Category: 1965-1969

“Heisser Sommer” (1968) – Chris Doerk and Frank Schöbel * Written by Gerd Natschinski and Jürgen Degenhardt * East Germany LP: Heisser Sommer * Label: Amiga

The East German film Heisser Sommer (hot summer) masquerades as a Beach Blanket Bingo knockoff but is at heart a cultural missive in which the “need for restraint” and the “good of the group” are reigning concepts. With its brash musical numbers, rich colors, and pretty cast, it makes for weirdly mesmerizing viewing. The Heisser Sommer title song lingers thanks to a high and shimmering string arrangement. This was a popular technique since the days of Percy Faith, but by the late sixties/early seventies it came into vogue to express deep emotion (Delfonics, “La La Means I Love You,” 4 Seasons/Walker Brothers, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”), mystical ethereality (Spirit, “Taurus”), desertion (Ennio Morricone, “Una pistola per Ringo”), decay (Johnny Rivers, “Poor Side of Town”), foreboding (Temptations, “Papa was a Rolling Stone”). Those last three concepts—desertion, decay and foreboding—are likely what you’ll hear telegraphed loudest, though, when you watch those kids shout out their opener on the streets of East Berlin.

“O-O I Love You” (1967) –  The Dells * Written by Bobby Miller * Producer: Bobby Miller * 45: “O-O I Love You” / “There Is” * LP: There Is * Arranger: Charles Stepney * Label: Cadet * Charts: #61 (Billboard Hot 100); #22 (Billboard R&B)

In the late sixties, the Dells came into clearest focus when the Chicago doo wop vets updated two of their earlier hits, “Oh What a Night” (1956) and “Stay in My Corner” (1965), transforming them into showcases for the group’s pleading, seamless vocal interchanges against the starry, shimmering backdrop of Charles Stepney’s instrumental arrangements. Those two tracks, especially the full six minutes of “Stay in My Corner,” may be the ultimate Dells experiences, but an earlier one called “O-O I Love You” previews the highly-charged, emotionally drawn-out direction they were headed toward. When the hammy basso recitation by Chuck Barksdale begins (“and…uh…words are born”), you assign it to the throwback throwaway category. But then lead tenor Johnny Carter takes over and you lose yourself and drift off to the aching, majestic bridge. Lead baritone Marvin Junior then emerges with a burst of fireworks, setting up a final recitation by Barksdale, who now sounds entirely seductive. Junior and Carter then close things out with more dueling fireworks before fading into the silence of the stunned.

“Mindbender (Confusion’s Prince)” (1965) – The Grateful Dead * Written by Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh * LP: Birth of the Dead  (2003) * Producers: Tom Donahue, Bobby Mitchell * Label: Rhino

The five original members of the Grateful Dead recorded their first demos as The Emergency Crew at Golden State Recorders on Harrison Street (two blocks away from where the Giants now play). This was the studio of choice for Autumn Records, co-owned by legendary disk jockey Tom Donahue, which had generated the first conception of a “San Francisco sound” with the misty jangle of the Beau Brummels. Although the future Dead had already generated a live buzz as the Warlocks, they scrapped the name for the sessions, having gotten wind of another band already recording under that name. The six demos are true curiosities, sporting a decidedly Autumn sound and a short-lived intra-band understanding that bassist Phil Lesh would serve as a primary vocalist. The track “Mindbender,” in particular, follows a trail through the minor-key moods of early Beau Brummels into the espionage exotica of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme,” a 1964 US radio hit for Billy Strange.

“Yamaha Mama” (1966) – Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo * Written by Gabor Szabo * LP: Simpatico * Producer: Bob Thiele and Gary McFarland * Label: Impulse

On the cover of their 1966 Simpatico album, vibraphonist Gary McFarland (left, Yamaha YA6) and guitarist Gabor Szabo (right, 250 Big Bear) – both of whom left this world before their time – look like they’ve gotten lost. Listeners of music such as this, though, with its guitars and incantations channeled in from the ether where Szabo and McFarland presently ride their space bikes, are the ones who run an ongoing, larger risk of getting lost in the two musicians’ otherworldly sounds. Producer Bob Thiele, always on the hunt for a commercial tie in during his tenure at Impulse, likely had a hand in choosing this track’s title and photo concept.

“Red, Green, Yellow and Blue” (1968) – Dickey Lee * Written by Dickey Lee * 45: “Red, Green, Yellow and Blue” / “Run Right Back” * String Arrangements by Charles Chalmers * Produced by Rivertown Productions * Label: Atco * Billboard: #107

Dickey Lee made out well during the early ’60s death rock craze. In the ’62 hit single “Patches,” one girlfriend ends up dead in the ditch, while in the following year’s “Laurie,” another one has passed on long before Dickey even meets her (it’s a musical version of the sweater-on-a-gravestone urban legend). By 1968 he was still dabbling in tragedy. “Red, Green, Yellow and Blue,” which just missed Billboard‘s Hot 100, captures a presumably Brylcreemed and becardiganed Dickey leaping frantically around town over the news that his girlfriend’s gone to San Francisco, land of colorful pills. “You’re halfway up your rainbow, girl, by now,” he yelps, while Charles Chalmers’ orchestration gives it all the moody atmosphere those earlier records only yearned for. (The record captures Chalmers’s string arranging career at an early stage. He’d go on to do arrangements with James Mitchell for all of Al Green’s albums from 1969 to 1973 and much more.)

“Epistle to Dippy” (1967) – Donovan * Written by Donovan Leitch * 45: “Epistle to Dippy” / “Preachin’ Love” * Produced by Mickie Most * Label: Epic

If the term “hippy dippy” has a theme song, this 1967 Donovan single is it. That’s not an insult—fun factors abound in the arrangement, with its harpsichord and bassoon, while Donovan’s enunciation drifts into made-up language territory. The song’s high chart position (#20 in Billboard) indicates Mr. Leitch knew exactly what he was doing. A few years later, “Epistle to Dippy” would open up the 1969 Donovan’s Greatest Hits album, although the studio version of “Preachin’ Love,” the flipside, languished in out-of-print vinyl prison until the digital reissue era.

“Oh Happy Day” (1968) – Edwin Hawkins Singers * Written (Trad. Arr.) by Edwin R. Hawkins * 45 (1969): “Oh Happy Day” / “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” * LP: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord * Produced by La Mont Bench * Label: Pavillion

This popular gospel track by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, featuring the lead vocals of Dorothy Morrison, updated an eighteenth century hymn written by Philip Doddridge. Because it was recorded live at the Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California, it has odd-sounding room noise for radio, but it nonetheless reached #4 in the US and #2 in the UK. The record influenced George Harrison, as he confirmed in his book I Me Mine, and his “My Sweet Lord” had a similar chord structure with its strong IIm7 to V chord sequence. This never came up in court, though, when Harrison stood trial for plagiarizing “One Fine Day.” It might have supported an argument that many sources, in fact, are used in creating pop music. It might also have opened discussion on how Hawkins claimed full writer’s credit for the public domain piece (and also its B-side, Charles Wesley’s “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”).

“Ain’t No Way” (1968) – Aretha Franklin * Written by Carolyn Franklin * 45: “(Sweet, Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” / “Ain’t No Way” * LP: Lady Soul * Produced by Jerry Wexler * Label: Atlantic

This B-side to Franklin’s “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” single comes across as a sacred rendering of sexual longing. Written by Aretha’s sister Carolyn, “Ain’t No Way” evokes Book of Genesis patriarchy with the line “I know that a woman’s duty is to help and love a man.” It also contains high notes sung to heaven by Cissy Houston, which the early sixties taught us to associate with death songs.

“Break Away” (1969) –  The Beach Boys * Written by Brian Wilson and Reggie Dunbar * 45: “Breakaway” / “Celebrate the News” * Produced by Brian Wilson and Murry Wilson * Label: Capitol

This 1969 single was written and produced by Brian Wilson and father Murry (as “Reggie Dunbar”), the infamously abusive man whose exile from band business in 1965 gave this later partnership a strange aura. The single was certainly bouncy enough for a higher chart position than #69, where it stalled in the US, but its disappointing performance may also have to do with its potentially confusing coexistence with an ad campaign for the 1969 Pontiac, which used a jingle (written by Steve Karmen) called “Breakaway.” In 1974, the song appeared on the Beach Boys’ nostalgic Endless Summer compilation, where it sounded conspicuously out of place among all the earlier tracks.

“Mindrocker (demo)” (1967) – Keith Colley * Written by Keith Colley and Linda Colley * LP: Mindrocker * Label: Sonic Past

Although it never charted, the song “Mindrocker,” as recorded by the group Fenwyck, developed a reputation as one of the psychedelic garage rock era’s definitive swirls. It may surprise you, then, that it came to the band courtesy of career songwriter Keith Colley and his wife Linda. (Colley had charted as an artist in 1963 with his song “Enamorado.”) Even more surprising is how self-contained his own demo sounds, giving Fenwyck’s version a run for its money. The track appears on Mindrocker, a compilation of Colley versions of songs he’d also written for the Knickerbockers, Gene Vincent, and more.