THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
749) The Paupers — “Oh That She Might”
Nik says of this gorgeous pop psych ballad from Ellis Island, the great Canadian band’s (see #192) second and final album, that “[f]ew 1960s bands ever succeeded at doing atmospheric balladry like the Paupers do on “Oh, That She Might”, which somehow manages to incorporate delicate strings and a jazzy, night club saxophone without collapsing into affectation or period schmaltz.” (http://therisingstorm.net/the-paupers-ellis-island/)
Originally known as The Spats, the [Paupers] were formed in Toronto in 1964 . . . . Within a short time they’d become one of the area’s hottest local acts, combining an infectious jazz beat with a British-invasion look & sound. After a name-change in ’65 . . . . [t]hey were signed to . . . Red Leaf Records label and . . . issued “Never Send You Flowers” as the group’s debut single. . . . [which] soon became a modest local hit, as did the follow up “If I Told My Baby”. . . . [T]he band’s interests [were sold] to Albert Grossman, who was also handling Bob Dylan and Peter Paul & Mary at the time . . . . Grossman renegotiated the MGM contract and signed the band to its associate Verve Forecast. “If I Call You By Some Name”, the first single featuring Mitchell was released shortly after, reaching #31 on Canadian charts and became the band’s biggest hit. They travelled to NY to open for Jefferson Airplane that March before working on their album debut . . . . [T]hey [then] found themselves on the West Coast where they became regulars at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium [and] LA’s Whiskey A Go Go . . . .
The Paupers, along with the Guess Who, were one of the first Canadian bands to capitalize on the British Invasion. . . . Their early sound was a classy mixture of roots music, blues and folk-rock (think early Byrds or Lovin’ Spoonful crossed with the Blues Project circa 1965). The band began rehearsing 14 hours a day, honing their setlist and evolving into one of the tightest bands around. They hit the hip Yorkville District of Canada, playing to packed out venues daily and in return this gained them immense popularity. Rumor has it that the Paupers blew the mighty Jefferson Airplane off stage one night. . . . [T]he band would play at the seminal Monterey Pop Festival. Everything that could go wrong for them did. Band members took doses of acid that were way too strong and had equipment/sound check problems. Thus, it was the beginning of the end for the Paupers, a group of individuals who had began with so much promise. In 1968, beneath all the internal turmoil, the Paupers were able to squeeze one more lp out [Ellis Island].
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
748) The Stained Glass — “My Buddy Sin”
The Stained Glass was, per Alec Palao, “[a]mong the most underrated entries in the Bay Area 1960s pantheon”, with “My Buddy Sin” being “baroque-tinged” and “catchy and innovative”, a song that “should have sent the Glass chartward”. (liner notes to Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets: 1965-1970).
The Music Court tells us that:
After being signed by RCA at the end of 1966, Stained Glass was instructed to record a version of the Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone.” RCA estimated that the Beatles were not going release the single in the US for a bit of time, and their slight miscalculation probably impacted the limited success of Stained Glass’s version, but, the song garnered enough airplay to spark a brief East Coast tour for the California band. The immediate follow up to the band’s first single was “My Buddy Sin”/ “Vanity Fair” which was released in the same year. . . . [“My Buddy”‘s] vocal harmony is unorthodox. It is not your typical light-hearted, fast-paced, early Beau Brummels’ like American merseybeat harmony. No, instead, it almost takes a page out of the Association’s handbook. The harmony is rich and delicate. It is fresh and entrapping, more like a choir than a pop group. The song also features a bluesy harmonica and a fast-paced blues guitar solo over an angelic vocal background. It is an odd mixture of genres, some popular at the time, and some prescient (British folk, for example). It, to me at least, seems like a strong second release. A great song.
[“My Buddy” is] unique, influenced by medieval music as much as rock and roll. Featuring harpsichord and sophisticated choral harmonies, it was unusual for a pop record in 1966. . . . a very schizophrenic track. You’ve got this baroque harpsichord, and medieval harmonies, and minor-major shifts that make it sound like a English folk song. And then there’s this loud, chuggin’ harmonica during the choruses. Vestige of their Merseybeat past, I guess. Nice tasteful guitar solo, though. . . . The sheer daring required to release this on a major label in 1966 makes it worthy of an A.
What, medieval harmonies? It’s not like the Glass was doing Gregorian chant! Anyway, Derek Anderson relates that:
When the single was being recorded, the group didn’t like My Buddy Sin. They felt the addition of the harmonica spoilt the track. It, they felt, took the edge of the song. On its release, in September 1966, [it] failed to chart.
Pop-rock trio Stained Glass formed in 1966, a product of the same San Jose, California music scene that also produced the legendary Syndicate of Sound, the E-Types [see #708], and the Count Five. . . . The self-penned gem “My Buddy Sin” closed out the year, and in the spring of 1967 Stained Glass scored a major local hit with “We Got a Long Way to Go.” “A Scene in Between” soon followed, but the group again proved unable to dent the national charts, and RCA terminated their contract. Stained Glass signed to Capitol, issuing “Lady in Lace/Soap and Turkey” in mid-1968. Early the following year, they issued their first full-length effort, Crazy Horse Roads. . . . [and then] Aurora, but when both albums were ignored by record buyers, the trio dissolved in November 1969.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
747) Focal Point — “Girl on the Corner”
Focal Point is one of the greatest coulda/shoulda-beens in the annals of British pop psych (see #4, 43, 198, 538). “Girl”, one of the first four songs they recorded, knocked out John Lennon and Brian Epstein. Needless to say, it knocks me out.
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 . . . . Asco-founder Paul Tennant recalled:
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 – 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 didn’t know what to do with them, could he help? . . . . [H]e said to us “I could get you a recording contract just like that” and flicked his fingers. “But why should I?” 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 . . . “Because we are good, our songs are good.” It was just like that, Paul then wrote down . . . a phone number . . . . “Phone this guy and tell him I sent you[]” and he was then gone . . . . [W]hen we got back to Liverpool, Dave and I phoned . . . . Terry [Dolan] 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 [nclusing “Girl”]. . . . He said he liked our songs and would like to get acetate done of them. . . . “John loves your songs, he is absolutely going mad over them” said Terry. We were . . . gob smacked. He wants me to play them to Brian”. . . . “Brian agrees with John, your songs are fantastic.” . . . Brian . . . suggested that we should form a band [and] call [it] Focal Point.
Stefan Granados notes that “Dolan 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 recordings.” (liner notes to the Focal Point: First Bite of the Apple: The Complete Recordings 1967-68 comp)
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It’s a question that has long been the subject of intense and often bitter debate: where exactly did punk rock begin? . . . Few would imagine the genre that revolutionised music was actually born at a cinema matinee in the Peruvian capital of Lima. . . . Los Saicos (the Psychos) were screaming, speeding and drinking their way to local notoriety. . . . Their signature tune, Demolición (Demolition) has been revived as an anthem for political protesters and, reportedly, for drug barons. In the Lima district of Lince, a marble plaque has been erected with the provocative claim etched in marble: “The global punk movement was born here. Demolish!!!”
Los Saicos burned brightly and briefly in the mid-60s, performing together for a few years and recording no more than a dozen songs. They were inspired by Elvis and the Beatles to play rock’n’roll but thanks to a frenetic effort to make up for a lack of training and equipment . . . with energy and attitude they ended up with a sound that was 10 years ahead of its time. . . . “There was no name for that at the time, but the riffs are definitely punk,” said José Beramendi, the producer of . . . a documentary about the band. “You expect this sound from North America or Europe, but it’s not something you expect to hear in the 1960s in Latin America.” . . .
Los Saicos were raised on a musical diet of Harry Belafonte, Peruvian criolla and classical waltzes in the conservative and hierarchical society . . . . Elvis and the Beatles changed their lives. Their early shows were at cinema matinees, where bands were hired as an extra draw for the screenings. Most groups performed covers of syrupy pop songs, but Los Saicos revved up the energy by mixing original love ballads with hoarse, souped-up tracks about prison breaks, funerals and destruction. “Compared to other bands of the time, we had a bad-boy image. They turned up with their aunts, we had girls on each arm,” recalla the drummer Pancho Guevara. They were detained several times by the police, mostly for speeding but also for taking a sledgehammer, axe and fake TNT to the railway station for a record cover photo shoot.
Guevara said the label was unimportant. “I don’t know what ‘punk’ is,” he said. “We wanted to play rock’n’_roll but this is the sound that came out. I don’t know where it came from. It was just something that emerged when we started playing.”
They were together only from 1964 to 1966 in their initial run—they released only six singles and never put out an album, but their “Demolición” was the biggest hit in Peru in 1965, and they had their own national TV show while they were still active. They had a raw, garage-y sound, apparently achieved without ever hearing any authentic garage rock from America—they did, however, know about all the big British Invasion bands. Plenty of people have claimed that they really invented punk—I’m not so sure about that . . . . A huge part of the Los Saicos . . . aesthetic derives from the balls-to-the-wall shouting of frontman Erwin Flores. Without that, they’re not all that much different from other garage-y bands—except for their nihilistic lyrics, of course. According to Flores, their first show in front of a posh audience was initially met with stunned silence—and then, after a pause, rapturous applause.
In 1966 they broke up. . . . After two years or so of close proximity, the four members had gotten sick of each other, and after breaking up they weren’t in contact with each other for decades. (It appears that there was no great conflict, in truth—just fatigue and a desire to move on to other matters.) Their great shouter Erwin Flores ended up moving to the Washington, DC, area, where he got a job at NASA . . . .
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
745) Nooney Rickett and the Nooney Rickett Four — “Bye Bye Baby”
Man, this ’65 45 must be an unreleased number by the Searchers, or maybe the Hollies. It’s not? It’s not. It is, as Acid Revolver says “Fab Searchers/Beau Brummels styled folk rock by Nooney Rickett and the Nooney Rickett Four. A bit of a mouthful, never mind though when the music is this sweet.” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oT7fA4DPRwY)
Indiana Music Makers tells us that:
Born Nooney Everett in Hazard, Kentucky . . . . his recording career was limited to two forgettable singles (one on MGM and one on 20th Century Fox), [but] he had a moment in the spotlight in the mid 1960s, while he was leading the Nooney Rickett 4 in Los Angeles. A well-known act in the California Club Circuit, his band showed up in 1965 on Shindig! (a short-lived music variety show on ABC) and two beach movies. More specifically, the Nooney Rickett 4 performed frequently as the house band on Pajama Party (1965, starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello), and it appeared the following year on Winter A-Go-Go (starring James Stacy).
Acid Revolver also notes that Nooney played with “Arthur Lee and his group LOVE on Lee’s ‘False Start’ album from 1970”. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oT7fA4DPRwY)
Here are the NR4 performing on TV:
And here is a hilarious comment to the clip by marvinwatkinbs8889:
Thank goodness this was “for research only”, and not for superficial nostalgic or amusement purposes. But what sort of “research” could it be for? National Defense, perhaps, or something just as scholarly? BTW: it’s too bad that notification couldn’t have been big enough so that it covered the entire screen. But locating it centrally still was clever and brilliant.
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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).
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
743) Wizz Jones — “Dazzling Stranger”
This dazzling folk song is “stunningly poignant” and “encapsulate[s] the combination of fragility and profundity that defined the best of the 1960’s singer-songwriters.” (Colin Harper, Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival) Wizz calls it “one of my favourite Alan Tunbridge songs” (https://www.wizzjones.com/discography.html) and remembers that “It was on [The Legendary Me] that I persuaded Ralph McTell to guest on the Alan Tunbridge song ‘Dazzling Stranger’, which we recorded at Ron Geesin’s house. . . . I had expected Ralph to arrive at Ron’s house with his trusty Gibson guitar, instead of which he was sporting a recently acquired antique harmonium which imbued the track with a certain ecclesiastical atmosphere.” (https://www.wizzjones.com/disc_legend.html)
Thom Jurek gives us some history:
With its many leaves and branches, the English folk scene is traceable to a few gnarly yet enduring taproots. . . . [and] guitarist Wizz Jones is one of them. While virtually unknown in America . . . Jones was paramount in influencing virtually every acoustic guitarist and folk scenester who came after him in the U.K. Jones began to play guitar seriously in the mid- to late ’50s after being inspired by the literature of the Beat Generation, and American blues and folk recordings . . . . Jones bore a strange figure in British coffeehouses with his uncharacteristically long hair and hobo-ish demeanor, including a guitar that was literally held together with leather straps. He knew his stuff, however, with his playing rooted deep in the Mississippi Delta and in early Chicago blues styles, and he established a reputation early among younger players who soaked up both his image and the licks he fired off from a rapid right-handed picking style that was clearly his own. . . . Embracing the Beat life, he and Clive Palmer took to busking in the streets of France for a while . . . . Back in England, Jones met banjo king Pete Stanley in 1962 and formed a bluegrass duo that released a now legendary — and highly collectible — Columbia recording called Music for Moonshiners in early 1963. The duo issued one more recording for the label called Sixteen Tons of Bluegrass before disbanding in 1966. Beginning in 1968, Jones began recording a series of albums upon which his obscure, yet legendary, modern reputation was founded. Hanging with a bunch of locals and a loose-knit band he formed called Lazy Farmer, Jones issued nine albums between 1969 and 1977 . . . .
Raymond Ronald Jones . . . to a poor working class family in Croydon which was at that time a small town in the county of Surrey on the outskirts of South London. Attending Oval Primary and Junior School and later Selhurst Grammar School for boys where Jones felt well out of his depth amongst boys mainly from fairly well-off middle class professional families. Being constantly absent due to severe bouts of migraine and having to attend weekly physiotherapy exercises for a curvature of the spine he left school at the age of 16 in 1955 with meagre qualifications. Inspired by Folk and Blues music heard on BBC and European Radio, Jones began to teach himself to play the acoustic guitar. He worked for a year or so at a textile warehouse in the City of London and then at a similar establishment in the West End. On leaving home around this time he moved into a rented attic room in Porchester Square close by Marble Arch and soon discovered the delights of a bohemian life-style in Soho. . . . Wizz began his musical career at the age of 18 leading a Country and Skiffle band called “The Wranglers” in 1957. He had been inspired to take up the acoustic guitar a year or so before this after hearing such guitar luminaries as Big Bill Broonzy, Rambling Jack Elliot and Muddy Waters playing at a club in London organized by Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner . . . . Having learned most of his blues licks from Long John Baldry and Davy Graham whilst playing in the coffee bars of Soho, Wizz followed the time honoured trail – busking throughout Europe . . . . On returning to Britain in the early sixties, Wizz formed a blue-grass duo with banjo-picker Pete Stanley, a partnership which was to last for four years . . . . Wizz and Pete went their separate ways at the end of 1967 and Wizz returned to solo work collaborating with songwriter Alan Tunbridge (an artist friend from the Soho days) and occasionally with guitarist Peter Berryman. . . . [I]n spite of being often mentioned as an important early influence by artists such as Eric Clapton, John Renbourn and Ralph McTell . . . Wizz retained a certain “musician’s musician” reputation, only occasionally playing club gigs and the odd festival spot . . . . []As Billy Connolly says . . . “My friend Wizz has had a somewhat wispy career – now you see him now you don’t!”[].
“I met Roy Harper who had recently recorded his first album . . . for producer Pierre Tubbs. Pierre had told Roy that he was looking for artists with original material to record for Liberty and United Artists records. Roy’s retort had been “Pierre why don’t you record some ORIGINAL PEOPLE like Wizz Jones and Clive Palmer?” . . . So that was how I got to make my first solo LP.” (https://www.wizzjones.com/disc_wizzjones.html)
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I get a suspicious “Wicked Games” vibe when listening to this song. Just me? Aluffarb says that “[l]istening to this rare psych/garage/folk-rock gem it’s pretty clear where Chris Issak may have gotten some of his musical inspiration for ‘Wicked Games’ . . . .” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fex0JZ9QtuA). Sweet vindication!
Gilesi gives us some history:
Fort Bragg in Mendocino County on the northern coast of California was home to The Living Children, an outfit who formed in the summer of 1966, though their roots can be traced back to surf band KW and The Evils earlier in the decade. The band apparently took their name from the song ‘Living Child’ by their friends The Boy Blues from Chico, and having won a Battle of the Bands contest at the 1966 California State Fair in Sacramento played gigs across the state. Both sides of their only single were written by singer and guitarist David Green and recorded at Golden State Recorders in San Francisco. The 45 was released in March 1968 . . . .
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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).
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
742) Fingletoad, Strange & Siho — “Marshlands”
From the Chicago suburbs comes a magical, haunting, Lennonesque rock song from an album that saw fewer than 100 souvenir LP’s stamped in ‘70. The Eternal Now says the album is “westcoast-influenced 1970 rock and psychedelia with a warm live sound, a big wide-open heart, and acid guitar leads on top.” (http://lysergia_2.tripod.com/LamaWorkshop/lamaEternalNow_older.htm) P Funk describes the song as “an evening ‘with a lover in the dusk’ . . . interspersed with images of a nihilistic hobo and the prince of darkness”. https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/fingletoad-strange-siho-mazzola). That’s the Chicago I remember!
Talk about cultural appropriation — Jason Ankeny says that the album is “an artful appropriation of West Coast canyon rock and folk-pop idioms”! He gives some history:
Psychedelic trio Fingletoad, Strange & Siho formed in the spring of 1965 in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, IL. Bassist Roger Glienke (aka “Nigel Fingletoad”) and guitarist Philip Novak (“Siho”) first collaborated in the high school garage band known variously as the Philters and the Illusions before settling on the Generation circa the 1966 arrival of drummer and third vocalist Richard LaPointe (the future “Neil Strange”). A staple of local teen clubs and school dances, [they] . . . split[] in the fall of 1968 as Novak went off to the University of Notre Dame. As classmates at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Glienke and LaPointe continued their partnership and in October 1969 recruited bassist Bob Cabanban to record an unreleased LP, Fingletoad and Strange. A year later Novaki returned to Chicago long enough to cut a second album [from which today’s song is drawn] dubbed Mazzola and issued in a vanity pressing of less than 100 copies. The trio effectively dissolved soon after . . . .
Like a lot of capable artists who never catapult into the limelight, Fingletoad, Strange & Siho bear the stamp of influence like a pathology, obsessively crafting an entire album from a single flashpoint. Or at least that’s what it sounds like is going on here, as practically all of their second album hearkens back to Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand” and “Down by the River.” Like the two side-ending tracks from Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, FS&S’s 1970 recordings project ennui and male desire onto knotted electric guitars. By dwelling in this melancholy, anxious space for a spell, these guys transformed standard insecure-young-adult fare into fantastical and absurd imagery.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
741) Sharon Tandy — “One Way Street”
Today, I’m rebranding my unreleased (in the ’60’s) “greatest songs” as I Shall Be Released. I’m sure I have Bob’s full backing!
Ah, Sharon Tandy (see #371, 441, 442) — that “[m]od goddess, psychedelic priestess, blue-eyed queen of soul” (Alec Palao, liner notes to the CD comp You Gotta Believe It’s . . . Sharon Tandy) Here she not just doing soul –but DOING soul: recording a song for Stax in Memphis with Booker T. & the MG’s that was written just for her by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The song was incredibly unreleased at the time and not recorded by anyone else. (see Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/you-gotta-believe-its-mw0000741620) This “superlative Hayes/Porter tune . . . has a gem-like quality.” (Alec Palao, liner notes to You Gotta Believe) and Tandy noted that the out of this world “backing vocals were put on afterwards, I didn’t know about them.” (liner notes to You Gotta Believe)
As Steve Leggett explains:
Tandy already had a career as a singer and performer in South Africa before relocating to England in 1964 at the suggestion of Frank Fenter, then the U.K. head of Atlantic Records and soon to be her mentor, manager, and husband. Pairing her with the British mod group Fleur de Lys, Fenter used his clout to land her an opening slot on the 1967 Stax-Volt U.K. tour and, also convinced Stax to sign her as an artist . . . .
[While her] recorded legacy doesn’t contain any big commercial hits, [Tandy’s] unique phrasing and passionate vocal style suggest things could easily have been different. . . . Her output during the U.K. years, which saw her delivering sides that were mod-tinged and sometimes lightly psychedelic pop-soul, and sounding at times like a hipper, tougher version of Dusty Springfield, remain at the heart of her legacy.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
740)Reparata and the Delrons — “Weather Forecast”
I love Reparata and the Delrons (see #258, 389, 578) — and not just because they got together in ‘62 (the year I was born!) at St. Brendan’s Catholic School in Brooklyn (where I was living when I came home from the maternity ward!). “Fans of the girl group sound usually place Reparata and the Delrons near the top of their list of acts who, if the world was fair, would be household names.” (http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/frontrow/2301/reparata.html) Yup!
As to their name, Mary O’Leary, their first lead vocalist, explained that their managers wanted one that was flamboyant and flashy, sort of like Martha & the Vandellas. Her confirmation name was Reparata, which she had taken “from the choir mistress at the Good Shepherd elementary school — Sister Mary Reparata, my favourite nun” [liner notes to The Best of Reparata & the Delrons]. And so they were christened.
Bruce Eder gives us some history:
For a group that never made the Top 40, and came along almost too late to exploit the sound they produced, Reparata & the Delrons have proved amazingly durable. . . . [They] were one of hundreds of girl groups that flourished in the early ’60s, and actually had a higher profile than many of their rivals, achieved in their own time by their participation in a pair of Dick Clark national tours and, for years after, from the fact that they actually released a complete LP to accompany their one widely recognized hit, “Whenever a Teenager Cries.” . . . The group started out as a quartet in 1962 at St. Brendan’s Catholic School in Brooklyn, NY, led by lead singer Mary Aiesen . . . . By 1964, Mary working under the name Reparata Aiese (the name came from a nun at the school, Sister Mary Reparata), had a new group . . . . [T]hey were spotted by Bill and Steve Jerome, brothers and producers looking for new talent to record. The Jerome brothers got the group . . . a record deal with Laurie Records . . . . This was already rather late in the girl group era, and the trio found themselves competing with a tidal wave of British Invasion sounds for attention from DJs. The Jeromes next brought them to the World Artists label . . . in late 1964, and they cut a group of songs at their first session that included “Whenever a Teenager Cries.” That song, released in early 1965, became a local success, although it never ascended as high as the Top 50 on the national charts. . . . [I]t got the trio a spot on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars national tour. Meanwhile, World Artists tried a string of . . . singles, of which “Tommy” was a modest hit, although their subsequent efforts . . . were failures. A complete LP . . . was also released in 1965. . . . [They] ended up at RCA. . . . and . . . cut five singles for RCA . . . none of which charted, and in early 1967, the group jumped to Mala Records . . . . Their fortunes picked up a bit late that year with the release of “Captain of Your Ship[]” . . . . It just missed charting in America, but made number 15 in England in early 1968. After three hitless years in America, Reparata & the Delrons found themselves touring England. It was to be a momentary uptick in their success, however, for the group never had a follow-up hit in England.
Oh, and “[t]he popularity of ‘Captain’ forced the girls . . . onto a plane for a British tour, highlighted by a hotel reception hosted by none other than . . . John Lennon and Ringo Starr”. (Jay Warner, American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today)
“Weather Forecast” is actually a cover of a song by an obscure New York group called Sky:
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
739)The Chords Five — “Some People”
This cool ‘69 UK A-side was a “quirky slice of observational pop” (liner notes to the CD comp Keep Lookin’: 80 More Mod, Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets) written by the great Graham Gouldman (see#226), but it failed to chart. The band members, in their teens, were once advertised as “the youngest group in the world”. The Jackson Five must have nicked the concept!
Last.FM gives us the history:
The story of the Chords Five began In 1964 in Stratford London . . . . They were called the “Pioneers”. The first gig they played was [in] June, 1965. . . . [T]hey changed their name to The Chords Five [and] continued to play in local clubs and built up a huge following in the East end of London . . . . [I]n December of 1966 . . . Jimmy Miller . . . [from] Island Records . . . [heard] the band. . . . [and] signed them on the spot. They were advertised as the youngest group in the world, four of them were 15 and [one] only 13. They were also the youngest group to have a recording contract at that time. . . . They were booked all over the world only to find out they were too young to work abroad. . . . Their first release “I Am Only Dreaming” was played at least 20 times a day on the local radio stations including Radio Caroline and Radio London . . . . [T]hey signed with Polydor Records in 1968 . . . . [T]hey signed with President Records . . . in 1969 . . . . [and released] Some People” [as an A-side]. . . . written by Graham Gouldman . . . . [I]n 1970 they decided to split.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
This blog o’ mine gives me great joy, as when I played as my 22nd song “Michel Angelo”, by Jimmy Campbell and his band at the time the 23rd Turnoff. I called the song “[o]ne of the most gorgeous songs I have ever heard.” It is certainly the greatest ever pop psych ballad I have ever heard. But 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. As dpnewbold comments, “This guy is so under-rated it hurts.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-KHv7u4qE) Yes, it does.
Matty Loughlin-Day aptly states that:
[Jimmy Campbell is a] songwriter who, for this writer’s money, could go toe-to-toe with any of the more celebrated prodigies from the region, yet who’s name is frequently met with blank faces or a shrug of the shoulders. A writer who, in a sane universe, would be esteemed alongside . . . yes, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Jimmy Campbell is arguably the archetypal lost son of Liverpool. A 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. He could have been the Poet Laureate of England! How 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 Yes It Is
And Richie Unterberger poignantly sums things up:
[Jimmy was] perhaps the most unheralded talent to come out of the Liverpool ’60s rock scene, as he was a songwriter capable of both spinning out engaging Merseybeat and — unlike almost every other artist from the city, with the notable exception of the Beatles — making the transition to quality, dreamy psychedelia. . . . It 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 didn’t get that chance . . . .
Campbell’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 . . . .
To give a touch of Jimmy Campbell’s early and later history, Matty Loughlin-Day writes that:
Campbell’s first band, The Panthers, were formed in 1962 and were at the heart of all things Merseybeat. Legend 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 ‘supported The Beatles’ to their CV. Convinced by Cavern-legend Bob Wooler to change their name to The Kirkbys (in homage to their home suburb) and looked after by Brian Epstein’s secretary Beryl Adams, Campbell et al toured across Western Europe and recorded a handful of songs, including the Rolling Stones-esque stomper It’s a Crime . . . [see #648]. . . . [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 he’d had enough. . . . [A]pparently rejuvenated and able to muster the strength to record a fourth solo album during the 80’s, 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. The 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.
[It] was his first full-length release . . . . While . . . contain[ing] a few songs he’d recorded in released and unreleased versions in the 23rd Turnoff days in 1967, it was a marked change in direction for Campbell, in his style if not his songwriting. For 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. . . . It’s 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. . . . [O]ccasionally 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. . . .
[W]hen Campbell returned, this time as a solo act with the spare, largely acoustic album Son of Anastasia, it failed to garner anywhere near as much attention as it deserved. Featuring subdued reworkings of many 23rd Turnoff songs (Mother’s Boy, Penny in my Pocket, Another Vincent Van Gogh and an almost baroque reinterpretation of Michaelangelo), it nevertheless marked a further maturity in Campbell’s writing, with his style becoming increasingly idiosyncratic and less formulaic. . . . Despite sporadic TV and radio appearances and positive reviews, it largely sank without trace. Perhaps this was the result of a strange first single – the trippy On a Monday; a superb song, but hardly singalong material – or maybe Campbell laid himself too bare for mass attention . . . but either way, . . . Anastasia faded away. Listening some 50 years later, elements of the album have dated somewhat. The inclusion of kazoo on some tracks is misguided to say the least. But it still stands as a brilliant album in the singer-songwriter canon and by all rights, much of it should be included in the great Scouse songbook.
Also from Son of Anastasia, Funkadelphiarecords comments that “Mother’s Boy” is “[a]s great, if not better than any Beatles song from 1967 which says quite a lot about the quality of this tune.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Ra1cRF_jU)
Although elements of it have dated somewhat more than his solo work – it could almost be the great lost album The Beatles recorded in between Let it Be and Abbey Road – it contains some of Campbell’s finest yearning pop in Biggest Gossip in Town, Don’t You Ever Think I Cry? and Yes it is. Inevitably, in a post-Beatles world, it – you guessed it – bombed.
There was a coffee shop that all of the bands went to in Liverpool called the Kardomah and all the biggest gossips hung out there. It’s pure pop. Jimmy said I should write the middle section so I went to another room and half an hour later I’d finished it. I tried to do a Shirelles type middle eight. I had grown up on all the Shirelles albums and I loved all the lesser-known tracks off their albums. I was very, very influenced by the, the Exciters and all that US girl group stuff.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
735) Freddie Scott— “I’ll Be Gone”
’67 A-side from the only deep soul belter from . . . Rhode Island (!) is “as close to a stomper as Freddie can get”. Heikki Suosalo, https://www.soulexpress.net/freddiescott.htm). It’s a stomper, all right!
Jason Ankeny:
Best remembered for his 1966 R&B chart-topper “Are You Lonely for Me,” deep soul belter Freddie Scott was born . . . in Providence, RI. . . . [He] gravitated toward a career in medicine . . . at Paine College in Augusta, GA. There Scott joined the Swanee Quintet Juniors, a teen version of the famed gospel act . . . . He soon abandoned med school in favor of a performing career, crossing over from spiritual gospel to secular soul . . . . In late 1956 he was called up for military duty, briefly serving in Korea. . . . After completing his military stint, Scott landed with the short-lived Enrica label for 1959’s “Come On, Honey,” and when it met the same indifference that greeted his previous records he focused on songwriting, teaming with Helen Miller to compose for Al Nevins and Don Kirshner[] . . . . In 1962, fellow Aldon songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King approached him for assistance with “Hey Girl,” a new tune they hoped to pitch to soul singer Chuck Jackson. When Jackson proved unable to make the scheduled recording session, Scott cut the vocal instead, and when Colpix Records finally issued the ballad a year later, he entered the Top Ten on both the pop and R&B charts. A slow-burning rendition of Ray Charles’ R&B classic “I Got a Woman” followed, affirming Scott as a deep soul singer of uncommon depth . . . . Scott [relocated] to parent label Columbia, which dubbed him “the Million Dollar Baby” and recast him as a crooner . . . . The makeover fell flat, and Scott returned to a more traditional soul dynamic with the excellent Lonely Man. Record sales were virtually nonexistent [and] . . . the label let him go. Scott resurfaced in 1966 at Shout Records, the fledgling soul label founded by producer/songwriter Bert Berns– together they co-wrote “Are You Lonely for Me,” a simmering, bluesy knockout that reportedly required over 100 vocal takes prior to completion. [It] topped the R&B charts for four weeks while rising to number 39 on the pop charts.
[T]ogethet with Helen Miller he] wrote for Al Nevins’ and Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music (in the company of Goffin & King, Mann & Weil, Neil Sedaka and others) providing material for Paul Anka, Ann-Margret, Gene Chandler, Bobby Darin, Tommy Hunt and Jackie Wilson. Freddie also used to sing on many demos, and tried his hand at producing . . . . In ’62 Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote a tune called Hey Girl. “They brought the song to me – sounded like a country & western song – so I sort of changed it around. I went and did a demo on it, because they were originally gonna give it to Chuck Jackson. Something happened with Chuck – I had no idea what it was – so we came back to the studio and started working on it again. It laid on a shelf for awhile. I was more interested at that time being a writer and a producer. But I went back in and finished the record. Finally they put it out, and the rest is history.” . . . The success of Hey Girl sent Freddie from behind the writing desk onto the road . . . .
“Bert Berns and I had known each other for a long, long time. I knew him as a guitarist and a writer for the Atlantic Records. After I left the Columbia situation, he said ‘why don’t you come over here’ and I did.” . . . Bert Berns, who had become a notable writer and producer (the Drifters, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, Garnet Mimms and others) mainly for Atlantic in the 60s, set up his Bang label in ’65 and tasted pop success with the Strangeloves, the McCoys, Neil Diamond and Van Morrison. A year later he founded a subsidiary to Bang and an outlet for soul music, Shout Records, onto where he was to gather an impressive roster . . . but first and foremost – Freddie Scott. Are You Lonely For Me, Freddie’s first Shout outing, was written by Bert . . . . It was the first and the most successful of Freddie’s nine Shout singles.
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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.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
733) Musick Express — “Jackie’s Thing”
The Musick Express’ wonderful one and only A-side reached the top 100 in Australia in ’70 and sounds soooooo Bowie-esque! It’s a Jackie thing, you wouldn’t understand!
Kimbo tells us that:
Forming in Adelaide in the late 60s, The Musick Express became very popular with their South Australian audiences. A group lucky enough to be around when the Adelaide scene was still at its peak. . . . [they] played at most of the top venues during the late sixties including The Scene. They appeared on many TV shows, gigged extensively in Melbourne and toured throughout Australia. They headed to Sydney as house band for the controversial stage production of Oh Calcutta! The band rehearsed the show for a month, however, Mr Justice Little in the Supreme Court described the show as “filth” and granted an injunction. What would have been the first production of the show outside the United States was closed before it opened and 80 cast and crew were dismissed. This proved to be the end of the group. They released one single on the Columbia label ”Jackie’s Thing” in 1970 written by their guitarist Trevor McNamara.
Their only single “Jackie’s Thing/How Does Paternity Suit You” reached the Top 100 in 1970 but they quit soon afterwards. . . . [McNamara] then recorded enough material for a solo album, ‘Yeah Captain’ which was finally released in 1971 on the little Nationwide label and was highly touted by those who have heard it.
[His] career started in the 1960s Adelaide group Five Sided Circle. During that time he also wrote “H.M.S. Buffalo”, picked up by psychedelic band Inside Looking Out for their last single. He left after two years and formed Musick Express.
And the liner notes to the CD reissue of Yeah Captain relate that:
[Trevor] . . . . played in a band called 5 Sided Circle which was considered unique and ahead of its time in the ‘mod era’ of music. He left after two years and formed a 4-piece band called Musik Express. . . . He left Musik Express to stage a rock opera called ‘Piano’ which he wrote. After ‘Piano’, Trevor was urged to record, and the album ‘Yeah Captain’ was made – Trevor was then 19. His work had been featured on many recordings, film scores, opera and a wide range of commercials in Australia. . . . ‘Yeah Captain’ was made in 1969, and was the first album of its type produced in Australia. All songs were written and performed by Trevor McNamara. . . . [and he] sang and played all instruments . . . . The albums was a milestone in Australia, but Trevor never liked it.
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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.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
732) Joe Tex — “Looking for My Pig”
“Where you at, Rufus?” JT’s ’64 novelty homage to Rufus Thomas’s big novelty hit “Walking the Dog” is a hoot, coming months before “Hold What You’ve Got”, his big pop hit breakthrough single.
As Richie Unterberger says, in the early ’60’s Joe (see #42, 455, 609) “as was the case in the pre-fame recordings of numerous ’60s soul stars — was still searching for a style to some degree”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/first-on-the-dial-early-singles-and-rare-gems-mw0000791159) Michael Jack Kirby gives a fabulous introduction to Joseph Arrington, Jr.:
In 1965 . . . [he] had his first big hit, “Hold What You’ve Got.” Perseverance got him to that point as he’d been making records for almost ten years. [Joe Tex] . . . . had advice for everyone, especially when it came to romance and moral behavior. The long road to stardom got under way in 1955 when he made the journey from the Lone Star State to New York City’s Apollo Theater, taking control of the crowds and coming in first place on more than one “Amateur Night.” Syd Nathan, owner of King records, offered him a chance to record . . . . After several releases but no breakthrough hit, King cut him loose and he headed back to Texas, where he served as a minister . . . . Tex joined the Ace [Records] roster in 1958 and waxed several singles . . . but . . . none were hits. . . . He [did] perfect[] some mean dance moves, including an impressive microphone stand gimmick by letting the stand fall to the floor as he grabs it with his foot just in time, proceeding to kick it around while dancing and singing, never missing a beat of the song. Those kinds of stage moves . . . would later get him into a skirmish with a certain “Mr. Dynamite.” Joe had . . . a few singles for the Anna label . . . “Baby You’re Right,” was interpreted with minor changes by James Brown . . . and hit the pop charts, and R&B top ten . . . the first major hit with Joe’s name attached. Any good feelings Joe had towards James was short-lived, though, when the latter made claims that the former had copied his moves onstage. Joe’s reply was to make fun of JB’s cape-wearing “Please, Please, Please” routine at a concert, and when James began dating Joe’s ex-wife . . . the two cut ties permanently.
The break of a lifetime came when Joe met William “Buddy” Killen. . . . Buddy worked for Big Tree Publishing . . . . Tex and Killen clicked when they first met and a deal was struck . . . . T en singles came out . . . between 1961 and 1964 . . . . with the same frustrating results [as before]. Joe was ready to call it quits and move on . . . [but] Killen convinced him to hang in there a little longer. [The ’64 single] “Hold What You’ve Got[]” . . . went top ten on the pop charts and number one R&B in January 1965. . . . The Tex-Killen team was a well-oiled machine in those hitmaking years of the mid-to-late 1960s and the two became very close friends. Buddy produced and Joe continued doing all the songwriting himself . . . . [H]e caught a hot groove in 1967 with “Show Me,” . . [and] “Skinny Legs and All[]“ . . was a smash hit beyond all expectations; top ten, a million seller and Grammy nominee to boot. . . .
Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts . . . . His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rap’s foundation. He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the ’60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records . . . . Tex made his mark by preaching over tough hard soul tracks, clowning at some points, swooping into a croon at others. He was perhaps the most rustic and back-country of the soul stars, a role he played to the hilt . . . . His biggest hit was “Skinny Legs and All,” from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. “Skinny Legs” might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pop’s future.
As to why Joe Tex is not in the Rock & Hall of Fame, Roy laments:
Of all of the 60’s soul kingdom in rock Tex is the one name who was as consistent, popular and innovative as virtually any, yet who’s been left behind in recognition ever since. His track record more than holds up against most from that era who are already in, with more than two dozen hits to his name over 15 years, including 6 that went to either #1 or #2 on the R&B Charts, spanning southern soul to pure funk. A prolific writer and extremely influential performer with the oft-imitated microphone trick as his lasting legacy. . . . he remains one of the Hall’s most inexplicable omissions. . . . His influence is vast, as he invented the famed microphone trick on stage that many have imitated, was one of the originators of the country-soul style that was among the 60’s most enduring sounds, and as shown with his nickname, The Dapper Rapper, his vocal style was one of the prototypes for rap with his semi-spoken delivery in many songs. In addition, he wrote all of his own material, which was renown for its smart, humorous, down-home advice and storytelling ability. His candidacy would seem to be bolstered by the fact that many of his contemporaries with appreciably less success than Tex have already gotten in. . . . His early death in 1982 meant that he was not around long enough to become a well-respected elder statesman, and his lack of one massive universally known song to keep his name in the casual listener’s mind relegated him to a second tier act historically when in fact he was on par with almost any of his competitors and made the transition from soul to funk that defined black rock ‘n’ roll in the 60’s and 70’s better than most.
733) Ray Hoff and the Offbeats — “Lookin’ for My Pigs”
Aussie Ray Hoff and the Off Beats give “Pig” “a proper mauling”. (liner notes to Keep Lookin’: 80 More Mod, Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets)
Glenn Baker tells us about Ray:
From the rock’n’roll cauldron of the late 1950s and throughout the beat and soul-funk era of the 1960s and beyond, [Ray Hoff’s] was a name that commanded respect in Australian musical circles even if it was not always familiar in the nation’s households. Kept from a level of prominence . . . by the lack of a signature hit or a solid body of recorded work, Hoff’s fame, as it was, centred around his gruff, powerful, soul voice. . . . In 1958 he fell in with two seminal Australian rock’n’rollers, drummer Leon Isackson and flamboyant pianist Jimmy Taylor, who saw him take the stage . . . and were impressed as much by the frantic femme response he occasioned as by his pipes. A few band competitions later . . . he and his Offbeats were setting Sydney alight with rock’n’roll . . . . It was a heady environment for a time but without a record deal (Teen Records promised but withdrew) and with fairly formidable competition from what mostly became multiple-hit acts, Hoff moved to Adelaide, then Perth, where he was warmly embraced. But it was not until he returned to Sydney in 1965 and put together a new line-up of the Offbeats that things began to fall into some sort of place. Signed to RCA Records, the group recorded four tracks for the label, one of which, a thumping version of Chuck Berry’s Little Queenie, became as close to a hit as he would have. It could have strongly established the act had not Billy Thorpe spirited away two of his Offbeats to form a new Aztecs, leaving Hoff floundering and losing momentum. Despondent, he made his way back to Perth, where he assembled an eight-piece horn-dominated R&B powerhouse version of the Offbeats, which was signed by Clarion Records for an album [that includes “Pigs”] – the only LP he would record until the last decade of his life. During eastern visits this commanding unit was known to give the reigning likes of Jeff St John & the Id [see #470] a bit of a scare. Hoff was one of the most active Australian performers in Vietnam during the war, although due to his soul leanings, he was heard far more by American than Australian servicemen. During one tour of duty he met a go-go dancer called Kay, who became his wife of 25 years.
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The Banana (see #94, 251) was the Pretty Things (see #82, 153, 572) in disguise, making some much needed money by providing songs for films trying to be hip. David Wells explains that:
[The] Swinging London phenomenon had led to a profusion of groovy movies chronicling life [there] that, naturally enough, required an appropriately switched-on soundtrack for added verisimilitude. However, film companies soon discovered that the cost of licensing bona fide hit singles was prohibitively high [so, the music library de Wolfe] started searching for a young, vibrant pop group who were capable fo providing an authentic but relatively inexpensive sound.
liner notes to The Complete De Wolfe Sessions comp
“Son” ended up in the classic Swinging London comedy What’s Good for the Goose, in which a “middle aged banker picks up two young free minded women on his way to a banker’s convention and falls head over heels for one of them.” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065205/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_stry_pl)
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. 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
730) The Buckinghams — “It’sa Beautiful Day (For Lovin’)”
As we approach Valentine’s Day, let me play one of the Buckinghams’ (see #409, 413, 632) greatest love songs/their last charting single (albeit #126 in Sept. ’69). Jim Newsom calls it a “pleasant, optimistic-sounding pop confection[]” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/mercy-mercy-mercy-a-collection-mw0000264592) and Ben McLane calls it a “fine example[] of late 1960s polished pop” (https://www.benmclane.com/bucking.htm). I call it beautiful — it deserved better than #126! Maybe if the lyrics has included a classic Chicago expression of love, Al Bundy style, it might have done better, like when Peg asked him “Al why don’t you have any pictures of me at your work?” and Al responded “Cause Peg, that would defeat the purpose of going there.”
As to the Buckinghams, Bill Dahl writes that:
Backing Dennis Tufano’s buoyant lead vocals with prominent harmonies and punchy soul-styled brass, the group came across the wistful “Kind of a Drag,” and in short order, [they] had a million-selling pop chart-topper on their hands. They quickly graduated to recording for Columbia. . . .
In 1967, Billboard magazine declared the Buckinghams to be “the most listened to band in America[.]” . . . As 1967 began, their first release, “Kind of a Drag,” was racing up the charts and would reach the #1 position by February . . . . [T]he group would have one, two, and sometimes three songs in the Top 100 almost every week that year as they passed each other on the way up and down the charts . . . .
[T]he Pulsations . . . was a good name considering how often we played at drag strips and car shows and things like that. We got on a “Battle of the Bands” competition on a Chicago television station and won, and so we became the house band on a TV show called All Time Hits. They asked us to change our name to something more English because the British Invasion was in full swing at the time, and we were fine with that . . . . A security guard at the station heard the request and he gave us a list with eight or 10 names on it, and the Buckinghams stood out not only because it sounded British, but also because there’s a beautiful fountain in Chicago called Buckingham Fountain. This way, we didn’t feel like we were selling out Chicago to take a British-sounding name.
[T]he subsequent year would hold nothing but disappointment: in 1968 they had just one release that charted, and it wouldn’t even break into the Top 40. Then they were done. It was one of the most perplexing falls in rock ‘n’ roll history.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
729) The Nuchez — “Open Up Your Mind Now”
Mike Dugo calls this ’66 Chicago Rembrandt Records A-side a “classic psychedelic opus with a nice organ base and free flowing fuzz”. (liner notes to Garage Beat ’66: Vol. 5: Readin’ Your Will!) Dave Furgess says it uses “every psychedelic trick in the book, a stinging fuzztone guitar, gruff UK style vocals, charging organ flashes and typical Keith Moon/Mitch Mitchell style out of control drumming.” (https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1731/). Bruce Eder calls its “main virtue . . . Erickson’s hot lead guitar, a psychedelic workout built on surf guitar riffs”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-nuchez-mn0000486059)
Eder further tells us that:
The Nuchez were a relatively short-lived band signed to Illinois-based Rembrandt Records label in 1966. The band was known locally for having been the opening act for Paul Revere & the Raiders and other major national acts playing Chicago, and built a great reputation in the process. Rembrandt co-founder Reggie Weiss signed them up as soon as he found out they weren’t under contract to anyone; they were only the second group on the label . . . . The band [was] led by guitarist Ricky Erickson [no relation to Roky.]. . . . “Open Up Your Mind” b/w “B.G.’s One Eye” was well reviewed in Cashbox, and it got airplay locally but never moved nationally, mostly owing to Rembrandt’s lack of distribution beyond the local level. . . . The Nuchez broke up in the spring of 1967 when Erickson exited to join the Lemon Drops [featuring Reggie’s brothers Gary and Eddie] after sitting in with the latter group on their first recording session, for “I Live in the Springtime.” [see #143]
It was once widely assumed that the Nuchez was a UK Band, since “Open Up Your Mind” showed up on a UK psych comp. In any event, Dave Furgess says it had “all the hallmarks of the best of UK freakbeat groups such as One In A Million, The Open Mind and Wimple Winch. In fact this 45 is as good as any of the more celebrated UK psych acts such as The Creation, Poets, Birds etc.” (https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1731/)
About Rembrandt, Forced Exposure says:
Rembrandt Records[‘] first release in March 1966 was a bluesy garage-band novelty record titled ‘Boots Are Made For Talkin’ ‘. It was a parody of Nancy Sinatra’s smash hit at the time, ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’. When the single failed to chart Rembrandt Records’ owner Reggie Weiss moved in a different direction, merging pop with psychedelic music, for the next single, ‘Open Up Your Mind’. He wrote the song based on a LSD trip and response to the single was positive. Soon other psych-pop singles were issued featuring The Circus, The Nickel Bag, and Monday’s Children. Cash Box magazine began plugging Rembrandt Records during the fall of 1966. However, Weiss was unable to secure solid distribution and could not compete with the larger Chicago based record labels such as Dunwich, USA, and Destination. By 1967, Weiss devoted all of his time promoting a high-school band called The Lemon Drops. He wrote another LSD-inspired song titled ‘I Live In The Springtime’ for the band. Unfortunately, the single was unable to chart, even regionally.
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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.
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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
728) Jack Grunsky — “Catherine”
This unforgettable ’68 folk pop A-side (well, in Austria, Germany, Denmark and Spain) is an irresistible portrait of Catherine. Was the enigmatic woman a prostitute, a pin-up girl, a seductress, a siren? Only Jack Grunsky (see #566) knows. Just listen to the rapturous comments on Youtube:
@alfredhuber8278: “Sehr schöner Song aus schönen Jugendtagen..!”, @davidb4782: “Ein sehr schönes Lied!! Und eine einzigartige stimme” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5GS0ABN4q-E)
Jack was famous at the time — well, in Austria. Most people know him now as a children’s music superstar.Austria’s City Magazin says (courtesy of Google Translate):
Born in Austria, [Jack Grunsky] crossed the Atlantic as a small child on the Queen Elizabeth II with his parents, both musicians. The family emigrated to Canada [and] little Jack spent his childhood in Toronto. . . . Somehow he was drawn back to Europe. After graduating from high school, Jack . . . went to Vienna in 1964 and studied painting at the art academy. . . . For ten years he was in the top of the European charts as a singer and songwriter, some of them with Jack’s Angels. He had his own weekly radio show “Folk with Jack” on ORF [Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Austria’s PBS]. In 1974, Jack Grunsky crossed the Atlantic again towards Canada. . . . and discovered his love for music for children. . . .
After finishing high school in Toronto in 1964, I moved to Austria to study at the Academy of Arts in Vienna. At the same time I formed a folk singing group called ‘Jack’s Angels’ and we were signed to Amadeo Records, touring and recording 4 albums. Within the span of two years we gained considerable popularity before disbanding in 1968. The record label kept me on for two more albums after which I was brought on board the progressive German ‘Kuckuck’ label in Munich. I pursued a solo singer-songwriter career for the next 8 years, touring extensively throughout Europe and recording 5 more albums of original material. My ‘Toronto’ LP was recorded in London and was produced by Alexis Korner with various tracks featuring Mick Taylor (of the Stones) on slide guitar. In Vienna I composed music for 3 television children’s musicals . . . . With a few hits on the charts . . . and also hosting my own radio show ‘Folk mit Jack’ for ORF Austria, my following continued to grow in the Euro Pop Music scene of that time. . . . In 1974, together with my family, I returned to Canada. In spite of European success highlights, a shift in the Euro music industry took place and I found myself in fringe territory. I was seeking closer connection with the folk/rock music scene happening in North America. . . . [I released] my album ‘The Patience Of A Sailor’ and . . . reboot[ed] my singing career . . . . We performed as a band in clubs and festivals and returned to tour in Europe several times allowing me to stay in touch with my fans. In the early 80’s however, pointers and signs were guiding me in a new direction. Our daughter’s teacher invited me into the classroom to sing with the students. This led to offers to be a freelance music teacher at various Montessori schools around greater Toronto. . . . I became passionate about quality children’s music and discovered a market in need of it. Building a repertoire of original children’s songs and drawing on my concert performance experiences, I soon found a manager, a concert agent and eventually was signed up to the BMG Kidz Music label. . . . I have presented my children’s performances and workshops for over 30 years. This led to countless . . . teacher workshop opportunities across Canada and the US . . . . TV and radio appearances; major concert tours and international children’s festivals followed plus a number of symphony shows for family audiences. To date I’ve released 16 CD’s for children garnering a number of awards including 3 JUNO’s [Canada’s Grammys].
While that was a bit self-promotional (I guess to get bookings), here is a part of a quite enlightening and appealing interview that Jack Grunksy had with TV Ontario in 1997:
Richard Ouzounian: I KNOW YOU FORMED A GROUP AT ONE POINT, JACK’S ANGELS, RIGHT?
Jack Grunsky: YES.
Richard: I HAVE VISIONS OFCHARLIE’S ANGELS. IT WASN’T THE SAME THING. IT WASN’T YOU AND THREE —
Jack: IT WAS A TERRIBLE NAME.
Richard: NO. IT WASN’T THREE BODACIOUS LADIES BEHIND YOU WHILE YOU SANG UP FRONT, NO.
Jack: THE NAME JACK’S ANGELS WAS NOT MY DOING.
Richard: OKAY.
Jack: WHEN I LIVED IN VIENNA, WHENI WAS TAKING THE COURSE AT THE ACADEMY OF ARTS, I FORMED THIS GROUP. AND WE PERFORMED OUR REPERTOIRE OF FOLK SONGS, NORTH AMERICAN, BRITISH FOLK SONGS. AND I HAD ALREADY STARTED TO WRITE SONGS WITH THE GUITAR. AND MY FASCINATION WITH THE NORTH AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC SCENE, AT THAT TIME, THE KIND OF MUSIC I WAS LISTENING TO DURING HIGH SCHOOL, SUCH AS PETER, PAUL AND MARY, THE KINGSTON TRIO, BOB DYLAN,THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE,THEY WERE MY ROLE MODELS. SO WITH THIS ENTHUSIASM OF WANTING TO EMULATE BEING A SONGWRITER AND SINGER AND GUITARIST, I SHARED THIS WITH SOME STUDENT FRIENDS OF MINE IN VIENNA. AND WE FORMED THE GROUP AND PERFORMED IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN THE AREA. AND A FRIEND OF OURS CONTACTED A RECORD LABEL, AND THEY WERE QUITE INTERESTED IN WHAT WE WERE DOING. SO THEY CAME TO ONE OF OUR CONCERTS, AND WITHIN TWO WEEKS, SIGNED US UP FOR A TWO YEAR CONTRACT, DURING THE TIME OF WHICH WE RECORDED FOUR ALBUMS, AND A NUMBER OF SINGLES, AND STARTED TO TOUR QUITE EXTENSIVELY. I HAVE TO TELL YOU, AT THAT TIME, IN AUSTRIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE, THE NORTH AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC DID NOT YET CATCH ON. SO WHAT I WAS DOING, IN AWAY, WAS NEW TO EUROPEANS. AND THERE WAS A CERTAIN ENTHUSIASM THAT WE COMMUNICATED SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE JOY THAT WE HAD IN SINGING TOGETHER IN HARMONY AND PLAYING TOGETHER. AND I THINK THIS SPARKED THE INTEREST AND CAUGHT THE PEOPLE’S IMAGINATION.
Richard: NOW, WHAT YEARS ARE WE TALKING HERE, ROUGHLY?
Jack: THIS WAS ’66, ’67. AND WE CONNECTED WITH JOAN BAEZ WHEN SHE CAME. AND SHE BROUGHT US UP ON STAGE AFTER HER PERFORMANCE. SO THERE WAS CONNECTION TO THE FOLK MUSIC SCENE, WHICH, IN AUSTRIA, THEY LABELLED THE GREEN WAVE. . . . AFTER THE GROUP JACK’S ANGELS DISBANDED BECAUSE SOME OF THE MEMBERS DID NOT WANT TO PURSUE MUSIC AS A CAREER, AND WE WERE GETTING SO BUSY TOURING AND RECORDING THAT IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH FOR THEM. SO WE HAD INTERNAL PROBLEMS. AND THE RECORD LABEL AGREED TO THE SPLIT OF THE GROUP, AS LONG AS I WOULD REMAIN WITH THEM, BEING THE LEADER AND THE SONGWRITER. SO AFTERWARDS, I CONTINUED ON MY OWN AS A SOLO PERFORMER . . . .
Richard: I REMEMBER YOU SAID SOMETHING ONCE ABOUT, YOU SAID THAT A SONG WAS LIKE A LITTLE WINDOW A CHILD COULD LOOK THROUGH. AND YOU SHOW THEM THE WHOLE WORLD.
Jack: WELL, IT’S THE WINDOW OF YOUR IMAGINATION. SO SOUNDS AND SONGS CAN TRIGGER A LOT OF THINGS IN A VERY CONSTRUCTIVE AND POSITIVE WAY.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. 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
727) Dantalian’s Chariot — “Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud”
After featuring Zoot Money (see #726), I had to play his glorious nine-month ’67 psychedelic world detour with Dantalian’s Chariot. Here comes the beautiful “Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud”! What, you thought I’d play “Madman Running”?! Richie Unterberger says that “[t]he wistfully ebullient “Sun Came Bursting Through My Clouds” (yes, the B-side of “Madman”) is probably their best . . . effort [not named “Madman Running Through the Fields”]”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/chariot-rising-mw0000378044) David Wells calls it “a genuinely classy Tony Colton/Ray Smith song that boasted a deliciously lugubrious vocal from Zoot, but musically it occupied . . . post-R&B/pre-psych transitory territory”. (liner notes to the Dantalian’s Chariot: Chariot Rising CD comp)
How did this all come about? Well, it was the Summer of Love. David Wells explains:
Zoot and Andy [Summers] were becoming increasingly immersed in the psychedelic experience, regularly attending . . . various subterranean love-ins and happenings . . . . Increasingly weary of being promoted by EMI as the white James Brown, Zoot announced in late July 1967 that the Big Roll Band were not more. “We had been working very hard for a long time and felt we were getting stale”, Zoot told reporters.
liner notes to Dantalian’s Chariot
Zoot notes “We just wanted to do something new. It was a chance to be more creative, to move on to writing our own material and try out new things.” (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)
Richie Unterberger adds:
[“Madman”/”Sun”] was the debut single by a group of veteran musicians who, just a few months earlier, had been playing jazz/R&B fusion as Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band. . . . Such was the impact of psychedelic music in 1967, however, that by the middle of the year, Money had decided to totally revamp his sound. R&B/jazz/soul had become passe; now it was important to write your own material, and reflect the mind-expanding experience. With [Andy] Summers still in tow, [the band] became Dantalian’s Chariot. The music, written primarily by Money and Summers, changed as radically as the name, with airy melodies, spacy lyrics, and guitar/organ-driven arrangements. The band hit the London underground circuit inhabited by such acts as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, and made their debut recording as Dantalian’s Chariot . . . in the summer of 1967. The single, innovative as it was, didn’t make any commercial waves. Although they were a respected live act, their new direction wasn’t supported by EMI, which dropped the band. A psychedelic-minded LP was worked on, but not released. Some of the material appeared on an early 1968 record, which the Direction label assembled from various tunes cut over the past year. . . . Dantalian’s Chariot came to an end in the spring of 1968, with Summers joining the Soft Machine (and subsequently Eric Burdon’s Animals); Money would also join Eric Burdon’s Animals around the same time.
But what a trip it was. David Wells notes that DC became “the darlings of the London underground set” and “one of the most fondly remembered British Psychedelic groups”. (liner notes to Dantalian’s Chariot) Vernon Joynson says that:
[They] performed frequently at London’s Middle Earth and UFO clubs. . . . Their live appearances were amazing. They took to the stage in white robes and had what was generally regarded as the best light show in town. The only problem was this ensured they made heavy financial losses with every appearance.
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