THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,447)Al Kooper — “Brand New Day”
On this New Year’s Day, let me play Al Kooper’s (see #642, 705, 804) “Brand New Day”, a “youthfully optimistic rocker” (Lindsay Planer, https://www.allmusic.com/album/easy-does-it-mw0000740238) — and let’s hope that “the years of night will pass forever when the sun comes shining through”. Happy New Year, everyone.
Lindsay Planer explains that “[t]his is the first of two tracks Kooper used in his score for Hal Ashby’s directorial cinematic debut, 1970’s The Landlord, a highly affable counterculture classic starring Beau Bridges. The haunting “The Landlord Love Theme” [see #804] is also included” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/easy-does-it-mw0000740238) Kooper re-recorded the song for his ’70 double-LP Easy Does It.
Ian McFarlane proclaims that “the original soundtrack version . . . is superior in every way”. (liner notes to the CD comp/reissue I Stand Alone/You Never Know Who Your Friends Are … Plus) Matthew Greenwald loves the LP version:
Originally recorded as the theme song for the film The Landlord, “Brand New Day” is a brilliant wedding of gospel and rock & roll, and according to Al Kooper, “an experiment that worked.” Led by a buoyant melody and truly epic arrangement, th[e] 1970 “remake” is markedly different from the one that appeared on the soundtrack, with its more “airy” recording and performance. Filled with life-affirming and biblical imagery, it’s not too hard to hear the Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson influence, yet it nevertheless has Kooper’s stamp of originality.
I love both versions, but I give the edge to the more gospel-infused soundtrack version. Speaking of gospel, the Staple Singers [see #680] also contributed a stirring performance for The Landlord soundtrack. Mavis Staples recalled that:
I remember Pops telling us, now you get over here, because this guy’s [Kooper] coming with the song for us to sing. It was strange because he wanted to come to the house–he didn’t want to send it in; he wanted to bring it to us personally, and that made all the difference. He came to our home; he spent the night. In fact, he and Pops we’re just laughing most of the time because he was comical and everything he was saying was funny, and my mother fixed dinner. The song he brought, we fell in love with that (“Brand New Day”) and we rehearsed it a little bit. I remember him telling Pops that nobody played guitar the way he did, the sound was so unique. We were excited because we were going to be singing for a movie (The Landlord). He’s not on any high pedestal or anything; he’s just everyday people. That’s what made it so good-he didn’t come in all stiff, just stuck out, and whatnot, he was just down with it.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,446)Boudewijn de Groot — “Apocalyps”/“Apocalypse”
The Dutch Master Boudewijn de Groot (see #107, 161, 305, 989, 1,216) — and I’m not talking cigars — is a “[t]roubadour with a Dylan-esque impact, who shoots to fame in [the Netherlands in] the ’60s and ’70s” (https://en.muziekencyclopedie.nl/action/entry/Boudewijn+de+Groot)Here, from his first LP, and written with his collaborator Lennaert Nijgh, is one of the great lovers torn apart by war anti-war songs (along with the Master’s Apprentices’s “War or Hands of Time” (see #297)). You can read the lyrics here: https://www.boudewijndegrootthuispagina.nl/bdg1.htm.
Boudewijn de Groot recalls that (courtesy of Google Translate):
Although I initially had quite some trouble singing the text of ‘Apocalyps’ on my own, since it is a kind of dialogue between a boy and a girl, no one ever took offense to that. It is the reason why I never performed the song live.
As to de Groot through the 60s, his website states that (courtesy of Google Translate):
Boudewijn de Groot was born on May 20, 1944 in the Japanese internment camp Kramat in Batavia (now Jakarta) ithe former Dutch East Indies. A few months later . . . the family was transferred without the father to the Tjideng women’s camp . . . where his mother died . . . . In May 1946, Boudewijn left for the Netherlands with his father, sister and brother, where he lived with an aunt in Haarlem. . . . Lennaert Nijgh, a school friend of Boudewijn’s stepbrother . . . also lived in the same street. . . . In 1961 . . . both of them were interested in film. After graduating, Boudewijn began studying at the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam . . . . In 1963 Lennaert wrote and directed a short 8 mm feature film . . . . Boudewijn played the role of troubadour, for which he wrote two songs himself. The video was shown at home and the then newsreader Ed Lautenslager was present at one of those performances. He was particularly impressed by the two songs, especially the singing and the music, and he advised the pair to do something together in that direction: Lennaert the lyrics, Boudewijn music and singing. Lautenslager was able to arrange a recording through a relationship with the record company Phonogram. Four songs were recorded there . . . . [and] were released on two singles, both of which flopped, but did result in an invitation to the television program “Nieuwe Organisatie” . . . . Boudewijn won first prize from the professional jury. . . . The record company tried to achieve success by combining the two singles and releasing them on an EP . . . . When there turned out to be no market for that either, producer Tony Vos presented Boudewijn with a choice: quit or record a commercial song. For the latter, Tony had ‘Une enfant’ by Aznavour in mind. After much hesitation and with great reluctance, Boudewijn agreed to this, after which Lennaert provided a Dutch translation. The single was released and became a success. After working for a year and a half as a warehouse clerk . . . to support his family . . . Boudewijn was finally able to make a living from his career as a singer. After the success of ‘A girl of sixteen’ [see #305], an LP was . . . put together . . . including ‘Good night, Mr. President’. . . an indictment of the war in Vietnam . . . [and] . . . President Lyndon B. Johnson[. It] was released as a single in ’66 and was the first self-penned hit by the duo De Groot/Nijgh. . . . In 1966 the first LP was released with exclusively the De Groot/Nijgh duo’s own material. . . . “For the Survivors”, received a gold and a platinum record and also an Edison. ‘Het Land van Maas en Waal’ was released as the second single. . . . [and] became the first Dutch-language record to reach number 1 in the Top 40. It was 1967 and the hippie era was beginning. The LP ‘Picnic’, inspired by the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, . . was a success, achieved gold and platinum and a second Edison. . . . Boudewijn thought he could continue experimenting. Together with a friend from the film academy he wrote the quasi-mystical epic ‘Witches’ Sabbath’, the main component of the LP “Nacht en ontij” (1968). . . . After some wanderings in Belgium and the Netherlands, Boudewijn decided in November 1969 to retire to a farm . . . with a number of musicians to start a beat band and sing English songs. This formula turned out to be unsuccessful. . . . Boudewijn . . . renew[ed] artistic ties with Lennaert. . . . Between 1971 and 1975 he produced records . . . . In ’73 he himself made a new LP . . . which includes the song ‘Jimmy’, named after his son born in ’72. This LP went platinum and Boudewijn received an Edison for this.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,445)The Remo Four* — “Live Like a Lady”
The Remo Four (see #1,437) give us Liverpool’s (by way of Hamburg) “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”: a raucous, infectious and “really nifty gender-bending original . . . its growling guitar sweetened by organ”. (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/album/smile%21-peter-gunnand-more-mw0002073691) “Lady” would surely have been a hit on MTV!
As to the Remo Four, Bill Harry tells us:
A Mersey group who first formed as a vocal outfit, the Remo Quartet, in 1958 and played at social clubs and weddings. They changed to rock‘n’roll music at the beginning of 1960 . . . . [and] appeared on a number of Cavern bills with The Beatles, changing their name to The Remo Four . . . . The group comprised Keith Stokes (rhythm/vocals), Colin Manley, who was rated as Liverpool’s top rock‘n’roll guitarist [and who wrote “Live Like a Lady”] . . . Don Andrews (bass) and Harry Prytherch (drums). In December 1962 they became Johnny Sandon & The Remo Four in order to embark on a tour of US bases in France, when Roy Dyke replaced Prytherch and Johnny Sandon joined them. . . . The Remo Four turned down the offer of becoming Billy J. Kramer’s backing band but . . . accepted the offer of backing Tommy Quickly. . . . They were now managed by Brian Epstein and were included on the Beatles Christmas show at the Finsbury Park Astoria and also joined The Beatles on their autumn tour of Britain in 1964. They were excited when The Beatles provided them with “No Reply” to record and felt that it would be the single to take them and Tommy to the top of the charts. . . . Unfortunately, Quickly was slightly drunk and very nervous at the session and the single was never released. The group then began to back a variety of singers including Georgie Fame, Billy Fury, and Billy J. Kramer . . . . By this time Tony Ashton had joined the group . . . .
Contemporaries of the Beatles, along with other Liverpudlian rockers . . . the Remo Four were . . . . in something of a time warp in 1966 and 1967. While their contemporaries were enjoying the fruits of swinging London, the quartet were stuck in Hamburg playing the Star Club, working off an enormous debt to their management company NEMS along with a tax bill. They were working hard, playing upwards of four times a night, delivering Merseybeat with a hard, jazzy R&B edge. In a sense, they hadn’t moved forward from the glory days of Merseybeat, relying on driving, crowd-pleasing, floor-filling covers, but the constant playing gave the group a deep, muscular groove and jazz chops . . . . [Their sole LP] Smile! and its accompanying singles [ate] rather unique: ostensibly, this is generic British R&B, but the Remo Four swing with an authority that no other British Invasion band had . . . .
*”Their name derived in a roundabout way from an Italian singer and bandleader who’d appeared at the London Palladium, Marino Marini, and from there they thought of Italy’s San Remo Music Festival . . . .” (Oliver Schuh, liner note to the CD reissue of Smile! (Smile!, Peter Gunn . . . and More)
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,444)Kippington Lodge — “Shy Boy”
A delightfully twee Tomorrow (see #72) song done best and first by Kippington Lodge* (see #672), 1,156), about a boy whose “hair is never right His acne looks a sight The clothes he buys don′t fit tight Everybody puts him down And calls him shy boy” — but who becomes a naughty boy!
Unconvinced of the commerical potential of the Brinsley Schwarz compositions that were offered for consideration . . . . [EMI staff producer Mark Wirtz] decided that Kippington Lodge’s debut would be “Shy Boy”, a song written by Wirtz collaborator, Keith West, who had just scored a major hit that summer with the Wirtz-produced “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)”. Kippington Lodge had dutifully spent several weeks rehearsing the track, only to find upon their return to Abbey Road that Wirtz had booked session players to record the track. “It was just Brinsley singing and the backing tack was done by session men,” explains [organist Barry] Landeman . . . . “We did a BBC session to promote [it], but it wasn’t a hit,” recalls Landeman.
liner note to the CD comp Kippington Lodge: Shy Boy: The Complete Recordings 1967-1969
All Music Guide gives some history of the Lodge:
On leaving school, Lowe . . . decided to go and see some more of the world leaving Schwarz [who] . . . formed Three’s A Crowd who were signed to EMI Records in 1967. Changing their name to Kippington Lodge they released their debut ‘Shy Boy’ in October. This effective pop song was accompanied by the equally good ‘Lady On A Bicycle’. At this point, Lowe returned to England and joined his friends in time for the second single ‘Rumours’ which was produced by Mark Wirtz. . . . To supplement their lack of income from record sales, Kippington Lodge became Billie Davies’ backing group and released three further singles during 1968-69. . . . The last single, a version of the Beatles’ ‘In My Life’, came out in April 1969 and, after doing as poorly as previous efforts, left the group at a loose end. . . . the name Kippington Lodge was dropped in favour of that of lead guitarist Brinsley Schwarz.
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In 1966, Norma Tanega had a worldwide hit with the title track of her debut album, Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog. A bouncy number that blended the au courant sounds of folk-pop and New York soul-pop . . . [it was] her lone moment of mainstream success, but . . . Tanega remained a cult favorite years later. . . . Since the music world didn’t really know what to do with her in the ’60s and early ’70s, Tanega followed her wayward muse and became a teacher, painter, and percussionist with experimental groups . . . .
Tanega had a longer and more complex career than [“Dog”] might suggest. . . . When her early success wasn’t repeated, she continued to make music on her own terms, whether writing songs for her lover Dusty Springfield or collaborating with Blossom Dearie in the early ’70s, adding touches of psych rock to her 1971 album . . . or creating avant-garde sounds with later projects . . . . Tanega was born in . . . California . . . to a Panamanian mother and a Filipino father . . . . [and] moved to New York City in 1963. Living in Greenwich Village, she became a part of the thriving folk music scene. . . . Tanega . . . worked summers as a music counselor at a camp in the Catskill Mountains. Producer Herb Bernstein saw her perform there and introduced her to producer and songwriter Bob Crewe, most famous for his work with the Four Seasons.* Tanega signed to Crewe’s New Voice label in 1965 and released [“Dog”] in 1966. Inspired by her real-life pet (which she owned because her apartment building didn’t allow dogs), the song . . . became an international hit, reaching number three in Canada and peaking at number 22 on the U.S. and U.K. charts. . . . Tanega appeared on American Bandstand and Where the Action Is and was the sole female performer on a North American tour that included Gene Pitney, Chad & Jeremy, and Bobby Goldsboro . . . . Later in 1966, she toured England and performed on the TV show Ready, Steady, Go!, where she met Dusty Springfield. . . . Tanega moved to London to be with Springfield. Along with painting, Tanega spent her time writing songs, many of which Springfield recorded. . . She . . . record[ed] a 1969 album, Snow Cycles, that was never released. . . . [but] was more successful with 1971’s I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile, a set of songs inspired by her relationship with Springfield . . . .
After her six-year relationship with Springfield ended, Tanega began working as a gallerist and emerged as a prolific painter. Her vibrantly colourful body of work—surrealist portraits, neon hockey masks and otherworldly landscapes . . . . Tanega continued as a musician, yet switched her focus to percussion in a number of experimental groups . . . . While an interest in unusual time signatures dates back to her 1960s folksinger era, these later projects freed her from traditional songwriting entirely.
In 1972, her relationship with Springfield was over. . . . [and she] returned to Claremont, California, and embarked on a long career as a teacher. Along with teaching art, music and English as a second language in the city’s schools, she became an adjunct professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She continued to paint and make music, switching from folk to more experimental sounds and often performing as a percussionist. During the ’80s, she performed with the Ceramic Ensemble, a project led by Scripps ceramics professor Brian Ransom that played handmade instruments. In the ’90s, she founded the group Hybrid Vigor with Mike Henderson. . . . . [Later, she was in] the Latin Lizards . . . . Push. . . . [and Baboonz].
Two days after starting at the studio, Bernstein got a phone call from one of his students, persistently promoting her friend Norma. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer,” laughs Bernstein. He caved and invited Tanega [in. “]The truth of the matter is that I really expected her to be there for 10 minutes, and that would be it. She started playing me these songs, and each one was weirder than the next. It was almost impossible to figure out her rhythms. I felt like I was going to school.”
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,442)The Candlelight — “That’s What I Want”
This ’67 A-side is a marvelous UK folk-rock/baroque pop take on an oft-recorded John Carter (see #1,201, 1,304)-Ken Lewis beat nugget — “[t]he old Carter-Lewis ‘standard’ brushed up and given a cool Pop-sike treatment”. (liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow Volume Four: Timeless UK 60’s Popsike & Other Delights) “This 1967 British [45] passed everyone by unnoticed, but both sides today are recognized a[s] top-drawer examples of non-album release progressive Folk, with growing reputation. . . . A double serving of superior folk with a pinch of psyche.”(Manships Rare Vinyl, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxKfFoMo_cc)
As to the Candlelight, 45cat.com has a press release by CBS Records stating that:
THE CANDLELIGHT are a threesome folk group formerly known as the New Harvesters who have changed their name to make a pop record. . . . compris[ing] bright-eyed Jennie Greenfield, 20 . . . Ray Avery, 22 . . . and 19 year old Peter Baker . . . . The group has been together for two years and has a big following on the folk club circuit.
As to the wonderful John Carter and Ken Lewis, Tim Sendra writes:
One of the leading tunesmiths of the ’60s and ’70s English pop scene, John Carter was responsible for writing big hits and timeless classics like “Can’t You Feel My Heartbeat” by Herman’s Hermits, “My World Fell Down” by Sagittarius, and the Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul[]” . . . . the Ivy League’s “Funny How Love Can Be,” the Flowerpot Men’s “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” and “Beach Baby” for First Class. Typified by harmony vocals, simple melodies and, during the psychedelic era, very soft Baroque arrangements, the songs and productions Carter was a part of helped define the sound of English pop during his heyday. . . . Carter began writing songs at the age of 15 with classmate Ken Lewis. Inspired by the first wave of rockers . . . they worked up a batch of songs and in 1959, left their hometown [of Birmingham] for London . . . . find[ing] a publisher right away . . . . In 1960, they moved over to Southern Music and . . . began singing . . . under the name Carter-Lewis. . . . [and then] Carter-Lewis & the Southerners . . . . Between 1961 and 1964 they issued seven singles . . . . [t]heir sound was firmly rooted in the tradition of the Everly Brothers . . . . Though . . . a popular live act, the two songwriters quickly figured out that it made more sense financially to stay behind the scenes instead. Carter in particular exhibited no interest in becoming a pop star . . . . They soon shifted to cranking out demos . . . . [With] Perry Ford, [they] started . . . the Ivy League in late 1964 . . . . [W]hen the Rockin’ Berries turned down the song “Funny How Love Can Be,” the group released it themselves and had a Top Ten hit. Their sound was pitched somewhere between Del Shannon and the Beach Boys . . . . Carter left the band to head back to the . . . studio . . . with new [writing] partner Geoff Stephens. Along with songs penned for the Ivy League . . . the pair had hits with Manfred Mann, Mary Hopkin, the New Vaudeville Band, and Herman’s Hermits. Carter even ended up singing lead vocals on “Winchester Cathedral[.]” . . . [H]e was also working in the studio with a pair of songwriters, Robin Keen and Mickey Shaw, who he had signed to his newly formed music publishing company. Every week the pair would meet with Carter and play him the songs they had written. He’d pick his favorites and they would assemble a crack team of musicians to record them. Though they continued to work in this fashion for almost two years, they only issued one single, 1966’s “White Collar Worker,” [as] the Ministry of Sound. . . . Lewis left the Ivy League in 1967 and paired up with Carter again. . . . “Little Bit of Soul” [became a hit] . . . . [as did t]heir soft psychedelic confection “Let’s Go to San Francisco” . . . . Once again, Carter and Lewis decided not to go on the road and hired a band to go out and perform as the Flowerpot Men . . . .
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Sky Sunlight Saxon and the Seeds tells us about “Gypsy”:
[T]he first time that The Seeds attempted to record [“Gypsy”] was on January 13, 1968. This fantastic version languished in the vaults for decades until take 6 was chosen, with overdubs from the same session, as a bonus track on the 2013 expanded Future double CD. One Bob Atkins plays bass on this version. Daryl Hooper’s famous genre-defining keyboards give the tune its droning queasiness and Jan Savage’s crunchy guitar remind the listener that this is definitely The Seeds. Sky, at the height of his 1960s audaciousness, turns in another always-reliable showing, drawling out the mesmerizing lyrics as “gypsih PLIES his DRAWWWWWW”. But on February 20, 1968, The Seeds gathered some fans in the studio and played a “live” show for them, intending to pass it off as a live album. Only two of these recordings were ultimately chosen, a remake of “Pushin’ Too Hard” and a new attempt at “Gypsy Plays His Drums”. When The Seeds attempted to record the album again in April this song wasn’t even included. Apparently they knew they had it already. Live crowd noises were added and it was issued on Raw & Alive, becoming the one that fans knew for years.
Sky Sunlight Saxon and the Seeds tells 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. . . . But it’s the new songs, unavailable elsewhere, that make Raw And Alive truly notable, and necessary. . . . “Gypsy Plays His Drums” is as snakily psychedelic as its title suggests. . . . 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 . . . .
[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. A few new tunes were played at the “live” sessions, and . . . “The Gypsy Plays His Drums” [isn’t a] milestone[] in the Seeds’ catalog . . . . Maybe not raw, but more alive than you think, and one of the Seeds’ best offerings.
[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 . . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,440) The Majority — “All Our Christmases”
Written by Barry, Robin and Maurice but never released at the time by the Bee Gees, this delightful Christmas song is “[a] very rare mixing of two different genres, pop/rock and the waltz!”, yet it “[w]orks flawlessly, for a real beautiful, melodic song.” (MKIVWWI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJaMNpKh6c) “Too bad this song never got the airplay it deserved.” (MKIVWWI, again) Indeed.
Bartalinigibb comments that:
The label states that [the song] is “from the film The Mini Mob“. The Majority appear in the film performing a shortened version of the song. The film director Robert Amram recalls that Robert Stigwood asked him to include the Majority in the film as part of the deal that got him a Bee Gees song (“Words”).
Ah, The Mini Mob, where a “quartet of Mod princesses . . . are so desperate for boyfriends that they’re forced to kidnap them”. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247522/) Of the film, which I have not seen, jbellman-2 writes:
Now we know why this truly jaw-dropping “swingin’ ’60s” artifact has languished virtually unseen since its fleeting release in 1968 – it’s virtually unwatchable! Even die-hard fans of mod kitsch . . . will be hard-pressed to explain, much less defend, this thing. . . . [I]t features a brief clip of The Majority performing a song written (but never released) by the Bee Gees, as well as the first recording of the Bee Gees’ later hit, “Words,” covered here by pop star Georgie Fame, who plays a pop star named “Georgie Hart.” The so-called plot (basically contrived on the fly by director Amram from a notion by producer Herland) centers on a scheme by a guy, his girlfriend, and three “dollybirds” to kidnap a pop star, a DJ from an offshore pirate radio station!, and a cabinet minister. Object: marriage! . . . Rebounding from this disaster, Amram went on to win two Academy Awards three years later for his short film Sentinels of Silence, narrated by Orson Welles . . . .
The Majority issued eight U.K. singles on Decca between 1965 and 1968 without reaching the British charts, though they were a reasonably accomplished band, especially in the vocal harmony department. . . . [It] sounded more American than the typical British Invasion band, with harmonies and, usually, material more in line with U.S. pop/rock acts like the Beach Boys and sunshine pop groups than most of their U.K. peers. While it’s fairly enjoyable stuff, it’s easy to hear why they became a sort of “in-between” group, with too much going for them to get dropped from their label, but not enough going for them to score hit records. One reason is that they didn’t establish much of an identity, their arrangements veering from mild British Invasion sounds to quasi-Walker Brothers productions and late-’60s British orchestrated pop with the slightest of psychedelic touches. Another is that none of their material, most of it supplied by outside writers, was particularly great, though it was usually pleasant (if not much more). They did do songs by some outstanding composers, including Chip Taylor, who co-wrote “Wait by the Fire,” and the Bee Gees, whose “All Our Christmases” was never issued by the Bee Gees themselves. . . .
Of the many British Invasion-era bands that never had a hit . . . the Majority had more staying power than most . . . . They never quite found a consistent stylistic direction or great material, however, before changing their name to Majority One in the late ’60s. Formed in Hull, England, as the Mustangs in the early ’60s, they changed their name to the Majority around the time they moved to London in 1965. . . . [T]hey tried their hand at a variety of material over the next few years, most of it coming from outside songwriters. As a minor coup of sorts, for their second single, 1965’s “A Little Bit of Sunlight,” they managed to gain access to a Ray Davies composition that never found a place on a 1960s Kinks record . . . . In search of chart material, the Majority also tried compositions written or co-written by such luminaries as John Carter [see #1,201, 1,304], Twice as Much, and Chip Taylor. But they never hit a commercial or artistic gold mine, the production varying from the lush to straightforward mod-ish rock. . . . After some major lineup shuffles and work backing singer Barry Ryan in concert and in the studio, the Majority relocated to France, where they renamed themselves Majority One in 1969 and continued their recording career with a similar but more sophisticated musical approach.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,439) The Honeybus — “Do I Figure in Your Life”
The A-side of Honeybus’ (see ##6, 52, 207, 434, 562, 605, 764, 1,100) second single (’67) is “not just their, but virtually anybody else’s finest recorded moment . . . a mini-masterpiece . . . [with] immaculate arrangement; haunting melody; wistful, reflective lyrics” (Roger Dopson, liner notes to the CD comp Honeybus at Their Best), “one of the baroque pop genre’s standard-bearers . . . . a perfect combination of memorable melody, plaintive lyrics and a florid woodwind and string quartet arrangement that framed [Pete] Dello’s peeved vocal to perfection” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Come Join My Orchestra: The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-73), “a rather wistful folksy ballad with intricate harmonies” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), “a lush, introspective ballad”. (https://www.angelfire.com/pop2/honeybus/story.htm)
Yet, “[d]espite considerable airplay Chart action inexplicably eluded it, although several artists, including Dave Berry, Joe Cocker and Dana [and Samantha Jones, Ian Matthews, Pete Dello himself, and even Creepy John Thomas] subsequently covered the song. Certainly it was one of the classics that got away.” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Martin Crookall is entranced by the song, and flabbergasted that the “Great British Record Buying Public” (“you bozos”!) didn’t make it a hit:
The enthusiasm with which it was always greeted, its calm assuredness, the relationship it bore to ‘I can’t let Maggie Go’, which was a bona fide hit, the frequency with which I heard it until it was at least as familiar as any playlisted track: obviously it had been a big hit, Top 5 at the worst. The song’s own internal self-confidence was practically a guarantee of that. Pete Dello’s very English vocals over a slow, near funereal pace, the burden of the song carried by the string quartet that reduced the rest of the band to mere accompanists, except where they were called in to sing the title line. And those lyrics and the sense they gave off, of a certain shyness at the presence this woman, this fabulous creature, who is so far above him, who is enjoying the fruits of a world he cannot enter, filled with people who make him nervous because they emphasise his own inadequacy. They move in separate spheres now, but once they did not, once they were equals, and more than equals: to think that I once took you for my wife. He’s telling a story without facts, presenting a picture in which all he can do is ask, a little nervously, in much buried fear: Do I still figure in your life? Yes, what was once all has now dwindled until it is almost nothing. It may even be nothing at all, now, to her. He hides it behind his passive tone but he still loves her as once she loved him. Does she still feel anything for him, anything at all? He no longer knows who she is well enough to know. He can only ask, and pray that her answer is not the negative he dreads. To hope that there is still some part of her that thinks kindly of him, that remembers when he meant something to her. A song of that magnificence, that sweet melody and such words that spoke to great depths just had to have been a massive hit. Surely people couldn’t have ignored this song? Never forgotten it. So I thought, though not in words, every time I listened to it. So I was truly flabbergasted when I learned it had not been a hit at all. Had not sold. Had not soared. Had not been taken to the hearts of the Great British Record Buying Public. To whom I say, yet again, you bozos.
Honeybus is one of my favorite bands, with the honey being especially bittersweet given what should have been, what could have been. Jittery White Guy puts it perfectly:
Honeybus had the pop touchstones of the Beatles and the Hollies, while balancing the more sunshiny, twee aspects of the early Bee Gees with some mild touches of post-Sgt. Pepper psychedelia. . . . Their songs were unusually tuneful, some lovely little hooks paired with sweet harmonies, and it’s almost shocking to hear these songs today and realize the band had pretty much zero commercial success (at least here in the US).
Bruce Eder beautifully ponders what made the band so special and what “happened”:
Considering that most have never heard of them, it’s amazing to ponder that they came very close, in the eyes of the critics, to being Decca Records’ answer to the Rubber Soul-era Beatles. The harmonies were there, along with some catchy, hook-laden songs . . . . The pop sensibilities of Honeybus’ main resident composers, Peter Dello and Ray Cane were astonishingly close in quality and content to those of Paul McCartney and the softer sides of John Lennon of that same era. What’s more, the critics loved their records. Yet, somehow, Honeybus never got it right; they never had the right single out at the proper time, and only once in their history did they connect with the public for a major hit, in early 1968. . . .
Dello and Cane . . . were the prime movers behind Honeybus. In 1966, they formed the Yum Yum Band . . . . A collapsed lung put Dello out of action in early 1966, and it was during his recuperation that he began rethinking what the band and his music were about. He developed the notion of a new band that would become a canvas for him to work on as a songwriter — they would avoid the clubs, working almost exclusively in the studio, recreating the sounds that he was hearing in his head. . . . It was a novel strategy, paralleling the approach to music-making by the Beatles in their post-concert period, and all the more daring for the fact that they were a new group . . . . The group was one of the best studio bands of the period, reveling in the perfection that could be achieved . . . .
They were duly signed to England’s Decca Records and assigned to the company’s newly organized Deram label . . . . The critics were quick to praise the band . . . [but their first two singles were commercially] unsuccessful. Then . . . their third release, “I Can’t Let Maggie Go,” [see #6] . . . . . . peaked at number eight. . . . [It] should have made the group, but instead it shattered them. Peter Dello resigned during the single’s chart run. He had been willing to play live on radio appearances and the occasional television or special concert showcase . . . but he couldn’t accept the physical or emotional stresses of performing live on a regular basis, or the idea of touring America . . . . Dello left . . . . [and] Jim Kelly came in on guitar and vocals, while Ray Cane . . . took over most of the songwriting, and Honeybus proceeded to play regular concerts. The group never recovered the momentum they’d lost over “Maggie,” however, despite a string of fine singles . . . . [that] never charted . . . . [T]he group had pretty well decided to call it quits once they finished the[ir] LP . . . . The Honeybus Story . . . was released in late 1969, but without an active group to promote it, the record sank without a trace. . . . [I]t was a beautiful album, with the kind of ornate production and rich melodies that had become increasingly rare with the passing of the psychedelic era . . . .
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,438) Louise Forestier — “From Santa to America”
OK, I am not playing this song by the great French Canadian singer Louise Forestier(see #44, 149) on Christmas Day. As best I can make out the lyrics by the French Canadian singer, songwriter and actor Claude Gauthier, Santa is boycotting the kids in the U.S.A. because he is pissed about the Vietnam War — they’ll just have to get their toy guns somewhere else. In any event, the song in Forestier’s hands becomes a sort of intoxicating Julie Driscoll-esque [see #1,032-33, 1,312] psychedelic chanson.
As to Louise Forestier, the Canadian Encyclopedia tells us (courtesy of Google Translate):
Though she graduated from the National Theatre School in Montreal, it was as a singer that she came to public notice in 1966 when she received the Renée-Claude Trophy from Le Patriote and was named discovery of the year on the CBC TV program ‘Jeunesse oblige’. The extaordinary success of the revue L’Osstidcho (1968), then of L’Osstidchomeurt (1969) with Robert Charlebois (see #44, 1,185), Yvon Deschamps, and Mouffe which introduced her to a large public. She and Charlebois recorded “Lindberg” and took part in a whirlwind tour of France in 1969. . . . In April 1970 she was the star in the musical play by Michel Tremblay and François Dompierre Demain matin Montréal m’attend, whose title song was a hit. In 1971 she made an appearance with Charlebois at an MSQ concert, and gave a few recitals. The following year she played a role in Jacques Godbout’s film IXE-13 . . . . Forestier took her place among the top Quebec stars in 1973 with the folk song “La Prison de Londres”. [She] then turned from the hard rock of her early years to a repertoire largely inspired by Quebec folk music, and to a more personal style. Preferring to present new songs – several . . . her own, she performed regularly on TV during the 1970s and presented her shows . . . throughout Quebec and in France. After the first of two 1976 tours of France, Forestier won the ‘Manteau d’Arlequin’ prize, awarded by the critics of that country for the best presentation of French song. In 1978 she began to assemble a group of young musicians led by the pianist Charlot (Charles Barbeau). That year she took part in the Festival de la chanson francophone in Bourges, France, and in the International Song Festival, Sopot, Poland. In 1980, [she] played Marie-Jeanne, the robot waitress in the rock opera Starmania presented in Montreal . . . . Two years later . . . she staged the hit show Je suis au rendez-vous. She was co-host of the Radio Québec program ‘Station soleil’ in 1984 and was elected woman of the year in the arts field. In 1986, she went to the USSR to sing music by Jacques Brel with the Belgian troupe of the Théâtre de l’esprit frappeur. In the fall she presented La Passion selon Louise which won the Félix Awards for writer of 1987. . . .
As to Claude Gauthier, the Canadian Encyclopedia tells us (again courtesy of Google Translate):
Having made his début in career began in 1959 when he won first prize in the Les étoiles de demain contest at CKVL radio station (in Verdun) with “Le soleil brillera demain.” He also began singing in the boîtes à chansons [the intimate rooms which sprang up in the mid-1950s outside the normal entertainment circuits and in which most young Quebec chansonniers made their start] that were emerging at the time. In 1961, he recorded his first LP . . . which included “Ton nom” and “Le grand six pieds.” The latter earned him the Grand prix du disque canadien from Montréal’s CKAC radio station (1961). In the 1960s, the young troubadour appeared throughout Québec and beyond. He took part in the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario and was invited to New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1964, where he shared the stage with Buffy Sainte-Marie. The two co-wrote the hit song “T’es pas une autre” (“Until It’s Time For You To Go”), later covered by Michèle Richard, Pierre Lalonde and Renée-Claude in French and by Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond in English. The following year, Gamma released 10 of Gauthier’s new songs, including “Geneviève,” which he sang in the film Entre la mer et l’eau douce (1967) . . . . his film début. In 1966-1967, he appeared in [the] soap opera Septième nord on Radio-Canada. In 1967, he sang . . . at the Vive le Québec show at the Paris Olympia. He had been at the Olympia the previous year . . . for the Pleins feux sur le Canada event. That same year, he and Louise Forestier performed at the Terre des Hommes Expo Theatre for Expo 67 . . . . In 1969, Gauthier was awarded a Festival du disque award for his LP Cerfs-volants. . . . In 1972, he represented Canada in Spa, Belgium, at the Festival international de la Francophonie and recorded an album, Le plus beau voyage, in France. . . . Gauthier abandoned live shows for two years (1973–74) to pursue film. He acted in three movies: Les Ordres . . . Partis pour la gloire . . . and La piastre . . . , for which he also wrote the theme song “Les beaux instants[.]” . . . He returned to singing in October 1975 . . . . In 1977, he took part in the Grand gala de la chanson francophone de Strasbourg in France. He subsequently became a kind of cultural ambassador for Québec . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,437)The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place”
Noel Gallagher is the one who saved from the cutting room floor this “hidden gem”, an “extremely strong piece of psychedelic pop” that “sounds exactly as though it was a track from the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour – recorded just a few weeks earlier . . . . [with] the same swirling eastern psychedelia found on [George] Harrison’s . . . “Blue Jay Way”. (Martin Lewis, https://web.archive.org/web/20050311075929/http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/wonderwall.htm)
In the process, Colin Manley and Tony Ashton of the R4 wrote the song, which the band recorded with Harrison contributing acoustic guitar (according to John Winn, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_First_Place) and maybe background vocals. However, “since the commission had been for instrumental music and there seemed to be no obvious location for a song in the movie – [Harrison] had not bothered to submit the track to the film’s director!” (Martin Lewis again). Anyway, the movie, “a heavily psychedelized impressionistic fable featuring the young Jane Birkin – premiered in London on January 20, 1969 – but it was not a commercial success and fell from distribution rapidly [and] never secured release in the USA.” (Lewis again). And that was that.
Until, as Lewis writes:
[Noel] happened to see the film on one of its occasional middle-of-the-night TV airings and became fascinated with [it] and its music. . . . le[ading] him [to] writing a song incorporating the film’s title. . . . [which] became a worldwide hit for Oasis. . . . Once people realized the inspiration for the song – the success of the track sparked renewed interest in the original Wonderwall film. So director Joe Massot decided to bring his 1967 production out of mothballs and see if there might be some interest in reissuing the film. . . . [H]e felt that the film could be improved with some re-editing and restoration work. [Massot] started to re-edit the film and create a new ‘director’s cut.’ He also decided that he needed to restore the glory of the film’s original soundtrack which – conforming to the low-fi exhibition standards of the day – had been mixed in mono. [He] set about tracking down all the original elements of the soundtrack. . . . [and] decided to contact George Harrison . . . [who] searched deep in his personal vaults and eventually located all the multi-track masters . . . . [and] passed the tapes to Massot . . . . [who heard “In the First Place” and] felt that he could find a way to include this long-lost gem. . . . He approached Harrison . . . . [who] agreed to the use of his recording in the film. . . . [seeking] just two minor conditions. . . . [H]e wanted to be sure that [the Remo Four] were properly credited for their composition – and that the song was not erroneously represented as having been his . . . . Secondly, Harrison did not want to be officially credited as the artist or as a vocalist on the record. . . . H[e] was . . . aware that none of the four members of the defunct group were in good financial health and that one of the song’s two composers – Colin Manley . . . was also in poor physical health. In fact Manley died just a few months later. Close friends say that Harrison’s insistence on sole credit going to a forgotten and long unsung band of pals (and to not take any credit for his performance) is a typically generous gesture by the reclusive ex-Beatle.
Matt Hutwitz tells us of the R4’s work on the soundtrack:
George did the first of a number of sessions with a group he had known from Liverpool, The Remo Four . . . . The quartet, recording at Abbey Road, and played on nearly all of the western music tracks, typically by themselves, with only occasional overdubs added by George or [John] Barham. . . . The process was straightforward in coming up with the unique music for the cues. “We would sit in a circle and listen to George explaining what he wanted, sometimes on a guitar,” [the R4’s drummer Roy] Dyke recalls. “Then we’d jam a little bit, come up with something, and he’d say, ‘Yeah, I like that,’ and we’d record. It was all improvised, nothing written down, all very quick. And it was such a warm atmosphere.” . . . George produced five takes of a song of the band’s called “In the First Place,” with Tony Ashton singing.
[The] London-based American director . . . was deeply entrenched in the Swingin’ London of the era. . . . [H]e was searching for the right musicians to create the soundtrack for his movie. The film’s production had created quite a buzz and several artists were vying for the opportunity. The Bee Gees . . . and a post-Hollies pre-CSN Graham Nash both made pitches . . . . Massot attended the now famous opening party for the Beatles’ Apple boutique . . . . [and] found himself in conversation with George Harrison. . . . Harrison indicated that he wanted to find a creative outlet for his growing interest in Indian music. Massot offered Harrison the job of creating the Wonderwall soundtrack – and Harrison accepted. He immediately set about writing and recording music for the film. . . . a groundbreaking blend of . . . . . psychedelic rock with the Indian music which was his passion at the time. . . . [Harrison] recruited . . . The Remo Four. . . . primarily known as an excellent instrumental band and as a backing group for singers such as Tommy Quickly and Billy J. Kramer who (like them) were represented by Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Since the movie commission was for an instrumental score – their lack of major vocal talent was not an issue. []The Remo Four were available for the session work because they were, sadly, in the throes of breaking up. They had already been dropped by two labels which had become disillusioned with their lack of record success – and the group hadn’t had a record released since 1966. . . . Massot went on to a variety of other projects – most notably directing the . . . Led Zeppelin documentary The Song Remains The Same and 1981’s Dance Craze about the two-tone ska revival – featuring Madness and The Specials et al. . . .
Harrison’s soundtrack was the first album released on Apple and reached #49 on Billboard’s U.S. album chart. Richard S. Ginell writes that:
[The] offbeat score to . . . Wonderwall . . . . [is] mostly given over to the solemn, atmospheric drones of Indian music. Yet, as a whole, it’s a fascinating if musically slender mishmash of sounds from East and West, everything casually juxtaposed or superimposed without a care in the world. Harrison . . . presides over the groups of Indian and British musicians, with half of the cues recorded in London, the other half in Bombay. The Indian tracks are professionally executed selections cut into film cue-sized bites, sometimes mixed up with a rock beat, never permitted to develop much. Touches of Harrison’s whimsical side can be heard . . . .
A Mersey group who first formed as a vocal outfit, the Remo Quartet, in 1958 and played at social clubs and weddings. They changed to rock‘n’roll music at the beginning of 1960 . . . . [and] appeared on a number of Cavern bills with The Beatles, changing their name to The Remo Four . . . . The group comprised Keith Stokes (rhythm/vocals), Colin Manley, who was rated as Liverpool’s top rock‘n’roll guitarist . . . Don Andrews (bass) and Harry Prytherch (drums). In December 1962 they became Johnny Sandon & The Remo Four in order to embark on a tour of US bases in France, when Roy Dyke replaced Prytherch and Johnny Sandon joined them. . . . The Remo Four turned down the offer of becoming Billy J. Kramer’s backing band but . . . accepted the offer of backing Tommy Quickly. . . . They were now managed by Brian Epstein and were included on the Beatles Christmas show at the Finsbury Park Astoria and also joined The Beatles on their autumn tour of Britain in 1964. They were excited when The Beatles provided them with “No Reply” to record and felt that it would be the single to take them and Tommy to the top of the charts. . . . Unfortunately, Quickly was slightly drunk and very nervous at the session and the single was never released. The group then began to back a variety of singers including Georgie Fame, Billy Fury, and Billy J. Kramer . . . . By this time Tony Ashton had joined the group . . . .
Contemporaries of the Beatles, along with other Liverpudlian rockers . . . the Remo Four were . . . . in something of a time warp in 1966 and 1967. While their contemporaries were enjoying the fruits of swinging London, the quartet were stuck in Hamburg playing the Star Club, working off an enormous debt to their management company NEMS along with a tax bill. They were working hard, playing upwards of four times a night, delivering Merseybeat with a hard, jazzy R&B edge. In a sense, they hadn’t moved forward from the glory days of Merseybeat, relying on driving, crowd-pleasing, floor-filling covers, but the constant playing gave the group a deep, muscular groove and jazz chops . . . . [Their sole LP] Smile! and its accompanying singles [ate] rather unique: ostensibly, this is generic British R&B, but the Remo Four swing with an authority that no other British Invasion band had . . . .
Finally, Tony Ashton and Roy Dyke later got together with bass player Kim Gardner and formed Ashton, Gardner & Dyke . . . . who recorded a version of “In the First Place” for their debut album in ’70. Dave Thompson writes:
[T]he album peaks with its closing track, “As It Was in the First Place” a lengthy Ashton adaptation from the classical “Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez.” With an arrangement borrowed from the Modern Jazz Quartet’s own interpretation of the piece (among Tony Ashton’s idols, few were more significant than MJQ’s John Lewis) Ashton and Roy Dyke had already had one stab at the track, recording it with producer George Harrison during the last days of the Remo Four. The new version completely rewired that earlier performance, and stands as one of the pinnacles of British jazz-rock.
Here is classical guitarist John Williams performing the Adagio from Joaquin Rodrigo’s concerto for classical guitar “Concierto de Aranjuez” with an unnamed orchestra:
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As to John Henry, The Listening Post tells us that:
John Henry Fitch Jr [see #1,318] was a r’n’b singer-songwriter and guitarist active around the late 60’s. He was also a member of Philadelphia’s r’n’b/soul 4-piece, The Show Stoppers with whom he wrote and played guitar – the group were best remembered for their 1968 hit, “Ain’t Nothin’ But a House Party”. In 1968, while the Show Stoppers were in the UK supporting their hit single . . . Fitch was given a contract for a solo single on UK’s Beacon Records . . . .
In 1968, while the Show Stoppers were in the UK supporting their hit single Ain’t Nothing But A Houseparty, Fitch was given a contract for a solo single on UK’s Beacon Records
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By the way, I don’t care if you’re gonna be at the love in or not, this is not your la la land Chocolate Watchband (see #160)!
The CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era explains that:
[The band] was a collaboration between two songwriters, Gary Osborne and Jack Oliver. The pair had worked alongside each other at Chappells Music publishers as songwriters, but decided to give the pop lifestyle a go themselves. After disappointing sales from their two singles in 1967, Decca let the pair go which prompted Oliver to seek better reward with Apple publishing. In 1968, Gary Osborne joined forces with Paul Vigrass penning the majority of his work before joining him as an artist in the duo Vigrass and Osborne in the early Seventies.
liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era
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A gorgeous baroque pop masterpiece by the Rebels (see #1,324), the title song of “one of the most famous records of Czech big beat” (https://www.blackpoint.cz/rebels-sipkova-ruzenka-lp-cd/ (courtesy of Google Translate)). But, be warned, this is not your uncle Walt’s Sleeping Beauty! Check out the lyrics:
Of the LP, blackpoint says (courtesy of Google Translate):
It was recorded by the original cast of the [Rebels] consisting of Jiří Plíva, Jiří Korn, Svatopluk Čech and Anatoli Kohout plus the Václav Zahradník Orchestra. Lyricist Michael Postějovský provided fairy tales set to music, the other side of the record consisted of . . . pieces [taken] from the repertoire of The Mammas and Papas. At that time, the Rebels had already won the 1st Czechoslovak Championship beat festival (1967) and third place in the Beat Cup ’67 competition for vocal performance. . . . With the first single “Five Ravens” from the summer of 1967, the band secured its popularity . . . .
Josef Rauvolf adds (courtesy of Google Translate):
When the members of The Rebels went to record their only album [of the 60s] in the summer of 1968, it was a double risk. The band was accompanied by a full-blooded orchestra . . . . The collaboration between band and orchestra was unheard of in our country . . . . With the exception of two tracks on the album, the songs were not written by the musicians, but were created for them by the tandem of Václav Zahradník and Michael Prostějovský . . . .
Michael Prostějovský himself sets the record straight (courtesy of Google Translate):
At the end of 1967, I filmed in the studio Čs. broadcast two songs with the Rebels and as a band, with the titles Mamas and Papas, and released Vašek Zahradník. We both agreed that they sing great and their voices go extremely well together . . . . But Vašek had reservations about the quality of their playing. That’s why we agreed with them to record the single “Five Ravens” and “The Definitive End”, which we also wrote for them. And that accompanied by a studio orchestra. (After August 1968, both compositions were banned because they were said to evoke the entry of five armies.) The single was successful, and that led us to the idea of recording the Sleeping Beauty LP. . . . Originally, we expected that the LP would be sold on the Mamas nad Papas songs. And we wrote those fairy tales as if for fun and our own pleasure. We were both budding authors, and in addition, we also gave the guys from Rebels a role in them as authors. Right after filming, however, it was clear that fairy tales are what should be mainly presented. That’s why we adapted the packaging and “marketing” to it. And for information, only Korn, Plíva and Sváťa čech sing on the LP.
As to the Rebels, Mickey Vznik writes (courtesy of Google Translate):
Josef Plíva played the first guitar. Jiří Korn played second guitar and Svatopluk Čech played bass. The organ was operated by Bořek Kadlec and Jiří Šilder was on drums, who was later replaced by Karel “Káša” Jahn. . . . . The group became absolutely famous for their performance in flower hippie outfits at the 1st Czechoslovak Beat Festival in January 1967. The performance and their entire repertoire was a mixture of Mamas & Papas, Turtles, Hollies, Byrds and Beatles. . . . In 1968, an important record was released in Czechoslovakia. It was called BEAT – LINE SUPRAPHON 1968. . . . The Rebels had two tracks on there on the . . . “English side”. They sang “Creque Alley” from the Mamas & Papas repertoire and then cut “Words” by the Gibb brothers . . . . [I]n 1968 they recorded . . . Sleeping Beauty. Michal Prostějovský . . . got the idea to cover Czech fairy tales, and in the end, the old pros found straight guys who sang it just for the fact that they recorded songs from . . . Mamas & Papas repertoire on the other side . . . . The music was arranged and recorded by Václav Zahradník with his orchestra. . . . [T]he Rebels disbanded mainly because their lead singer Josef Plíva emigrated to Canada. But the manager was the capable Franta Janeček . . . and he knew “… the crown is good, but the brand is better…” and so The Rebels added Jiří Juraček from The Rogers Band, Jiří Helcl from George & Beatovens, Bořek Kadlec on bass and Anatoli Kohout on drums. The band . . . immediately started playing from one pub to another . . . . In Germany, however, they had to change to a harder repertoire. From gentle vocal outpourings, they went hard to bluesy and hard rock material. . . . But playing in dance halls and bars is no fun. . . . [Y]ears later, Juracek stated: “… seven hours on Friday, eight hours on Saturday and nine on Sunday!” Anatoli Kohout was the first one who couldn’t stand it. Once during a break in playing he told the band he was going to the toilet and then they didn’t see him for two years! . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,433)Tempus Fugit — “Come Alive”
A soaring, anthemic, feel-good ’69 UK pop rock delight. How was this “light poppy number” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) not a hit?
Joynson tells us that bassist “Brian Howe and the Horne brothers [actually, cousins Mike Horne (singer) and John Horne (guitar), https://www.45cat.com/record/bf1802] were previously in sixties pop outfit The Jensens but changed name and style to Tempus Fugit when Roger Greenwood was recruited to the band.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Greenwood “wrote most of their material, including ‘Come Alive’ . . . . [which] was not a success, and the band added two new members and changed their name to Reginald.” (John Peel Wiki, https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Tempus_Fugit)
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As to the LP (Here’s to You), Richie Unterberger is not particularly complimentary:
Like many veterans of the early-’60s folk revival, Camp eventually moved into arrangements with a rhythm section and full-band accompaniment. Here’s to You is peculiar, though, in that it’s not so much folk-rock as folk-pop, with over-rich orchestrated arrangements that come close to Los Angeles sunshine pop. Top L.A. session dudes Van Dyke Parks . . . Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer, and Jerry Scheff . . . all played on the LP, with Felix Pappalardi — a veteran of folk-rock session playing and production himself with Fred Neil [see #344], Ian & Sylvia, and the Youngbloods — producing. But though Camp’s singing is moving, with a slightly pinched, pained, and earnest quality, the tunes are ordinary folk-rock-pop, made to sound fruitier by the buoyant, sometimes inordinately happy-go-lucky settings. . . . [P]eriod reverb and Bud Shank’s eerie, swirling flute give “Lonely Place” a whiff of strained psychedelia . . . . Sometimes it sounds like a combination of late-’60s Beau Brummels [see #713] (who were good) with the misbegotten attempts by Glenn Yarbrough to record orchestrated folk-pop in the same era (which were bad).
What can I say, I love the album. A “whiff of strained psychedelia”? Unterberger makes Camp out to be a constipated hippie! Camp out? I crack myself up!
As to Hamilton Camp, Craig Harris writes that:
Whether performing solo or in a duo with Bob Gibson, Hamilton Camp served as one of the links between the Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger folk music of the ’40s and the singer/songwriter school of Bob Dylan [see #126, 823, 1,133, 1,162], Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs in the ’60s. Camp’s tune “Pride of Man” was covered by Quicksilver Messenger Service in 1967, while the Camp/Gibson collaboration “Well, Well, Well” was recorded by Simon & Garfunkel on their debut album . . . . In the early ’60s, Camp and Gibson played in clubs, coffeehouses, and festivals throughout the United States. Their most influential album, At the Gate of Horn, was recorded in 1961 at the famed Chicago folk club. When the duo separated, Camp continued to perform as a soloist. His debut solo album was a live recording at the same club in 1963 . . . . Camp’s musical career was ultimately dwarfed by his success as an actor. First attracting attention for his skills in improvisation as a member of Second City in Chicago and the Committee in San Francisco, Camp played recurring roles in such TV series as He & She in 1967, Too Close for Comfort in 1980, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1993. In addition to appearing in such films as American Hot Wax (1978), Heaven Can Wait (1978), Eating Raoul (1982), and Dick Tracy (1990), his voice was heard in animated movies including The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1993), Pebble and the Penguin (1995), and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1996).
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,431) American Express — “When the City Sleeps”
A late (’69) garage rock/”psychedelic ode to street walkers!” (Chris Bishop, https://garagehangover.com/americanexpress/) But who was Amex, to whom does the credit belong for this killer 45?
Max Waller partially uncovers the mystery:
Mani-Fournier [the songwriters] does ring a bell. Did some digging … Turns out to be The Challengers’ Ed Fournier with a guy called Dave Mani. They wrote several songs together around 1967-1969 for the Challengers but also for other artists they were behind – often produced by Challenger Richard Delvy, e.g. Free-For-All and Wednesday’s Children. So, this American Express might have been another Los Angeles-based group under their control, may have been a Challengers offshoot . . . or perhaps it was just a studio project.
As to the Challengers, Richie Unterberger tells us:
One of the most popular of the early Southern Californian surf bands, the Challengers were formed by drummer Richard Delvy after he left the Bel-Airs, who had recorded one of the very first surf singles, “Mr. Moto.” Their debut LP, Surfbeat (early 1963), was one of the very first all-instrumental surf albums and sold 200,000 copies, an astronomical number for a regional act. Recording several albums over the next couple of years, most of their repertoire consisted of covers of popular rock and surf tunes; undeniably exciting at the time, their lack of originality can make their work generic to wade through. The moody “K-39,” also available on surf compilations, is their most famous cut.
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One of the most haunting songs in The Byrds’ catalogue, and one of David Crosby’s finest compositions, [it] contains a melody, lyric and arrangement in perfect synthesis. Lyrically, it’s typical Crosby – unspecific, vague yet beautiful – “Everybody knows and me/I know that door that shuts just before/You get to the dream you see”. The music is similarly gentle, with a gorgeous, Eastern sounding guitar part from McGuinn and some great bass playing from Chris Hillman. However, it’s David Crosby that’s the star of the show – his vocal is tender, searching and immaculate. Arguably the highlight of Younger Than Yesterday.
[It] had . . . been written as far back as 1962 in Crosby’s folk-club days . . . and had been demoed several times already for previous Byrds records. . . . [T]he take that made its way on to Younger than Yesterday is among the very best things the band ever did, with one of Crosby’s finest vocals, and instrumental performances by McGuinn and Hillman of intuitive genius. It’s not exactly jazz, but the sensibility is close – Hillman seems less concerned with what Crosby’s chords are than he is with burrowing down deep into the song’s emotional core. . . . [I]n terms of empathy and understanding with a singer and songwriter, this is Hillman’s most shining moment as a bass player . . . .
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,428) Hate — “Corridors”
There may be a thin line between love and hate, but I definitely love this prog/hard rock delight from Scotland. Why has no one covered it?! The band has a small but devoted following:
Israbox:
How is it possible that such an impressive album remained unknown for decades . . . ? Without a doubt Hate (with their only LP) are one of the most underrated UK progressive bands from early 70’s! This dark, sinister and sometimes psychedelic music resembled a combination of early Procol Harum/Atomic Rooster-like Hammond organ sounds; tasty guitar leads and emotional, Spooky Tooth-like vocals. The session was engineered by Tom Allom who 10 years later gained fame by producting albums for Judas Priest and Def Leppard. . . . [S]imply a lost, progressive gem!
Easily one of the most over-looked rock, prog, R&B vocalists in UK history, Rab Munro was truly a powerhouse singer with talent for miles . . . . Sadly, neither his efforts on HATE’s sole 1970 LP Hate Kills or RUBY’s sole 1974 Red Crystal Fantasies LP were given the the attention they deserved at the time or the respect which passing decades has afforded much lesser bands . . . . An album filled to the brim with stellar songwriting, excellent musicianship, and most importantly a wonderful dynamism which makes the album of interest to fans of early British prog-rock, [and] early British hard rock/post-psych . . . . [The band features] heavy Hammond organ (similar to Atomic Rooster) courtesy of Neil Bruce, juxtaposed against guitarist Jim Lacey’s tasteful, yet scorching guitar leads, and a super-tight rhythm section (Lenny Graham-Bass and Allan Pratt-Drums) and the amazing voice of Rab Munro . . . . Even superbly written and played horn accompaniment on several tracks. . . . [T]hey very much had their own mood (ranging from exuberant to melancholy to downright dour) and took much effort to make each song kind of a little world unto its own, though a thread runs through the whole LP making it a cohesive artistic statement. . . . Hate Kills also features a tremendous production courtesy of Tony Chapman and . . . Tom Allom which brings out the lush and mammoth character of the band’s sound and treats Rab Munro’s supremely moving vocals just right. One can definitely picture HATE achieving success had a few breaks gone their way. It was no deficiency in their craft or approach which relegated this album to the realm of a “lost classic”. Likewise with RUBY’s ‘74 Chrysalis released “Red Crystal Fantasies” LP which should have been a full-blown smash.
Rab . . . began his career in the 60s singing with various Glasgow bands where his deep and resonant belting voice was popular on the R&B circuit. . . . Come 1969 Mr. Munro was singing in the progressive/psych group House Of Lords . . . . contain[ing] ex Three’s A Crowd drummer Alan Pratt and made only one single- “Land Of Dreams” . . . an amazing song. . . . full of rich Procol Harum like organ work, strong vocals from Rab whose melodic, deep, and warm voice is perfect for the early progressive sound of the track with its phasing signalling an influence of several years earlier. . . . House Of Lords had been tipping their caps to the progressive era with R&B taking a backseat [and] would go Underground in 1970 and change their name to the rather odd moniker of Hate. . . . Signed to Famous Records/Regal Zonophone (an EMI imprint . . . ) and miraculously Paramount in the US sometime in 1970 or early 1971 their lone album was released and just as soon they vanished without a trace. . . . [T]his is a really down and depressed effort that shows all the signs of change into progressive underground early 1970s British rock . . . . The songwriting of organist Neil Bruce and guitarist Jim Lacey together with an excellent job done by Lenny Graham (Bass) and Alan Pratt (Drums) and Rab’s emotional voice made for a very impressive debut. . . . Hate share with us an album that stands among the best of the early progressive era . . . . The lyrics to nearly all the songs are as deep and depressed as the cover . . . . Hate’s album is a near perfect great album, but it just didn’t sell and the disillusioned band called it quits . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 900 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 
