Suzy Soundz The Space Lady - "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" (1990)

Miss Soundz was and apparently still is a street performer, formerly in Boston now in San Francisco. She seems to have been something of a local cult figure in these locales, wearing her winged steel helmet and playing trance-like covers of well-known songs.

She probably would have never moved past local cult hero status, except that in 1990 she recorded an album that is highly prized by aficionados of "Outsider" music.

Merry Christmas from LISTEN PEOPLE

"The Answer" (1954)

A classic little Christmas playlet starring David Niven:

Tom Lehrer - "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park"

A very rare Lehrer TV appearance from 1967.

The Riats - "Run Run Run" (1967)

This obscure Dutch single was apparently the first-ever cover of a Velvet Underground song:

Them - "Gloria" (1966)

A priceless live performance clip with surprisingly good sound quality. From an appearance on French television:

The Attack - "Magic In The Air" (1968)

Brilliant slice of UK psych, recorded in 1968 but inexplicably unreleased until the 1990s.



The Attack:





Read more about them here:
http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/attack.htm

Making Whoopee with Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor singing "Making Whoopee", the Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson composition he introduced in the Broadway musical Whoopee (1928).



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This is Eddie performing the song in the 1930 movie version. The lyrics have been altered somewhat.

Pete Seeger & Judy Collins - "Turn Turn Turn" (1966)

George Formby - "Leaning On A Lamp Post" (1937)

Hank Snow - "A Fool Such As I" (1965)

Snow performing his 1953 hit, from the film Country Music On Broadway:

Shadrack Chameleon - "Don't Let It Get You Down" (1973)

'70s rock with prog, metal, and folk elements, written by an Iowa high school student named Steve Fox. Approximately 500 copies of this album were pressed.









For an interview with the band's drummer, go to http://lysergia_2.tripod.com/LamaWorkshop/Shadrack/lamaShadrackBody.htm

Vashti Bunyan - "Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind" (1965)

Folkie wannabe who signed by Andrew Loog Oldham, who gave her this Jagger-Richards composition to record (the instrumental break has been cut from this lipsync version).



Apparently this clip is from Shindig.

Little Roger and the Goosebumps - "Stairway to Gilligan's Island" (1978)

Harry Nilsson on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1969)

The Human Beinz - "Dance On Through" (1968)

Chris Farlowe - "Out Of Time" (1966)

Robert Hall Clothes commercial (1960s)

"Low overhead! Low overhead!"

The High Numbers (The Who) - "Ooh Poo Pah Doo"/"I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying" (1964)

This is the only known footage in existence of The Who in their previous incarnation as The High Numbers:

Joan McCracken - "Pass That Peace Pipe" (1947)

Originally written during WWII and intended for Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in the film Ziegfeld Follies. It was discarded from that production and interpolated a few years later into the ultimate '20s college musical, Good News.



This number was the highlight of Joan McCracken's career. She later married the much younger Bob Fosse and divorced him a couple of years before her death in 1961 at age 43.

The Merry-Go-Round on The Hollywood Palace (1967)

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis - "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York" (1954)

John Van Halen - "Imagine A Jump"

The Blasters - "So Long Baby Goodbye" (1982)

The Beat - "Rock & Roll Girl" (1980)

A Little Sunshine For Your Day

Some classic sunshine pop:

The Millennium was a collaboration between superproducer Gary Usher and pop maestro Curt Boettcher. The group's only album, Begin, was released in 1968.



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A later incarnation of the Peppermint Trolley Company would achieve a weird sort of immortality by recording the first season Brady Bunch theme song.

The song they perform here is certainly my favorite Paul Williams composition.



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The Sunshine Company would hit the top 40 once, with "Back On The Street Again" in 1967. This record would follow a few months later.



Could this song have been heard by a certain English musician well-known for being "heavily influenced" by other artists' compositions?

Captain Beefheart TV Commercial (1970)

This was filmed as a "commercial" for Captain Beefheart's 1970 album Lick My Decals Off, Baby. Not surprisingly, it never aired:

Ray Davies - "Waterloo Sunset " (acoustic)

I'm guessing this is from the late '70s:

"Hey, Little Goldfish" - Harold and the Hang-Ups (1969)

The Human Beings - "Because I Love Her" (1965)

Allan Gould & Ruth Tester - "Manhattan" (1929)

Ja Ja Ja!

The Kinks - "Last Of The Steam Powered Trains / Picture Book" (1969)

The Meatles - "Paperback Believer"

Ray Bolger - "Once In Love with Amy" (1952)

(Revised link) From the film version of Where's Charley?, with Bolger repeating his Broadway role. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.

"One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)" - Barry Young (1966)

1966 was certainly a great year for musical mimicry. This classic imitation of Dean Martin deserves to sit proudly beside "Lies" by The Knickerbockers and "A Public Execution" by Mouse & The Traps in the Ripoff Hall Of Fame.



I understand the wife in this Scopitone later divorced Barry and became an editor for Ms. Magazine.

Every Mother's Son - "Put Your Mind At Ease" (1968)

Dancing With Bobby Fuller

"I Can Fly" - The Herd (1967)

British popsike featuring a 16 year-old singer named Peter Frampton.

Ray Bolger - "Once In Love with Amy" (1952)

From the film version of Where's Charley?, with Bolger repeating his Broadway role. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.

"California Girls" - The Beach Boys with Bob Hope and Jack Benny (1965)

The Floyd Dakil Combo - "Dance Franny Dance" (1964)

In belated tribute to Mr. Dakil, who passed away in April:

Jim & Jesse - "Paradise" (1976)

"Pico and Sepulveda"

Freddy Martin's big band oddity from 1947 (which should be familiar to listeners of the Dr. Demento radio show), here choreographed for a production number from the film Forbidden Zone (1980):

The Vulgar Boatmen - "You and Your Sister" (1992)

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy on "Laugh-In" (1968)

Dennis Hopper recites Kipling's poem "If" on the Johnny Cash Show (1970)

The Nashville Ramblers - "The Trains"

Rare (only?) archive footage of this cult band doing their power-pop masterpiece, apparently from a cable public access show on San Diego TV circa 1985.



The band has been playing some live shows recently. You can check them out at their MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/thenashvilleramblers

The Hotrats - "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" (2010)

The Supergrass side project remakes the Beastie Boys oldie.

Johnny Burnette Trio - "Hound Dog" (1956)

Paul Burleson on guitar, Dorsey Burnette on bass.

Brinsley Schwarz - "Surrender To The Rhythm" (1973)

Gene Pitney - "She's A Rebel"

Trini Lopez - "America" (1964)

"Karen" - The Beach Boys (1964 TV sitcom theme)

The opening credits of the short-lived 1964 sitcom Karen, with a theme song performed by The Beach Boys.

Does a longer version of this song exist?

Wally Cox - "There is a Tavern in the Town" (1949)

The Louvin Brothers - "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby" (1956)

Leonard Bernstein on Beethoven's Fifth (Omnibus, 1954)

Brigadoon (1966 TV version)

1966 TV version, recently unearthed after being little-seen for decades, of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical about a Scottish village that appears for one day ever hundred years.

Stars Robert Goulet, Peter Falk (!), and Sally Ann Howes

The Wizards - "See You Tonight" (1967)

The Wizards were from Narvik, Norway.

The members were Terje Rönstad -- guitar, Jan-Harry Hope -- bass, Per-Reida Rognmo -- lead guitar, and Ivar Lunnemo -- drums.

From about 1963-4 they were mostly based in Sweden, but also toured in Denmark, Spain, and Germany (West and East). In 1966 they appeared on Norwegian TV together with Sony and Cher.

I first became aware of this track on a 1980s Pebbles compilation. Even on my initial hearing I recognized it as a classic. The Who influence is obvious, with its harmonies, coda, and Moonish drumming, though with its heavy beat it actually reminds me more of The Move, who were starting to record around this time.

After being included on various 1960s anthologies "See You Tonight" has garnered cult status among collectors. The folk-rock band Vetiver recorded a remake on their 2008 EP More Of The Past. In the words of Vetiver frontman Andy Cabic: "Perfectly doubled vocals and delightfully loose drumming ensure that I will love this song 4evah. "

(A big thank you to Wizards drummer IVAR LUNNEMO for graciously furnishing info about the band in a personal email)

The Standells - "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" (1966)

Back in the high life again

Did you miss me?