The Longboatmen • Take Her Anytime

The Longboatmen, another Swedish 60's group, formed as The Steampacket in 1965, but they had to change their name to avoid confusion with the R&B/Blues group with the same name. So they changed to Steampacket II. But, when they were going to tour in England they were forced to change their name again, this time to The Longboatmen. After these name changes, they recorded this brilliant garage/psych 45, "Take Her Anytime".

Hume Paton R.I.P

And to continue the sadness, i newly read that Hume Patton, lead guitarist with the best Scottish 60's freakbeat/psych group The Poets, died from a heart attack in Grenada, 30th April.

Hume Paton, second from left 

Hume Paton 1944-2011

... and my favourite Poets track.

Cool ads & articles about 60's groups

Ad for 'Baby You've Got It' by The Action

Ad for 'Arnold Layne' by Pink Floyd

Ad for 'I Take What I Want' by The Artwoods

Concert ad for David Bowie & The Lower Third at The Marquee Club

Ad for 'Circles' by Les Fleur de Lys

Ad for 'A Memory' by Hljómar (Thor's Hammer) (Or possibly a concert ad, sorry i don't speak Icelandic)

Ad for 'I'm A Man' by The Spencer Davis Group

Ad for 'Gypsy Fred' by The Koobas

Article about The Move

Ad for 'My Friend Jack' by The Smoke

Ad for 'Painter Man' by The Creation

Ad for 'No Presents For Me' by Pandamonium

Drum ad for Rogers Drums, featuring Pete York from The Spencer Davis Group

Ad for 'Baby Don't You Do It' by The Poets

Article about The Pretty Things (Indeed, i would be worried if i were one of their parents too)

Ad for the Ready Steady Who EP by The Who

Ad for 'I Take It That We're Through' by The Riot Squad

Ad for 'I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round' by The Shotgun Express

Ad for 'All Or Nothing' by The Small Faces

Ad for 'Sorrow' by The Merseys

Ad for some bands having gigs at the Tiles Club

Ad for 'Jingle Jangle' by The Truth

Ad for 'Substitute' by The Who

Ad for 'Girl' by The Truth

The Torquays – 'Stolen Moments' & 'Harmonica Man (From London Town)'

I'm not sure if these are the Torquays that i'm writing about.

These Torquays were from San Bernardino, California and released a couple of wild, British R&B-flavoured singles around 1965, and these two are my personal favourites, shitty and snotty; just like garage rock is supposed to be!

Stolen Moments

This, somewhat Kinks-like song, is the definition snottiness. With the guitar sound and the singers raw screams, it's great. If you like garage rock, you're gonna love this.

Harmonica Man (From London Town)

'Harmonica Man' is also very snotty with the singers buzzing voice, frantic drumming and tambourine bashin', and even if the harmonica is drowned by everything else, it's still as great as Stolen Moments.

  

Trouble Comin' Everyday

Yes, there's trouble comin' everyday – it's winter in May and tomorrow i have to go to the dentist. Luckily, there's always The Mothers of Invention to cheer you up (yes, i get cheered up by weird things, doesn't i?).

(Sorry for my bad mood, i just really don't wanna go to the dentist 7:10 PM)

Always loved this version better than the LP version.

Thor's Hammer – My Life

Thor's Hammer (clockwise from top): Rúnar Júlíusson, Engilbert Jensen, Erlingur Björnsson and Gunnar Þórðarson.  

The Who probably never heard of Thor's Hammer, but if they would, they would without a doubt be very inpressed. Thor's Hammer, or Hljómar, was the most noteable '60s Icelandic rock band and the only one that's well known among collectors for their mega-rare releases on Parlophone sung in English. They are also the only Icelandic band to have a song included on the Nuggets II box set, the fuzz-drenched 'My Life'.

This song is probably one of the main reasons the fuzz pedal was invented. With it's echoed drumming and fuzz guitar, this is, along with Mascots' 'I Want To Live', one of the best freakbeat tracks. Thor's Hammer kept going until 1969 with an English female singer, Shady (real name Patricia Gail Owens). Shady, Gunnar Þórðarson and Rúnar Júlíusson then went progressive under the name Trúbrot.

Front and back of the 'Umbarumbamba' EP, 1966

The Mascots – I Want To Live

The Mascots in '67, left to right: Gunnar Idering, Anders Forslund, Roffe Adolfsson & Stefan Ringbom

The Mascots were a fairly successful Swedish 60's group, issuing around twenty singles and two LP's between 1964 and 1968, and reaching the Swedish Top Ten with five of their 45's. The group was very influenced by Merseybeat and did some pretty lightweight, but sometimes charming pop. However, there were some exceptions, such as the song 'I Want To Live' from the 1966 album 'ELLPEE' (LP pronounced in Swedish).

(Note that the record company misspelled 'Different')

This song stood out from anything else the group recorded, with the weird lyrics, insanely cool fuzz-break and bouncing The Sorrows-esque drumbeats, this song is way ahead of it's time Freakbeat at it's best, and has been included on a few freakbeat compilations. The Mascots split up in 1969, and the groups members went on to play Progg in a band called Fria Proteatern.

Things to Come - Sweetgina/Speak Of The Devil

Things to Come - Sweetgina/Speak of The Devil (US 1966)

Things to Come hailed from Long Beach, California. Their original lineup was Steve Runolfsson (vocals), Lynn Rominger (lead guitar), Larry Robinson (rhythm guitar), Russ Ward (drums) and Bryan Garofalo (bass), and they released three singles.

However, Runolfsson was fired after their first and best single, 'Sweetgina/Speak of The Devil'. With it's Farfisa organ, wheezing harmonica, fuzz guitar and Steve Runolfssons snotty, Van Morrison-esque vocals, 'Sweetgina' would probably be the result if you put 'Gloria' and 'Green Onions' in a blender. You can find it on 'Garage Beat '66 Vol. 2: Chicks Are For Kids'.

The B-side, Speak of The Devil, is also an masterful acid punk tune, that sounds like a meeting between Them and Iron Butterfly, and you can find it on complications like 'The Chosen Few Vol. 1' and 'Garage Beat '66 Vol. 6: Speak Of The Devil...' (Yes, they even named the complication after the song!).

Russ Ward would go on to a highly successful career as a session drummer under his real name, Russ Kunkel.

Things to Come at The Marina Palace, Seal Beach, where they were the house band.

Hear 'Sweetgina': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfgJU-CxaUw

Hear 'Speak Of The Devil': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO0rN0GJmEY

Caleb - Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad/A Woman Of Distinction

Caleb - Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad/A Woman Of Distinction (UK 1967)

Okay, so this is some mega rare stuff we got here. It's also one of the greatest pieces of British psych ever. I bought a reissue of this 45 today, in a record store called Got To Hurry in Old Town in Sweden, which i can recommend if you happen to visit Stockholm. It's a great record store if you want to buy some 60s grooves.

As you can tell from the name, Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad has got that insanely psychedelic phasing effect that you can find on many other british late 60's psych records, such as 'Itchycoo Park' by The Small Faces and 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' by Status Quo. The song has been featured on many 60s psych complications such as 'Rubble Vol. 1 - The Psychedelic Snarl',  'Nuggets II' (Disc 2) and 'Chocolate Soup for Diabetics' (Disc 5).

The B-side, 'A Woman of Distinction', is also a great song, even if it might not is as good as 'Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad'. It is also avaliable on 'Rubble Vol. 1 - The Psychedelic Snarl'.


That the single hasn't gained more fame through the years is a mystery to me, since Caleb became a session musician later and worked with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend etc. under his full name, Caleb Quaye.

Hear 'Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGVOhGnut-4

Hear 'A Woman Of Distinction': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri1b9VvSoBM

The Beathovens - Summer Sun/Tramps

The Beathovens - Summer Sun/Tramps (Sweden 1966)

Swedish 60s pop was largely a sad mixture of embarrassing amateurism, lack of supporting ideas and mediocre knowledge of the English language. However, there were some great bands like Tages, The Namelosers, Ola & The Janglers, The Steampacket (introduced as Steampacket II in Britain to avoid confusion with the R&B group featuring Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll etc.), The Merrymen (No, not the calypso group) and The Beathovens.


This single of theirs, Summer Sun is simply pop perfection. With it's beautiful harmonies and chords, it's a perfect soundalike to The Kinks around Face to Face. This little group came from the small town Motala, on the eastern shore of the lake Vättern.  When they entered a contest in which Sweden's Beatles would be appointed, Tages won on the west coast and The Beathovens on the east coast. However, The Beathovens, mysteriously, never got the big break, and the highlights in their career was an appearance on the Swedish TV show Drop In and as an opening act for The Who in Örebro.

Hear 'Summer Sun': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zpnvmOUsQ