Bob Lackman had only one release, an EP on the French label Riviera in 1966. “Laughing Boy” is the standout track but all four songs are worthwhile.

No one seems to know exactly where Bob came from or what happened to him. I’ve read he was an English singer who happened to get a release in France. But to my ears he sounds more American than English.

The singer shows familiarity with Los Angeles in the final song, “Sad Day for Doc Shades”:

The poor people of Clark Street,
Have trouble finding things to eat,
Back in Watts, they have one friend
Who never asked to be fed,
… (?) he’s afraid.

Doc Shades, bad days,
Sad days for Doc Shades.

The story is one, sad but good,
Practice on 5th Avenue and Hollywood,
Until that day that young girl passed away.
Because her folks, they were rich, there was trouble in store,
Doc Shades could work no more.

The agent grew thin,
Bad times had set in, for him.

Doc Shades, bad days,
Sad days for Doc Shades.

They no longer said his hands shook,
and his reflection in the bottle was a look,
Of paranoid indecision, conscience, better known as fear.

The time had come, sad days for Doc Shades had begun.
I said now baby let’s do it, I know it,
Poor Dark Shades though.

Doc Shades, bad days,
Sad days for Doc Shades.

Well I have no more license for any decrepit body,
The soul is good, he drinks wood alcohol.

Now he still treats the people on that street, Clark Street,
I lived there,
No Jaguars, no Japanese gardeners,
Lots of trash, it’s ain’t easy here babe,
No Frenchy food, or no Frency nothin’.

“Bad Day for Doc Shades” is the only song from the EP not audible on youtube, I’m sorry to say. “Town of Sorrow” seems to cover a similar emotional state but with abstract lyrics. “I Cry for You” has a tuneful pop sound.

“Laughing Boy” has more passion and vitriol, with the singer sucking in his breath between verses, turning from a gentle voice in one line to a harsh accusing tone in the next.

On the beaches far below,
I see the waves crashing on the rocky shore,
And I also see the sky with its clouds of pink and white,
and it makes me wonder why I shouldn’t fight.

See the laughing boy over there.
See the laughing boy.

I hear crowds of laughter, and of joy,
I see before me, a little boy,
He looks so happy, smiling boy,
But it is you that I dread.

See the laughing boy over there,
See the laughing boy.

This little boy, comes up to me,
He’s filled with joy, he’s so carefree,
But if he’d been through the same as me,
Then I don’t think he’d be ashamed,
To tell me what is wrong.

On the beaches far below,
I see the waves crashing, crashing on the rocky shore,
And I also see the sky with its clouds of pink and white,
Do you see them there?

See the laughing boy over there,
See the laughing boy.

Bob Lackman wrote “Laughing Boy” and collaborated with a writer named Pasternak on the other three songs. A commentator “Boursin” wrote below, “Pasternak is almost certainly the DJ Emperor Rosko (real name Mike Pasternak). In 1966 his French-language show, Minimax, was on Radio Luxembourg every weekday night, and was hugely popular in France.”

I contacted Emperor Rosko and he wrote back:

I found him singing in the [London] Underground. He came from a wealthy family. I produced those tracks. Everything disappeared, masters, label, and Bobby. Bobby disappeared back into New York. If you track him down give me a shout!

I asked Rosko about his co-writing credit as Pasternak and he replied, “I messed with it a bit.”

The cover lacks any credits except for song writing and photography by Drew Bond. I find the color/b&w art jarring because the sunburst on the guitar is blacked out on the right side and because his hand is turned into a lifeless gray color.