Is there an obscure band, musician, song that you love? Share with us. Post it on this thread..

They've been getting decent buzz over the last year or two, so they may not be too obscure, but I've got to put in a plug for Big Thief. It's been a long time that I've been so into a young new American band. They've dropped four excellent albums from 2016-2020, can't wait to see where they go next.

 

Ian Siegal Brit musician - superb ..

 

I heard this group a number of times when I was living in San Diego in 1972...the song was "Stand By the Door"...I liked them and finally got ahold of the album in the 90s, called Lunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9u185KChSI

 

yes. house on the hill and lunch. both elektra US pickups circa '71 ish?. they were fresh and different and sold nothing stateside. gus dudgeon produced and he was terrific also.

i loved 'em!

you have great taste. but we knew that ha.

 

My favorite LP of that year (2006)
The brilliant but now defunct Dirty On Purpose. How awesome is this song !

 

from the past- Canadian Pop Prog band FM

 

Obscure might be a stretch, as he featured in two very well known bands in the U.K. (The La's, Cast), but John Power put out a couple of rootsy indie solo albums mid 2000s that deserve attention.

 

Yeah, it's fun...all the crazy music I listened to in high school and now get to discuss on the Steve Hoffman Forum!

 

the wealth of knowledge of minutia here, is at times astonishing.

and if i had ever gone to high school, my typing might be improved! cheers.

 

Cool thread.

I really like the GB rock band Taxxi, a band from the first half of the 80's, totally forgotten today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJlMK0ZIXpE

None of their albums was released on CD...


One of my favorite songs, from Glory, a Swedish rock band of the late 80's/early 90's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrOAO1ZBlu0

 

I've been waiting decades for the successful fusion of indie, pop, and bacteriology! Eagerly awaiting formal announcement by the CDC of this pioneering effort...

 

Not sure how obscure they are (I've rarely, if ever, see them mentioned), but I love It's Smoke Time by the British band The Smoke:

 

Nice song...I have a 45 by the Fountain Of Youth ("Day Don't Come/Sunshine On A Cold Morning) but this song is better IMO. They kind of sound like the Monkees (and are on the same Colgems label).

 

Yes, I've heard before (like 10-15 years ago) that some people thought they were the Monkees in disguise when the song came out (1968, right in the middle of the Monkees' heyday). The Colgems link did not go unnoticed.

On the other hand, it did not occur to me at all, thanks to tin ears I guess ...

 

Hey Steve! Here ya go:

Pamela Wyn Shannon. Studied with Bert Jansch.
Psychedelic folk. “Courting Autumn”, 2009. Saw
her at our local library. Six people. Had some CDs,
snapped one up. Goes great with Fairport, Pentangle,
Renaissance. Sample:



William Ryan Fritch. Soundtrack composer. Oakland.
Neo-Classical. “Deceptive Cadence ”, 2019. Came up
on our YT feed. Sample:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6epBQHs6fRM

Enjoy!

 

This is a personal favorite of mine from 1967. Talk Until Daylight. I first heard Joanie sing this on the Tonight Show. The same label also produced a song for Fran Jeffries called Gone Now. Both failed to chart.

It has a Bacharach feel, especially in the instrumental bridge, but was a team of composers working under Larry Cansler.

Dave Mitchell wrote to me and said, as a disc jockey in the fall of 1967 (WNLA in Mississippi) I played this song many times, and have search for in record stores in the Internet ever since.

 

I came here to add Silkworm as well. Probably the most obscure band that I truly LOVED. I went to as many shows as I could in the 90s, little clubs in Seattle. The power of that trio in the Crocodile Cafe was unrivaled. Michael Dahlquist hit the the drums so hard, and Andy Cohen is an amazing guitar player and I loved his tone during that time.

Like a lot of bands, nothing on their records ever matched the force of those live shows. They still made great albums, but the shows were gold.

 

Robyn Sherwell came to me in the last months of my online radio station, where I was looking for fresh artists that would appeal to adult listeners looking for unfamiliar, accessible music.
She comes from the island of Gurnsey, of the coast of England, and was chosen by the studio releasing Carey Mulligan's film Suffragette, to promote it with her stunning cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide".


Her EP Islander got some attention from BBC, and then it not only disappeared, but so did all her online presence. No Wiki, no web presence, no further promotion. She seemed to have stepped back for some unknown reason, but is back on the trail, with a new album, five years later. She deserves your attention.

 

I thought these girls deserve a good manager and/or a good producer. This absolutely great vocal work.

 

This one brings back the memories of long hot summer nights at the end of the 1980’s

 

Billy the Kid (aka Billy Pettinger)

 

another Canadian, Northcote (aka Matt Goud)