The Remains made one of the best tunes to feature on the Nuggets anthology of ’60s garage rock, but never made a mainstream breakthrough.

They never had anything approaching a hit record, broke up before their debut album was released, and were all but unknown outside of New England.

But to fans of ’60s garage rock, The Remains were one of the greatest bands of their era – America’s answer to the Stones. And this track, featured on the first Nuggets collection, is one reason why.

It’s got a driving R&B rhythm, twangy guitars bringing a touch of psychedelia, and a Jaggerish breakdown in the middle. No wonder their gigs are remembered in awestruck tones by fans who witnessed them at their peak.

Barry Tashian (guitar, lead vocals), Bill Briggs (electric piano), Vern Miller (bass) and Chip Damiani (drums) met when they were living in the same dorm at Boston University.

Forming the band in 1964, they first made their name in student bars and soon became a sensation in Boston. Word spread to Epic Records, who signed them up and sent them to Nashville to record an album with producer Billy Sherrill.

Their singles all flopped – the downbeat I Can’t Get Away From You / But I Ain’t Got You in 1965, the swaggering Why Do I Cry / My Babe in 1966, and I’m Talking About You / Diddy Wah Diddy later that year.

Their fourth single, Don’t Look Back, was the song that should have brought them their breakthrough. It turned out to be their swansong.

After well-received performances on the Ed Sullivan Show and Hullabaloo – traditional routes to pop success – they got the gig of a lifetime, opening for The Beatles on their 1966 tour of America.

But the single flopped like all the others and Damiani quit the band for a proper job shortly before the Beatles tour, forcing them to recruit a new drummer, N.D. Smart.

Just before their debut album came out in September 1966 the remaining members decided to call it a day. And that was that. So what happened to The Remains?

Tashian relocated to Nashville, and played in Emmylou Harris’s band in the ’70s and ’80s, as well as recording several duo albums with his wife, Holly Tashian.

Miller became a member of Swallow, who made two albums for Warner Bros. in the early ’70s, and later went on to a career as a music teacher, while Briggs opened a car dealership and Damiani ran a construction company until his death in 2014.

After his brief sojourn in the group Smart played with groups including Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels, Mountain, Kangaroo and Great Speckled Bird.

In 1969 The Remains played a one-off reunion show, issued as a live album in 2018, ten years after the original lineup played their first show since then at the Cavestomp Festival in NYC.

Since then they’ve played occasional shows and even made a new album, Movin’ On, in 2002.