Category Archives: Uncategorized

417) The Kinks — “The Way Love Used to Be” David Levesley rightly calls “The Way Love Used to Be” “one of the[ Kinks’] most beautiful songs . . . . The[y] loved songs about dreams of a better place and this is a perfect example.”  (https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-kinks-songs) As Barry Lenser describes: [The song] is aContinue reading “The Kinks “The Way Love Used to Be”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 17, 2022”

416) The Bar-Kays — “Street Walker” Ah, the Bar-Kays, like a phoenix rising. Jason Ankeny calls Gotta Groove, the reconstituted band’s first album after the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding, four members of the Bar-Kays, and two others “a celebration of life and music that ranks among the funkiest, hardest-drivingContinue reading “The Bar-Kays — “Street Walker”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 16, 2022”

415) The Collage — “My Mind’s at Ease” Super-cool and soothing “electric-piano driven gem” from the Collage’s sole album (‘68) (liner notes to the Soft Sounds for Gentle People 2 comp (“far-out and beautiful tracks from California and beyond”). Per Richie Unterberger: Part of the idea behind the formation of the Collage was to emulateContinue reading “The Collage — “My Mind’s at Ease”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 15, 2022”

414) The Y’Alls — “Please Come Back” “Please Come Back” is a ’66 fuzz guitar drenched B-side by the Y’Alls (backing a cover of the Beatles’ “Run for Your Life”), formerly the Illusions, to become the Kitchen Cinq. As Lenny Helsing says: [The single is] a tremendous piece of teen punk on 45 for theContinue reading “The Y’Alls — “Please Come Back”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 14, 2022″

413) The Buckinghams — “I Know I Think” “I Know I Think” is a track from the Buckinghams’ underappreciated In One Ear and Gone Forever (’68). It is a “hazy, contemplative” pop psych song with ingenious, enchanting lyrics. (https://jhendrix110.tripod.com/Buckinghams.html) I have added a Facebook page for Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock! If you likeContinue reading “The Buckinghams — “I Know I Think”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 13, 2022”

412) The Dave Clark Five — “Maze of Love” This ‘68 B-side and album track is a psychedelic romp by a band not known for their plunges into altered states. But they pull it off like the true professionals they were (see #208, 320, 411). Beverly Paterson raves that: Although the Dave Clark Five neverContinue reading “The Dave Clark Five — “Maze of Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 12, 2022″

411) Dave Clark Five — “Your Turn to Cry” “Your Turn to Cry” is a ’65 B-side and album track on two albums. I love the Dave Clark Five, for their glorious hits and underappreciated ballads (see #208, 320), like today’s song. It appears that at least at one time, the band had a moreContinue reading “Dave Clark Five — “Your Turn to Cry”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 11, 2022″

410) New Colony Six — “Love You So Much” Another Chicago classic, this cute/sweet romantic A-side with “jangly proto-power pop guitar and . . . helium-enriched [and possibly-sped up] vocals” (Jeff Jarema’s liner notes to the The New Colony Six at the River’s Edge comp) was released at the end of ’66. It reached #2Continue reading “New Colony Six — Love You So Much”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 10, 2022″

409) The Buckinghams — “Song of the Breeze” Wonderful, wistful ‘68 B-side and album track by Chicago legends the Buckinghams. A song of the breeze for the Windy City. Bull Dahl writes that: Backing Dennis Tufano’s buoyant lead vocals with prominent harmonies and punchy soul-styled brass, the group came across the wistful “Kind of aContinue reading “The Buckinghams — “Song of the Breeze”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 9, 2022”

408) Hat & Tie — “Finding It Rough” This ’67 B then A-side is an “absolutely classic fuzz guitar driven slice of British psychedelia from 1967 [and a]stoundingly obscure”(https://bestmusicofalltime.wordpress.com/2020/08/02/hat-and-tie-finding-it-rough-1967/) Another sad song with a buoyant melody — I’m finding it irresistible. David Wells’s* liner notes to the Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds compContinue reading “Hat & Tie — “Finding It Rough”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 8, 2022”

407) The Sorrows — “Take a Heart” Primal freakbeat — as the Nuggets II comp says: “Compelling. Unusual. There was no precedent for [it] when . . . released in August 1965. The throbbing bass-and-drum pattern pulsates with sexual tension, egged on by spiky guitar outbursts, while [the] vocals drip with menace and foreboding. .Continue reading “The Sorrows — “Take a Heart”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 7, 2022”

406) The Perth County Conspiracy — “Lace and Cobwebs” CitizenFreak: The PCC was “[a] true legend of . . . psych-folk rock”. http://www.citizenfreak.com/titles/295575?fbclid=IwAR1i6ppj2qI_l68lfBp0bqNSFUFwxlN3qmVROJO_bf0J0OaKd36s55xzi_k. And its “Lace and Cobwebs” is as beautiful as can be. But where did the PCC come from? Michelle Dionne, Dawn Edwards and Jaimie Vernon write that: Taking their name from theContinue reading “The Perth County Conspiracy — “Lace and Cobwebs”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 6, 2022”

405) Chuck Jackson — “Lonely Lonely Man Am I” From Jackson’s ’68 Motown album Chuck Jackson Arrives, this is a great song by Norman Whitfield, Eddie Holland, and Eddie Kendricks. The Velvelettes did it first as “Lonely Lonely Girl Am I.” The Tenptations did it. Jimmy Ruffin did it. But only Chuck Jackson made itContinue reading “Chuck Jackson — “Lonely Lonely Man Am I”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 5, 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 psychedelicContinue reading “Prufrock — “Whisper of Love”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 4, 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 wouldContinue reading “The Sunsets — “The Hot Generation”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 3, 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 ofContinue reading “John Williams — “Can’t Find Time for Anything Now”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 2, 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’mContinue reading “April Fool’s Day Special Edition: The Spiders — “Day Tripper”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 1, 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, aContinue reading “The Sunliners — “The Land of Nod”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 31, 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 onContinue reading “McCully Workshop — “Head for the Moon”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 30, 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 unreleasedContinue reading “The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together/I Can See It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 29, 2022″