Princess And The Soldier - Richard Barnes
Columbia single B-side, 1968 This Tony Hazzard song is one of two that makes reference to candy men. It makes us wonder if Mr. Hazzard was using them as some sort of secret code... or was he planning a teenage opera of his own? Anyway, conspiracy theories aside, we know for a fact that this charming tune was also covered by Mr. Daryl Hall of Philadelphia.
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Harry
the Keeper - Buggy A zoo keeper named Harry feeds his friends, family and the other animals to the lions and you’re going to try and convince us that this isn’t a great song? Never! Buggy was another in a long line of Morgan Studio acts, this time it’s Geoff Gill, Danny Beckerman and possibly others from Fickle Pickle.
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Sydney Gill - The Smoke
German
Metronome single, 1968
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Mr. Jewel Went Away - Julian
Starr
Unreleased acetate 1967 This rather gloomy tale of mental illness and/or below average personal hygiene is the only surviving evidence of the short-lived songwriting partnership of Ex-Walter Ghoul's Lavender Brigade member Julian Starr and Trent Burton of the ultra obscure Midlands group The Boiled Egg Soldiers. Following the non-appearance of the song, Starr went to the USA and became a cult figure in New Orleans. Burton moved into accountancy before becoming a House-husband when he finally found a house willing to marry him.
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A Little Train Number -
Kenny Everett
Deram
single B-side, 1968
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Happy Castle -
Crocheted Doughnut Ring
Deram
single B-side, 1968
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Happy Castle is included on The Great British Psychedelic Trip Volume 2 (CD) |
Colour Sergeant Lillywhite -
Consortium
Pye
single, 1968 We’re
not exactly sure what fascination the little children in this song have
with Lillywhite but they do seem somewhat obsessed. A nice standout
track from the normally harmony-based Consortium (aka West Coast
Consortium).
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Room at the Top of the
Stairs - Timothy Blue
Spark
single, 1968
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Joe Organ & Co. –
Barnaby Rudge CBS
single, 1968 We said earlier that no Toytown should be without an organ grinder and this one now officially has two! The top side of ‘Railway Jimmy’ (entry 108) again features the talents of Wil Malone and Danny Beckerman.
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Birmingham Brass Band –
Bullring
CBS
single, 1970 Bullring
were really Herbie’s People and the song was really written by John
Carter and Ken Lewis of the Ivy League. If you’re keeping count we now
have two organ grinders, a one man band and a brass band... and we’re
only up to number 76!
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One Man Band -
Pinkerton's Colours
Previously
unreleased, issued on Flight Recorder, Sanctuary Uh oh! Another one man band and our Toytown is now getting overfilled with musicians. As explained to Brian Matthew on Top of the Pops the band dropped “Assorted” from the middle of their name so that it would be more visible on posters, not that it did them any good in the UK following their brief initial success in 1966. It wasn’t until they changed the name completely to Flying Machine that they got a hit.
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Sandman – Neat Change
Decca
single B-side, 1968 We’re
not exactly sure what being “happy as a sandman” means especially
when considering this sentence from an E.T.A Hoffman short story: “But
the Sandman was no longer the bogy of a nurse's tale... No, he was a
hideous, spectral monster, who brought with him grief, misery and
destruction - temporal and eternal - wherever he appeared.”
None-the-less, Neat Change released a perfect Toytown two-sider with
this as the B-side to ‘I Lied to Auntie May.’
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Uncle Hartington -
Peter & Gordon
LP
track from Hot Cold & Custard, Capitol US, 1968 Not
sure who’s more disturbing, Uncle Hartington or the family who hate
him? Peter Asher wrote this strange song that only saw US release.
Thanks to Asher for giving Toytown it’s favorite creepy Uncle.
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Persimmons
Peculiar Shades - Watchmaker
Major
Minor single, B-side, 1968
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Incredible Sound Show Stories Vol 6 includes "Watchmaker"
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Mrs. Ward – The Idle Race
LP
track from Birthday Party, 1968 In writing about a mother who enlists her sons in the army against their will Jeff Lynne created one disturbing little tale and one of his best songs. It’s hard not to feel a bit of a shiver when the scared boys tell their mother “we’ll have to go to war and fight and die.” Anyway, we’ll hear more from Mr. Lynne’s masterwork in future entries.
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Sadie and Her Magic Mr.
Galahad - A New Generation
Spark
single, 1968 New
Generation became the Sutherland Brothers who went on to produce some
excellent folk pop in the 70s. But for three singles in the late 60s
they made some darn good pop psych tunes including this one.
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Mr. Poem – Mike Batt
Liberty
single, 1968 Future arranger, producer, writer and Womble Mike Batt started his career with this single about a dude everyone calls Mr. Poem. Somehow we’re not sure if they mean it as a compliment but it’s a dandy little song.
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Geraldine – Zion de
Gallier
Parlophone
single B-side, 1968
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Mandy Ann – World of Oz
LP
track from World of Oz, 1969 Just
one of the tracks from one of the greatest Toytown albums ever released.
So well is this album covered on this Web site that we needn’t say
more.
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Gingerbread Man – Mirror
Phillips
single, 1968 Blues
guitar, funky bass line, driving beat and…uh…lyrics straight from
Mother Goose? Maybe the Mirror forgot to bring the lyrics the day this
song was recorded but that’s okay by us.
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