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

1,131) Eternity’s Children — “Mrs. Bluebird”

The Biloxi Beat — “the epitome of sunshine pop . . . [b]rilliant from top to bottom.” (mikeyaffe3344, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWDIKN6xvc). Eternity’s Children’s (see #706) “finest moments rank alongside anything in the soft pop canon. . . . ‘Mrs. Bluebird[]’ . . . [is] essential listening for anyone enamored with the West Coast harmony-pop sound.” (Jason Ankeny, https://www.allmusic.com/album/eternitys-children-mw0000221884). And don’t forget the bop-bop-bahs! “Ohhh the bop-bop-bahs…..absolutely heavenly!!!” (jnjfive, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWDIKN6xvc). The song soared to #69 but could fly no higher.

As to the Children, Dawn Eden (now a noted Catholic theologian and canon scholar*) tells us that:

They were from Mississippi, yet they excelled in West Coast soft pop.  They were co-produced by the legendary Curt Boettcher, yet they made some of their best music without him.  They were intelligent and college-educated, yet they signed their lives away to a pair of entrepreneurs whose previous management experience extended only to a chain of health clubs. . . .  [They were] the best West Coast soft pop group ever to come out of Biloxi.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Eternity’s Children

As to “Mrs. Bluebird, Ms. Eden adds:

[T[he intro was . . . pure Association, through that was probably due more to Boettcher’s influence than his presence. [Singer, keyboardist and songwriter Bruce] Blackman’s inspiration was “Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah,” the tune from Walt Disney’s “Song of the South” that included the line, “Mr. Bluebird’s on my shoulder…”. Only in 1968 would such a subtle song be chosen for a single, its delicate beauty surviving a Jimi Hendix-influenced guitar solo courtesy of the departing Johnny Walker. Artists! . . . . [O]nce a single became a radio hit, the record label was expected to boost promotion. If they didn’t, the single would almost certainly drop off the charts. That would appear to be the reason “Mrs. Bluebird’s” flight was arrested.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Eternity’s Children

As to the Children, Jason Ankeny tells us:

Eternity’s Children were formed in Cleveland, MS, in 1965 by . . . Bruce Blackman and drummer Roy Whittaker, fellow students at Delta College. With the addition of lead guitarist Johnny Walker, rhythm guitarist Jerry Bounds, and bassist Charlie Ross, the group (originally dubbed the Phantoms) began developing the complex, overlapping vocal harmonies that remained the hallmark of their sound throughout their career. . . . [I]n 1966 the[y] relocated to Biloxi . . . . With the addition of local folksinger Linda Lawley, the fledgling band adopted the more contemporary moniker Eternity’s Children, and after Baton Rouge health club magnate Ray Roy caught one of their live appearances, he convinced [his] business partner . . . to form a management company . . . which soon signed the group . . . . [They] quickly recorded a demo that made its way to A&M . . . and in the spring of 1967 recorded their lone effort for the label, the . . . single “Wait and See.” . . . The record went nowhere, and . . . [they] were quickly dropped by A&M. . . . [but Roy] soon landed the[m] a deal with Capitol’s tax-shelter subsidiary, Tower . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eternitys-children-mn0000205385#biography

Let’s have Eden pick up the story:

Once the group signed to Tower, it was decided to again hire Keith Olsen as their producer. That meant of necessity hiring Curt Boettcher too, since he and Olsen by then came as a package. . . . Curt Boettcher was on top of the world, a hotshot Columbia staff producer involved with . . . Gary Usher’s Studio group Sagittarius and his own . . . “supergroup,” the Millennium [see #397, 506, 586, 662, 810, 1,002]. . . . Although Boettcher gave special attention to some of the cuts . . . he and Olsen did not fully utilize the group’s talents. It may have been because they were already sinking all their creative juices into the Millennium and Sagittarius, both of which featured Boettcher as an artist. Moreover, Eternity’s Children came with a solid sound of their own making, and it was clear that they were not ripe for being moulded.

liner notes to the CD reissue of Eternity’s Children

Let’s return to Ankeny:

During production of the album, relations between the [band] members . . . and their management became increasingly strained, and prior to the LP’s mid-1968 release, Blackman, Walker, and Bounds all exited. . . . An appearance on American Bandstand spurred “Mrs. Bluebird” up the pop charts . . . . Blackman and Walker finally achieved massive chart success in the mid-’70s as members of Starbuck, which scored the Top Five smash “Moonlight Feels Right.”

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eternitys-children-mn0000205385#biography

* Of course, Dawn Eden is also a long-time scholar of another canon, that is what would be the rock and roll canon in an alternate and more just universe. She is also a songwriter.

Here is the single version:

American Bandstand:

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

1,130) Passing Clouds — “Hawks and Doves”

It’s almost as if the Clouds were passing over the studio where the Beach Boys were recording “Cabin Essence” during the “Smile” sessions!

“Passing Clouds were a west coast outfit that released their lone album on the Los Angeles based Pete Records, and it’s a genuine unsung popsike masterpiece” (Jeanpop2, http://jeanpop2.over-blog.com/2015/05/faces-and-places-20-baroque-and-folk-rock-pop-gems-from-the-golden-era.html), “a very overlooked piece of mellow pop psych goodness from 68″. (Leothepro, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/passing-clouds-hawks-and-doves.812352/). “The melodies are the selling point. . . . one pretty record”. (Johnkatsmc5, https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/183301620564/passing-clouds-hawks-and-doves-1970-us-psych/amp).

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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. 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

1,128) Gene Vincent — “Bird Doggin'”

This ’66 A-side is a “fierce garage rocker” (Bob Stanley, https://croydonmunicipal.blogspot.com/2012/04) that “captures the essence of rock ‘n’ roll”. (Ella Mack, https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-bird-doggin-by-gene-vincent/). It’s Vincent’s “best single in years” (Bob Stanley, https://croydonmunicipal.blogspot.com/2012/04), “stunning . . . [an] undisputed [late career] highlight [with] the menacing bass/guitar intro, the wailing harmonica . . . the scintillating guitar solo (Al Casey’s job) and Gene’s perfect phrasing [being] pure dynamite” (Paul Vidal, http://www.bigvjamboree.com/GENE-VINCENT-CHALLENGE-SESSIONS.html), “prov[ing] that Vincent’s versatile voice could handle the British Invasion style with ease”. (Scott Grønmark, http://scottgronmark.blogspot.com/2015/03/gene-vincent-in-60s-booze-pills-guns.html)

Paul Vidal explains:

Challenge Records were affiliated with 4-Star Music Co., a then thriving publishing company, so most of the songs selected for Gene to record came from the pen of in-house writers or artists. Keith Colley contributed . . . ‘Bird Doggin’ (with wild guitar backing from Al Casey & Glen Campbell) . . . . Gene Vincent had always been able to handle any kind of material, that’s a fact beyond dispute. At Challenge, he proved that he really could move on with the times without losing his identity. . . . Regrettably, only three singles were released in the USA and they bombed miserably, resulting in the non renewal of Vincent’s contract with Challenge. By the way, has anybody seen regular copies of Gene’s Challenge singles ? Did they really ever hit the shops? These are questions which, fortunately, do not concern the good old Continent. Gene was and remains a hero over here. All twelve cuts were issued on a British LP . . . while ten of them graced a French LP . . . in June 1967. The two missing tracks . . . would be put out in 1968 as a single . . . .

http://www.bigvjamboree.com/GENE-VINCENT-CHALLENGE-SESSIONS.html

Bob Stanley adds:

[Vincent’s] late sixties recordings were a mixed bag, often underwhelming, but an album cut in ’66 – only released in the UK on the London label, and simply called Gene Vincent – is a real gem. It was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, where he now lived in a duplex with South African singer Jackie Frisco . . . . The Wrecking Crew are all present – Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey and Glen Campbell on guitar, and Larry Knechtel providing the wailing harmonica that kicks off Bird Doggin . . . . [which] failed to make any [commerical] headway.

https://croydonmunicipal.blogspot.com/2012/04

Scott Grønmark:

[Gene Vincent is] one of my greatest American rock ‘n’ roll heroes – one who was held in high regard and great affection by British music fans: the Beatles based their early leather-clad look on the image created for Vincent by the English TV producer Jack Good when he appeared on Boy Meets Girl on a visit here in 1959. Whereas American producers – and Vincent himself – had always done their best to cover up the fact that one of his legs had been wrecked in a motorbike crash, Good created a set designed to highlight the singer’s infirmity, and spent the recording in the control room shouting “Limp, you bugger – limp!” Of course, the change of image worked – European teenagers loved the soft-spoken Virginian’s dangerous, tortured, moody cripple persona. Perhaps that’s because it was so close to the truth: pills, booze, pain, bad luck, an obsession with guns, and a self-destructive streak a mile wide. Compelling stuff. The truly important thing about Gene Vincent, though, was that he had a superb voice and made great records. . . . After his career had pretty much died in the States (the US was generally a lousy place to be an ageing rock ‘n’ roll star in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s), Europe clasped Gene Vincent to its collective bosom. He was never a huge earner or a chart regular, but there was plenty of live work, and – if he hadn’t been such an unholy physical and psychological mess . . . he could probably have had a solid career in the ten years leading up to his death in 1971 from a ruptured stomach ulcer while visiting his father in California. Despite all of his problems (his leg was further damaged in the 1961 crash which killed Eddie Cochran, and he had endless troubles with the Inland Revenue, his wife, and promoters), his voice held up well, and while the later recordings don’t in any way match the brilliance of his early Capitol classics, there were occasional gems.

http://scottgronmark.blogspot.com/2015/03/gene-vincent-in-60s-booze-pills-guns.html

Here is a cool unreleased version by the UK’s Lee Tracey & the Tributes. To read more about the band, see https://garagehangover.com/lee-tracy-and-the-tributes/:

And here is a great French version by Noël Deschamps:

1,129) Gene Vincent — “Love Is a Bird”

This lovely album track (unreleased in the U.S.) was written by Jimmy Seals — yes, later of Seals & Crofts. Paul Vidal writes:

Apart from playing on the sessions, Jimmy Seals wrote the oh-so-lovely ‘Love Is A Bird’, a song which stayed in the can States-wise and probably became a demo for The Knickerbockers who cut it two months later. . . .  ‘Love Is A Bird’ has been one my faves for many moons now ; I think it’s far superior to the Knickerbockers’ version . . . . Gene’s mono cut has a chorus, the stereo alternate doesn’t ; please, listen to the sound of the guitars, almost like chapel bells (quite impressive on the stereo take).

http://www.bigvjamboree.com/GENE-VINCENT-CHALLENGE-SESSIONS.html

j

Here is the Knickerbockers’ ’66 A-side, no lies:

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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

1,127) Kusudo & Worth — “The Gull”

I give you a song from a gorgeous, ethereal ’68 folk LP self-produced and recorded over a three hour span by two California high schoolers: Ken Kusudo and Jeff Worth. “This is about as good as stark acoustic folk gets, with evocative songs, beautiful and versatile singing, [and] unexpected acoustic rave-ups”. (Aaron Milenski, The Acid Archives 2nd ed.) Two hundred copies were pressed.

Richard Krieb, their compatriot and sometimes lyricist, writes:

“The Gull” is splendid in every way – beautiful melody, superb dynamics and musicianship/ vocals, with excellent lyrics. Plus, it was a wonderful and memorable collaborative experience for Ken and Jeff.  On a trip to the Bay Area, which included an informal gig at UC Berkeley, the three of us got to spend a little time in Mill Valley/Muir Woods. The vibe was so happy and harmonious, it was a joy to memorialize in song.

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

Ken Kusudo recalls:

[Jeff and I] composed [“The Gull”] together one morning while visiting Jeff’s brother in Los Angeles.  It happened rather quickly, in one sitting, I think. We were inspired by a short film called “A Dream of Wild Horses” we had seen the night before.

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

Of the album, Jason Smith writes:

[The LP] OF SUN AND RAIN stands shoulder to shoulder alongside the known folk classics of the late 60s and early 70s, including Simon & Garfunkel, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, and Donovan, amongst others.  The music of Kusudo & Worth shares the same aching romanticism and heartfelt personal intensity of these classics and yet mirrors none of them – their sound and voice is unique. Like the best of that era, this 1968 Kusudo & Worth album features extraordinarily strong material and works as a seamless, artistic whole.  That this was the work of sixteen and seventeen year old amateur musicians with no professional production, and recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered in just under three hours is utterly staggering. I do not believe I am alone in heralding OF SUN AND RAIN as a lost classic.  

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

Their story is an enchanting one, recalled on their delightful website — https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/. Let me offer some snippets:

Ken explains the birth of his partnership with Jeff Worth:

It wasn’t until we were both in junior high school that we would strike up a lifelong friendship. . . . Jeff and I were asked by a mutual friend to be part of a quartet – four junior high school kids playing three acoustic guitars and a gut-bucket bass – strumming and plucking what few tunes we all knew.  It didn’t last more than two or three practice sessions, but at least now Jeff and I knew the other played guitar pretty well – each with an older sibling who also played guitar and listened to the revitalized American folk music of Peter, Paul & Mary, The Kingston Trio, and others.  Within the next year (1966) I ran into Jeff at an arts workshop sponsored by the City of Riverside.  To this day, he remembers that I played “Elizabeth”, a song that I had written when I was 14 or 15. . . . Jeff and I were still not a duo, just casual acquaintances.  However, Jeff was so drawn to “Elizabeth” that he wanted to make his own contribution to the song.  It was at that point, according to Jeff, that we became “Kusudo & Worth”. . . . About this time we were developing a Peter, Paul & Mary thing with a girl, a classmate of mine in 1967. I must have been in the ninth grade, and Jeff, one year older and in high school . . . .  The girl didn’t last too long because her father didn’t want his daughter hanging out with two lowlifes like ourselves. So we became a duo, performing at a few school assemblies and for a few church youth groups. Then Richard Krieb entered the picture.  That’s when original songs started to happen in fairly rapid succession . . . . Richard had been a high school classmate of my sister Kathy, and he was an older brother of a good friend of mine.  Richard . . . was in his third year of university studies on the fast-track to becoming a scientist, mathematician, or engineer. . . . Because his youngest brother and I were so close, I was at the Krieb house often.

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

Richard recalls:

I was nearing the end of my junior year at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) majoring in math – with my goals firmly set on becoming an aerospace engineer.  However, this all changed one improbable, fateful afternoon … I was sitting in my bedroom at my family’s home, dutifully doing my homework (as usual) when I heard the beguiling strains of an acoustic guitar coming from my youngest brother’s bedroom . . . .  There was Ken Kusudo, one of my brother’s good friends, playing . . . . Ken explained that he was getting together with another pal (Jeff Worth) to write and play folk songs.  Ken went on to say that they were composing some melodies that did not yet have lyrics. From out of nowhere, I offered to write lyrics for them. I had absolutely no related experience whatsoever – no creative writing nor playing any sort of instrument.  I was a straight-arrow math-scientist. But there I was, volunteering to write lyrics for folk songs. . . . [F]rom that moment on, I found myself flowering day by day into a child of the Sixties. My meticulous class notebooks . . . now showed scribblings of poetry – fantasies of love and protestations of latent angst. I began spending more and more time with Ken and Jeff. I would often sit in on their practice sessions . . . and accompany them to their ever more frequent weekend gigs. All the while, I was fashioning pages and pages of proposed lyrics.  My hair was getting longer, my clothes were getting scruffier, and I was getting less and less interested in my math and physics studies. I moved out of my family’s house, petitioned for a one-year leave of absence from the university (to the shock and dismay of my dear disbelieving parents) and earnestly and enthusiastically became the full-time “&” in Kusudo & Worth.   

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

Ken:

Richard, Jeff, and I began collaborating on songs.  Usually Jeff or I would devise a chord progression and melody to Richard’s lyrics.  He’d come to either of us at any time of the day or night. I had always thought he simply came to whomever was available or awake at the time.  Later I learned that he shared his more “Dylanesque” lyrics with me – those with an edge or some tension – while softer, gentler words and themes – more “Donovanesque” – were given to Jeff.  

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

And then . . .

Ken:

Jeff, a month after graduating from high school, eloped with Michele, his high school sweetheart, in July 1969.  From that point, I planned on becoming a teacher, Richard was off to San Francisco to start a rock band, and Jeff, with Michele, had decided to tend his grandparent’s orange grove in California’s Central Valley.

https://kusudoandworth.com/our-story/

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

1,126) The Concords — “Robin”

Baroque pop complete with a horn fanfare! — a ’70 A-side from Ireland’s Concords, who “were from Kildare and enjoyed further releases on the showband scene and related labels . . . in the following decades.” (Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios From the British Psychedelic Era) FlynnerIRE writes:

F*cking beautiful, he was my uncle and only found out about his song this week and cannot stop listening, the lyrics of this song can be taken many different ways on what’s going on in your life depending on what you’re going through. Love it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J72EC0fkc2g&pp=ygUSVGhlIGNvbmNvcmRzIHJvYmlu

I love it too.

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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. 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

1,125) The Bee Gees — “Birdie Told Me”

The Bee Gees’ (see #291, 353, 354, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101) “Birdie Told Me” is a wonderfully touching “tale of lost love that offers the variety of some leaner and tasteful electric guitar accompaniment.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/horizontal-mw0000653036#review). Its from Horizontal, “[t]he group’s second album, cut late in 1967 amid their first major British success . . . less focused than their first, but [which] also presents a more majestic sound than its predecessor.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/horizontal-mw0000653036#review)

Live on the BBC:

Göran Hagwall in Swedish:

Peru’s Los Shain’s:

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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. 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

From one of David Bowie’s (see #9, 75, 464) 25 favorite albums,* an LP full of “atmospheric, haunting and edgy folk-rock” (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2015/11/10/rpm-reissues-lost-album-by-david-bowie-favorite-tucker-zimmerman-collects-australian-dream-babes/) Joe Machese quipped that “[w]hen David Bowie placed Tucker Zimmerman’s 1969 album Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman on a list of his 25 favorite albums . . . readers . . . could have been forgiven for wondering, ‘Who is Tucker Zimmerman?'” (https://theseconddisc.com/2015/11/10/rpm-reissues-lost-album-by-david-bowie-favorite-tucker-zimmerman-collects-australian-dream-babes/)

Ben Forrest elaborates on the album and on Bowie:

[The album has a] unique sound, which blended folk revival with blues rock, as well as an unnerving vocal performance that did not sound dissimilar to the kind of thing Nick Cave would later employ. The album’s quality is due, in part, to the production of Tony Visconti, a notable colleague of Bowie’s. “Tucker, an American, was one of the first artists to be produced by my friend and co-producer Tony Visconti, also an American after they found each other in London,” Bowie explained. Of Zimmerman, Bowie joked, “The guy’s way too qualified for folk, in my opinion. Degrees in theory and composition, studying under composer Henry Onderdonk, Fulbright scholarship, and he wants to be Dylan.” While it is true that folk music tends to favour lyricism and vocal performance over complicated technical musicianship, there have been a few notable exceptions to that rule, Zimmerman being one of them. As Bowie asserted, “A waste of an incendiary talent? Not in my opinion. I always found this album of stern, angry compositions enthralling, and often wondered what ever happened to him.”

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/musician-david-bowie-too-qualified-for-folk/

Richie Unterberger had a more dour view: “[I]t’s rather awkward folk-rock that’s reminiscent of some similarly tentative efforts by New York folkies of the mid-’60s to get into a more contemporary, mildly electrified bag. . . . [H]is songs, though wordy and ambitious, aren’t all that articulate, falling into inchoate rage in ‘Children of Fear.'” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/ten-songs-by-tucker-zimmerman-mw0000847365)

Marchese tells us of the album:

Zimmerman came to Britain from America in 1968 with a degree in music theory and composition under his belt as well as a songwriting credit on a Butterfield Blues Band album.  Gigging throughout Europe under various names, he attracted the attention of EMI’s Regal Zonophone imprint. . . . [which] paired him with Visconti . . . and the pair recorded a reported 80 demos. A single was initially released, “The Red Wind,” featuring Zimmerman supported by future Beach Boy Ricky Fataar on drums, Visconti on bass and Rick Wakeman, later of Yes, on organ and piano.  Though the single didn’t make waves, the label proceeded with an album.  Wakeman and Visconti joined another impressive cast of musicians including drummer Aynsley Dunbar and guitarist/sitar player Shawn Phillips for Ten Songs.  

https://theseconddisc.com/2015/11/10/rpm-reissues-lost-album-by-david-bowie-favorite-tucker-zimmerman-collects-australian-dream-babes/

Last.FM tells us of Zimmerman:

Tucker Zimmerman was born [in] San Francisco California. . . . [He] studied music for two years at San Francisco City College. Theory and history. . . . He also played trombone in various jazz ensembles and big bands in the city. . . . He received an AA (Associate of Arts) degree from San Francisco City College. From 1961 to 1966 he attended San Francisco State College . . . [and] received at BA (Bachelor of Arts) in Music in 1964 and an MA (Master of Arts) in Theory and Composition in 1966. Private lessons in composition with Henry Onderdonk. . . . In 1966 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study composition in Rome . . . . During this time he began to perform his solo songs in various folkclubs in Rome. In 1968 he left the academic world and moved to London where he began to seriously pursue his songwriting and singing. He lived in England for two years, first in London and then in Oxford, playing gigs under assumed names, posing as a Canadian, since he was not granted a work permit. He also worked in various recording studios as an arranger and musician. In 1969 he recorded his first album . . . .

Zimmerman: “While living in England I wrote 150 songs, but I couldn’t get a single artist in London to sing one. My album had come out in December of 1968 . . . and was going absolutely nowhere. I learned later that the record company had signed me simply to keep me out of action for three years. They put me in their deep freeze so that I wouldn’t offer any competition to the other (British) singer/songwriters they were promoting. I wasn’t able to record again until 1971 when my contract with them expired.”

https://www.last.fm/music/Tucker+Zimmerman/+wiki

1,123) Tucker Zimmerman — “The Roadrunner”

This stunning and mournful song muses about “[t]he roadrunner [who] runs across the barren ground” — “Beneath the desert trees are jagged rocks No sound of the water in the stillness does he touch The stone yields no path for the root” Wile E. Coyote might have had more success here.

1,124) Tucker Zimmerman — “Blue Goose”

This song has an unstoppable groove (created by mere voice and guitar) but tells the unstoppable blue goose that “Migration will get you nowhere fast You haven’t been before as an invited welcome guest”

* The top 25 (out of Bowie’s collection of 2,500 vinyl LPs) are:

The Last Poets — The Last Poets
Shipbuilding — Robert Wyatt
The Fabulous Little Richard — Little Richard
Music for 18 Musicians — Steve Reich
The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground
Tupelo Blues — John Lee Hooker
Blues, Rags and Hollers — Koerner, Ray and Glover
The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show — James Brown
Forces of Victory — Linton Kwesi Johnson
The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere: Music Played on National Instruments — Various Artists
Banana Moon — Daevid Allen
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris — Cast Album
The Electrosoniks: Electronic Music — Tom Dissevelt
The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion — The Incredible String Band
Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman — Tucker Zimmerman
Four Last Songs (Strauss) — Gundula Janowitz
The Ascension — Glenn Branca
The Madcap Laughs — Syd Barrett
Black Angels — George Crumb
Funky Kingston — Toots & The Maytals
Delusion of the Fury — Harry Partch
Oh Yeah — Charles Mingus
Le Sacre du Printemps — Igor Stravinsky
The Fugs — The Fugs
The Glory of the Human Voice — Florence Foster Jenkins

https://www.davidbowienews.com/2016/10/confessions-of-a-vinyl-junkie-david-bowies-25-favorite-albums/

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

1,122) Taos — “Space Bird”

A famous Taos, NM commune gives us this genial, easygoing country rock gem from an LP of “mellow, unpretentious, good-natured rural rock. . . . catchy, with sweet vocal harmonies. . . . [b]lending acoustic and electric guitars with loads of tambourines.” (Adamus67, http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/10/taos-taos-1971-us-beautiful-psychedelic.html)

Adamus67 adds that:

As the hippie dream turned ugly at the end of the 60s, plenty of folks decided to get out of the city & get back to basics. A huge commune in Taos, New Mexico called New Buffalo that was home to these fellas, and by 70 they were making laid back, slightly nerdy country rock with Byrds harmonies. The album was from 1968/1969. Lost U.S. rural rock gem, originally released in 1/1/1969 . . . (promo copy).

http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/10/taos-taos-1971-us-beautiful-psychedelic.html

Nik tells us more:

Here’s an unusual jewel . . . . The band Taos was actually a quintet pieced together by a group of young men who had moved to the legendary Taos commune in the early 1970s, namely: Jeff Baker on guitar and vocals, Steve Oppenheim on keyboards and vocals, Albie Ciappa on drums, Burt Levine on guitar and banjo, and Kit Bedford on bass, with the occasional intermixing of instruments going on in between cuts. If the band’s commune connection leads you into expecting some sort of stoned, improvisational musical meanderings, however, you’re in for a surprise: their sole, self-titled record is pop music all the way. Indeed, the band itself is surprisingly together, tempering mildly eccentric diversions into psychedelia and country music with a solid foundation in 1960s rock and roll. If there’s one band to which Taos owes its biggest debt, I’d say it would have to be The Beatles. . . . This influence is not to say that Taos lacks an identity of its own, however. On the contrary, they manage to take this influence in surprising directions, whether it’s the lonesome cosmic cowboy pastiche “After So Long” or the phased psychedelic boogie of “Twenty Thousand Miles In the Air Again” [see #821]. . . . [T]he song lyrics aren’t really worth shedding too much ink over – there’s certainly no metaphysical contemplation or social commentary going on here, whatever other Sixties sensibilities the record may boast. . . . [T]he music here is almost too much fun to criticize. Again, this is pop music, and should be enjoyed for what it is.

http://therisingstorm.net/taos-taos/

Burt Levine himself (I think) tells us of relations with the locals:

Hi, this is Burt from Taos. We were there in 1968/1969, while the communes and ‘Easy Rider’ were going on. The locals would take pot shots at us and burned down the movie theater where we played a free gig for the residents. We were being watched and filmed by the FBI. We were all love and peace living in Nature’s Glory, but the population around us was often savage. When we left to go on tour, the house we were living in was burned down.

http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/10/taos-taos-1971-us-beautiful-psychedelic.html

Not sure if all that was real or an acid flashback, but mesmerizing in either case!

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

1,121) Tin Tin — “Swans on the Canal”

“‘Baroque pop’ is possibly the best description I can think of [to describe Tin Tin’s (see #355) first album], with tracks like Swans On The Canal . . . conjuring up images of lace cuffs and the like.” (planetmellotron.com, http://akashaman.blogspot.com/2007/01/tin-tin-debut-70-atco.html) Well, I guess better than conjuring up images of handcuffs. The song (later a ’71 B-side), and the album, was produced by Maurice Gibb (see #353, 354, 466, 861). The writing credit goes to Tin Tin’s Steve Kipner and Steve Groves, but it sounds soooooo Maurice, one can’t help but think . . . .

Of Tin Tin, Greg Prato says:

The obscure Australian pop/rock band Tin Tin formed in 1968. They issued a pair of albums in the early ’70s — a self-titled debut from 1970 (which spawned the single “Toast and Marmalade for Tea”) and 1971’s sophomore effort, Astral Taxi — both of which were produced by the Bee Gees’ Maurice Gibb, who also played assorted instruments. The quartet broke up in 1973.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tin-tin-mn0001514584#biography

The definitive Mileago: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 writes:

Tin Tin are really only remembered for their shimmering 1971 single “Toast and Marmalade For Tea”, a US and Australian hit in mid-1971. Predictably they’ve been pegged as one-hit wonders, which obscures the fact that Tin Tin recorded a body of quality harmony psych-pop songs during its short life, with nine singles and two LPs to their credit. Although it’s technically a UK band . . . all the members (except Peter Beckett) were Australian[,] the band has its roots on the Australian music scene of the 1960s. . . . [and its] history . . . is intricately connected with many other prominent Australasian bands and performers. Named after the popular Hergé cartoon character, Tin Tin was founded in London in 1969 by Steve Kipner and Steve Groves. Both were ambitious young veterans of the fertile Aussie beat scene of the mid-1960s.  Kipner — the son of producer and songwriter Nat Kipner — had been the lead singer-guitarist with popular mid-60s Sydney band Steve & The Board. His partner in Tin Tin, Steve Groves, came from another highly-rated band of the same period, The Kinetics, who scored a Melbourne Top 20 hit in 1966 with “Excuses”. Steve & The Board had close connections with The Bee Gees. Nat Kipner had known the Gibb boys since their early days in Brisbane and at the start of 1966 he came to the rescue of the struggling trio when they were about to be dumped from their label (Leedon) by its owner, Festival Records. Nat was able to negotiate a deal that transferred them to the newly-established Spin label (which kept Festival happy because they distributed it).

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

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

1,120) Nick Garrie — “Little Bird”

Yet another gorgeous song from Nick Garrie’s (see #3, 19, 41, 65, 104, 137, 245, 362, 493, 871, 965, 1,088) The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, a top contender for the greatest lost album of the 60’s. If Nick’s French record company’s owner hadn’t committed suicide on the eve of Stanislas’s release, who knows what might have been. Stunning songs — I was transfixed the first time I heard them and I have been a huge fan of Nick and his music ever since.

John Clarkson writes:

Nick Garrie’s 1969 album, ‘The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas’, is now seen to be a psychedelic folk/pop masterpiece. It has, however, only recently gained this reputation and for over thirty five years was largely unheard. The son of a Russian father and Scottish mother, Garrie’s early years were divided between Paris, where his Egyptian stepfather worked as a diplomat, and Norwich, where he attended a boarding school. He recorded ‘The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas’ at the age of twenty in Paris with Eddie Vartan, who was a then fashionable French producer and the brother of the actress Sylvie Vartan. Garrie originally intended the album to have a sparser sound, but when he turned up at the studio on the first day of recording he found that Vartan had employed a 56-piece orchestra to expand on his more tender arrangements. The finished result is a compelling oddity and merges together Garrie’s wistful melodies and often abstract lyrics with Vartan’s colourfully extravagant orchestrations. It is . . . much deserved of the cult status it has since come to gain. Lucien Morrisse, the owner of Disc AZ, Garrie’s record label, committed suicide before ‘The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas’ was ever released and for years it languished in obscurity, eventually starting to attract fan interest when tracks from it began to leak onto the internet. . . . only finally s[eeing] official release when it came out on CD on Rev-Ola Records in 2004. . . .

https://pennyblackmusic.co.uk/Home/Details?id=18614

Here are excerpts from a vintage interview (2010) that Clarkson conducted with Nick:

JC: What did you feel troubled about when you were writing ‘Stanislas’?

NG: I wrote most of it when I was between nineteen and twenty. I was at Warwick University at the time, but I had spent so much of my life living in France that I had been called up for the French army as a national. Although I was eventually released from it, for a year I couldn’t go in to France and so I was essentially homeless.

. . . .

JC: The suicide of Lucien Morrisse led to ‘The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas’ remaining unheard for over three decades. Even before he died, you, however, imply again in your autobiography that Disc AZ didn’t know quite what to do with you and how to promote you. Do you think that too was a factor in ‘Stanislas’ remaining undiscovered for so long?

NG: Absolutely, because it was never released at all. It was not as if it came out. No one ever heard it. I would go in to see them. We would talk about it. They would say that it would be in the shops next month and it never was. It went on like that for about six months, at the end of which I had had enough. To be honest as well at that stage I didn’t really like it much either. I didn’t like the arrangements, so after his suicide I gave a couple of copies to my stepfather and for me it was finished. I didn’t listen to it again or even really talk about much for years.

JC: How do you think it stands up now? Do you like it better?

NG: I do like it now, but I still don’t hear it through everybody’s ears. I have had a lot of correspondence with people who really love it, people from all over the world who say how much it has moved them, so it seems a bit churlish to say now that I didn’t really like it. They were songs, however, that I didn’t really recognise at the recording stage and again for a long time afterwards. . . .

JC: There is the story about Eddie Varden introducing you to a fifty six piece orchestra which you didn’t know about until you turned up at the studio. What did you expect the songs to sound like? Were they going to be just you and your acoustic guitar or were they going to involve a band?

NG: . . . . I knew that it wouldn’t be my guitar work because I wasn’t a good enough guitarist. I am still not, but I suspected that would be the basis of it. The first song that I started recording was ‘Stanislas’. I had no idea that was what we were playing though. [Eddie] would shove me in the booth and prompt me when and what I had to sing. He was using these mainly classical musicians who were all wearing cardigans and who didn’t think much of me anyway because I was a pop artist. But having said that he was really, really nice and was in many a sort of uncle or father figure to me.

JC: It seems that you had quite an odd relationship with him really because at one level he was very praising and told you that he thought that you would be the next Bob Dylan, but at another level he would do something like that and not tell you what was going on.

NG: I realised years afterwards that it was a terrific investment for them, this orchestra playing for two weeks with this guy who completely unknown completely unknown. I just never expected it and didn’t feel in a position to say very much about it. I think as well that it was just the way it was in those days. . . .

JC: How did ‘The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas’ gain it audience? Do you know?

NG: I had just started teaching when I found out about it. I had done a PGCE course late in life and I typed in Nick Garrie as a joke because I hadn’t used the name since ‘Stanislas’ and I couldn’t believe it when there was all these pages on it. I don’t know for sure, but I believe there was a company called Acid Ray who were in Korea and they must have bootlegged some tapes as they put out a compilation album called ‘Band Caruso’ with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ on it. I think that was the first thing on the web and it did quite well, so that is probably how the name got about. Things went from there.​​

https://pennyblackmusic.co.uk/Home/Details?id=18614

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

1,118) John Williams — “Early Bird of Morning”

From John Williams’ (see #402, 784, 857, 858, 1,051) legendary Jimmy Page-infused Maureeny Wishfull album comes a gentle tribute to his wife to be. Lenny Helsing writes that the “rare 1968 Maureeny Wishfull album[ is] a shimmering . . . and enchanting slab of strange folk excellence that features significant contributions from Jimmy Page, Big Jim Sullivan [see #817] and John Paul Jones.” (https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2015/04/john-williams.html)

John Andrews hails the LP:

It’s so loaded. The songwriting has depth but there are also so many catchy & accessible moments with simply an acoustic guitar. John Williams is singing, Big Jim Sullivan is playin guitar, and, none other than freaking JIMMY PAGE, plays guitar/sitar. . . . The songwriting is so damn beautiful, it’s crazy to me that this record kinda slipped through the cracks and is mostly unknown.

https://www.ravensingstheblues.com/john-andrews-on-john-williams-the-maureeny-wishful-album/

Scott Swanson notes that “In 1965, Page went to work for Andrew Loog Oldham as a talent scout & producer for Immediate Records. John Williams was subsequently signed to Immediate, and began to record ‘The Maureeny Wishfull Album’ with contributions from Page (guitar & sitar), Big Jim Sullivan (guitar), Vic Flick (guitar), and Berne Williams (guitar).” (https://jppsessionman.jimdofree.com/john-williams/) The album was “a homage to [Williams’] girlfriend/wife.” (Jellyfish Records, https://www.facebook.com/112275930400880/posts/maureeny-wishfull-maureeny-wishful-album-moonshine-1972this-is-actually-john-wil/128027272159079/)

Swanson explains the saga of the album’s release:

Williams recorded two albums worth of material for Immediate, but Oldham pulled the plug — and confiscated the master tapes! Williams then signed a solo contract with EMI/Columbia, releasing a self-titled folk album and two 45s in 1967. The album contained some of the material from the Immediate sessions . . . . Meanwhile, Williams recovered some of the master tapes from “Maureeny Wishfull” project. He arranged to release 14 of the songs on a privately pressed album (supposedly limited to 300 original copies). . . . [A]ll of the songs were written by Williams. Williams quietly disappeared from the music scene in the late ’60s, and went on to work as a probation officer in Britain.

https://jppsessionman.jimdofree.com/john-williams/

Williams recalls:

I was 18 and by that time we were playing at American bases and supporting London bands such as Neil Christian & the Crusaders. That is when I first linked up with Jimmy Page who introduced us to the London scene. For two years, as The Authentics, we played regularly at the Crawdaddy and Rikki-Tik clubs, held a residency at the Marquee supporting the Yardbirds on Friday nights and did a short tour backing Sonny Boy Williamson. I had written a lot of songs by then and had recorded some with The Authentics, Julie Driscoll and Paul Samwell Smith and this seemed to interest Jimmy who contracted me to write for his publishing company and later for Immediate Records. This led to recording the “Maureeny Wishful” tracks and a number of other recordings with Jimmy, Big Jim Sullivan and John Paul Jones.

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2015/04/john-williams.html

Corbin adds:

After The Authentics disbanded, largely due to John Williams burgeoning interest in folk music, Williams began to write more extensively, ultimately brought in Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan along with other noted session guitarist Vic Flick to work on an album. Williams’ brother Brian told the story of what happened once the album was completed: “My brother had written a lot of songs. Andrew Oldham took us on, and my brother wrote and recorded a double album called ‘The Maureeny Wishfull Album’ for Immediate Records. I did the cover art – but unfortunately[,] Andrew Oldham disappeared with the master tapes! John eventually got one of the master tapes back and pressed the record himself. . . . Jimmy Page plays sitar and Vik Flic, Big Jim Sullivan . . . and all the good session artists of the time are on it. The master tape of the other album, which I’m playing on, was unfortunately never recovered.” Jimmy is credited with playing guitar as well as sitar on the album, with John Williams doing the vocal work. There isn’t any credited producer, but one can assume that Page had a large amount of input upon how the sound of the album was crafted.

http://findingzoso.blogspot.com/2012/07/pageia-obscura-maureeny-wishful.html

Finally, Jimsue says: “I lived next door to John in 1967 and helped finance the printing and pressing of the 300 mono albums. . . . [T]he release date which I recall being early 70’s, since I didn’t have any money in 1968! . . . John had other work on a separate master tape both of which were stolen but only one got returned.” (https://forums.ledzeppelin.com/topic/19880-maureeny-wishfull-lp-how-to-teii-if-its-og-or-a-re/)

As to Williams, Corbin adds:

John Williams was an artist in the mold of Donovan a sort of traditional folk artist with a twist. . . . He hailed from Bedford, England, a town about 30 miles north of London, and in 1964 was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in a band with his brother Brian known as The Authentics. . . . Jimmy [Page] met Williams when Williams was a member of The Authentics[, ] an early 60’s British pop outfit who regularly performed gigs at the famed Marquee Club in London. The group had been signed to a record deal by Jimmy’s manager Giorgio Gomelsky. Jimmy would go on to sit in with the band on a few recording sessions, even co-authoring one of their songs, a number titled “Without You”. Williams and Page soon struck up a friendship that revolved around their mutual love of folk music, and Jimmy would pass around songs written by Williams to groups he worked sessions for, notably “Little Nightingale” performed by The Mindbenders.

http://findingzoso.blogspot.com/2012/07/pageia-obscura-maureeny-wishful.html

1,119) Mike Wallace — “Early Morning Bird“

Here is “an engaging lyte pop dream” expo67-cavestones, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eT1lPrw2Uc) from “[a] flower-powered troubadour . . . . [who] presented a hedonistic, rural hippy vibe”. (liner notes to the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios From the British Psychedelic Era). Wallace was also in the Swedish band The Caretakers.

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

1,117) July — “A Bird Lived”

Classic British pop psych from July (see #937) gently propositioning an English “bird”. It comes from “one of the most sought-after British psychedelic sixties albums” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), “[v]ery good psychedelia, for the most part, but a bit dated in places and heavily influenced by much of the music coming from the direction of San Francisco at that time”. (Steven McDonald, https://www.allmusic.com/album/july-mw0000370474)

Tom Newman, the band’s singer, hated it! He told David Wells that:

“We were spotted by a DJ named Pat Campbell, who pointed us out to the head of Major Minor, Phil Solomon. We secured an album deal, and the whole session was done in one weekend. We used two four-track machines and bounced tracks from one to another, the same way Sgt Pepper was made. I was already making up tape loops by then, fifty foot long, going right round the room, so I got very interested in multi-track facilities. . . . I sang like a complete prick — a quivery, frightened little jerk. It’s totally obvious to me why our LP didn’t impress anyone. Compared to what we were capable of, it’s f*cking terrible.

Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era

As to July, Bruce Eder tells us:

July started out in the early ’60s as an Ealing-based skiffle act working under the name of the Playboys, and then metamorphosed into an R&B outfit known as the Thoughts and then the Tomcats . . . . [who] found some success in Spain when they went to play a series of gigs in Madrid in 1966. They returned to England in 1968, the group’s lineup consisting of Tony Duhig on guitar, John Field on flute and keyboards, Tom Newman on vocals, Alan James playing bass, and Chris Jackson on drums, and changed their name to July. The band lasted barely a year, leaving behind one of the most sought-after LPs of the British psychedelic boom . . . . Their sound was a mix of trippy, lugubrious psychedelic meanderings, eerie, trippy vignettes . . . and strange, bright electric-acoustic textured tracks . . . with some dazzling guitar workouts . . . all spiced with some elements of world music, courtesy of Tony Duhig . . . . Their first single, “My Clown” b/w “Dandelion Seeds,” has come to be considered a classic piece of psychedelia . . . . The band separated in 1969, with Duhig moving on to Jade Warrior, [and] Newman becoming a well-respected engineer, with Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells to his credit . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/july-mn0000976711/biography

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

1,116) Jan & Lorraine — “Bird of Passage”

Utterly ravishing paych folk from a female dynamic duo, “a great folkrock/pop/semi-psych number” which “it’s real easy to imagine . . . in the pop charts back in 69/70.m” (moondoggieferg, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jan-and-lorraine/gypsy-people/) , “[b]eautiful psych folk . . . that isn’t content to stay within the rules” (heyday2day, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jan-and-lorraine/gypsy-people/), “[w]onderful folk pop/rock with great female vocal harmonies” (neo6666, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jan-and-lorraine/gypsy-people/), “some gorgeous harmony work that had a distinctive English folk-rock feel”.  (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jan-and-lorraine/gypsy-people/)

“When one considers that these ladies wrote, arranged, sang and played these tracks and then faded into obscurity, it boggles my mind”. (heyday2day, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jan-and-lorraine/gypsy-people/) Indeed:

Aaron Milenski talks about their lone album:

This is about as good a 1960s femme psych album as you’ll find. It’s wholly original and unlike a lot of singer-songwriter types of the era, the two women . . . had considerable creative input, and wrote seven of the ten songs. The music is a reasonable cross between British folk-rock and American psychedelia (with a strong Indian influence), and is the most interesting and successful album by a ’60’s folkrock-psych duo, male or female. It also rocks with conviction . . . .

The Acid Archives (Second ed.)

Richie Unterberger adds:

Much mystery surrounds Jan & Lorraine, a female duo who recorded an obscure folk-rock album, Gypsy People, in London in October 1969.  Jan Hendin and Lorraine Le Fevre both sang (often in harmony) on the record, did the ensemble arrangements, and also wrote (working separately) most of the material. . . . Hendin andled electric and acoustic guitars, piano, and organ, and Le Fevre contributed acoustic guitar as well. In part because the LP didn’t sound much like other British folk-rock efforts of the time, there was conjecture that [they] might have actually been Americans (and, in fact, it has been reported that the duo hailed from Detroit, Michigan when the album was recorded), despite the record being cut in London. And it does have a greater American influence to its mildly psychedelic late-’60s folk-rock than most British efforts in the genre, with stirring, slightly strident singing; some slight pop accents . . . and some occasional exotic Eastern sounds on tamboura and tabla. The record’s slightly moody and introspective, though pleasant (and sometimes a little loosely drifting) in feel . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jan-lorraine-mn0001417555#biography

Jo-Ann Greene:

[A]lthough the set was recorded in London, slotting neatly into the contemporary British folk-prog scene, their accents tell another tale, supporting the veracity of at least one report that they hailed from Detroit, Michigan . . . . [I]t’s the intensity of the multi-instrumentalist pair’s delivery that sets Jan & Lorraine apart, with the women attacking both their vocals and guitars in particular with absolute gusto. There are, however, decidedly British elements leaking into the set as well, notably the orchestral strings that wrap around “Bird of Passage” . . . . Although supported by a clutch of guest musicians, Jan & Lorraine still asserted their independence. In a day when women artists had little control over their music, the pair not only penned the bulk of the set, they arranged it all. And it’s here the duo truly excelled, for the use of instrumentation is inspired, each song carefully crafted to create maximum effect. . . . [T[he pair’s past was shrouded in mystery, and once they packed up and left, their future destination was equally unknown. But Jan & Lorraine left behind a stunning, fiery album, as thrilling and exotic as a Gypsy dance.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/gypsy-people-mw0000774121

Bob sheds some light:

Janice Grahm was my mother in law. She passed away in 1994. Her daughter (my wife) has a credit on the album as Taki (greek for loved one. Jan was a very accomplished musician (masters degree from Harvard) and a very loving person. Lorraine is living in souther California and teaches guitar in the Palmdale area. . . . Jan and Lorraine were from Detroit MI.

http://waxidermy.com/blog/jan-and-lorraine-gypsy-people/

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

1,115) B.B. Blunder* (The Blossom Toes) — “Black Crow’s Nest”

The former UK psychmeisters give us a joyous rock singalong with a country feel. Man, the times were a changin’! Bill Whitten and James Beaudreau write that the song is from Workers’ Playtime, “essentially the third Blossom Toes record”. (http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/features/200609/intro.html)  They go on that:

[Playtime is] the gem of the bunch – a lost classic that manages to dip equally into post-White Album hard rock, cosmic prog, tongue in cheek Stonesy-swagger, and anthems worthy of Spiritualized – all with the tossed-off nonchalance that marks some of the best music of the time. And the band does it without taking itself too seriously for even one second. And that’s not to mention the guitar work, some of the best, song-for-song, of the era.

http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/features/200609/intro.html

Guitarist Brian Godding recalls that:

Workers Playtime was, to start with, a studio project (loosely based on a film score which eventually never happened) and gave us the opportunity to “get people in to contribute,” which was a pretty popular thing to do at the beginning of the 70’s. I personally have good memories of making that album because (unlike Ever so Clean) we had total control of what ended up on tape — for better or worse! The album was not received well by the music business at the time. It was like all the drugs had begun to wear off from the previous 4-5 years and the true nature of the beast was re-emerging: nothing left to do but ridicule, dismiss, and put two fingers up to anything new. . . . [It] never deserved to be written off with such disdain and venom. . . . [T]he sound was our naive but genuine attempt at ‘orchestrating’ the three-piece rock setup. (Sort of!) . . . . Who knows why some things go and some things don’t. . . . [T]he cover was rated as far too good for the music within. Remarks like “Workers’ Playtime? Don’t give up your day jobs!” being among the rare humorous and less offensive slag offs!

http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/features/200609/interview.html

Richie Unterberger tells us of B.B. Blunder’s short history:

B.B. Blunder’s story is a most confusing one for such a short-lived and little-known band. The group was essentially an offshoot of the Blossom Toes [see #709], one of the best underground British rock acts of the ’60s, noted for both their droll psychedelic pop and a heavier, dual-lead guitar-oriented sound. When the Blossom Toes broke up at the end of the ’60s, guitarist Brian Godding and bassist Brian Belshaw continued to play together, sometimes in association with singer (and Godding’s sister-in-law) Julie Driscoll [see #1,032-33]. Eventually, Kevin Westlake, who had drummed on the Blossom Toes’ first LP, joined them, and the trio recorded an album, with Driscoll helping out on vocals.  Although the group could have just as well been called Blossom Toes as B.B. Blunder, their sound was in fact significantly different than what they’d played on the Toes’ albums. The songwriting was, well, loose, and unfocused. The record’s principal attractions are the multi-layered guitars, which have a certain just-post-Abbey Road charm, with lengthy electric-acoustic passages bordering on jams. After it was issued as Workers Playtime in 1971, Reg King (formerly of mid-’60s cult mod band the Action [see #393, 429, 966]) joined the group for live work. The enterprise was basically a non-starter, though. Westlake soon quit, new members joined (including Reg King’s brother and fellow Action veteran Bam King), and the group fell apart by the end of 1971.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bb-blunder-mn0002152020#biography

Fred Thomas goes under the Toe:

Under the guidance of rock impresario Giorgio Gomelsky (early mentor of the Stones and manager of the Yardbirds and Soft Machine among others) the band created their colorful and mind-warping 1967 debut We Are Ever So Clean and managed one more record before disbanding at the end of the ’60s. . . . Blossom Toes formed in London in the mid-’60s, initially starting out as an R&B/beat band called the Ingoes. . . . They changed their name to Blossom Toes in 1966 upon signing to Gomelsky’s Marmalade Records. Their sound shifted dramatically with their name change as well, moving from stompy rock and roll standards to a highly orchestral take [on] . . . psychedeli[a]. . . . Their 1967 debut . . . didn’t meet much commercial success . . . . [It] embrace[d] Baroque instrumentation and vivid, cheery psychedelia . . . . [r]eleased just four months after . . . . Sgt. Pepper’s . . . . The bright, curious melodies . . . filled out with an overabundance of brass, strings, and theatrical orchestral elements. . . . Blossom Toes’ song structures are unconventional . . . . There’s barely a trace of darkness or anxiety in these wide-ranging songs, putting the album in a rare class of well-adjusted psychedelia, a good trip with no painful comedown.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blossom-toes-mn0000056563/biography; https://www.allmusic.com/album/we-are-ever-so-clean-mw0000408294

* “The name came along well into the recording when . . . sound engineer Chris Kimsey, after a particularly fruitless session, scribbled on a tape-box: “B.B. (i.e. Brian & Brian) Blunder (i.e. screw-up)”. After they had dropped him off at A&E, they thought: “B.B. Blunder? That’ll do nicely!” (http://brunoceriotti.weebly.com/blossom-toes–bb-blunder.html)

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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. 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

From Detroit’s Donovan comes two avian classic folk rock stunners with psychedelic touches . . . with a little help from the Funk Brothers and a future Motown producer . . . WTF? Man, it works. Paul Parrish’s (see #791) album The Forest of My Mind “is a unique meeting of baroque, psychedelic pop, English chamber arrangements . . . and light soul” (Nathan Ford, http://active-listener.blogspot.com/2014/10/album-review-paul-parrish-forest-of-my.html), “a wonderful trip through mellow, psychedelic folk . . . . [with p]astoral imagery . . . featured throughout . . , adding to the magical and somewhat haunting quality to Parrish’s voice.” (Phil Cho, https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/album/paul-parrish-the-forest-of-my-mind/)

Paul Parrish explains:

I had a nihilistic friend who saw nothing but doom and gloom everywhere. I was thinking of so many of my contemporaries who were filled with doom and gloom. And I was saying “No, it’s not that way. If you look carefully, the flowers in the park are growing.”

liner notes to the CD reissue of The Forest of My Mind

Alex Koump tells us about Parrish and the album:

On a map of the psychedelic landscape, down a ways from the windmills of your mind and not too far from Strawberry Fields, somewhere between Itchycoo and MacArthur Park, you might find the forest of Paul Parrish’s mind. The Michigan native could be best remembered for a couple of singer-songwriter albums on the Reprise and ABC labels in the 1970s, or as one-half of Parrish and Toppano in the 1980s…or perhaps as the lead vocalist of The Brady Bunch theme during the sitcom’s first season! But before all that, Parrish signed with MGM’s short-lived Music Factory label for a 1968 one-off: The Forest of My Mind. . . . [T]he troubadour delivered psychedelia ripe for the flower-power generation, with images of nature, seasons, animals and the elements recurring on almost every track . . . , [a] soft throwback to a time when everything was beautiful – and a little mysterious, too . . . . [I]t may be one of the least Detroit-esque albums to come out of the Motor City as it by and large steered clear of R&B. So it might come as a surprise to some to find that veterans of Motown house band The Funk Brothers, including drummer Uriel Jones and bassist Bob Babbitt, played the exquisite arrangements here. Those charts came courtesy of the team of guitarist Dennis Coffey (a Funk Brother himself) and Mike Theodore . . . . The luscious production on Forest was handled by Clay McMurray . . . [who] tapped into a Donovan-esque delicacy, dappled with sunshine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53-NDgNenq4

Detroit’s Donovan? John Pruett writes:

Paul Parrish’s debut is a bright, excellently produced LP filled with remarkable sunshine-dipped folk-pop songs along the lines of Donovan. Replete with flute, strings, and slight psychedelic effects, the album gets by on the strength of Parrish’s songs, especially tracks like “English Sparrows” . . . . Each track is ripe with rainbow-colored imagery and the requisite amount of forest/meadow scenarios. You’d want to dismiss it as merely kitsch if Parrish’s vocals weren’t so sweet and persuasive — in the end, you’re singing along and holding hands with whoever might be near. . . . a detached yet pleasant, love-struck, and extremely wide-eyed version of psychedelic sunshine pop.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-forest-of-my-mind-mw0000869167

Patrick Lundborg took a dimmer view:

By ’68, every local music scene had its own Donovan wannabe, and in Michigan this task fell upon Paul Parrish . . . . Of course very few, or more precisely none, of these mustached nehru cats had the talent of Donovan, and usually ended up souding like early 45 B-sides by Al Stewart and Cat Stevens.

(The Acid Archives, 2nd ed.)

Talk about being Cat-ty!

1,113) Paul Parrish — “English Sparrows”

This “[g]roooooooovyyyyyy!!!” (mariegaignon6781, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvJ-nlLrZkc) song “opens the album with a classic slice of huge Fading Yellow popsike”. (https://www.popsike.com/PAUL-PARRISH-Forest-Of-My-Mind-1968-FUZZ-PSYCH-LP-HEAR/380242684554.html). It is “pure un-adulterated Sunshine Pop goodness” (recorddigger, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/paul-parrish/the-forest-of-my-mind/), with “[t]aut guitar lines intertwine with atmospheric, plucked strings and spacey flute . . . on . . . the album’s evocative opening track” (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2014/10/09/now-sounds-celebrates-50th-release-with-paul-parrishs-trippy-forest/), which “grabs you from the get-go with swooping strings and its mellow groove. . . . [and] was the impetus for my obsession with this record.” (David Ma, https://soul-sides.com/2010/01/guest-post-david-ma-on-paul-parrish.html)

Paul Parrish recalls:

Back in Southern Michigan, the English Sparrow was always an active bird, even in the dead of winter. . . . And that’s why that image came to my mind. Someone who writes songs doesn’t really know why they write them, until someone asks, “Hey, why did you write that.”

(liner notes to the CD reissue of The Forest of My Mind)

1,114) Paul Parrish — “The White Birds (Return to Warm Seas)”

This “baroque inspired folk popper[]” is “period pop bliss” (recorddigger, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/paul-parrish/the-forest-of-my-mind/), which “betray[s] an Eastern influence in the arrangements” and has “a particularly spellbinding harpsichord part.” (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2014/10/09/now-sounds-celebrates-50th-release-with-paul-parrishs-trippy-forest/)

Paul Parrish recalls “I was thinking about what happens to us when we die. We all think about that, don’t we. That’s what the song is about.” (liner notes to the CD reissue of The Forest of My Mind)

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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. 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

1,112) Shades of Morley Brown — “Pretty Blue Bird”

From “a nice, very obscure [’68 UK] psych/pop single”, here is the “particularly nice [B-side] with touches of wah-wah, and a good psychy feel.” (Popsike.com, https://www.popsike.com/SHADES-OF-MORLEY-BROWN-Silly-Girl-UNKNOWN-UK-PSYCH/4014924238.html) This song has a timeless slinkiness to it — it may have had more success in the slinky 80’s, maybe by Soft Cell! The single was the only one to come from Chris Morley and Malcolm Brown, “who had worked together in a brick manufacturing plant before leaving their native Hampshire” for London. (liner notes the CD comp Piccadilly Sunshine: Volumes 11-20: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios form the British Psychedelic Era) ”They found that they could harmoni[ze] loading & unloading bricks. Malcolm attempted to write lyrics and Chris attempted tunes. They were signed as songwriters to KPM after a whirlwind tour of the Music Publishers in April 1968. KPM prefered Morley/Browns demo so Mercury did a one off deal with them.” (chrismorley9230, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLUwCmZhsWs) Supposedly, they went on to write “Thick as a Brick” and “Brick House”.

Oh, and the song was arranged by Keith Mansfield (see #599). We have all have heard Mansfield’s music — used by Quentin Tarantino, Danger Mouse, Gnarls Barkley, the NFL, and on and on — but few know his name. He wrote some of the “funkiest, grooviest and memorable orchestral themes” of the ’60’s (Gareth Bramley, https://www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk/index.php/jim/jim-new-articles/2014/the-world-of-keith-mansfield)

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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. 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

1,111) Strawberry Alarm Clock — “Birdman of Alkatrash”

Would you believe me if I told you that the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s (see #127, 272, 901) groovy and era-defining #1 “Incense and Peppermints” was originally the B-side and the loony, “sneering[, ] punkish” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/strawberry-alarm-clock-mn0000633079/biography) and garagey “Birdman” was originally the A-side?

“Birdman” has a very Seeds-y “Pushin Too Hard” (see #116) vibe. It gets a lot of abuse, such as “My dog hates this one… he thinks there’s a duck at the door!!” (Hugo Masekela, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWNBFX7KPp8). But it’s a great track. Quack!

Jeremy writes that:

The song, offering a humorous pun on the ‘birdman of Alcatraz’ inmate Robert Stroud, is self-consciously silly, bobbing merrily along on the strength of its playful music. . . . [and] much softer than the band’s previous raveups, scattered around various singles under their original name Thee Sixpence. . . . The more rounded edges and goony nature of the song are largely due to the keyboard and the warped lead guitar riffs. “The Birdman Of Alkatrash” was not chosen for inclusion on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s first album, Incense And Peppermints. . . . despite the finished album being a mere 30 minutes in length. It would perhaps have sounded too out of place. In a sense, the song stands as a final goodbye to the Clock’s formative months.

https://www.unwindwithsac.com/songs/the-birdman-of-alkatrash

What was going on with “Birdman” and “Incense” and where did the SAC come from? Eyehate Werk explains that manager Bill Holmes made “Birdman” the A-side “to appease the band. None of them liked ‘Incense…’”. (https://www.45cat.com/record/373aa). Bruce Eder writes that:

[“Incense and Peppermints”] was “just” a B-side . . . that would be forgotten as soon as “The Birdman of Alkatrash” started to get airplay, if it ever did. . . . The All-American single . . . began getting airplay, but it was the B-side . . . that DJs were choosing and airing. Enter Uni Records, a newly established imprint of American Decca and its parent company, MCA, who picked it up for national distribution. . . . The song swept across the airwaves gradually, fueling a sales wave that built into a number one chart placement over the next three months, in November of 1967.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/strawberry-alarm-clock-mn0000633079

BetaMaster64 says that the single was initially released under the SAC’s prior name — Thee Sixpence:

I contacted George Bunnell, a member of SAC, about the original release of I&P, and he said that the single was released originally as Thee Sixpence with Birdman as side A. The single was only in stores for a short time before they were all withdrawn and probably thrown away. Who knows how many Sixpence singles made it…probably not many besides the ones the band members have.

https://www.45cat.com/record/373aa

As to SAC, Bruce Eder tells us that:

Strawberry Alarm Clock occupies a peculiar niche in the history of ’60s rock. Their name is as well known to anyone who lived through the late-’60s psychedelic era as that of almost any group one would care to mention, mostly out of its sheer, silly trippiness as a name and their one major hit, “Incense and Peppermints,” which today is virtually the tonal equivalent of a Summer of Love flashback. But there was a real group there, with members who had played for a long time on the Southern California band scene, who were proficient on their instruments and who sang well and generated four whole LPs . . . . The band’s origins go back to Glendale, CA, in the mid-’60s, and a group then known as the Sixpence. It was 1965 and all things British were still a selling point, so the name made as much sense as anything else. . . . They mostly did covers of then-popular hits and developed a considerable following in Glendale and also in Santa Barbara, playing there so often that a lot of histories have them coming out of Santa Barbara.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/strawberry-alarm-clock-mn0000633079/biography

Here are Chile’s Los Doltons:

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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. 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

1,110) The Piece Kor – “Words Of The ‘Raven’”

This ’68 “legendary 45” (Chris Bishop, http://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-hangmen-bitter-sweet-1966-us-fine.html?m=1) from Bel-Air, Maryland’s Piece Kor is “one of the 1960s deadliest platters . . . . a Byrds-like psych-garage lament driven by Mick Ball’s desperate crooning and eerie group harmonies. [Lead guitarist Jack] Bandoni[, Jr.] delivers a cosmic raga that mirrors the song’s ambitious aims”. (Mike Apichella, https://www.splicetoday.com/music/a-deadly-platter) The song “pay[s] homage to the local legend Edgar Allan Poe . . . provid[ing] commentary on contemporary American politics . . . and the sense of foreboding is underscored by tremolo guitar and references to Poe’s most famous work.” (Matt Ryan, http://strangecurrenciesmusic.com/an-introduction-to-mid-atlantic-garage-rock/) It was arranged by “punk hepcat Tom Guernsey of [Washington DC’s] Hangmen [see #560, 621]”. (liner notes to the CD comp Back from the Grave: Volume Eight: Over 30 Cuts of Utter Snarling Mid-60’s Garage Punkrock)

Mike Apichella goes deep into the cask of the Piece Kor:

Ray Scott . . . was close with Lou Larosso, [manager of regional broadcast celebrity] Kerby [Scott] . . . . Through their friendship The Piece Kor were booked on WBAL’s The Kerby Scott Show twice . . . . They made many appearances at live events promoted by Kerby . . . . Scott also booked them on bills with hit makers Gary Puckett & The Union Gap and The Human Beinz. . . . The Kor were becoming one of the biggest teen rock combos in northern Maryland, a fact that soon caught the attention of Larry Sealfon . . . . Sealfon worked as manager for DC 1960s punk legends The Hangmen. Scott had been hyping up The Piece Kor for years and invited his fellow impresario to one of the group’s rehearsals. Their electric attack hit hard—Sealfon decided to start up a new record label purely for the purpose of releasing the band’s music. Ray Scott dug the idea and offered to financially back the enterprise in a partnership. . . . [T]he pair christened their new endeavor as LaRay Records—a moniker that combined their first names. Sessions for The Piece Kor debut got under way in winter 1968. Sealfon tapped The Hangmen’s Tom Guernsey to produce the record . . . . [Drummer] Charley Clark: “. . . . I ate cheap hamburgers so I was sick as a dog… I had about a 103 degree temperature. I was drinking terpin hydrate and codeine, taking medicine… I was dying but we had the studio time.” What emerged was . . . LaRay Records’ only 7” release “Words Of The Raven” b/w “All I Want Is My Baby Back” . . . . Both cuts were co-written by Jack Bandoni and Charley Clark. [“Raven]” was an anti-Vietnam War anthem originally titled “The Great Draft Disaster.” [M]ost of the members were Bel Air High School kids . . . . [and o]nce Bandoni’s father discovered their plan to cut a radical protest tune he threatened to yank his son (the group’s main songwriter) if “The Great Draft Disaster” was released. A compromise from Charley Clark saved the day. Charley Clark: “Jack’s father just absolutely lost it. He said it was an un-American song… so I sat down and took another song that we’d done called ‘In The Words Of The Raven’ and basically left the content of the [original] song there, but changed some of the lyrics a little bit and that’s the song that ended up getting released.” . . . Even with Poe-inspired elements and less overt nods to Vietnam, the message remains righteous: . . . [“]Til they stop all the fighting we’ll say ‘Nevermore!’ ” . . .

The Piece Kor attracted attention from the bigwigs at United Artists Records. . . . after Larry Sealfon sent the major label a copy of [their single].  At the time U.A.’s competitors were putting out releases by noisemongers The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, and Alice Cooper, all artists who shared The Kor’s penchant for avant-garde innovation, bizarre showmanship, and fuzzed-out blasting. . . . Unfortunately the chance to get big label support came at the wrong time. . . . Charley Clark: “I had a financial responsibility because I had a [young] son and some of the other guys were doing other stuff and it just got to the point where we had to go on the road and promote this group which I don’t think anybody at that point and time was ready to do.” . . . The Piece Kor slowly disbanded . . . . 

https://www.splicetoday.com/music/a-deadly-platter, https://www.splicetoday.com/music/the-band-that-just-won-t-die

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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. 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

1,109) The Lewis and Clarke Expedition — “Freedom Bird”

Here is the promo video for the Expedition’s second single from their only album. I first thought it must have been a classic 60’s Clairol commercial turned into an earnest yet infectious pop rock single (see #66), what with all the hair bouncing in slow-mo. But it turns out that it was just an earnest yet infectious pop rock single (that no one bought).

As to the Expedition, John Bush give some background:

The [LCE] evolved out of several folk bands operating around Los Angeles during the mid-’60s. [The band was f]ormed by Dallas songwriter Michael Martin Murphey (under the guise of Travis Lewis) with Owen Castleman (performing as Boomer Clarke), [who, along with] bassist John London were all old friends of country-minded Monkee Michael Nesmith . . . . Well before Nesmith was hired to the Monkees . . . London performed with him in San Antonio as a folk duo, and after moving to California, all four native Texans appeared in a large folk group called the Survivors. Nesmith dropped out because of a commitment to the Air Force, and the remaining trio added guitarist Ken Bloom and drummer John Raines, coming together in 1966 as the Lewis & Clarke Expedition. . . . The band was hyped not only to young girls as another version of the Monkees, but also to older rock fans as a cutting-edge country-rock band that played up their association with Native American[s].

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lewis-clarke-expedition-mn0001537456

Peter Marston tells us that:

Two singles were released from the album, “I Feel Good (I Feel Bad)” b/w “Blue Revelations” [see #437] and “Freedom Bird” b/w “Destination Unknown.” Neither single hit and shortly following the release of the album, the band members went their separate ways. Murphey . . . went on to a very successful solo career, first as an outlaw cosmic cowboy and then as a mainstream pop and country artist.

https://www.popgeekheaven.com/music-discovery/lost-treasures-lewis-clark-expedition

Marston adds that “[n]ot unlike Paul Revere and the Raiders, they were a bit of a costume band, with all the members donning buckskin and fringe.” (https://www.popgeekheaven.com/music-discovery/lost-treasures-lewis-clark-expedition) The band’s name? As the original LP’s liner notes explain: “Travis Lewis and Boomer Clarke are explorers in the field of songwriting and, like the original Lewis and Clarke, they guide the expedition. . . . Their songs are a way of sharing a few moments with you in the midst of the joyful and bewildering experience of being young and very much alive.”

Thus, in the October ’67 issue of 16 magazine appeared Monkees Pick for Stardom — Lewis & Clarke Expedition, announcing that:

Not so long ago Boomer Clarke, Travis Lewis and Monkee buddy John London got together and decided to form a group . . . and soon they were belting out such a groovy sound that the Monkees themselves became the number one fans of the group . . . . [W]e hope you dug their first release I Feel Good, I Feel Bad backed by Blue Revelation. Hang loose now, luvvies—Davy, Mike, Micky and Peter introduce you to America’s fastest-rising new group!

https://monkees.coolcherrycream.com/articles/1967/10/16/monkees-pick-for-stardom-lewis-and-clarke-expedition

As to Boomer Clarke, the article says:

Lead singer and second lead guitar player for the group is adorable Boomer Clarke. He has just turned 20, is an inch under six feet tall and has ash blond hair and blue eyes. Boomer spent his childhood in Texas, and he now lives in a bachelor apartment in Hollywood. He’s very single—as are all the guys in the group—and likes tall girls who are natural, friendly and who have a streak of the “pioneer woman” in them. On a date, Boomer likes to visit jazz clubs, go to concerts and have dinner at his favorite restaurant—Player’s Choice on the Sunset Strip (where Southern-fried chicken and down-home cookin’ are the specialty).

https://monkees.coolcherrycream.com/articles/1967/10/16/monkees-pick-for-stardom-lewis-and-clarke-expedition

Too much Monkee business, not enough business.

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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. 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

1,108) The Kinks — “Mr. Songbird”

Left off all but the initial Scandinavian versions of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, this track is “blissfully infectious”, “beguilingly sweet”, and “you are just in the palm of it’s hand and may just as well be sitting by that idyllic riverside”. (All Down the Line, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-kinks-album-by-album-song-by-song.1075714/page-268) It is “a sublime Davies creation . . . . far too good — no, great — a record to be forgotten” (Andy Miller, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society), “[a]ll the way down to the little jazz feel at the end . . . this is just a delightful way to spend two and a half minutes” (Mark Winstanley, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-kinks-album-by-album-song-by-song.1075714/page-268), “offer[ing] the simple, happy-go-lucky lyrics of the films supervised by Davies’ hero Walt Disney, but [its] melod[y] prove[s] as irresistible as Paul McCartney’s best” (Geoffrey Himes, https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/ray-davies/the-curmudgeon-ray-daviespreserving-old-rural-ways), The Music in My Ears writes:

Its subject matter also aligns with the overall theme of [TKATVGPS]. Nature and nostalgia. Ray Davies tells the listener about a bird that provides him the comfort and enthusiasm to wake up and start a new day with its singing. The mellotron plays the role of the bird here, answering Davies’ “Sing Mr. Songbird” plea with a little trill. 

https://themusicinmyears.blog/2021/08/01/876-the-kinks-mr-songbird/

Yet, as Andy Miller notes, while “a little melody will keep the devil at bay . . . don’t doubt for a minute the devil is there. The song’s concluding phrase [“You help to keep the devil away”] is Davies’ ”one hard line” technique in full effect”. (The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society)

The Reconstructor tells us that:

Scheduled for release on September 27th [1968], th[e] 12 song “Village Green” album was soon canceled under Ray’s wishes. He had asked Pye, their label, to have some additional time to track new songs, and perhaps even expand it into a 20-track double LP. The label reluctantly agreed, and so in September, they recorded an additional two songs for the record, them being “Big Sky” and “Last of the Steam Powered Trains”, and started to mix the new double LP. However, Pye weren’t that confident in the band back then. The failure of their latest single, “Wonderboy”, which barely made the top 30 in England, had left a bad taste in their mouths, and a double LP by them would be a big bet. They decided to nix the idea, much to Davies’ anger and insisted on it being a single album. As a compromise, however, they decided to allow the album to feature fifteen tracks, instead of the original twelve. That meant two tracks would be removed, them being “Days” and “Mr. Songbird”, and the two newly recorded songs and three outtakes would be added.

https://the-reconstructor.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-kinks-village-green-preservation.html

Wikipedia adds:

Because the original 12-track edition had already been sent to several European countries, [“Mr. Songbird”‘s] first release was in Sweden and Norway in October 1968. . . . Though the Kinks began recording most of [the album in] March 1968, Davies recalled the band recording “Mr. Songbird” “a long time before” the rest of the album. Kinks researcher Doug Hinman places the song around November 1967 . . . .

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Songbird#CITEREFErlewineBogdanovWoodstra1995

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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. 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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