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

The Tages — “There’s a Blind Man Playin’ Fiddle in the Street”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 25, 2024

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

1,282) The Tages — “There’s a Blind Man Playin’ Fiddle in the Street”

From the best Swedish band of the 60’s (see #286) comes a ’68 pop psych delight and their last A-side to reach the top 10 in Sweden. “Retrospectively . . . considered a nod to the Beatles, with Roger Wallis [Radio Sweden] jokingly naming it ‘There’s a Blind Man Playin’ Fiddle on Penny Lane’ on his radio shows”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street) OK, not the streets of London, the streets of Gothenburg! The song was “inspired by a man that often could be seen playing a violin on the streets of Gothenburg”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street)

The song is “‘unbelievably catchy’ owing primarily to the chorus . . . a ‘wonderful creation'” (GT staff review, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street), “‘another one of Tages best’ . . . [with a] chorus [that is] an ‘earworm singalong’ that would get stuck in your head, ‘whether you like Tages or not'”. (Hudiksvalls Tidning staff review, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street) “We though it was pretty cheeky and cool to combine folk tones with rock and pop”. (bassist Göran Lagerberg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Blind_Man_Playin%27_Fiddle_in_the_Street)

Wikipedia tells us that:

On 4 December 1967, Tages released their fifth studio album Studio. A blend of psychedelic music, rock and Swedish folk music, it was largely written by bassist Göran Lagerberg and producer Anders Henriksson. . . . [who had] introduc[ed] them to elements of Swedish folk music . . . . Lagerberg aspired to follow-up Studio with a release that was even more folk-influenced. . . . Studio had become a commercial failure . . . . [taking] a toll on the band, particularly Lagerberg, who considered the album to be “some of the best” he had written’ . . . . [H]e decided that the follow-up single . . . would be “more commercial” . . . . Lagerberg took inspiration from an almost “mythical figure” that could be spotted playing the violin on the sidewalks and town squares of Gothenburg, Tages’ home town. Though initially shrouded in mystery, the man in question was confirmed to be a real individual, namely John Eriksson. Eriksson . . . was allegedly divorced by his wife during the mid-1920s, leading to him “hiking to Gothenburg” and spending “up to sixty years of his life” there, playing the violin “in sorrow over his lost love”. . . . Despite having sufficient promotion in Sweden, the single was a relative chart failure compared to earlier releases. . . . spen[ding] four non-consecutive weeks on the chart. . . . In the UK, despite being fairly promoted by British Parlophone, the song failed to crack the [charts]. . . . [T]he single was met with critical acclaim in the Swedish press. . . . Lennart Wrigholm . . . . states that as was the case with Studio, record buyers felt alienated by Tages “endeavours” with folk music that they “flat out refused” to purchase the band’s records.

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

As to the Tages, Richie Unterberger opines that:

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

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

And Nostalgia Central tell us that:

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

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

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Gary Walker & the Rain — “Thoughts of an Old Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 24, 2024

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

1,281) Gary Walker & the Rain — “Thoughts of an Old Man”

From their Japan-only LP (and a Japanese B-side), Gary Walker & the Rain (see #483, 601) give us a song that is “distinctly Pepper-ish musically and lyrically” (Len, https://therisingstorm.net/gary-walker-the-rain-album-no-1/), and a “distinctly British psych-pop number with phlanged piano, chirpy ‘ba ba ba ba’ backing vocals and lovely melody and lyrics concerning a lonely, retired senior citizen”. (Wilthomer, https://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2009/12/big-in-japangary-walker-rain.html

Album No. 1 is one of Great Britain’s great lost pop psych albums — only it wasn’t really lost, as it was released in Japan, and it wasn’t really British, as it was led by a Yank. As Voltaire famously said, “[t]he Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.” As Richie Unterberger once said, the Walker Brothers “weren’t British, they weren’t brothers, and their real names weren’t Walker”.

What is the story here? Let’s go to Unterberger:

Californians Scott Engel, John Maus, and Gary Leeds, were briefly huge stars in England . . . . Engel and Maus were playing together in Hollywood when drummer Leeds suggested they form a trio and try to make it in England. And they did — with surprising swiftness, the[ “Walker Brothers”] hit the top of the British charts with “Make It Easy on Yourself” in 1965. “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” repeated the feat the following year . . . . For a few months they experienced frenzied adulation almost on the level of the Beatles and the Stones . . . . [T]hey were far more pop than rock. . . . favor[ing] orchestrated ballads . . . emulat[ing] the Righteous Brothers . . . . In the intensely competitive days of 1967, the Walkers’ brand of pop suddenly become passé, and the group disbanded in the face of diminishing success and Scott’s increasingly fruitful solo career. Scott ran off a series of Top Ten British solo albums in the late ’60s, which have attracted a sizable cult with their idiosyncratic marriage of Scott’s brooding, insular songs and ornate orchestral arrangements. [see #396] Gary Walker released a few singles and an album with his group the Rain in a much harder-rocking guitar-oriented format.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-walker-brothers-mn0000582024/biography

Vernon Joynson adds that:

As Gary Leeds he’d been in the early Standells. Then in 1966 frustrated at his limited role in the [Walker Brothers] he began a solo career. His first two efforts were minor hits and then he formed Rain with former Cryin’ Shames guitarist Paul Crane and ex-Masterminds’ guitarist Joey Molland.

The Tapestry of Delights Revisited

Len elaborates:

[Album Number 1 is] a genuine lost album which has only recently seen the light of day outside Japan and which will come as a pleasant surprise to aficionados of Brit psych. Gary Leeds was only ever a third wheel to the Walker Brothers, a non-singing drummer thumping the tubs on live dates and TV appearances . . . . However, such was the impact of the Walkers in Europe and Japan that, when the trio folded, Gary was easily convinced by conniving manager Maurice King to put together a new band in England . . . . Allegedly Molland’s interview ran thus. Leeds: You look like Paul McCartney. Can you sing like him? Molland: Yes. L: Can you play guitar like Eric Clapton? M: Yes. L: You’re in. Serendipitously, he really could do both, besides proving an adept songwriter. . . . The band’s recording career kicked off with a passable cover of “Spooky” that . . . sold well [only] in Japan, where the Walkers had belatedly achieved godlike status. On the basis of this UK Polydor permitted them to record an album, but then inexplicably refused to release it. Only in Japan, where the band’s local label, Philips, was crying out for further product, did it hit the shelves . . . . On the ensuing tour of Japan the band were mobbed by teenage girls . . . . [T]he band called it a day just a year after coming together. Molland went on to be a cornerstone of Badfinger . . . .

http://therisingstorm.net/gary-walker-the-rain-album-no-1/

Finally, Vernon Joynson again:

[Album No. 1 was] only released in Japan and has long been established as one of the world’s rarest records . . . . It is thought to have been withdrawn from sale almost immediately because of Molland’s contractual commitments to The Iveys.

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Skip Bifferty — “Man in Black”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 23, 2024

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

1,280) Skip Bifferty* — “Man in Black”

From Skip Bifferty (see #288, 1,157), here is a “pulsating rocker . . . [that] firmly eschewed the Technicolor dreamscapes of yore”. (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970) It was their third and last A-side, “arguably their best . . . killer hard edged mod psych.” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Kf3IrAktw) It was produced by Ronnie Lane and arranged by Steve Marriott”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-bifferty-mn0000016792#biography) And I don’t think it had anything to do with Johnny Cash!

“RCA allowed them to cut a full LP [including “Man in Black”], which contained some notable psychedelic and experimental tracks” despite the fact that “none of their [prior] singles charted”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-bifferty-mn0000016792#biography) The album “sounds pretty much like the quintessenial aural snapshot of England in 1967, a dazzling fusion of Swinging London pop-art cool and stoned Summer of Love optimism. . . . [D]espite boasting all the trappings of the era, the album’s enduring appeal lies as much with the timeless quality of the songwriting”. (David Wells, Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)

Bruce Eder describes the essence of the band:

[T]hey’re cheerfully spaced out, and their music is heavily ornamented with bells, echo, and all manner of sound effects, but at its core, this was a ballsy, hard-playing band that recognized the need for a solid rock & roll base to this kind of [pop psych] music. . . . . In all, it’s cheerful psychedelia with a hard edge and some great virtuoso playing, pleasingly heavy guitar, soaring choruses, and eerie psych-pop lyrics evoking variant states of mind, somewhat akin to Pink Floyd’s early singles laced with the kind of heavy edge that the Creation brought to the genre.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/skip-bifferty-mw0000739474

Bifferty was “discovered playing an early gig at the Marquee [Club] by . . . [Don] Arden, who soon secured them a contract with RCA. Based in London, they regularly appeared on John Peel’s ‘Top Gear’ ”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited). Arden had told them that “in 9 months you’ll be as big as the Stones” (liner notes to the CD reissue of Skip Bifferty). Yet, as Joynson points out, “[d]espite having more commercial appeal than many underground acts, they failed to break through”. (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

Eder writes that a “dispute with Arden caused the band to walk out en masse, and they next appeared together under the pseudonym Heavy Jelly, cutting an eight-minute single (‘I Keep Singing That Same Old Song’) that charted in a few European countries.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-bifferty-mn0000016792#biography)

* There was no one named Skip Bifferty in Skip Bifferty. Joynson explains that, apparently, the band named itself after a “cartoon character of their own invention.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

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Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds– “Paperman Fly in the Sky”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 22, 2024

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

1,279) Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds — “Paperman Fly in the Sky”

This ’68 B-side is a riveting “pop psych delight” (the Monocled Alchemist, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWPwUc_SYD4) by Chris Farlowe (see #473, 1,083), “widely regarded as Britain’s finest ever blues and soul singer”. (Merseysider Magazine, https://vancouversignaturesounds.com/hits/time-chris-farlowe/). Who else can sing like Chris Farlowe? Don’t know? You’re out of time! The answer is no one!

Well, the lyrics certainly seem acid-tinged. “Strawberries chasing a little angel Those papermen fly in the sky”. I have no idea what that means. I’m out of time!

Farlowe is, of course, best known for his iconic cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time”. Mike Davies writes that “Farlowe produced a stunning collection of soulful pop releases, the chart failure of which remains inexplicable to this day. . . . [T]he throaty-voiced Islington born r&b singer would warrant iconic status for his blistering version of Mike D’Abo’s Handbags and Gladrags alone, but . . . every time he opened his mouth he rarely failed to produce something to either shiver or bend your spine.” (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/cd+reviews%3a+REISSUE+OF+THE+WEEK%3b+Chris+Farlowe+vs+Long+John+Baldry…-a076134710)

Bruce Eder gives us some history:

Born John Henry Deighton . . . [Farlowe] reached his early teens just as the skiffle boom was breaking in England, and was inspired by Lonnie Donegan to enter music. His first band was his own John Henry Skiffle Group, where he played guitar as well as sang, but he gave up playing to concentrate on his voice, as he made the switch to rock & roll. He eventually took the name Chris Farlowe, the surname appropriated from American jazz guitarist Tal Farlow, and was fronting a group called the Thunderbirds . . . . They built their reputation as a live act in England and Germany, and slowly switched from rock & roll to R&B during the early years of the ’60s. . . . [T]hey issued a series of five singles thru 1966, all of which got enthusiastic critical receptions while generating poor sales. In 1966, with his EMI contract up, Farlowe was snatched up by Andrew Oldham . . . . [H]e saw a Top 40 chart placement with his introduction of the Jagger/Richards song “Think[]” . . . . That summer, he had the biggest hit of his career with his rendition of the Stones’ “Out of Time,” . . . which reached number one on the British charts.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-farlowe-mn0000109437#biography

Farlowe had a lucky connection with the Flamingo Club in London. First, it got him noticed by Oldham:

Hanging out at London’s famous Flamingo Club . . . meant that Chris came to the attention of . . . Andrew Loog Oldham. Originally employed at the club to collect bottles, cook hotdogs and wash up, Andrew had plans to start a new record label and club owner, Rik Gunnel, saw enough potential in him to provide the financial backing. Andrew was a huge fan of Chris’s voice and was keen to sign him to the new Immediate label.

https://www.temple-music.com/chris-farlowe/

Second, it got him noticed by Otis Redding:

“I was playing a show at the Flamingo club in London and someone told me [Redding] was in the audience watching me sing. I thought they were having me on but afterwards I was in the dressing room, the door opened and he walked in. He said, ‘Man, you’re a great singer, you’re a soul brother’. He told me he was doing a TV show on Friday and asked me to appear on it with him.” That show was one of the most celebrated episodes of the classic TV series Ready Steady Go . . . . Otis performed several songs, Chris had his own spot and the two – accompanied by Eric Burdon of the Animals – join forces for a rousing finale. Chris remembers, “After that we did some more concerts together and became good friends, so it was a terrible shock when he died.”

http://www.merseysidermagazine.com/site/features/chris-farlowe-interview/ (no longer available)

Live ‘67:

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The Searchers — “Umbrella Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 21, 2024

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

1,278) The Searchers — “Umbrella Man”

Hand-clappin’ heaven, one of the Searchers’ (see #352, 394, 636) great singles from the latter half of the 60’s. “Umbrella Man” was written by Kenny Young, who wrote “Under the Boardwalk” with Art Resnick (who later recorded yesterday’s “Invisible Man” as part of the Third Rail). “If a storm is threatening you, just hold my hand I’ll be your umbrella man”

The Searchers’ chart successes dwindled in the latter half of the ‘60’s, but they still released exquisite singles, ones that deserved to be hits. As Bruce Eder says, “By the beginning of 1966, the group’s string of chart hits seemed to have run out . . . . The[y] continued working, however, playing clubs and cabarets in England and Europe.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-searchers-mn0000898828/biography)

Andrew Darlington adds:

As hair grew longer and riffs got wilder elsewhere in Pop, as other first-generation Beat Boom names were falling by the wayside, the Searchers were graduating into mild string-laden protest . . . . [u]ntil eventually the[y] slide out of the Top Forty with a row of goodish 1966 forty-fives [including] one called “Popcorn Double Feature” [see #352].

http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-live-in-ossett.html

Blue Yogurt:

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The Third Rail — “Invisible Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 20, 2024

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

1,277) The Third Rail — “Invisible Man”

Sometimes you feel like an invisible man, sometimes you don’t! Future barons and baronesses of bubblegum, and a future jinglemeister to boot, gave us “Run, Run, Run” of Nuggets fame and an LP whose “songcraft is both clever and extremely pleasurable, especially on [today’s] baroque pop” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/id-music-mw0000600392) gem.

Of the album — Id Music — Uncut enthuses:

If John Barry scored a movie about HR Pufnstuf, it would sound something like this: swirly strings, booming timps, multi-part vocals, garage guitars. All in the service of some tooth-rottingly saccharine whimsy . . . but also some heart-stopping pop hooks . . . . A reminder of that sunlit, post-Sgt Pepper plateau when optimistic dissent became as mainstream a money machine as Coca-Cola. Not quite Spanky And Our Gang, but still a wonderful, garish, Lolly Gobble Choc Bomb of an album.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/third-rail-id-music-20853/

Of the album and the Rail, Grahame Bent writes:

Comprising husband and wife songwriting team Kris and Artie Resnick (Artie a veteran of the Brill Building, having co-written The Drifters’ “Under The Boardwalk”), and future bubblegum kingpin Joey Levine, the short-lived Third Rail only released one album, this fascinating and stylistically diverse pop-psych curio. . . . Though awash with sugary sweet harmonies, ID Music’s thick and sticky brew of all things pop, psych and garage hints at something darker and not quite so innocent bubbling away underneath. Post-ID Music, all three members of The Third Rail would find themselves major players in the candy coloured world of bubblegum . . . . Nothing would match the sheer inventiveness and sophisticated out-thereness of this memorable long player, though.

https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/id-music

As to the Rail, Mark Deming writes:

Group founder Artie Resnick was a seasoned pro in the music biz, having written “Under the Boardwalk” and “Good Lovin’,” and vocalist and co-writer Joey Levine was a teenaged pop prodigy who (like Resnick) would later become a major player in Buddah Records’ mighty bubblegum empire a few years down the line. But in 1967, Levine was just a bit too clever for his own good, which is a big part of the pleasure of the Third Rail’s sole album, Id Music. . . . [It] is filled with witty social commentary that is surprisingly enjoyable despite the fact it’s more than a bit dated all these years later . . . . While Id Music‘s songs, production, and performances are all buffed to a high gloss, the craft and the intelligence of the music is a delight throughout, and its attempts at lyrical subversion only add to the fun, especially when one knows Levine would eventually go over to the other side and enjoy a very successful career writing commercial jingles. A very amusing product of its times.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/id-music-mw0000600392

Richie Unterberger:

The Third Rail are mostly known for their small 1967 hit single “Run, Run, Run,” which reached #53 . . . . The Third Rail were a studio-only group . . . comprised of the unlikely trio of Artie Resnick, his wife Kris Resnick, and Joey Levine. . . . [producing an] odd and oft-awkward blend of late Brill Building-period pop-rock, early bubblegum, psychedelia, and trendily socially relevant lyrics, usually featuring Levine’s high youthful vocals. After the Third Rail dissolved following their last single in 1968 . . . . Joey Levine had a hit with “Yummy Yummy Yummy,” on which he sang, though it was credited to the Ohio Express, and all of them became staff songwriter/producers for Kasenetz & Katz Associates.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/third-rail-mn0000926297#biography

Dawn Eden reported in 1997 that Levine headed “his own company . . . one of the most successful jingle houses in the world.” He was responsible for the Mounds/Almond Joy classic “Sometimes you feel like a nut . . .”! (liner notes to the CD reissue of Id Music)

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The Fugs — “Dirty Old Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 19, 2024

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

1,276) The Fugs — “Dirty Old Man”

I don’t give a fug, but I do give you the Fugs’* (see #67) “timeless, hysterically funny, howlingly scatological, barely musical rant[] and rave[]” (Jim Derogatis, https://www.wbez.org/jim-derogatis/2012/11/28/return-of-the-original-freak-folks-the-fugs), “[s]ung to the tune of Chuck Berry’s “School Days,” . . . a riotous parody, a reductio ad absurdum of the other side’s stereotype of the Fug-like hippie, the bearded beatnik with “thrill pills for all you chickies, funny cigarettes for you boys.” (John Reed, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/3/25/the-fugs-penter-the-fugs-greenwich/)

Open a time capsule, and read John Reed’s thoughts on the Fugs from the March 25, 1967 issue of the Harvard Crimson:

Greenwich Village folk-rock preacher-lovers who have sprung full grown and screaming from Allen Ginsberg’s beard. Champions of moral disarmament, they sing out for the people who, according to Ginsberg’s liner notes on their second album, “make love with their eyes open, maybe smoke pot & maybe take LSD & look inside their heads to find the Self-God Walt Whitman prophesied for America.” . . . The lines are drawn. “Total assault on the Culture,” orders Ed Sanders, the Fugs lead singer, as he strikes out with ballads of contemporary protest points of view, and general dissatisfaction.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/3/25/the-fugs-penter-the-fugs-greenwich/

DOM is from the Fugs’ second album. As Wikipedia summarizes things:

After the release of their first album on Folkways Records, The Fugs signed a contract allowing ESP-Disk to publish its material in exchange for usage of an Off-Broadway theater as practice space and what Fugs’ frontman Ed Sanders describes as “one of the lower percentages in the history of western civilization.” While finding the contract binding and disadvantageous in many ways, The Fugs were pleased with the opportunity to work with and at the studio of Richard Alderson, who allowed them to experiment with his state-of-the-art equipment. The album was produced over a four-week period through January and February 1966 at the same time that the band was performing weekly at the Astor Place Playhouse . . . . The band’s controversial lyrics and stage antics allegedly attracted the attention of the FBI and New York City fire and building inspectors and eventually resulted in their being banned from Astor Place Playhouse. According to Sanders, the FBI’s final report of its investigation of the band concluded that “The Fugs is a group of musicians who perform in NYC. They are considered to be beatniks and free thinkers, i.e., free love, free use of narcotics, etc. …. it is recommended that this case be placed in a closed status since the recording is not considered to be obscene.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugs_(album)

Of the album, Matt Fink opines:

The Fugs, retitled The Fugs Second Album for a later reissue, finds them sounding more professional than on their debut, and still sounding very ahead of their time lyrically, expressing sentiments in ways that just hadn’t been done before. . . . [T]he Fugs’ weakness for crude humor puts a damper on the whole affair. Sometimes the jokes work (“Dirty Old Man”), sometimes they don’t . . . but they’re always entertaining. . . . Like [Lou] Reed, the revolutionary tag is placed on the Fugs for the sheer frankness they used to deal with the taboo. But whereas Reed dealt with the dark sides of promiscuity and drug use, the Fugs celebrate it, and most times in a very exhibitionist way.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-fugs-second-album-mw0000429485

Oh, and David Bowie picked it as one of his 25 favorite and personally-owned vinyl albums, saying that:

The sleeve notes were written by Allen Ginsberg and contain these perennial yet prescient lines: “Who’s on the other side? People who think we are bad. Other side? No, let’s not make it a war, we’ll all be destroyed, we’ll go on suffering till we die if we take the War Door.” I found on the Internet the text for a newsprint ad for the Fugs, who, coupled with the Velvet Underground, played the April Fools Dance and Models Ball at the Village Gate in 1966. The F.B.I. had them on their books as “the Fags.” This was surely one of the most lyrically explosive underground bands ever. Not the greatest musicians in the world, but how “punk” was all that?

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/david-bowie-favorite-albums

As to the Fugs, Jim Derogatis tells us that:

[The Fugs] released four albums between 1968 and 1970 full of hippie rewrites of traditional folk tunes and typically literate, ’60s flower-power odes inspired by the like of William Blake and Algernon Swinburne. Think of a second-generation Beat musical answer to Allen Ginsberg. The primary constant and driving force of the band, Ed Sanders, first made his mark on the New York scene that nurtured Bob Dylan by running the Peace Eye Bookstore, the East Coast version of San Francisco’s famous City Lights. He became a respected social activist and lauded poet, winning both Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships; wrote the definitive accounts of both the Beat-era Lower East Side (Tales of Beatnik Glory) and the Manson clan (The Family) and eventually moved to Woodstock and took up inventing strange musical instruments . . . . [T]he great rock critic Lester Bangs. . . . hailed the Fugs as “the first truly underground band in America,” as well as hugely influential predecessors of punk via timeless, hysterically funny, howlingly scatological, barely musical rants and raves . . . .

https://www.wbez.org/jim-derogatis/2012/11/28/return-of-the-original-freak-folks-the-fugs

Richie Unterberger elaborates:

Arguably the first underground rock group of all time, the Fugs formed at the Peace Eye bookstore in New York’s East Village in late 1964. The nucleus of the band throughout its many personnel changes was Peace Eye owner Ed Sanders and fellow poet Tuli Kupferberg. . . .[who] had strong ties to the beat literary scene, but charged, in the manner of their friend Allen Ginsberg, full steam ahead into the maelstrom of ’60s political involvement and psychedelia. Surrounded by an assortment of motley refugees from the New York folk and jug band scene (including Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders), some of whom could barely play their instruments, the group nonetheless was determined to play rock & roll their way — which meant rife with political and social satire, as well as explicit profanity and sexual references, that were downright unheard of in 1965. Starting on the legendary avant-garde ESP label, the Fugs’ debut was full of equal amounts of chaos and charm, but their songwriting and instrumental chops improved surprisingly quickly, resulting in a second album that was undoubtedly the most shocking and satirical recording ever to grace the Top 100 when it was released. . . . unleashing a few more albums of equally satirical material that were more instrumentally polished, but equally scathing lyrically. By breaking lyrical taboos of popular music, they helped pave the way for . . . even more innovative outrage . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-fugs-mn0000763301#biography

* The Fugs were “[n]amed for the cuss-word euphemism Norman Mailer was forced to use in the first edition of The Naked and the Dead“. (Jim Derogatis, https://www.wbez.org/jim-derogatis/2012/11/28/return-of-the-original-freak-folks-the-fugs)

Here’s Chuck:

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Them — “Dirty Old Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 18, 2024

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

1,275) Them — “Dirty Old Man”

Belfast’s Them (without Van the Man) give us a ’67 A-side that is “pure 60’s Garage punk!” (HemiVic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmycGm0c158), fueled by [Kenny] McDowell’s snarling garage punk vocal and a wonderfully angst ridden organ-led middle-eight this is a record that belongs in the ’60s garage-punk Hall of Fame!” (Jon “Mojo” Mills, liner notes to the CD reissue of Time Out! Time in For Them) And it was recorded in Amarillo, Texas!

Mills tells us that:

“[I]n 1966 the final line-up of Them . . . imploded. Van Morrison quit after a somewhat fruitful tour of the States . . . . Shortly after this split, bass player Alan Henderson picked up the pieces and regrouped with the surviving members and new singer Kenny McDowell under the old “Them” moniker, and set off to conquer America. On meeting impressario Ray Huff their metamorphosis slowly began; growing from R&B tinged garage-band to fully-fledged paisley wearing raga-rockers. First album Now-and-“Them” [including a re-recorded version of “Dirty Old Man”] was a rather mixed affair blending all manner of old and new influences. It sounded more like the product of three bands than that of one succinct unit. However, it was the lengthy eastern inspired piece “Square Room” that gave “Them” their new hip and happening identity. . . . [T]hey had become Them only in name. . . . taking their foremost inspiration from contemporary West Coast acts rather than the Morrison-era’s vintage black R&B template, and fashion wise the sunny Californian hippy style of dress bore no relation to the ban’s former suited and booted Irish selves.

liner notes to Time Out! Time in For Them

As to the LP version, Richie Unterberger calls it “a muted ‘Gloria’ rewrite . . . (whose Strawberry Alarm Clock [see #127, 272, 901, 1,111]-like harmonies dilute the original arrangement, cut by the group slightly earlier on a non-LP single)” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/now-and-them-mw0000032954), and Jon Mills says the 45 “is far better than the softened up version re-recorded for Now-and-‘Them’“. (liner notes to Time Out! Time in For Them)

Here is the LP version:

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Adam Faith — “Cowman Milk Your Cow”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 17, 2024

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

1,274) Adam Faith — “Cowman* Milk Your Cow”

Courtesy of songwriters Barry and Robin Gibb, here is “an early 1960’s U.K. rocker attempting to bounce back with a dose of pop sike whimsy”. (Wilthomer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2oGZV851kU), But ye of little faith, it works! “[I] didn’t expect Adam Faith would pull off convincing popsike, but this is top BeeGeeian ’67 stuff. Love it!” (mndandy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2oGZV851kU) It is “a totally unexpected piece of psychedelic folk-rock . . . that seriously extend[ed] the perceived strength and musical longevity of [Adam] Faith’s career.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/maybe-someone-is-digging-underground-songs-of-the-bee-gees-mw0000470775)

Lightspots calls “Cowman” #23 of the Bee Gees’ top 50 songs from 1966-72:

With its pulsing bass, treble lead guitar and obscure lyrics, “Cowman Milk Your Cow” marked a dramatic change of style from Faith’s previous pizzicato stringed boy-meets-girl confections. My understanding is that the Bee Gees made their own recording but, to my knowledge, no tapes have yet emerged. . . . With more conventional lyrics, “Cowman” would be a thoroughly enjoyable pop song. Bass and overlaid guitar sound great together. But the lyrics on offer here skirt around life, death, future and fate with a whimsical persistence. From its opening of chiming guitars to the closing ‘chant to fade’, [it] is prime 1967 pop-psych. Adam Faith delivers the whole thing with a mandatory air of profundity. The single did nothing.

https://lightspots.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/cowman-milk-your-cow/

Faith’s band, the Roulettes, backed him on the song. “The backing vocals sound like it’s the Gibbs themselves (or Robin at least). Unless Adam does a good impression of him.” (Wurzelsepp, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5635)

How did the song come about? Bee Gees authority Joseph Brennan says that Faith requested a song after hearing Bee Gees’ First. (https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/67.html) However, Faith recalled that:

I think [“Cowman”] came to me through one of The Roulettes my backing group at the time. They’d heard it and thought it would make a great record. I think we did hear a demo. I loved the song, it was one of those mad moments where you hear somebody, a writer, sing their own song so brilliantly, it fools you into thinking that you can achieve the same effect. Of course, who’s going to sing it better than those boys?, Fantastic, amazing group!, Brilliant!

Joseph Hughes, The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb

As to Adam Faith, Bruce Eder writes:

The late ’50s in England saw a legion of young teen idols, groomed for music stardom by managers eager to see their clients land a chart hit or two on their way to careers as all-around entertainers, or even television or movie actors. . . . Adam Faith was one of the better ones . . . who went on to a respectable acting career in television, movies, and theater. Born Terence Nelhams . . . he . . . . came to the attention of producer Jack Goode, which, in turn, introduced Faith to bandleader John Barry . . , which resulted in the invitation to audition for a role in Drumbeat. . . . Faith became an immediate star, with his matinee-idol looks and charismatic screen presence. . . . In November of 1959, he cut the single “What Do You Want,” which soared to number one on the British charts . . . . His next single, “Poor Me,” . . also reached number one, while his third, “Somebody Else’s Baby,” got to number two. Although hardly cutting-edge rock & roll . . . it was all pleasant . . . . He placed six songs in the Top Ten during 1960, and three more in 1961. His string of major hits was pretty much exhausted by the summer of 1962 . . . . [H]e could be lethally “cute” on novelty songs . . . . [H]is superb backing band, the Roulettes — featur[ed] future Argent members — Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit who recorded some of the best music of the early British Invasion era. Beginning in 1963, they had a separate recording and performing career as well . . . . Their records with Faith were also exceptionally good, and were among the last of his major hits. . . . Faith’s handful of early film appearances generally enhanced his musical image, most notably Beat Girl (1961), a fairly gritty British delinquency drama. He turned increasingly to acting on the stage during this period, and by the ’70s he’d moved on to a career in business, with a successful finance company and a directorship of the Savoy Hotel. He returned to repertory theater work in the ’70s and created the title role of the series Budgie, which he later brought to the stage. Faith also resumed his film career . . . . He also went into music management during the ’70s, and the most important of his clients was Leo Sayer.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/adam-faith-mn0000591806#biography

* “‘Cowman’ is not an uncommon word in England where the term originated and generally refers to an employee on a farm who milks cows and is responsible for a herd of cattle.” (molemilton, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5635)

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Benjamin Carry Ltd. — “Old Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 16, 2024

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

1,273) Benjamin Carry Ltd. — “Old Man”

A wisp of ’67 baroque pop splendor. Chuck Carry was from Indianapolis, Indiana (https://www.discogs.com/artist/7959612-Moore-And-Moore-2) and Randy Benjamin was from Vincennes, Indiana.

Vinylfool writes as to Randy Benjamin (who wrote “Old Man”):

Randy Benjamin is quite the enigma. From Vincennes, and Lincoln High School (’65), Randy managed to have his first 45 released with involvement of Mike Curb [see #57]. Mike seemed to be golden on everything, except this time. From Randy’s website: “I was a songwriter and singer long before I became an author. I received my first guitar at the age of 4. It was bigger than I was! My first recording contract was with Mike Curb back in the early 60s in Hollywood, CA. I’ve also been an artist/writer for Mercury and Warner Brothers records. I had a top 40 record in Europe (Look At You Now) on Mercury in the late 60s. I owned a recording studio in Nashville, TN in the mid-70s.” . . . Randy also released a 45 on Mercury “Look at You Now”, as far as I know it was released in early 1970.

https://indiana-bands-60s.blogspot.com/2011/11/randy-benjamin-vincennes.html

Achille Brunet notes that “Randy Benjamin recorded as Terry Randall in 1966 on Valiant Records the great “S.O.S.” [see #310] . . . . Originally from Indiana, he moved to Los Angeles, and later to Nashville where he produced gospel/country groups.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_xtmzNanmU)

As to Terry Randall and “S.O.S.”, I had written that the song “was the A-side of his only single (‘66). It was quite cool.” Then I quoted Colin Mason’s post on a website (no longer active):

Terry Randall is a bit of a mystery, although this killer protest 45 about the riots on Sunset Strip during November 1966 is a well known tune among garage hipsters. . . . [I]t’s got a swingin’ garage beat that I dig the most and there’s some great ‘cop’ put down lyrics.

https://yellowpapersuns.com/2010/05/28/50-terry-randall-s-o-s/

I then said “I guess that makes me a garage hipster!” As true today as the day I wrote it!

Anyway, anonymous commented in 2018 that:

went to high school w/ randy. he would sit in w/ other bands. remember hearing him do ruby, lead guitar&vocal. impressive. cannot remember band.1964 adams coliseum. vincennes,in. sock hop. he would have been 16 or 17 and already quit high school by this time. definetly a local legend.drove a ’55 t-bird. les

https://indiana-bands-60s.blogspot.com/2011/11/randy-benjamin-vincennes.html

Here is Randy B. in ’72 with version #2:

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The Hobbits — “I’m Just a Young Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 15, 2024

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

1,272) The Hobbits — “I’m Just a Young Man”

Pop psych from Queens “built on a nifty folk-rock melody with an urgent electric sitar riff” with “background orchestration and some interesting studio effects added to give it a lysergic tinge”. (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hobbits/down-to-middle-earth/) Archie Bunker would have loved it!

As to the Hobbits, RDTEN1 tells us:

The Hobbits . . . were the brainchild of the late Jimmy Curtiss (aka James Stulberger). Born and raised in Queens, New York, Curtis started his musical career as a member of doo-wop group The Enjays. By the early ’60s he’d embarked on a solo career marketed as a teen idol. Initially signed by United Artists he recorded a series of standard sappy teen ballads with little success. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, Curtiss wrote some of his material and when Warner Brothers dropped him from his contract he shifted gears into writing and advertising. He worked with The Regents helping them record a couple of 1965 singles and resumed his own solo career where he demonstrated the sense to adapt to changing public tastes. As an example, 1965’s ‘Not for You’ found him moving into folk-rock, while 1967’s ‘Psychedelic Situation’ saw him diving headlong into [the psychedelic situation]. . . . [and] proved a hit in West Germany. He’s also enjoyed some success as a songwriter – notably a 1967 top-40 hit when Jimmie Rodgers’ covered “Child of Clay'” It was enough for Decca to offer Curtiss a recording contract. And that’s where The Hobbits kick in. Working with songwriters Terry Philips and Jerry Vance, Curtiss next decided to put together a studio group. In an interesting move he recruited model and former Playboy Bunny Heather Hewitt (she provided backing vocals and tambourine), former Sam Butera and the Witnesses bassist Tony Luizza and singer/guitarist Zok Russo for the project. . . . In spite of the album title, 1967’s Philips produced Down To Middle Earth really wasn’t much of a concept album, rather came off as a likeable collection of folk-rock, sunshine-pop and pop-psych performances. . . . serving pretty much as a Curtiss solo effort. In addition to writing and co-writing much of the album, Curtiss arranged the material and served as lead singer . . . .

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hobbits/down-to-middle-earth/

Jason Ankeny notes that “[The] follow-up [LP], Men and Doors: The Hobbirts Communicate, appeared in 1968 — like its predecessor, the record didn’t sell, and Decca terminated the contract. Curtiss then formed his own label and production company . . . . [A]fter rechristening the group the New Hobbits, Curtiss released 1969’s Back From Middle Earth, essentially a solo effort. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-hobbits-mn0001223665#biography)

Opinions differ as to Down To Middle Earth Franko writes:

What separates this album from any number of mid-range sunshine pop albums is that Curtiss’ roots are in doo-wop and vocal groups of the late 50s as well as the teen vocalists of the early 60s. So though the album is laden with the folk pop harmonies popular in sunshine pop there is also quite a bit of emphasis on the vocalist as a soloist. It’s as if Bobby Vee or Bobby Rydell were picked up and dumped into a psych pop band or if Jay and the Americans took acid. And there is nothing wrong with that.

https://whatfrankislisteningto.negstar.com/sunshine-pop-and-baroque/the-hobbits-down-to-middle-earth-decca-196/

Records As I Buy Them is ambivalent: “It’s an amateurish and occasionally bewildering record, obviously kind of shameless psychedelic bandwagon exploitation, but the most bewildering thing about it is how completely brilliant some of it is somehow.” https://somerecords.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/the-hobbits-down-to-middle-earth-1967/)

Dave Thompson — not so much:

[The album is] firmly in debt to the Turtles and/or the Hollies. Well-arranged melodies and picture-perfect harmonies do grab the attention in places . . . . [The Hobbits were] a band that sounded psychedelic because that’s what was selling at the time. In otherh words, not every lost psych gem is worth its weight in gold. Some are scarcely worth the vinyl they were pressed on.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/down-to-middle-earth-mw0000926005

Here is another song from the LP — “Daffodil Days” — live. It gives the impression that the whole endeavour may have been tongue in cheek!

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The Young Idea — “Mr. Lovin’ Luggage Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 14, 2024

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

1,262) The Young Idea — “Mr. Lovin’ Luggage Man”

Delightful pop psych by a duo featuring soon to be famous producer Tony Cox. Cash Box opined in its January 27, 1968 issue that: “Stylings in the Beatle tradition of ‘Elanor [sic] Rigby’ with a lot of Association influence give the Young Idea a delightful sound that could catch the fancy of many younger pop fans. Good material in a throbbing mid-speed tempo splendidly served should find a sizeable sales market in store.” (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1968/CB-1968-01-27.pdf) That sizeable sales market was not to be!

All Music Guide tells us that:

This UK duo featured Tony Cox . . . and Douglas Ugo Granville Allesandro MacRae-Brown (b. . . . Florence, Italy). MacRae-Brown, a contemporary of Jonathan King at Charterhouse Public School, met Cox at university. The duo then forged a songwriting partnership and, having committed several demos to tape, hawked the finished product around London’s Denmark Street-based publishers. Their talent secured a management and recording contract and the duo made their debut as the Young Idea in June 1966. They completed several singles before achieving a UK Top 10 hit the following year with a reading of the Beatles’ song ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’. The pair achieved a higher profile with non-original material, including the Hollies’ ‘A Peculiar Situation’ and several poppy creations by Les Reed and Barry Mason. However, the Young Idea were unable to repeat the success of their lone chart entry.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/young-idea-mn0000552791#biography

As to Tony Cox, Wikipedia says:

Tony Cox is a British record producer and arranger. As such he was influential in late 1960s and 1970s folk rock developments and the fledgling progressive rock scene, and has since worked primarily as a composer and orchestrator. He entered the music business as a performer in 1966, and as a duo with Douglas MacRae-Brown released The Young Idea LP in 1967 . . . . He continued performing in the studio with various acts he produced such as Trees and Mick Softly. . . . [I]n 1971[, he] played on the Spirogyra album St. Radigunds, and Mike Heron’s album Smiling Men With Bad Reputations. In 1972 he played piano with The Bunch alongside Sandy Denny on vocals, and in 1976 he played synth on Martin Carthy’s Crown Of Horn LP. In 1974 he founded Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, one of the first residential recording studios in the UK. In 1978 he married the singer-songwriter Lesley Duncan, and produced her single “The Magic’s Fine”. In 1979 produced and arranged the charity single “Sing Children Sing” for the International Year of the Child. . . . In 1996 they moved to the Isle of Mull, Scotland. From 1988 to 1990 he worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group as music supervisor, overseeing various shows. Recently Cox has been composing ‘Protomodal’ music for instrumental ensemble, creating a uniquely distinctive sound by utilizing unusual modal scales and unorthodox harmonies, mixing rigid composition rules with John Cage like chance elements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Cox_(record_producer)

Check out Cox’s very interesting website (http://arco-x.com/). Here is an excerpt:

I have had a long career as a musical jack of all trades, songwriter, pop recording artist, arranger, record producer, recording studio owner, composer of music for film, TV and commercials, general factotum to Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Broadway orchestrator. Most of this activity occurred through happenstance rather than strategic planning and though much of it was a lot of fun, it wasn’t seriously creative. Some further detail can be discovered in Wikipedia . . . which is quite accurate but focuses mainly on a time long gone, and possibly reveals as much about the arcane interests of its author as it does about its subject. From the start I had wanted to be a composer but, even as my range of skills grew with experience, so the flow of creative ideas seemed to diminish. The nature of work in the commercial music field inhibits originality – ‘Can you write a string quartet like Mozart?’, ‘a song in the style of Dolly Parton?’ – these were typical briefs, so I became a versatile pasticheur, a kind of musical forger. Eventually I cut myself off from commissioned work by moving to an island in the Inner Hebrides for a creative reboot, a search for individuality. And there, gradually, an original idea began to form in my head to compose using unusual, previously rarely or never heard seven-note modes . . . .

The acetate:

Here is Bob Azzam and His Orchestra:

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Selwyn & John — “Bogey Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 13, 2024

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

1,270) Selwyn & John — “Bogey Man”

Here is some “[v]ery cool swinging mod with fuzz” (Happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crwPkKl_vzE), a “deranged and manic slice of beat-pop” (liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 1-10: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era), a “[n]ice overlooked beat number with a great fuzz guitar”. (pelouro, https://www.45cat.com/record/2708).

Little is known about the duo, except miketimothy43483 says “This is my Dad!” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FR246zu12mE&pp=ygUXU2Vsd3luICYgam9obiBib2dleSBtYW4%3D) and hey22! said on May 16, 2023, that “Selwyn was my dad. He has recently passed away and I was hoping to find a copy of his record.” (https://www.45cat.com/record/2708) It “[looks] like this was demo only, no stock copies have ever turned up on all the usual resources.” (Happening45, https://www.45cat.com/record/2708)

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Dantalian’s Chariot — “The Madman Running Through the Fields”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 12, 2024

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

1,269) Dantalian’s Chariot — “The Madman Running Through the Fields”

Dantalian’s Chariot (see #727, 1,106) of the gods gave the human race “[o]ne of the most brilliant obscure psychedelic singles of the late ’60s — indeed, one of the most brilliant obscure rock singles of any kind from the era . . . British pop-psych at its zenith, strongly reminiscent of (and as good as) the classic early sides by Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd.” [see #13] (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dantalians-chariot-mn0000679042) “Madman”, written by Zoot Money [see #726] and Andy Somers (to be Policeman Andy Summers) “employed many of the stylistic devices that conspired to make English acid pop such a mesmerising beast — schizoid lyrics, tempo shifts, in-jokes, fade-ins, fade-outs, backward tapes, dream sequences, non-sequitur guitar runs, extraneous sound effects but remembered to add a magnificent song to the rampant studio trickery to create a psychedelic potpourri of monstrous proportions.” (David Wells, Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)

Nick James:

[It was] a song that not only won them the adulation of the beautiful flower children of the time, but is today regarded as one of the finest examples of the psych-pop movement . . . . “Madman was a description of our personal experiences,” says Money of their one and only single, “and the subsequent self-revelations brought about by hallucinogenics. It was based around the observations we made once we had returned to ‘normal’, so to speak. The verse is the voice of the taker, the one who’s dropped the acid, and the chorus is him being observed by a second party – ‘Isn’t that the madman running through the fields?’ A puzzled onlooker, much like the audiences at the time.” Madman is a schizophrenic slice of psychedelic pop . . . . It was picked as Record Of The Week by original Animals’ keyboardist Alan Price, guest reviewing for the influential Disc & Music Echo, and scored a direct hit with the underground. The record-buying public at large were less accommodating and [it] failed to make its mark upon the charts. Nowadays, the record is rightly regarded as one of the essential works of the era.

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/m-a-d-m-e-n-running-through-the-fields

Yet this “critically acclaimed [songs] inexplicably failed to make an impression on the UK charts despite chiming in well nigh perfectly with the prevailing psych-ascendant late-’67 mood of successful singles by the likes of Pink Floyd and The Pretty Things”. (David Kidman, https://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/reviews/DantaliansChariot/) “[I]ts commercial failure, coupled with EMI’s wariness of Zoot Money’s venture into the leftfield when the Big Roll Band was ticking along just nicely thank you, saw Dantalian’s Chariot dropped.” (Nick James, https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/m-a-d-m-e-n-running-through-the-fields)

Of DC, Len tells us:

Like other established acts . . . these experienced Beat-era musicians drastically changed tack to embrace the new counterculture, yet no others did it so publicly, nor with such apparent commitment, nor did they fail so spectacularly in spite of critical acclaim and huge hype. Keyboardist/vocalist George Zoot Money had helmed his Big Roll Band since 1961, playing fiery R’n’B to enthusiastic Soho Mod club dancers whilst selling precious few records. Seeing the psychedelic scene suddenly burgeon around them, Money, guitarist Andy Somers and drummer Colin Allen threw themselves bodily on to the bandwagon, announcing abruptly in July 1967 that the Big Roll Band no longer existed and that henceforth they would be Dantalian’s Chariot[,] Dantalian being a Duke of Hell, referred to in The Key of Solomon.* To emphasise the point they kitted themselves out completely in white “kaftans, guitars, amps, even a white Hammond” and put together a light show so sophisticated that the Pink Floyd hired it on occasions. From their first self-penned recording sessions EMI released a single, Madman Running Through The Fields. . . . [A] subsequent attempt to release an album, appropriately titled Transition, on CBS subsidiary Direction also stalled when the label insisted that its psychedelic elements be diluted with more familiar Money fare and the release credited to the Big Roll Band. This too sank without trace, and a miffed Money finally junked the Chariot in April 1968.

http://therisingstorm.net/dantalians-chariot-chariot-rising/

As David Wells explains:

Zoot and Andy [Summers] were becoming increasingly immersed in the psychedelic experience, regularly attending . . . various subterranean love-ins and happenings . . . . Increasingly weary of being promoted by EMI as the white James Brown, Zoot announced in late July 1967 that the Big Roll Band were not more. “We had been working very hard for a long time and felt we were getting stale”, Zoot told reporters.

liner notes to the CD comp Dantalian’s Chariot: Chariot Rising

Zoot recalls “We just wanted to do something new. It was a chance to be more creative, to move on to writing our own material and try out new things.” (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)

Richie Unterberger adds:

Such was the impact of psychedelic music in 1967, however, that by the middle of the year, Money had decided to totally revamp his sound. R&B/jazz/soul had become passe; now it was important to write your own material, and reflect the mind-expanding experience. . . . [The band] became Dantalian’s Chariot. The music, written primarily by Money and Summers, changed as radically as the name, with airy melodies, spacy lyrics, and guitar/organ-driven arrangements. The band hit the London underground circuit inhabited by such acts as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, and made their debut recording as Dantalian’s Chariot . . . in the summer of 1967.. . . Although they were a respected live act, their new direction wasn’t supported by EMI, which dropped the band. A psychedelic-minded LP was worked on, but not released. Some of the material appeared on an early 1968 record, which the Direction label assembled from various tunes cut over the past year. . . . Dantalian’s Chariot came to an end in the spring of 1968, with Summers joining the Soft Machine (and subsequently Eric Burdon’s Animals); Money would also join Eric Burdon’s Animals around the same time.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dantalians-chariot-mn0000679042

But what a trip it was. David Wells notes that DC became “the darlings of the London underground set” and “one of the most fondly remembered British Psychedelic groups”. (liner notes to Dantalian’s Chariot: Chariot Rising) Vernon Joynson adds that:

[They] performed frequently at London’s Middle Earth and UFO clubs. . . . Their live appearances were amazing. They took to the stage in white robes and had what was generally regarded as the best light show in town. The only problem was this ensured they made heavy financial losses with every appearance.

The Tapestry of Delights Revisited

* Wikipedia tells us that: The Key of Solomon . . . also known as The Greater Key of Solomon, is a pseudepigraphical [falsely attributed] grimoire [textbook on magic] attributed to King Solomon. It probably dates back to the 14th or 15th century Italian Renaissance. It presents a typical example of Renaissance magic.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_of_Solomon)

Here are Eric Burdon and the Animals (with Zoot and Andy):

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The Nomads — “Thoughts of a Madman”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 11, 2024

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

1,268) The Nomads — “Thoughts of a Madman”

Wandering down from Mount Airy, North Carolina, the Nomads offer us “wickedly cool” (On the Flip-Side, http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-south-spotlight-nomads-thoughts-of.html?m=1) and “totally raw, frenetic garage psych played by pumping organ, searing acid guitar including a rip-roaring break . . . heavy bass line and . . . thunderous drums, topped off by . . . [a] screaming, wild punk vocal”. (Bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-nomads/thoughts-of-a-madman-from-zero-down/) On the Flip-Side adds:

[Madman”] opens with an echo-chambered guitar that is reminiscent of the work on the 13th Floor Elevators’ second album . . . [then] Bruce Evans pushes the microphone into the red as he sings of suicide, death with peace of mind, insanity and ‘1000 graves dancing in my head’. Not your typical A-Side material for rural North Carolina in 1967!

http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-south-spotlight-nomads-thoughts-of.html?m=1

Talking of rural North Carolina:

[The] rural town [of Mount Airy] is perhaps best known for being the home to one Mr. Andy Griffith. The town even claims that Mount Airy was the inspiration for Griffith’s fictional town, Mayberry. That may be, but Aunt Bee and Floyd The Barber never rocked like th[is] primal band . . . .

http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-south-spotlight-nomads-thoughts-of.html?m=1

As to the Nomads, “[b]y 1968 the band had changed name to Blu-Erebus and, in keeping with the times, put out a more psychedelic single ‘Willowgreen / Plastic Year’”. (Cosmic Mind at Play, https://cosmicmindatplay.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/classic-singles-15-the-nomads-thoughts-of-a-madman-from-zero-down-1966/) “[T]he boys scattered to the usual spots — college and Vietnam.” (On the Flip-Side, https://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-south-spotlight-nomads-thoughts-of.html?m=1)

Here is the Scottish garage revival band The Green Telescope:

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West Coast Delegation — “Mister Personality Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 10, 2024

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

1,267) West Coast Delegation — “Mister Personality Man”

Master producer and songwriter Tony Macaulay gives us this ‘67 B-side, a delightful slice of pop rock about a lady’s man who’s out to get your girlfriend.

As to WCD:

This obscure band was the first to be given the Macaulay/Macleod composition “Reach the Top” . . . . [It was] led by Rod Clark who had temporarily replaced Clint Warwick on bass guitar in 1966 only to leave the Moody Blues with Denny Laine by the end of the year. In 1967 [he] fronted his new band with friends, Don Paul and Tony Macaulay. The West Coast Delegation signed to Deram before Denny Laine made it over and issued “Reach the Top” b/w “Mister Personality Man” in February . . . . Clark and Paul immediately moved on to Pye to assault the sense of pop sensibility with Pennsylvania Experience and their version of “Love of the Common People” . . . .

liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 1-10: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era

Bruce Eder:

[Tony Macaulay] manifested a love of music as a boy, and in his late teens went to work as a song-plugger . . . before moving over to Pye Records as a producer . . . . He continued to write songs, often in collaboration with John MacLeod, and in both capacities he demonstrated a good ear for pop-soul. In 1967, he found the perfect canvas for his sonic vision with the Foundations, a big-scale British soul outfit who scored a huge hit with “Baby Now That I’ve Found You,” a Macaulay-MacLeod copyright that hit number one on the British charts . . . . Soon . . . he was working with the Marmalade [see #101, 897] , scoring a pair of hits with “Baby Make it Soon” and “Falling Apart at the Seams,” though his crowning achievement at this stage of his career had to be the 5th Dimension’s “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep At All” . . . . [H]e also scored hits on the British side of the Atlantic with Long John Baldry’s “Let the Heartaches Begin,” Pickettywitch’s “That Same Old Feeling,” and the Paper Dolls’ “Something in My Heart (Keeps A-Telling Me No).” Macaulay was also heavily involved with the songwriting team of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and was something of the mastermind behind such studio-created ensembles as the Brotherhood of Man (“United We Stand”) and Edison Lighthouse (“Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”), all of whom scored huge international hits. Those records, and the Foundations’ hit “Build Me Up Buttercup[]” . . . sold well on both sides of the Atlantic, and during the early ’70s Macaulay, along with Cook and Greenaway, practically ruled the pop music world in London. . . . [Yet] Macaulay abandoned the pop music business in favor of composing for the stage . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tony-macaulay-mn0000009429#biography

Here are the Foundations:

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The Mother Love — “The Flim-Flam Man”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 9, 2024

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

1,266) The Mother Love — “The Flim-Flam Man”

The verb “flim-flam” means to trick, deceive, swindle, or cheat”. (https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/flimflam-2019-04-10/)

The ’67 movie The Flim-Flam Man starred George C. Scott as Mordecai Jones. “[He] is a rural con artist . . . who takes on a young army deserter; Curley as his protege, and teaches him the tricks of the trade. Sheriff Slade is in hot pursuit of the pair, and rich girl Bonnie Lee Packard becomes romantically involved with Curley, and helps the fleeing duo stay one step ahead of the sheriff.” (alfiehitchie, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061678/)

The ’67 song “The Flim-Flam Man” is wonderful and langourous sunshine pop, and that ain’t no flim-flam. It was supposedly arranged by the great Curt Boettcher [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 810, 1,002]. (deaconline, https://www.45cat.com/record/456687us) I can find no evidence that the song was on the soundtrack, but there was a tie-in of some sort as the film was a 20th Century-Fox production and the poster had a blurb at the bottom stating “Hear the Mother Love sing ‘The Flim-Flam Man’ on 20th Century-Fox Records.” OK, I gotta watch the movie!

Who was the Mother Love? —

In the early 60’s Wally Keske, Myrna Janssen and Danny Janssen formed the group The We Three (Trio) when they were in college. They performed in the San Diego, CA area. After graduation they went to Hollywood where they recorded one album . . . in 1965 an a whole lot of singles for various labels. WIth the addition of Gene Prophut they renamed themselves The Mother Love and issued “The Flim-Flam Man” in 1967. The B-s “Where Do We Go From Here” was arranged by Curt Boettcher . . . . One more 45 and an album Carousel of Daydreams were released . . . in 1970.

liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow: Vol. 20: Even More Magic US 60’s 45’s Popsike and other Delights

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The HiFis — “Odd Man Out”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 8, 2024

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

1,265) The HiFis — “Odd Man Out”

From a Germany-only LP by British expats comes this “hook-laden” song with “hints of the burgeoning psychedelic movement”. (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967) “Built on a Motown-styled framework, [it] had it all . . . amazing melody, driving . . . vocal, insidiously catchy . . . organ pattern. How could this not have been a major radio hit?” (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hifis/snakes-and-hifis/)

Oh, and RDTEN1 asks a question for the ages: “[Y]ou just had to wonder how there could be so much talent in one country at one time, forcing so many British groups to try to make it in Germany and other European countries.” (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hifis/snakes-and-hifis/) Jason notes that “Many UK groups would relocate to countries such as Germany or Italy because being a British Invasion group that played original rock n roll was seen as something special abroad. Many of these groups like the Rokes, the Primitives, and the Sorrows (a really excellent group) [see #407, 567] would see great success and sell lots of records.” https://therisingstorm.net/the-hifis-snakes-and-hifis/)

As to the album, Snakes and HiFis, David Wells says it “is one of the era’s great lost albums: witty, addictive, effervescent pop containing traces of the groups beat boom origins [and] a nod to the Swinging London club sound”. (liner notes to Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds) Jason adds that “[It] was recorded at a time when beat groups were experimenting with different sounds and turning to psychedelia, so there’s a bit of an advanced mid-60s sound – short 2 minute pop songs with a freaky edge. . . . [The LP is] definitely an obscure gem”. (https://therisingstorm.net/the-hifis-snakes-and-hifis/) RDTEN1 concludes that it “showcased a largely original set of material that was nothing short of wonderful. . . . never less than fun and charming. . . . clever and commercial pop with occasional nods to psychedelia . . . . Song-for-song the was easily as good as anything their UK-based competitors were churning out. . . . [a] true overlooked classic”. (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hifis/snakes-and-hifis/)

As to the HiFis, Bruce Eder gives us some history:

The Hi-Fi’s were a London-based band that tried for two years to break out of clubs with some recording success, cutting sides for Piccadilly and Pye, including a catchy singalong called “Will You or Won’t You,” which managed to be salacious and innocent at the same time, and the more energetic “She’s the One,” and also did well by Leiber & Stoller’s “I Keep Forgettin’.” It was all to no avail as the group went hitless into 1966, dropped from their third label in as many years, and headed for the more lucrative environs of Hamburg, Germany, where English bands were still treated as special. Their singles cut in Germany failed, but they still got to record an entire LP.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hi-fis-mn0001901329

RDTEN1 adds:

[T]he band came together in 1963 [and] began generating some buzz on the London club circuit, eventually signing to Pye Records. . . . Over the next year Pye released a series of three unsuccessful 45s . . . . [A] revamped line up . . . decided to try a different marketing plan. Seemingly unable to break in the hyper-competitive English marketplace, they accepted an invitation to play clubs in Hamburg, West Germany where they were eventually picked up by the Star-Club Records label. Their German and US debuts came in the form of the 1967 single . . . . [t]hat was followed by a second German single . . . . The four earlier singles all did well on the German charts. At one point in time The HiFis actually had two singles in the German top-10. Their Hamburg-based Star-Club label notices and quickly moved to finance an album . . . .

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-hifis/snakes-and-hifis/

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The Association — “Barefoot Gentleman”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 7, 2024

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

1,264) The Association — “Barefoot Gentleman”

From the Association’s ‘68 LP Birthday comes the utterly gorgeous “Barefoot”, which is “[a]rguably, Jim Yester’s finest moment [with] beautiful, ravishing harmonies!” (maxmerry8470, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldRCeLlfh74), “co-written with Skip Carmel . . . . a hazy, primordial tale of boy meets girl”. (Robert Gilbert, https://www.listeningsessions.ca/p/enter-the-association) “The background counter-point and harmony is mind-boggling.” (MrLatch0208, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMy_BZqTbo4) “Barefoot” “is truly a haunting song, with a somber mood and philosophical lyrics”. (adamus67, https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-association-birthday-1968-us.html) Carlalindquist2766 asked “[c]ould this song be any more beautiful!?” and mrb4886 responded with an emphatic “No! :)” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMy_BZqTbo4)

Jasonbear writes:

[P]erhaps Birthday ‘s peak moment . . . which starts with some gentle Latin mass-styled chanting and ultimately morphs into a Neo-Spectorian ‘Wall of Sound’ by its end. The net effect is an overwhelming three minutes and twenty-seven seconds of pure acoustic bliss, the likes of which are nearly enough to make one swear that the Association have attained a new high water mark for pop music.”

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-association/birthday/

David Pearson:

“Another standout [from Birthday], Jim Yester’s fragile tenor voice being just perfect for the song. And the overall sound achieved by the song’s arrangement and production still packs emotional power. . . . Terry Kirkman recalls the effect it had on people who dropped into the studio when the group were working on it: “They would just sob… And the musicians were so blown away by the sound. They said, ‘I would have played on this record for nothing.’”

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/worth-cherishing

Richie Unterberger writes:

A few of Birthday’s tracks . . . were collaborations between members of the band and outside writers, Yester penning a couple of songs with childhood friend Skip Carmel. “Those songs that I collaborated on with Skip, most of those are right out of Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung. It’s all about personal transformation and archetypes and all of that kind of stuff. When I played it for the group, [Larry] Ramos used to hate that kind of stuff. He’d say, ‘What the hell does that mean?’ But Bones really liked ’em, so we wound up doing ’em.” . . .

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-association-birthday-1968-us.html

Adamus67 calls Birthday “[T]he Association’s finest album statement, sound that to me is most alluring. The band’s harmonies are clearly the star of the show as Howe’s production smartly keeps them front and center.” (https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-association-birthday-1968-us.html) As to the album, Richie Unterberger writes:

Nobody knew it when Birthday was issued as the Association’s fourth album in March 1968, but the group had just passed their commercial peak. . . . Birthday was nonetheless hardly a slouch saleswise, reaching #23 and spawning the group’s final Top Ten single, “Everything That Touches You,” as well as the Top Forty hit “Time for Livin’.” . . . Jim Yester . . . . recall[s] it as being a time of uneasy transition for the band, though their trademark harmonious vocal blends were never more intact than on this album. “The relationship was getting very strange at that time between [producer] Bones [Howe] and ourselves,” he acknowledges. “Bones contended that had we stuck to that kind of semi-folk genre [which had yielded songs like “Windy”], we would have lasted forever. He was trying to get us to do that, and the group was trying to pull in a more avant-garde direction. I think that was one of the things that pulled the relationship apart. And a lot of other relationships in the group were getting strange at the time.” . . .

https://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-association-birthday-1968-us.html

Bruce Eder tells us of the Association:

Their smooth harmonies and pop-oriented sound . . . made them regular occupants of the highest reaches of the pop charts for two years . . . . The group’s roots go back to a meeting in 1964 between Terry Kirkman . . . and Jules Alexander . . . . Alexander was in the U.S. Navy at the time, serving out his hitch, and they agreed to get together professionally once he was out. That happened at the beginning of 1965, and they at once pursued a shared goal: to put together a large-scale ensemble that would be more ambitious than such existing big-band folk outfits as the New Christy Minstrels and the Serendipity Singers. The result was the Men, a 13-member band that played folk, rock, and jazz, and earned a spot as the house band at the L.A. Troubadour. . . . [T]heir lineup split in two after just a few weeks with seven members exiting. The remaining six formed the Association . . . . Each member was also a singer — indeed, their vocal abilities were far more important than their skills on any specific instruments . . . . The group rehearsed for six months before they began performing, developing an extremely polished, sophisticated, and complex sound. . . . [They] scored a single release on the Jubilee label — [but] “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You[]” wasn’t a success, nor was their subsequent 1965 recording of Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings” . . . . The group came completely into its own, however, with the recording of the singles “Along Comes Mary” and “Cherish.” . . . Those two songs, and the entire album that followed, revealed a level of craftsmanship that was unknown in rock recordings up to that time. Producer Curt Boettcher showed incredible skill in putting together the stereo sound on that album, which was among the finest sounding rock records of the period. . . . [T]he exhaustion that came with success and the avarice of their record label, along with a couple of artistic and commercial misjudgments, combined to interrupt the group’s progress. . . . “Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies,” was not an ideal choice as a follow-up to one of the prettiest and most accessible rock records of the decade, reaching only number 35, and . . . the next single, also fared poorly. Equally important, the group was forced to rush out a second album, Renaissance . . . . A major personnel problem also arose as Jules Alexander . . . decided to leave. He headed off to India . . . . In the meantime, the Association recruited multi-instrumentalist Larry Ramos of the New Christy Minstrels . . . . The group’s lineup change coincided with their getting access to a song by Ruthann Friedman [see #542] called “Windy[]” . . . another number one single . . . . They turned to Bones Howe . . . who finished [their third album, Insight Out] with them. Its two hits, “Windy” and “Never My Love,” were among their most popular and enduring songs . . . . Birthday was a departure from its three predecessors, their attempt at creating a heavier sound . . . [but] fell largely on deaf ears when it was issued in 1968 . . . . By 1969, the sensibilities of the rock audience had hardened, even as that audience splintered. Suddenly, groups that specialized in more popular, lighter fare, . . . were considered . . . uncool by the new rock intelligentsia.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-association-mn0000753963#biography

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The Good Feelins — “I’m Lost”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 6, 2024

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

1,263) The Good Feelins — “I’m Lost”

I’ve featured the A-side (see #492), here’s the B-side, a sterling garage ballad, “a great moody folk-rocker with strong organ and flute accompaniment . . . . a potential hit to my ears”. (Gilesi, https://cosmicmindatplay.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/classic-singles-76-the-good-feelins-im-lost-shattered-1968/)

Psychedelicized gives some history:

From Pacific High School and San Bernardino Valley College in “Berdoo”, SoCal, this short-lived band reached its peak in 1967 when the boys signed with Liberty Records. They performed at many concerts . . . opening for Eric Burden and the Animals, The Grass Roots, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Music Machine, The Troggs and others. The group broke-up after only about a year, owing to Liberty dropping them and having lost two members to the Viet Nam draft.

https://psychedelicized.com/playlist/g/the-good-feelins/

Gilesi adds some more background:

The Good Feelins[‘] . . . . debut single . . . . “I’m Captured” is a fine slice of up-tempo garage pop and it’s no surprise that the 45 created enough of a buzz locally to be picked up by Liberty Records for national distribution in July of the same year. “I’m Lost / Shattered” was the group’s follow-up single released in March 1968 . . . but unfortunately . . . couldn’t repeat the success of their first release.

https://cosmicmindatplay.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/classic-singles-76-the-good-feelins-im-lost-shattered-1968/

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