RIP Robin Gibb 1949 – 2012

Robin Gibb

Listen/Download – Bee Gees – I Can’t See Nobody

Listen/Download – Robin Gibb – Mother and Jack

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

It was last week when the sad news came down that Robin Gibb had passed away at the age of 62 after a long illness.

I always liked the music of the Bee Gees, but that turned into something else altogether when I was introduced to their early work during the garage/mod days.

I’m old enough to remember some of the Bee Gees pre-disco radio hits but when a friend suggested I pick up their first album, oddly enough entitled ‘Bee Gees 1st’ my mind was good and truly blown.

I already knew tunes like ‘To Love Somebody’ (covered countless times), ‘Holiday’ and ‘New York Mining Disaster 1941’ all of which turned up on oldies radio from time to time, but I had no inkling of the groups popsike side.

Songs like ‘In My Own Time’ and ‘Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You’ and ‘Red Chair Fadeaway’ combined the brother’s already formidable pop songwriting talent with the lysergic flavor of the times. While they rarely crossed over into the heavy side of things, neither were they too far into the twee, ‘toy shoppe’ sound.

The thing that is often overlooked (aside from the fact that most people are unaware that they even existed prior to ‘Staying Alive’) is that during their early years on Atco, the Bee Gees were an actual band, with Barry on guitar, Maurice on bass, Vince Melouney on lead guitar and Colin Peterson on drums.

Their first three albums – ‘1st’ (1967), ‘Horizontal’ (1968) and ‘Idea’ (1968) – are all remarkably good and worth digging into (not too hard to find either).

Robin Gibb was a crucial part of the Bee Gees sound, both as a unique vocalist and as composer, co-writing many of the groups best songs with Barry and/or Maurice.

A few years back, when the box set of these three albums – ‘The Bee Gees: The Complete Studio Albums 1967-1968’ complete with mono and stereo mixes, rarities and outtakes – was released, I spent a great deal of time listening to it strapped into the headphones.

I mention that last part because if you really want a serious taste of the Bee Gees (especially Robin) as vocalists, you need to isolate and dig deep.

When you listen to their records on the radio, the wide open vibrato in Barry and Robin’s voices is obvious, but what usually hits you is the power of their harmonies.

If you listen intently to a song like the first of the two selections I bring you today (my fave Robin vocal) ‘I Can’t See Nobody’*, it’s striking what an unusual voice he had.

As odd as it sounds, Robin Gibb was quite a soulful singer. This is not say that he was going to give Otis Redding anything to worry about, but rather that he had clearly been listening to singers like that, and while all three brothers fall in line as a unit in harmony sections, as a soloist Robin was something special.

The second song I bring you today is from the brief period in 1969 when the group fractured (reportedly in a conflict over who’s song would be released as a single) and Robin Gibb went out on his own.

He had a UK Top Ten hit with his solo single ‘Saved By the Bell’, and released an accompanying album (‘Robin’s Reign’) later that year.

‘Saved by the Bell’ was a sweeping ballad, but its flipside, ‘Mother and Jack’ is by far the more interesting record.

Opening with a drum machine (credited to Robin), the song – which has a lighthearted melody but concerns a mother and her child being evicted from their home – is a great slice of pop.

Interestingly enough, ‘Mother and Jack’ was not the initial b-side of ‘Saved By the Bell’.

The earliest copies of the single were pressed with the song ‘Alexandria Good Time’ on the flip, but then withdrawn and destroyed. The song has never seen official issue and is only available on bootlegs. You can hear it on YouTube.

I hope you dig these songs, and if you haven’t dug the early Bee Gees, pick up those first three albums (or the boxed set if you can still find it).

See you next week

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

The Knack – Time Waits for No One

The Knack

Listen/Download – The Knack – Time Waits For No One

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your end of the digital stick.

I should get things started by letting you in on something many of you probably already know, that being that in the history of the music known as rock, there was more than one band calling themselves The Knack.

This is one of them (heh…), the first in fact, who trod the stages of southern California during the mid-60s when all was a-jangling on the ole Sunset Strip.

Aside from the thinnest bit of connective power-poppery, they bear no relation to the band of the same name that hit the charts (with a dull thud) more than a decade later with ‘My Sharona’.

This Knack was (as mentioned) a SoCal band that recorded four 45s for Capitol between 1966 and 1968.

They were, like many bands of the day – but moreso than many of their geographical contemporaries – soaked liberally in the sounds of the UK.

Featuring Dink Kaplan, Mike Chain, Larry Gould, Pug Baker (and after Kaplan’s departure Bobby Cochran), the Knack were originally called the InMates. The group played all of the big clubs on the Sunset Strip.

After they were signed to Capitol (and produced, at least for their first two 45s by Nick Venet) the Knack went out on the road, playing live all over the US and appearing on local TV shows around the country.

‘Time Waits For No One’ was the A-side of their debut 45 in January of 1966.

While it has all the jangle and pop goodness of the Strip, it also has (as does its flip side) a fairly large dose of Hollies-style sounds as well. In an era where countless bands settled for heavy handed, simplistic delivery, the Knack laid down a sophisticated and complex sound.

Unfortunately, despite their obvious musical talent, the Knack ended up lost in the tidal wave of quality music cresting at the time, eventually washed away by same.

Eventually Mike Chain ended up “becoming” Pinkiny Canandy for one excellent album on the UNI label (check past episodes of the Iron Leg Radio Show for some of their music).

Had Doug Feiger and his pals never reared their head in the late 70s, it’s possible that the original Knack might be much (or at least a little) better known than they are, instead of a confusing Google search result, which is how things kind of ended up.

I hope you dig the tune and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Doug Dillard RIP

The Dillards

Listen/Download – The Dillards – Lemon Chimes

NOTE: I just heard the Doug Dillard had passed away at the age of 75. I thought I’d repost this great song that first appeared here back in 2008.

Greetings all.

I’m back following the long holiday stretch, hoping that you all dug the last podcast and are ready for more goodness.

On the podcast tip, as I stated in the last post I have a very cool mix in the hopper that will probably drop in this space next week. It’s something that I’ve been cooking for a long time and it finally came together during December, so stay tuned.

Today’s selection is a very nice bit of country/folk/rock by one of the more interesting and influential groups of the 60’s.

The Dillards came got their start in the early 60’s primarily as a bluegrass band. They came to fame via appearances as the fictional Darling family on the Andy Griffith show between 1963 and 1966.

The Southern California country rock scene included number of former bluegrass musicians, like Chris Hillman and Clarence White of the Byrds and David Lindley of the Kaleidoscope. The Dillards became a huge influence on this scene, with Doug Dillard playing on the seminal country rock LP ‘Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers’, after which Dillard & Clark were formed and recorded two albums for A&M.

Just before this period, when the Dillards were first exploring electric instruments and fusions of country, folk and rock they recorded the LP ‘Wheatstraw Suite’.

Back when I was a kid, and reading everything I could get my hands on about rock music, ‘Wheatstraw Suite’ was often cited as an important album in the creation of country rock. This has always been an especially interesting period for me, not only because I’m a fan of the sound, but because the musical history often contradicts the conventional wisdom on the subject.

While some would have you believe that country rock got its start with the likes of the Eagles, there were numerous examples of formative instances of the genre years before the members of that particular band started hating each other’s guts.

The earliest “major” group working in the genre was of course the Byrds, recording electrified versions of straight country – like Porter Wagoner’s ‘Satisfied Mind’ – on their early albums. There were also efforts by the Monkees (mainly Nesmith influenced), International Submarine Band (featuring early work by Gram Parsons), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rick Nelson and of course the band that Chris Hillman would form with Gram Parsons, the Flying Burrito Brothers*.

On “Wheatstraw Suite” the Dillards were working a lot more on the country/folk side of the street, but there is a definite pop thread running through the entire album, with covers of tunes by the Beatles (‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’), Tim Hardin (Reason to Believe) and Jesse Lee Kincaid of the Rising Sons** (‘She Sings Hymns Out of Tune’ which was covered around the same time by Harry Nilsson).

Today’s selection ‘Lemon Chimes’ was recorded in a different version prior to the ‘Wheatstraw Suite’ album and released as a 45 (the version you’re hearing today is from the LP). The tune was written by the drummer on this session, Dewey Martin who went on to play with the Buffalo Springfield.

Interestingly enough, that 45 was produced by none other than David Axelrod during the Dillards very brief (two singles) sojourn at Capitol Records following which they re-signed with their longtime label, Elektra.

Though I haven’t heard that earlier version, I love the rerecording on the LP, where the Dillards managed to create a unique fusion of countrified Sunshine Pop. Listening to the tune it’s hard to imagine that the group performing it were a straight bluegrass band but a few years before.

I hope you dig it.

Peace
Larry

*Interestingly enough two of these groups contributed members to the Eagles, with bassist Randy Meisner coming from Rick Nelson’s band and Bernie Leadon coming from the Flying Burrito Brothers.

**The Rising Sons also included Ry Cooder (pre-Beefheart), Ed Cassidy (pre-Spirit) and Taj Mahal

Buy – The Dillards – There Is A Time (1963-1970) – At Amazon.com

Iron Leg Radio Show #13

Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Intro – Action Scene KPM Mansfield/Hawkshaw
Montanas – That’s When Happiness Began (Pye)
Guess Who – Shakin’ All Over (Scepter)
Question Mark and the Mysterians – 18 (Cameo)
Nashville Teens – Find My Way Home (London)
Ian and the Zodiacs – Why Can’t It Be Me (Philips)
TV Spot

Neon Philharmonic Radio Spot
Neon Philharmonic – Brilliant Colors (WB)
Mike Stoller and the Stoller System – Silver Sea Horse (Amy)
Jack Sheldon – I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today (Dot)
Harry Nilsson – I Think the Lord Must Be In New York City (RCA)

Pearls Before Swine – I Saw the World (ESP)
Pearls Before Swine – When the War Began (Reprise)
Pearls Before Swine – The Jeweler (Reprise)
Pearls Before Swine – The Wedding (Reprise)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 13 – 90MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

It’s time once again for the Iron Leg Radio Show.

What you see before you is a truncated version thereof, bringing it in at a little bit under an hour.

Times are a little harder than normal these days so I don’t have quite as much time to get things together as I normally do. I’ll go back to the longer format as soon as time allows.

This month you get some interesting stuff, including a couple of great, obscure slices of pop and a set from one of my favorite groups, Thom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine.

As always, I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back next week with more cool stuff.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners

The Kitchen Cinq – Codine

The Kitchen Cinq

Listen/Download – The Kitchen Cinq – Codine

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is the product of oneof those semi blind purchases, i.e. a band/record that is only vaguely familiar, contains most of the mid-60s/garage signifiers (cool cover versions etc) and part of a very interesting label.

The band in question is the Kitchen Cinq.

Hailing from Texas, and having morphed into their 66/67 recording outfit from a few earlier bands, they managed to find their way to California and into the clutches of the storied Lee Hazlewood, producer Suzi Jane Hokom and LHI records.

I had never seen a copy of the record until I was down spinning soul 45s at the Washington DC record fair and my man DJ Birdman (with whom I share garage revival roots) pulled the LP out of his sale box and waved it under my nose.

I took all of the aforementioned evidence into account, unfurled my bankroll and took the disc home.

When I finally managed to slip it under the needle I was pleased by the mixture of folky-garage-isms, leanings toward more commercial pop and a couple of cover versions that I’d pick up no matter who was recording them (i.e. I Can’t Let Go etc).

The tune I bring you today is my favorite cut from the album, the band’s cover of Buffy Ste Marie’s ‘Codine’.

Though the song was covered many, many times, the version I always find myself going back to is the plodding and exceptionally groovy take by the Charlatans.

The Kitchen Cinq take a more propulsive approach to the song, adding a nice helping of fuzz guitar as well.

Of all the tracks on the album, ‘Codine’ comes the closest to having that ‘garage 45′ feel.

The Kitchen Cinq managed not only their album but a number of non-LP 45s for LHI, which like just about everything else on the label is fairly hard to come by. None of their material has been reissued either.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Gordon Lightfoot – For Lovin’ Me

Gordon Lightfoot

Listen/Download – Gordon Lightfoot – For Lovin’ Me

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the ole leg of iron.

The tune I bring you this fine day is one that I first heard not in its original version, but in a cover by one of the most successful commercial folk acts of the 1960s.

Peter, Paul and Mary were hugely successful in their day, and unlike so many of their contemporaries managed to be so without sacrificing all of their folk movement cred.

Some of this was the result of their activist bent, and some due to the fact that they managed to maintain a level of musical and artistic quality, rarely pandering to the middle of the road. I know some people would disagree, but I won’t hold PPM’s efforts to be entertaining against them.

They are often remembered today as representative of “commercialized” folk music, but this is usually by people that forget groups like the Kingston Trio.

Their LP ‘A Song Will Rise’ was a cornerstone of my father’s record collection (the small, non-jazz contemporary wing thereof) and as a result a major formative touchstone for yours truly.

The album featured some cool originals but also some exceptional cover material, such as the Weavers stirring ‘Wasn’t That a Time’ and the song I bring you today.

Naturally, when I was a tot I had yet to discover the value of reading record labels, so I was unaware that ‘For Lovin’ Me’ had been written by Gordon Lightfoot.

Oddly enough, I know who Lightfoot was, but only because by that time he had already entered the pop charts a number of times with songs like ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ (1971).

It wasn’t until decades later, when I picked up Lightfoot’s 1965 debut that I realized that the song I loved so much as a kid was a cover.

Of course by that time, I’d read and listened to enough that I was familiar with his early work as a songwriter, with material being recorded by artists like Nico (‘I’m Not Sayin’), Judy Collins (Early Mornin’ Rain) and Marty Robbins (Ribbon Of Darkness).

Much like his countrywoman Joni Mitchell, many of his most famous songs were recorded (or were popularized) by others first.

Lightfoot got his start as a folksinger/songwriter in his native Canada having chart success in his native country and doing TV work in the UK before being signed by none other than Albert Grossman in 1965 and recording his debut album for United Artists the following year.

Though the record was acoustic, in the folky tradition, the songs and performances had the sound not of a coffeehouse troubadour but rather an early iteration of the singer/songwriter vibe that would become huge over the next five years (much like Tom Rush during the same period).

‘For Lovin’ Me’ is a great, slightly dark feel to it with some haunting chord changes. Though I’ll always love the harmonies in the PPM version it’s also cool to hear the song delivered in Lightfoot’s rich baritone.

The ‘Lightfoot’ album has been reissued, but oddly enough original copies tend to turn up fairly frequently. You not only get to hear Lightfoot’s versions of his own songs but covers of tunes by Phil Ochs (Changes), Ewan McColl (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face) and a cool take on Hamilton Camp’s ‘Pride of Man’ which would later be covered by Quicksilver Messenger Service.

I hope you dig the tune and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Nobody’s Children – I Can’t Let Go

Listen/Download – Nobody’s Children – I Can’t Let Go

Greetings all.

I have gone on the record in this space previously of my deep and abiding love for the song ‘I Can’t Let Go’.

I posted the Evie Sands OG a while back and the Hollies cover (which hit the Top 40 in 1966) is a positively brilliant pop record.

Some time a few years back I was digging somewhere and picked up the record you see before you today because it included a cover of that very song.

I knerw nothing about Nobody’s Children, other than the fact that there were clearly several bands working under that name during the 60s. Maybe not as many as there were Mods, but certainly a few more than there were Driving Stupids.

That said, when I got the 45 home I discovered a delightful updated on the Hollies model, with the band taking an upbeat approach to the song with the extra added attraction of a horn section.

As it turns out, this particular group of Nobody’s Children were a Washington, DC area group that got their start as Adam’s Apples before hitting locally with their cover of the Al Gorgoni/Chip Taylor classic.

Released first on the Bullet label (two different pressings, the one you see here and one with red and white spiral design) in 1967, ‘I Can’t Let Go’ was picked up for national distribution by the Buddah label in 1968 where it met with some regional success on the East Coast.

There’s an interview online with DC area DJ Harv Moore that seems to suggest that this is the same group that recorded for United Artists as well.

That said, it is most groovy cover of a great song, something that is always worth stuffing into your ears.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you next week.

Peace

Larry

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #12

Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Opening – Action Scene – Hawkshaw/Mansfield (KPM)
The Coopers – Didn’t I (White Whale)
The Coopers – Leave This Man Alone (White Whale)
The Bobby Green Selection – What’s That Sound (White Whale)
The Jay Jays – I Know In My Mind (White Whale)
Les Sauterelles – Dream Machine (Deram)
Love – The Red Telephone (Elektra)
The Kaleidoscope (US) – Pulsating Dream (Epic)
The Kaleidoscope (UK) – Flight From Ashiya (Decca)

Fairport Convention – A Tale In Hard Time (A&M)
Fairport Convention – Reynardine (A&M)
Traffic – Feeling Good (UA)
Jack Bruce – Rope Ladder To The Moon (Atco)
Mighty Baby – House Without Windows (Head)
Osmonds – Traffic In My Mind (MGM)

Monkees Spot
Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday (Colgems)
Beau Brummels – One Too Many Mornings (WB)
Lively Set – Let The Trumpets Blow (Capitol)
Sunrays – Andrea (Tower)
The Woolies – Who Do You Love (Dunhill)
Paul Revere and the Raiders – Get It On (Columbia)
Kingsmen – Little Sally Tease (Wand)
Five By Five – Hang Up (Paula)
The Feathers – Trying To Get To You (Team)
British Walkers – That Was Yesterday (Cameo)
Cast of Thousands – Girl What You Gonna Do (Tower)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 12 – 162MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

Welcome once again to the Iron Leg Radio Show.

This time out we have some very groovy new arrivals, including some great examples of late period Nederbeat (Neder-Freakbeat?), trippy folk rock, long-form Traffic jam, Murray Wilson madness, pop-soul, garage punk, sunshine pop and a couple tracks pulled out of left field.

As always, I hope you dig it (and if you do, check out the previous 11 episodes in the archive) and I’ll be back next week with something cool.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners

Fairport Convention – Reynardine

The Fairports MK3

Listen/Download – Fairport Convention – Reynardine

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here on the good ship Iron Leg.

Fairport Convention, long one of my favorite groups is one of those late-60s UK bands that deserves a lot more respect than they get from rock/psyche heads.

Though they are best known for their rural, folk-rocky travels, with the Morris Dancers and the twenty-sided dice and what not, what they started out as, and what they did best (at least on my opinion) was make some superb rock music.

That the band was at their peak a veritable Murderers Row of UK talent, with the almighty Richard Thompson wrangling the guitar and writing some brilliant songs, Sandy Denny (preceded by Judy Dyble, the Signe Toly Anderson of British rock) and Iain Matthews on vocals, Ashley ‘Tyger’ Hutchings on bass, Simon Nicol on rhythm and Dave Mattacks (himself preceded by Martin Lamble) on drums, Fairport made their mark as part of the UK underground, taking a sort of Jefferson Airplane-ian vibe and wrapping it in the Union Jack.

Though many seem to think that the UK rock scene of the day was solely the playground of laughing, treacle coated gnomes, there was a strong undercurrent of a West Coast US influence at work.

The group’s first four albums, recorded between 1967 and 1969 are as solid a block of great music as was made in those heady days. ‘Fairport Convention’, ‘What We Did on Our Holidays’ and ‘Unhalfbricking’ can stand proudly alongside just about anything released during those years.

Unfortunately, after the third album, the band’s van overturned, killing both original drummer Lamble, and Richard Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn.

The band went into a period of seclusion and inactivity (with Matthews leaving to start Matthews Southern Comfort), after which they gathered to regroup.

It was during this period that they were joined by fiddler Dave Swarbrick and began to morph into the more folky Fairport of the 70s.

The album that resulted, 1969’s ‘Liege and Lief’ is an important transitional artifact joining the earlier, psyched out Fairport with the later, traditionalist incarnation of the band.

The album is uniformly superb, but in my eyes (and ears) its finest track, and in many ways the linchpin on which their evolution turned, was ‘Reynardine’.

A reworking of an old traditional song that dates to the late 18th century (it had apparently migrated to the US by the 1830s), ‘Reynardine’ is the tale of a mystical creature that could metamorphose into a fox and lure maidens back to its castle.

It sounds like the kind of thing Led Zeppelin might have tackled in the depths of their Tolkien worship (which intersects with this era of Fairport in style, as well as in the borrowing of Sandy Denny for Led Zep IV), but Fairport manage to turn it into a hypnotic, almost completely drumless meditation.

It is in turns psychedelic, bucolic – it is hard to listen to it without passing back and forth between visions of hippies standing barefoot in the mud, and pre-Victorian peasants…standing barefoot in the mud) – floating along like a ghost on the pure air of Denny’s voice.

The song is almost over before you realize it. The sensation is almost as if you’d been caught eavesdropping on some unspeakable, mystic invocation.

Unlike their epic reading of another traditional tune, ‘A Sailor’s Life’ from ‘Unhalfbricking’ (which also featured Swarbrick, then just a sideman) ‘Reynardine’ never really takes off into an era-appropriate jam (as you might expect) choosing instead to reserve its powers (yet managing to be more powerful still).

It’s the kind of performance that leaves the listener convinced that they’ve heard traces of something bigger floating in the background. It is every bit a version of an old traditional song, and at the same time anchored firmly in 1969.

Though I respect the later Fairport, I must admit that there are times where they go all jolly-fiddler and fill the mind with images of dancing elves and alewives, which is cool if that’s your thing, but ‘Reynardine’, and all of ‘Liege and Lief’ manages to be so heavy precisely because they only hint at what would soon come to the fore.

If you haven’t given their early stuff a listen because you were put off by the whole RenFaire bag, then you are doing yourself (and them) a grave disservice.

Fairport Convention were a great (not merely good) band.

Trust me.

I’ll see you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Boyce and Hart – I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind +1

Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce

Boyce and Hart with Elizabeth Montgomery as ‘Serena’ on Bewitched

Listen/Download – Boyce & Hart – I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind

Listen/Download – Boyce & Hart – Smilin’

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

Late last week I was slacking in front of the TV set and one of my fave guilty pleasures, the 1968 film ‘Where Angels Go Trouble Follows’ came on TCM.

It’s not a particularly fantastic movie, but it does carry with it a great flavor of the times, as well as the confusing spectacle of the unbearably hot Stella Stevens dressed as a nun.

What it also has is the outstanding title song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.

Boyce and Hart are remembered mainly as the guys that wrote so many cool songs for the Monkees back in the day, or (mainly by women that were teenyboppers during the mid-to-late 60s) as slightly aged teen idols.

Though they’re probably more famous for writing songs like ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, the duo recorded some excellent records of their own, like the brilliant ‘Out and About’ (from 1967, covered in this space a few years ago) which they performed on an episode of ‘I Dream of Jeannie’.

A few years later, they would perform one of today’s selections on another popular sitcom.

Oddly enough, I didn’t originally know of ‘I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind’ as a Boyce and Hart song, having first heard it covered on the 1984 Redd Kross LP ‘Teen Babes From Monsanto’. I was actually lucky enough to see Redd Kross perform the song live a few years later.

When I finally picked up a copy of the Boyce and Hart original (and saw the episode of Bewitched that contained the song) I was pleased to discover that I dug the OG even more than the cover.

The Bewitched episode includes two performances of the song, one by Elizabeth Montgomery as ‘Serena’ and again by Boyce and Hart.

The Boyce/Hart ‘I’m Gonna Blow You a Kiss In the Wind’ was the last 45 they released as a duo (in the Fall of 1969).

Though the record has a bubblegum heart, the delivery is a little harder edged than most of that genre and has an excellent arrangement by Jimmie Haskell.

The single is also notable for carrying with it a most excellent B-side with ‘Smilin’.

Despite the fact that both sides of the single were top notch pop, neither song made even a minor dent in the charts.

I hope you dig both tunes, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

 

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.