I first heard the Barbarians and their song “Moulty” in college when I picked up a copy of “Nuggets,” the double-record, sixties garage band compilation by Lenny Kaye. I bought that in Kenmore Square at a used record store called…Nuggets. The song tells the dramatic story of how the band’s drummer, Victor “Moulty” Moulton, lost his left hand in an accident. That song is not on this lp, but is on the CD reissue as a bonus track. Here’s a story of how The Band, (the Hawks in 1966), ended up playing on “Moulty”. The “hit” here is “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl” (another track from the Nuggets set).

(18 votes, average: 2.56 out of 5)

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The Rocky Fellers were a quintet of four Filipino brothers and their father, discovered by producer Stanley Kahn and signed to Scepter Records in early 1963. They had one hit, “Killer Joe, ” which got to No. 16 in the spring of 1963, big enough to get them a chance to record a complete LP for the label. They were more of a novelty act than anything else, and faded away with the arrival of the British invasion, disappearing from view after the mid-1960’s. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

(22 votes, average: 3.41 out of 5)

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The Crystals “Twist Uptown” Philly Records. Produced by Phil Spector. (1962)

In early 1962, the Crystals recorded a Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song called “Uptown.” Barbara Alston’s strong-yet-sensuous vocals enunciated lyrics that were as steeped in topical subject matter, especially about the frustrations of life in the ghetto, as they were in romance. This gave “Uptown” a subtly two-pronged appeal; it was a gorgeous pop record, but also a new kind of pop record, eminently listenable yet serious in its subtext. No, it wasn’t “Blowin’ in the Wind,” but it seemed to evoke a social realism that heretofore eluded the pop charts. “Uptown” reached number 13 nationally. Its production marked a major step forward in the making of rock & roll singles in its production, and heralded a newer, bolder era in pop music and R&B, very much of a piece with such hits as The Drifters’ “Up On the Roof,” but with an undercurrent of frustration that the latter song lacked; it all pointed the way toward the more sophisticated and socially conscious kind of songs that Sam Cooke would soon be generating.

The following month, Spector was back in the studio running another Crystals session, except that this time it wasn’t really the Crystals that he was recording, but Darlene Love. As the owner of the Crystals’ name and, as their producer, possessing the right to record anyone he wanted (or anything he wanted) and label it as being from “the Crystals,” he decided to forego forego using the group entirely for “He’s a Rebel.” A celebration of street-level machismo like no other, it was an upbeat number with gorgeous hooks and became a number one hit, as well as engraining itself in pop culture history as a quintessential girl group classic. Darlene Love was the lead singer on the next hit by “the Crystals,” “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” as well.

It wasn’t until early 1963 that the group again sang on one of their own records, “Da Doo Ron Ron.” That record rose to number three in America and became their second biggest British hit, reaching the number five spot in the U.K. That placement, along with the U.K. number two position for “Then He Kissed Me” (which also got to number six in America), was very important, because at the time a lot of major British bands were about to break onto the charts at home, before coming to dominate American music a year later. “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Then He Kissed Me” became among the most popular American rock & roll songs of the period in England, covered by all manner of acts on-stage and on-record.

The group had released two LPs hooked around their major hits, “Twist Uptown” and “He’s A Rebel” in 1962 and 1963, respectively. — The All Music Guide

(20 votes, average: 4.05 out of 5)

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The Lat-teens “Buena Gente” on Cotique. This is a killer boogaloo record from 1968. All the songs are great, but my favorite is one called “Smoke Shop”. Produced by George Goldner.

The Lat-Teen’s were a New York City Latin soul group that made three Cotique LPs, this is their second. ‘The Lat-Teens’, which contained the popular ‘Mary-Wanna’ as well as ‘El Shingaling’ and their version of ‘Louie Louie’ was their first and then later, in 1969, they released “Fuego a la Lata” Their post Cotique material moved away from Latin Soul into a straight salsa bag. Formed by Nestor Colon, the Lat-Teens included Hector Castro at the piano and Rey Davila on voices, plus trumpets, conga drums, timbales, bongos with Carlos Pabon on writing and arrangements,

(18 votes, average: 2.89 out of 5)

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The Turtles! Golden Hits. White Whale Records. This one was in heavy rotation in my room circa 1970. Perfect AM radio pop that, when I hear it today, still brings back those feelings of buying and playing my first records. Lead singers, Flo and Eddie, (named after a stint with Frank Zappa and the Mothers), went on to record together and sing back-up throughout the seventies and eighties. They also hosted a KROQ radio program in LA in the nineties.

(15 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)

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Chaino and his African Percussion Safari “Jungle Echoes” on Omega.   (See Chaino Africana post for more)

(47 votes, average: 4.28 out of 5)

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“CHAINO AFRICANA” on Dot Records. “Spellbinding primitive rhythms by Chaino, percussion genious of Africa”. The music here and from other Chaino records is on a CD reissue called “Chaino Africana and Beyond”.

Chaino is one of the elusive figures of space age pop. After growing up in Chicago, Leon Johnson left home and lived a fairly wild life, eventually taking up the bongos and making a name for himself as “Chaino” (taken perhaps from the great Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo?) on the “chitlins” circuit of black nightclubs. In the late 1950s, he went to Hollywood and met producer Kirby Allan, who had recently been inspired by African tribal music during a trip to Kenya. Allan and Johnson went into the famed Gold Star studio in early 1958 to try to create an American-ized version. They eventually succeeded in getting jazz impresario Norman Granz to release some of these cuts on the luridly-titled, Jungle Mating Rhythms. At the same time, they were able to sell tracks to three different small West Coast jazz labels, Score, Tampa, and Omega, and all four albums were released virtually simultaneously. A few months later, Allan signed with the Silent Majority label, Dot (home to Lawrence Welk for a fifth album, Africana. A sixth album, Temptation, was recorded for Omega but was barely out the door before the label went bankrupt.   — Space Age Pop

(53 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)

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Frank Frost (1936-1999) and the Night Hawks on the Phillips label (via Sam Phillips of Sun Records).   Here’s a set of electric, Delta blues and juke joint jumpin’ from 1962 by legendary blues harmonica player, Frank Frost, Jack Johnson and drummer Sam Carr (son of Robert Nighthawk).   Together as the Nighthawks, they played together until 1975.

(16 votes, average: 3.13 out of 5)

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Guy Warren of Ghana on British EMI Columbia Records. African-inspired jazz from the cream of 1960s Brit jazz musicians . Guy Warren is joined by Don Rendell , Ian Carr, Trevor Tomkins, Dave Green, Amancio d’Silva and Michael Garrick to produce a memorable and rare meeting of two worlds. Beautiful moments from Rendell on tenor and soprano.

(20 votes, average: 3.20 out of 5)

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Another 49th State record release in “full color high fidelity” (and on red vinyl).   “The Far East Today” with Priscilla Lee and The Filipino Rockets!

(18 votes, average: 3.17 out of 5)

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