Sonny Flaharty And The Mark V - Hey Conductor (1965-67) (2000)

This Dayton, OH, group is known in 1960s garage collector circles for their 1967 single "Hey Conductor," which after a local Cincinnati release on Counterpart was picked up for national distribution by Philips. This 45, a typically ominous fuzz-punker with an organ, harmonies, and doomcast melody, was listed as a breakout single in trade magazines. However, according to Sonny Flaharty, it was banned due to speculation that it was pro-drug, although if that was true, the words were pretty oblique in their drug references. The group also recorded at least one other single, and Flaharty did singles, on his own and with other bands, in a variety of styles, including rockabilly and MOR pop. At one point drummer N.D. Smart (later to play with the Remains, Great Speckled Bird, and Gram Parsons) and keyboardist Mike Losecamp aka Haywood Lovelace (later in the Cyrkle) were in the band. A dozen of their songs, ranging from '50s-style rock & roll to cheesy folk-rock, and "Hey Conductor" itself, were issued by Bacchus Archives on the Hey Conductor CD.