An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[Brundle-Fly]

Fall Out  -  Perrey & Kingsley Released on Vanguard in 1967





Once again, like Raymond Scott I bigged up much earlier in this thread, some more early electronica that takes your breath away knowing it co-existed in a musical world with Des O'Connor , Petula Clark or even The Beatles come to that. I'm really surprised there isn't anything of this ilk on 'The White Album'.  I will say though it's always the shrill, staccato melody lines on a lot of Moog albums of this era that are a struggle for modern ears but it's the sheer invention that is so beguiling. Kraftwerk were clearly listening and realised the potential for something a little more sophisticated, (but not half as much fun)

'Their second and final collaborative effort came in 1967 with the release of Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music from Way Out, which was re-released in 1971 under the title: Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Spotlight on the Moog. This was a similar-sounding effort, but instead of all original compositions, the album was mostly versions of popular songs of the day. In this album, Perrey's tape loops and effects were added in post-production after Kingsley's orchestrations were recorded, a technique now commonly used by electronic artists to this day. The album was one of the first to use the new Moog modular synthesizer, a massive, complicated electronic instrument resembling an old-style telephone switchboard. The album also bore two notable singles. In fact, the Moog album was released a year and a half before the release of Wendy Carlos' ground-breaking Switched-On Bach. .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=zWMT6_hbWEQ&feature=emb_logo

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Fall Out  -  Perrey & Kingsley Released on Vanguard in 1967

That's fantastic! Also, Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music from Way Out may be the greatest album title of all time.

[daf]

Stick with it . . .

The Ron Grainer Orchestra - Happening Sunday



Released in October 1967 as the B-side of his (radically re-arranged)  "The Prisoner" single  - did not chart

Happening Sunday was used by the BBC, on the newly launched Radio One in 1967, as theme music for the Sunday morning replacement for the long running and popular Easy Beat, previously on the Light Programme.



Presented by Ed Stewart the 'Happening Sunday' became the first show to be dropped from Radio One - lasting only a few weeks.

[Brundle-Fly]

Wee that panned out unexpectedly. Grainer never gets his dues.

[daf]

Marquis Of Kensington - The Changing Of The Guard 



Released in May 1967 - did not chart

The Marquis of Kensington was a British studio project from the end of the 1960s. It consisted of Robert Wace, then manager of The Kinks, and the record producer Mike Leander. While the project's vocals are Wace's, Leander was featured on the single covers. Wace wanted to remain incognito.

 

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Love Me 'till the Sun Shines by The Kinks (BBC Session)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxH4t-jAZzE

A rare example of BBC engineers getting a substantially better sound for a rock band than their producer did. The producer in this case being Raymond Douglas Davies.

The poorly mixed version of this tough, groovy Dave Davies raver on Something Else by The Kinks sounds so weedy. Did brother Ray deliberately sabotage it out of spite, or was he just having an off day? Because this is how it's supposed to sound - big and beefy, a stone cold gas, with the guitar and bass high in the mix, and some explosive drumming from Mick Avory.

This version can be found on Kinks: BBC Sessions 1964 - 1977.

[daf]

The poor old Kinks never got a good sound out of the Pye studios - seemed to be a bit of a cheapo studio set up (I'm imagining eggboxes taped to the walls!)

[daf]

Roy Hudd - Sir Rhubarb Tansy 



Released in November 1967 as the B-side of "Artificial Jumping Spider Seller" - did not chart

Following the World Cup celebrating "The Day We Won The Cup", (b/w "Ramsey's Men"), released in 1966. Roy Hudd signed to the delicious Pye label in 1967, and was confident of a Top 20 hit with this platter -

Roy Hudd : "I do anticipate it could enter, it's a great tune to dance to. We've played it to some kids and they went potty about it."

 

Roy Hudd : "Les Reed arranged and recorded it. I knew him when I was a Redcoat at Butlins. He did this record with me more as a favour than anything else."

[jobotic]

The Uglys - And The Squire Blew His Horn 



Released in August 1967 - did not chart

Extraordinary

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Extraordinary

One of the best picks so far!

[jamiefairlie]

The Majority - Wait by the Fire

https://youtu.be/r-rCXhhhNdo



From Hull, they released 8 UK singles but never charted and broke up in 1968.

[daf]

Jason James - Miss Pilkington's Maid 



Released in April 1967 - did not chart

In the early 1960s Geoff Mullin was a DJ at Manchester's Twisted Wheel club. He was manager of Danny and the Demons and The Hellions, lead vocalist of The Wailers, then The Zodiacs and The Yaks - and became road manager for The Four Pennies. He also spent a couple of years in Norway in the mid 60s, singing occasionally with The Vanguards amongst others.

   

In the UK he released a solo single as Jason James on CBS in 1967 — and wrote/co-wrote songs for other artists such as Mary McCarthy, Kippington Lodge and Herman's Hermits — under his real name Mullin or under the pseudonym 'Roger Brook'.

Mullin worked as a radio producer for Terry Wogan, Kenny Everett and Michael Aspel among many others. After a brief period as Head of Music at Melody Radio in London, Mullin returned to the BBC as Head of Music Policy for the remainder of his radio career.

[Brundle-Fly]

Ko Ko Ko Ke Ko - The Spiders Released on Philips in 1967*.



According to a comment on YouTube, they're saying, "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Kokokokeko is the cry of a chicken. I love The Spiders, me. I cannot recommend enough to seek out their oeuvre or 作品, in this case.

The Spiders played some original songs along with lots of the Beatles and Animals covers. Sometimes, the audience shouted, "Go home imitators!", and when the Beatles came to Tokyo in '66 and offered them the opening act slot, the band refused it. Unfortunately, as long as they were signed to their labels, they continued to play cover songs on their record which were sold at budget prices. The GS era record companies didn't really care who played the songs, they just needed musicians who could play a decent cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYa8V3WqrA0

_{*(actually it's been a bastard to 100% pin this to an exact year but a garage rock expert mate seems to think it IS from 1967 (and it's killer track), so fuck it,1967 it is!)}

[daf]

The Peep Show - Your Servant, Stephen 



Released in October 1967 - did not chart

The Peep Show were decidedly darker in tone and far less acid-driven than many of their contemporaries. The Wolverhampton art students had been given their voguishly Victorian name when they signed to New Wave Productions - run by former Who manager Peter Meaden and Record Mirror pop scribbler Norman Jopling.

Their slim corpus of two singles marked them out as oddballs, with 'Your Servant, Stephen' dealing with a man's plea to his pregnant girlfriend's father and 'Esprit De Corps (50 Years Old)' with the inadequacy felt when comparing oneself to a Battle Of Britain pilot.

 

Penned by group member Stephen Morris [no, not that one!], 'Your Servant Stephen' went down like a cup of cold shit on Juke Box Jury - with sour-faced stringbean Pete Murray declaring it a "Miss" - claiming he could find nothing good to say about it, while host David Jacobs gave it a final stamp on the balls by proclaiming it as "the worst song of the year" - gee, thanks mate!

[famethrowa]

The Peep Show - Your Servant, Stephen 

Pure Belle & Sebastian right there.

[daf]

Imagine calling that 'the worst song of the year' - what a bunch of pricks!

[famethrowa]

Imagine calling that 'the worst song of the year' - what a bunch of pricks!

In a year when Snoopy and The Red Baron came out. Jeez

[daf]

Oh no, it's Raymond Froggatt! . . .

The Monopoly - House Of Lords



Released in May 1967 - did not chart

Raymond William Froggatt (otherwise known as "Froggy") was born in Bordesley Green, Birmingham. He began performing rock and roll in the early 1960s before moving on to focus on Country and Western. His band, initially known as The Buccaneers, later Monopoly and ultimately The Raymond Froggatt Band.

The Monopoly were: Raymond Froggatt (vocal), Hartley Cain (guitar), Nolan Bromley (another guitar), Lou Clark (bass), and Len Ablethorpe (drums).



Signed by Polydor in 1964, chart success eluded them, although The Dave Clark Five had a No. 7 hit in the UK Singles Chart with Froggatt's "The Red Balloon" in 1968.

Noticed from the label that this was written by the Bee Gees - though their version remained unreleased until . . . [squints though lorgnette] . . . 2006.

Raymond Froggatt says his band arranged this, their first single, to sound very similar to the Bee Gees' recording they had been given as a demo. This was probably the earlier Bee Gees version completed March 15, and perhaps that one, like the Monopoly's version, was faster in tempo than the second Bee Gees version of April 5 that was released in 2006.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Visit - The Cyrkle Released in 1967 on Columbia.



Now, we've already discussed The Cyrkle on Chart Music   on 'An Alternative History Of 'Pop' Music thread, page 14 with daf's entry, but let's 'visit' them again with an absolutely gorgeous haunting ditty from the boys of Pennsylvania,  Creatively sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on the track, Get A Hold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6uZKUrH9jE

The ATCQ track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nybfYilzHXE

[jamiefairlie]

The American Breed - Don't Forget About Me

https://youtu.be/xO96_TS025U




before disbanding in 1970, they released 4 albums and had 3 top 40 hits in the US.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Mississippi Delta - Bobbie Gentry



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HixZ_BIAt5o

The B-side of Gentry's massively successful debut single, Ode to Billie Joe. Like the immortal A-side, it leaves listeners in no doubt that Gentry is the real born on the bayou deal. A raw statement of funky swamp rock intent, it is, like most of Gentry's self-penned songs, blessed with her eye for authentic local detail. She was a great storyteller who told it like it was.

Also, if you're ever struggling to spell 'Mississippi', this is the song for you.

Bobbie Gentry was one of the first female artists to compose and produce her own material. She charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles on the UK Top 40. In the late 1970s, Gentry lost interest in performing and subsequently retired from the music industry. News reports as to where she is currently living are conflicting.

Gentry's sole ambition originally was to write songs to sell to other artists; she only sang on the recording of Ode to Billie Joe that she took to Capitol because it was cheaper than hiring someone else to sing it. Mississippi Delta was on the same demo tape and it was this recording, rather than Ode to Billie Joe, that initially got her signed.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

She's My Girl - The Turtles



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

I love these guys, they're one of the most criminally underrated '60s pop groups. Everyone knows Happy Together and Elenore, but the rest of their oeuvre is well worth digging into. A talented bunch of eccentrics. This slightly eerie swirl of orchestrated psych-pop reached #14 in America, but did zip in the UK.

She's My Girl was written by Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner, who also penned the Turtles' biggest smash, Happy Together.   

At the time of its release, some radio stations objected to themes expressed in the song and banned it from their playlists. Lead singer Howard Kaylan surmised that this was because of the song's references to morning glories, a flower with hallucinogenic properties (and a euphemism for waking up with an erection). The whole song is a thinly veiled ode to getting high. In spite of this obstacle, the song spent ten weeks on the charts. Kaylan considers it one of the band's best songs.

[daf]

The Lords - Raindreams 



B-side to "Gloryland" - reached #5 in the German charts in September 1967

The Lords are a German rock band, formed in Berlin in 1959 as a skiffle band using partly custom-made instruments. Best known for their work during the sixties and early seventies, they are noted for their sometimes humorous and irreverent approach. Yes, these Teutonic buggers are still going!

On 23 July 1964, the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night appeared in the German cinemas, titled 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'. Before the premiere, a competition was held, to find the "Berliner Beatles". The Lords won, and were named "Germany's Beat Band No. 1", and received a recording contract from EMI in Cologne. Sadly, shortly after this, their bassist Knud Kuntze ("Lord Knud") had to leave the band due to an accident in which he lost his leg.

In 1965, the Lords' band's roster changed to what most fans consider to be their classic line-up. It would consist of Ulli Günther (vocals), Bernd Zamulo (bass), Leo Lietz  (guitar) , Rainer Petry (guitar) and Max Donath (drums).



Rather than taking the approach of a serious music band, The Lords were more of a slapstick and comedy troupe especially on stage, probably akin to bands like The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in England at the time, overdoing the contemporary moptop hairstyle by making it look like a stereotypical Medieval haircut as portrayed in the modern comic Prince Valiant, taking the formal suit fashion introduced by The Beatles and turning them into waiters' clothing, and dancing like a girl group such as the 1920s Tiller Girls on stage!

This rather lighthearted attitude led to a rivalry with the more serious Hamburg-based band The Rattles and especially their bandleader and producer Achim Reichel, who was critical of the Lords for their silly antics.

Towards the end of the 1960s, the band was increasingly influenced by psychedelia and brought more social commentary, serious or satirical, into their lyrics, effectually turning from a British Invasion-influenced pop band into a progressive group.



Between 1965 and 1969, the Lords had twelve titles on the German charts, mainly produced by Heinz Gietz. Their biggest hit was "Gloryland". By 1989, The Lords had released over thirty singles and had achieved sales of seven million copies, a record for a German rock band in their own country.

In 1971 the Lords broke up due to Bernd Zamulo forming Sitting Bull, but they would re-unite five years later.

[daf]

Anita Harris - The Playground



Released in September 1967 - reached #46 in the UK.

Anita Madeleine Harris was was born in Somerset; her family moved from Midsomer Norton to Bournemouth when she was seven. She began ice skating at the neighbourhood rink, eventually becoming a regular at the Queens Ice Rink in London. Seen by a talent scout shortly before her sixteenth birthday, she was offered a chance to skate in Paris or to travel to Las Vegas where she would be a dancer in a chorus line. She accepted the latter, danced at the El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas.

On returning to the UK, she performed in a vocal group known as The Grenadiers and then spent three years singing something simple with the Cliff Adams Singers. She offered a recording contract by EMI and made her first recordings with the John Barry Seven. Her first single, a double A-side of "I Haven't Got You" (written by Lionel Bart) and "Mr One and Only", did not reach the charts.

   

Her chart breakthrough came in the summer of 1967 with the single "Just Loving You", which peaked at No. 6 in August 1967. Her follow-up single "The Playground", stalled at No. 46 in October 1967, but she scored a substantial hit with her January 1968 release - a remake of the standard "Anniversary Waltz", which spent eight weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 21.

     

[jamiefairlie]

Anita Harris - The Playground



Released in September 1967 - reached #46 in the UK.

"I don't want to talk about it actually, but I'm actually very depressed.  Don't ask me why.  I'm just a strange and interesting person, I suppose.  A bit like Anita Harris, only without the bullet hole"

[jamiefairlie]

Lulu - To Sir With Love

https://youtu.be/yTapoA5RQyo



A bit of a cheat this one as it was a big hit in the US but it was never released as a single in the UK so....anyway, it's my game :-)

It's just one of those songs that gets me right in the heart. The yearning nostalgia of of an era passing right in front of your eyes, that mix of fear and sadness of the familiar being left behind and excitement for the future.

[Brundle-Fly]

Been having another burn through the last few pages again tonight. Christ on a scooter (with loads of wing mirrors) what a thread!!

Thanks all. What treasures to come, eh?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Lulu - To Sir With Love

A bit of a cheat this one as it was a big hit in the US but it was never released as a single in the UK so....anyway, it's my game :-)

Your gaff, your rules. ;-)

I love that song. And to lower the tone for a moment, young Lulu was a ginger fox. Ahem.

And here she is again...

Love Loves to Love Love - Lulu



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G5HpRiO2_k

This isn't really that obscure, as the clip of wee Marie fae Glesgae (as she irritatingly insists on calling herself) belting it out on TOTP occasionally turns up on BBC Four retrospectives, but it wasn't a big hit, so I reckon it belongs in this thread. A fuzz guitar banger.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Peep Show - Your Servant, Stephen 



Released in October 1967 - did not chart

Oh 'Stephen' it was really.nothing

[Astronaut Omens]

Speaking of fuzz guitar bangers...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aUo8l4XxK9U
"Jam 10 Kai Thiet" (Just Wait Ten More Months) by Ros Sereysothea and Seang Vanthy
(The title above is the correct one)
Ome of the stand-out tracks from the pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodian rock scene, even though this is one of the better known tracks I couldn't find a year but I'm going to guess 67? When would you think this came out?