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

706) Eternity’s Children — “Lifetime Day”

Sweet ’68 album track and ’69 B-side about two lovers who don’t need to engage in the games others play. Dawn Eden says “[t]he cherubic [bassist Charlie] Ross had the most angelic voice among them, conveying a sweet innocence that can be heard . . . on . . . ‘Lifetime Day’.” (liner notes to the CD comp Eternity’s Children)

Dawn continues:

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

liner notes to Eternity’s Children

Straight outta Biloxi!

Jason Ankeny gives some more history:

Eternity’s Children were formed in Cleveland, MS, in 1965 by . . . students at Delta College. . . . [They] began developing the complex, overlapping vocal harmonies that remained the hallmark of their sound throughout their career. . . . With the addition of local folksinger Linda Lawley, the fledgling band adopted the more contemporary moniker Eternity’s Children, and after Baton Rouge health club magnate Ray Roy caught one of their live appearances, he convinced business partner . . . to form a management company . . . which soon signed the group to a contract. Eternity’s Children quickly recorded a demo that made its way to A&M . . . and in the spring of 1967 recorded their lone effort for the label . . . . The record went nowhere . . . [and they] were quickly dropped by A&M. . . . [They] landed . . . a deal with Capitol’s tax-shelter subsidiary, Tower . . . . During production of the album, relations between the members of Eternity’s Children and their management became increasingly strained, and prior to the LP’s mid-1968 [three Band members] exited. . . . An appearance on American Bandstand spurred “Mrs. Bluebird” up the pop charts, but Tower did little to promote the single or the band, and after three weeks at number 69 on Billboard, both quickly plummeted out of the Hot 100. Eternity’s Children nevertheless reconvened to begin work on their second album . . . . Tower abruptly scuttled [its] U.S. release; the album did appear on Capitol’s Canadian branch (“Mrs. Bluebird” was a sizable hit north of the border).

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

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

705) Al Kooper — “First Time Around”

Another glorious Band-y cut from Kooper’s second solo album, ’69’s You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (see #642). Kooper himself says that “This is one of my favorite albums and arrangement-wise, it’s probably song-for-song, my best batch. It’s recorded primarily with a big-band, and in the Summer of ’69, I took that big band on the road for my first tour since having left Blood Sweat & Tears the year before.” (https://alkooper.com/solo.html)

Kooper should have long ago been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Eder says that Kooper “by rights, should be regarded as one of the giants of ’60s rock, not far behind the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in importance.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/al-kooper-mn0000509524)

Eder goes on:

[H]e was a very audible sessionman on some of the most important records of mid-decade . . . . Kooper also joined and led, and then lost two major groups, the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears. He played on two classic blues-rock albums in conjunction with his friend Mike Bloomfield. As a producer at Columbia, he signed the British invasion act the Zombies just in time for them to complete the best LP in their entire history; and still later, Kooper discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd and produced their best work.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/al-kooper-mn0000509524

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

704) Strawberry SAC — “In Relation (to Our Times)/ “In Relation”

This apparently sordid story starts with the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s (see #127, 272) guilty pleasure and era-defining #1 hit — “Incense and Peppermints” — and ends with a cool and “extremely Strawberry Alarm Clock-sounding” guilty pleasure that “closely approximates the sound of ‘Incense[‘] without sounding too explicitly derivative.” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/crystal-circus-mn0000719957)

As to “Incense”, Bruce Eder tells us that:

[The] Strawberry Alarm Clock[‘s] . . . . name is as well known to anyone who lived through the late-’60s psychedelic era as that of almost any group . . . mostly out of its sheer, silly trippiness as a name and their one major hit, “Incense and Peppermints,” which today is virtually the tonal equivalent of a Summer of Love flashback. . . . In the spring of 1967 . . . [the band was] working out a new single, the A-side of which was to be a sneering punkish piece called “The Birdman of Alkatrash,” written by [Mark] Weitz [keyboards and co-lead vocals]. They needed a B-side, and an instrumental titled “Incense and Peppermints” — also put together by Weitz with help from guitarist Ed King — was duly recorded, and producer Frank Slay . . . ended up sending a tape . . . to a friend, songwriter John Carter, who had scored a . . . hit with . . . “That Acapulco Gold,” for . . . the Rainy Daze [see #540], earlier that year. He delivered the words to “Incense and Peppermints[.]” . . . [T]he band . . . felt offended by Slay’s maneuver, and neither Weitz nor [Lee] Freeman [the other vocalist] was willing to throw themselves into the lyric the way they should have, especially as Carter came down to the session . . . . It was his choice [to sing], backed by Slay, of Greg Munford, a 16-year-old friend of the group who happened to be hanging out at the session. . . . [N]obody seemed overly concerned . . . . This was “just” a B-side, after all . . . . [But] the single actually began getting airplay, but it was the B-side, “Incense and Peppermints,” that DJs were choosing and airing. . . . Uni Records . . . picked it up for national distribution. . . . The song swept across the airwaves gradually, fueling a sales wave that built into a number one chart placement over the next three months, in November of 1967. 

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

Enter the Strawberry SAC, as Jeremy explains:

In 1968, a band calling itself Strawberry SAC, featuring Greg Munford . . . recorded twelve songs for a planned album on All-American [which released “Incense”]. Two songs (“In Relation” and “Merry Go Round”) were pressed onto a rare promo DJ 7″, but the rest of the recordings were only released in 2001, on a vinyl LP from Akarma credited not to Strawberry SAC but to Crystal Circus . . . . Munford was never a member of Strawberry Alarm Clock . . . . [whose] manager/producer Bill Holmes, always looking to exploit a situation, put [him] in a new band, shamelessly dubbed “Strawberry SAC”. . . . There are a few odd discrepancies between the label on th[e single] and the liner notes of the 2001 album release: The 45 calls its a-side “In Relation”, while the album adds the parenthetical “(To Our Times)”. . . . [and] the album adds producer Holmes as a writer.

https://www.unwindwithsac.com/misc/crystal-circus

While I, of course, don’t know what actually happened, Lynching tells us that:

Strawberry SAC . . . . was Bill Holmes taking Greg . . . after being discovered by the Alarm Clock he was managing badly. He put this group together as his response but the musicians didn’t know what he was up to. They were a great bunch of guys and talented. . . . [and w]ere told by Holmes to write all this original music in the “vein” of the SAC and that’s what they did. Then Holmes ripped them off for everything and copyrighted the songs himself, giving the actually composers part credit and no money. He sleazes off to Italy behind their back, had the album pressed and sold in Europe. Like Strawberry Alarm Clock, the SAC were victimized and lied to by Holmes.

https://www.45cat.com/record/aa3333

Oh, and Richie Unterberger tells us that Strawberry SAC might have actually been better than the Strawberry Alarm Clock! (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/crystal-circus-mn0000719957)

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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https://www.discogs.com/master/567068-John-Bromley-Sing/image/SW1hZ2U6MzA2NDMzNjI=

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

703) John Bromley — “Old Time Mover”

A delightful and whimsical McCartneyesque retro number by English songwriter John Bromley, who has written “over 200 works with over 60 recorded and performed worldwide by major artists such as Shirley Bassey, Sacha Distel, Petula Clark, Richard Harris, Paul Anka . . . John Farnham”, Jackie De Shannon and the Ace Kefford Stand. (Facebook). He also recorded some of his songs in the 60’s, releasing them as singles (backed by The Fleur De Lys [see #32, 122]) which were eventually collected on his sole album, ’69’s Sing (see #337, 350).

Bromley says that:

This was my attempt at trying to write a 1940s Dance Hall type of song — you know, out of tune sax, swing rhythm. The lyrics found themselves really and I just threw any old words together that fitted the meter and the rhyme. I suppose they tell a sort of story, but it is not autobiographical. A lot of my songs were based on imaginary relationships or incidents.

liner notes to the Songs CD (an expanded CD reissue of Sing)

Bromley “never thought of himself as a singer. . . . ‘I was really only interested in performing on my own original recorded demos’”. (Mark Johnston’s liner notes to Songs). The way he was discovered comes right out of a movie:

[He was working in a record shop in London when Graham Dee] overheard a bored Bromley busking behind the shop’s counter with a cheap plastic guitar. Graham was . . . trying to place the tune that was being sung. . . . [and] was suitably impressed to learn that the song that he thought he recognized, “What a Woman Does”, was actually a John Bromley original. . . . “He asked me to hold on and he ran around the corner and came back five minutes later asking if I could slip away for twenty -minutes to record a demo of the song.” . . . Dee ran off with the demo to Atlantic Records’s European managing director Frank Fenter[, who] was impressed enough by what he heard to rush John into his office the very next day. John was shocked, “Frank loved the song . . . . he offered me a recording contract for three singles and one album on the spot! I was hoping to get one of my songs placed with a major act by Frank, not a recording contract for myself.”Mark Johnston’s liner noes to the CD reissue of Sing

Mark Johnston’s liner notes to Songs

Reviewers often comment on how it and other of Bromley’s songs are imbued with the spirit of Paul McCartney: Rob Jones calls his songs “Macca-esque psychedelia” (https://thedeletebin.com/2014/09/01/john-bromley-sings-so-many-things/) and John Reed calls Bromley “a singer-songwriter firmly rooted in the Macca tradition – and it’s possible to hear echoes of Beatles ballads such as Yesterday or Eleanor Rigby in many of his compositions.” (https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/john-bromley-songs). “Old Time Mover” would not have felt out of place on the White Album or ’70’s McCartney.

If Bromley’s singles had been released a year or two earlier, they would likely have received the rapturous reception they deserved. Rob Jones perceptively notes that:

[B]y 1969, there had been a bit of a shift where this approach was concerned since the height of the psych period in 1966-67. The world had become less optimistic and open to whimsy by then, two years after the summer of love, and after some of the figureheads of the civil rights movement were no more. British psychedelia had begun to mutate into a more “progressive”  and serious direction to contrast the nostalgic and twee nature of what psych bands had created. King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King is a good example of a darker, and less romanticized musical and thematic landscape from bands in Britain by the end of the 1960s when Bromley’s record came out. Perhaps this is why [Sing], didn’t take off. Bromley eventually left the music business for a time, escaping the ins and outs of an often callous industry.  This record has been a sought-after treasure for vinyl collectors over the years since, an artifact perhaps of a lost era that is attached, ironically, to a new kind of hazy nostalgia for many. Listening to this song now, it’s easy to appreciate its charms . . . .

https://thedeletebin.com/2014/09/01/john-bromley-sings-so-many-things/

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

702) Lee Hazlewood — “Cold Hard Times”

I’ve never understood France’s love affair with Jerry Lewis. Sweden’s affair with Lee Hazlewood — that I understand. This is my third selection from my favorite album of Lee’s — his ‘70 soundtrack to his Swedish TV film Cowboy in Sweden (see #48, 269). Derek Anderson says that its “inimitable wistful, orchestrated country sound would prove perfect for the soundtrack to Cowboy In Sweden.” (https://dereksmusicblog.com/2020/04/18/cult-classic-lee-hazlewood-cowboy-in-sweden/) Ah, the movie:

Presented as a series of dreams, the movie alternates between absurdist skits and songs given totally incongruous visual settings. While much of Cowboy in Sweden is exactly what you’d picture—Hazlewood on horseback, cigarette dangling from his lips, alone with his doleful thoughts—there’s a whole lot in here you’d be unlikely to imagine on your own. . . . Punning on the song’s title, Hazlewood sings his lonesome prisoner ballad “Pray Them Bars Away” to a group of polar bears swimming in the blinding Scandinavian sun.

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/cowboy_in_sweden_watch_lee_hazlewoods_insane_swedish_tv_special_1970

How did all this come about? Stephen Thomas Erlewine:

At the turn of the ’60s, Lee Hazlewood decided to leave America for Sweden. He had already spent time in the country, appearing as an actor in two television productions, so his decision wasn’t completely out of the blue — especially since he had become close with the Swedish artist/filmmaker Torbjörn Axelman. The year that he arrived in Sweden, he starred in Axelman’s television production Cowboy in Sweden and cut an album of the same name. . . . At its core, it’s a collection of country and cowboy tunes, much like the work he did with Nancy Sinatra, but the production is cinematic and psychedelic, creating a druggy, discombobulated sound like no other. This is mind-altering music — the combination of country song structures, Hazlewood’s deep baritone, the sweet voices of Nina Lizell and Suzi Jane Hokom, rolling acoustic guitars, ominous strings, harpsichords and flutes, eerie pianos, and endless echo is stranger than outright avant-garde music, since the familiar is undone by unexpected arrangements.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/cowboy-in-sweden-mw0000666467

Derek Anderson adds:

By 1969, Lee Hazlewood’s career was no longer going to plan. The man who had been around since the birth of rock  ‘n’ roll was suddenly regarded as yesterday’s man. Suddenly, he was no longer in demand as a producer. Especially by a new generation of up-and-coming musicians. . . . Five years had passed since [his record company] LHI Records last enjoyed a hit single. . . . Hazlewood was fast running out of friends in the music industry. . . . [His] successful partnership with Nancy Sinatra ended in 1968. . . . However, he still had a few friends overseas. . . . He decided to move to Sweden with Suzi Jane Hokom. [H]is son who was a teenager, was almost old enough to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. . . . He had fought in the Korean War, and was keen that his son wouldn’t have to follow in his footsteps. . . .

Lee Hazlewood didn’t record the music especially for Cowboy In Sweden. Instead, [he] chose ten tracks he had recorded the music over the past couple of years. . . . Upon the release of Cowboy In Sweden, the film flopped. . . . Lacking the budget to promote Cowboy In Sweden properly, the album never stood a chance. . . . [and] the soundtrack . . . flopped. . . .

https://dereksmusicblog.com/2020/04/18/cult-classic-lee-hazlewood-cowboy-in-sweden/

Here is Hazlewood live on the BBC in ’71:

Here is Joe Cannon:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

701) Roberta Flack — “Tryin’ Times”

Times like these need a song like “Tryin’ Times” (written by Donny Hathaway (see #573) and Leroy Hutson (the Impressions)). Elizabeth Nelson says it “depict[s] a Phil Ochs-worthy tableau of a society unraveling at the seams from its institutions to its family structures.” (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/roberta-flack-first-take/) Two years ago, Roberta herself said that “We must always try to advocate for change to make this world better, kinder and more peaceful. I’m sorry that songs like . . . “Tryin’ Times” . . . are still so relevant, but they are.” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2021/04/25/sunday-conversation-roberta-flack-on-social-activism-in-music-great-collaborations-and-grammy-love/)

Mtume ya Salaam rhapsodizes:

Roberta’s version has two elements that subsequent versions (include Donny’s) hardly ever match: the masterful bass work of Ron Carter and the sublime vocals of Roberta Flack. Roberta overwhelms you with subtlety rather than shouting. Her floating long tones seem as effortless as breathing while sleeping, but nevertheless, the calmness in her delivery increases rather than diminishes the urgency of the lyrics. It’s almost as if her whispers are louder than any shout, and for certain are more beautiful. Ron Carter’s contribution is so distinctive that one can hardly think of the song without hearing that flowing four-note/three-note bass pattern. And of course, his vamp perfectly complements the pure long tones of Roberta’s phrasing, which are both caressing and arresting.

https://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/05/20/roberta-flack-%E2%80%9Ctrying-times%E2%80%9D/

Elizabeth Nelson gives us some background:

Throughout most of the eventful year of 1968, . . Roberta Flack was ensconced in a residency at Mr. Henry’s in Washington, D.C., an unfancy but inimitably hip jazz club . . . . Following the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., riots broke out in several cities, including the District. Flack continued performing her sets, lines forming around the block. . . . No artist working in the moment was doing a finer job of chronicling those tenuous, terrifying, revolutionary times. . . . [She] was admitted to Howard University’s top-flight music program at the age of 15, possessing prodigious jazz and classical chops and a voice splitting the difference between Sarah Vaughan’s elegant alto and Etta James’ deep-blue expressiveness. . . . She spent some wilderness years teaching high school, but word of mouth spread, and soon enough they came to her. When visiting jazz legend Les McCann was dragged along by friends to see Flack perform one night, he immediately provided his most forceful recommendation to Atlantic, and soon after she was signed. Flack’s debut, First Take [including today’s song] was recorded over a period of 10 hours at Atlantic Studios in New York, in February 1969. Her extraordinary backing band, consisting of stalwarts Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Ray Lucas on drums, and other heavy hitters gelled with seamless immediacy, as Flack lead them through a repertoire of . . . material she had spent countless hours perfecting at Mr. Henry’s.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/roberta-flack-first-take/

Steve Huey tells us of her later career:

Classy, urbane, reserved, smooth, and sophisticated — all of these terms have been used to describe the music of Roberta Flack, particularly her string of romantic, light jazz ballad hits in the 1970s . . . . Her first two albums[, including] 1969’s First Take . . . were well received but produced no hit singles; however, that all changed when a version of Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” from her first LP, [see #61] was included in the soundtrack of the 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The single zoomed to number one in 1972 and remained there for six weeks, becoming that year’s biggest hit. Flack followed it with the first of several duets with Howard classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where Is the Love.” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” became Flack’s second number one hit (five weeks) in 1973, and after topping the charts again in 1974 with “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” Flack took a break from performing to concentrate on recording and charitable causes. . . . A major blow was struck in 1979 when her duet partner, one of the most creative voices in soul music, committed suicide. Devastated, Flack eventually found another creative partner in Peabo Bryson, with whom she toured in 1980.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roberta-flack-mn0000290072/biography

Here is a live version from ,71:

is Donny Hathaway’s take:

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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.

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

700) The Hardy Boys — “Carnival Time”

Feel-good sunshiny pop from The Archie Show rivals The Hardy Boys’ ‘70 sophomore album (see #436). Yes, the Hardy Boys!

Greg Ehrbar writes that:

Everyone connected with Saturday morning television and the recording industry sat up and took notice when almost half the nation watched The Archie Show when it premiered in 1968 and the studio band fronted by Ron Dante as The Archies [had] albums and singles flying off the shelves. [T]he next task was to find ways to duplicate this astonishing success. For ABC, Filmation zeroed in on the popular Hardy Boys book series. . . . [and] came up with a solution to The Archies one business setback: since they were animated, they couldn’t tour. . . . At the time Ron Dante himself was forbidden to reveal his identity as the real-life singing voice of Archie. In the case of The Hardy Boys mystery-solving gang . . . there would be flesh-and-blood counterparts . . . that appeared in live-action music segments in conjunction with the cartoon versions. Problem solved! [T]he songs are catchy and entertaining, not at all a bland attempt to rip off the sound of The Archies. . . . [N]either [Wheels] nor the debut album were very successful. . . . The music is first-rate sunshine rock . . . . The main reason Filmations Hardy Boys series didn’t catch on . . . Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/filmations-the-hardy-boys-on-records/

Bob Koch adds that:

Due in part to the fact that The Monkees . . . rebelled and eventually took over their own career, producers began turning to actual cartoons when manufacturing new rock groups . . . . [with] usually uncredited studio singers and musicians. . . . While the real [Hardy Boys] band is pictured on the album covers . . , the fictional names were given credit. However, Frank and Joe Hardy were actually . . . Reed Kailing . . . and Jeff Taylor . . . . The rest of the lineup was put together by . . . Dunwich, legendary for excellent garage punk records during the company’s brief run as a record label. Though it’s likely the albums are largely performed by studio players, the assembled band were all musicians, and did do the singing and perform some live shows . . . . [O]verall the discs aren’t quite the strictly formulaic bubblegum as they’re usually tagged as. Many tracks were provided by the songwriting team of Ed Fournier and Ricky Sheldon, remembered best today for the “Fat Albert Theme[.]” Other songs are courtesy of writers such as Ellie Greenwich and Gary Loizzo of The American Breed. . . .

https://isthmus.com/arts/vinyl-cave/vinyl-cave-here-come-the-hardy-boys-and-wheels-by-the-hardy-boys/

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

699) Paul Jones — “High Time”

Speaking of Manfred Mann, this fun, effervescent crowd pleaser was Paul’s (see #170) biggest post-Mann hit (get it?!), reaching #4 in the UK. But nobody in the U.S. heard it, so I’m playing it!

Richie Unterberger tells us that:

As lead singer of Manfred Mann from 1963 to 1966, Paul Jones was one of the best vocalists of the British Invasion, able to put over blues, R&B, and high-energy pop/rock with an appealing mix of polish and soul. That made the mediocre, at times appalling quality of his late-’60s solo recordings, on which he pursued a far more MOR direction, an all the more perplexing disappointment. As early as 1965, the press was speculating that Jones — the only one of the Manfreds with any conventional heartthrob appeal — would be leaving the group for a solo career. Jones and the group denied these rumors for quite some time, but Paul did in fact hand in his notice around late 1965, although he stayed with Manfred Mann through much of 1966 while they arranged for a replacement. The lure of going solo was not purely musical; Jones also wanted to pursue opportunities in the acting field, landing a big role right away as a lead in the ’60s cult movie Privilege, which unsurprisingly cast him as a pop singer. . . . Jones rang up a couple of British Top Ten hits in late 1966 and early 1967 with “High Time” and “I’ve Been a Bad Bad Boy,” although his solo recording career would never get off the ground in the U.S. Both of these were straight MOR pop tunes that sounded much closer to Tom Jones than the Paul Jones of old. . . . After [them], he wasn’t even that successful in Britain, let alone America, where he was soon forgotten. Jones . . . mov[ed] his focus from records to acting in the theater . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-jones-mn0000017399

Pussycat, what’s wrong with A-Tom-ic Jones?!

Anyway, Alistair Plant adds:

Paul Jones was born Paul Pond in Portsmouth, Hampshire . . . . When he was 20 he joined Manfred Mann and three others in a group that took the keyboard player’s name. They shared a love of jazz and blues but the success of Do Wah Diddy Diddy meant they turned into a pop band – which was not a direction Paul wanted to pursue. So he left.

“As an adult I’ve always been interested in what’s sometimes called music of black origin. That means blues, rhythm and blues, soul, jazz. When we started with the Manfreds that’s exactly what we did. Gradually, as time went by, we started to do other things. I suppose it was the preponderance of Bob Dylan songs (that made him want to leave). Not that I’ve got anything against Bob Dylan but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

https://www.countryimagesmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-interviews/celebrity-interview-paul-jones-of-the-manfreds/

Not that there’s anything wrong with Bob Dylan!

Oh, and this might blow your mind — Ralph Burden writes that:

Paul was friends with Brian Jones in the early 1960‘s. Both were students and used to meet up at blues clubs. They both played in blues bands before they became successful. Brian Jones formed the Rolling Stones and asked his friend to be the lead singer, but Paul had other plans at the time and turned down the offer.

https://www.reallifestories.org/stories/paul-jones-radio-2-dj-actor-and-musician/

Beat Club:

Beat again:

Here he is on Spanish TV:

Here is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gv73yGW289w

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

698) Manfred Mann Chapter Three — “Sometimes”

Mann, oh Mann, do I love my Manfred Mann Chapter III (see #79, 146), including this “dreamy jazz inflected gem[]”. (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/) As the Active Listener says:

For a band who’s previous release only a year before had been a singalong cover of Bob Dylan’s The Mighty Quinn, a dark, voodoo jazz-rock LP replete with Albert Ayler inspired free-jazz solos must have come as a shock to long term fans. Clearly this is not your Dad’s Manfred Mann. . . . Snakeskin Garter [see #79], One Way Glass, and Sometimes are all particularly memorable. Mike Hugg’s voice may be an acquired taste for some, but fans of the creepy juju stylings of early Dr John [see #177] are in for a treat.

http://active-listener.blogspot.com/2011/11/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-one.html

Mark Allan opines that: “This is as much jazz as rock. There’s hardly any guitar, but a swaggering horn section compensates. Imagine a darker, moodier Traffic with Mann manning the organ instead of Steve Winwood.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mw0000467440)

Rovi Staff supplies some background:

Following the demise of Manfred Mann, Mike Hugg and Manfred Mann continued their jazz/rock path by forming Chapter Three, as a sideline to their lucrative career writing successful television jingles. This brave project was originally called Emanon and . . . featured session work from some of the finest contemporary jazz musicians . . . . The group immediately established themselves on the progressive rock circuit, but could not break out of the small club environment. Their two albums were excellent and imaginative but came as a considerable shock to any fans who expected anything akin to Manfred Mann. The band was blighted with problems due to Mann and Hugg having to support the venture financially, and because of trying to establish themselves as something other than a pop group. . . . Manfred soon returned to a more commercial path with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mn0001278308

Jazz Music Archives adds:

The band’s approach centred around the “time, no changes” approach of Miles Davis and John Coltrane applied to slow, funky grooves with voodoo lyrics inspired by Dr John alternating with blaring big-band horn riffs and improvised free-jazz solos reminiscent of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. Although intelligible at a time when artists like Davis himself were crossing over into the rock/funk field and American “jazz-rock” ensembles such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Mothers of Invention espoused brass sections and atonality, the formula was limited and the band expensive to maintain, so it was short-lived and disbanded after two albums. Mann went on to form Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1971.

https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three

And Progman says:

Chapter III was formed after the break up of the (Chapter II) line up of Manfred Mann in 1969 which featured singer Mike D’Abo, not forgetting the legendary (Chapter I) line up in the early 60s which featured singer Paul Jones. . . . Chapter III turned their backs on three minute Pop singles and light hearted songs to develop a more Jazz and Progressive sound often had lengthy tracks with solos. . . . Sadly for Manfred Mann’s Chapter 3 the band had unsuccessful record sales and paid the price for this and unfortunate for Manfred Mann’s Chapter III they had disbanded late in 1970. . . . A discovery has been made that an album “Volume 3” was recorded but was never released.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2425

Finally, Jason again:

Mann had taken in bassist Steve York from the legendary progressive psychedelic band East of Eden. . . . Volume 1 was something that Mike Hugg and Mann had wanted to do for sometime but feared the possibility of a commercial failure. Hugg handles most of the lead vocals on a record . . . . The sound is very progressive, peppered with jazzy horns, keyboards/organ, a slow stoned ambience, creative arrangements and Hugg’s quite original although bizarre vocals.

http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/

Here they are live:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

694) 49th Parallel — “Goodtime Baby”

You’ve heard of a fair weather fan. Well, here is an ode to a fair weather girl, all the way from Calgary. This sneering rocker is the B-side on the 49th’s (see #367, 481) final single.

Michael Panontin says:

Calgary’s torch bearers in the great sixties rock sweepstakes were 49th Parallel, whose 1969 chart success, ‘Twilight Woman’, garnered them a few deserved rays of limelight. . . . With MGM affiliate Maverick agreeing to handle US distribution, the single managed to tweak a few charts south of the border. Which of course gave Maverick the leeway to issue an entire LP, The 49th Parallel, an oddly schizophrenic mix of sunshine pop, Anglo lysergia and the gruffer acid-rock sounds of the era. . . .

http://www.canuckistanmusic.com/index.php?maid=69

The Museum of Canadian Music adds:

[They] were originally known in the mid-60’s as a popular bar band by the name of The Shades Of Blond. With a stifling and musically limiting Calgary club scene they were never able to get farther than having one single — 1966’s “All Your Love”. . . . Throughout 1968 and parts of 1969 they toured throughout North America with an ever fluctuating roster. . . . [T]hey did hit and run recording sessions which bore several singles for Venture Records including “Twilight Woman” that managed seven weeks on the CHUM charts with a peak position of #16 in April 1969, and its follow-up, “Now That I’m A Man”, in September 1969 which managed a modest 3 week ride on the CHUM charts and a peak position of #22. . . . A full-length album was hastily assembled from singles and studio outtakes because the line-up was continually fluctuating and new recordings were impossible to conduct. . . . Eventually the band changed its name to Painter and released one album before mutating into the hard rock act Hammersmith who would finally succumb in the late ’70’s after two albums on Mercury Records. 

http://citizenfreak.com/titles/264434-49th-parallel-st (crediting the Canada Pop Encyclopedia)

The Calgary band had paid its dues: “By ’67 they’d changed their name to 49th Parallel, and had all but outgrown the local circuit. They played the prairies relentlessly for the next year or so, making over a dozen stops in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at The Temple Gardens alone.” (https://canadianbands.com/artists/49th-parallel/)

As to “Goodtime”, Canbands tells us:

[Their album] was barely on the shelves for a month when [singer Dennis] Abbott left, who was replaced by new frontman Dorn Beattie. . . . They continued to tour sporadically over the next six months while writing material for a follow-up album. But after the single “I Need You” [with today’s song the B-side] went without a whimper on two separate occasions, the band packed it in by the spring of 1970.

https://canadianbands.com/artists/49th-parallel/

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

695) The Noblemen — “Short Time”

When one thinks of alumni of the University of Chicago, Milton Friedman, Philip Glass and Saul Bellow might come to mind. The members of a raw, fuzz-crazy garage rock band, not so much. Well, start rethinking, courtesy of Brace for the Obscure’s reeducation camp!

The Noblemen released only one single, but its A-side is one minute and 58 seconds of “pounding rhythm, pounding Fuzz and killer bass” (https://pennimanrecords.com/products/noblemen-short-time-7) — “a real LOUD Chicago screecher”. (liner notes to the Back from the Grave: Raw ‘N’ Crude Mid-60s Garage Punk, Vol. 4 comp) It had the honor of making Back from the Grave, Vol. 4, which also has this to say:

These guys were a 4-piece of freshmen students at the University of Chicago who formed in 1967, practiced at the U of C dorms, and recorded this prime cut about being stood up . . . . All 4 members had previously played in high school bands, and guitarist Jim Pearle had his first taste at wailin’ during ’65-66 in his band, the Marauders . . . . In ’68, with school work- getting a bit too extensive to keep up the practice sessions and gigs, they called it quits.

liner notes to the Back from the Grave: Raw ‘N’ Crude Mid-60s Garage Punk, Vol. 4 comp

Well, no one ever accused the U of C of being a party school!

Oh, by the way, the B-side is a totally sappy piece of sh*t:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

695) Georgie Fame — “In the Meantime”

I like to think I was named in honor of Georgie Fame (see #103, 169, 634). Hey, my mother used to call me Georgie, and we share the same initials (along with gluten-free items!). If only I were so cool! Anyway, just to clarify, this cocky, swinging, exuberant number is a song that no one IN THE U.S. has ever heard. It did hit #22 in the UK (#97 in the U.S) in ’65. Millie Zeiler calls it GF’s tenth best song, “[r]eleased as a stand-alone single . . . this fun, jazzy number rightfully earned its place as a gotta-dance-to favorite.” (https://www.classicrockhistory.com/top-10-georgie-fame-songs/) Move on Up says:

Filled with soul and groove, ‘In the Meantime’ is absolutely perfect in every single way! If I was in a band I’d walk onstage to this belter of a track. Jazz and RnB intertwined to create a soulful masterpiece. Georgies’s vocal is spot on here and sounds sublime, the trumpets are crisp and the overall sound is smooth. Great track!

http://www.moveonupblog.co.uk/2015/10/georgie-fame-whole-worlds-shaking-box.html?m=1

 As to Georgie, Max Bell says:

Georgie Fame . . . is one of British R&B music’s founding fathers. . . . [with immense] cultural influence. . . . The black music he championed with his band The Blue Flames brought new sounds to Swinging London and bossed venues like the Flamingo Club and the Marquee where he turned the English mod movement on to a whole bag of soul and authentic US urban and country sounds and also the ska and early reggae he heard in the Jamaican cafes and clubs in the Ladbroke Grove area of London. . . .

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artist/georgie-fame/

Steve Huey adds that:

Georgie Fame’s swinging, surprisingly credible blend of jazz and American R&B earned him a substantial following in his native U.K., where he scored three number one singles during the ’60s. . . . Early in his career, he . . . peppered his repertoire with Jamaican ska and bluebeat tunes, helping to popularize that genre in England; during his later years, he was one of the few jazz singers of any stripe to take an interest in the vanishing art of vocalese, and earned much general respect from jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/georgie-fame-mn0000543055/biography

As to Fame’s early history, Bell tells us that:

[He] depart[ed] to London aged 16 to seek his fortune. He touted his talents up and down the legendary Tin Pan Alley area of Denmark Street just off Soho where he was spotted by impresarios Lionel Bart and Larry Parnes who christened him Georgie Fame – somewhat against his will. Working with touring rock and rollers like Joe Brown, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran young Fame became battle-hardened and was snapped up by Billy Fury in 1961 to lead his backing band The Blue Flames for whom he arranged and sang. The Blue Flames and Fury parted company and so Georgie took over . . . .

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artist/georgie-fame/

Steve Huey again:

The[ Flames’] budding reputation landed them a residency at the West End jazz club the Flamingo, and thanks to the American servicemen who frequented the club and lent Fame their records, [Fame] discovered the Hammond B-3 organ, becoming one of the very few British musicians to adopt the instrument in late 1962. From there, the Blue Flames became one of the most popular live bands in London. In 1963, they signed with EMI Columbia, and in early 1964 released their acclaimed debut LP, Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo. It wasn’t a hot seller at first, and likewise their first three singles all flopped, but word of the group was spreading. Finally, in early 1965, Fame hit the charts with “Yeh Yeh,” . . . . [which] went all the way to number one on the British charts . . . . His 1965 LP Fame at Last reached the British Top 20, and after several more minor hits, he had another British number one with “Getaway” in 1966. After one more LP with the original Blue Flames, 1966’s Sweet Thing, Fame broke up the band and recorded solo . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/georgie-fame-mn0000543055/biography

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

694) The Lamp of Childhood — “First Time, Last Time”

’67 A-side is a gorgeous song of longing by an L.A. folk-rock group with a big connection to big rock royalty. As Jason Ankeny tells us:

Folk-rock combo the Lamp of Childhood was formed in Los Angeles in the fall of 1966 by singer/guitarist James Hendricks, the former husband of Mamas and Papas vocalist Mama Cass and her collaborator in the Big Three and the Mugwumps. Guitarist Fred Olsen, bassist Mike Tani and former Mastin & Brewer drummer Billy Mundi comprised the original Lamp of Childhood lineup, which signed to Dunhill to record its debut single, a cover of the Donovan classic “Season of the Witch” issued in early 1967. By that time, Mundi was already out of the band–he’d joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention–and after two more Dunhill singles, “First Time, Last Time” and “Two O’Clock in the Morning,” the Lamp of Childhood dissolved in June 1967.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-lamp-of-childhood-mn0000105054/biography

Interestingly, the connection with Mama Cass may have actually hurt the group (see https://garagehangover.com/the-lamp-of-childhood/).

“First Time, Last Time” was written by the band’s producer and Israeli classical pianist Gabriel Mekler. Andrew Sandoval notes that following TLOC, Mundi “recorded with Tim Buckley and nearly joined Buffalo Springfield . . . . Hendricks . . . moved on to songwriting for Johnny Rivers (“Summer Rain,” #14 in late ’67), Mekler wound up producing Dunhill hitmakers Steppenwolf, [guitarist] Fred Olson recorded with Mike Bloomfield, and Mundi briefly joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention.” (liner notes to the Where the Action Is!: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 comp) Misterjimi says that Mekler “himself had several flop singles on Dunhill [and was] producer/pianist for Janis Joplin, Steppenwolf, Genya Ravan, Etta James, Three Dog Night. Died young.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzBktQar-qw)

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

693) Edwin Starr — “Time Is Passing By”

Super soul song from the SuperStarr’s first album, telling a girl who got hurt in love to dust herself off, get up and try again, ‘cause the clock is tickin’. I like Starr better when he’s making/singing about love than when he’s making “War”!

Steve Huey tells us that:

[Charles Edwin Hatcher] formed a doo wop quintet called the FutureTones while still in high school . . . . but Starr was drafted into the military in 1960, stalling the group’s momentum. When he returned in 1962 . . . he wound up joining Bill Doggett’s group as a featured vocalist . . . . Two years later, Starr wrote what he felt was a surefire hit in the spy-themed “Agent Double-O-Soul,” and left . . . to sign with Ric Tic Records . . . . [It] hit the R&B Top Ten later in 1965, and just missed the pop Top 20. . . . [He] return[ed] to the Top Ten a year later with “Stop Her on Sight (S.O.S.).” Motown head Berry Gordy subsequently bought out Ric Tic and took over its artist roster . . . . Starr [had] his biggest hit yet in 1969’s “25 Miles,” which reached the Top Ten on both the pop and R&B charts. . . . When he returned to the studio, it was with producer Norman Whitfield, who’d been reinventing the Temptations as a psychedelic soul act. . . . [and] had co-written a strident anti-war protest song, “War,” for the Temp[tations, but] Motown didn’t want the group to take such an aggressive stance. Whitfield recut “War” with Starr, and the resulting version was arguably the most incendiary song Motown ever released. It zoomed to the top of the pop charts in 1970 . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edwin-starr-mn0000046727

Michigan Rock and Roll Legends tells us more:

Doggett’s manager, Don Briggs, . . invited [Hatcher] to join the combo . . . . After hearing Edwin’s voice, Briggs told him that he would be a star some day and said that he should use the name ‘Starr’ with the extra ‘r’. Starr traveled with Doggett’s organization for two-and-a-half years and gained valuable road experience. “If you’d done something wrong,” Starr recalled, “Bill would play a little riff on his organ, which meant you would be fined five dollars. One night he introduced me as Edwin Starr and played a riff, so I knew my new name would cost me five dollars.”. . .

We had like three or four days off in New York,” [Starr] told writer Bill Dahl. “I went to the movie while I was there, and the movie happened to be Goldfinger . . . . watched the movie like three times, and then went back to my hotel room . . . . I came up with ‘Agent Double-O-Soul’.” Starr went to Doggett and told him that he wanted to record his new song, but Doggett didn’t think he was ready for a solo career and advised him to wait a year. “I said to him, I can’t wait a year”, Starr recalled to Dahl. . . . [“]it’ll be old hat.” Convinced that his secret agent song was a surefire hit, Starr quit Doggett’s group . . . . [It] went all the way to # 8 on the Billboard R&B chart and reached # 21 on the Hot 100. . . .

During the 1980’s, Starr moved to England where he was a hero on the Northern Soul circuit.

https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/index.php/mrrl-hall-of-fame/326-edwin-starr

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

692) Mark LeVine — “21 Years Older than Yesterday”

Today I will let my freak flag fly and spin a:

• “psychefolkedlic” (http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/hippiebilly/L_01.html)
• “underground classic of Acid Folk-Rock” (http://thelakeband.blogspot.com/2014/11/mark-levine-pilgrims-progress-featuring.html?m=1)
• and “ultra-obscuro ‘folk freak’ offering from the hills of Hollywood, made during the acid-laced tail end of the ‘Sixties.” (http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/hippiebilly/L_01.html)
• by “wiseguy L.A. singer/songwriter Mark Levine” (https://powerpop.blogspot.com/2011/01/words-fail-me.html?m=1),
• who was “a Dylanesque purveyor of trippy poetic lyrics and unschooled vocals” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/pilgrims-progress-mw0000482945).

Of the album — Pilgrim’s Progress — from which it comes, Steve Simels says:

Despite the stellar personnel, the album was originally released on Hogfat Records, which must have been either a vanity label or the least heralded indie imprint in rock history. . . . The album itself is uneven; as somebody over at Redtelephone66 said, some of it sounds like Levine was trying to make the greatest rock record of all time and some of it sounds like he was just goofing around with some friends.

https://powerpop.blogspot.com/2011/01/words-fail-me.html?m=1

Slipcue.com adds that:

Songwriter Mark Levine was hanging out with some cool cats at the time, including a bunch of West Coast show biz heavyweights. Studio pros Mike Deasy, Larry Knechtel and Joe Osborn — all members of the fabled, A-list “Wrecking Crew” — anchor these loose-limbed psychefolkedlic sessions, along with drummer Toxey French and . . . roots music superpicker Ry Cooder, who was just finding his legs in the LA music scene, and a couple of years away from busting out as a solo artist.

http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/hippiebilly/L_01.html

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

691) The Sunshine Company — “A Year of Jaine Time”

False advertising — a beautiful, laid back, sad song from the first album by southern California’s Sunshine Company! J Rodger says that:

[Q]uite a few tunes on the record contain moments of beautiful melancholia. Aside from a few happy go lucky ‘fluffers’ the sad undertones are a far more prominent theme. This is presented beautifully on . . . ‘A Year Of Jaine Time’. . . . [which] maintains it’s plaintive longing. [It] is the only track on the album written by a member of the group.

http://intorelativeobscurity.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-sunshine-company-happy-is-sunshine.html?m=1

Jason Ankeny tells us that:

[The s]outhern California soft pop quintet . . . . [s]ign[ed] to Imperial Records in the fall of 1967 . . . [and] issued its debut LP Happy Is the Sunshine Company, scoring their lone Top 40 hit with the single “Back on the Street Again.” The album also generated the minor hit “Happy,” although with their self-titled sophomore effort, the Sunshine Company’s commercial momentum dissipated, and in the wake of their third LP, 1968’s Sunshine and Shadows, the group disbanded (although rumors of a completed but unreleased fourth effort, supposedly titled Think, continue to circulate).

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-sunshine-company-mn0000918624

Richie Unterberger writes that:

Much of their material may have been pure sunny SoCal pop . . . . But their real heart lay closer to rootsy singer-songwriter folk than the child-like naivete conveyed by their name and some of their songs. . . . “It was a struggle with Imperial, because they kind of wanted to carbon-copy ‘Happy’ over and over,” confesses [singer/guitarist Maury] Manseau. “We didn’t like a lot of the pop, bouncy material they brought us. . . . [We had] this ongoing fight . . . with the record company . . . . We had to give a lot to get a few things on that we liked[.]” . . . [Producer Joe] Saraceno [says “]I said, ‘Look, let’s get a hit and then invite the public into your world after you’re popular,’ and they agreed to that.[“] . . . [He] calls them “the most talented group I’ve ever worked with or seen,” [and] puts a lot of blame on their failure to go further on the record company politics that had kiboshed the release of “Up, Up and Away” [lost to the Fifth Dimension] (“they really got screwed”). . . . Manseau recalls Bill Graham introducing the[m] at a San Francisco show at the Filmore with the words “I know that San Francisco audiences haven’t really warmed to this group. But I think it’s one of the few good things that ever came out of L.A.”

liner notes to The Best of the Sunshine Company

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

690) Pisces — “A Flower for All Seasons”

This delicate, wistful, and magnificent pop psych/folk rock floret was finally allowed to bloom four decades after it was recorded. It is at once both timeless and seemingly of Civil War vintage. The band should have been the second from Rockford, Illinois to make it big, but could never pull a cheap trick.

Per Douglas Wolk:

Pisces [was] a group from the nowheresville of Rockford, Illinois. Their Lennon and McCartney wannabe auteurs were guitarist Jim Krein and keyboardist Paul DiVenti, who came up through the bar-band scene, put together a little studio and recorded piles of material, basically because they’d heard Sgt. Pepper’s and the White Album and had to let it out somehow. Barely any of it was ever heard outside the walls of their studio . . . just three singles on a label run by a Rockford tailor with big ambitions for his own easy-listening sides.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13201-a-lovely-sight/

Alex Henderson opines that “[s]ome of these tunes might have become AM radio hits had Pisces been discovered by Columbia or RCA and received the right promotional push, but they never enjoyed that type of support” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-lovely-sight-mw0000819921) and Dusty Groove Records says that “this stuff would have been hugely influential had it found an audience in its time, hell, it sounds to us like it actually did influence countless groups, even though that’s hardly even possible[.]” (https://www.dustygroove.com/item/485469/Pisces:Lovely-Sight) I for one agree on both counts.

Alan Brown marvels that:

While Haight Ashbury was in full bloom, Laurel Canyon awash with fey folkies and the Sunset Strip a-go-go with guitar bands, Rockford, Illinois was celebrating the opening of a new Chrysler factory. . . . [A]t the tail-end of the 1960s, [it] had no less than two bands, Fuse and Pisces, toiling away on the toilet-club circuit that would eventually be heard outside the city’s limits. Fuse would, by 1974, change their name to Cheap Trick . . . . Pisces, apart from three rare-as-hen’s-teeth 45s on the local Vincent label, had to wait another 40 years to be heard. . . . [These are] some of the most exciting recordings to ever bubble up out of the 1960s psychedelic stew. . . . inventive, haunting soundscapes of psychedelic pop playfulness, crepusclar garage punk and a handful of bewitching bluesy, psych-folk numbers — the latter menacingly breathed into life by a 17-year-old singer called Linda Bruner who’d initially gone to Krein for guitar lessons. . . . [L]ike the Beatles before them, only on a far smaller budget (which they supplemented by recording local acts and jingles), they had retreated into their studio and given up playing live. Nevertheless, it appears that, audience or no audience, Krien and DiVenti’s imaginations burnt brighter than the devil’s own lava lamp. . . .

https://www.popmatters.com/107627-pisces-a-lovely-sight-2496049238.html

And listen to Kevin Elliott:

A Lovely Sight never made it past the first press of an astonishingly small batch of singles, but Krein and DiVenti, two working-class Midwestern everymen soldiered on, buying a small studio in Rockford and eventually changing their name to Pisces and recording . . . in between their usual business of producing radio ads and local vanity projects. . . . [T]he duo was known to spend hours cultivating their simple tunes into wild studio experiments. . . . During the years the duo spent holed in their studio, they also recorded sessions with their resident siren, Linda Bruner. . . . There’s a rustic quality, a boundless imagination at the heart of the album that sounds distinctly Midwestern. There’s a spirit ingrained in these recordings that was not influenced by trends, fashions and the liberal utopias that were quickly crumbling on the coasts. Maybe just two men’s journey to the center of their minds? Quite a concept.

http://www.agitreader.com/perfect/pisces-a_lovely_sight.html

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

689) Ted Neeley — “Autumn Afternoon”

This ’67 and ’68 B-side (https://www.45cat.com/artist/ted-neeley) by the future Christ figure is “simply one of the best blends of Association-styled harmony pop and lysergic influences you’re liable to ever hear” (http://badcatrecords.com/NEELEY.htm) and “sounds like a long-lost follow-up to the Association’s ‘Never My Love,’ [which were both written by the Addrisi Brothers]. (https://theseconddisc.com/2010/08/27/review-various-artists-book-a-trip-the-psych-pop-sounds-of-capitol-records/) Well, the Association also recorded a version (not released at the time), as did the Sandpipers.

The liner notes to the Book a Trip: The Psych-Pop Sounds of Capitol Records comp tell us that:

The Teddy Neeley Five . . . were fixtures of Sunset Strip nightclubs and elite Hollywood parties. . . . [T]hey were playing gigs at the Red Velvet, The Trip, The Daisy, and even The Cocoanut Grove, which was considered a coup for a rock act at that time. Personally signed by Capitol president Alan Livingston, the band cut several singles prior to their 1967 LP, simply titled Teddy Neeley (although the entire band is on the cover). “Autumn Afternoon” was not included on the LP, but Capitol must’ve had faith in the track since it appeared on not one but two 45 releases.

https://images.45worlds.com/f/cd/various-artists-now-sounds-3-cd.jpg

For a little more history on Ted, Steve Leggett writes that:

Ted Neeley came to the public’s attention when he played and sang the title role in . . . Jesus Christ Superstar, both on-stage and onscreen, and then followed it up with a role in the original theatrical production of the Who’s Tommy.  A singer, drummer, actor, composer, vocal arranger, and record producer, Neeley . . . . signed his first record deal in 1965, at age 22, with Capitol Records, releasing an album, the self-titled Teddy Neeley, on the imprint with his group the Ted Neeley Five. [He p]ossess[ed] a baritone singing voice that could rise octaves into a controlled, on-pitch rock-era scream when necessary . . . . Neeley released a solo album . . . in . . . 1974, then took the role of Billy Shears in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road. He continued doing musical theater, acting as well in various television dramas during the 1970s and 1980s, including Starsky and Hutch . . . . Meanwhile, he performed live shows with his band Pacific Coast Highway.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ted-neeley-mn0001589791/biography

Here is the Association:

The Sandpipers:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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

688) Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera — “Long Nights of Summer”

Happy New Year everyone, and I hope I bring you Peace on Ear!

Here is a glorious and timeless cut from the Opera’s ’68 “minor masterpiece” of an album. (Jan Zarebski, https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera) (see #375). It sounds like it could have been recorded in the ‘70’s, the 80’s . . .

As Jan Zarebski recounts:

[The EGVO — sounds like an olive oil] emerged from R&B/soul act The Five Proud Walkers after experiencing a conversion to psych following a support slot beneath Pink Floyd. Well… who wouldn’t? Their upbeat blend of the new scene with the primal beats of their earlier work got them noticed.”

https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera

Marmalade Skies adds:

The band began to get quite a following and played clubs and university gigs all over the country and at London venues like the Marquee and 100 club and Electric garden. They would also occasionally play at the Speakeasy where Jimi Hendrix would jam with them . . . .

http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/elmer.htm

Zarebski goes on:

The urgent, brilliant Flames, which they cut as their first single, became a cult hit, and a fledgling Led Zeppelin incorporated the song into their act. Unfortunately, that was as close as [they] got to the big time, but their debut remains a rather superb slice of British psych-pop. . . . [I]t’s the group’s more general mastery of melody and rhythm that marks this album out. Rather like The Zombies and, more obviously, The Beatles, [they] found a tune wherever they looked, and the results stand up with much of the period because of that.

https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera

Why didn’t they make it big? Jo-Ann Greene says that:

Although labeled a psychedelic band in their day, the Opera never sat comfortably in that strawberry field, partially because of the diversity of their sound, but also due to the simple fact they were just too far ahead of their time even for the psyched-out crowd. In fact, [the band] continued to sound thoroughly modern for decades, while their myriad musical meanderings took them down wayward byways that later became stylistic highways — at least in their native U.K. So it’s no surprise then, that this band would have slotted perfectly into the Britpop scene, or going back further in time, into the R&B-drenched mod scene.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/elmer-gantrys-velvet-opera-mn0000131151/biography)

Iván Melgar Morey agrees:

ELMER GANTRY’S VELVET OPERA, a very long name for a short living British band formed in 1967 during the peak of British Psychedelia, but despite their formation era, they were one of the most advanced bands from their era, blended with great respect R&B, Jazz Psychedelia a la early Pink Floyd and a touch of The Nice style . . . . Despite being a very good and incredibly advanced album for their era, never reached the popularity deserved, because it was too hard and eclectic for the average listener, but still remains as one of the most powerful and elaborate albums from the pre King Crimson Progressive Rock era.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2503

Oh, and where did that name come from? Marmalade Skies clears it up:

Velvet Opera was chosen initially, which was amended to Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera within days after Dave [Terry] turned up to a session wearing a long black cape and a preachers hat and had to endure some piss-taking from the rest of the band (Elmer Gantry was the fictional hero of a Sinclair Lewis novel and 1960 film about a preacher). . . .

http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/elmer.htm

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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

687) The Canterbury Music Festival — “First Spring Rain”

Call this ’68 A-side baroque pop, call it soft pop, call it sunshine pop, call it pop psych, but call it a masterpiece by the CMF (see #358).

If you are looking for ultra-rare Softpop, you’ve come to the right place! Only 150 copies were pressed (in order to establish copyright) [of] Rain & Shine [on which “First Spring Rain” also appeared], an almost willfully secret psych-pop masterpiece of sorts, on the obscure and collectable BT Puppy label out of New York City, owned by the legendary Tokens . . . . [It is] scarily collectable . . . .

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1286-rain-shine

Patrick says of the song:

The plucked guitars, the gliding string arrangement and the lush backing vocals will either send you into a soft pop heaven or dull the nerves of the more jaded. I for one am transported”.

https://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2003/9_2/canterburymusicfest.php

And Steve Stanley notes that for the single (the band’s first):

[T]hey were credited as We Ugly Dogs — a choice the Tokens were none too exited about. Remembers [band leader] Roger [Germelle], “The Tokens said we had to change our name” . . . . In spite of this minor conflict, the tune was a “pick hit” in sixteen states in Billboard and was number one in Duluth, Minnesota, even managing to outsell the Beatles. . . . The second pressing was released under the name Canterbury Music Festival.

liner notes to CD reissue of Rain & Shine

Tim Sendra says that “the label really had no distribution and the[ CMF’s] one shot at the big time slipped away.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/rain-shine-mw0000042587)  Phil Margo, a Token and co-owner of BT Puppy, says that “[m]y personal regret is that this band . . . had quality material, but the distribution wasn’t there to back it up. . . . I wish more stuff had happened for them.” (liner notes to the CD reissue of Rain & Shine) Roger Germelle says that “I never [even] knew an LP was released! . . . It must have been released after we split up.” (liner notes) The LP, if a a copy could be found, was selling for $300, but then the “soft pop aficionados at Rev-Ola in the UK” (https://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2003/9_2/canterburymusicfest.php) had to ruin all the fun by reissuing the album on CD!

By the way, how is the album? It is “one of the lost gems of late ’60s soft pop” (https://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2003/9_2/canterburymusicfest.php), full of “[c]harmingly romantic, effortlessly fluid love songs, perfect lead and harmony vocals and it’s all played with love and life well and truly happenin’. . . .” (https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/147965448839/the-canterbury-music-festival-rain-shineus). Patrick at Gullbuy says that:

[It is] a ’60s pop delight. There’s a shimmering and delicate sheen to the album, like rain falling on a bed of leaves in the fading days of Autumn. . . . [T]he sweet harmony vocals and the sunshine sadness of the lyrics . . . all combine together for a host of amazing songs.

https://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2003/9_2/canterburymusicfest.php

OK, Richie Unterberger does equivocate:

The album mixed some decent if innocuous original compositions . . . with less impressive material supplied to them by their producers, the Tokens. Though at their best they were adept at soft pop-rock songs with string arrangements, accomplished harmonies, and a tinge of psychedelia, the record was weighed down by Tokens-devised tunes with a more gimmicky bubblegum-psych flavor.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-canterbury-music-festival-mn0000656609/biography

Richie, for once, is actually out-snarked by his fellow All Music Guide critic Tim Sentra:

The music remained unheard until [a label] decided to reissue the album. The question that arises here is: Did they need to? Yes and no — mostly no. . . . Anyone who isn’t a sunshine pop fanatic will wonder why [the label] bothered, as most of the tunes are pretty insubstantial and sometimes downright embarrassing . . . . Unless you are a sunshine pop nut with a fat bankroll, you can rest easy with the knowledge that you aren’t missing anything . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/rain-shine-mw0000042587

Well, I may be a sunshine pop nut — wouldn’t that be a great name for a new snack food? — but I bought the CD. So I get to keep my fat bankroll!

Here is a cover by the Molly Maguires (‘69):

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