Category Archives: Uncategorized

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 894) Grapefruit — “Lullaby” (unreleased version produced by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) You can’t get more Beatlesque than this: the only song produced by both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, by a band named after Yoko Ono’s book! “In a single session,Continue reading “I Shall Be Released: Grapefruit — “Lullaby” (unreleased version produced by John Lennon and Paul McCartney): Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 16, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 893) The Electric Prunes — “You Never Had It Better” This ’68 B-side is a “dynamic slab of bluesy psych-pop with . . . quite ferocious . . . fuzz and distortion” (Richie Unterberger, http://www.richieunterberger.com/underground.html) and “[t]he fuzz break is nothing but aContinue reading “The Electric Prunes — “You Never Had It Better”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 15, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 892) The Electric Banana — “If I Needed Somebody” From the Electric Banana (see #94, 251, 731), which was the Pretty Things (see #82, 153, 572) in disguise, making some much needed money by providing songs for films trying to be hip. AContinue reading “The Electric Banana — “If I Needed Somebody”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 14, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 891) Dead Sea Fruit — “Time Waits for No One” Take a bite of the Dead Sea Fruit’s “first-rate rocker. . . . [k]icked along by . . . killer drums and nice electric keyboards[,] this one should have been tapped as aContinue reading “Dead Sea Fruit — “Time Waits for No One”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 13, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 890) Cranberry Moustache — “Far from Home” A haunting and hypnotic ’70 A-side from a totally obscure group from Dayton, Ohio called Cranberry Mustache. The Stache was pretty much Bob Steele. A Dayton newspaper from December ’69 had a column by Dan GeringerContinue reading “Cranberry Moustache — “Far from Home”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 12, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 889) Cherry Smash — “Fade Away Maureen” Why this Brit pop psych number wasn’t a hit is beyond me. It’s a “great tune” with an “imaginative arrangement[,] brilliant playing and strong voices”. (Dinnes, Cruickshank, liner notes to the CD comp The Great BritishContinue reading “Cherry Smash — “Fade Away Maureen”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 11, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 885) The Cherry People — “Imagination” An ethereal sunshine pop gem by a band that would rather have been playing hard rock/prog! Rob Fitzpatrick calls the album “really is the most fantastically up-beat and gloriously happy sounding record. . . . So it’s Beatles,Continue reading “The Cherry People — “Imagination”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 7, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 887) Dave Berry — “The Coffee Song” Here is one of Dave’s (see #554, 778) great later pocket symphonies, from ‘68. Richie Unterberger tell us that: Berry’s fourth and final 1960s album was the sound of a man falling behind and out ofContinue reading “Dave Berry — “The Coffee Song”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 9, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 886) Chuck Berry — “It Wasn’t Me” “As legend, or some old music magazine, has it, an interviewer once asked George Thorogood why he didn’t write more of his own songs, to which he replied ‘Because Chuck Berry already wrote all the f*ckingContinue reading “Chuck Berry — “It Wasn’t Me”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 8, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 885) The Banana Splits — “Doin’ the Banana Split” Here is “an absolutely batsh*t slab of heavy, funky soul [by the Banana Splits!] . . . [I]t is without a doubt a killer, and would probably be sought after if the name onContinue reading “The Banana Splits — “Doin’ the Banana Split”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 7, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 884) The Appletree Theatre — “Hightower Square” A favorite of Johns everywhere (well, at least Lennon and Peel), the Appletree Theatre give us a pop classic that “draw[s] from The Beatles’ Penny Lane”. (Kingsley Abbott, https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/playback) The album (see #363) is “a ’60’sContinue reading “Appletree Theatre — “Hightower Square”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 7, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 883) Apple — “The Otherside” This grand ‘68 B-side is an “all-time psych classic[]” (liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: Vols 1-5) that “beg[ins] with an infectious guitar phrase . . . and [is] propelled by some epic piano,Continue reading “Apple — “The Otherside”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 5, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD Our July 4th Spectacular starts off with the Redcoats — a garage band from Jersey (the English Channel island? Fuhgeddaboudit. I’m talkin’ the State of Springsteen and the Sopranos!). They wanted to — and did — write wonderful Beatlesque songs! Next, from oneContinue reading “July 4th Spectacular! The Redcoats/Paul Revere and the Raiders/Mitch Ryder: The Redcoats — “Sing a Song”, Paul Revere and the Raiders — “Midnite Ride”, Mitch Ryder — “Liberty”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 4, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 879) Hard Meat — “A Song of Summer” A perfect song for summer, a “breezy mid-tempo tune, [a] wonderful mixture of acoustic and electric guitars” (Kevin Rathert, https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2022/11/hard-meat-the-space-between-the-recordings-1969-1970-2022.html) from Hard Meat (see #379), “basically a [Birmingham] hippie outfit who played a brand ofContinue reading “Hard Meat — “A Song of Summer”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 3, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 879) Elvis Presley — “Slowly But Surely” Elvis Presley (#80) used fuzztone before The Rolling Stones? Surely! On the big screen in Fun in Acapulco in ‘63? Surely! “Slowly But Surely” is the “clear standout” on the soundtrack . . . a bitContinue reading “Elvis Presley “Slowly But Surely” — Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 2, 2023″

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 878) Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon — “Blame It on the Pony Express” OK, this joyous pop soul A-side hit #5 in Ireland, #7 in the UK, #8 in Sweden, #10 in New Zealand, #17 in Australia and #18 in (West) Germany (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Johnson_and_the_Bandwagon).Continue reading “Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon — “Blame It on the Pony Express”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 1, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 877) The Truth — “Baby You’ve Got It” Roger Dopson calls this ’66 B-side a “fearsomely good — if wholly uncharacteristic [for the band] — slice of Freakbeat” (liner notes to the CD comp Freakbeat Freakout) while Vernon Joynson calls it an “uncharacteristicallyContinue reading “The Truth — “Baby You’ve Got It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 30, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 876) The Cops ‘n Robbers — “I’ve Found Out” This ‘65 B-side is a “Real UK Beat Group gem, a Subtle Soulful Ballad Gem with a Lotta Magic, Dreamy Psych mood.” (Vintage Vinyl Via Valves, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvybezASxLk) It inexplicably starts with a musical quoteContinue reading “The Cops ‘n Robbers — “I’ve Found Out”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 29, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 875) Tim Dawe — “Junkie John” This “catchy, psychedelic folk-rock tune” (Craig Harris, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tim-dawe-mn0001559315/biography) by a future nuclear physicist was a “masterpiece” from “a superb debut, full of psychedelic folk rock with lots of organ, harpsichord and brilliant acid guitar”. (Stephane Rebeschini, https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/penrod.html).Continue reading “Tim Dawe — “Junkie John”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 28, 2023”

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD 874) Tina & David Meltzer — “Hungry” Yesterday I featured a lovely song off of Serpent Power’s sole LP, and today we turn to Tina & David’s solo LP, not 69’s Poet Song, but rather the one that stayed in the can forContinue reading “Tina & David Meltzer — “Hungry”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 27, 2023″