Phil Briscoe and the Sessions cut two of Briscoe’s original songs “You’re No Good” / “Dream of Me” at Recording Service Studios in Pasadena, Texas. The single came out on Huey Meaux’s Pic 1 label in October, 1965, one of over 40 releases on that label. “You’re No Good” is a good rocker in something of a Doug Sahm style.
Philip Charles Briscoe copyrighted both sides with Crazy Cajun Music in January 1966, but that’s the last mention I can find of him in the music world. I don’t know who else was in the Sessions band or where they were based.
The photo above came from a Pic One discography by Doug Hanners for his 45 RPM column in Discoveries in July 2000.
Charles Fuller owned Boss Records in Tampa, Florida, along with other labels like CFP, Fuller and Tigertown. John Brummage did much of the production work for all of these, at least some of the time at H&H Productions studio. Fuller Music BMI or Fulprod Music Publishing Co. ASCAP published the original songs.
Boss only lasted for a couple years, 1966 and 1967.
Me & the Other Guys included Frank “Dutch” Walton, Billy Aerts, Chuck Doughtery, Kent LaVoie, and Leon Massey, and had an earlier single on Hit Cat Records “Skinnie Minnie” / “Crazy” (J. Wilson, D. Walton, Redrah Music BMI).
I haven’t identified 001 or 005 yet. Any help with this discography would be appreciated.
BOS-001 – ? BOS-002 – Rovin’ Flames – “I’m Afraid To Go Home” / “I Can’t” (Feb. ’66) BOS-003 – Ravens – “Reaching For The Sun” / “Things We Said Today” BOS-004 – Berkley Five – “You’re Gonna Cry” (M. Newman, Yubash Music BMI) / “In the Midnight Hour” BOS-005 – ? BOS-006 – Trojans – “The Kids Are Allright” / “Leave Me Be” (Dec. ’66) BOS-007 – Souldiers – “Would You Kiss Me” / “Lemon Sun” (Jan. ’67) BOS-008 – Journey Men – “She’s Sorry” / “Short And Sweet” (both by McMillan) FulProd Music ASCAP BOS-009 – Me And The Other Guys – “Runaround Girl” (C. Dougherty, D. Walton) / “Everybody Knew But Me” (J. Wilson, D. Walton) BOS-0095 – Purple Underground – “On Broadway” / “Rain Come Down” BOS-010 – Purple Underground – “Count Back” / “Soon” (Aug. ’67)
Here’s a start at the discography of Carl Edelson’s La Salle and Lauren labels, along with related singles by the Shandels and Eddie T. Burke. Much of the talent came from Long Island including the Shandels of Levittown and Wantaugh, and the Taboos.
Cardell Music C-510 – The Shandels – “No Way Out” / “Treat Me Like a Man” both by Johnny Melnick & Eric Stern, C-101/C-102, 1966
La Salle L-370 – David Leigh – “Blowin’ in the Wind” / “One More Town”, L-1/2 La Salle L-371 – The Lemon Sandwich – “Give Me Love” (Eddie Hileman) / “I Must Be Dreaming”, L-3/4
La Salle L-381 – The Shandels – “Shades Of Blue” / “Fifteen Children” (both by John Melnick & Eric Stern, engineered by Joe Dulberg, Feb. 1967), C-165/6 La Salle L-382 – The Taboos – “All My Life” / “So Sad” (T-1, T-2) La Salle L-383 – Elsie Dixon – “It Had to Be You” / “How Ya Gonna Keep em Down on the Farm”, C-167/C-168 La Salle L-384 – The Shandels – “Think About You” / “Barnyard Blues”, C-169/C-170
La Salle L-386 – John Goodman – “First Star” / “Stranger at the Dance” La Salle L-387 – John Goodman – “Think About You” (John Melnick, Eric Stern) / “Rainbow”, produced by the ShanDels, C-182
La Salle L-390 – Carol Durrell – “Shadow Of Your Smile” / “The Look of Love”
La Salle 25 – Ellen & the Shandels – “Gypsy” / “Try A Little Tenderness” (1969 or 1970, also released as Dry Well on Lauren Records 2515)
E.T.B. Records ETB-113 – Eddie T. Burke – “I Must Be Dreaming” / “So Sad” (both by Eddie Hileman for Carldell Music BMI, engineered by Joe Cyr at Variety Sound Studios, CE-15/16
Lauren L-2513 – Tommy Burke – “Give Me Love” / “I Don’t Want to Be Your Keeper” (both by Tommy Burke for Carldell Music BMI, engineered by Joe Cyr at Variety Sound Studios) Lauren L-2514 – Johnny Hayes – “Greenback Dollar” / “Blowin’ in the Wind” Lauren L-2515 – Dry Well – “Gypsy” / “Try A Little Tenderness” (reissue of Ellen & the Shandels 45 above), CE-20/21 Laruen L-2516 – Branded “X” – “Society And Me” (Tommy Burke) / “Tribute to Uncle Sam” (Herner-Auwaerter-Furbich, Carldell BMI, prod. by Tommy Burke at Variety Sound Studios), CE-23/24
I’m not sure if this is the same Lauren label as the ones listed above: Lauren CO 2930 – The Out of Order – “Lonely Sentry” / “It’s Alright” (prod. by B. Jolie, L. Litchfield, T. Messier, Allegro Sound Studios NY, engineers Bruce Staple and Mike Consi, Ranford Music Co., BMI, distributed by Planet Records out of Providence, RI)
The Taboos came from Long Island, New York, cutting only one single in 1967 for La Salle Records. I don’t have much info on the band other than song writer names.
“All My Life” has a subdued start, the keyboard and bass making a three chord vamp while the drummer keeps a steady roll of toms going in the background. The chorus is more conventional, but a real surprise comes halfway through the song, when the bass picks up the pace and the lead guitar starts a Jeff Beck-style psychedelic solo. The song was written by Von Ressler and DeBonis.
Brennan and Palazzo wrote “So Sad”, which has a typical ballad format and singing style but it’s still an effective song.
Larry Hiller engineered the session at Murlyn Studios. La Salle Records owner Carl Edelson published both songs with his Cardell BMI.
A footnote to the group would come a couple years later, when Eddie T. Burke overdubbed a new lead vocal (inferior in my opinion) over the original recording of “So Sad” and released it on E.T.B Records ETB-113. See the post on La Salle and Lauren records for more on Eddie Burke’s release.
The Red Coats. Photo from The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook by Ron Hall. The Red Coats came from Ripley, Tennessee, about 50 miles northeast of Memphis.
Members were:
Bill Gurley – guitar and vocals Tommy Bearid – organ and vocals Johnny Shands – bass and vocals Chris Tucker – drums
Guitarist and vocalist Bill Gurley moved to the Raleigh section of Memphis, but continued in the band despite having to travel to meet them at gigs around the West Tennessee area.
Their debut single for the Orchid of Memphis label in late 1966 featured Bill Gurley’s original song, “You Told a Lie”, which has a guitar intro akin to “Paint It Black”. There’s an effective gloominess throughout, helped by the echo on the vocal harmonies.
The flip was another Gurley original, “I’m Going to Tell You About My Baby”, both songs published by Black Orchid Music BMI.
In early ’67 the Red Coats went to the Stax Studio to record a second single, “Poison Ivy” / “Just Send Her To Me”, which was released as by the Sunday Funnies, a name the band did not use in live performances. I haven’t heard either song but the sound has been described as soul. “Just Send Her To Me” was recorded by another Orchid of Memphis act, The Tight Little Unit, who made it the title track of their album in 1967. The cover of that LP lists Terry Rose from Orchid Records and engineer Allen Worley.
Orchid of Memphis also released a rare Christian LP by Steve Engelhardt, Is It True, recorded at Cardinal Sound in Lexington, Kentucky.
Information from The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook 1960-1975 by Ron Hall. Thanks to Kip Brown for the single!
The Barracudas, photo from Brown Paper SackThe Barracudas came from Bunkie, Louisiana, a small town south of Alexandria.
Members were:
John Haas – vocals Terry Fontanille – lead guitar Tommy McNabb – bass Alex Haas – drums
The photo above shows a quintet, so I’m not sure who the additional guitarist was.
According to Mark Prellberg’s article in Brown Paper Sack, the band started out as the Pickles and appeared on a Saturday morning TV show broadcast from Alexandria. After a show at a Chevy dealership, KDBX DJs Gene McDaniels and Larry Jorgensen signed them to a management deal. They cut one single in April 1965 at the KDBX studio for release on their managers’ Zundak label.
One side is “Baby Get Lost”, an original by Haas and Fontanille. Guitarist Terry Fontanille provides several excellent hooks with his picking, there’s plenty of background shouting and chirping of the chorus, and even a short drum break.
Clocking in at 1:43, the recording has been called ludicrously sped up, but I’ve played it at various speeds and believe that the pressing is only 1% or 2% fast, which wouldn’t be unusual for the time. One version online pitched down to 2:05 sounded too lethargic and off-key to me. The video below is close to what I feel is the correct speed. Singer John Haas was 15 at the time of recording, which could account for the high-pitched vocals.
The flip is a decent version of Jimmy Reed’s “Honest I Do” though the short guitar and drum break after the harmonica solo is hilarious.
After Alex Haas left for college, John Haas and Tommy McNabb formed Nobody’s Children, with no recordings that I know of. Billy Powell of Jimmy & the Offbeats from Baton Rouge recruited John Haas as vocalist for his new group, John Eric & the Isoceles Popsicles, making one single each for USA and Verve.
As John Eric and the Isosceles Popcicles, they had two pop singles circa 1968, “I’m Not Nice” / “Like Him” on USA Records 913 and “Gonna Change My Mind” (Haas, Amarosa, McRee) / “I Been Trying” on Verve VK-10589.
Zundak Records
The Barracudas was the second release on the Zundak label, Zundak 45-101, with “Baby Get Lost” published by Zundak Publ. Co. BMI and production by Zundak Music Enterprises, Alexandria, Louisiana.
The only other composition I can find published by Zundak is “A Soldier’s Christmas in Viet Nam” by Charles England, copyrighted by Zundak Pub. Co. in October 1966.
Besides the Barracudas, Zundak released an album:
102 – Catahoula Country Time (Ruble Wright)
And six other singles that I know of:
100 – Terry & the Pirates – “Someone Care For Me” / “Stackel-Teez” Feb’65 102 – Rhythm Kings – “Memphis” / “Runaway” 103 – Little Caesar & the Romans – “Don’t Cry No More” / “Night Train” 104 – Jimmy Ingram and Jimmy Williams and the Down Beaters – “I Need You” / “She’s Gone” (both by O.A. Raby) 105 – Betty Simpson – “Weeping Willow” / “What Is Love” 106 – The X-L’s – “Protest Against Protest” / “Blue Blue Feeling” (July 1966)
The X-L’s is a crude kind of garage record, while the Jimmy Ingram is gospel-style soul and the Betty Simpson is pop, with a good soul feeling on the b-side.
Some of the records were recorded at La Louisianne studios in Lafayette, about 90 miles to the southeast of Alexandria in central Louisiana.
Thank you to Max Waller and Teen Beat Mayhem for help with the Zundak discography.
The Sands of Time came from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and recorded one single on Stearly Records 8167 in August, 1967.
“Come Back Little Girl”, written by Feliciani, has a catchy intro with a distorted treble guitar sound.
The singer breathlessly calls out the lyrics to the flip “When She Crys For Me”, written by Ellis, with more cool buzzing guitar between verses. Bill Hamilton of Hamilton Productions produced the single.
I didn’t know the members’ names or anything much about the band until I heard from Mike Marr:
“Here is the earliest picture of the band, Bill Ellis (top right) and Joe Feliciani (bottom right). The accordionist did not stay very long with the band.”
At the time of this recording I was the bass player in the Sands of Time; the band members were:Joe Feliciani – lead guitar and vocals Bill Ellis – rhythm guitar and vocals John Furterer – drums and vocals Art Bernie – organ Mike Marr – bass
The original band members were all neighborhood friends. Back in the mid to late 60’s everybody wanted to play guitar. We would play in someone’s basement or living room. I guess you could say the band was officially organized by an older man named John Mullins who knew Joe Feliciani’s father.
Sands Of Time at Scanlon Recreation Center, Philadelphia, May or June, 1967
This was a picture [above] of our first playing job. It was at Scanlon Recreation Center in Philadelphia. I think this was taken May or June of 1967.
Art Bernie joined the band a few weeks after this picture was taken and he was from that neighborhood (Kensington) in Philadelphia.
The Sands of Time, circa 1967-8
We were ages fourteen to sixteen at the time of the recording. It was done at a studio in Camden New Jersey that was in a motel on Admiral Wilson Blvd. It was the Oasis Motel and the studio may have been named Palmer Studios.The name Stearly Recordings was chosen because it was the street where our crowd of friends lived and hung out. I don’t remember [producer] Bill Hamilton. It is possible that he knew and dealt with John Mullins who acted as our manager at the time.
That is a Vox bass. Later I bought a White Gibson EB3 (very rare color). I also had a fretless Dan Armstrong (clear body). The band evolved with other members as time went on but no other recordings were ever made.
The Sands of Time, circa 1967-8
These pictures [at right] show Art Bernie the organist but Joe Feliciani was no longer in the band and was replaced by Rick Sutcliff, and Bill Ellis remained for another year.This would have been Fall of 1967 and Winter of 1968. There was more evolution but this was the band at the time of the record recording and soon after.
Mike Marr
This band has no connection to the Sands of Time who recorded Red Light on Sterling Award records out of New York.
The Diplomats came from Wilmington, Delaware, where they recorded their only single at Ken-Del Studios. The A-side is the aptly-named “I’m Sad”, a maudlin original written by Chris Myers and Ed Welch with good guitar picking and harmonies. The flip is a good cover of “Route 66”.
Other than this I know nothing about the band.
Copyright registrations from September, 1966 have their names as Richard C. Myers and Edward P. Welch II.
The Midnight Shift, shortly before they became the Thomas Blood Band. Clockwise from top: Ken Victor, Bob Colone, Ed Jeffries and George Whitfield (aka George Werenka)
Midnight Shift came from Redford Township, Michigan, at the northwest tip of Detroit. Above is the Midnight Shift right before becoming the Thomas Blood Band. The original bass player was Ken Mose (not in photo), the photo shows his replacement, Ken Victor.
Members were:
George Werenka (stage name George Whitfield) – vocals Ed Pianasac (stage name Ed Jeffries) – guitar and vocals Ken Mose, replaced by Ken Victor – bass and vocals Bob Colone – drums and vocals
Their first release was “She’s Gone Far Away” b/w “Never Gonna Stop Lovin’ You”, both written by Ed Jeffreys and recorded sometime in late 1966.
The A-side is a gentle kind of love song while the flip has a harder sound with droning guitar and Bob Colane pounding the drums.
The band refined their sound for the next single in ’67, creating two beautiful melancholy compositions using acoustic guitar for rhythm.
“Every Day Without You”, written by Jeffries and Fazzio, is the more upbeat of the two, with excellent harmonies and hooks.
“Just Another Day”, written by Jeffries and Colone, is gentler and sadder, featuring a beautiful San Francisco-influenced electric solo.
They recorded both singles at M-S-I Recording Company in Livonia (next door to Redford). The band’s manager Bud Fazzio produced both singles.
I don’t know of other groups that used M-S-I Recording, I suspect it was the band’s own rehearsal or studio space.
Midnight Shift changed into the Thomas Blood Band, who played at the nearby Grande Ballroom and continues with different lineups to the present day.
Bob Lelli of the Thomas Blood Band sent in the photo at top and wrote to me:
Bob Colone, Ed Jeffries and Ken Victor started Thomas Blood Band playing at the Grande with the Turtles, T-Rex, Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart and more. Bob Colone came out front from drums, they got another drummer and he was lead vocalist until his drowning in 1973. At the time in negotiation for a recording contract with London Records and more. Thomas Blood still plays today. We are doing the 50th Grande Ballroom Anniversary Concert with the Yardbirds and more on Oct 8th, 2016.
Thank you to Kim for the photos below (can anyone help ID the members on these?)
http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/thomasblood.html Some photos of the members of Thomas Blood Band can be seen at Motor City Music Archives.
The Midnight Shift early photo with fifth member. Please help with IDs on this photo.The Midnight Shift on Swingin’ Time, with unidentified female, George Whitfield to her left. Please help with IDs on this photo.The Midnight Shift – or had they become Thomas Blood by this time? Please help with IDs on this photo.
The Shadows came from Hazelwood, North Carolina, a small town about 30 miles west of Asheville. Members included Dennis Robbins and Ken James.
The band traveled 150 miles east to Charlotte to record at Arthur Smith Studios, releasing their single on Switch Records in April, 1966. “Tell Me” is a good original by Robbins and James, a tight performance with an excellent guitar break. The flip is a version of Brubeck’s “Take Five” that gives the guitarist more room to stretch out. Switch seems to have been their own label, I haven’t seen anything else on it.
Two months later the band drove 280 miles in the other direction, west to Nashville, where they recorded another original, “She’s Like That” for release on Zeke Clements’ Gold Standard Records. “Tell Me” was reused for the flip side, though without all the heavy echo on the original Switch version. I believe it is the same take of the song, not a re-recording, and I prefer it without the echo.
Dennis Robbins and Kenneth James copyrighted both songs with Clements’ Blazon Music Co, BMI on June 21, 1966.
Gold Standard released over 200 singles during the ’60s. There are a handful of garage or teen-beat records, which I’ll list below, though some of them I haven’t heard and I’m not positive they fit here. While some artists were local to Nashville, it wasn’t unusual for Gold Standard to feature artists from around the country. The Cavemen came from Birmingham, Alabama and had an earlier single as J.C. & Cavemen. The Incidentals were from Montgomery, Alabama.
112 – The Cavemen (vocal by J.C. Raynor) – “Just One You For Me” (Hoyt Johnson) / “Tell Her One More Time For Me”
114 – The Incidentals – “Baby Shake” / “Till the Ending of Time” (both songs by James Segrest and Herbert Phelps, released Dec. ’64)
155 – The Coachmen (vocal by Tommy Burnett) – “I’ll Never Leave You” / “Possibility”
174 – Steve Stephens – “Lonely Me” (Ricky Ryan) / ‘When You Grow Tired Of Him”
204 – Ricky Ryan & Jerry Lee McKee – “My Baby’s Coming Home” / “Ask Me Baby”
209 – The Vee-Jay’s (lead singer Bill Boone) – “Give Your Heart to Me” (Ray D’ahrouge”) / ?
237 – Ronny Williams – “Move Up a Little Closer” (James Hendrix, Elijah & Geraldine Murray) / Larry Williams – “When You Grow Tired of Him”
262 – Five Emprees – “Little Miss Sad” / “Nobody Cares” (1967, re-recording with horns of their Freeport single from 1965)
286 – Paper Menagerie – “Left Up To You” (E. Macon) / “Love Again” (E. Macon & B.G. Gillespie) both pub. by Junellin Music BMI, prod. by Dick Sell Anyone have a photo of the Shadows? I’d like to know more about the Shadows or any of these other groups, especially the Paper Menagerie..
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
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Phil Briscoe and the Sessions cut two of Briscoe’s original songs “You’re No Good” / “Dream of Me” at Recording Service Studios in Pasadena, Texas. The single came out on Huey Meaux’s Pic 1 label in October, 1965, one of over 40 releases on that label. “You’re No Good” is a good rocker in something of a Doug Sahm style.
