I don’t have much info on the Coming Generation who released one single in 1969 on the King Town label. Jim Du Bois wrote “Tell Me Now”, and Ed Barnhart wrote “This Troubled Life”.
The band seems to have been a quintet or sextet, with organ and smooth harmony vocals. They were indeed from Kingston, New York, as noted on several ads for shows in the Kingston Daily Freeman beginning in 1967 and ending in 1970. A sample of their shows include:
1967 – Sportsmen’s Park, Rosendale and the Viking Lounge on Glasco Turnpike, High Woods
The Coming Generation opening for Fire & Ice, March 27, 19701968 – The Tropical Inn, Port Ewen
1969 – 1970 – the Pleasure Yacht, Eddyville
December 31, 1969 – the Creamery at Wiltwyck Village, Esopus with Jay and the Techniques
1970 – Thunderbird Inn, Route 9W, Saugerties
March, 1970 – Thunderbird Inn with Fire and Ice (could this be Auggie Bucci’s group, with singles on Capitol and Crazy Horse?)
Runout vinyl has no markings other than 0024-A/B, but this numbering and the label design indicates it was recorded at Kennett Sound Studio in Kinderhook, NY.
Despite the labels saying copyright ’69, I haven’t found any registration for these songs.
The Cordials recorded for the Bundy label of Freeport, New York. They may have been a local group, but Freeport is not far from Brooklyn, so the group could have been from anywhere in the New York metro area.
The Cordials cut a fine version of “Misery”, originally done by the the Dynamics on their 1963 single on Big Top. I prefer the flip, “Tell Me Please”, a moody original with great harmonies, written by Rick Stevens and published by M.C. Music Pub. BMI.
An article in Cash Box from August 7, 1965 gives an approximate date for the Cordials release and some background on Bundy:
“Bundy-Fonic Expands”
Mickey Carr, top man at The Bundy-Fonic Corp., is in the process of expanding the firm’s activities, and has appointed Bob Spina to veep and Clarence Finnell as A&R boss.
The diskery, with Dee Dee Records as a subsidiary line, will be offering two new releases, the first tagged “Misery” b/w “Tell Me Please” by the Cordials, and another by the Diablos, the titles on which will be announced at a later date. Both disks will be on Bundy Records. The address of the firm is 22 Pine St., Freeport, L.I.
Although Bundy had a 1962 release by Ray Artis, “Dear Liz” / “Wella-Wella” (Bundy BU-222), I haven’t found the Diablos single or anything else on Bundy. There were several record companies called Dee Dee, and I’m not sure if the one mentioned in the Cash Box article actually released anything.
The Cordials is a styrene 45, released on Bundy BU7711, Mickey Carr gets credit for arranging and producing both sides, and Bundy is listed as a subsidiary of Bundy Phonic Ent. Corp.
The Penetrators came from Crown Point, NY, on the west shore of Lake Champlain above Ticonderoga.
Members included Dan Rabideau and Larry Rabideau, Kim Joiner and Joe Dugan on bass. John Hoffman seems to have been a later member of the group.
There is a single by the Penetrators on Penstar Records 1146, “Guitar Boogie” / “Coming Home Baby”, both instrumentals. I’m not yet positive this is the same as the Crown Point group.
In March of 1968 they made what I believe to be their second record, the cool garage original “I’ll Make You Mine” by Dan Rabideau and Kim Joiner, backed with a good instrumental, “Splitter Splatter” by Dan Rabideau and Larry Rabideau.
The 45 came out on Ferus Records FR 4958. Ferus had an address of 64-12 60th Pl., Brooklyn 27, New York. Tommy Wilde produced the single, I’m not sure how the band came to find Ferus.
1971 Battle of the BandsThis is a styrene 45 with the Columbia custom pressing code ZTSP 124958/9. Both songs published by Ferus Music BMI.
As Danny and the Country Penetrators they put out a single that I haven’t heard, “She’s My Mother-In-Law” / “I’ll Be Waiting” on Delta Records in June of 1968.
The band was well known locally as as Danny and the Penetrators. They appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and continued with local bookings into the 1970s.
From a 1971 news item, it appears the Rabideau’s mother Doris managed the band.
Info on the band from a Port Henry forum. Thank you to Anthony M. for the original 45.
The Dirty Elbows came out of the Highland and Poughkeepsie music scene. Around 1966 they cut one excellent single on the Solid Gold label, “To Carry On”.
Members were:
Reggie Ward – vocals Russ Aldrich – lead guitar, vocals Al Friedman – keyboards, vocals Gene Baker – bass Sal D’Onofrio – bass and vocals Jimmy Galuzzi – drums, vocals
Russ Aldrich wrote the A-side, “To Carry On”, a song that shines from the opening riff to the harmony vocals and excellent guitar break.
The flip is a harmony ballad, “I Love You Girl” by G. Whitsell, Jr.
Released on Solid Gold Recornds SG-10 (UB-721/2), the labels credit J. Levine with arrangements, and engineering by J. Gasper. Both sides are “A Toi Production” and published by Happi Three Music, BMI. Solid Gold also had a 45 by Shorty Billups “Alone / Shake Off That Dream”.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reported the Dirty Elbows opening for the Animals on April 16, 1966, along with a number of other local groups: the Sepians, the Mark IV. the Jule Ettes, the New Pyramids, the Royal Coachmen, the Barons, the Sportsmen, the Benders and the Courages. They also played the Club 44 in Pleasant Valley with the Aborigines.
In June of 1966 they played at the Trade Winds on Route 207 near Newburgh. The next month they played with the Mark IV at a teens-only club called What’s It To Ya? on 176 Church Street in Poughkeepsie.
In October, 1966 the Dirty Elbows played at the Swingin’ Cellar, and a Thursday at What’s It To Ya?, followed on Friday by the Lost Soles and on Saturday by the Barrons. In November the Dirty Elbows were the main draw at a week of What’s It To Ya? shows that included Love’s Body and Nobody’s Child.
The Dirty Elbows played a benefit for the March of Dimes in January, 1967 that took place in two locations: Poughkeepsie High School and Wappingers Falls Jr High School. Tommy James & the Shondells also played at one of these performances, but the notice I found doesn’t specify which band played at which location.
In March, 1967, the group played “well supervised” shows at the Thunderbird Lounge, next to the Imperial Billiard Lounge. A show that month at Sportsmen’s Park notes their “hit record: ‘I Love You Girl’.
Reggie Ward joined the Silver Byke in 1967-8, and played with Easy Street in the 1970s.
Russ Aldrich continued in music, including with Spyder in the early ’70s. Later on he worked primarily as a blues guitarist and was featured in another article in the Poughkeepsie Journal on June 30, 1989. Russell Aldrich passed away on March 24, 2015.
Sal D’Onofrio sent in the photo seen here at top and wrote me with some info about the band:
Our big hit was “I Love You Girl” on Solid Gold Records which outsold the Beatles in the Hudson River Valley for a month. Gene was the original bass player I replaced.
Jimmy Galluzi died at a drag strip accident while racing his car. Al Friedman stopped returning my emails several years ago, parts unknown. Reggie Ward is doing real estate and still singing with local friends.
“Moose”Sal D’Onofrio before leaving for sunny California in 1971, played with Moose: Reggie Ward, Al Friedman, Benny Ribble and Claud Le Hennaf; and did a short stint with the Vanilla Fudge and Boomerang in 1970 on Long Island. Sal is now a Nutripathic doctor in Redondo Beach (healthguardians.com), and still does gigs with local bands on occasion.
Thank you to Sal D’Onofrio for the photos and information.
The Cloudwalkers came from the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. They cut one single, the harp-driven “Sunglasses” b/w “Never Told Me So” on Capco 106 in mid-1965.
“Sunglasses” isn’t the same song as the Cramps’ “Sunglasses After Dark” but I’d like to think there was some influence there. The single made it to #49 in Record World’s “Singles Coming Up” chart.
Members included Chris Welch and Peter Polizzano, who wrote both songs on their single, plus Pete Frias.
“Never Told Me So” is a fine Buddy Holly influenced rocker.
George Napolitano of the Ox-Bow Incident told me that Pete Frias was the guitar instructor and mentor of many musicians in the neighborhood, and also was guitarist for Jimmy & the Jesters, a group that often played the Peppermint Lounge. George also thought the Cloudwalkers single was recorded at Rossi Sound Studios at 2005 West 8th Street and Avenue T in Brooklyn.
The labels note “A Billyjo Production”. The engineer for the session was Joe Venneri, who was a guitarist for the Tokens during their early days, then became an engineer at Incredible Sound Studio, Mira Studios and Mercury Records.
Chris Welch and Peter Polizzano registered both songs with the Library of Congress on July 2, 1965. Publishing came through Calboy Music, BMI, owned by Joe Calcagno who also owned the Capco Records label.
An ad in Billboard in November 9, 1965 lists Capco Hitsound Records at Southard Ave in Rockville Center, NY. The label was promoting Capco 108, Irv Goodman’s “Hava Nagilah” / “Sugar Blues au Go Go” produced by Jimmie Haskell.
Singles by the Crossfires, the Don Rays and others on a green Capco label, circa 1963, come from a Los Angeles company probably not associated with Joe Calcagno.
I’d appreciate any further info on the Cloudwalkers.
The Fownds came from Hudson, New York. They had two singles, first the thumping rocker “Comin On Strong” b/w the doo-wop influenced “Rosalin” in 1971, and then the moody “Remember” b/w a hot rod parody “Wheels” (the band name changed to the Founds on this release).
Both singles have a sound like something from the early-mid ’60s despite the release dates.
Donald Moore wrote most of the songs and did some lead vocals. Sal Gambino wrote “Rosalin”, and Roy Jackson sang lead on the moody “Remember”.
The Fownds released both singles on their own Reeb label (“beer” spelled backwards), a custom label through Earl Kennett’s studio in Kinderhook.
Don Moore had a later band called Confusion, I believe he passed away in 2013.
This single by Arboreal was a mystery to me, the only names on the label are Glen, Greg Allen, and no label name or address. Even the deadwax only repeats the 45-ST-101 A/B on the labels. When I first wrote this post in late October, 2016, there was no info on the ‘net, nothing.
Obviously it’s not ’60s garage but sounds like mid-late 70s rock, without much punk influence. The opening of “Our Souls Would See Us Through” reminds me a little of Wire, but that’s as far as it goes. “16 Years Old” gives more attitude, but both songs have an original sound that can’t be pegged to any movement or sound from the time. The songs are in stereo.
As it turns out, Arboreal were two brothers, Greg Allen and Glen Allen, originally from Nutley, New Jersey but living in New York City when they went into a studio as early as 1968 and cut the songs on this single.
The entire post is worth a read, but the relevant paragraphs are:
Greg and I had a clunky but good sounding Telefunken tape recorder and, later, a Sony that had sound-on-sound,as it was called back then. We could overdub ourselves. Many Dada-esque tunes were recorded, and some attempts at “real” music as well.
But in ’68 I took up guitar, and we wrote and recorded more in earnest. By then our family had been in NYC for about a year. Greg and I decided to record in an actual studio.
An older classmate of mine, Jon Fausty, was working in a studio that specialized in Latin music. The first day in the studio the equipment went south, wouldn’t work. I was actually relieved, for although Greg and I had performed in public and had recorded at home, this was A STUDIO! Where RECORDS WERE MADE!
The next day the gear was in working order, and I had shaken off the nerves. After all, I did have long wavy hair, a cool turquoise ring, a Superman-logo’d tee shirt, tie-dyed jeans, and, most of all, my ’68 Gold-Top Les Paul Standard on which I had mastered the three essential chords.
I also loved the name we’d devised: Arboreal. We always had a thing for chimps, and we both probably would’ve proposed to Jane Goodall.
Greg was a metronomic drummer, a better time-keeper than me (‘though I keep good time!). But who knew at the time that left handed drummers set up their drums differently than righties? Not us — we’d only seen righties ever play.
Nontheless, with Greg keeping time and me on guitar, bass and vocals(!), we cut “Our Souls Would See Us Through,” which Greg wrote the lyric for, and “Sixteen Years Old,” which I wrote.
The chorus on “Sixteen…” was originally “Things are pretty shitty when you’re sixteen years old..” But for the sake of mass appeal and radio play, I cleverly changed “shitty” to “sickening”. A move of rare genius, though I missed the sheer beauty of the “pretty/shitty” rhyme scheme.
Greg, in true mystical metaphoric mode, came up with “we gazed into each other’s eyestreams, until we met each other’s dreams.” And to think — “eyestreams” was hardly ever used back then!
We printed 100 45’s, sent them out to several record companies, and waited for the offers to roll in. Some of the rejection letters came on very nice stationery. Some with encouraging comments and actual signatures!
As I recall, Pickwick, a budget label, made an offer, but we held out for the big fish. That fish is still swimming merrily out there somewhere….
I’d like to hear some of the Allen brothers other early tapes, they obviously had a very original approach to rock music.
The Innkeepers, from left: Mike Vendetti, Vito Turso, Gary Matson, Mike Lucente and Steve Saltzman
The Innkeepers came from Rosedale in Queens, New York (not Bayside as previously thought). Rosedale is close to JFK airport, along the eastern edge of Queens, bordering Nassau County.
Members were:
Gary Matson – vocals and percussion Mike Vendetti – Gibson guitar Vito Turso – Hammond organ and vocals Mike Lucente – Fender bass Steve Saltzman – drums
The Innkeepers had one excellent single in late 1966, “Never Should Have Done It” b/w “Wanted” on Galiko 895. Leon Salem wrote both songs, he was in a jazz group at Queens College with Mike Lucente.
“Never Should Have Done It” jumps into a tense mood, with a neat sliding guitar riff throughout the song and the line “life’s not worth living now, ever since the day, oh-o-o, you left me.” The drummer keeps a strong pace, and the bassist pushes the mood as each line of the lyrics crescends and crashes. The organ player compliments the repeating guitar and takes an extended solo after a brief guitar break.
The band comes up with a tight arrangement and good harmonies to back the lead vocalist on “Wanted”.
One of the Innkeeper’s most notable shows was at the Action House in Island Park, NJ, on December 4, 1966.
Ads for the show (viewable on the Mind Smoke Records site) promise an incredible lineup, including: The Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground, the Fugs, the Godz, the Vagrants, the Left Banke, the Wild Ones, and the Bit a Sweet.
Also, the Seventh Sons, the Fantasy Machines, the Ronettes, the Shangri-La’s, Lenny Welch, Monti Rock III, Joey Greco and the In Crowd, the Crests, the Shaggy Boys, Terry Knight and the Pack and Brian Hyland.
Besides the Action House, the Innkeepers played at Danny Mazur’s My House in Plainview NY, the Malibu Beach Club in Lido Beach, the Bull Shed in Huntington, Cinderella in Greenwich Villlage, the Shindig Lounge in Lynbrook, and regularly at The Busted Buzzard in Baldwin, NY.
The group was sometimes billed as the Inkeepers (one “n”) and the band name appears that way in one promo photo.
The Inkeepers, from left: Steve Saltzman, Mike Vendetti, Mike Lucente, Vito Turso, Gary Matson
Salem copyrighted “Wanted” with the Library of Congress in August 1966, following it up with “Never Should Have Done It” in October, both with publishing by Leona Music Pub. Co., but on the Galiko single both list Aurora Music Pub. BMI.
The Library of Congress index shows Leon Salem copyrighting six additional titles before the end of 1966, “What Do You Find?”, “All the Time”, “Venetian Gondola”, “Reasons”, “The Truth”, “Come Back, My Baby”, though only the first of these also had the Leona Music Pub. Co. credit.
With such an accomplished group of musicians, I hope there are some unreleased Innkeepers recordings out there, yet to be heard.
Galiko had a number of other releases, most notably the U.S. Stamps, who had two singles on the label in 1967, “Come On” / “Go and Dry Your Tears” and “Pull the Wool” / “We’ll Find a Way” (by Ed Landis). I don’t know anything about that band either.
There is a Leon Salem who has a number of credits: arranger and conductor on Nanette Natal’s 1969 album Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow , “sweetening” on the Tokens “I Like to Throw My Head Back and Sing (That Good Ole Rock and Roll)”, vibes and orchestration on the Brother to Brother LP Shades In Creation, and in 2018, production and writing of “Apollo Rising” by Tommy LaBella. I’m not sure if this is the same person, however.
Thank you to the members of the Innkeepers for help with this post: Gary Matson for sending the photos, and Mike Lucente and Vito Turso for information about the group.
This Innkeepers should not be confused with the band from Lewiston, Maine, whose demo “Traella (Hey Babe)” surfaced years back.
The Chimes of Freedom came from Scotia, New York, near Schenectady and Albany. “Jungle Rock” is known from Girls in the Garage, but the Dead Wax blog shows this was not an all-girl group: Mari Salato vocals, Chip Vedder vocals, Bill Pytlovany lead guitar, Paul Hamilton rhythm guitar, Jeff Austin bass guitar, and Darrell Francis drums.
Hamilton, Francis and Pytlovany wrote “Jungle Rock”, while the original A-side was “Did You Ever”, a ballad by Francis and Pytlovany.
This is a hard single to date, I don’t see anything in the dead wax other than stamped 102A/B, and the label code USS 102 is also obscure. The Robert Barry Music credit helps connect this to the Vibra-Sound Recording Studio in Schenectady.
The Shadows 5 were thought to be from Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario, northwest of Syracuse, but the band actually formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The band members’ first names are on the labels but I only know two members’ surnames. Another member’s last name is Williams, but I don’t know which.
Bill – lead vocals Randy – lead guitar (Fender Jaguar) Craig McKinney – rhythm and occasional lead guitar (Mosrite “Joe Maphis”) Ralph Riehl – bass (Fender Jazz) Vic – drums (Ludwig)
“Gathers No Moss” is an incredible version of the song, and the flip “That Little Girl” is a fine jangler.
Tech Records released the single in August 1966; I can’t find anything else on this label. The quality of the recording is excellent, with the opening guitar riff jumping off the grooves.
This was a very rare record though in the last year about 10 copies have shown up, which is how I was able to afford one.
Craig McKinney wrote to me with info about the group:
Two of us (Vic and I) are from Fulton, NY, a small city just south of Oswego, NY. Vic and I played together there before shipping off to Fort Wayne, IN and college. We started the band out there.
We recorded the record in Fort Wayne, IN at radio station WOWO and pressed 500 copies in Chicago. I wrote the words and music to “That Little Girl” as well as the arrangement for “Gathers No Moss.” Bill sings lead on “Girl” and that’s me on “Moss.” There is only copy out there that was signed by all members of our band. It was signed while we were on a tour trip to upstate NY in our old hometown.
Q. Were you or Vic in the Newberry 4 of Oswego when you lived in Fulton? They recorded a song called “That’s Why I’m a Rolling Stone” that is much like “Gathers No Moss”.
We were never in the “Newberry 4.” I heard them once or twice, though I was not there much in those days. They were the area’s top group at the time. They were excellent. A “Beatles” spin-off group if I remember right. Never knew them but admired them at the time. I didn’t remember their song until I heard it after reading a comment on your website. Still a great song to this day.
While we recording in the studio at WOWO, we had a professional photographer take pictures and videos of the group. We also left with the master tape. To this day, the pictures, videos and tapes cannot be found.
The group played backup for The Kingsmen in 1966 at my brother’s fraternity at Franklin College, Franklin, IN. They commented on how much better we were than them. Great fun! We played a LOT of frats and sorority houses in Indiana until Vic and I flunked out and the band broke up. Vic and I both later returned and graduated.
Randy was from Fort Wayne and, unfortunately, passed away about 8 years ago. I’m not sure where Ralph was from, but now resides somewhere in Florida. Bill was from Ohio and still resides there. Vic lives in Huntington, IN. I am back in Fulton, NY.
Craig McKinney
This is not the same Shadows Five who recorded “Dynamic Drums” / “Gary’s Boogie” for the Sully label and “Markham” / “Twistin’ Shadows” for Peacock. That group became the Ultimates and later Prince Charles & the Crusaders, then finally the Ultimate, with a 45 on Garland.
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.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
I don’t have much info on the Coming Generation who released one single in 1969 on the King Town label. Jim Du Bois wrote “Tell Me Now”, and Ed Barnhart wrote “This Troubled Life”.
