Crystal Blue Persuasion – Tommy James & The Shondells
“Maybe tomorrow ,When he looks down
Thirteen Questions – Seatrain
Another member of my “druggie” music Hall of Fame. I was at college in Boston when this one was playing on the radio, the album was “Marblehead Messenger” and I thought this group was a local Massachusetts band that was picked up by WRKO &WMEX, but that’s not the case. They are actually a band from California and 2 of the members were also part of the Blues Project with Al Cooper (they did relocate to Marblehead, Mass. after their second LP) The lyrics paint an interesting picture, which I’m sure adds to the mystique portrayed by the drug culture: “Deep in the darkest hour of a very heavy week, Three Earthmen did confront me, and I could hardly speak. They met me in a hurry, they left me tired and sore, And when I’m fit for wishing, I hope they’ll come no more. When I’m wishing, I hope they’ll come no more. Standing by the exit, with one eye on the door, I listened to them argue. I asked them “Why? What for?” They showed me 19 terrors, and each one struck my soul, They threw me 13 questions, each one an endless hole.”
This single reached #49 in 1971 off their Seatrain album, produced by George Martin
No Matter What Shape – T Bones
This may just be my favorite instrumental of all-time, or at least in the top 3. And it has an interesting history. Originally written by Granville Sascha Burland, according to ASCAP, a pseudonym of Lewis Bedell. Lewis founded ERA Recorda and later adore records in the 60s. The song first appeared as the music to an Alka-Seltzer commercial in 1964.
Wikipedia says this about the origin of the hit: In 1965, Dave Pell wanted to record songs based on music from recent TV commercials and release them on 45 RPM singles to see if he could get radio airplay and maybe a hit record. Previously, Liberty Records had used “The T-Bones” as a group name for instrumentals recorded by Los Angeles session musicians The Wrecking Crew, and Liberty told Pell to use it again for his project.[4]
When the record took off and reached #3 on the charts, Pell needed a group to tour to promote it so he hired Judd Hamilton, Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, Tommy Reynolds, and Gene Pello. If three of names kinda ring a bell it’s because Dan, Joe, and Tommy would become Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds and record 8 charting records from 1971 to 1976.
And because you’ve read this far,here’s the stereo version that isn’t distorted by the hijinx on the live show, or the aging sound of the commercial.
Say You Will – Blanket of Secrecy
A British new wave quartet only known as Tinker, Tailor, Sailor, and Soldier released one LP “Walls Have Ears’ in the UK and “Ears Have Walls” in the States. My friend Aaron Settipani had this tune running through his head for a long time before we tracked (no pun intended) it down. A catchy guitar riff throughout and an interesting set of lyrics, this song never charted and would not be a part of my musical heritage unless Aaron hadn’t passed it on!
“Say You Will” by Blanket of Secrecy from 1982
We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet – Blues Magoos
By the middle of 1967 when I started listening to rock and roll, there were two recent “oldies” that I loved to play at a high decibel level, the first I mentioned the other day, “96 Tears” and here is the second one, the Blues Magoos “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet”. Out of the Bronx, they only had this one song reach the top 40, peaking at #5 in early February, 1967, their other 3 singles languished in the lower reaches of the Hot 100. As usual, I learned something new in researching this song, Emil “Peppy Castro” Theilhelm, the lead singer here, later became the lead singer of Balance (think “Breaking Away” in 1981).
How Do You Catch A Girl – Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
Early 1967, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs had already had a pair of hit records “Wooly Bully” and “Lil Red Riding Hood”, songs that were considered novelty songs. ” How Do You Catch A Girl” was their entry in the charts in January of 1967, peaking at #22. Samudio (why does that make me think of Phil Collins ?) Domingo was born in Dallas, Texas, one of his early band mates was Trini Lopez. Sam formed the Pharoahs, named after Yul Bryner’s character in “The Ten Commandments” in 1961, After the Pharoahs run, Sam went solo and his 1970 LP “Sam, Hard And Heavy” won the 1972 Grammy for Best Album Notes, hey, there’s a Grammy for everything, I guess.
Sauvecito – Malo
Sauvecito is easily in my top love songs of the rock era. The melodic latin lines in it never fail to grab me. It’s still one of the few songs that I can feel goosebumps when I hear the opening notes. Malo (Spanish for bad) was a San Francisco based group that included Jorge Santana, Carlos Santana’s brother. The song, Spanish for soft or smooth, reached #18 in 1972. Personally, the song spent two weeks at #1 on my weekly top 15 the weeks of March 19th and 26th, 1972.
I love to find old clips of these groups in their prime, I found this, obviously a live clip that doesn’t quite hold the magic, at least for me, of the studio version, but well worth the watch.
Living Without You – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Manfred Mann broke out in 1964 with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, a #1 song, 4 years later they took Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo” to #10, then it was 8 years and a re-invented Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band that had a #31 song with “Blinded By The Light’. In between those last two their 1st release as MMEB was this song that only reached #69 in the Spring of 1972, written by Randy Newman – it’s a great “lost oldie” for those of you old enough to appreciate it 😉
When I’m Dead And Gone – McGuiness Flint
Another “lost” single from 1971, this one hung around for 9 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at #47. Tom McGuinness came from Mannfred Mann, and later Graham Lyle & Benny Gallagher became Gallagher & Lyle and had two charting songs in the mid 70s . “Oh..oh..oh..oh, When I’m dead and gone, I want to leave some happy woman living on” and I hope she’s not happy just because I’m gone 😉 Tap your foot and sing along!
Gallagher & Lyle’s hits were “Heart on my Sleeve” & “I Want To Stay With You”
I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite – Boyce & Hart
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart were well-known for their writing ability – “Come A Little Bit Closer”, “Pretty Little Angel Eyes”, many of the Monkees big hits – “I Wanna Be Free”, “Words”, “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” and “Last Train To Clarksville”. They had a few hits of their own and this was the most successful one, peaking at #8 in the winter of 1968. I still have this 45, but I wore it out a long time ago. You gotta love the outfits in this video 😉
Being a music geek (okay, nerd, period), I actually kept a top 15 of my own for a number of years (good thing I did, there is so much music I would have forgotten about otherwise), and an annual Top 101 from 1968 to 1972. I compiled a Top 111 list from all 5 years in 1973 and this song was #11!
For more on Boyce & Hart, check out my podcast featuring much of their music: Boyce & Hart podcast
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