Here are some of my random thoughts and words about obscure and in-demand 1960s garage and psychedelic singles over the years.
THE COUNTDOWNS – ’She Works All Night’/’Skies Will Be Happy To See You’ (WG Records WG-1) June 1967
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles: Simple and effective up-tempo teenbeat without any of the studio embellishments like fuzz, wah-wah or sound FX you’d expect from something released in mid 1967.
I doubt if anyone but the group themselves laid down the instrumentation, in other words no professional studio musicians.
The drummer at times is all over the place but he manages to keep everything together, although he was probably exhausted by the end of the take.
Teenbeat Mayhem! lists The Countdowns with a South Hadley Falls, MA location. As far as I know only ’Skies Will Be Happy To See You’ has been compiled before, on one of those ancient Gone albums from the mid 80s.
THE DISTANT COUSINS – ’Let It Ring’/’To Have And To Hold’ (Dynovox 203) March 1965
The Distant Cousins were NYC based duo Larry Brown and Raymond Bloodworth. They met while serving with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and soon discovered that they had a love for and similar tastes in music. It appears that the British Invasion sounds of beat rockers and in particular slow beat ballads were their niche.
’Let It Ring’ recalls English groups like The Poets and The Tremeloes with it’s up-tempo beat, strummed acoustic guitars and bursts of harmonica. This was about as exciting as The Distant Cousins ever got on record.
They offered their more beatsville songs to Richard and the Young Lions, although the flip ’To Have And To Hold’ is very much soft pop and was indeed a Young Lions flip side.
Brilliant Dynovox label design by the way if you haven’t noticed.
Paul Payton:
To Have and To Hold, a pretty acoustic-guitar-based song, was the original A side. We gave it a little airplay at WBRU in Providence when it was new. Very nice. I didn’t remember Let It Ring till I just played it; it seems better than I remember it.
THE COMFORTABLE CHAIR – STARS IN HEAVEN (Ode 212-44005) November 1968
I have found an entry in Billboard circa November 1968 advertising this album as a new release. It was probably released at the same time as their second single, although various reference guides give a 1969 release.
The album is a varied bag of songs ranging from psychedelic rockers (previously reviewed 45s) and slightlydelic ballads. Another stand out song though and perhaps my favourite Comfortable Chair song is the trippy ’Stars In Heaven’.
’Stars In Heaven,’ despite the song title, sounds quite disturbing and somewhat sinister with it’s heavy bass drone and gregorian style chant, reminiscent of The Yardbirds ’Turn Into Earth’.
line-up:
Bernie Schwartz (lead vocals)
Barbara Wallace (lead vocals, woodwinds and percussion)
Gene Garfin (guitar)
Tad Baczek (keyboards)
Gary Davis (bass)
Greg Leroy (lead guitar)
Warner Davis (drums)
THE COMFORTABLE CHAIR – ’I’ll See You’/’Now’ (Ode ZS7 112) October 1968
A second Comfortable Chair single quickly followed their debut ’Be Me’ but it appears to have remained in obscurity ever since. Both sides were again taken from the long player with the psych rocker ’I’ll See You’ pushed as the A-Side.
The marching drums intro gives way to ringing guitar and hippie woodwind instrumentation. Several West Coast groups favoured this style along with the combination of male/female vocals.
For that reason I’m surprised that the 45 was not a hit record. It appears to have gone unnoticed, even in Los Angeles.
Another huge surprise is the fact that The Comfortable Chair are still largely unknown probably due to the fact that none of their songs have ever appeared on psych compilations over the years.
THE COMFORTABLE CHAIR – ’Be Me’/’Some Soon, Some Day’ (Ode ZS7-109) August 1968
After the release of the Adrian Pride single on Warner Bros in late 1966, Bernie Schwartz appears to have been without a record label but was still just as active writing songs that were recorded by various Los Angeles outfits during 1967. Check out 45s by The East Side Kids, The Yellow Payges and The Power.
1967 also saw the formation of Bernie Schwartz’s next project, The Comfortable Chair which was largely made up of L.A. ’flower power’ hippies devoted to transcendental meditation.
The group started writing songs and were talent spotted by John Densmore and Robbie Krieger from The Doors.
Ode Records then offered the group a record deal in 1968. I have found a couple of entries in Billboard trade magazine from July ’68 confirming the signing as well as information that The Comfortable Chair would be appearing in the Hollywood film ’How To Commit Marriage’ which was made in 1968 but not released until the following year.
sonic frenzy
’Be Me’ is probably the most immediate track from their album with it’s funky groove and powerful Hammond organ sound. The sonic frenzy of the freak-out ending is way too cool. An edited version of this song appeared in ’How To Commit Marriage’ showing the group in their vibrant psychedelic clothes…
The flip ’Some Soon, Some Day’ is also taken from their album.
Reader comments:
I have always thought that the Comfortable Chair album was rather patchy (most of the best tracks are on the 45’s), ”How To Commit Marriage” is well worth watching next time it’s on UK TV, if only to see Bob Hope dressed as a hippie! There is clear footage of a 7 piece Comfortable Chair (one of the actresses ”sings” with them).
I have seen it mentioned that Jim Morrison sings backup on the album, but I fear that it is just wishful thinking…
The official website for The Comfortable Chair is http://www.comfortable-chair.com, if you’re interested. Jim Morrison did not sing on the album but John Densmore did play drums on one track.
Agreed with Keith B, but I must add that ”Some Soon, Some Day” is one of the most beautiful songs committed to tape during those heady creative times.
The vocal blend is exquisite, the instrumentation is delicate, and the ending still sends shivers down my spine. These guys deserved a far better fate than total obscurity.
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles
ADRIAN PRIDE – ’Her Name Is Melody’ / ’I Go To Sleep’ (Warner Bros 5867) Oct 1966
For those of you out there in 60s pop psych land please direct your mind and ears to this brilliant piece of raga psychedelia by future Comfortable Chair leader Bernie Schwartz.
For reasons known only to himself he recorded the classy ’Her Name Is Melody’ as Adrian Pride.
Coolsville wavery vocals wrap around the hypnotic raga melody. This one is out to blow minds but probably got no radio plays so was a wasted trippy experience. I only found out about this gem after it was compiled on Rhino’s ’Hallucinations’ CD set in 2004.
The flip is a cover of The Kinks ballad ’I Go To Sleep’. This version has echoey production and a dreamy feel to it. The production by the way was by label mates Don and Phil Everly.
I rec’d an email from Bernie Schwartz recently (Oct 2007) and he confirmed that the name Adrian Pride was made up by producer Phil Everly. Bernie can’t recall the reason why.
Updated post from 25/09/07
Paul Payton:
It did make it to the radio – I’m proud to have played it on WBRU in Providence and WHCN in Hartford. Good sides – and thank you for the exposure on all the Comfortable Chair tracks; ”Some Soon, Some Day” is an all-time fave.
Also, Bernie Schwartz’s solo album has the incredible rave-up ”Follow Me.” That one would be worth posting, too. Keep up the good work!
One of the first 60s garage comps I bought was ’Attack Of The Jersey Teens’ in late 1984 or early ’85. I would have bought this in the same order from Funhouse Records with other acclaimed garage comps ’Back From The Grave Volumes 1 & 2’.
To say those three comps had an impact on my life is an understatement. I was always fascinated by the picture on the front of the ’Jersey Teens’ comp. Look at those young lads. The lead guitarist was 14 years old at the time. His lead guitar breaks on The Young Monkeymen 45s are killer.
I just LOVE this comp and it’s been one of my very favourite collections for almost 30 years. Amazing how time flies. When I started collecting 45s in earnest about 10 years ago I decided to focus some of my attention on the discs released by groups from the small State of New Jersey.
I’ve acquired quite a few over the years including most from ’Attack Of The Jersey Teens’.
There are plenty other cool 45s by the likes of The Satyrs, The Yorkshire Puddin’, The Trees, The Bucaneers’s, The Abstract Sound, Galaxies IV and The Myddle Class – plus others.
Now that I’ve completed my MILAN project I’ve been inspired enough to create an expanded 2CD set of ’Attack Of The Jersey Teens’, It will be my next homemade creation for January 2013.
TOMMY RAYE – ’You Don’t Love Me’/’Don’t Let Me Be The Last to Know’ (Pen Records 351) 196?
I’m kind of out of my comfort zone with this 45 as I didn’t know anything about Tommy Raye until I did some investigations today. It seems that Tommy sometimes went by the name of Tommy Tucker to confuse me even more. I know the song from Sonny & Cher.
What I do know is best represented by my ears and feel for music. ’You Don’t Know Me’ is a solid mod R&B mover with some tasty guitar and organ interplay.
Tommy’s soulful vocals are just right for the laid back vibe, only he’s singing about the fact that his girl doesn’t love him any more so maybe he should be sounding a bit more pissed off. Perhaps he’s glad she’s gonna do a runner?
The song writing credit is given to Willie Cobbs, he released his version of the song back in 1961. Truth is certainly stranger than fiction as we sometimes know and it appears than the originator of the song is Bo Diddley. He wrote the song but it’s original title was ’She’s Fine, She’s Mine’ releasing it on Checker Records back in 1955.
Pen Records operated out of Memphis Tennessee. I’m not sure if Tommy Raye had this released on XL Records first, then on Pen Records but I’m sure those with a better knowledge than me will confirm one way or the other.
Advertised in Billboard July 11, 1964. It entered the Cash Box single chart (looking ahead) as #143 on August 8, 1964 (peaking the following week at #141). JC
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles
PINNOCHIO & THE PUPPETS – ’Fusion’/’Cowboys and Indians’ (Mercury 72659) 1967
This record is most definitely my favourite find of 2012 and I’m delighted to add it to my collection. When The Teddy Boys were either dropped by their label or simply decided to try something mind-blowingly psychedelic with a different name, they came up with this impressive two sided instrumental.
’Fusion’ is perhaps what it suggests in the title. It’s a fusion of western rock music with eastern raga, a heady combination when you hear the results. The flip ’Cowboys and Indians’ is another fine psychedelic piece, this time with a surf guitar riff. An absolute killer of a 45 in my opinion.
After this one-off release on Mercury the group changed their name to Mortimer and had some success with a couple of singles and an album on Philips.
Both sides of the disc were arranged by Lou Adessa. I did a little research on the latter and he was responsible or at least co-wrote two Flower Bomb Songs worthy tunes that were recorded by The Cyrkle and Paul Revere and the Raiders.
His songs ’Camero’ and ’SS 396’ were manufactured by Columbia Records and supplied to Chevrolet Car Dealers and given free to customers who test drove the new 1967 Camero – ”The Swinging Chevy Circle”.
line-up:
Bob Ronga
Guy Masson
Tom Smith
Tony van Benschoten
THE WEIRD STREET CARNIVAL – ’The Inner Truth’/’The Subterranean Edible Fungus’ (Copra Record CO-2305) 1968
I’ve had this great 45 for years but for some reason never got around to writing about it until now. I did some internet searching and found out that Garagehangover got there first almost six years ago to the day. Check out the group pictures and information from various group members.
The Weird Street Carnival were based in Mt Kisco, NY and actually started performing together back in 1964 but it took several line-up and moniker changes before they were able to raise enough funds to get into a recording studio in 1968.
The top side was the Dylanesque and strangely named ’The Subterranean Edible Fungus’. It was confirmed by group member Rick Garfinkel that they were almost called The Subterranean Edible Fungus but decided to call the song that title instead.
Far more interesting to me is the garage psych flip ’The Inner Truth’ written by Producer George Thorn-Fragos. The haunting organ sound giving the song it’s eeriness.
None of the group were into lysergic psychedelics, the song just came out this way!
UNITED NATIONS – ’In My Dreams’/’Cause I Love You’ (Cha Cha Records C-771) 1966
This is an obscure 45 from Chicago that may have been the work of a duo. Both songs are credited to Bob Economous and William Archibald (his surname is miss-spelled on label).
’In My Dreams’ is perhaps the more immediate side which is a pleasant and slow paced folk rocker. It also borrows heavily from The Beatles ’You Won’t See Me’, the ’Rubber Soul’ album cut. In fact I’d go as far to say that it’s a blatant steal.
I’m sure The Beatles legal team would have been involved had this record become a hit of any sort.
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles
THE CHOIR – ’When You Were With Me’/’Changin’ My Mind’ (Roulette R-7005) January 1968
The sound on both sides of this disc is a long way from the superlative sounds on ’It’s Cold Outside’/’I’m Going Home’ which must rank as one of the very best two siders of all time.
The Choir struggled to repeat the success of that record and by the end of 1967 were recording music that was commercial pop.
’When You Were With Me’ is a strong orchestrated pop song with some brass flourishes. The rich textures of the vocals makes it stand along some of the more introspective Left Banke tunes.
The flip ’Changin’ My Mind’ is in the same pop style and reminds me of late period Beach Boys. Strangely, this song did not get compiled on either of Sundazed releases ’Choir Practice’ or ’Psychedelic Microdots Volume 3’ where The Choir have five of their songs intact.
Reading the liners of ’Psychedelic Microdots’ it appears that The Choir did not play their instruments on these songs, instead Roulette used session musicians. Jeff Jarema describes ’Changin’ My Mind’ as unmentionable!
RILEY WYLDFLOWER – ’The Smog Song’/’Electric California’ (Beacon Records BCN-1) 196?
When I reviewed The Gentle Soul 45 ’Tell Me Love’ a member of the group, guitarist Riley Wyldflower, sounded like an intriguing musician to find out more about.
As a consequence, I’ve been trying to find his record ’The Smog Song’/’Electric California’ for the best part of a year.
I finally managed to track down a copy last month for $45. It’s condition wasn’t the best, it had definitely seen better days and looked like it hadn’t been in a protective sleeve for decades.
It’s also on blue vinyl. Thankfully, it may look dog eared but it plays rather well.
’The Smog Song’ is what I would call ’hippie blues’ and I’m in no doubt that both sides of the disc were recorded after Riley’s stint with The Gentle Soul. Probably late 1968 or 1969.
The song is notable for the spoken intro of a news reader describing that people in the City were collapsing with smog poisoning. Maybe the city in question is San Francisco?
Peter Tork involvement
The other side ’Electric California’ is much more experimental and was written by B. Boatman. I did some research on the producers/co-songwriters Boatman and Shryock but didn’t come up with much.
G. Shryock may be the producer that power pop group 20/20 used for their 1978 recordings.
It appears that Riley Wyldflower’s real name is Riley Cummings. He hooked up with Peter Tork and played with Tork’s group in 1968-69.
Striking out on his own, he formed a group called ’Peter Tork And/Or Release’ with girlfriend Reine Stewart on drums (she had played drums on part of 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee), Riley ”Wildflower” Cummings on bass and – sometimes – singer/keyboard player Judy Mayhan.
Tork said in April 1969, ”We sometimes have four. We’re thinking of having a rotating fourth. Right now, the fourth is that girl I’m promoting named Judy Mayhan”. ”We’re like Peter’s back-up band”, added Stewart, ”except we happen to be a group instead of a back-up band.”
Release hoped to have a record out immediately, and Tork has said that they did record some demos, which he may still have stored away somewhere.
According to Stewart the band were supposed to go to Muscle Shoals as the back
ing band for Mayhan’s Atlantic Records solo album Moments (1970) but they were ultimately replaced. They mainly played parties for their ”in” friends and one of their songs was considered for the soundtrack to Easy Rider, but the producers – who had also produced Head – eventually decided not to include it.
Release could not secure a record contract, and by 1970 Tork was once again a solo artist.”
thanks to Eric Bluhm for the info regarding the Peter Tork connection.
UPDATE:
In June 2013 I was contacted by Riley Wyldflower’s sister Lisa Mattioni. Lisa kindly sent me a photograph of Riley and information relevant to this rare 45.
My brother, Riley, wrote ”The Smog Song” to call attention to the lack of air quality in Los Angeles in 1967. Being the 60’s, it was also a tongue in cheek reference to smoking marijuana.
I have a photo of him, standing in the hills overlooking LA in a gas mask that he’d intended to have put on a cover for the 45 rpm record that you have.
Reader comments:
May I be bold enough to suggest that it might be the production team of Bill Boatman and Gordon Shryock who were tied in with the Gary Lewis, Leon Russell – JJ Cale crowd in Los Angeles and Oklahoma. Regards – Jason Odd
A great track and a real obscurity, the comments on Easy Rider were interesting, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s ”Find The Cost Of Freedom” was written to be the closing song on the film, but Steve Stills and Peter Fonda argued over copyright, and finally Fonda called his pal McGuinn to come to the rescue with ”The Ballad Of Easy Rider”.
Another character who was supposedly involved in the Release project was Joey Richards (who co-wrote ”For Pete’s Sake” with Tork), and under the alias Jory Richards was the mastermind behind The Lollipop Fantasy.
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles
SONNY & CHER – ’So Fine’ (Atlantic 587006) April 1966
The follow up Sonny & Cher studio album ’The Wondrous World Of’ didn’t take too long to follow it’s million selling predecessor and it’s got plenty of tracks to get me interested in including fine versions of ’Summertime’, a Kinks cover ’Set Me Free’ and a version of ’Leave Me Be’ originally recorded by The Zombies.
The last cut on side two is something of a surprise though. ’So Fine’ has them at the 60s rockin’ best and it’s a direction they should have experimented with more often.
The song was recorded much earlier in 1964 by English R’n’B group The Beat Merchants.
Once again, Gold Star Studios in Hollywood were used and according to the back cover credits, Sonny Bono arranged and produced all of the material.
SONNY & CHER – ’You Don’t Love Me’ (Atlantic ATL 5036) August 1965
Sonny & Cher had a sprinkling of ’Flower Bomb Songs’ and over the years they have appeared before with ’It’s Gonna Rain’, read about that B-Side and ’Look At Us’ album cut and a Cher solo 45 was highlighted.
’Look At Us’ sold millions worldwide in it’s day but is a mostly watered down, radio friendly version of the folk-rock boom that was all over Los Angeles during 1965.
It’s with that in my that it’s no surprise that the kids were whipped up into a frenzy to buy anything Sonny & Cher during this time.
Tommy Raye’s cool R&B tune ’You Don’t Love Me’ gets covered and for my money is the best track on the album. It’s got the perfect ’65 sound with that all important echo. crunching guitar and bass noise that we’ve come to expect from most things recorded at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.
THE ALLIES – ’I’ll Sell My Soul’/’Burning Flask’ (Valiant Records V-748) September 1966
Valiant Records had the knack of releasing the odd thunderous garage swinger and straight after releasing the soft pop of ’Cherish’ by The Association the label unleashed this L.A. band’s non hit wonder.
Mystery surrounds The Allies and little is known about them but over these two sides the band had the talent and the power to make a deep impression on me. ’I’ll Sell My Soul’ is perhaps their most famous song.
It’s been compiled a couple of times but the folk punk intensity of ’Burning Flask’ has not surfaced before.
THE KINGSMEN – ‘(I Have Found) Another Girl’ (Wand WDM 675) January 1967
The Kingsmen from Portland, Oregon, need no introduction but a little known beat rocker from their ’Up And Away’ album probably does. ‘(I Have Found) Another Girl’ was a group original written by Dick Peterson and Barry Curtis but was strangely never released as a single despite it’s glowing review from Mel Shayne, their Manager, on the back of the album cover.
Here’s what Mel wrote:
‘(I Have Found) Another Girl’ which has hit potentiality, combines a wild pulsing beat with a strong harmonic blend. The tune was written by Dick Peterson in collaboration with Barry Curtis, currently serving in Vietnam, whose original berth with The Kingsmen is being held for his return.
RAINBOW – ’4 Leaf Clover’ (GNP Crescendo GNPS 2049) August 1969
This is a curiosity by a group called Rainbow who self produced this album for GNP Crescendo and in W. David Mohr had someone who could write their songs.
All cuts are self penned apart from a wimpy version of ’I Just Want To Make Love To You’ which just doesn’t work slowed down to walking pace.
The album sounds like what it is. Basically a bunch of Californian hippies messing about in the studio. Some of this makes for interesting listening such as the stoned ’Midnight Candle’ but some, including the piano led instrumental ’After The Storm’ had me almost falling asleep.
At one point I was looking around for the cat to play with, it was so tedious.
I like short snappy songs, anything over the three minute mark is unnecessary which made it difficult to chose a track to upload as most of them go beyond this. ’4 Leaf Closer’ is about as close as you’ll get to a straight ahead pop song from Rainbow.
It’s actually quite pleasant and one of their best.
I found out via Billboard that the Rainbow album was released during August 1969. Every source I’ve read gives this as a 1968 release which is incorrect.
Teenbeat Mayhem 1960s Garage Singles
ELLIE POP – ’Watcha Gonna Do ’Bout It’ (Mainstream S-6115) 1968
Before I started collecting original 60s garage/psych 45s I spent decades buying (mostly) original and re-issue albums and one of my early purchases was this obscurity by Ellie Pop on Mainstream Records.
This album is hard to find and commands a decent price tag but it was re-issued a few years ago and should now be available to a larger audience at last.
In my opinion Ellie Pop were treading their own path in 1968, there’s no fuzz, no psych touches, no 1968isms of heavy guitars and keyboards.
What you get is a collection of beautifully constructed pop songs that suggest a big Anglophile influence, in particular mid-60s period Beatles.
pure pop
They sound similar to say The Merry-Go-Round or The Left Banke but without the baroque touches. Just pure pop, or should I say Ellie Pop.
Virtually every review I’ve read online or in Shindig for instance, fails to mention that ’Whatcha Gonna Do ’Bout It’ is a cover of a Hollies cut they recorded in 1963 for their debut album ’Stay With The Hollies.’ Ellie Pop wrote all of their own tunes except this one!
I’m not certain where Ellie Pop hailed from or even the full names of the group members but it has been suggested elsewhere that they were from Detroit. Maybe someone can confirm this?
Readers comments:
Ellie Pop is a fabulous pop album, but for sure the group are really obscure (I have seen pics of the group one with four members and another with five).
They came from Roseville, Michigan and Bill Long was their guitarist and they played the Village Pub and the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. They changed their name to Featherstone and later to the Macomb Delfonics.
”What’cha Gonna Do About It” is a 1964 song by Doris Troy. Her real name was Doris Payne. Songwriters : Payne / Carroll. The Hollies covered it.
THE BACHS – ’Nevermore’ (Ro-To PR68-1044) 1968
’Out Of The Bachs’ by The Bachs is a legendary album by a group of teenagers from Chicago. Few copies were ever made, maybe as few as 150 copies, making this one of the most sought after slabs of vinyl for 60s garage collectors.
Original copies go for insane prices when they come up for sale, we’re talking many thousands of US Dollars.
Fortunately, the album was re-issued in small quantity in the early 90s on Del-Val, then a couple of years later on Flash (my copy shown). It was officially re-issued on Gear Fab back in 2005 but reviews suggest that the sound on this is not so hot.
My copy on Flash is a bootleg and plays approx 2% too slow due to a mastering mistake by the Del-Val label.
Some years ago Patrick Lundborg sent me a needle burn of an original on Ro-To so I have no need to upgrade my Flash label copy, which I must admit sounds decent to my ears anyway.
’Nevermore’ from ’Out Of The Bachs’ is a fragile, minor key folk rock hymn that is one of my favourites from the set. Despite the crude production and engineering which makes for it’s ’demo’ sound the whole album of self penned songs is pretty much all killer if you dig this kind of bag.
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