THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,214)Shocking Blue — âLong and Lonesome Roadâ
This Dutch treat is âjust as catchy, just as cool, just as memorable as âVenus[]ââ (Brian Green, https://www.scrammagazine.com/shockingblue/) â the â69/â70 hard psych A-side reached #75 in the U.S. Rob Horning tells us that â[Robbie] Van Leeuwen has a uncanny knack for concise fills and quirky musical phrases that stick with you like a jingle, most noticeably in . . . âLong and Lonesome Roadâ, which elegantly pieces together its seemingly incongruous parts in a beautiful Chinese box of a song, which keeps opening itself up to new surprises.â (https://www.popmatters.com/shockingblue-athome-2496060322.html)
As to SB, Horning explains:
The Shocking Blue achieved a blip of international fame with their single âVenusâ, an irresistible and nonsensical confection that stuck them with the one-hit wonder label in America, where none of the bandâ s subsequent singles caught on. . . . Formed by guitarist/songwriter Robbie Van Leeuwen after quitting the Motions . . . the Shocking Blue seem like they set out to be the Dutch Jefferson Airplane, with acid-rock guitar, a full-throated Grace Slick wannabe in Veres, eclectic instrumentation, and semi-hallucinatory lyrics about free love, voodoo, California, and the like. But unlike the Airplane, the Shocking Blue never succumb to pretentiousness through either diffuse experimentation or ponderous songwriting. Instead the band churns out pseudo-psychedelic bubblegum . . . all [with] precision and eagerness to please . . . . On At Home [their first album, which includes todayâs song], the hooks are copious and clean, fashioned out everything from sinewy sitar licks to vibratoless moaning to recontextualized rockabilly riffs to well deployed silence. . . . But as crisp and addictive as the music is, Mariska [Veres] is the real attraction. Not only does she have a superlative shiver-inducing banshee wail, but she seems altogether unencumbered with a knowledge of the language sheâs singing in, and when you combine that with Van Leeuwenâs own uneasy grasp of English, you have a recipe for utterly inimitable genius. Mariska delivers her lines full throttle without any regard for the words sheâs saying . . . . The lack of any attempt to nuance her delivery creates some fascinating cognitive dissonance between the words and how theyâre expressed, and this itself becomes a new kind of nuance to pay attention to as you listen.
Although Shocking Blue’s albums . . . featured progressive rock elements and inventive arrangements thanks to Van Leeuwenâs writing and production skills, the band was essentially marketed as a pop singles unit, and while they scored several subsequent hits in their homeland, none of the groupâs releases approached the massive saturation success of âVenus.â Veres left Shocking Blue in 1974 to pursue a solo career . . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,213)The Alan Bown! — âYouâre Not in My Classâ
A super popular live UK soul and R&B band tries its hand at pop psych/baroque pop. The Bown shoots, the Bown scores! One of the âhighlightsâ of an LP that contained “an embarrassment of riches”, the song is âwistful . . . whose harpsichord and brass arrangement reflected the increasing sophistication of post-Revolver British studio pop.” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Come Join My Orchestra: The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-73)
As to the album â Outward Bown â Dave Thompson writes:
[A]n album of light-psych whimsy . . . . great pop . . . . delightful as only second-division British psych can be, a collection of semi-detached suburban Ray Davies observations full of vaguely Edwardian lifestyle concerns, peopled by pretty girls who wash the dishes, toys that talk, and love that flies from the rooftops with the clouds. Signs of the band’s (and band members’) brilliance are all over the place. . . . And it’s all so impossibly sweet, so implausibly twee, and so utterly a child of its times . . . .
[Trumpeter Alan Bown] completed a stint in the Royal Air Force at the outset of the 1960s [and then] found a music scene that was booming throughout England with an important extension to Germany, and which encompassed not only rock & roll but also blues, R&B, and jazz. The latter two areas were where Bown’s interest lay, and he was soon a member of a group called the Embers that was booked into the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany . . . . He returned to England after the extended engagement and joined the John Barry Seven . . . . [Bown] was actually more involved with the group than Barry, whose burgeoning careers as a record producer and film music composer were taking off in a big way . . . . When Barry disbanded the group in 1964, Bown picked up the pieces and formed an outfit of his own . . . the Alan Bown Set . . . . The sextet was an immediate success as a live act, and it became an audience and critical favorite in London. Oddly enough, Bown and company never even thought about a recording contract, intending the band as a vehicle for steady work for themselves, doing what they enjoyed. [A] couple of years into their history . . . an A&R man for Pye Records . . . got them under contract, which resulted in a string of 45s . . . . The Pye contract ended in late 1967, and the group was then signed to the British division of MGM Records . . . . By this time, they’d modified their image and sound — the interest in R&B and soul was fading somewhat in the London clubs, even as psychedelic music was starting to become all the rage. And so, for its MGM/Music Factory releases, a somewhat longer-haired and more flamboyant version [of the band] . . . . was simply known as the Alan Bown! . . . They cut a song called “We Can Help You,” which had originated with the British band Nirvana [see #287, 391, 475] — and the Alan Bown version started to make a splash in England in terms of exposure. But on the week of the record’s actual release, disaster struck on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously. A strike at the plant where the record was pressed and due to ship from prevented its release, at precisely the moment when it had to be in stores. And MGM Records chose to abandon the Music Factory label — though the Alan Bown! would remain with the company on the MGM label proper, this also meant that the company abandoned all promotional and distribution efforts involving the Music Factory releases. “We Can Help You[]â . . . was left to die and rot on the vine, and the accompanying LP, called Outward Bown, was ignored. A pair of singles that followed . . . both failed to chart. . . . A contract with Deram Records . . . followed . . . . [D]espite a lot of touring and television exposure, and the reconstituting of its sound and image in a much more progressive rock vein, the group’s moment had clearly passed by the start of the new decade.
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,212) The Ministry of Sound â âIn the Skyâ
The greatest pop psych ode to aliens, UFOâs and flying saucers wasnât released for decades. Talk about the X-Files! As to the song, written by Micky Keen and Robin Shaw, Russ Alquist [see #1,201] recalls:
Micky was into mysticism and we used to sit in a park near Denmark Street and talk to pigeons and other animals. Anyway, we lived in Hampstead Heath and Micky swore that he saw flying saucers there. I never saw them and even though I was okay with talking to pigeons, I’m not sure about the flying saucers.
liner notes to the CD comp The Ministry of Sound: Men from the Ministry/Midsummer Nights Dreaming
The Ministry of Sound? Richie Unterberger explains:
The Ministry of Sound issued just one 1966 single . . . . [but] their history was quite complicated considering their small discography, as they were a studio outfit whose personnel included noted songwriter John Carter [see #1,201], although Carter was not the dominant member. The core of the Ministry of Sound was the duo of singer/songwriters Robin Shaw and Micky Keen, who had first performed together back in the late ’50s in Mick Everly & the Prophets. By the mid-’60s they were part of the house band of Southern Music Studios, and signed to Carterâs publishing company as songwriters. They also recorded often at Southern Music Studios as Ministry of Sound, with Carter pitching in with songwriting, guitar, and some lead vocals. Songwriter Russ Alquist also sang lead on some tracks, as well as making some contributions as a writer . . . . At least several dozen songs were recorded by the aggregation between 1966 and 1968, but the only two that found release were issued on the 1966 Decca single “White Collar Worker”/”Back Seat Driver.” In common with much of the material with which the prolific John Carter was associated in the mid- to late ’60s (with groups such as the Flower Pot Men and the Ivy League), it gave a British spin to the harmony sunshine pop of groups like the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Association, and the Tokens. . . . Some of it also drew from psychedelia in the sophisticated production, use of . . . the Mellotron, songs that explored British characters and situations, and lightly trippy lyrics. . . . [S]ome of the songs they recorded were covered by British pop group Amen Corner and Australian singer Normie Row . . . . They came to an end when Robin Shaw joined the touring version of the Flower Pot Men . . . .
Fans of John Carter [me, me, me!] . . . will be familiar with the kind of idiosyncratic spin on late-’60s harmony pop . . . combining elements of sunshine pop, the Beach Boys, the Beatles at their poppiest, pop-psychedelia, and maybe a bit of the early Bee Gees . . . . [with later songs being] more sophisticated and psychedelically inclined . . . with . . . very British lyrical blend of everyday life and fairytale imagery.
With Carter as the focal point, this group of talented musicians convened weekly, though as Robin points out, they rarely knew which songs were going to be recorded. “We’d get to the studio and John could ask what we had for the week. We’d play him some songs, rehearse them and record them all at once.” When quizzed about the high quality of the recordings against this fairly causal approach, Robin is quick to add, “We were very used to playing together and we somehow knew what the other was going to play. We worked very fast, though admittedly wer later added parts to get a final master recording. . . . [Engineer] John Mackswith [recalls] “It was how we envisioned Motown, just a bunch of people in a small room making great pop songs. Maybe we weren’t up to Motown’s standards but we were like a mini version.”
liner notes to the CD comp The Ministry of Sound: Men from the Ministry/Midsummer Nights Dreaming
While Richie Unterberger writes that â[i]tâs an attractive sound, and so well produced itâs hard to believe these werenât actual releasesâ, he also says that the Ministryâs songs werenât âas good as their most obvious influences, but it was very smoothly recorded and sung, with pleasant if not indelible tunesmithery. . . . just not as memorable, hooky, or penetrating as the best work in this general field.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/midsummer-nights-dreaming-men-from-the-ministry-mw0000727479)
OK, Iâm sending Unterberger to the Ministry of Pain! The MoSâs pop psych work is easily within the top 2% of the âgeneral fieldâ of 60âs pop psych. That qualifies for membership in the lysergic Mensa society of sound!
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,211)Treez — âYou Lied To Me Beforeâ
Hereâs a âMONSTROUS cave-basherâ (liner notes to the CD comp Teenage Shutdown: “She’s a Pest!”: 18 Revved-Up Teen Swingers!“) by a Chicago cave band. âThe cool old cat who recorded the group remembers them as a pretty wyld & popular teen comboâ. (liner notes to âSheâs a Pest!â).
It turns out that a âWhite Birdâ was nesting in the Treez, or at least the drummer ended up with Itâs a Beautiful Day. Ken Voss tells us that:
[Val] Fuentes would end up migrating to California where he would be the original drummer for Itâs a Beautiful Day, who had a 1969 hit âWhite Bird,â becom[ing] part of the San Francisco music culture and enjoy[ing] a stint with New Riders of the Purple Sage. . . . Growing up in Chicago, attending Lakeview High School, he played in, what he terms, âa garage grunge-type band,â The Treez playing high school socials and local YMCA. Band members included Wayne DeSalvo on guitar and Fuentes on drums with Billy Olesky and Joe Markko. In 1965, they won a battle of the bands, the prize being a recording deal with Dutch Wenzlaffâs Harlequin Records. That prize â the single âYou Lied to Me Beforeâ b/w âAs Long as You Wantâ. Fuentes graduated high school in 1966 and hung around Chicago for a year, taking off for California in early 1967. âI was drawn to California by all the great music out there at the time. I had some Chicago buddies living there so I already had a place to stay for a while.â Connecting with other musicians, he and bass player Mithcell Holman would meet David and Linda LaFlamme who was starting up the band Itâs a Beautiful Day. . . . Fuentes would remain in San Francisco where for the next decade he would work with various local bands including Fat Chance . . . Linda Imperial and the Pure Pleasure Band and Shadowfax. In 1982, [he] connected up with New Riders of the Purple Sage.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,210)The Legend — âThe Sky that Is Blueâ
A beautiful song for a beautiful day, this âpop psych delight[]â (TYMETRIPS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfmzlOd-XII) from Colorado is âa tasty blend of tight, Bealtesque harmonies and surprisingly commercial melod[y] . . . . a breezy, mid-tempo pop song that showcased some nice vox organ and wonderful group harmony vocals that would made The Beach Boys proud.” (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-legend/the-legend/)
Of the band and the album, guitarist Randy Russ recollects:
The Legend was playing all over Colorado, breaking all kinds of attendance records and beer sales at clubs we played at. We had heard that a record company was looking for a group to sign up. We played a couple of more gigs, saved our money and headed out for LA. When we got there, we found out that the record company was auditioning groups and trying to steal different members to make up their own group. They wanted our drummer, Barry [Davis], who turned them down. [Singer] Gerry [Jimmerfield] had been out in LA a couple years previous and knew of these two guys that were managers, said he would give them a call, but he warned us about them. They came over and heard us and said they could do something with us. But they wanted us to sign a contract, which we did. One of the managers, Tony Sepe, had a brother who owned a Chicago based company. He talked him into backing a record company. Thus the birth of Megaphone records. . . . We went into the studio and recorded a few songs. We had run out of money and couldnât play in LA because we werenât in the union. Tony and Marty Brooks (the other manager) would drop by our motel and give $10 to $12 a day to live on. We were eating bologna sandwiches three times a day. A lot of times, we would buy thr bread and cigarettes and one of us would steal the bologna. Speaking of the motel, one of those run down slime pitts on Sunset Strip, two of us would sleep in the bed, some would sleep in our converted bread truck, and I would sleep in the 396 Chevelle. We needed money, so we went back to Colorado to play some gigs, make some money and eat. When we came back, Tony and Marty had hired some studio musicians and Gene Page, a producer, and the basic tracks were done on the Legend album. We had no idea that this was going to be done and when we confronted them, they just laugh us off and said that this is the way it was done. We put on the vocals and different guitar parts. It was put out as the Legend. . . . Tony and Marty had no idea what they were doing. The Legend album had no distribution to speak of. They were skimming as much money as they could out of the record label. They even had custom made alligator brief cases made. Things like that made us angry. We werenât getting anything. . . . [W]e were restricted by harsh comments and brow beating by Tony and Marty. . . . But let me tell you, when I was in their doing my overdubs and I knew something was coming off pretty good, I would feel so good. It would be a total rush.
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,209)Brenda and the Tabulations — âThatâs in the Pastâ
How was this â68 Philly soul stirrer A-side not a hit? Derek says:
A very dense, busy production but DAMN it sure does work (not to mention swing like a mofo!). . . . I love how, starting at about 1:30, the swirl of sound gets so strong Brenda just keeps pushing harder and harder to be heard. Quite a performance from all involved.
Among the better Philadelphia soul groups of the ’60s and ’70s, Brenda [Payton] & the Tabulations made some fine heartache ballads, particularly “Dry Your Eyes” and “Right on the Tip of My Tongue.” . . . âDry Your Eyes” was their biggest hit, reaching number eight on the R&B chart and number 20 pop in 1967. They continued recording for Dionn until 1969, then Top & Bottom from 1970 to 1973, followed by stints with Epic and Chocolate City. “Right on the Tip of My Tongue” returned them to prominence in 1971, peaking at number ten R&B, and the follow-up, “A Part Of You,” was number 14 that same year. The group enjoyed some sporadic success on the disco circuit in the late ’70s with the LP I Keep Coming Back for More. The single “Let’s Go All the Way (Down)” attracted some international and club interest.
[A]t a Philadelphia playground during the summer of â66[,] vocalist Brenda Payton and organist Maurice Coates . . . put[] on a show for the neighborhood kids[.] Gilda Woods fortuitously happened by and heard their youthful performance[.] . . . Maurice Coates[] answer[ed] in the affirmative when Gilda asked whether they wrote any of their own material. They had, to that point, never written a song, but they had started one Brenda and Maurice hammered out their iconic song, âDry Your Eyes.â Maurice Coates recalled, Gilda Woods âwas cruising by in her convertible and stopped, slammed on the brakes[.] She asked us how long weâd been together. I said, âWeâve been together for awhile.â Weâd only been together for one week. And she said, âDo you have any original tunes?â I said yes. Which we didnât. She said, âIâll meet you next Saturday.â And Brenda turned around and said, âMaurice, we donât have no original songs!â I said, âYes, we do! Donât you remember the one we were working on the other day?ââ A scant two days later, Brenda and Maurice had created the breathtaking doo-wop-infused ballad âDry Your Eyes.â âWe collaborated. I just did the music, and she did all the lyrics,â says Maurice. âWe had to do something in a couple days to convince Gilda that we did have an original tune. So it was just impulse and good dumb luck!â Woods auditioned the group and their brand-new song at Mauriceâs home. âShe loved it,â says Coates. âWe got a contract offer, and we went through it and signed it. The next week, we went in the studio. Devising a catchy moniker for the group was the first order of business. âAll these names came up, and I said, âWhoa, whoa, guys, listen. Think about money. This is what itâs all about!ââ says Maurice. âSo I came up with the word âtabulation.â And they said, âWell, what does tabulation mean?â I said, âWell, tabulate! Youâre counting the money!ââ
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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The song was first recorded as a demo by the popular live Cornwallian band and BBC mainstay The Onyx and then issued as a B-side — the flip of a cover of “Hair”! — by the Canadian/UK She Trinity. As the Onyx didnât write its A-sides, the song is an amazing feat of creativity. I wish the band could have pursued this muse.
The Onyxâs website explains:
Bob Potter not only booked and promoted bands, he also had a small studio at the rear of his house . . . . Having started to build up a excellent reputation as a live band they decided to take advantage of Bobâs space and took their first forays the studio to try out some of the creative ideas they had been developing out on the road. . . . During these sessions the band had free reign to bounce ideas around and come up with some recordable material. The sessions showcased the band[‘]s varied style of music, from straight pop to the psychedelically tinged harmony pop they would become famous for. . . . [One] track recorded during these sessions was the quirky progressive pop number âClimb That Treeâ, which would be covered the following year by fellow Bob Potter band, She Trinity on the B-Side of âHairâ . . . . The single release was effectively an Onyx recording with vocals from She Trinity dubbed over the top.
The a-side [of She Trinity’s final single] was a new (and superior) recording of âHair.â âWeâd gone into Bob Potterâs studio and we did âHairâ again because that had been a hit for us in Germany,â [vocalist Eileen] Woodman recalls. . . . The b-side of âHairâ ranks as the most unusual release from the group. ââClimb That Treeâ is a strange one, that,â says Woodman. âThatâs me singing lead. I always thought it was a pretentious parlay of rubbish. Woodmanâs harsh assessment notwithstanding, âClimb That Treeâ has its admirers, especially among aficionados of heavy psychedelia. . . . [Aside] from Woodman, She Trinity is nowhere to be found on the recording. âIt was a band called the Onyx,â Woodman explains. âAnother of Bob Potterâs bands, and that track was already laid out.â Though Robin Yorke insists otherwise, Woodman says that she laid down an organ part in addition to her arresting vocal. That final single didnât sell in great quantities, and the group saw the end coming.
Shelly Gillespie, Sue Kirby and Robin Yorke formed the original She Trinity in Canada. Upon arriving in London . . . they added Pauline Moran to the line-up. Unlike many âgirl-groupsâ of the era, the She Trinity played musical instruments and, having secured a contract with Columbia Records in 1966, completed a strong cover version of the Bobby Fuller Fourâs âI Fought The Lawâ, retitled âHe Fought The Lawâ. Other releases, including âThe Man Who Took The Valise Off The Floor Of Grand Central Station At Noonâ, showed considerable promise, but the bandâs career was completely undermined upon opting to record âYellow Submarineâ without knowing the Beatlesâ would issue their version as a single.
She Trinity [was] a remarkable all-woman band of the middle- and late â60s. . . . [who] played their own instruments and worked with a high-profile producer, but . . . never broke through to the big time. . . . She Trinity released a string of singles between 1966 and 1970, and toured widely, especially on the Continent. . . . shar[ing] bills with The Who, record with producer Mickie Most, work in the studio with John Paul Jones and be managed by Peter Grant [yes, that Peter Grant]. . . . She Trinity reach[es] back to two even earlier all-female groups: The Missfits, a Blackpool group, and Lady Greensleeves, a Toronto, Canada band led by Robyn Yorke. . . . [and a] British emigre . . . guitarist Shelley Gillespie . . . . The band found a teenage singer, Sue Kirby, who answered an ad and moved from Long Island, New York . . . . âWe fetched up in England at the very end of â65,â Gillespie says. âRobyn had connections, somehow, with the agent for Eamonn Andrews, and he decided to take us on. . . . [and] introduced us to a record producer called Mickie Most.â Yorkeâs recollection differs. âWhen we got to England, we didnât know anybody,â she insists. âSo I just sort of checked around.â She says that she found a manager in Peter Grant. He managed other groups as well, including the New Vaudeville Band . . . and often worked with producer Mickie Most. âEventually we left the guy who was supposed to be managing us, and went to Peter Grant,â Gillespie says. âMickie took us on [as a producer], but I donât think he was too keen.â Needing a bassist, the band placed an advert in Melody Maker. A Blackpool teenager called Pauline Moran answered the advert, auditioned and joined the band. Around the same time, Most renamed the group She Trinity . . . . As early as 1963 [Moran] had formed all-girl band The Missfits. . . . Mickie Most and Peter Grant seemed busy with other things, Gillespie says. âThey had Donovan and other people who were coming up and doing quite well.â She believes that She Trinity was not that interesting to them. âThey thought we might be a gimmick,â she says. âSo they never really put their backs into it somehow.â . . . She Trinity eventually added a fifth member, Liverpool keyboardist Marion âRustyâ Hill. . . . Solid musicianship combined with good looks and a unique all-female lineup meant that She Trinity didnât have a hard time securing live dates. âWe were playing all the ballrooms,â Yorke says.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,207)Joe Bataan — “Make Me Smile”
Joe Bataan (see #55, 339) takes a #9 hit by Chicago and turns it into a swinging and joyous Latin romp.
Richard Pierson tells us about Joe:
Born Peter Nitollano, of African-American/Filipino parents, Joe Bataan grew up in Spanish Harlem, where he ran with Puerto Rican gangs and absorbed R&B, Afro-Cuban, and Afro-Rican musical influences. . . . Self-taught on the piano, he organized his first band in 1965 and scored his first recording success in 1967 with âGypsy Womanâ on Fania Records. The tune was a hit with the New York Latin market despite its English lyrics . . . and exemplified the nascent Latin soul sound. In early anticipation of the disco formula, âGypsy Womanâ created dance energy by alternating what was fundamentally a pop-soul tune with a break featuring double-timed handclaps. Bataan would take this tendency even further on his influential Salsoul, which fused funk and Latin influences in slick yet soulful orchestrations. Salsoul remains influential as a rare groove cult item, and pointed to the future at the time of its release. The LP embodied the artist’s highly deliberate and culturally aware musical concept. Bataan theorized the ’70s next big thing as a hybrid: an Afro Cuban rhythm section playing Brazilian influenced patterns over orchestral funk. In many ways, his vision was on the money, though most of the money would go to others and mainstream stardom would elude him. He did, however, get in on the ground floor of the new trend as an early hitmaker. His biggest commercial move was a Salsoul production released under the Epic umbrella, and promoted to the new disco market as Afrofilipino, which included 1975’s “The Bottle,” a much-anthologized classic that drives an R&B horn arrangement with a relentless piano montuno. Always in touch with the street, Joe Bataan picked up on rap very early in the game. His minor rap hit, “Rap-O, Clap-O” was a bit more successful in Europe than in the States, and is remembered as rap’s debut in the European market. Nevertheless, his legacy remains his gritty and realistic Latin soul lyrics, his self-identification as an “Ordinary Guy”, and his highly personal and prophetic merger of Latin and soul influences.
[A] cohort of mostly Puerto Rican AmericansâNuyoricansâwere coming of age, seeking a stake for their generationâs sonic sensibilities. Into that moment strode Joe Bataan, knife in hand. . . . [A]s a kid, he ran deep with the Nuyorican crowd . . . . In his teens, he helped lead a local Puerto Rican street gang called The Dragons, but a few stints in the pen encouraged him to seek a different path. He turned to music. . . . [I]n 1966, a ânew breedâ of Latin music was bubbling up in New York that would enrapture Bataan and his band: boogaloo [which] began as a dance craze . . . . By 1966, the dance had made its way into New York ballrooms and it was here that Nuyorican house bands began to tinker with it, giving birth to a distinctive Latin boogaloo style. . . . [A] young record executive trying to get his new Latin label off the ground . . . Jerry Masucci of Fania Records.. . . . found [with Bataan] more than just a musician; here was a voice that could sell to black, white, and Latino audiences. . . . [T]he first single Bataan recorded for Fania nodded to an earlier soul classic: The Impressionsâ 1961 hit, âGypsy Woman.â However, Bataanâs âGypsy Womanâ wasnât a cover version. Beyond an opening line that riffed on Curtis Mayfieldâs songwriting, Bataan changed everything else: the lyrics, the arrangement, the instrumentation, etc. Whereas The Impressionsâ mellow original had more in common, aurally, with a bachelor pad exotica record, Bataanâs song was ferociously uptempo and unmistakably Afro-Cuban, opening with a lively piano montuno and background singers yelling, âShe smokes, hot hot, she smokes!â . . . Other boogaloo breakout hits in 1967 . . . boasted memorable hooks but the singing was middling at best. By comparison . . . Bataan demonstrated that he could be a quadruple threat: singer, songwriter, pianist, and bandleader.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,206) Barclay James Harvest â âMother Dearâ
This “incredibly beautiful” (VianaProgHead, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3380) song off their ’70 debut is “a Poe-like Gothic mystery (about dream-like figures in black or white) as an acoustic, string-laden gem first penned in â67”. (Brian Banks, https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2018/05/barclay-james-harvest-barclay-james.html) It “combines moving visionary lyrics (okay, childish lyrics, but then again they have an excuse – the song is written from a child’s point of view) with a charming acoustic folksy rhythm and magnificent background orchestration – portentous, majestic, yet never descending into Hollywoodish sappiness.” (George Starostin, https://starlingdb.org/music/barclay.htm)
As to the LP, Jason writes:
[T]heir outstanding debut was . . . . absolutely dynamite . . . . The whole album is absolutely wonderful, finding some kind of middle ground between the Move, psychedelic era Pretty Things and late 60âs Procol Harum. A genuinely fantastic album that is not to be missed, pitched half way between the psych and prog eras.
[It] was one of the unsung classics of the late ’60s, a post-psychedelic pop album that posits a peculiar collision between the Bee Gees’ vision of classic grandeur and the heftier sounds leaking out of the rock underground. Add Norman Smith’s epic production . . . . [and] Barclay James Harvest ranks among the finest albums of the entire early prog boom.
Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians — John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart “Wooly” Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums — with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues. They were signed to EMI at the same time as Pink Floyd, and both bands moved over to the company’s progressive rock-oriented Harvest imprint at the same time, yet somehow, they never managed to connect with the public for a major hit in England, much less America. The group was formed in September of 1966 in Oldham, Lancashire. Lees and Wolstenholme were classmates who played together in a band called the Blues Keepers; that group soon merged with a band called the Wickeds, which included Holroyd and Pritchard. They became Barclay James Harvest in June of 1967 and began rehearsing at an 18th century farmhouse in Lancashire.
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,205) Billy Nicholls — âCome Againâ
Another installment of gorgeous UK pop psych from Billy Nicholls, who gifted us with one of, if not the, greatest âlostâ albums of the â60âs â Would You Believe (see #2, 64, 144, 428, 757, 964, 1,085).âAs David Wells says, âlost classic is a much abused term amongst pop historians, but itâs difficult to know how else to describe Would You Believe.â(Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rockâs Most Mind-Blowing Era)â
All I know is that 1) I am a charter member of the Billy Nicholls Preservation Society, 2) Billy Nicholls bears an uncanny resemblance to Tom Hulceâs Mozart (in Amadeus), and 3) I will never forgive Andrew Loog Oldham for letting Would You Believe sink (apparently literally) to the bottom of the sea.
When [Andrew Loog] Oldham fell out with the Stones in 1967 he redirected all his resources into making the youthful Nicholls a star of the psychedelic pop scene.âThe results were the single âWould You Believeâ, which hitthe racks in January 1968, and the like-titled album that followed in short order.âThe single has been described as âthe most over-produced record of the sixtiesâ, and with reason; a modest psych-pop love song, itâs swathed in overblown orchestration including baroque strings, harpsichord, banjo (!), tuba (!!), and demented answer-back vocals from Steve Marriott.âA trifle late for the high tide of UK psych, it failed to trouble the charts.âUnfazed, Oldham and Nicholls pressed on with the album, Nicholls providing a steady stream of similarly well-crafted ditties and a bevy of top-rated London sessionmen providing the backings . . . .âThe album was ready for pressing just as the revelation of Oldhamâs reckless financial overstretch brought about Immediateâs overnight demise, and only about a hundred copies ever made it to wax . . . .
In words that I could have written myself, John Katsmc5 notes that â[i]tâs an absolute tragedy that this never got released, as it would DEFINITELY be hailed now as a solid gold true 60âs classic right up there with Pet Sounds, Blonde On Blonde . . . .â
It all come back to Pet Sounds. Oldham himself explains:
Pet Sounds changed my life for the better. It enhanced the drugs I was taking and made life eloquent and bearable during those times I set down in London and realised I was barely on speaking terms with those who lived in my home and understood them even less when they spoke â thatâs when Brian Wilson spoke for me.âMy internal weather had been made better for the costs of two sides of vinyl.
2 Stoned
David Wells explains that:
[Oldham] was desperate to create a British corollary to the American harmony pop sound of the Beach Boys and the Mamas & Papas, and his nurturing of many Immediate acts only makes sense when considered from this perspective.âBut many of the labelâs early signings . . . were merely pale imitations of the American model, copycat acts rather than originators who were further hamstrung by a lack of songwriting talent.âAnd then along comes Billy Nicholls â a superb singer, gifted songwriter and as green as the Mendip hills.âOldham . . . quickly latched onto the manipulative possibilities.â[H]e could turn his back on cutting unconvincing facsimiles of Brian Wilson tunes in order to mastermind his own three-minute pocket symphonies.âFired up by this grand conceit, Oldham commandeered the Nicholls sessions, recreating the American harmony pop sound in a resolutely English setting courtesy of a string of virtuosos production techniques, multi-layered harmonies and plenty of Wilsonesque baroque instrumentation. . . .â[The album] can be see both as a magnificent achievement and an outrageous folly â how . . . Oldham thought he could recoup the budget that heâd bestown on the album is anyoneâs guess.
liner notes to the CD âreâ-issue of Would You Believe
Nicholls himself observed that âAndrew had a great belief in the songs I was writing . . . and fortunately we had Andrewâs money to spend fortunes on the orchestration.â (liner notes to the CD reissue)
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From suburban Pointe-Claire, on Montreal’s west island, M.G. and the Escorts saw some chart action at local radio station CFCF with their 1966 debut seven-incher, the rather lame merseybeat of ‘Please Don’t Ever Change’. The boys, at the time still sporting matching Carnaby Street suits and spiffy Beatle boots, were kept busy on the Ottawa valley circuit, playing high school dances around Ottawa, Kingston and Brockville. By early 1967 though, after losing their Beatlemania fetters, M.G. and the Escorts had really hit their stride with their third release for the Reo label, a brilliant double-sider that reached number nine locally.
“Fool” “entered the RPM Top 100 Singles chart at number 84 on February 18th 1967 and peaked at number 53 on April 1st 1967.” (twerptwo, https://www.45cat.com/record/8975x)
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,203) The Shangri-Las — âSophisticated Boom Boomâ
Sometimes called the first female rap record, this ’65 and â66 B-side is a hoot, “a brilliant single”, “one of the most bizarre things ever committed to vinyl. . . . a paen to lounge music, given a finger-clickin’ hip-wigglin’ backbeat by Shadow Morton, and with one of Mary [Weissâ] drollest, most deadpan vocals” (BradL, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_shangri_las/long_live_our_love___sophisticated_boom_boom/), though I think Betty Weiss did the vocals. BradL adds that “And ain’t it a gas to hear the Shangri-Las actually sounding happy?” And GrubStLodger says “Wow, must be one of few shangri-la’s songs I know without a death in. They built up quite a bodycount.” (GrubStLodger, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsBQ5xvj8BU) đ đ đ
Steve Simels ponders:
You know, some times I think that if titles were everything, these gals’ 1966 masterpiece “Sophisticated Boom Boom” would be the greatest record ever made. Even if it isn’t, of course, it’s still pretty transplendent stuff. And incidentally — if anybody knows what instrument the solo is being played on, I’d be grateful if you could let me know. Is it a trumpet? A melodica? A kazoo? Somebody singing through their nose? I haven’t a clue, honest…
One-part teenage melodrama, one-part charming naivete, and more than their share of unshakable early pop melodies, the Shangri-Las were one of the greatest and most important girl groups of the ’60s. Along with joyous adolescent energy tailored for high school dances, the trio of Mary Weiss and twin sisters Marge and Mary Ann Ganser also conveyed an eerie darkness that offset their more innocent characteristics. Some of their biggest hits (produced by studio mastermind Shadow Morton) were crushing love songs about dead bikers, doomed love affairs, and familial estrangement. . . . [T]he group’s material[ is] a breathlessly exciting body of work that played an undeniable role in defining the girl group sound. The Shangri-Las formed in 1963 and were originally comprised of two pairs of sisters from Queens, New York (identical twins Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and siblings Mary and Betty Weiss). They had already recorded a couple of obscure singles when they were hired by George “Shadow” Morton to demo a song he had recently written, “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand).” The haunting ballad . . . made the Top Five in late 1964. . . . The quality of Morton’s work with the Shangri-Las on Red Bird . . . was remarkable considering that he had virtually no prior experience in the music business. The group’s material, so over-the-top emotionally that it sometimes bordered on camp, was lightened by the first-class production, which embroidered the tracks with punchy brass, weeping strings, and plenty of imaginative sound effects. . . . The death rock classic [“Leader of the Pack”] became the Shangri-Las’ signature tune, reaching number one. Several smaller hits followed in 1965 and 1966, many of them excellent. . . . Unlike some girl groups, the Shangri-Las were dynamic on-stage performers, choreographing their dance steps to their lyrics and wearing attire that was daring for the time.
As to Shadow Morton, who wrote “Boom Boom”, Thomas Erlewine writes:
Shadow Morton is one of the legendary cult figures of rock & roll, a mad genius who existed in, well, the shadows. He was one of the great girl group producers . . . [and] one of the only Brill Building-related musicians to successfully transition from pop to psychedelia and acid rock, helming Janis Ian’s breakthrough 1966 single “Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking)”: before producing heavy hits for Vanilla Fudge (“You Keep Me Hanging On”) and Iron Butterfly (“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”). . . . [He] carved out his own histrionic, theatrical sound within the confines of the Brill Building. . . . [T]he New York Dolls do seem like a career-capping masterwork, drawing upon everything else Morton tried in the previous decade and a half, but . . . in between the Shangri-Las and the Dolls, Morton created a wild, wooly, visionary body of work that retains its mystique to this very day.
Oh, and did I forget to mention the the Goodies? John Clemente writes that:
[A]n American pop girl group of the 1960s[, b]etween 1963 and 1965 they charted with teen melodramas, and remain perhaps best known for their recordings of “The Dum Dum Ditty” and “Sophisticated Boom Boom” before both songs were made even more popular by . . . the Shangri-Las.Sisters Maureen and Diane Reiling, Maryann Gesmundo and Susan Gelber were four [Long Island] friends . . . . [who] started singing . . . in junior high . . . . [T]he group . . . was introduced to producer George “Shadow” Morton. . . . [who] was already having success with the Shangri-Las . . . . Morton recorded . . . demos with [the Goodies (first known as the Bunnies), including] “Leader Of The Pack” [and] “Give Him A Great Big Kiss” . . . . Unfortunately, every time [they] were about to get their shot, the powers that be at Red Bird insisted that the more established Shangri-Las record the actual release. . . .
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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After two despairing singles, Bacharach and David return Jackie DeShannon to the gentle social relevance of “What the World Needs Now.” Instead of not needing another mountain or river, Jackie’s rejecting the need for more ceilings and floors. “If we have each other,” she concludes, “that’s all we need.“
Burt Bacharach: Song By Song
Billboard predicted (Oct. 29, 1966) that âWindowsâ, âan excellent showcase for the talented vocalist . . . should quickly spiral up the charts.” Alas, it only reached #108.
As to Jackie, Steve Leggett writes that:
Jackie DeShannon is best known as a pop singer who scored a handful of memorable pop hits in the 1960s . . . . [but this] just scratches the surface of [her] accomplishments. She was also a gifted songwriter who wrote hits for the Byrds, the Searchers, Irma Thomas, and Kim Carnes . . . . [By 1965] her sessions were dominated by her own songs, a rare accomplishment for a female artist at the time. In the ’70s, she blossomed into a sophisticated recording artist whose best work . . . stood beside that of Carole King and Joni Mitchell . . . . Born Sharon Lee Meyers in Hazel, Kentucky . . . [she] was singing country songs on a local radio show by the time she was six years old. By 11, she was hosting her own show . . . . [She] recorded regional singles under various names as a teenager . . . . Her versions of a pair of country songs . . . caught the ear of rocker Eddie Cochran, who sought her out and introduced her to his girlfriend, singer, and songwriter Sharon Sheeley. [The two women] began writing songs together, including âI Love Anastasiaâ (a hit for the Fleetwoods) and âDum Dumâ (a hit for Brenda Lee). Myers signed a recording contract with Liberty Records in 1960. By this point she . . . become known as Jackie DeShannon . . . . Although she . . . release[d] fine singles . . . she only had moderate success on the charts. Her biggest break came when she opened for the Beatles on the groupâs first U.S. tour in 1964 . . . . DeShannon moved briefly to England the next year and began writing songs with a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page . . . . [She q]uickly bec[ame] an A-list songwriter . . . . Moving to New York, DeShannon began writing songs with a pre-fame Randy Newman . . . . In 1965, [she] finally conquered the pop charts with her version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s âWhat the World Needs Now Is Love[]â . . . . In 1969 she returned to the pop charts with her own âPut a Little Love in Your Heart,â following it with the only slightly less successful âLove Will Find a Way.â DeShannon left New York and moved to Los Angeles, signing with Atlantic in 1970 — although her work for the label was critically acclaimed . . . [her] fine albums . . . failed to find large audiences. . . . âBette Davis Eyes,â which DeShannon co-wrote with Donna Weiss, was a huge hit for Kim Carnes in 1981.
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The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,201) John Carter & Russ Alquist â âLaughing Manâ
Too weird to be a hit? Too irresistible not to be? To me, the latter, but in the UK unfortunately, this â68 A-side by one of the UKâs great songwriters was the former, â[n]ice pop psych that is worth a listen if the Circus Clown laugh doesn’t freak you out” (teabiscuit, https://www.45cat.com/record/srl1017), a “[v]ery bizarre single [unlikely to] ever st[an]d a chance of charting; imagine tuning the car radio on to this while driving and hearing that spoken section!” (CorporalClegg, https://www.45cat.com/record/srl1017)
Mark Frumento writes:
The clear highlight . . . is the over-the-top spoken word section performed by [Russ] Alquist, sounding strangely close to dialogue from the movie Yellow Submarine. . . . [John] Carter remembers the session fondly. “When Russ did that part we were so surprised. We were cracking up because we had never heard anything like it. “That part was almost all improvised,” Russ Alquist explains. “I’d record a section and we would keep the lines that worked.”
liner notes to the CD comp The Ministry of Sound: Men from the Ministry/Midsummer Nights Dreaming
Tim Sendra:
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 . . . .
Russell Alquist became John’s third writing partner . . . . They’d known each other for years — John and Ken [Lewis] demo’d his A little Lovin’, a hit for the Fourmost in ’64. [John recalled] “Russ is American, a great laidback hippy. To him, everything is ‘Hey man, don’t worry’, which was great for us because we’re so hyper!” The Carter-Lewis-Alquist partnership got their own office in Old Compton Street in 1968. “Underneath was a porn cinema, you had to turn your collar up coming in so that no one would recognise you.” Every Friday . . . . “Russ would bring a big bag of sweets with him, we used to call it Candy Day. Something would always come out of it.”
liner notes to the CD comp Measure for Measure: The John Carter Anthology 1961-1977
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Scott Blackerby is ambivalent and snarkily notes that “[m]ost of the songs boast fairly attractive melodies, though the arrangements are occasionally overwhelming and their lyrics suffer from standard college student angst, which probably drove female English majors crazy.” (The Acid Archives, the Second Edition) Richie Unterberger is less than complimentary:
The album is in fact so soft and pop-ish that its relationship to rock music is slight and it sometimes sounds geared as much or more to the adult pop market as the pop/rock one. Their material emphasizes breezy, samba-influenced close-harmony romantic tunes, acoustic guitars, and light percussion embroidered by vibes and some orchestration. The music is pleasant but fluffy . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
Stir together some old British folk tunes and an old Texas gambling song, recordings by early 20th Century luminaries such as Fiddlin’ Jack Carson and blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson, Dylan musings from the back cover of Another Side of Bob Dylan, and you get three killer versions of “Jack O’ Diamonds”, each one unique and unforgettable. The first is primo mod sung by a cult actor who later snared a role in The Dirty Dozen, guitar courtesy of Jimmy Page. The second is garage heaven from the Seattle underground. The third is psych folk from British folksters Fairport Convention’s first LP.
Tony Attwood begins the story:
Alan Lomax . . . says in âOur singing countryâ (1941) that it was a Texas gambling song that was popularized by Blind Lemon Jefferson (which is good enough for me). It was apparently sung by railroad men who had lost money playing conquian (a game known in England as rummy) and the song comes from a family of similar songs originating in Britain.
Buried among the military bands and trad jazz in my Dad’s record collection were one or two gems, notably a number of Lonnie Donegan 78s, perhaps the best of which was his version of this old gambling folk song. It reached No 14 in the UK singles chart in 1957 and I was thrilled by Donegan’s energetic performance, delivered at breakneck speed. “Jack of Diamonds” has a long history. The lyrics may date from the American civil war and the tune from even earlier . . . .
One of my favourite records of the summer of 1965 was âJack oâ Diamondsâ by Ben Carruthers and the Deep, produced by Shel Talmy and released that June on Parlophone. The songwriting credit on the label read âDylan-Carruthersâ. . . . Itâs a terrific piece of work, perfectly pitched between the exhilarating modernist Anglo-R&B sound of the early Animals, Kinks and Who and Dylanâs intense, inventive folk-rock. Great guitars â heavily reverbed arpeggios, slashing rhythm â with watery organ fills and solo, no nonsense from the bass and drums, and an urgent post-Dylan vocal. [B]eautifully constructed . . . . and a wonderful final chord.
Williams gives the story of Carruthers’ and his only 45:
Carruthers, an American actor who had appeared six years earlier in John Cassavetesâ great Shadows, was in London that summer to appear in a BBC-TV Wednesday Play, Troy Kennedy Martinâs A Man Without Papers, playing the lead opposite Geraldine McEwan. He visited Dylan at the Savoy hotel (a sojourn immortalised, of course, in D.A. Pennebakerâs Donât Look Back), and when he asked him for a lyric he was rewarded with a piece of paper on which Dylan scrawled a version of the poem that had appeared the previous year on the sleeve of Another Side of Bob Dylan . . . . No wonder the backing track is so sharp: the band, created by Talmy for the session at IBC Studios in Portland Place, included two of the sharpest 21-year-old session musicians in London, Jimmy Page on guitar and Nicky Hopkins on piano, along with a bunch of students from the Architectural Association: Benny Kern on guitar, Ian Whiteman on Lowrey organ, Pete Hodgkinson on drums and a bass player remember only as John. Whiteman later joined the Action, who became Mighty Baby. According to him (on the 45cat website here), it was Kern as much as Carruthers who put the music to Dylanâs lyrics. . . . Carruthers (which is how he was credited on some of his early films) was born in Illinois [and] was already 29 when he made âJack oâ Diamondsâ. He didnât make any more records, but there were several further appearances on TV and in movies, including The Dirty Dozen in 1967.
The composition Jack Oâ Diamonds has been reported as being composed by Bob Dylan and Ben Carruthers, and it has a very interesting origin and evolution. Whether this is a ârealâ Bob Dylan composition, Iâll leave you to decide . . . . According to Second Hand Songs âCarruthers took it upon himself to create a song based upon some poetry/prose that Dylan had penned for the sleevenotes of his Another Side Of Bob Dylan album. Carruthers (as well as being an actor) had worked as a secretary for Dylanâs manager Albert Grossman and itâs believed this connection made the whole thing possible.â . . So, bits of an old blues, a fraction of Dylanâs sleeve notes, and a new melody. I am not sure if this really warrants Bob being credited with the lyrics.
This ’66 B-side was from the first of the Flash’s two singles. Mike Stax tells us: “Opening with a drawn-out-feedback-and-drum build-up, and then launching into a thundering bass-driven arrangement, [it] is a remarkably advanced piece of work. The raw, wailing harmonica and abrasive guitar break recall something of the Yardbirds and anticipate the psychedelic movement centered around San Francisco.” (liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets (Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968))
David Marsh writes of this song ofâshambolic brilliance” that:
The opening wall of noise during which the drummer seems to be warming up; the bass playing the same insistent riff throughout; the urgent harmonica and jagged guitar; the production that suggests it really was recorded in someone’s garage â all contribute to a great record. It finishes as it begins and you have heard the definitive garage punk single.
Their sound, which fused elements of folk, rock and jazz, proved to be a contrasting force in a time where garage rock was such a dominant force in the San Francisco/Californian scene â this gave them an edge. So, with this in mind, I am about to share a track that contradicts all that I have just written!! The Daily Flash wrote a garage rock song!!!âŠand itâs pretty cool!!!. . . Rocking with blistering feedback and swirling with this warm hub of melodic chaos, itâs this rawness that makes this offering so edgy and sharp!! I love how the deep bluesy harmonica embellishments entwines with the frenzied guitar, as if in a dual, fighting for prominenceâŠboth components as mighty as one another! Itâs a little smasher!
David Marsh notes that the Daily Flash was “a Seattle quartet who moved to California and managed to rub shoulders with various big names (they were signed by the manager of Buffalo Springfield) without ever quite finding success themselves . . . .” (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/13/daily-flash-jack-diamonds) Mike Stax adds that “Steve Lalor and Don MacAllister’s roots were in folk music, but by the middle of 1964 they were gravitating toward a more electric approach and enlisted jazz-trained drummer Jon Keliehor and guitarist Doug Hastings to form The Daily Flash. With an electic set that drew on folk, jazz, and rock elements, the group had become a major force in the growing Seattle underground scene by 1965.” (liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets (Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968))
Of the Flash, Richie Unterberger writes that:
More than any other Seattle group of the ’60s, the Daily Flash assimilated the folk-rock and psychedelic sounds of the day into a sound that was both forward-looking and commercial. Specializing in electric rearrangements of contemporary folk songs that emphasized their harmonies and 12-string guitar, the Flash were also capable of psychedelic rock, as on “Jack of Diamonds,” which featured blistering feedback guitar. They cut a couple of regional singles and appeared with many of the leading psychedelic groups of the day in California, but never managed to launch their own career or even record an album. Guitarist Doug Hastings played briefly with Buffalo Springfield and was a member of Rhinoceros. . . .
As interpreters, The Flash showed a great deal of skill, adapting compositions . . . to full-blown folk-rock arrangements with a touch of baroque pop. . . .
Michael Little sort of loves the song, from FC’s first LP (’68):
Fairport Convention plays Bob Dylan and Ben Carruthersâ . . . âJack OâDiamondsâ fast and loose like theyâre the Byrds, and I really dig it despite its recorder solo by Dyble (which should have been a guitar solo by [Richard] Thompson), and its lack of Thompson guitar mayhem in general. It opens with a slow guitar riff, then takes off, with [Ian] Matthews [see #173, 1,102] singing . . . . Then thereâs some ensemble singing I donât much care for, although I love Dybleâs wail at the end. All in all itâs a pretty cool song, perfect for an acid trip or poker night, and thatâs what I call one multi-tasking tune.
The best British folk-rock band of the late ’60s, Fairport Convention did more than any other act to develop a truly British variation on the folk-rock prototype by drawing upon traditional material and styles indigenous to the British Isles. While the revved-up renditions of traditional British folk tunes drew the most critical attention, the group members were also (at least at the outset) talented songwriters as well as interpreters. They were comfortable with conventional harmony-based folk-rock as well as tunes that drew upon more explicitly traditional sources, and boasted some of the best singers and instrumentalists of the day. . . . When Fairport formed around 1967, their goal was not to revive British folk numbers, but to play harmony- and guitar-based folk-rock in a style strongly influenced by Californian groups of the day (especially the Byrds). The lineup that recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968 featured Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews, and Siimon Nicol on guitars . . . . Most of the members sang, though Matthews and [Judy] Dyble were the strongest vocalists in this early incarnation; all of their early work, in fact, was characterized by blends of male and female vocals, influenced by such American acts as the Mamas & the Papas and Ian & Sylvia. While their first album was derivative, it had some fine material, and the band was already showing a knack for eclecticism . . . . Fairport Convention didn’t reach their peak until Dyble was replaced after the first album in 1968 by Sandy Denny, who had previously recorded both as a solo act and with the Strawbs. [Her] penetrating, resonant style qualified her as the best British folk-rock singer of all time, and provided Fairport with the best vocalist they would ever have. . . .
By far the most rock-oriented of Fairport Convention’s early albums . . . . [their debut LP was u]njustly overlooked by listeners who consider the band’s pre-Denny output insignificant[. But] this is a fine folk-rock effort that takes far more inspiration from West Coast ’60s sounds than traditional British folk. Fairport’s chief strengths at this early juncture were the group’s interpretations, particularly in the harmony vocals, of obscure tunes by American songwriters . . . . Their own songs weren’t quite up to that high standard, but were better than many have given them credit for . . . . It’s true that Fairport would devise a more original style after Denny joined, but the bandmembers’ first-class abilities as more American pop-folk-rock-styled musicians on this album shouldn’t be undersold.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,196) Joe Tex — âIâll Never Do You Wrongâ
I love my Joe Tex (see #42, 455, 609, 732) — and not only the raucous, riotous and raunchy Joe Tex. Here is a beautiful and heartfelt ballad by JT at his sweetest. It even reached #59 on the pop charts in ’68 (#26 R&B). JT wrote “Never Do You Wrong”, which has a bit of country in it, which is fitting, as it appeared on his album of country covers (Soul Country). It “kicks the album off with some great vocals and backing in this wonderful tune.” (Matt, https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/joe-tex) Country singer Diana Trask did a great cover the following year.
If you know of this song because it was sampled by RZA for the Ol’ Dirty Bastard song ‘Snakes”, or it was played on the TV series The Umbrella Academy, that’s cheating!
Michael Jack Kirby gives a fabulous introduction to Joe Tex (Joseph Arrington, Jr.):
In 1965 . . . [he] had his first big hit, âHold What Youâve Got.â Perseverance got him to that point as heâd been making records for almost ten years. [Joe Tex] . . . . had advice for everyone, especially when it came to romance and moral behavior. The long road to stardom got under way in 1955 when he made the journey from the Lone Star State to New York Cityâs Apollo Theater, taking control of the crowds and coming in first place on more than one âAmateur Night.â Syd Nathan, owner of King records, offered him a chance to record . . . . After several releases but no breakthrough hit, King cut him loose and he headed back to Texas, where he served as a minister . . . . Tex joined the Ace [Records] roster in 1958 and waxed several singles . . . but . . . none were hits. . . . He [did] perfect[] some mean dance moves, including an impressive microphone stand gimmick by letting the stand fall to the floor as he grabs it with his foot just in time, proceeding to kick it around while dancing and singing, never missing a beat of the song. Those kinds of stage moves . . . would later get him into a skirmish with a certain âMr. Dynamite.â Joe had . . . a few singles for the Anna label . . . âBaby Youâre Right,â was interpreted with minor changes by James Brown . . . and hit the pop charts, and R&B top ten . . . the first major hit with Joeâs name attached. Any good feelings Joe had towards James was short-lived, though, when the latter made claims that the former had copied his moves onstage. Joeâs reply was to make fun of JBâs cape-wearing âPlease, Please, Pleaseâ routine at a concert, and when James began dating Joeâs ex-wife . . . the two cut ties permanently.
The break of a lifetime came when Joe met William âBuddyâ Killen. . . . Buddy worked for Big Tree Publishing . . . . Tex and Killen clicked when they first met and a deal was struck . . . . Ten singles came out . . . between 1961 and 1964 . . . . with the same frustrating results [as before]. Joe was ready to call it quits and move on . . . [but] Killen convinced him to hang in there a little longer. [The â64 single] âHold What Youâve Got[]â . . . went top ten on the pop charts and number one R&B in January 1965. . . . The Tex-Killen team was a well-oiled machine in those hitmaking years of the mid-to-late 1960s and the two became very close friends. Buddy produced and Joe continued doing all the songwriting himself . . . . [H]e caught a hot groove in 1967 with âShow Me,â . . [and] âSkinny Legs and All[]â . . was a smash hit beyond all expectations; top ten, a million seller and Grammy nominee to boot. . . .
Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts . . . . His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rapâs foundation. He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the â60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records . . . . Tex made his mark by preaching over tough hard soul tracks, clowning at some points, swooping into a croon at others. He was perhaps the most rustic and back-country of the soul stars, a role he played to the hilt . . . . His biggest hit was âSkinny Legs and All,â from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. âSkinny Legsâ might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of popâs future.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
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Jackie Lomax . . . has always had a soulful voice, a bit like his contemporary Steve Winwood . . . (the two actually also look strikingly similar), but his considerable talent never translated . . . into international commercial success.
This lack of success baffled the Beatles, who try as they may, couldnât make Jackie Lomax a star, and it baffles me too. Brian Pendreigh writes that:
A lot of people thought Jackie Lomax should have been a big star. He had moody good looks[ and] a great bluesy voice . . . . Bill Harry, author of The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia, said his lack of chart success baffled The Beatles.
Bruce Eder adds that âGeorge Harrison and Paul McCartney both thought enough of his talent to back him variously as producers and record company executives at a critical juncture in all of their careers.â (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jackie-lomax-mn0000130486/biography)
Richard Williams gives some history:
Lomax had known the Beatles since their early days at the Cavern club and in Hamburg, when he was the singer and bass guitarist with the Undertakers, a popular Mersey Beat band noted for their energetic stage show, in which the musicians wore the frock coats, and sometimes top hats, appropriate to funeral directors in the wild west. . . . [T]he son of a millworker, the teenaged Lomax and his friend the drummer Warren âBugsâ Pemberton left their first band, Dee and the Dynamites, to join the Undertakers in January 1962. Like the Beatles, their stage act was developed during residencies at the clubs in and around Hamburgâs Reeperbahn . . . . [A] contract with Pye Records had produced four singles . . . but no hits [so] they tried to capitalise on the British invasion of the US charts by moving across the Atlantic. Left stranded and penniless in a motel in Canada, they disbanded and in 1967 Lomax and Pemberton formed their own group, the Lomax Alliance.
[Limax recalled] âI went with The Beatles to Shea Stadium in 1966, and it was then that Brian asked me to become a solo singer. I said, ‘Well, I’ve just got a new band together, do you want to hear us?’ So he came to a rehearsal and was impressed, and he brought us back to England. We were called the Lomax Allianceâtwo American guys, two English. We started an album, but Brian died in the middle of it, so it all ended in confusion.” It was now late 1967. Jackie continues: “The rest of tile band went back to New York, but I stayed in London. I met up with Chris Curtis, the drummer from The Searchers, and we went to NEMS to see if The Beatles would help us out.” John Lennon re-iterated Brian Epstein’s earlier advice [to go solo] and helped push Jackie’s career in another direction too. Jackie recalls: âJohn took me aside and said, ‘Hey Jackie, Brian told me you write songs?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m just starting out, but yeah’. He said, ‘We want songwriters, so go and see Terry Doran at Apple Publishing’. So I did, and I got signed a as writer. This was before they’d launched the Apple record label. . . . I thought I was writing songs for other artists, but then George Harrison heard them, and he said, ‘I’m going to India, but when I come back do you want to do an album, and I’ll produce it?’.” Says Jackie: “I was screaming in my head ‘YEAH!!’, but being a typical Liverpool lad, I played it down and went, ‘Oh yeah, sounds like a good idea’. . . . Sessions . . . began in June 1968, at EMIâs Abbey Road studios. George booked dates around Beatles sessions for the ‘White Album’. The recordings continued until the end of the year, moving to Trident Studios . . . before George and Jackie jetted off to the USA to complete the album . . . . Jackie’s newly written Apple Publishing songs comprise all but one of the tracks on the album.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,194) The New Mix — âSun Downâ
This wonderful song appeared on the New Mix’s (see #1,184) sole LP, in ’68, and prior to that, when the band had been known as the Eighteenth Edition, was released as an A-side in ’67 (an “interesting psych-tinged single[]” — Bad Cat Records, http://badcatrecords.com/NEWmix.htm). In my mind, the album version is superior, with a great xylophone (?) accompaniment making the song truly stellar. You can listen to the Eighteenth Edition’s version here: https://www.discogs.com/release/12851663-The-Eighteenth-Edition-Sundown.
As to the New Mix and its only LP, Bad Cat Records tells us:
[I]t may not be 1968âs most original release, but as someone who is a big fan of sunshine pop and light-psych, it was an album I was happy to discover and repeatedly play. . . . Bassist Karl Jarvi, singer/lead guitarist Dave Brown, drummer Rob Thorne and keyboardist Henry Steele started their professional careers as the Statesville, North Carolina based The Eighteenth Edition. Like so many of their contemporaries, they were heavily influenced by The Beatles and other mid-â60s British bands. The quartet managed to release a pair of interesting psych-tinged singles for the small local Panther label. . . . Complete with paisley and Nehru jackets (and heavy Southern drawls), the second single even got them a shot lip-synching on the Charleston, South Carolina-based Village Square television show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgIMYxGkhAQ By 1968 they band had morphed into The New Mix, scoring a contract with United Artists. Produced by Tommy Kaye, The New Mix featured a collection of all original material with Brown and Steele sharing the writing credits. . . . Imagine a trippier version of The Association and youâd get a pretty good feel . . . . Brown and Steele had an undeniable knack for melding strong melodies, hooks and psych touches. . . . Originality was in short supply. You can play spot-the-influence throughout the album. Occasionally the band got full of themselves and while Brown was a capable singer . . . when he tried to get overly sensitive, or started singing in his higher registers, things took a turn for the worse. Still, itâs hard to believe United Artists didnât even float a single.
Richie Unterberger had a decidedly negative reaction:
This was an era that saw many a generic pop-psychedelic album on major labels, and even in that class, the New Mix didnât stand out. . . . [O]verall itâs a faceless clash of California freak-out psychedelia, sunshine pop, and a bit of British influence in some of the arrangements and harmonies.
The New Mixâs sole album is stereotypical 1968 pop-influenced trendy psychedelia. The ten original songs favor San Francisco psych-folk-rock-influenced minor keys, Doors-Strawberry Alarm Clock-influenced organ, and the odd screeching distorted guitar. The arrangements also nod to a pop influence with harmonies that sometimes recall the Holliesâ brief psychedelic phase . . . and some fruity instrumentation that might have made it into sunshine pop records by the likes of the Association. Itâs a real melange, in other words, and like a salad made up of various excerpts from the weekâs leftovers, it doesnât go together too well or taste too good or fresh. Thereâs little memorable about the songs, and some of the lead vocals have a distasteful stiff, strident air. Perhaps as a rough comparison, you might liken the New Mix to groups with awkward mixes of pop and freaky psych, like Fever Tree and the Strawberry Alarm Clock, but the band isnât even close to their level.
In reaction to this commentary, starcloud4959 stated that âit looks like that reviewer is some type of pompous twatâ. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_XhvZcyBU) Now, I donât agree with Mr. Unterberger here â I think the New Mixâs album tastes real good and real fresh, and I love Fever Tree [see #614] and the Alarm Clock [see #127, 272, 901, 1,111] â but letâs be civil, itâs only rock and roll (and I like it)!
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,193)The Tremeloes — âTill the Sun Goes Downâ
This May Day, enjoy stunning âsoft, acoustic-textured balladry” that “rates right alongside the[ Tremeloes’] best work of the 1960s”. (Bruce Eder (talking about the album as a whole, but I know he meant this song!), https://www.allmusic.com/album/may-morning-mw0000472603) Be warned, though — it comes from the soundtrack to an Italian movie where bad things happen on May Day!
The song has quite a pedigree, or at least its Mellotron does. Geoff Leonard & Pete Walker tell us that:
[Bassist Chip Hawkes] had recently bought [it] from Jeff Lynne . . . . This was the very Mellotron used by the Beatles to record . . . “Strawberry Fields Forever” . . . . [T]he influence of the Fab Four is evident throughout this soundtrack; the Mellotron in particular on “Till the Sun Goes Down”.
liner notes to the CD soundtrack release of May Morning
The song is from the Tremeloes’ soundtrack to Italian director Ugo Liberatore’s May Morning (which had to wait decades to be released after the film failed at the box office). Bruce Eder writes that:
It’s not every day that a three-decade-old, previously unheard soundtrack surfaces — especially one written by one of the most successful pop/rock bands in England. That alone would make May Morning a reasonably important release, but equally to the point, it’s a great record — one of the group’s very best, in fact, and essential listening not just for fans of the Trems, but also for anyone who liked the very late-’60s sounds of the Beatles, Badfinger, et al. . . . The Tremeloes were supposedly just a little past their creative peak by the time they recorded this album — they were riding a number two hit in England at the time, but their fortunes were about to turn, a fact that no one could have guessed when they cut the soundtrack . . . in Rome in the summer of 1970. May Morning is a cheerful, often bracing, always tuneful mix of upbeat pop/rock, bluesy songs, exquisite instrumentals, and soft, acoustic-textured balladry that rates right alongside their best work of the 1960s. . . . In all, this might be the most solid long-player the band ever cut . . . .
Vernon Joynson feels differently, that the soundtrack “was all part of their campaign to disown their pop history and court underground audiences, but on the evidence of this you can see why it didn’t work.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
As to the flick, Lazarillo says:
It focuses on the the brutal class relations and the storied May Day rituals at the world’s most prestigious university. The protagonist (Alessandro Oranio) is a working-class Italian student attending Oxford on a rowing scholarship and trying to fit in among his aristocratic British peers in an absolutely unforgiving environment of rarefied class privilege. He meets and gets severely teased by the daughter (Jane Birkin) of one of the Oxford “dons” who tutors him. The end, which takes place at the drunken May Day celebration, is absolutely brutal (albeit also pretty unmotivated). It’ll definitely stay with you for a long time afterwords.
Alessio Orano is the male lead and Jane Birkin the female and even money on who is the prettiest. Looks aside Orano is excellent as the politically aware Italian student enrolled at Oxford and disillusioned from the start. [H]e cannot see why whilst the rest of Europe is in turmoil, questioning everything, why the mighty college seems intent to carry on with its weird and bullying ways. The film begins leisurely but soon gets under the skin.
When UK chart-toppers Brian Poole And The Tremeloes parted company in 1966, few would have wagered that the backing group would outdo the lead singer. Remarkably, however, the relaunched Tremeloes went on to eclipse not only Poole, but the original hitmaking act. At the time of their reconvening in 1966, the lineup was comprised of Rick West . . . Alan Blakley . . . Dave Munden . . . and Alan Howard . . . . In May of 1966 Howard was replaced by Mike Clark; however, a mere three months later his spot was taken by Len âChipâ Hawkes . . . whose lead vocals and boyish looks gave the group a stronger visual identity. In order to keep up with the times, the group members abandoned their stage suits in favour of Carnaby Street garb and fashionably longer hair. . . . [Their cover of] âHere Comes My Babyâ (a Cat Stevens composition) smashed into the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic. An astute follow-up with âSilence Is Goldenâ, previously the flip side of the Four Seasonsâ âRag Dollâ, proved a perfect vehicle for the Tremeloesâ soft harmonic style and gave them their only UK number 1 and their highest US chart entry (number 11). Having established themselves as a hit act, they notched up an impressive run of hits during the late 60s . . . . At the end of the decade, the Tremeloes seemed weary of their role in the pop world and broke away from their usual Tin Pan Alley songsmiths to write their own material. Their first attempt, â(Call Me) Number Oneâ, was an impressive achievement, probably superior to the material that they had recorded since 1967. When it reached number 2 in the charts, the group members convinced themselves that a more ambitious approach would bring even greater rewards. Overreacting to their dream start as hit writers, they announced that they were âgoing heavyâ and suicidally alienated their pop audience by dismissing their earlier record-buying fans as âmoronsâ. . . . Thereafter, they turned increasingly to cabaret, where their strong live performances were well appreciated. . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelationsđ 