Forgotten Bands of the Sixties

[CP/M User]

I remember when Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were formed, because they were in the Daily Mirror for their funny name. The name made them memorable, so it worked in their favour and they had a lot of (quality) hit singles. When it came to evolving from a light-hearted singles group into a serious albums band something counted against them and I can't help feeling the name was a part of this. Manfred Mann had to create another band with a new name and style, twice, and had to forego the hit singles for musical integrity.

Well I'm not sure when it happened in the 60s, but a lot of people were taking a leaflet out of Buddy Holly's book where if you could write your own songs, it would go a long way into making an album.

Probably for DDDBM&T a lot of their songs were written by Ken Howard & Alan Blaikley. Another Singles group which I happen to have a CD for which consists of 2 albums they did in 1965 & 66, goes a long way to show how an album can become more interesting when a group spends a little bit of time writing some of the songs which become part of an album. The 2 album I have on this CD is from "Gary Lewis & The Playboys" and the Albums are "Everybody Loves A Clown" & "She's Just My Style". Those 2 Albums consist largely of popular songs which were hits by other Artists which made them hits, and the title track for those albums is the Single track they made which in both cases were in the top 5 and with those albums you got the B-Side of those singles which were "Time Stands Still" & "I Won't Make That Mistake Again".
I personally don't have anything against "Gary Lewis & The Playboys" and I still enjoy their hit songs, but to have albums like that in 1965, they would have seemed a bit more inferior compared to something like "The Turtles" - "It Ain't Me Babe" which had a mixture of popular songs from other artists along with some interesting songs which the group contributed, even when the Byrds came out in 1965, they had songs from other people "Pete Seeger" & "Bob Dylan", though the group I think realise the importance of making an album was to contribute by writing some songs.

I have a soft spot for the British singles bands of the sixties, because I grew up with them, and have compilations of DDDBM&T, Marmalade, Love Affair, Manfred Mann and others.

The Cuff Links (really Ron Dante) are another forgotten band of the sixties. They were very big here for a while.

Tony Burrows is probably not forgotten, but despite success into the mid-seventies, he should have gone on to 'respectability' instead of session harmonies.

Manfred Mann were a great band, first known as the "Mann-Hugg Blues Band", I'm not sure if Paul Jones was part of that earlier group, though 1 of the 2 CDs I have kind of demonstrates the era when Paul Jones was with the group and how they had a bit more Blues in their music, it was probably that period there they were probably more of a Singles group? The other CD I have demonstrates the later 60s era with Mike D'Abo and while the Singles were still making hits for them, some of the other music which is on the CD is from the albums they were doing between 1966-69, which is quite interesting.

 

[Big Ears]

The Mike D'Abo material with Manfred Mann is great. It is melodically similar to the later Earth Band material, but without the synthesizer/guitar experimentation.

Paul Jones was the original singer with Manfred Mann, although writer/drummer Mike Hugg had a capable voice. I did not care much for Jones as a singer, until he formed The Blues Band with Mike Kelly.

 

[CP/M User]

The Mike D'Abo material with Manfred Mann is great. It is melodically similar to the later Earth Band material, but without the synthesizer/guitar experimentation.

I remember buying the CD because I was hearing "Mighty Quinn" a lot on the Radio and thought that's a great song, and then discovered it was that band which did "Fox on the Run" and "Ragamuffin Man" which was a pleasant surprise, cause I used to hear those songs on the Radio when I was a kid, though had no idea it was Manfred Mann sort of thing.
Off-Topic, though I was wondering while on the discussion about Manfred Mann, do you know which songs featured Jack Bruce? He wasn't part of the original line-up of the group and obviously left the band around 1966/67 to form Cream, but I think Jack Bruce was a part of the band when Paul Jones had their last hit (before PJ left the group) with "Pretty Flamingo". I'm not sure if he was a part of the Mike D'Abo lineup though.

 

[Big Ears]

My favourite D'Abo track is My Name is Jack (The Greta Garbo Home for Boys and Girls) which I remember as a child (I was 9). To this day, I have no idea what the lyrics mean:

And my name's Jack and I live in the back
Of the 'Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls'
We all love Jack, we live in the back
Of the 'Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls'

 

[CP/M User]

My favourite D'Abo track is My Name is Jack (The Greta Garbo Home for Boys and Girls) which I remember as a child (I was 9). To this day, I have no idea what the lyrics mean:

And my name's Jack and I live in the back
Of the 'Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls'
We all love Jack, we live in the back
Of the 'Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls'

Yeah I know the song, the funny thing about it was I don't recall hearing it when I was a kid.

 

[TheYoungMan]

Hey, guys!

I'v been much on 60's psych bands these past weeks and I've found some really cool bands that are not so famous but that deserve at least a listen.

As an example:

Afterglow - Morning (1968)



Morgen - Love (1969)

 

[Hurdy Gurdy Man]

If you'd really like to delve into the area of "lost" bands and recordings,may I suggest visiting a site called "Messageboard For Love Fans".It is based on the legendary LA rock combo and one of its senior members who goes by the handle "Lemonade Kid" is absolute expert in this area.He comes up with many many titles and artists I probably would not have been aware of had it not been for him.And you know who I kind of like in the "whatever happened to them" file?"Walk Away Renee" band Left Banke.Any half decent compilation here should provide many moments of fascinating "art rock" conceptualizations.....

 

[Moore_82]

Atomic Rooster - Friday the 13th.


Coven - Black Sabbath.



Ten Years After - Bad Scene.



Them - Gloria.



Three Man Army - Daze.



Writing on the Wall - Bogeyman.

 

[The Kid]

The Stillroven was a Garage Band from Minnesota. There local hits were Sunny Day and Little Picture Playhouse.

 

[Aquawizard]

C.A. Quintet was a pretty good band. Their 'Trip Thru Hell' album sold less than 500 copies.