Canadian-born singer Gale Garnett took a dip in the hippie pool around the end of the 60's with her psych-ish band Gentle Reign, but she started her career as a distinctly less-feminine female singer in the mid 50's. Here's her 1965 single, I'll Cry Alone with a wacky video for the loungy B-side, "Where Do You Go to Go Away?" "I'll Cry Alone":
UK psychedelia from 1968, their self-titled LP. Where the rest of the album has a more predictable, albeit good, late 60's psych-pop sound, "The Way" sounds like a funky dub remix of a 60's song that could have been recorded yesterday, except that it is a 60's song, and it's actually not dubbed. "The Way":
Though mostly considered to be a one-hit-wonder, Strawberry Alarm Clock released three albums from 1967-1968, during the height of the psychedelic movement in LA. They greatly influenced the early beginnings of LA bubblegum pop, which would grow to outlast and out-sell west coast psychedelia. The band broke apart in late '68, but released a 4th album, Good Morning Starshine, in '69 with an almost completely new line-up and a distinctly less psychedelic sound. "Nightmare of Percussion" from their second album, Wake Up... It's Tomorrow (1968):
"Heated Love" from their 3rd album, The World in a Sea Shell (1968):
Formed by electronic composer/musician Joseph Byrd at UCLA in 1967, United States of America artfully blended psychedelic sounds with chamber music, electronic experimentation, and avant-garde rock n roll. Their self titled LP (1968) was their only release. The two songs I've selected showcase their soft rock meanderings mixed with mesmerizing tape and vocal effects and a calmer touch of psychedelia. "Love Song for the Dead Che"
Before Brian Wilson retreated from the public eye in the late 60's, he and the rest of the Boys had been busy in the studio recording sessions for their new album, SMiLE (or Dumb Angel), which was intended to follow up Pet Sounds (1966). Wilson was pouring himself into writing songs for the album which he called "a teenage symphony to God," but for whatever reason, before the sessions could be mastered and arranged for release, Brian Wilson scrapped the entire project and left the band, taking most of the songs with him. Rumors state that Capitol Records and some of the other Beach Boys disliked the new direction Brian was taking the band, that Brian was addicted to LSD, and even that Brian was crushed after being shown a demo of "A Day in the Life" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and couldn't imagine ever topping it. Many of the songs from the SMiLE sessions were reworked by Capitol and released on subsequent albums, but the original '66-'67 sessions with Brian Wilson will remain unreleased until this year. "Heroes and Villains"
In 1968, David Vorhaus formed White Noise with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. The three were pioneers in early British electronic pop/psychedelic music, and produced their legendary album An Electric Storm later that year. After the record, Derbyshire and Hodgson went on to successful careers in composing and producing electronic music, and Doavid Vorhaus has continued on under the White Noise pseudonym, releasing 4 more albums into the 21st century. "Firebird":
The Shadows were a British instrumental band, originally playing back-up for singer Cliff Richard. The band became primarily known for lead guitarist Hank Marvin (that's him in the glasses), a master of old-school dreamy reverb. "Wonderful Land" from The Wonderful Land of the Shadows EP (1962):
A Joe Meek (that's him on the far left) production, the Tornados with their 1962 uber-hit (it was the first British single to hit #1 on the US Hot 100), "Telstar":
...are most immediately known for their unmistakable harmonies, and perhaps especially in the case of the ground-breaking album, Pet Sounds (and Brian Wilson's withdrawl following its successful release). But one of the most ambitious and strikingly "different" songs on Pet Sounds contains none of their signature harmonies, or any voices at all for that matter... "Let's Go Away For Awhile" from Pet Sounds (1966):
Roger Nichols released a string of singles under different formations of his group, sometimes as The Small Circle of Friends, sometimes as the Trio, sometimes simply as Roger Nichols. Eventually, a full-length album was recorded in '68 as Roger Nichols & the Small Circle of Friends. Here is the 1967 Snow Queen single, different from the 1968 album version, recorded as the Roger Nichols Trio:
Brigitte Bardot, French singer/actress, teamed up with musician/actor/director Serge Gainsbourg to make several recordings in the late 60's. Gainsbourg's experimental, widely varied sound greatly influenced French popular and avant-garde music. The duo originally recorded the "Bonnie and Clyde" single in 1967, and Gainsbourg released it in 1968:
the Dovers were a mid-60's garage band from California. they recorded just 4 singles from '65-'66, recently compiled and released in Italy on the album We're Not Just Anybody (2001). "About Me", b-side to the "She's Not Just Anybody" single, 1966:
