Misunderstood

"The best popular record that has ever been recorded." (John Peel on 'I Can Take You To The Sun', 11 August 1968)

"If I had to list the ten greatest performances I've seen in my life, one would be The Misunderstood at Pandora's Box, Hollywood, 1966. It was the only time I've seen an audience reduced to impotent silence." (JP, interview, 2003, )

thumb|right|320px|106. [[The Misunderstood: I Can Take You To The Sun (Fontana), 1966]]

The Misunderstood were a psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, they are considered highly influential in the then-emerging genre ... (read more on Wikipedia)

Links To Peel

 * Work ongoing

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1976 Festive Fifty: I Can Take You To The Sun #30

Sessions

 * None

Other Shows Played

 * 1967


 * 12 July 1967: (JP: "You may have heard me raving – you must have heard the records by The Misunderstood. And when we were in America, when I was in California with them, we went into Gold Star Records of Hollywood to cut a demo LP so they could come over here and get work. And at that time they were a blues band, and the demo LP I have is lost in the States somewhere, and it is very scratchy. And they did the whole thing – they went and recorded nine songs in two hours, you know, it was one of those things. So if you just get it right the first time or forget it. And they did a single, which I sent to my brother and I’d forgotten all about, and I found it, you see, and I’m going to play it for you right now. So you have to remember this was recorded in just one take, and it was the first number they did. But it’s on a single, and it’s called “You Don't Have To Go”. And there’s nothing very exciting on it, but you can just, you know, hear Glen Campbell. And hearing Glen Campbell should be enough to make your entire week, really, so stop and think. The Misunderstood...") You Don't Have To Go (unreleased demo acetate) (JP: "Those are The Misunderstood, recorded about a year and a half ago. That’s called You Don't Have To Go, with Glen Campbell on lead guitar, and there’s movement afoot, actually, to try and get Glen Campbell – there are two Glen Campbells. One of them is a session musician who records for Capitol Records in the States, and we don’t want to pay any attention to him. This is little tiny withered Glen Campbell of The Misunderstood. And the most glorious musical evening of my entire life actually took place with The Misunderstood, at a place called Pandora’s Box on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. And we went in there to play, and it’s one of those places where people go, you know, so they won’t be impressed. You know the kind of place I mean? Everyone sort of sitting around, and, you know, “We’re not going to be impressed, definitely.” And they went, and The Misunderstood went up there and they started off with a 24-minute version of Smokestack Lightning, with little tiny spidery Glen standing over his guitar just flashing out these beautiful stunning staggering sounds. And people were clutching their faces, you know. The tension was building up and up and up, and they were going mad. And by the time the thing was over, everyone in the place was standing by the stage and they’d closed down the bar and they’d stopped dancing and they were just standing there looking. And when they got through, they didn’t clap or anything – they just stood there completely sort of turned into great beautiful pillars of something. It was marvelous, it really was. I wish you’d been there. Anyway, we’ve got to get Glen Campbell back over here.")
 * 16 July 1967: You Don't Have To Go (unreleased demo acetate)
 * 18 July 1967: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777 (JP: "That’s the stuff that hymns should be made of. That was The Miunderstood, and that was called I Can Take You To The Sun. And even if I can’t I shall keep trying, said he throwing things about.")
 * 06 August 1967: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777
 * 14 August 1967: (JP: "Anyway, here’s a group who really had a voice that is for the ages and then sad things happened and they had to break up and went in several different directions. But in some ways they are going to get back to us, I know. I don’t know exactly how but they will. Anyway, here are The Misunderstood and the one pearl that they did produce, and this is called I Can Take You To The Sun. And for about four minutes, they did. Listen!") I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777 (JP: ''"The lead guitar of Glenn Campbell – searing with fiery intensity as he does and then turning around and bubbling like mountain pebble streams, very gently and very quietly. An amazing guitarist. He’ll be back, you watch."
 * 14 August 1967: You Don't Have To Go (acetate owned by JP) (JP: "At last I am left alone in the dark green of the Perfumed Garden. Those are the Misunderstood, and You Don't Have To Go. And I do wish actually that it is possible for me to play for you the other acetates that I have from the Misunderstood, but they are still in America unfortunately and I can’t get my hands on them. One of these days, however, I will and you will hear them, and you will be amazed.")
 * 14 August 1967: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777
 * 31 December 1967: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777


 * 1968


 * 06 March 1968: (JP: "This is a record by a group that I used to manage in California that was released about fifteen months ago, and it shows you, I think, that groups are capable of making records that never get anywhere that people should hear. It's unfortunate that the group was subsequently broken up.") I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777
 * 01 May 1968: Who Do You Love? (single - b-side of I Can Take You To The Sun) Fontana TF 777
 * 11 August 1968: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777 (JP - "the best popular record that has ever been recorded.")
 * 22 December 1968: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777


 * 1969


 * 02 February 1969: I Unseen (b-side of single Children Of The Sun) Fontana TF 998
 * 29 June 1969: Never Had a Girl (Like You Before) (single) Fontana TF 1041


 * 1972
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 6: Children Of The Sun (single) Fontana (released Feb 1969)
 * 15 September 1972: Who Do You Love (single - I Can Take You To The Sun b-side)


 * 1976


 * 28 December 1976: I Can Take You To The Sun (7") Fontana FF#30 (JP: "I was very chuffed to see that get in there...the only record the catalogue number of which I know off by heart 'cos of the number of times I've had to write and tell people what it is....I'd like to dedicate that one to my mother, because when the band came over here in 1966, they went and stayed with her for a few months. I don't think she's ever fully recovered from that.")


 * 1981


 * 18 May 1981: Children Of The Sun (7 inch) Cherry Red


 * 1982


 * 14 April 1982: My Mind (album - Before The Dream Faded)
 * 27 April 1982: Children Of The Sun (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red
 * 27 April 1982: My Mind (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red
 * 03 May 1982: My Mind (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red


 * 1984


 * 06 August 1984: I Can Take You To The Sun (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red (JP notices that the sleeve of the Misunderstood record has a lot of stuff about his days as a DJ in America: "I did say some amazingly stupid things, I must confess.")


 * 1990


 * 14 October 1990: My Mind (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red


 * 1992


 * 04 January 1992: Shake Your Money Maker
 * 20 March 1992: I Can Take You To The Sun (7 inch) Fontana
 * 18 April 1992: My Mind (CD - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red CD BRED 32


 * 1994
 * 18 March 1994: I Can Take You To The Sun (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red
 * 12 April 1994 (BBC World Service): I Can Take You To The Sun (album - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red
 * 22 July 1994: I Can Take You To The Sun (7 inch ) Fontana


 * 1996
 * 31 August 1996 (BFBS): My Mind (CD-Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red
 * 22 September 1996: Who Do You Love (7" b-side I Can Take You To The Sun) Fontana
 * 06 October 1996 (World Service): (JP: ”In 1966 I was living and working in San Bernardino, California and I went to a shopping center in the nearby town of Riverside to see, well, to witness the opening of a new shopping mall along with a band called the Mystics, who were playing there. And also playing there that afternoon was a band called the Misunderstood, one of the very best bands that I ever saw in all of my life. And I went with them a few weeks later to a recording studio in Hollywood where they made their first and only demo tape. And some of the tracks of that have survived and have been issued a couple of times now on record, and here’s one of the tracks. It has a very strange beginning, which I don’t remember from the studio, but nevertheless I shall leave it in. It’s marvelous stuff. The Misunderstood…”) I'm Not Talking (LP – Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red


 * 1997


 * 10 April 1997 (BFBS): Who's Been Talking (CD-The Legendary Gold Star Album) Cherry Res
 * 23 May 1997 (BFBS): (JP: "In the past I've obviously gone many times over the history of the Misunderstood in California in the mid 1960s and said how wonderful they were, particularly for the time in which they played, and here's an opportunity for me to remind you of that again. Bear in mind that this record was made early in 1966, and just consider where they might have ended up if they'd been able to continue. The lead singer Rick (Brown) got drafted, and the band didn't break up exactly. They continued but it was a different band.") I'm Not Talking (demo)


 * 1999
 * 02 November 1999: I Can Take You To The Sun (7") Fontana Peelenium 1966


 * 2002
 * 10 January 2002: My Mind (Cherry Red)
 * 06 February 2002: I Can Take You To The Sun (7 inch) Fontana (Final Perfumed Garden Revisited) (JP: 'One of the great records of all time: the only record for which I actually know the catalogue number off by heart, because I used to be asked for it so many times...a record which still has the capacity to astonish me.')
 * 11 July 2002: Who Do You Love (LP - Before The Dream Faded) Cherry Red Records
 * 11 December 2002: Shake Your Moneymaker (12")' (Time Stood Still)


 * 2003
 * 24 April 2003: I Can Take You To The Sun (7") Fontana


 * 2004
 * 29 June 2004: My Mind (LP 'The Lost Acetates 1965-1966) UT


 * Other


 * Radio Radio: I Can Take You To The Sun