I was an 80's Mod who got into The Action via a compilation, Ultimate Action, with sleeve notes by Paul Weller. Later got into The Poets and The Eyes via various 60's compilations and was lucky enough to find an original copy of The Smoke's German LP.
Yes indeed! I remember Martin once joking by telling me he was never sure if he was in the Pink Fairies or not: he took each gig one at a time! It was a different era: happy daze indeed!
I reckon Tintern Abbey would have fitted well into that collection of bands. Vacuum Cleaner and Beeside made a very impressive 45, but sadly overlooked at the time.
Tintern Abbey are a good choice. They had a CD which I think was on the Cherry Red label collecting their complete recordings, the majority previously unreleased. They were good tracks, but sounded a bit unfinished. Apparently they had an album planned. But it was shelved.
Leatherhead based band John's Children had a very interesting, yet brief career (1965-68). They got an album banned in the US (Orgasm), a single banned in the UK (Desdemona), were thrown off a tour with The Who for being more disruptive than they were and finally pressed up a single that was withdrawn prior to it's release which is now is worth a cool £10,000+ (Midsummer Night's Scene).
Thanks! It took a fair bit of research and narrowing down, I'll be honest. I knew of The Action (through Mighty Baby and |Bam" King), and The Poets occasionally cropped up on my iTunes playlists, but the others had largely passed me by, as well!
listen to The Misunderstood to this day...interesting thing is the lead guitarist Glenn Campbell plays a lap steel...not a conventional rock instrument...The Action I've listened to, but found them more polished than other contemporary "should have been bigger" bands like The Creation or Fleur De Lys....anyway another good one Jim, thanks for the post
Thanks,! I wish I could have included more of the music but the copyright situation is getting worse and I had to shave down the tracks by The Poets and the Eyes to almost nothing to avoid a copyright infringement. Ironic that these are bands very few people get to hear. It's a shame because I knew my videos encourage people to buy music by bands they hadn't previously heard of…
During the 1960's I used to comb the junk shops looking for ex jukebox records or records that never sold. One record that I came across a lot was " Here I Stand " by the Rip Chords everyone I played it to seemed to think it should have been a commercial success but sadly it never made it. Never knew what became of the band. Another contributing factor in band success seems to be the balance between creativity and live performances. Over the years I have seen all the great bands of the sixties yet surprisingly one of the best bands to see live were the Troggs whose records were on the whole at best mediocre. Playing a record however is very different to a live show the record needs to not get boring through subsequent playing.
Wow:! Great memories and thanks for sharing them. I repeatedly tell people that there's more great content in the comments than there is in my videos! I was never a particularly huge fan of the Troggs' singles but, many years after their heyday, I put on The Troggs at the 100 Club. It must have been around 2006. AS part of the soundcheck, Reg Presley did an a capella version of 'Love Is All Around' that made everyone in the club (including the bar staff) fall silent to listen. I've not seen very often, if ever before. Cheers!
Yes, I did. I think Phil had a band called Tuesday's Children before he emerged as Springwater and then recorded at least one single as "Banjo Man". I'm pretty sure he died around the time I was starting the Rhythm Festival (2006 or 2007). Thanks for reminding us!
Late John peel fell out with a few bands he liked then soon as they got big he blanked them , t.rex and jethro Tull being 2 , Ian Anderson said as soon as they had a hit he John never spoke to them although they tried to, very weird , another good watch by the way .
Cheers! I appreciate it I also thanks for the great stories. Might take on peal was that he was scared of being thought old and irrelevant and that affected who he played on his programs, rather than any personal taste.
Alan Bam King was the rhythm guitarist in The Action, and was not related to singer Reg King. The Bass guitar was played by Mike Ace Evans. I don’t think The Action appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. They did film I’ll Keep on Holding On” outside the Royal Albert Hall and that clip was featured in the Dick Clark show “Where the Action is”, and they also appeared playing live at Durham University for a USA TV show called “The Twentieth Century”. The original band reformed for gigs appearing between 1998 and 2004.
Thanks for all the info: You're obviously an expert on The Action! I agree I was mistaken about the instruments. However, as regards Johnny Carson, my source insists they replaced Petula Clarke at the last minute when she fell ill and the Small Faces couldn''t do it. However, I can't find any documentary evidence to back that up, so I think it might hang in the air! Thanks again. Cheers!
@@JimDriver The Action never came to the US, not did The Small Faces. Neither were ever, ever, ever on Johnny Carson's late night talk show. Nor would they have been invited. Also, his program was broadcast from LA.
They were all good pics I woyld say some of the bands like the action they didn't get the sound right in the studio, you know a little to restrained and polished.
Cheers! I think you could be right. And there was also a lot of politics going on in the entertainment world at the time. If so-and-so's manager didn't do something with one band, all their bands suffered: that kind of thing. Thanks for taking the time to join in and for watching!
But Kaleidoscope didn't just vanish as they changed their name to Fairfield Parlour. Granted even the name change didn't help their career much, but it didn't just stop at Kaleidoscope
Thanks for the information. In the interests of brevity (and in a vain hope that people don't think I'm boring!) I have been known to condense the facts into convenient boxes and only include what fits. Sorry!
Any info on the Amboy Dukes ( not the Ted Nugent ones, but the band from Reading. Regulars at the Marquee signed to Polydor and represented by Rick Gunnell). My dad played sax in the band and he told me some great stories.
Sorry, I'm afraid I never really came across them. I met Rick Gunnell the first time long after his peak, when he opened a music venue in London, which I think was the Astoria I might be wrong because I've not done any check-in but that was my recollection. Please stick around and share your dad's memories (and yours of course) with the community. Cheers!
A recurring theme of the nearly bands, is the lead singers weren't up to much. The producer would put the lead vocals down in the mix to hide the fact, and the song would sound mushy and generic. A generalisation certainly, but that's how it comes across.
I think you make an excellent point. In my mind, the 1960s followed the 1950s attitude (engendered in The Blues, no doubt) that "rough and raw" as a vocal style would do the trick. Some vocalists pushed that a little too far, maybe. 😄Cheers!
You need a vast amount of luck - probably more than talent - to succeed as a band. Someone gets sick & you have to drop out of an important gig. One of the band upsets an A&R rep and suddenly you're not wanted any more. Your manager discovers a band they're more interested in & stops pushing you. Any one of a million reasons. I was in a band that were doing well, then our rhythm guitarist was offered a post-graduate position he'd have been a fool to turn down, and the keyboard player was getting offered a lot of session work. Who'd want to trudge around the country when they could sleep in their own beds every night ?
Luck does play a part - or circumstance, as I prefer to call it - but we all make our choices based on what our personal drives are The fully focussed pick their targets and don't rest until they reach them. If the rhythm guitarist really was determined to be a star and thought he could do it with you band, he would have turned down the job. In the end, it's all a lottery.! That's jusyt my view but I agree with a lot of what you say. Cheers!
@@JimDriver Becoming "stars" was never part of the agenda. We just wanted to play some good music in the hope that a few people might enjoy it. Our lead guitarist had no need for "fame" - he'd been at school with (then) Prince Charles and his future was assured anyway, and the rhythm guitarist was in a settled relationship, so constantly being on the road was hard for him. Also, we'd already seen a couple of friends tasting success with Alberto y Los Trios Paranoias (Jimmy Hibbert and Les Prior) and didn't envy them.
The who got form for getting rid of decent support bands I think , was it them who said sensational Alex Harvey band went down a little bit to well ,might be wrong ,
The, Who were notorious for that and it's one reason I've never been a huge fan. And I always found Daltry and Townsend and the entourages quite obnoxious when you came across them. Ah, well..,
Why no mention of The Creation, The In Crowd or The Downliners Sect, al who made great tracks. Radio Caroline played The Smoke single to death which may have promoted it, but seemed to call it My Friend Jackie Sugarlump, maybe to hide it's drug reference. They were the only station to play Pink Floyd's Arnold Layne, which obviously promoted that. Radio London did not play either, as both had drug references in the lyrics. The Eyes only released four singles, plus an E.P. collecting both sides of their first two singles. All four tracks were great. But unfortunately, the A sides of their last two singles were mainstream covers of songs from other artists, the first, an out of tune version of The Everly Brothers' Man With Money, then a carbon copy of The Beatles' Good Day Sunshine, which let them down. But the B sides of them were much better and should have been the A sides. They had a CD containing all eight tracks from their singles, plus previously unreleased demos of some of them which were interesting,, plus a load of covers of songs from other artists which were unfortunately worthless. A few further points about one of the bands you mentioned, The Misunderstood, they recorded very prolifically from 1965-1966, but had little released. The single you featured was their first UK single, but already had a single released in the States earlier that year on a small label, You Don't Have To Go/Who's Been Talking. After arriving in the UK, they had the one Fontana label single that you played. But as late as 1969, after they disbanded, Fontana released three more singles by them, all recorded in late 1966, including their most famous single altogether, Children Of The Sun. This may have been to cash in on the Progressive Rock boom that these earlier recordings of theirs fitted neatly into. They had three compilation CDs on reissue labels, The Legendary Goldstar album, Before The Dream Faded, containing their complete UK 1966 recordings, plus a few U.S. recorded demos from 1965, and The Lost Acetates 1965-1966. They then had a compilation CD called Children Of The Sun, containing the complete tracks from the latter two compilations, except their version of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love. Please do another video of this subject.
Rome wasn't built in a day, I believe. 😄 (I wasn't there personally; it's just what I heard)… I'll be doing at least one more video on this subject, and there are already so many more contenders. Thanks for all the great information. You should be making videos of your own! Cheers!
Don't forget The Monks!!!!!!! (I know, the band was not british, but they were pushed as "The Anti-Beatles", Tony Sheridan hated The Monks for their musicstyle )
All I can say is "Where you living on an Island under a stone with no radio or newspapers and any other form of communication? Shame on you not one Liverpool band mentioned.
It was rather a well-appointed rock, actually! Thanks for commenting and for watching. I'll probably do another similar video and take your views on board. Cheers!
Yes… that's what someone who claimed to be a roadie told me. He said they were supporting the Small Faces on a handful of shows around New York and The Action replaced Petula Clark when she became ill at the last minute. He insists it's true but there is no documentary evidence. Thanks for commenting and for watching!
The Eyes did 4 singes and one lp which they called themselves the Pupils play the Rolling stones. I purchased all the Idle race singles Skeleton of the roundabout/they're knocking nails into my house being one of my favourite singles. The smoke had weak material. Fleur de lyes were better than the Poets. Sorry but KALEDESCOPE were the most boring of all the psych bands, the best being not Floyd but Tomorrow. It is a well known fact amongst sixties lovers that the greatest band not to become famous were the Creation. We got bored of groups like the Action doing Tamla covers. I was there and wish I still was.
Thanks for adding to the information: I appreciate your opinions and knowledge. You obviously know a lot more about the psychedelic era than I ever will, Though, I do think Floyd went badly wrong around the time of Ummagumma. Cheers!
Thanks for all these gems !
Thank you for watching! It wouldn't be the same without you. Cheers!
Great selection, love all these bands. Plenty of others to talk about- The Artwoods, Wimple Winch, Downliners Sect, The Sorrows, to name but a few...
Thanks! I'm seriously thinking about making another video on a similar subject and those a great suggestions. Cheers!
I was an 80's Mod who got into The Action via a compilation, Ultimate Action, with sleeve notes by Paul Weller. Later got into The Poets and The Eyes via various 60's compilations and was lucky enough to find an original copy of The Smoke's German LP.
Really interesting, thanks :))))
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching and for saying so. Cheers!
Good video. Never knew about Boney M doing My Friend Jack but I knew they did the Creation’s Painter Man.
Thanks for the kind words! I'd forgotten about Boney M covering that. Cheers!
What a great video have a wonderful day also I have subscribed to the channel ❤😊
Thanks and welcome to our little community! Cheers!
Ah the enigmatic Mr. Martin Stone saw him performing with The Pink Fairies at the Wakes Arms Epping, happy daze.
Yes indeed! I remember Martin once joking by telling me he was never sure if he was in the Pink Fairies or not: he took each gig one at a time! It was a different era: happy daze indeed!
Yes, I saw him with The Pink Fairies too.
I reckon Tintern Abbey would have fitted well into that collection of bands. Vacuum Cleaner and Beeside made a very impressive 45, but sadly overlooked at the time.
Thanks! I am thinking about making a follow up video and those would be great contenders. Cheers!
Tintern Abbey are a good choice. They had a CD which I think was on the Cherry Red label collecting their complete recordings, the majority previously unreleased. They were good tracks, but sounded a bit unfinished. Apparently they had an album planned. But it was shelved.
@@paulgoldstein2569 Yeah I've got it! Nothing on it to beat Vacuum Cleaner or Beeside, but plenty on it for it to stay interesting.
Leatherhead based band John's Children had a very interesting, yet brief career (1965-68).
They got an album banned in the US (Orgasm), a single banned in the UK (Desdemona), were thrown off a tour with The Who for being more disruptive than they were and finally pressed up a single that was withdrawn prior to it's release which is now is worth a cool £10,000+ (Midsummer Night's Scene).
Great information! Thanks for sharing it. Please keep watching and commenting. Cheers!
Interesting video, I didn't know any of the bands apart from Juicy Lucy.
Thanks! It took a fair bit of research and narrowing down, I'll be honest. I knew of The Action (through Mighty Baby and |Bam" King), and The Poets occasionally cropped up on my iTunes playlists, but the others had largely passed me by, as well!
listen to The Misunderstood to this day...interesting thing is the lead guitarist Glenn Campbell plays a lap steel...not a conventional rock instrument...The Action I've listened to, but found them more polished than other contemporary "should have been bigger" bands like The Creation or Fleur De Lys....anyway another good one Jim, thanks for the post
Thanks,! I wish I could have included more of the music but the copyright situation is getting worse and I had to shave down the tracks by The Poets and the Eyes to almost nothing to avoid a copyright infringement. Ironic that these are bands very few people get to hear.
It's a shame because I knew my videos encourage people to buy music by bands they hadn't previously heard of…
During the 1960's I used to comb the junk shops looking for ex jukebox records or records that never sold. One record that I came across a lot was " Here I Stand " by the Rip Chords everyone I played it to seemed to think it should have been a commercial success but sadly it never made it. Never knew what became of the band. Another contributing factor in band success seems to be the balance between creativity and live performances. Over the years I have seen all the great bands of the sixties yet surprisingly one of the best bands to see live were the Troggs whose records were on the whole at best mediocre. Playing a record however is very different to a live show the record needs to not get boring through subsequent playing.
Wow:! Great memories and thanks for sharing them. I repeatedly tell people that there's more great content in the comments than there is in my videos!
I was never a particularly huge fan of the Troggs' singles but, many years after their heyday, I put on The Troggs at the 100 Club. It must have been around 2006. AS part of the soundcheck, Reg Presley did an a capella version of 'Love Is All Around' that made everyone in the club (including the bar staff) fall silent to listen. I've not seen very often, if ever before. Cheers!
Did you ever hear of a musician called Phil Cordell? I think he was in a band called Springwater for a bit, also solo
Yes, I did. I think Phil had a band called Tuesday's Children before he emerged as Springwater and then recorded at least one single as "Banjo Man". I'm pretty sure he died around the time I was starting the Rhythm Festival (2006 or 2007). Thanks for reminding us!
At 2:18, that clip of Steve Marriot on stage looks like Chucky. Traded his knife foe an axe appaently.
Haha. My experience of working with Steve was sometimes like working with Chucky. But that's a whole different video. Cheers!
Late John peel fell out with a few bands he liked then soon as they got big he blanked them , t.rex and jethro Tull being 2 , Ian Anderson said as soon as they had a hit he John never spoke to them although they tried to, very weird , another good watch by the way .
Cheers! I appreciate it I also thanks for the great stories.
Might take on peal was that he was scared of being thought old and irrelevant and that affected who he played on his programs, rather than any personal taste.
The Betterdays, a great British band of the 1960’s
Thanks! The Betterdays have passed me by: I'll check them out. Cheers!
Alan Bam King was the rhythm guitarist in The Action, and was not related to singer Reg King. The Bass guitar was played by Mike Ace Evans. I don’t think The Action appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. They did film I’ll Keep on Holding On” outside the Royal Albert Hall and that clip was featured in the Dick Clark show “Where the Action is”, and they also appeared playing live at Durham University for a USA TV show called “The Twentieth Century”. The original band reformed for gigs appearing between 1998 and 2004.
Thanks for all the info: You're obviously an expert on The Action! I agree I was mistaken about the instruments. However, as regards Johnny Carson, my source insists they replaced Petula Clarke at the last minute when she fell ill and the Small Faces couldn''t do it. However, I can't find any documentary evidence to back that up, so I think it might hang in the air!
Thanks again. Cheers!
@@JimDriver The Action never came to the US, not did The Small Faces. Neither were ever, ever, ever on Johnny Carson's late night talk show. Nor would they have been invited. Also, his program
was broadcast from LA.
Kaleidoscope became Fairfield Parlour in the early 1970s.
Indeed they did. Thanks for adding to the information. Cheers!
They were all good pics I woyld say some of the bands like the action they didn't get the sound right in the studio, you know a little to restrained and polished.
Cheers! I think you could be right. And there was also a lot of politics going on in the entertainment world at the time. If so-and-so's manager didn't do something with one band, all their bands suffered: that kind of thing. Thanks for taking the time to join in and for watching!
Because they were misunderstood 😅
That's been my refrain for many years 😄 Thanks for commenting and for watching!
The untamed, the attack , the creation , the mark 1V
All great calls. Thanks for commenting and suggsting them. Cheers!
Thanks great videos, do you like the Dogs now no more.
Thank you: very kind of you to say so! Dogs D'Amour?
Lead singer of the Misunderstood Rick Brown lives in Thailand these days
Warm climate, cheap standard of living and Thailand has other things going for it, I hear. Thanks for sharing that news. Please keep watchin. Cheers!
But Kaleidoscope didn't just vanish as they changed their name to Fairfield Parlour. Granted even the name change didn't help their career much, but it didn't just stop at Kaleidoscope
Thanks for the information. In the interests of brevity (and in a vain hope that people don't think I'm boring!) I have been known to condense the facts into convenient boxes and only include what fits. Sorry!
Any info on the Amboy Dukes ( not the Ted Nugent ones, but the band from Reading. Regulars at the Marquee signed to Polydor and represented by Rick Gunnell). My dad played sax in the band and he told me some great stories.
Sorry, I'm afraid I never really came across them.
I met Rick Gunnell the first time long after his peak, when he opened a music venue in London, which I think was the Astoria I might be wrong because I've not done any check-in but that was my recollection. Please stick around and share your dad's memories (and yours of course) with the community. Cheers!
A recurring theme of the nearly bands, is the lead singers weren't up to much. The producer would put the lead vocals down in the mix to hide the fact, and the song would sound mushy and generic. A generalisation certainly, but that's how it comes across.
Reg King of The Action was an excellent vocalist.
He certainly was a great vocalist. Even Steve Marriott thought so and he wasn't great on dishing out compliments to other singers. Thanks!
I think you make an excellent point. In my mind, the 1960s followed the 1950s attitude (engendered in The Blues, no doubt) that "rough and raw" as a vocal style would do the trick. Some vocalists pushed that a little too far, maybe. 😄Cheers!
You need a vast amount of luck - probably more than talent - to succeed as a band. Someone gets sick & you have to drop out of an important gig. One of the band upsets an A&R rep and suddenly you're not wanted any more. Your manager discovers a band they're more interested in & stops pushing you. Any one of a million reasons.
I was in a band that were doing well, then our rhythm guitarist was offered a post-graduate position he'd have been a fool to turn down, and the keyboard player was getting offered a lot of session work. Who'd want to trudge around the country when they could sleep in their own beds every night ?
Luck does play a part - or circumstance, as I prefer to call it - but we all make our choices based on what our personal drives are The fully focussed pick their targets and don't rest until they reach them. If the rhythm guitarist really was determined to be a star and thought he could do it with you band, he would have turned down the job. In the end, it's all a lottery.! That's jusyt my view but I agree with a lot of what you say.
Cheers!
@@JimDriver Becoming "stars" was never part of the agenda. We just wanted to play some good music in the hope that a few people might enjoy it. Our lead guitarist had no need for "fame" - he'd been at school with (then) Prince Charles and his future was assured anyway, and the rhythm guitarist was in a settled relationship, so constantly being on the road was hard for him.
Also, we'd already seen a couple of friends tasting success with Alberto y Los Trios Paranoias (Jimmy Hibbert and Les Prior) and didn't envy them.
The who got form for getting rid of decent support bands I think , was it them who said sensational Alex Harvey band went down a little bit to well ,might be wrong ,
The, Who were notorious for that and it's one reason I've never been a huge fan. And I always found Daltry and Townsend and the entourages quite obnoxious when you came across them. Ah, well..,
Why no mention of The Creation, The In Crowd or The Downliners Sect, al who made great tracks.
Radio Caroline played The Smoke single to death which may have promoted it, but seemed to call it My Friend Jackie Sugarlump, maybe to hide it's drug reference. They were the only station to play Pink Floyd's Arnold Layne, which obviously promoted that. Radio London did not play either, as both had drug references in the lyrics.
The Eyes only released four singles, plus an E.P. collecting both sides of their first two singles. All four tracks were great. But unfortunately, the A sides of their last two singles were mainstream covers of songs from other artists, the first, an out of tune version of The Everly Brothers' Man With Money, then a carbon copy of The Beatles' Good Day Sunshine, which let them down. But the B sides of them were much better and should have been the A sides. They had a CD containing all eight tracks from their singles, plus previously unreleased demos of some of them which were interesting,, plus a load of covers of songs from other artists which were unfortunately worthless.
A few further points about one of the bands you mentioned, The Misunderstood, they recorded very prolifically from 1965-1966, but had little released. The single you featured was their first UK single, but already had a single released in the States earlier that year on a small label, You Don't Have To Go/Who's Been Talking.
After arriving in the UK, they had the one Fontana label single that you played. But as late as 1969, after they disbanded, Fontana released three more singles by them, all recorded in late 1966, including their most famous single altogether, Children Of The Sun. This may have been to cash in on the Progressive Rock boom that these earlier recordings of theirs fitted neatly into.
They had three compilation CDs on reissue labels, The Legendary Goldstar album, Before The Dream Faded, containing their complete UK 1966 recordings, plus a few U.S. recorded demos from 1965, and The Lost Acetates 1965-1966. They then had a compilation CD called Children Of The Sun, containing the complete tracks from the latter two compilations, except their version of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love.
Please do another video of this subject.
Rome wasn't built in a day, I believe. 😄 (I wasn't there personally; it's just what I heard)…
I'll be doing at least one more video on this subject, and there are already so many more contenders.
Thanks for all the great information. You should be making videos of your own!
Cheers!
@@JimDriver I thought of it, but I don't know how to go about it.
Don't forget The Monks!!!!!!! (I know, the band was not british, but they were pushed as "The Anti-Beatles", Tony Sheridan hated The Monks for their musicstyle )
Thanks for the heads up. You're right, I could have include 70 bands, not just 7. Thanks again!
So much misinformation in one video well done.
Thank you! I hope you watched it right to the end. I'd hate for you to miss any. Cheers!
All I can say is "Where you living on an Island under a stone with no radio or newspapers and any other form of communication? Shame on you not one Liverpool band mentioned.
It was rather a well-appointed rock, actually! Thanks for commenting and for watching. I'll probably do another similar video and take your views on board. Cheers!
@@JimDriver Well appointed what does that mean? Or are you saying that no rock bands came out of Liverpool! Cheers!
The Action went to the States and did the Ed Sullivan show???? Are you absolutely sure about that lol??
Yes… that's what someone who claimed to be a roadie told me. He said they were supporting the Small Faces on a handful of shows around New York and The Action replaced Petula Clark when she became ill at the last minute. He insists it's true but there is no documentary evidence. Thanks for commenting and for watching!
Creation is missing
That's just one video. I fully intend to include them in a future offering. Thanks for watching and for commenting. Cheers!
The Eyes did 4 singes and one lp which they called themselves the Pupils play the Rolling stones. I purchased all the Idle race singles Skeleton of the roundabout/they're knocking nails into my house being one of my favourite singles. The smoke had weak material. Fleur de lyes were better than the Poets. Sorry but KALEDESCOPE were the most boring of all the psych bands, the best being not Floyd but Tomorrow. It is a well known fact amongst sixties lovers that the greatest band not to become famous were the Creation. We got bored of groups like the Action doing Tamla covers. I was there and wish I still was.
Thanks for adding to the information: I appreciate your opinions and knowledge. You obviously know a lot more about the psychedelic era than I ever will, Though, I do think Floyd went badly wrong around the time of Ummagumma. Cheers!
I agree that The Action were not terribly good, as they just did very lame UK covers of U.S. hits.