In their infinite wisdom, the powers-that-were at Mercury insisted that the group give up the name under which they'd won all of this goodwill all over Long Island, and for a time the Lost Souls became the Commandos. Although originally founded in Chicago, Mercury during the second half of the '60s had become a serious outlet for New York-based talent, including the Shangri-Las, the Left Banke, and the outfit that became known as Steam, and whatever the name they were using, the Lost Souls/Commandos would seem to have been tailor-made to join this stable of acts. According to Bosse, however, the group got midway through a proposed album when the label lost interest, and soon the Commandos were the Lost Souls again, with a certain loss of momentum coming off the disappointment of the false start. They were still rolling along on Long Island, however, and it was while playing an extended gig with a rival outfit called the Hassles that someone came up with the idea of merging the two bands into a mega-stage outfit. The latter didn't work out, and it was decided instead that the Hassles would continue separately, but also take on two of the Lost Souls' members, Billy Joel and Howie Blauvelt. The Hassles in their new incarnation went on to cut two LPs for Liberty Records, but never quite made the leap to national stardom, despite a strong following on Long Island and some good songs in their repertory, while the Lost Souls passed into history. Their Mercury sides went unheard until the release in 2005 of My Lives, which included Time and Time Again from those sessions, and My Journey's End, another track by the group from 1965. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi