Label: Solar Records – 237 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Promo, Single Sided Country: US Released: 1967.
Hangin' Out / Everydays Gonna Be Fun. (The Blox are well-known among sixties fans today for their 1967 single "Hangin' Out" on the Solar label. The single did not make any impression at the time of its release, but it was rescued from oblivion by inclusion as the lead-off track on Flashback (later known as "Texas Flashbacks") Volume 3 in 1980. Yet the group themselves have not factored into too many memories of the Houston '60s scene.
The core trio of the Blox (Robert Turner - lead guitar; Tim Oliver - lead vocals, organ, rhythm guitar; and Jared Satterwhite - bass) played together in several bands with different names over the second half of the '60s, and these frequent name changes probably contributed to their later obscurity. They recorded as early as July, 1965, but did not see a vinyl release until they hooked up with Fred Carroll at Andrus Productions in 1967.
A McCoys' album track, "Say Those Magic Words," was immediately recognized for its commercial potential, and their cover version was rushed out on Carroll's new label, Solar, in June, 1967. This was indeed a hit, but only locally. Nevertheless, it probably inspired the McCoys' to release their own version a couple of weeks later as a single just in case, thereby "covering" a cover.
As a nice bonus, the Blox were invited on The Larry Kane Show to mime their record. Released in November, 1967, Robert Turner's original "Hangin' Out," sung by Tim Oliver, had a much tougher sound and attitude, with punk lyrics ("my whole world is out of place"), fuzz bass, and a psychedelic tape-phased instrumental break.
Though listed among radio station KFMK's "most requested" in the Houston Post on November 26, 1967, this second single didn't make much impact, and today it is far rarer than copies of "Say Those Magic Words."When Lelan Rogers left International Artists in February, 1968, IA President Bill Dillard hired Fred Carroll to return to the label that he started. Fred brought the Blox with him, and work on a third single commenced in the early spring of 1968. But Carroll, who had a combative personality, didn't last with IA very long, and when he left, the band's hoped-for release went into deep-freeze.
While a lot of "lost" and unissued IA tapes and acetates have been excavated in the decades since, no one has ever found the Blox tapes.
The group soldiered on, but had run out of steam by 1969.(http://nineteen-sixty-six.blogspot.com/).
Label: Solar Records – 237
ReplyDeleteFormat: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Promo, Single Sided
Country: US
Released: 1967.
Hangin' Out / Everydays Gonna Be Fun. (The Blox are well-known among sixties fans today for their 1967 single "Hangin' Out" on the Solar label. The single did not make any impression at the time of its release, but it was rescued from oblivion by inclusion as the lead-off track on Flashback (later known as "Texas Flashbacks") Volume 3 in 1980. Yet the group themselves have not factored into too many memories of the Houston '60s scene.
The core trio of the Blox (Robert Turner - lead guitar; Tim Oliver - lead vocals, organ, rhythm guitar; and Jared Satterwhite - bass) played together in several bands with different names over the second half of the '60s, and these frequent name changes probably contributed to their later obscurity. They recorded as early as July, 1965, but did not see a vinyl release until they hooked up with Fred Carroll at Andrus Productions in 1967.
A McCoys' album track, "Say Those Magic Words," was immediately recognized for its commercial potential, and their cover version was rushed out on Carroll's new label, Solar, in June, 1967. This was indeed a hit, but only locally. Nevertheless, it probably inspired the McCoys' to release their own version a couple of weeks later as a single just in case, thereby "covering" a cover.
As a nice bonus, the Blox were invited on The Larry Kane Show to mime their record. Released in November, 1967, Robert Turner's original "Hangin' Out," sung by Tim Oliver, had a much tougher sound and attitude, with punk lyrics ("my whole world is out of place"), fuzz bass, and a psychedelic tape-phased instrumental break.
Though listed among radio station KFMK's "most requested" in the Houston Post on November 26, 1967, this second single didn't make much impact, and today it is far rarer than copies of "Say Those Magic Words."When Lelan Rogers left International Artists in February, 1968, IA President Bill Dillard hired Fred Carroll to return to the label that he started. Fred brought the Blox with him, and work on a third single commenced in the early spring of 1968. But Carroll, who had a combative personality, didn't last with IA very long, and when he left, the band's hoped-for release went into deep-freeze.
While a lot of "lost" and unissued IA tapes and acetates have been excavated in the decades since, no one has ever found the Blox tapes.
The group soldiered on, but had run out of steam by 1969.(http://nineteen-sixty-six.blogspot.com/).