• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Obscure Music - even thought it's hit based

CP/M User

Veteran Member
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
2,986
Location
Back of Burke (Guday!), Australia
I used to have so much fun learning about all the early rock based stuff (I used to listen to on the radio) from the 60s (in particular) - sometimes it was seventies & it was even better when I found a CD for them in my local Music store.

Some of those include:-

* Normie Rowes (an Aussie) - Shakin' All Over (bit hit here in Oz. Circa 1965).

* Garry Pucket & The Union Gap - for me this was a suprise, initally I heard "Over You" on the radio, got the CD I was overwhelmed with some of the other stuff (one of my early great buys IMO).

* Sweet - Ballroom Blitz (yes a 70s song), I brought the CD - but I don't ever play it, why?!? I heard this song so much on radio - I simply got sick of it - perhaps the only other savour on that album I have is Fox on the Run (not to be confused with Manfred Manns version - listed below). Initially I thought it was an Alice Cooper song or something - but anyway.

* Manfred Mann - I got two CDs which represent two different era's from Manfred Mann. The Paul Jones (1964-66) with Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy, If you're gotta go - go now, and Pretty Flamingo (last big hit for Paul Jones before moving onto a move career). Mike D' Abo came in & did some amazing stuff - Mighty Quinn got me getting their CD (1966-69) I had no idea they did that cover of "Fox on the Run" & "Ragamiffin Man", so it was great to get those songs too! ;-)

* Herman's Hermits - Got this CD just out of the blue (when I used to live in the Country - Bendigo I was litterally cleaning the music shops of all the old groups, their probably wonderning what happened to me?) for this sort of stuff. I heard a little snippet of "Mrs Brown you've got a loverly daughter" so I wondered what else they did. The suprise song which captured me was one of their last hits (well I think it was a big hit here) "My Sentimental Friend" - cause I know this stuff, but had no idea they performed! Great Stuff.

* The Hollies - Another Herman's Hermits but this time I knew they sang "Bus Stop" which was good enough for me. But then I heard "The Air That I Breath" instantly I reconised that Guitar - again wonderful song, had no idea they did. I had to go out of my way with my Mum 'bout "He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother" telling her The Hollies had a bit hit with it.

* The Honeycombs (okay I'm going through my CD collection now - alphabetically! ;-) I was amazed to find a CD for this group, I got a hold of it - since I knew they performed "Have I the Right" again another big hit. Don't really know much else from this group, but some of it is good! Never seen another CD for them (though I haven't really been lookin' - which might obsecure the results).

* B J Thomas - I heard "Hoooked on Feeling" and strangely enough found a CD one day which looking through a pile of CDs discounted (obviously to have a spring clean). At the time I thought "Raindrops keep falling on my Head" was a bit of a dag, but I've kinda grown to like it. Some of his other stuff like "Mamma" is great.

* John Lennon - (who can dispute his solo), I heard "Mind Games" on the radio & decided it was time to get it.

* The Monkeys - can't remember what made me get them, think it was their big hit "Last Train to Clarksville" oh no, it was actually "I'm not you're stepping stone" which I heard on radio. Okay they weren't exactly a formal group, but the tunes were catchy & came with other lesser big hit tunes.

* Johnny Rivers - (yes I dedicated a thread to him), early on I got his Greatest Hits - just to have "Summer Rain", forgot about him singing "Poor Side of Town","Mountain of love" though great songs.

* The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun" for one CD, "Don't Bring me Down" for a second, in-between that I got another with their late 60s stuff - "Sky Pilot", "San Fransicso Nights" etc. This was how I ended up with 3 of their CDs (within a short period of time). The first CD (with some of their very early stuff - with the original group) had their other hits like "It's my Life" & "Please Don't let me be misunderstood" - again were songs I didn't realise were their's. Great to have though! ;-)

One More

* The Master's Apprentices (an Aussie group) which had "It's because I love you" which is perhaps their best known hit, they performed in UK at Abbey Road in the early 1970s & I believe John Lennon heard it - stating this'll be a big hit. Inspired me to get their CD - which all sorts of interesting stuff.

Anyway I leave it at that - might come back some other time & add more, if anyone has a favourite group of something which inspired you to get the CD & be mind blown by their other stuff as well, then do tell! Even if you want to keep it small.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
Anyway I leave it at that - might come back some other time & add more, if anyone has a favourite group of something which inspired you to get the CD & be mind blown by their other stuff as well, then do tell! Even if you want to keep it small.

Favorite late '60s - early '70s group = Frank Zappa & the Mothers! I never was much interested in "Pop" music at the time, my leanings were more towards hard-rock & acid-rock (psychedelic) music back then.

My ex-wife used to be a big Johny Rivers fan, but I've never cared much for his music.

I love the song "Ballroom Blitz" as performed by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (written by Shel Silverstein, IIRC)

I also love Manfred Mann & the Earth Band, especially thier covers of Bruce Springstein songs (Spirits in the Night, Born to Run, etc). The Boss has a tendency to slur the words very badly, but MM can shine thru all that crap.

The Monkees used to be "Required Viewing" back around '71, '72-or so. You just couldn't be considered "kewl" unless you watched them on a regular basis.

Of course, Gary Puckett as well as Herman's Hermits were also considered "required listening" "(Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" is still one of my all-time favorites, to this day. I first heard/sang it around the campfire at "Summer Camp", accompanied by an old acoustic gituar).

As for The Hollies, the only song that comes to mind is "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress", which I also love. (Did they do "Lola", which also has special meaning for me)?

John Lennon? What can I say...???

The Animals? Love all of thier stuff...

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Anyway I leave it at that - might come back some other time & add
> more, if anyone has a favourite group of something which inspired you
> to get the CD & be mind blown by their other stuff as well, then do tell!
> Even if you want to keep it small.

> Favorite late '60s - early '70s group = Frank Zappa & the Mothers! I
> never was much interested in "Pop" music at the time, my leanings
> were more towards hard-rock & acid-rock (psychedelic) music at the
> time. My ex-wife used to be a big Johny Rivers fan, but I've never
> cared much for his music.

> I love the song "Ballroom Blitz" as performed by Dr. Hook & the
> Medicine Show (written by Shel Silverstein, IIRC)

> I also love Manfred Mann & the Earth Band, especially thier covers of
> Bruce Springstien songs (Spirits in the Night, Born to Run, etc).

> The Monkees used to be "Required Viewing" back around '71, '72-or
> so. You just coyuldn't be considered "kewl" unless you watched them
> on a regular basis.

> Of course, Gary Puckett as well as Herman's Hermits were also
> considered "required listening" "(Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely
> Daughter" is still one of my all-time favorites, to this day).

> As for The Hollies, the only song that comes to mind is "Long Cool
> Woman in a Black Dress", which I also love. (Did they do "Lola", which
> also has special meaning for me)?

> John Lennon? What can I say...???

> The Animals? Love all of thier stuff...

Yeah, I stuffed up big time on the Title of this thread. It's not really obscure, well maybe some of it is - but John Lennon isn't obscure, neither is The Animals - Eric Burdon might have me shot if he found out I put him in a list of obscure music.

It should have been called "Yeah I remember that Song... Didn't realise they performed it" - if you can change the title to reflect that, then please do.

"Lola" was one of The Kinks big hits (early 1970s) - with Ray Davies. Which was another CD I'd got for that reason. Another big Kinks song I discovered when I got their CD was "Waterloo Sunset" truely well written & preformed, never realised it was The Kinks though - usuaully I just associated them with "You Really Got me", "All Day & All of the night" & "Sunny Afternoon".

Obviously since my original topic was a huge one, I've got many bands. This was how I initally started collecting CDs. I built a few more performers since I've moved to the big city, but I've been focusing more on the original albums from groups. One such group is the Byrds - for many years I just had their Greatest Hits album which was a CD of their original 1967 Album for the Greatest Hits. It's very limited in comparision when you get stuck into the albums - which is why there's more Best Of type stuff out there like the Essential Byrds etc which I'd probably recommend for those who are dinkie die fans of the group.
I think upto "Chestnut Mare" was one of the last real gems from their Untitled album in 1970. Course they had the "Byrdmanix" after that which was considered as one of their worst albums & "Father Along" which is interesting, but there's not much which really stands out - still "Father Along" is good. If I were to compare it with something like "Ballard of Easy Rider" though I'd certainally pick "Ballard of Easy Rider" over it.

But just getting back to the topic at hand, it doesn't have to be about one generation of groups at all. You could pick something entirely different from an earlier period (it could be a piece from one of your favourite composers - or it could be about an album based on a composer which was well preformed for example), or something from an entirely different period (like I said). For instance I didn't realise REM sang "Everybody Hurts" until someone told me - I thought it was so cool that I got their early Greatest Hits (unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it for some reason) - which sounds weird since some of their later stuff it very good IMO.

Course if anyone wants to know who sings what from the 1960s I might know (I'm kinda endeavouring to know more about the later psychelledic stuff - and have been looking at some Garage stuff as well).

CP/M User.
 
Rock-N-Roll trivia question:

Roger McGuinn and The Byrds have been inducted (collectively & individually) into the Hall Of Fame, but...

What group has never even been nominated, dispite thier having recorded 17 Platinum Albums? Hint: They're my favorite hometown band.

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Oh yeah, The Kinks...I remember now. The mother of my firstborn
> was named "Lola" (and was (coincidentally) a lesbian as well). The
> song has special meaning for me.

> If you like The Byrds, you gotta give a listen to "The Flying Burrito
> Brothers" (talk about obscure...).

I've actually got some of the Flying Burrito Bros. songs. Got no actual albums of theirs, but I've got some of the stuff they did with Gram Parsons & two songs they did while Gene Clark was shortly with them ("Tried So Hard" - which was actually a song Clark wrote initally with the Gosdin Brothers in 1967 & "Here Tonight" which I don't know too much about - except Clark is featured on it).
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Rock-N-Roll trivia question:

> Roger McGuinn and The Byrds have been inducted (collectively &
> individually) into the Hall Of Fame, but...

> What group has never even been nominated, dispite thier having
> recorded "17 Platinum Albums"? Hint: They're my favorite
> hometown band.

Well I'm at a slight disadvantage cause I don't know where you're from
(unless that's the answer). Obviously it's an American group, Don Mclean
hasn't had 17 albums (studio stuff I'm referening too & discarding the
Best Of's... based albums). To me the closest group this comes to
is "Chicago" my book states they had 12 Platinum Albums, though this
book came out in 1992/3 - they might of had a few more since then. And
the Album charts seem to reflect quite a bit from them.

My understanding of the Hall of Fame has a lot to do with reconition a
group recieves after they stopped producing albums. I think there's a
time factor involved, though some groups e.g. The Who which were
producing stuff as late as 1982 were inducted into the Hall of Fame in
1990. Some seem to wait a lot longer before this happens (perhaps in line
of their success - which you'd think would work in Chicago's favour).
Perhaps since they were producing Platum stuff in recent times, that may
suggest they're been held off until it's noticed they haven't been elected.
Not quite sure how it works the ol' Hall of Fame, maybe people elect
them. e.g. The Tornadoes were a very well regared Instrumental group
(like the Shadows) basically because of the success of "Telstar" which
became the first UK track to top both sides of the Atlantic.
Everyone seems to praise the group for this & must admit it's still
interesting to hear to this day - it really hasn't aged much except due to
the fact that perhaps it's been done in Mono which has perhaps done most
of the damage - but even now it sounds good.

CP/M User.
 
> I also love Manfred Mann & the Earth Band, especially thier covers of
> Bruce Springstein songs (Spirits in the Night, Born to Run, etc). The
> Boss has a tendency to slur the words very badly, but MM can shine
> thru all that crap.

What I forgot to point out (until I played one of my Hollies CDs tonight) is
one of their songs was written by Bruce Springsteen). Cause the Hollies
performed the song in 1975 right around the time of Born to Run &
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - I used to like that "Blinded by the Light" but
now I'm not so sure - it's fine if I compare it with some of the disco stuff
from the 70s!
The Hollies in particular preform "Sandy (4th of July, Ashbury Park)"
which is quite good - it sounds like one of those romantic songs you'd
play down by the lake! ;-)

CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
Well I'm at a slight disadvantage cause I don't know where you're from

Well if I told you that, it would give away the answer. OK, I'll narrow it down to Michigan, USA.

ANOTHER HINT: Rolling Stone Magazine has declared them to be "the worst band of all time"...

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Well if I told you that, it would give away the answer. OK, I'll narrow it
> down to Michigan, USA.

> ANOTHER HINT: Rolling Stone Magazine has declared them to be "the
> worst band of all time"...

Nope, still stumped tried searching for this in google, I found 3 peformers from Michigan:-

* The Supremes
* Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
* Stevie Wonder

The page in question mentioned Bob Seger's 7 Platnum Albums (so I don't know where the other 10 would have came from).

I don't know too much about The Supremes, but to me were only around for a brief period, or were they around for a long period minus Diana Ross producing Platnum Stuff. And didn't you say this was one of your favourite groups?!?

Now Stevie Wonder is a thing in himself, born in 1950 (blind of course) - by the age of 12 had his first hit Fingertips (which I've never heard), a couple of years later had some more hits after incorporating the Motown style. If anyone has 17 albums it might be this guy, started at an early age & was still going in the 1980s. But why would Rolling Stone dub him as being the worst band - when it's clear he's another Solo genus.
Hard to tell if this guy would have been the equivalent of Chicago's Sam Cooke which manage to kick on - avoiding the psychotic girlfriends which tend to shoot you.

Yes I think I know where your coming from with the Hall of Fame. It could indeed be a cultural issue - anybody should have the same amount of rights. It's hard to believe that in shows like the Original Star Trek - they treat everyone as equals, though their only in the 22/3 centries & while we're closing in on them it's the older folk (not all surely) I see which ties culture issues into racial issues.

CP/M User.
 
Also, I would not categorize Stevie Wonder (or not even the Supremes) as rock'n'roll, so no matter how many albums they sold, they should not be in the rock'n'roll hall of fame. Maybe some other hall of fame though.
 
carlsson said:
Also, I would not categorize Stevie Wonder (or not even the Supremes) as rock'n'roll, so no matter how many albums they sold, they should not be in the rock'n'roll hall of fame. Maybe some other hall of fame though.

Is there an R&B HOF?

--T
 
Most of the MoTown groups were Michigan natives, not to mention quite a few real rockers (Brownsville Station, Mitch Ryder, Ted Nugent, etc).

Seeger was finally inducted last year (his 3rd nomination). Kid Rock presented him with the award.

Even though they're considered the worst of all time, 17 platinum! Somebody bought all those records...

FINAL HINT: Thier initials are GFR (or GFRR, depending how ya spell it).

--T
 
Mark Farner, Don Brewer, Mel Shacher...

Of course, I don't necessarily consider 'em my Homies. The only time I ever met Farner, he needed a serious attitude adjustment. I went for him, but "Big Bruce" was closer, so all I got to do was watch...

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Mark Farner, Don Brewer, Mel Shacher...

> Of course, I don't necessarily consider 'em my Homies. The only time I
> ever met Farner, he needed a serious attitude adjustment. I went for
> him, but "Big Bruce" was closer, so all I got to do was watch...

Of course, how stipid of me, you did say you were into the Metal thingy.
I've heard of the group but never heard them (if you know what I mean).
Don't think they had a large impact here though - even if they did have
17 Platinum Albums.

But what made me think you liked The Supremes? (must of been
somebody else). For some reason though they made it into my
Encyclopedia of Rock book under the Soul section. Sam Cooke would
have been the building blocks for this (even though he was killed at a
very young age in 1964).

CP/M User.
 
Back
Top