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

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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The Matadors — “Get Down from the Tree” (’67 single version): Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 26, 2025

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

1,505) The Matadors — “Get Down from the Tree” (’67 single version):

Wild freakbeat from Czechoslovakia that is “truly impressive”, “[p]ropelled by a great twisted fuzz riff”, and “ducks and dips through some dynamic changes, highlighted by Radim Hladik’s fluid guitar playing and Viktor Sodoma’s heavily accented but soulful vocals”. (Mike Stax, liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the Britishy Empire and Beyond 1964-1969)

Stax tells us that the Matadors were “a hard R&B-based outfit who succeeded in releasing several superb records in the latter half of the ’60s. . . . [n]ot only sing[ing] in English, [but] also wr[iting] much of their own material”. (liner notes to Nuggets II)

Mark Deming tells us more:

The Matadors were one of the finest and most celebrated beat combos to emerge from Eastern Europe in the 1960s; they were a sensation in their native Czechoslovakia, and toured frequently in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, and other nations before eventually relocating to Munich. The first edition of the Matadors formed in early 1964, when bassist Otto Bezloja and sax player Jan Farmer Obermayer of the early Czech rock group Komety (aka the Comets) teamed up with Wilfried Jelinek, drummer with the Czech/German combo Pra-Be. Adopting the name Fontana, the group became a quintet with the addition of lead guitarist Radim Hladik and rhythm guitarist Vladimir Misik, who also sang lead. Fontana’s early gigs were in East Germany, where Jelinek, who was doing double duty as the group’s manager, had booking connections; in the spring of 1965, he struck an endorsement deal with a musical equipment manufacturer, and Obermayer moved from sax to a Matador-brand electronic organ, with the group renaming themselves after the instrument. In the fall of 1965, Jelinek gave up drumming to manage the Matadors full-time, and the band recruited new percussionist Miroslav Schwarz (aka Tony Black) as well as Karel Kahovec, a rhythm guitarist and vocalist, both former members of the combo Hell’s Devils. In 1966, the Matadors began making a name for themselves on Prague’s music scene; their tough, imaginative interpretations of American and British hits (often with amusingly misheard English vocals) and strong original material made them one of the most popular acts in town. The Czech Supraphon label took notice, and that year, the group made their recording debut, issuing a Czech-language single and a four-song EP in English. In the fall of 1966, the Matadors were booked to play a music festival in Belgium; however, Misik and Obermayer were performing their state-mandated service in the Army, and the band played the show as a four-piece. By 1967, Obermayer was back in the Matadors, but Misik and Kahovec were out, as was manager Jelinek; Viktor Sodoma, former of Flamengo, took over as lead singer. By this time, bassist Bezloja had become the group’s leader, and with Sodoma’s help he began revamping the Matadors’ image, as psychedelic rock and more adventurous sounds became the new trend around the world. When the Matadors recorded their first full-length album in 1968, they’d began incorporating extended psychedelic jams into their set . . . while Hladik was maturing into an exceptional guitarist. The album was popular at home and in Europe, but fate had its own plans for the group. In the summer of 1968, Sodoma and Obermayer left the Matadors, and Milos “Reddy” Vokurka became their new lead vocalist, while Jiri Matosek became their new keyboard man. With the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in late August 1968, the Matadors saw little future in Prague, and they accepted an offer to serve as the musical ensemble for the Munich production of the rock musical Hair. Not long before their departure, Radim Hladik left the Matadors to form his own group, the more experimental act the Blue Effect, with former bandmate Vladimir Misik; Petr Netopil signed on as guitarist for the Matadors’ final Czech performances and their run in Munich with Hair. After the Munich production of Hair closed in 1970, the Matadors were done, and Bezloja, Vokurka, and Matosek joined forces with Hanus Berka (a Czech sax player . . .) and drummer Udo Lindenberg to form a prog rock outfit called Emergency.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-matadors-mn0001303489#biography

Here is the ’68 LP version, with some new vocals. Mike Stax likes it better. “I’m cool, baby!”:

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The Golden Earrings — “You Break My Heart”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 25, 2025

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

1,504) The Golden Earrings — “You Break My Heart”

Here is a lovely “spare but sophisticated” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/winter-harvest-mw0000850313) “fragile harpsichord-powered ballad”* (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/golden-earrings/winter-harvest-1/) from Winter Harvest, the Golden Earrings’ (see #63, 163, 319, 1,215) second LP. The Earrings are my favorite British beat group . . . from Holland! But not only could they sound just as if they had washed up on a bank of the Mersey, a feat in and of itself, they also wrote great songs. Unlike some groups, they didn’t have the luxury of having Lennon and McCartney donate to the cause. The Earrings have earned a lot of good will in my book — everything that happened in the 70’s is forgiven! As Mark Deming writes:

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

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

Deming writes of Winter Harvest that:

[T]he Golden Earrings still sounded like a crack British Invasion-era outfit who had made a wrong turn somewhere when they cut . . . Winter Harvest, but they were inarguably a stronger and more ambitious group a year after releasing their debut. All 14 songs on Winter Harvest were originals (primarily written by bassist Rinus Gerritsen and guitarist George Kooymans) and the stylistic range of this collection is noticeably wider . . . exploring sounds and styles the band had not pursued before. [and t]hey could also rock harder than ever before . . . . The Golden Earrings clearly had the confidence to try new things when they recorded Winter Harvest, and with good reason — they sounded good on Just Earrings, but they’re tighter and sharper here, hitting a more consistent groove and making the most of the possibilities of the studio. Gerritsen began playing keyboards as well as bass on these recordings, and the added tonal colors serve the material well, and vocalist Frans Krassenburg had picked up a lot of nuance after a year of steady recording and performing. If Just Earrings was [their] Please Please Me, Winter Harvest is their Rubber Soul, an album that masterfully consolidates their old strengths while revealing many new ones. . . . [It] remains impressive more than four decades after it was released.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/winter-harvest-mw0000850313

Of the Earrings, Kieron Tyler tells us:

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

The Golden Earrings were riding high in 1966. Their first three singles had been massive Dutch hits, and the previous year had seen the release of their classic debut album . . . . [They] were already making records that should have been heard beyond the borders of their native Holland. . . . Winter Harvest marries a tough mod-beat approach to sensitive minor-key melodies, merging The Small Faces’ kineticism with the moody sensibilities of The Zombies. The sound was unique to The Golden Earrings, a band that carved their own niche from the start While other Dutch legends like Q’65 [see #108, 557, 913, 1,164, 1,227, 1,356] and The Outsiders were unhinged and freaked-out, The Golden Earrings focused their energies on structure and songwriting. . . . A year [after Just Earrings] they were riding high after three hit singles[, a]ll . . . kinetic numbers that relied on driving rhythms to make their mark. When the next single arrived in late August 1966 it became clear The Golden Earrings were absorbing the new textures that could be applied to pop. . . . [with] “Daddy Buy Me A Girl” [see #163]. . . . [I]n late November when it was announced that rhythm guitarist Peter de Ronde had left the band. . . . Continuing as a four piece . . . the band immediately began recording . . . Winter Harvest . . . . [which] was a quantum leap. There were no cover versions, and no songs that had already been issued as singles. . . . Overall . . . the sound was of a band that were in total control and utterly confident. . . . They played dates in Stockholm and Hamburg just before the release of Winter Harvest, and also licensed the album to Capitol Records in America. . . . But they didn’t find an American audience . . . . Back home, “In My House” and “Smoking Cigarettes” were extracted . . . as a single coupling in April 1967. As usual it was another massive Dutch hit. The single was followed by the departure of vocalist Frans Krassenburg. His replacement was Barry Hay, the frontman of Hague band The Haigs [see #138] . . . .

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-golden-earrings-just-ear-rings-1965.html, https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/12/golden-earrings-winter-harvest-1966.html

* I guess I should note that RDTEN1 also wrote that “[t]he song wasn’t really bad, but just never seemed to click.” (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/golden-earrings/winter-harvest-1/) Well, it clicked with me!

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Los Mitos/The Myths — “Es Muy Facil”/”It’s Very Easy”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 24, 2025

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

1,503) Los Mitos/The Myths — “Es Muy Facil”/”It’s Very Easy”

Warning — if you are from Spain, read no further, as this song was a huge hit for Los Mitos (see #1,244). For everyone else, the song is so bouncy, it beat Apollo to the Moon, so infectious, it could have caused a pandemic, so joyful, it still elicits responses like these:

“I had a childhood with family lunches on Sundays, no TV, no cell phone, just the record player or the radio in the background. Beautiful, sweet, happy songs and rhythms to listen to and dance to, I was a happy girl”. (mariaelianaescobar9823 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX7AenK2GFw)

“I am 66 years old and this song is one of my favorites, what a beautiful stage in my life, thank you for existing this musical group Los Mitos”. (CarlosGarcia-iz4dz (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX7AenK2GFw)

“What romanticism, what a beautiful time that will never return. Today I am 68 years old and whenever I listen to them, thank God my thoughts fly to those unforgettable days of youth, thank you. To the Myths.” (luisvindel8481 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX7AenK2GFw)

Musica60 tells us of Los Mitos (courtesy of Google Translate):

The group Los Mitos had a short musical history, but there is no doubt about the mark they left on Spanish pop. With their pleasant music, free of socio-political commitments and of undoubted freshness, they left their hometown, Bilbao, toured Spain and arrived in Latin America as a group of special quality. But for this group, not everything was easy, since since 1966 they were playing together under the name of Los Famélicos; but after the name change to Los Mitos and the inclusion of José Ignacio and Paco, the path changed for the better and after performances first in Vizcaya and on April 8, 1968 in Madrid, they were signed by Rafael Trabucchelli for the Hispavox record label. That same year, the single that served as the group’s introduction appeared. It included the song “Cuando Vuelvas[]” [see #1,244,] an easy-to-understand song with uncomplicated lyrics, arrangements similar to Beach Boys and an ideal structure between an orchestral rhythm and a vocal tragedy that made it one of the classic melodies of 1968. . . . In 1969, the song that gave them total success appeared, containing a catchy chorus, “Es Muy Fácil,” a work that even reached the American market through United Artists, and remained in the top-5 for two months. . . . [C]ommercial songs assured their success; but their melodramatic themes showed their unmistakable artistic quality. Another single in the fall of 1969 included “Me Conformo” and “Todos Lo Saben” (“Everybody Knows” — Dave Clark Five), showing once again that commerciality and quality went hand in hand and initiating the use of foreign compositions in their repertoire. The group was made up of José (Tony) Antonio Santiesteban . . . as lead vocalist, Carlos Zubiaga . . . on rhythm guitar and keyboards, José Ignacio Millán . . . on lead guitar, Francisco (Paco) García . . . on drums and Oscar Matia Sorozabal . . . on bass, all from Bilbao; but for the next album the vocalist Tony (from here on Tony Landa) was no longer in the group, which meant the beginning of the loss of popularity and more desertions. During the years 68 and 70 Los Mitos and Formula V fueled a rivalry similar to that of Los Brincos [see #1,172] and Los Bravos in their golden years. With a new singer (Ramón) they reappeared in 1970 and recorded the fifth single . . . . Los Mitos had reached the peak of their career, their work was high in the Spanish charts, their records sold well and in Latin America they were already known. In 1971 with a new drummer (Hans) they recorded [a new single] . . . but the decline seemed inevitable and their new manager Agustin Arbex, cousin of Fernando Arbex, gets some performances; but definitely their golden moments came to an end, because the conglomerate of young people in their presentations no longer showed so much enthusiasm.

https://ladecadaprodigiosalos60y70.blogspot.com/2010/11/los-mitos.html

Here they are on TV:

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The Mark Four/The Creation — “I’m Leaving”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 23, 2025

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

1,502) The Mark Four/The Creation — “I’m Leaving”

Before the Creation (see #129, 165), there was the Mark Four, who gave us this “sublime, understated” ‘65 mod B-side with a “dark, unsettling mood” (John Reed, liner notes to the CD comp Decca Originals: The Freakbeat Scene), “heavy, Brit-punk/blues with . . . deft use of feedback, a cool bass riff, powerful drums and menacing vocals” (tymeshifter, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-mark-four/hurt-me-if-you-will-im-leaving.p/), featuring “one of the first extended guitar feedback passages in a rock song”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-mark-four-mn0000611926#biography)

Richie Unterberger tells us that “the Creation laid the foundation for their Who-like distorted power chording as the Mark Four. The group released four singles in 1964 and 1965”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-mark-four-mn0000611926#biography)

Band member John Dalton writes that:

The Mark Four were one of the top local bands around north London and Hertfordshire in the early 60’s. The band was formed from Jimmy Virgo and The Bluejacks around late 1963. [In] 1962, The Bluejacks went through a number of personnel changes:- Jack Jones took over from Pete Wilson on drums, Michael (spud) Thompson for Fred Wilkinson on rhythm guitar and then Jimmy Virgo decided to leave the band mid 1962. We used a singer from Welwyn Garden City for a few gigs, before auditioning Kenny Picket late 1962. It was at this time we decided to change our name to Kenny Lee & The Mark Four. It was January 1963 we auditioned Eddie Philips . . . to take over from Norman Mitham on lead guitar and the line up was complete. The Mark Four became a very hard working band, playing five or six nights every week . . . . It was March 1964 we did our first tour of Germany opening a brand new night club called The Big Ben Club in Wilhelmshaven north Germany. This proved to be invaluable experience, playing eight, thirty minute sets, seven days a week. We recorded our first record (“Rock Around The Clock”) in March 64 and released it in May. The follow up record was another cover called “Try It Baby” in August 1964, and it wasn’t until August 1965 we got the first Picket-Philips song “Hurt Me If You Will” [with “I’m Leaving” in the B-side]. Spud and I decided to leave the band, with our last gig . . . on 31 October 1965.

http://john-dalton.kastoffkinks.co.uk/mk4.htm

Mark Deming talks of the Mark Four and the Creation:

One of the most powerful and forward-thinking British bands of the 1960s, the Creation fused mod style to a freakbeat sound in a manner that anticipated psychedelia and boasted a sonic impact that was matched in their day only by the Who. Rooted in the adventurous guitar work of Eddie Phillips, whose bracing use of feedback and work with a violin bow gave him a unique sound, and the impassioned vocals of Kenny Pickett, the Creation also incorporated the influence of pop art in their music, and they attracted a loyal cult following. However, the group’s popularity in Europe far outstripped their following in England or the United States . . . . [The Mark Four] got signed to Mercury Records’ British division in 1964, but the resulting two singles failed to sell. Though audiences in the U.K. were slow to warm to their music, German audiences were greeting their performances at the Big Ben Club . . . with rousing enthusiasm. . . . [T]he band chanced to cross paths with a local band called the Roadrunners who were wowing fans with their use of guitar feedback in their songs. Eddie Phillips made note of the effect and started working out how he might assimilate it . . . . The Mark Four got a second crack at recording success with Decca Records, which resulted in the single “Hurt Me (If You Will)” b/w “I’m Leaving.” Sales were disappointing, but [“I’m Leaving”] did establish the beginning of a new sound[.] Phillips incorporated his own approach to guitar feedback. . . . [T]he band’s rhythm guitarist, Mick Thompson, and their bassist, John Dalton quit (soon to join the Kinks . . . ). The Mark Four finished their history with a temporary lineup and one last single in early 1966. During the weeks that followed, Pickett and Phillips, along with drummer Jack Jones . . . began rethinking their precise image and direction . . . . By the spring . . . The group had evolved into the Creation, with ex-Merseybeats bassist Bob Garner filling out the lineup, and they had also signed with an ambitious young Australian-born manager . . . named Robert Stigwood. The Creation burst on the British pop/rock scene that June with “Making Time,” a single that seemed to have everything going for it . . . . In portent of their future, “Making Time” soared to number five in Germany but peaked at an anemic number 49 in England, even as the Creation were getting enthusiastic press for their stage performances, which included artists creating and destroying “action paintings” on stage. . . . The group finally saw some slightly significant chart action at home in the fall of 1966 with “Painter Man,” a cheerfully trippy pop anthem with a feedback-oozing guitar break that made the Top 40; predictably, the same record hit number one in Germany. The B-side, “Biff Bang Pow[]” . . . jumped into a pop/rock idiom with a psychedelic edge that should have earned it airplay on its own. By the start of 1967, however, the Creation had hit a crisis point, as Kenny Pickett quit over creative differences and frustration over constant touring in Europe, where their biggest audience was rooted. He was eventually replaced by Kim Gardner, late of the group the Birds . . . . One more single, “Life Is Just Beginning” b/w “Through My Eyes,” [see #129] showed up in the fall of 1967 . . . . Eddie Phillips apparently felt that the single was as good a showcase as he would ever get, and in October of 1967 he quit the Creation. His departure was followed by Kim Gardner’s decision to exit the group . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-creation-mn0000110341#biography

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Bohemian Vendetta — “Enough”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 22, 2025

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

1,501) Bohemian Vendetta — “Enough”

Who were the Bohemian Vendetta (see #313)? They were a “quintet . . . from New York’s Long Island, who backed Faine Jade [see #314, 686] on his Introspection album in 1968. That same year, they recorded and released a self-titled album for the Mainstream label.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bohemian-vendetta-mn0000078658#biography) But before that came this A-side, a “classic all time fave 60’s punk anthem”. (max savanna, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhU3WQDa7TQ)

Beverly Paterson enthuses:

Groovy fuzz guitars, compounded by spiffy organ passages light the fire torching the[ir] tunes . . . while charismatic vocals, rippling with animation and excitement, nimbly rope together snotty garage rock inflections with shades of swinging of soul power and lysergic laced kookiness. Bohemian Vendetta further flaunted a forte for plunging brawny hooks and clutching choruses into their wares, with . . . “Enough” . . . denoting what good pop sensibilities they harbored.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2012/07/01/forgotten-series-bohemian-vendetta-enough-1998/

So does Brendan (about their LP):

A melee of clangy guitars, screeching Vox Continental, thick fuzz, angst, acid, and pure energy make Bohemeian Vendetta’s album one of the best garage finds ever reissued. It’s maybe no masterpiece, waiting to change your life or blow your mind, but it is the essence of rock music, and too powerful to miss out on. . . . [T]his small group of teenage acid punks let loose with their monster, penning some excellent original numbers and warping a couple of very popular covers. The label delayed their album and hardly promoted it . . . but it screams.

http://therisingstorm.net/bohemian-vendetta-enough/

Beverly’s, Brendan’s and my adulation is not universally shared. Dr. Schluss gives a mixed review:

While not the grooviest band on the block, Bohemian Vendetta manages to rip out some nice face melting sounds on their sole LP. . . . [and] probably is a good candidate for the quintessential acid garage band. That is to say they don’t take home the first prize unopposed, but they do manage to stumble onto some inspired sounds from time to time.

http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/2008/05/bohemian-vendetta-1968-bohemian.html

And I can’t really describe Mr. X’s comment on AMG as mixed:

You’re scraping the bottom of the barrel here. In sum, this is poorly produced, pubescent garage rock. Their songs sound like they were written during lunch break and recorded after school in somebody’s actual garage. Some of the vocals are horrifically abrasive . . . . And the covers are disgraceful. The album’s amateur quality is too overwhelming.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/bohemian-vendetta-mw0000847456

Wait a second. “Poorly produced,” “pubescent,” “written during lunch break,” “recorded after school in somebody’s actual garage,” “horrifically abrasive,” “disgraceful,” “amateur[ish]” — aren’t those all the hallmarks of fabulous 60’s garage rock?

Psychedelic Rock’n’roll gives us some history:

Bohemian Vendetta was formed in 1966 under the name The Bohemians in Long Island, NY. . . . [who] started life with . . . Arthur Muglia . . . vocals/organ; Victor Muglia, bass guitar; Randy Pollock, rhythm guitar; Richie Sorrento, drums, Richard Martinez, lead guitar. Growing up in Lynbrook, Long Island . . . Nick Manzi played in a number of local bands . . . [He] and high school buddy singer/guitarist Faine Jade also started playing local clubs as a duo, eventually attracting the attention of Laurie Records, which signed them as writers and sessions players. Nick Manzi and Faine Jade subsequently formed The Rustics who managed to record an instantly obscure 1966 single . . . . In the wake of The Rustics’ collapse . . . Manzi replaced guitarist Richard Martinez . . . in The Bohemians. . . . By early 1967 The Bohemians opted for a name change . . . . [to] Bohemian Vendetta[. T]hey also underwent a series of personnel changes, eventually coalescing with a line of singer/keyboardist Arthur Muglia, drummer Chuck Monica (also in The Rustics), bassist Victor Muglia and rhythm guitarist Randy Pollock. In 1967 [they] released “Enough”/”Half the Time” . . . and it got a spot on “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand “Rate-a-Record”. Also in 1967, [they] recorded demos and played various gigs . . . with bands like The Vagrants [see #1,063] and Vanilla Fudge. The single . . . vanished without a trace, followed in short order by the band’s contract with United Artists. Luckily they were signed to Mainstream Records and recorded an album . . . in early 1968 which took almost a year to be released and got no help from the label. With Mainstream Records all but ignoring the LP, [they] had time on their hands, pitching in to help buddy Faine Jade record his debut album . . . on the small RSVP label. . . . Manzi actually co-wrote most of the tracks with Faine Jade. As far as we can tell, it also marked the band’s final recording efforts.

https://psychedelic-rocknroll.blogspot.com/2009/11/bohemian-vendetta-bohemian-vendetta-60s.html

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The Hellions — “Daydreaming of You”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 21, 2025

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

1,500) The Hellions — “Daydreaming of You”

What do you get when you combine a Jackie DeShannon/Sharon Sheeley-written song, production by wildman Kim Fowley and a pre-supergroup with future members of Traffic, Spooky Tooth and Family? You get a classic “radio friendly” with “an American west coast feel” (Brumbeat, http://www.brumbeat.net/hellions.htm)’64 British beat number that shoulda been a hit— “a superior midtempo beat ballad with ringing guitar and a Searchers feel, nice group harmonies and [an] appealing vocal telling us he doesn’t know what he is doing, running red lights and answering the phone when the doorbell rings because he is perpetually daydreaming of the girl he desires”. (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_hellions/daydreaming_of_you___shades_of_blue/) It is “lively” and “jangly” — “I always think of this as a girls’ song, but this is classy.” (PL, https://jackiedeshannon.tripod.com/jdsas021005.html) Well, it was first recorded in ’63 by the Philly girl group the Dreamers!

Brumbeat tells us of the Hellions:

The Hellions were formed in 1963 when Jim Capaldi . . . got together with guitarists Gordon Jackson [see #1,261] . . . and Dave Mason . . . . The early Hellions line-up tried several bass guitarists before Dave Meredith . . . was chosen . . . . By 1964, the Hellions were becoming well known around Worcester . . . . The[y] “turned professional” and accepted an engagement at the famous Star Club in Hamburg, Germany in August of 1964 as backing group to Walsall singer Tanya Day . . . . The working conditions at the club were gruelling but the hard work paid off and the band became a much tighter unit due to the long hours of performing. Sharing the same hotel as the Hellions were fellow Midlanders The Spencer Davis Group [see #1,427]whose young vocalist Steve Winwood, found much in common musically with Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason. Following their return from Germany, The Hellions soon established a reputation as a musically proficient act and they were hired to provide backing to visiting celebrities such as Adam Faith [see #1,274] and Dave Berry [see #554, 778, 887, 955]. By the end of 1964, the group had made the right connections to secure them a residency at the trendy “Whisky-A-Go-Go Club” in London. While performing there, The Hellions were seen by visiting American record producer Kim Fowley [see #89, 449] and songwriter Jackie De Shannon [see #1,202] who was at that time writing hits [like “When You Walk in the Room”] for The Searchers [see #352, 394, 636, 1,278]. Jackie was impressed enough by the group to offer them a song to record and helped to arrange a contract for the Hellions with Piccadilly Records, a subsidiary of Pye. The Hellions first single . . . “Daydreaming Of You”, composed by De Shannon, was produced by Kim Fowley . . . . but neither it or two following underrated singles recorded by the band in 1965 managed to reach the charts. . . . The Hellion’s work schedule remained busy and they soon went on a UK tour to back the notorious American vocalist P.J. Proby [see #1,186]. The line-up was increased to five when John “Poli” Palmer . . . joined the band on drums later in the year which allowed Jim Capaldi more freedom to front the band as their lead vocalist. By 1966 with business expenses mounting, The Hellions moved back to Worcester, but the local music scene had changed while the group were away in London. Their record company issued a final Hellions single entitled “Hallelujah” but under the group name of The Revolution (the band did not find out about this until after the single’s release). By this time, Dave Mason had left to play guitar with a few other local groups while earning extra money working as a roadie for The Spencer Davis Group. Undaunted, Jim Capaldi brought guitarist Luther Grosvenor . . . into the line-up and the band’s name was changed to Deep Feeling . . . .

http://www.brumbeat.net/hellions.htm

Here is the first recording of “Daydreamin'” by the Dreamers:

Here is a demo:

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I Shall Be Released: The Smoke — “Utterly Simple”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 20, 2025

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

1,499) The Smoke — “Utterly Simple”

Here is “a fabulous reworking of [a] Traffic song . . . produced by writer Dave Mason” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Psychedelic Pstones III: House of Many Windows), a “superb cover . . . very different [from] Traffic’s version”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Yes, it replaces the sitar noodling with an Alice in Wonderland vibe courtesy of pop psych wizardry. I daresay that it is “much better than the original”. (Leather Rebel, https://www.45cat.com/record/wip6031) The song was to be released as a single on July 12, 1968, but it was not to be. (stillits, https://www.45cat.com/record/wip6031)

Richie Unterberger smokes out the Smoke:

The band hailed from York, where bassist Zeke Lund and lead guitarist Mal Luke began playing together in a band called Tony Adams & the Viceroys, whose lineup eventually came to include drummer Geoff Gill. Though the band was successful locally, enjoying a decent fan base with a solid, basic rock & roll sound . . . [they] could hear the changes going on around them in music, with the rise of Merseybeat and the blues, R&B, and soul-based music coming out of London. They eventually decided to strike out on their own, playing a more ambitious repertory. They linked up late in 1964 with singer Mick Rowley and rhythm guitarist Phil Peacock, refugees from a band called the Moonshots. The resulting band, the Shots, played a hard brand of R&B . . . . [The band] signed up with independent producer and music publisher Monty Babson, who cut four sides with the group, two of which were issued as a single under license to EMI-Columbia. It was at just about that time that events began breaking against the band — they lost Phil Peacock, who wasn’t comfortable with the more complex sounds the rest of the band were interested in generating, and they lost their financing. They gamely decided to carry on as a quartet, the single-guitar configuration lending itself to an edgier sound, and sought new backing. That was how they ended up in a bizarre management situation, when they were offered a seeming rescue by a pair of twin London-based entrepreneurs, Ron and Reg Kray . . . . among the top crime kingpins in London at the time[. A]mong their other enterprises, they had an interest in a few clubs, and thought at one point that a more direct participation in the entertainment business might prove lucrative. . . . Thus, they signed the group and became the Shots’ managers, but were never able to do anything with them in terms of bookings . . . . The band decided to abandon the contract, and when they were served with an injunction, they were left unable to perform. . . . [T]hey still had a publishing and recording contract with Babson and access to his studio, and so they took advantage of their ban on performing by writing and making records. . . . [They] change[d] their name . . . [to] the Smoke. One of the songs they came up with was “My Friend Jack,” a mod-flavored psychedelic number authored by Rowley and Gill. . . . a catchy, striking, aggressively trippy work . . . that now seems like the most delightfully subversive piece of freakbeat . . . . Its drug references were so potent that the song had to be rewritten before EMI would touch it; released in February of 1967 . . . the single only made it to number 45 before being banned by the BBC . . . . In Europe, however, the record soared . . . . riding the German pop charts to the top . . . . [and] chart[ing] high in Switzerland, France, and Austria as well[. S]uddenly there was demand for a Smoke LP in Germany. . . . It’s Smoke Time[ was] comprised of the best of the year-old tracks recorded for Babson . . . . The band actually relocated to Germany, while continuing to release records in England — their recording contract was sold to Chris Blackwell in late 1967, and he soon took over their management as well . . . . They cut some fine psychedelia . . . . The end came out of a degree of weariness . . . . [T]hey declined to obey a Blackwell summons to return to England for a recording session, and that marked the effective end of their history . . . . Luker, Gill, and Lund did finally return home and went to work for Babson’s Morgan Studios, working in various bands within Babson’s orbit, including Blue Mink, Orange Bicycle, and Fickle Pickle [see #568].

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smoke-mn0000751371#discography

Here’s an acetate:

Here is Traffic:

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Thundertree — “Summertime Children”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 19, 2025

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

1,498) Thundertree — “Summertime Children”

Minneapolis/St. Paul Christian rock band’s “bouncy [secular] pop-psych ditty . . . was the[ir] album’s most atypical song and also the standout performance”. (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/thundertree/thundertree/) I love it, like manna from heaven!

RDTEN1 tells us:

[S]inger Bob Blank, guitarist Bob Hallquist, drummer Rick LiaBraaten and keyboardist John Meisen had been members of the St. Paul, Minnesota-based The Good Idea. Along with guitarist Dave Linder the group started out doing popular covers before starting to record original material. Through those original tunes they became early exponents of the Christian rock genre. The band played local dances and clubs, surviving long enough to travel to Chicago where they recorded and released an obscure self-financed 1968 single. . . . “Patterns In Life” . . . . The 45’s religious orientation caught some local attention, including a patron in the form of Reverend John Rigren who featured the single on his local radio program, but failed to sell. Guitarist Linder then decided to head off to college. Singer/guitarist Billy Hallquist was brought in as a replacement. Bass player Terry Tilley was also added to the line- up. The revamped band continued to play local clubs, their show including an early light show. They also started reworking some of their Good Idea material, culminating in recording a demo of their concept piece “1225.” A copy of the demo ended up in the hands of the New York-based Roulette Records which signing the group to a contract. There were a couple of catches with Roulette demanding several changes. First was a request the band shift to a secular catalog. Second was a name change. Goodbye to Good Idea and hello to the hipper Thundertre. Roulette subsequently added the final “e” to the name, e.g. Thundertree. . . . [T]he band went into Minneapolis’ Universal Audio Studios. With keyboardist Meisen serving as producer, 1970’s Thundertree was inconsistent, but enjoyable. A big part of the inconsistency stemmed from Blank’s decision to quit in the middle of the recording sessions. Ongoing tensions with band manager Jason Kennedy simply reached the breaking point. Hallquist was asked to take over lead vocals, but pushed for the band to recruit a new singer. Dervin Wallin was quickly hired. The collection’s inconsistency also reflected the split nature of the material. Side one featured new vocalist Wallin on a series of new secular numbers. Penned by keyboardist Meisen . . . [they] offered up an attractive mix of psych and more hard-rock oriented moves. . . . [but a]dmittedly the[y] . . . weren’t earth shattering. Wallin wasn’t any great shakes as lead singer, though in his defense having just been hired he literally had to learn the songs while the band split their time between live dates and studio recording sessions. Luckily his voice was powerful and the occasionally screechy vocals were well suited to the band’s guitar and keyboard propelled repertoire. The material featured on side two reflected The Good Idea. “1225” was the song that got the band signed to Roulette. A six piece, side long concept piece “1225” (look at the title as a date 12/25), the suite featured a much more progressive, non-secular sound. Original singer Blank handled vocals and guitarist David Linder proved a talented player.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/thundertree/thundertree/

Tom Campbell goes deep:

Summer, 1967: A new band, Good Idea, comes together, with a focus on playing the Top-40 rock songs and writing original Christian rock songs. . . . The band plays local teen clubs . . . in St. Paul and also plays out state venues in Minnesota and clubs and ballrooms across the border in Wisconsin . . . .

Early, 1968: The band goes to Chicago to record a 45 (at their own expense) at the Chess/Checker/Cadet Records studio. The A-side is “Inside, Outside” and the B-side is “Patterns in Life,” originally called “Patterns of Logic.” Both songs are written by John and Bob. 400 copies of the 45 are pressed . . . . The record gets airplay on a nationally syndicated religious radio program called “Silhouette” that was sponsored through the American Lutheran Church. Reverend John Rygren was the host of the program that aired at 7:00 on Sunday mornings. John and Bob write a six song mini-rock opera called “1225,” The Christmas story set to modern rock music. . . .

Summer, 1968: Billy Hallquist starts to run the light show for the band. Billy and Rick are friends going back to junior high school and played together in two bands . . . .

Fall, 1968: The band records “1225” at Universal Audio . . . . Billy Hallquist is at the recording sessions. Dave Linder leaves the band to attend college and . . . Hallquist joins on guitar and vocals. After playing one job with Billy in the band . . . the group breaks up. John Miesen, Rick LiaBraaten and Billy Hallquist continue to practice together and work on new songs . . . . John writes another mini-rock opera, as a companion piece to “1225” called “Summertime Children.” . . . The group keeps in touch with Bob Blank and plan on starting up a new band to play live again.

Late, 1968: John goes out to New York to shop the tape of “1225” to record companies. Roulette Records takes an interest in the band and signs them to a contract. John, Rick and Billy ask Bob to rejoin the group. Bob agrees, but on the condition he brings in Terry Tilley on bass guitar. Thundertree becomes the name for the new band. . . . The group decides to abandon the mini-rock opera “Summertime Children” and write a number of new songs for the album. “Summertime Children” is revised from a concept to a single song.

Late, 1969: The band schedules time back at Universal Audio to record the second half of their album, now with different members. The band has a job playing . . . the night before the first session. During the evening, the band’s manager, Jason Kennedy, brings in a record executive with Tetragrammaton Records, who likes Bob, but is not interested in the band. The record executive offers Bob a songwriting deal in Los Angeles and Bob accepts the offer. As the group gathers at the studio the next day to start recording, they discover that Bob has left the band. John asks Billy to take over on lead vocals, but he declines the offer and they hold auditions for a new lead singer. The band begins recording musical tracks during the day and holding auditions for a lead singer in the evening. . . . Dervin Wallin trys out for lead vocalist and gets the job. John decides to write all new lyrics to the songs that he and Bob co-wrote. . . .

Early, 1970: Roulette Records releases the Thundertree album.

https://www.minniepaulmusic.com/artists/t-to-z/thundertree/

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Spencer Mac – “Ka-Ka Kabya Mow-Mow (Sing A Little Love Song)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 18, 2025

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

1,497) Spencer Mac – “Ka-Ka Kabya Mow-Mow (Sing A Little Love Song)”

Fabulous UK blue eyed funk — no way was I expecting this. “Funkin’ groovy man, this tune is really doing it to me”. (bodhiapurva3887, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bn_KltWlZo) Yeah, me too.

Gazfunk tells us:

Kicking off with a war-cry yelp – straight into a head nodding bass and drum loop that wouldn’t sound out of place if the likes of Rakim or Lord Finesse started to the flow with some raps over the top. Then the “out there” deep backing vocals chant the title before a heart wrenching blue eyed soul vocal expresses his love to show how much he cares. The background vocals eerily repeat the sung lines in a ghostly voodoo chant – under the influences of the bayou funk of Dr John [see #177] and the darkside of New Orleans. After a couple of verses the hammond takes the spotlight for the crescendo and it appears Brian Auger [see #1,031, 1,032, 1,033, 1,312] has just walked into the studio…then, before you realise what’s just hit you, it’s over and you are left scratching your head to take in all that just happened. Spencer Mac was the name of the band (not the singer as often thought). They only released two 45, both on Penny Farthing label.

https://gazfunk.com/spencer-mac-ka-ka-kabya-mow-mow/

A Penny Farthing PR sheet proclaims:

Spencer Mac are: Paul Spencer MacCallum – bass and lead guitar, violin, piano and complete range of brass instruments. Qualified music teacher[;] Mike Morris – drums, creates the exciting feel that is the Spencer Mac trade mark[;] Michael Gillingham – organ, also doubling guitar and piano. Is the creative mainstay of the group[;] Tony ‘Archie’ Paul Wood – lead vocal – very serious about his music and his personal kick is happiness – his personality and brand of humour is refreshing. All the boys (except ‘Archie’) hail from Bournemouth.

Mikey Dread, https://www.45cat.com/record/pen723

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Steve & Stevie — “Liza”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 17, 2025

“Liza” starts at 8:05

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

1,496) Steve & Stevie — “Liza”

A perfect pop song from downunder, “dancefloor friendly, funky piano pop . . . which would have made a killer single”. (Peter Gough, https://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2014/06/steve-stevie-steve-stevie-1968.html?m=1)

Peter Gough tells us:

Steve & Stevie aka Steve Kipner and Steve Groves were an Australian popsike harmony duo who released their only album (under this name) on the small, Toast record label in the UK in 1968. As is the case with most Australian and New Zealand bands from the sixties, the sound is very British like. A good comparison would be Chad & Jeremy [see #1,060], although this is possibly a little more twee! . . . The whole of this album consists of both of the Steve’s Davey Jones-like, chipmunk voices harmonising over a heavily orchestrated backing, courtesy of Gerry Shury . . . listed here as Jerry Shuri. If there was ever a record to “File under Fading Yellow” then this is it! If you like one song then you’ll like them all. Production was handled by Steve Kipner’s father Nat, who owned Oz record label Spin and is famous for signing the Bee Gees in 1966 and producing their single “Spicks and Specks”. The first two tracks on the album, “Merry Go Round” and “Remain To Be Seen” were tipped as a single by Toast in the UK but failed to chart. There is not a bad song on here and picking a favourite is hard, but if pressed I may choose . . . “Liza” . . . . Following the failure of the LP, Kipner and Groves relocated to the UK in 1969 and under the guidance of Maurice Gibb, changed their name to Tin Tin [see #355, 1,121], releasing a couple of killer albums for Polydor records.

https://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2014/06/steve-stevie-steve-stevie-1968.html?m=1

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Bob Dylan and the Band— “I’m Your Teenage Prayer”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 16, 2025

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

1,495) Bob Dylan and the Band — “I’m Your Teenage Prayer”

Well, we go from a great Dylan parody/rip-off to a glorious doo-woo parody by Dylan himself with the Band from what else but The Basement Tapes. I kept trying to find the “original recording by the original artist” until I realized it was a Dylan original — that’s how good it is.

“As a doo wop parody it’s up there with some of the stuff from ‘Freak Out’ by Frank Zappa” (Namenameson23, https://www.reddit.com/r/bobdylan/comments/i5yuvr/im_your_teenage_prayer_is_the_actual_best/?rdt=63203), “[p]ure, wonderful basement silliness” (llama40204, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CanO9iqhpYw&pp=ygUjQm9iIGR0bGFuIEnigJltIHlvdXIgdGVlbmFnZSBwcmF5ZXI%3D)that “is hilarious” (G8GT364CI1, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tpiUGHm6Ndk&pp=ygUjQm9iIGR0bGFuIEnigJltIHlvdXIgdGVlbmFnZSBwcmF5ZXI%3D as when “at the end someone sings ‘Teenage Pear’ and Dylan cracks up laughing”. (Namenameson23, https://www.reddit.com/r/bobdylan/comments/i5yuvr/im_your_teenage_prayer_is_the_actual_best/?rdt=63203) Nathalie O. says:

[It’s] a doo-wop parody sprinkled with laughs and false starts. Rick Danko’s tenor voice is delightful, and Richard Manuel singing mischievously in the background captures the essence of The Basement Tapes.

https://medium.com/the-riff/you-aint-goin-nowhere-5d4ade643d2d

Tony Atwood explains and explores:

If you have never played in a band that is not specifically rehearsing for a live performance, but instead is just kicking ideas around and having fun, you won’t know what it is like, and may well find it hard to understand why the guys spent so many hours larking about with silly songs like “I’m your teenage prayer”. Why would Bob write down all these lyrics, and evolve this tune and set of three different chord sequences JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT? . . . Think of it, perhaps, like an alternative to spending an evening with friends down the pub or in a bar. People do it for the friendship, for the chatter, to get out of the house, to pass the time, but not because it is going to lead somewhere. They do it because this is their life. . . . This song is based around three commonplace chord sequences from 1950s doo-wap. These are classic moves which anyone familiar with 1950s music would know and be able to play without even thinking – no rehearsing necessary. You hear the first change and then you know, as a musician, exactly where it is going. There is a real glory to be had by playing along on such occasions, seeing where the music goes, and… larking about . . . .

https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/4414

Here are some excerpts from a beautiful essay on The Basement Tapes by Nathalie O.:

It was the year of the summer of love, of the emblematic Sgt. Peppers, of beautiful people with wild hair, wearing pearls and flowers. Less poetically, it was also the year of racial riots in big cities across the United States, among them the infamous ones of Detroit. . . . [F]ive young men found a refuge in the Catskill Mountains. Bob, Richard, Rick, Garth, and Robbie created their own universe protected from the modern world. . . . They were [also] protected from . . . their past. The songs they played in the basement were so far from the music of that summer. They got back to basics, to old tunes that reflected a world that no longer existed, interspersed with songs written by Bob Dylan that contained enigmatic lyrics. Immersed in that cozy world, they forgot they had toured the world the previous year. They rediscovered the satisfaction of playing music without pressure. As Garth Hudson told Barney Hoskyns: “We were doing seven, eight, ten, sometimes fifteen songs a day. Some were old ballads and traditional songs, some were written by Bob, but others would be songs Bob made up as he went along.” Their pieces were an incredible blend of roots music, country, traditional, bluegrass. . . . Unconscious that they were inventing the Americana Sound, they devoted themselves to the music they loved, the music they wanted to play. It offered them a sanctuary from the troubles that were going on . . . . They drove cars from the 1940s, wore vintage hats, and played traditional songs in a pink house. It wasn’t the hippie dream, but it was their dream. A dream different from the one of the flower children, yet no less significant. Those afternoons in Big Pink marked a path in their lives, a welcomed intermission that pushed their creativity to new heights. What happened in Big Pink during those magical months was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It shaped Bob Dylan and the members of The Band. . . . It was a total contrast with 1966, where they were almost punk. A year later, they had changed. The world around them had changed, as well. The trepidation of a world tour gave way to a peaceful lifestyle set in an artistic town. . . . Did they feel they missed something living in the Catskills rather than in San Francisco? Probably not. They knew they were finding their own voice. Although they weren’t conscious that their music would still live decades later, the shelter they created at Big Pink should have seemed like a benediction. It was exactly what they needed at that moment in their lives. And it’s exactly what we still need now.

https://medium.com/the-riff/you-aint-goin-nowhere-5d4ade643d2d

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Dick Campbell — “Where Were You”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 15, 2025

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

1,494) Dick Campbell — “Where Were You”

A great and haunting song from a polarizing LP — Dick Campbell Sings Where It’s At — EITHER “the sole masterpiece of the fake-Dylan field” (Gene Sculatti, https://paul-pearson.blogspot.com/2015/08/song-20150801-dick-campbell.html), “arguably the most amazing ‘electric Dylan’ soundalike ever, while also being arguably the most egregious . . . ‘electric Dylan’ rip-off ever!” (Neal Umphred, https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/dick-campbell-sings/), OR “one of the most ludicrously imitative Bob Dylan-inspired albums of all time” (Ritchie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dick-campbell-mn0000093975#biography), “really tak[ing] the cake for sheer ill-conceived weirdness. . . . a Dylan satire or a Dylan homage[?]” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/dick-campbell-sings-where-its-at-mw0000866810#review) Paul Pearson is more equivocal: “You couldn’t get a more by-the-numbers Xerox of Duluth’s finest . . . . It’s like Highway 61 Revisited for the impatient and easily distracted. Which is not to say it’s bad.” (https://paul-pearson.blogspot.com/2015/08/song-20150801-dick-campbell.html) Even Dick Campbell himself commented that the LP “was pretty much a blatant rip off of Bob Dylan”. (https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?p=142855&sid=f688ea6a48d462bfc8c5830ef77aeda7)

Hey, I love “Where Were You”. It doesn’t even sound like Dylan to me!

Rooksby has some thoughts:

Though much of the [charm of the LP] derives from its audacious and incessant ersatz Dylanisms, further redeeming qualities seep through in due course . . . Nonetheless, I’m still unsure as to whether I should listen to it at face value or not; was it simply a better-than-average cash-in, or is there an element of deadpan parody at play. . . . The entire album is such an entertaining listen that I don’t think it really matters as, at half a century old, it’s obviously something more substantial than mere kitsch appeal that keeps me tuning in.

https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/dick-campbell-sings/

Richie Unterberger is not complimentary:

Campbell was the most blatant early-electric-period Dylan imitator this side of David Blue, except he was notably inferior as a singer and songwriter even to Blue. It really is difficult to tell whether this was intended as a Dylan satire or a Dylan homage. . . . It came out when Dylan was at the peak of his mid-’60s fame, just after going electric and getting his first hit singles. Campbell made sure that he sounded a lot like 1965 Bob Dylan by using some of the same musicians that Dylan worked with that year; the entire Paul Butterfield Blues Band contributes, with the exception of Elvin Bishop. . . . Although this LP approximated the instrumental sound of Dylan’s early rock records, complete with picked guitar runs and organ, it was far inferior. The blame lay squarely with Campbell, whose songs — and voice — sounded like an amateurish Dylan copy . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/dick-campbell-sings-where-its-at-mw0000866810#review, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dick-campbell-mn0000093975#biography

Neal Umphred tells us the story:

By the end of ’65, recording Dylan was almost a right of passage for many young groups. . . . More fun if not always more artistic were the artists and groups who did not record a Dylan song, but instead attempted to write their own Dylan song and sing in their own Dylan voice. . . . By the time of Dylan’s eruption on the scene as a pop and rock singer and songwriter, Richard ‘Dick’ Campbell had issued a couple of singles and was getting known in some small circles as a songwriter. Aside from his solo work . . . he would be known in equally small circles as the composer and musical director of Ken Nordine’s album COLORS, subtitled “A Sensuous Listening Experience.” In 1965, Campbell sent a couple of Dylan-like songs to Mercury Records, who were looking for an artist to compete with Dylan. (In 1965, who wasn’t?) According to Campbell, Mercury told him to write more and “Come back in two weeks and make an album.” Mercury teamed Campbell up with producer Lou Reizner, who rounded up members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Several of these guys had played live or recorded with Dylan. Other musicians on the album were young local guys, many of who had been with groups associated with Pete Cetera (later lead singer for Chicago). Here is a list of all the musicians who supposedly contributed to the Dylan-esue sound: Lead guitar: Mike Bloomfield, Jimmy Vincent, Rhythm guitar: Dick Campbell, Bass: Peter Cetera, Drums: Sam Lay, Billy Herman, Larry Wrice, Organ: Mark Naftalin, Harmonica: Paul Butterfield, Tambourine: Artie Sullivan, Marty Grebb. A single was released in late ’65 coupling The Blues Peddlers with The People Planners to almost no attention from anyone. The album DICK CAMPBELL SINGS WHERE IT’S AT . . . with ten more such recordings followed in early ’66 to the very same reception. Campbell’s convoluted, Dylanesque lyrics are self-absorbed, many touching on his less than perfect relationship with his girlfriend. The band is interesting and competent throughout but they never reach the inspired heights that they had with Dylan.

https://www.ratherrarerecords.com/dick-campbell-sings/

Here is Dick Campbell himself telling the story:

In 1965 I played in a band in Massachusetts, Dick Campbell and the Scarlets, as a guitarist, lead singer and writer. We cut a demo album in Boston. A friend of mine had once met Gary Usher at WORC radio when he visited Worcester. Through him I sent a copy of the demo tape to Gary in California and he liked it. He called me to say he thought he could use some of the songs I’d written with other artists and that I should come to L.A. to write and work with him. That summer I started out by car for California, but stopped in Chicago to see what reaction I might get to the album from the labels there. Vee Jay wasn’t interested, and Chess was into black artists, but Mercury liked some of the tunes and wanted to publish them. To make a long story short, Mercury particularly liked a couple of my folk rock type tunes, and moreover, since Columbia had Dylan and they didn’t, couldn’t I write ten more and they’d cut an album of me singing them? Now, in hind sight, I probably should have continued on out to the coast and gone to work for Usher then and there since most of his happening stuff occurred in the ’60s. But instead, I signed a deal with Mercury Records and recorded [the LP] . . . . To be sure, I was backed up by some very good musicians, in fact, artists who have gone on to much bigger things since this project. There was Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, just fresh from recording with Dylan on the Highway 61 Revisited LP. Marty Grebb of the Buckinghams also played guitar and Paul Butterfield was on harmonica. Mark Naftalin played organ and Sam Lay was on drums. A kid from a local group called the Exceptions played bass and he later had a brilliant career as the lead singer for Chicago — Peter Cetera. To shorten this story even further, by the time I got done spinning my wheels in the Midwest (including a tour with the Guess Who, an appearance at The Bitter End, and marriage plus three children) it was 1969 before I got out to L.A. and went to work for Gary Usher.

https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?p=142855&sid=f688ea6a48d462bfc8c5830ef77aeda7

Here are Ian & the Zodiacs:

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Jimmy Campbell — “In My Room”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 14, 2025

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

1,493) Jimmy Campbell — “In My Room”

A door into his room, a door into his soul. A wonderful, “insightful”, and “plaintive” song with orchestration to match from Campbell’s Half Baked LP that “name checks the great master painters and authors that sparked his muse”. (Mark Johnston, liner notes to the CD reissue of Half Baked)

Richie Unterberger is equivocal:

Campbell’s assets remained undimmed, those being a winning way with a meditative folk-pop melody, a likably shaky voice, and an overall engaging persona of a fragile, sensitive, somewhat reticent soul. Here, however, that fragility at times verged on solipsistic eccentricity (occasionally accented by similarly eccentric chamber pop orchestration), particularly on “In My Room” (in which Jimmy resides “with its broken door, the posters on the wall of Hitler, John and Paul.”

https://www.allmusic.com/album/half-baked-mw0000811482

Hey, people tell me about my solipsistic eccentricity — I guess that’s why I love this song!

This blog o’ mine gives me great joy, as when I played as my 22nd song “Michel Angelo”, by Jimmy Campbell (see #22, 648, 736-38, 996, 1,096) and his band at the time the 23rd Turnoff. I called the song “[o]ne of the most gorgeous songs I have ever heard.” It is certainly the greatest ever pop psych ballad I have ever heard. But the blog also can give me great sadness, as when today, I focus again on Jimmy and how his talents were left to wither by cruel fate and an indifferent public. As dpnewbold comments, “This guy is so under-rated it hurts.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-KHv7u4qE) Yes, it does.

Matty Loughlin-Day aptly states that:

[Jimmy Campbell is a] songwriter who, for this writer’s money, could go toe-to-toe with any of the more celebrated prodigies from the region, yet who’s name is frequently met with blank faces or a shrug of the shoulders. A writer who, in a sane universe, would be esteemed alongside . . . yes, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Jimmy Campbell is arguably the archetypal lost son of Liverpool. A talent that was never quite reciprocated by the buying public and the victim of some cruel twists of fate, his is a name that is for one reason or another, never quite mentioned when discussing the plethora of musical talent that the city has produced. . . . [H]is songs entice immediately and gradually work their way into the sub-conscious.

https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2019/06/lost-liverpool-25-jimmy-campbell-the-greatest-songwriter-youve-never-heard-of/

Mark Johnston seconds the thought:

Campbell should rightfully be considered closer to a Merseyside Bob Dylan than the sullen working class Nick Drake he is often painted as. He could have been the Poet Laureate of England! How is it that one day of the greatest sonic creations in his fascinating and flawless back catalogue should be gathering dust for the past thirty-three years?

liner notes to the CD reissue of Rocking Horse’s Yes It Is

And Richie Unterberger poignantly sums things up:

[Jimmy was] perhaps the most unheralded talent to come out of the Liverpool ’60s rock scene, as he was a songwriter capable of both spinning out engaging Merseybeat and — unlike almost every other artist from the city, with the notable exception of the Beatles — making the transition to quality, dreamy psychedelia. . . . It seems as if Campbell needed just a bit more encouragement, and his groups just a little more studio time, to develop into a notable British psychedelic group that could combine solid pop melodies, sophisticated lyrics and arrangements, and touches of English whimsy. Unfortunately they didn’t get that chance . . . .

Campbell’s slightly moody yet catchy melodies, as well as his drolly understated lyrics, mark him as perhaps the best ’60s Liverpool rock songwriter never to have a chart record . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-dream-of-michelangelo-mw0000351105, https://www.allmusic.com/album/son-of-anastasia-mw0000811484

To give a touch of Jimmy Campbell’s early and later history, Matty Loughlin-Day writes that:

Campbell’s first band, The Panthers, were formed in 1962 and were at the heart of all things Merseybeat. Legend has it that at one gig, John Lennon stood in front of the band, keen to suss out local competition; one must assume he was impressed, as before long, the band were able to add ‘supported The Beatles’ to their CV. Convinced by Cavern-legend Bob Wooler to change their name to The Kirkbys (in homage to their home suburb) and looked after by Brian Epstein’s secretary Beryl Adams, Campbell et al toured across Western Europe and recorded a handful of songs, including the Rolling Stones-esque stomper It’s a Crime . . . [see #648]. . . . [I]nitial singles found success in, of all places, Finland. . . . [but a]t home, the singles fared less impressively, and a second name change soon followed. The Kirbys became the 23rd Turnoff, again based in local geography, named after the M6 junction required for Kirkby. . . .

With a short European tour in 1972 backing Chuck Berry . . . and fortunes truly fading, Campbell decided he’d had enough. . . . [A]pparently rejuvenated and able to muster the strength to record a fourth solo album during the 80’s, Campbell, on completing it, went to the pub to celebrate, only to return home to find his house ransacked and the only master tapes of the album gone, along with a range of equipment. The guy, it seemed, could just not catch a break. . . .

By all accounts, a life of hard-living took its toll and he sadly passed away in 2007 after battling emphysema.

https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2019/06/lost-liverpool-25-jimmy-campbell-the-greatest-songwriter-youve-never-heard-of/

Mark Johnston talks about Half Baked:

It would be Dick Leahy, A&R for Fontana, who had originally helped sign Jimmy Campbell to a three record deal with Philips, and who then approached Olav Wyper about releasing the second album on Philips’ subsidiary Vertito. Vertigo was established in 1969 as Philips’ answer to EMI’s Harvest Records and Decca’s Deram progressive subsidiaries. . . . The label change would provide Jimmy with the best opportunity in his career to be heard by a larger audience. . . . The recording would begin in January of 1970 . . . with a solid all-star backing band featuring . . . drummer . . . Pete Clarke, along with Merseybeats [see #725] Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley. . . . Half Baked would be a mix of Jimmy’s very personal songs, many inspired by [his then pregnant wife] Yvonne . . . with lush orchestral arrangements . . . . [It] would be chosen as the inaugural release for the Vertigo label in the U.S.A. The album failed to chart, but it did find fans in New York City, most notably with the Ramones. Although Jimmy played one solos spot at the Marquee . . . there were no tours established to promote the album. The album’s sales suffered, in part, due to the reluctance and inability to get Jimmy on a promotional tour . . . . An appearance performing the melodramatic single “Don’t Leave Me Now”, on the Simon Dee show, fell through when Dee was sacked the day of the broadcast. Dee felt the single was one of the strongest tracks he had ever heard. Such was Jimmy’s luck, as the prime time televised appearance would have given the biggest boost yet to his career. . . . . With the lack of commercial success and the departure of Olav Wyper to RCA . . . the new management of Vertigo saw no compelling reason to pursue a follow-up release with Jimmy.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Half Baked

Live studio recording:

Live on the BBC (’70):

From the demo:

Here’s a nice version by Billy Fury — Stuart Robertson, thanks for letting me know!

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The Orange Machine — “Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 13, 2025

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

1,492) The Orange Machine — “Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room”

This ’68 B-side is the Dublin, Ireland band’s (see #1,240) “finest moment, with superb fuzz guitar and vocals” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), “ace”, “[a] sinister psychedelic popbiography of an American physician hanged in . . . 1910 for the murder of his wife and famously captured with the help of that new-fangled wireless telegram system.” (Dr Doom, https://www.45cat.com/record/7n17680)

As to the Orange Machine, Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers tells us:

One of the more regional outposts of psychedelia during the late ’60s was the Irish club scene, which spawned such acts as The Method (subsequently Andwella’s Dream [see #714, 770, 1,037]) and the Orange Machine, who had an Irish Top 20 hit 45 in July 1968 with faithful covers of two Tomorrow [see #72] songs, “Three Jolly Little Dwarfs” and Real Life Permanent Dream” [see #1,240]. Their second and last single coupled a creditable rendition of the Traffic track “You Can Also Join In” with [“Waiting Room”], a bizarre “tribute” to the first murderer to be apprehended by the use of radiotelegraphy. Written by group members Jimmy Greeley (drums) and Robin Crowley (lead guitar), the choppy Eastern-tinged rhythms and prototypical hard rock sound hinted at a strong individual identity, but they failed to record again in their own right.

liner notes to the CD comp Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: Psychedelic Confectionery from the UK Underground 1965-1969

Irish Showbands adds:

Their single “Three Jolly Little Dwarfs” was one of the best Irish “psychedelic” singles and reached No.14 in the Irish charts. It and its follow-up “You Can All Join In” are keenly sought by collectors worldwide. Ernie Durkin later joined Gentry, Tommy Kinsella joined the Cotton Mill Boys and drummer Jimmy Greally became a successful radio broadcaster. Lead guitarist was Robin Crowley.

[Ernie Durkin]: I think the Orange Machine was a great group. We had some original songs that did not get recorded because of the break-up of the group, we were all very young and did not know what we really had. What we needed was a good manager to keep us on the right track and give us some direction – then maybe the group could have stayed together and made some more recordings. We could have been one of Irelands top original groups. We had a really original sound, and everyone complemented each other.”

https://www.irishshowbands.net/bgorangemachine.htm

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The Seeds — “Up in Her Room” (not really live at “Merlin’s Music Box”): Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 12, 2025

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

1,491) The Seeds — “Up in Her Room” (not really live at “Merlin’s Music Box”)

From “one of the best Fake Live Albums ever . . . [this] almost-ten-minute rave-up . . . is some sort of crazed triumph” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/raw-alive-the-seeds-in-concert-at-merlins-music-box-mw0000678031), “five shorter than the original . . . but . . . just as groovy and sexy”. (https://www.skysaxonseeds.com/albums/raw-alive-merlins-music-box-1968)

Of “Room”, Sky Sunlight Saxon and the Seeds tell us:

For Seeds fans in the know, “Up In Her Room” has always been one of the band’s most famous – and infamous – recordings. On one single, simple riff, it goes on and on, around and around to nowhere, for fourteen brutal minutes. It’s one of the first “long” songs of rock and roll . . . . all about a sweaty evening in a groovy hippie chick’s psychedelic bedroom[ and] takes up most of Side 2 of the . . . 1966 LP A Web of Sound. It’s remarkable for a band, even one as “so-terrible-they’re-great” as The Seeds, to play a song this long with no embellishments or melodic detours. It just repeats the one riff – about four guitar notes long over a speeding express train of a rhythm section – forever. If growling garage-psych simplicity is your religion then [it] is the promised land. And if illicit teenage sex titillates you then Sky Saxon’s passionate performance is just what you’ve been panting for. Sky was almost thirty when [it] was recorded but had the mind of a teenager and the outlook of a flower-child outlaw. He’s in her room; there’s marijuana and incense; there are lysergic trances and staring out the window at clouds; then there’s her body and her bed and feelin’ so good and feelin’ so good and a knock at the door but who cares. It’s not only the repetitiveness of the song that make it so fearsome, it’s the utter lack of narrative or background. We join the two in flagrante, at least as soon as the drugs are consumed and the mood gets really right. Two takes of this epic tale were attempted, both at a session on July 14, 1966. The first was aborted when the tape ran out (!) while the second became the master. The entire performance, without overdubs or editing, made it onto the LP while a sub-four-minute edit became the B-side of “Mr. Farmer” when it was released as a 7″ single with a picture sleeve in 1966. . . . On February 20, 1968, The Seeds recorded a 7:39 version of the song in front of several fans in the studio for an intended fake live album. The performance wasn’t used; nor was a second attempt on April 2. Finally on April 9, 1968, two more takes were attempted that proved fruitful. The first was a false start but the second was enshrined onto the notorious Raw & Alive album with fake crowd noises dubbed onto it.

https://www.skysaxonseeds.com/songs/up-in-her-room

The supremely seedy Sky Saxon and the Seeds (see #116, 446, 1,441) “combined the raw, Stonesy appeal of garage rock with a fondness for ragged, trashy psychedelia” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-seeds-mn0000500664/biography)

Sky Sunlight Saxon and the Seeds tell us about Raw & Alive:

First thing’s first: Raw And Alive — The Seeds In Concert Merlin’s Music Box is not a live album — it’s a studio album. The sounds of screaming fans were grafted on after recording. Crass, perhaps, from today’s perspective, but The Seeds weren’t the first sixties band to do this. . . . And it is a Seeds album and should be judged on its musical merits. Raw And Alive remains some fans’ favorite Seeds record, due to its energetic performances and its many truly fantastic new songs. It was the band’s first album since the unexpected hard blues fourth LP A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues, and represents something of a return to the form of Future, the band’s adventurously psychedelic third album. Five of Raw And Alive‘s eleven tracks are re-recordings of older Seeds songs . . . examples of how a more experienced band can tackle its old stuff with panache. . . . Over the years there was a steady drip of Raw & Alive recordings without the offending crowd noises. . . . [T]he complete crowd-less Raw & Alive was released, in 2014 by Big Beat. Also on the CD is the original crowd version of the album plus an earlier live-in-the-studio performance done for a group of fans that was the original attempt at the LP. . . . There really was a place called Merlin’s Music Box for a brief time in Los Angeles but The Seeds probably never played there (it isn’t known definitively). Merlin’s was more of a quiet folk club but the name sounded nice for the album title. . . . [T]he album’s status as “live” didn’t seem to overly trouble anyone, and official word for decades was that it was really recorded in concert. After all, there’s screaming and an introduction by local disc jockey ‘Humble’ Harve Miller, and Sky even addresses the “crowd” before “Pushin Too Hard” just as he did in real Seeds concerts (dedicating the song to “society”). It wasn’t until some of the songs started being released without crowd noises that people began to notice the curious lack of connection between band and audience, and ponder why the album seemed so well-produced . . . .

https://www.skysaxonseeds.com/albums/raw-alive-merlins-music-box-1968

Mark Deming also writes about the LP:

[T]he Seeds were at their best when they kept things simple and to the point, and in 1968, uncertain where to go next after Future tanked, the band decided it would be a good idea to document their energetic live show with a concert album. However, in order to best control the audio, they ended up cutting a live set in a studio rather than taping an actual concert, laying in the sounds of cheering fans after the fact. The results were released as Raw and Alive: The Seeds in Concert at Merlin’s Music Box, even though it was recorded at Western Recorders studio in Hollywood rather than the folk-oriented coffee house namechecked in the title, and the incongruous-sounding cheers and applause, which rise and fall at unpredictable moments, give away the game that this is that curious artifact of the era, The Fake Live Album. However, as such things go, this is one of the best Fake Live Albums ever, and a better-than-average Seeds set as well. The songs really were cut live to tape, with no overdubs and edits, and the Seeds sound plenty tight and enthusiastic here, with Sky Saxon’s vocals reaching a near-feral intensity on “Satisfy You,” “Night Time Girl,” and “900 Million People Daily All Making Love,” and Jan Savage’s guitar work cutting significantly deeper than in the original recordings of these tunes. . . . Maybe not raw, but more alive than you think, and one of the Seeds’ best offerings.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/raw-alive-the-seeds-in-concert-at-merlins-music-box-mw0000678031

Of the Seeds, Stephen Thomas Erlewine says:

[T]hough they never quite matched the commercial peak of their first two singles, “Pushin’ Too Hard” [see #116] and “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine,” the band continued to record for the remainder of the ’60s, eventually delving deep into post-Sgt. Pepper’s psychedelia and art rock. None of their new musical directions resulted in another hit single, and the group disbanded at the turn of the decade. Sky Saxon . . . and guitarist Jan Savage formed the [band] . . . in Los Angeles in 1965. By the end of 1966, they had secured a contract with GNP Crescendo, releasing “Pushin’ Too Hard” [which] climbed into the Top 40 early in 1967 . . . . While their singles were garage punk, the Seeds . . . branch[ed] out into improvisational blues-rock and psychedelia on their first two albums . . . . With their third album . . . the band attempted a psychedelic concept album . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-seeds-mn0000500664/biography

Here it is with the fake audience:

Here’s the LP version:

Here’s the short version:

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The Fallen Angels — “Room at the Top”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 11, 2025

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

1,490) The Fallen Angels — “Room at the Top”

From the Fallen Angels (see #814),”Washington D.C.’s greatest contribution to 60s rock” (Jason, https://therisingstorm.net/the-fallen-angels-the-fallen-angels/), here is a ’67 B-side and track from their first LP with “sublime psychedelic power” (Jason again), a “brilliant dynamic psych rocker with groovy echo effects and nice crazy outro” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4QJbV_Q9Os), a “cool leadoff track”. (Dave Furgess, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1714/) “This song has been stuck in the back of my mind for 50 years now”! (Unknown, https://abitlikeyouandme.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-fallen-angels-room-at-top-1968.html) Let me add that the propulsive, horn-driven number bears a certain similarity to the Friends‘ theme song, yes “I’ll Be There for You” by the Rembrandts. Just sayin’.

Jason tells us of the Angels’ first LP:

While It’s a Long Way Down is their best offering, their first Roulette album, The Fallen Angels . . . is packed with great songs and tight performances. . . . The group could lay down a groove with the best of them but on LP they favor songcraft over noodling. Jack Bryant’s moody vocals and the album’s interesting production tricks catch the ear first but the group’s energetic drive, personal lyrics and catchy melodies will win you over in the end. . . . While not an all-time classic on par with It’s A Long Way Down . . . The Fallen Angels is still a good album by a psychedelic group whose music has held up quite well – they were one of America’s best unknown psych rock groups.

https://therisingstorm.net/the-fallen-angels-the-fallen-angels/

Dave Furgess tells us of the Angels:

The[] Fallen Angels were a great psychedelic group who were based in the Baltimore, Maryland-Washington D.C. area and recorded two full length albums for Roulette Records. . . . The . . . debut album failed to cause much attention at the record shops and was quickly deleted. Usually this would have meant certain death to a group like The Fallen Angels. However the good folks at Roulette decided to give the group a second shot and they were even afforded the luxury of complete artistic control. This all resulted in the group’s stunning second album It’s A Long Way Down (which sadly suffered the same fate as the group’s debut sales-wise despite it’s obvious quality and inventiveness.) . . . . an exceptional album . . . . that actually lives up to the hype.

https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1714/

Psychedelic Rock N’ Roll tells us of the band’s sad denouement:

Although the [second] album was an artistic triumph, Roulette Records‘s promotional campaign was practically non-existent. With no top ten hits, The Fallen Angels were unceremoniously dropped from the label. Relegated to the status of local legends, [they] continued creating and performing original music in the Washington D.C. area until the fall of 1969 when the group disbanded. . . . [T]he February 1972 issue of Stereo Review, music critic Joel Vance wrote an insightful article entitled The Fragmentation Of Rock, which analyzed the problem of developing new talent in the industry. To illustrate the overwhelming odds against succeeding, he states:
“The Fallen Angels, for example, a remarkable band from Washington, D.C., put out two astonishing albums for Roulette Records in 1967/68. But they never made it, even though they were far better than most American groups of the time”.

https://psychedelic-rocknroll.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-fallen-angels-its-long-way-down.html?m=1

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The Ali Baba Revue — “Rats in My Room”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 10, 2025

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

1,489) The Ali Baba Revue — “Rats in My Room”

Unlike yesterday, today we have neither a gorgeous nor whimsical song about a room at the top of the stairs. Rather, we have “a rather amazing, incredibly strange tune” (Patrick Lundborg, The Acid Archives, 2nd ed.), “very odd and bizarre quasi-psych-garage with hilarious bad trip lyrics”(SleepObsessed, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/ali-baba-revue/let-it-all-hang-out.p/) about a room infested with rats!

As to the Ali Baba Revue and it’s sole LP, Patrick Lundborg writes:

One of the few known LPs on the legendary garage 45 Boss label, this mid-60’s album looks like it could be a lounge title, but except for a few dull ballads . . . it’s more of an east-coast club/r’n’b) album, with an unual, sleazy undertone. I think these may have been the guys who played before the stripper came on! In addition to the seedy sax-organ-guitar r’n’b[, we have “Rats in my Room”!]

The Acid Archives, 2nd ed.

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Timothy Blue — “Room at the Top of the Stairs”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 9, 2025

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

1,488) Timothy Blue — “Room at the Top of the Stairs”

Here is a gorgeous and whimsical song sung (by Timothy) Blue of Glasgow, written by future Alan Parsons Project co-founder and fellow Glaswegian Eric Woolfson.

David Wells tells us that:

It has been reported in the past that Timothy Blue was a pseudonym for . . . Eric Woolfson. Although Woolfson did pen both sides of this single (the b-side co-written with John Carter), Timothy Blue was actually a singer by the name of Tom Briggs. “At the time I was managed by Rod Buckle of Sonet, who arranged for Eric Woolfson to hear me”, says Briggs, “I then came up with the name Timothy Blue and the two tracks were recorded in Denmark Street.” With sterling accompaniment from various six in-house Spark/Southern session men, the 45 is a convincing slice of late 60’s British lysergic pop . . . .

Liner notes to the CD comp Hello Everyone: Popsike Sparks From Denmark Street 1968-70

The Times tells us of Woolfson’s early years in his obituary:

Eric Woolfson was born in Glasgow . . . . After a brief but somewhat unsuccessful foray into accountancy, he found work as a session pianist in London. During this period he worked with musicians such as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones . . . . He also arranged a meeting with Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones’ record producer. Oldham asked him to play a piece that he had written himself and, after just one song, offered Woolfson a publishing deal with . . . Immediate Records. Oldham placed Woolfson’s work with a number of well-known artists of the day, including Marianne Faithfull and Frank Ifield, as well as using him as a session pianist on many of his independent productions. Songs written by Woolfson found their way into various record producers’ hands, including Mick Jagger’s first attempt as a record producer with the singer Chris Farlowe: Woolfson’s song was consigned to the “B” side but the single, Out of Time, reached No 1 in the UK. Woolfson signed other publishing deals as more and more of his songs were taken up by leading recording artists, both in Europe and America. He signed a deal with Southern Music, where he joined the ranks of composers and lyricists such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. In the late Sixties and early Seventies Woolfson was an independent record producer for several record companies, and worked with artists including Dave Berry, the Equals and the Tremeloes. Despite his success, he found that earning a living as a songwriter was not easy and decided to try artist management. His first two clients were the singer Carl Douglas, who had just had a hit with Kung Fu Fighting, and a record producer, Alan Parsons, whom he had met at Abbey Road Studios.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/eric-woolfson-co-founder-of-the-alan-parsons-project-jdnl3ppsmnh

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Gold — “When I Saw You”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — February 8, 2025

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

1,487) Gold — “When I Saw You”

From a San Francisco Mission District band with “a great raw sound. . . . something like a cross between Santana and The Jefferson Airplane” (Klemen Breznikar, https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2012/08/gold-interview-with-ed-scott-guitar-and.html) but only a lone 45 to its name, here is a song with “the spacy languor of Quicksilvere Messenger Service at their most folk-rocking wistful . . . . [the] distinctively bittersweet sound of . . . gentler S.F. psychedelia”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/oregins-sf-1970-mw0001420799#review)

MyFirstBand tells of Gold:

In 1971 Gold was one of the hottest bands in San Francisco without an LP. Bill Graham was booking them to open for 10 years After, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Hot Tuna and more. . . . Country Joe McDonald took a great interest in the Band and worked with them on a number of projects. he even helped them release a 45…the classic “Summertime” b/w “No Parking”. The single went pretty much unnoticed, however they did receive some airplay on top 40 stations in California and Utah. Guitarist Ed Scott founded what was to become Gold in 1967. Known at the time as The Lost Cause, featuring Larry Walton on lead guitar, they went through several names including Golden Gate, and then finally Gold (as in Acapulco Gold). As the years progressed, new members came and went. The band finally broke up in September, 1973 due to frustration over lack of finding a good label and the usual ego tripping issues that cause most bands to fall.

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/04/gold-gold-1969-us-amazing-west-coast.html

Ron Babral, manager and percussionist, recalls:

Gold is perhaps the most famous unknown band to come out of San Francisco. If they had a hot LP out while they were playing the San Francisco Bay Area they could have broken out, but it just didn’t happen. . . . I do want to point out that during some peak stages for Gold, Country Joe came in to the picture and became a kind of producer of the group both in the recording studio and in out of the studio. He became like a coach in performing techniques when the band played Winterland. . . . Joe tried his best to bring Gold up as high as they could go. Bill Graham gave them several booking in his big venues and still they fell off the edge and had broken up by 1973. . . . I met [Joe McDonald] while we both served in the US NAVY in Japan during the 1960-61 period. We served as Air Control Tower Operators and lived in the same barracks. . . . Since we were both from California we met up again a few later in San Francisco and then again at the Human Be-in held in Golden Gate Park in January 1967. I didn’t know at that time that Joe had started a band with Barry Melton called Country Joe and The Fish. . . . [I] joined my brother Dennis in managing Gold . . . . The band went on to play all the Bay Area venues including Fillmore, Fillmore-West and Winterland. Opening shows for the likes of Mike Bloomfield, Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company and Full Tilt Boogie, Hot Tuna, Malo, Cold Blood, Country Joe, Tower of Power and even British rockers Ten Years After.

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2012/08/gold-interview-with-ed-scott-guitar-and.html

Oh, and, “Gold’s biggest gig may have the 1970 Hells Angels party in San Rafael. The bill was Loose Gravel with Mike Wilhelm, Gold, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Full Tilt Boogie and Janis Joplin.”

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2012/08/gold-interview-with-ed-scott-guitar-and.html

Richie Unterberger is equivocal:

Gold were a promising if derivative late-’60s San Francisco psychedelic band that only managed to release one single, “No Parking”/”Summertime” (the B-side produced by Country Hoe McDonald) . . . . Drawing from blues, the minor-keyed folk-rock that numerous San Francisco bands blended into their repertoire, and Santana-like rock-Latin fusion, Gold played with likable raw energy, though their material wasn’t as distinctive as that of the major Bay Area psychedelic acts. . . . Gold were neither top-tier when judged against the many similar bands from the time and region, nor possessed of a fully formed musical identity.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/oregins-sf-1970-mw0001420799#review, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gold-mn0002133886#biography

Live at the Fillmore West (’70):

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