Shirley, circa 1974. From the collection of Shirley Hughey.
Shirley Hughey recorded this hypnotic slice of psychedelia at Harry Deal’s Galaxie III Studios in Taylorsville in 1969. As it turns out, she recorded her vocal having never met the band cut the backing track! The flip is “When I Reach For You”.
“Pink and Green” was written by Bob Pruitt, produced by Dave Smith, and released on the Bandit label of Asheville, which is known more for soul releases by Willie Hobbs and Pic and Bill, but also has the Electric Love’s “She Wants to Be Free” / “Dreaming of Her”.
I didn’t know much else about this record until Vance Pollack contacted me in 2013.
Vance Pollack interviewed Shirley Hughey on Asheville Free Media on June 6, 2013. Vance wrote to me: “The song was written and recorded by Hendersonville, NC band Orange Purple Marmalade. Shirley’s vocal track was added later and she never met or performed with the band.”
“Orange Purple Marmalade’s guitarist songwriter “Hobby” Pruitt, who died in 2002, is the only writing credit appearing on the label.
“Shirley went on to a significant singing career fronting club bands in NJ, PA and NY throughout the 1970s before returning to North Carolina.
“About the time the song was recorded, Hobby shipped out to Viet Nam and the rest of the band relocated to Connecticut and played clubs along the coast with female drummer Theresa Crouch and guitarist Terry Justus. Theresa and Terry were married in 1970, returned to western NC and continued with Orange Purple Marmalade until about 1975 when the band was renamed Justice. Theresa gained quite a reputation as one of the region’s hardest rocking female drummers, known during the time by the grand title “Theresa, Queen of Drums!” Terry died in 2010. Theresa has fond memories of the musical career she shared with her husband of 40 years.”
Thank you to Vance for shedding light on this odd and fascinating single.
A 1969 clipping of Orange Purple Marmalade with Chuck Carter, organ; Adrain Rovillon bass, Teresa Couch, drums, and Terry Justus, lead guitar. Thank you to Vance Pollack for this clipping.
Orange Purple Marmalade in the Danville Bee April 17, 1975
M.G. & the Escorts, from left: Glen Stephen, Mike Gauthier, Graham Powers, Glenn Grecco and Bill Bryans
Where does a song like “A Someday Fool” come from? The parts are not much more than a steady snare beat, a repetitive fuzz riff, simple rhythm guitar and faked at-wits-end vocal, but the result is staggering, a template for what garage bands have been trying to do ever since. The unstoppable drum beat and the mesmerizing guitar really give this song its hooks, and they catch you fast.
The band was Glenn Grecco lead guitar, Graham Powers vocals, Mike Gauthier guitar, Glen Stephen bass and Bill Bryans on drums, from the Pointe Claire section of Montreal.
Their other 45s are excellent as well. You can hear that distorted guitar sound on their very first 45, “Please Don’t Ever Change”, which was a top ten Canadian hit in May of ’66. It was written by Glenn Grecco, who also wrote “A Someday Fool”, and backed with a slow ballad, “Sorry to Hear”.
Their second 45 featured a great British-sounding beat number, “I Can’t Go On” backed by one I haven’t heard yet, “The One Who Wants You”.
“It’s Too Late”, the flip of “A Someday Fool”, is maybe their most complex song, featuring organ, celeste, solid rhythm playing and good harmonies and was written by Grecco and Bill Bryans.
The band’s fourth and final 45, “Next to Nowhere” shows a more soulful direction, and lightly psychedelic. It was backed with “Remembering”, a well-crafted ballad with more fine harmonies, and a personal favorite of mine. This single also was released in the U.S. on the Mala label.
Update, June 2024: Glen Stephen kindly sent four more snapshots of M.G. & the Escorts on stage at the Garden of Stars at the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal:
Graham Powers singing, with Glenn Grecco on keyboards, on stage the Garden Of Stars, 1967 World’s Fair in MontrealBilly Bryans on stage the Garden Of Stars, 1967 World’s Fair in MontrealGlenn Grecco of M.G. & the Escorts with Graham Powers on keyboards, on stage the Garden Of Stars, 1967 World’s Fair in MontrealMike Gauthier on stage the Garden Of Stars, 1967 World’s Fair in MontrealRPM, November 28, 1966
Bill Bryans and Glen Stephen at the Garden of Stars, Montreal World’s Fair, September 1967Bill Bryans has been keeping a blog, misterbryans, which is focused mainly on Cuban music, but he has an entry about the band that I’ll quote here, with his permission, along with the photo he posted:
We were called M.G. & The Escorts. This type of name was trendy back then, initials followed by a name (I’ve no idea why). The biggest group at the time was called J.B. & The Playboys – another suit band – who were from NDG [Notre-Dame-de-Grace]. We were from Pointe Claire, which was a bit more middle class. But eventually, we became more popular.
We did pretty good, we had a good run. We put out three singles that got a lot of airplay and we played every weekend in Montreal or Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville – that area of the country. We played teen clubs and high school dances mostly and a lot of “Battle of The Bands”, which were popular back then.
We had an advantage because my father owned a record store, so we could get the newest songs before anyone else because back then all the music came out as singles, and whoever could play the hit parade was the most popular. The hit parade was the best music back then. Albums were just the singles with a few filler tunes.
Everything changed in 67. Pop music began to get more complex. I remember seeing the Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane at Expo 67 and that changed everything for me. I began to listen to Frank Zappa, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, blues music, free jazz, Aretha Franklin. I began to connect the music to the other things going on in the world, mostly triggered by the war in Viet Nam. I didn’t even hang out with the guys in MG & The Escorts anymore.
I followed up with a few short questions:
Q. I read a rumor that the group was going to record an album in Texas – is that true?
Billy Bryans: News to me although I’d love to know where you read the rumour.
M.G. & the Escorts[I read this in the liner notes to Nightmares from the Underworld, a great Canadian garage compilation by Andre Gibeault that was released over 20 years ago – but even there it’s called a rumor.]
Q. Was there much recorded that was never released?
Billy Bryans: I don’t believe so. We just recorded single by single.
Q. Did you ever play any TV shows – is there any live footage of the band?
Billy Bryans: We did play TV shows (usually lip-synching) but I’ve no idea if any of that footage exists.
Music Trend, June 16, 1967 from left: Bill Bryans, Glen Stephen, Graham Powers, Mike Gauthier and Glenn Grecco
In late 2010, Glen Stephen sent in photos and news clippings on the group. An article from Music Trend in June of ’67 quotes Bill Bryans: “we got to a point where we were out and out tired of the music we were playing. It had served a purpose for a while but … we want to put something into our performances now that we couldn’t do before with top 40 material. So, we’re drifting away from it but not divorcing ourselves altogether. We’ve learned a lot from watching the big name groups on the tours. Now I think we’ve become a little more artistic in our music rather than mechanical.”
The article continues “The groups [sic] has also finally produced a record that they are satisfied with,” and quotes Glen Grecco saying “We are really pleased with it. It’s a bigger sound and a bigger arrangement and not like the others which shouldn’t have been released. But at the time we didn’t have the money or the time to keep working at a track until it was an ideally perfect product. The record will be out in the beginning of July. We have no title for it yet but that’s because we haven’t been able to get together on the name.”
Since the article says the band’s previous record was “Someday Fool”, it seems the song they’re discussing is either “Next to Nowhere” or “Remembering”, the two sides of their last single.
I asked Glen Stephen about the Music Trend article, and also about the band’s early days:
I played in a couple of groups prior to M.G. and the Escorts. The first band was in high school in a group called the Crescents which focused on Buddy Holly songs. I later joined a group with Glenn Grecco and Billy Bryans in a group called the Strangers and the focus of the music was Cliff Richard and the Shadows.
The Stratocaster was purchased in New York City in 1961 and it was coral red. I played rhythm guitar and we used a Danelectro reverb for the lead guitar. Glenn Grecco could imitate the Shadows guitar sound to the letter. We also played the Chet Akins style of finger picking as there were several people in the Pointe Claire area that played that style.
I don’t remember the details of how the group formed into M.G. and the Escorts. Part of the group The Strangers joined with another part of a group with Graham Powers and Mike Gauthier.
Our first major performance as M.G. and the Escorts was at the Maurice Richard Arena where we were the opening act for the Beach Boys” Other groups we opened for were The Young Rascals, Tommy James and the Shondells, Neil Diamond, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Serendipity Singers, & the Happenings. Our group would play a lot of the top 40 of the hit parade, many of which involved four part harmony which we did fairly well.
Glen Stephen with 1960 Fender StratocasterWe could see that there was a trend towards a heavier sound, ex. The Rolling Stones and we started to adjust accordingly, but still maintained much music that involved harmonies. That is where “Someday Fool” flowed from. There was no harmony, some background singing, but a solid beat which was different from the style we played.
The first recording we did was at Stereo Sound Studios where we recorded on a two track system which was one one of the better ones in Montreal. It cost $100/hour in the early 60s which was alot of money in those days. When recording you had to play and sing at the same time and make no mistakes or you would have to redo the song. Once completed you would hope for a good mix.
In one song, we recorded the guitar and lead on a 4 track tape machine in a house; brought the track to the recording studio and added in the drums and bass at the studio. The last song we recorded was in the RCA studio in Montreal which had a 4 track system. It was called “Next To Nowhere.”
MG and the Escorts Glen Stephen on stage the Garden Of Stars, 1967 World’s Fair in MontrealQ. The article in Music Trend in June of ’67 mentions many long hours in a recording studio – what kinds of songs was the band working on? What became of them? Is it true the band had clearance for an album?
All the songs that we worked on in the studio, we recorded. There was some talk of an album. but it never materialized.
We played in the Garden of Stars at the World’s Fair in 1967 and it was not much longer after that that we disbanded.
Q. The article also says the band was in semi-retirement before June ’67? Is this true?
Lead guitarist Glenn Greco with manager Mel McCormickWhat we did was re-evaluate our direction and a change in the style of music. It was more of a time of reflection. We were offered a possible recording session to produce advertising music for French’s Sloppy Joe Mix. We were to go to Texas for the recording, but it didn’t materialize.
M.G. and the Escorts 45 releases:
Reo 8936 Please Don’t Ever Change / Sorry to Hear Reo 8960 I Can’t Go On / The One Who Wants You Reo 8975 A Someday Fool / It’s Too Late (early 1967) Reo 8998 Next to Nowhere / Remembering (released in the U.S. on Mala 582) (late 1967)
Thank you to Billy Bryans and Glen Stephen for the photos and clippings, and for answering my questions. Thanks to Ivan Amirault for many of the scans from RPM.
Update, April 2012:
I’m sorry to hear that Billy Bryans passed away on April 23, 2012. Bill was seventeen when he started recording with the Escorts, and he spent the rest of his live working in music as musician, promoter, producer, and writer.
Now defunct: a short audio interview with Bill and a clip of the Parachute Club at http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2012/4/Parachute-Clubs-Billy-Bryans-dies-at-63
The Globe and Mail also had a good overview of his life at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/billy-bryans-eclectic-musical-tastes-took-him-far/article2411780/, now taken down but available on Archive.org.
Music Trend, June 16, 1967from left: Mike Gauthier, Glenn Grecco, Graham Powers, Glen Stephen and Bill BryansRPM, October 2, 1967RPM, October 21, 1967RPM, July 4, 1966RPM, January 21, 1967Promo shot from the 1967 Canadian Music Industry Directory from RPM Magazine, November 11, 1967 – but not the Escorts!
The Vistells, 1963 at Fort Ord, from left to right, Johnny Mullins rhythm guitar, Mike Reesen drums, Dave Kibler lead guitar, and Mike Dokter bass
The Cobras were from Northern California, specifically Pacific Grove, which is right by Monterey. The band had started as an instrumental group called the Vistells, who recorded a few acetates.
The Cobras recorded just one 45, “If I Can’t Believe Her” b/w “I’m Hurtin'”. Dave’s guitar on “If I Can’t Believe Her” is original and fluid, with a nice touch of echo. Drummer Mike Reesen’s fills are much looser than is usual for garage recordings. “I’m Hurtin'” has more catchy guitar work and a plaintive vocal. Amazingly “I’m Hurtin'” has never been comped before to my knowledge.
In 1966, the draft claimed two members of the Cobras. Meanwhile rhythm guitarist Bob O’Neil formed Talon Wedge. When Dave Kibler returned, he and Bob formed Snail. Taken together, these groups show the evolution of ’60s music from surf to garage, to psychedelia and hard rock.
Dave Kibler wrote to me:
The Cobras was a Pacific Grove, California group that evolved in 1963 from two friends who played guitar in different bands. Dave Kibler played lead guitar [in the Vistells] and Bob O’Neill played rhythm guitar. They quit their groups and recruited bassist Mike Dokter of Salinas, and Mike Reesen of Seaside to play drums to form a new combo.
The Vistells recorded in what may have been the only recording studio in Monterey, Meagher Electronics. They made some 78 rpm Audiodisc acetates for us and we were thrilled. The Vistells were Johnny Mullins on rhythm guitar, Mike Reesen on drums, Mike Dokter on bass, and Dave Kibler on lead guitar. On Night Train you can hear what an accomplished drummer Mike was. He started when he was really young, and he knew all the drum rudiments. This is the genesis of the Cobras sound, since this is the same lineup, without Bob O’Neill.
Lots of groups were naming themselves after cars, and the Cobra was a fast and sleek car that everybody liked so it seemed like a natural choice. The Cobras started out as a surf music/Ventures instrumental band, but with the advent of the British Invasion, they started adding vocals to their repertoire.
An early photo of the Cobras. left-right: Mike Reesen, Bob O’Neill, Mike Dokter, and Dave Kibler
Eventually the group was based in Santa Cruz, California and played venues from Sacramento to Carmel. The Santa Cruz music scene was pretty active, mostly because of the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom and the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk. It was originally made in the ‘20’s and it had that old-time boardwalk feel to it. It had real atmosphere. An organization called Neighbors of Woodcraft held dances on the weekends during the summer and everyone in town would attend. They had groups from all over California play there.
Some of the groups that the Cobras played with were the Syndicate of Sound, the E-Types, the West Coast Five (they were from Monterey and they had a record. I think it was a cover of the Beau Brummels’ “Still In Love With You Baby”, they were more of a garage band), The Tikis, The New Breed from Sacramento, William Penn and his Pals, and Corny and the Corvettes (this was a fantastic soul music show band ala James Brown on a scaled down version. Corny Bumpus played with the Doobie Brothers in a later incarnation. They may have made some records.)
When we played, it was mainly covers that were popular at the time. I don’t think that many of the groups did originals during that period, because we were playing for dances and people wanted to hear familiar tunes.
At that point a producer in Monterey wanted to team the Cobras with a singer/keyboardist named Gary Thomas of Watsonville, who played piano with a popular local group called the Modestics to record some originals that he had written. Nothing came of those sessions, but Gary was invited to join the group so he bought a Farfisa which gave the group a completely new sound. As a result the Cobras started writing and performing originals in their sets.
I don’t think the Modestics ever made a record, but they were a great show band. They had a couple of sax players and everyone had matching blue brocade dinner jackets. They did steps when they played and they looked and sounded impressive. They eventually fell apart after Gary left.
The Cobras, just before Gary Thomas joined.
One night, my dad met a man in a bar who said he was a record producer for a subsidiary of Moonglow Records called Scoop Records. He came to listen to us and decided that he wanted to take us into a small studio in Berkeley to record four original sides.
I can’t recall the name of the studio, but it seemed to be under construction at the time we recorded. I think we recorded on a 2-track Ampex, because we recorded the instrumental tracks first and then overdubbed the vocals. I was used to recording on an old Wolensak mono recorder and being in a real studio was an overwhelming experience. We did all of the tracks in the afternoon and evening.
The result was the “I’m Hurtin’” / ”If I Can’t Believe Her” single. There was no promotion or distribution deal and of course sales of the record were limited to copies that people bought directly from the band or in local record stores. There are no known examples of the other two songs recorded at the session, but they were the similar in style to the two that were released. I think we made 500 copies of the record.
When Gary and I were writing “I’m Hurtin'” it was during a period when Bob Dylan was very influential in the Folk Rock genre. There were a lot of “wannabes” who mangled his poetic approach and we used to make fun some of the lame lyrics that were a standard on many records. One day I was goofing around with the lyrics and I decided to put in every cliché I could think of just for the fun of it. I showed it to Gary and he thought it was pretty funny and he said we should use that set of lyrics. I was reluctant at first, but when he started singing it, it sounded pretty good. I had a friend who let me borrow his Rickenbacker 360-12 like Roger (Jim) McGuinn played in the Byrds and voila; instant Folk Rock!
What a lineup! Does anyone recall this show? Did it actually take place? Let us know! – See Lost Live Dead for more info.
Talon Wedge and Snail
In 1966, I was drafted into the Marines, and Mike was also drafted, which spelled the demise of the Cobras as a group. Two of the members went on to form the Talon Wedge in Santa Cruz, which ultimately evolved into a successful band called Snail. The Talon Wedge had a fluid band roster, but the first version had Bob O’Neill, Dick Tasano, and Terry Shehorn on guitars, Ron Fillmore on Drums, and Bob Caloca on Bass.
I have a demo tape that they made. I was uncertain of the titles, so I used the lyrics as a possible reference. I don’t know where they were recorded, or who played on these songs, but I think Bob O’Neill, Ron Fillmore and Bob Caloca were some of the musicians on them.
When I returned from the service, venues were more of a concert setting where people would sit and listen. At that time I joined Snail as the bass player. I was the one with real short hair! Snail was a Cream-style power trio with Bob O’Neill on guitar and Ron Fillmore on drums. [The three Snail songs here] were recorded at a live gig in San Lorenzo park in Santa Cruz. It was a big concert (the one on the pink flyer). You can hear a definite Cream influence. Sittin’ Gettin’ Stoned was a musical departure, but people liked it probably because of the not-so-subtle altered consciousness reference. The bass was a Hagstrom 8-string, which was set up similarly to a 12-string guitar except with four pairs of strings each tuned an octave apart in the bass register. When it was played it sounded like a bass and a guitar playing together.
I played with them for about 9 months, when they got a second guitar player named Ken Kraft. When I was with Snail in the late ‘60’s we opened for The People, H.P. Lovecraft, Clear Light, and Fritz Rabine Memorial Band. The latter boasted Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in its roster.
In the late 60’s or early 70’s, Snail put out two albums featuring Bob and Ken fronting the group. The first record was named “Flow.” I don’t know if they are available anywhere, but they had a sound vaguely similar to the early Doobie Brothers.
And that’s the saga of the Cobras. We loved playing music and being a part of the scene at a time when it was fun and innocent compared to the way things are now.
Thank you Dave Kibler for bringing the story of the Cobras and the Santa Cruz scene to light, and for providing the excellent Vistells photo, Cobra cards, Snail posters, and the unreleased acetates and tapes of these bands. For more info on Dave’s current musical work, check out www.thesoundbytes.com
Also, I want to thank JG, who alerted me to the Soundbytes website after my initial post and encouraged me to ask about Talon Wedge.
Early photo, 1963, l-r: Ronny Randall, Floyd Dakil, Geoff West on drums, Terry Billings on bass, and Andy Michlin on keys
Updated April, 2010
Floyd Dakil and Pitmen, the group on the Jetstar 45, l-r: Floyd Dakil, Geoff West, Laurry Michlin, Ronny Randall and Terry Billings Floyd Dakil formed his group in 1963 with fellow Highland Park High School friend Andy Michlin, and three sophomores of Thomas Jefferson High School: Ronny Randall on guitar, Terry Billings on bass, and Geoff West on drums. Within a year or so, Andy’s brother Laurry Michlin took over on keyboards.
In February 1964 they won a competition to become the house band at the Pit Club, a 2,500 person venue located at the Bronco Bowl in Oak Cliff. “Chuck Berry rock ‘n roll pre-Beatles – that’s how I would best describe the music we played at that time” said Floyd in a 2008 interview.
They soon released their first 45, the classic “Dance, Franny, Dance” b/w “Look What You’ve Gone and Done” on Jetstar. The label says both sides were recorded live at the Pit. Originally I thought it was likely to be a studio recording with overdubbed handclaps and applause at the beginning, but Geoff West says in his comment below that it was recorded in front of a large crowd at the Pit in the Spring of 1964: “on ‘Dance Franny Dance’ it required at least five minutes to get several hundred teenagers to clap together!”
In 2009 original member Ron Randall contacted me about the group:
Geoff’s recollections are correct. The recording of “Dance, Franny, Dance” was done live at the Pit Club. Larry Lavine was the engineer using a 4 track recorder set up in the women’s dressing room backstage. It was just one of those nights when everything came together. A great recording.
The recordings done live at the Pit survive on CDs that Geoff West made from an original, not released LP. There are eight songs, some are covers, some original. I have my copy.
Maybe, to add to the confusion, or clear things, the songs “recorded live at the Pit”, and then released on Jetstar have the name of the group as The Floyd Dakil Combo. This is correct for legal reasons. “The Pitmen” referred to the house band at the Pit Club. We were the first. The original Pitmen backed a long list of entertainers at the Pit Club, and went on to other successes around Texas. There were others, after we left the Pit Club, called the Pitmen.
The eight songs recorded at the Pit Club represent the beginnings of Dallas’s incredible garage rock scene. The songs are “Roadrunner”, “Dance, Franny, Dance”, “Look What You’ve Gone and Done”, “You Got Me Crazy”, “Concentrate on You”, “Bad Boy”, “Maybe Someday” and “Rendezvous”.
Floyd recalled that he and the producers brought the live tape into a studio and “sweetened” the two songs for the single.
“Dance, Franny, Dance” peaked as high as #4 on KLIF in May, 1964, which is not surprising given KLIF DJ Chuck Dunaway’s involvement – he’s listed as co-producer along with Bob Sanders, owner of the Knight and Spectra record labels. When the Phiadelphia-based Guyden label picked up the songs for national distribution, “Dance, Franny, Dance” hit local charts in Pennsylvania and California, leading to a brief tour of California state fairs and DJ hops that summer. Floyd noted that the Beach Boys came out with their hit “Dance, Dance, Dance” soon after (in November 1964).
The Floyd Dakil Combo, l-r Floyd Dakil, Andy Michlin, Dennis Mills, Ronny Randall, and Chris Brown
Floyd Dakil went on to record three 45s on the Earth label as the Floyd Dakil Four. “Bad Boy” is the first of these, a very good rocker, produced by John Anderson. The flip is a good uptempo song “Stoppin’ Traffic” about a girl who does just that.The second Earth single combines the rockin’ “Kitty Kitty” (great guitar solo too) with a neat pop song, “It Takes a Lot of Hurt”. The third 45 on Earth has a good original, “You’re The Kind Of Girl” with “Stronger Than Dirt” on the A-side.It was a later Pitmen group who recorded a couple 45s: “Earthy”, plus “Summertime Blues” b/w “Suzi Q” (released on Earth 401).
Ron Randall:
There was another, later group, called the Floyd Dakil Four. That group was Floyd, Ronny Randall, Mike Giles (drums) and Terry Billings on bass. That group recorded the songs on the Earth label, produced by John Anderson. I have that picture somewhere.
“Earth” was a term coined by John Anderson, our manager/producer to describe the sound we had with the Floyd Dakil Four. I had added a Fender VI Bass Guitar to the instrument mix, along with my Stratocaster. So we had two bass instruments on some recordings and live performances. Terry Billings on Fender Precision bass, Ronny Randall on Fender VI bass. It was/is a hard driving click-bass/surf/rock sound done an octave lower to the Stratocaster. Add Terry’s Precision bass, and Mike’s drums and that was the foundation of the sound called Earth. “Earth” was written in huge letters on the back of that Fender VI bass. Ron Chapman commented on how full the live sound was at the “Sump’n Else” Studio at Northpark.
I continued to perform with Floyd at all kinds of venues until I decided to go to college, get a day job. We continue to be friends today. We participated in a concert about 18 months ago at the Lakewood Theater on Greenville Ave. The concert was dubbed “The Legends of Rock and Roll,” produced by Kenny Daniels. We did a “Reunited” performance live at the Stoneleigh in 2005.
After the Earth 45s, Floyd kept the band together while earning a B.A. from Texas Tech. In 1968 he had a solo 45 “Merry Christmas Baby” / “One Day” on Pompeii. Sometime after that Floyd became the guitarist for one of his idols, Louis Prima, and remained for several years until Prima’s ill health curtailed his touring.
Floyd Dakil … Live!In 1975 he released a LP with his own group, Live! in which he runs through 42 songs in as many minutes. It’s definitely an odd mix, if you can imagine “Everyday People” segueing to a chorus of “Yummy Yummy Yummy” then straight into “Whiskey River”! Also about 1975 Floyd turned down a two LP contract with CBS, feeling that the contract was unfair in charging promotional costs back to the artist.
In the late ’80s he started a band with Larry Randall, and this group’s songs were featured in a 1991 movie, Love Hurts with a brief cameo by the group.
In 2009 Floyd was one of the featured acts at the Ponderosa Stomp at SXSW in Austin. I’ve heard a tape of the show and it’s one of the better sets from that night. Floyd played “Dance Franny Dance”, “Look What You’ve Gone and Done”, “Bad Boy” and “Stopping Traffic”, as well as “Nadine”.
This year Floyd’s friend Phil York released an official new CD Rolling Dynamite, collecting some of his early singles and a number of previously unreleased tracks. I just received the copy I ordered, and can provide an overview:
Included are both sides of the Jetstar 45 and both sides of the first Earth 45 (“Bad Boy” and “Stoppin’ Traffic”, though “Bad Boy” on the CD is an alternate with a shorter intro and piano solo [‘take it Andy!’] instead of the ringing guitar break on the 45). Also included are “Kitty Kitty”, the A-side to the second Earth 45; “You’re the Kind of Girl”, the flip from his third Earth 45; and his Pompeii single, “Merry Christmas Baby”. Everything else on it was never released on vinyl that I know of, though five of the unreleased tracks did appear on a CD collection in the mid-90s.
It’s hard to know when the unreleased tracks were cut, as the notes only include a general reminiscence by Floyd and no recording specifics, nor is the CD sequenced strictly by recording date. Of the unreleased tracks the two highlights are definitely the title song, “Rollin’ Dynamite” (a cover of Scotty McKay’s first single, written by Joann Owen) and “Shiver”. Other early songs include “Cold As Ice” and “Sweet Little Anna” and a ballad “Pretty Girl”. “She Bops a Lot” may have been a later song done as a throwback to his earlier style, it’s hard to tell.
A few tracks sound like they could be from late-’60s or early ’70s sessions, including “I Know”, “Turn to the Night” and “Here I Am”, all excellent songs in a gentler style. “Good Times and Rock and Roll” sounds like a 70s track, at least in it’s nostalgic look at the early rock scene. The rest are definitely from the late ’80s or ’90s and range from country to zydeco to “Old Time Rock & Roller”.
Details on recording personnel and dates would be useful for fanatics like myself, but overall I would consider this an excellent retrospective of Floyd’s work, with all of his essential songs presented in excellent sound quality.
I had been looking forward to hearing him play in Brooklyn, New York this summer, but I’m very sorry to report that Floyd passed away on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
Sources include photos from the bigd60s group and a long interview with Floyd Dakil by WFMU’s Michael Shelley from May 10, 2008.
From Pennsylvania, the Hides released just one 45 in 1966 before disappearing. The only member I know of is John Marsiglio. The description on his website:
At age 15 he started “The Hides” from the ashes of The Runaways and The Ban-Lons. They cut some tracks at Gateway Studio’s in Pittsburgh. Shortly after his 17th birthday “The Hides” released a single “When I See The One I Love”, but the “B” side “Don’t Be Difficult” received more attention. John promptly quit the band because he didn’t sing “Don’t Be Difficult”.
Supposedly two other tracks were recorded but never released. “Don’t Be Difficult” was written by Sam & Marsiglio, “When I See The One I Love” by Cheplick & Marsiglio.
Olympic were a hugely influential band in Czechoslovakia during the ’60s. If not as purely garage as the Matadors, their playing and songwriting were totally original.
The band at this point was band Petr Janda lead vocals, Ladislav Klein guitar, Miroslav Berka keyboards, Pavel Chrastina bass and Jan Antonín Pacák on drums, who just passed away this March.
They recorded dozens of singles, EPs and LPs during the ’60s and ’70s, this is the title song from their second album, “Pták Rosomák”, from 1969. Ptak Rosomak was written by Janda and Chrastina, and produced by J. Tuma.
Info for this post came from a great blog on Czech music Funky Czech-In, which has more info on Olympic.
Daniel McNabb submits this, the first record by the Magic Reign from October of 1968.
Vocalist Mike Volk and drummer and keyboard player Bobby Winkler had been in the Manassas, VA band the Chocolate Snowflake, whose members included Charlie Johnson and Rocky Isaac, both of whom were also in the Fallen Angels.
Winkler and Volk moved to Arlington and formed the Magic Reign, with original band members Duke Aires on guitar and Mike Burker on bass. Later additions include Pick Kelly bass, Johnny Peterson drums, Steve Summers lead guitar and Steve Crossan guitar.
Both the moody Mirrors and its flip (an adaption of “Pop Goes the Weasel”), were written by R. Christie and Michael Volk. Production was by Howard Boggess. “Pop Goes the Weasel” starts off well, but the nursery rhyme lyrics and an annoying whistle doom it to novelty status. “Mirrors” is genuinely intense, with a subdued fuzz solo and good production.
They released a second on Jamie, “Jefferson Street” b/w “Charcoal Sketch”, early in ’69. Jefferson Street was named after the street where they lived and is a good late-60’s psychedelic pop number.
Recently Dan met guitarist Duke Aires, when working on Duke’s ’63 Fender Jaguar, which inspired him to contribute this post. Thanks Dan!
“David Everett in foreground, Bill Donley behind him, Lackey against the tree… and me with the ginger hair” – Bob Welch
The Morning Sun formed when the Beaumont, Texas group the Six Deep broke up in 1967. From the Six Deep were Bob Welch bass, David Everett guitar and Bill Donley drums, and with them were Don Lackey lead guitar and Jeff Griffin on keyboards.
One reason this 45 is interesting is each side was recorded by separate groups with no members in common! The a-side, an excellent hippie pop-psych song “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”, was written by Bob Welch, and produced by the lead guitarist Don Lackey at Lowland Studios.
The harder-edged “Dark Hair” was written by Jack Grochmal and produced by Freddie Piro at Valley Recording Studios. Both Grochmal and Piro were based in California, where they ran Mama Jo’s Studio (Jack was an engineer there). I feel that both sides compliment each other and sound like they could almost be the same band.
The first release was on the Salmar label from Beaumont, listing Lowland Studios on both sides. The National General release is supposed to have better fidelity than the Salmar, but I don’t have the Salmar to compare.
I recently spoke to bassist Bob Welch, who provided me with the photo of the band and a fascinating history of the band:
The band was actually named “Mourning Sun” – when the 45 was pressed by National General, they screwed it up, but oh well, at least we got a release outside of our region.
The lineup of the band was myself on bass, Don Lackey and David Everett on guitars, and Bill Donley on drums. Everett, Donley, and I were remnants of Six Deep. Lackey joined us after returning to Beaumont from a year’s gigging out in LA where he and Jack Grochmal worked in clubs in the South Bay area and also did session work with Freddie Piro at National General, the then nascent label of Universal. Jack followed Don back to Beaumont, sat in on a few gigs and recording sessions with us and was instrumental in getting Piro to release the song.
Unlike Six Deep which was a showy, high-energy, no-holds-barred band, Mourning Sun was much more sedate and serious on stage. We did a lot of covers but not verbatim… sort of like a Vanilla Fudge… in a way, we were a bit more experimental and a lot more into the LA sound… that was the Lackey influence. Six Deep would have never done a song like “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”. The song came about from the title of a poem written by another good friend of mine, Bob Hanson – the title is the only thing in common, but that’s where it originated.
We originally recorded a cut of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” at Robin Hood Bryan’s in Tyler (where Six Deep recorded)… that cut was much nicer in terms of sonic quality. However, the guy that funded that session absconded with the master as well as another tune titled “Tuesday Woman”… and we never saw or found him again. So, when the opportunity came up with Freddie Piro, we quickly re-cut the song at Lowland. That’s the one you have… “Dark Hair”, the B side, was written and performed by Jack Grochmal in LA… in the haste to get the deal done with Piro, Jack agreed to put his tune (which Freddie had produced) on the flip.
Lowland Studios was in Pt. Neches, Texas – a small community located between Beaumont and Pt. Arthur. It was owned by Mickey Rouse, who played bass in several R&B (i.e., soul with horn sections) bands – bands with names like The Boogie Kings, Counts of Soul, The Rhythm Aces, etc.. It was just down the street from another important landmark, that being Volpi Music – an old line musical instruments store, it’s where everyone went to get their guitars, amps, etc. – the Volpi’s were an elderly couple who “adopted” all us misfits and gave us better deals than we deserved on our gear.
The studio business was primarily for jingles and demo recording but the space was also large enough for rental as a rehearsal hall. Mickey had 2, 4, and 8 track machines with a 24 channel board that he’d cobbled together, a full set of Neumann mics, a drum isolation booth, a vocal room, some old spring reverb units, nothing fancy… it hissed and sputtered along… wasn’t the quietest room you’d hope for, but it gave us a great place to try stuff out while lending him a hand on jingle production. He was good about doing that for local musicians and bands… allowing us to cut tracks there in exchange for services on jingles and as session players on more serious stuff he was doing with the R&B crowd.
We were very fortunate to have access to the facility and the comraderie and mentoring with Mickey. On occasion, one or both of the Winters brothers or members of their bands would drop in for a jam when they were in town… that was always a treat. We recorded quite a few songs and demos there, nothing though that was ever released other than locally. Mickey closed the studio and went on to have a nice career in accounting, owned his own firm, sold it a few years back and went sailing with his wife. Incredibly nice guy that always treated musicians right, but didn’t tolerate nonsense.
The tune “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” charted mostly in the Southeast, it was a big hit in the Ft. Lauderdale market and got some air play up and down the Florida coast and into the Carolinas. We had several additional tunes in the can as they say. The label wanted us to go on tour to promote “Walk in the Woods” but we were in no position to do so at the time as we all needed to maintain student status to stay out of the draft. So, they dropped it and us, and the record sank into obscurity and the band broke up shortly afterwards.
We had several follow up songs recorded, including one titled “Where’s Love Gone Today” – a very Hollies-like tune – but as I related earlier, it fell by the wayside when we opted out of any touring/promo commitments. Things sort of went their way then as folks were moving out of the area and heading off in different directions. I stayed around for another year, gigging with a local band called Kirk Williams and the Daytrippers, a nice cover band, but with little of the innovation and creative spirit of Six Deep, et.al. I graduated from college and moved to Houston where I started a career in the semiconductor industry. Fast-forwarding a lot, I recently “retired” from Intel Corporation and live in the Sacramento area.
Jack went on to have a successful 25+ yr career in the recording industry as an engineer/session player/vocal arranger in Nashville. He’s really about the only guy I know from that time in our circle who managed to stay the course and make a living in the music biz.
We can only hope those early recordings of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” and “Tuesday Woman” from Robin Hood Brians studio turn up eventually.
In 2010, the Lowland recording of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” was reissued from an original tape on the LP and CD Local Customs: Lone Star Lowlands, a compilation of various acts that recorded at Lowland Studios. Also included are an unreleased Mourning Sun song, “Where’s Love Gone Today” and three by Bobby Welch, “Benshaw Glenn”, “Yellow River” and “Laughing Girl”.
Thank you to Bob Welch for the detailed history and photo of the band.
Thanks also to Borja for the scans of the Salmar 45.
The Proverbial Knee Hi’s were Charles Smith guitar, Dale Pate electric piano and organ, Butch Powell bass and Eddie Hall drums. They had a vocalist, Willie T., who was out of the band by the time they recorded their only 45.
They group started in 1966, and played the chain of Beachcomber clubs along the east coast which were owned by their manager, Buddy Eisen. They even had a fan club based in New Jersey.
The band went into D’Arcy Sound Studios in Norfolk and recorded two original songs, released on Eisen’s Beachcomber label in the fall of 1967.
“Watchout” is a great upbeat number with some garbled singing. There’s a neat instrumental break before a short recited verse. Eddie Hall really pounds the drums, and I like how Dale Pate moves between Wurlitzer and electric piano.
“Crying For Her” is an epic ballad, really dramatic, but I dig both the intro and the closing moments of the song.
The 45 was produced by Warren Miller and arranged by Wayne Butler. D’Arcy Studio also was where The Regents featuring Mel Gaines recorded their great 45 on M.A.D. “What’cha Gonna Do” / “I Tried With Her”.
The Vikings: Charles Nettles standing in the back and below, l-r: Gary Smith, Phil Whitley, Lee Lowery, Randy Carmichael, and Steve Vainrib
The Vikings of Birmingham, Alabama recorded two quite different 45s. The first was produced by Ed Boutwell, at whose studio the Hard Times recorded their 45. Band members were Gary Smith, Phil Whitley, Lee Lowery, Randy Carmichael, Steve Vainrib and Charles Nettles.
“Come On and Love Me” is fantastic, an upbeat song with double-tracked vocals and a nice balance between Phil Whitley’s lead guitar and the strummed rhythm. As exciting a single as any released during the summer of 1966.
“I Will Never Go” is a ballad, and while not exceptional, it builds to a strong ending. Both sides were co-written by Charles Nettles and C. Putnam.
Over a year later they made a second record on the Lowery label, but the change in their sound is enormous. The a-side is another Charles Nettles original, “Cherish the Love You Feel”, with lavish orchestration and an arrangement influenced by English pop from the time. The flip is a cover of Tommy Roe’s “Golden Girl” – chosen probably because the Lowery booking agency was handling both bands.
Randy Carmichael became a studio musician for Neil Hemphill’s Sound of Birmingham studio in the Midfield section of the city, playing for Fredrick Knight and Bobby Womack among others. Phil Whitely went on to play with the Hard Times after their guitarist Ron Parr died in Vietnam.
Wayne Perkins joined as guitarist after the 45s were recorded. He wrote an extensive remembrance of his days in music. Of his time with the Vikings, he says this:
When I hit sixteen, I had enough of school and a string of teachers that didn’t like my long hair. They said I would “never get anywhere playing’ that guitar.” So I said, “Oh yeah? Well you just watch me!” At that point, I left school, left home and moved in with a fellow band member of the Vikings named Charles Nettles and his Mom. I sort of “kept house” to pay rent, ya know, cut the yard and that sort of thing.
In this time period Charlie was learning to, and teaching me how to write songs. He said his Mom was on a diet and was taking these little pills called “obadrine” or something, and if he took one it made him concentrate better and the songs turned out better. And I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right. It also made me sing and play better…at least I thought I could. So I stayed with Charlie and his Mom, Dot (short for Dorothy) for about a year and a half until one of Charlie’s girlfriends took an interest in me and I just couldn’t help myself…
The last time I played with Charlie and the Vikings was in the Fall of ‘68 and when the gig was over, we came off stage only to run headlong into Stephanie Brown, Charlie’s future ex-girlfriend. She looked at Charlie and then looked at me. I looked at Charlie and said, “I can’t do this anymore.” Then I looked at Stephanie and said, “What’s it gonna be? You going with him or coming with me?”
She said, “I’m coming with you Baby.” As we walked off, Charlie looked at me and said, “You’ll never do anything without me in the business!” I said, “Oh yeah? Just watch me!” So we walked around the side of the stage and ran right into a drummer friend of mine by the name of Jasper Guarino, and he said, “Man, you are playing your ass off, I saw what just went down with Charlie…what the hell you gonna do?! I said, “Man, I don’t know.” And he said, “Well, if you’re interested, there’s an opening for a guitar player in a studio called “Quinvy’s” in Muscle Shoals. He said, “That’s where I’m working. The hours are easy, it’s from 10 a.m. to four or five depending on what’s going on and it pays $100.00 a week.” I said, “When are you going back?” He said, “Tonight, you got anything better to do?” I said, “Hell no. That’s the best idea I heard in a long time.” So I said to Stephanie, “I’ll see you later, I’m going to Muscle Shoals.” So Jasper and I swung by Charlie’s house, dumped all of my shit into a garbage bag, and got the hell out of Birmingham.
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
In late 2010, Glen Stephen sent in photos and news clippings on the group. An article from Music Trend in June of ’67 quotes Bill Bryans: “we got to a point where we were out and out tired of the music we were playing. It had served a purpose for a while but … we want to put something into our performances now that we couldn’t do before with top 40 material. So, we’re drifting away from it but not divorcing ourselves altogether. We’ve learned a lot from watching the big name groups on the tours. Now I think we’ve become a little more artistic in our music rather than mechanical.”
I asked Glen Stephen about the Music Trend article, and also about the band’s early days:
Unlike Six Deep which was a showy, high-energy, no-holds-barred band, Mourning Sun was much more sedate and serious on stage. We did a lot of covers but not verbatim… sort of like a Vanilla Fudge… in a way, we were a bit more experimental and a lot more into the LA sound… that was the Lackey influence. Six Deep would have never done a song like “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”. The song came about from the title of a poem written by another good friend of mine, Bob Hanson – the title is the only thing in common, but that’s where it originated.
Lowland Studios was in Pt. Neches, Texas – a small community located between Beaumont and Pt. Arthur. It was owned by Mickey Rouse, who played bass in several R&B (i.e., soul with horn sections) bands – bands with names like The Boogie Kings, Counts of Soul, The Rhythm Aces, etc.. It was just down the street from another important landmark, that being Volpi Music – an old line musical instruments store, it’s where everyone went to get their guitars, amps, etc. – the Volpi’s were an elderly couple who “adopted” all us misfits and gave us better deals than we deserved on our gear.
