THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,280)Skip Bifferty* — āMan in Blackā
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 byĀ Ronnie Lane and arranged byĀ Steve Marriott”. (Bruce Eder,Ā https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-bifferty-mn0000016792#biography) And I don’t think it had anything to do with Johnny Cash!
āRCA allowed them to cut a full LP [including “Man in Black”], which contained some notable psychedelic and experimental tracksā despite the fact that ānone of their [prior] singles chartedā. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skip-bifferty-mn0000016792#biography) The album āsounds 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 albumās enduring appeal lies as much with the timeless quality of the songwritingā. (David Wells, Record Collector 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rockās Most Mind-Blowing Era)
Bruce Eder describes the essence of the band:
[T]heyāre 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, itās 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 Floydās early singles laced with the kind of heavy edge that the Creation brought to the genre.
Bifferty was ādiscovered 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 Peelās āTop Gearā ā. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited). Arden had told them that āin 9 months youāll be as big as the Stonesā (liner notes to the CD reissue of Skip Bifferty). Yet, as Joynson points out, ā[d]espite having more commercial appeal than many underground acts, they failed to break throughā. (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
Eder writes that a ādispute 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 (āI Keep Singing That Same Old Songā) that charted in a few European countries.ā (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 ācartoon character of their own invention.ā (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
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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 Stonesā āOut of Timeā.āMike Davies writes that āFarlowe produced a stunning collection of soulful pop releases, the chart failure of which remains inexplicable to this day. . . .ā[T]he throaty-voiced Islington born r&b singer would warrant iconic status for his blistering version of Mike DāAboās Handbags and Gladrags alone, but . . . every time he opened his mouth he rarely failed to produce something to either shiver or bend your spine.āā(https://www.thefreelibrary.com/cd+reviews%3a+REISSUE+OF+THE+WEEK%3b+Chris+Farlowe+vs+Long+John+Baldryā¦-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.āHis 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.āHe eventually took the name Chris Farlowe, the surname appropriated from American jazz guitarist Tal Farlow, and was fronting a group called the Thunderbirds . . . .āThey 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 ā60s. . . .ā[T]hey issued a series of five singles thru 1966, all of which got enthusiastic critical receptions while generating poor sales.āIn 1966, with his EMI contract up, Farlowe was snatched up by Andrew Oldham . . . .ā[H]e saw a Top 40 chart placement with his introduction of the Jagger/Richards song āThink[]ā . . . .āThat summer, he had the biggest hit of his career with his rendition of the Stonesā āOut of Time,ā . . . which reached number one on the British charts.
Farlowe had a lucky connection with the Flamingo Club in London.āFirst, it got him noticed by Oldham:
Hanging out at Londonās famous Flamingo Club . . . meant that Chris came to the attention of . . . Andrew Loog Oldham.āOriginally 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 Chrisās voice and was keen to sign him to the new Immediate label.
āI was playing a show at the Flamingo club in London and someone told me [Redding] was in the audience watching me sing.āI thought they were having me on but afterwards I was in the dressing room, the door opened and he walked in.āHe said, āMan, youāre a great singer, youāre a soul brotherā.āHe told me he was doing a TV show on Friday and asked me to appear on it with him.āāThat show was one of the most celebrated episodes of the classic TV series Ready Steady Go . . . .āOtis performed several songs, Chris had his own spot and the two ā accompanied by Eric Burdon of the Animals ā join forces for a rousing finale. Chris remembers, āAfter that we did some more concerts together and became good friends, so it was a terrible shock when he died.ā
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,278)The Searchers — āUmbrella Manā
Hand-clappin’ heaven, one of the Searchers’ (see #352, 394, 636) great singles from the latter half of the 60ās. āUmbrella 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 Searchersā chart successes dwindled in the latter half of the ā60ās, but they still released exquisite singles, ones that deserved to be hits. As Bruce Eder says, āBy the beginning of 1966, the groupās string of chart hits seemed to have run out . . . . The[y] continued working, however, playing clubs and cabarets in England and Europe.ā (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 āPopcorn Double Featureā [see #352].
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,277)The Third Rail — āInvisible Manā
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.
Comprising husband and wife songwriting team Kris and Artie Resnick (Artie a veteran of the Brill Building, having co-written The Driftersā “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 Musicās 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.
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 LevineĀ 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,Ā 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.
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.
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 playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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Open a time capsule, and read John Reedās 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.
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.”
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.
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: āWhoās on the other side? People who think we are bad. Other side? No, letās not make it a war, weāll all be destroyed, weāll go on suffering till we die if we take the War Door.ā 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 āthe Fags.ā This was surely one of the most lyrically explosive underground bands ever. Not the greatest musicians in the world, but how āpunkā was all that?
[The Fugs] released four albums between 1968 and 1970 full of hippie rewrites of traditional folk tunes and typically literate, ā60s 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 Franciscoās 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 āthe first truly underground band in America,ā as well as hugely influential predecessors of punk via timeless, hysterically funny, howlingly scatological, barely musical rants and raves . . . .
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 . . . .
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,275)Them — āDirty Old Manā
Belfast’s Them (without Van the Man) give us a ’67 A-side that is “pure 60ās 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)
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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! (ārelating 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 entertainmentā ā dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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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Lightspots calls āCowmanā #23 of the Bee Geesā 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 Faithās 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 āchant to fadeā, [it] is prime 1967 pop-psych. Adam Faith delivers the whole thing with a mandatory air of profundity. The single did nothing.
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 Geesā 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.
* “‘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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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. Iāve 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.
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 (ā66). 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]tās got a swinginā garage beat that I dig the most and thereās some great ācopā put down lyrics.
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
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,272)The Hobbits — āIām Just a Young Manā
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 . . . .
Jason Ankeny notes that “[The] follow-up [LP],Ā Men and Doors: The Hobbirts Communicate, appeared in 1968 — like its predecessor, the record didn’t sell, and Decca terminated the contract.Ā Curtiss then formed his own label and production company . . . . [A]fter rechristening the groupĀ 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 isĀ that Curtiss’ rootsĀ are in doo-wop and vocal groups of the late 50sĀ as well asĀ 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.Ā 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.Ā
Records As I Buy Them is ambivalent: “Itās 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.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,262)The Young Idea — āMr. Lovinā Luggage Manā
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 Londonās 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 Beatlesā song āWith A Little Help From My Friendsā. The pair achieved a higher profile with non-original material, including the Holliesā āA Peculiar Situationā 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.
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.
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 wasnāt 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 ā āCan you write a string quartet like Mozart?ā, āa song in the style of Dolly Parton?ā ā 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 . . . .
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,270) Selwyn & John — āBogey Manā
Here is some ā[v]ery cool swinging mod with fuzzā (Happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crwPkKl_vzE), a āderanged 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 ā[n]ice overlooked beat number with a great fuzz guitar”. (pelouro, https://www.45cat.com/record/2708).
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,269)Dantalianās Chariot — āThe Madman Running Through the Fieldsā
Dantalianās Chariot (see #727, 1,106) of the gods gave the human race ā[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.ā [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 . . . . āMadman was a description of our personal experiences,ā says Money of their one and only single, āand the subsequent self-revelations brought about by hallucinogenics. It was based around the observations we made once we had returned to ānormalā, so to speak. The verse is the voice of the taker, the one whoās dropped the acid, and the chorus is him being observed by a second party ā āIsnāt that the madman running through the fields?ā A puzzled onlooker, much like the audiences at the time.ā Madman is a schizophrenic slice of psychedelic pop . . . . It was picked as Record Of The Week by original Animalsā 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.
Yet this ācritically acclaimed [songs] inexplicably failed to make an impression on the UK charts despite chiming in well nigh perfectly with the prevailing psych-ascendant late-ā67 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 EMIās wariness of Zoot Moneyās venture into the leftfield when the Big Roll Band was ticking along just nicely thank you, saw Dantalianās 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.āKeyboardist/vocalist George Zoot Money had helmed his Big Roll Band since 1961, playing fiery RānāB to enthusiastic Soho Mod club dancers whilst selling precious few records.āSeeing 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 Dantalianās Chariot[,] Dantalian being a Duke of Hell, referred to in The Key of Solomon.*āTo emphasise the point they kitted themselves out completely in white ākaftans, guitars, amps, even a white Hammond” and put together a light show so sophisticated that the Pink Floyd hired it on occasions.āFrom their first self-penned recording sessions EMI released a single, Madman Running Through The Fields. . . .ā[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.
Zoot and Andy [Summers] were becoming increasingly immersed in the psychedelic experience, regularly attending . . . various subterranean love-ins and happenings . . . .āIncreasingly 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.āāWe had been working very hard for a long time and felt we were getting staleā, Zoot told reporters.
liner notes to the CD comp Dantalianās Chariot: Chariot Rising
Zoot recalls āWe just wanted to do something new.āIt was a chance to be more creative, to move on to writing our own material and try out new things.ā (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rockās 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.āR&B/jazz/soul had become passe; now it was important to write your own material, and reflect the mind-expanding experience. . . .ā[The band] became Dantalianās Chariot.āThe music, written primarily by Money and Summers, changed as radically as the name, with airy melodies, spacy lyrics, and guitar/organ-driven arrangements.āThe band hit the London underground circuit inhabited by such acts as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, and made their debut recording as Dantalianās Chariot . . . in the summer of 1967.. . . Although they were a respected live act, their new direction wasnāt supported by EMI, which dropped the band.āA 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. . . .āDantalianās Chariot came to an end in the spring of 1968, with Summers joining the Soft Machine (and subsequently Eric Burdonās Animals); Money would also join Eric Burdonās Animals around the same time.
But what a trip it was.āDavid Wells notes that DC became āthe darlings of the London underground setā and āone of the most fondly remembered British Psychedelic groupsā. (liner notes to Dantalianās Chariot: Chariot Rising)āVernon Joynson adds that:
[They] performed frequently at Londonās Middle Earth and UFO clubs. . . .āTheir live appearances were amazing.āThey took to the stage in white robes and had what was generally regarded as the best light show in town.āThe 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.āIt presents a typical example of Renaissance magic.ā (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_of_Solomon)
Here are Eric Burdon and the Animals (with Zoot and Andy):
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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[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!
[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 . . . .
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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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Master producer and songwriter Tony Macaulay gives us this ā67 B-side, a delightful slice of pop rock about a ladyās man whoās out to get your girlfriend.
As to WCD:
This obscure band was the first to be given the Macaulay/Macleod composition āReach the Topā . . . . [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 āReach the Topā b/w āMister Personality Manā 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[]ā . . . 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 . . . .
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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 āThe 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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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! (ārelating 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 entertainmentā ā dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,265)The HiFis — āOdd Man Outā
From a Germany-only LP by British expats comes this “hook-laden” song with “hints of the burgeoning psychedelic movementā. (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 thereās a bit of an advanced mid-60s sound ā 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.
[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 . . . .
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā that are available on Spotify — now over 750 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
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[P]erhaps Birthday ‘s peak moment . . . which starts with some gentle Latin mass-styled chanting and ultimately morphs into a Neo-Spectorian āWall 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.”
“Another standout [from Birthday], Jim Yesterās fragile tenor voice being just perfect for the song. And the overall sound achieved by the songās 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: āThey would just sobā¦ And the musicians were so blown away by the sound. They said, āI would have played on this record for nothing.āā
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.” . . .
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.” . . .
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.
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The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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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From Pacific High School and San Bernardino Valley College in āBerdooā, 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.
The Good Feelins[ā] . . . . debut single . . . . āIām Capturedā is a fine slice of up-tempo garage pop and itās 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. āIām Lost / Shatteredā was the groupās follow-up single released in March 1968 . . . but unfortunately . . . couldnāt repeat the success of their first release.
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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! (ārelating 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 entertainmentā ā dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
1,262)Erick Saint-Laurent – āLe Temps D’y Penserā/”Time to Think About It”
Talk about a genre-bender, here from a ā67EP is ārare, perfect beat-pop-jerk-psychedelic-folk-garage Frenchā (gerardo9633, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnd-zbIK_94) āwith itsĀ beatnikĀ air, itsĀ fuzzĀ guitar, the soulful winds and its rhythm section in steamroller mode, covering a lyric portrait of the times: the desire for emancipation, to be different, the new codes of youth, generational incommunicability and America as the promised landā. (estudiodelsonidoesnob, https://estudiodelsonidoesnob.wordpress.com/category/erick-saint-laurent/)
The lyrics*, still relevant (here in English): How long, tell me, will I have to stay with my parents? As long as I canāt make enough money Yes, but how long will it take me to earn some? And Thatās what my dad keeps asking himself
As to Erick Saint-Laurent, estudiodelsonidoesnob (āstudy of snob soundā š ) says:
[Erick Saint-Laurent] was part of the French pop wave of the late 1960s . . . . [He] joined Les Little Boys d’Orly . . . . in 1962. . . . Patrice renamed his group the Hornets . . . in homage to the Beatles . . . . The Hornets band performed at a competition, Twistorama in Orly, which they ended up winning. This gave the group some visibility on the local Parisian scene. The group covered Beatles songs, which pleased Kiki ChauviĆØre, who invited the group to play on stage at la Locomotive. The group then spent their weekends on stage. In 1965, the[y] met Mike Pasternack, with whom they signed a contract. Pasternack had them open for the Kinks, when the latter performed at the Olympia in February 1965. . . . The Beatles’ influence was increasingly felt in the band, who performed live covers of the Fab Four’s classics, as well as other hits from the English-speaking scene. . . . They tried to sign with Barclay in 1965, but the record company refused. The band spent the rest of 1965 playing on stage at La Locomotive. At the beginning of the summer of 1966, under the leadership of Mike Pasternack, the group auditioned at Barclay, who signed Patrice, who would be renamed “Erick Saint-Laurent”. The rest of the group would end up accompanying their singer in the rest of his career, Barclay not wanting to produce a group. . . . He collaborated with the lyricist Pierre Saka from 1966. In his book “Tout finit par des chansons” Saka describes Erick as “a young singer who is not like the others (…) He stands out from the rockers whose uniform is the black leather jacket. He plays the elegance card, a bit like Dutronc before his time”. It was under the impetus of Pierre Saka that Erick Saint-Laurent would sing songs in French, he who at the time mainly covered Anglo-Saxon songsā ā.A first album was released in June 1966. . . . In September 1966, Erick Saint-Laurent [went] to a London studio. Accompanied by Eddy Mitchell’s musicians , he recorded a few songs, including a French adaptation of “Eleanor Rigby” . . . . [which] earned the singer his first success. . . . rank[ing] 36th in the tops between October 23 and November 6, 1966. . . .
* Combien de temps, dis-moi, il va me falloir rester chez mes parents? Aussi longtemps que je ne pourrai pas gagner assez d’argent Oui mais voilĆ combien de temps il me faudra pour en gagner? C’est ce que mon pĆØre n’arrĆŖte pas de se demander
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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! (ārelating 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 entertainmentā ā dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the āgreatest songs of the 1960ās that no one has ever heardā 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
Our July 4th Spectacular starts off with one of Paul Revere and the Raidersā first singles, retelling the āMidnite Rideā of, of course, Paul Revere! Then we turn to songs of freedom from the Netherlands and England. OK, that may be a little tone deaf!
109)Paul Revere and the Raiders ā āMidnite Rideā
No, not the ā66 album, the ā61 B-side telling it like it was, rockabilly style! Um, no offense meant to my English friends.
William Ruhlmann tells us of the Raidersā first album (including an alternate version of āMidnite Rideā) that:
Gardena Records issued Paul Revere & the Raidersā debut album in the wake of the Top 40 success of the instrumental āLike, Long Hair,ā and much of it is in the same vein as the single, which is a boogie-woogie arrangement of Rachmaninoffās Prelude in C-Sharp Minor.ā Pianist and bandleader Paul Revere and saxophonist (and occasional vocalist) Mark Lindsay lead the instrumental attack . . . . Itās lively, if basic music, but offers little hint that the group would go on to make polished pop/rock in a few years.
Of the Raidersā early history Michael Jack Kirby writes that:
Of all the acts that sprang up out of the Pacific Northwest during rock and rollās early years, Paul Revere and the Raiders were the most fun-loving of the bunch, possessing the ability to excite an audience and make them cry out for more. . . . Paul Revere Dick spent most of his early life in Caldwell, Idaho, about 30 miles east of Boise, while . . . Mark Lindsay . . . moved to the same area and began singing at age 15 with a local band, Freddy Chapman and the Idaho Playboys. . . . Revere had worked as a barber at age 18 and by 1958 he owned a small walk-up/drive-thru burger restaurant in Caldwell called Reed & Bell Root Beer, which he kept running even after his music career had kicked in. Lindsay had a job as a baker but walked out after meeting and singing for Paul one night at the Elks Lodge in Caldwell. Both were fans of Jerry Lee Lewis . . . . Paul and Mark joined forces in a band called The Downbeats, performing mostly instrumentals and gaining a word-of-mouth reputation in Southern Idaho and parts of Washington and Oregon. In 1960, after recording some songs in a local studio and shopping the tapes around, they got a bite from John Guss, the owner of a small L.A.-based label, Gardena Records, who suggested taking advantage of Revereās given name, which the two had previously considered. They thought Night Riders sounded good but settled on the Raiders . . . and promoted themselves as āthe wildest sound for miles around.ā . . . They began working in Los Angeles with Gary Paxton (fresh off his āAlley-Oopā chart-topper); the idea of arranging classics as rock numbers was further explored with āLike, Long Hair,ā based on Sergei Rachmaninoffās 1892 āPrelude in C-Sharp Minor.ā This third single hit the national charts and entered the top 40 in April 1961. Paul was drafted by the Army, leaving Mark and the band to go out on performance dates as Paul Revereās Raiders, though only for a short time as Paul was designated a conscientious objector. Paul and Mark cut their first album (Like, LONG Hair) with studio musicians . . . . Portland, Oregon was the groupās home base . . . . Top 40 deejay Roger Hart of KISN, a Vancouver, Washington station that broadcast from downtown Portland and made ā91-derfulā the most popular spot on the radio dial, began promoting their local appearances on his show, which guaranteed packed houses. Roger became fast friends with all the Raiders and wound up as their full-time manager. The bandās shows have since become the stuff of legends; the guys worked out choreographed steps that the crowd would mimic, Lindsay blew sax while hanging from the rafters if the buildingās interior design allowed for it, and Paul lit his piano on fire more than a few times. Musicianship was hot and tight and people rocked out at their shows. It was not unlike the kind of mania Jerry Lee had become famous for.
This ebullient number about being free “like the fish in the sea” is a “Great song!!! . . . makes me feel like a kangaroo” jumping in the zoooooo!!! :)” (rhondaeverett8284, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBxc7jrMJXQ)
As to the Motions (see #1,224), Richie Unterberger is dismissive:
A pretty typical Dutch ābeatā 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 āEverything Thatās Mineā (1966), with a searing feedback break worthy of the early Who. Theyāre 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 . . . āVenus.ā
I disagree. Had they been an English group, the Motions would have been huge in the UK and revered to this day. In any event, the Dutch online record store Platenzaak.NL says (courtesy of Google Translate):
Founder and main songwriter Robbie van Leeuwen had already given up after two albums to undertake other musical adventures, so the band recorded their third album Impressions Of Wonderful without him. After this album, the band and their then label Havoc also split up. Singer Rudy Bennett subsequently released a number of singles on Decca, the label where The Motions also found new accommodation in 1968 to record a new album. The result was Electric Baby, recorded with producer Hans van Hemert, which was released in 1969.
This “lost dancefloor friendly sixties anthem” (Derek Anderson, https://dereksmusicblog.com/2019/03/27/gordon-jackson-a-story-of-what-might-have-been/) A-side was stuck in heavy Traffic in ’69 along with the rest of the album Thinking Back (“intimate and mellow psychedelic folk, with a jazzy feeling to several songs”, Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Brum Beat Reviews writes of “Song for Freedom” that:
The highly-driven ‘Song For Freedom’ is really one of the stand-out tracks on the album. With Gordon Jacksonās acoustic intro, it combines a fantastic rhythm section powered along by congas courtesy of Rocky Dzidzorni and Jim Capaldiās characteristic drumming along with Dave Masonās distinctive bass. You can really dance to this one and indeed will have a hard time resisting the urge to! Brilliant backing vocal by Julie Driscoll (of Brian Auger and The Trinity) [see #1,032-33] . . . . Note also the atmospheric tenor sax and organ contributed by Chris Wood and Poli Palmer respectively.
Gordon Jackson’s only album sounds a little like a Traffic LP with a singer who isn’t in the band. The similarity is really no surprise, since Traffic men Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood all played on the record, and Mason produced. . . . There’s a languid, minor keyed jazz-folk-psychedelic vibe to the songs, which have a meditative, spontaneously pensive air, appealingly sung by Jackson. Touches of Indian and African music are added by occasional tabla and sitar. What keeps this from being as memorable as Traffic or some of the other better late-’60s British psychedelic acts is a certain meandering looseness to the songs that, while quite pleasant, lacks concision and focus. . . . the songs are more interesting mood pieces with a yearning, mystic tone than they are outstanding compositions. . . .
Thinking Back had the same sort of loose mixture of psychedelic rock with jazz, folk, and bits of soul and world music that characterized some of Trafficās work. The material wasn’t as strong or focused as Trafficās or Familyās but it had a nice, introspective groove with haunting, minor-keyed melodies.
Brum Beat Reviews adds as to Jackson and his album:
Although often described as a ālost Traffic albumā, Gordon Jacksonās Thinking Back, upon closer examination, reveals itself to be something more. Itās true that almost every track on this rare 1969 album does have Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, and Steve Winwood playing on it, but what we have here is a highly personal collection of songs composed by a long-overlooked talent who was then at the crossroads of his career. In the beginning, there were The Hellions – a Worcester-based band who during the mid 1960s came close to breaking into the charts with a series of finely crafted pop singles. The line-up was drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi, and guitarists/vocalists Dave Mason and Gordon Jackson along with bass guitarist Dave Meredith and John āPoliā Palmer on flute and vibes. The Hellions (minus Dave Mason and Meredith) with the addition of Luther Grosvenor, evolved into Deep Feeling who, produced by Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky, could well have developed into a force to be reckoned with. Ultimately, this was not to be and Deep Feeling were sacrificed when Jim Capaldi left to form the legendary Traffic along with Steve Winwood, Dave Mason and Chris Wood. Poli Palmer joined Blossom Toes [see #709, 1,115] and later became a pivotal member of Family. Luther Grosvenor went on to success in Spooky Tooth and later Mott The Hoople under the alias of āArial Benderā. . . . [F]ollowing the demise of Deep Feeling, Gordon Jackson and Poli Palmer continued on as a song-writing team until Georgio Gomelsky offered Gordon a solo contract on his own Marmalade Records label. The result of this was the release of a single in 1968 by Gordon Jackson entitled Me Am My Zoo which was produced by Dave Mason as well as featuring the complete Traffic line-up. By late 1968, Gordon Jackson began the recording of tracks for his solo album . . . with the sessions produced by Dave Mason. All the songs were composed by Gordon Jackson who sings the lead vocal and plays acoustic guitar on every track. . . . [A] large number of other luminaries from the late 1960s British rock scene [also] dropped by the studios to contribute. The list includes Gordonās former Deep Feeling band-mates Poli Palmer and Luther Grosvenor, Chicken Shackās Robbie Blunt, Julie Driscoll, Rick Grech, Jim King and Meic Stevens, percussionist Rocky Dzidzorni as well as members of the Blossom Toes. . . . āThinking Backā was issued on the Marmalade Records label in July of 1969 with an initial pressing of around 2,000 copies. . . . [T]here were immediate problems with distribution and the record received little if any promotion. The financial collapse of the Marmalade label [was a final blow].
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