The Move was an English rock band from Birmingham that achieved UK fame with the 1967–68 pop-psych singles “Night of Fear,” “I Can Hear the Grass Grow,” “Flowers In the Rain,” and “Fire Brigade,” all written by guitarist Roy Wood. After their long-awaited album Move, they charted with the non-album 1968–69 singles “Blackberry Way,” “Wild […]
The Creation was an English rock band that released the 1966 singles “Making Time” and “Painter Man” on Shel Talmy’s Planet label. Guitarist Eddie Phillips played solo passages with a violin bow. Their recorded work is now revered among devotees of “freakbeat.” Members: Bob Garner (bass, vocals, 1966-68, 1993-2000), Kenny Pickett (vocals, 1966-67, 1968, 1985, […]
The Small Faces were an English mod-psych band that placed ten singles on the UK Top 20 between 1965 and 1968, including “All or Nothing,” “Tin Soldier,” “Lazy Sunday,” and the transatlantic pop-psych evergreen “Itchycoo Park.” Despite their relative late arrival on the beat-boom timeline, their quick maturity culminated in the 1968 concept album Ogdens’ […]
The Pretty Things were an English rock band, originally formed in 1963 by guitarist/vocalist Dick Taylor and singer/guitarist Phil May. Taylor had briefly played the prior year in an embryonic lineup of The Rolling Stones. They were arguably the most significant band of the beat boom to not have a stateside breakthrough during the British […]
Skip Bifferty was an English pop-psych band from Newcastle that released three singles on RCA, culminating with a popular 1968 self-titled album. They moonlighted as Heavy Jelly for the 1969 Island single “I Keep Singing That Same Old Song,” a record-breaker for longest a-side. Select members also recorded with Every Which Way, ARC, and Glencoe. […]
Blossom Toes were an English psych-rock band that released the 1967–69 albums We Are Ever So Clean and If Only for a Moment on Marmalade. During the band’s three-year existence, their music evolved from toy-town whimsy (The Move, The Idle Race) to gruff hard rock. Guitarist Jim Cregan departed soon after their second album. He […]
Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera was an English psych-rock band that released multiple singles and a 1968 self-titled album on Direction. After Gantry’s departure, singer/guitarist Paul Brett led them on the 1969 release Ride a Hustler’s Dream. The rhythm section joined the Strawbs and later recorded as Hudson–Ford. Gantry surfaced in funk-rockers Stretch. Members: Colin Forster […]
Les Fleur de Lys were an English mod-psych band from Southampton that released a string of singles on Immediate, Polydor, and Atlantic between 1965 and 1969, including one apiece under the alternate names Shyster, Rupert’s People, and The Chocolate Frog. Bassist Gordon Haskell launched a seventies solo career amid brief memberships in King Crimson and […]
The Koobas — initially spelled “Kubas” — were an English pop-psych band that released a pair of Pye singles circa 1965/66, followed by six singles on Columbia (EMI) between 1966 and 1968. After the band’s breakup, their self-titled album appeared on Columbia in 1969. Bassist Keith Ellis played on the first album by Van Der […]
The Gods were an English psych-rock band that released the 1968–69 Columbia albums Genesis and To Samuel a Son. They morphed into Head Machine for the 1970 album Orgasm on Major Minor. Frontman Ken Hensley and drummer Lee Kerslake played briefly with Toe Fat and landed lengthy memberships in Uriah Heep. John Glascock went onto […]
The End was an English pop-psych band from Surrey that released six 1965–68 singles on Philips, Sonoplay, and Sonet, followed by the 1969 album Introspection on Decca–London. Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman produced and managed the band, which masqueraded under the names Polos Opuestos and Timothy Grass. In early 1970, The End’s final lineup morphed […]
The Attack was an English psych-rock band that released four 1967–68 singles on Decca. The first two (“Try It,” “Hi Ho Silver Lining”) feature guitarist Davy O’List, who departed for The Nice. Their third (“Created By Clive”) appeared on the same day as a similar version by The Syn. Guitarist John Du Cann joined for […]
Fire was an English psych-rock trio responsible for the freakbeat classic “Father’s Name Is Dad” (b/w “Treacle Toffee World”), released in 1968 on Decca. In 1970, they released The Magic Shoemaker, a folk-rock concept album on Pye. In 1972, frontman Dave Lambert joined Strawbs for a six-year, seven-album run. His solo album, Framed, appeared in […]
Tomorrow was an English psych-rock band that released two singles on Parlophone in 1967, belatedly followed by a self-titled album in 1968. Guitarist Steve Howe attained virtuoso status in the ’70s lineup of Yes. Drummer Twink later co-founded the Pink Fairies. Members: Steve Howe (guitar), John “Junior” Wood (bass), Keith West (vocals), Twink [John Alder] […]
The Action was an English rock band that cut five 1965–67 Parlophone singles, including the mod-soul anthem “I’ll Keep Holding On” and the psych nugget “Shadows and Reflections.” They recorded more than three full album’s worth of material that later appeared on the archival CDs Ultimate! Action and Rolled Gold. In 1969, they morphed into […]
Apple was a Welsh pop-psych band that released the 1969 album An Apple a Day on Page One. Members: Denis Regan (vocals), Robbo Ingram (guitar), Jeff Harrod (bass), David Brassington (drums), Charlie Barber (piano) Inception Apple formed in 1968 in Cardiff, where songwriters Robbo Ingram (guitar) and David Brassington (drums) teamed with three fellow newcomers: […]
The Smoke was an English mod-rock/freakbeat band responsible for the 1967 singles “My Friend Jack,” “Have Some More Tea,” and the album …It’s Smoke Time. They distinguished their Who/Creation-style riffs with sharp, shimmering tremolo effects. After their 1967/68 run, they returned as Smoke for a Seventies singles run. Members: Geoff Gill (drums), Mal Luker [Malcolm […]
The Herd was an English beat group from London that cut three singles in 1965/66 for Parlophone. After the arrival of teenage guitarist/singer Peter Frampton, they issued multiple 1967/68 pop-psych singles on Fontana, culminating with the album Paradise Lost and the rockier standalone single “Sunshine Cottage.” Frampton soon departed for blues-rockers Humble Pie, formed with […]
