THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,239) Dayv Butler & The News — “The Boy Who Only Smiles”
Back in the day, Cashbox called this ‘67 A-side, the crown jewel of Fading Yellow 20, a “[t]hrumming soft rock side with a catchy hand-clap backing and a set of peculiar lyrics [that] could bring enough attention to this side to get it moving into the best seller picture”. (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1967/CB-1967-11-25.pdf) Well, not so much!
Not Available tells us:
[The News was o]ne of the best, if not THE best, psychedelic rock bands to come out of the Carolinas in the late ’60s. Dave Butler (stage spelling “Dayv”) and The News are better known for their second 45 for MU (Music Unlimited) records “Blue Shoes.” This first one is a genuine grail! Hailing from Fayetteville, North Carolina, the group evolved from an earlier project The Delmars . . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,238) Nirvana — “Rainbow Chaser”
Nirvana’s (see #287, 391, 475) only UK charting (#34) song was a “made in heaven collision of phased orchestra, ethereal vocals, shamanist lyrics and jaw-dropping melody that remains [the Irish/Greek duo’s] defining pop-psych moment”. (David Wells, Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)
Oregano Rathbone writes that:
[“Rainbow Chaser” was an] unjustly middling . . . chart placing for the beautifully warped blare of . . . phased brass and timpani in June 1968. . . . It would come to define Nirvana, [an] imperious, Bond-in-a-centrifuge [song] . . . . With its luxuriant phasing, described by [Patrick] Campbell-Lyons as “a beautiful accident”, it’s Top 40 placing in June 1968 constituted a blazing sunset for the psych era and provided a welcome profile boost. “When Rainbow Chaser became a hit, it took us to another level. We travelled to promote ourselves live in Europe with the resident radio orchestra musicians, playing from our arranger Syd Dale’s written parts.”
David Wells writes that “Nirvana’s sound involves “mystical, gently romantic lyrics . . . [with a] breathy falsetto and a gorgeous combination of soft psych/pop melodic flair and baroque-flavoured arrangements that incorporated the use of cello and French horn.” (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)
Let me sprinkle some more Oregano:
Nirvana, the nonchalantly enigmatic duo of Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos . . . . releas[ed] a brace of the most airily accessible and mercilessly hooky albums to have floated into being in the culturally charged domain of 1967 and ’68, without sacrificing a neutrino of integrity. . . . [We must] ponder anew why Nirvana didn’t make a deeper impression on the malleable hearts of the record-buying public. They fared rather better in mainland Europe, admittedly, where their billowing, romantic, sumptuously arranged and gracefully baroque compositions were tailor-made for trailing fingers in petal-strewn lakes on warm nights and contemplating Greco-Roman statuary. Nevertheless, their comparatively brief entry in the historical record remains mystifying when they were the perfect panacea for intense times. [A]n ambrosial, benevolent air blew over them and lightly draped a paisley pattern over most everything they recorded. Theirs was a sonic picture unassailed by acid horrors . . . . For the most part, this was sweet-natured, serenely uplifting mood music for the watering of ferns and the lighting of joss sticks; and even in the hard light of 1968, when the compass-overboard hedonism of the previous year had tipped over into revolution, riots and a return to rock, you still had the option of sinking into Nirvana’s plushly-upholstered sound cave of incense, patchouli, silks and satins after a hard day at the barricades.
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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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Owenrainey59072 commented on YouTube a couple of years ago that “[m]y grandma was in this band with her brother lonnie she passed a couple months ago” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8f7tJHxlk) Flat5flat9flat13 commented that “I play[ed] tenor sax with Lonnie & … in 1965 until his parents found out I tried pot :-)”! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8f7tJHxlk)
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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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“Charlemagne,” a melancholy five-plus minute piano-dominated tune that the back cover of the disc proclaims is about “an inhabited region of Antarctica,” . . . Charlemagne” stands as a poetic and compelling statement, the band staying behind John Cale as he indulges in poetic exploration . . . . “They know good fences make good neighbors” is all you need to hear to grasp the isolation at play — “Don’t wanna be like all the rest.” Here Cale is the minstrel in the gallery, fusing Keith Reid-style Procol Harum words with a repeating piano line to underscore the monotone verses, magnified by the excellent chorus of “Many times, many tried…simple stories are the best.” It is John Cale in control with the freedom denied him when he played in a group format, finding a platform that he would expand on the music that followed this.
What must Velvet Underground fans have made of this 1970 solo debut from the former Velvets viola-sawer? Given its men-acing title and Cale’s avant-garde credentials, surely they were expecting noisy experimentalism. No such luck . . . . It’s an elegant collection of stately songcraft.
As Brendan says, “Cale proves he’s got mad pop song skills to match his solid, driving piano stomping. No doubt some of these songs should have been hits.” (http://therisingstorm.net/john-cale-vintage-violence/) And as Syd Fablo says:
John Cale’s solo debut is shocking. One might have expected some all-out avant-rock akin to what Cale did with The Velvet Underground. Maybe some droning classical compositions . . . . [or] maybe even something like the albums he produced for The Stooges and Nico. Instead he delivered a Bee Gees Odessa, a Beach Boys Sunflower, or something along those lines at least.
John Cale had the strongest avant-garde credentials of anyone in the Velvet Underground, but he was also the Velvet whose solo career was the least strongly defined by his work with the band, and his first solo album, Vintage Violence, certainly bears this out. While the banshee howls of Cale’s viola and the percussive stab of his keyboard parts were his signature sounds on The Velvet Underground and Nico and White Light/White Heat, Cale’s first solo album, 1970’s Vintage Violence, was a startlingly user-friendly piece of mature, intelligent pop whose great failing may have been being a shade too sophisticated for radio. Cale’s work with the Velvets was purposefully rough and aurally challenging, but Vintage Violence is buffed to a smooth, satin finish . . . . Cale has rarely sounded this well-adjusted on record, though his lyrical voice is usually a bit too cryptic to stand up to a literal interpretation of his words. If Cale wanted to clear out a separate and distinct path for his solo career, he certainly did that with Vintage Violence . . . .
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,235)Eric Andersen — “Looking Glass”
This haunting love song by the first of the new Dylans is the “finest composition [on his debut LP] . . . an elaborate first-person narrative-fantasy with a melody similar to folk tunes such as ‘Scarborough Fair.'” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/today-is-the-highway-mw0000204369)
Peter Stone Brown writes that “It could be said that Eric Andersen was the first of the “new Dylans”. He played guitar and harmonica, his lyrics were poetic ”. . . . [but his] singing style . . . was much gentler, sweeter, and his performances less frenzied.” (https://peterstonebrownarchives.substack.com/p/eric-andersen-today-is-the-highway-june-2nd-1965) William Ruhlmann tells us that:
Since rising out of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s, Eric Andersen has maintained a prolific, adventurous, and varied career that spans folk, rock, country, blues, and beat poetry. Writing with a philosophical and poetic bent, he . . . recorded a series of albums for the Vanguard label before finding mainstream success amid the singer/songwriter movement with his 1972 standout Blue River. He was part of legendary ’70s tours like the Festival Express and Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, and he toured throughout Europe, Japan, and North America on his own. He later based himself in Norway where in the ’90s he formed the acclaimed folk-rock trio Danko Fjeld Andersen with Band bassist Rick Danko and Norwegian musician Jonas Fjeld. . . . After stints in Boston and San Francisco, fellow folk singer Tom Paxton invited him to come to New York City where he arrived at the height of Greenwich Village’s early-’60s folk scene. He signed with the Vanguard label and released his 1965 debut, Today Is the Highway . . . . Andersen’s second album, ‘Bout Changes & Things, contained some of his best-known songs of that era, including the poetic “Violets of Dawn” and “Thirsty Boots[]” . . . During this period he also made his debut at the Newport Folk Festival, was courted by . . . Brian Epstein, and appeared in one of Andy Warhol’s experimental films. In the latter half of the ’60s, Andersen experimented with country, pop, and rock music . . . . Splitting his time between California and New York, he often stayed at the famous Chelsea Hotel where befriend the likes of Leonard Cohen, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Patti Smith . . . .
Andersen’s website lovingly chronicles his early years:
[A]fter dropping out of Hobart, he hitchhiked west to San Francisco to try his luck singing solo in North Beach coffeehouses and seek out the poets of the Beat Generation. Through the poet David Meltzer [see #873, 874, 1,023] . . . with whom [he] shared a singing group, The Snopes County Camp Followers, along with his wife Tina [see #873, 874, 1,023] and Andersen’s future first wife, Debbie, he met Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti . . . . Weeks later, he heard them recite at a poetry reading in Haight-Ashbury, on the evening President John F. Kennedy was assassinated . . . . There was a gathering afterward at Ferlinghetti’s house where he also met the romantic hero of On The Road, Neal Cassady, and poet/playwright, Michael McClure. . . . [H]e began to write in earnest . . . . While passing through San Francisco, songwriter Tom Paxton heard him . . . performing . . . . and invited him to New York City. In the winter of 1964, [he] accepted the invitation and upon landing in New York was soon introduced to the Greenwich Village songwriting circle of Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, Bob Dylan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and many others. . . . His first gig in New York City was as opening act for John Lee Hooker in 1964 at Gerde’s Folk City. Robert Shelton of the New York Times . . . called him “a writer and performer of the first rank…possessing that magical element called star quality.” He soon started playing songwriter protest Hootenannies with Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and Peter LaFarge at the Village Gate. Through an introduction by the music critic Robert Shelton . . . he was signed to Vanguard Records and began recording his first album. . . . Eric recalled, before he first started out solo. “A traveling band was expensive and venues were scarce, I realized how a single performer armed only with only a song and arresting tales could entertain and spellbind and audience.” Over the next three years he wrote and recorded four albums . . . . Judy Collins, the Blues Project, and Peter Paul and Mary created pop hits of his songs “Thirsty Boots,” “Violets Of Dawn,” and “Rolling Home.” The Brothers Four recorded a single of “Bedside” for Columbia Records and it was immediately banned from AM radio, on the grounds of obscenity. . . . In the spring, he traveled to Hazard, Kentucky with Phil Ochs. They drove down in support of the striking coal miners. That was the south and for protest singers, union organizers, or those volunteers helping to get out the vote in registration drives, it was a dangerous time and dangerous work. . . . [H]e accompanied Jack Newfield to Liberty, Mississippi to witness first hand the struggles of voter registration . . . . Also that year, after meeting with New York publicist Danny Fields, he did two screen tests and starred in the Andy Warhol film Space with Edie Sedgwick. It devolved into an off the cuff, inadvertent, docu-comedy, sans script, of weird camera pans, rambling dialogues, where Eric played guitar and improvised on several songs. . . . Andersen made his Newport Folk Festival debut in 1966 . . . . Manager Brian Epstein expressed his wish to sign Andersen . . . so in 1967, Eric was invited to London where he attended some Beatles’ recording sessions and plans were made. In his posthumous letters Brian is quoted as saying, “Eric’s music makes me happy.” Then Brian died unexpectedly that summer . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,234)Shirley Ellis — “Don’t Let Go”
How am I featuring this song as obscure when it was a #2 R&B hit and reached #13 on the pop charts? Well, that was Roy Hamilton’s original in ‘58. I am championing Shirley Ellis’ irresistibly clap your hands, slap your thighs ‘65 version, which is utterly marvelous and should have been a #1 hit but had to settle for album cut status. Hoodoo You Love proclaimed that:
First heard this incredible Shirley Ellis (and best) version of this timeless song on Tom Petty Radio on the XM radio during Benmont Tench’s show. Thank you Benmont Tench for introducing me to this stellar version of the classic “Don’t Let Go”! I don’t understand how this song wasn’t a bigger hit . . . . The beat is so infectious and her singing style along with the great background singers just transform this song into something even more grand than it had ever been . . . !
Hoodoo I love? Shirley Ellis! Aw shucks, I wouldn’t stop listening to her take for a million bucks!
As to Ellis, Malcolm Baumgart and Mick Patrick write:
[S]he was funky yet classy, sophisticated but sassy. Unjustly pigeonholed as a novelty act by many rock historians, Shirley was a unique talent who could rock the joint with the best of ’em, then spin on a dime and hold a packed house of hip nightclubbers in the palm of her hand, spellbound by her cool mastery of a jazzy ballad. A clever songsmith of Caribbean ancestry . . . . the Bronx-based teen won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem while also performing as a member of the Metronomes and getting spliced to group leader Alphonso Elliston. Hubby managed the Heartbreakers whose 45 “One, Two, I Love You” was a[n] example of Shirley’s creative prowess. It was through a songwriting cousin of Alphonso’s that Shirley forged a partnership with Lincoln Chase. Spectacularly unsuccessful as a record star, Chase was one of the biggest writers of the 1950s, supplying stars like Chuck Willis, Big Maybelle and Ruth Brown with top of the range songs and scoring hits for the Drifters and LaVern Baker with “Such A Night” and “Jim Dandy”, respectively. In 1959, Chase became not only Shirley’s songwriting partner but also her manager and, later, her producer. The symbiosis was immediate; he saw in her the raw stuff that stars are made of, while she sensed his innate ability to mould her into one. The pair worked ceaselessly together over the following years on perfecting every aspect of her talent. A tentative release for the small Shell logo in 1961 marked the recording bow of Shirley Elliston – nobody cared. False start. It was not until the fall of 1963 that the years of preparation paid off with the diminutive thrush’s Congress label debut, the incredibly exciting “The Nitty Gritty”. . . . Chase fashioned the hippest slice of au-go-go, street-smart madness of 1963 or any year since. . . . Shirley Ellis, after years of grooming, became an overnight Top 10 hitmaking sensation. . . . [A] soundalike follow-up stalled in the lower reaches of the chart and, after the no-show of the vastly superior “Takin’ Care Of Business” and a “Nitty Gritty”-style revival of Chase’s “Such A Night”, it seemed that the Ellis bandwagon had ground to a halt. . . . Shirley bounced back onto the charts with . . . . [t]he convoluted craziness of “The Name Game” . . . [which] would become the singer’s biggest hit. . . . [H]er wildly percussive follow-up began an equally impressive chart run while breaking Shirley Ellis internationally. Her third Top 10 smash finally brought the star recognition in Britain and many other territories but “The Clapping Song” would prove impossible to top. . . . Shirley was then signed by Columbia. She registered her chart swan song with the memorable “Soul Time” . . . . A June 1967 Columbia album, her third in all, was the last we heard from Shirley.
An extremely influential vocalist despite having a rather short career, Roy Hamilton had both classical training and gospel experience. Hamilton studied commercial art in high school and was a heavyweight Golden Gloves boxer before starting his music career as a member of the Searchlight Singers. During the mid- and late ’50s, Hamilton’s dramatic, searing voice and treatments of such songs as “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “If I Loved You,” “Ebb Tide,” and “Unchained Melody” were enormously popular. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” topped the R&B charts for two months in 1954, while “Unchained Melody” topped the R&B charts for three weeks, and was his only Top Ten pop hit. Jackie Wilson and Roy Brown were among the singers whose sound was affected by Hamilton, while the Righteous Brothers did their own versions of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “Ebb Tide,” and “Unchained Melody” . . . . Hamilton had to retire from 1956 to 1958 due to exhaustion. He suffered a stroke in 1969 and died at age 40.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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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There’s some very soulful psychedelia–or is it psychedelic soul–on this slab of vinyl. From the opening of the 1st song (Paint It Back) this is clearly a keeper–the song starts with some Latin percussion (nice set of congas) & a few well placed guitar chords. Then it adds a soulful electric guitar to carry the melody, a bass break, some weird laughing & what sound like a guy popping his mouth with his finger. There are a few vocal snippets (some seem to be in Spanish but I can’t really tell since they’re not all that clear). Later you do get some other vocals that are clearly distinguishable in the mix: some of the nah-nah-nah chorus, a “paint it black” chant, someone singing about being “out of my mind,” a bit of the rest of the chorus (“I see a red door…”) . . . . Really though it’s the instruments that carry the song–all very laid back and hip and both soulful and trippy. The rest of the record doesn’t disappoint although Paint it Black remains my favorite track.
Richard Metzger remembers hearing Africa’s “Paint It Black” for the first time:
As it went on, and on—it’s 7:35—I fell deeper and deeper under its jammy hypnotic conga drum-led spell. Not to imply any sort of improvisational looseness to the proceedings. The musicians were clearly professionals, the music was well-rehearsed and it was entirely planned out, not spontaneous in any true sense. It wasn’t like some hacky sack hippie jam band covering the Stones, but it wasn’t entirely obvious what it was. Or what vintage it was either.
As to “this soulful, funky, psych-tinged stew” (liner notes to the CD reissue of Music from “Lil Brown”) of an LP, Jason Ankeny says:
Although performed by former members of the Los Angeles doo wop group the Valiants, produced by Lou Adler and titled in response to the Band’s classic Music from Big Pink, Africa’s Music from “Lil Brown” defies its pedigree by delivering Latin-tinged psychedelic soul covers of some of the era’s biggest pop hits. Credit all involved with pushing and pulling these familiar songs to their breaking points. . . . Equally noteworthy is the relentless conga drumming that galvanizes virtually every cut — excellent, imaginative stuff.
[T]he members of Africa didn’t have a big pink house to record in, just a lil brown shed in someone’s backyard in a locale that is quite clearly in Southern California. . . . This album is classic late 60s southern Cali psychedelic garage soul/rock with the expected Latin rock influences . . . . [T]heae guys had been around since the 50s as a doo-wop group and then somewhere along the way added psychedelic guitar, tons of African and Latin percussion, a monster reverb unit and other groovy 60s type trappings. The music on here is classic south-central LA melting pot music with bits of soul, Latin rock and California psychedelia . . . . Despite this album’s Latin/African leanings, the raw garage-ish nature of this album gives it something in common with early Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, the first two Funkadelic albums or countless other psychedelic garage bands all around the world at that time. Of course the arrangements are loose and exact tuning is not a priority, but all of this just adds to this album’s charm. Often Africa will use simple repeating riffs with free ensemble improvisations making them the Los Angeles answer to the 60s German experimental bands known as “krautrock”. . . . [T]hey don’t play these [covers] as much as use their melodic material for repeating chants and loose improvisations . . . .
Marv Goldberg gives a detailed history of the group in its various incarnations, starting in the 50’s and leading up to:
[I]n late 1968, they all became the soul group Africa, recording for Lou Adler’s Ode label (a subsidiary of Columbia). . . . They recorded eight sides for Ode, which were released on an album. “We used to rehearse at Gary Pipkin’s house and he had this little brown shack, a playhouse in the back yard, for his kids.” So, probably as a tribute to The Band’s recent album, Music From Big Pink, they decided to name the album Music From ‘Lil Brown’. . . . Lou Adler got a mobile recording studio . . . . A large mural of Africa’s photo was painted on the outside of the Whiskey à Go Go on the Sunset Strip in order to promote the album; it remained there for several months. Five years later, Africa recorded ten more tracks for MGM, but all remain unreleased.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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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Stone cold classic US ’60s heavy psych rock Band. The band came from Memphis. Buddhist vibes meet Southern hippy rock with cosmic sound effects and trippy acid guitar work. Fantastic.
[A] fantastic record . . . . [S]omething raucous was clearly going down wherever the Toilet hung out as . . . their mix of country-inflected, choogling blues-rock and acid-fuzz still sounds quite remarkable. . . . [The LP] was released . . . in minute quantities, an original will cost you about $400 . . . .
Of the band’s sadly truncated history, Jeremy Simmonds tells us:
Lead vocalist and Wurlitzer/Moog-master Grady Pannel . . . teamed up with guitarist Johnny Wigginton to form the psychedelic Tupelo-based Electric Toilet — named after Pannel’s penchant for flushing toilets while on the telephone to his pals. The band was completed with the addition of another guitarist, Wayne Reynolds, their pulsating sound augmented by songwriting input of Dave Hall and Dickie Betts . . . . [It’s d]ebut album . . . pick[ed] up airplay on Memphis radio as the band began to develop some momentum in 1969. . . . [But they got into] an auto crash as they embarked upon their first major tour the following year [on June 23, 1970]. . . . Pannel — who was engaged to be married — and Reynolds — who left a wife and children — died . . . . [T]heir funeral drew a crowd of over 2,000.
The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches
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Jeff St. John and Copperwine performing the single ‘Teach Me How To Fly’ on the ABC-TV program Hit Scene – broadcasted in 1970.
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS ,EVER HEARD
1,231)Jeff St. John and the Copperwine — “Teach Me How to Fly”
If you are from Australia, where Jeff St. John (see #470) is justly legendary and beloved, read no further — as this song was a national hit (#11 (Badger45, https://www.45cat.com/record/cr214au)). Jeff was “one of the best rock vocalists [Australia] has ever produced” (Paul Culnane, MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975, http://www.milesago.com/Artists/jeffstjohn.htm) with “performances . . . memorable not only for his strong, soulful vocals but for the wheelstands and spins he would execute with his wheelchair.” (Sidney Barnes, https://poparchives.com.au/jeff-st-john-and-copperwine/teach-me-how-to-fly/)
This soaring and inspiring, “smoothly confident, organ-led cover of Rotary Connection’s ‘Teach Me How To Fly’ (featuring a berserk guitar solo . . . ) propelled the band to #12 in Melbourne and . . . #3 [in] Sydney . . . . St John’s dazzling vocal performance on this record is probably the main reason why.” (Paul Culnane, MILESAGO, http://www.milesago.com/Artists/jeffstjohn.htm)
Steveowens403 reveals how the recording came to be:
[St. John] came to Orange when I was there at 2GZ in 1969 and came to a party at my place after the show at the Amoco Centre. I played the him the Rotary Connection albums. He had never heard of them. I suggested he record “Teach me How to Fly” and gave him the words a friend had written out. I knew how popular the Rotary Connection were, as I played them nearly every night. He went back to Melbourne [and] recorded the song . . . .
As to JSJ&C, Glenn Baker writes:
Word soon spread about this mind-blowing funky band and their freak-voiced singer who could scorch the paint off walls with his high notes. Every night the venue would be packed to the gunwales and each night the roaring, finely-controlled voice of Jeff St John would win more converts for life. Jeff St John’s Copperwine was hailed as “a truly magical outfit”, with an exhilarating mixture of fine musicianship, intense emotional vocals and a definite uncompromising direction. They soon trekked across the continent to become founding fathers, with Tully and Tamam Shud, of a flowering Sydney progressive concert scene. These bands ruled the all-important ‘head’ circuit, including the pioneering and pivotal 1970 Ourimbah festival.
As to JSJ’s early years, Paul Culnane tells us in the definitive MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975:
Jeff St John was named Jeffrey Leo Newton when he was born . . . . [He] was diagnosed at birth with spina bifida, a congenital disability that causes malformation of the spine and resultant posture and walking difficulties. For much of his youth, Jeff walked with a caliper on his right leg, and underwent numerous painful operations. . . . Aged just 8, Jeffrey first performed in public in a kids’ talent quest on Sydney’s radio 2GB. By age 15 he had secured a guest spot on Channel Nine’s TV teen talent showcase, Opportunity Knocks . . . and he appeared regularly on the show between 1961 and 1963. A couple of years afterwards, by this time almost constantly supported by crutches because of his worsening condition, Jeff joined forces with an established Sydney blues-rock outfit called The Syndicate . . . . [It] soon evolved, via The Wild Oats, into The Id . . . with Jeff also adopting the stage name* he has used ever since. This powerhouse band quickly became a leading attraction in Sydney . . . and also made inroads in the Melbourne scene . . . with its powerful, brass-augmented repertoire and Jeff’s rich and soulful vocals. . . . [and earned a] reputation as one of the country’s top R&B bands . . . . On record, Jeff and The Id are probably best remembered for their scorching, brass-laden smash single, “Big Time Operator” . . . . Jeff parted ways with The Id. . . . [and] put together . . . Yama . . . . [which] folded prematurely around May 1968 . . . . St John underwent a series of . . . operations that . . . le[ft] him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. Undeterred, Jeff returned to live performance after a lengthy recuperation, and actually transformed his liability into his own trademark, executing ‘wheelies’ and pirouettes across the stage as he sang! . . . St. John unveiled his new band, Copperwine (aka Jeff St John’s Copperwine), in early 1969 . . . . Copperwine soon commanded a rabid following in [Sydney’s] fast-developing ‘head’ scene. . . . St John wowed punters at the Ourimbah “Pilgrimage For Pop”, Australia’s first major outdoor rock festival . . . at the end of January 1970. The band’s dynamic repertoire mixed quality prog-flavoured group originals with powerful [covers] . . . .[The LP] Joint Effort won considerable critical acclaim, but failed to generate significant sales. . . . A[] single [“Teach Me How to Fly”], issued on Spin in November 1970, fared extremely well. . . . An ‘insane” (as Jeff puts it) schedule of touring, concentrated in the eastern states, sustained Copperwine throughout 1970-71. . . .
* Christie Eliezer: “St John would later tell this writer, ‘Some of the band were upset for me that I’d been asked to change my name. But for a kid who lived this life which consisted mostly of going to hospital, getting a stage name, a stage persona, was fantastic, a way of living the dream.'” (https://themusicnetwork.com/vale-jeff-st-john-april-1946-march-2018/)
The 45:
Live at The Pilgrimage For Pop Festival at Ourimbah (from the 1970 movie “Once Around The Sun”):
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,230) Amory Kane — “Candy Queen”
An American in London gives us some delicious ear candy, from a “brilliant UK Acid/Folk/Psych LP” with “plenty of great tracks ranging from psych/pop to floating acid/pop”, most written by said American and “produced by no other than John Paul Jones” with “the typical heavy guitar of Jimmy Page as well”. (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/amory-kane-memories-time-unwound-mega-154286151) Of course, “despite being chosen as Melody Maker’s pop LP of the month in January 1969, [the album] was not a commercial success” (https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Amory_Kane)
As to Amory Kane, the John Peel Wiki tells us:
Jack Daniel Kane Jr. . . . is an American singer-songwriter, mostly known for his work in Britain in the late 1960s. He was born in San Francisco. His father was a military attaché, and as a child he lived in Britain before returning with his family to live in Texas and then back in San Francisco. He became involved in the local music scene in the mid-1960s, as a singer and guitarist, before hitchhiking around Europe and ending up in London. There, he adopted the name Amory Kane (derived from “American”) and played in folk clubs. His self-penned single “Reflections (Of Your Face)”, released by MCA Records in 1968, was covered by artists such as P.J. Proby. Kane worked as a session musician in London, playing on recordings credited to bands such as The Magic Lanterns, and met David Bowie, who performed on stage with him at the Wigmore Hall in 1969. He released two solo albums: Memories of Time Unwound [from which I selected “Candy Queen”], released in 1968 on MCA, which featured then session musicians Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones; and Just to Be There, released in 1970 by CBS . . . . Failing to achieve commercial success in Britain, Kane returned to the U.S. in 1972, and started a new career as a restaurant chef.
Oh, and Kane told Michael Bjorn at Shindig Magazine that he played at Led Zeppelin’s first session as a foursome, backing PJ Proby (see #1,186). (https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/98063/page/38) Why did he leave SanFran? “The streets were crowded with people hitch-hiking to the city and sleeping on the streets, and there was violence and people dying from overdoses of heroin. I remember being at the airport and hearing ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’ . . . . I was bucking the tide, leaving.” (https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/98063/page/38)
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,229)Howard Tate — “Give Me Some Courage”
Here is an unreleased-for-decades gem by soul great Howard Tate (see #259, 261, 652), whose voice — and courage — were unmatched.
Richie Unterberger tells us that:
Howard Tate had some minor success with the Verve label in the late ’60s. The singer brought a lot of blues and gospel to his phrasing [and Jerry Ragovoy brought] the Northeast soul production [and] also wrote much of Tate’s material. Howard made the R&B Top 20 three times in the late ’60s (with “Ain’t Nobody Home,” “Stop,” and “Look at Granny Run Run”). However, he’s most famous to rock audiences as the original performer of “Get It While You Can,” which became one of Janis Joplin’s signature tunes. . . . Tate sang with the Gainers, a North Philadelphia doo wop group that also included future soul star Garnet Mimms. . . . Ragovoy was urged to check out Tate by [one] of . . . Mimms’ backup singers. He recorded about ten singles with Tate between 1966 and 1969 . . . .
Joel Rose says that “Ragovoy told me . . . . ‘The potential of [Tate’s] range was extraordinary. . . . I thought that Howard was maybe the only artist that I heard who could execute what I had in my mind as a writer.’” (https://www.wunc.org/2011-12-05/howard-tate-soul-singer-dies-at-72)
Rose also talks of the tragedy and triumph of Tate’s later years:
Tate walked away from the music business in the 1970s and got a job selling insurance. Tragedy struck his family . . . when his 13-year-old daughter died in a house fire. Tate’s marriage fell apart, and he turned to cocaine . . . . For about a decade, Tate lived on the streets of Camden, New Jersey . . . . [I]n 1994, Tate checked himself into a rehab clinic . . . . was born again. . . . [and] started working as a preacher. After 2003, Tate enjoyed a second career, recording a handful of albums and playing to appreciative crowds around the world . . . .
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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Experiment in Metaphysics is the original downer folk masterpiece, and remains a yardstick against which recent finds are measured, and usually found lacking. Recorded in an altered state of mind . . . Leopold succeeds in creating a truly psychedelic, profound experience using just acoustic guitar and his voice, like a Tim Hardin [see #457] from the underworld. The moods shift from world-weary vagabond testimonies to heavy hallucinogen visions, and even the instrumental tracks are more psychedelic than five layers of Sgt. Pepper tape loops. . . . [The LP] is one of the few records to actually live up to the term [acid folk] — indeed Leopold even used it on the original record label . . . and should rightly be credited as inventor of the genre.
At a time when the antiwar movement and the LSD-based drug culture were inseparable and indistinguishable from the counterculture, Leopold was entirely invested in the culture, living on the streets of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, crashing in the apartments and barns of a wide-ranging net of friends, playing on street corners by day and small coffeehouses at night. In June 1970, he recorded the Experiments in Metaphysics LP, which was printed in a single run of 300 copies. . . . [It was] an accomplished and unique piece of progressive folk with political overtones. [M]ost of the . . . albums . . . were given away on a Philadelphia street corner in one afternoon in August . . . . [It was r]ecorded live during a five-hour session in the basement of a shoe-repair shop . . . . [T]he music is gorgeous, first-rate progressive folk. . . . Leopold creates a proto-gothic ambience full of dark and brooding imagery that is much less cartoonish than most of what passes as “acid,” while maintaining that music’s visceral punch. . . . exquisitely intelligent and forward-looking. Leopold’s mood is much more pious than most music that came out of the psychedelic era . . . there is something aged and wise about Leopold’s music. . . .
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Jeff Jarema and Jim Wynand calls the ‘65* (see #108, 557, 913, 1,164) ugly, slobs, and less intelligible than a New York cab driver, and they mean that as a compliment!:
Dutch punks from the ’60s [were] an entire generation of long-haired, kicks-crazed maniacs who invented “punk” . . . . One listen to [Q’65’s] lead vocalist is as good as a thousand when you’re talkin’ about comprehending Wim Bieler’s “command” of the English language. If articulation is your bag, you’d be better off hanging out with a New York cab driver! . . . [T]hese guys are damn ugly. . . . [and] are worshipped on a cult level worldwide largely due to their wild looks and pre-punk approach to playing R&B. In their heyday, they were in direct confrontation with the Outsiders [and there were] fist fights between their opposing fans at shows . . . . Q’65 were total slobs in their aggression; unintelligible forerunners of the Stooges. . . .
The Dutch quintet could have held their own with [the Pretty Things or the Yardbirds] or the Animals without breaking a sweat . . . . Q 65 have remained one of Europe’s best-kept star-caliber musical secrets for more than 30 years. . . . [They] first got together in 1965, in the Hague . . . “the Liverpool of the Netherlands,” with a music scene that had been thriving since the end of the ’50s. . . . The group’s professed influences were American soul acts . . . yet somehow, when they performed, what they played came out closer in form and spirit to the likes of the Pretty Things . . . and the Yardbirds than it did to any of those soul acts, at least at first. . . . With two successful singles under their belt, the group’s debut album, Revolution, followed in 1966. [It] was a powerful blues-rock album . . . . The album sold 3,500 copies, a respectable number in the Netherlands, and established the group sufficiently to rate a spot playing with the Small Faces, the Spencer Davis Group, the Kinks, and the Pretty Things when they toured Holland. During 1967, they didn’t release any LPs, but did get a solid extended-play single out called Q Blues, which did well at home. Their music during this period reached what was arguably its peak . . . . The group continued trying to make it as a blues-rock band for most of 1967. Their sound began to change late in the year, just as music was turning psychedelic, and around the time just before Wim Bieler was drafted into the army. His exit heralded the end of the Q 65’s classic period. [The band, with some new members, formed] a new, more psychedelic-oriented outfit, which eventually evolved into a group called Circus, which lasted, in varying lineups, for the year of 1968. . . . In 1969, a second Q 65 album was released, entitled Revival and made up of singles and latter-day tracks. The music was still powerful and very intense — perhaps too much so — if not as accessible. Had the lineup stayed intact, the group might even have found an audience. . . . [T]he Q 65 split up at just about this point.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,226)RO-D-YS — “You’d Better Take Care of Yourself”
The Dutch (Oude Pekela, Groningen) band’s first A-side (‘66) is a fantastic pop rock confection. “The nasal vocals . . . were striking, in English with a Groningen accent. The b]and . . . often communicated [with their Dutch producer] in English, because [he] did not understand the Groningen accent[!]” (Wikipedia (courtesy of Google Translate), https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ro-d-Ys)
Richie Unterberger tells us that:
Stylistically, they favored, like many Dutch groups, a very British-influenced sound with a slightly raw and sardonic edge . . . . At various points, their songs (all written by lead singer and guitarist Harry Rijnbergen) incorporated prominent streaks of mod rock, soul, and late-’60s British pop-psychedelia, the lyrics often informed by archly phrased anti-establishment youth viewpoints. . . . When the Ro-d-y-s broke up at the end of the 1960s, some of the members, including Rijnbergen, were in another Dutch band, Zen.
The band’s website adds (courtesy of Google Translate):
The Ro-d-Ys started their musical journey in 1965 as the Popular Pipers Boys Band at the ULO school in Oude Pekela, Groningen. With Harry Rijnbergen, Joop Hulzebos, Wiechert Kenter and Berend Groen as their core, they mainly played covers of bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. In 1966, Harry Rijnbergen, from De Sputniks, joined the trio and changed the band name to The Rowdies. When it turned out that another band with that name already existed, it eventually became Ro-d-Ys. With manager Wim Zomer at the helm, the band quickly began to gain national fame through frequent performances and efficient promotion. Harry Rijnbergen distinguished himself as a composer and singer, attracting the attention of record company Phonogram. Their first single “You Better Take Care of Yourself” was released in late 1966, followed by the hit “Take Her Home” in May 1967. The Ro-d-Ys rapidly released singles and toured Europe, but kept their home base in Oude Pekela, where they wrote new material in a farm. Their first album “Just Fancy” was critically acclaimed upon its release in September 1967. Despite line-up changes and an experimental album in 1968 called “Earnest Vocation”, the band’s popularity began to decline. After a series of less successful singles, the band split up in 1969. Harry Rijnbergen and Bennie Groen joined the Amsterdam band Zen.
Finally, Wikipedia (courtesy of Google Translate):
They were discovered by Wim Zomer, who attended drama school in Arnhem . . . . In the summer the band broke away from their then manager . . . who was a hotel, theater and cinema owner and mainly saw them as a suitable backing band for his son . . . . Zomer organized pop concerts in Arnhem under the Mod agogo label, thus giving the band their first performances outside the region. He also managed to interest Hans van Hemert, who worked for Phonogram, in the group. Van Hemert . . . took the group under his wing, and the first single You Better Take Care Of Yourself . . . was released in December 1966. . . . A number of singles followed in 1967, mainly played by Radio Veronica. The group toured Italy and England, and the records also sold well in Germany and Belgium. The first LP Just Fancy received good reviews. 1968 was supposed to be the big year for Ro-d-Ys. A concept album was planned under the title Earnest Vocation , which was based on the novel De kleine Johannes by Frederik van Eeden. Producer Van Hemert approached Bert Paige, who took care of the orchestration of the songs. The result of this production method was that only Rijnbergen could be heard as a band member on the recordings. The album, which fit into the psychedelic era of that moment, was well received, but the singles that were released from the album had little success.
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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,225)Adjéèf the poet, his girl(s), his friend(s) & the rest of the world(s) — “IEEK! I’m a . . . Freak”
Today, let your freak flag fly as this “killer heavy gonzo psych/freakbeat” (Happening45, https://www.45cat.com/record/ac1003) ‘67 A-side by a mysterious Dutchman invades the windmills of your mind!
As the Pebbles comp tells us:
The young Dutchman must’ve been really flying on something when he created this monstrous two-sider. Of the two, [“Freak”] comes closest to recognizable music: you can hear traces of better Dutch fuzz-R&B bands like the Outsiders [see #615, 664, 1,218] or the Zipps [see #378] at work behind the nutty lyrics about mushrooms, green dogs and the collecting of frogs . . . . Was this guy the Kim Fowley of Utrecht?
liner notes to the CD comp Pebbles Vol. 3: The Acid Gallery
The Kim Fowley (see #89, 449) of Utrecht? No greater honor can be bestowed!
Happening45 adds:
[This is a]n amazing 45 and very rare. . . . almost too good to be true. Nice private label, killer heavy gonzo psych/freakbeat A side (with Group 1850 guesting) coupled with even more gonzo psychedelic sound collage B side. This one goes with me into the afterlife, just in case the devil doesn’t have a copy yet.
Who was Adjéèf The Poet? According to funnyfreakparade:
Adjeef, alias Adje Visser started out as producer for a record company, in the meantime making this single for the Action label (The Pop-Arts were the backing up band). In 1969, he was d.j. of the great SUPERCLEANDEAMMACHINE radio show before he turned into a complete other direction: VJ for Dutch weekly Top 40 program TOPPOP.
Visser’s own website tells us the full story:
Ad Visser presented AVRO’s TOPPOP every week from 1970 to 1985. He was number 1 in the popularity polls for many years. The weekly show was a TV hit. Viewing density regularly 4 to 5 million viewers…. He started out as a singer-songwriter and avant-garde pop artist, was presenter of the historical TV program “Toppop” for 15 years, made controversial radio with his “Superclean Dreammachine” and wrote the science fiction novel “Sobrietas”. This internationally published novel was a multimedia project avant-la-lettre, because Ad interwove his own musical compositions into the story and added it to the soundtrack CD of the same name. Ad’s many records and CDs (27 albums) reached the charts in several countries…. 33 sensational, international Art projects, in which he turns a Boeing 747 into a musical instrument, a tram into a Contrambas, a series of cars, The Car Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. For several years now he has been a Singer-Songwriter again with a unique style & depth of Dutch songs. Such as The Parade Of The Heavenly Tragedy, a song of 1050 verses, duration 8 hours 39 min. 39 sec. (published in book form, among others)
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,224)The Motions — “For Another Man”
This ‘65 A-side is a “simple but compelling ballad” (Mike Stax, liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond 1964-1969) that is also “the best and most tuneful track” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/an-introduction-to-the-motions-mw0001199444) on their first LP. I daresay that John and Paul would have been proud to write this Merseybeat gem (written by guitarist Robby van Leeuwen, yeah that Robby van Leeuwen).
Richie Unterberger calls the album — Introduction to the Motions — “fair but derivative mainstream British Invasion-style rock, neither too pop nor too R&B-oriented. . . . usually . . . brash rock with echoes of both Merseybeat and early mod rock . . . . simultaneously moody and exuberant, yet a little anonymous-sounding”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/an-introduction-to-the-motions-mw0001199444)
As to the Motions, Unterberger is similarly dismissive:
A pretty typical Dutch “beat” group of the 1960s, the Motions were pretty popular in their native land, releasing seven albums and over 27 singles in their eight-year career. Far from the best Dutch group, and far from the worst, most of their hits were fairly ordinary fare, ranging from dippy folkish ballads to tough mod rockers. Their best cut is the positively ferocious mod stomper “Everything That’s Mine” (1966), with a searing feedback break worthy of the early Who. They’re really most remembered for their lead guitarist and songwriter, Robby van Leeuwen, who left in 1967 to form Shocking Blue [see #1,214], and penned . . . “Venus.”
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,223) Bintangs — “See Me Waitin'”
This delightful ’67 B-side is poppier than is the Bintangs’ norm, but still features a stinging guitar solo. Robert Haagsma writes (courtesty of Google Translate) that their music was “[b]last furnace rock. . . . hard, raw, honest and unadorned” and notes that “Due to the tireless efforts during the concerts, the band has become one of the most beloved live casts in the Netherlands. The band held its own when it played as support act for The Rolling Stones in Den Bosch in 1966 in front of 10,000 frenzied fans.” (liner notes to the CD comp Bintangs: The Golden Years of Dutch Pop Music (courtesy of Google Translate))
As to the Bintangs, Wikipedia tells us:
The Bintangs (after the Bahasa Indonesia word for “star”) were established in 1961 as an indorock band, performing covers at live venues . . . . The original lineup was Frank and Arti Kraaijeveld on bass and guitar, respectively (both performed vocals), Meine Fernhout on guitar, and Jimmy Jansen on drums. . . . [S]oon the band began mixing in R&B influences, in part inspired by The Rolling Stones and in part to differentiate their sound from that of the many bands playing in the vein of The Shadows. In 1965 they recorded their first single, on Muziek Express, Willie Dixon’s “You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover” . . . . A loyal fanbase had, by the mid-sixties, risked life and limb to paint the band’s name on a gas [storage tank] in Beverwijk. By 1969 they had opened for the Rolling Stones and the Kinks and released several further singles . . . . In 1969 . . . [they] released their first album, Blues on the Ceiling. Their greatest hits, “Ridin’ on the L & N” and “Travelling in the U.S.A., were released in 1969 and 1970, respectively. . . . An album, Travelling in the U.S.A., was released in 1970 . . . . By 1969 Arti was not as active with the band, and in 1972 he and Frank created their own short-lived band, the Circus Kraaijeveld . . . . In 1974 Frank returned, without Arti. . . . In the year 2021, Bintangs [was] the oldest playing, recording band from The Netherlands.
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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,222) O.M.P.C. — “The Head”
Here’s a laid back number from O.P.M.C.* (see #790), a laid back “Dutch hippy blues-folk band”. (discogs, https://www.discogs.com/artist/918956-OPMC) Pop psych? Folk rock? Soft rock? Who knows, but it’s groovy. Oh, and O.P.M.C. was actually a Dutch/Scottish hippy blues-folk band that sounds like it came from L.A.
Soundohm tells us:
O.P.M.C. centered around Barrie Webb and Teun van der Slikke with different line ups during their existence. . . . Even ex-Outsiders’ [see #615, 664, 1,218] legends Leendert Busch and Appie Rammers were at once among the O.P.M.C. line up! Amalgamation was their first LP, released in 1970 and featuring a mix of psychedelic folk, drugged-out spacy guitar and haunting melodies that some sources have considered to be vaguely reminiscent of Love’s Forever Changes.
“These two young men could have had the music world at their feet. If you listen the songs on this OPMC album, it will become apparent to you that they both loved the Beatles, yet they still managed to make their own style of music with ‘A little help from their friends’” · Robbie Dale Robinson (Admiral MBF. Retired)**
Teun van der Slikke and Scotsman Barrie Webb were the pair behind O.P.M.C., who issued an obscure album in Holland that’s variously dated as having been released in 1970 and 1971 in different discographies.
Though this is usually classified as a Dutch rock album by the few collectors who are aware of it, this early-’70s LP in fact seems like a more natural emulation of British (and sometimes American) folk-rock music than many such productions of the era from Continental Europe. In this case, there’s a good reason for that, as O.P.M.C. featured the talents of a Scotsman (Barrie Webb), along with those of Teun van der Slikke. The LP is fair, though not outstanding, folk and folk-rock with a moody streak and a stylistic unevenness that almost create the impression of being the work of more than one artist. . . . It’s an undoubtedly diverse effort that lacks distinction more due to its average material than its eclectic scope.
Hey, Richie, I think O.P.M.C. is fairly outstanding!
* Soundolm tells us that O.P.M.C. stands for “Oldest Professional Music Company”, “as they were living in the famous Amsterdam Red Light District in those days”. (https://www.soundohm.com/product/amalgamation-3)
* * “Robbie Robinson . . . better known by the name Robbie Dale and nicknamed The Admiral, was a British radio disc jockey who was the chief DJ of Radio Caroline during the 1960s.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Dale)
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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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Right in your face complainin`blues. This [single] features two of the meanest blues tracks from the late ‘60s that you’ve never heard. Those who are curious as to what guitar maestro Jan Akkerman was up to before making guitar freaks drool in the early seventies with his fret melting licks with Focus should check this out. . . . [They] demonstrate how accomplished a player he was in the sixties and combined with singer Kaz Lux’s soul ripping vocals this could easily be mistaken for something from the British blues explosion in the latter half of the sixties. . . . These tracks, recorded in 1968, were also the first two recordings made by the band before they acquired a bass player (Akkerman plays bass on both cuts).
[W]ith their harder edged blend of psychedelic rock and Chicago blues, Dutch band Brainbox paid hommage to both American and British Contemporaries while at the same time developing their own more progressive brand of pop music. [F]ormed in 1968 shortly after guitarist Jan Akkerman and drummer Pierre van der Linden joined 19 year-old singing prodigy Kazmierz ” Kaz ” Lux to lay down a couple of demos after the latter had won a talent contest sponsored by the Dutch Record label Bovema. . . . Lux had previously sang with several Dutch pop bands but his heartfelt vocal deliveries were closer to the soul of Howlin’ Wolf and Leadbelly . . . . Akkerman ha[d] become one of the most famous young musicians in his homeland with a hit single, “The Russian Spy And I” in 1966 while playing with a band called “The Hunters”. . . . [H[e had developed a distinctive rock guitar sound which drew more from jazz and classical sources . . . . Van der Linden had also played with Akkerman in one of his earlier groups “Johnny And His Cellar Rockers” . . . . While Lux’s emotive voicings sounded similar to contemporary blues rocker counterparts . . . such as Rory Gallager . . . and Joe Cocker, when fused with Akkerman’s immaginative guitar the result was a blistering meltdown of emotive blues and heavy rock with jazz attitudes. . . . Akkerman’s adventurous guitar work gave the band a progressive aspect wth his extensive soloing and intricate rhythms . . . . Akkerman’s appetite for more explorative and complex instrumental music saw him jamming with another young Dutch musician, Thijs van Leer, who possessed similar aspirations which resulted in Akkerman’s dismissal from the band by the end of ‘69. He subsequently formed “Focus” along with Van Leer . . . . He was followed by Van der Linden into “Focus” a few months later with the remanants of Brainbox forging on with new musicians.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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
1,220)Les Baroques — “Such a Cad
If you are from the Netherlands, read no further — this song reached #8 on the Dutch charts in ‘66! It is “a brilliant pop song … extra special thanks to the prominent role played by … a bassoon and a harpsichord” (Ben van Althuis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTduigvFKM), and “bizarre . . . a strange punky original with bassoon fills and a great . . . vocal performance”. (Jason, https://therisingstorm.net/les-baroques-les-baroques/) Oh, and it is also a “[p]erfect fusion of baroque pop and garage… like if you crossed Left Banke with The Seeds [see #116, 446]” (1234gab4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyGCw8Hj1Y) That vision just blew my mind! The band should have called itself the Seeds Banke!
Of Les Baroques, Peter Marston writes:
The story of Les Baroques goes all the way back to 1959, shortly after American rock ’n’ roll hit the continent. Five or six similarly inspired Dutch boys . . . started up a beat group called The Modern Teenage Quartet. A name change to The Hurricane Combo, and a few more years working the local dance circuit, brought the band up to the British Invasion, when another name change—to Les Baroques—and forays into original material led to a contract with Europhon for two singles.
[The band was a] standout in the annals of Continental 1960s rock, with its twisted, somber variations of the organ-R&B-pop sound of Them and the Animals. . . .
One of the strangest and best Dutch bands of the mid-’60s, Les Baroques always seemed out of sync with the real world. They had a French name, a lead singer with an obviously anglicized pseudonym (Gary O’Shannon, real name Gerard Schoenaker), and played R&B-tinged pop/rock with odd streaks of European folk tunes and corny orchestral arrangements. Their reputation hinges chiefly upon their first four singles and self-titled 1966 LP, all recorded . . . before the singer left the group at the end of 1966. At his best, O’Shannon could sound like a less polished, neurotic version of Van Morrison, delivering songs that, like much Dutch beat of the mid-’60s, were sullen and minor-keyed. . . . At other times, they espoused an earthier, R&B-based sound more in line with some British groups of the time . . . . But … O’Shannon had to leave the band for military service. Les Baroques did continue for five more singles and a second LP with Michael Van Dijk as lead singer, but it wasn’t the same . . . .
Jason adds that O’Shannon’s “tortured vocals and unique personality that set the group apart from the competition. . . . remind[ing] me of an early Van Morrison on speed whose vocals are carelessly sloppy but somehow compelling and original”. (https://therisingstorm.net/les-baroques-les-baroques/)
Interestingly, "unlike all other Dutch bands of that time - they sang in good English, which was partly due to . . . (O'Shannon's) English mother . . . She was also the band's manager."(https://muizenest.nl/2017/11/04/les-baroques/, courtesy of Google Translate)
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 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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Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 