Archives: 60s

Signs of Age

By Brandon Adamson

jakeholmes

The first I heard of Jake Holmes when I was about 25. It was from an issue of “Ugly Things” where they reviewed his forgotten album, “The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes.” He’s actually most well known for having had his song “Dazed and Confused” stolen by The Yardbirds(and was later recorded by Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin after they disbanded.) They had seen Jake play it at Village Theater in Greenwich Village in 1967.

Personally I’m not really into the song “Dazed and Confused.” The tracks which have always drawn me to Holmes’ music are “You Can’t Get Love” and “Signs of Age,” particularly through his thoughtful lyrics and the way he builds up the song.

The Next Time

By Brandon Adamson

blast off girls - the big blast

“The Big Blast” was a group featured in the film “Blast Off Girls” by Herschell Gordon Lewis in 1967. “Blast Off Girls” was a low budget classic that chronicled the band’s relations with a sleazy manager “Boojie Baker” in a humorously cynical look at the music industry. One of the cast members, actor Ray Sager, later became a well known producer and is also widely recognized for his role in “The Wizard of Gore.” The film famously includes a cameo appearance by none other the Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

One of the recurring songs in the movie is The Big Blast’s signature song(in the movie) “The Next Time.” It’s quite catchy seeing as how as haven’t watched this film in almost 7 years, and it’s frequently in my head.

Go Ask Alice, When She’s Ten Feet Tall

By Brandon Adamson

whiterabbit

Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” is probably one of the best songs of all time and epitomizes everything I love about the mid to late 60’s. What a great time to be alive, assuming you didn’t end up stepping on landmines in Vietnam. The slow buildup up of the song to its glorious revelation…”FEED YOUR HEAD!” Here they are on The Smothers Brothers show in 1967:

Thru Spray Colored Glasses

By Brandon Adamson

For a band whose make included the wealthy sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz, Dino, Desi and Billy made some incredible music. The fact that their parents paved them an easy road to fame didn’t make them any less worthy of success. They had some of the most beautiful and artistic songs of the 1960s. The band also made an appearance in the film “Murderer’s Row,” which featured an amusing interaction between Dino and real life father Dean Martin, “Now you’re swingin’ dad!” Sadly, Dino(Dean Paul Martin) later joined the Air National Guard and died when his plane crashed in 1987 at the age of 36.

It’s a Mod, Mod World

By Brandon Adamson

Here’s the trailer for “Mondo Mod.” It’s a classic 1960s fake documentary movie about mod culture. The film features and incredibly catchy title song by a “band” called The Gretschmen. There’s also a brief art segment where a couple of Ellsworth Kelly paintings are mentioned. One of my all time favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUMxggEkvO0