The Christian Brothers 45 on Sidewinder has excellent instrumental backing by a heavy group with two guitarists (plus overdubbed fills), bass and drums. The vocals on “Feeling Bad” are nasal and muddied to the point of making the lyrics nearly indecipherable.

The flip “The Last Hour” starts with a solo singer who sounds almost folky, and the lyrics are clear even when sung in unison. About 55 seconds in the song comes to life as the lead guitar blasts in and the tempo picks up.

I thought there might be some religious aspects to these songs due to the group name, the titles and the unusual vocals, but there’s nothing explicit that I can make out in the lyrics. Besides, there’s a serpent on the label.

I don’t have any info on the band. Both songs were written by D. Edison and J. Carter for King Midas BMI. The record was produced by J. Branton and arranged by F. Lange, released in March 1968 on Sidewinder Records LL-003.

I don’t know of any other releases on Sidewinder. The label’s location was 739 W. Gladstone, Azusa, CA. Azusa is on the east side of Los Angeles, near Glendora.

Update, February 2018:

A recent record show in Albany, NY turned up an Alco Research test pressing of the Christian Brothers doing “If I Knew” / “Playing Songs Our Way”. The sound is so different from the Sidewinder release that I didn’t think it was the same band until I saw that Jack Carter is listed on one label and made the connection. The Delta number of 81081 suggests a pressing date about the end of 1970, over two years after “Feeling Bad”. I hear some similarity in the vocals and drum sound; take a listen to a minute excerpt of “Playing Songs Our Way”.

As yet I can’t trace either of these songs to a released single, unusual for a test pressing. Thank you to John for the clip and photos of the Alco release.