BOBBY TAYLOR AND THE VANCOUVERS - "Does Your Mama Know About Me" (1968)

 

Here's a Saturday Night Special for you if there ever was one!

Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers were a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hence the name The Vancouvers, but they weren't always called The Vancouvers, and here's where the story gets fun.

 

 

Probably the most interesting thing about this band is that one of the two guitarists was none other than the very suave Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame.

In the beginning, one of their names was Little Daddy and the Bachelors, and then, according to Wikipedia, they were doing pretty good until Tommy Chong suggested that they change their name to something akin to Four Black Guys and One Chinese Fellow, which I'm sure he thought was hilarious, but nobody else did, so they changed it again to an abbreviated form, this time to Four N's and a C.

That still wasn't working so they went with Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, Bobby Taylor being the lead singer, who went on to produce The Jackson 5's first record.

Their song "Does Your Mama Know About Me" made it to 29 on the charts in 1968 on the Gordy label, and was co-written by Tommy Chong.

Considering all the great music that there was on the Motown and subsidiary labels in 1968, it's no wonder this group got left behind, as most of the music sounds like Philly soul or early disco.

 

I much prefer this piece of insanity from 1974.

"Earache My Eye" was written by Tommy Chong and world class guitarist Gaye Delorme, who also played that killer riff.

The drums were played by the world's best percussionist, Airto Moreira.

CHEECH AND CHONG - "Earache My Eye" 

BIS - "Tell It To The Kids" (1997)

 

Bis (rhymes with this) are from Scotland, and they came out with "The New Transistor Heroes" in 1997.

I don't know where they got all their energy from but Sci-Fi Steven, Manda Rin, and John Disco really put the power in the term power pop.

 

 

Bis broke up in 2003, and reformed in 2009, and have been playing off and on ever since, and have gigs coming up this year. In October they'll be playing at "The Royal Hotel, Whitby."

 

In November you can catch them at the "Shiiine On Weekender" festival.

BIS - "Tell It To The Kids" 

STEWART COPELAND & STAN RIDGWAY - "Don't Box Me In" (1983)

 

Rich here. Those of a certain age may remember the classic Young Adult novel from 1975, "Rumblefish," by S.E. Hinton, the author that seemed to authentically express the feelings of post-Sixties alientated youth. You may also remember the noirish film adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983.

 

Coppola's film featured up-and-coming young stars like Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Diane Lane, and was filmed in a sleek-looking black and white that recalled the classic film noir movies of the 1940's. 

 

And in a genius move for the soundtrack, Coppola enlisted the talents of Stewart Copeland, the drummer from the Police, and Stan Ridgway, the lead singer & songwriter for the quirky new wave band Wall of Voodoo. The film and the soundtrack were edgy, with the duo of Copeland & Ridgway capturing a catchy early '80s post-punk theme song for the movie, "Don't Box Me In." The song featured an angular guitar hook and Ridgway's spooky harmonica and quirky voice -- a combination that helped emphasize the film's theme of youthful alienation.

STEWART COPELAND & STAN RIDGWAY - "Don't Box Me In" 

AGONY COLUMN - "Love In The Head" (1980)

 

Agony Column isn't a band name I would have expected there to be more than one of, and actually it's not really a name I would have ever expected to be used once. Shows you how much I know.

The Agony Column I'm talking about was a New Wave/Post-Punk band from Leeds, West Yorkshire in the UK. They formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1982. 

This song, and I think it's a pretty good one, was released in 1980.

AGONY COLUMN - "Love In The Head" 

 

What you really need to know so that you don't get them mixed up is that in the late 1980's there was a hillbilly death metal band from Austin, Texas who also called themselves Agony Column.

The members were named Crow, Red Wing Viper, Bat Lord, and Devil Chicken.

 

And if that ain't enough, there is currently yet another The Agony Column band which is a gothic doom/dark metal band from Belarus.   

THE DARTELLS - "Hot Pastrami" (1962)

 

The Dartells hailed from Oxnard, California. Their single titled "Hot Pastrami!" made it to #11 on the charts in 1962. After the single gained so much popularity, they were able to come out with this album of the same name.

Simplicity personified! 

THE DARTELLS - "Hot Pastrami!" 

 

The "Dartell Stomp" didn't have any success, but was just as cool as "Hot Pastrami!" I always thought.

The band didn't last long and broke up soon after the record was released. 

THE DARTELLS - "Dartell Stomp"

JACO PASTORIUS - "Come On, Come Over" (1976)

 

There are two words that describe world class bassist Jaco Pastorius to a T, and those two words are talented and troubled. It was his talent that took him to the top of his game, and it was trouble that ended his career and life at the age of thirty-five.

It's sinful enough that this song wasn't a number one hit, and it's completely ludicrous that it never even made the charts.

Enjoy one of the funkiest bass lines you'll ever hear, and great vocals by Same & Dave.

JACO PASTORIUS - "Come On, Come Over" 

DANGERMAN - "Let's Make A Deal" (1999)

 

Dangerman is one of those kinds of groups that makes you wonder what's wrong with the world.

Dangerman was a duo from New York comprised of Chris Scianni, vocals and guitar, and Dave Borla playing the drums.

This self-titled album from 1999 was their only release. They had a couple of singles the same year, but that's about it. It does look they went on to do some other things as individuals with other people, but not a whole lot.

Here's a great song from them for you! 

 DANGERMAN - "Let's Make A Deal"

ALBERT KING - "Crosscut Saw" (1967)

 

It ain't Friday, so Saturday is gonna have to do!

Just in case you ever wondered, No, B.B. King, Freddie King, and Albert King are not related.

 

 That just might be the King Sisters you're thinking of.

 

I did not know this until now, and it's info like this is why we have the internet. It was supposed to be information and communication, not ads, ads, ads.

Anyway, Albert King's real name was Albert Nelson.

He adopted the last name King in 1953 as an attempt to be associated with B.B. King, and sometimes he was billed as "B.B. King's brother."

He didn't really need to go to those lengths as he was a standout guitar player on his own without the hype.

ALBERT KING - "Crosscut Saw"

THE BRIKS -THE MUMMIES (1966 - 1991)

 

I don't see where this song by the Texas band The Briks was ever released as a single in the 60's, but it is on this 1986 release called "TEXAS PUNK 1966:Volume 7" that besides The Briks, also featured another Texas band, The Chaparrals.

THE BRIKS - "Keep Down" 

 

The Mummies are one of the most ridiculous bands there has ever been, and that's the reason you have no choice but to love them!

 

 

The Mummies were from the Bay Area, and I'm really sorry I never got to see them perform live. I'm sure they were 100 times more entertaining than another costumed band named KISS.

From 1991, here's a very insane performance from a cable access TV show. These guys literally had no filters, thank goodness!

Two songs, two generations, two keyboards!  

THE MUMMIES - "The Fly" 

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES - "Graveyard" (2025)

 

Rich here. A mere handful or fewer of you may recall that a few months after I first started contributing to this excellent blogsite last year, I opined that the definitive Surf Guitar song of all time was "Miserlou" by Dick Dale back in 1962, which was not only the record that came to define the sound of  Surf Guitar, but also was the first commercially successful surf song, instrumental or vocal.

 

Now it's true that Surf Music hit its commercial peak not long after "Miserlou" hit the charts. And the genre was mostly forgotten by the time of "Rubber Soul," so much so that by the end of the Sixties Jimi Hendrix jokingly declared: "you'll never hear surf music again." Although no surf guitar records have topped the record charts since then, Surf Rock never died and has had a revival or two. And particularly since the Eighties, Surf Rock has remained a consistently popular underground phenomenon up to the present day, with bands like The Aqua Velvets; The Blue Stingrays, a band led by  Mike Campbell, the lead guitarist from the late Tom Petty's band The Heartbreakers; The Surfragettes, an all-female surf-rock band; and Laika & The Cosmonauts from Finland, of all places! And all of them revitalizing the sounds of the heyday of Surf Rock.

 

But here in 2026 who would have foreseen that the best surf group in the world may arguably be a band best known as a hip country band, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, who last year released "Space Junk," an album chock-full of the retro-future sounds of Surf and Space Rock guitar, including this song.

 MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES - "Graveyard" 

B. BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS - "Nut Rocker" (1962)

 

There is so much to the story of  B. Bumble & The Stingers, all I can do is hit on some of the highlights.

The song "Nut Rocker" was written by whiz kid Kim Fowley, and was released in 1962. 

Kim had secured a copyright to an arrangement from Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker. 

B. Bumble & The Stingers was not a real band, but a bunch of very talented studio musicians.

The first version was recorded by Jack B. Nimble And The Quicks, and when that didn't sell well, it was re-recorded by a different group of studio musicians as B. Bumble & The Stingers.

 

The single  made it to  #23 in the U.S. and was a number one hit in the U.K. which went against all the rules at the time.

The BBC had a very strict policy against playing records that parodied or mocked classical music, but a committee reviewed the song and decided it was a harmless homage rather than an offensive parody.

The song was so successful, they had to throw together a touring band to support the single that didn't include any of the original musicians.

They also had another hit in 1961 titled "Bumble Boogie," but you can only push a concept so far, and "Apple Knocker," and "Dawn Cracker" went nowhere.

B. BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS - "Nut Rocker" 

TONY JOE WHITE "...Continued" (1969)

 

 I think Tony Joe White is one of the most underrated, and underappreciated musicians of all time. To most people he's like a one-hit wonder with his killer hit "Polk Salad Annie." 

But his songs are all stories, he's got a deep and soulful Southern voice as good as any, he plays an insane guitar with effects Jimi Hendrix would be proud of, and he always surrounds himself with the best players on bass, drums, and keyboards, and last by not least, his music is totally unique!

His second album was titled "... Continued," and came out in 1969. He kept cranking them out for decades. 

Damn, he died in 2018, and I never even knew it.  

Here's to you Tony, you were the Boss!

TONY JOE WHITE - "Elements And Things" 

 

I'M A HOG FOR YOU BABY (1959 -1966)

 

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were two of the greatest songwriters of all time, if not "The Best."

They wrote so many hit songs, I couldn't even attempt to list them all. 

They wrote "Yakety Yak," Charlie Brown," "Poison Ivy" and "Searchin" for The Coasters.

They wrote the giant hits "Stand By Me," Jailhouse Rock, "Hound Dog," "Love Potion Number 9," and "Kansas City," which have all been recorded by multiple artists. There's just basically no end to the list, and one really fun song, "I'm A Hog For You," has been recorded by not just The Coasters, but groups as divergent as Dr. Feelgood, The Drifters, and The Grateful Dead.

Here's three glorious versions I enjoy a lot. 

This was the first recorded version from 1959!

THE COASTERS - "I'm A Hog For You" 

 

Before they became The Kinks, they recorded this demo as The Boll-Weevils in 1963.

THE BOLL-WEEVILS - "I'm A Hog For You, Baby" 

 

The first time I heard this song, it was probably 1966, and by The Surfaris when it was the B Side of their monster hit "Wipe Out."

THE SURFARIS - "I'm A Hog For You"  

THE PIXIES THREE - "Party With The Pixies Three" (1964)

 

 I  really don't know what else to say, and I sure don't know about you, but I'm ready to "Party With The Pixies Three!"

They look like a lot of fun! 

 

Debra Swisher, Midge Bollinger, and Kaye McCool.

Every guy's dream come true in Anywhere, U.S.A. circa 1964!

THE PIXIES THREE - "442 Glenwood Avenue" 

THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely" (1965)

 

The Lady Birds were from Fullerton, California, and only had a couple of singles.

This was the B side, and the A side was a cover of The Drifter's "Sweets For My Sweet." 

 

 

One cool thing, they asked Ladybird Johnson for permission to use the band name. 

 

Do not confuse The Lady Birds with this 60's Brit duo and trio,

The Ladybirds.

These birds sang the background vocals on Marc Bolan's first release "The Wizard," were the Mood Mosaic voices, and also sang background vocals on songs by John Entwistle, and many others.

 

And whatever else you do, don't confuse The Lady Birds with The Ladybirds who claim to be "the world's first all-girl topless rock band." 

 

THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely" 

CHARLIE HUNTER QUARTET - "Natty Dread" (1997)

 

I loved the brilliant concept of this Charlie Hunter Quartet album when it came out in 1997. Not just a couple of cover tunes, but record every song in order just like on the original album, but do it in Charlie's own particular style of jazz.

The original album was Bob Marley And The Wailers 1975 classic "Natty Dread," and here's the title song!

CHARLIE HUNTER QUARTET - "Natty Dread" 

HIT RECORDS (of Nashville) - "Please, Please Me" (1963)

 

Rich here with a bet that you might not have previously heard the term "Explotio," which was the practice of selling sound-alike records of current hits to unsuspecting music fans. For example, in the wake of the British Invasion, dozens of albums flooded the market featuring photographs of four shaggy-haired boys in partial shadow (much like the photo on the "Meet the Beatles" album cover). Sometimes, the misleading name of "The Beetles" or "The Newest Sounds from England!" scrolled across the top. And it was only after the buyer slapped the album on the family hi-fi did they discover it wasn't The Beatles at all but an anonymous group hired by a fly-by-night recording company. Unsurprisingly, among the most frequent customers for these fake Beatles albums were parents of young fans who had no idea what the actual Beatles faces looked like or didn't notice the intentional misspelling of the band's name. 

 

For the most part those Beatles knock-off albums disappeared after a year or two, although existing copies in mint shape are worth a lot of money these days in the collectors' markets.

 

However, one particular record label, HIT RECORDS (of Nashville) made handsome profits for many years in the Explotio business, releasing hundreds of 45's of current Top 40 hit records for 39 cents, which was roughly half the cost of the single by the original artist at the time. The quality of the imitation performances ranged from quite good to piss-poor. In either event, the recordings were made quickly and released cheaply, and an undiscerning fan might think she'd gotten a pretty good bargain to own her favorite song.

THE BOLL WEEVILS - "Please, Please Me" 

BAD BRAINS - "Rock For Light" (1983)

 

This 1983 LP by Bad Brains has always fascinated me. It's mostly hardcore punk music, but Bad Brains was also a Reggae band.

 Seems to me I read a long time ago that sometimes when it was a punk show, they would play Reggae, and if it was a Reggae show, they'd play punk!

These guys have a sense of humor! 

Here's a couple of classic examples. The first one is 34 seconds long.

The ad you'll have to sit through to hear it is probably longer than the song!

BAD BRAINS - "Joshua's Song"

 

    BAD BRAINS - "I And I Survive"

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - "Surrender" (1999)

 

It was fifty-nine years ago yesterday "when Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play"and The Beatles "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album was released. If it hadn't of happened, you wouldn't be listening to music like this 1999 album by The Chemical Brothers called "Surrender" today!

What the Hell am I talking about?

Just take a listen, and maybe you'll figure it out, and maybe you won't.

The title is a good place to start! 

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - "Let Forever Be" 

TWO PSYCHO 60's SONGS

 

In the 1960's there were at least two singles released titled "Psycho," and neither of them had anything to do with Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece of the same name.

 

The same year as Hitchcock's "Psycho," Bobby Hendricks came out with a song named "Psycho."

Listen to it, and then you tell me how this ever got played on AM radio, but it did.

I've heard a lot of weird songs in my life, but this one is up at the top of the list.

 A psychiatrist call and response with a teenager full of angst hopped up on something.

66 years later, and still strange as Hell!

And what about that guy Bob? Whatever happened to him?

The voice of the psychiatrist was New York City DJ Tommy Smalls, aka Dr. Jive.

BOBBY HENDRICKS - "Psycho"

 

In 1965 the kings of Northwest rock, The Sonics, came out with a completely different song with the same name, the incredible "Psycho."

If you don't believe them, just wait for those screams! 

Pretty funny that a song named "Psycho" would come out on the "Etiquette" label. 

Not sure why, but for some reason this song just drives me crazy!!

THE SONICS - "Psycho"

TERJE RYPDAL - "Bleak House " (1968)

 

The brilliant Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal was only 21 years old when he recorded this first album of his called "Bleak House" in 1968.

Terje studied classical piano and trumpet as a child, and taught himself how to play the guitar when he was a teenager. 

The rest is legacy, the rest is history. 

I'm just guessing but I'm pretty sure from the sound of the music, and from the title of this song, that it was written as a tribute to the great Wes Montgomery, one of the finest jazz guitarists on the planet!

TERJE RYPDAL - "Wes" 

THE FALL - "Totally Wired" (1980)

 

The Fall, 50 singles, 34 studio albums, a play, and a ballet to their credits, and yet they are still basically unknown to American audiences.

What does it take?

What kind of job is more difficult to make it to the top, a professional boxer, or a musician? 

It's a tough call!

In either of those jobs you get beat up along the way 

 

 The Fall's most successful recording was a cover of The Kinks' "Victoria," that made it to number 35 on the UK charts in 1988.

In 1980, they came out with this awesome single!

THE FALL - "Totally Wired" 

 

LES McCANN, LTD. - "The Truth" (1960)

 

This single of "The Truth" was taken from Les McCann's 1960 album titled "The Truth," of course, as recorded by Les McCann, LTD.

And just in case for some reason Les's piano theatrics aren't enough for you, you have the phenomenal Leroy Vinegar on bass, and Ron Jefferson on the drums! 

On the album, the song is 5:49, so they cut it up into "Part 1" and "Part 2" for the single, and it works out quite nicely since the song is basically in two sections anyway. It starts off cool, slow, and moody, and then starts swinging for the second part.

Just beautiful!!

LES McCANN, LTD. - "The Truth" 

THE BLUE THINGS - "High Life" (1966)

 

Rich here to sing the praises of The Blue Things, a band from Hays, Kansas, who were wildly popular throughout the Plains States between Canada and Mexico during the Sixties. Unfortunately, their regional success never transcended the Heartland -- not unlike many successful regional bands of the time, whose base of operations was hundreds of miles away from the big media centers, and whose records weren't promoted on the most influential stations whose radio signals reached across thousands of miles.

 

Still, The Blue Things caught the attention of RCA Records in Nashville, and in 1966 the band released an album full of excellent Bob Dylan-and-John Lennon-inspired folk-rock songs. It should have been a big hit, but was not to be. 

THE BLUE THINGS - "High Life"  

THE EXPLORERS - "Lorelei" (1984)

 

Classic sounding 1980's UK Synth Pop Rock by The Explorers, and as stated on Discogs, "Recorded on the lakes of Killarney in Ireland to get that special echo."

Cool! That works for me! 

THE EXPLORERS - "Lorelei" 

CONCRETE BLONDE Y LOS ILLEGALS - "Another 100 Years Of Solitude" (1997)

 

A lot of the music on this 1997 album by Concrete Blonde Y Los Illegals is easy going, but here's a song that really cooks! 

CONCRETE BLONDE Y LOS ILLEGALS - "Another 100 Years Of Solitude" 

ALPHONSO JOHNSON - "Moonshadows" (1976)

 

There were a lot of amazing bassists in the 1970's, and three of my favorites were Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius and Alphonso Johnson!

Alphonso came out with this killer album titled "Moonshadows" in 1976.

I love this song. I wanted to use it as part of the music in a short film I made in 1977. That was never gonna happen, but some 40+ years later it worked out just fine as I finally finished the movie with  awesome music by John Sanders and New Power Soul.

  Too bad it's only had 44 views. You don't know what you're missing!

Stumps me for sure!! 

ALPHONSO JOHNSON - "Stump" 

OZOMATLI - "Cumbia De Los Muertos" (1998)

 

What can I tell you about Ozomatli that you don't already know?

This was their first album, it was self-titled and came out in 1998!

There are no barriers to their music, and that's all you really need to know!

OZOMATLI - "Cumbia De Los Muertos" 

THE FURYS - "Say Goodbye To The Black Sheep" (1978)

 

L.A.'s The Furys released this cool single in 1978. They have been kicking around ever since, but unfortunately I guess they were destined to be black sheep! 

THE FURYS - "Say Goodbye To The Black Sheep" 

 

RAUL DE SOUZA - "Colors" (1975)

 

This 1975 LP by Brazilian trombonist Raul De Souza is a masterpiece. It was produced by the best percussionist in the world, Airto Moreira, and it's just classy.

 

The great picture on the back of the record is simply Raul and his bone, and says it all!

RAUL DE SOUZA - "Nanã"