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

Jack Grunsky — “Ain’t You Got a Thing to Say to Me”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 18, 2025

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

1,526) Jack Grunsky — “Ain’t You Got a Thing to Say to Me”

A lovely folk-rock tune from future children’s music superstar Jack Grunsky (see #566, 728, 1,342), who was famous at the time — well, he was famous in Austria. Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, who played guitar, was famous at the time — everywhere.

Austria’s City Magazin says (courtesy of Google Translate):

Born in Austria, [Jack Grunsky] crossed the Atlantic as a small child on the Queen Elizabeth II with his parents, both musicians. The family emigrated to Canada [and] little Jack spent his childhood in Toronto. . . . Somehow he was drawn back to Europe. After graduating from high school, Jack . . . went to Vienna in 1964 and studied painting at the art academy. . . . For ten years he was in the top of the European charts as a singer and songwriter, some of them with Jack’s Angels. He had his own weekly radio show “Folk with Jack” on ORF [Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Austria’s PBS]. In 1974, Jack Grunsky crossed the Atlantic again towards Canada. . . . and discovered his love for music for children. . . .

https://web.archive.org/web/20070928121943/http://www.city-magazin.at/storysundevents/szeneundleute/grunsky.html

Grunsky recounts his career:

After finishing high school in Toronto in 1964, I moved to Austria to study at the Academy of Arts in Vienna. At the same time I formed a folk singing group called ‘Jack’s Angels’ and we were signed to Amadeo Records, touring and recording 4 albums. Within the span of two years we gained considerable popularity before disbanding in 1968. The record label kept me on for two more albums after which I was brought on board the progressive German ‘Kuckuck’ label in Munich. I pursued a solo singer-songwriter career for the next 8 years, touring extensively throughout Europe and recording 5 more albums of original material. My Toronto LP [including “Ain’t You Got a Thing”] was recorded in London and was produced by Alexis Korner with various tracks featuring Mick Taylor (of the Stones) on slide guitar. In Vienna I composed music for 3 television children’s musicals . . . . With a few hits on the charts . . . and also hosting my own radio show ‘Folk mit Jack’ for ORF Austria, my following continued to grow in the Euro Pop Music scene of that time. . . . In 1974, together with my family, I returned to Canada. In spite of European success highlights, a shift in the Euro music industry took place and I found myself in fringe territory. I was seeking closer connection with the folk/rock music scene happening in North America. . . . [I released] my album The Patience Of A Sailor and . . . reboot[ed] my singing career . . . . We performed as a band in clubs and festivals and returned to tour in Europe several times allowing me to stay in touch with my fans. In the early 80’s however, pointers and signs were guiding me in a new direction. Our daughter’s teacher invited me into the classroom to sing with the students. This led to offers to be a freelance music teacher at various Montessori schools around greater Toronto. . . . I became passionate about quality children’s music and discovered a market in need of it. Building a repertoire of original children’s songs and drawing on my concert performance experiences, I soon found a manager, a concert agent and eventually was signed up to the BMG Kidz Music label. . . . I have presented my children’s performances and workshops for over 30 years. This led to countless . . . teacher workshop opportunities across Canada and the US . . . . TV and radio appearances; major concert tours and international children’s festivals followed plus a number of symphony shows for family audiences. To date I’ve released 16 CD’s for children garnering a number of awards including 3 JUNO’s [Canada’s Grammys].

https://www.jackgrunsky.net/bio

While that was a bit self-promotional (I guess to get bookings), here is a part of a quite enlightening and appealing interview that Jack Grunksy had with TV Ontario in 1997:

Richard Ouzounian: I KNOW YOU FORMED A GROUP AT ONE POINT, JACK’S ANGELS, RIGHT?

Jack Grunsky: YES.

Richard: I HAVE VISIONS OF CHARLIE’S ANGELS. IT WASN’T THE SAME THING. IT WASN’T YOU AND THREE —

Jack: IT WAS A TERRIBLE NAME.

Richard: NO. IT WASN’T THREE BODACIOUS LADIES BEHIND YOU WHILE YOU SANG UP FRONT, NO.

Jack: THE NAME JACK’S ANGELS WAS NOT MY DOING.

Richard: OKAY.

Jack: WHEN I LIVED IN VIENNA, WHEN I WAS TAKING THE COURSE AT THE ACADEMY OF ARTS, I FORMED THIS GROUP. AND WE PERFORMED OUR REPERTOIRE OF FOLK SONGS, NORTH AMERICAN, BRITISH FOLK SONGS. AND I HAD ALREADY STARTED TO WRITE SONGS WITH THE GUITAR. AND MY FASCINATION WITH THE NORTH AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC SCENE, AT THAT TIME, THE KIND OF MUSIC I WAS LISTENING TO DURING HIGH SCHOOL, SUCH AS PETER, PAUL AND MARY, THE KINGSTON TRIO, BOB DYLAN,THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE,THEY WERE MY ROLE MODELS. SO WITH THIS ENTHUSIASM OF WANTING TO EMULATE BEING A SONGWRITER AND SINGER AND GUITARIST, I SHARED THIS WITH SOME STUDENT FRIENDS OF MINE IN VIENNA. AND WE FORMED THE GROUP AND PERFORMED IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN THE AREA. AND A FRIEND OF OURS CONTACTED A RECORD LABEL, AND THEY WERE QUITE INTERESTED IN WHAT WE WERE DOING. SO THEY CAME TO ONE OF OUR CONCERTS, AND WITHIN TWO WEEKS, SIGNED US UP FOR A TWO YEAR CONTRACT, DURING THE TIME OF WHICH WE RECORDED FOUR ALBUMS, AND A NUMBER OF SINGLES, AND STARTED TO TOUR QUITE EXTENSIVELY. I HAVE TO TELL YOU, AT THAT TIME, IN AUSTRIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE, THE NORTH AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC DID NOT YET CATCH ON. SO WHAT I WAS DOING, IN A WAY, WAS NEW TO EUROPEANS. AND THERE WAS A CERTAIN ENTHUSIASM THAT WE COMMUNICATED SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE JOY THAT WE HAD IN SINGING TOGETHER IN HARMONY AND PLAYING TOGETHER. AND I THINK THIS SPARKED THE INTEREST AND CAUGHT THE PEOPLE’S IMAGINATION.

Richard: NOW, WHAT YEARS ARE WE TALKING HERE, ROUGHLY?

Jack: THIS WAS ’66, ’67.AND WE CONNECTED WITH JOAN BAEZ WHEN SHE CAME. AND SHE BROUGHT US UP ON STAGE AFTER HER PERFORMANCE. SO THERE WAS CONNECTION TO THE FOLK MUSIC SCENE, WHICH, IN AUSTRIA, THEY LABELLED THE GREEN WAVE. . . . AFTER THE GROUP JACK’S ANGELS DISBANDED BECAUSE SOME OF THE MEMBERS DID NOT WANT TO PURSUE MUSIC AS A CAREER, AND WE WERE GETTING SO BUSY TOURING AND RECORDING THAT IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH FOR THEM. SO WE HAD INTERNAL PROBLEMS. AND THE RECORD LABEL AGREED TO THE SPLIT OF THE GROUP, AS LONG AS I WOULD REMAIN WITH THEM, BEING THE LEADER AND THE SONGWRITER. SO AFTERWARDS, I CONTINUED ON MY OWN AS A SOLO PERFORMER . . . .

Richard: I REMEMBER YOU SAID SOMETHING ONCE ABOUT, YOU SAID THAT A SONG WAS LIKE A LITTLE WINDOW A CHILD COULD LOOK THROUGH. AND YOU SHOW THEM THE WHOLE WORLD.

Jack: WELL, IT’S THE WINDOW OF YOUR IMAGINATION. SO SOUNDS AND SONGS CAN TRIGGER A LOT OF THINGS IN A VERY CONSTRUCTIVE AND POSITIVE WAY.

https://www.tvo.org/transcript/632935

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Nirvana — “The Touchables (All of Us)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 17, 2025

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

1,525) Nirvana — “The Touchables (All of Us)”

Pure Nirvana (see #287, 391, 475, 1,238) from Swinging London’s Irish/Greek duo of Patrick Campbell-Lyons (Cork born) and Alex Spyropoulos (Athens born) — “a perfect encapsulation of the[ir] floating, blissful, softly lysergic . . . sound” (David Wells, Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era), a “fine piece of harmonic pop from the flower power era”. (Easy Livin, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=14717) It comes from Nirvana’s 2nd LP — All of Us — “a beautiful late 60’s psychedelic-pop album, full of eccentric English imagery and catchy songs, definitely an unsung classic.” (Penza, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/reviews/nirvana-uk-all-of-us)

The song had been commissioned as the theme for the film The Touchables:

Absolutely the rarest (and wildest) of Mod Artifacts . . . star[ring] Judy Huxtable, Esther Anderson, Marilyn Rickard and Kathy Simmonds as a quartet of Pop-Art princesses who kidnap rock-star Christian (David Anthony) and imprison him in their plastic, see-through Bubble House. Gay wrestler Ricki Starr gets jealous, and tries to (literally) muscle his way into the action. Directed by Beatles-photographer Robert Freeman (who shot the cover for Rubber Soul) . . . .

https://www.modcinema.com/categories/5-bestsellers/160-touchables-the-uncut-1968-dvd

John Seal warns us that:

The ONLY reasons to watch The Touchables are if you a) have an insatiable appetite for plotless 60s fashion shows masquerading as films, or b) you want to hear the terrific theme song by the (English) Nirvana. There’s also a snippet of The Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” used inexplicably as background music during a boat ride, but it’s precious little consolation for sitting through this piece of ripe tripe.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063709/reviews/

I need to see this flick! Melanie Blue explains that:

John Bryan was directing a feature film starring four girls . . . who were models plucked from the pages of Vogue to appear in a typical summer-of-love romp entitled The Touchables. What the director wanted was Stevie Winwood to write something along the lines of his music for Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush. Stevie was too busy — but fortunately “Tiny Goddess” [see #475] was playing in the Island office and the film people asked “What’s that?” Chris Blackwell played them more and Nirvana were asked to write a title theme for the movie. . . . The new song was to be based on a half-written track called “We’ve Got To Find A Place”. . . . The original idea was to have the girls from the film sing the track, at least on the movie soundtrack version, and although various takes were made the job finally fell to Patrick.

liner notes to the CD reissue of All of Us

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

Let me sprinkle some more Oregano:

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

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

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

Here is the trailer:

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The Lee Kings — “On My Way”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 16, 2025

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

1,524) The Lee Kings — “On My Way”

Who’s dat band? No, not the Who! It’s primo Swedish freakbeat, a “Who-ish mod pop-art feedback frenzy”. (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkynB3RzJ8w) Vild!

Tim Sendra says of the Lee Kings that:

So many beat groups were able to pull off a passable imitation of the sounds of the day, but stumbled hard when it came to the songs themselves. The members of the Lee Kings were no slouches at crafting snappy, sweet, and poppy tunes that have a graceful, autumnal quality . . . or rock hard enough to fill discotheque floors . . . or sound like lost classics of the beat era . . . . a very solid mid-’60s beat group.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/bingo%21%21-for-the-lee-kings-mw0002616134

Marcy Donelson writes:

The Lee Kings were a short-lived Swedish rock quintet who rode the wave of the British Invasion to multiple appearances in the Top Ten of their country’s singles chart in 1966 and 1967. Formed in 1964 as Lenne & the Lee Kings, founding members included Lenn Broberg, guitarists Bengt Dahlén and Bjärne Möller, bassist Olle Nordström, and drummer Lasse Sandgren. Nordström parted ways with the band in 1966 and was replaced by Mike Watson. The next year, Johnny Lundin would replace Möller and Tony Walter took over for Sandgren before the band dissolved. After hitting number two with their song “Stop the Music” in January 1966, they topped the chart with their sole number one, “L.O.D.,” a month later. Both tunes appeared on their 1966 debut album, Stop the Music . . . . “Why, Why, Why” from the RCA Victor LP Bingo! made the Top Ten later that year, and “I Can’t Go on Living” was a summer hit in Sweden in 1967.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-lee-kings-mn0002573090#biography

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Ihre Kinder/Their Children — “Leere Hande”/”Empty Hands”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 15, 2025

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

1,523) Ihre Kinder/Their Children — “Leere Hande”/”Empty Hands”

Here is “[t]he best song” from Ihre Kinder’s (see #553) second LP, “a little proggy but [a] very nice pop song with clever keys and great singing. . . . a track you want to play again and again.” (DrommarenAdrian, https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1925#reviews)

Ihre Kinder was the first German rock band to sing exclusively in German, and the beginnings of Deutschrock and Krautrock. Prog Archives notes 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

In English:

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Trúbrot — “Relax”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 14, 2025

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

1,522) Trúbrot — “Relax”

If Crosby, Stills and Nash had gone to Iceland to record a progressive LP, it would have sounded like Trúbrot’s second album — Undir Áhrifum/Under the Influence — which gets a 4.05/5 rating from reviewers at Prog Archives (https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7822). The album track “Relax” is an English language joy to, dare I say, relax to — as gorgeous as Iceland’s Northern Lights (https://www.visiticeland.com/article/northern-lights-in-iceland).

Of the album, Phil Freeman writes that:

The second album by early-’70s Icelandic group Trúbrot marks a significant change in their sound, the result of extensive personnel upheaval. . . . The band’s earlier sound, which mixed ’60s pop with occasionally heavy boogie . . .was largely abandoned on Undir Áhrifum, in favor of a looser, folkier sound based on vocal harmonies. Many songs recall Crosby, Stills & Nash with their multi-part vocals and jangling acoustic guitars, while others . . . sound very influenced by Rod Stewart’s work with the Faces [or] . . . Uriah Heep at their most depressive. In another major shift, almost all the lyrics are in English, rather than Icelandic, something that was controversial in their homeland at the time. This is a strong example of early-’70s progressive rock . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/undir-%C3hrifum-mw0000468096

Weekend J adds (courtesy of Google Translate):

The album . . . was released just before Christmas 1970 . . . and was rightly advertised as the first Icelandic LP with original material only – in fact in English (except for one song) . . . . None of the songs . . . except perhaps “Relax”, enjoyed great popularity, although the album was quite strong as a whole . . . . Trúbrot was nevertheless voted band of the year in the media’s poll, and Rúnar Júlíusson pop star of the year, but this was partly thanks to the two singles. . . .

https://glatkistan.com/2018/04/12/trubrot-1/

Weekend J tells us Trúbrot’s story:

The band Trúbrot is without a doubt one of the most well-known and influential bands in Icelandic music history, it was also Iceland’s first real supergroup . . . . Hljómar from Keflavík had for several years been by far the most popular band in the country . . . . The members had tried their hand abroad (1965-68) under the name Thor’s Hammer [see #518, 910] with little success and had re-adopted the Hljómar name, regained their previous popularity and released the album Hljómar II in 1968 (and another LP before that as well as several singles). The mainstays of the band, guitarist Gunnar Þórðarson and its main songwriter, and bassist Rúnar Júlíusson wanted to take on bigger challenges, and in the spring of 1969, the idea arose among the two of them, along with organist Karl J. Sighvatsson and drummer Gunnar Jökul Hákonarson, the main members of the band Flowers, who had recently released a four-song single and had a hit with songs like “Slappaðu af” and “Glugginn”, to form a new band out of the two bands. It turned out that the band was officially formed in May 1969 and in addition they got the singer of Hljóma, Shady Owens, Erlingur Björnsson, guitarist from Hljóma, was hired as the band’s agent. . . . Trúbrot was introduced with great fanfare and most people were eagerly waiting to hear from the new band, but there were still many who took a stand with the members of the two bands who were ignored, i.e. those who did not get a place in the supergroup. So it actually happened that another band was formed from the “remnants”, it was named Ævintýri and actually enjoyed great popularity for a long time as well . . . . Trúbrot . . . made their first public appearance in Sigtún at Austurvöllur (later NASA), which had been awaited with great anticipation and a large crowd came to see the new band. The band was not considered particularly impressive that evening . . . . [I]mmediately after this gathering Trúbrot flew to New York in the United States to play a few concerts, later, according to the media in Iceland, with a good reputation, under the name Midnight Sun. The Túbrotsfólk returned home to Iceland . . . [and] played at a large outdoor festival in Húsafell to a large crowd and was immediately considered much better. . . . [T]he band played for soldiers at Keflavík Airport, but was briefly banned after playing the song Give peace a change in a twenty-minute version where the soldiers sang the peace message in loud voices. In October, Trúbrot returned home and headed to record an album at Trident Studios in London. . . . [T]he self-titled album, which was released before Christmas 1969. . . . The album . . . sold very well, selling around three thousand copies, and was chosen as album of the year by Morgunblaðið and Tíman. . . . The band went abroad again in the spring, but then they headed to Denmark to play (under the name Breach of Faith) at local dance venues in Copenhagen and also to record new material, but the band stayed abroad for three weeks, five songs were recorded at the Metronome studio and they were all by Gunnar Þórðarson. In these songs, which were planned to be released on two singles . . . . Around this time, rumors began to circulate that singer Shady was leaving Trúbrot and was planning to move to the United States, but she was half American and had come to Iceland in her teens. The singer denied these rumors to some extent, saying that she would continue singing with the band for a while but would probably leave in the summer. More rumors circulated in the newspapers that turned out to be somewhat true, on the one hand that drummer Gunnar Jökull was leaving the band as well as organist Karl, the latter of whom was planning to study music. . . . [O]rganist Magnús Kjartansson was brought into the band instead of Karl . . . . Although Gunnar Jökull did not quit the band in the spring as rumours had it was clear that he was not happy in the band, he felt that the ambition had diminished and the band was getting stuck in ballroom music which was often called “spirit music” at the time. This ended in disagreement with other members of the band, especially Gunnar Þórðar, and so he left Trúbrot in early August . . . . In mid-October, the second single was released . . . . This album received excellent reviews in Vikunn and fairly in Morgunblaðið, but the change in policy to release songs in English was very controversial in Iceland at the time. All the band’s songs from then on were in English, however. . . . Trúbrot stayed in Denmark for about a month, recorded an eight-song album . . . and also played a few concerts abroad. The music became considerably heavier than before . . . . . [M]any have compared Trúbrot to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during this period. . . . The members of Trúbrot, especially Gunnar Þórðar, were not at all happy with the band, they felt that some spark was missing and they were even about to close it down. Gunnar even had the idea of joining the band Ævintýri . . . . Before Trúbrot could break up, old friends reappeared and wanted to join the band again, Gunnar Jökull and Karl Sighvatsson. It turned out that drummer Ólafur was let go and Jökull took his place, Karl became a pure addition to the band as an organist, while Magnús moved more to the piano. This changed everything within the group and a new driving force and creativity now reigned. . . . [T]he group embarked on intense creative work and rehearsals . . . and began working on their largest work, which was conceived as a whole, it dealt with a character who is followed from cradle to grave and was later given the title … Lifun . . . . Trúbrot . . . went to London and the album was recorded at Morgan Studios and Sound Techniques . . . . [T]he band performed at the most famous outdoor festival in Icelandic history, the Saltvík Festival ’71, Youthme in second place among the best albums in Icelandic history in two polls conducted by Morgunblaðið on Icelandic Music Day in 2007 and 2009, and so on.

https://glatkistan.com/2018/04/12/trubrot-1/

Man, that was a Norse saga!

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The Charms — “I’m Coming Back (to Stay)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 13, 2025

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

1,521) The Charms — “I’m Coming Back (to Stay)”

Here is my big fat Greek ’66 garage gold! Nikos Sarros tells us:

The “Charms” . . . were one of the most successful bands of the Greek sixties. The original members of the group were Giorgos Stratis, Giorgos Balaskas, Spyros Karoutas and Kostas Karydas. Many changes and a large number of live performances accompany the fame of Charms, whose members started various bands of that time. The success of Olympians with Greek lyrics and the influence of their manager Costas Tseronis made the Charms in late 1966 turn to their own songs (among them “The Crazy Girl” we all know). Charmes (with Mike Rozakis, Teri Ieremia, Giorgos Stratis, Costas Nikolopoulos and Petros Polatos) became one of the most commercial bands of the 60s [and] participated in motion pictures . . . .

The Greek music bands of the 60’s, https://thecommonsense.gr/en/2023/11/25/14-%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-sixties-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%AC%CE%B3/

Chris Bishop adds:

The Charms were one of the top acts in Greece in the mid-1960s. . . . [B]y 1966 they stepped away from instrumentals and started singing, but the music still has a jerky instrumental flavor to them on the early Music Box releases. All their early vocals are in English. Their first Music Box 45 has the great garage sound of “See You on Sunday” on the B-side . . . . Their next 45 . . . may be even better. “I’m Coming Back (to Stay)” has a repetitive horn riff and a good performance from the group. . . . After these releases the band lineup changed and their later output is more pop, and more often sung in Greek . . . .

https://garagehangover.com/charms/

Bart informed Chris Bishop that “[o]ne reason that the Charms switched to ‘terrible pop’ as you say, after 1966-67, might be that lead singer Mike Rozakis had a tonsillectomy operation around that time* and, as a result, his voice lost that wonderful hoarse quality. (*) according to the book (in Greek) by Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat: Greek Rock, 1960s-1970s” (https://garagehangover.com/charms/)

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Illés/Elijah — “Reklám Úr”/”Mr. Advertising”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 12, 2025

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

1,520) Illés/Elijah — “Reklám Úr”/“Mr. Advertising”

I’ve featured songs written and performed by “Mad Men” (see #525, 526, 527, 528, 954), but this is the first I’ve featured about “Mr. Advertising”. The song “depicts human stupidity and gullibility. . . . Unfortunately, the problem of people being increasingly unscrupulously influenced by advertisements is constant and has, unfortunately, intensified greatly since 1969.” (Laszlo Majnik (courtesy of Google Translate), https://beatkorszak.blog.hu/2019/09/11/otveneves_az_illes-egyuttes_magnum_opusa_az_illesek_es_pofonok) “Life is beautiful, very beautiful, beautiful, very beautiful Buy it today, buy it today, don’t waste your life!” Ironically, the song is so good, so bouncy, so invigorating, that it would be great for a major ad campaign! Nike? Apple?

The song is on Illés’ (see #1,182) ’69 LP — Illések És Pofonok…/Kisses and Slaps… — “the ‘Holy Grail’ of Hungarian beat music”, the band’s “magnum opus”, a “masterpiece”. (Laszlo Majnik again)

Zikkurat Stage Agency gives us a Hungarian rhapsody (courtesy of Google Translate):

Illés was the Hungarian Beatles, “the” band, the generational band, the new idol that embodied and realized the dreams of a new generation, in which we could imagine all the desires that, in the end, were left out of the lives of many of us. Illés is a separate chapter in Hungarian youth culture, but perhaps not an exaggeration, also in the Hungarian cultural history of the second half of the century. With their performance, not only did a new era in entertainment begin, but with their music and thoughts, they also changed the face, thinking, and perception of life of a generation. The story of Illés is also the story of the sixties. With their explosions and failures, their momentum and exhaustion, their “revolutionary” thoughts and their forced compromises. If a summary cultural history or youth sociology work is prepared about the progressive aspirations of this century, Illésék’s work, the aspirations identifiable with the name of the band, cannot be missing from it. Illés appeared with new songs for new times and wanted to turn the world around with the belief of “bright breezes”.

http://www.zikkurat.hu/illes/bio_1.shtml

Susanna tells us (courtesy of Google Translate):

On this side of the Iron Curtain, during the socialism there were two dominant pop bands in Hungary which competed with each other and also with other bands for popularity. These two bands were Illés-együttes (or simply Illés) and Omega [see #195, 644, 766, 832]. Illés was founded in 1957 by the brothers Lajos and Károly Illés (at that time it was fashionable to choose the surname of the founder as the name of the band . . . ). At the beginning, Illés had Italian and evergreen songs in their repertoire, like those of the Hurricanes for example. They performed the first song composed by themselves only in 1965 because the previously written songs had been banned by the political system. In the same year, the classic line-up of Illés was created when Levente Szörényi joined the band. The members were Lajos Illés, Levente Szörényi, János Bródy, Szabolcs Szörényi and Zoltán Pásztory. The real success came thanks to the song “Rohan az idő”[“Time Runs”] sung by Zsuzsa Koncz and accompanied by Illés. Illés managed to bring something new to the Hungarian musical life: Eastern and Western voices, folk and artistic music were mixed in their songs and their lyrics represented generational problems.

https://fromhungarywithlove.wordpress.com/2020/08/14/omega-and-illes-the-dominant-music-bands-in-hungary-in-the-60s-and-70s/

Zikkurat Stage Agency again:

In the beginning, Illés, like other beat bands, played Dixieland, popular Italian hits, evergreens, guitar tracks, primarily Shadows and Hurricanes compositions, at high school and university events. . . . [In] 1965 the two Szörényi brothers [joined the band, which] is when the band [turnd] into a generational band. Levente Szörényi Szabolcs Szörényi started his musical career at the Szárón Sándor High School in Vác, where he and his brother Szabolcs performed in a guitar duo, and already there they created a sensation with their playing: “We were the crazy Szörényis.” . . . Szörényi finally joined Illés in January 1965 (he only accepted membership if he could bring his brother too), and the Illés story continued on a common thread for nearly a decade. . . . However, Illés’ . . . breakthrough is based on the six-month work that shakes up the ensemble in 1965 and gives birth to the idea – you have to try to win back the audience’s sympathy with your own songs. First, they completely refresh the repertoire (they mainly play Beatles, Kinks, Animals, Pretty Things songs), get a club . . . and finally . . . they have to win a battle in Bosch. . . . [I]n the summer of this year at the Gitárpárbaj organized in the Kisstadion, where the audience booed the representatives of traditional dance music, distracted them from the stage and cheered the beat bands, of which only Illés dared to sing in Hungarian. . . . In their songs, they simply open a channel for the emotions, energies, and desires that lie deep inside, and thanks to Bródy’s lucky tone, these songs still have a shocking, mobilizing, and camp-calling power for their age group. After the summer explosion, in December 1966, Illés led the field with six songs on the Top 10 list of the Youth Magazine. Young people are burning with the fever of the Illés phenomenon, and the author couple Szörényi-Bródy pour out the “generational anthems” with unflagging energy . . . . On October 10, 1967, the band also visited abroad. . . . [w]ith overwhelming success. Their music . . . is significantly influenced by the Beatles’ LP Sergeant [Pepper’s] . . . . By the end of 1967, they were already far behind the beat leader, and in the end-of-year poll, the readers of Youth Magazine and Magyar Ifjúság voted for them. . . . [F]ilmmakers discovered them. They compose soundtracks. Several of their famous songs are heard for the first time in films [including] The Story of M . . . . The first four places on the IM hit list in July 1968 are occupied by Illés songs. . . . In 1968, the band received 5 of the 11 awards of the Dance and Song Festival, and Illés, who was looking for new musical sources, received the name “Hungarian National Folk Beat Ensemble” . . . . This “title” highlights two important moments in the band’s life. In their musical pursuits, they finally deviated from the well-trodden paths of the beat, but at the same time, the band slowly moved from the reality of everyday life to the world of myths in the love of the fans. In 1968, Illés was not only a role model and parable, but also a myth in the life of his generation. . . . [T]hey were able to express what they heard from the hearts of themselves and their generation [and were] spoken of as “the voice of the generation”. In 1968, Illés found itself right in the middle of the renewal and reform efforts that permeated Hungarian intellectual-cultural-economic-political life. Already in 1966 . . . Illésék’s music was characterized by a strong connection to the folklore of Hungary and neighboring countries. . . . The Illés brought Eastern-Central European and Balkan folk music into the international beat and created Hungarian youth music with a unique character, not only in terms of content and spirit, but also musically. . . . In 1968, the band – even if only for a short time – managed to find an experimental workshop for their political, social and cultural utopia and for the expansion of their concept, taking advantage of the favorable winds and momentary concessions . . . . In September 1968, a youth club was opened in the Capital Community Center. The Illés club – managed, organized and led by János Bródy – we can safely say – was the most important youth experimental workshop of the late sixties. After the 1968 festival, seeing the Illés’ political ambitions embracing folk music, prestigious representatives of the intelligentsia . . . also began to support the band. In particular, specialists in public education saw a great opportunity in the use of beat music to guide children from the most diverse social strata to other arts or political culture. In February and March 1970, under the organization of the Marquele-Martin management office, they played 10 days in London . . . . Illés’ performance was praised by the English magazines, highlighting their particularly national style, their “songs with a political tone”. . . . At home, the band’s first two LPs (Nehéz az út 1969, Illések és pofonok 1969) were released without any significant critical response, so to speak, during the band’s idolatry and incense at home. . . . The second LP [from which today’s song is taken] is a record of “bitter experiences”. The songs are all situational reports about everyday people, Mr. Advertising, silly girls, beliefs . . . hope for change . . . . This record is the imprint of a showdown with certain illusions and hope fueled by new illusions. A situational assessment and statement, which holds the promise of a next, clean, summary LP. However, the Illés could not make this record. The scandal . . . in London closed the doors to them. On April 26, 1970, they started shooting their film with Márta Mészáros . . . but the work was stopped, they were banned from ORI events, they were not allowed to perform in the capital, the Hanglemezgyár did not release their records, Koncz Zsuzsa’s second album, Szerelem, on which compositions of Szörényi-Bródy can be heard, was not played on the radio – the record sold out in 100,000 copies anyway! -, they could not appear in public for a year. . . . The group was not officially condemned, the embargo that hit them seemed to be a tacit, yet unified measure. The mystery was then answered in the June 5, 1970 issue of the Magyar Ifjúság by István Takács’ article titled “Wronged saints or Illés and their slaps”. It turned out that the Illés chatted recklessly and freely in a BBC program and thereby provided material for enemy propaganda. . . . The accepted, award-winning, adored “saints” were pushed off the rock Olympus and turned into black sheep.

http://www.zikkurat.hu/illes/bio_1.shtml

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Inge Christofersen — “Refleksjoner”/”Reflections”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 11, 2025

“Refleksjoner” starts at 0:56.

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

1,519) Inge Christofersen — “Refleksjoner”/”Reflections”

Such an indescribably gorgeous pop rock song from Inge Christofersen’s solo LP — but it is in Norwegian (and I can’t find the Norwegian lyrics) so I have no idea what it is about. If someone would want to enlighten me, I would be grateful. Two of the album’s other songs got banned by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. — one because it made fun of Norwegian actress and model Julie Ege’s on screen and in print nudity (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/02/obituaries.world) and the other because it made fun of one of Norway’s two dueling Communist parties. I’m not making this up.

Jon Vidar Bergan tells us of Inge Christofersen (courtesy of Google Translate):

In the 1960s he made three singles with the pop group Souls, in 1970 he released a critically acclaimed solo LP, in 1979 he wrote a Grand Prix song and in 1984 an ambitious album . . . . In the late autumn of 1965 he formed the pop group Souls together with fellow students at Hokksund Gymnas [high school]. . . . Inge was the vocalist, played a little guitar and organ, and wrote five of the six songs Souls recorded . . . . They came in 2nd place in the Norwegian National Championship in rock in 1966 and were rewarded with a record contract . . . . The debut single “Mother” entered VG’s “The Best Norwegian” list on July 13, 1966 and . . . [was the] 11th most popular Norwegian single of the year[.] Souls was the 8th most popular Norwegian artist of the year. . . . Inge wrote “Mother” after his mother died of cancer when he was 16. . . . 1967 [saw] the sequel “The Day is over” . . . . [The] 3rd and final single in 1968, “Money” . . . is advanced and sophisticated pop music of high quality. In the spring of 1969, Souls disbanded. Inge moved to Hamar after high school to attend teacher training college, but after graduating in 1969 he had little desire to work as a teacher. He sent his special assignment from teacher training college to Arne Bendiksen and offered to work there as a producer in his studio. . . . While the studio was not in use, Inge recorded a number of his songs for free. He played all instruments except drums . . . on the solo single “Ingen diskresjon”[/”No Discretion”]/”Liv og død”[/”Life and Death”] . . . . [O]n the solo LP “Refleksjoner” . . . he was the producer and arranger, and played piano, organ, spinet, vibraphone, guitar, bass, flute and a little drums. . . . Several of the lyrics were political, and two of the songs were so controversial that NRK [the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp.] banned them from being played: “Du lot alle sammen få se”[/”You Let Everyone See”], which ironized Julie Ege’s nudity, and “Hurra for Mao”[/”Hooray for Mao”], which [radio host] Harald Are Lund refused to play because it criticized the AKP (ML) [the Norwegian Maoist political party]. Inge received a letter of solidarity written on Christmas Day 1970 at a musician’s party . . . . After the solo album, Inge started working at Coop in Oslo. He married in 1971 and had [a] daughter . . . in 1974. In the late 1970s, he took his family to Tanzania to work. But he continued to write songs, and in 1979 his entry for the Melodi Grand Prix was accepted. “Sang uten ord”[/”Song Without Words”] was performed by Gudny Aspaas, who is best known as the vocalist in Ruphus. It finished 7th out of 8 songs in the final . . . and was never released on record. In 1981 . . . [in] a competition for various cultural expressions in the fight against drugs[,] Inge’s artistic contribution was the mini-musical “Hvite hester”[/”White Horses”], which won one of the three first prizes. . . . [and] was staged by the National Theatre . . . .

https://eikerarkiv.no/inge-christofersen-1947-2008/

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Johnny Allon — “En Mi Ciudad”/”In My City”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 10, 2025

“En Mi Ciudad” starts at 23:35

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

1,518) Johnny Allon — “En Mi Ciudad”/”In My City”

The trailblazing and flamboyant Argentine rocker, TV personality and entrepreneur gave us this effervescent horn-accented number from his ’68 solo LP.

Wikipedia tells us (courtesy of Google Translate):

Antonio Juan Sánchez, later better known as Johnny Allon, grew up in . . . Buenos Aires . . . . [D]uring his adolescence he was a lover of rock, especially Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, as well as having a deep admiration for . . . bandleader Glenn Miller. Regarding music, he was part of The Tammys . . . that did covers of the Beatles, among other artists . . . . After making the Fotonovela de Los Tammys, he made his film debut in 1966 with Una ventana al éxito, a musical comedy . . . . In his early days he used the pseudonym Johnny Willy . . . . Later, he formed his own group, “Johnny Allon y su Banda Púrpura” . . . with which he recorded several singles. In the early 70s he formed a rock group called “Caballo Vapor” . . . . [A]t the end of that decade he moved away from music and opted to venture into television, being the protagonist – as host – of the Johnny Allon Show cycle, broadcast between 1978 and 1987 . . . a pioneering program in Argentina in the diffusion of music videos. . . . The program began to be called Johnny Allon Presenta from 1984 . . . . For many years he produced and hosted Johnny Allon Presents which was . . . reproduced in countries such as Mexico and the United States . . . . Allon popularized the phrases “change my music” and “give it power “, frequently used as catchphrases. . . . He is . . . considered one of the first entrepreneurs to establish dance clubs of the so-called “tropical music” (bailanta) in Argentina. . . . In 2015, he launched a new program, Johnny Allon Max . . . dedicated to music and humor, ending its broadcast on said channel at the end of 2019.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Allon#cite_note-4

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Messe Blanche/White Mass — “Messe Blanche”/”White Mass”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 9, 2025

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

1,517) Messe Blanche/White Mass — “Messe Blanche”/”White Mass”

I’m not waffling over this Belgian number — it is a “soulish freakbeat go-go psych dancer” (Edu Lazaro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP82419KJOg), “a groovy, church organ dominated, go-go freakbeat cut, with a doomy atmosphere all over!” (Up to Eleven, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3HJVQMV-k) Oh, and with “great keys & top notch groovy rhythm section”. (https://www.popsike.com/MESSE-BLANCHE-1970-Belgian-MOD-SOUL-PSYCH-FREAKBEAT/200068356339.html)

Up to Eleven tells us that “Messe Blanche . . . was a Belgian conceptual band formed by a couple of students. They recorded a single 45 at the Cultural Centre of Leuven which was to be played at an avant-garde theatre art performance.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3HJVQMV-k)

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McCully Workshop — “The Circus”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 8, 2025

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

1,516) McCully Workshop — “The Circus”

One of South Africa’s greatest rock bands (see #399, 544) gives us “an up-tempo psychedelic pop-rocker with strong vocal harmonies, distorted guitar sounds . . . .and great flute playing” (Brian Currin, liner notes to the CD reissue of McCully Workshop Inc., https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/mccully-workshop-inc/) that is “ballsy and psychedelic, with urgent rhythm guitar and frantic lead guitar”. (Kurt Shoemaker, liner notes to the Korean CD reissue of McCully Workshop Inc., http://sarockdigest.com/archives/issue_194.txt)

“Circus” is from the “superb South African band’s stunning debut album [McCully Workshop Inc.].” (The Forced Exposure, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/about/) “Of all the albums we’ve heard from South Africa this one is topscore. What a beautiful masterpiece. Pepper-influenced underground music with great songs, lovely vocals, strong harmonies, great distorted guitarwork.” (Psychedelic-Music.com, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/mccully-workshop-inc/) Oh, and “[w]hen asked to name his favourite song on the . . . album besides ‘Why Can’t It Rain’, Tully [McCullagh] says without hesitation, ‘The Circus’. ” (Brian Currin again)

Brian Currin writes that “McCully Workshop is arguably one of South Africa’s finest pop rock bands. They started way back in the ’60’s, dominated the South African airwaves in the ’70’s, continued through the ’80’s and ’90’s and in the 21st century are still going strong.” (https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/about/) Currin provides some more history:

The McCullagh brothers, Tully . . . and Mike . . . . started as a folk-rock trio [in ‘65] with Richard Hyam and called themselves the Blue Three. Richard had been in a folk duo, Tiny Folk, with his sister Melanie. . . . “I had my own studio in the garage since I was 12” remembers Tully. . . . The brothers’ father, radio personality Michael Drin (his stage name), painted the name “McCully Workshop, Inc.” on the garage wall. “McCully” was an easier-to-spell version of McCullagh and the “Inc.” was a tongue-in-cheek addition. . . . Mike McCullagh [says] “In 1969 I was 22 and Tully was 16, along with Richard Hyam, his sister Melanie and Allan Faull the group started.” . . . Tully wrote ‘Why Can’t It Rain’ in the middle of the night and this became a hit single putting McCully Workshop on the charts for the first time[ and] dr[awing] the attention of the Gallo label, and they said they wanted an album. McCully Workshop signed probably the first independent licensing deal with a major label in South Africa. The Inc. album shows a variety of styles and influences including The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd. “Sgt Pepper was very important, as were the pop charts at the time”, recalls Tully. Another big influence, according to Tully, was The Moody Blues Threshold Of A Dream which was released in April 1969.

liner notes to The Best of McCully Workshop, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/the-best-of-mccully-workshop/

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Los Ovnis/The UFOs — “Infinito”/”Infinite”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 7, 2025

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

1,515) Los Ovnis/The UFOs — “Infinito”/“Infinite”

From “the greatest punk band that Mexico has ever produced” (wirtis, http://garagelatino.blogspot.com/2013/09/los-ovnis-hippies-1968.html?m=1) (see #654), from an LP of “arguably the most filthy and authentic sounding garage rock ever sung in Spanish” (Spanish Pop Lyrics, https://spanishpoplyrics.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/cuando-era-nino-by-los-ovnis/) that was “a musical punch right in the face of the Mexican middle-class society” (Light in the Attic Records, https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1218-hippies), comes “a grade-A fuzz monster that belongs in anyone’s garage collection” (getitinyoursoul, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/los-ovnis/hippies/), with “[p]owerful distorted guitar chords by the great Ernesto de León” (Viaje al Espacio Visceral/Journey into Visceral Space (courtesy of Google Translate), http://viajealespaciovisceral.blogspot.com/2018/04/los-ovnis-hippies.html?m=1)

“Infinito” is a track on the UFO’s ‘68 album Hippies, the first completely original Mexican rock album, “a superb album of psych fuzz music, sung in Spanish, from a great Mexican band” (Hectorvadair1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/los-ovnis/hippies/). Light in the Attic Records writes:

When we are talking about really rare and great albums from Mexico . . . Los Ovnis-Hippies is perhaps the second rarest one right after Kaleidoscope. . . . The 1968 Summer Of Love and the political protest of the young rebel culture created the desire to produce a stronger album with own songs, heavier garage sounds and counter-culture lyrics. This album became something the Mexican society in 1968 was not ready for. It was too idealistic and too psychedelic to become popular and the original label released it with no promotion at all. That’s why this album became so good and so rare. Los Ovnis are 5 musicians from Mexico City. Strong garage songs, great Spanish vocals, amazing guitars, organ and rough sounds.

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1218-hippies

Gustavo Zamora lets Ernesto de León give us his history of the band (courtesy of Google Translate):

In 1961 . . . singer and composer Armando Vázquez formed the “Teddy Bears” . . . . In 1965, they changed their name to Los Ovnis . . . . In later LPs a fundamental element was present, [guitarist] Ernesto de Jesús de León Rodríguez . . . . [who] remembers . . . . “I was in high school and I was about twelve years old when I started to get interested in rock and roll. My greatest dream was to be able to play the guitar, like I saw the Beatniks, the Locos or the Teen Tops doing in their groups. My first musical experiences were with my cousins Pepe and Raúl Rodríguez. We played improvised instruments, since we made the drums with a tub and the guitars were made of cardboard. At that time, I loved going to XEW on Saturdays, to the program “Sábados Alegres” to listen to the groups that performed there, among which were the Beatniks and the Teddy Bears. By then I was already organizing my group called the “Flashes”, but we didn’t last long because they wanted to continue playing the Ventur[es]’ vibe and I was fascinated by the “Liverpool Sound”, that was around 1963, in the middle of my adolescence, it was a very confusing time for me… I went back to my studies, but I was still depressed… Then I discovered that if I didn’t play the guitar I would die of sadness. That was when Jorge del Razo (El Calaco) put me in contact with Armando Vázquez and soon after I became part of the Ovnis… I had already seen them as Teddy Bears. Then I saw them as UFOs in various existentialist cafes and at a rock and roll festival at the National Auditorium . . . . We toured the interior of the country; I remember having played in soccer stadiums packed with fans. That was in the golden age of the Cafés Cantantes: the Roselli, the Trip and the Tiki Tiki and others. It was one of the best periods for Mexican rock. . . . [A]s we played every day, I had to evolve; there was work for all the rock and rollers and there were more girls, the youth movement in general was very good. I participated in the recording of an original album with the UFOs, that was in 1968, and although the album was good, it was not accepted because the public still did not like the original songs very much. Apart from that, inexplicably, the UFOs never made the definitive leap, despite being a very good group; also, since they were older than me, we could never fully understand each other. Age was like a barrier between us and due to many internal problems the group disintegrated. . . . In those years the hippie movement was emerging in San Francisco and from there it spread to the entire world. We fully identify with the movement and its ideals of peace, justice and love… That’s why we decided to record a rock album with original songs, which would reflect the mentality of Mexican youth in those years and would serve as a message for the new generations of young rock and roll lovers.”

https://estroncio90.typepad.com/blog/2009/08/cuando-era-ni%C3%B1o-rese%C3%B1a-de-los-ovnis.html

Armando Vázquez recalls (courtesy of Google Translate):

When Discos Peers signed us as Los Ovnis in 1965 . . . now what we wanted was to make original music and not versions in Spanish, but the label just wanted us to continue making songs like ‘“Enrique VIII” or “Little Help from Mama” who was from The Rolling Stones. We gave them everything they wanted, because we even released three albums in less than a year, which were Los Ovnis, Somos Amantes and Napoleón XIV. It wasn’t until I told the label that we were going to release an album with original songs with or without them, and that’s how Hippies came out. Even though they made us [do a] cover . . . I only accepted “Light My Fire” by The Doors. So, look, it took eight years for us to finally get to the sound we wanted. . . . The best moment for the band was with Hippies, of course, it’s a record that I’m very proud of . . . . However, when that record came out in 1968, the massacre of the students also occurred, and the record company told us that they were not going to put us on the radio or anything, because the President had vetoed anything young, anything rebellious. That demotivated me a lot, that and the depressing atmosphere that was felt were the reasons that led me to leave the band and better finish my degree.

https://www.indierocks.mx/musica/entrevistas/entrevista-con-los-ovnis/

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“Long Time Comin'” Special Edition: Ellie Greenwich/Ann-Christine Nyström and Ulla Ja Tiin: Ellie Greenwich — “Long Time Comin'”, Ann-Christine Nyström and Ulla Ja Tiina — “Liian Monta Päivää”/”Long Time Comin’”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 6, 2025

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

A deliriously good pop soul kiss-off song written and sung by girl group genius Ellie Greenwich on her ’68 solo album Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings is transformed into a funky Finnish number by singer Ann-Christine Nyström.

1,513) Ellie Greenwich — “Long Time Comin'”

“Long Time Comin'” is “richly soulful” (Joseph Neff, https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/graded-on-a-curve-ellie-greenwich-i-want-you-to-be-my-baby-bw-goodnight-goodnight/), a “more serious-minded soul-pop outing that’s moodier than most of her compositions”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/composes-produces-sings-mw0000556412)

Kreen writes of Composes, Produces and Sings:

It sounds like something out of time, really: in 1967, in an era of psychedelic rock, genius Brill-Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich, with the help of producer extraordinaire Bob Crewe on two numbers, produced a gem of a record. She had it all: talent as a musician and songwriter, good looks and a great voice. And on this LP, she provides rich and sophisticated production on a mix of songs she wrote herself and other great covers that she gives real character to. There’s no filler here; all of the numbers could have been released as singles. This is like Sgt Pepper’s never happened and the girl-group sound persevered into 1968, the year in which this was released.

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/ellie-greenwich-composes-produces-and-sings-a-lost-60s-classic.938587/

Well, I’m glad that Sgt Pepper’s happened, but I’m also glad that Composes, Produces and Sings did. It has the best version of “Niki Hoeky” that I’ve ever heard.

Jude Rogers tells us of Ellie Greenwich:

Ellie Greenwich . . . co-wrote some of the decade’s most extraordinary songs –” “Be My Baby” and “Da Doo Ron Ron” for the Ronettes, “Leader of the Pack” for the Shangri-Las, “I Can Hear Music” for the Beach Boys, and “River Deep, Mountain High” for Ike and Tina Turner. . . . Born in 1940 to a Russian father and an American mother . . . . [i]n her late teens, she met her first husband, Jeff Barry; both sharing a love of the pop music that emerged at the end of the 50s. As their relationship blossomed, so did their songwriting. A few years later, they would become one of the Brill Building’s biggest assets alongside Carole King and Gerry Goffin, its more famous husband-and-wife writing team. Back then, the music industry was incredibly male-dominated. Women were largely only background singers or lyricists, but Greenwich’s abilities quickly led her to become a producer. “There were few women who played piano, wrote songs, and could go into a studio, work those controls and produce,” she told Charlotte Greig, in an interview in the late 80s. Music publishers rushed to get her to record new artists, and she became known in the industry as the “Demo Queen”. But Greenwich’s songwriting, as well as her producing, was top-notch, too. Her early classics are tirelessly, hopelessly romantic – full of passionate sentiments straight out of a young girl’s heart. . . . developing the career of a new singer-songwriter she’d chanced upon called Neil Diamond. Greenwich also worked with Dusty Springfield and Frank Sinatra, released her own album Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings, and had two chart hits that showed off her raw, fabulous voice.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/aug/27/ellie-greenwich

Steve Kurutz writes:

Songwriter Ellie Greenwich helped to shape and popularize the girl group sound of the early ’60s that included such acts as the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las, and the Crystals, becoming, in the process, one of the most respected pop songwriters of the era. Like most of her generation, Greenwich was transfixed with the sounds of rock & roll and, between college classes, hung out at a local record shop . . . . The owner of the shop introduced Greenwich to some label scouts and soon she found herself recording a single for MCA under the name Ellie Gaye. The single flopped, however, but in a moment of fate she met aspiring songwriter Jeff Barry in 1962 at a party and soon the two began writing songs together, eventually becoming husband and wife. After composing for a few short months, the duo made an appointment at the famed Brill Building . . . . Greenwich and Barry were taken into the fold by Leiber and Stoller and began writing and producing for Phil Spector’s short-lived Philles label. It was during this period that Greenwich co-wrote some of her most lasting songs, including “Da Do Ron Ron” and “Be My Baby.” Greenwich and Barry also recorded an album under the name the Raindrops, scoring with “The Kind of Boy You Won’t Forget.” In 1964, Greenwich and her songwriting husband teamed up with Leiber and Stoller to write for their Red Bird imprint. It was with Red Bird that the girl group sound was molded into perfection by Greenwich, Barry, Leiber, Stoller and producer George “Shadow” Morton. . . . Greenwich continued to write hit records with Jeff Barry, including the seminal “River Deep, Mountain High” and the Beach Boys’ 1969 hit “I Can Hear Music,” but, like the team of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, when their marriage soured so did their writing partnership. Greenwich continued on in the music industry, recording a singer/songwriter album for Verve Records in 1973 and providing background vocals to many of rock’s biggest stars.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ellie-greenwich-mn0000154326#biography

1,514) Ann-Christine Nyström, Ulla Ja Tiina — “Liian Monta Päivää”/”Long Time Comin’”

This was a ’69 B-side from Finland by Ann-Christine Nyström and Ulla Ja Tiina (“[a] Finnish vocal duo that consisted of twins Ulla and Christina Rif” (https://www.discogs.com/artist/1468621-Ulla-Ja-Tiina?srsltid=AfmBOoqd6xA700Uob_LvAEuA-KilDapOBXnqKCq6TO1Zjp2khas8lUvM)), with Finnish lyrics by Kari Tuomisaari.

Jukka Lindfors tells us of Ann-Christine (courtesy of Google Translate):

Ann-Christine Nyström . . . began her career in the early 1960s with upbeat twist songs. Her well-known recordings include “Kun twistataan”, “Lalaika”, “Mennään tansimaan”, and many Beatles covers sung with Johnny Liebkind. With the emergence of soul and blues, Ann-Christine also had the opportunity to interpret more African-American material, including the song See-Saw made famous by Aretha Franklin. Ann-Christine represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966 with the song Playboy.

https://yle.fi/a/20-94353

Wikipedia adds(courtesy of Google Translate):

A family friend of the Nyströms entered Ann-Christine’s record company . . . into a singing competition, which was held at the Helsinki Cultural Centre in 1961. Ann-Christine won the competition with her German-language song “Bei mir bist du schön”. Ann-Christine’s first recording was the single “Lalaika / Kun twistataan”, which was based on a Russian folk tune and was released in 1962. “Lalaika” became a popular song and new recordings were quickly made. Ann-Christine’s second single was “Ciribim-Ciribom”/ “Mennään tanssimaan”. The third single, in turn, included German-language versions of “Lalaika” and Marion’s Eurovision hit “Tipi-Tii”. However, the new singles did not reach the popularity of the first single. In the mid-1960s, Ann-Christine made joint recordings with Johnny (“Eksynyt kuulu oon”) and The Renegades (“Comin’ Home Baby”). She also appeared as a soloist with Tauno Suojanen’s band, Jussi Itkonen’s The Strangers and Danny’s Islanders, among others. In 1966, she represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 . . . with . . . “Playboy” and came in tenth place. . . . [T]he song from becoming a hit in Finland. In the summer of 1966, Ann Christine toured Sweden . . . . [S]he also had a Finnish version of Miriam Makeba’s hit “Pata Pata” on the charts , but her peak popularity was beginning to fade. Ann-Christine continued to record until 1969 and perform until 1973.

https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann-Christine

Here is the UK’s Bimbi Worrick:

Here are the Chicks from New Zealand:

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Los Shakers — “Nunca Nunca”/”Never Never”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 5, 2025

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

1,512) Los Shakers — “Nunca Nunca”/”Never Never”

From the Uruguayan Beatles (see #906) — no joke — this infectious ’66 number is a “[w]onderful song, a mix of bossa nova, British invasion rock & roll and Latin rhythms”. (dnlllm (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJbso_FZjKg) I’ve played songs that I’ve called Beatlesque, and I’ve played a song that I called “the greatest early Beatles imitation I have ever heard” (see #849). But hands down, Los Shakers were the greatest Beatles fascimile of all time — “the Realest Fake Beatles to ever record” (Gaylord Fields, https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/07/fake-beatles-no.html), “one of the most uncannily Beatlesque bands from anywhere, at any time” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/por-favor%21-mw0000102599). They led what Wikipedia cheekily calls “the Uruguayan Invasion” of Latin America. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Shakers)

Mike Stax tells us:

[I]n 1964 [Los Shakers] . . . began to peddle the new Mersey Sound — Montivideo style. This was a potentially embarrassing recipe, to be sure — other bands around the world certainly made fools of themselves trying — but [Los] Shakers proved to be an entirely more convincing proposition. Not only did they have the musical smarts to pull off the sound, but in the Fattoruso brothers they also possessed a strong songwriting team who could dash off Beatles-flavored original material with disarming ease. Their first single in 1964, . . “Rompan Todo” . . . . became a massive hit all over South America, and the group toured across most of the continent to rapturous receptions.

liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II (Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969)

Richie Unterberger writes:

The concept of a Uruguayan band in the mold of the Hard Day’s Night-era Beatles may seem absurd, but it did happen in the mid-’60s. . . . [T]he Shakers . . . were fairly successful in mimicking the jangle of the early Beatles sound, writing most of their material with a decent grasp of the British Invasion essentials of catchy tunes and enthusiastic harmonies. . . . [S]oundwise the Shakers were actually superior to many of the bona fide Mersey groups . . . . The group was formed by brothers Hugo Fattoruso (lead guitar, keyboards) and Osvaldo Fattoruso (rhythm guitar), who as a team wrote most of their material. Like so many combos around the world, the specific motivation to form the group came from watching . . . A Hard Day’s Night. The band remained extremely influenced by the Beatles throughout their career . . . . [It] became very big in both Uruguay and Argentina, and also toured in several other South American countries. There was never a concerted effort on the band’s part to invade the English-speaking market, and they never played in North America. However, a small New York label, Audio Fidelity, took the unusual step of issuing a Shakers album, Break It All, in the States in early 1966. This LP actually consists mostly of re-recordings (and good ones) of songs from their debut Uruguayan long-player, as well as songs that had appeared on singles. . . . The Shakers continued to follow the Beatles’ lead through 1968, introducing Revolver-like guitars and backwards effects, and then some Magical Mystery Tour-type psychedelia, as well as some occasional influence of their native South American rhythms and musical styles. . . . The Shakers broke up toward the end of the 1960s, with the Fatturoso brothers recording an album for Odeon in 1969 before moving to the United States for a few years to work with Airto Moreira, and then forming the Latin rock group Opa.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/los-shakers-mn0000360089/biography

Gaylord Fields adds:

Hugo, Osvaldo, Pelin and Caio . . . were as uncannily accomplished at bringing forth the psychedelic Pepperisms as the Merseybeat. . . . [T]he language they actually sang in . . . was a charmingly imperfect English. [They cast a] magical spell . . . . The group . . . play[ed] . . . jazz[] when they contracted Beatlemania after a screening of ¡Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Paul, John, George y Ringo! (or A Hard Day’s Night, as it’s known to the gringos). Signed to EMI’s Odeon label in Argentina, Los Shakers issued three spectacular LPs in their 1965-68 recording lifespan (actually, four, if you count their U.S. only re-recordings of their early songs . . . ).

https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/07/fake-beatles-no.html

As to Uruguay’s place in rock history, Eric Zolov writes that:

Squeezed in between mighty Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has historically served as a geopolitical buffer zone, a nation whose own political and cultural identity has been overshadowed by its powerful neighbors. Yet during the 1960s this small country generated some of the most original rock found anywhere in the hemisphere. Foreign influences abounded, from the Anglo-rock invasion by the U.K. and the U.S., to the commercialized pop of Argentina and the cultural remixings of the Brazilian tropicalistas. Uruguayan rockers chewed on these influences and spat them back, mockingly at first and more somberly as the night of political repression fell. Uruguay was long known as the Switzerland of South America. It had a stable, two-party political system with a large middle class. The military had stayed out of politics and wasn’t expected to come back. When Beatlemania hit the Western Hemisphere, Uruguayan youth were especially ready to join in the revelry. “Discódromo,” a freewheeling radio program (and, later, TV show) started by Rubén Castillo in 1960, had already exposed the youth of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, to the teen culture emerging abroad. . . . [With] Los Shakers. . . . Uruguay’s era of English-language música beat had begun. Other groups soon followed, notably Los Mockers, whose artful impersonation of The Rolling Stones was the counterpart to Los Shakers. . . . By the mid 1960s, scores of so-called “beat bands” were performing across Uruguay. They did so in spaces ranging from the semi-underground cuevas (caves), as they were known, to the ritzy hotels and private clubs that dotted the country’s beach resorts. Except for Los Shakers . . . these bands essentially performed covers of foreign hits. Moreover, they all sang in English. They did so not sheepishly but with unabashed exuberance . . . . As Esteban Hirschfield, organist for Los Mockers, later remarked in an interview, there was “no shame” in imitating the Stones “as closely as possible.” “On the contrary,” he reflected, “we were proud of it.” Singing in English seemed the obvious ticket for staking a claim to a world beyond Uruguay. . . . By 1968, the cultural climate for making music was undergoing a radical shift. A self-confidence established over the previous years had laid the foundations for greater experimentation. The political situation had shifted as well. Los Tupamaros, an urban guerrilla group, captured the headlines with a spate of kidnappings in the name of revolutionary justice. . . . In June 1968, the president declared a state of emergency, suspending numerous constitutional protections. Uruguay was now on a slippery slope that lead to direct military rule in 1973. . . . [But] for a brief period, English-language Uruguayan rock dominated the South American pop charts.

https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2011/07/25/137627714/shakers-and-mockers-uruguays-place-in-latin-rock-history#English3

Here in Spanish:

On TV, they even look like the Beatles!

Again on TV:

“[T]his is the second of the two shorts that Carlos Tato Ariosa made in Uruguay based on film material that Osvaldo gave him (mostly fragments of Rodolfo Corral’s filming and home movies).” (danielgrigera7125, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34ij9IhsJk):

Documentary on the band, in Spanish:

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Arlette Zola — “Lula Lula”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 4, 2025

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

1,511) Arlette Zola — “Lula Lula”

This ’67 yé-yé* A-side by Swiss singer Arlette Zola, released on the French label Disc’ AZ, is a lulu!

The Swiss Disco blog page (“your ultimate source for the latest and most exciting news from the world of the Swiss club and disco scene!”) tells us about Arlette (courtesy of Google Translate):

Arlette Zola was born Arlette Jaquet in the city of Fribourg . . . . Her mother and stepfather ran the Restaurant de la Grand-Fontaine there. Still a child, she already sang for the guests, accompanying herself on the guitar. The driving force behind her career was her stepfather, René Quazzola, from whose surname Arlette’s stage name is derived. He financed Arlette Zola’s first record and built up contacts with the music industry. The immediate result was a recording contract with the Paris label, “Disc AZ”. In late 1966, the single “Elles sont coquines” . . . came out. “Elles sont coquines” constituted Arlette Zola’s commercial breakthrough. It was followed in 1967 by “Deux garçons pour une fille”, “Le marin et la sirène” and “Je n’aime que vous” which figured prominently in the radio hit parades of the French-speaking world. Arlette Zola adorned the front pages of teenie magazines, appeared in many TV programs and gave live performances at home and abroad. Her 1967 guest appearances in Brazil and in Bulgaria, where she won an international song contest, deserve special mention. She also aroused interest in Germany and made a considerable number of recordings there. But there were no more major hits. As of 1970 Arlette Zola gradually withdrew from show business. After her marriage in 1972, she and her husband went into farming for several years in canton Fribourg. Shortly after the birth of a daughter in 1979, Arlette Zola and her husband decided to separate. Thanks to support from Geneva musician and composer, Alain Morisod, Arlette Zola made a musical comeback. In 1982 she represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest . . . . Singing Morisod’s composition “Amour on t’aime”, Arlette Zola finished in third place, the best ranking by a Swiss contestant in many years. New records followed, as well as regular live performances, mainly in French-speaking Switzerland.

Source: Interviews with Arlette Zola, February 2004 and July 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20080108070925/http://www.swissdisco.ch/zola/index-e.php

Swiss radio station Radio SRF Musikwelle tells us more (courtesy of Google Translate):

As a teenager, she entertained guests with her songs in her mother’s restaurant De la Grand-Fontaine. As innkeepers, the parents had little time for their children. “The guests were my family,” says the singer looking back. Serving and singing, she ensured well-being and entertainment. . . . [She] was really discovered through a TV appearance as part of a singing competition. In 1966 the successful single “Elles sont coquines” was released. A year later, the songs “Deux garçons pour une fille”, “Le marin et la sirène” and “Je n’aime que vous”, which were equally successful in Francophone countries. The Freiburg native became a star. For some she was a female Heintje, for others even a Swiss Mireille Mathieu. She toured the country with Paola and Toni Vescoli and also appeared regularly on television in France with greats such as Silvie Vartan, France Gall [see #36, 1,361] and Claude François. But you won’t find any airs and graces with her. With great modesty she still says today: “I’m not a star, just a woman who likes to sing.” Then Arlette Zola follows her heart. She gets married, becomes a mother and puts her career on hold for the sake of her family. Then the marriage falls apart. In order to make a living for herself and her daughter, she works again as a waitress. A newspaper once described this chapter of his life as “Les années noirs”. Arlette Zola sees it differently: “That time wasn’t that black – maybe a little gray.”

https://www.srf.ch/radio-srf-musikwelle/zu-gast-im-brunch-arlette-zola-ein-star-ohne-allueren

* What is yé-yé? Matt Collar explains:

Yé-yé pop showcased young, cherubic-voiced female singers framed against dance-ready beats and rock & roll hooks in songs often riddled with thinly veiled sexual innuendo. It was bubblegum pop meets softcore porn and it was massively successful in Europe from the late ’50s through the ’60s.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/sensationnel%21-y%C3%A9-y%C3%A9-bonbons-1965-1968-mw0002813954

Here is the B-side, an orchestral version by Norman Maine et son Orchestre:

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Lucio Battisti — “Anna”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 3, 2025

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

1,510) Lucio Battisti — “Anna”

Avvertimento! Warning! If you are from Italy, read no further! For this was a #1 hit and the sixth best selling single of the year! (https://www.hitparadeitalia.it/hp_yends/hpe1970.htm) A monumental, emotionally gripping song, it is Italy’s “Eloise” (see #264). Barry and Paul Ryan . . . meet Lucio Battisti.

Wikipedia (courtesy of Google Translate) reports on “Anna”:

[“Anna” is] a screaming ballad of the protagonist longing for this great love . . . . The song features a sober background melody in addition to choruses that follow the singer’s voice, which gives voice to his unrealizable desires. Battisti’s voice is sad and dark in the verse, then flows into a cry of anger in the chorus that evokes his memories of the wonderful moments spent with Anna. The chorus became a hit among young people . . . .

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emozioni/Anna

Greg Prato tells us of Lucio Battisti:

Even before the early death of Italian singer/songwriter Lucio Battisti at the age of 55, he was considered among the most legendary and influential musicians and songwriters in Italian rock and pop. Battisti was born . . . in the small town of Poggio Bustone, in Rieti, Italy. His family relocated to Rome in 1950, and by the mid-’60s, Battisti was performing in local bands . . . . Interested in pursuing a career in music, Battisti relocated to Milan (Italy’s musical headquarters), where he sought the aid of a French talent scout, Christine Leroux. Leroux took Battisti under her wing, and he penned three sizeable hits in 1966 for other artists (“Per Una Lira” for Ribelli, “Dolce di Giorno” for Dik Dik, and “Uno in Più” for Riki Maiocchi. Battisti continued to write tunes for others in the late ’60s, as well as issuing his inaugural solo singles. During this time, the U.S. rock group the Grass Roots scored a hit stateside with one of Battisti’s compositions, “Balla Linda.” 1969 saw another one of Battisti’s compositions, “Il Paradiso (If Paradise Is Half as Nice),” become a hit in the U.K. when covered by the group Amen Corner, hitting the number one spot on the singles chart. Bolstered by his songwriting success, Battisti issued his 1969 self-titled debut album, which spawned the Italian hits “Acqua Azzurra, Acqua Chiara” and “Mi Ritorni in Mente.” Battisti continued to release solo albums on a regular basis throughout the ’70s.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lucio-battisti-mn0000252021#biography

“Live” ’70: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MUT4xnEsY

Swiss Rapper Maxi B’s 2010 song “Cosa Voglio di Più” is heavily indebted to “Anna”:

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The Haunted — “1-2-5”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 2, 2025

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

1,509) The Haunted — “1-2-5”

Warning: If you are from Canada, read no further! This is the Canada’s greatest garage rock song, and it was a #23 Canadian hit and #2 in Montreal. The song’s a “tough Stonesy number” (Mike Stax, liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969), a “snotty Stones takeoff” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/part-one-return-from-the-grave-mw0000946197), “[t]he quintessential 60s garage punk song. Perfect!” (johnanderson8046, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXkzao9KvA)

Mike Stax tells us of the Haunted (see #532) and the song:

Formed in early 1964, The Haunted was one of Montreal’s top-drawing acts and regularly toured throughout Southern Ontario and Quebec by the following year. In January 1966 they were first-place winners in an eight-hour battle of the bands, collecting as their prize a contract with Quality Records. The band, however, ran into immediate problems with the label, which rejected “125” as their debut release due to its “inappropriate” lyrical content about a liaison with a prostitute. Unbowed, The Haunted submitted a rerecorded version that replaced one of the more risque verses with some new lyrics referring to “a roomful of clowns” and a “line of executives,” a direct swipe at Quality’s censorial staff. Perhaps missing the implied insult, Quality went ahead with the release, issuing it in April 1966 — mistakenly crediting the first pressing to “The Hunted,” in a further display of ineptitude. [It] was an instant hit, reaching CFCF’s #2 spot in May 1966 and peaking at #23 nationally. The follow-up single also charted, but soon afterward singer Bob Burgess quit, and subsequent releases sold in diminishing quantities.

liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969

The “song that was about ‘a hooker and drugs’, according to [singer] Bob Burgess.” (https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/168259299019/the-haunted-the-haunted-1967-mega-rare-canada)

On the Haunted’s LP, the song “was re-recorded with “Bob Burgess”’ rough-hewn amateurism replaced by Johnny Monk’s more textured pipes . . . . but with its listless tempo and with Burgess’ spry vocal swapped for Monk’s muffled pipes, its effect is more a dull lethargy than snotty punk”. (https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/168259299019/the-haunted-the-haunted-1967-mega-rare-canada)

Richie Unterberger adds:

One of Canada’s most popular homegrown rock groups in the ’60s, though they made no inroads to the rest of North America. From the English-speaking community of Montreal, the group was very explicit in their desire to emulate the Rolling Stones and most of their 1966-1968 singles (as well as their sole LP, from 1967) were in a raunchy R&B/blues-rock style. As songwriters their range was pretty limited, and much of their material consisted of covers or thin rewrites of popular blues riffs.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-haunted-mn0001469476#biography

The band’s website notes that:

[Guitarist and band founder] Juergen Peter recounts that: “We were the most sought after and highest paid Canadian band for many years. When I folded the band in 1971, I had to cancel a whole year of advance bookings and it cost me a fortune in lawyer’s fees to get out of some of them.”

http://www.thehaunted.com/

Here is the unexpurgated version of the song, released on Amy Records in the U.S.:

On TV:

Here is the LP version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKZI573G-w

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Emy Jackson – “涙のゴーゴー”/”You Don’t Know Baby”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 1, 2025

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

1,508) Emy Jackson – “涙のゴーゴー”/”You Don’t Know Baby”

From Japan . . . in English, by England born Emy Jackson. This ‘66 A-side is a barn burner: “Don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that, a hidden gem. Those surf guitars, the way she belts out the chorus. Cool then, cool now. What a great track!” (jamesowen5702, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJLmoYns8i4) “This is so groovy! I love it”. (1mollietenpenny4093, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJLmoYns8i4) As do I!

Liz Shaw writes that Jackson’s “great grandfather was British and one of the first to settle in Japan after it opened to the west.” (https://garagehangover.com/emy-jackson/)

Sheila Burgel gives us more history:

Emy Jackson was born Emy Eaton in Essex, England . . . and raised in Yokohama. When Radio Kanto put out a want-ad for a bilingual teenaged DJ to host the Good Hit Parade show every Sunday, Jackson applied and got the job — despite being unable to read Japanese. But her DJ career was cut short when her colleague Reiko Yukawa found Jackson singing “You Are My Sunshine” whilst strumming the guitar and sent word to A&R man Akira Izumi at Columbia Records. In devising a strategy, Akira insisted that Jackson break with the cover-pops tradition and tackle original songs written by Japanese songwriters in her native language of English. To add further confusion, Jackson’s records would come out on CBS, an imprint of Columbia normally reserved for Western artists. . . . [Her first single reached #16] attest[ing] to the success of their plan, but follow-ups . . . didn’t have the same impact.

liner notes to the CD comp Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966-1970

Poppy Burton gives us even more:

[S]he became the first Japanese artist to have sold a million pop records that were sung in English. . . . After being released as an import in Japan, her single, “Crying in a Storm”, became a hit in 1965. At the time, the Japanese recording industry worked under an “exclusive writers” system, meaning Columbia artists could only sing material written by Columbia’s own writers. Jackson sidestepped this by releasing the surf-style song as a foreign artist on the CBS imprint despite being fluent in Japanese. In doing so, her songs ushered in a new era of English pop in Japan. Although imported music was more expensive than Japanese pop, her singing in English was a bold move that translated well in sales – “Crying in a Storm” reached number four on the foreign release chart that year. . . . Not only did Jackson introduce Japanese audiences to a new sound, but she paved the way for other bands to do the same. CBS used the same method . . . when they released the Blue Comets single “Blue Eyes”, a track also written by outsider writers and released on the imprint for foreign artists, despite being an all-Japanese band. Other labels started to follow suit, and the exclusive writer’s system started to crumble. Jackson’s efforts on her debut single revolutionised the antiquated system and allowed freelance writers to work on tracks. . . . Labels increasingly using the foreign artist formula gave rise to Group Sounds music. Often referred to as the GS sound, it was a genre of Japanese rock that fused Western rock and traditional Japanese kayōkyoku music, and it was Jackson who first dared to fuse the two.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/emy-jackson-the-singer-who-changed-japanese-culture-forever/

Chris Bishop writes that:

Most of her songs were composed by her vocal coach Yasutoshi Nakajima. . . . Her initial recording career was very brief, consisting of eight singles released in 1965 and 1966, always with a ballad on one side and an uptempo pop song on the other. . . . Emy retired from the music business by 1973.

https://garagehangover.com/emy-jackson/

Burton got to interview Jackson. He asked how she got her start in music, to which she responded: “The director of a radio program asked me if I could sing. I picked up my guitar and sang – that’s it. I had no intention of becoming a singer.” He also asked “Did singing in English limit your career at all? Why were your records were released as imports in Japan?” Jackson responded: “To get my start, English was a requirement to satisfy the foreign element of my contract. At the time there were no more openings for local contracts. Therefore, it was the idea of Columbia Records to introduce me as a foreign singer. In actuality my records were made in Japan but marketed as foreign records.” (https://garagehangover.com/emy-jackson/)

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The Black Diamonds — “I Want, Need, Love You”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 28, 2025

The song’s promo-video, made for and broadcast on the Australian ABC-TV program Be Our Guest.

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

1,507) The Black Diamonds — “I Want, Need, Love You”

From “one of the most ferocious garage punk outfits Australia ever produced in the 1960s”(Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop, http://www.milesago.com/artists/black-diamonds.htm), who, “[b]ased on the scant two singles to their name . . . deserve to be at the very top of the pantheon of 60s Australian rockers” (Alec Palao, liner notes to the CD comp Hot Generation!: 1960s Punk from Down Under), this “snarling” B-side “takes pride of place as one of the best cuts on Raven’s seminal Aussie 1960s punk collection Ugly Things“. (Ian McFarlane again) “[B]all-tearing”, it “is their indelible ‘garage’ classic . . . which easily ranks alongside any contemporary track by overseas groups” with a “frenetic power [that] sets it apart from almost anything else committed to record in Australia at the time”. (Milesago, http://www.milesago.com/artists/black-diamonds.htm) “The Best. The Most Amazing. The Ultimate 60’s Australian Garage Punk!” (vivienfleming4723, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNT0-f4h2SI) “Gotta love that last note. So wrong but so right :)”. (Scotttyist, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBUYKVnA74E)

Oh, and a cool promo video on the beach. I love the upside down sunglasses.

The definitive Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975 digs up some history on the Black Diamonds:

The Black Diamonds hailed from Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains of NSW, west of Sydney, and their name denoted those origins, Lithgow being a prominent coal-mining town. Alan Oloman and Alan Keogh first worked together in the Lithgow rockabilly band Johnny Kett’s Black Diamonds, which evolved into The Black Diamonds in 1965. Their musical excellence and striking originality were evident from the start — the group reportedly had a repertoire of more than 30 original songs, and three of their first four [single] sides were composed by band members. . . . [T]hey played widely around the state, remaining based in Lithgow, but . . . they found it inceasingly hard going in the face of repeated promoter rip-offs and the various physical hazards of life on the road in country NSW, and they eventually decided to relocate to Sydney during 1967. In late 1966 they achieved a remarkable feat when they signed a recording deal with Festival, making them the first pop band from the NSW Central West to get a record deal, and one of the first regional bands anywhere in Australia to be signed to a major label contract without becoming established in a capital city. Festival issued the band’s two brilliant singles . . . . By this time they had a strong following in the Central West and their own fan club, based in Orange . . . . A letter to Go-Set from a fan in Bathurst . . . revealed that . . . The Easybeats had named the Black Diamonds as the best support act they had ever played with. . . . In 1968 Darcy Rosser replaced Alan Keogh on bass, the band changed its name to Tymepiece and they moved permanently to Sydney. . . . Pat Aulton approached them to record a version of The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” to promote the opening of Stafford Bullen’s African Lion Safari at Warragamba, NSW. For the purposes single the group worked under the name The Love Machine. The song was a hit, but the band members then returned on to their own music . . . . As Tymepiece they issued three [s]ingles . . . . then mov[ing] to Festival’s progressive subsidiary label Infinity for the release of their ultra-rare debut album, Sweet Release . . . . [T]he band itself broke up not long after the album’s release in 1971, although Alan Oloman later turned up in the 1974 line-up of The Executives . . . .

http://www.milesago.com/artists/black-diamonds.htm

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Roberto Carlos – “Eu Te Darei O Ceu”/”I’ll Give You Heaven: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 27, 2025

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

1,506) Roberto Carlos – “Eu Te Darei O Ceu”/”I’ll Give You Heaven”

A joyful, exuberant ’66 song by Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos, the King of Jovem Guarda, which he wrote with Erasmo Carlos.

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.

https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/roberto-carlos

Alvaro Neder tells Carlos’ story:

[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.” In that period, he was scheduled to open a Bill Haley show . . . when he 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 . . . he 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 [see #1,011]. . . . 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 singe . . . . 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 and with the exception of brief periods of time . . . . 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 [containing “Eu Te Darei O Ceu”] 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.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roberto-carlos-mn0000292011#biography

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