grant green - i'm an old cowhand (1964)

hammond jazz trio going to town

karmello brooks - tell me baby (1966)

heard this northern soul gem on the radio the other day and it rekindled a fire in my heart! the growl in the second verse!

gene and the team beats - i'll let nothing separate me (1967)

from uploader jack garrett:

"A great soul band from Martinsville, Va, led by sax player Gene Rumley. Their 3rd (and final) single released on Danville-based Raven Records in 1967. A cover of a Wallace Bros. disc that slays the original. The Team Beats finest hour."

edwin starr - stop her on sight (1966)

harry deal & the galaxies - what am i gonna do (1966)

billy joe royal - leaning on you

this is the dude of "down in the boondocks" one-hit-wonder fame!

this is actually a pretty good album by '60s pop standards. enjoying listening to it this morning!

apocalypse - reflections of a summer (1970)

lovely song by a german garage-psych group, likely written about the summer of '69

dutch beat college - you treat me (1966)

nederbeat / 60s garage rock from the netherlands

the raspberry pirates - good morning baby (1968)

you might recognize the raspberry pirates from my "dumb names from the 1960s" mix! (that mix holds up!)

southern comfort - take one fear at a time

hard to find info about this group, other than they were active from 1970-1972... can't find anything physical, but their album is on spotify!

the chiffons - sweet talkin guy (1966)

boy oh boy did this bring me back!!! WHAT A TUNE!

what a good arrangement! CHECK OUT THAT BRIDGE! and that clarinet solo!

and the deconstructed verses!!!

what a tune, folks, what a tune!

witchi tai to

heard this song today:

which struck a chord!! reminded me of this version (both are covers of a jim pepper jazz fusion native american tune):

which brought back sooooo many memories and positive associations!

dave clark five - bits and pieces (1964)

classic foot stomper

the tempos - all that i really want (1965)

short n sweet garage tune

irma thomas - think again (1964)

betty harris - there's a break in the road (1969)

PHENOMENAL!

...it was produced by Allen Toussaint & Marshall Sehorn, but the backing band is The Meters, who Aaron Neville was a part off. They were the backing band for a lot of acts from New Orleans in the late 60s / early 70s such as Lee Dorsey, Aaron Neville, Betty Wright, Dr John...

margie mills & the executives - "knock on any door" (1963)

Originally released on the microscopic Pick Hit label. Writer/producers Joe Hooven & Hal Winn would later form Double Shot records and strike gold with The Count Five & Brenton Wood.

the theme of the day is '60s pop songs with something a little... off about them! the call-and-response (creating a "knock" effect), the loopy flute, and the slightly off-key organ catapult this tiny single into my heart.

del shannon - keep searchin

dunno if this is true or complete urban legend / wiki wankery, but i was just reading about terrence malick's "badlands," which led me to the story that inspired the movie, the starkweather-fugate murder spree of 1958... and when i was looking at the pop culture bits inspired by *that* story (and there are many of them!), i saw this:

The Del Shannon song "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" was a fictional love-letter written from Charles Starkeather and is based on testimony from his trial.

which made me go "whoa," because, compared to the other things inspired by a murder spree: yeah, i'd expect a bruce springsteen song, some assorted metal songs, but a del shannon song?!

which brought me back around to his original hit, "runaway":

which isn't quite as straight and narrow a tune as i remembered!

both of these tracks have the usual '60s pop stuff going on, but with a touch of something else that distinguishes them. "runaway" is distinctly 1961, with one foot in the bubbly sock hop numbers of the 1950s and the other foot toeing the line of garage psych rock flourishes. "keep searchin" sounds more like 1964 -- more "hello, we're in the midst of the '60s" -- but with some wailing in the pre- and post- chorus bits (especially in the outro)... which brings to mind a wide nebraskan field of dirt, with a single highway stretching through its middle, and a man trekking for miles.

which brings me back to malick's "badlands"!

tony sandler and ralph young - if you go away (ne me quitte pas)

my father-in-law showed me this song and was very excited about it -- it's one of his favorites. "brilliant!" he said. "just listen to that -- one man sings a phrase, and the next follows!"

the street cleaners - that's cool, that's trash

cover of a song by the kingsmen; they're both snotty teen party anthems, but this one feels a little more snotty. i dig it B)