SEARCH: little known late 60s / early 70s "one and done" lite psychedelic bands — BYRDS, MAMAS & PAPAS, AND BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD WANNABES VERY MUCH WELCOME HERE TYVM

you know what i'm talking about here? bands that were too pop to compete with jimi, but too weird to really catch on, depsite maybe having a regional following.

the one that always comes to my mind when i think of this stuff is the peppermint trolley company. they bounced around the southern california scene, recorded the original version of the brady bunch theme, changed their name a bunch of times, and released one album in 1968. dig their chad stuart-arranged am pop single 'trust' — what an absolute jam.

my goal for this thread is to appreciate the stuff i know about and hopefully find out about stuff that i don't. add on!

another favorite of mine is hardwater. i came to them through the david axelrod connection; he produced their lone album on capitol records, which was released in 1968. the group's guitarist was peter wyant and the guy was a savant — so much so that axelrod plucked him from the group to play on other sessions he was producing. wyant's work shows up on the axelrod-produced electric prunes album release of an oath and on axelrod's own song of innocence, both of which were released in 1968. my favorite track on the hardwater self-titled album has always been 'city sidewalks' (which i'll come back to later); definitely going for that buffalo springfield vibe (and suceeding pretty well, if you ask me). the album was finally reissued on cd with an essential (and previously super rare) bonus track. really love this album.

The Lemon Pipers fit this bill like a glove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI1EOxwnpvk

okay: one last loose david axelrod-affiliated thing, then i'll move on. . .

one of the weirdest stories i've come across in researching david axelrod's endeavors is the common people. their one album was released in 1969, was produced by tim hudson, and which features an outright diss track directed at the beatles. there's only a "special thanks to" david axelrod printed on the cover, so for many years, without any other information available, most people (myself included) just assumed axelrod had done the string arrangements on the album's downright incredible first three tracks. turns out, david axelrod wasn't even present in the studio. the album is dark, but holy hell do i recommend listening to those first three tracks at least once: 'soon there'll be thunder', 'i have been alone, and 'those who love'. it still remains a very expensive record on the second hand market —and there have been speculations about whether capitol actually released it to shops at the time; no surprise given the swipe at their lablemates. reissues have also been sporadic and, most times, less than official (in fact, i don't think any of the reissues aren't taken from old vinyl copies). it has made it to cd a few times with the band's two non-album, non-capitol singles attached; comprising their entire discography in less than an hour. it's unfortunate, as i've always really thought they had a very distinctly instrospective brand of lite psych.

xpost: lemon pipers are indeed dope, but they released a few albums. i was hoping to keep this to folks that only managed to get out one album, if that.

that Beatles diss is bizarre wtf. What funeral are they referring to, Epstein's?

Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty - Things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQww8OUrdc

the yankee dollar was a weird one. they came to my attention because they recorded a few of the same songs that showed up on the hardwater album. their take on 'city sidewalks' is a bit more stretched out and willfully psychedelic than hardwater's; can't say i love it. but their 'sanctuary' is indeed pretty good. liza gonzales has a timbre of voice sometimes vaguely reminiscent of siouxsie sioux, if you can believe that. the album came out in 1968 and is decent; and rocks a little more with the fuzzed guitar / organ combo.

xpost to Οὖτις: yep, that'd be the one. like i implied: pretty brazen of them, considering they had a record deal with the same fucking company as the people they were trying to diss.

Fringe Benefits only released a single 45 in 1969, but both sides are A+:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIBPLo75YzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAvzGbji2hw

Next to no information on them out there in the wilds of the web, either. But at least we have the songs.

love the hardwater album that austin provides excellent detail on.

The later discs in this big Lee Hazlewood box are rich with this sort of LA hanger-ons

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/963-there-s-a-dream-i-ve-been-saving-lee-hazlewood-industries-1966-1971

Who could ever forget Raul Danks?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4aniQAyiw&list=PLwJSv6yF4lO4u2mDFtQO8BdqZk3wYf4Gd&index=3&t=0s

another album that fits this groove : The Holy Mackerel, featuring Paul Williams.

worth entry fee for 'scorpio red' alone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Mackerel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYt9xsjAuWk

Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit, and Greenhill: Buncha Dallas folkies go electric and hook up with a young T-Bone Burnette, amass a pile of tapes pruned down to one very Byrds/Buffalo/Moby Grape-esque LP, which gets licensed to UNI and dies a quick death. Guy Clark took the album cover photo. Band later regroups and 'gets serious' as Space Opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stePONDnLN4

^^Youtube is the whole album, BTW.

So fucking many..

One exanmple:

https://youtu.be/4OPjWX_Ol14

they're too way new for this thread but I'm contractually obligated to mention the young sinclairs every time someone mentions light hearted 60s psych on ilx

Another one

https://youtu.be/GUG9BGbCcAw

oh, these are all excellent: majestic, bendy, mark, and grisso! thank you!

Band later regroups and 'gets serious' as Space Opera.

whoah! I love that Space Opera album

Basicslly, it is really easy now to find intetesting obscure bands from this era. Any era for that mattet.

RYM->charts-> psychedelic pop->1960's only-> skip to number 50 and serach below

Euphoria: A Gift From...--Musical partners Wesley Watt & William Lincoln wrap several years of recording under different band names by having a friend underwrite sessions in Nashville, Hollywood, and London for baroque fatalistic would-be Sgt. Pepper and/or Odessa. Sold to Capitol, who barely released it at the end of '69. Oddly enough, both Watt & Lincoln end up backing Dory Previn at different times in the following years.

First Four Tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrcCCtSefks

that's a great record

Hmm how about Honey LTD? Or The Feminine Complex?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I0UoXQ-nXHM

Ohio Express - 'Yummy Yummy Yummy':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4aQiFaCod8

Kaleidoscope - 'The Sky Children':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXwUTuRwAU

Nueovos Horizontes - Mamas and the Papas-esque vocal group from Madrid that released six singles between 1969 and 1973, four tracks of which were penned by the women who would go on to form Vainica Doble. they finally released an album with a different lineup in 1974 and promptly disappeared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W28MDK-vY8o

er, *Nuevos Horizontes

xpost Yeah, Edd Hurt turned me on to Whistler etc. AKA Space opera, good un.
also, xpost There's a Dream I've Been Saving is totally awes psych-pop flashes in theeee pan, and it's all on Spotify, prob other services as well. Hazlewood himself takes any idea of pop past "Boots," sounding more and more like a twangy, sun-dried West Coast studio rat Lou Reed, also Ann-Margaret heads head on into stress like a post-Manson Chickie Iggy Stoogette, lots of artists who coulda been one-hit wonders at least--LHI, Hazlewood's label, was a magnet for talent, and got results in the studio, but frequently fumbled little things like promotion, distribution---releases, even: xpost Honey Ltd.'s great debut and only album sat in the can for about 50 years, even though they, who had sung on Deetroit area records like Bob Seger System's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" before hopping on the bus to Hollywood, promptly found work, opening for the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, and in Vegas for Sonny and Cher, both of which situations totally fit their psychedelic girl group boldface adventures (I recently found the follow-up they recorded as Eve, minus one voice but at least as powerful, judging by comp tracks, haven't listened to whole thing yet).
Another act on the box that I still mean to check out: Hamilton Streetcar, bracingly clever flash, and think they have a Best of or something like that around.

Not psych, but worth checking, as I long ago posted onCan we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock? :
Just got through my first listen to reissue of Yellow Hand's s/t from 1970.They do a bunch of Stills and Young songs from a Buffalo Springfield album that never did come out, it sez here (so they're on the bootleg of Stampede?) I think Neil did release a later version of "Down To The Wire." That's the one where the four-part close harmonies kinda crowd me, plus they sound particularly in there between the Grassroots and Three Dog Night, just this combination of by-the-numbers and overemphasis. But, if you've got any tolerance for Stills early solo and Manassas stuff, this is mostly like that (still chunky harmonies, but with a touch of plaintiveness/querulousness to balance the manliness, and allowing the lyrics to come through just enough, so personality simulated, but dumb complaints and inspiration not heard too clearly)(also get Neil's sufficently stylish, punky bitchy folk-rock putdowns on "Sell Out)." And Delaney Bramlett/Mac Davis "God Knows I Love You," which coulda maybe shoulda been a hit for somebody. Also, the lead singer, Jerry Tawney, steps up front on some okay self-writs, and "My World Needs You" would be good for Gary Puckett.