Like many of us I have a ‘Contact Me’ page, which gives readers the opportunity to email me away from the public gaze of commenting on a post, and this usually throws up some interesting thoughts when people use it. On Monday Colin McQueen, whose blog is Getting On, used this to email me a suggestion for a post. He had been looking back through his older offerings and found one which he thought might be of interest to me. He was right!

That post of his was from 30 June 2020, in the days when our lives were severely disrupted by the pandemic, and was titled Mix Tape. I’ve given you the link to it if you want to see what has prompted this piece: it is, as always with Colin, beautifully written, and has got me thinking. Its premise is that we can sometimes be pleasantly surprised by a song from a singer or a band that is a departure from their norm, and which is ‘better’ than usual. I use that term advisedly, as you can see that Colin’s choices don’t imply that everything else those guys did was crap, and I’m going down that same route.

I have cast my mind back and have come up with five songs, all from my formative musical years – the Sixties – which fit the bill for me. I’ll play you the songs and in each case will then explain my thinking. See if you agree, if you know the songs and the acts concerned.

This is my first for today:

The Tremeloes were founded in 1958 and were originally the backing band for Brian Poole, with whom they had a string of UK hit singles, including a #1 with Do You Love Me. They were seen as part of the British Invasion – when UK bands stomped all over the US charts – and then became a four piece after they split from Brian. The hits continued, including another #1 – Silence Is Golden – which always made me wish they had taken their own advice. That was a ballad, but most of their hits were upbeat pop tunes, the kind which you might enjoy for a couple of minutes and then forget about. And then they came up with this one. They had recently released a more than passable cover of Bob Dylan’s I Shall Be Released, but it didn’t chart well, so for their first record written solely by band members they wanted to take a different direction. This song was the result of that, and I was hugely impressed. It was released in October 1969 and was classed as ‘psychedelic pop’ as distinct from the usual ‘sunshine pop’ label that was applied to them. Despite its title it did well, but not quite well enough: it peaked at #2 in the UK, held off the top by The Archies and Sugar Sugar. I much preferred this one, though, and in keeping with today’s title this was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

Next up is a singer who absolutely floored me with this record:

Barry Ryan had also enjoyed a fair amount of chart success here, mostly with disposable pop tunes that weren’t really for me. Those earlier hits were with his twin brother, and they went by the name of Paul And Barry Ryan. Paul then decided that the stresses of performing were not for him, and decided to concentrate on writing songs instead of singing them. This was the first to be released as a solo by Barry, and it was amazing: a 5′ 30″ pop opera, which was so different from their previous offerings. Eloise was released in October 1968, and topped the charts in the UK and 16 other countries, selling more than 3m copies worldwide, though it only made #86 in the US. According to Barry the record influenced Freddie Mercury of Queen. He said in a 2017 interview: “I remember reading Freddie’s memoirs. He was influenced by it. He really, really liked it and also he used it as an argument to release Bohemian Rhapsody because his record company didn’t want to release it, but he said “That Barry Ryan had a big five and half minute hit. Why can’t we do it too?” I was as impressed as Freddie: another pleasant surprise for me.

For my next choice I’m going with a reflective song which was markedly different from the band’s usual stuff. Remember this? I thought it was great, and still do:

Marmalade, with Reflections Of My Life, which was another huge surprise for me. The striking thing for me in this one is that Marmalade had, until then, been regarded (by me, at least) as a happy go lucky pop band releasing records like their cover of the Beatles’ Ob-La-Di. This one kind of stopped me in my tracks, and I still find it hard to listen to it without getting something in my eye. The song was released in November 1969 and was a worldwide hit single, peaking at #3 here in the UK and at #10 in the US, where it sold over a million copies. The song was written by lead guitarist Junior Campbell and singer Dean Ford, who were both in their early twenties at the time; it belies their relative youthfulness in its wisdom about life and the changes we go through.

My fourth song is one which may well be better known in a huge smash cover version, but this is the original, which I much prefer:

For two brief but glorious years, from 1966 to 1968, The Troggs gave us a string of hit singles, starting with the worldwide smash Wild Thing. As with most of their records (but not Wild Thing), Love Is All Around was written by the band’s lead singer, Reg Presley (real name Reg Ball – I think he borrowed the other bit from someone). They came from the unassuming Hampshire town of Andover, but they certainly made their mark in the wider world. Probably known better for their more upbeat tracks, they could also turn their hand to a good rock ballad, and this one perfectly captured the mood of the 1967 summer of love. The song peaked at #5 in the UK chart in November 1967, but took a little longer in the US, where it reached #7 in spring 1968. That cover version? A little thing by the Scottish band Wet Wet Wet, which was featured in the movie Four Weddings And A Funeral. They were given a choice of three songs to record for it – all covers – and went for this one as they felt they could make it their own. Released in 1994, it only got to #41 in the US but was #1 in twelve other countries, including here in the UK where it spent fifteen weeks at the top, and has sold around 2m copies. As I said, I much prefer the original, but I’m sure Mr Ball/Presley won’t have minded the improvement to his bank balance. Sadly, he passed away in 2013 from lung cancer. At the time this was released it was a real surprise: I loved it then and still do. And I wonder if you are now thinking of Christmas?

I’m closing today with a song by a band I absolutely loved:

As Colin said to me, and in his post, regarding a song as a surprise given the band’s previous output doesn’t have to imply that they weren’t good before, and that is definitely the case with The Small Faces. The Autumn Stone was a compilation double album of their hits, plus some additional unreleased and live tracks, which came out in November 1969 – six months after the band had broken up. I asked for it as a Christmas present that year and Santa duly delivered. It was one of my most played records, as I was big fan of the band. This was one of the previously unreleased tracks: it had been recorded in September 1968 as a potential single, but was never released. I have always found it stunning: the lyrics are superb, Steve Marriott’s voice had never been better, and the musicianship is excellent, especially that lovely (uncredited) flute solo. It was a definite move forward for a band who had previously been seen as a bunch of lads having a good time, not taking things too seriously. The album didn’t chart, which I always found a surprise: the band had been very popular here and the inclusion of a wealth of other music as well as their singles should, I thought, have been much more successful. But as I’ve opined before, record buyers can be a fickle bunch.

That’s it for my set of songs that came as a surprise to me. I’m very grateful to Colin for prompting this, as it has given me a chance to go back down Memory Lane to my favourite musical decade. I hope you have enjoyed the trip too.

See you again for some Song Lyric Sunday, unless we have all melted in the meantime 🌞🔥