From 1966, and (deservedly) on the top of the charts in some parallel universe somewhere, please enjoy The Misunderstood and their rather mind-boggling pop psychedelic debut single "I Can Take You to the Sun."
I had never heard of these guys until a few weeks ago, actually. The short version: Brit Invasion-inspired California garage band with all the usual influences. Then they added a steel guitar player(!), got discovered by the guy who would later become John Peel, moved to England, got signed, and impressed people as being innovators in a league with The Yardbirds and Pink Floyd despite the fact that none of their singles sold. Eventually, one of them got drafted and the whole thing kind of fell apart by early '67.
Most of the rest of their recorded output from that period is equally if not more impressive, IMHO. On the other hand, I'm not sure their failure to break through commercially was simply a matter of bad luck -- their original songs (to my ears) lack that certain something, despite the performances being tremendously imaginative and accomplished. Still, they seem to be one of the more tantalizing Might Have Been stories from the period, and as I said, it's kind of amazing that you can still stumble across stuff like this unawares.
9 comments:
The lead singer sort of sounds like Bob Mould a little, no? Otherwise, it's some weird stuff as Mr. Carson would say.
The Misunderstood are featured in Unterberger's Unknown Heroes of Rock and Roll book. But this is the first time I've actually heard any of their music. With a little nurturing by the right producer and record company, it sounds like they could have been psychedelic heroes.
An example of the kind of creativity unleashed in the first wave of psychedelia. The arrival of Hendrix blew all this eclectic experimentation away (for the most part), and all of rock bowed to the lead guitar solo. Too bad. Something quite unique was starting to develop.
Another addition to the iPod. Kind of like Moody Blues meets Blue Cheer. Not really, but I liked the Blue alliteration.
Trey
There's quite a bit left out of that rundown! I'd say the Misunderstood are considered near the top of the heap of garage/psych bands, success or not.
The Creation had the songs. Not sure these guys did, although they clearly had everything else.
If you ever get a chance pick up the cd comp 'Before The Dream Faded' on Cherry Red Records which has their London recordings plus their earlier US garage tracks - great stuff.
Got it -- see tomorrow's post.
I've got an excellent recording of Rory Gallagher Live at a "John Peel Sunday Concert" from 1971.
Rory was a rocking @!@#!$@!#$.
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