As to Ora, the group and the album, Steve Pilkington says:
[A] pre-Byzantium band featuring the writing, playing and singing talents of Jamie Rubinstein, who would walk out of the door after the albumâs release just as his future Byzantium colleagues were walking in, though he would be back for good before the first Byzantium record proper came out. . . .âThe Ora album, originally on the small Tangerine label, is certainly formative, and clearly date-stamped âlate â60sâ in its often whimsical psych-pop approach, yet hints of greater things crop up throughout, such as . . . The Seagull And The Sailor.â
Ora was an English folk-pop band that released a self-titled album on small-press Tangerine Records in 1969. Mastermind Jamie Rubinstein later founded Byzantium, which issued two albums on A&M in 1972/73.âMark Barakan [aka Shane Fontayne] (guitar), Julian Diggle (drums), Jamie Rubinstein (vocals, guitar), Robin Sylvester (bass, keyboards, guitar), Chloe Walters (guitar), Jon Weiss (guitar).âOra coalesced at UCS Hampstead when members of two student bands formed a trio.âGuitarist and singer/songwriter Jamie Rubentstein first played in The Faction with drummer Julian Diggle.âMonths later, they joined the band Sophie with Robin Sylvester, who played bass, guitar, and keyboards.âThe three formed Ora as a vehicle for Rubentsteinâs material.âSoon enough, Ora caught the attention of Tangerine Records boss Don White, who invited them to KPM Studios cut two demos, âDeborahâ and âFly.ââAs sessions commenced for an album, Ora swelled to a four-piece with guitarist Jon Weiss, a friend of Sylvesterâs.âRubentstein took a holiday to contemplate the finishing touches, only to return and find (to his chagrin) that the album had already gone to press.
Byzantium emerged from the ashes of the band Ora, formed by students Robin Sylvester, Julian Diggle, and Jamie Rubinstein at University College School in Hampstead.âAfter releasing one album with which Rubinstein was dissatisfied – as it had been assembled from unfinished demos and recordings without his consent – Ora disbanded.âBut its members felt a gravitational pull towards one another, and after some comings and goings, Byzantium was born with Rubinstein (primary songwriter), fellow USC Hampstead student Nico Ramsden (lead vocals/guitar/percussion/keyboards), Chaz Jankel (lead vocals/guitar/keyboards), and Stephen Corduner (drums/percussion). Robin Sylvester remained part of the band, too, but in the behind-the-scenes capacities of producer, arranger, and conductor.âRod Stewart’s manager Billy Gaff caught wind of the band and got them a deal with the U.K. arm of A&M Records. (In the U.S., their first album appeared on the Warner Bros. label.) Soon, Byzantium was on the road with Faces, Family, and Rory Gallagher, and appearing on a bill with Hawkwind, Man, and Brinsley Schwarz. . . .
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“Four thousand people with flowers in their hair Walking around, just feeling the air . . . . San Francisco is losing its hate And all the love flows out through the Golden Gate”
San Francisco’s beautiful people, flush the toilets, the police are coming!âWell, at least Andy Somers (to become the Police’s Andy Summers), co-wrote (with Zoot Money (see #726)) Dantalion’s Chariot’s (see #727) “ode to the beautiful people of San Francisco”, a “high point[]” of DC’s unreleased catalogue.â(Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)âThe song, a “calculated attempt to woo the American market . . . remains intriguing not only for its beatific lyrical imagery but for an unusual jazz-tinged instrumental sound, emphasized by . . . Somers’ dexterous guitar runs.”â(David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Dantalian’s Chariot: Chariot Rising)âPete Sargeant writes that:
High Flying Bird is not the US folk-rock gem but rather a set of observations on the hip culture with an excellent and clear vocal from Money, a sandpapered tinge to his voice.â[It is m]y favourite cut on this intriguing [DC comp] as they sound totally themselves and Somers indulges his Airplane side with a jazzy guitar break that floats over the song.âThe rhythm section proves themselves masters of mood on this one.
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.âKeyboardist/vocalist George Zoot Money had helmed his Big Roll Band since 1961, playing fiery RânâB to enthusiastic Soho Mod club dancers whilst selling precious few records.âSeeing 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 Dantalianâs Chariot â Dantalian being a Duke of Hell, referred to in The Key of Solomon.*âTo emphasise the point they kitted themselves out completely in white â kaftans, guitars, amps, even a white Hammond â and put together a light show so sophisticated that the Pink Floyd hired it on occasions.âFrom their first self-penned recording sessions EMI released a single, Madman Running Through The Fields.âDespite critical approval it stiffed chartwise, and 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.
As David Wells explains:
Zoot and Andy [Summers] were becoming increasingly immersed in the psychedelic experience, regularly attending . . . various subterranean love-ins and happenings . . . .âIncreasingly 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.ââWe had been working very hard for a long time and felt we were getting staleâ, Zoot told reporters.
liner notes to Dantalianâs Chariot: Chariot Rising
Zoot recalls âWe just wanted to do something new.âIt was a chance to be more creative, to move on to writing our own material and try out new things.â (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rockâs 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.âR&B/jazz/soul had become passe; now it was important to write your own material, and reflect the mind-expanding experience.âWith [Andy] Summers still in tow, [the band] became Dantalianâs Chariot.âThe music, written primarily by Money and Summers, changed as radically as the name, with airy melodies, spacy lyrics, and guitar/organ-driven arrangements.âThe band hit the London underground circuit inhabited by such acts as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, and made their debut recording as Dantalianâs Chariot . . . in the summer of 1967.âThe single, innovative as it was, didnât make any commercial waves.âAlthough they were a respected live act, their new direction wasnât supported by EMI, which dropped the band.âA 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. . . .âDantalianâs Chariot came to an end in the spring of 1968, with Summers joining the Soft Machine (and subsequently Eric Burdonâs Animals); Money would also join Eric Burdonâs Animals around the same time.
But what a trip it was.âDavid Wells notes that DC became âthe darlings of the London underground setâ and âone of the most fondly remembered British Psychedelic groupsâ. (liner notes to Dantalianâs Chariot: Chariot Rising)âVernon Joynson adds that:
[They] performed frequently at Londonâs Middle Earth and UFO clubs. . . .âTheir live appearances were amazing.âThey took to the stage in white robes and had what was generally regarded as the best light show in town.âThe 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.âIt presents a typical example of Renaissance magic.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_of_Solomon)
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,105) Richard Barnes — âHigh Flying Electric Birdâ
Richard Barnesâ (see #7) album track/â70 B-side (U.S. and Canada only) is a âmagnificent cover of Pete Brown & Piblokto! songâ (AbĂlio Nova, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh-SnCXD-eE), an âawesome versionââ(psychelatte, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBH-vxCxM00), “awesome and unique”.â(liner notes to the CD comp Fading Yellow Vol. 5)
Well, there is some debate about which version is best.âRapidkid28 says that Pete Brownâs âversion will always be the best because it’s the original plus pete’s voice suits the song more because of his jazzy tone.âRichard Barnes’s sounds too operaticâ. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBH-vxCxM00). But MrDjango1953 says âGreat song–have to say though that Richard Barnes version is way better than this oneâ. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBH-vxCxM00). I say they are both great in their own way. Prog or pop, this song gets under your skin.
As to Barnes, Mark Deming tells us:
Richard Barnes was a vocalist with the U.K. pop group the Quiet Five [see #676] before departing for a solo career in 1969, and over the next four years he cut a handful of supremely glossy pop records before launching a career in the musical theater in the London cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. . . .â[I]t seems it was his destiny to be a West End star — while he doesn’t exactly go overboard on [his songs] there’s a strong sense of brio in his vocal style, and Barnes isn’t afraid to play to the last row of the balcony. Gerry Bron produced these sessions, and he clearly didn’t hesitate to pull out all the stops, ordering up elaborate orchestrations and top-shelf studio craft on the . . . the almost-psychedelic “High Flying Electric Bird,” . . . Barnes and were also shrewd judges of material . . . . [and] while Barnes was no rocker he was a gifted and intelligent interpretive singer, and [his singles] represent[] British pop at the peak of its form.
Pete Brown & Piblokto! was a “British progressive rock band formed in 1969 by Pete Brown, (probably best known as the lyricist with Cream) after being thrown out of his previous band Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments.”â(https://www.last.fm/music/Pete+Brown+&+Piblokto!/+wiki)
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The Barbarians are almost exclusively known for their small hit single “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl” and their even smaller hit “Moulty.”âThose 1965 singles were preceded by the 1964 45 “Hey Little Bird,” which, although few heard it, was probably their best recording.âStarting with an emphatic drum stroke, the opening section was devoted to a growling primitive fuzz guitar riff.âThough the song, penned by non-member Tommy Kaye, was obviously an attempt to simulate the British Invasion, American garage influence couldn’t help creeping in via the snarled vocals and overall lumpy execution, the fuzz riffs counterpointed by higher bluesy, somewhat sub-Rolling Stones lines.âYet there were Beatlesque attributes to the tune as well, particularly in the harmonized vocal lines ending the verses, and the overtly British Invasion-like soaring melody of the bridge, though that ended with a particularly ominous, sour blast of fuzz.âThe result was an odd but appealing collision of influences, British Invasion cheer getting twisted into a rather surly and brooding melody.â
With their appearances on the Nuggets compilation and The T.A.M.I. Show, the Barbarians are one of the best-remembered garage bands of the ’60s. Not that it’s easy to forget the sight of a one-handed drummer, complete with hook, driving his band through a garage punk number in the company of the day’s biggest British Invasion, soul, and surf stars. Moulty was hardly self-conscious about his handicap; on the tiny hit single immortalized on Nuggets (titled, logically enough, “Moulty”), he tells the story of the triumph over his loss in no uncertain melodramatic terms. The band also managed a somewhat bigger hit single, the British Invasion-inspired novelty “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl.”
Formed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1964, this band was originally composed of band members Victor âMoultyâ Moulton (drums), Bruce Benson (rhythm guitar), Ronnie Enos (lead guitar), and Jerry Causi (bass). . . . The group decided to make their stage outfits resembles those of pirates/beach bums, as their drummer âMoultyâ Moulton had a hook for a hand. The band worse baggy, long-sleeve blouses, had longer than usual hair, and wore leather sandals.âIn 1965, guitarist Geoffrey Morris replaced Ronnie Enos on lead guitar and brought the song âAre You a Boy or Are You a Girl?â with him.âAfter [“Moulty”] began to take off, the band wanted to tour around in Boulder, Colorado. Moulty refused.âMorris, Benson, and Causi went anyway with . . . replacements. After their stint in Boulder, the new members took their act to San Francisco and renamed themselves Black Pearl.
One of the most heralded rock events ever captured on film, the 1964 concert known as The T.A.M.I. Show [Teenage Awards Music International], filmed in . . . Southern California by director Steve Binder, presented a lineup like no other: the Rolling Stones, James Brown, the Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Supremes, Chuck Berry, Lesley Gore and others.âThe artists rehearsed and filmed over two days and nights on October 29 and 30 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
A superlative dance between cinema and music, âThe T.A.M.I. Showâ brought together rock ânâ roll and rhythm and blues, black and white performers, audio and visual excitement, and the US and UK musical countercultures. Shot only four months after the end of the fifty-four day filibuster that allowed the enactment of the Civil Rights Act on 2 July 1964, Binderâs orchestration of music, dance, and cinema transcended the social reality of its time.âAnd as it became the model for mid-sixtiesâ rock ânâ roll television shows mixing black and white teenagers, especially ABCâs âShindig!â and NBCâs âHullabalooâ (also directed by Binder and choreographed by Winters), its utopian social and aesthetic innovations quickly entered both mass culture and the wider political field.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,103) The Exceptions — âThe Eagle Flies on Fridayâ
Primo UK freakbeat, a unique, stunning and âpowerful drums and vibes driven trackâ. (robertplant, https://www.45cat.com/record/202632). The members then tried their luck with British folk, Fairport Convention style. WTF? The title . . . refers to payday in US worplaces (the eagle being pictured on the dollar).”â(liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: Volumes 1-5). Oh, and Robert Plant played tambourine! More tambourine!
As to the Exceptions, Vernon Joynson tells us:
This Birmingham band was formed after [Roger] Hill had left The Uglys in August 1967.â [Dave] Pegg joined from Way of Life but he too had been with The Uglys earlier. . . .â Hill went on to join Mongrel then Fairport Convention . . . Pegg joined Fairport Convention . . . .â[Alan Bugsy] Eastwood also joined Fairport Conventiom and he and Pegg were both later in Fotheringay.
The Tapestry of Delights Revisited
Robertplant adds:
One of Dave Pegg’s friends was future Led Zeppelin star Robert Plant who at the time was contracted to CBS Records. Robert recommended The Hooties to well-known music publisher Eddie Kassner which gained the band a recording contract with CBS.âRe-naming themselves ‘The Exceptions’ their first single release was recorded at Regent Sound studios in London. Robert Plant actually played tambourine on the A-side titled ‘The Eagle Flies On Friday’ . . . . This, along with the B-side ‘Girl Trouble’ were both original compositions by Alan Eastwood.
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Surprisingly the album does not suffer much from [Iain] Matthewsâ minimal writing contributions . . . .âWhat makes this album so timeless and enjoyable is the way it explores country music without deliberately trying to be country a highly commendable feat that many American bands were not able to achieve.âFree from any phony southern twang, Ianâs fragile, emotionally-charged vocals enrich every song with a genuineness that is perfectly complemented by the warm, rural landscape thatâs successfully captured by the band.âNot only is this one of the first British country-rock records, but it is also an unrecognized benchmark for the entire then-burgeoning genre.
This UK band was formed by former Fairport Convention singer/guitarist Iain Matthews . . . and was named after his 1969 debut for MCA Records.âComprising Matthews, Mark Griffiths (guitar), Carl Barnwell (guitar), Gordon Huntley (pedal steel guitar), Andy Leigh (bass) and Ray Duffy (drums), the newly formed band signed to EMI Records. The unitâs country-tinged sound proved to be an excellent forum for Matthewsâ songwriting talents.âIn the summer of 1970, their second album, Second Spring reached the UK Top 40 and was followed by a winter chart-topper, âWoodstockâ.âJoni Mitchell wrote the single as a tribute to the famous festival that she had been unable to attend. Already issued as a single in a hard rocking vein by Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young, it was a surprise UK number 1 for Matthews Southern Comfort.âUnfortunately, success was followed by friction within the band and, two months later, Matthews announced his intention to pursue a solo career. One more album followed after which the band truncated their name to Southern Comfort.âAfter two further albums, they disbanded in the summer of 1972.
[Iain Matthews] joined Fairport Convention . . . but in early 1969, he left by mutual consent. . . .âA successful management team of the period was Ken Howard & Alan Blaikely, who had worked with both Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, etc., and The Herd, and saw Ian as their next hit-making client. . . .âHis debut LP, while released as Matthews’ Southern Comfort’, was actually a solo album by Matthews, and was titled after “Southern Comfort'” a song by Sylvia Tyson (nee Sylvia Fricker) which would appear on his next LP . . . .â”It wasn’t necessarily my intention to have a band called Matthews’ Southern Comfort.âThe album was going to be solo, and we were going to see what happened” he recalled in the mid-1970s. . . .â The production of the LP is credited to Steve Barlby & Ian Matthews, and several of the songs [including âFly, Pigeon, Flyâ] are also written by Barlby, in fact a pseudonym for Howard & Blaikley.âMatthews explained: “There wasn’t much of any direction to the album — Howard and Blaikley were new managers to me, and I was kind of feeling my way.âThey took me on the understanding that I was goingâto do some of their songs, and we kind of sold ourselves to the record company on that basis, but then I started to change my mind, because I didn’t particularly like their songs”.
liner notes to the CD reissue of Matthews’ Southern Comfort
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It comes from the Australia-only LP Spicks and Specks, which was made possible by the song âSpicks and Specks.ââBeeGees.com says:
Spicks and Specks . . . [is] laden with rich harmonies and bittersweet lyrics, backed by delicate, predominantly acoustic instrumentation.âOriginally presented as âMondayâs Rain,â the albumâs title was ultimately changed to capitalize on the success of single âSpicks and Specks.â . . . the[ir] first hit . . . in Australia . . . .âYet by that point, The Bee Gees had already decided to uproot and move their career to the U.K.
âWhilst at sea in January, 1967, they heard that âSpicks and Specksâ, a song they had recorded in 1966, had gone to #1 in Australia.â (https://www.last.fm/music/Bee+Gees/+wiki)
And as Joe Marchese elaborates:
The catchy track made it to No. 3 in Sydney, staying in the Top 40 for 19 weeks, and in other areas of Australia reached pole position. . . . . [It] made such an impression that its release led to the groupâs signing with Polydor in the U.K.; it became the groupâs first single there.âThe Bee Geesâ new album, naturally, was titled after the hit song. Spicks and Specks used most of the tracks intended for an aborted LP entitled Mondayâs Rain.âThis album was never issued outside Australia . . . .âOn January 3, 1967, the Bee Gees began their journey back to England.âItâs hardly an exaggeration to state that âthe rest is historyâ once they arrived.
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The outstanding track is [the] enigmatic “Ceilings No. 1”, a country-ish jaunt which . . . has all the hallmarks of a huge hit.âEqually memorable were “Ceilings No. 2″ (a similar number, but taken at a different tempo)”.
Roger Dopson, liner notes to the CD comp Honeybus at Their Best
45rpy adds:
Each side [of the LP] closes with a different rendering of the same tuneââCeilings No. 1,â a melancholy but still finger-snapping jaunt, and both versions compound the personal and the political, imploring world leaders to âStop wasting your god-given lives on useless pursuits that will end with the grave.ââBut only the introspective âCeilings No. 2â features the more vulnerable appeal âOh help me in what I must do / And show me the things that are true / Donât give me the mask that disguises your faceâŠâ
Honeybus is one of my favorite bands (see #6, 52, 207, 434, 562, 605, 764), with the honey being especially bittersweet with what should have been, what could have been. LN writes:
When I once lent a friend a copy of my beloved Story he quipped that it sounded almost like a Beatles album from the 1960s that had somehow escaped release. I had for some time lacked just the right phrase to describe the album, and here it was; my friend had completely summed up my feelings about one of rock music’s true lost treasures in one neat soundbite.
Honeybus had the pop touchstones of the Beatles and the Hollies, while balancing the more sunshiny, twee aspects of the early Bee Gees with some mild touches of post-Sgt. Pepper psychedelia. . . . Their songs were unusually tuneful, some lovely little hooks paired with sweet harmonies, and itâs almost shocking to hear these songs today and realize the band had pretty much zero commercial success (at least here in the US).
Bruce Eder beautifully ponders what made the band so special and what could have been:
Considering that most have never heard of them, itâs amazing to ponder that they came very close, in the eyes of the critics, to being Decca Recordsâ answer to the Rubber Soul-era Beatles. The harmonies were there, along with some catchy, hook-laden songs . . . . The pop sensibilities of Honeybusâ main resident composers, Peter Dello and Ray Cane were astonishingly close in quality and content to those of Paul McCartney and the softer sides of John Lennon of that same era. Whatâs more, the critics loved their records. Yet, somehow, Honeybus never got it right; they never had the right single out at the proper time, and only once in their history did they connect with the public for a major hit, in early 1968. . . .
Dello and Cane . . . were the prime movers behind Honeybus. In 1966, they formed the Yum Yum Band . . . . A collapsed lung put Dello out of action in early 1966, and it was during his recuperation that he began rethinking what the band and his music were about. He developed the notion of a new band that would become a canvas for him to work on as a songwriter â they would avoid the clubs, working almost exclusively in the studio, recreating the sounds that he was hearing in his head. . . . It was a novel strategy, paralleling the approach to music-making by the Beatles in their post-concert period, and all the more daring for the fact that they were a new group . . . . The group was one of the best studio bands of the period, reveling in the perfection that could be achieved . . . .
They were duly signed to Englandâs Decca Records and assigned to the companyâs newly organized Deram label . . . . The critics were quick to praise the band . . . [but their first two singles were commercially] unsuccessful. Then . . . their third release, âI Canât Let Maggie Go,â [see #6] . . . . . . peaked at number eight. . . . [It] should have made the group, but instead it shattered them. Peter Dello resigned during the singleâs chart run. He had been willing to play live on radio appearances and the occasional television or special concert showcase . . . but he couldnât accept the physical or emotional stresses of performing live on a regular basis, or the idea of touring America . . . . Dello left . . . . [and] Jim Kelly came in on guitar and vocals, while Ray Cane . . . took over most of the songwriting, and Honeybus proceeded to play regular concerts. The group never recovered the momentum theyâd lost over âMaggie,â however, despite a string of fine singles . . . . [that] never charted . . . . [T]he group had pretty well decided to call it quits once they finished the[ir] LP . . . . The Honeybus Story . . . was released in late 1969, but without an active group to promote it, the record sank without a trace. . . . [I]t was a beautiful album, with the kind of ornate production and rich melodies that had become increasingly rare with the passing of the psychedelic era . . . .
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One great R&B song that has travelled the globe â written by Leiber and Stoller, first released by Alvin Robinson out of New Orleans, then by the Rolling Stones, and then by Chileâs Stones, Los Jockers.âEach version gives me such satisfaction!
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,097) Alvin Robinson — âDown Home Girlâ
Alvin Robinson released the Leiber and Stoller-written “Down Home Girl” as a ’64 B-side on their new Red Bird label.âIt is “an inspired amalgamation of New York pop and Crescent City R&B. . . . one of the finest [singles] to appear on this impressive label”â(https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alvin-robinson-mn0000011667#biography), and “Alvin’s best record . . . . just about as good as it gets… every time you move like that, I have to go to Sunday Mass.”â(Red Kelly, http://redkelly.blogspot.com/2008/05/al-robinson-wake-up-imperial-5762.html?m=1)âDan Phillips says of Robinson’s “brilliant rendition” that:
[“Girl” was] written as a funky and humorous New Orleans grinder and arranged to suit by Joe Jones . . . .âIts lack of sales was and is a really puzzling result for such a cool record.âOf course, the Rolling Stones famously covered the tune a year later, and effectively buried Shineâs version.
[It is] a rather jovial piece of New Orleans soul, with the brass and lazy, humid feel associated with much of that city’s music.âThe pretty exaggerated evocations of the down home girl’s down-home Southern-ness — perfume that smells like turnip greens (ugh!), a kiss that tastes like pork and beans (double ugh!), and so forth — gave the song a comic air, and also indicated that it might have been a caricature of Southern Black life to some extent, done by songwriters who were not either Black or Southern.
Robinson was a New Orleans-based session guitarist, and secured a minor hit in 1964 with a recording of a Chris Kenner song, âSomething You Gotâ.âThe single was released on Tiger Records, a short-lived outlet owned by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who then took Robinson to their next venture, Red Bird.âHis first release there, âDown Home Girlâ . . . . but the artist was unable to find another success.âRobinson moved to the west coast in 1969 and was one of several expatriate musicians who played on Dr. Johnâs New Orleans âtributeâ album, Gumbo.
Although [it] sounds rather like a rocked-up arrangement of a down-home blues tune, in fact the original version of this song was written by a couple of Brill Building songwriters.âIt first came out on a single by New Orleans singer Alvin Robinson, shortly before the Rolling Stones covered it on their third album, The Rolling Stones Now!. . . .âThe Rolling Stones’ cover really brought out the salaciousness in the composition, particularly in Mick Jagger’s drawling vocal — about the most blatantly Southern-styled one he did in the mid-1960s — and the funky, stinging guitar.âThe guitar was especially effective in the stuttering notes immediately following many of the vocal lines.âThey also took the song at an irregularly paced shuffle, really dragging out the beat and lyrics so that it sounded like a moodier and meaner look at a girl who both oozes sex and reeks of Southern roots.âFew other of the band’s tracks make the Stones’ general infatuation with American Southern culture so obvious, and at once admiring and wary.âThe fade teases out the slightly ominous feel further, as the guitar lines go up an octave for emphasis and some blues harmonica comes in. . . .â[I]t was too soaked with blues (and sexual imagery) to qualify as one of the group’s more commercial early numbers . . . .âThe song . . . was played in July 1969 at their concert in London’s Hyde Park, Mick Taylor’s first gig with the band.
Possibly the best version of all is by Chileâs Rolling Stones â Los Jockers.
Forced Exposure tells us that:
Los Jockers were one of the pioneer bands of Chilean rock, ahead of their time, and the first to differentiate themselves from the more romantic “new wave” style, by being ahead of the curve in adopting the psychedelic clothes and long hair that were the image of rock in the world at that time.â[The band was] formed in 1964, and started playing live in 1965, and were one of the first rock groups to have great success locally. They used flashy clothes, influenced by the British mods at first, and by psychedelia, and had a very aggressive and raw live show. Their music was called “pop contracultural” (counterculture pop). Their version of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Satisfaction” hit the radios before the original Stones version was known locally, and it was such a smash hit that during their show at the “Viña del Mar Festival” they had to play the song five times.
The Biblioteca Nacional de Chile explains (courtesy of Google Translate):
[V]arious groups and soloists gradually emerged that tried to emulate the music from the United States.âAll of them constituted a movement of great popularity, which was a reference for the 1960s in Chile, and which became known as the New Wave.. . .âTowards the end of the 1960s, Chilean rock began to take on rebellious and rebellious characteristics. Many young people began to wear bizarre clothes, grow their hair long, and sing aggressively and with loud sounds on stage. The sweet rock of the New Wave gave way to the rebellious psychedelia, to the countercultural and aggressive pop proposal, represented in groups such as Los Jockers.
For more on Los Jockers, here is Ana MarĂa Hurtado (courtesy of Google Translate):
Together with Los Macâs [see #123, 203] and Los Vidrios Quebrados [see #763, 1,029], Los Jockers make up the group of Chilean beat formations, a movement that is brief in time but also one that identifies the first experience of rock made in Chile beyond the pop figures of the New Wave.âTheir main mold was always the Rolling Stones, and their work greatly advanced the local rock culture through a visual production never before seen in the country.âThe quintet began calling themselves Los Tigers, first inspired by what they saw in magazines and records imported from England, full of photos of the Shadows, the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones.â The Jockers were between 17 and 19 years old, composed in English and built their own electric instruments in a very rudimentary way.âFrom their first performance (at the end of 1965, to benefit the Barros Luco Hospital) they surprised people with their long hair and colorful clothes, something unusual for the time.âThe group’s short career was eventful.âTheir version of âSatisfactionâ . . . sold more than 80,000 copies in its single format in 1966.âThey went to the Viña Festival in 1967 and had to play it five times. . . .âThat same year, President Eduardo Frei Montalva invited them to the Palacio de la Moneda to meet them.âThe group failed to stabilize its career beyond three years.
Finally, lead singer Sergio Del Rio recalls how the group channeled their inner Andrew Loog Oldham and became stars (courtesy of Google Translate):
In 1963, once the World Cup was over, a friend invited me to his house one day to listen to music and he showed me The Beatles, The Stones, The Hubabaloo, who wore wigs, and a group that caught my attention, which was the group The Yardbirds, with a fantastic guitarist called Eric Clapton.âAt that time, the musicians were influenced by The Shadows, but I liked Clapton.âThat’s when the bug started to bite me to put together a band and I bought a guitar.âI started from school to see the shows of the time on Radio CorporaciĂłn . . . . [B]efore I was even a salvageable musician, I started teaching a cousin of mine to play the bass and we put together the group . . . . [W]e were the precursors of Chilean rock, in the middle of the golden age of the New Wave. Well, we already differentiated ourselves with the type of music we made, but we were missing the theme of image.âThere we took The Rolling Stones as a reference, we let our hair grow and we ordered ourselves to make different clothes. . . .âAt the end of ’65, Los Jocker’s performed for the first time with our new songs and our new sound, instruments and equipment, in a hospital that I believe was Barros Luco, at a typical New Year’s Eve party with the nurses and all of that. When we appeared there was screaming, the nurses went crazy and when we got off the stage we signed autographs like crazy.âAlready in the dressing room I told the boys: “this is the path we have to follow.”âIt was incredible what had happened to us for the simple fact of changing the look.âEven the same record companies that hadn’t caught us before were now acting suspiciously nice to us.âBut this change of image also caused us problems.âMany people thought that wearing long hair and colored clothes was something for degenerates, for drug addicts, and they spat at us in the street.âThis did not happen with the other New Wave groups.âThe Jocker’s caused a stir in the streets and that forced us to always go out accompanied by friends to protect us.âWe started making news in the newspapers . . . .
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,096)Jimmy Campbell — âLyannaâ
This blog oâ mine gives me great joy, as when I played as my 22nd song âMichel Angeloâ, by Jimmy Campbell (see #22, 648, 736-38, 996) and the 23rd Turnoff.âI called the song â[o]ne of the most gorgeous songs I have ever heard.â It is certainly the greatest ever pop psych ballad I have ever heard.âBut the blog also can give me great sadness, as when today, I focus again on Jimmy and how his talents were left to wither by cruel fate and an indifferent public.âAs dpnewbold comments, âThis guy is so under-rated it hurts.â (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-KHv7u4qE) Yes, it does.
The album, Son of Anastasia, âcontained songs of aching beauty and melanchiliaâ. (Jazzinfo.net, https://blog.naver.com/hubtone/221610862004). Richie Unterberger tells us:
[M]ost of the songs here are good, particularly . . . âLyanna[.]â
Campbell’s 1969 LP . . . .âwas a marked change in direction for Campbell, in his style if not his songwriting.âFor Son of Anastasia is largely a folky, acoustic album, occasionally venturing into orchestrated folk-pop, even if Campbell is more a pop/rock songwriter than a folk one.âCampbell’s slightly moody yet catchy melodies, as well as his drolly understated lyrics, mark him as perhaps the best ’60s Liverpool rock songwriter never to have a chart record . . . . Itâs an attractively introspective record laced with some bittersweet irony, but the combination of bare-bones and lightly orchestrated arrangements doesn’t always ideally suit the material. . . . occasionally riffs are taken by what sound like either kazoos or someone (Campbell?) trying to imitate a trumpet with mouth noises, which not only adds an unappetizingly vaudevillian flavor, but leaves the impression that there wasn’t enough budget allotted for proper instrumentation.
As to Jimmy, Matty Loughlin-Day aptly states that:
[Jimmy Campbell is a] songwriter who, for this writerâs money, could go toe-to-toe with any of the more celebrated prodigies from the region, yet whoâs name is frequently met with blank faces or a shrug of the shoulders.âA writer who, in a sane universe, would be esteemed alongside . . . yes, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.âJimmy Campbell is arguably the archetypal lost son of Liverpool.âA talent that was never quite reciprocated by the buying public and the victim of some cruel twists of fate, his is a name that is for one reason or another, never quite mentioned when discussing the plethora of musical talent that the city has produced. . . . [H]is songs entice immediately and gradually work their way into the sub-conscious.
Campbell should rightfully be considered closer to a Merseyside Bob Dylan than the sullen working class Nick Drake he is often painted as.âHe could have been the Poet Laureate of England!âHow is it that one day of the greatest sonic creations in his fascinating and flawless back catalogue should be gathering dust for the past thirty-three years?
liner notes to the CD reissue of Rocking Horseâs Yes It Is
And Richie Unterberger poignantly sums things up:
[Jimmy was] perhaps the most unheralded talent to come out of the Liverpool â60s rock scene, as he was a songwriter capable of both spinning out engaging Merseybeat and â unlike almost every other artist from the city, with the notable exception of the Beatles â making the transition to quality, dreamy psychedelia. . . .âIt seems as if Campbell needed just a bit more encouragement, and his groups just a little more studio time, to develop into a notable British psychedelic group that could combine solid pop melodies, sophisticated lyrics and arrangements, and touches of English whimsy. Unfortunately they didnât get that chance . . . .
Campbellâs slightly moody yet catchy melodies, as well as his drolly understated lyrics, mark him as perhaps the best â60s Liverpool rock songwriter never to have a chart record . . . .
To give a touch of Jimmy Campbellâs early and later history, Matty Loughlin-Day writes that:
Campbellâs first band, The Panthers, were formed in 1962 and were at the heart of all things Merseybeat.âLegend has it that at one gig, John Lennon stood in front of the band, keen to suss out local competition; one must assume he was impressed, as before long, the band were able to add âsupported The Beatlesâ to their CV.âConvinced by Cavern-legend Bob Wooler to change their name to The Kirkbys (in homage to their home suburb) and looked after by Brian Epsteinâs secretary Beryl Adams, Campbell et al toured across Western Europe and recorded a handful of songs, including the Rolling Stones-esque stomper Itâs a Crime . . . [see #648]. . . .â[I]nitial singles found success in, of all places, Finland. . . . [but a]t home, the singles fared less impressively, and a second name change soon followed. The Kirbys became the 23rd Turnoff, again based in local geography, named after the M6 junction required for Kirkby. . . .
With a short European tour in 1972 backing Chuck Berry . . . and fortunes truly fading, Campbell decided heâd had enough. . . .â[A]pparently rejuvenated and able to muster the strength to record a fourth solo album during the 80âs, Campbell, on completing it, went to the pub to celebrate, only to return home to find his house ransacked and the only master tapes of the album gone, along with a range of equipment.âThe guy, it seemed, could just not catch a break. . . .
By all accounts, a life of hard-living took its toll and he sadly passed away in 2007 after battling emphysema.
Oh, and Billy Fury did a wonderful version that only surfaced years after his death. Yr Heartout explains:
[Here are a] trio of recordings as good as anyone has ever done, and yet these were never heard until Billy was long gone.âWhat a world!âBoth âIn My Roomâ and âLyannaâ are so incredibly sad and moving, and Billyâs performance seems to add layers of strangeness, despair and pain.âI donât know. I could be biased because I heard Billyâs versions first, and for me they fit Billy, with his reclusive tendencies, his innate shyness, his modesty, his gentleness, his persistent ill-health, his latter-day bad luck. . . . Jimmy Campbell [was] an incredibly talented singer and songwriter who nevertheless initially made me think of George Formby at times.âJimmy, for me, was an acquired taste, but so often acquired tastes prove to have more durability than instant passions.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. 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
1,095) Scorpion — âWe Are Throughâ
Beautiful, delicate, wistful folk rock from Sweden. As to Scorpionâs (see #1,009) album â I Am the Scorpion â SwedishProggBlog tells us that:
One of the most legendary albums to come out of the Swedish progg scene, and also one of the earliest.âItâs almost mythical to collectors, being extremely hard to find and fetching ridiculous prices any rare time itâs offered for sale.âIt was ninth album release on MNW, one of the most important labels of the Swedish 70âs, putting out many stellar albums of the era.âScorpion was in fact MNW head honcho Bo Anders Larssonâs own one-off project.âLarsson had previously been in Tintacs who had two singles out in the late 60âs.âTintacs soon became Ron Faust . . . .âBoth incarnations of the band also featured Lorne de Wolfe who later made a mark in history as a member of Contact, Vargen, and . . . Hansson de Wolfe United.âThe entire Contact back Larsson on âI Am the Scorpionâ, and being produced by Kim Fowley, itâs like the evil cousin to Contactâs â much more subdued â debut album âNobody Wants to Be Sixteenâ. . . .ââI Am the Scorpionâ is a partly wild affair, sometimes reminiscent of the Stooges or any other late 60âs/early 70âs Detroit band of your choice.âSide A of the album is hard-boiled psych rock with frantic fuzz guitars. . . .âWith the first side of the album having the guitars going on the red and the drums pounding on your eardrums, side B [where you can find âWeâAre Throughâ] might come as an unpleasant surprise.âMuch mellower, and in parts downright terrible.âIt begins with one of the lousiest tracks ever recorded in Sweden, âMichoicanâ . . . . Why this jolly-jolly-ho-ho-ho-thumbs-up-yeehah crap was chosen as a single â A side at that! â is a complete mystery. . . .âThe rest of the second side is much better, but a far cry from the stunning first one. . . .âSide A . . . is as heavy and rough as music got in 1970, up there with the best and rawest US garage rock of the era.
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. 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
1,094) Focal Point — ââCept Meâ
Co-band founder Paul Tennant recalls that this “rough demo” — two guys “in front of a microphone with two guitars” — was “a favorite of John Lennon’s and I can’t say how much that meant to us[, h]e was our hero”.â(liner notes to the CD comp Focal Point: First Bite of the Apple: The Complete Recordings 1967-68)âThe song is a “plaintive” “gem” (David Kidman, https://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/reviews/Pysche1967/) from one of the greatest coulda/shoulda-beens in the annals of British pop psych (see #4, 43, 198, 538, 747, 991).â
The band only released one single, but it all started out like a fairy tale when two guys cornered Paul McCartney walking his dog Martha in Hyde Park . . . .âAs Tennant recalls:
It was . . . the summer of 1967 . . . . We knew which house Paul lived in due to the large amount of girls hanging about outside. . . . Then all of a sudden the gates opened and a mini shoots out and away. Without a second thought we were on his tail, and there in the back of the car was a large sheepdog . . . . I never let it out of my sight . . . [W]e were at Hyde Park, the mini stopped and out stepped Paul, let the dog out and waved to the driver â Jane Asher and he was away walking the dog. . . . [W]e shouted to [Paul] and he turned around. We then told him . . . we were writing songs and didnât know what to do with them, could he help? . . . [H]e said to us âI could get you a recording contract just like thatâ and flicked his fingers. âBut why should I?â It was then that he proved to be human by planting a finger up his nostril. Dave [Rhodes] laughed and he laughed. Dave then said . . . âBecause we are good, our songs are good.â It was just like that, Paul then wrote down . . . a phone number . . . . âPhone this guy and tell him I sent you[]â and he was then gone . . . . [W]hen we got back to Liverpool, Dave and I phoned . . . . Terry [Doran] listened and told us Paul had told him we were going to ring and when could we go down to London. . . . Out came the guitars and we sang four of our best songs . . . . He said he liked our songs and would like to get acetate done of them. . . . âJohn loves your songs, he is absolutely going mad over themâ said Terry. We were . . . gob smacked. He wants me to play them to Brianâ. . . . âBrian agrees with John, your songs are fantastic.â . . . Brian . . . suggested that we should form a band [and] call [it] Focal Point.
Stefan Granados notes that âDoran recorded several demos with Tennant and Rhodes . . . who became the first two songwriters signed to Apple after both John Lennon and Brian Epstein responded enthusiastically to the demo recording [including “‘Cept Meâ].â(liner notes to Focal Point: First Bite of the Apple: The Complete Recordings 1967-68)
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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. 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
1,093) Brazilian Octopus — âGamboaâ
Come to a fashion show in Rio accompanied by some absolutely fabulous lounge jazz from some of Brazilâs greatest musicians. âThe opening melody shifts from a dreamlike intro to a swinging mid-tempo that recalls everything from Jacques Tatiâs masterpiece Playtime to the background dances on some â60s variety show.âIn three and a half minutes, the group, following the tight lead of drummer Douglas de Oliveira, passes through rhythmic pop-art bliss.â (Pat Padua, https://spectrumculture.com/2017/04/02/brazilian-octopus-brazilian-octopus/)
An incredible little record with a sound that’s unlike anything else we’ve ever heard before — a set that mixes jazzy inflections on vibes, organ, guitar, percussion, and flute — the last of which is played here by a young Hermeto Pascoal! The set was done after Pascoal’s work in Quarteto Novo but before some of his more complicated jazz albums of the 70s — and it’s got a style that mixes his own love of playful rhythms and complicated shadings with a lighter, freer approach to the music . . . . The drums get quite funky at times . . . an[d there is an] influence that’s . . . bossa-driven . . . . At times, there’s a lightly dancing beauty . . . .
[T]he mythological ensemble Brazilian Octopus emerged as a result of a demand . . . for âprofessional musiciansâ to create modern, jazz-inclined soundtracks for the already sophisticated and trendy fashion shows of the time. Formed by the great Aparecido Bianchi (piano and organ), Alexander Gordin (guitar), Carlos Alberto de Alcantara Pereira (flute and saxophone), Douglas de Oliveira (drums), JoĂŁo Carlos Pegoraro (vibraphone), Nilson Carlos Ruiz Matta (bass) and Olmir Stocker (guitar and guitar) and the already outstanding Hermeto Pascoal (flute), the glorious Brazilian octopus recorded just one long play . . . [whose] twelve tracks stroll through the Brazilian songbook of those times with elegance, in sophisticated arrangements that flirt with jazz, samba, bossa nova and North American black music. Gamboa, the first of them, is a true anthem . . . .
Picture a band that features musicians from schools so different as the multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, the post-tropicalist guitar hero Lanny Gordin, bossa nova pianist Cido Bianchi (former Milton Banana Trio), acoustic guitarist Olmir ‘AlemĂŁo’ Stocker and jazz bassist Nilson da Matta. The surprising meeting happened in 1968 and helped write a little known chapter in the history of instrumental music in Brazil called Brazilian Octopus, whose only release is hunted by record collectors. “This is undoubtedly the strangest Brazilian group ever”, writes Marcelo Dolabela in his dictionary ABZ do Rock . . . . At that time, we didn’t care about the money, we just wanted to play. It was a wonderful experience”, recalls Celso Bianchi, also a maestro and arranger.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,092) Spirit â âGramophone Manâ
Here is a Spirit song not nicked by Zeppelin, but which probably shoulda been!âIt’s “a tongue-and-cheek stab at radio-inclined music executives [with] a groove in the verses.” (Sinusoid, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=13042)âBoppin’s Blog says:
The start is very early Floyd like.âI can almost hear Syd Barrett.âThen the song morphs into a little jazz ditty.âThen it morphs back again.âVery cool indeed.
One of the few group-written songs from Spirit . . . a colorful portrait of what idealistic musicians have to deal with when trying to “relate” to the record company executives.âIt’s doubtful that the song was written [about] Lou Adler, who was the founder of Ode Records, Spirit’s label and the band’s producer.âAt this stage (1968), the group apparently had excellent relations with him.âBut whomever it was about, the strangeness of the corporate atmosphere that was foreign to many rock bands is communicated.âA bluesy, rock base carries the melody, but like many of the band’s songs, it shifts radically, in this case to a delicious jazz fusion break that once again shows off the group’s awesome instrumental abilities, especially Randy California’s Wes Montgomery-inspired jazz octaves.
[T]he song has a sudden, surprise change in the middleâa common enough feature of psychedelic songs, but in this case it breaks into something jazzier than usual. Ed Cassidy, the bald, older gent in the band, played drums with some big jazz names in his youth . . . and Spirit was unique in its use of jazz ideas in rock. . . .âGramophone Man . . . who at first has âmagic presentsâ in his head and his hands, but later the presents prove âempty.ââI suspect that Spirit is commenting on the empty promises of record companies and the like, the whole big bozo bucks sweepstakes . . . .âGramophone Man bids them sing, and, being cool CA music-dudes, they comply, only to feel ill-used and abused later.âMr. Gramophone Man will no doubt laugh all the way to the bank.â
Spirit created a product of its time: an inventive psychedelic rock hovering between Syd Barrett-Floyd, early The Who, but also developed some highly original sounds of their own.âSpirit was not just another garage rock band: they had two jazz players John Locke . . . and drummer Ed Cassidy . . . .â[who] was the step father of teenage [ax] wonder Randy California . . . .
Rising out of the ashes of a prior band called The Rising Sons centered around The Ash Grove venue in mid-1960s Los Angeles, a new band emerged . . . . includ[ing] percussionist Ed Cassidy, lead vocalist Jay Ferguson, bassist Mark Andes and guitarist Randy [Wolfe to later become Randy] California.âThe like minded musical misfits started a folk rock band called Red Roosters where they managed to score the odd high school dances and small venues around L.A. but after taking a hiatus and a cross-country trip to New York City Randy California had the chance to briefly play with Jimi Hendrix . . . but ultimately was denied moving with the band to London by his parents due to his tender young age of 15.âSlightly dismayed he had to head back to California to reform his prior band and with the addition of keyboardist John Locke, he and the other Red Roosters team opted to change their name to Spirits Rebellious and that’s when the true magic started to gel.âJoining in on the “Summer Of Love” hippie scene after a trip to Griffith Park, the members of the band rented an entire house in Topanga Canyon and lived together with significant others, children, pets and pretty much everything else.âThis is the time where the inspiration for SPIRIT’s eponymously titled debut album came from.âAfter truncating their name to simply SPIRIT, the band started to make waves by having an utterly unique sound that took the disparate styles of 60s folk and psychedelic rock and married them with the more progressive jazz-fusion styles that were emerging.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1967 by musicians who had a mixture of rock, pop, folk, blues, classical, and jazz backgrounds, and who ranged in age from 16 to 44, the group had an eclectic musical style in keeping with the early days of progressive rock . . . . The diverse tastes of the original quintet produced a hybrid style that delighted a core audience of fans but proved too wide-ranging to attract a mass following, and at the same time the musicians’ acknowledged talents brought them other opportunities that led to the breakup of the original lineup after four years and four albums . . . . In early 1965, the Rising Sons, a folk-blues group featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, played the Ash Grove; the band’s drummer was Ed Cassidy . . . who met and married [Randy] Californiaâs recently divorced mother, becoming his stepfather.âCassidy had been drumming professionally since his teens in almost every conceivable style, though lately largely in jazz groups before he joined the Rising Sons. . . .âIn September 1965 . . . [Randy and Cassidy] formed a band called the Red Roosters [with Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes] that . . . . broke up when Cassidy moved his family to New York . . . in the spring of 1966.âThere [Randy] had a fateful encounter . . . at a music store in Manhattan; he met the then-unknown Jimi Hendrix . . . who invited him to join his band . . . . Since there was already a musician named Randy in the band . . . Hendrix distinguished the two by their home states, calling . . . Randy Wolfe âRandy California.ââCalifornia played with Hendrix that summer . . . . [who] asked [him] to go to England with him, but at 15 he was too young. Instead, California moved back to [California where he and] Cassidy formed a band called Spirits Rebellious, after a book by the religious mystic Kahlil Gibran, also featuring pianist John Locke [and the returning Ferguson and Andes]. . . .âBy June [1967], they were playing gigs and . . . . auditioned for record executive and producer Lou Adler. . . . [who] signed Spirit . . . in August 1967, Adler produced the self-titled debut album . . . . [which] entered the Billboard chart in April and . . . peak[ed] in the Top 40 in September. . . .âIn October 1968, they issued a single, “I Got a Line on You,” a driving rocker written by California. Peaking at number 25 in the Hot 100 in March 1969, it was the group’s only Top 40 single.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,091) Montage — âThe Grand Pianistâ
After walking away from the Left Banke, Michael Brown ,”who had been the group’s chief artistic force as principal songwriter, arranger, and keyboardist — worked with Montage [see #252] to continue in [a] splendid Baroque pop/rock vein” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/montage-mn0001206263), “mastermind[ing] an entire LP of material that was both similar to, and nearly on par with the Left Banke’s unsurpassed fusion of pop-rock and classical music. . . .â[T]he graceful baroque-tinged melodies could have been no one else’s.”â(Richie Unterberger, liner notes to the CD reissue of Montage)
“The Grand Pianist” shows that “Michael Brown is not only a grand pianist but also a genius composer.”â(5215kerstin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcpztS6xyuk)âBrown wrote it with his sometimes collaborator (and Woodstock performer) Bert Sommer.
Jack Rabid tells us more:
Montage sounds far more like the real follow-up to the Left Banke’s first LP, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, than the actual one, The Left Banke, Too.âThis is because after the first LP the band’s three singers had sadly parted ways with keyboardist and prime songwriter Michel Brown, who instead became Montage’s mentor/mastermind.â(It’s a long story: Brown’s dad was managing the band to the distrust of the other members and Brown, like Brian Wilson, similarly disdained touring in favor of staying home to write and record.)âAnd though Brown was not technically a Montage member, he not only wrote all the music and produced this LP, but he also played all the trademark piano and organ and charted the vocal arrangements.âYet the four New Jersey no-names he found clearly translated his vision of extraordinarily lush, unspeakably beautiful orchestral chart pop. . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,090) The Liberty Bell — âI Can Seeâ
Garage gold out of Corpus Christi, Texas, from the Liberty Bell (see #505), who “specialized in a blues-based brand of proto-punk influenced by British groups such as the Yardbirds”. (tasos epit, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUueHSyzV0Q)âThe unreleased at the time song, written by guitarist Al Hunt, is “a true Garage stomper” (walterfechter8080, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh8xyaTisqw), a “[f]ast-tempo, fuzz-drenched piece[] with catchy hooks [that] made the group sound like an American version of the Yardbirds with more of an angry punk edge, courtesy of . . . [lead singer Ronnie] Tanner.”â(Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-liberty-bell-mn0000259877#biography)
As thomassmith8721 says:
There was West Coast psych.âThere was East Coast psych.âThis is Gulf Coast psych, the forgotten psychedelic coast.âGreat garage guitar.âThe tone is awesome.âI get that Texan Yardbirds promo thing. . . .âThese guys nailed that psychedelic sound.âThe guitar/organ combo drives this all the way.âGreat track.â
With a few breaks, the Liberty Bell might have been Americaâs Yardbirds â as it worked out, however, the group suffered the undeserved fate of being a footnote in the history of Corpus Christi rock bands. . . .â[O]riginally named the Zulus[, they] played a mix of blues-rock drifting toward psychedelia, driven by some fairly ambitious guitar work by lead axeman Al Hunt.âIn 1967, they hooked up with Carl Becker, the co-owner of J-Beck Records, which, at the time, was recording the hottest local band, the Zachary Thaks.âBecker signed them to his new Cee-Bee Records, and suggested a name change to the Liberty Bell. . . .âThe group’s lineup at the time of their first single, a cover of the Yardbirds’ “Nazz Are Blue” backed with a cover of Willie Dixon’s “Big Boss Man,” included Ronnie Tanner on lead vocals, Al Hunt on lead guitar, Richard Painter on rhythm guitar, and Wayne Harrison on bass.âThis record did well enough locally to justify further recording, and these sessions yielded the best songs of the group’s entire history, “Something for Me,” “For What You Lack,” “I Can See,” and “That’s How It Will Be.”âFast-tempo, fuzz-drenched pieces with catchy hooks, these numbers made the group sound like an American version of the Yardbirds with more of an angry punk edge, courtesy of . . . Tanner.âBut the real star of the group was . . . Hunt, who wrote most of the material in those days and played like Jeff Beck on a good day. . . .âTanner exited the group in early 1968 and was replaced by Chris Gemiottis, formerly of the Zakary Thaks . . . .
After graduating from Ingleside High School across the bay from Corpus Christi, Texas in 1966, I was a member of the rock band âThe Acousticsâ and we got the opportunity to play . . . . in the âBigâ city where such local bands as âThe Pozo Seco Singersâ, âThe Bad Seedsâ, and a new group, âThe Zachary Thaksâ were playing and getting radio air play on the top radio station KEYS. . . . [A]fterward . . . Carl Becker introduced himself to me and asked if I would be willing to come and audition for a band he was going to sign to his âCEE BEEâ record label.âThey were called âThe Zuluâsâ.âI was asked to meet the band . . . and the audition went well.âI was asked to join the group as lead singer and soon the bandâs name was changed to âTHE LIBERTY BELLâ.âThings moved quite quickly after that.âRecording sessions in McAllen, TX, band photos, songs to write and covers to learn, and lots of appearances.âIt seems like just yesterday when the rhythm guitarist Richard Painter and I were driving around town and heard our first release, âThe Nazz Are Blueâ, come on the radio. . . .âWe were all so happy and worked so hard and dreamed of what would be next. . . .â[W]e began to branch out to other Texas cities and enjoyed a year of incredible fun and soon other stations were picking up the record. . . .â[I]n early 1968, we were being pitched to a major record label in Houston named Back Beat Records.â[But] I was of draft age [and got drafted].âChris Gerniotis, of the Zachary Thaks, was named as my replacement. . . . I remember returning home on leave from Basic training and seeing the band with Chris and I was incredibly proud having been a part of such a great band and great friends. . . .âCorpus Christi, Texas was a very cool place to be in 1967 and 1968!
Here’s a slightly longer version.â”To the best of Hunt’s recollections, Cee-Bee Records believed the intro was too long and consequently dited an spliced a few seconds off the top.”â(Mike Dugo, liner notes to the CD comp Garage Beat ’66: Readin’ Your Will!):
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,089) Blonde on Blonde — âCountry Lifeâ
This Welsh bandâs (see #227, 267) â68 B-side is a âwonderful psych-pop song” (https://www.clear-spot.nl/item/506848/blonde_on_blonde_contrasts.html) that “recalls The Moody Blues’ sound”.â(Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)âThe song’s “simpler, appropriately rustic charms” as compared to the classic psych A-side “All Day, All Night” “may have made [it] a more likely chart contender.”â(David Wells, liner notes to the CD reissue of Contrasts)â
Country roads, take me homeâTo the place I belongâNewport, South Wales, mountain mamaâTake me home, country roads!
As to BoB (named after BoB Dylanâs double LP), Bruce Eder says:
Blonde on Blonde . . . were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set.âGarett Johnson played the guitar, sitar, and lute, while Richard Hopkins handled the bass, piano, harpsichord, cornet, celeste, and whistle, and Lea Hicks played the drums.âThe addition of Ralph Denyer made them into a quartet with vocals; and Simon Lawrence . . . was with them briefly, as well, on 12-string guitar.âThe group took part in the Middle Earth Club’s Magical Mystery Tour, which brought them an initial splash of press exposure.âThey were also fortunate enough to open for the Jefferson Airplane on the[ir] British tour.âAll of this activity led to an approach by Pye Records producer Barry Murray, who got them signed to the label, and through whom they released their debut single “All Day, All Night” b/w “Country Life.”âThough decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band’s music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with Johnsonâs sitar and lute embellishments and Hopkins’ harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — with Hicks getting into the act on the tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound.âTheir live performances were frequently divided . . . into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range.âThe group issued their first album, Contrasts, in 1969 . . . — that record showed more of the early but burgeoning influence of progressive rock, while retaining their early psychedelic coloration. That same year, the band played to the largest single audience of its entire history when they appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival.âThey also issued their second single “Castles in the Sky” b/w “Circles'” and LP Rebirth which featured a new lineup — Denyer had exited the band to form Aquila, ceding his spot in Blonde on Blonde to singer-guitarist David Thomas. . . .â[T]heir third LP, Reflections on a Life . . . . failed to sell any better than their prior releases . . . and the group broke up in 1972 . . . .
[Blonde on Blonde] was exploring the areas pioneered by 1967 psychedelic acts like PINK FLOYD, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and CREAM, but in a much larger scale of influences . . . having a more wider musical palette than the bands . . . . Their music is a dance between contrasts of free impressionism paired with predefined melodic more carefully constructed elements, varying from streetwise side to high levels of spirituality, from folk tones, classical guitar runs and mantra like instrumental runs, bursting with oriental musical influences, introducing cosmic drones running hypnotically on varying time scales, and all this paired with hard rock tones of heavy psychedelic guitar . . . . Their lyrics are quite basic trippy poems, but also thoughtful, emotional and interesting at their best . . . . There is melancholy in their music, but there is also hope and happiness among it.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,088) Nick Garrie — âClose Your Eyesâ
The B-side of Nick Garrie’s (see #3, 19, 41, 65, 104, 137, 245, 362, 493, 871, 965) only single of the 60’s is “[a]bsolutely stunning [UK] pop psych!!”â(PsychedelicGuy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPaAiUgFkzc) and “shows the sweetness of some of his melodies”. (https://elefant.com/bands/nick-garrie/biography)âGarrie reflects that it “was sweet and in harmony which sounded husky.â[Producer] Mickey Baker thought I was just some rich dude’s son but he liked my lyrics.”â(liner notes to the CD comp The Lost Songs of Nick Garrie-Hamilton: Selected Recordings 1968-2002)
The single predated The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, a top contender for the greatest lost album of the 60âs.âIf Nickâs French record companyâs owner hadnât committed suicide on the eve of Stanislasâs release, who knows what might have been.âStunning songs â I was transfixed the first time I heard them and I have been a huge fan of Nick and his music ever since.â
John Clarkson writes:
Nick Garrieâs 1969 album, âThe Nightmare of J.B. Stanislasâ, is now seen to be a psychedelic folk/pop masterpiece.âIt has, however, only recently gained this reputation and for over thirty five years was largely unheard.âThe son of a Russian father and Scottish mother, Garrieâs early years were divided between Paris, where his Egyptian stepfather worked as a diplomat, and Norwich, where he attended a boarding school.âHe recorded âThe Nightmare of J.B. Stanislasâ 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.âGarrie 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.âThe finished result is a compelling oddity and merges together Garrieâs wistful melodies and often abstract lyrics with Vartanâs colourfully extravagant orchestrations.âIt is . . . much deserved of the cult status it has since come to gain. Lucien Morrisse, the owner of Disc AZ, Garrieâs record label, committed suicide before âThe Nightmare of J.B. Stanislasâ 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. . . .
Here are excerpts from a vintage interview (2010) that Clarkson conducted with Nick:
JC: What did you feel troubled about when you were writing âStanislasâ?
NG: I wrote most of it when I was between nineteen and twenty.âI 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.âAlthough I was eventually released from it, for a year I couldnât go in to France and so I was essentially homeless.
. . . .
JC: The suicide of Lucien Morrisse led to âThe Nightmare of J.B. Stanislasâ remaining unheard for over three decades. Even before he died, you, however, imply again in your autobiography that Disc AZ didnât know quite what to do with you and how to promote you.âDo you think that too was a factor in âStanislasâ remaining undiscovered for so long?
NG: Absolutely, because it was never released at all.âIt was not as if it came out.âNo one ever heard it.âI would go in to see them.âWe would talk about it.âThey 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.âTo be honest as well at that stage I didnât really like it much either.âI didnât like the arrangements, so after his suicide I gave a couple of copies to my stepfather and for me it was finished.âI didnât 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 donât hear it through everybodyâs ears.âI 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 didnât really like it.âThey were songs, however, that I didnât 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 didnât know about until you turned up at the studio.âWhat did you expect the songs to sound like?âWere they going to be just you and your acoustic guitar or were they going to involve a band?
NG: . . . . I knew that it wouldnât be my guitar work because I wasnât a good enough guitarist.âI am still not, but I suspected that would be the basis of it.âThe first song that I started recording was âStanislasâ.âI had no idea that was what we were playing though.â[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 didnât think much of me anyway because I was a pop artist.âBut 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.âI just never expected it and didnât feel in a position to say very much about it.âI think as well that it was just the way it was in those days. . . .
JC: How did âThe Nightmare of J.B. Stanislasâ gain it audience?âDo you know?
NG: I had just started teaching when I found out about it.âI had done a PGCE course late in life and I typed in Nick Garrie as a joke because I hadnât used the name since âStanislasâ and I couldnât believe it when there was all these pages on it.âI donât 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 âBand Carusoâ with âWheel of Fortuneâ on it.âI think that was the first thing on the web and it did quite well, so that is probably how the name got about.âThings went from there.ââ
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. 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
1,087) The Beatles — âOoh! My Soulâ
Ooh, in the blink of an eye, the Beatles do Little Richard proud with one of Paul McCartneyâs âall-time greatest rock ânâ roll vocal performances”. (The Beatles Bible, https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/ooh-my-soul/)
The Good Book goes on:
The Beatles recorded just one version of Little Richardâs âOoh! My Soulâ, for a BBC radio show in 1963.âThe song was first released as a single [by LR] in June 1958 . . . .âIt was a minor transatlantic hit, reaching number 31 in the US and number 22 in the UK.âThe Beatlesâ recording was made on 1 August 1963 at the Playhouse Theatre, Manchester. . . .âthe first song performed for the 11th edition of the Pop Go The Beatles programme.âIt was first broadcast on 27 August . . . .âThe song lasts just 1â37â â less time than Richardâs own frenetic version.
I could do Little Richardâs voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing, itâs like an out-of-body experience.âYou have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it.âYou have to actually go outside yourself.âItâs a funny little trick and when you find it, itâs very interesting.âA lot of people were fans of Little Richard so I used to sing his stuff.
Barry Miles, Many Years from Now
Faabfan tells us about the Beatles and Little Richard:
Paul loved Little Richard so much that . . . he chose to sing âLong Tall Sallyâ for his first ever stage appearance, at Butlins holiday camp in 1956, and also h[e] serenaded fellow pupils at the Liverpool Institute with that and âTutti Fruttiâ on the last day of one school term, climbing onto a desk with his guitar and no little self-confidence.”âAnd while everyone knows the story of Paul impressing John with a word-perfect guitar run-through of Eddie Cochraneâs âTwenty Flight Rockâ when they first met at the Woolton Church Fete in July 1957, itâs not so widely discussed that Paul then switched to piano and launched into his well-practiced Little Richard routine. As Mark Lewisohn so memorably puts it in his peerless Fabs biography Tune In, âPaul couldnât have known it, but by slipping into âLong Tall Sallyâ he was sliding into Johnâs main arteryâŠ. No matter how much John affected an air of coolness, his insides had to be leaping.ââGeorge was also a big fan and, as the Quarrymen slowly evolved into The Beatles, their setlists invariably featured at least one Richard number. And, in the same way as Chuck Berry songs were mostly sung by John, Little Richard ones were always sung by Paul. Macca had mastered not only his growling timbre and frenzied screams but also his high pitched, gospel-inflected whoops. Richardâs material would remain a fixture in their live shows, right until the very end; they closed their last-ever concert, at San Franciscoâs Candlestick Park, with âLong Tall Sallyâ.
In the book The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography, Lennon reflected on the overriding influence of Presley and Little Richard. âElvis was bigger than religion in my life,â Lennon expressed. âThen this boy at school said heâd got this record by somebody called Little Richard who was better than Elvis â we used to go to this boyâs house after school and listen to Elvis on 78s: weâd buy five ciggies loose and some chips and go along.ââLennon recalled being blown away when he first listened to Richardâs energetic verse. The 1956 single âLong Tall Sallyâ was his first experience with the American star. âThe new record was Little Richardâs âLong Tall Sallyâ,â he recalled. âWhen I heard it, it was so great I couldnât speak.ââSo enamoured was Lennon with Richard that he questioned his allegiance to Presley. âYou know how you are torn,â he said. âI didnât want to leave Elvis, but this was so much better. We all looked at each other, but I didnât want to say anything against Elvis, even in my mind. How could they both be happening in my life?â
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,086) Murray Head — âShe Was Perfectionâ
Forget a night in Bangkok â Iâll take one in Swinging London anytime!â”Perfection” is perfection, a head-on âgorgeous collision of baroque strings and fey harmoniesâ (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967) that âemphasized the dexterity of Head’s vocal and compositional giftsâ.â(liner notes to CD comp The Immediate Singles Collection). Unfortunately, the song proved âslightly too subtle for mass public acclaim” (The Immediate Singles Collection), “fail[ing] to find favour despite Peter Whitehead . . . making what Head has described as ‘a bloody awful black and white film for the single with me running around Brompton Cemetery!'”â(David Wells)
As to Head, Jason Ankeny tells us:
Best remembered for his 1984 smash “One Night in Bangkok,” actor/singer Murray Head was born . . . in London and began his performing career at age 12 with appearances in a series of radio plays.âHe began writing songs a year later, cutting his earliest singles while still a teenager . . . .â In 1966 Head made his film debut in [the Paul McCartney-scored] The Family Way [see #28]; the picture also featured his third single “Some Day Soon,” produced by Tim Rice.âStill, Head’s career failed to take off and he was eventually dropped from his recording contract . . . .â[Then] Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber contacted him to sing the role of Judas on the soundtrack to their musical Jesus Christ Superstar; concurrently, he also appeared in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday.âThe success of both projects launched Head to mainstream attention, and in 1972 he recorded his debut solo album . . . [and] three years later he resurfaced with . . . [his] enduring cult hit . . . “Say It Ain’t So, Joe.” . . .âIn 1984 Head was tapped to star in the musical Chess; his soundtrack performance of “One Night in Bangkok” . . . became a major pop hit on both sides of the Atlantic . . . .
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (ârelating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainmentâ â dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the âgreatest songs of the 1960âs that no one has ever heardâ that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelationsđ 