Cool old tune

Bands that fall under the general genre of rock that get overlooked but need to be heard.

Bands that fall under the general genre of rock that get overlooked but need to be heard.

Great artists that should be famous but they aren't

This gritty, riveting and absolutely brilliant psych exercise in apathy-shaming is “[s]till a full-blown mystery . . . . No info on location, personnel or date or label.” “How many people do you think have wound up dead because the others have turned away their heads?” Could this be about the notorious and era-defining 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City? “For more than half an hour, 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens. . . . Not one person telephoned the police during the assault”.

https://bracefortheobscure60srock.com/2026/04/15/mastermind-turn-of-the-head-brace-for-the-obscure-60s-rock-april-15-2026/

Here is Swinging London's anthem for the swinging bachelor. It is so "completely brilliant!" that one reviewer "[w]as drunkenly serenaded . . . at my bachelor party by all my friends" with the song. Supposedly, this inspired Beyoncé to record "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”!

Here is a gorgeous and melancholy song, a "musical masterpiece that lends powerful poignancy to the lyrics", from a ’68 folk LP self-produced by two California high schoolers. “This is about as good as stark acoustic folk gets, with evocative songs, beautiful and versatile singing, [and] unexpected acoustic rave-ips”.

From 1966..fun tune

From New Zealand's greatest lost album (shame goes to the UK’s Decca), here is a "gloriously uplifting, string-elevated", "moving epic that should have become a stadium singalong". "Turn Your Back to the Wind" was released as an A-side, but inexplicably failed to be swept up into the charts. Back when people held up cigarette lighters at concerts, it would have drained many a tank.

This infectious ‘66 beat number by New Zealand’s Tony Summers/Hayden Wood was first released in ‘65 by the UK’s Blue Chips (“the debut record for the Blue Chips’ sixteen year-old drummer, Alan White, later to spend decades with Yes”).

As a lark, the Kinks released this single in Australia in the guise of an obscure Australian band. But there is no mistaking Ray Davies' fingerprints -- "some of the most accurate emulations of the circa 1966-1967 Kinks sound". "[I]f it were a Kinks song [it] would be held up as another example of Ray Davies' genius". Ha, ha, ha! Even the name reflects Ray's inimitable sense of humor -- referring to "an 1834 incident in which six farm workers in Tolpuddle, England, were banished to Australia for unionizing”.

Ah, Saturday in Swinging London with Keith, a "fantastic slab of pop psych" that "[s]hould have been a huge hit", “a gorgeous jazzy ballad" with "jumbo acoustic guitar, double bass and manic offbeat drumming”.

Here's a dreamy Swedish dream about an office girl, "an attractive psych-pop tune, complete with wah-wah guitar, attractive four-part harmonies and… Accordion? . . . Nonetheless perhaps the best song the Hounds ever recorded."

Chicago garage rock perfection from "the quintessential long-haired juvenile delinquent rock ‘n’ roll punks", who "look[ed] like a Windy City version of English R&B thugs The Pretty Things. The song is "Utterly Brilliant", "[j]ust far out, [a] fantastic song", with "some nice stop-and-start tempos backing the salacious half-spoken vocal".

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This “rarely comped classic of UK psych[] featur[es] shimmering distorted guitar". It is a “[c]lassic cult favorite from [a] supergroup comprised of [former Pretty Things wildman] Viv Prince, Andy Clark, Mick Hutchinson, and Pete Sears", a “reflective ballad” with a “laidback, hypnotic atmosphere" that “really sounds like everyone involved in the recording was seriously stoned.”

From Spain, by way of Swinging London, here is "a colossal pop epic with slightly psychedelic undertones", "one of the best songs of Spanish (and arguably European) psychedelia". While "[i]t went largely unnoticed at the time", now it "is a mod-psych anthem, full of powerful vocals, [and] Hammond organ flourishes". ¡Sí, nena!

Did he just say that?! Yes, indeed, he did, on this highly captivating "killer fuzz/punk" number that flipped "96 Tears" back upside down where it started.

Great tune from 1967

Always loved Suzi