Thursday, 10 April 2008

The Charms of The Enchanted Forest


Hell-o once more! Thought I'd actually better post some more music this time round! Just in case you were getting worried......, well I was anyway! And this time we have something quite nice - nice meaning bejesusly good - of course! One of the best all female bands I have come across are a quintet called The Enchanted Forest, who recorded a couple of natch records at the latter end of the 1960's. Information and images on the group are very much elusive - however there are some interesting titbits to dilvulge - mainly on the people surrounding the group! Rumour has it tho' that one of the members had a famous sibling!

The first connections are with the writers and prouducers of the records, mainly one Mort Schman and one Kenny Lynch. Schuman and Lynch struck up a partnership in the mid-60's which led to among others writing the notable hit Sha-La-La-La-Lee for the Small Faces. However they obviously left their best mark with said group of female musicians! The Enchanted Forest released a grand sum of three records, however two feature the same A-side, and so 5 tracks alltogether! Released on both sides of the Atlantic, the recordings feature some great girl group-cum-pysch harmonies and pop delights! Most impressive is the track You're Never Gonna Get My Lovin', also covered by a couple of other artists, notably The Stockingtops who feature on the latest Dream Babes compilation. I would place my monies on saying the Forest's version is the definitive, but I shall always have bias for female bands regardless! The rest of their line reads like this....

You're Never Gonna Get My Loving / Suzanne STATESIDE SS 2080
The Word Is Love / I'm Not That Kind of Girl VARIATIONS 8687
The Word Is Love / Cold Winds- VARIATIONS 50011

Oh yes....I have forgot to mention thus far that the group also worked and backed for the legend that is Tiny Tim , of which footage has exists and is on the saviour of saviours that is YouTube. Here they are playing in the background while Tim glugs out Earth Angel!



Allright here are the goods!

9 comments:

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Robert Charbonnier said...

Very good group, thank you :-) Your blog is great, keep posting (a little more often would be wonderful ;-), but go your way).

Missy said...

Thanks for your kind words. I am(was) the bass player in the Enchanted Forest. One of these days I will set up a YouTube or MySpace with more of our (unreleased) songs.

cinnamonK said...

Hi Missy - absolutely fantastic to hear from you! Your band are one of the most talented mysteries I would love to find out more about. I hope the limited info I did provide was correct. Apologies for the delay in repsonse too - I am estatic that there is more material by the group, and of course anticipate any chance in the future they may be to hear some of it! If you do have the chance I would very much appreciate any info you could provide about you time in The Enchanted Forest - I bet working with Tiny Tim must have been very entertaining! Thanks again!

Missy said...

Working with Tiny WAS a trip! He was a very sweet (but odd, to say the least) man. Actually, the info you have is incorrect, in that (...and you would have no way of knowing this) the Enchanted Forest that recorded YOU'RE NEVER GONNA GET MY LOVING/SUZANNE was not the same group as the next two recordings. When the 1st group broke up, the producer replaced my band (Act IV) with them, and we became the Enchanted Forest from then on, until our breakup in 1970. I then joined another all-female start-up band called THE MAIDEN VOYAGE, who worked together for the next 6 years until breakup. We only recorded a souvenir album (which shows up on ebay now and then) I am in the process of transferring all my old tapes to my computer, and one day will do a MySpace or the like. Thank you for your interest in these old gals!

cinnamonK said...

Wow! Thanks so much for that additional info - never would have guessed that there were two seperate groups that recorded under the "Enchanted Forest" name - whats doubly amazing is that I've a newspaper article on your previous group, Act IV, who I've always wanted to know more about! I shall endeavour to seek out The Maiden Voyage's release too - cant wait to hear from you when time comes!

Missy said...

I would be very interested in the Act IV article - what newpaper or magazine was it from?

Anonymous said...

The video has been reuploaded here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSX39Qhwx1A

chris nicholls said...

In The 60sI used to go to a club called Todds in Peach lake NY and the ENCHANTED FOREST used to play there most weekends there were and still are a great influence on my musical taste they played some original music but a lot of covers like I am the walrus, Sunshine of Your Love, songs that were indelibly inked onto my pysche DAMN I miss those days, and I sure as hell miss that group of super talented girls