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":
if the 1980's had just one douche bag to call it's own, it would be Billy Idol. here he is showing his less "hard" side with two of his most popular ballads. "Eyes Without A Face" from Rebel Yell (1983):
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"
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":
Vanity went from the Prince protégée group Vanity 6 to her own solo career, recording two successful albums and several chart-topping singles. This is a live tv performance of "Romantic Voyage" from her second solo album, Skin on Skin (1986):
...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:
Portland-based husband and wife duo, Valerie Day and John Smith. Their '86 album Poolside launched them into the forefront of west coast Rhythm and Blues. "Point of No Return":
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:
