1.02.2011

TIME WON'T LET ME: THE OUTSIDERS!

The Outsiders married the Motown sound and the British Invasion to generate a sound that featured horns, a Hammond B organ and a biting guitar. This sound would later influence groups started and directed by Jim Guercio which included the Buckinghams, Chicago, and other midwest pop bands.

You can even hear the Outsiders sound in the 80's band...Huey Lewis. The CD has other great cuts including the Isley Brothers remake of "Respectable" which landed in the Top 15. Had the Outsiders released this song right after Time Won't Let Me it would have made the Top 10.


The Outsiders were a rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. Founded and led by guitarist Tom King. The band is best known for its Top 5 hit "Time Won't Let Me" in early 1966, which peaked at #5 in the US, but the band had three other hit singles in 1966 and released a total of four albums in the mid-1960s.


They started in 1959 as Tom King And The Starfires. After the arrival of the Beatles they changed their sound and changed their name to The Outsiders. Signing to Capitol at the beginning of 1966 their first single Time Won’t Let Me was a Number 5 pop hit. They scored 3 more Top Thirty hits that year. Singer Sonny Geraci was later in the band ("Precious and Few") Climax. Sonny in 2008



The Outsiders had 4 top 40 hits. "Girl In Love" #21. "Help me Girl" #37. "Respectable" # 15 and "Time Won't let me" #5. These were all from 1966. Their third hit "Respectable" peaked at a respectable #15 in the National Billboard Top 100 charts, which disqualifies The Outsiders from being mere "one hit wonders".



The lead guitarist on the "Time Won't Let Me" recording, Joe Baldassarre, was a session guy in Cleveland, and now holds a Ph.D. in early civ music (as in medieval music) and is considered an international authority on said period music; he's a professor of guitar at Boise State University, in Boise Idaho.



This was the first hit for The Outsiders, who were a Cleveland group that scored 3 other US Top 40s in 1966. Their lead singer Sonny Geraci was also the lead singer for Climax, Jimmy Fox, who was the drummer on the Outsiders' first album, later formed The James Gang with Joe Walsh. 

7 comments:

Ira Paul said...

just played your link. I like that song !! Cant get over how young they look

BIG Rich said...

Time WON'T let us

Dave Lambert said...

Love that jam!!!

BecomeYourBestSelf said...

only thing you have wrong is that the lead solo on time won't let me was recorded be a guy named Al Austin, he
died shortly after the secession Kevin King

jenilei said...

Yes Allen Austin was my second cousin. I hate to see that he wasnt credited. He was the original guitarist with the band. My grandmother told me he was the bass guitarist but Ive read that he was the lead guitarist. He was killed in a car accident before his time. I wish I could have known my cousin. We love you Allen!!!

Unknown said...

Sadly Sonny Geraci passed in February of 2017. Here is a video that shows him singing many of his hit tunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-P05VfF0LM

Retro Kimmer said...

@unknown thank you for the update and great video! Added the video and updated the story to include Sonny's Obit. xoK

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