The South Spotlight: Little Phil and the Night Shadows - Sixty Second Swinger/In The Air

Day 6 of our 10-part Battle of the Garage Bands for The South Region takes us to Georgia where we spin a record from Little Phil and the Night Shadows. The Night Shadows have roots dating back to 1957. It wasn't until 1964, when The Beatles hit in the US, that the band transmogrified into a mod rock combo. As they did they added a high school kid to take over on vocals and hip the band up. That kid was the 14 year old Phil Rosenberg. Two years later, in 1966, the band would record two singles. The first for Dot Records and this one, for Gaye Records.

Sixty Second Swinger is a great rollicking number that is more than 60 seconds. But not much more as it clocks in at a very brief 2:16. We're not totally sure exactly what is a Sixty Second Swinger. It has something to do with being a way out mod girl who does what she wants. You know, like going to school during the day and making love all night. How these actions of our swinger/hero get distilled into Sixty Seconds is still a mystery to us. The song was written by Aleck Janoulis, the bassist (standing second from left on the picture sleeve). Maybe he can tell us.

The Flip-Side is the Janoulis co-composed number, In The Air. It's a nice folky, Byrds-influenced number with a serious tone to it. The humorously bespectacled Jimmy Callaway gives us a real nice guitar solo in between Little Phil's waxing away on the fragile state of the world.

Other members of the band include Bobby Newell and Charles Spinks. The band ultimately were unable to tour outside of Atlanta as Phil was still in High School and the others had to focus on their college studies to avoid the draft.

 Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!