rock with intricate harmonies and melodies, as on [“Dream”] (which shows a 1966-era Beach Boys fixation)”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-tony-rivers-collection-vol-2-mw0000953358)
Vernon Joynson calls Harmony Grass’ LP “something of a harmony pop classic, echoing the work of US musicians such as Love and Curt Boettcher, with strong melodies and breathtaking vocal arrangements.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
As to Harmony Grass, Bruce Eder writes:
A late-’60s band that anticipated Prelude’s highly commercial harmony vocals, Harmony Grass evolved out of Tony Rivers & the Castaways. They were signed to RCA a year after being formed in Essex, and scored a Top 30 British hit with “Move in a Little Closer Baby.” They were unable to repeat this success, despite which they still got one LP released . . . on RCA (U.K.). They were good enough to rate supporting act status at the Marquee Club in London, but by 1970, the group had broken up.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,630) Shere Khan/The Truth — “Little Louise”
As John Lennon once said, all I want is the Truth! (see #877, 1,552) Here, the Truth in disguise, or maybe Francis Aiello post-Truth, give us “[f]antastic . . . funky prog psych” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt-b3HlDUGQ), with “wild fuzz guitar”. (sixtiesbeat, https://www.45cat.com/record/tpr1007) “Louise” is “accomplished, mid to uptempo garage psych rock with a powerful sound performed by excellent horns which really work for once on a garage psych track, fuzz guitar, including a brief break, bass and thumping drums, topped off with an excellent, powerful vocal”. (bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/shere-khan/little-louise-no-reason/)
Hairdresser Steven Gold met future singing partner Francis Aiello while cutting the latter’s hair. Taking their name from a favourite Ray Charles’ song, “Tell The Truth”, the duo scored a UK Top 30 hit in 1966 with their debut single, an opportunistic cover of “Girl” from the Beatles’ Rubber Soul . . . . Although the Truth drew plaudits for “I Go To Sleep”, written by Ray Davies of the Kinks, it emphasized the Truth’s inability to acquire exclusive material. Subsequent singles included “Walk Away Renee” and “Sueno”, originally recorded, respectively, by the Left Banke and Rascals, but when such releases failed to chart the duo abandoned their brief pop career.
Aiello and [Gold, later] Jameson . . . . were faces on the mid-’60s U.K. mod scene, frequenting the right clothing stores and hitting the right nightspots. . . . [But t]he record industry didn’t put much stock in the Truth’s mod persona, and ended up treating them like any other pop group trying to make their way onto the charts. While [Aiello and Gold] wanted to model the Truth after Sam & Dave or the Righteous Brothers, the closest they got to a hit was a polished cover of the Beatles’ “Girl,” and though they could handle pop as well as blue-eyed soul (in some cases better), their belated reputation as mod heroes is the product of a few stray tracks rather than the entirety of their catalog. The Truth released just seven singles during their five-year lifespan . . . . “Baby You’ve Got It,” “She’s a Roller,” and “Baby Don’t You Know” suggest the Truth were not at their best trying to sound like soul shouters . . . . Meanwhile, Aiello and [Gold] sounded very much at home harmonizing on slicker pop productions, and their covers of “I Go to Sleep,” “Walk Away Renee,” and “I Can’t Make It Alone” are more than satisfying.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,629) Zakary Thaks — “Bad Girl“
I have featured garage rock classics by Corpus Christi, Texas’ Liberty Bell (see #505, 1,090, 1,390). Today, I travel back in time to LB singer Chris Gerniottis’ earlier band, Corpus Christi’s Zakary Thaks (see #1,391), which he joined when he was 15! Here is the Thaks’ first A-side, a “[s]avage” (santiagosanchezblanco9430, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLWfQRNOCvc), “frenzied garage raver” (Beverly Paterson, liner notes to the CD comp Zachary Thaks: Form the Habit), “[p]roto hardcore punk” (effjeff8393, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLWfQRNOCvc), “[p]erhaps the most electrifying two minutes committed to record [in ’66, i]ncredible”. (maynardmoreland, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLWfQRNOCvc) “[W]hat the F*CK this is fantastic”! (AnotherRandomPoser, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLWfQRNOCvc) Indeed.
ZK wins the All Music Guide triple crown, with Richie Unterberger, Mark Deming, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine all ecstatic about the band — and deservedly so!
Unterberger writes:
[T]he songwriting and musicianship [is] at a far higher level than most ’60s garage bands could boast, with just as much insouciant youthful energy. . . .
One of the best garage bands of the ’60s, and one of the best teenage rock groups of all time, Zakary Thaks released a half-dozen regionally distributed singles in 1966 and 1967; some were hits in their hometown of Corpus Christi, TX, but none were heard elsewhere . . . . Heavily indebted (as were so many bands) to R&B-influenced British heavyweights . . . the group added a thick dollop of Texas raunch to their fuzzy, distorted guitars and hell-bent energy. Most importantly, they were first-rate songwriters . . . Their 1967 singles found the group moving into psychedelic territory; some songs betrayed a Moby Grape influence, and some good melodic numbers were diluted by poppy arrangements . . . . Lead singer Chris Gerniottis [was] only 15 when Zakary Thaks began making records . . . .
Texas produced more than its share of great garage rock bands during the mid-’60s, and one of the very best . . . were the Zakary Thaks, a Corpus Christi combo whose instrumental skill, songwriting acumen, and frantic energy belied their age — the five members of the group were all between the ages of 15 and 17 when they cut their blazing debut single, “Bad Girl,” which earned them a short-lived deal with Mercury Records . . . . [T]heir collected body of work is consistently strong and surprisingly eclectic, with the hot-wired garage attack of “Bad Girl” evolving into a sound that encompassed folk-rock, psychedelia, and pop without going stale along the way. . . . [A]s good as regionally released ’60s garage rock gets, with fine songs, strong and imaginative playing, and a passion that extended beyond simple teenage bravado . . . .
[O]ne of the best unheralded American rock & roll outfits of the ’60s[, they] weren’t pioneers as much as fierce synthesizers who channeled every upheaval of the British Invasion into wily, inventive rock & roll. . . . [They had] a similar sense of sonic adventure and jangly melodicism [as the Yardbirds and the Kinks]. . . . develop[ing] quickly during their nearly four years together . . . . adept . . . in navigating the shifting fashions of the late ’60s . . . .This group of rampaging teenage Texans made passionate rock & roll that still sounds invigorating decades later . . . .
*Who is Zakary Thaks?! Gerniottis explains that “[s]omeone saw it somewhere in a magazine and it sounded different. And it also sounded English, which was perfect since we were all heavily into the whole British Invasion thing.” (liner notes to the CD comp Zachary Thaks: Form the Habit)
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Allied Records’ press release informed the buying public (what there was of it) that:
[“Epistle”] a very deceptive song. It makes you feel very secure if you don’t understand it, and a little wary if you do. The cloud is telling you that you can live any way you want to, but don’t try to “trade their minds” for your particular way of life. You[r] epistle to happiness may just not be theirs.
Allied Record Co. News Note, liner notes to the CD reissue of The Plastic Cloud
Patrick Lunsford says of their sole LP — The Plastic Cloud — that:
The Canadian late 1960s freak scene produced several terrific LPs and here’s one of the ultimates, with an appeal to both garage fuzz-heads and psych album collectors. The mix of dreamy [West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (see #197, 488, 1,267)]-style vocals with ripping fuzz and sub-Dylanesque lyrics works better than one might imagine possible, and the LP gains appeal from its youthful basement edge. This is one of the big, mandatory pieces of the field . . . .
The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.
Bruce Eder writes that:
The Plastic Cloud’s self-titled album is a strangely compelling and overall delightful mix of West Coast ’60s sounds, without any two songs sounding exactly alike, or even displaying the same attributes. Not that any fan of that era will mind any of it . . . . [Its] all enjoyable and full of pleasant surprises. . . . They were signed to Allied Records in Ontario and got one self-titled LP out which, sadly enough, never found an audience, despite beautiful production and some bold, ambitious use of psychedelic effects. Their vocals were pretty and they played better than that, and the results, with a sympathetic producer in charge, were mighty impressive — their one album is worth hearing a lot more than once, and you get the feeling that if these guys had been working out of, say, L.A. or the Bay Area and been signed to a label with some real marketing power, they’d be a lot more than a footnote today with exactly the music they did leave behind.
Brewer penned all eight songs on The Plastic Cloud, which like most of the records released by Jack Boswell on Allied was extremely limited, with allegedly just 500 copies pressed up. The album sort of feels like two discs in one, bookending the summer of love with alternating mid-sixties folk-rock gems and extended tracks of blistering late-sixties guitar work. The somewhat wooden harmonies on ‘Epistle to Paradise’ . . . [is a] fine example[] of the former, recalling the pre-psychedelic work of the early (pre-Grace Slick) Airplane or the starry-eyed folk of the Youngbloods. . . . According to RPM, the group had “taken a plunge into the unwelcome world of Canadian originality for which they deserve an ‘A’ for effort”. . . . [The LP] drifted into the bargain bins without much notice.
[Their] sole album has languished in obscurity. Psych fans and collectors remain divided, however: collectors consider Plastic Cloud one of Canada’s best psych albums (or indeed the best from anywhere) while some jaded day-trippers merely find it just ok/nothing special. . . . At first listen I was not impressed with the Plastic Cloud’s only offering. After reading all the hype about mind-jarring fuzz guitars and John Lennon-like vocals I found the disc rather mediocre and unimpressive. After several more spins I began to appreciate the band’s intensity and lysergic charm: this disc truly does deliver the goods if you’re into hardcore, late-night psych sounds. . . . While not a major classic, Plastic Cloud is surely one of the better Canadian psych albums and is consistently good throughout. . . . these guitar tones coil, uncoil, and burrow deep into your head like all great psych guitar solos should.
[T]he Plastic Cloud (from Bay Ridges in present-day Pickering) recorded [a] superb and highly sought-after psychedelic LP[] for the Allied label . . . . There hasn’t been a lot of ink spilled on the Plastic Cloud, and so the group remains one of the true remaining mysteries out there in the Canuck cyberlands. The group were a four-piece led by their 22-year-old guitarist and lead vocalist Don Brewer, with guitarist Mike Cadieux, bassist Brian Madill and drummer Randy Umphrey rounding things out. They formed in 1967, and by the tail end of 1968 . . . the guys had issued their only LP . . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,627) Philamore Lincoln — “The North Wind Blew South”
Two score and fifteen years ago, Epic brought forth, upon this continent, new “absolutely superb . . . lush, orchestrated psychedelic folk that washes over you when you hear it” (Gabriel_II), “dreamy but majestic” (James Allen, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-north-wind-blew-south-mw0000842098), conceived in Nottingham (but not even released in the UK!), and dedicated to the proposition that the north wind blows south.
As to this ‘70 LP by Nottingham’s Philamore Lincoln, James wAllen 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-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.
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.
[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.
[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.
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.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,626) Mark Eric — “Don’t Cry Over Me”
Brian Wilson’s greatest lost album is actually . . . Mark Eric Malmborg’s A Midsummer’s Day Dream (see #326, 948)! It is “one of the lost slices of pop perfection from late 60’s Southern California” (Bill Wikstrom, http://talkaboutpoppopmusic.blogspot.com/2009/10/mark-eric-midsummers-day-dream.html), a “beautiful album” that “catch[es] the tail end of LA’s pop innocence perfectly, just as it was gone forever”. (https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/a-midsummer-s-day) I don’t know whether Brian ever heard today’s song from the LP, but if he did, I am sure he would have felt proud. In any event, it serves as a touching tribute.
Bad Cat goes on about the album:
[The LP is] probably the best Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys album they never released. . . . Interestingly, Eric and his collaborator/arranger former Animals guitarist Vic Briggs apparently wrote these twelve tracks as demos intending to place them with other acts. . . . but the results were so impressive that Revue decided to release it as a Marc Eric effort. Musically the album was already several years out of step with popular tastes so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see the parent LP and singles vanish directly into cutout bins.
Mark Eric’s music has been described – accurately – as some of the best Beach Boys material not actually created by Mr Wilson and his henchmen. . . . [H]e seems to have internalized the post-Pet Sounds vibe, mixing it with a healthy dose of Sunshine Pop. . . . I’m always amazed that someone was able/willing to pull something like this off in 1969. There were certainly legions of Brian Wilson fanboys appropriating his sound (ironically or not) in the 80s and 90s, but for someone to dig this deep into that sound, and pull it off so well while the Beach Boys prime was still in the ether (as it were) was remarkable. . . . [R]ecord store basements of the world are packed floor to ceiling with 45s by acts that were dead set on imitating the Beach Boys, Beatles, Byrds, Rolling Stones and others, most of whom made a hash of it. To hear an entire album so well done, in regard to songcraft, arranging and performing, yet so obviously derivative is a remarkable and rare thing.
L.A. native Mark Eric was leading the Southern California dream life in his teens — surfing by day and writing songs about girls by night — before his musical talents drew him to Hollywood. He was 16 when he met Russ Regan, then at Warner Bros., but his first break came while waiting in the lobby of label honcho Lou Sadler’s office. There he met Bob Raucher, an engineer at local KHJ radio station . . . . Raucher took a liking to the suntanned surfer/songwriter, and, under his “personal management,” Eric was soon recording at Gold Star studios in Hollywood. One of his songs was later recorded by the Four Freshmen . . . . Subsequent sessions by Eric, backed with studio musicians, led to another meeting with Regan, now heading up UNI . . , who signed the promising soft pop singer to the label. Eric only recorded one album . . . which was released in 1969 on UNI’s R&B subsidiary, Revue Records. . . . One of [Erik’s] songs, “Fly Me a Place for the Summer,” was later recorded by the Mike Curb Congregation [see #57] for an airline commercial. . . .
Eric’s charming, somewhat imperfect falsetto (in a somewhat obvious homage to Brian Wilson) hints at a subterranean layer of loneliness throughout. His self-penned, broken-hearted Beach Boys-style ballads . . . are, in fact, the perfect vehicle for his faltering upper-register voice.
A childhood friend afforded Mark the opportunity to meet the Beach Boys first hand by taking him to a taping of the Andy Williams Show. . . .
[Mark:] “One of the neatest things was Brian was busy writing a song, and the only thing I heard was, ‘We met when she was younger,” and he and Al were going over the parts, and he said, ‘Al, sing it like this.’ He was really playing furiously with his bass writing the song in his head. This was during the rehearsal and he was writing on the spot in front of everyone! And then other fragments of the song would start to appear. A couple months later, ‘Little Girl I Once Knew’ was being played on the radio.”
Steve Stanley, liner notes to the CD reissue of A Midsummer’s Day Dream
Oh, and Black Cat informs us that “Eric subsequently turned his time and attention to modeling, commercials and acting, briefly appearing in a number of early-1970s television shows including The Partridge Family and Hawaii 5-0.” (http://badcatrecords.com/ERICmark.htm)
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
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Chicago soul duo Mel & Tim were cousins — Mel Hardin and Tim McPherson — who actually hailed from Holly Springs, MS, and made their way to Chicago via St. Louis. They were discovered by Gene Chandler and signed to his Bamboo label in 1969, when they scored a Top Ten pop and R&B single with the good-humored classic “Backfield in Motion.” The follow-up, “Good Guys Only Win in the Movies,” supplied the title for their first album and hit the R&B Top 20 later that year. Mel & Tim subsequently moved to Stax, where they landed a second Top Five R&B smash with the ballad “Starting All Over Again” . . . . Mel & Tim performed at the late-1972 charity concert Wattstax and were featured in the documentary film of the same name, singing “I May Not Be What You Want.” Their self-titled final album appeared in 1973, after which the cousins faded away from the music scene.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,624) The Majority — “Wait by the Fire”
This B-side, co-written by Chip “Wild Thing” Taylor (and Al Gorgoni), is an “[a]mazing find of PURE MAGIC”. (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow: Volume 4: Timeless UK 60’s Popsike & Other Delights) It was “[a]rranged to maximize The Majority’s (see #1,440) vocal abilities and with the group’s line-up augmented with subtle orchestration and vibes, the band turned [it] into a haunting, minor key pop classic that compares favorably with similar efforts by the Zombies.” (Stefan Granados, liner notes to the CD comp The Majority: The Decca Years 1965-68)
Incidentally, the Majority itself considered the A-side “so horrible that they kept it off their compilation CD. Stefan Granados writes that:
[The Majority] kicked off 1967 with their first major mis-step, a horrific cover of the old pop standard “I Hear a Rhapsody[]” . . . . Decca had presumably hoped that pairing the group with hit making producer Ivor Raymonde might reward The Majority . . . . [It] had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
liner notes to the CD comp The Majority: The Decca Years 1965-68
As to the Majority, Richie Unterberger tells us:
The Majority issued eight U.K. singles on Decca between 1965 and 1968 without reaching the British charts, though they were a reasonably accomplished band, especially in the vocal harmony department. . . . [It] sounded more American than the typical British Invasion band, with harmonies and, usually, material more in line with U.S. pop/rock acts like the Beach Boys and sunshine pop groups than most of their U.K. peers. While it’s fairly enjoyable stuff, it’s easy to hear why they became a sort of “in-between” group, with too much going for them to get dropped from their label, but not enough going for them to score hit records. One reason is that they didn’t establish much of an identity, their arrangements veering from mild British Invasion sounds to quasi-Walker Brothers productions and late-’60s British orchestrated pop with the slightest of psychedelic touches. Another is that none of their material, most of it supplied by outside writers, was particularly great, though it was usually pleasant (if not much more). They did do songs by some outstanding composers, including Chip Taylor, who co-wrote “Wait by the Fire,” and the Bee Gees, whose “All Our Christmases” [see #1,440] was never issued by the Bee Gees themselves. . . .
Of the many British Invasion-era bands that never had a hit . . . the Majority had more staying power than most . . . . They never quite found a consistent stylistic direction or great material, however, before changing their name to Majority One in the late ’60s. Formed in Hull, England, as the Mustangs in the early ’60s, they changed their name to the Majority around the time they moved to London in 1965. . . . [T]hey tried their hand at a variety of material over the next few years, most of it coming from outside songwriters. As a minor coup of sorts, for their second single, 1965’s “A Little Bit of Sunlight,” they managed to gain access to a Ray Davies composition that never found a place on a 1960s Kinks record . . . . In search of chart material, the Majority also tried compositions written or co-written by such luminaries as John Carter [see #1,201, 1,304], Twice as Much, and Chip Taylor. But they never hit a commercial or artistic gold mine, the production varying from the lush to straightforward mod-ish rock. . . . After some major lineup shuffles and work backing singer Barry Ryan in concert and in the studio, the Majority relocated to France, where they renamed themselves Majority One in 1969 and continued their recording career with a similar but more sophisticated musical approach.
By the way, Taylor and Gorgoni had originally recorded “Wait by the Fire” on their I Can’t Grow Peaches on a Cherry Tree LP (as Just Us). Richie Unterberger writes of the LP that:
[It] isn’t folk-rock; it’s polite pop-folk, and more easy listening pop than folk. . . . The songs — most of them original . . . are mildly pleasant but unmemorably milquetoast, occasionally pushed even more toward easy listening territory with string arrangements. . . . [A] few of the more haunting numbers have a melodramatic cast that might have made them more suitable for theatrical musicals than pop records.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,000 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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[“Flowers”] is a simple yet very likeable slice of pop confection. As with many of Simon’s songs, this is a simple yet insightful self-analysis, filled with pathos and humor. Musically, it showcases Simon’s pop instincts in a very powerful and charming way. There are many other songs of his from this period that are indeed better, but the sense of craftsmanship easily puts it on the level of Simon’s other, more ambitious creations.
The first version of the song is on Simon’s UK-only solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook, the second with Art Garfunkel on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. I prefer the solo version, as do some others, such as:
And JamesRR: “[T]he difference between two versions is monumental. I love the sparse version on PSSB – I really get into the lyrics more, I feel it more. The S&G version almost mucks it up with harmonies and faster rhythm, a totally different song to me. The original is what folk is all about.” (https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/american-tunes-paul-simon-song-by-song.1164065/page-157)
And Eskimo Chain: “The S&G version 3/5 it just grates, having been so enamoured of the Songbook version hearing it upbeat with slick production and harmonising just sounds so wrong to me, it’s one man with his guitar trying to (very earnestly) work stuff out so with all the trimmings in the later version it’s just not for me.” (https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/american-tunes-paul-simon-song-by-song.1164065/page-157)
Jim Beviglia loves the S&G version: “Much of Simon’s earliest songwriting is rife with the heavy thoughts that trouble young deep thinkers. In this song . . . the melodic lightness and the breezy, mid-tempo rhythm counteract all of the pondering quite nicely. Another hallmark of the song is the way that Paul and Artie trade off on the vocals so deftly, interchangeably coming to the fore and regressing, before rising together in glorious harmony.” (https://www.culturesonar.com/paul-simon-songs/)
[O]ne of the most mysterious [LPs] in Paul Simon’s output and almost belongs more with Simon & Garfunkel’s discography, given its 1965 recording date. Following the failure of Simon & Garfunkel’s first, all-acoustic folk revival-style album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, Simon headed off to England to see about pursuing music over there. While he was in London, he found himself in demand as a visiting American “folksinger” (though Simon’s credentials in this area were rather limited), began building up a following in the coffeehouses, and was eventually pegged for a performing spot on the BBC. Suddenly, there were requests for Paul Simon recordings, of which there were none — as a result of his being signed to Columbia Records in America, however, he was brought into the London studios of British CBS and recorded this album with only his acoustic guitar for backup. The resulting album is spare, almost minimalist, as Simon runs through raw and unaffected versions of songs that he was known for in London, including “The Sounds of Silence,” “The Sun Is Burning,” “I Am a Rock,” “A Simple Desultory Philippic” . . . and “Kathy’s Song.” . . . [T]he production by Reginald Warburton and Stanley West . . . isn’t terribly sympathetic; the sound isn’t very natural, being very close and booming, but the album is a fascinating artifact of Simon’s work during the interregnum in Simon & Garfunkel’s career. And there is one fascinating number here, “The Side of a Hill,” which eventually resurfaced as the countermelody song in the Simon & Garfunkel version of “Scarborough Fair” (a song curious by its absence here, considering that Simon was doing it in his coffeehouse appearances) two years later.
1,622) Toast — “Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall”
The UK’s Toast give us a lovely heavily orchestrated version. The Piccadilly Sunshine comp says:
The Toast comprised of Henry Marsh (the son of racing driver Ken Marsh), Simon Byrne and John Perry who came together in Dorset circa 1967 having trodden the weary boards with hapless local gigs as Utopia Somerset. The band renamed themselves as Toast heading out in London in 1968 under the supervision of producer and songwriter John Edward, a Radio London disk jockey and one-time member of David Jones’ (AKA Bowie) Manish Boys. . . . The agency also recorded a number of demos for the band in 1969 which would eventually seal their contract with producer Tony Cox. Meanwhile the band had already managed an appearance on Colour Me Pop for the BBC . . . . With the entrails of psychedelia having been exposed during their time with the Instant Sound agency, 1970 warranted a new direction and the band met up with new manager Tony Cox who arranged for the band to record a version of “Flowers Never Bend”. The single disappeared quickly amidst the piles of progressive circumstance in 1970 and yet again the band packed came to a brief halt.
liner notes to Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,620) Blonde on Blonde — “All Day, All Night”
This Welsh band’s(see #227, 267, 1,089) debut A-side is a “densely atmospheric slice of neo-Eastern psychedelic hokum” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Psychedelic Pstones: Volume 1: Hot Smoke and Sassafras) — and he means that in the best way! — “with a melody line that was embellished by an hallucinatory gauze of shimmering sitar runs from Gareth Johnson” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD reissue of Contrasts), “a wilting, claustrophobic performance, deriving much of its charm from Les Hick’s tabla-playing and some shimmering, heat-haze sitar runs from Gareth Johnson”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) OK, its shimmering!
However, “All Day, All Night”‘s “songwriter and former club folkie [Simon] Lawrence had been ousted by the time that Blonde on Blonde embarked upon sessions for their debut album Contrasts.” (David Wells, liner notes to Hot Smoke and Sassafras)
As to BoB (named after BoB Dylan’s double LP), Bruce Eder writes:
Blonde on Blonde . . . were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set. Garett Johnson played the guitar, sitar, and lute, while Richard Hopkins handled the bass, piano, harpsichord, cornet, celeste, and whistle, and Les Hicks played the drums. The addition of Ralph Denyer made them into a quartet with vocals; and Simon Lawrence . . . was with them briefly, as well, on 12-string guitar. The group took part in the Middle Earth Club’s Magical Mystery Tour, which brought them an initial splash of press exposure. They were also fortunate enough to open for the Jefferson Airplane on the[ir] British tour. All of this activity led to an approach by Pye Records producer Barry Murray, who got them signed to the label, and through whom they released their debut single “All Day, All Night” b/w “Country Life.” Though decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band’s music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with Johnson’s sitar and lute embellishments and Hopkins’ harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — with Hicks getting into the act on the tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound. Their live performances were frequently divided . . . into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range. The group issued their first album, Contrasts, in 1969 . . . — that record showed more of the early but burgeoning influence of progressive rock, while retaining their early psychedelic coloration. That same year, the band played to the largest single audience of its entire history when they appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival. They also issued their second single “Castles in the Sky” . . . and LP Rebirth which featured a new lineup — Denyer had exited the band to form Aquila, ceding his spot in Blonde on Blonde to singer-guitarist David Thomas. . . . [T]heir third LP, Reflections on a Life . . . . failed to sell any better than their prior releases . . . and the group broke up in 1972 . . . .
[Blonde on Blonde] was exploring the areas pioneered by 1967 psychedelic acts like PINK FLOYD, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and CREAM, but in a much larger scale of influences . . . having a more wider musical palette than the bands . . . . Their music is a dance between contrasts of free impressionism paired with predefined melodic more carefully constructed elements, varying from streetwise side to high levels of spirituality, from folk tones, classical guitar runs and mantra like instrumental runs, bursting with oriental musical influences, introducing cosmic drones running hypnotically on varying time scales, and all this paired with hard rock tones of heavy psychedelic guitar . . . . Their lyrics are quite basic trippy poems, but also thoughtful, emotional and interesting at their best . . . . There is melancholy in their music, but there is also hope and happiness among it.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,619) Argosy — “Imagine”
Blind Faith may have been the Supergroup of ’69, but Argosy was the BeforeTheyWereSuperandBeforeTheyWereSupertramp-Supergroup of ’69. Blind Faith had Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Rick Grech and Steve Winwood. Well, Argosy had Roger Hodgson, Elton John (then Reginald Dwight) (see #175, 1,598), Caleb Quaye (see #175, 807, 1,169), and Nigel Olsson! Blind Faith was over in a flash, only recording one LP. Well, Argosy was over in a nanoflash, only recording one single!
But what a 45 it was, a “melancholy string drenched popsike 45 which goes for a bit of money partly due to the connections with Supertramp and Elton John but probably mainly because it’s very good indeed!” (45TopCat, https://www.45cat.com/record/djs214) Both glorious sides were written by Hodgson. I’ve played the A-side (see #1,393), here is the B-side. “Imagine” is “more hit material” than the A-side, and “could pass for a great Supertramp song”. (cheezhead6007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ECu0Yq3hBs) SwedxSimon says:
[“Imagine” is] the standout here. . . . an orchestral flower power piece, a flawless pop composition which echoes “The Logical Song” [Hodgson would] write ten years later both melodically and lyrically, only . . . here we find him still refusing to leave the magic of childhood and urging others to find back to it, rather than being sentimental about the loss of it.
“I’ll take you away to a place where the sun shines on whistling waves of sand And we’ll dance and we’ll sing for a year and a day to a Sgt. Pepper band”
Here are some excerpts from a Russell Trunk interview with Roger Hodgson:
(Trunk) And being that you had a session band backing you that included pianist Reg Dwight (Elton John), what are your memories of that glorious time?
(Hodgson) When I left school, I really didn’t know how to proceed or how to break into the music industry at all. The only lead I had was the band Traffic, Steve Winwood’s band. They lived a few miles away from me, so I used to go and knock on their door whenever I had enough courage to do that. One of the demo tapes that I made of my songs got into a music publisher’s hands in London. He liked what he heard. He signed me up and put me in a studio in London which was my first time in a recording studio with session musicians, one of whom was a man called Reg Dwight who later became known as Elton John. He had an incredible band with him; some of them were members of the band that he toured with later, Caleb Quaye and Nigel Olsson on drums. They did an awesome job of playing my songs and then I sang on top this music. . . . “Mr. Boyd[]” . . . came very close to becoming a hit in England. It was played a lot on the radio but never actually charted. If it has been successful, my destiny would have been different.
Wow, only one degree of separation between Argosy and Blind Faith!
Paul Pearson waxes philosophical about the Hodgson/Dwight hookup:
This collaboration wasn’t improbable when it happened in 1969. It might have been more improbable a few years later, after the respective participants had established superstar careers of their own, but back in 1969, before either of them had made too much headway in the music scene, it wasn’t improbable at all. Which is not to say it was probable. Come to think of it probability and improbability, relatively aspeaking, probably don’t have that much to do with this collaboration. If you ask me I would say there’s more an element of randomness to this collaboration. There were no reasons or conditions either favoring or disfavoring this collaboration from happening in the time and place when it did, which was 1969 in England. But perhaps the absence of reasons or conditions tilting the scales in either direction, by merit of its absence, would therefore confer that the collaboration was in fact improbable. This argument, of course, omits the view of many monotheistic faiths that worldly fate is predetermined by forces outside our control or accessibility, a view this blog considers specious. . . .
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Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 