Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊

Prufrock — “Whisper of Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 4, 2022

404) Prufrock — “Whisper of Love”

From ’67, this song is a truly wonderful plea for reconciliation to a departed lover. RD Records, the label that enabled us to hear this treasure 40 years after its recording, proclaims of the album it rescued that:

Here is another lost and unreleased at the time Californian psychedelic masterpiece . . . from 1967! . . . The music is a mixture of superb garage folk, swinging London style garage pop and heavy fuzz loaded psychedelic to the max tracks with some incredible great eastern influences!
http://www.rd-records.com/releasedprojects_vinyl.htm

Yeah, the record label said it, but it’s true, true, true! OK, the song’s not The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, but it is a love song by Prufrock and the lyrics are heartfelt and touching.

In a story ripe for a cinematic retelling, Tom Lubin, Prufrock’s producer, relates that:

By October [’67] Prufrock had made what we thought was a pretty good album. . . . So that we all had some to remember, when no one was around at [Gold Star Studios where I was an assistant engineer], I made 6 acetates of Visions. . . . I also made several song demos and gave them to a publisher who liked the songs. But . . . Visions was never released. That was the end of it, or so I thought until mid 2006. It seems one of the publisher demos had found its way to Europe and . . . one song “Too Young” was released in Austria on a sampler of rare recordings of the 60s. A couple of years later the acetate was pictured in a record collector’s book. The Gold Star label had the titles with my name as producer. So, from an acetate label seen in a book to a Google Search, I was found and contacted by e-mail.

“Dear Sir Are you the Tom Lubin who produced and engineered the band Prufrock in 1967….?”

I was floored. It seems the sender was an avid fan of 60s music, and had a label that released recordings of that era. He was based in Switzerland and had heard only one song . . . . [A] few years ago I [had gone] into a studio and transferred all the tapes I had in a box to digital, and Prufrock’s Visions was one of them. . . . Once the[ label] heard it, they wanted to give it its first release . . . .
liner notes to the CD issue of Visions

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The Sunsets — “The Hot Generation”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 3, 2022

403) The Sunsets — “The Hot Generation”

Hot ’67 A-side was the theme to the Australian surfing movie The Hot Generation.
Mike Stax says the song “is a relentlessly upbeat celebration of [Australia’s] surfin’ lifestyle”. (http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/07/various-artists-hot-generation-1960s.html?m=1) Richie Unterberger describes it as “surf-cum-mod.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/hot-generation-1960s-punk-from-down-under-mw0000660957) The Pandoras did a fantastic 80’s punk version.

Anyway, the Sunsets would morph into proggers Tamam Shud:

Tamam Shud evolved from an instrumental surf band called The Four Strangers, formed in 1964 in Newcastle, New South Wales. . . . As The Strangers in 1965 they issued the single Sad and Lonely and then changed their name to The Sunsets. The Sunset’s tracks were used for two surf films – A Life in the Sun (1966) and The Hot Generation (1967) – both directed by Paul Witzig. Later that year . . . the group . . . changed their name to Tamam Shud.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/worldtreasuresmusic.com/2016/08/06/evolution-tamun-shuds-cult-surf-soundtrack/amp/

Alec Paleo’s liner notes to the Australian garage comp Hot Generation! tell us that:

[T]he group smarted from press criticism that they were behind-the-times [because of the surf music], when in fact, after moving to Sydney permanently . . . the group had begun to psychedelicise at a rapid rate. By the years end [bassist Eric] Connell had quit and the group had become Tamam Shud.

Surfer Today tells us about The Hot Generation:

[The movie] captures the last hurrah of the original longboard era in Australia. It’s not a tame farewell; the late 1960s was a time of explosive change. The celebrated session of Nat and McTavish at Honolua Bay is the most obvious signpost here to surfing’s bold new direction, the performance of their radical vee-bottoms sounding the death knell for the longboard establishment. . . . Dolphins, sunshine, fabulous glassy peelers, and two standout surfers having the time of their lives.
https://www.surfertoday.com/surf-movies/the-hot-generation

The longboard establishment is hassling me! Hey hey, ho ho, the longboard establishment has got to go!

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The soundtrack version:

The Pandoras:

The movie trailer:

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John Williams — “Can’t Find Time for Anything Now”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 2, 2022

402) John Williams — “Can’t Find Time for Anything Now”

No, not that John Williams — I’m talkin’ about the one who hung out with Jimmy Page! This ’67 B-side is exquisite baroque pop and I think we can all relate (even though David Wells’ liner notes to the Come Join My Orchestra comp of British baroque pop notes that “the lyrics fail to explain why Williams was suddenly so busy”!).

David Wells gives some history:

Brothers John and Berne Williams fronted R&B band The Authentics, cutting an unreleased single with Jimmy Page before the Giorgio Gomelsky-produced “Honey Love” was issued in June 1965 in the name of Brothers William. John was already writing songs for the likes of Julie Driscoll when he signed a publishing deal with Jimmy Page . . . . Page placed his material with such bands as the Mindbenders and The Quik, while Williams also recorded a couple of solo albums and a brace of 1967 singles [including today’s song].

Discogs adds more about Page:

The Authentics . . . . had a residency at the Marquee [in] London supporting The Yardbirds. Indeed, Berne Williams introduced Jimmy Page to the Yardbirds. They recorded one unreleased single with Page as producer and harmonica and guitar. John . . . recorded an album with Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan under the name Maureeny Wishful.

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April Fool’s Day Special Edition: The Spiders — “Day Tripper”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 1, 2022

401) The Spiders — “Day Tripper”

Joe Cocker, please step aside. Richie Havens, please sit down. Noel and Liam, please get outta here and bicker somewhere else. Elton, stage left (Happy birthday, though!). Today, I am featuring the greatest cover version of a Beatles song ever recorded — “Day Tripper” by the Spiders. And I’m not talking about the Spiders from Mars — these Spiders were from Japan.

Nostalgia Central tells us that:

The Spiders were formed in Japan in 1961 . . . and originally played a mix of Jazz, Country & Western and traditional Japanese music in clubs and at US Army bases. . . . By 1964, with handsome teenager Jun Inoue now on-board as lead vocalist, The Spiders turned their attention to British Beat music . . . . In January the following year, they were chosen as the opening act for The Astronauts and The Ventures during their Japanese appearances, and in April they backed Peter and Gordon. Elsewhere in 1965, they supported The Animals, The Honeycombs and the Beach Boys during their Japanese tours. The Spiders were also offered the support slot for The Beatles in 1966 but turned it down as they had been often criticised in Japan for simply being Beatles-imitators. The Spiders became popular guests on Japanese television and radio shows . . . . [They] release[d] their debut album . . . in April 1966. All tracks . . . were original compositions, cementing their place as Japan’s premier beat band. One month later they also released an album of cover versions of songs by The Beatles, The Animals and Chuck Berry . . . . [T]he band toured Europe in October and November. They appeared on European radio and TV programs, played at the Star Club in Hamburg, and appeared on Ready, Steady, Go! . . . In January 1967 The Spiders released their third album . . . including a track called Narebaii – arguably the first Japanese psychedelic song . . . and in March they released . . . one of first singles to feature a fuzzbox. They also played in Hawaii in June, but this was unfortunately to be the only opportunity the band ever had to play on American soil. Further successful domestic singles followed . . . but by 1969 the Beat Boom in Japan was over. . . . By January 1971 The Spiders were no more.
https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-s/spiders/

UKC says:

Amongst the things that set the Spiders apart from other [Group Sounds]* GS bands was that their style was a bit more frenzied, and they often danced and clowned around while playing. The Spiders became the premiere GS band . . . . [I]nspired by the Beatles, the Spiders made four Help! like movies . . . .
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/culture_bunker/another_side_of_monkey_-_the_spiders-209924

Richie Unterberger adds that:

Like many non-English-speaking nations, Japan generated many bands playing in the British Invasion style, and the Spiders were among the first and foremost. . . . Singing in both Japanese and fractured English, their sound was heavily imitative of American and particularly British groups, mixing in some California vocal group harmony and psychedelic influences. . . . What attracts cultists to their records . . . is a peculiar manic intensity found in much of their work . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-spiders-mn0000936401

* “The term ‘Group Sounds’ . . . was coined . . . after a huge buzz was created by the Beatles, but the term ‘rock’n’roll’ with multiple L’s and R’s was thought to be too difficult for most Japanese people to pronounce.”

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Here is a wild live version from ’68:

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The Sunliners — “The Land of Nod”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 31, 2022

400) The Sunliners — “The Land of Nod”

This ‘67 A-side “is a superb club dancer psychedelic number, full of fuzz and ‘out there’ lyrics”. (https://www.popsike.com/THE-SUNLINERS-Well-One-Land-Of-Nod-Detroit-rarity/360302205425.html) Yes, indeed, it is. The song is spectacular.

Who were the Sunliners and where did they come from? Ken McIntyre explains:

In the beginning they were The Sunliners, a teenage garage band. And, frankly, they were kind of square. They formed in 1960 and gigged around Detroit for eight years; they were local heroes, but had yet to make an impact outside the city. Then, in 1968, the ‘dawning of the age of Aquarius’ hit. And The Sunliners decided it was time for a change.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/cult-heroes-rare-earth-motowns-funkiest-white-band

Ray McGinnis adds:

One of their early single releases was the “Hully Gully Twist” in 1962. It was a standard rock effort that resembled much of what was on the pop charts at the time. Their next single, “So In Love” was a doo-wop influenced tune. . . . By 1965 the Sunliners were morphing into a teen garage band with clear R&B influences . . . . By 1967 [they] had begun to experiment with psychedelic rock when they released “Land Of Nod”.

Hey Big Brother by Rare Earth

And they changed their name to Rare Earth (yes, that Rare Earth!). Once they did this, as Mark Deming explains:

They attracted more attention under their new banner, and Verve Records signed them to a record deal. Motown session guitarist Dennis Coffey helped produce and arrange their debut album, 1968’s Dreams/Answers, although it didn’t find an audience and Rare Earth were quickly dropped . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rare-earth-mn0000339490)

Alex Koump:

“Dreams/Answers mixed their R&B roots with psychedelia, resulting in a satisfying rock/soul style with plenty of excellent vocals and instrumental work. . . . It was ultimately unsuccessul and didn’t get anywhere on the charts, though good things were just around the corner for the band.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v4ilZqZ9ts)

As part of the album, they redid “Land of Nod”, which turned into a psychedelic soul number “combin[ing] Rock, Soul and Physcedelia, [and] was chosen as their first 45.” (https://www.classicbands.com/rareearth.html)

Mark Deming continues:

Meanwhile, Motown Records . . . had little luck breaking into rock & roll [so] Berry Gordy decided to create a subsidiary label devoted to rock bands, and was looking for a band to launch the new venture. Rare Earth’s sound, which straddled rock and R&B styles, appealed to him and he signed them . . . .

And the rest is history.

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Here is Rare Earth’s version:

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McCully Workshop — “Head for the Moon”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 30, 2022

399) McCully Workshop — “Head for the Moon”

“Head for the Moon” is the third song I have featured that was inspired (or, possibly, incensed) by Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon.

The first — “Whitey on the Moon” by Gil Scott-Heron (see #21) — remarked:

“I can’t pay no doctor bill, (but Whitey’s on the moon), ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still (while Whitey’s on the moon) . . . I think I’ll send these doctor bills Airmail special (to Whitey on the moon).”

The second — “Slowly Towards the North (Parts 1 & 2)” (see #332) is by Freedom’s Children, a South African band whose album was inspired by the landing:

[“W]hen the Americans landed on the moon . . . we took all our beds and put them in a semicircle around this little black and white TV. Anyway, we took this acid and when they landed on the moon we were tripping. It was such an experience, I shall never forget it and that’s what Astra appeared out of.”

And, today, a third — by another great South African band, McCully Workshop. “Head for the Moon”, in which a benevolent alien entreats earthlings to leave their riot-torn planet and head for the moon, is “moon landing-inspired” (Brian Currin, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/the-best-of-mccully-workshop/) and “[a] sweet song with a pleasant melody and one of my favorites on the[ir] album.” (Piet Obermeyer, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/mccully-workshop-inc/) Kurt Shoemaker says “My God, an intro of narrated couplets! Tongue-in-cheek? Groovy song follows, though (and I don’t . . . use the word “groovy” lightly).”(http://www.sarockdigest.com/archives/issue_194.txt)

The song was off McCully Workshop, Inc. (’70), “[a] superb South African band’s stunning debut album. ‘Sgt. Pepper’ influenced psychedelic music blended with R&B, garage punk tunes. Great songs, lovely vocals, strong harmonies, great distorted guitar work.” (The Forced Exposure website, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/about/) “Of all the albums we’ve heard from South Africa this one is topscore. What a beautiful masterpiece. Pepper-influenced underground music with great songs, lovely vocals, strong harmonies, great distorted guitarwork.” (Psychedelic-Music.com, https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/mccully-workshop-inc/)

Brian Currin writes that:

McCully Workshop is arguably one of South Africa’s finest pop rock bands. They started way back in the ’60’s, dominated the South African airwaves in the ’70’s, continued through the ’80’s and ’90’s and in the 21st century are still going strong.
https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/about/

Currin provides some more history:

The McCullagh brothers, Tully . . . and Mike . . . . started as a folk-rock trio [in ‘65] with Richard Hyam and called themselves the Blue Three. Richard had been in a folk duo, Tiny Folk, with his sister Melanie. . . . “I had my own studio in the garage since I was 12” remembers Tully. . . . The brothers’ father, radio personality Michael Drin (his stage name), painted the name “McCully Workshop, Inc.” on the garage wall. “McCully” was an easier-to-spell version of McCullagh and the “Inc.” was a tongue-in-cheek addition. . . . Mike McCullagh [says] “In 1969 I was 22 and Tully was 16, along with Richard Hyam, his sister Melanie and Allan Faull the group started.” . . . Tully wrote ‘Why Can’t It Rain’ in the middle of the night and this became a hit single putting McCully Workshop on the charts for the first time[ and] dr[awing] the attention of the Gallo label, and they said they wanted an album. McCully Workshop signed probably the first independent licensing deal with a major label in South Africa. The ‘Inc.’ album shows a variety of styles and influences including The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd. “’Sgt Pepper’ was very important, as were the pop charts at the time”, recalls Tully. Another big influence, according to Tully, was The Moody Blues ‘Threshold Of A Dream’ which was released in April 1969.
https://mccullyworkshop.wordpress.com/albums/the-best-of-mccully-workshop/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NMESkzlDmE

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The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together/I Can See It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 29, 2022

398) The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together/I Can See It”

One of the greatest Stones songs never to be released — a Between the Buttons outtake. Martin Elliott calls it a “lively rock and roll jaunt” (The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2012) and it is #1 on Ultimate Classic Rock’s list of unreleased Stones songs. Dave Swanson writes that:

Recorded in November 1966 at Olympic Sound Studios in London, ‘Get Yourself Together’ would have been a highlight of ‘Between The Buttons’ had it made the final cut. It’s a driving rocker written by Mick and Keith in classic Stones mode, with a soul riff at its core. The guitars blister as the band push it forward. Jagger is in fine form as well. It’s still a mystery as to why this was abandoned . . . .
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/unreleased-rolling-stones-songs/

It could be just me, but I hear definite wisps of Bob Dylan’s ‘66 outtake “She’s Your Lover Now.” (see #126). Coincidence?

Of the two apparent recordings of the song, I prefer #1, unfinished and more biting, but I include YouTube links to both so you can decide.

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Here is the more polished version (version 2):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfv8zJurcw

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The Millennium — “The Island”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 28, 2022

396) The Millennium — “The Island”

A 60’s sunshine pop* supergroup creates Begin, the greatest sunshine pop album ever recorded, one that costs more to make than any other album from ’68 other than The Beatles (the White Album) — and no one buys it (at least until era of CD reissues). As Richie Unterberger writes, it was “at once too unabashedly commercial for underground FM radio and too weird for the AM dial.” Dominique Leone says the album, “probably the single greatest 60s pop record produced in L.A. outside of The Beach Boys . . . found itself very much outside the times that year.” (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5546-pieces/) Noel Murray sagely adds:

On the surface, the music . . . is right in the mainstream of radio-friendly pop from 1966-68. [The] songs had the angelic harmonies of The Association and The Mamas & The Papas, the aspirational naïveté of The Beach Boys, the live-inside-the-music atmospherics of The Beatles, and the lysergic tinge of every California band from San Francisco on down. But [Curt] Boettcher and [Gary] Usher were also interested in the avant-garde and classical music, and their highbrow approach to the sweet and fluffy didn’t connect in an era where rock ’n’ roll was getting harder and rowdier.
https://www.avclub.com/sunshine-pop-1798225095

Curt Boettcher? Per Noel Murray:

Boettcher became an in-demand producer for acts who combined the dreamy with the catchy, like The Association, for whom Boettcher produced the hit singles “Along Comes Mary” and “Cherish.” Boettcher formed his own band, The Ballroom, and recorded an album for Warner Bros. that went unreleased, but got passed around among other young studio wizards like [Brian] Wilson and Columbia Records songwriter/producer Gary Usher. Boettcher joined the Columbia fold and helped Usher with his experimental pop band Sagittarius, while assembling some of the top songwriters and session-men in Los Angeles for his own project, The Millennium.

Anyway, Matthew Greenwald rightly fawns over Begin in All Music Guide:**

The Millennium’s Begin is a bona fide lost classic. The brainchild of producers Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher, the group was formed out of the remnants of their previous studio project, Sagittarius — which had been preceded by yet another aggregation, the Ballroom. On Begin, hard rock, breezy ballads, and psychedelia all merge into an absolutely air-tight concept album, easily on the level of other, more widely popular albums from the era such as The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which share not only Usher’s production skills, but similarities in concept and construction. The songwriting — mostly by Curt Boettcher, Michael Fennelly, and Joey Stec — is sterling and innovative . . . . At the time the most expensive album Columbia ever produced (and it sounds like it), Begin is an absolute necessity for any fan of late-’60s psychedelia and a wonderful rediscovery; it sounds as vital today as it did the day it was released.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/begin-mw0000690213

Jamobo adds that:

[Begin] is notable as being the second album to use 16-track recording and the group made the most out of that here. Wonderfully lush music that sweeps you in with its fantastic harmonies, both in the instruments and in the vocals, and with the individual melodies that grab your attention instantly and have you singing along by the end of the song. . . . [It] manages to capture a wonderful part of the the era that is was created in, but also remains timeless through its use of gorgeous melodies, harmonies and instrumentation.
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/jamobo/album/91645-begin/

My favorites track is “The Island” — which would have been a fitting theme song for “Lost”. Double Z says that “[l]ost and alone in peace on ‘The Island’, Curt Boettcher’s angelic voice lulls you to sleep and you don’t want this moment to end.” (https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/doublez/album/91645-begin/) To Jamobo:

[“The Island”] has a gentle, warm haze that gets almost spiritually lifted through the wonderful vocal harmonies. The dreamy vocals come together on the chorus magically. The bridge takes the song to psychedelic places with unusual lyrics before a light key change to the chorus to close out.

* Hilariously, Richie Unterberger, also in AMG, says Begin finds “only half-baked artistic success, but nonetheless retains some period charm.” Pure Unterberger!

** The best definition of sunshine pop that I have come across was penned by Noel Murray:

Influenced by the pretty sounds of easy-listening, the catchiness of commercial jingles, and the chemically induced delirium of the drug scene, the sunshine pop acts expressed an appreciation for the beauty of the world mixed with a sense of anxiety that the good ol’ days were gone for good.

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In Dedication to the People of Ukraine (and Imprisoned Resisters in Russia): Scott Walker — “The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Old Stalinist Regime)”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 27, 2022

396) Scott Walker — “The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Old Stalinist Regime)”

Scott Walker wrote this song in response to the Soviet-Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in ‘68 — with the “Old Man” of course being Josef Stalin. I can’t think of a more appropriate song to feature today — it appears that Stalin’s ghost has indeed returned to haunt Russia (and the world).

“Old Man“ saw “Walker, an avowed socialist, warning of the spectre of Stalinism in the Eastern bloc, following Russia’s 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia – over a funky bassline.” (https://www.last.fm/music/Scott+Walker/_/The+Old+Man%27s+Back+Again+(Dedicated+To+The+Neo-Stalinist+Regime)/+wiki). Yes, it’s all about that bass.

Frank Moraes gives some context:

[The song] is a reference to the Prague Spring where the newly elected First Secretary of the Czechoslovak communist party, Alexander Dubček, began to reform the country. He and others in the government made a lot of progress in this effort even while maintaining what they thought were good relations with the other Warsaw Pact countries. But they were wrong and on 20 August 1968, seven and a half months after it began, the Prague Spring ended. The old policies were gradually put back in place and Dubček was forced to resign a few months later.
https://franklycurious.com/wp/2020/03/29/old-mans-back-again/

The song appeared on Walker’s ‘69 album Walker 4, which was a very special album indeed. Richie Unterberger writes that:

As the leader of pop trio the Walker Brothers, [Scott] spent the mid-’60s enjoying chart success [in the UK, to where he and his bandmates moved in ’65] . . . . While remaining virtually unknown in his homeland [Ohio, USA!], Walker launched a hugely successful solo career in Britain . . . . At the height of psychedelia, Walker openly looked to crooners like Sinatra . . . for inspiration, and to Jacques Brel for much of his material. None of those balladeers, however, would have sung about the subjects — suicidal brooders, plagues, Joseph Stalin — that populated Walker’s songs. His first four albums hit the Top Ten in the U.K., and his second reached number one in 1968 — in the midst of the hippie era. . . . Scott 4 . . . was a commercial disappointment [but] probably his finest ’60s LP. . . . [M]uch of the over-the-top bombast of the orchestral arrangements has been reined in, leaving a relatively stripped-down approach that complements his songs rather than smothering them. This is the first Walker album to feature entirely original material . . . . [and s]everal of the tracks stand among his finest [including] “The Old Man’s Back Again”[, which] echoes [Ennio] Morricone, and tackles no less ambitious a lyrical palette; “dedicated to the neo-Stalinist regime,” the “old man” of this song was supposedly Josef Stalin.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/scott-walker-mn0000253142/biography; https://www.allmusic.com/album/scott-4-mw0000468113

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Brazilia 70 and the Chico Lopez All-Stars — “Trouble Spot”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 26, 2022

395) Brazilia 70 and the Chico Lopez All-Stars — “Trouble Spot”

This instrumental is “[e]xtremely funky fuzzed-out UK rocky jazz with a Mexican twist that works on the dancefloor!” (https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/brazilia-70-and-the-chico-lopez-all-stars-south-of-the-border-1970) Abaraphobia calls the song a “wonderful electric guitar freakout”. (https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/417427459182558852/)

As to the label, Discogs informs us that:

Deacon was a short lived British budget label based in London in the early 1970’s. . . . By the end of 1971 Deacon expired and was replaced by the successor label Windmill. . . . Remarkable are the many cover version releases that lacked any artist or mention an otherwise unknown band.
https://www.discogs.com/label/108270-Deacon-Records

An otherwise unknown band, yes, I think we have that here. Wait, late-breaking news: “It was all arranged by UK library great, Syd Dale, with tracks written by him, Lew Warburton & brass legend Ray Davies (Button Down Brass). It is a great album”. (Mark, https://unthoughtofthoughsomehow.blogspot.com/2014/10/brazilia-70-chico-lopez-all-stars.html) “A British record collector told me that these are 12 re-titled library-stock music tracks by Syd Dale.” (kurtl4761, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjWt7TwJopI)

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The Searchers — “Sea of Heartbreak”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 25, 2022

394) The Searchers — “Sea of Heartbreak”

Country star Don Gibson’s original recording of Paul Hampton and Hal David’s classic song was a bona fide hit in the summer of ’61 — #2 on the country chart, #21 overall in the U.S. and #14 in the UK. But it was unbearably schmaltzy. There have been at least 91 cover versions (https://secondhandsongs.com/work/61919/versions#nav-entity). Of those that I have heard, the Searchers’ version is by far the best. It is off what many consider the band’s finest album — ’64’s It’s the Searchers. Richie Unterberger says:

Perhaps the best studio album by a band that is really best represented by greatest-hit collections. . . . features some of their best LP cuts, on which they applied their famed harmonies to American material that was both strong and obscure. The best of these covers [include] the folkish “Sea of Heartbreak[.]”
https://www.allmusic.com/album/its-the-searchers-mw0000464251

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Here is Don Gibson’s original version:

And here are the Everly Brothers from ’67:

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The Action — “In My Dream”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 24, 2022

393) The Action — “In My Dream”

Stunning song from the lost demos of the Action, former mods who put down some incredible psychedelic sounds in ’67 in hopes of securing a new record deal. Thankfully, the demos were finally officially released in ’02 as Rolled Gold. As to our pick of the litter, Dominique Leone talks of “the show-stopping, Austin Powers-destroying frill of ‘In My Dream’. The chorus is the ultimate crossbreeding of mod-cool, Bond sheen and garage splinter, and I can only imagine the splash they’d have made had this ever been given the professional veneer it deserved (though George Martin’s minimal touches are ace).” (https://www.google.com/amp/s/pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/31-rolled-gold/amp/) I am not sure what “Austin Powers-destroying frill” means, but this song is a show-stopper.

Bruce Eder gives some history:

The Action were the most soul-oriented of the mod groups, favoring guitar-oriented covers of Motown tunes and R&B dance numbers . . . . [They] were discovered by George Martin, who signed them to his newly founded AIR Productions in 1965 and got them a recording deal at Parlophone Records . . . . The Action maintained a serious following among the mods . . . but they couldn’t get a break with their records and were unable to get the exposure that would have bumped them to the next level. As it was, they never got beyond playing clubs. . . . Though Martin still supported the[m], their lack of success meant that AIR could no longer keep them on the label and they were let go in 1967. They were eager to press on and soon were back in the studio cutting a new batch of songs that were all composed by the band and featured a heavier, more psychedelic sound. They sent the tape around to various labels, but were unable to drum up enough interest to sign a deal. . . . They eventually transformed themselves into a pure psychedelic outfit, Mighty Baby . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-action-mn0000029067

Leone goes on to say that:

The Action’s failure to chart a single during their brief existence is one of the mystifying anti-climaxes in rock history . . . . The Action were a truly wronged band. . . [their] songwriting on par with anything The Who or Zombies were producing. . . . there are moments of brilliance [in Rolled Gold that] any lover of late-60s British rock will want to hear.

Matt Collar continues with the accolades:

The term “lost classic” is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for . . . the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of the era as The Who Sell Out or [The Small Faces’s] Ogden Nut Gone Flake, but more focused than either, [this] goes beyond “lost classic” — it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. . . . By the time they recorded [Rolled Gold‘s] demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. . . . Prefiguring the coming psychedelic movement, the songs were epic, heartfelt, melodic socks to the gut . . . think The Who’s Tommy meets The Byrds’ Fifth Dimension. Unbelievably, EMI — AIR’s distributor — was not interested, and the tracks were shelved. . . . Playing like the brilliant missing link between mod and psychedelic rock, [it] is experimental without being silly or twee and emotionally mature without being pompous and boring. . . . [Some t]racks . . . are as good, if not better, than anything that charted during the late ’60s . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/album/rolled-gold-mw0000661275

Wow, I have never read such adulation in an All Music Guide review. Maybe the Action need to start a class action against the rock gods.

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Gordon Lightfoot — “Oh Linda”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 23, 2022

392) Gordon Lightfoot — “Oh Linda”

From his wonderful ‘66 album Lightfoot! (see #92, 167). The lyrics stand in stark contrast to the album’s “I’m Not Sayin’”!

“Oh gal, don’t you say goodbye now that I need you by my side” vs. “I’m not saying that I care if you love me . . . . I’m not saying I’ll be there when you want me.”

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Here is a cover version by Harry Belafonte! —

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Nirvana — “Girl in the Park”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 22, 2022

391) Nirvana — “Girl in the Park”

No, this is not “About a Girl”! This is the original Nirvana!! The feel-good/feel-bad ‘68 A-side comes from Nirvana’s second album All of Us, which Vernon Joynson calls “an even more poignant collection of dreamy pop songs” than the band’s first, The Story of Simon Simopath (see #287). (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited). Pezza says that “the catchy psychedelic pop comes thick and fast [on the album,] with songs like . . . the bouncy ‘Girl in the Park’ . . . . (https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1784/)

However, Richie Unterberger says that:

Nirvana’s second album was dainty period British pop-psychedelia, falling on the lightest shade of that category that could be imagined. For some adventurous pop fans, few higher recommendations could be concocted. For most 1960s collectors, though, it’s fair to say that it’s too precious and insubstantial to qualify as a major work. Their most well-known song, “Rainbow Chaser,” leads off, with its prominent phasing effects; “Tiny Goddess,” one of their best ballads, comes next. The rest of the album doesn’t measure up to those two tracks, with pretty but not compelling melodies (sometimes reminiscent of, but not in the same class as, Paul McCartney) and orchestration that, like the songs themselves, seem to tiptoe for fear of being too forceful. The overall result is too saccharine, and occasionally even childish.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/all-of-us-mw0000082739

When Ritchie rips an album like that, you know it’s good!

Pezza also notes that “Like so many excellent bands of the time . . . they never achieved the success they deserved . . . . ‘All of Us’ is a beautiful late 60’s psychedelic-pop album, full of eccentric English imagery and catchy songs, definitely an unsung classic.”

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Johnnie Taylor — “Hold On This Time”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 21, 2022

390) Johnnie Taylor — “Hold On This Time”

As Ian McCann notes, while “Stax had dubbed Taylor The Philosopher Of Soul . . . his kind of philosophy was strictly down-home, barroom, over the back fence, and sometimes downright no good.” (https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/johnnie-taylor-whos-making-love/) Well, this down-home guy has received a well-deserved honor — It was announced last week that Taylor is one of the Blues Foundation’s 2022 Blues Hall of Fame inductees. As his Hall of Fame essay by Jim O’Neal says:

While he once sounded much like Sam Cooke, Taylor developed a more identifiable style incorporating gospel-influenced blues, soul, and funk during his tenure with Stax from 1966 to 1974. The company touted his 1968 hit “Who’s Makin’ Love” as “the fastest-selling single in the history of Stax Records,” and Taylor kicked his touring activity into high gear displaying a mix of polish and grit while continuing to hit the charts with his Stax recordings.
https://blues.org/hall/

This is my second dip into Taylor’s well (see #191). Mark Deming calls “Hold on This Time” “a remarkably successful emulation of the Motown production style.” I just call it a remarkable successful and instantly ingratiating expression of human emotion.

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Reparata and the Delrons — “Saturday Night Didn’t Happen”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 20, 2022

389) Reparata and the Delrons — “Saturday Night Didn’t Happen”

Girl group goes psycho! Sorry, that was a typo. Girl group goes psych! This ‘68 A-side by RAD is a “psych pop masterpiece [full of] demented psych (https://www.gullbuy.com/buy/2006/2_1/onekisscanlead.php). Rob Chapman writes that “the chorus plays off denial against desire and wishes that the weekend’s indiscretions had all been a bad dream” (Psychedelia and Other Colours) and Marcello Carlin that this “extraordinary” song was pinned by Suzi Quatro “as where the Shangri-Las might have gone had they lasted long enough to tackle psychedelia.” (The Blue in the Air). Todd explains that:

Two of the Delrons’ most adventurous sides were written by Kenny Young, the American songwriter responsible for “Under the Boardwalk” and other hits. “The Captain of Your Ship”, a 1968 tune featuring nautical sound effects, insectile guitars and a lyric positioning the narrator’s conscience as the captain of a sinking ship, managed to become a top twenty hit in the UK (peak position on the Billboard U.S. chart: #127). This kicked off what would be the highpoint of the group’s career, during which their arrival in Britain was feted at a reception attended by members of the Beatles. Another Young penned track, the psychedelic “Saturday Night Didn’t Happen”, featured spacy sound effects and an anguished, echo-plexed cry of “no!” leading into the chorus . . . .
https://teleport-city.com/2013/12/26/reparata-and-the-delrons/

Bruce Eder says, as I have quoted before (see #258), that “[f]or a group that never made the Top 40, and came along almost too late to exploit the [girl group] sound they produced, Reparata and the Delrons have proved amazingly durable. . . .” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/reparata-the-delrons-mn0000393299/biography).

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Electrified People — “Electrified People”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 19, 2022

388) Electrified People — “Electrified People”

After yesterday’s jazz rock instrumental, here is a super-cool pure rock near-instrumental (well, someone does shout a few things like “Hey mama, I don’t need you no more”!). Chris Bishop writes that:

“Electrified People” is a funky instrumental . . . with shameless use of the wah pedal. . . . David Gordon commented below “definitely 1971, issued approx. June / July – the label was based in New York and was connected to DeLite (Kool & the Gang, etc).” . . . The Jimmy Peterson credited on both sides seems to be the same Chicago-based songwriter, producer and singer who cut 45s on Limelight . . . and Chess. . . . [and] wrote or co-wrote many songs, including “Beatle Time” and “This Is the Night” for the Livers (aka the Chicagoans) on Constellation. . . .
https://garagehangover.com/electrifiedpeople/

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Joe Zawinul — “The Soul of a Village, Pt. II”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 18, 2022

387) Joe Zawinul — “The Soul of a Village, Pt. II”

Yes, as Larry says, this song is “a slice of groove perfection”. When he first heard the “laid back but funky drums, and the electric piano . . . and the spooky strings, [his] spidey sense started tingling[!]” (http://funky16corners.com/?p=828) Jim Todd says that “Zawinul . . . improvises in a soul-jazz vein on Fender Rhodes over the tamboura-like droning of a prepared piano.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-rise-fall-of-the-third-stream-mw0000240833).

Larry elaborates:

[The single version] is actually an edited version of ‘Soul of a Village Pt2’, having been preceded on the album by just over two minutes of prepared piano and strings droning in an approximation of an Indian raga. [It] has such a perfect, self-contained vibe that I’m torn as to whether you need to hear both parts. . . . [T]he really groovy thing is that the string section actually swings along with the drums. The tune was written . . . by saxophonist/arranger William Fischer, who as far as I can tell was first and foremost a classical composer/musician . . . . This is serious ‘head’ music, in that it both spins around the inside of the cranium for full, mystical effect, but also compels the head to nod with the rhythm. I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that anyone not sufficiently intoxicated might get up to dance, but it’s not entirely out of the question. A truly unique and captivating record, and I hope you dig it.

Joe Zawinul, of course, was one of the founders of the jazz fusion supergroup Weather Report. He had immigrated to the United States from Austria “after winning a scholarship to Berklee, yet after just one week in class, he left to join Maynard Ferguson’s band.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/zawinul-mn0000176859) He then “made his mark in Cannonball Adderley’s band . . . compos[ing] ‘Mercy Mercy Mercy’ and ‘Country Preacher’ . . . .” (http://funky16corners.com/?p=828) Richard Ginell writes that while there:

[He] evolved from a hard bop pianist to a soul-jazz performer heavily steeped in the blues, and ultimately a jazz-rock explorer on the electric piano. Toward the end of his Adderley gig (1969-1970), he was right in the thick of the new jazz-rock scene, recording several pioneering records with Mike’s Davis.
(https://www.allmusic.com/artist/zawinul-mn0000176859)

Ginell also notes that his “curiosity and openness to all kinds of sounds made him one of the driving forces behind the electronic jazz-rock revolution of the late ’60s and ’70s.” Mikkel Vad sums up his legacy:

Joe Zawinul, perhaps more than any European musician, has become part of the American jazz canon. As such, he became a symbol of jazz as a transnational, yet American—and particularly African American—art form. Conrad Silvert summarized this anomaly in the opening to his 1978 Down Beat portrait article:

“Although a compelling argument can be made that jazz has become the world’s most international art form, suffering from few barriers of geography, language or race, it remains true that the great majority of jazz innovators have been American blacks. The exception to this rule has been the emergence of Josef Zawinul—a white man born in Austria—as one of jazz’s prime innovators.”
https://cla.umn.edu/austrian/story/cas-stories-soul-austrian-pianist-and-composer-joe-zawinul

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Here is the single version:

Here is the LP version:

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The Dovers — “She’s Not Just Anybody”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 17, 2022

385) The Dovers — “She’s Not Just Anybody”

The Dovers were Santa Barbara garage greats — “a group everyone agrees should’ve been big stars. Their four [’65-’66] singles are classics one and all. Yet, although one was picked up for national release by Reprise, nothing came of it . . . .” (liner notes to the Pebbles comp, Vol. 8: Southern California 1) Richie Unterberger writes that:

The[y] are rightly revered among collectors for having released a few of the finest obscure pop-oriented singles in the ’60s garage rock style. . . . “She’s Not Just Anybody[” was] among the best such singles to combine heavily Beatles/Byrds-influenced guitars, melodies, and vocals with a distinctively self-pitying teen garage sullenness.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/were-not-just-anybody-mw0001534399

The Boss may have learned more from a three minute record than he ever learned in school, but I learned more about self-pitying teen garage sullenness from this under two minute gem than I ever learned . . . oh, forget it!

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Thomas and Richard Frost — “Fairy Tale Affair”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 16, 2022

385) Thomas and Richard Frost — “Fairy Tale Affair”

Another cut from the Frosts’s magnificent Visualize album– this time a horn-driven stomper (see #209, 211, 247). Let me quote Bryan Thomas again:

[By 1970,] Thomas and Richard Frost had already recorded a handful of classic pop singles for Imperial and Liberty, including “She’s Got Love,” which charted at number 83 on Billboard’s Top 100 singles chart. Each subsequent single was a step further toward what was sure to be their artistic tour de force [but] plans to release [the Visualize] album were inexplicably aborted in the 11th hour by Imperial’s decision-makers, even though the master recordings were already in the can . . . . Imperial was in disarray, and the Frosts were, unfortunately, victimized by what was going on behind the scenes.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-richard-frost-mn0000592334/biography

The album wasn’t rediscovered and released until 2002. Anyway, Richard Frost recollects that “Tom and I wrote [“Fairytale Affair”] because we were really into Tony Macauley at the time. We were also both especially fond of ‘Everlasting Love’ by the Love Affair and big Hollies Fans. I think you can hear the influences of both.” (liner notes to CD reissue of Visualize). Oh, come on, you know “Everlasting Love”, or you have never danced at a wedding! But who the hell is Tony Macauley? Well, his website informs us that:

[His songs] have sold more than fifty-two million records/CDs worldwide. Thirty-eight of his songs have made the Top Twenty in the UK — eight made Number One. Sixteen of his songs have been hits in the USA — three making the Number One spot in the single charts there. His songs have featured in four chart-topping movies. . . .

In 1970, Tony became the first-ever ‘Songwriter of the Year’ – an award bestowed annually, ever since, by the British Academy . . . . He won the award again, seven years later – beating the Bee Gees in the year they had five singles in the Top Five in the USA. In all, Tony has won nine British Academy Awards. In 2007, Tony became the first-ever non-American recipient of the coveted Edwin Forrest Award for ‘outstanding services to theater’.

Macaulay’s best-known songs include such classics as ‘Baby, Now That I’ve Found You’, ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’, ‘Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes’, ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’, ‘Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All’, ‘Smile A Little Smile for Me’, ‘You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me’, ‘Kissing In The Back Row of The Movies’, ‘Number In My Little Red Book’, ‘Let The Heartaches Begin’, ‘Silver Lady’, ‘Sorry Suzanne’, ‘If I Get Home On Christmas Day’, ‘That Same Old Feeling’, ‘Something Here In My Heart’ and ‘Home Lovin Man’.

He has written songs for Elvis Presley, Gladys Knight, Sonny and Cher, Donna Summer, Tom Jones, Olivia Newton John, Englebert Humperdink, The New Seekers, The Fifth Dimension, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, The Foundations, David Soul, The Temptations, The Drifters, Andy Williams, The Hollies, Glen Campbell, James Ingram and Alison Krause. Tony’s co-writers include, amongst others, Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice.
(http://www.tonymacaulay.com/biography/).

Oh. Man, I know some of those songs, and I loath them! But I love “Fairytale Affair.” Go figure.

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Here is “Everlasting Love”! —

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist!

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.

Just click on the blue.

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