Well hello again!
Ya know...I'm getting real close to retirement age and this extended time off is making me chomp at the bit to throw it all in and live the rest of my "golden years" without gainful employment. Unfortunately, I still need a steady income so I can buy lots more records in the future. Ha Ha Ha!!!! Seriously though, I'm liking this time off and since I've been more independent, so to speak, I've been able to get some "light" projects done here at home. Some tasks are a bit difficult like trying to hang a picture on the wall. I can hold a hammer with my right hand ok, but damn if I can reach up for the hook with my left, and no, I can't hammer with my left or I'll just end up crushing my fingers and that would not be a good thing. But I'm on the mend and healing nicely.
I've been meaning to take a trip out west to Buffalo where I hear the record stores are pretty good. I really need a good three or four hours of serious crate digging for cool 45's. Speaking of 45's, this post continues with more "back of the box" stuff. This is a real scattershot post in that you'll get a bunch of different styles of 60's/70's 45's that range from crude instrumentals to glossy pop and some "Neo Garage" as well. I hope you like it.
Wailers - Tall Cool One / Road Runner (1959)
The Wailers from Tacoma, WA were one of the best band to come out of the Pacific Northwest and were an early example of a "garage band", although I usually classify "garage" as anything that came out after the British Invasion in 1964. Early on they were primarily an instrumental band but evolved into a hard nosed R&B based garage band like they're crosstown pals, The Sonics.
This was their 1st 45 and went to #36 on the Billboard charts with a bullet. They would also back Rockin' Robin Roberts on his 1961 recording of "Louie Louie" whose version and arrangement pretty much set the template for all other versions to follow.
They carried on all the way into 1967 and recently have had many of their early 45s and L.P.'s re-issued on Norton and Sundazed records.
Baskerville Hounds - Space Rock Part One / Space Rock Part Two (1967)
A really popular Cleveland, Ohio group rips off the Stones' "2120 South Michigan Ave."
Astronauts - Around And Around / Main Title From "Ride The Wild Surf" (1964)
The Astronauts do an admirable job covering Chuck Berry's classic, in fact they released this in August of 1964, beat the Rolling Stones by a couple of months, but unfortunately never gained enough traction on the charts as The Stones would kick off their debut appearance on Ed Sullivan's show in October the same year with this song and...well...that's a hard act to follow, or catch up with. It also appeared on "12X5" their second album and in fact, the Stones' version could be considered the "definitive" version. So this 45 sort of languished in obscurity, "just another Astronauts 45" so to speak.
The flip side of this is more in their vein. A great moody surf instrumental that was augmented by a bunch of horns and strings.
Fraternity Bros. - Laugh It Off / I Think It's Me (196?)
Not sure about the origins of this one. It was probably released in late '66 or early '67 but I cannot confirm that. It was produced by Joe South and was most likely a studio project. Lots of "Four Seasons" influence here...
Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring - Please Don't Forget Tonight / For A Moment (1966)
Not too sure about this one either, but it has the same "Four Seasons" vibe as the previous 45.
Equipe '84 - Io Ho In Mente Te / Resta (Stay) (1966)
Equipe '84 were one of the biggest groups in Italy during the 60's and well into the '70's and beyond. Here they tackle the "We Five's" "You Were On My Mind" sung in Italian, and do a decent version of "Stay" on the 'B' side.
Outside of the garage, psyche, bubblegum, sunshine pop etc. that I usually collect, I have a strange fascination with Italian 45's. I have a bunch here, and someday I may do posts on them, although none of what I have falls into "garage" or "psychedelic'. It's mostly what I call "San Remo Pop" from the 60's and 70's. perhaps in the future I may entertain you with that....
Candymen - Georgia Pines (1967)
Ask, and you shall receive.
Main Attraction - Everyday / One Must Cry (1968)
A pop group from Pittsburgh that managed to get an entire LP released on Tower. Interesting arrangements with lots of slick background vocals, some strings, and a Farfisa organ that gives this somewhat well produced 45 a cheezy garage vibe. Not too bad.
Marbles - Only One Woman / By The Light Of A Burning Candle (1968)
The back story on The Marbles is a bit more interesting than the music on this 45, in my opinion. Obviously this British duo which comprised of Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon worked very closely with The Bee Gees who wrote the songs and produced this 45. Gordon played lead guitar on some of The Bee Gees early cuts and The Bee Gees backed him in 1965 on "Little Miss Rhythm And Blues", a terrific slice of Australian R&B Garage Beat. Fast forward to 1967, Gordon leaves for Britain hooks up with his cousin Graham Bonnet and joins the Graham Bonnet Set who later evolved inti The Marbles. Being friends with the Gibb Bros certainly helped as they wrote about a half dozen songs for the duo. They eventually broke up around 1970, Gordon leaving the music business not before releasing a couple of solo LP's and Bonnet would take a turn as a hard rock/heavy metal singer replacing Ronnie James Dio in Rainbow (?) and also doing some time in Alcatraz, The Michael Schenker Group, and released a solo LP featuring the likes of Cozy Powell, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Stays Quo, Mick Moody from Whitesnake, and Deep Purple legend Jon Lord.
As for this 45...it sounds like the Bee Gees had their fingerprints all over it. Not exactly a bad thing.
Marmalade - Hey Joe! / Lovin' Things (1968)
I got this 45 real cheap with a bunch of other stuff and I said to myself, Dan???, how bad could this be? Well, it's pretty damn good. The Marmalade from Glasgow, had a slew 45's before they hit it real big in 1970 with "Reflections Of My Life", a song that was played to death on AM radio here in the states. I always considered them a one hit wonder, but after a lot of digging I found out that this group were very talented and accomplished. A pleasant surprise I might say.
Think - Stop Runnin' Away / Faster Faster (1968)
A west coast group that had two 45's on Columbia. A decent 45 albeit with a lot of brass involved.
Wishbone Ash - Blind Eye / Queen Of Torture (1971)
The first 45 released by this fantastic band in 1971. I was very fortunate to see Wishbone Ash last November here in Upstate New York at club called "Fanatics" in what one would call a "very intimate" setting. The current lineup which still features Andy Powell on lead guitar is still touring and if they come around to where you live, I would definitely check them out.
Last Nikle - She's The One (1969)
I should have put this one before the Wishbone Ash 45. Heavy brass on this one. Not too bad, but some out there may wretch...
Detroit - Rock And Roll / Box Of Old Roses (1971)
I remember my brother Vinny telling me about this band once when we were having a conversation about Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, and what a great band they were. He mentioned them and said they had this one-off LP released after The Detroit Wheels sort of broke up and told me how they were a great hard rock band. So I'm in The Bop Shop around 1988 and I see this 45 and say what the hell. I played it once, filed it and really never listened to it much. This one here kind of aged like fine wine because when I put on the turntable some 20 years later, I was blessed with some of the finest early 70's hard rock sounds ever. Now, mind you, this was a song I heard Lou Reed sing a gazillion times on "Rock 'N Roll Animal', perhaps one of the finest live LP's ever (in my humble opinion), and wouldn't ya know? Guitar whiz Steve Hunter, the man who laid down some of the finest riffs in hard rock lore with Reed and Aerosmith is playing lead guitar on the A side of this gem. This, again in my humble opinion, is the definitive version of this song. Mitch just blows this out vocally and his backing band is top notch, thanks to Hunter's guitar work and Ryder's trusty drummer and Detroit Wheels band-mate Johnny "Bee" Badanjeck. A+
Free-Men - Elanor Rigby (1969)
I put more instrumentals in this post than I usually do. It really wasn't planned that way, but it's what I came up with. I sometimes have fun getting weird covers of Beatle songs, and this is one of them. I'm guessing "The Free-Men" were a studio group of some kind and I don't exactly know where they were from, but New York City may be a good guess...or not. This sounds like it may have been recorded as a background for a TV commercial or perhaps the intro to some cheezy local late night talk show.
