When I think of music in the late 1960s, this is one of the songs I think of. I like it but it is so very much of its time.
The Chambers Brothers were four brothers - George, Lester, Willie and Joe - who were from Carthage, Mississippi and who eventually relocated to Los Angeles and acquired a drummer. "Time Has Come Today" was an 11-minute track that was edited down to 4:45 in one version and 3:05 in another for release as a single; I think I recall hearing both of the shorter versions. It reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 nationally in Canada.
The band's followup, a cover of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose", reached #37 on the Hot 100 and #29 in Canada but didn't get airplay in Toronto. (I started listening to it but didn't feel a need to finish it.) They placed a total of seven other songs on the lower reaches of the Billboard chart between 1968 and 1974, reaching #83, #113, #92, #96, #103, #96 again, and #106.
The Chambers brothers continued plugging away after this in various permutations and with various other performers, with the four of them getting together for a reunion in 1997 and three of them joining forces with other musicians to form a new Chambers Brothers in 2016. Of the four, George and Joe have passed away; Lester and Willie are still alive as I write this.
Created March 17, 2026.