Plain and Fancy: Society's Children - Mister Genie Man (1968-74 us, rough fuzzy garage psych, 2023 release)

Society’s Children after the Shamrocks split up, Pat Sassone recruited two brothers and a friend of theirs to start the first version of Society’s Children. His mother, Doreen, had suggested the name. Doreen took over on vocals and continued to pitch in with lyrics. I can’t think of a single other 60s garage band that included a parent and child

Society’s Children recorded “Mister Genie Man” at Columbia Records Studios in Chicago on December 13, 1968. It’s now considered a “punkadelic” masterpiece: sounding like Grace Slick, Doreen wails doomy lyrics (Patrick described the tune as “basically about someone having a terrible nightmare”) while blasts of fuzz guitar and propulsive Farfisa organ double down hard.

Tiny local imprint Cha Cha Records, which had distribution through Chess, released the 45 before the end of the year. Cha Cha had its own small recording studio on West Randolph in the Loop, but Society’s Children never used it. The single didn’t take off, but if everything Sassone says about Cha Cha owner Donald DeLucia is true, that’s no surprise.

In 1974 Society’s Children recorded what was supposed to be their second single, “Listen” b/w “I Don’t Wanna See Tomorrow,” at the studio operated by Palos Records (which released mostly blues artists such as Lonnie Brooks, Bobby Rush, and Eddie Boyd). The interview at It’s Psychedelic Baby includes a photo of hub labels apparently from this single, but I have to assume they’re from a test pressing—the record never came out.

The band would keep recording in a home studio with various rhythm players, but in 1976 Sassone and his family (including Doreeen) moved to California. They soon moved to Arizona and tried again, but we had trouble keeping musicians. In 1977 the band ended for good.Patrick Sassone never stopped making music, and he’s been putting out solo material since 2010. Sadly, Doreen passed away in 2017.

The story of Society’s Children also continues to unfold. Because Sassone held onto the band’s unreleased recordings (including a “gospel rock” album from the early 70s), he could help assemble a new archival release, Mister Genie Man, that compiles the Cha Cha single with never-before-heard tracks from between 1968 and 1974.

by Steve Krakow, August 7, 2023