Monocled Alchemist

“In His Shadow” / “Bad girl” (Solar Records 7665) June 1966

The Penthouse Five | In His Shadow | Solar | 1966 | This combo were short lived, maybe less than two years but fortunately they released a couple of singles and recorded more studio material, unreleased during the 60s but fortunately released back in the mid 80s on Cicadelic Records.

They were formed in the wake of the British Invasion sometime in 1965 and common with a large majority of US groups during this time, they were all still teenagers. According to Bill Looney The Penthouse Five were a popular group in their home City of Dallas and enjoyed regular gigs and radio playtime.

Their first single was the jangle folk-rocker ’In His Shadow’ which has been one of my many fave rave janglers since I heard it via that Cicadelic Records LP ’Texas Punk Volume 4’ all those years ago. By contrast, the other side ’Bad Girl’ is a Kinks style beat rocker, also great.

By the start of 1967 the group dropped the ’five’ and were simply known as Penthouse. A second single followed in February 1967 on Hawk, ’You’re Gonna Make Me’ / ’Don’t Mess Around With My Dream’.

line-up:
Rob Graham (lead vocals/keyboards)
Steve Wood (vocals/rhythm guitar)
Justin Brown (lead guitar)
Mark Porter (drums)
Bill Looney (bass)

The Penthouse Five – “The Years Have Passed” (Cicadelic Records CIC-981) 1986

I recently had contact from bass guitarist / vocalist Bill Looney via my YouTube channel. Bill mentioned that he thought their best ever recording was released on ‘Texas Punk Volume 6’ back in the mid-sixties.

Here’s what Bill had to say:

“The last recording from The Penthouse 5 was (what we called) “La, La, La” – featuring only 3 of us – Richard “Lurch” Keathley (guitars/vocals), Mike Echart (drums), and Bill Looney (bass/vocals).

It was recorded at Delta Studios in Ft. Worth. I think it was one of our best record songs/recordings. It was never released (originally), but got its first pressing, thanks to Michael Greisman (Cicadelic Records) in the late ’80s under the title “The Years Have Passed.”