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An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

Started by jamiefairlie, August 15, 2020, 09:27:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

daf

Happy Confusion - Hereditary Impediment



Released in Novemebr 1969 as the B-side to 'Yes Sir" - did not chart
Quote
Co-written by Mark Wirtz and Kris Ife. Happy Confusion seems to have been another of Wirtz imaginary bands, though this track wasn't pegged for The Teenage Opera. Session ace Chris Spedding claims to have played guitar on it.

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity:
Indian Rope Man
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8q6ChikpqL8
Monster chunky organ riff.

daf

The German Top Five - The Champ



Released on the the German covers album "Dancing 69".

Quote"The Champ" is a song by The Mohawks, a group of session musicians assembled by Alan Hawkshaw. It was originally released in 1968 but failed the chart. The song was based on "Tramp", a 1967 Lowell Fulson record that was covered extensively after its release.

purlieu

Apple - The Otherside

A fairly well loved psychedelic 'obscurity', this single from Cardiff-based Apple's one and only album An Apple a Day is a gorgeous moody piano-led number. I remember buying the album and other than being impressed by the fact that the fairly low-budged looking CD had a replica of the original LP's Apple and Pear Development Board's 'British Apples and Pears' information booklet (part of a deal in which said board helped fund the album's recording), found the record itself somewhat unremarkable and not especially psychedelic, but this track remains a firm favourite of mine.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I Just Don't Know How to Say Goodbye - Sandy Salisbury



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXQUVJ8C2rU

Majestic sunshine pop that languished in the vaults for over 30 years.

QuoteBefore becoming a successful children's author, Sandy Salisbury was a pop musician in the late 1960s. He was a member of writer/producer Curt Boettcher's groups The Millennium and The Ballroom (whose 1966 album remained unreleased until 2001), before attempting a solo career of his own.

He performed on hit recordings from bands such as The Association, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Tommy Roe and many others. On The Millennium's only album, Begin, he played guitar, sung and contributed one self-penned song, 5 A.M. Though an album and several singles were released, the unprecedented expense of the recording of Begin may have contributed to CBS Records souring on the project. The album met with tepid sales and disappeared for many years before it was rediscovered by sunshine pop enthusiasts and grew to become a cult classic.

Salisbury's only solo album, the Boettcher-produced Sandy, was originally recorded in 1969 for Gary Usher's Together Records, a venture that was brief enough that the label collapsed before the album (along with several others) could be released. It eventually saw the light of day on Alan McGee's Poptones label in 2001.

Brundle-Fly

If They Left Us Alone Now - Wool  .  Released on ABC in 1969.



Lovely jazzy folk ballad from one of Wool's more reflective moments.  There's something in my eye.

ochsfan from Rate Your Music says:

The group originally emerged out of the Finger Lakes area of New York.  Lead guitarist Ed Wool had made one single three years earlier as Ed Wool & The Nomads (GAWD!  How many "Nomads" were there in the '60's anyway?!), before signing Wool to Neil Diamond's "Armada Productions" and ABC Records for this disc.

The group's biggest asset was Wool's smokey-voiced sister, Claudia.  The band sags when she tries to belt it out on covers of The Band's "To Kingdom Come", and Big Brother's "Combination Of The Two" (Joplin, she ain't!), but she shines on softer numbers like Chip Taylor's "Any Way That You Want Me", and brother Ed's atmospheric "If They Left Us Alone Now".

They manage to lay down a funky bass line on the album's best track, "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love", but their other attempts at "soul" fall flat.  "I Don't Like You Anymore" sounds like it was cobbled together using pieces from "You're All I Need To Get By" and "I'm Losing You".  The interminable "Funky Walk" is a laughingly bad attempt to invoke the spirit of James Brown.  If not for some inventive drumming on the last five minutes of the song, you'd swear the record was stuck.  Try to imagine The Osmonds doing a version of Sly Stone's "Don't Call Me N*****, Whitey", and you'll get the idea.

There's just not enough of anything here (material, inspiration, musicianship) to warrant a major-label album deal.  Couple this with the fact that the band thanks Ed & Claudia's parents in the liner notes for their "rehearsal cottage" and the whole thing seems like a vanity project designed to keep the kids out of trouble.

The group would manage to wax two more singles for Columbia before folding.  These days, The Ed Wool Band busies itself playing weddings and bar mitzvahs in New York State.  Long Live Rock & Roll!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LBYPQRQKb8

jamiefairlie

magna carta - sea & sand ( the isle of pabay)

https://youtu.be/uJO2YuQkkg0



Taken from their self=titled debut album. They went to have  a long career with numerous lineup changes along the way.

daf

The Orange Machine - Dr. Crippen's Waiting Room



Released in January 1969 as the B-side to 'You Can All Join In' -  did not chart

QuoteIn 1967, Irish band The Orange Machine played regularly in Dublin, catching the attention of Spotlight's beat group guru, Pat Egan, who featured them in his column : "They are currently rated as one of the top young groups on the scene. In and around Dublin they have a great following. I think they have a lot of talent and in time will take off in a very big way."

   

In June 1968, they released their first record, "Three Jolly Little Dwarfs" with the B side "Real Life Permanent Dream". The record reached The Top 14 in the Irish charts, giving them a huge boost as far as their popularity and gigs were concerned.  The band released its second single, "You Can All Join In" on the delicious Pye label in January 1969. Despite attracting a lot of attention for the band on the "beat group scene" it did not sell many copies.

A month later, Pat reported in his column that the band had split. Ernie Durkin (vocals & rhythm guitar) and Tommy Kinsella (bass) were joining ex-Granny's Intentions drummer, Greg Donaghy in a new band on the scene called Blue.

Meanwhile, Robin Crowley (lead guitar) and Jimmy Greeley (drums) set about reforming a new version of the Orange Machine. It would take a couple of months for the enigmatically named 'New Orange Machine' to finalise their lineup. The band expanded to a five piece with the addition of a lead female vocalist, Karen Byrne - who had previously been with the Soul Foundation.



Also joining the band were Billy Boyd, former bass player with The Gentry, as well as guitarist Joe O'Donnell who had been previously been with Granny's Intentions and Sweet Street.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Roy Orbison - Southbound Jericho Parkway



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ROii-Ktrg

Without a doubt the oddest song in the Big O's catalogue, Southbound Jericho Parkway is a seven-minute, quasi-psychedelic pop symphony produced and arranged by The Neon Philharmonic. Roy was desperate for a hit in those days, so he had nothing to lose by getting with the times and attempting his own MacArthur Park. It wasn't a hit, and he never tried anything like it again.

Lyrically, it's a morbid affair in which a lonely suburban businessman in his suit and tie decides he just can't take it anymore. Roy was going through a particularly dark period in his life at that time, which may have influenced his decision to record such an unusual song.

The whole thing is quite extraordinary. As one of the comments below that video observes, it's like the missing link between Scott Walker's Plastic Palace People and The Soft Parade by The Doors.

purlieu

Quote from: daf on September 29, 2020, 07:10:48 PM
In June 1968, they released their first record, "Three Jolly Little Dwarfs" with the B side "Real Life Permanent Dream".
How many Tomorrow-covers or Tomorrow adjacent projects were there at this point?!
QuoteThe band released its second single, "You Can All Join In"
Speaking of which, my next offering was due to be the original. So here we are, Traffic - You Can All Join In


Dave Mason's tenure with Traffic featured more in-out than a whole army of Droogs. Rejoining them (for the first time) for their second album, Traffic, he helped retain some of the whimsical psychedelia of their debut, which was pretty much absent in the jazzy blues rock that Winwood and Capaldi were writing; indeed, he is largely absent from the songs he didn't write.

daf

Quote from: purlieu on September 29, 2020, 08:52:42 PM
How many Tomorrow-covers or Tomorrow adjacent projects were there at this point?!

You know what, to my shame I'd never heard the Tomorrow album. Having now checked out the tracklist, I see what you mean - talk about the hidden golden thread!

Just ordered a copy of the CD - which seems to include a whole second albums-worth of bonus tracks - result!

daf

#881
Jimmy Dee Bennett - Sapadellic



This was his only single. Released as the B-side of "Minnie Ha Ha" in 1969 - did not chart


jamiefairlie

Mama Cass - Make Your Own Kind of Music

https://youtu.be/PEQxEJ5_5zA



Striving for a successful solo career, she had a hit in the summer of 69 with "It's Getting Better". This was the follow-up but stalled at number 35, signaling the end of her commercial heyday. She died 5 years later at the age of 32.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Huh. I've always assumed that Make Your Own Kind of Music was a bona fide hit, but turns out I was wrong. In fact, reading about her now, it's quite strange that, despite being a popular singing star who was always on TV in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Elliot only had two solo hits (and one of those was recorded at the tail end of her career in the Mamas & The Papas).

purlieu

Quote from: daf on September 29, 2020, 09:41:25 PM
You know what, to my shame I'd never heard the Tomorrow album. Having now checked out the tracklist, I see what you mean - talk about the hidden golden thread!

Just ordered a copy of the CD - which seems to include a whole second albums-worth of bonus tracks - result!
Oh wow. It's a wonderful record, you've got a lot to enjoy there! Include 'Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard' in those bonuses.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Speaking of Traffic...

Lulu - Feelin' Alright



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7eyJo7rw6I

A scorching version of the Dave Mason number, recorded during her sessions at Muscle Shoals in autumn '69. While the resultant album, New Routes, is no Dusty in Memphis, it's still pretty good. Lulu in her day could belt out white soul with the best of 'em.

QuoteNew Routes, the début album release by Lulu on Atco Records, was produced by the label's top Atlantic Records production team: Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler. Wexler had been interested in Lulu ever since 1964, when his business associate Bert Berns had recorded her on Here Comes the Night. Her 1969 signing to Atlantic's Atco label was facilitated by Lulu becoming engaged to Maurice Gibb of Atco's top musical artist, the Bee Gees.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Rhinoceros - Apricot Brandy



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVzyPDmnM8

Every freak-out party scene in films from the late '60s was scored to a piece of music like this. It conjures images of gyrating groovers under psychedelic lighting, letting it all hang out like there's no tomorrow.

QuoteRhinoceros were an American rock band established in 1967 through auditions conducted by Elektra Records, under the auspices of Doors producer Paul A. Rothchild, rather than organic formation by musicians. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectations. They released a slow-selling debut album and two even less successful LPs before breaking up.

The instrumental Apricot Brandy reached #46 on the Billboard Charts and was later used as a signature tune by BBC radio.

daf

Terry Knight - Saint Paul



Promo version released in May 1969. This was withdrawn and re-released having edited it down by a minute and removing all the Beatley song references sung over the end - which were the best bits!

Rather brilliantly, this appears to have been produced by Tom Baker!

QuoteTerry Knight was born Richard Terrance Knapp on 9 April 1943 in Lapeer, Michigan. In 1963, Knight's music career began as a DJ at WJBK in Detroit. The following year, he moved across the river to CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. He was awarded the honorary title of "The Sixth Stone" for his early support of the Rolling Stones. By the end of 1964, however, Knight had left the radio business, intending to pursue his own career in music.

Around 1965, Knight fashioned his own songwriting and performing career in Flint by becoming the front man for Terry Knight and the Pack. In 1967 Knight moved to New York, and attempted a solo career as a singer and staff producer with the Cameo-Parkway label. He produced and wrote a handful of tracks by other artists, including garage band Question Mark & the Mysterians.

   

Knight traveled to London in 1968, hoping to become a recording artist or producer for the Beatles' newly formed Apple Records. Knight met Paul McCartney and was present at some of the recording sessions including the session when Ringo Starr temporarily quit the group. He soon left London after he was unable to negotiate a contract with acceptable terms.

In early 1969 Knight secured a producer's contract with Capitol Records which also allowed him to release his own songs as a solo artist. He wrote and recorded a single, "Saint Paul", which may have contributed to the "Paul is dead" hoax that erupted late in the year. The cryptic lyrics of the song are generally thought to allude to Knight's failed relationship with McCartney and his apparent belief that the Beatles would soon break up. The lyrics do not refer to death but were interpreted by some fans as containing clues..

   

Initial copies of the single listed Knight's company Storybook Music as the publisher of "Saint Paul". After Capitol received a cease and desist letter from the Beatles' music publisher, Maclen Music, the record was pulled from distribution. "Saint Paul" was reissued with a publishing credit by Maclen, and edited by a minute - removing the sung excerpts from "Hello, Goodbye", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "She Loves You", and "All You Need Is Love".

The second pressing of the record also contained a note on the label that stated that "Hey Jude" was "used by permission". The reassignment of the publishing rights made Knights' song the only non Lennon–McCartney tune owned by Maclen. "Saint Paul" reached the top 40 in some cities in the upper Midwest region but failed to make the Billboard Hot 100 national chart.

jamiefairlie

Moths - The Heron

https://youtu.be/VJuYQZ8zZm0



Just a solitary album and single from this short-lived English folk-rock band.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Sylvie Vartan - C'est un jour a rester couche



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kovaYFCh054

Groovalicious!

QuoteSylvie Vartan is a Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. With 50 million records and CD's sold worldwide, 2000 magazine covers (number one French female artist before Bardot and Deneuve) and being the number one French female singer with concerts and audiences worldwide, Sylvie Vartan is considered a true legend and icon.

jamiefairlie

Pink Floyd - Cymbaline

https://youtu.be/Z2D47dLYTC8



Superior BBC session version to that released on the 'More' soundtrack, you can hear them transitioning into 70s Floyd here.

daf

Cherry Smash - Fade Away Maureen



Released in February 1969 - did not chart

QuoteCherry Smash were formed in Gosport, Hampshire in 1966 by John Curtis, Mick Gill, Graham Hunt, Bryan Sebastian and Mark Tuddenham. Their debut single for Track Records, 1967's 'Sing Songs Of Love', was written by Mick Gill and Manfred Mann's Mike Hugg - Sebastian's brother. It featured on the soundtrack to Manfred Mann's Up The Junction and gained the band some national recognition.

   

Gill left the group before it signed to Decca Records. Their second single, 'Goodtime Sunshine', released in 1968 was another Hugg composition but failed to build on the group's initial impetus, and after their third and final single, 'Fade Away Maureen', the group disbanded.

SteveDave

Quote from: daf on September 29, 2020, 09:41:25 PM
You know what, to my shame I'd never heard the Tomorrow album. Having now checked out the tracklist, I see what you mean - talk about the hidden golden thread!

Just ordered a copy of the CD - which seems to include a whole second albums-worth of bonus tracks - result!

The alternate version of "Real Life Permanent Dream" is a banger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnsAlydo_UU

daf

#893
Yes - that was one of the bonus tracks - great stuff! I also like the 'mono phased' version of Revolution too. The mix its pretty crackers on the stereo version - with everything bunged on one side (sounding a bit like that Laurel and Hardy telephone gag : "excuse me, my ear is full of milk")

daf

All Cock and Balls . . .

Balloon Busters - Alcock And Brown



Released in May 1969 - did not chart

QuoteOriginally forming in 1964 as The Neutrons by Terry Gell (drums), Clive Amos (lead guitar), Colin Pierce (rhythm guitar) and Ray Harper (bass). The band went though several line up changes and names, becoming the 4-bidden in August 1965 and St. Johns Wood in February 1967. The final line-up featured Colin and Ray, with Dave Shaw on lead vocals, Colin Fox on lead guitar, Paul Dunn on drums and Rod Pittam on organ.

St. Johns Wood were brought into the studio to record the song "Alcock and Brown". Pilot, Captain John William Alcock and his navigator, Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, who had both served in the Royal Air Force during World War I, were the first to complete a non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John's, Newfoundland, landing in Derrygimla bog near Clifton, Connemara, Ireland on June 15 1919.

 

For the single, they changed their name to the Balloon Busters - which was a colloquial term that referred to military pilots known for destroying manned enemy observation balloons during World War I.

Colin Fox : "The band I was playing with at the time was called St. Johns Wood, but for Alcock and Brown Howard Blaikley decided they wanted to name us Balloon Busters, for obvious reasons. Although we were professional for a time, we never made it to the big time."

Eric Francis, who was the manager of St. Johns Wood and member of Fulham group The Barrier, also featured on the recording as second lead vocalist. Balloon Busters appeared on BBC's Dee Time, a twice weekly TV chat show hosted by Simon Dee, in May 1969, but the single never managed to enter the UK charts.

Brundle-Fly

Take Off Your Clothes To Feel The Setting Sun - Wolfgang Dauner Quintet   Released on Crystal Jazz in 1969.





One of my top albums from that era, The Oimels and one of my favourite ever LP sleeves. It's so ugly.

I was sad to hear we lost Wolfgang Dauner this year. R.I.F.  (Ruhe in Frieden)

From mps

This 1969 record has more in common with the Beatles and sixties psychedelic pop-rock than that period's jazz. The Oimels also highlights three internationally acclaimed eclectic European musicians: keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner is a German jazz institution; fellow Stuttgarter bassist Eberhard Weber is known for his band Colours with Charlie Mariano, and his work with Jan Garbarek, while guitarist Sigi Schwab's career spans work with a host of headliners, film, theatre, and TV music, and his own projects. Oh Baby I Don't Love You Anymore starts out with an old-fashioned honky-tonk blues before electric guitar distortions take the music to the edge. With Schwab's sitar and the band vocals, Take Off Your Clothes To Feel The Setting Sun shows its Beatles influence. Gershwin's My Man's Gone Now is reinterpreted in a Latin-rock feel with lots of effects. Come On In On In starts off with Weber's electrified cello melding into an Indi-country-rock rhythm guitar riff and a raga-like vocal line before ascending into chaos. Dig My Girl moves to the mysteries of India, with sitar and vocals ala George Harrison. Dauner takes an acidic electric organ solo and the guitar is ablaze with distortion. The Traditional English ballad Greensleeves is given the Latin treatment. Uwii has a funk groove with Dauner scatting along with his solo. Rolling Stone rated A Day In The Life as the Beatles' greatest song. Dauner and Co. rework it into a minimalistic masterpiece. Dauner in the Sky with Diamonds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-KbjlTC0g

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: jamiefairlie on September 30, 2020, 12:21:04 AM
Moths - The Heron

https://youtu.be/VJuYQZ8zZm0



Just a solitary album and single from this short-lived English folk-rock band.

Great album

daf

Heidi Brühl - Berlin



Featuring Jimmy Page on guitar, this was released in the UK as the B-side of 'The Drifter' in May 1969 - did not chart.

QuoteHeidi Rosemarie Brühl was born in January 1942 in Gräfelfing, Upper Bavaria. A singer and actress, her first screen appearance was in the 1954 film 'Der letzte Sommer' with Liselotte Pulver. In 1955 she became famous in Germany in the role of Dalli in "Die Mädels vom Immenhof" and subsequent "Immenhof" sequels, adapted from a novel by children's writer Ursula Bruns.

In 1959, Brühl obtained a record deal with the Philips label, and her first single "Chico Chico Charlie" reached number five. She also recorded with as Carina Korten as Dolly-Sisters.

Brühl first took part in the German Eurovision selection in 1960 with Michael Jary's "Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehn" which finished in second place but went on to top the German singles chart for nine weeks. She participated again in 1963, and this time was successful when "Marcel" was chosen to go forward to the eighth Eurovision Song Contest which took place in London. Her song finished the evening in ninth place out of 16 entries.

 

In 1970, she moved to the United States where she appeared in Las Vegas and on TV in "The Most Dangerous Match" - a 1973 episode of Columbo.

jamiefairlie

One beginning to think Page  was on every song recorded in the 60s.

daf

You'd have thought he'd be too busy with Led Zeppelin at this point, but by all accounts it is him (she recorded the track in London).