An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[Brundle-Fly]

Peter Lee Stirling - 8.35 On The Dot

Pure catnip for me.

[Brundle-Fly]

Time And Motion Man - The Twilights. B side released in 1967 on Columbia.



A nice slice of Beatley Peppery Aussie pop, cobber!

The Twilights were an Australian rock band that formed in Adelaide in 1964. Alongside The Easybeats and The Masters Apprentices, The Twilights are widely considered to be one of the most significant Australian rock groups of the 1960s. During their run, they were noted for being on top of current musical trends, regularly covering British and American rock hits in their early repertoire. Their first hit was a cover of the Velvelettes' song "Needle In A Haystack", which made the top 10 in every state in Australia in late 1966.

They are also notable for the inclusion of vocalist Glenn Shorrock, who later fronted Axiom, Esperanto and Little River Band, and guitarist Terry Britten who went on to become an internationally successful songwriter and producer, and wrote major hits for artists such as Cliff Richard and Tina Turner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iImp39OUCxE

[daf]

Sitar solo! :)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Vacuum Cleaner by Tintern Abbey



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS-ULwge-x0

One of the great British psych singles, the whole thing sounds like it's been dipped in a vat of lysergic acid. "Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feeling like a ghost..."

The band released only one 45rpm single on Deram Records, Beeside/Vacuum Cleaner, in December 1967. It failed to sell. A full-length LP was allegedly meant to follow in August 1968, but the group had disbanded by then.

Since the band's breakup, the single Beeside/Vacuum Cleaner has been highly sought after by collectors, selling at £1000 plus.

I do not own a copy of this record.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Hurry Sundown by Little Richard



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCeVjAYNX6A

The B-side of his flop single I Don't Want to Discuss it, this intense, sun-baked lament casts Richard as a tired and weary father begging for a brighter future for his children. The Georgia Peach wasn't really one for social commentary in his music, but the powerful message of Hurry Sundown couldn't be clearer.

It was later used to great effect in an episode of Better Call Saul.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Sitar solo! :)

It's one of the most 1967 songs I've ever heard! Nice one, Brundle.

[purlieu]

Traffic - Berkshire Poppies


A wonderful song from Traffic's debut album Mr. Fantasy, a tremendous album featuring 10 songs in pretty much 10 different styles. This is one of my favourites as it sounds like a bit daft drunken singalong. It's so utterly different to what people would normally expect from a Steve Winwood vocal.

As a bonus, it's followed by Dave Mason's House for Everyone, which is possibly the single most ludicrous song of the 'whimsical' British psych movement. Opening lyric: "My bed is made of candy floss, the house is made of cheese."

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Turn of the Century by Bee Gees



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiDUM7QW70

Further proof that Barry, Robin and Maurice were endearing oddballs. They opened their first UK album with this, a wistful piece of lushly orchestrated baroque pop in which they long to travel back to the supposed innocence of the good old Edwardian era. Which, funnily enough, makes it very much of its time - Edwardiana was all the rage in 1967.

The early Bee Gees were a right sullen bunch, weren't they? A thick vein of autumnal sadness runs through so many of their records from that era. Cheer up, lads, you're the hit-making Bee Gees!

[daf]

How forgotten have those two vestigial '60's Bee Gees become!

Poor . . . Vince & Colin (yes, I had to look them up!)

[purlieu]

Turn of the Century by Bee Gees

Between a handful of really not great Moody Blues and Beatles homages, there are some stunning songs on that first album.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Aargh this page already not a bad track among them!

The Cookies - Wounded
https://youtu.be/D8295jrJRkk



The last single released by The Cookies is a slice of great psychedelic soul: the more conventional arrangement (with great brass) keeps being disrupted by some very '67 harpsichord vamping and backwards tape sounds and phasing. Little or no information about The Cookies available as they never did an interview asides from the fact that they also recorded as The Cinderellas, The Stepping Stones, The Pallisades and The Honey Bees. Also that they made one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded (I Never Dreamed mentioned earlier in the thread).

Then getting more spectral we move onto:

The Rising Storm - Frozen Laughter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZxRzykWPZ0


The second melancholy psych track I have posted today to contain a lyrical reference to Michaelangelo, fact fans. The rest of this album is more upbeat but this is my favourite, starting with a strange found recording of a woman asking "Honey is that you?" then going on to give us some eerie psych-folk with echoey vocals, trippy lyrics and some very nice electric organ work. Another band who did one album then dissolved.

First found out about these through Richie Kupfenberg's Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll, essential reading and how I also first (as a weird teenager whose family had no internet connection until years after other people my age would have but whose dad would buy any rock book he could find) discovered Martin Newell.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

How forgotten have those two vestigial '60's Bee Gees become!

Poor . . . Vince & Colin (yes, I had to look them up!)

They were the Kens and Sleeperblokes of their day.

[jamiefairlie]

They were the Kens and Sleeperblokes of their day.

Or Roy Lynes from Status Quo.

[daf]

Mark Wirtz Orchestra - Theme From "A Teenage Opera"



B-side of "Excerpt from "A Teenage Opera" (a.k.a. 'Grocer Jack') - released in July 1967.

Record producer Mark Wirtz had been working on an idea for a rock opera since January 1966, when he was experimenting in his London studio and produced a piece of music entitled "A Touch of Velvet – A Sting of Brass", under the name of "Mood Mosaic".

The basic concept of A Teenage Opera was a series of sketches featuring different characters who lived in a fantasy village. These stories were to be told by a young man to a young girl. Wirtz intended the final project to be animated and later compared it to the Yellow Submarine by The Beatles.

Mark Wirtz : "'Grocer Jack' was a dream, exactly how you hear it on the record. I woke up and I thought 'I want to make a record out of this. It's a great story.' I talked to Geoff Emerick about it. He said 'No, you can't do that. Not with kids. It's not rock and roll.' I said 'You know what. I want to do it. I have a feeling about it.' So we cut 'Grocer Jack'. At that point I hadn't planned on that. It was almost like a tongue and cheek situation. I don't like operas personally. It was like an anti-opera."

   

The first song written was the story of Grocer Jack, the local grocer who was taken for granted until he died. Wirtz took an unused backing track from an old recording of his, a song called "Love Will Always Find A Way" and Steve Howe was asked to overdub the guitar. Wirtz had the character of Jack in his imagination but asked Keith West, who, like Howe was from the band Tomorrow, to write the lyrics for it. After West heard the music, he wrote the lyrics straightaway. Soon after, the single was recorded at EMI Studios. The song itself featured the "Opera" trademark, the children's chorus, with singers from Corona Stage School.

   

At first, EMI executives were critical of the use of children's voices on a supposedly "rock" record, but Wirtz played an acetate of the record to Pirate radio DJ John Peel, who loved it and played it on his show. "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera" [usually referred to as 'Grocer Jack'] was released on 28 July 1967 and was an instant hit. It was played continuously throughout the summer, later known as the Summer of Love and was helped into its number 2 spot by being played on pirate radio stations, particularly Radio London and Radio Caroline.

Mark Wirtz : "Keith West sang 'Grocer Jack' because he was one of the people on the project. When it came to the demo at least it seemed most natural for him to sing it. We wrote it together and he was a vocal artist. It came out so well we decided to put it out like that. It certainly didn't conflict with Tomorrow at the time. Keith often said that it ruined his career making 'Grocer Jack'. Well, it made his career as well because nobody had really heard of Tomorrow much in those days. But the thing was that when Tomorrow went on tour people wanted to hear 'Grocer Jack'. As a trio! When you think of it it's kind of ludicrous. You could do it today with synthesizers and technology but not then. So Keith West forever blames 'Teenage Opera' for ruining what would have been his career. I could say the same thing. Ultimately I became known for 'Teenage Opera'."

The enormous success of 'Grocer Jack' got the media's attention, and rumours began circulating about the rest of the project; according to one source, the entire project had been completed by September and there was talk of a musical starring Cliff Richard.

[purlieu]

Tomorrow's album was often promoted as Tomorrow featuring Keith West, which didn't please the rest of the band (or West, really).

[jamiefairlie]

Pink Floyd - Paintbox

https://youtu.be/KygYMI9-Tms



Written and sung by keyboardist Richard Wright, It was first released as the B-side to the single "Apples and Oranges".

This video features David Gilmour on guitar, in his first appearance on film with Pink Floyd.

[Brundle-Fly]

Rythmofeeling - Jack Hendrix Tchikbaams   EP released in 1967 on Barclay.



I can't find much info on this EP.  it's French. And a bloody killer!


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

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Nine Times Blue (Demo) by The Monkees



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVxlHssqPJ0

Another solo Nesmith acoustic demo, this one recorded during the sessions for Headquarters. That, famously, was the first album on which they played their own instruments. Nesmith was presumably toying with recording a full band version of NTB, but he never got around to it until the following year. However, on that occasion the music was performed by top Nashville session men.

The post-Tork Monkees also performed a lovely three-part harmony version on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969, but never released an official album version during their original lifespan. Baffling, as it's one of Nez's greatest songs. He eventually recorded a frustratingly truncated version on one of his '70s solo albums, but for me this performance is definitive.

"The only difference between me and Peter is that I'm just stooooooone legal..."

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Rythmofeeling - Jack Hendrix Tchikbaams   EP released in 1967 on Barclay.

Phwoooaar!! That's bloomin' marvelous.

The Cookies - Wounded

The Rising Storm - Frozen Laughter

Fantastic choices both.

[Brundle-Fly]

Pink Floyd - Paintbox

https://youtu.be/KygYMI9-Tms



Written and sung by keyboardist Richard Wright, It was first released as the B-side to the single "Apples and Oranges".

This video features David Gilmour on guitar, in his first appearance on film with Pink Floyd.

Always loved the tune. Never seen the sleeve before. Cute.

[daf]

Ironically, that's one where the B-side was more familiar to me - having been included on Relics.

I love Rick's singing - such a sweet woozy voice.

[Oz Oz Alice]

You know, if post-Syd Floyd kept on with Rick Wright singing I reckon I'd have a lot more time for them. That's a lovely song.

[jamiefairlie]

Yeah he had a real gift for melody, something sadly missing in much of their later output.

[honeychile]

The Apollas - Jive cat



Along with the already-posted You're absolutely right, Jive cat from the pen of Billy Page is my favourite Apollas number. The intro and verse are all cool, carefree rocking, before the chords suddenly turn uneasy, the brass jarring, and it hangs on for everything it's worth until it explodes into a thumping, melancholic northern soul chorus every romantic girl group tune could only ever dream of. Leola Jiles' voice again puts her contemporaries in the shade.

It was backed by the none-too-shabby I'm under the influence of love, one of those strange songs where the pre-chorus is probably my favourite bit. Great brass solo too.



Don't believe this charted anywhere.

[daf]

David McWilliams - The Days Of Pearly Spencer 



Released in October 1967 as the B-side to "Harllem Lady" - did not chart in the UK due to a BBC ban (!)

"Days of Pearly Spencer" was written and originally performed by Northern Irish singer-songwriter David McWilliams.

After his first single, "God and My Country", flopped, McWilliams entered a Belfast recording studio to record some demos. Mervyn Solomon overheard his tapes, and was impressed enough to telephone his brother Phil Solomon who worked at Major Minor. Because McWilliams was already signed to CBS, who manufactured Major Minor's recordings, Solomon offered to take McWilliams off their hands.

Due to the title of the song, many listeners believed that the song pertained to an individual harrowed by a poor lifestyle and poor-quality alcohol; McWilliams said he had written the song about a homeless man encountered in Ballymena. Some of those close to McWilliams, however, claimed he was writing about two ladies from his hometown.

   

The recording was produced by Mike Leander who formed a sweeping orchestral arrangement for the song. Some of McWilliams' vocals were recorded using a telephone line from a phone box near the studio, generating a low-tech effect, and giving the song a 'strange "phoned-in" chorus'.

The record was originally released in October 1967 as the B-side of "Harlem Lady", but the flip-side "Days of Pearly Spencer" received considerable exposure on Radio Caroline, of which Solomon was an executive. Double-page adverts were taken out in all the major music newspapers and the New Musical Express front page featured it, calling it "the single that will blow your mind" and the accompanying album, 'David McWilliams', "the album that will change the course of music".

   

The BBC refused to play the record, however, because of Phil Solomon's involvement in the pirate radio station Radio Caroline, and thus the record failed to chart in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland. In continental Europe, the song topped the French Singles Chart, reached number two on the Belgian Singles Chart, and reached number eight on the Dutch Singles Chart.

[purlieu]

Nirvana - Wings of Love

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Founded by lead singer-songwriter and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Characterized by their punk aesthetic, Nirvana's fusion of pop melodies with noise, combined with their themes of abjection and social alienation, made them hugely popular during their short tenure. Their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock and roll culture.

In October 1967, they released their first album: a concept album produced by Chris Blackwell titled The Story of Simon Simopath. The album was one of the first narrative concept albums ever released, predating story-driven concept albums such as The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow (December 1968), The Who's Tommy (April 1969) and The Kinks' Arthur (September 1969), and the Moody Blues album Days of Future Passed (November 1967) by a month.

The lyrics trace the story from life to death of the titular hero via a series of short songs. The story deals with a boy named Simon Simopath who dreams of having wings. He is unpopular at school, and after reaching adulthood (in 1999) goes to work in an office in front of a computer. He suffers a nervous breakdown and is unable to find help in a mental institution, but gets aboard a rocket and meets a centaur who will be his friend and a tiny goddess named Magdalena, who works at Pentecost Hotel. Simon and Magdalena fall in love and get married, followed by a jazzy party.

Nirvana disbanded following Cobain's death in April 1994. Various posthumous releases have been overseen by Novoselic, Grohl, and Cobain's widow Courtney Love.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That made me larf, purlieu. Your blurb, not the song. The song is great.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Transparent Day by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3LohZQ6Kdg

It's no secret that Bob Markley, a musically untalented opportunist who wrote lyrics for this lot, was a bang-to-rights wrong un. However, when he wasn't dribbling on about his obsession with young – and as it turned out, underage – girls, their music was often wonderful (the rest of the band weren't in a position to reject Markley's creepy lyrics, which they didn't like, as he bankrolled the entire project).

Thankfully, there's not a trace of noncery in this gorgeous shimmer of high summer bliss. It's right up there with the best music being made by The Byrds at that time.

It was the B-side of their version of Zappa's Help, I'm a Rock. Didn't chart.

[jamiefairlie]

The Eighth Day - Building With A Steeple

https://youtu.be/ra_7B44pr4Q




Don't know much about them other than they were from Ohio and they released just one album. On The Eighth Day.

One of my favourite discoveries of recent years is the whole Sunshine Pop genre. Originated in Southern California in the mid 1960s and rooted in easy-listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined pretty melodies & harmonies with a nostalgic wistful melancholy. I wasn't really aware of the genre until the musical cognoscenti stating poking around it as part of the archival upheaval of vintage obscure recordings. When I heard it it clicked immediately as the kind of music that was around a lot when I was very young, so it hit a powerful sense of nostalgia in me and it triggers a wonderful feel-good sensation that's strongly linked to the safe & secure life I lead in those early years.

Lots more of this to come

[daf]

Speaking of Sunshine Pop . . .

Alf Garnett - The Writing On The Wall   



Released in June 1967 - did not chart

Alf Garnett was born in Wapping around 1917. He was unpopular as a youth and it was said he only began going out with his wife Else, whom he had known since they were children, as a result of his mother's intervention. A two-year courtship followed during the first part of World War II and the pair married in 1941. Alf was called up for military service in 1940 but got out of it by claiming he was in a Reserved Occupation.

Alf and Else had a daughter, Una Stubbs, by 1942 and raised her in the slums of Wapping at 25 Jamaica Street, E1, where Alf worked on the docks and Else stayed home and tended to the house. Una married her "long-haired layabout" socialist boyfriend Randolph Scouse-Git in 1966 shortly after the general election of 31 March, and they moved into the Wapping house. Alf and 'Randy' rarely got along; the only time they saw eye to eye was when they both went to the 1966 World Cup Final, England vs. West Germany.

Slightly out of character, Alf ventured into the pop world, releasing the single "The Writing On The Wall", backed by "Her Heart's In The Right Place Innitt", in 1967.