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| THE KINGSMEN-On Love/Guess I Was Dreamin' U.S. Wand WHD 1180 1968 |
Back in the early 90's Greg Shaw issued a CD of "The Electric Sugarcube Flashback" that contained one side of a Kingsmen single that was positively mindblowing titled "Guess I Was Dreamin". On the A-side of said 45 there was a cover of a track originally cut by a British freakbeat band Skip Bifferty called "On Love", the B-side was another British obscure cover of "Guess I Was Dreamin" by The Fairytale. "Guess I Was Dreamin" had been issued in the States in November of '67 as London 45-29032 by The Fairytale but no Skip Bifferty records were ever issued in the U.S. For ages I wondered how and why a down on their luck U.S. band of one hit wonders came to record two mondo obscure British freakbeat/pop psych cover versions. The how has unmasked itself to me recently as both sides were produced by a gentleman named Mark Wildey. He was responsible for producing both of The Fairytale's British singles as well as those by fellow pop psych act The Attack and earlier U.K. releases by The Gamblers, The Untamed and The Plebs. It appears that starting in 1966 some of his productions were of American recordings (today's subject was cut in Los Angeles at Nashville West, or so day the label credits). He had previously worked with The Kingsmen twiddling the knobs on their 1966 LP "Up And Away" and on the singles from the same year of "If I Needed Someone" and "Trouble" and 1967's "Don't Say No". This record did nothing to reverse the sad downward spiral the band had been on and this was to be the Kingsmen's final single of the 60's for the ever faithful Wand label when it came out in May of 1968.
"On Love" lacks the edge and punch of the original, I think it's because the vocals sound like the key is slightly out the lead singers pitch. There's an interesting combo organ thrown in not on the Skip Bifferty version and it retains the original piano riff, it's not at all unlistenable but to me it lacks anything interesting outside of the obscurity of the track.
"Guess I Was Dreamin" is my favorite of the two and should have been the A-side. It's fairly faithful to the original but is slightly more uptempo and has a more danceable go-go beat to it and more harmonies than the original. Curiously it replicates the phlanged piano of the original and retains the feel of paranoia of The Fairytale version .
"Guess I Was Dreamin" appeared on Rhino's 1986 "Nuggets Volume 8: The Northwest" volume and the 2016 CD compilation "Cornflake Zoo Voume 3" and the aforementioned 1993 "Electric Sugarcube Flashbacks" CD.
Hear "On Love":
Hear "Guess I Was Dreamin":
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