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

1,361) France Gall — “Faut il que je t’aime”/“Do I Have to Love You”

This sublime and “groovy Farfissa driven” (Third Man Records, https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/third-man-records-releases-reissues-of-three-classic-france-gall-albums?srsltid=AfmBOoqJMpvgzBZbIMU_mJn-ahtYd_-j1Wr62HkVe9Spbufb71G4vpxs) song shared the A-side of a ‘66 EP with “Baby Pop” and was on the Baby Pop LP. Written by Maurice Vidalin and Jacques Datin, it “weds mutant Farfisa-driven chanson and theater music to Baroque strings and harpsichord”. (Thom Jurek, https://www.allmusic.com/album/baby-pop-mw0000701141) I love it yé-yé-yé!

As to the Baby Pop LP, Third Man Records writes that:

Baby Pop is not only an important album for France herself, it is also a hugely important record for the entire yé-yé scene. Baby Pop hinted at the musical direction that yé-yé was headed in much the same way Revolver and Pet Sounds did in the UK and USA. Baby Pop is more mature and varied than her earlier more bubblegum releases. . . . [W]e welcome a new France Gall and say hello to some of the finest pop music ever released in French or any language.

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

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

Although best known as the perky teenager who won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with the Serge Gainsbourg-penned “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son,” that entry only marked the beginning of a long and fruitful career for French pop singer France Gall. One of the original yé-yé girls . . . bringing the nascent pop style to the charts; it was called “yé-yé” as a nod to British Invasion bands and their “yeah-yeah” refrains. Gall also scored another, far more controversial hit with Gainsbourg’s “Les Sucettes”, which translates to “Lollipops.” It was packed with obvious double-entendres that the singer claimed not to know existed. The blatant sexuality, coupled with the naive innocence of the teenage singer, marked her career in the annals of pop history. . . . Born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall in Paris on October 9, 1947, she was the daughter of French performer and producer Roger Gall . . . . At age 15 in 1962, Gall was encouraged by her father to record some songs and send the professionally cut demos to music publisher Denis Bourgeois, who signed her to the Philips label immediately. The four-track EP Ne Sois Pas Si Bete (the standard in French pop music release format at the time) was an enormous hit, selling over 200,000 copies in France thanks both to the irresistible title track and the absolutely stunning cover photo. Gall released a series of similarly successful pop hits for the next several years, peaking with winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. Though many dismissed Gall as merely a Francophone Lesley Gore making fluffy and ultra-commercial pop songs with little substance, her hits from the era have endured the test of time. . . . Although Gall’s high, breathy voice was admittedly somewhat limited, she made the most of it. Even deliberately trite hits such as “Sacre Charlemagne,” a duet with a pair of puppets from a popular children’s show on French TV, have an infectious charm. More substantive tunes, such as the sultry jazz-tinged ballad “Pense a Moi” and the brilliant rocker “Laisse Tomber les Filles [see #36],” are easily as good as any pop single produced in the U.S. or Great Britain at the time. In 1966, Gall’s public persona shifted into a more mature phase, both musically and personally. The change came with that year’s controversial hit “Les Sucettes.” Though on the surface the Serge Gainsbourg-penned tune was a pretty little song about a young girl and her lollipop, the unmistakable subtext of the sly lyrics meant that the not-yet-18-year-old Gall was singing approvingly (and, she later claimed, completely unknowingly) about oral sex (that said, she refused to lick a lollipop for an appearance on national French television. “Les Sucettes” and its follow-up, “Baby Pop” are among Gall’s finest recorded moments; they are more musically sophisticated and varied than her early hits, yet remain just as catchy. The psychedelic era found Gall, under Gainsbourg’s tutelage, singing increasingly strange songs, like “Teenie Weenie Boppie” (a bizarre tune about a deadly LSD trip that somehow involves Mick Jagger) set to some of Gainsbourg’s most out-there arrangements. The excellent 1968 is Gall’s best album from the period, with “Teenie Weenie Boppie,” the trippy “Nefertiti,” and the slinky, jazzy “Bebe Requin.” 

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

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

1,360) Maxine Brown — “You Do Something to Me”

This ‘65 B-side is a stunning ballad by Maxine Brown (see #1,047) about how she just can’t get an unworthy man out of her mind.

Michael Jack Kirby tells the story of Maxine Brown:

Sweet soul songstress Maxine Ella Brown established herself quite easily through a right place-right time set of events, only to discover how challenging it would be to maintain anything close to the level of what she achieved in 1961, her first full year in music’s major leagues. Though “All in My Mind” and “Funny,” both of which she had a hand in writing, made for a high-profile introduction to music fans, subsequent single releases were usually composed by more seasoned songwriters but were oddly more of a hard sell. The end result was a full decade of performing for sizeable audiences in different (not always top-billed) situations while occasionally showing up on the national charts. . . . [B]y the age of nine she and her mother had moved to Queens, New York (a better way of putting it would be they fled from her father, who was abusive past the point of tolerance) . . . . Maxine was 17 when her mother died in 1957 at just 34 years of age. She had already begun singing gospel music with three close friends and as The Angelaires they performed at area churches and backed well-known gospel singer and minister Professor Charles Taylor. At 18 Maxine moved to Manhattan and, with little experience, managed to talk her way into a job as a medical stenographer at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn . . . . She joined a Manhattan-based gospel group with the too-obvious name The Manhattans . . . [who] later . . . went secular and with only two male singers and Maxine, [becoming] The Treys. Leader Fred Johnson suggested a lyric, “Maybe it’s all in my mind,” which Maxine expanded into a full song; after some time had passed, she made a demonstration recording and Fred sent it around, hoping someone might make a “real” recording of it. In the fall of 1960, Tony Bruno, who’d started the Nomar label with financial help from mob members, heard the demo and released it as-is. WABC in N.Y. jumped on Maxine’s not-so-unpolished demo and competing stations quickly followed suit. By early 1961, “All in My Mind” . . . was going strong nationally, reached the top 20 on the pop charts and got as high as number two R&B . . . . The surprise hit forced Maxine to decide between the security of a job most women her age would die for and a career in the frequently-fickle music business. She had to take her shot; she chose the latter. . . . “Funny” . . . made her two-for-two in the hit department when it climbed into the pop top 30 in April 1961 and R&B top ten in May. After a third Nomar single, “Heaven in Your Arms,” strangely failed to generate any interest, she sensibly accepted an offer from ABC-Paramount . . . releasing eight singles there over the next year and a half. . . . [but] nothing made much impact. . . . . Florence Greenberg and Luther Dixon of New York’s Scepter Records had been fans of the “Funny” girl and, in the wake of Dionne Warwick’s early ’63 “Don’t Make Me Over” breakthrough, figured they could work a similar spell with Maxine. She signed with the company and appeared on its Wand subsidiary, hitting the charts right off with “Ask Me,” a well-produced vocal tour-de-force. Yet where sales and airplay were concerned, she seemed to hit a barrier not unlike the one that plagued her at ABC. The situation improved in the fall of 1964 when an opportunity to do vocals on a track The Shirelleshad struggled with presented itself; “Oh No Not My Baby[]” . . . by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. . . . returned her to the top 40 after more than three years and sent her back to number two R&B . . . . Carole lent her personal touch on another Goffin-King track, “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” a mid-chart effort in early ’65. . . . Flo G. matched Maxine with Wand star Chuck Jackson on . . . “Something You Got[]” . . . . land[ing] in the R&B top ten, which jump-started a three-year partnership between Chuck and Maxine. . . . 1967 found Miss Brown at the end of her association with Scepter/Wand; when Marvin Gaye’s most popular duet partner Tammi Terrell collapsed onstage in October, Maxine filled in for her during a week’s engagement with Gaye at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Several sessions that year under Otis Redding‘s direction at the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama seemed to be leading her towards a contract with Stax/Volt and some southern-infused material, but with Redding’s tragic death in December, those recordings were shelved. . . . In 1969, Maxine gave one of her strongest emotional performances on “We’ll Cry Together,” a top 20 R&B hit . . . [T]he midtempo “I Can Get Along Without You” was her chart swan song in April 1970. . . . After leaving Avco, she decided to . . . tak[e] acting and dance lessons. She later replaced “Light My Fire” singer Rhetta Hughes in the Broadway musical Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, directed by Vinnette Carroll, the first black woman in Broadway history to achieve such a distinction. Eventually Maxine left the business for a less hectic lifestyle that didn’t remain that way for long. Fans in England discovered her brilliance as a vocalist and that interest spread to other parts of the world. Maxine Brown resumed performing and just kept on going.

https://waybackattack.com/brownmaxine.html

In an interview with Mike Fenton, Brown answers the question “How did the move to Wand come about?”:

One day I’m at 1650 Broadway and there was a big restaurant downstairs, corner of 54th Street, and I went in there and there was Florence Greenberg and all her staff and artists at Scepter having a big party – The Shirelles, Chuck Jackson, Dionne Warwick. Florence, she had one of these very high-pitched voices, and she made a big fuss of me and invited me to join them! And then it was, “Why don’t you leave that no-good company and come to a real record company?” So I told her, “If you want me, go and get me!” The very next day she went to ABC and bought out my contract and everything they had in the can there. So that’s how she was able to release all those songs that you hear from ABC that became very big on the Northern soul scene in England.

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/everything-shes-got

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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

1,359) The Easybeats — “Happy Is the Man”

’67 LP track and ’68 EP A-side by Australia’s Easybeats (see #201, 1,310) is a magnificent and defiant pop rock anthem. “They say I’ve been sinning ’cause I like good looking women. They don’t know what it means to be alive”

The definitive MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 states:

To describe The Easybeats as “Australia’s Beatles” is not to damn them with faint praise. They were without question the best and most important Australian rock band of the 1960s, and their string of classic hit singles set the benchmarks for Australian popular music. They established a unique musical identity, and they became our first homegrown rock superstars, and for quality, inventiveness and originality their work is arguably unmatched by any other Australian band of the period. The Easybeats scored fifteen Top 40 Singles in Australia between 1965 and 1970, including three No.1 hits. Chief among their many achievements, the Easybeats hold the unique honour of being our first bona-fide rock group to have an major overseas hit record – the legendary “Friday On My Mind”. They were also one of the few major Australian bands of their day to perform and record original material almost exclusively. 

http://www.milesago.com/artists/easybeats.htm

Bruce Eder tells us:

The Easybeats . . . met in Sydney . . . [but] lead singer Stevie Wright originally came from England . . . and bassist Dick Diamonde hailed from the Netherlands, as did guitarist Harry Vanda, while the others, guitarists George Young and drummer Gordon “Snowy” Fleet, were recent arrivals from Scotland and England . . . . [They were] a piece of authentic Brit-beat right in the heart of Sydney. . . . After honing their sound and building a name locally . . . in late 1964, the group was signed to [Ted] Albert Productions who, in turn, licensed their releases to Australian EMI’s Parlophone label. . . . Working from originals primarily written by Stevie Wright, by himself or in collaboration with George Young, the group’s early records . . . were highly derivative of the Liverpool sound . . . . [but] they were highly animated in the studio and on stage, they looked cool and rebellious, and they sang and played superbly. . . . [T]heir debut single [was] issued in March of 1965 . . . . “She’s So Fine,” their second . . . two months later, shot to number one in Australia and was one of the great records of its era . . . . Their debut album Easy, issued the following September . . . . [Their] attack on their instruments . . . coupled with Wright’s searing, powerful lead vocals, made them one of the best British rock & roll acts of the period and Easy one of the best of all British Invasion albums . . . . In Australia, they were the reigning kings of rock & roll . . . assembling a string of eight Top Ten chart hits in a year and a half . . . . Their second album, It’s 2 Easy, was a match for their first . . . whose only fault . . . was that it seemed a year out-of-date in style when it was released in 1966. . . . [They] could do no wrong by keeping their sound the same . . . . [but] George Young . . . had ideas for more complex and daring music. By mid-1966, the Wright/ Young songwriting team had become history, but in its place Vanda and Young began writing songs together. . . . In the fall of 1966, the Easybeats were ready to make the jump that no Australian rock & roll act had yet done successfully, and headed for England. In November of 1966 . . . the group scored its first U.K. hit with “Friday on My Mind[“, which] embodied all of the fierce kinetic energy of their Australian hits but . . . at a new level of sophistication . . . . It rose to the Top Ten . . . across Europe and much of the rest of the world, and reached the Top 20 in the United States . . . . The group spent seven months in England, writing new, more ambitious songs[, ] performing before new audiences, most notably in Germany . . . . [and] mov[ing] their base of operations to London . . . . Some of the songs were superb, but the[ir] . . . charmed existence . . . seemed to desert them in 1967-1968 — their single “Heaven and Hell” was banned from the radio in England for one suggestive line, and a six-month lag for a follow-up cost them momentum . . . . [But] the songs . . . were as good as anything being written in rock at the time. . . . By mid-1969, the band had receded to a mere shadow of itself, and their music had regressed to a form of good-time singalong music . . . . The band decided to call it quits following a return to Australia for one final tour . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-easybeats-mn0000145086#biography

Here is an alternate version:

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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

Get into my life, “Get Out of My Life Woman”! Here are three killer versions of Allen Toussaint’s R&B classic (made famous by Lee Dorsey in ‘66 (#44, #5 R&B, #22 UK)) — garage classics by the Netherlands’ Q’65 and the U.S.’s Mourning Reign and a hypnotic beat version by Sweden’s Tages.

Mark Deming tell us about “Get Out of My Life”:

It’s hard to say how many blues tunes have concerned themselves with men dealing with women who have done them wrong, but few tunes put quite so sharp a point on this theme as “Get Out of My Life Woman,” written by Allen Toussaint and a hit on both the pop and R&B charts in 1966 for Lee Dorsey. Boiling this entire subgenre down to a dozen words, Dorsey sings with a swaggering defiance, “Get out of my life, woman/You don’t love me no more,” as Toussaint’s lean but rolling piano work and Roy Montrell’s sharp rhythm guitar chords back him up. Just so you don’t think our narrator is utterly heartless about all this, he next announces “Get out of my eyes, teardrops/I’ve got to see my way around,” though it’s not long before his self-confidence manifests itself once again and he tells the conniving female in question “Get off my ladder, woman/I got to climb up to the top.” In short, the song is about as prototypical as R&B gets, though Lee Dorsey’s great vocal performance and Allen Toussaint’s expert arrangement give their version a distinctive edge; however, that’s not to say plenty of other acts haven’t taken their own stab at this number, ranging from Freddie King, Solomon Burke, and Roy Head to Iron Butterfly, the Leaves, and the Kingsmen. Like I said, prototypical.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/get-out-of-my-life-woman-mt0002968692

Ashley Kahn tells us about Allen Toussaint:

By the height of the ’60s, Toussaint was New Orleans’s premier producer. Partnering with record promoter Marshall Sehorn, a veteran of independent R&B companies, he built his own studio, dubbed it Sea-Saint, and established a series of record labels.  As popular black music styles evolved from 1950s R&B to more soulful sounds and became powered by ever-funkier rhythms, so Toussaint’s productions – with Lee Dorsey (who served as Toussaint’s primary muse and voice), the Meters, Dr. John and others – morphed into a progressively heavier sense of syncopation, drawing heavily on New Orleans’s distinctive street parade beats. Toussaint’s songwriting as well assumed a broader, sophisticated perspective. Some tunes focused on daily, workaday realities and urban life: “Workin’ In The Coal Mine,” “Night People,” “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley.” Others were more reflective, delivering messages of social protest and racial uplift: “Yes We Can,” “Freedom For The Stallion,” “Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further.” One song in particular – “Get Out Of My Life, Woman” – was so effective in defining a new, relaxed kind of beat, that for a number of years every touring ensemble and house band seemed to have it in their repertoire; it remains an R&B perennial, favored by the likes of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Iron Butterfly, Jerry Garcia, and most recently, the Derek Trucks Band.

https://concord.com/artist/allen-toussaint-c11139/

1,356) Q’65 — “Get Out of My Life Woman”

Off of ‘66’s Revolution LP. More about Q’65 at #108, 557, 913, 1,164, 1,227.

1,357) The Mourning Reign — “Get Out of My Life Woman”

‘67 B-side by the San Jose band. More at #916.

1,358) Tages

Off of ‘66’s Tages 2 LP. More at #286, 1,282, 1,353.

Here is Lee Dorsey:

Here is Allen Toussaint’s own ‘68 version:

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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.

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

1,355) Timebox — “A Woman That’s Waiting”

This ’68 B-side by Timebox (see #1,285) is the sweetest UK pop psych confection that I know. That woman that’s waiting? “She doesn’t have to worry I’ll soon be coming by”. Aww! The song is “wonderful” and “more psych flavoured” than the A-side (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCOhHiLYdg), “the real gem . . . more like the real Timebox” (ZebedyZak, https://www.45cat.com/record/dm194), “[e]asily one of my favorite Deram releases of all time”. (Wilthomer, https://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2011/06/beggin.html)

Wilthomer claims that it “bears more than passing resemblances to ‘I Am The Walrus’ from its sawing string section and plodding beat and even it’s regal trumpets, but before it can become and act of overt plagiarism [Pete ‘Ollie’] Halsall’s vibes kick in a jazzy little break that takes it back to swirling strings and [Mike] Patto’s blue eyed soul vocals.” (Wilthomer, https://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2011/06/beggin.html The Walrus was Mike Patto?

As to Timebox, Jon “Mojo” Mills tells us:

[The band] turned professional and headed towards London. . . . [T]hey were soon working on package tours . . . as well as striking up a residency at the legendary the Whiskey a Go Go. With two singers leaving . . . U.S. singer John Henry was drafted in and the band changed their name to Timebox — an American term for a prison cell. Signed to Piccadilly in February 1967, their debut single, “I’ll Always Love You” . . . was released and displayed an early jazz-tinged, soulful talent. . . . [E]x-G.I. Henry [was] whipped back off to the U.S.A by officials . . . . Mike Patto . . . after a few illustrious jams and took on a prominent role as vocalist and songwriter. . . . Timebox soon became a hot live act. . . . claimed Timebox to be one of the first rock bands in London to really explore jazz in a rock context. A wonderful performance at the Windsor Jazz Festival on August 12, 1967, caught the eye of Decca producer Gus Dudgeon, who immediately signed them to the label’s subsidiary Deram. The first 45, a fantastic version of Tim Hardin’s “Don’t Make Promises,” was backed by the even better Ollie original “Walking Through the Streets of My Mind,” which combined sharp blue-eyed soul harmonies with a psychedelic arrangement. The follow-up — again a classic example of British soul — was a cover of the Four Seasons’ “Beggin” and reached number 38 in the charts [with today’s song being the B-side]. . . . Deram viewed Timebox as a pop band, and so the more experimental songs were left in the can while the silly sing-a-long tune “Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye,” written for fun when the band members were drunk, was the next release in March 1969. It’s styling was a little too late for the era of novelty psychedelia, and of no interest to the more rock-oriented record buyer . . . . By the summer of 1969, things were turning sour. The final release, “Yellow Van,” was a great record . . . but was banned due to the nature of the lyrics. This really was the end of the road . . . . The nucleus of the band merged into Patto, who released three albums in the 1970s.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/timebox-mn0000602690#biography

Barry Monks adds:

They worked solidly on package tours with The Kinks, The Small Faces, Tommy Quickly, Lou Christie etc. and landed a Wednesday night residency at London’s Whisky a Go Go, a trendy and prestigious venue . . . . [Vocalist Frank] Dixon contracted tuberculosis . . . . In November 1966, a replacement vocalist was found in US singer John Henry . . . . who, as a GI deserter, was shortly to be unceremoniously carted off by two large military policemen! . . . [Mike] Patto . . . had begun to carve a promising solo career with a single . . . on Columbia in December 1966. After fronting the final version of the Bo Street Runners . . . Mike formed Patto’s People (later The Chicago Blues Line) . . . . After a late-night jam at The Playboy Club, Mike agreed to join Timebox . . . . A prestigious gig at The Windsor Jazz Festival on 12 August 1967 caught the eye and ear of ace Decca Records producer Gus Dudgeon who immediately signed them to their new subsidiary Deram. In October 1967, they released a splendidly raga-esque cover of Tim Hardin’s ‘Don’t Make Promises’ . . . . [The next A-side was] a finely crafted cover of The Four Seasons ‘Beggin’ . . . . The B-side, ‘A Woman That’s Waiting’, was penned by Mike Patto and guitarist Ivan Zagni from the Chicago Blues Line days. . . . The February/March 1968 sessions which produced the ‘hit’ also spawned . . . Patto/Halsall collaborations for a projected album provisionally titled Moose on the Loose . . . . Ollie’s ‘psychedelic’ masterpiece “Gone is the Sad Man” [see #1,285] remains an icon of it’s time . . . . [A] cult following developed around their Marquee Club residency . . . . The self-penned A-side was finally achieved in March 1969 with the rather silly but, nevertheless, endearing “Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye” . . . . Having finally begun to establish their own material, it seemed that Timebox had, effectively, run its course.

https://www.pattofan.com/Timebox/tb_deramcd.htm (liner notes to the CD comp Timebox: The Deram Anthology)

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

1,354) The Crusade — “Psychedelic Woman”

This ’67 A-side is an extra-heavy Alaskan “[c]rude garage-stomper” (Popsike, https://www.popsike.com/THE-CRUSADE-psychedelic-woman-7-Garage-Fuzz-Alaska/270699719673.html), “kinda dirty and nasty dripping fuzz and attitude” (A.J., https://garagehangover.com/crusade-psychedelic-woman-fade-away-golden-north/), “one of those singles that makes every fan of psychedelia smile. . . . [with t]wo fuzz guitars [that] lift the title into the intersection of garage and psychedelia”. (bufano, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-crusade/psychedelic-woman-fade-away/) “I can feel the fuzz through my bones. This song screams garage rock. Amazing guitar solos.” (thomassmith8721, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiaaIYEAE64)

The lyrics kill me. Popsike “love[s] th[e] tune, not just because of the great lyrics (‘she got big hips like a buffalo’)”. (Popsike, https://www.popsike.com/THE-CRUSADE-psychedelic-woman-7-Garage-Fuzz-Alaska/270699719673.html) Hey, that pales next to classic lines like “I tried so hard to satisfy She knows too much for me to try” and “She’s so far out she’s nearly gone”! Man, she must have been the deadliest catch!

Chris Bishop tells us:

The Crusade came out of Sitka, and their 45 was released on the Golden North label out of Juneau in April 1967 . . . . “Psychedelic Woman” . . . [It was] written by [band member] Agafon Krukoff, who had a previous 45 . . . in late ’66, a good version of “Walkin’ the Dog” backed with “Here I Sit in Alaska (Breaking the Legs Off Poor Little Self-Defenseless Crabs)” . . . . The band was [originally] called the Pribiloff Trio because Agafon was from the Pribiloff Islands out in the Alutians. . . . [Drummer] Dennis Murphy [recalls]”I was hired by Agafon in an audition for drummers when I was freshman in Sitka High School. One other guy tried and failed. These guys were all in college so it was real intimidating, to say the least.[“]

Here’s a ’85 cover by the Vibes:

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

1,353) Tages — “Like a Woman”

I’ve played the A-side (see #1,282), here’s the B-side — from the best Swedish band of the 60’s (see also #286). It’s a Beatlesque pop-psych wonder from an album — Studio — called “nothing short of a masterpiece — the closest Scandinavia has ever come to Sgt. Pepper“. (Lennart Johansson (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.blaskoteket.se/artiklar/now-then/1991-4-now-then/tages-makalos-grej-i-gotet/ (from Now and Then magazine, 1991 #4)).The lyrics are touchy — “She’s only sixteen and she loves like a woman”, but are they any more so than “You’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine” or “Well, she was just seventeen if you know what I mean”?

As to Studio, Wikipedia tells us that:

On 4 December 1967, Tages released their fifth studio album Studio. A blend of psychedelic music, rock and Swedish folk music, it was largely written by bassist Göran Lagerberg and producer Anders Henriksson. . . . [who had] introduc[ed] them to elements of Swedish folk music . . . . Studio had become a commercial failure . . . . [taking] a toll on the band, particularly Lagerberg, who considered the album to be “some of the best” he had written . . . .  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street

And Richie Unterberger adds:

Tages were more well equipped than most other bands from Scandinavia to move with the times after the beat era waned, considering that unlike most such bands, they sometimes sounded pretty close to an actual mid-’60s British group. Considering how adeptly they’d absorbed British Invasion styles, it’s unsurprising that the 1967 album Studio finds them getting into much more florid pop-psychedelia, with various ornate production dabs, bouncy whimsy in much of the songwriting, and touches of soul and orchestration in the arrangements. Perhaps it’s a testament to 1967 British psychedelia being harder to assimilate and copy than Merseybeat or mod, but though this is a carefully produced and ambitious set of songs, the material itself just isn’t up to the level of the probable inspiration. None of the songs are either great or lousy; they’re just average examples of approaches that were in fashion . . . . More typical were upbeat midtempo cuts that sounded something like audio equivalents to amiable strolls by hip tourists through London . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/studio-mw0001278543

Hey, I was once a hip tourist amiably strolling through London, and I’ll take the audio equivalent anytime!

As to the band, Unterberger opines that:

The[y] were without a doubt, the best Swedish band of the ’60s and one of the best ’60s rock acts of any sort from a non-English speaking country. Although the group’s first recordings were pretty weak Merseybeat derivations, in the mid-’60s they developed a tough, mod-influenced sound that echoed the Who and the Kinks. More than any other continental group, the Tages could have passed for a genuine British band . . . . Big throughout Scandinavia, the group actually made a determined effort to crack the English market in 1968, playing quite a few U.K. shows and releasing records there; they failed, and disbanded at the end of the year.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tages-mn0000155257#biography

And Nostalgia Central adds:

The band released a number of singles and LPs in their native Sweden to considerable success, making the Swedish Top 10 more than a dozen times. Though remembered as one of the finest non-English speaking bands of the 1960s, they failed to ever really break into the US or UK markets. In . . . 1967 . . . they signed directly to Parlophone and one of their singles . . . was the (at the time) very controversial She’s Having A Baby Now which many radio stations refused to play because of the subject matter. The Tages also produced one of the world’s first psychedelic albums, named Extra Extra in 1966. Then they wanted to create a pop-music that was totally Swedish by learning old Swedish folk-music. After this, they produced their fifth and last album – named Studio – at Abbey Road in 1967. The album is very influenced by Swedish folk music and psychedelia and is remembered as the finest album from the sixties from a non-English speaking country (it has been called the ‘Sgt Pepper Of Sweden’).

https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-t/tages/

From the TV show Dalamania:

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

1,352) The Perth County Conspiracy — “Woman for All Seasons”

From the Perth County Conspiracy* (see #406), “[a] true legend of . . . psych-folk rock” (CitizenFreak, http://www.citizenfreak.com/titles/295575?fbclid=IwAR1i6ppj2qI_l68lfBp0bqNSFUFwxlN3qmVROJO_bf0J0OaKd36s55xzi_k), here is a haunting folk song for all seasons.

Where did the PCC come from? Michelle Dionne, Dawn Edwards and Jaimie Vernon write that:

Taking their name from the Stratford, Ontario region of the same name, Perth County Conspiracy was centred around British immigrant Cedric Smith and American draft dodger Richard Keelan (ex of Spikedrivers [see #530,665]). They gigged up and down the Toronto strip in the late ’60s and released their debut album . . . in ’69. A healthy dose of trippy acid/folk rock was served up, and thanks to the [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] CBC, it was followed in the spring of 1970 with a self-titled promotional only album.

http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2018/12/perth-county-conspiracy-perth-county.html

That album (from which today’s song is taken) was “[a] huge influence on later generations of Canadian artists”. (MajikBusEntertainment, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzs6FPc3zMQ) CitizenFreak writes:

In the late 1960s, CBC augmented its commitment to Canadian artists by producing original albums by home-grown talent and distributing them on vinyl solely to its broadcast affiliates, both in Canada and across North America, in runs of just 250 copies. These discs have become holy-grail items for collectors . . . . Original copies of this record have traded hands for upwards of $1500.00! . . . [T]he . . album was conceived, recorded and designed to look and sound like the product of a commercial record label. But with only 250 copies produced the record quickly reached mythic status as the band went on to begin a commercial career with Columbia Records. . . . Pure commune folk music and one of Canada’s most intriguing psychedelic artifacts.

http://www.citizenfreak.com/titles/295575?fbclid=IwAR1i6ppj2qI_l68lfBp0bqNSFUFwxlN3qmVROJO_bf0J0OaKd36s55xzi_k

ThePoodleBites, in a fascinating story that I highly recommend everyone read in full, gives a history of the lives and times of the PCC:

Cedric Smith had dropped out of high school to pursue a career as a folk singer, and began performing at local coffeehouses . . . in Stratford . . . the home to a prominent and renowned annual Shakespeare Festival [I’ve been there and seen a performance!]. . . [In 1964, a]lthough he had never taken any acting lessons, [he was asked] to audition for the Stratford company . . . . It ended as a quite successful season, but Smith’s commitment to acting was sporadic . . . . [He] began to focus on working with . . . Richard Keelan. Together, the[y] formed . . . The Perth County Conspiracy.

https://upvhq.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-perth-county-conspiracy-does-not.html

And ThePoodleBites tells us what the commune was like:

[The PCC was m]ore than just a performing act; at the heart of the coalition was a “rural way of life”: a spontaneous happening and loosely-knit community between seven farms of around thirty permanent residents, and many more who were constantly in flux, who met together at the local coffeehouses, talked, discussed, and shared vegetables, bread, nuts, toys, and similar necessities in a communal setting. Keelan explains . . . how dynamic the group was: “People are always asking us how many people are in this group. . . . We don’t know. It just happens. You may be here two hours or you may be here two years. . . . We have more of a commune of the mind than a physical thing.” [But] there was indeed at least one communal farmhouse extant, nicknamed “Puddlewalk,” where draft dodgers, artists, actors, musicians, intellectuals, and local hippies would all live, work, and craft under the same roof. . . . The[ PCC] became known for mixing theatrics into their musical performances; Smith, with his affinity for acting, would integrate readings of Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare, or “scenarios from his latest two drug arrests” mid-song, while Keelan, a “refugee from the glitter trail, keeps up the rhythm with his tapping bare toes.”

https://upvhq.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-perth-county-conspiracy-does-not.html

* ThePoodleBites informs us that “[t]he ‘Conspiracy’ moniker was inspired by the Chicago Seven trial’s controversial definition of a conspiracy as ‘two or more people in the same place breathing together’; void of defined structure, a spokesman, or any other concrete form.” (https://upvhq.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-perth-county-conspiracy-does-not.html)

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

1,351) John Dummer’s Famous Music Band — “Fine Looking Woman”

John Dummer’s [maybe not so] Famous Music Band gives us some fine British blues rock. No relation to Norman Greenbaum’s “Good Lookin’ Woman” (see #46)!

Michael Limnios: tells us:

John Dummer is one of the most exciting drummers of British blues boom of 60s. The John Dummer Band also known as John Dummer’s Blues Band, John Dummer’s Famous Music Band, John Dummer’s Oobleedooblee Band and The John Dummer Band was a British blues band, of the 1960s and 1970s, was noted for its extensive roster of members, including Graham Bond, Dave Kelly, Jo Ann Kelly, Tony McPhee Bob Hall, John O’Leary and Pick Withers, and for supporting US bluesmen such as Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker on UK tours. He formed Lester Square and the G.T’s in 1963 and toured the UK and Germany for two years. Dummer formed the John Dummer Blues Band in 1965. Dummer became a promotion manager; spending three years at MCA Records and a year at Elektra Records, before joining A&M Records. In 1977 he became the drummer with Darts, with former Dummer Band members “Thump” Thomson and guitarist George Currie, who had earlier re-formed with Dave Kelly to play the London pub scene as The John Dummer Band. Dummer then played drums, toured and recorded with Lowell Fulson and Eddie C. Campbell. His next group, True Life Confessions, featured his wife Helen April. They issued several records on A&M, but none charted. Dummer and his wife also performed as a duo, and peaked at number 54 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of “Blues Skies”, and were also known for “Own Up If You’re Over 25”. . . .

https://blues.gr/m/blogpost?id=1982923%3ABlogPost%3A192286

Dummer recalls:

We were trying to imitate our heroes and the nearest we could get to what they sounded like the better we liked it.  In the 60’s we began to put a band together to play regularly in a club in London, the Studio 51 Club in the West End. It had been a jazz club and we played there every Sunday afternoon. We had some talented young musicians who developed into great players. . . . It was a great atmosphere and we encouraged musicians to sit in. . . . I certainly think the most interesting period of my life was when we backed the great Howlin’ Wolf on his UK tour. He travelled with us in the van and we got to know him well. He was a lovely man. I think the worst moment of my career was when I heard Graham Bond had thrown himself under an underground train. I had got to know him well not long before this and had played and recorded with him. He was always a musical hero for me . . . . I think my most important experiences have been playing with American blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Lowell Fulson and Champion Jack Dupree. They were all so kind and encouraging to us young white English musicians and this was a unique period. We were so lucky.

https://blues.gr/m/blogpost?id=1982923%3ABlogPost%3A192286

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

1,350) Longbranch/Pennywhistle — “Bring Back Funky Women”

Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther (before the Eagles took flight) with a plea to bring back funky women. “And bring back fuzz guitar too! This is a cool song.” (daisyjane1070, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyb2c0JiyLk)

Longbranch/ Pennywhistle? What kind of name is that?* Anyway, Rob Ross tells us about the band’s sole LP:

Longbranch/Pennywhistle was a country rock/folk duo comprising Glenn Frey and John David Souther, which they formed not long after meeting in Los Angeles. . . . Both Frey and Souther had made the migration from Detroit to California and were adapting to what would become the California sound, first dipping deep into the then-burgeoning new country-rock style. The album sank without a trace . . . . Some of the fine musicians who helped shape this album include rockabilly guitarist James Burton, slide guitarist Ry Cooder, Buddy Emmons on pedal steel, Wrecking Crew pianist Larry Knechtel, drummer Jim Gordon, bassist Joe Osborn and fiddler Doug Kershaw. . . . Taken on its merits alone, this fine album deserved a much better fate . . ; the songwriting is mature, the arrangements well thought out and executed beautifully In by the players and really does deserve a long, second look/listen.

https://musictap.com/2018/10/10/reissue-review-longbranch-pennywhistle-s-t/

Richie Unterberger is less enthused, calling it “a pleasant yet unthrilling album of modest harmonized early country-rock[ where p]re-echoes of the sound of the Eagles and 1970s mellow Californian rock can be heard”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/longbranch-pennywhistle-mn0001470731#biography)

Souther himself said “[i]t’s got a certain charm to it, even if it still sounds like an 8-track record from guys who didn’t write that well working with first-time producers.” (https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jd-souther-legend-longbranchpennywhistle)

Sterling Whitaker adds to the story:

Born in Detroit, Frey made his way to California to launch his career, where he met a singer-songwriter from Texas named John David Souther. They formed a duo, and their blend of early country-rock and folk with vocal harmonies attracted a lot of attention when they began playing at the famed Troubadour in Los Angeles, which led to a recording contracting with Amos Records and a self-titled debut album in 1969. . . . Frey and Souther wrote all of the songs, both individually and collectively . . . . The tight, focused songwriting that both men would later employ is still in its formative stages on many of the songs . . . . The . . . album was unsuccessful, and the duo disbanded in 1970. The following year, Linda Ronstadt drafted Frey to play in her new backing group, which she envisioned as a group of country-rock all-stars. Frey first met Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner on that gig . . . . The chemistry between the band members was so strong that they split off to form the Eagles . . . . Souther was a frequent songwriting collaborator, co-writing Eagles hits including “The Best of My Love,” “Heartache Tonight,” “James Dean,” “Victim of Love” and “New Kid in Town.” Souther also went on to a successful solo career, scoring hits including “You’re Only Lonely” and “Her Town Too,” a duet with James Taylor.

https://tasteofcountry.com/glenn-frey-before-the-eagles-longbranch-pennywhistle/

As does Allniter:

Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther met one fateful day in a Los Angeles coffeehouse, introduced by their girlfriends, who were sisters. Before long, these “Detroit Brothers” (J.D. was born there, but only lived there in infancy, and most recently had hailed from Amarillo, Texas) would have music in common as well. . . . Feeling confident, they approached Tom Thacker to get a record deal at his label, but when Don Lanier heard them, he brought them to Thacker’s old roommate, Jimmy Bowen, who had just taken over running Amos Records. . . . Bowen says their sound reminded him of the early Everly Brothers, and he wanted them so badly in fact that he offered Thacker a GM position at Amos, and a piece of Amos’ publishing rights in return for allowing them to sign with Amos. In addition, he allowed Thacker to produce their eponymous debut LP. . . . After the first album was released . . . . [t]he label wanted them to cover well-known songs by established writers; J.D. and Glenn wanted to become established writers, whose songs would be covered by other people. . . . Longbranch Pennywhistle would not make the album that Amos wanted, and Amos would not fund the rock-oriented album that Longbranch Pennywhistle was intent upon making . . . . After a protracted period of waiting and uncertainty, Glenn and J.D. were eventually released from their contractual obligations with Amos . . . . With their acoustic duo seeming to go nowhere, both J.D. and Glenn were seeking and making other contacts, and would eventually split up Longbranch Pennywhistle. J.D. wanted to go solo, Glenn wanted a band. . . . [J.D.] would collaborate on subsequent Eagles albums . . . . [and] would go on to record as a solo artist and act as producer for some of the most notable artists of the Seventies, and also formed the Souther Hillman Furay Band with Chris Hillman . . . and Richey Furay . . . .

https://allniter.tripod.com/longbranchpennywhistle/]

* J.D. Souther explains:

We were just called John David & Glenn before that. . . . We started talking about band names since there were three of us including David Jackson, and we didn’t want to call it John David & Glenn & David. . . . What happened was, at the time, we were being managed by Doug Weston, [the owner] of The Troubadour. We were in Doug’s office and he said, “You gotta have a name.” I had been reading Mark Twain, so my head was all full of arcane language, phrases, and terminology. Glenn said, “Longbranch.” And I said, “Pennywhistle”. . . . Doug Weston said, “Great. They’re both phallic, so let’s use ’em both.” So, it just stuck. We said, “Yeah, okay, fine.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jd-souther-legend-longbranchpennywhistle

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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.

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

1,349) Tim Dawe — “Scarlet Woman”

Future nuclear physicist Tim Dawe (see #875) gives us a “[b]eautiful!” (annc8281, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC8tRFETd70), grand and sweeping pop psych/folk rock epic. It is from his ’69 album Penrod, “an enigmatic mixture of psychedelia, early singer-songwriter moves, almost crooning troubadour folk, baroque classical influences, and inventively florid arrangements and orchestration” (Richie Unterberger, http://www.richieunterberger.com/dawe.html), featuring “a psychedelic-inclined, jazz-steeped, semi-orchestral freak folk band”. (Jay Allen Sanford, https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/aug/10/lost-local-bands-60s70s-tim-dawe-penrod/)

Unfortunately, as Craig Harris writes:

Had he recorded his best-known tune, “Junkie John,” a few months earlier, Tim Dawe . . . might have been a star. . . . [I]t had begun getting radio airplay when the FCC began to crack down on drug-oriented recordings. Stations stopped playing the single, while Dawe faded quickly into obscurity.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tim-dawe-mn0001559315/biography)

Stephane Rebeschini tells us:

Tim Dawe appeared on the scene in 1969 with an album on Frank Zappa’s Straight label. Penrod was a superb debut, full of psychedelic folk rock with lots of organ, harpsichord and brilliant acid guitar. . . . The result stands comparison to another more well known Straight artist, Tim Buckley. Quite surprisingly, however, the backing group doesn’t seem to have played on other albums (unless they were using pseudonyms). Dawe then wrote songs for Rod Taylor and It’s A Beautiful Day [see #56] (Places Of Dreams and Bitter Wine, on Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime). In 1976 he returned with an interesting west-coast album produced by the ex-It’s A Beautiful Day member Mitchell Holman, who also played bass on it. . . . In 1978, he produced A Night On The Wine Cellar . . . a live folk/ blues album on which he sang three new songs . . . .

https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/penrod.html (source: Borderline’s Psychedelic Archive)

Dawe reminisced:

[Frank] Zappa was my mentor. My first album, PENROD, was released on Straight Records in late 1969. Those were heady times. We were going to change the world.  Herb Cohen managed my band, Zappa executive produced. Read Zappa’s last interview in Playboy. Straight Records was going to be the first of many great independant labels that would change the music business forever. As we know, that didn’t happen. But Zappa tried. Visions of Nirvana. His vision was smothered by the mega record companies and a paranoid government. . . . But I had a great fifteen minutes while it lasted. Thanks to Frank. Later I did other things, musical and otherwise. . . . Help keep Frank alive . . . .

https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/penrod.html

Jay Allen Sanford adds:

Timothy Thorne Dawe was a theoretical nuclear physicist who in his youth dabbled in experimental rock music. . . . . Dawe at the time was mainly playing solo folk clubs around LA and northern San Diego circa 1968-1969 . . . . The harpsichord-heavy LP was produced by former Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist Jerry Yester, who’d produced Cohen’s client Tim Buckley for the label and would also produce the first album by former San Diegan Tom Waits . . . . Zappa executive-produced the album. The band was signed under the name Penrod to Herb Cohen’s management company, and they were among the first bands signed to Straight/Bizarre . . . . [T]he seven-plus minute “Junkie John,” received occasional underground radio play and was notable for incorporating early synth electronics, but its length and subject matter kept it from widespread exposure, especially after the FCC essentially banned radio stations from playing music that overtly referenced illegal drugs. . . . [Dawe later] become a physics professor . . . . As of 2010 [Dawe passed away in 2016], he was teaching physics at City College of San Francisco. “He’s an old hippie and will play guitar if you ask,” wrote one of his CCSF students on the RateMyProfessor.com website, “and he has found that each planet lies along the same intervals as nodes on a guitar soundwave.”

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/aug/10/lost-local-bands-60s70s-tim-dawe-penrod/

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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.

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

1,348) Moon’s Train — “Gotta Go Catch Me a Woman”

Bill Wyman gets his (Georgie) Fame on, co-writing and and producing this hip R&B modster!

“[Moon’s Train] firmly straddled the mod loves of jazz/r&b with the later psychedelic headsounds. Most of the tracks are jazz/mod/r&b but a few . . . adopted a psychedelic slant and ditched the r&b/jazz to embrace sounds of The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band [see #197, 488]”. (Wilthomer, https://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2011/06/moons-train.html?m=1) “Catch Me a Woman” is definitely one of the R&B/mod numbers.

Richie Unterberger is not impressed:

[M]ost of Moon’s Train’s tracks are rather pedestrian, jazzy blue-eyed soul with a hint of ska, somewhat in the mold of a few similar British acts of the era such as Georgie Fame and Simon Dupree & the Big Sound [see #51, 96]. . . . [While] obviously heavily influenced by Georgie Fame [see #103, 169, 634, 695, 721, 1,044, i]t’s not within miles of Fame in quality, however, and for that matter distinctly inferior even to . . . Simon Dupree & the Big Sound. Sad to say, on the evidence of these tracks, Wyman didn’t have a whole lot to offer in the songwriting department . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/moons-train-mn0001864338#biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-life-i-lead-mw0001486461

Well, I’ve always been a pedestrian, jazzy blue-eyed soul!

Unterberger gives us some history:

Most known as one of several acts that Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman produced and wrote songs for in the 1960s, Moon’s Train issued just one single while active, the 1967 release “Deed I Do”/”It’s in My Mind.” The group did, however, record quite a bit of material in 1965-1967 . . . . The band is also noted for including a teenage Peter Frampton in their ranks at one point, though he was only in the lineup briefly, and did not play on many of their recordings. . . . Some of their roots were in the Beckenham band the Preachers, who included keyboardist, singer, and songwriter Peter Gosling, as well as the young Frampton and drummer Tony Chapman. The Bill Wyman connection came about as Chapman had played in Wyman’s . . . group the Clifton’s, and had very briefly played alongside Wyman at a few early Rolling Stones gigs before being edged out by Charlie Watts. While they were still called the Preachers, the group — now managed and produced by Wyman — put out a 1965 single. Soon after its release, they changed their name to the Train, and around early 1966, they changed their name again to Moon’s Train, sparked by the nickname of Peter “Moon” Gosling. Though it’s believed that Frampton was still in the band when their single was recorded in April 1966 (though it wouldn’t come out for almost a year), he left shortly afterward to join the Herd. Moon’s Train continued to record in hopes of getting an album together, most of the material being co-written by Gosling and Wyman. However, none . . . was released . . . . Moon’s Train drifted apart by the end of the 1960s, however, and while Gosling has recalled being approached by Mick Fleetwood to join Fleetwood Mac when that band was being formed in 1967, he didn’t do so. . . .

A few items do show a mild psychedelic influence, and a couple, “Loving, Sacred Loving” and “Shades of Orange,” even move toward “In Another Land” territory — the caveat being that these versions are merely instrumental tracks that sound like works-in-progress, and were done far more impressively in fully arranged psychedelic vocal versions by another band Wyman produced in the late ’60s, the End [see #131].

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/moons-train-mn0001864338#biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-life-i-lead-mw0001486461

Why didn’t the LP come out at the time? Vernon Joynson says that it “was forgotten when Stones manager Allen Klein stopped Wyman’s moonlighting” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), while Buffalo Billycan says that “after Gosling and Wyman had drifted apart it remained in the can.” (Buffalo Billycan, http://faintlyblowing.blogspot.com/2011/08/moons-train-1967.html?m=1)

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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.

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

1,347) The Impressions — “A Woman Who Loves Me”

Altrockchick has opined that “Only self-centered *ssholes would depersonalize someone of the superior gender, as in ‘That’s enough, woman!’ or ‘Gimme a beer, woman!’ I can’t think of a single instance when a pop songwriter used the dehumanizing label ‘woman’ to express love and affection”. She does, though, point to “Woman”, Peter & Gordon’s Paul McCartney-penned number, as an exception. (https://altrockchick.com/2018/08/16/the-bee-gees-bee-gees-1st-classic-music-review/?amp=1) Hey, what about John Lennon’s “Woman”?! In any event, she’d better add the Impressions’s (see #118, 285) Curtis Mayfield-penned ’64 B-side — a “great overlooked Chicago soul nugget[]”. (John Bush, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-never-ending-impressions-mw0000839597) Love and affection abound!

Ah, the Impressions. Steve Huey puts it well:

The quintessential Chicago soul group, the Impressions’ place in R&B history would be secure if they’d done nothing but launch the careers of soul legends Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. But far more than that, the Impressions recorded some of the most distinctive vocal-group R&B of the ’60s under Mayfield’s guidance. Their style was marked by airy, feather-light harmonies and Mayfield’s influentially sparse guitar work, plus, at times, understated Latin rhythms. If their sound was sweet and lilting, it remained richly soulful thanks to the group’s firm grounding in gospel tradition; they popularized the three-part vocal trade-offs common in gospel but rare in R&B at the time, and recorded their fair share of songs with spiritual themes, both subtle and overt. Furthermore, Mayfield’s interest in the Civil Rights movement led to some of the first socially conscious R&B songs ever recorded, and his messages grew more explicit as the ’60s wore on, culminating in the streak of brilliance that was his early-’70s solo work. 

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-impressions-mn0000082013#biography

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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.

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

1,346) John Williams — “She’s That Kind of Woman”

This ’67 A-side is “a gentle hippy-ish track” with wry Dylanesque lyrics — “which didn’t get UK airplay because of the phrase ‘[she looks like she’s] easy to lay'”. (Juke Jules, https://www.45cat.com/record/db8128) John Williams (see #402, 784, 857, 858, 1,051, 1,118) was a “hugely talented folk singer and songwriter” (liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine, Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios From the British Psychedelic Era). And a FOJ — friend of Jimmy Page.

As to Williams, Corbin explains:

John Williams was an artist in the mold of Donovan a sort of traditional folk artist with a twist. . . . He hailed from Bedford, England, a town about 30 miles north of London, and in 1964 was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in a band with his brother Brian known as The Authentics. . . . Jimmy [Page] met Williams when Williams was a member of The Authentics[, ] an early 60’s British pop outfit who regularly performed gigs at the famed Marquee Club in London. The group had been signed to a record deal by Jimmy’s manager Giorgio Gomelsky. Jimmy would go on to sit in with the band on a few recording sessions, even co-authoring one of their songs, a number titled “Without You”. Williams and Page soon struck up a friendship that revolved around their mutual love of folk music, and Jimmy would pass around songs written by Williams to groups he worked sessions for, notably “Little Nightingale” performed by The Mindbenders.

http://findingzoso.blogspot.com/2012/07/pageia-obscura-maureeny-wishful.html

Lenny Helsing continues the story:

John Williams will probably be more famous for being the one that put together the rare 1968 Maureeny Wishfull album, a shimmering, and enchanting slab of strange folk excellence that features significant contributions from Jimmy Page, Big Jim Sullivan [see #817] and John Paul Jones. Williams was also responsible for a wonderful, more folk-blues styled, self-titled album [including “She’s That Kind of Woman”] which appeared on the Columbia label in 1967. Something, however, that will forever tie him to the then burgeoning psychedelic pop scene (albeit not in any commercially successful way) is the truly excellent single composition ‘Flowers In Your Hair’ [see #784].

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2015/04/john-williams.html

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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.

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

1,345) Them — “Young Woman”

Belfast’s Them post-Him (see #1,275) had “mastered West Coast psychedelia like no other Irish band”. (Jon “Mojo” Mills, liner notes to the CD reissue of Time Out! Time in For Them) From their second album — Time Out! Time In For Them — comes a riveting song with an insistent, sinuous groove.

Jon “Mojo” Mills tells us that:

“[I]n 1966 the final line-up of Them . . . imploded. Van Morrison quit after a somewhat fruitful tour of the States . . . . Shortly after this split, bass player Alan Henderson picked up the pieces and regrouped with the surviving members and new singer Kenny McDowell under the old “Them” moniker, and set off to conquer America. On meeting impressario Ray Huff their metamorphosis slowly began; growing from R&B tinged garage-band to fully-fledged paisley wearing raga-rockers. First album Now-and-“Them” was a rather mixed affair blending all manner of old and new influences. . . . [T]he lengthy eastern inspired piece “Square Room” . . . gave “Them” their new hip and happening identity. . . . [They took] their foremost inspiration from contemporary West Coast acts rather than the Morrison-era’s vintage black R&B template, and fashion wise the sunny Californian hippy style of dress bore no relation to the ban’s former suited and booted Irish selves. . . . If perhaps called The Lemon Menagerie or Orange Sunshine things may have been quite different for them. If the inevitiable unenviable comparison between Them’s old hit making days and their new US inflected psychedelic approach were not made it is likely they would have been recognized as a far more creditable unit. . . . Time Out! Time In For Them was a huge leap forward in a very short amount of time. . . . containing everything . . . from the out and out mystical to bluesy psychedelic rock and straight ahead well-thought-about pop with bite!

liner notes to Time Out! Time in For Them

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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.

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

1,344) Manfred Mann Chapter Three — “Devil Woman”

This is not your teenyboppers’s Manfred Mann! This is Manfred Mann Chapter III, and Mann, oh Mann, do I love my Manfred Mann Chapter III (see #79, 146, 698). “[T]he brilliant Devil Woman fall[s] in between the exotic and avant-garde with strange percussion, a demented Mike Hugg [singing], sound effects, and soaring female backup vocals.” (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/) Chapter III was “excellent and imaginative but came as a considerable shock to any fans who expected anything akin to Manfred Mann.” (Rovi Staff, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mn0001278308) The first album — Manfred Mann Chapter Three — was “groundbreaking . . . in the development of jazz rock. . . . [with m]uch free jazz and big band sound . . . but mixed up with darkest and most disturbing blues phrasings[ — s]low, lurking, gritty and tough stuff to sit through”. (Einsetumadur, http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2425) Tough to sit through? It put me in a trance — I couldn’t have gotten up even if I had wanted to! “This is as much jazz as rock. There’s hardly any guitar, but a swaggering horn section compensates. Imagine a darker, moodier Traffic with Mann manning the organ instead of Steve Winwood.” (Mark Allan, https://www.allmusic.com/album/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mw0000467440) This “was something that Mike Hugg and Mann had wanted to do for sometime but feared the possibility of a commercial failure. Hugg handles most of the lead vocals on a record . . . . The sound is very progressive, peppered with jazzy horns, keyboards/organ, a slow stoned ambience, creative arrangements and Hugg’s quite original although bizarre vocals.” (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/)

I thought there were no Chapter Threes in ’60’s rock? Well, Progman says:

Chapter III was formed after the break up of the (Chapter II) line up of Manfred Mann in 1969 which featured singer Mike D’Abo, not forgetting the legendary (Chapter I) line up in the early 60s which featured singer Paul Jones. . . . Chapter III turned their backs on three minute Pop singles and light hearted songs to develop a more Jazz and Progressive sound often had lengthy tracks with solos. . . .

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2425

Active Listener explains further:

Ready for a change, Mann and electric pianist/vocalist Mike Hugg dropped the rest of the band and enlisted former East of Eden bass player Steve York, drummer Craig Collinge and most importantly a five piece brass section comprised of some of the hottest young talent in the U.K at the time, and set out to explore their love of jazz. For a band who’s previous release only a year before had been a singalong cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn”, a dark, voodoo jazz-rock LP replete with Albert Ayler inspired free-jazz solos must have come as a shock to long term fans. Clearly this is not your Dad’s Manfred Mann. Along with contemporarys like Ian Carr’s Nucleus and Colosseum, Mann and co. were instrumental in these formative years of the merging of jazz and progressive rock. American bands like Chicago were already working the brass rock formula, but the U.K scene was pushing the envelope a considerable distance further. . . . What raises Chapter Three above other U.K acts of the time is the quality of the songwriting. There’s no doubt that there were plenty of fine players on this fledgeling scene, but few had compositions this strong to launch from. . . . Mike Hugg’s voice may be an acquired taste for some, but fans of the creepy juju stylings of early Dr John [see #177] are in for a treat.

http://active-listener.blogspot.com/2011/11/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-one.html

As does Rovi Staff:

Following the demise of Manfred Mann, Mike Hugg and Manfred Mann continued their jazz/rock path by forming Chapter Three, as a sideline to their lucrative career writing successful television jingles. This brave project was originally called Emanon and . . . featured session work from some of the finest contemporary jazz musicians . . . . The group immediately established themselves on the progressive rock circuit, but could not break out of the small club environment. . . . The band was blighted with problems due to Mann and Hugg having to support the venture financially, and because of trying to establish themselves as something other than a pop group. . . . Manfred soon returned to a more commercial path with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mn0001278308

Finally, Jazz Music Archives:

The band’s approach centred around the “time, no changes” approach of Miles Davis and John Coltrane applied to slow, funky grooves with voodoo lyrics inspired by Dr John alternating with blaring big-band horn riffs and improvised free-jazz solos reminiscent of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. Although intelligible at a time when artists like Davis himself were crossing over into the rock/funk field and American “jazz-rock” ensembles such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Mothers of Invention espoused brass sections and atonality, the formula was limited and the band expensive to maintain, so it was short-lived and disbanded after two albums. Mann went on to form Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1971.

https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three

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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

1,343) The Bee Gees — “One Minute Woman”

From the Bee Gees’s “1st” album (outside of Australia) — Bee Gees 1st — comes “Barry’s bleeding-heart romantic ode to the object of his affection”. (Grant Walters, https://albumism.com/features/tribute-celebrating-50-years-of-bee-gees-bee-gees-1st)

Grant Walters goes on:

[“Woman” is] the work of a band who knew instinctively how to mesh their crystalline brotherly harmony and melodic savvy for maximum impact. The Bee Gees’ unpretentious commitment to their craft—and sometimes a penchant for technical perfectionism—helped them transcend the confines of the British Invasion.

https://albumism.com/features/tribute-celebrating-50-years-of-bee-gees-bee-gees-1st

Yup. Oldies but Goodies tells us:

[T]he song reportedly came together rather quickly. The Bee Gees, known for their songwriting talent, showed up to a recording session with very little prepared material. “One Minute Woman” was one of the songs they crafted on the spot, highlighting their ability to create compelling music under pressure.

https://oldiesbutgoodies.charmingflowers.com.vn/bee-gees-one-minute-woman/#google_vignette

K. Kamitz can’t get over the LP:

[T]he Bee Gees were master craftsmen of some of the greatest pop-rock the late ‘60s and early ‘70s had to offer. . . . [T]hey exploded in the North American market in the late summer of 1967 with this album (their first US Top 10 album), and three Top 20 singles:  “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” “To Love Somebody” (originally meant to be recorded for the late great Otis Redding), and “Holiday.” . . . On first listen, Bee Gees 1st plays like a wonderful, lost baroque-pop album, which isn’t far from the truth. . . . [T]he record embodies the sweet sounds of the summer of ’67. . . . full of tunes that will make you smile, whether out of pure joy or bittersweet introspection. . . . If you want to hear classic, endearing, and beautiful 1960s pop, pick up this album.

The Bee Gees “Bee Gees 1st”

Here is Bruce Eder’s perspective:

Up until 1966, they’d shown a penchant for melodic songs and rich, high harmonies, in the process becoming Australia’s answer to the Everly Brothers. When the Bee Gees arrived in London late in 1966, however, they proved quick studies in absorbing and assimilating the progressive pop and rock sounds around them. In one fell swoop, they became competitors with the likes of veteran rock bands such as the Hollies and the Tremeloes, and this long-player, Bee Gees’ 1st, is more of a rock album than the group usually got credit for generating. Parts of it do sound very much like the Beatles circa Revolver, but there was far more to their sound than that. The three hits . . . were gorgeous but relatively somber, thus giving Bee Gees’ 1st a melancholy cast, but much of the rest is relatively upbeat psychedelic pop. . . . Robin Gibb’s lead vocals veered toward the melodramatic and poignant, and the orchestra did dress up some of the songs a little sweetly, yet overall the group presented themselves as a proficient rock ensemble who’d filled their debut album with a full set of solid, refreshingly original songs.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/bee-gees-1st-mw0000198604

While I love the song, I can’t resist sharing Altrockchick’s blog hilariously slagging it off:

“One Minute Woman” is guilty of deceptive advertising due to the unforgivable omission of the comma. A “one-minute woman” seems to connote a woman who poops out sometime during foreplay or a broad who could be ready for a roll in the hay in sixty seconds. It’s hard to imagine a man with Barry Gibb’s looks going down on his knees for a party pooper . . . . The confusion vanishes when you hear Barry’s phrasing, clearly indicating an effort to engage the woman in conversation, as in “One minute, woman.” The comma clears up that aspect of the song, but then you have to ask, “If Barry’s so enamored with this chick, why doesn’t he use her name?” Only self-centered assholes would depersonalize someone of the superior gender, as in “That’s enough, woman!” or “Gimme a beer, woman!” . . . . Now the song makes perfect sense . . . and it still sucks. No matter, Barry will get another chance to express the anguish of lost love and fully redeem himself for poor punctuation and his rather maudlin performance here.

https://altrockchick.com/2018/08/16/the-bee-gees-bee-gees-1st-classic-music-review/?amp=1

Here they are live:

Here is an alternate version:

Here is a lovely version by Billy Fury:

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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.

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

1,342) Jack Grunsky — “Sweeper Woman”

I’ve played the A-side (see #728), here’s the wonderful folk rock B-side by future children’s music superstar Jack Grunsky (see also #566).

Jack Grunsky was famous at the time — well, he was famous in Austria. Austria’s City Magazin says (courtesy of Google Translate):

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

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

Grunsky recounts his career:

After finishing high school in Toronto in 1964, I moved to Austria to study at the Academy of Arts in Vienna. At the same time I formed a folk singing group called ‘Jack’s Angels’ and we were signed to Amadeo Records, touring and recording 4 albums. Within the span of two years we gained considerable popularity before disbanding in 1968. The record label kept me on for two more albums after which I was brought on board the progressive German ‘Kuckuck’ label in Munich. I pursued a solo singer-songwriter career for the next 8 years, touring extensively throughout Europe and recording 5 more albums of original material. My ‘Toronto’ LP [including “Sweeper Woman” was recorded in London and was produced by Alexis Korner with various tracks featuring Mick Taylor (of the Stones) on slide guitar. In Vienna I composed music for 3 television children’s musicals . . . . With a few hits on the charts . . . and also hosting my own radio show ‘Folk mit Jack’ for ORF Austria, my following continued to grow in the Euro Pop Music scene of that time. . . . In 1974, together with my family, I returned to Canada. In spite of European success highlights, a shift in the Euro music industry took place and I found myself in fringe territory. I was seeking closer connection with the folk/rock music scene happening in North America. . . . [I released] my album ‘The Patience Of A Sailor’ and . . . reboot[ed] my singing career . . . . We performed as a band in clubs and festivals and returned to tour in Europe several times allowing me to stay in touch with my fans. In the early 80’s however, pointers and signs were guiding me in a new direction. Our daughter’s teacher invited me into the classroom to sing with the students. This led to offers to be a freelance music teacher at various Montessori schools around greater Toronto. . . . I became passionate about quality children’s music and discovered a market in need of it. Building a repertoire of original children’s songs and drawing on my concert performance experiences, I soon found a manager, a concert agent and eventually was signed up to the BMG Kidz Music label. . . . I have presented my children’s performances and workshops for over 30 years. This led to countless . . . teacher workshop opportunities across Canada and the US . . . . TV and radio appearances; major concert tours and international children’s festivals followed plus a number of symphony shows for family audiences. To date I’ve released 16 CD’s for children garnering a number of awards including 3 JUNO’s [Canada’s Grammys].

https://www.jackgrunsky.net/bio

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

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

Jack Grunsky: YES.

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

Jack: IT WAS A TERRIBLE NAME.

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

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

Richard: OKAY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

1,341) The 49th Parallel — “Twilight Woman”

Calgary’s 49th Parallel (see #367, 481, 697) give us “[a] Canadian gem. . . . two and a half minutes of blissful late-sixties psych pop” (SimonTheSignGuy, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/49th-parallel/twilight-woman-close-the-barn-door.p/), “[a] perfect 2 1/2 minutes of garage pop bliss”. (CharlyW34, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=72VimDmrqgU&pp=ygUqVGhlIDQ5dGggUGFyYWxsZWwg4oCUIOKAnFR3aWxpZ2h0IFdvbWFu4oCd)

Michael Panontin writes, “Calgary’s torch bearers in the great sixties rock sweepstakes were 49th Parallel, whose 1969 [Canadian] chart success, ‘Twilight Woman’, garnered them a few deserved rays of limelight”. (http://www.canuckistanmusic.com/index.php?maid=69)

As to the 49th Parallel, the Museum of Canadian Music tells us:

[They] were originally known in the mid-60’s as a popular bar band by the name of The Shades Of Blond. With a stifling and musically limiting Calgary club scene they were never able to get farther than having one single — 1966’s “All Your Love”. . . . Throughout 1968 and parts of 1969 they toured throughout North America with an ever fluctuating roster. . . . [T]hey did hit and run recording sessions which bore several singles for Venture Records including “Twilight Woman” that managed seven weeks on the CHUM charts with a peak position of #16 in April 1969, and its follow-up, “Now That I’m A Man”, in September 1969 which managed a modest 3 week ride on the CHUM charts and a peak position of #22. . . . A full-length album was hastily assembled from singles and studio outtakes because the line-up was continually fluctuating and new recordings were impossible to conduct. . . . Eventually the band changed its name to Painter and released one album before mutating into the hard rock act Hammersmith who would finally succumb in the late ’70’s after two albums on Mercury Records. 

http://citizenfreak.com/titles/264434-49th-parallel-st (crediting the Canada Pop Encyclopedia)

The band had paid its dues: “By ’67 they’d changed their name to 49th Parallel, and had all but outgrown the local circuit. They played the prairies relentlessly for the next year or so, making over a dozen stops in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at The Temple Gardens alone.” (https://canadianbands.com/artists/49th-parallel/)

Canbands adds:

[Their album] was barely on the shelves for a month when [singer Dennis] Abbott left, who was replaced by new frontman Dorn Beattie. . . . They continued to tour sporadically over the next six months while writing material for a follow-up album. But after the single “I Need You” went without a whimper on two separate occasions, the band packed it in by the spring of 1970.

https://canadianbands.com/artists/49th-parallel/

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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.

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

1,340) Chuck Berry — “Ain’t That Just Like a Woman”

Here is Chuck Berry’s (see #361, 886) fantastic take (off his ’65 Chess LP Fresh Berry’s) on Louis Jordan’s ’46 #1 R&B (#17 pop) jump blues hit. It is so good that by the time it’s over, I feel like Keith Richards after being punched in the face (by Chuck). 🙂

Of note, he leaves out guitarist Carl Hogan’s intro to Jordan’s song — maybe because Berry had already used that very intro for his iconic “Johnny B Goode” riff! “He covered the song he copied from. That takes balls”. (clowntrooper61, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e9G9tVDeiEk&pp=ygUoQ2h1Y2sgYmVycnkgYWluJ3QgdGhhdCBqdWF0IGxpa2UgYSB3b21hbg%3D%3D) Well, yes, Chuck Berry had balls! “[L]ove it! covers the song he copied his intro from a decade after it was released and then uses a completely different intro for his cover!! AMAZING HAHAHAH”. (oltedlozengek4708, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e9G9tVDeiEk&pp=ygUoQ2h1Y2sgYmVycnkgYWluJ3QgdGhhdCBqdWF0IGxpa2UgYSB3b21hbg%3D%3D)

Ah, Chuck Berry. “As legend, or some old music magazine, has it, an interviewer once asked George Thorogood why he didn’t write more of his own songs, to which he replied ‘Because Chuck Berry already wrote all the f*cking songs that ever needed to be written.’” (https://somuchgreatmusic.com/2018/09/09/george-thorogood-it-wasnt-me-1978/).

Bruce Eder:

Chuck Berry’s last album for Chess, for the next four years, has him back in the U.S., and running smack into the mid-’60s blues revival, playing with the likes of Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield . . . . The material varies from first-rate songs ([including] “Ain’t that Just Like a Woman” . . .) that sound utterly contemporary, to fascinating experiments . . . and filler . . . . He still rocks out, and sounds like he’s having a great time playing blues with Bloomfield and Butterfield . . , sounding like an old Chicago bluesman, which, ironically, was the direction he chose to go in during his subsequent four-year stint with Mercury Records. He still does some straight rock & roll . . . and occasionally indulges his taste for music from the islands . . , in what was essentially an era-closing album, and his last attempt at making a contemporary album with his established sound.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/fresh-berrys-mw0000841212

Here is Louis Jordan:

Here is Louis Jordan on the silver screen:

Here is “Johnny B Goode:

Here is Mark Zabel’s analysis:

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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.