Hi Y’all! I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer this year, mine was incredibly busy yet quite fulfilling. Lots of stuff going on. Keeping it very brief this time around but we'll catch up on life in the next post. Enjoy this one and enjoy the the upcoming fall season!
| Accents – Road Runner / Why (1966)
One of Minneapolis’ greatest bands. They had nine 45s released on different local labels such as Garret, Twin Town, and Bangar. | | Ronnie & The Devilles – Tragedy / Oh Love (1965)
Ronnie & The Devilles were a local band from Memphis that teamed up with Alex Chilton and eventually became The Box Tops who’s mega hit “The Letter” shot up to #1 in1967. These guys do bear a passing resemblance to The Gentrys, another group out of Memphis. | | Them Other Brothers – Be A Good Little Girl / Just Forget ‘Em (1964)
A neat combo of teen pop and British Invasion sounds by none other than country great Mac Davis and what I would presume to be a bunch of good studio musicians. | | Michael & The Messengers - Midnight Hour / Up Til’ News (1967)
Michael & The Messengers were a group out of Milwaukee that had a minor hit with a cover of The Reflection’s “Just Like Romeo & Juliet”. This is their second 45 a nice cover of Wilson Pickett’s “Midnight Hour”. At least they didn’t pick “Mustang Sally”. | | New Lime – That Girl / She Kissed Me (With Her Eyes) (1966)
A group out of the Cincinnati / NW Kentucky area that had a bunch of very good 45s on several different labels, mostly Counterpart. This one got national exposure on Columbia, but alas, The New Lime never hit the big time. | | Unknowns – Tighter (1967)
Supposedly associated in some way with Paul Revere & The Raiders, this 45 actually sounds just like them, so who the hell knows?????? | | Greek Fountains – Blue Jean / Countin’ The Steps (1966)
A group from Louisiana that had a half dozen or so 45s, this one is the only to make it on a major label. | | John Fred & The Playboy Band – Up And Down / Wind Up Doll (1967)
Typical blue eyed soul from John Fred & His Playboy band, with a touch of psychedelia. “Up And Down” is really good, and The Music Explosion covered this song note for note with different lyrics and called it “Can’t Stop Now” (IDG #39). | | Iron Butterfly – Unconscious Power / Possession (1967)
Whoa. Forget “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, this, the first 45 by this classic band is for my money THE BEST. Two ultra cool psychedelic acid rock numbers that literally define the genre. DIG IT!!!!!! | | Giant Sunflower - What's So Good About Goodbye / Mark Twain (1969)
Let’s lighten things up a bit with The Giant Sunflower, one of the great wannabe “Flower Power” groups that never quite made it. Both sides are superb. | | Grapefruit – Elevator / Yes (1968)
A great combo that was part of the fledgling Apple Music Ltd. enterprise. It should be noted that songwriter and bassist George Alexander, was born Alexander Young, the older brother of The Easybeats’ guitarist George Young, and elder brother of Angus & Malcolm Young of AC/DC fame. Sounds a bit like the Easybeats don’t it???????? | | Fat City – City Cat (1969)
Well this one is really interesting. This 45 is Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert who would go on to soft pop fame with The Starland Vocal Band and have a hit with “Afternoon Delight”. Go figure….. | | Crowd+1 – Circles / Most Peculiar Things (1969)
This 45 from 1969 is a nice example of how pop bands were trying to glean some influence off the Beatles’ “White Album”. The ‘A’ side is a good example. This Fort Worth, Texas band would eventually shift personnel and become Bloodrock who had a sizable hit with D.O.A. | | Gross National Product – Cover Girl / That’s What I’ll Do Now (1970)
A group out of Baltimore that was rather obscure and had only two 45s. | | Stone Country – Wheels On Fire / Million Dollar Bash (1968)
These guys saw fit to not only cover Dylan’s classic “This Wheel’s On Fire” (and do a very nice job I might add), but they also covered “Million Dollar Bash” as well. | |
Thank you Dan!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long month waiting for your new release!
Gonna run upstairs, put on the old beatle boots, toss
on a paisley shirt and a pair of bell bottom jeans with
the water stains from that rain back in July of 67 and get
down to some serious listenin'.
Peace man!
Thanks Dan good comp!
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great comp! ""When the original The Messengers signed to their new label, Rare Earth Records, they were no longer legally able to promote their previously recorded single for U.S.A. Records. As this single had begun to generate some local airplay, the label decided to hire a completely new band to fill their promotional needs. This fell to the Leominster, MA band called The Del-Mars, who agreed to step in and pick up the ball where the original band left off. Re-christened Michael & The Messengers, they ultimately recorded four more singles for USA, including a remake of the original Messengers version of "Midnight Hour".""
ReplyDeleteDan - love the work you're doing here - thank-you.
ReplyDeleteA 113 "thank-yous" to be exact.
Haven't seen it mentioned here before, but I find your comments and observations as interesting and enlightening as the actual music. Your comments shine a light onto what we are hearing and puts a certain historical context to the record. I've greedily collected all 113 of your lovingly compiled releases and I really miss not being able have your comments to refer back to easily.
Is there anyway your comments can be attached, perhaps, to the label.jpg, or, failing that, as a straight text file added to each issue? For us non-collectors I think this would add another valuable resource to the collection.
I also realize this would likely involve more work on your end, which would sadly lengthen the span between releases, which, imho, is too long a wait as it is. (grin).
Is there any way those of us not quite as computer savvy as yourself, and perhaps with a little too much time on their hands, could help you from this side of the monitor
in transfering your comments into some sort of usable form that could be added to the downloadable archived releases?
And please, don't take this as a complaint, or a critcism. It's just one person's idea of something that would perhaps add even more interest to your efforts.
Please - keep up the absolutely excellent work!
Dan, as always, you are the man when it comes to these comps.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for loving and sharing this great music.
Looks like another good one, Dan.
ReplyDeleteThe Unknowns were Keith Allison, Steve Alaimo and Mark Lindsay. More info here: http://savagelost.com/paul-revere-and-the-raiders-the-miami-connection
So I'm old and slow on the uptake . . .
ReplyDeleteSimply block copy and paste Dan's comments into the appropriate area in Dan's included track list file. A little creative spacing and you're all set. Guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few evenings.
Back to your regular scheduled program . . .
An Old Hippy
No comment on the uploads here, Dan, although I gotta say, I have NEVER encountered such a treasure trove of unmined vinyl since I happened upon some of my mom's oldies from the early '50s. This is actually a request: I'm looking for a recording of "Jug Band Music," supposedly by The Mugwumps, but probably The Lovin' Spoonful (the lead singer's gotta be John Sebastian). The song was played on my hometown AM station in 1966 sometime between the Spoonful's releases of "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" and "Rain on the Roof." I haunted local record stores for months, and turned up zip. Months later I saw the track listed on a Spoonful LP, but it's NOT the same version; neither is the 45 that showed up on the Sidewalk label (a record produced by Mike Curb, and not Shel Talmy) that same year. I was 15 then. Fast forward about 20 years: I'm a grad student at OSU in Columbus, OH, and a DJ named Russell Carey has a Sunday radio show called "Psychedelic Sunday." One week he announces he's got a special record that hasn't had airplay in ages; he may have mentioned that it was by the Spoonful. The next week I tuned in -- and heard the version of the song I'd heard half a dozen times 20 years before. Carey says a local Columbus record store has the record for sale... but I'm a poor-as-dirt grad student, and can't afford a can of Diet Coke, let alone a modestly pricey record. Nearly 30 years later, I have the Internet available to me, and I've tried Discogs, and AllMusic, and bunches of other sites; I've had other music blogs join in my search, and been sent MP3s and web addresses -- and again, all for naught. The radio station Carey worked at, WLVQ-FM (Q96) wouldn't respond to my e-mail. I even found an e-mail address for John Sebastian and wrote him, with similar lack of results (although I did get a response from him). I'm positive that someone must have made cassette tapes of some of those Sunday radio shows, but have found no source yet on the 'Net. One blogger suggested I might have heard a promo 45, which is the main reason I'm pestering you now; I've found no other reasonable source of promotional 45s, and was hoping -- hoping -- you might have some inkling of a possible way I might be able to track this elusive little bugger down. I'm gonna be 65 in 5 weeks, Dan, and I'd like to solve this mystery before I'm 6 feet under. If I'm wasting my time and yours, many apologies. But if, by some weird chance, this isn't a fruitless request, when it IS my time to go, I'll put in a good word for you upstairs... Thanks for letting me have my say.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the kind words. As far as "Jug Band Music" goes, the only other version that was widely (somewhat I guess) popular was Jim Kweskin's Jug Band's version. Not sure if that's the one your looking for. I sometimes get that song and "Good Time Music", another John Sebastian song. Believe it or not, Louis Prima did a version in 1966 backed by a straight up garage band. It's actually a pretty good version. Here's a link if you want to hear it...
Deletehttp://www75.zippyshare.com/v/HeMKOKpm/file.html
Didn't Fat City also back John Denver on "Take Me Home, Country Roads"?
ReplyDeleteI believe some of the members of that band played on that song.
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