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

The Moon — “Mothers and Fathers”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 3, 2024

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

1,323) The Moon — “Mothers and Fathers”

Here’s “a great slice of English influenced psychedelic-pop [gently reflecting on the generation gap] . . . . [s]howcasing an ear candy melody and wonderful interlocking harmonies, there was at least a little Bee Gees in their influences. . . . [and] a killer hook that’s almost impossible to shake.” (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-moon/without-earth/)

RDTEN1 tells us:

The Moon is one of those mid-1960s Southern California bands that gets widespread praise, but for some strange reason seems to consistently get lost when it comes to people’s list of favorites. For what it is worth, their debut album effortlessly makes my favorites list. Formed in 1967, the band had quite a talented line up . . . . Drummer Larry Brown had been a member of The Bel-Aires and Davie Allan & the Arrows. He was also an in-demand sessions player having worked on scores of Hollywood exploitation soundtracks. 14 year old rhythm guitarist David Marks replaced The Beach Boys Al Jardin when he went off to dental school, recording several albums and touring with the band prior to Jardin’s 1964 return to the lineup. All of 16, he fronted Dave and the Marksmen, and recorded some material as a member of The Band without a Name. Singer/multi-instrumentalist Matthew Moore had fronted Matthew Moore Plus Four, recorded several 45s with The Plymouth Rockers and recorded some solo material. Moore was apparently the project’s front man. Working with his brother/producer Daniel Moore, efforts to score a recording contract saw them find an early supporter in Mike Curb [see #57] . Curb introduced Moore to drummer/keyboard player Brown, who brought in bassist Bennett. Separately Moore recruited Marks who he’d run into several times. Curb agreed to finance an album and the four band members literally locked themselves into Hollywood’s Continental Studios, save for food deliveries and a couple of days off in order to let cleaning crews clear the trash from the recording spaces. . . . Produced by Brown, 1968’s Without Earth fell a little short in terms of originality, but the band deserved credit for having good taste when it came to their influences – a dash of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, a touch of The Bee Gees and a big heaping of mid-1960s Beatles. Largely penned by Moore, it all came together in a wonderful mix of acid drenched pop-sike. Virtually every one of these twelve songs had a catchy melody, lovely harmony vocals and interesting studio effects (thanks to producer Brown). . . . Any creative shortcomings were made up by the band’s sense of enthusiasm, the set’s commercial orientation and the general sense of fun found on tracks like “Mothers and Fathers” . . . . Add to that Moore had a voice that was perfectly suited for the genre (his performances frequently reminded me of Emmit Rhodes). . . . [Without Earth] remains one of my favorite mid-1960s American pop-sike albums. Yes, the band members have admitted they were ingesting various illicit substances while recording the album.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-moon/without-earth/

Streetmouse:

Even with their Peter Max influenced album jacket and Magical Mystery Tour influences, The Moon traveled virtually unnoticed, delivering spacey soft-pop psychedelic arrangements [more worthy than those delivered by Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd], where fuzzed out distorted acid-laced guitars, shimmering backward cymbals, and outstanding harmonies melted into melodic melodies dripping with intoxication, over which vocal echoing visions sought to convey an actual LSD experience. And as good as all this sounds, the band, with their fragile beauty, never managed to make much of an impression … lacking both a supportive single and the nurturing of their record label. Yes, the song “Someday Girl” was heavenly, and could often be heard on very late night radio, or serving as background music to a liquid light show as the audience drifted into a venue . . . . The Moon had genuine talent, treading lightly on the progressive baroque elements [championed by groups like Smoke, The Left Banke, and The Zombies] that were just around the corner, moving with a consistency that should have had them sitting in the first few rows, and not the balcony.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-moon/without-earth/

Steve Stanley gives us recollections from Marks and Moore:

David Marks recollects on the sessions and the studio. “We were stoned all the time. We just kind of lived in that studio. There was pizza boxes and trash all around. The recording sessions were just boring . . . .” Matthew recalls: “I believe in the course of that first album, it went somewhere around 540 hours for twelve songs! Thirty minutes at the most. . . . Well, initially [Imperial Records was] very excited about it . . . . From what I heard later, some big cutbacks in the promotion department took place. . . . The Moon never played a live date. That was one of the plans that fell through. That’s kinda how we noticed that a lot of the promotional funds had been cut . . . . We were all so disappointed and we all kinda hid out for a while.”

liner notes to the CD reissue of Without Earth and The Moon

Bryan Thomas adds:

[David] Marks had already enjoyed quite a career. At 14, circa 1962, he joined the Beach Boys as a rhythm guitarist when Al Jardine left their lineup to attend dental school. Marks appeared on the first four Beach Boys albums and several hit singles, including “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Surfer Girl.” When Jardine returned, Marks, just 16, became the leader of Dave & the Marksmen, who had localized hits with “Cruisin’,” “I Wanna Cry,” and “I Could Make You Mine.” [He] then formed the Band Without a Name, who recorded two singles for Tower and Sidewalk and were the house band at two Sunset Strip clubs, circa 1965-1966. After leaving this group, Marks formed Moon with organ/pianist/vocalist Matthew Moore, who penned most of the band’s songs. Moore’s previous group, Matthew Moore Plus Four, had recorded for GNP Crescendo, and he had also recorded solo material for White Whale and Capitol. The other Moon members were bassist David P. Jackson (ex-Hearts & Flowers, who had two LPs on Capitol in the late ’60s) and drummer Larry Brown (ex-Davie Allan & the Arrows and a veteran of countless film soundtracks and those Sidewalk/Tower releases that were produced by Mike Curb). . . . After Moon dissolved, Marks began working as a studio musician with Denny Brooks, Delaney & Bonnie, and others. . . . Moore meanwhile, joined Joe Cocker’s 1970 Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour . . . . Moore then went on to have a successful career as a session vocalist and keyboardist, recorded solo albums, and even had his own label, New Decade. David P. Jackson went on to become the bassist with Dillard & Clark. Larry Brown played with Gunhill Road, Tony Allwine and was the official voice for Mickey Mouse.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/moon-mn0001607112

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The Hi-Numbers — “Heart of Stone”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 2, 2024

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

1,322) The Hi-Numbers — “Heart of Stone”

No, not the Who (aka the High Numbers) nor the Stones’ classic, but ‘65 beat gold from Hertfordshire about a girl who’s “got a heart of stone when it comes to loving me”.

Bayard tells us:

The Favourite Sons originated in 1965 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, to the north of London in England, and consisted of Brian Redmond (vocals), Alan Shacklock (guitar), Gerry Feley (guitar), John Glascock [John Glass] (bass) and Brian Glascock [Brian Glass] (drums). Before becoming The Favourite Sons the band issued one 45 as The Hi-Numbers, the excellent “Heart of Stone”, released in September 1965. The Hi-Numbers were spotted by producer Mike Hurst (who had previously been a member of The Springfields), who was impressed by their energy, and took them into Pye Studios in London in 1966, the group, now The Favourite Sons, cutting eleven tracks in an afternoon. Two of the tracks appeared on what proved to be their only issued output, Willie Mitchell’s “That Driving Beat” backed with the Mike Hurst original “Walkin’ Walkin’ Walkin”‘, but both are superior tracks and generated favourable reviews, which sadly failed to translate into chart action. . . . With the singles’s commercial failure Mike Hurst then lost interest in the group, moving onto his next project in Cat Stevens, and although The Favourite Sons carried on playing gigs for a while they disbanded not long after. John and Brian Glascock became founder members of The Gods, who after a couple of albums evolved into prog rock band Toe Fat. John Glascock subsequently joined Jethro Tull in the mid-1970s but sadly died of heart failure in 1979, aged only 28 (he had been aged 15 when The Favourite Sons 45 was issued). Alan Shacklock joined Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds and later formed the band which became Babe Ruth.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/bayard/1966-singles-my-top-rated-records/2/

Marmalade Skies adds:

The story starts at Burleigh School in Hatfield in 1964, where a bunch of 14/15 year olds formed a group called The Juniors. Among their number were two guitarists, Alan Shacklock and Mick Taylor, a sibling rhythm section of John (bass) and Brian (drums) Glascock (who both took the surname Glass for their showbiz endeavours), and a vocalist by the name of Malcolm Collins. . . . Shacklock and the Glascock brothers stuck together and recruited another school pal, Brian Redmond, as vocalist and re-named themselves The Hi-Numbers . . . . [They] spent the first half of 1965 spreading their live reputation . . . sharing bills with the likes of The Birds, The Artwoods, Steampacket and The Who. . . . The Hi Numbers played at The Two I’s Club in Carnaby Street where they were approached by a chap named Ted White who had a song called “Heart Of Stone”. An audition for Decca was lined-up, and the group went to London where they cut “Heart Of Stone” and a cover of “Dancing In The Street”. These takes were released by Decca as The Hi Numbers’ first (and only) single . . . on 10th September 1965. They supported the record with a promotional show at the Marquee Club . . . where they were heard by Mike Hurst . . . .

http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/favesons.htm

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The Bee Gees — “Kilburn Towers”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 1, 2024

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

1,321) The Bee Gees — “Kilburn Towers”

This ’68 B-side and track on the Idea LP is an ode to an apartment building* in Sydney, Australia, “affectionately named the ‘Toilet Roll Building[]'” (Steve Pafford, https://www.stevepafford.com/bg10/) that is “[a]stonishingly beautiful (RoySmiles1007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JMUZ0PdrT8) — the song, not the Towers! — “like the most beautiful daydream” (sashastarshanti3599, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JMUZ0PdrT8), “dreamy, humble, and at the same time as romantic as anything” (George Starostin, https://starlingdb.org/music/bee.htm), “a hidden gem . . . . [a] beautiful evocation of the sun setting over Sydney on a summer’s evening . . . drift[ing] along on a warm breeze of acoustic guitar and mellotron. Slight, but irresistibly lovely.” (Alexis Petridis, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/19/the-bee-gees-40-greatest-songs-ranked)

Andrew Sandoval notes:

[“Towers”] featur[es] Colin [Petersen] on bongos and Maurice on Mellotron[]. “I know it was written in my flat,” says Barry of the song’s inception. “I would just sit and strum on my own. I think it was just something that I sort of came up with and that was it.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203134/http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Idea__1968_.html

As to Idea, Bruce Eder writes:

The Bee Gees’ third album is something of a departure, with more of a rocking sound and with the orchestra . . . somewhat less prominent in the sound mix than on their first two LPs. The two hits, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and “I Started a Joke,” are very much of a piece with their earlier work, but on . . . other cuts, they sound much more like a working band with a cohesive group sound, rather than a harmony vocal group with accompaniment. Their writing still has a tendency toward the dramatic and the melodramatic . . . but here the group seemed to be trying for a somewhat less moody, dark-toned overall sound, and some less surreal lyrical conceits, though “Kilburn Towers” (despite some pop-jazz inflections) and “Swan Song,” as well as “I Started a Joke,” retain elements of fantasy and profundity.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/idea-mw0000199150#review

* Here’s a story commemorating its 60th birthday: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/manly-daily/kilburn-towers-the-distinctive-residential-building-on-manly-point-turns-60/news-story/40b71dde339337155a01a8caf0b79bd1.

Here is America’s “Ventura Highway”. Notice any similarities?

Here’s William E. Kimber (‘69):

Here’s Another Sunny Day (’89):

Here’s Damian Youth (’02):

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Matthew’s Southern Comfort — “Colorado Springs Eternal”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 31, 2024

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

1,320) Matthews’ Southern Comfort — “Colorado Springs Eternal”

A-side by Iain Matthews (see #173, 1,102) is a wonderful folk-rock/country number from the former Fairport Convention singer/guitarist.

Of the LP, Stranger writes:

Surprisingly the album does not suffer much from [Iain] Matthews’ minimal writing contributions . . . . What makes this album so timeless and enjoyable is the way it explores country music without deliberately trying to be country a highly commendable feat that many American bands were not able to achieve. Free from any phony southern twang, [Iain’s] fragile, emotionally-charged vocals enrich every song with a genuineness that is perfectly complemented by the warm, rural landscape that’s successfully captured by the band. Not only is this one of the first British country-rock records, but it is also an unrecognized benchmark for the entire then-burgeoning genre.

https://therisingstorm.net/matthews-southern-comfort-self-titled/

As to MSC, All Music Guide tells us that:

Comprising Matthews, Mark Griffiths (guitar), Carl Barnwell (guitar), Gordon Huntley (pedal steel guitar), Andy Leigh (bass) and Ray Duffy (drums), the newly formed band signed to EMI Records. The unit’s country-tinged sound proved to be an excellent forum for Matthews’ songwriting talents. In the summer of 1970, their second album, Second Spring reached the UK Top 40 and was followed by a winter chart-topper, ‘Woodstock’. Joni Mitchell wrote the single as a tribute to the famous festival that she had been unable to attend. Already issued as a single in a hard rocking vein by Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young, it was a surprise UK number 1 for Matthews Southern Comfort. Unfortunately, success was followed by friction within the band and, two months later, Matthews announced his intention to pursue a solo career. One more album followed after which the band truncated their name to Southern Comfort. After two further albums, they disbanded in the summer of 1972.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/matthews-southern-comfort-mn0000390208#biography

John Tobler adds:

[Iain Matthews] joined Fairport Convention . . . but in early 1969, he left by mutual consent. . . . A successful management team of the period was Ken Howard & Alan Blaikely, who had worked with both Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, etc., and The Herd, and saw Ian as their next hit-making client. . . . His debut LP, while released as Matthews’ Southern Comfort was actually a solo album by Matthews, and was titled after “Southern Comfort’” a song by Sylvia Tyson (nee Sylvia Fricker) which would appear on his next LP . . . . “It wasn’t necessarily my intention to have a band called Matthews’ Southern Comfort. The album was going to be solo, and we were going to see what happened” he recalled in the mid-1970s. . . . The production of the LP is credited to Steve Barlby & Ian Matthews, and several of the songs [including “Colorado Springs”] are also written by Barlby, in fact a pseudonym for Howard & Blaikley. Matthews explained: “There wasn’t much of any direction to the album — Howard and Blaikley were new managers to me, and I was kind of feeling my way. They took me on the understanding that I was going to do some of their songs, and we kind of sold ourselves to the record company on that basis, but then I started to change my mind, because I didn’t particularly like their songs”.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Matthews’ Southern Comfort

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Os Mutantes — “A Minha Menina”/”My Girl”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 30, 2024

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

1,319) Os Mutantes — “A Minha Menina”/”My Girl”

Mutants from São Paulo indeed — “Bro, the elements of samba with rock… holy sh*t THAT IS crazy Brazilian rock.” (joaovitorreisdasilva9573,https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XIbJylD_c84&pp=ygUkT3MgTXV0YW50ZXMg4oCUIOKAnEEgTWluaGEgTWVuaW5h4oCd) “The fuzzy guitar riff that forms the backbone of [this] pop-riot . . . could come right out of an early Stones track, but it’s the festive hand-clapping and crazed party atmosphere that really sells the song.” (Adam Bunch, https://archive.ph/20090814015616/http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=5182)

Crazed adulation: “[Q]uite simply one of the greatest pop songs ever written. Lively percussion, a ridiculously-loud fuzz guitar and a sing-along chorus of epic proportions makes it hard to resist.” (Russ Slater, https://soundsandcolours.com/articles/brazil/os-mutantes-album-guide-7230/) “i love this tune more than life itself”. (chrisduggan3152, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XIbJylD_c84&pp=ygUkT3MgTXV0YW50ZXMg4oCUIOKAnEEgTWluaGEgTWVuaW5h4oCd) OK, I won’t go that far — but close!

John Bush:

The band’s debut album . . . is far and away their best — a wildly inventive trip that assimilates orchestral pop, whimsical psychedelia, musique concrète, found-sound environments — and that’s just the first song! Elsewhere there are nods to Carnaval, albeit with distinct hippie sensibilities, incorporating fuzztone guitars and go-go basslines. . . . Though not all of the experimentation succeeds . . . [it] is an astonishing listen. . . . [and] far more experimental than any of the albums produced by the era’s first-rate psychedelic bands of Britain or America.

Though rarely heard outside their Brazilian homeland . . . Os Mutantes were one of the most dynamic, talented, radical bands of the psychedelic era . . . . A trio of brash musical experimentalists, the group fiddled with distortion, feedback, musique concrète, and studio tricks of all kinds to create a lighthearted, playful version of extreme Brazilian pop. The band was formed by the two Baptista brothers, Arnaldo (bass, keyboards) and Sérgio (guitar), whose father was a celebrated São Paulo concert pianist. In 1964, the pair formed a teenage band named the Wooden Faces. After they met Rita Lee, the three played together in the Six Sided Rockers before graduation broke up the band. Yet another name change (to O Conjunto) preceded the formation of Os Mutantes in 1966, the final name coming from the science fiction novel O Planeta dos Mutantes. With a third Baptista brother (Cláudio ) helping out on electronics, the group played each week on the Brazilian TV show O Pequeno Mundo de Ronnie Von and became involved with the burgeoning Tropicalia movement. Os Mutantes backed the Tropicalista hero Gilberto Gil at the third annual Festival of Brazilian Music in 1967 . . . . By the end of 1968, Os Mutantes delivered their self-titled debut, a raucous, entertaining mess of a record featuring long passages of environmental sounds, tape music, and tortured guitar lines no self-respecting engineer would’ve allowed in the mix (especially at such a high volume). After time spent backing Veloso and recording a second LP of similarly crazed psychedelic pop, the band ventured to France and Europe for a few music conference shows. Upon returning to Brazil, they set up their own multimedia extravaganza . . . . Despite distractions of all kinds, the group also managed to record LPs in 1970 . . . and 1971 . . . both of which charted the band’s shifting interests from psychedelic to blues and hard rock. . . . [In 1972] . . . Rita Lee departed or was fired from the band (accounts vary) and resumed a solo career . . . . Except for a 1976 live record, 1974[ saw] the band’s final LP. Sérgio later moved to America, where he played with Phil Manzanera, among others. After recording a 1974 solo album, Arnoldo played with a new band (Space Patrol) during the late ’70s and spent time in a psychiatric hospital . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/os-mutantes-mw0000664049, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/os-mutantes-mn0000488378#biography

Carlos Calado (translated by Béco Dranoff):

It was the perfect band name. . . . Besides the bizarre characters that Rita Lee and brothers Sérgio and Arnaldo Baptista would impersonate on TV programs, concerts and on their album covers, the Mutantes’ music sounded light-years ahead of any other pop band in Brazil. From the very beginning, the Mutantes were strange and provocative. . . . Rita Lee Jones and Arnaldo Baptista met when they were 16. The encounter happened in 1964 at a high school band contest in São Paulo, where they were both born and raised. Rita . . . was a member of the Teenage Singers, an all-female vocal group that covered Shirelles, and Peter, Paul and Mary songs along with several Beatles hits. Arnaldo was the bass player in the Wooden Faces, a band that started out cloning the instrumental rock of the Ventures, but which soon converted to Beatlesque pop. From then on Arnaldo and Rita would not be apart. Two years later, after stints in the Six Sided Rockers and O’Seis, they decided to form a new group with Arnaldo’s younger brother Sérgio, who was already a great guitar player for all of his 15 years of age. They still emulated the Beatles, but the trio started to write their own songs. The official Mutantes debut happened on October 15th, 1966, on a youth-oriented TV show hosted by singer Ronnie Von, the trio’s godfather. Meanwhile, the public at large would only meet the Mutantes a year later. Discovered by maestro Rogério Duprat . . . the trio was introduced to singer/songwriter Gilberto Gil, who was getting ready to present his new song “Domingo no Parque” at TV Records’ 2nd Festival of Brazilian Popular Music—a fiercely competitive song contest that brought together the country’s best singers and songwriters—in October of 1967. The impact was tremendous. Along with singer/songwriter Caetano Veloso (also in the race with his innovative song “Alegria, Alegria”), Gil and the Mutantes were the festival’s most polemical figures. The fact that both used electric guitars—a first at an event traditionally dedicated to Brazilian popular music—shocked and irritated the leftist university crowd. Booed and sworn at, the Mutantes, Gil and Caetano were labeled as “alienated” and accused of having sold themselves to North American imperialists. In a matter of weeks the three Mutantes, along with other musicians, poets, and artists, were taking part in lively meetings that quickly evolved into an art movement. With big doses of criticism, lots of humor, iconoclastic ideas and sprinkles of rock music, Tropicália was out to question not only the music being made in the country at the time, but Brazilian culture as a whole. . . . Together they changed Brazilian music. It was during Tropicália’s initial discussions that the Mutantes recorded their first self-titled album. Rogério Duprat’s transgressive arrangement of “Panis et Circenses” opened the record as a sonic “happening.” . . . The irony is that at that moment, students, police and the military were clashing in daily bloody riots in the streets of Brazil. . . . From their first album, the Mutantes had an edge on every other pop band of the period—the instruments and electronic effects created by Cláudio César, the eldest Baptista brother. The guitar lends some strange, distorted colors to the percussive “Bat Macumba” as well as the samba-rock “A Minha Menina,” thanks to the inventions and experiments of “the fourth Mutante” (as he was sometimes called). . . . By 1969, when the band’s third album . . . was recorded, Brazil’s political and cultural situation was already very different. The governmental measure known as AI 5 (Institutional Act 5) terrorized intellectuals and political activists, closing the congress and provoking countless arrests. The Tropicália movement was aborted, with little more than one year of activity. Caetano and Gil were arrested and exiled in London. Isolated, without the support and creative exchange of Tropicália’s heyday, the Mutantes renewed their bonds to Anglo-American rock . . . . After Rita Lee’s departure from the group in the end of 1972, the band immersed themselves in progressive rock. Through several lineups, the band recorded three more albums before finally dissolving in 1978. At that point, with only Sérgio remaining from the original group, the band was a mere shadow of its former self.

https://www.luakabop.com/artists/os-mutantes

Rita Lee recalled:

When Caetano and Gil were exiled, Os Mutantes felt like orphans and the Baptista Bros. came out falling in love with progressive music. Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, etc. I was asked (not very kindly, by the way!) to quit the group, even though I’d invested a lot in my own electronic instruments. I was always very intuitive as an instrumentalist, but not a virtuoso like Arnaldo or Sérgio. There was no place for me anymore in that kind of sound the boys had already chosen. They broke up not very long after my departure. I decided to continue the idea of mixing music with theater, circus and fashion. At that time there was a huge field to be explored which I called “roquenrou” made in Brazil, and that’s what I did with my next band, Tutti Frutti.

https://www.luakabop.com/artists/os-mutantes

Jorge Ben’s version:

Live ’06:

The Bees from the Isle of Wight. Tim Carter, thanks for turning me on to this! —

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John Fitch & Assoc. — “Romantic Attitude”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 29, 2024

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

1,318) John Fitch & Assoc. — “Romantic Attitude”

Man, do I love this song! “A MEAN KILLER SOUL TUNE” (MASTERTMUSIC, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9LvOfJKHDo), “Bitchin funk. Damn.” (neutrinojones3493, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9LvOfJKHDo). “Absolutely incredible…the first time I heard this track my jaw was on the floor”. (jobeyrm, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CT-SYOTHIak&pp=ygUYSm9obiBmaXRjaCAmIGFzc29jaWF0ZXMu)

The Listening Post enthuses:

“RA” is “[e]xcellent in every way . . . [an] absolute cracker! . . . strong, rich and tender! . . .heartfelt vocals . . . hurl out sonic highs and intense lows . . . . A heavy melodic bass line guides the song giving depth and texture as a contrasting jangly loop cuts through and punctuates. A gorgeous track!

https://thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/song-of-the-day-john-fitch-associates-romantic-attitude/

As to John Henry, The Listening Post tells us that:

John Henry Fitch Jr was a r’n’b singer-songwriter and guitarist active around the late 60’s. He was also a member of Philadelphia’s r’n’b/soul 4-piece, The Show Stoppers with whom he wrote and played guitar – the group were best remembered for their 1968 hit, “Ain’t Nothin’ But a House Party”. In 1968, while the Show Stoppers were in the UK supporting their hit single . . . Fitch was given a contract for a solo single on UK’s Beacon Records . . . .

https://thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/song-of-the-day-john-fitch-associates-romantic-attitude/

Fitch gives a shout out to his UK fans! —

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The Common People — “Take From You”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 28, 2024

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

1,317) The Common People — “Take From You”

Here is an “impeccable pop song[], delivered in [singer Denny] Robinett’s unique growl and imbued with [a] wistful, suggestive atmosphere”, taken from an album — Of the People, By the People, For the People — that is “a small masterpiece of brooding, late-night psychedelia”. (liner notes to the CD reissue of Of the People, By the People, For the People)

Jeff Penczak tells us:

In 1969, a relatively unknown quintet from Baldwin Park, California came to the attention of Tim Hudson, then-manager of The Seeds [see #116, 446] and Lollipop Shoppe. Hudson liked what he heard and negotiated an album deal with Capitol Records. He then proceeded to line up none other than legendary arranger David Axelrod and the cream of LA session men and headed into the studio to produce the band’s debut. Sources have suggested that Axelrod arranged the album’s first three tracks, which have been cited by his enthusiasts as among his very best. However . . . Axelrod’s wife was involved in a car accident, forcing him to withdraw from the sessions before he had a chance to work on any arrangements, so the band (singer/songwriter Joel “Denny” Robinett, his brother Gerald on drums, keyboardist William Fausto, guitarist John Bartley III and bassist Michael McCarthy) completed the LP without him. Sadly, Capitol apparently decided to sit on the album, which, as far as Denny recalls, “was never available for sale in any stores,” making it one of the great lost artifacts of the 60s . . . . Another tragic accident took Gerald’s life just after the album was completed, and the remaining band members scattered to the winds and were never heard from again.

http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Common%20People.htm

The liner notes to the CD reissue of Of the People, By the People, For the People add:

Hudson had the prescience to recognise the uniqueness of Robinett’s moody songwriting, and in 1969 he landed them an album deal with Capitol. With a considerable budget to play with, he hired the legendary David Axelrod to score the material, and set about planning an ambitious fusion of the experimental pop of the Beach Boys, Love and Velvet Underground with modern classical strings. . . . The stage seemed set for a masterpiece — but then disaster struck. With stunning work completed on just three songs, Axelrod’s wife was badly injured in an acciden and he had to pull out, effectively killing the project in the process. . . . Axelrod’s departure gave Capitol cold feet, and they cut off their support, meaning that the remaining songs had to be rushed.

Denny Robinett recalled that “[t]he album was never released and we just kept hoping things would go well for us, but then my brother Gerald died in a boating accident when he was only 22, and for me that was just devastating. With all the setbacks with everything and then this tragedy, we just kind of dissolved.” (http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Common%20People.htm)

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Five by Five — “15 Going on 20”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 27, 2024

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

1,316) Five by Five — “15 Going on 20”

From Magnolia, Arkansas, comes a sneering ’69 A-side about a 15 year old Lolita that surely would have been banned had it received wider exposure. Was Bill Clinton in this band? “15” is a “[b]rutal heavy psych pummeler” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHaxeBxYwjk) in which “venomous fuzz guitar licks . . . engineer the fury being unleashed” (liner notes to the CD comp Electric Sound Show: An Assortment of Antiquities for the Psychedelic Connoisseur), a “great fuzz fuelled track with a wicked riff that Tony Iommi must have heard before copying it on Paranoid by Black Sabbath”. (DJtheFooligan,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PllpvzTPo_8) OK, maybe the DJ is being a little paranoid.

Electric Sound Show: An Assortment of Antiquities for the Psychedelic Connoisseur writes that Five by Five “started out as a successful club act performing solid covers of R&B and soul” and had a “customized soul-fuzz crossover sound”, and even “managed to produce a #52 hit record with their own fiery version of the Hendrix classic, ‘Fire’ in 1968”. Discogs adds that “Five By Five was from Magnolia, Arkansas. The band consisted of Ronnie Plants (vocals), Bill Merritt (lead guitar), Tim Milam (organ), Larry Andrew (bass) and Doug Green (drums). They released one full length album entitled Next Exit and 8 singles, with some killer non-lp sides.” (https://www.discogs.com/artist/142221-Five-By-Five)

Oh, and johnhelgason7838 adds that:

Back in the late 60s – early 70s, I was a teenager playing in my first rock band. The these guys were like gods to us. I was living in north Louisiana and they were from nearby Arkansas. They were on the radio constantly. Most of them were still teenagers, but they were already excellent musicians. It’s a shame they never achieved the degree of success they deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDpZURCvwZw

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Winston’s Fumbs — “Snow White”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 26, 2024

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

1,315) Winston’s Fumbs — “Snow White”

I’ve featured the A-side (see #582), here’s the B-side — from ex-Small Faces keyboardist Jimmy Winston’s group’s classic one-off psych 45. “Aside from kicking ass the vibe of both tracks is more like wizards pulling off dark magic than four dudes in a recording studio, incredible.” (Joe M’Geek, https://www.45cat.com/record/rca1612) This is not your mother’s Snow White! “Snow White is a “somewhat odd number that starts kinda slow, then ignites in the mid section into a blazing dose of psychedelic soul.” (Dave Furgess, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1739/) Richie Unterberger says that as compared to the A-side, “Snow White” is “more psychedelic and more impressive, with the melodic story-song verses giving way to manic-tempoed, jazzy breaks, with frenzied organ.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/winstons-fumbs-mn0000670445/biography) David Wells explains that “[w]hile many psych-era bands wrote songs about storybook characters from their childhoods, Winston’s song cleverly reframed the fairytale princess into modern parlance as the ultimate, fairest-of-them-all, mini-skirted dolly-bird.” (liner notes to the CD comp Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970)

Not everyone is convinced. To 23Daves, it’s the poorer cousin, being a rather metronomic piece of work focussed on the shortcomings of a vain female scenester.” (http://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2011/10/winstons-fumbs-real-crazy-apartment.html?m=1)

As to Jimmy Winston, Unterberger writes that he “played on the first couple of singles by the Small Faces before getting kicked out and replaced by Ian McLagan”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/winstons-fumbs-mn0000670445/biography) Dave Furgess adds that:

Rumor has it that original Small Faces keyboardist Jimmy Winston was booted out of that group because he was too tall (in comparison to the other 3 pint-size Small Faces) and that his prescence made press photos look awkward. That may very well be true, as in the mid 60’s having the right look was sometimes more important than the music, look what happened to The Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart.

https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1739/

As Randy Newman once said, short people . . .

Anyway, back to Randy Furgess:

Whatever the reason for Winston leaving the Small Faces, he wasted no time starting his own group Jimmy Winston & The Reflections who issued the “Sorry She’s Mine” . . . 45 for Decca in 1966. However when [it] failed to set the world on fire, Winston decided a name change was in order and his next group effort was dubbed the more exotic Winston’s Fumbs. Remember this was 1967 in the UK where dozens of other unsuccessful Tamla/Motown flavored groups changed names overnight when the psychedelic craze hit. . . . Winston switched to guitar leaving the keyboard slot open for future Yes organist Tony Kaye (who really shines on both sides of this 45.) . . .

https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1739/

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Sands — “Mrs. Gillespie’s Refrigerator”— Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 25, 2024

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

1,314) Sands — “Mrs. Gillespie’s Refrigerator”

I’ve featured the B-side (see #1,066), here’s the groovy Barry and Robin Gibb-penned A-side, a “great pop/psych gem” (liner notes to We Can Fly: UK Psychedelic Obscurities: 27 Track Collection of British Psyche Rarities 1967-72) with “some Gibb brothers style harmonies, lacing the track with some searing guitars and pop hooks and turning it into one of the genre’s most sought after 45’s”. (William, https://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2017/02/from-brothers-gibb.html?m=1) Peter Gough calls it his “favourite cover of a Bee Gees song, albeit an unreleased one”. (http://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2013/02/sands-mrs-gillespies-refrigerator-1967.html?m=1)

Joe Marchese tells us that:

[I]mpresario Robert Stigwood played a central role in the Bee Gees’ career. He championed their rapidly-evolving and often whimsical compositions, producing them on a variety of artists. The London group Sands inventively took on the offbeat “Mrs. Gillespie’s Refrigerator” for Stigwood’s Reaction label . . . .

https://theseconddisc.com/2021/01/14/its-only-words-playback-collects-rarities-on-a-bee-gees-songbook/

Bruce Eder further explains that:

“Mrs. Gillespie’s Refrigerator” . . . [is] from the demo that the [Bee Gees’] father had sent to NEMS and other recording and publishing organizations in December of 1966, prior to their setting out for England. [It is] very (and very pleasantly) Beatlesque without offering much that is original, which doesn’t mean that [it isn’t] worth hearing — indeed, for any other outfit, [it would’ve] likely made the cut in some form for the group’s first album; we just happen to know that the Bee Gees delivered much better material.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/in-their-own-time-mw0001260425

A song about Mrs. Gillespie “ma[king] me blow my mind with things you tell me” about the refrigerator she is selling on TV — offers nothing original?! Eder must have blown his mind!

Pete Gough adds that while “[t]he label states that [Sands’] single was produced by Bee Gees manager, Robert Stigwood, [Sands’ lead guitarist Pete] Hammerton has since said that Stigwood never attended the recording session and so the band produced it themselves.” (http://biteitdeep.blogspot.com/2013/02/sands-mrs-gillespies-refrigerator-1967.html?m=1)

As to Sands, the Middlesex band was “[o]riginally known as the Tridents . . . [and] first recorded as The Others”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) David Wells tells us that:

[B]y April 1966, [they] were regulars at the Marquee Club, often on a double bill with The Move. After being spotted at the Cromwellian by Brian Epstein, they signed to his NEMS management company, which in turn led to Robert Stigwood taking an avuncular interest in them. . . . Sadly Epstein’s death a week before the release of the single saw it disappear without a trace.

liner notes to the CD comp Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967

“Sands split after this single with members Rob Freeman and Ian McLintock becoming Sun Dragon”. (twerptwo, https://www.45cat.com/record/591017)

Here are the Bee Gees:

Here are the Bee Gees live on the BBC:

Live on Radio Europe:

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Brenda Holloway — “You Can Cry on My Shoulder”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 24, 2024

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

1,313) Brenda Holloway — “You Can Cry on My Shoulder”

Underappreciated (by Motown), Brenda Holloway’s angelic voice took my breath away on this Berry Gordy-penned ‘65 A-side. How it only reached #116 is inexplicable, as is how Brenda didn’t become a superstar.

“Wow that’s a beautiful song” (iluvrachellef, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hiZc2WeB0TM&pp=ygUrIEJyZW5kYSBob2xsb3dheSB5b3UgY2FuIGNyeSBvbiBteSBzaG91bGRlcg%3D%3D), “[s]ublime in every way”. (slw59, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hiZc2WeB0TM&pp=ygUrIEJyZW5kYSBob2xsb3dheSB5b3UgY2FuIGNyeSBvbiBteSBzaG91bGRlcg%3D%3D

After posting this blog, I read Motown Junkies’ paean to the song. Not only does MJ love it as much as I do, but says it in a way I could never hope to equal:

[“You Can Cry” is] an astonishing tour de force of a performance, imperiously magnificent . . . . There’s an epic sweep about this, a grand scale that probably did little to endear Brenda to screaming Beatlemaniacs – but they’re not who this is for. More than ever before, Brenda is now being aimed squarely at the grown up market, the sort of “respectable” territory where Motown would later send forth Barbara McNair and even Diana Ross. Here – on the more grandiose, more intricately-detailed first mix (apparently carried out by Brian Holland), at any rate – the move pays off. . . . I adore this record. It restores my faith in Brenda’s judgement, her skillful, sensitive reading, her astonishing deployment of that voice. Of course, it also underlines how much of a sucker I am for big sweeping American torch songs played for melodramatic thrills; this style can get grisly if you mess it up, but when it’s as good as this, the rewards are massive, resulting in a magnificent record, an epic in the best sense. It works because Brenda is so, so good here, better than she’s ever been, maybe better than she ever will be again. Brenda had started her Motown career doing this sort of thing, of course – both “Every Little Bit Hurts” and “I’ll Always Love You”, the sad and happy sides of the same coin, had been slow-burning torch ballads. The style of material had suited Brenda’s big voice off to great effect; a clever lady and a damned good singer, she was nonetheless prone to overcooking a vocal, swinging for the fences on the very first pitch and risking abandoning the tune in the process, and so hooking her up with tunes where that didn’t matter – indeed, where her scarcely-harnessed raw power and that melisma could be an advantage – had made perfect artistic sense. But the public had other ideas, and after “I’ll Always Love You” flopped, Motown pushed her in a different direction, Mary Wells’ cast-offs fitting her like a charity shop prom dress, fundamentally unsuited to her strengths while playing up her weaknesses. . . . [But here,] Berry Gordy doub[ed] down, confident in both his songwriting and his judgment: Brenda’s first sallies as The New Mary Wells had been underwhelming, so let’s go back to Plan A, Brenda the big-voiced MOR/jazz siren for the discerning record buyer, the new face of sophisticated soul. And not just go back, but go back in full effect, throwing all his chips on the table. He had the perfect song for the job, a song that ranks among his and Brenda’s very best. . . . It’s a song, and a performance, of complete desperation, self-effacement to the point where all pride is destroyed; it’s the truest, harshest exploration od the nature of love we’ve heard in months, maybe years, and it is a masterpiece. . . . Imagine the horrific mess that might have ensued, the prospect of an unattractive self-pity party drenched in inappropriate strings. But instead, it goes off perfectly, a missile to the heart that can’t help but leave you gasping. . . . [Q]uite astonishing on every level – this is the standard by which every other all-or-nothing romantic epic should henceforth be judged. Magnificent.

https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2013/07/01/627/

As to Brenda, Steve Huey tells us:

One of the sexiest singers on the Motown label, Brenda Holloway was also one of its grittiest, with a strong gospel influence more typical of Southern soul than the company’s usual polish. . . . Holloway . . . grew up in the Watts section of Los Angeles; as a child, she . . . began singing in church with her younger sister Patrice . . . . Holloway’s first professional recording was made at age 14, backing 12-year-old Patrice on a locally released single. Brenda herself soon began cutting records on several different L.A. labels, and she and her sister also found work as session vocalists. In 1964, Holloway performed a rendition of . . . “My Guy” at a DJ convention in Los Angeles. Motown founder Berry Gordy happened to be there, and he was so struck by the power of her vocals . . . that he made Holloway his first West Coast signing . . . . Her debut single, “Every Little Bit Hurts,” was an R&B smash that also reached number 12 on the pop charts . . . . [H]er first album [was] released in 1964. Holloway . . . found fans in the Beatles, who gave her an opening slot on their 1965 American tour. She scored several more R&B hits through 1965 . . . . However, Tamla scrapped a follow-up album . . . and Holloway began to feel that she was getting the short end of the stick. She frequently traveled from her home in Los Angeles to record in Detroit, and began to feel that the material she was given wasn’t always up to snuff, perhaps because of her distance. She began to work more on her own writing, often in partnership with her sister, and with a bit of outside help they co-wrote “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” in 1968. Holloway’s version was a minor R&B hit, but Blood Sweat & Tears turned it into a major pop hit the following year. Holloway’s second album . . . was finally released in 1968, but that year she announced her retirement from the music business, citing her disillusionment with Motown and her fears of being drawn into the stereotypical hedonistic lifestyle (which conflicted with her still-deep religious convictions). She later married a minister and raised three daughters, returning to music in 1980 with [a] gospel album . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/brenda-holloway-mn0000615826#biography

On Hollywood a Go Go:

On Shivaree:

“One of the top 3 moments of the entire Shindig TV show, this is Motown singer Brenda Holloway on Oct. 21, 1965 — at age 19 — singing the great You Can Cry On My Shoulder with the amazing Blossoms on back-up. Heart-wrenching and with a pulsing, moody beat. What a singer!!” (The CAD Amusement Company, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nizgVaZBc4A&pp=ygUyYnJlbmRhIGhvbGxvd2F5IHlvdSBjYW4gY3J5IG9uIG15IHNob3VsZGVyIHNoaW5kaWc%3D):

Here’s an alternate version:

Here’s Michael Jackson:

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Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & Trinity — “Light My Fire” — Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 23, 2024

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

1,312) Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & Trinity — “Light My Fire”

The absolutely fabulous Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & Trinity (see #1,031-33) start quite a conflagration with their “absolute killer version” of the Door’s “Light My Fire”. (John Moschella, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/brian-auger-trinity-w-julie-driscoll-stunning-video-from-69.790897/) This “head-turning version” (Chicapah, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=17020), is “[o]ne of the best covers I’ve ever heard” (ttone96, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBij9_ar6uM), “one of THE greatest interpretations I have ever heard of this song, Julie Driscoll absolutely owns it and the keyboarding is super excellent, a surprisingly brilliant listen” (Wesserparaquat, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBij9_ar6uM) and “Brian Auger absolutely destroys this number”. (fraterdeusestveritas2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBij9_ar6uM)

Chicapah rhapsodizes:

After hearing what Jose Feliciano had done to the song they decided to make it even jazzier and expressive and the result is nothing short of genius. Julie’s erotic and near-orgasmic delivery takes your breath away as she makes the tune her own and Brian’s sensuous organ lead is a treat, as well. This track is the highlight of the album and singularly worth the price of admission.

https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=17020

Thom Jurek writes of Streetnoise, “the album”:

The final collaboration between singer Julie Driscoll . . . and Brian Auger’s Trinity was 1969’s Streetnoise — it was an association that had begun in 1966 with Steampacket, a band that also featured Rod Stewart and Long John Baldry. As a parting of the ways, however, it was Trinity’s finest moment. A double album featuring 16 tracks, more than half with vocals by Driscoll, the rest absolutely burning instrumentals by Trinity. (Auger on keyboards and vocals, Driscoll on acoustic guitar, Clive Thacker on drums, and Dave Ambrose on bass and guitars.) . . . It include[d] inspired readings of the hits of the day such as “Light My Fire[.]”. . . The music sounds as fresh and exciting as the day it was recorded. This is a must-have package for anyone interested in the development of Auger’s music that was to change immediately with the invention of the Oblivion Express, and also for those interested in Driscoll’s brave, innovative, and fascinating career as an improviser, who discovered entirely new ways of using the human voice. Streetnoise is brilliant.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/streetnoise-mw0000654691

JDBA&T* define Swinging London for me. “Sadly short-lived, but the combination of Driscoll’s vocals and sex appeal and Auger’s musicanship was stunning for a while.” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

“‘Jools’ was as much a sixties icon as Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy but she neither sought nor enjoyed the attention.” (Duncan Heining, https://www.allaboutjazz.com/julie-tippetts-didnt-you-used-to-be-julie-driscoll-julie-tippetts-by-duncan-heining) As Cathi Unsworth describes her:

For a brief moment in time, ‘Jools’ became ‘The Face’ of Swinging London. And what a face — huge eyes with dark shadow and long, long lashes dominated the heart-shaped, pale-lipped visage of this arresting beauty. Needing no unnecessary adornment, she wore her hair close-cropped and moved with a spider’s shadowy grace under layers of chiffon and feather boa. Her deep voice was just as captivating and the detached way she deployed her vocals added to the mystique.

Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth

Jason Ankeny tells us:

As a teen [she] oversaw the Yardbirds’ fan club, and it was the group’s manager and producer Giorgio Gomelsky who encouraged her to begin a performing career of her own. In 1963 she issued her debut pop single “Take Me by the Hand,” two years later joining the short-lived R&B combo Steampocket alongside Rod Stewart . . . John Baldry and organist Brian Auger. After [it] dissolved, Driscoll signed on with the Brian Auger Trinity, scoring a Top Five UK hit in 1968 with their rendition of Bob Dylan’s “This Wheel’s on Fire.” Dubbed “The Face” by the British music press, Driscoll’s striking looks and coolly sophisticated vocals earned her flavor of the month status, and she soon left Auger for a solo career. Her debut solo album 1969 heralded a significant shift away from pop, however, enlisting members of the Soft Machine and Blossom Toes to pursue a progressive jazz direction. Also contributing to the record was pianist Keith Tippett, whose avant garde ensembles Centipede and Ovary Lodge Driscoll soon joined. She and Tippert were later married, and she took her new husband’s name, also recording as Julie Tippetts. With her 1974 solo masterpiece Sunset Glow, she further explored improvisational vocal techniques in settings ranging from folk to free jazz. Two years later, [she] joined with Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton and Brian Ely to form the experimental vocal quartet Voice . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/julie-driscoll-mn0000261098#biography

“Auger is one of the truly great Hammond slingers to come out of the UK in the 60s . . . . [He] wasn’t any run-of-the-mill organ grinder hammering out blues riffs with his elbows either. His roots were in jazz and he had the chops to bring the heat. . . . [JDBA&T] created a grip of enduring dance floor classics, melding jazz, R&B, beat and psychedelia”. (Larry, https://funky16corners.com/?p=2674)

William Ruhlmann tells us:

[H]is swinging, jazzy keyboards remained at the fringes of British rock through the 1960s. His roots were in R&B-inflected jazz . . . and he thrived during the late ’60s and into the 1970s by playing adventurous, progressive music . . . . [F]or decades, [Auger swung] between jazz, rock, and R&B . . . . [He] was raised in London, where he took up the keyboards as a child and began to hear jazz by way of the American Armed Forces Network and an older brother’s record collection. By his teens, he was playing piano in clubs, and by 1962 he had formed the Brian Auger Trio . . . . [In] 1964, he won first place in the categories of “New Star” and “Jazz Piano” in a reader’s poll in the Melody Maker music paper, but the same year he abandoned jazz for a more R&B-oriented approach and expanded his group . . . as the Brian Auger Trinity. This group split up at the end of 1964, and Auger moved over to Hammond B-3 organ . . . . By mid-1965, Auger’s band had grown to include guitarist Vic Briggs and vocalists Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, and Julie Driscoll, and was renamed Steampacket. More a loosely organized musical revue than a group, [it] lasted a year before Stewart and Baldry left and the band split. Auger retained Driscoll and brought in bass player Dave Ambrose and drummer Clive Thacker to form a unit that was billed as Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity. . . . Open, was released in 1967 on Marmalade Records (owned by Auger’s manager, Giorgio Gomelsky), but they didn’t attract attention on record until the release of their single “This Wheel’s on Fire,” (music and lyrics by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko) in the spring of 1968 . . . . The disc hit the Top Five in the U.K., after which Open belatedly reached the British charts. Auger & the Trinity recorded the instrumental album Definitely What! (1968) without Driscoll, then brought her back for the double LP Streetnoise (1968) . . . . Driscoll quit during a U.S. tour, but the Trinity stayed together long enough to record Befour (1970) . . . before disbanding in July 1970. Auger put together a new band to play less commercial jazz-rock and facetiously called it the Oblivion Express, since he didn’t think it would last; instead, it became his perennial band name. . . . Their initial LP, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, was released in 1971, followed later the same year by A Better Land, but their first U.S. chart LP was Second Wind in June 1972 . . . . Meanwhile, Auger had moved to the U.S. in 1975, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/brian-auger-mn0000625014#biography

As to the breakup with Brian Auger & Trinity, Driscoll explains:

“I suppose, I had a lot to get off my chest really[. ] But as we were doing a lot of travelling, I would have my guitar with me. I bought myself a Martin in New York, which I still have and which I love, and I started writing a lot of material[.] I was always searching for my identity. I think it was almost inevitable that the songs I was writing—because they were based on the guitar —would take on a different life. I suppose with hindsight, I was pulling in another direction. But I have to make this clear, it was not because I didn’t love the work I was doing with Brian Auger and the Trinity. I loved it and I would love it to this day. Brian had found what he wanted to do and he perfected that. Whereas, I really needed to find something else.”

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/julie-tippetts-didnt-you-used-to-be-julie-driscoll-julie-tippetts-by-duncan-heining

* “‘The idea of the Trinity’, [Auger] reflects, ‘was a combination of Blues, Motown and [the Jazz?] Messengers’.” (Atavachron (David), http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3300)

Live on the BBC:

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The Poets — “Some Things I Can’t Forget” — Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 22, 2024

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

1,311) The Poets — “Some Things I Can’t Forget”

’65 B-side by Scotland’s greatest ‘60’s band (see #47, 86, 223, 489) — “spellbinding” (Lenny Helsing, https://ugly-things.com/george-gallacher-1943-2012/), and, as Richie Unterberger writes, “[o]ne of the [Poets’] most glorious efforts . . . . [r]eminiscent of the Zombies in its mastery of captivating minor-keyed melody . . . suffused in . . . extra gloom by . . . hurt, anguished vocals . . . echoing, urgent guitar strums . . . high, ghostly harmonies . . . [and] eerie production”. (http://www.richieunterberger.com/urbcd.html)

The Poets’ music is “[m]ean, moody and utterly magnificent” (https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/wooden-spoon-singles-1964-67), their “unique sound . . . a chiming, mournful mix of 12-string guitars and plaintive vocals”. (https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher/) As their singer, songwriter and guiding light George Gallagher put it:

What was distinctly Scottish was that old Celtic self-pitying doom and gloom in our character and in the music, those minor melodies. . . . It’s just as well we remained a minor group; think of the kids that were saved from jumping off bridges[!]

http://www.richieunterberger.com/gallacher.html

Poets, I love you still.

As to George Gallagher and the Poets, the Herald (Scotland) writes:

[Gallagher had] an inherited regard for the principles of socialism and a love of football. Prodigiously gifted, he signed on as a youth player for Leicester City, aged 17. The solidarity of schoolmates won out and he became vocalist of a beat group, formed with his friends Hume Paton, Tony Myles, John Dawson and Alan Weir. They named themselves The Poets and – in an era when groups embraced gimmicks – created an appropriate look; vaguely Edwardian, with matching velvet jackets and tight trousers, and ruffled shirts intended to evoke Burns. The band were sporting this costume when, in 1964, they appeared in Beat News, a publication covering the Scottish music scene. It caught the eye of Andrew Loog Oldham . . . who was passing through Edinburgh Airport on his way to get married . . . . He . . . secured the singer’s address and made for Glasgow, where Gallacher lived. “It was a Sunday morning,” Gallacher would recount: “I was still in bed and my mother came in and said, ‘George, were you expecting the manager of The Rolling Stones?'”

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13071111.george-gallacher/

Lenny Helsing continues the story:

The Poets were quickly signed to Decca by . . . Oldham, who produced for them a brace of highly-innovative singles, all co-written by Gallacher, and guitarists Hume Paton and Tony Myles. . . . The Poets followed manager Oldham into his new Immediate label venture, cutting two singles there including . . . “Some Things I Can’t Forget,” the group’s preferred choice for [a] topside. This was over-ruled by ALO in favor of “Call Again”—“depressing stuff… and we were depressed that it was going to be our single,” recalled Gallacher . . . . In early ’66 . . . Gallacher left the Poets, disillusioned by lack of direction and momentum within the group, and the mess of ongoing management wrangles.

https://ugly-things.com/george-gallacher-1943-2012/

Richie Unterberger adds:

[The Poets were] the best Scottish rock group of the mid-’60s. . . . [T]hey . . . alternated between mournful, almost fey ballads and storming mod rockers. . . . A minor hit single right out of the gate and a management deal with [ALO] seemed to spell probable success. But the Poets fell victim both to subpar promotion and numerous personnel changes . . . Their first single, a characteristically moody original called “Now We’re Thru,” made number 30 in the U.K. Yet that was to be their only taste of commercial success, despite a flurry of fine singles over the next couple of years. . . . [T]he . . . association [with ALO] may have worked against them, as he was naturally inclined to focus most of his energies upon the . . . Stones. The Poets were getting lost in the shuffle and discouraged, and by 1967 not one original member remained from the lineup that had first recorded.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-poets-mn0000355978/biography

Please read Richie Unterberger’s fascinating interview of Gallagher at http://www.richieunterberger.com/gallacher.html.

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The Easybeats — “Peculiar Hole in the Sky”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 21, 2024

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

1,310) The Easybeats — “Peculiar Hole in the Sky”

Here is the UK/Dutch immigrants to Australia Easybeats’ (see #201) “psych masterpiece” (DK, http://www.milesago.com/RecommenEasysAnthology.htm), recorded in ‘67 as a demo for their friends the Valentines (yes, featuring a pre-AC/DC Bon Scott), released as an A-side by the Valentines in ‘68 (sung by Bon, “fabulous”, “one of the great Australian singles of the late 1960s” (Alec Palao, liner notes to the CD comp Peculiar Hole in the Sky: Pop-Psych from Down Under)) and finally as an Easybeat A-side in ‘69 (but against the band’s will). Phew!

The definitive MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 tells us that:

In September [1969] the [Easybeats] made a short European tour and then reluctantly accepted the offer of a five-week Australian tour. Unfortunately, it was a considerable come-down from the heady days of their ’67 tour; the group were worn out, disillusioned, and at odds with their management – they saw the tour as a last-ditch attempt to bail the group out of its mounting pool of debts. Again they were victims of bad timing, having reverted to ‘no frills’ hard rock, while most of Australia was preoccupied with the burgeoning progressive rock and soul scenes. The situation was further complicated by Parlophone’s unwelcome release of “Peculiar Hole In The Sky” as a single, presumably to cash in on the tour. Although a fine piece of work in its own right, it was released against the band’s wishes, since it had been made purely as a demo for The Valentines. It flopped, which was no surprise for a slice of pure psychedelia which was by then about 2 years old.

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

The song reached #53 in Australia (Kent Music Report).

As to the Easybeats, Bruce Eder writes:

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

As to the Valentines, MILESAGO tells us:

Perth pop group The Valentines was, for a brief period, one of the most popular bands in the country. Although they started out a energetic soul/R&B band, their best known image was associated with the so-called “bubblegum pop” phenomenon of 1968-70. But there was a wild side to the band which was evident in their live performances (and their off-stage carousing). . . . The Valentines formed in Perth in mid-1966, bringing together members of three leading local beat groups . . . . Playing a mixture of soul, R&B and mod covers, by the start of 1967 they were already Perth’s top group. A major drawcard was the double-vocal attack of dynamic frontmen Bon Scott and Vince Lovegrove, and within a few weeks of their live debut they were packing in crowds at their shows . . . . [T]heir local popularity came to the attention of Martin Clarke, who operated Perth’s only record label in the 1960’s, Clarion. The Valentines signed to Clarion in March 1967 and released their first single in May. . . . peaking at #5 on the Perth charts. The second single was a Beatlesque Vanda & Young composition, “She Said”, released in August ’67. . . . [and] ma[king] the lower reaches of the Perth Top 40. . . . The Valentines had become friends with The Easybeats, whom they supported when they toured Western Australia. Vanda and Young went on to write two more Singles specially for them. In early 1967 they won the Perth heats of the Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds and in July they flew to Melbourne to compete in the national finals, where they came in runners-up . . . . [T]hey moved to Australia’s pop Mecca [Melbourne] and they soon became a popular attraction on the booming local disco circuit. The third Clarion single, released in February 1968, was also their first original effort. . . . [L]oyal Perth fans boosted the record to number 30 on the local charts, but again it failed to chart in other cities. . . . In July they released their fourth and last single for Clarion . . . a faithful cover of The Easybeats’ . . . “Peculiar Hole In The Sky”. . . . never ma[king] it into the charts. . . . Their breakthrough finally came in 1969. . . . The “bubblegum” craze was by then in full swing . . . . The Valentines completely overhauled their stage act to include matching scarlet outfits, co-ordinated stage moves, exploding coloured smoke bombs and sparklers. On Valentines Day . . . they released their next single through Philips . . . and it went on to become their first Australia-wide Top 40 . . . . In July ’69 The Valentines had their second stab at the Hoadleys, but again they were runners-up . . . . In September they released their next single . . . and then took part in the historic Operation Starlift tour, which featured most of the leading acts of the day . . . . Needless to say The Valentines led the way in after-hours hijinks, with points being awarded for the most despicable acts. . . . As the bubblegum fad faded out, The Valentines . . . jettisoned the matching outfits and dinky tunes, and went for a more streetwise image, and a heavier sound . . . . The Valentines released their last single in March ’70 . . . . four months later . . . . the band split up. . . . Bon Scott went to Sydney where he joined Fraternity (1970-73) who enjoyed moderate success. After recuperating from a near-fatal motorbike accident in Adelaide he was invited to replace original AC/DC lead singer Dave Evans in late 1974.

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

Here are the Valentines:

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Mary Wells — “Operator”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 20, 2024

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

1,309) Mary Wells — “Operator”

Mary had a huge hit with “Two Lovers”, written by Smokey Robinson, reaching #7 (#1 R&B) in December ’62, the month I was born. I wonder if my mother heard it. Here is the wonderful B-side, also written by Smokey.

Of “Operator”, Andrew Hamilton writes:

A song with absolutely too much potential to be a B-side, but it was; fans who flipped Mary Wells’ 1962 chart climber “Two Lovers” discovered another Smokey Robinson song and production that was just as good. Accompanied by the Lovetones, whose euphoric harmonies brighten the choruses, Wells delivers the clever lyrics with an aching sweet innocence. Brenda Holloway cut a clone-ish remake about three years later that came out as a single on Tamla Records minus the Lovetones but was still solid [and reached #78 (#36 R&B)].

https://www.allmusic.com/song/operator-mt0006881962

Motown Junkies muses that:

[“Operator” has] simply ceased to make sense, because technology [has] made the terminology obsolete. . . . What’s an “operator”? . . . I can work out what’s happening by the context: Mary first expresses gratitude to the telephone operator who’s trying to place a call between her and her absent boyfriend, and then complains to the operator because the call isn’t going smoothly (she can’t make out what he’s saying – Did he say that his love was true? Did he say that his love was mine? Did he say he was coming home? Did he say where he has been? – and doesn’t like to be interrupted; she then gets cut off, and asks to be reconnected). But it’s no longer an experience I can relate to, or at least not in the same way as Mary’s listeners may have done in 1962. Now, there’s potential there – the song lets us learn about Mary’s relationship purely from her anxious one-sided conversation with the unheard operator, and we never hear a single word exchanged between Mary and the boy himself, which is quite a clever trick. Instead, Smokey’s monologue leaves it to Mary to reveal what’s happening by having her express her insecurities as the call gets beset with technical problems: It shouldn’t take this much time… It’s unfair to make me wait any longer… What is the hold-up, please? Doesn’t he have change?.

https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2010/10/04/236/

But ultimately, MJ does not like the song:

[T]ry as I might, I just can’t get into the sort of headspace where it would be acceptable for someone at a telephone company to be listening in on, and interjecting during, my own private romantic conversation, and so the whole thing feels somewhat artificial. . . . Smokey seems to have been having an off day crafting believably-flowing conversational dialogue [and] the tune doesn’t serve the lyrics well . . . . The band don’t help matters, either, seemingly bored by yet another Smokey Robinson midtempo calypso number . . . .

https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2010/10/04/236/

I wasn’t bored, I was bowled over by yet another Smokey Robinson midtempo calypso number. It could’ve even been about smoke signals!

For something about Mary, Richie Unterberger writes:

[F]or a brief moment, Mary Wells was Motown’s biggest star. She came to the attention of Berry Gordy as a 17-year-old, hawking a song she’d written for Jackie Wilson; that song, “Bye Bye Baby,” became her first Motown hit in 1961. The full-throated approach of that single was quickly toned down in favor of a pop-soul sound. . . . [T]he soft-voiced singer found a perfect match with the emerging Motown production team, especially Smokey Robinson[, who] wrote and produced her biggest Motown hits; “Two Lovers,” “You Beat Me to the Punch,” and “The One Who Really Loves You” all made the Top Ten in the early ’60s, and “My Guy” hit the number one spot in mid-1964, at the very height of Beatlemania. Mary . . . left Motown almost immediately afterward for a reported advance of several hundred thousand dollars from 20th Century Fox. . . . Wells and her husband-manager felt Motown wasn’t coming through with enough money for their new superstar . . . . It’s been rumored that Wells was being groomed for the sort of plans that were subsequently lavished upon Diana Ross; more nefariously, it’s also been rumored that Motown quietly discouraged radio stations from playing Wells’ subsequent releases. . . . [She] enter[ed] the pop Top 40 only once (although she had some R&B hits). . . . [H]er ’60s singles for 20th Century Fox (whom she ended up leaving after only a year), Atco, and Jubilee were solid pop-soul on which her vocal talents remained undiminished.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mary-wells-mn0000384675

Live ’63:

Brenda Holloway:

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John Sebastian — “She’s a Lady”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 19, 2024

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

1,308) John Sebastian — “She’s a Lady”

John Sebastian’s first solo A-side, featuring Stephen Stills and David Crosby on guitars (Richie Unterberger, http://www.richieunterberger.com/sebastian1.html), is a “string filled” “delicate ballad[]” (William Ruhlmann, https://www.allmusic.com/album/john-b-sebastian-mw0000743465), a “British Invasion-style fey love song . . . that echoes the sound of the Rolling Stones circa 1965” (Steve Horowitz, https://www.popmatters.com/john-sebastian-john-b-sebastian-tarzana-kid-welcome-back-2495807402.html) The “poetic [song] . . . reflects the more mature songwriting direction he was heading in toward the end of The Spoonful”. (Alan Bershaw, https://www.wolfgangs.com/music/john-sebastian/audio/1239-3540.html?tid=648) It only reached #84.

“She’s a Lady” and other Sebastian songs were used in the Broadway play Jimmy Shines starring Dustin Hoffman. Sebastian told Pop Culture Classics that:

It was frustrating. Oh, my God, so frustrating. That project, they had ‘She’s A Lady.’ They had a couple good songs. But when I was called into the first meeting, they said, ‘We really appreciate your doing this project.’ I said, ‘Yes, and listen, you really don’t need to worry about a huge musical bill, because I’m used to working with four people.’ The producer leaned forward and said, ‘Could you do it with three?’ [Laughs]’’ And that was like the template for the entire experience. It kept coming back. . . . I was told, ‘Look, this isn’t a musical. This is a play with a few songs.’ ‘Okay.’ So, the fact was that they used a couple of tunes of mine that I thought were appropriate. But then they didn’t like go the whole distance. The thing was never recorded. The music was always the poor stepchild, So it was a really frustrating experience. And sometimes it’s not hard being gay. That was one of those times.”

https://www.popcultureclassics.com/john_sebastian.html

As to Sebastian, William Ruhlmann writes:

[Sebastian] grew up in Greenwich Village . . . . By . . . 16, he was stepping onto the stages of coffeehouses and folk clubs, and by . . . 18 he was appearing as a sideman on recordings. In 1964, he joined the Even Dozen Jug Band . . . . [and] was also briefly in Mugwumps, along with future Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky and future . . . Mamas and the Papas’ Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. In the winter of 1964-1965, he and Yanovsky began assembling the . . . Lovin’ Spoonful . . . . In the meantime, he continued his session work . . . . [I]n the summer of 1965 [the Spoonful] released their first single, “Do You Believe in Magic,” on which he sang lead vocals (as he did on all the group’s singles while he was a member, in addition to writing or co-writing all their hits). It peaked in the Top Ten, and so did its follow-up, “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,” while a[n] . . . album . . . spent eight months in the charts. The third . . . single, “Daydream,” was a number one hit, accompanied by a . . . LP that reached the Top Ten. The group’s fourth single, “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?[]” . . . reach[ed] the Top Five, and the fifth single, the timely “Summer in the City,” became a gold-selling number one hit . . . in the summer of 1966. . . . . [After] a soundtrack album for the Woody Allen film What’s Up, Tiger Lily? . . . . their sixth consecutive Top Ten hit, “Rain on the Roof,” followed by their seventh, “Nashville Cats[]” . . . simultaneous with a Top 20 showing for the band’s third album . . . . “Six O’Clock” gave them another Top 20 hit by June. That summer . . . Yanovsky and Boone were arrested on drug charges, resulting in Yanovsky’s departure . . . replace[d by] Jerry Yester. . . . “She’s Still a Mystery” became their eleventh consecutive Top 20 hit . . . but Sebastian was becoming dissatisfied, and after . . . a fourth LP . . . he quit the band. . . . [He] ultimately reject[ed] an offer to join a trio of his friends who went on to become Crosby, Stills & Nash. . . . [“She’s a Lady”] was released on Kama Sutra, but Sebastian had determined to leave the label and he signed to . . . Reprise . . . . Kama Sutra . . . felt he still owed them an album, and a legal battle ensued which delayed the release of his debut solo album for a year. Although Reprise won the right to release John B. Sebastian, and did so in January 1970, Kama Sutra’s parent company, MGM . . . also put out its own version . . . which was then withdrawn. In the meantime, Sebastian . . . made an inadvertent but memorable appearance at . . . Woodstock . . . . John B. Sebastian . . . ma[de] the Top 20 . . . and [his] solo career really took off when he was featured on the . . . Woodstock soundtrack album . . . and in the documentary film . . . . MGM . . . . obtained a tape of a concert he performed . . . and released it . . . . Another legal battle ensued, and this album too was withdrawn. . . . Sebastian released his second studio album, The Four of Us, in August 1971 . . . [which] sold disappointingly. Tarzana Kid, which followed in September 1974, missed the charts entirely, and Sebastian’s recording career was virtually moribund when he was asked to write a theme song for . . . Welcome Back, Kotter, which premiered in September 1975. Sebastian [also sang] “Welcome Back[]” over the credits each week. . . . [A] single version . . . topped the charts in May 1976 . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-sebastian-mn0000814852#biography

Live at Tanglewood:

Live on the BBC:

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Peter, Paul & Mary — “The House Song”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 18, 2024

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

1,307) Peter, Paul & Mary — “The House Song”

This lovely, wistful, song was written by Noel Paul Stookey, “Paul” from Peter, Paul & Mary, and was a ‘67 A-side for the trio + the B-side of their ‘69 #1 hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.

Of the song, Matthew Greenwald writes:

Sort of a little interior drama, “The House Song” utilizes the theme of a house being abandoned and sold to relate to a crumbling love affair. The overall effect is quite melodramatic, and this is neatly echoed by the simple folk figures in the melody. The sense of grandeur, however, is underlined by a fine string arrangement and harmony vocals from Mary Travers. Although not the strongest song on Album 1700, it fits in with the bittersweet feel of the album’s other songs quite well.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/the-house-song-mt0011829712

And William Ruhlmann adds:

[It] was an extended metaphor that began a journey of self-discovery for the songwriter. “‘The House Song’ was a curiosity for me because it truly began as a song about a house and then transformed itself,” Stookey recalled. “It began walking, it became the shell of my life, and it was a beginning, really. ‘The House Song’ was very significant for me because it was the beginning of telling the truth about my life, which then required me, in a sense, to take seven years off to implement because prior to that I had not been playing with a straight deck.”

http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/history/ruhlmann3.htm

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Jim Sullivan — “Highways”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 17, 2024

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

1,306) Jim Sullivan — “Highways”

An eerie, prophetic and “beautiful . . . song . . . . What a voice, what a talent sadly lost to the desert forever. . . . Sublime genius.” (drumgold23)

Of “Highways”, James Allen tells us:

The [album’s] lyrics are those of a man with wandering on his mind, especially [“Highways”], in which Sullivan’s mind’s eye moves out among the stars. It’s probably this track that inspired the . . . alien abduction theories about Sullivan’s disappearance, and as unlikely as that scenario may seem, it’s nice to imagine Sullivan smiling down from some unearthly plane.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/ufo-mw0002053150

As to the LP — U.F.O. — it is a “lost folk-rock gem” (Steve Leggett, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-sullivan-mn0002554706#discography) Patrick Lundborg opines:

Early singer-songwriter sounds with lots of personality and atmosphere. The setting is light folkrock with excellent vocals that seem almost too good for such an obscure title. This guy has lived, man, and seen a few things in life, which gives the album a certain country music vibe without actually sounding country at all. . . . A surprisingly good westcoast . . . Van Morrison feel.

The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.

James Allen adds:

U.F.O. is one of those albums whose backstory looms so large that it threatens to overwhelm the actual music, which would be a shame, because it’s a bit of a lost classic of the singer/songwriter realm. Southern California troubadour Jim Sullivan . . . was a big man with a big voice who built up a small regional following in the late ’60s and convinced an old friend to start a label for the sole purpose of releasing his debut album in 1969. The limited-run release eventually became a high-priced holy grail for record collectors, partly because of its quality and rarity, and partly because of the mysterious Sullivan story. In a nutshell, after recording only one more album, Sullivan took off on a road trip in 1975, during which he literally disappeared, never to be seen again, despite the best investigative efforts of family, friends, and admirers. His car was found still containing his wallet, guitar, and other possessions, with no trace of their owner. Several theories about his fate sprung up, from murder to alien abduction. Despite the album’s humble origins, it sounds more like a major-label recording than a lo-fi D.I.Y. effort. This has a lot to do with Jim’s benefactor hiring top-flight L.A. Wrecking Crew musicians Don Randi, Earl Palmer and Jimmy Bond, and then there are Bond’s string arrangements, which bring an atmospheric, orchestral feel to Sullivan’s simply conceived, acoustic guitar-based tunes. Sullivan’s deep, bluesy singing falls somewhere between Fred Neil and Tim Hardin, as does his songwriting, which subtly tweaks conventional folk-blues templates without veering into psychedelic, post-Dylan excess.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/ufo-mw0002053150

Steve Leggett adds to the story:

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jim Sullivan only released two albums, one in 1969 and a second in 1972, but neither sold well, although his talent was obvious, and it’s easy to imagine that he would have eventually have had a commercial breakthrough had he not mysteriously vanished in New Mexico in 1975, a disappearance that has yet to be solved or explained. A fixture on the West Coast and Malibu music scene, Sullivan, a former high-school quarterback, rubbed shoulders with the hip and famous in the late ’60s and early ’70s . . . taking a bit part in the film Easy Rider, writing songs full of restless despair that he sang in a rich, Fred Neil-like voice, and winning over crowds wherever he played. . . . After a second album in 1972, Sullivan began to think his career might stand a better chance in Nashville, and he left California to drive to Tennessee in March of 1975. He checked into a Santa Rosa, New Mexico motel en route, although it was unclear whether he stayed there — his Volkswagen Beetle was found at a remote ranch 26 miles outside of town with his guitar, clothes, and wallet inside, and he was reportedly last seen walking away from the car. He was never seen again, and no trace of him was ever found. The whole thing eerily echoed some of the themes Sullivan had dealt with on his U.F.O album six years earlier, further giving a unique album an even odder resonance.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-sullivan-mn0002554706#discography

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Jacqueline Taïeb — “Le Cœur Au Bout Des Doigts”/”The Heart at Your Fingertips”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 16, 2024

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

1,305) Jacqueline Taïeb — “Le Cœur Au Bout Des Doigts”/”The Heart at Your Fingertips”

Tunisian-born yé-yé great Jacqueline Taïeb (see #39) took Paris by storm with “7h du matin”/“7 in the morning”, about a schoolgirl waking up and wishing that Paul McCartney could help her with her English homework. Here is another classic track — a ‘67 B-side with a great horn fanfare. Beyoncé should have taken a sample, but Danish band Asteroids Galaxy Tour already beat her to it.

Jacqueline recalls (courtesy of Google Translate):

The record company assigned me a genius arranger, Jean Bouchéty, a man who worked for Michel Polnareff, for example. He always recorded his arrangements in London, and I found myself at 17 in a London studio with big names, chosen by Bouchéty, who were on all the records I recorded at that period.

https://gonzai-com.translate.goog/jacqueline-taieb-interview-la-french-mademoiselle/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

And she recalls (courtesy of Google Translate):

My father, a dental surgeon, gave me a guitar for my 12th birthday . . . . [and] a slightly older friend taught me chords and my goal became to compose songs. I could no longer leave my guitar, I took it everywhere and sang the hits of the moment and my first compositions. The one that made friends laugh was “7 a.m.”. During the summer holidays in Tunisia, I am surrounded by friends and I put on my show. That’s when Rolande Bismuth, the editor of the already famous Michel Fugain, passed by and said to me “that’s what you’re doing, here’s my card, come see me in Paris in September”. I went there and it all started: contract then recordings in sight! All these titles were recorded in a great studio in “swinging London” at the end of the 60s, with crazy English musicians, led by Jean Bouchety, an exceptional arranger, who let me express my ideas despite being 18 years old. . . . Magical memories that often come back to me…

https://www-7×7-press.translate.goog/7-questions-a-jacqueline-taieb-la-lolita-chic?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc&_x_tr_hist=true

Wikipedia (courtesy of Google Translate):

Jacqueline Taïeb arrived in France at the age of 8 with her parents. She released her first album in January 1967, a maxi 45 rpm with which she achieved good success thanks to the title 7 hours in the morning. H[er] second album was released in April 1967 . . . . Several records followed without achieving the same success, and Jacqueline Taïeb temporarily disappeared from the French recording landscape. She reappeared in 1978, writing for others and producing several records under her own name, without however attracting the general public. At this time, she composed the title Ready to Follow you for Dana Dawson, a young singer from New York.

https://fr-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Jacqueline_Ta%C3%AFeb?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Here is the Asteroids Galaxy Tour:

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I Shall Be Released: John Carter — “Conversations (In a Station Light Refreshment Bar)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — August 15, 2024

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

1,304) John Carter — “Conversations (In a Station Light Refreshment Bar)”

An unreleased joyous gem of a demo by Ivy Leaguer and UK songwriter extraordinaire John Carter (see #1,201). Forget San Francisco, let’s go to a station light refreshment bar!

Tim Sendra writes:

One of the leading tunesmiths of the ’60s and ’70s English pop scene, John Carter was responsible for writing big hits and timeless classics like “Can’t You Feel My Heartbeat” by Herman’s Hermits, “My World Fell Down” by Sagittarius, and the Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul[]” . . . . the Ivy League’s “Funny How Love Can Be,” the Flowerpot Men’s “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” and “Beach Baby” for First Class. Typified by harmony vocals, simple melodies and, during the psychedelic era, very soft Baroque arrangements, the songs and productions Carter was a part of helped define the sound of English pop during his heyday. . . . Carter began writing songs at the age of 15 with classmate Ken Lewis. Inspired by the first wave of rockers . . . they worked up a batch of songs and in 1959, left their hometown [of Birmingham] for London . . . . find[ing] a publisher right away . . . . In 1960, they moved over to Southern Music and . . . began singing . . . under the name Carter-Lewis. . . . [and then] Carter-Lewis & the Southerners . . . . Between 1961 and 1964 they issued seven singles . . . . [t]heir sound was firmly rooted in the tradition of the Everly Brothers . . . . Though . . . a popular live act, the two songwriters quickly figured out that it made more sense financially to stay behind the scenes instead. Carter in particular exhibited no interest in becoming a pop star . . . . They soon shifted to cranking out demos . . . . [With] Perry Ford, [they] started . . . the Ivy League in late 1964 . . . . [W]hen the Rockin’ Berries turned down the song “Funny How Love Can Be,” the group released it themselves and had a Top Ten hit. Their sound was pitched somewhere between Del Shannon and the Beach Boys . . . . Carter left the band to head back to the . . . studio . . . with new [writing] partner Geoff Stephens. Along with songs penned for the Ivy League . . . the pair had hits with Manfred Mann, Mary Hopkin, the New Vaudeville Band, and Herman’s Hermits. Carter even ended up singing lead vocals on “Winchester Cathedral[.]” . . . [H]e was also working in the studio with a pair of songwriters, Robin Keen and Mickey Shaw, who he had signed to his newly formed music publishing company. Every week the pair would meet with Carter and play him the songs they had written. He’d pick his favorites and they would assemble a crack team of musicians to record them. Though they continued to work in this fashion for almost two years, they only issued one single, 1966’s “White Collar Worker,” [as] the Ministry of Sound. . . . Lewis left the Ivy League in 1967 and paired up with Carter again. . . . “Little Bit of Soul” [became a hit] . . . . [as did t]heir soft psychedelic confection “Let’s Go to San Francisco” . . . . Once again, Carter and Lewis decided not to go on the road and hired a band to go out and perform as the Flowerpot Men . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-carter-mn0000222625#biography

Released as a ‘68 single by A.P. Dangerfield (thanks to Huw Thomas and Gary Orchard):

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