Tune Tag #100 with Flipped Out Phil: Beckies, Chris Stamey, Other Side, Micky Dolenz, Montage, Lemon Twigs, Bongos, Mark Eric
🎉Celebratin' the Century mark, y'all! It's #100, and we're pullin' out all the stops! Highlights? Ten...count'em, TEN+ BONUS TAGS! Meet TWO veteran musicians/recording artists who SUBSCRIBE to FR&B!✨
“If I Fits, I Sits!” It’s the Waggin’ Taggin’ Tune Tag Wagon!
Tune Tag reaches #100, with our special guest, of !
“My name is
. I’m originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, although I've been living in Toronto, Ontario for the past 25 years. I’ve been involved in the garage rock scene since the mid-’80s, when I began hosting a local college radio show called The Subterranean Jungle. On it, I played raucous rock ‘n’ roll running the gamut from Eddie Cochran to The Cramps, by way of tons of mid-Sixties garage pounders. The show ran from 1985 to 1999.”
“I moved to Toronto afterwards, where I was the frontman of the ‘60s punk-based band, The Whammies, for a few years.”
“Before that, I had been the lead singer of Montreal’s Platon et les Caves (above), with Bobby Beaton (below) of the legendary Gruesomes on lead guitar.”
“I was also a fanzine writer and co-editor, namely for the Montreal zines, Lost Mynds (pictured below), and Popaganda.”
“Missing writing about music, I decided early this year to launch my Substack focusing on my Sixties pop/rock obsessions, !”
Last week, of Earnestness is Underrated helped us wave goodbye to double-digits:
Phil’s song #1 sent to Brad: The Other Side, “Walking Down the Road,” 1966
Phil’s rationale: I’m kicking off this Tune Tag with a 1966 obscurity by a San Francisco-area combo called The Other Side. It’s a folk-rock gem entitled, “Walking Down the Road.”
I’ve been familiar with this song since the early-‘90s, but it never gets old for me. Maybe that’s because it evokes one of my all-time favorite groups, The Byrds. “Walking Down the Road” certainly nails their sound down to a tee with its jangling guitars and vocal harmonies. But there’s also an additional rough ‘n’ ready garage-rock quality to the tune, as well as a melancholic, yet optimistic beauty that kinda takes my breath away!
Brad’s response: I’ve never heard of The Other Side, but, am also quite taken by their sound! By all accounts (namely, their Discogs page), the band recorded no albums, and only had this one 1966 single on tiny Brent Records, “Walking Down the Road” (written by George Kleinsinger and Joe Darion, both with songwriting careers that would otherwise belie this mid-’60s Byrdsian rock entry…for example, Kleinsinger wrote the 1945 children’s song, “Tubby the Tuba,” while Darion was a musical theatre lyricist) b/w “Streetcar.”
Brad’s song #1 sent to Phil: Micky Dolenz, “Ease on Down the Road,” 1994
Phil’s response: Ah, let’s not just walk down the road, let’s ease on down it! Is it possible that Brad chose this song because its road theme reflected the Other Side number? And because Dolenz was in the Monkees, one of the most popular groups in America at the time The Other Side existed?
Despite being a diehard Monkees lover, I had never heard this song before! I’ve only seen Micky Dolenz onstage once, when he, the late, great Mike Nesmith, and their excellent backup musicians played my hometown of Toronto seven years ago this month.
At that concert, I thought to myself: “Micky still has a terrific set of pipes, but there are times when he’s belting it out as if he’s in a Broadway musical.” Well, “Ease On Down the Road” (written by Charlie Smalls for the 1974 The Wiz Broadway musical and 1978 film, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson) confirms that observation. It’s a catchy number with a soulful feel to it, showing that Dolenz is a versatile enough vocalist to work in different genres.
The production doesn’t sound dated like many ‘80s recordings do with the gated drums, etc. Harold Bronson, the co-producer, was co-founder (with Richard Foos) of Rhino Records, a label that put out top-notch reissues of Monkees material, and it seems that he was very capable of overseeing a recording that complemented Micky’s unique voice.
Brad’s rationale: Why “walk down the road” when one can ease? Dare I slip you another Micky? Many may have missed his Dolenz Sings R.E.M. 4-song tribute EP from two years ago.
💯BONUS: Celebrating #100!✨Here’s his “Shiny Happy People” take, with something even R.E.M. couldn’t manage on their original: Personal home movies of Micky, including some 2 minutes of the child actor’s home movies from his kidhood and teen years!
“The band R.E.M. came up,” Micky told UltimateClassicRock.com in 2023, about a recent conversation. “I went, ‘Wow, that’s very cool.’ I’m a big fan. I remember their stuff very well. And, I’ve heard through the grapevine that the band were fans of The Monkees. I found that incredibly flattering.”
R.E.M. lead singer, Michael Stipe, expressed his excitement for Dolenz's interpretation of the track to the magazine (the band had famously stopped playing the song in their shows): “Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M., Monkees-style, I have died and gone to heaven,” Stipe said via a statement.
“This is really something,” Stipe concluded. “‘Shiny Happy People’ sounds incredible (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith). I am finally complete!”
💯BONUS✨More roads? Gotta be more easin’! Matthew Morrison (of TV’s Glee) ft. Smokey Robinson, 2013:
Phil’s song #2: The Lemon Twigs, “They Don’t Know How to Fall in Place,” 2024
Brad’s response: Well, the Micky Dolenz track merges into the call-back to The Monkees’ memorable TV show opening (above), with the sleeper being unwittingly bed-rolled through the streets. I’m no expert, but I’m gonna guess they’re attempting an illegal left turn.
Phil’s rationale: After listening to Micky Dolenz’s “Ease On Down the Road”, my mind couldn’t help but wander to contemporary sunshine/power pop greats, The Lemon Twigs, and the Monkees-esque video made to accompany a song from last year’s wonderful album of theirs, A Dream is All We Know:
In the clip to the song, “They Don’t Know How To Fall in Place,” there’s a deliberate tribute to a scene in The Monkees TV show opening as the Twigs’ Michael D’Addario pushes his brother Brian in a bed down the road! That and the group’s affinity for The Monkees inspired me to pick this tune.
I first heard The Lemon Twigs back in 2016 on their debut album, Do Hollywood, and was mightily impressed by the precocious talents of the two brothers at the heart of the group. They were only teenagers when they recorded that disc.
Since then, their output has varied somewhat in quality, but A Dream is All We Know shows them to be at the top of their game, mastering their craft with songs which aren’t simply pastiches of their Beach Boys, Beatles, and Badfinger influences, among others. It was also such a treat to see them live last fall and hear their humdingin’ harmonies in person!
Exhibit A, Phil?💯BONUS✨:
Brad’s song #2: Chris Stamey ft. Lemon Twigs, “I’d Be Lost Without You,” 2025
Phil’s response: Wow, Chris Stamey! What a lovely song this is! And who knew that Jason Schwartzman had identical-looking brothers sounding just like the Lemon Twigs? All kidding aside, I’d guess that the Twigs’ presence on the song was the reason Brad tagged me with it.
It was back in early 1982 that I initially heard Stamey’s excellent group, The dB’s, on their second album, Repercussion. One of his compositions for that LP was an irresistibly infectious number called “Ask for Jill”. The dB’s were one of many offbeat independent American post-punk bands with a strong knack for melody. At the time, my fave of the lot was R.E.M. with their Chronic Town EP.
I also enjoyed bands from the Los Angeles Paisley Underground, in particular The Dream Syndicate, whose first album from 1982, The Days of Wine and Roses, was a big favorite of mine, channeling the Velvets, Television, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but nevertheless sounding distinctive. I would’ve been lost without these groups!
Brad’s rationale: The Lemon Twigs just doing Lemon Twiggy things! A cameo by Rooney bro, actor Jason Schwartzman (whose bro, Rooney, Robert, helms the equally tuneful Rooney)…so tuneful, in fact, we went full FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE on their “Blueside” in the spring:
Wiki (warning: genre labels ahead): In a 2024 interview, Lemon Twig, Michael D’Addario, described the band’s sound as fundamentally “pop rock....It’s not always power pop and it’s certainly not always glam rock. The through-line would be pop structures and rock-based instrumentation.”
You rang, Mr. D’Addario? Our favorite resident guitar teacher, heard power pop for the first time…and, we were there to verify Michael’s assesrtion:
Michael continued by citing The Beatles and The Beach Boys as their ultimate musical influences, adding that their other musical influences were in turn inspired by those bands. (The brothers jokingly refer to this mash-up of Beatles and Beach Boys sounds as a genre called “Mersey Beach”).
💯BONUS✨Chris offers a rare recording of The Lemon Twigs’ isolated vocal tracks for “I’d Be Lost Without You.” Mercy…I mean, Mersey! Now, all we need is the Beach!
….and, the Beach, just in the nick o’ time💯BONUS✨From Stamey’s 2025 album, Chris and the Twigs come together with their cover of Brian Wilson’s and Tony Asher’s “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” from Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys, 1966):
🎵Remembering Brian🙏
Phil’s song #3: The Bongos, "The Bulrushes,” 1982
Brad’s response: Too excited to try and guess what Phil’s taggin’ on this one from my Chris Stamey song! I found a song (below) that tags the producer of three songs on this Bongos album, who also plays bass and sings backing vocals on my next song…..AND HE’S ONE OF MY LONGTIME SUBSCRIBERS!😱
Time Out called Hoboken, New Jersey’s Bongos’ 1982 Drums Along the Hudson album “one of the best albums to come out of the NYC area during the fertile, shadowy period between punk and new wave.” AllMusic called it “a minor masterpiece.”
Phil’s rationale: Brad’s pick of Chris Stamey’s song made me think of other melodically-minded American indie groups from the early ‘80s, aside from The dB’s. And what came to mind was this lot from glamourous New Jersey: The Bongos.
I initially found out about them from reading the terrific music publication, New York Rocker. Their debut LP, Drums Along the Hudson, was chock full of power-poppin’ new wave tunes including its energetic opening cut, “In the Congo,” produced by Mark Abel. But, for the purposes of this game, I couldn’t resist choosing the beautiful song, another Richard Barone composition, “The Bulrushes,” which can’t help but mesmerize me whenever I give it a spin!
Brad’s song #3: The Beckies, “River Song,” 1976 (with demo)
The studio-recorded official Sire Records release:
Phil’s response: I hadn’t actually heard this before! I suppose the song’s river theme inspired Brad to pick it after “The Bulrushes.” Very cool! I had only read about the Beckies, mainly in conjunction with Michael Brown, formally of New York City’s ‘60s baroque pop wunderkinds, The Left Banke. Brown went on to assume songwriting, keyboard playing, and production duties for The Beckies.
“River Song” sounds like a solid slice of power pop, a fabulous genre that got critically maligned in the late-‘70s with the success of The Knack and a couple of other “skinny tie” bands. (The Knack’s underrated, in my opinion, and had a good number of solid songs.) But this Beckies’ number actually reminds me more of the early-‘70s power pop of the group Blue Ash and to a lesser extent, Big Star. This Michael Brown/Gary Hodgden composition comes off very differently than the material Brown wrote for his earlier bands and yet, still has a bit of the baroque in it with the keyboard playing. Great stuff!
Brad’s rationale: I’m immensely proud and thoroughly jazzed about having a veritable orchestra of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE subscribers who are current and past record industry pros (and, Mark Abel is one of them!)….singers, songwriters, recording artists, producers, musicians, execs…some names you may know, and many of the artists they worked with may also be in your record collection!
💯BONUS✨Mark Abel produced three of the songs on the debut Bongos album in 1982 (“In the Congo,” “Hunting,” and a T. Rex cover, Marc Bolan’s “Mambo Sun,” from 1971’s Electric Warrior).👇Abel also plays acoustic guitar on this track:
The other Bongos songs were produced by the band and Ken Thomas. Mark also played bass and sang backing vocals on one of my all-time favorite albums (and certainly on a very short list of my all-time favorite power pop albums!), The Beckies’ lone album on Sire/ABC Records (a year or two later, as distributed by Warner Bros.)…and, he can be heard on “River Song.”
Phil may cite the link between the Old Testament story of Moses in the bulrushes (the book of Exodus) in the river (hence “River Song”), and he may even notice Mark’s credit on both albums…fine. But, he can’t possibly know Mark is a valued FR&B subscriber (who may also subscribe to Phil’s Painted Dayglo Smiles, for all I know)!
Discogs with Mark’s bio: “Mark Abel (born April 28, 1948) is an American composer of classical music.
“After a brief stay at Stanford University in the late 1960s, Abel was active on the New York rock scene during the 1970s and early 1980s, leading his own groups, producing the bands The Feelies and The Bongos, and playing on albums of Tom Verlaine and former The Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown [The Beckies].
“He returned to California in 1983 and worked in mainstream journalism for two decades, eventually becoming foreign editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He moved away from rock during that period, immersed himself in classical and gradually began developing his hybridized style.”
💯BONUS✨Here, we get to hear one of Mark’s recent compositions, as he begins by telling us how it all came about:
This, from Warren Kurtz, in the March 3, 2025 Goldmine.com, on the eve of the Spring ‘25 release of Omnivore Records’ expanded, 2-CD release of The Beckies’ 1976 debut album. The package was co-produced by Daniel Coston and Omnivore’s Cheryl Pawelski:
“In addition to keyboardist Michael Brown and drummer Gary Hodgden (they wrote all the songs on The Beckies), and vocalist Scott Trusty, the band officially included Jimmy McAllister on guitar and, unofficially, Mark Abel on bass.
“In Coston’s liner notes for the new Omnivore package,” Goldmine adds, “he shared this quote from Abel, ‘I never formally joined the band, although they invited me to. I was certainly the ‘Fifth Beckie’ in terms of what I contributed musically.
“‘I declined to become a formal member because I was in an important stage of developing my own songwriting and knew there would be no place for it in that project. But I stayed with them, even after my own band, City Lights, got a deal with Sire in early 1975, because I greatly respected Michael’s gift. I also found Scott, Jimmy, and Gary to be friendly, talented, and easy to work with.’”
💯BONUS✨Of the dozen songs on City Lights’ Silent Dancing 1975 album on Sire/ABC Records (produced by Craig Leon), Mark (on bass and backing vocals) wrote exactly half, including this gently melodic tune (which gives me a pleasing Crack the Sky/Ambrosia vibe), “First Star of the Morning”:
Phil’s song #4: Montage, “Desirée,” 1969
Brad’s response: From 1976’s Beckies, back in time seven years, to 1969: Michael Brown, between The Left Banke and Stories, there was his “5 minutes” in Montage!
Phil’s rationale: I figured my last selection for this Tune Tag should be another Michael Brown-penned number that, this time out, consists of the sumptuous pop he had been creating in the Sixties. After leaving The Left Banke (for which Brown co-wrote their smash 1966 hit, “Walk Away Renee,” with Bob Calilli and Tony Sansone), he went on to the group Montage which re-recorded “Desirée,” first recorded by The Left Banke (and written by Brown and Tom Feher).
Brad butts in: Two lead vocalists are listed on the Montage album’s credit list: Bob Steurer (lead vocals) and Vance Chapman (lead vocals, drums), with no mention as to who’s the excellent lead on this track. Whomever, this Montage album credit is the only one for each. Neither, apparently, ever sang on another record! Mike Brown, however, arranged all the vocals on this album recorded for Laurie Records.
Back to Phil: Both versions are exquisite, but after the toss of a coin, the Montage rendition won out. Their sole album from ’69 is a must-hear, not to mention both Left Banke LPs. Between Montage and The Beckies, Brown co-founded the group Stories in the early ‘70s. They had a huge hit with the song “Brother Louie” in ’73, but by that time, Brown had moved on. Definitely an unsung rock ‘n’ roll talent!
💯BONUS✨“Desirée,” sans vocals: A Montage instrumental Bonus Track:
In 1969, Alan Merrill auditioned for The Left Banke. According to Merrill, the audition was successful, but the band dissolved. He alone wrote the song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” (he gave bandmate Jake Hooker a co-credit to settle a debt) and was the lead singer on the original recording of it, made by the band The Arrows in 1975. The song became a breakthrough #1 hit for Joan Jett in 1982.
💯BONUS✨In 2007, Merrill recorded the song he may have gotten the chance to sing, in concerts, had The Left Banke stayed together. Fittingly, he gives it an impassioned rock-forward reading, and gives the otherwise delicate song (sung mostly in falsetto) a slightly tougher sheen (in chest voice), perhaps finally satisfying a bitter ache from the past.
Sadly, Alan passed away on March 29, 2020, due to complications brought on by the COVID-19 virus:
Brad’s song #4: Mark Eric, “Where Do the Girls of the Summer Go,” 1969
Phil’s response: Where do the girls of the summer go? Great question! Oh man, do I ever love this tune! The best song Brian Wilson never wrote! I imagine that “Desirée” and its yearning romantic quality made Brad think of this song written and recorded by yet another unsung musician.
I first heard Mark Eric in the early 2000’s thanks to the Rev-Ola label’s reissue of his rare 1969 album, A Midsummer’s Day Dream (pictured above). What a treat it was to listen to this superb LP, partly channeling the mid-’60s Beach Boys, but with an approach all his own.
I love the wistfulness of the song you picked, Brad, and also get much joy from the up-tempo tracks on the Eric album such as “Night of The Lions” and “California Home.” It was the latter number that was going through my mind as I watched the panorama of Los Angeles from an airplane window while arriving in L.A. for my first visit there in 2016. Sunshine pop from the West Coast is the most!
Brad’s rationale: Yeah, general song-feel, I guess, Phil, but mainly, just that magical year of my 14th on the planet…1969. Whereas Phil got the jump on my Mark Eric-awareness by a good 2 dozen years, as soon as I did “accidentally” come across him somewhere online, I couldn’t write about him fast enough!
With so little of substance on the internet about this little-known and elusive artist (who died in 2009), I set out to create the ultimate internet landing site for all things Mark Eric. I hope I came close:
Audio Autopsy, 1969: Mark Eric and "A Midsummer's Day Dream" of Mark Erickson
Editor’s Note: On May 14, 2023, a longtime good friend of Mark’s, Cherie, contacted FR&B, and informed us that, indeed, Mark passed away in 2009. She had been friends with Mark in the ‘70s, and reconnected with him 30 years later. She will share this article with Mark’s sister. “It’ll mean a lot to her,”…
Having all but “stumbled onto” Mark Eric, two years ago, it should’ve come as no surprise I’d also happen upon this impossibly talented young man just after writing my Eric article! Here’s Joshua Sanford, and his one-man-band cover of “Where Do the Girls of the Summer Go.” The link to my Sanford interview can be found within the Mark Eric article linked above.
FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE Special Contributor, Stephen Michael Schwartz, has a show coming up! Check out the 20 exclusive articles he’s written for us, and if you’re in, or planning to be in, the Southern California area, July 19, get your tickets now!👇
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Happy 100th! And what a powerful one it was! Genre(s)-wise, rather outside of what I'd call "my comfort zone" (if I still have one), so very educational throughout.
I love the fact that your respective backgrounds and experience are similar enough yet not identical, so there's been a nice mix between cross-reference, i.e. "singing in unison", as well as a nice contrast here and there when you really complemented each other with the most fantastic harmonies.
It fills me with joy to have been and still be a part of this wonderful Tune Tag journey. Here's to many more!
Excellent Tune Tag, and congrats on #100!
I pretty much liked/loved every song in this one, I'm a fan of the Left Banke and *never knew* about Montage, which kinda blew my mind, and I also had not listened to or thought about The Beckies in, well, decades. Ditto on The Bongos, enjoyed them back in the day but for some reason left them behind. Great to be reminded of all this obscure treasure.
The Chris Stamey song was awesome, and those Lemon Twigs boys are pretty stellar too, gotta discover more of their stuff.
Here's to the next 100, thanks for all you do Brad!