In Dan's Garage...#158

 

Greetings music lovers and welcome to Summer 2025! Oh yeah, Ima justa waitin' to have some good times these next couple of months and the upcoming "Fourth Of July Week" is a great place to start. I'm heading over to a weekly flea market in nearby Avon, NY this Sunday, something  they've been doing for years and this is going to be my first go around. Hopefully we'll find some good wax there to feature on the show! Wish me luck! 

On the more somber side of things, it seems that some of our more beloved rock musicians are seemingly leaving us in droves. Brian Wilson, James Lowe of the Electric Prunes, Sly Stone, Rick Derringer, and Mick Ralphs, and teen idol Bobby Sherman just to name a few. Fortunately most of these guys lived fairly long lives and gave us some very enjoyable music, especially Brian Wilson. Between 1965 and 1967 he wrote some of the greatest music of all time. I mean that. He was a guy that had to grow on me over the years. I always viewed The Beach Boys as a "lightweight" act singing surf songs and slow ballads like "Surfer Girl". They were kinda held in high regard by my brother Vinny who really loved them and compared them somewhat to the Beatles in a sense, or at least that's what I remember. "Surfin Safari" got a lot of playtime when I wad a kid. I guess back then he saw something in them that I didn't. As I grew older and wiser I learned to view or rather "hear" music quite differently. I started to break things down and analyze songs instead of just having them go in one ear and out the other. To be honest, I react to music viscerally as opposed to cerebrally, but there's this part of my brain that likes to listen to something, and as a musician myself say, "what the hell were these guys and gals thinking when they recorded this???"

As a fledgling "record producer" I I'm fascinated by the way songs were recorded and especially arranged. Some of this stuff blows my mind and every day I learn something new about what guys like Brian Wilson did in the studio. He was a true genius and he will be missed.

One of the more lesser known artists that passed away recently was James Lowe of The Electric Prunes. They were actually one of the more creative bands from the 1960's but in my opinion, their moniker kept them from hitting the real big time. I know...in that era you had all sorts of kooky names, but prunes aren't exactly something that people endear themselves to. In any case, The Prunes were a hell of a band and they had what I would consider the template for the "psychedelic garage band sound". I've featured a couple of songs by them on this blog, and I'm including one of their best in this edition.

I was never really a fan of Sly Stone, but he did produce some really cool records in the mid 60's for The Mojo Men, The Vejtables, and The Beau Brummels. A lot of music fans will miss him.

 

As I grew into my teens and began playing the guitar, my brother Vic, also a guitarist, was heavily into glam rock ala Bowie and Mott The Hoople who he thought were great. I remember his band playing "Driving Sister" and always thought that was a cool song. Ralphs would later join Bad Company, perhaps one of the greatest hard rock bands of the 70's and the rest is history. 

Honorable mention goes to teen idol Bobby Sherman. I remember him being a guest star on the last episode of season 1 of  "The Partridge Family". Good times for a 10 year old indeed.

These artists will all be remembered for bringing us some good times in our life. May they all rest in peace.

I've got another "potpourri" of 45's to share this time around, with perhaps a little less focus on poppier sounds. I have been coming across more instrumentals these days and I hope you all like them. I'm already working on the next post so stay tuned. In the meantime please enjoy this one.

Round Robin - Land Of A 1000 Dances "The Na Na Song" / Yea Yea (1965)

Round Robin was a guy named Robin Lloyd who had a bunch of 45's on Domain Records like "Do The Slauson". This was his version of "Land of A 100 Dances" and it pretty much falls in line with all the other versions out of L.A.

Rondels - Back Beat No.1 / Shades Of Green (1961)

Not to be confused with the "Ron-Dels" that featured Delbert McClinton or even the very obscure "Rondells" from Louisville, KY. This was an east coast group, from Boston perhaps? They released five 45's on Amy which were all instrumentals, I believe, and a couple on Nota Records out of Boston, Mass. (I featured one of the Nota 45's in IDG #145). Pretty tough sounding instros on both sides.

David Wilson & The Characters - Jamie / With All My Heart (1965)

Here's a head scratcher from a group who's origins I know nothing about. Both sides are lo-fi garage band sounds with a cool Farfisa organ. The 'B' side has a distinctive "Stones" vibe to it.

Rockin' Berries - The Water Is Over My Head / Doesn't Time Fly (1966)

The Rockin' Berries were a rather schizophrenic band out of Birmingham and I don't use the word "schizophrenic" in the pejorative. They were a really good band that had a few hits in the U.K. and they were one of the groups featured in the film "Pop Gear!" amongst other acts from the U.K. like Peter & Gordon, The Animals, The Spencer Davis Group, and The Honeycombs. This 45 is a good example. The 'A' side is a finely crafted pop tune with excellent vocal harmonies that feature a fair bit of falsetto vocals ala The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys. The flip side on the other hand is a straight up rockabilly tune with a couple of way cool short, but nifty guitar solos. I featured one of their other 45's in IDG #8. Boy, was that a long time ago......

Shane - Don't Turn Me Off / That Girl Of Mine (1965)

Here's another record with some twists and turns in it's history. I won't bore you too much or take you too deep into the weeds, "Shane", whoever he was, also released a 45 as "Kenny Shane". The songs were written by Angelo Spezze and his nephew Ken Ancell who I'm guessing is "Shane", although I could be wrong as usual. Both were involved in a bunch of records including some by "Johnny Shane" that came out on Imperial Records. The End.

Jimmy Rabbit - Wishy Washy Woman / My Girl (1965)

Finally, a 45 that has some concrete information. Jimmy Rabbit was from Dallas Texas and was a DJ at KLIF, a popular radio station in the area at the time. Jimmy thought he'd try his hand at being a rock & roll singer so he released a few 45's in 1965 this being one of them. Originally released on the local "Knight" label, it was picked up nationally by Josie Records. Jimmy had a couple of local 45's, and is probably most famous for his version of "Psychotic Reaction" by the "Positively 13 O'clock", a bona fide garage classic. Thanks to the awesome website Garage Hangover for the info.

Electric Prunes - Get Me To The World On Time / Are You Loving Me More (But Enjoying It Less) (1967)

I can't believe it took me this long to feature this 45 on this blog. The Electric Prunes were one of the better bands from the 60's and their first two albums are great examples of West Coast Psychedelic Garage/Rock. Lead vocalist Jim Lowe who just passed away lead the band through their first three albums, but by the time "Just Good Old Rock And Roll" came out, he had departed and the Electric Prunes weren't the same group. In fact, I believe another band recorded that album and was just credited to "The Electric Prunes". The first two L.P.'s are exceptional and this 45 was their third and the follow up to "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night", a masterpiece if there ever was one. Honorable mention goes to producer Dave Hassinger who helped craft the "Prunes" sound. Hassinger would also produce a few early Grateful Dead albums as well as engineering records for The Rolling Stones, The Mama's & The Papas, Frank Sinatra, and a slew of others that recorded at R.C.A. studios in L.A.

Berkeley Kites - Alice In Wonderland / What Goes Up Must Come Down (1969)

A nice sunshine pop group that had three 45's on Minaret Records. No one is exactly sure where they were from, but Nashville, TN or Florida is a good guess. I wish I had more info.

Berry Street Station - Sick Birds Can't Fly / Sweet City Song (1972???)

Typical weirdo Texas shit from a group that had several 45's on a few local Texas labels, this one from Fort Worth. Don't know much else about them.

Graffiti - He's Got The Knack / Love In Spite (1968)

Supposedly the remnants of Washington D.C.'s "The Hangmen" that relocated to NYC and started up this band managing to get a contract with ABC Records and having their L.P. produced by Bob Thiele who worked with guys like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and a bunch of other wild jazz musicians that ended up on ABC or Impulse! Records. Pretty good heavy psyche with some impressive guitar and keyboard work.

Mighty Manfred & The Wonderdogs - Bo Diddley / By The Time I Get To Phoenix (1969)

An obscure garage group. The 'A' side is a good cover of this classic song, but the flip is rather lame.

Stained Glass - Fahrenheit / Twiddle My Thumbs (1969)

One of my favorite groups from the 60's. The Stained Glass probably should've had more success, but they were hamstrung by major labels that didn't promote them properly. Too bad, they left us with some excellent music.

Ars Nova - Pavan For My Lady (Fall Winter Summer Spring) / Zoroaster (1969)

I'm not sure what to make of some of these groups from the 60's like The New York Rock And Roll Ensemble, or The United States Of America, or as we have here, Ars Nova, a band that incorporated classical music with rock. Sometimes this stuff really missed the mark, but I think this 45 is OK.

HERE

In Dan's Garage...#157

 

Well hello again! 

Ya know...I'm getting real close to retirement age and this extended time off is making me chomp at the bit to throw it all in and live the rest of my "golden years" without gainful employment. Unfortunately, I still need a steady income so I can buy lots more records in the future. Ha Ha Ha!!!! Seriously though, I'm liking this time off and since I've been more independent, so to speak, I've been able to get some "light" projects done here at home. Some tasks are a bit difficult like trying to hang a picture on the wall. I can hold a hammer with my right hand ok, but damn if I can reach up for the hook with my left, and no, I can't hammer with my left or I'll just end up crushing my fingers and that would not be a good thing. But I'm on the mend and healing nicely.

I've been meaning to take a trip out west to Buffalo where I hear the record stores are pretty good. I really need a good three or four hours of serious crate digging for cool 45's. Speaking of 45's, this post continues with more "back of the box" stuff. This is a real scattershot post in that you'll get a bunch of different styles of 60's/70's 45's that range from crude instrumentals to glossy pop and some "Neo Garage" as well. I hope you like it.

Wailers - Tall Cool One / Road Runner (1959)

The Wailers from Tacoma, WA were one of the best band to come out of the Pacific Northwest and were an early example of a "garage band", although I usually classify "garage" as anything that came out after the British Invasion in 1964. Early on they were primarily an instrumental band but evolved into a hard nosed R&B based garage band like they're crosstown pals, The Sonics.

This was their 1st 45 and went to #36 on the Billboard charts with a bullet. They would also back  Rockin' Robin Roberts on his 1961 recording of "Louie Louie" whose version and arrangement pretty much set the template for all other versions to follow.

They carried on all the way into 1967 and recently have had many of their early 45s and L.P.'s re-issued on Norton and Sundazed records.

Baskerville Hounds - Space Rock Part One / Space Rock Part Two (1967)

A really popular Cleveland, Ohio group rips off  the Stones' "2120 South Michigan Ave."

Astronauts - Around And Around / Main Title From "Ride The Wild Surf" (1964)

The Astronauts do an admirable job covering Chuck Berry's classic, in fact they released this in August of 1964, beat the Rolling Stones by a couple of months, but unfortunately never gained enough traction on the charts as The Stones would kick off their debut appearance on Ed Sullivan's show in October the same year with this song and...well...that's a hard act to follow, or catch up with. It also appeared on "12X5" their second album and in fact, the Stones' version could be considered the "definitive" version. So this 45 sort of languished in obscurity, "just another Astronauts 45" so to speak. 

The flip side of this is more in their vein. A great moody surf instrumental that was augmented by a bunch of horns and strings.

Fraternity Bros. - Laugh It Off / I Think It's Me (196?)

Not sure about the origins of this one. It was probably released in late '66 or early '67 but I cannot confirm that.  It was produced by Joe South and was most likely a studio project. Lots of "Four Seasons" influence here...

Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring - Please Don't Forget Tonight / For A Moment (1966)

Not too sure about this one either, but it has the same "Four Seasons" vibe as the previous 45.

Equipe '84 - Io Ho In Mente Te / Resta (Stay) (1966)

Equipe '84 were one of the biggest groups in Italy during the 60's and well into the '70's and beyond. Here they tackle the "We Five's" "You Were On My Mind" sung in Italian, and do a decent version of "Stay" on the 'B' side.

Outside of the garage, psyche, bubblegum, sunshine pop etc. that I usually collect, I have a strange fascination with Italian 45's. I have a bunch here, and someday I may do posts on them, although none of what I have falls into "garage" or "psychedelic'. It's mostly what I call "San Remo Pop" from the 60's and 70's. perhaps in the future I may entertain you with that....

Candymen - Georgia Pines (1967)

Ask, and you shall receive.

Main Attraction - Everyday / One Must Cry (1968)

A pop group from Pittsburgh that managed to get an entire LP released on Tower. Interesting arrangements with lots of slick background vocals, some strings, and a Farfisa organ that gives this somewhat well produced 45 a cheezy garage vibe. Not too bad.

Marbles - Only One Woman / By The Light Of A Burning Candle (1968)

The back story on The Marbles is a bit more interesting than the music on this 45, in my opinion. Obviously this British duo which comprised of Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon worked very closely with The Bee Gees who wrote the songs and produced this 45. Gordon played lead guitar on some of The Bee Gees early cuts and The Bee Gees backed him in 1965 on "Little Miss Rhythm And Blues", a terrific slice of Australian R&B Garage Beat. Fast forward to 1967, Gordon leaves for Britain hooks up with his cousin Graham Bonnet and joins the Graham Bonnet Set who later evolved inti The Marbles. Being friends with the Gibb Bros certainly helped as they wrote about a half dozen songs for the duo. They eventually broke up around 1970, Gordon leaving the music business not before releasing a couple of solo LP's and Bonnet would take a turn as a hard rock/heavy metal singer replacing Ronnie James Dio in Rainbow (?) and also doing some time in Alcatraz, The Michael Schenker Group, and released a solo LP featuring the likes of Cozy Powell, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Stays Quo, Mick Moody from Whitesnake, and Deep Purple legend Jon Lord.

As for this 45...it sounds like the Bee Gees had their fingerprints all over it. Not exactly a bad thing.

Marmalade - Hey Joe! / Lovin' Things (1968)

I got this 45 real cheap with a bunch of other stuff and I said to myself, Dan???, how bad could this be? Well, it's pretty damn good. The Marmalade from Glasgow, had a slew 45's before they hit it real big in 1970 with "Reflections Of My Life", a song that was played to death on AM radio here in the states. I always considered them a one hit wonder, but after a lot of digging I found out that this group were very talented and accomplished. A pleasant surprise I might say.

Think - Stop Runnin' Away / Faster Faster (1968)

A west coast group that had two 45's on Columbia. A decent 45 albeit with a lot of brass involved.

Wishbone Ash - Blind Eye / Queen Of  Torture (1971)

The first 45 released by this fantastic band in 1971. I was very fortunate to see Wishbone Ash last November here in Upstate New York at club called "Fanatics" in what one would call a "very intimate" setting. The current lineup which still features Andy Powell on lead guitar is still touring and if they come around to where you live, I would definitely check them out.

Last Nikle - She's The One (1969)

I should have put this one before the Wishbone Ash 45. Heavy brass on this one. Not too bad, but some out there may wretch...

Detroit - Rock And Roll / Box Of Old Roses (1971)

I remember my brother Vinny telling me about this band once when we were having a conversation about Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, and what a great band they were. He mentioned them and said they had this one-off LP released after The Detroit Wheels sort of broke up and told me how they were a great hard rock band. So I'm in The Bop Shop around 1988 and I see this 45 and say what the hell. I played it once, filed it and really never listened to it much. This one here kind of aged like fine wine because when I put on the turntable some 20 years later, I was blessed with some of the finest early 70's hard rock sounds ever. Now, mind you, this was a song I heard Lou Reed sing a gazillion times on "Rock 'N Roll Animal', perhaps one of the finest live LP's ever (in my humble opinion), and wouldn't ya know? Guitar whiz Steve Hunter, the man who laid down some of the finest riffs in hard rock lore with Reed and Aerosmith is playing lead guitar on the A side of this gem. This, again in my humble opinion, is the definitive version of this song. Mitch just blows this out vocally and his backing band is top notch, thanks to Hunter's guitar work and Ryder's trusty drummer and Detroit Wheels band-mate Johnny "Bee" Badanjeck. A+

Free-Men - Elanor Rigby (1969)

I put more instrumentals in this post than I usually do. It really wasn't planned that way, but it's what I came up with. I sometimes have fun getting weird covers of Beatle songs, and this is one of them. I'm guessing "The Free-Men" were a studio group of some kind and I don't exactly know where they were from, but New York City may be a good guess...or not. This sounds like it may have been recorded as a background for a TV commercial or perhaps the intro to some cheezy local late night talk show.

HERE

 

In Dan's Garage...#156

 

Hey everybody. Back again with some more 45's for all to sample. Right now I'm just grabbing things randomly and ripping them, in fact I got some pretty good mojo workin' here as all the keystrokes it takes to rip and edit this blog are coming to me effortlessly. Practice makes perfect I guess. The only thing I'm avoiding is posting 45s with the same label in the same post, aside from that anything goes except for obvious stinkers (in my opinion) that I'm just not going to bother with. 

This last Monday was be six weeks since having surgery and I'm starting to feel like I'm on the mend. I disposed the sling and I'm feeling somewhat normal again, although I have a few more months of rehab, but in the meantime I can keep plugging away here. Enjoy.

U.S. Six - I Do Love You / The Push (1964)

HEY! Let's start with a total dead end!!!! Outside of the fact that this 45 came out on Ascot records, I know nothing about this group. One lead suggested they were from San Jose, CA, but that's iffy. 'A; side is a really cool mid-tempo minor chord ballad, and the flip is pretty good garage/soul.

Balloon Corps - Muddy Water / Make It Right (1969)

The Balloon Corps were from somewhere in Pennsylvania and were previously known as The Snaps and The Underground Balloon Corps. Nice rockin' two sider from the late 60's.

Candymen - Movies In My Mind (1967)

I probably should've ripped both sides of this 45 but "Georgia Pines" was somewhat of a hit in '67 so I left it out. The flip is a really interesting number though with a really nice hook. The Candymen were Roy Orbison's backing band in the mid 60's and several of the band members were involved in The Classics IV who's "Spooky" was a huge hit, and then they evolved into "The Atlanta Rhythm Section" in the 70's. Let me know in the comments if you want the 'A' side posted.

Russ Alquist - Ordinary Morning / Fly Free As A Bird (1966)

Russ Alquist's story is rather interesting. He was married to British actress Juliet Mills and wrote or co-wrote songs for The Fourmost, Herman's Hermits, Chad & Jeremy, and collaborated with the British songwriting team of  Carter and Lewis who were responsible for several hits in the mid-sixties as well as a slew of lesser known songs for a bunch of other acts. This was Russ' only recording and in my opinion is perfect mid-sixties pop. I can't say for sure, but the Wrecking Crew probably backed him on this gem.

The Red Baron - Gonna Get You In The End / Cowboy (1967)

Not much is known about "The Red Baron" A/K/A David "Von" Garber. He did have this one 45 in '67 and fortunately it has nothing to do with the "Snoopy" craze that The Royal Guardsmen were responsible for, in fact, the 'A' side sounds kind of demented. Hell, the 'B' side is a wee bit out there as well. Perhaps it's because genius producer Tom Wilson was involved in this affair.

Thanes - So Alone / If She Were Here (1968)

The Thanes were from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and had this one very moody 45 that only came out in Canada. Sorry for the poor shape of this record. I tried doing some "fixing" on the desktop, but I couldn't manage to get all of the crackles out. Not to be confused with the with the 80's band from Scotland.

Traffic featuring Steve Winwood - Paper Sun / Giving To You (1967)

I know this is a well known song by a well known band, but this particular version of "Paper Sun" is mixed somewhat differently than the LP version and is a bit shorter, perhaps for radio play. The 45 is also credited to "Traffic featuring Steve Winwood" as this 45 came out a couple of months after he left The Spencer Davis Group, probably because Spencer Davis' "Somebody Help Me" was still on the charts. 

The Alan Bown! - Gypsy Girl / All I Can (1969)

Alan Bown started his career playing with the John Barry Seven and eventually left that group and took a couple of other members with him and formed The Alan Bown Set. They were an R&B group not unlike Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames and started releasing records in 1965. They would evolve into more of a pop/psyche group in the later 60'sreleasing an LP here in the states on Music Factory records. They dropped the "Set" and added the ! to their name in 1967 although in the U.S. they would simply be known as "The Alan Bown" until this 45 from 1969 which would be their last release here. 

Right about the time this record was put out and getting some steam on the charts, lead vocalist Jess Roden left and was replaced by none other than Robert Palmer. "Gypsy Girl" was re-recorded with Palmer on vocals but in the U.S. we got the original song with Roden. Sax player John Helliwell and bassist Dougie Thompson eventually hooked up with Supertramp and enjoyed huge success with them.

Group Therapy - Bad News (1967)

One of several bands that called themselves "Group Therapy" during the 60's, this band was bassist Leland Sklar's first band. I skipped the 'A' side of this because I couldn't get past the first 30 seconds of schmaltz, but on second listen, it get's better, although it kinda sounds a bit like a Partridge Family song, That's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll throw it on the next effort.

Affection Collection - Feelin' Fine / Can't Put Her Down (1971)

From Idaho Falls, ID, The Affection Collection trucked down to Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM to record this and in fact, all their records. That's a 16 hour drive! Their perseverance earned them seven 45's on Maudz, Evolution, and United Artists records all decent songs that range from folk rock to pop.  

Beast - Move Mountain (You Got it) / Communication (1970)

A Denver, CO group that also recorded at Norman Petty's studio although their trip only took about 7 to 8 hours. Nice heavy stuff here. They had two LP's, one on Cotillion and one on Evolution.

Boffolongo - Please Stay / Mr. Go Away (1969)

I'm breaking my rule of putting more than one 45 of the same label in a post. So much for quality control. Boffolongo, from what I can gather, was a band from Ithaca, NY, a mere 2 hours away from Dan's Garage central. They were Cornell University students at the time and managed to record two LP's before they broke up. Some of them migrated to Paris and worked as session musicians and eventually headed back to the states, regrouped, and formed King Harvest who had a memorable AM radio hit with "Dancing In The Moonlight" This 45 is pretty good up-tempo pop/rock and "Mr. Go Away", to my ears, sound kinda like Procol Harum. By the way, Boffolongo released the first version of "Dancing In The Moonlight" in 1970 but apparently had no success with it.

Majic Ship - Hummin / It's Over (1969)

I have two copies of this 45. The one you see here on Crazy Horse, which incidentally was pressed by Capitol records, and the original which appeared on the local Magic-L label. This copy popped up in my pile of stuff  and unfortunately it's pretty trashed. I tried to let Audacity do some "pop and crackle" voodoo on it, but it's still pretty crispy.

The Majic Ship were from Long Island, and were a typical band from that location and era, ya know, Heavy Hammond B-3 organ not unlike their fellow Long Islanders The Vanilla Fudge and The Hassles. who also covered Hummin'. Unlike The Hassles version which has some horns in it trying to get that Stax Records vibe, the horns on this record sounds like they were recorded in a different building, or just an afterthought.

Thomas And Richard Frost - Got To Find The Light / St. Petersburgh (1972)

Tom and Rich Martin A/K/A Thomas And Richard Frost were a duo from San Mateo, CA that had a very interesting history. They played in a surf band called the Impressions and then went on to form The Art Collection and backed New Zealander Ray Columbus after he left the Invaders and moved to the U.S. They then went on to form a power pop group called "Powder", that did the freakbeat/mod thing ala The Who and did it quite well I might add. I've only heard one song by them, "Gladly" that sounds like it was recorded in the U.K. sometime in 1966 or '67. Real good stuff. The two garnered attention from Imperial Records and recorded a handful of 45's before recording an entire LP for Uni in 1972. This was the only 45 from that album and it definitely shows a shift in styles from their earlier work.

HERE

 

 

In Dan's Garage...#155

Hey everybody! I got to work "fast-fast" on this latest offering knowing that I didn't want to lollygag with all this spare time on my hands. I have a bunch of 45's in my collection that fall somewhat outside of what I usually offer up, ya know, garage, psychedelic, etc. These were to have been set aside for "Dan's Leftovers", a blog that never really got off the ground which is unfortunate because this stuff is actually quite good given it's context. I could post a bunch of Perry Como records and still call them leftovers, but that stuff is actually what I consider the "flotsam and jetsam" of my collection. These 45's are all worthy of a spin even if it makes a lot of hardcore garage/psyche collectors cringe, but hey, who knows??? You may find something you like here. I did one of these way back which was a two part post (IDG #66) and I dispensed with descriptions. This time I'll add my impeccable commentary, but I'll try to keep it brief. These pretty much fall into the "Sunshine Pop, Pop Vocal" category with some bubblegum and teener stuff thrown in. I hope you like it.

April Fools - Things Go Better With You / You Won't Be There (1968)

If you're older, like myself, you may recall Coca Cola's pitch back in the 60's was "things go better with Coke", a line that's stuck in my head since then. It looks like this song was a play on that phrase. I'm not sure who the April Fools were. They seem to be a studio concoction of Wayne Carson Thompson, a prolific songwriter out of Nashville who's biggest achievement was writing "The Letter" for The Box Tops, a mega international hit that was covered by Joe Cocker, The Arbors, Leon Russell , and several others including my present band who mixes into our set lists on occasion. This is definitely a pop tune with some twinges of bubblegum, perhaps it should just be classified as a "bubblegum" song. Nice tune, but the flip, which I sorely neglected until I played it, is actually better and sounds like a different group. Apparently, this was a big hit in Anchorage, Alaska in '68. Go figure.

Centuries - Don't Let It Fade Away / Just Today (1966)

I remember picking this 45 up in a huge $1 bin of 45's back in 1986 at a record show in Albany and having high hopes. Cool label, cool band name, but alas, it turned out to be somewhat disappointing. The Centuries were a big deal in Oklahoma City back in the mid-sixties. They played all over the place, appeared on TV, and released two 45's. If you want some real detail on their story check it out HERE at Garage Hangover, perhaps the best website dedicated to lost bands from the 60's.

Rick and Al - All I Do Is Dream Of You / The Story (1963)

Here's a nice "teener" 45 from 1963 by Rick, who is Rickie Page, wife of producer George Matola and Al who is Al DeLory. Both were session musicians and this looks to be a one-off effort.

Arbors - I Can't Quit Her / Lovin' Tonight (Maybe Tonight) (1969)

The Arbors were a very nice soft pop vocal group from Ann Arbor, MI. They remind me of The Critters of "Mr. Dieingly Sad" fame. The had some fame covering "The Letter" (as I mentioned previously) and released a whopping 13 45's, not including double sided promos. This one here is pretty much more of the same.

Tom & Ellen - Too Many Things / My Up Is My Down (1966)

Another one-off effort this time from a duo consisting of Tom Everett, a musician and actor who I must admit have never seen or heard of, and Ellen who was his collaborator at the time. Aside from having top tier producers like Joe Wissert and the famous Koppelman & Rubin team behind it, this is a pretty good folk/pop two sider with some great 12 string guitar work and great production, naturally.

Free Design - You Be You And I'll Be Me / Never Tell The World (1968)

The Free Design are considered to be something of an influential pop group in that they incorporated some jazz and progressive touches to their music. They originated in Delevan, NY, a small town just southwest of Rochester but ended up in Greenwich Village like so many other vocal artists did at the time. They released all their music on Project 3 records which used cutting edge recording technology at the time.

Society's Children - Live For Today (1968)

I had to do a little bit of digging around for info on this 45 and what I came up with is that Society's Children's songs were mostly written by Wayne Wadhams and Don Askew and produced by Steve & Bill Jerome who were all involved with The Fifth Estate of "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" fame, which leads me to believe that this was a side project of that group. If I'm totally wrong about this, please correct me in the comments section.

Life Cycle - My Karma / I Wanna Live (1970)

Almost certainly a studio project by Hickory records out of Nashville. Nice background music for that groovy summer cocktail party you're having in your backyard this summer.

Peppermint Rainbow - Don't Wake Me Up In The Morning Michael / Rosemary (1969)

The Peppermint Rainbow were a pop vocal group not unlike The Mama's And The Papas and The 5th Dimension, Spanky And Our Gang, etc. They were good but perhaps missed out on real fame and fortune due to the glut of groups like this that were floating around in the mid sixties.

San Francisco Earthquake - Hold The Night / Sophia (1969)

More from Bill & Steve Jerome here, this time with The San Francisco Earthquake most likely another studio project. The songs were written by Kenny Young most famous for writing the hit "Under The Boardwalk". I barely played this 45 but time has a habit of erasing bad memories so when i plopped this on the turntable, I was pleasantly surprised. This 45 is actually a very good sunshine pop record. They had four other 45's all on Smash.

Bazooka - Boo On You (1968)

A bubblegum 45 written, and presumably sung, by a guy named Austin Roberts who I know nothing about. Apparently he had a sizable hit in 1975 with a song called "Rocky", one of those sad life tales that bands and artists were constantly singing about on AM radio back in the early 70's.

Utopia Parkway - Come With Me / I Don't Understand You (1970)

From what I could gather, The Utopia Parkway evolved from "The Sintrifical Fours" who had two 45's on Mr. G Records in 1968. 

Jamestown Massacre - Summer Sun (1972)

The Jamestown Massacre were from Chicago and had this particular 45 released twice, The other issue got national distribution and is on Warner Brothers Records. Unfortunately, hits eluded this group, but their lead singer Dave Bickler ended up in "Survivor" and had a huge hit in 1983 with "Eye Of The Tiger".

Harmony Dawg - Schoolboy Promises / Full Moon Child (1976)

This 45 here is perhaps the most obscure and certainly the rockin'-est 45 in this posting. I pulled this one out on the outside chance I could get my turntable to play this thing as it had some warp damage on the edge that kept it from playing properly on my other machines. Luckily with a few adjustments, I got it to play rather well considering its condition. I can't say for sure where these guys are from, the person I bought it from is in the Dayton, OH area so it's possible they're from that area. It's a Rite Records pressing, so Cincinnati or the northern Kentucky area may be another possibility. Anyway, it's not a bad 45 and the six plus minute 'B' side is pretty epic.

Before I send you to the link, I'd like to show my gratitude to Garage Hangover, a truly great website dedicated to lost bands from the 60's, for providing me (and you) with much needed info on many of these records. My intention is not to poach or claim that I did any original research here. I just want to acknowledge and thank them for their hard work and keeping this stuff alive.

HERE