Favourite Freakbeat

THE FAVOURITE SONS-That Driving Beat/Walking Walking Walking U.K. Mercury MF 911 1966

Back in the day (early 90's) I bought this vinyl bootleg LP comp called "Psychedelia Volume Two: The Fairy Fellers Master Stroke".  On it was this powerful bit of freakbeat called "Walking Walking Walking" by a band called The Favourite Sons.  I'd never heard of the band or the track but I was floored.

Fast forward to the late 90's and I've tracked down the single.  On the A-side we have a freakbeat version of the Willie Mitchell soul classic "That Driving Beat" with the originals main horn lick replaced by some fuzz guitar.  It's somewhat soulful but way too freaky to be "r&b", sort of like The Koobas when they covered "You Better Make Up Your Mind" (see Anorak Thing January 13, 2009 entry).  Not a patch on the original but still interesting.

And on the flip we have the monster that is "Walking Walking Walking".  The best way I can describe this is imagine Ali Mackenzie of The Birds fronting The Eyes or The Game.  The vocalist's voice reminds me a lot of The Bird's front man's pipes and the pinnacle of the track is the distorted power chords that make the song the freakbeat legend (in my book anyway) that it is.  The number comes complete with a perfect distorted freaky solo that bears the archetype freakbeat '66 sound.

"That Driving Beat" was included on the CD "That Driving Beat Volume One" while "Walking Walking Walking" is on the CD "English Freakbeat Volume Three" (where it was obviously nicked from the "Psychedelia Volume Two" LP comp!).

Hear "Walking Walking Walking":

https://youtu.be/GR23KAD_Wkc

Hear "That Driving Beat":

https://youtu.be/vbAaXLUoyZM

RARE MOD VOLUME TWO

RARE MOD VOLUME TWO (A Second Volume of 60's Underground Rhythm N' Blues, Psych & Soul)-Various Artists CD (Acid Jazz) 2009

"Mod" is thrown around so often on CD compilations these days.  It's usually some cheesy affair of a bunch of Kinks, Searchers, Petula Clark and even (on occasion) 60's Bowie cuts with "mod" tacked on, more bullshit than bulls eyes or an excuse to cobble together a bunch of lame '79 bands.  Far from being a catchphrase to the folks at Acid Jazz it's actually used to good effect here where there isn't a hit to be seen and none of these bands should not raise an eyebrow among the general public unfamiliar with such legends/heroes to us anorak's like The Richard Kent Style.  Nearly all of these numbers are previously unreleased tracks from the archives (don't ask from who's, I'm not sure...).

The Summer Set are one of those mega obscure bands that seemed to play a weekly gig in '66 at The Marquee alongside my faves like The Action, The Move, David Bowie and The Buzz  or The Syn (they were, for a time, the club's houseband). Their single track "It's A Dream" (they had two 45's on U.K. Columbia) popped up nearly 20 years ago on one of the Strange Thing's Are Happening "Circus Days" CD and it's a perfect mix of proto psych weirdness and the American West Coast harmony/pop obsession (also one of my fave U.K. 60's obsessions).  I've always wanted to hear more and now I have.  Their "Oh Miss Stone" is a jaunty/cheeky unreleased pop affair that sits nicely alongside The Human Instinct's "Death Of The Seaside" (see May 13, 2010 entry) about a seaside stall merchant. Who said the "West Coast" had to mean California, there was always Blackpool!  The Richard Kent Style are legends on the strength of their firmly mod/freakbeat classic "Go Go Children" and more r&b/soulful (and equally cool) numbers like "All Good Things" .  Someone needs to get around to officially compiling their 5 singles on a nice little CD one day since the singles all run for about a month or two's pay.  Luckily there are bonus cuts to be had like their offering here, an unreleased spirited version of The Contour's "Just A Little Misunderstanding" that breaths new life into an otherwise (in my estimation) played out number. American garage band The Poor's "She's Got The Time" was covered in the U.K. on a 45 by a group called The Affex who amped it up substantially (must've been the speed).  The hitherto unknown Gass Company serve up a second British cover of it, though not as good as The Affex version it's still enjoyable and gets an "A" for obscurity with some interesting lead vocal technique!  The Amboy Dukes (a British band not to be confused with Ted Nugent's lot) are actually a heavy/organ U.K. six piece formed from the ashes of The Platform Six (responsible for the stellar single "Money Will Not Mean A thing" from one of the "Doin' the Mod" CD comps).  Where the Platform Six were firmly in Georgie Fame/Zoot Money Flamingo turf these guys are another kettle of fish, there's still a twinge of jazz but they're quite heavy with the pulsating organ and noodling guitar work on "More And More" and "You Better Find Yourself Someone", think Amen Corner jamming with Arthur Brown on a handful of leapers. The Nocturnes (not the Matawan, NJ, US instro combo) offer a decent hand claps and Hammond groover called "Hay, That's What Horses Eat", a full on party mode record with plenty of "atmosphere" like The Quik's "Bert's Apple Crumble" or Wynder K. Frog's interpretation of "I'm A Man".  The other contribution "Night Owl" (not the Howard Tate number) is more poppy with some nice bass and reminds me of one of those cool B-side or LP cuts by The Tremeloes. The Fleur De Ly's "Nothing To Say" is dead boring lightweight stuff that sounds like a Macauly-McLeod cast off.  "I Walk The Sands", their other track here sounds straight off of "Back From The Grave" with it's lo-fi DYI garage feel and is miles away from the previously mentioned cut!  The Chances Are were responsible for their brilliant soulful cover of the pre-Creedance Clearwater Revival act The Golliwog's "Fragile Child on 45 in the U.K.  Their offering here is a bluesy take on "Talkin' Bout You" with some nice fuzzy guitar and some bass playing that reminds me of The Small Faces Decca instrumentals.  The legendary Brit r&b act Dave Anthony's Moods were responsible for the killer Mike Hugg penned "New Directions" (available on a British 60's r&b CD comp of the same name)  and their legend stands for itself on the strength of that one single. Their inclusion here is a weird little number called "See My Soul" that has a sort of Middle Eastern feel to it, but sadly not very interesting.

All in all I highly recommend this if you're into British 60's r&b/beat or freakbeat, there's some duff tracks here and there but overall it's a decent stroll through the great unknown and unissued of British 60's music.

Leatherhead? What The Hell Comes From Leatherhead?

JOHN'S CHILDREN-Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get/But She's Mine U.K. Columbia DB 8124 1967

From the hamlet of Leatherhead, deep in Surrey U.K. came John's Children.  Discovered by Yardbirds manager and all round amusing impresario Simon Napier-Bell the band consisted of Andy Ellison(vocals), Geoff McClelland (guitar), John Hewlett (bass) and Chris Towson (drums).  They had previously released "The Love I Thought I'd Found" ("Smashed Blocked on the U.S. White Whale 239  issue) /"Strange Affair" Columbia DB 8030 in October 1966. This was their second release which hit the largely uninterested public (despite a nifty little advert for the trade papers seen above) on the 3rd of February 1967.  There's a great chapter on them in Napier Bell's HIGHLY recommended tome "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" (kudos to Rob Keith for turning me onto that one).

I was pretty much John's Children MAD in the 80's.  In early 1985 I named my fanzine "Smashed Blocked" after one of their tracks and on occasion could be seen sporting all white (white jeans, white high tops and white sweatshirt) just like the band. I once had my teenage sister aid me in bugging my local college radio station (WPRB at Princeton University) by phone, but to no avail, to play tracks from their reissue LP "The Legendary Orgasm Album" (an experience which still traumatizes her to this day). In my later years I managed to secure all but two of their U.K. singles (their first and the ultra rare "Midsummer Night's Scene").

"Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get" is a sneering piece that verges on snotty American garage music territory like The Music Machine . It begins with a cheesy combo organ, swatches of backwards guitars, this ominous descending bass line and Andy Ellison's plaintiff singing.  Then things get ugly.  Then the backing vocals come in with this mechanical, menacing chant that sounds a little too, almost, well like they're "Sieg heiling" (they're not I assure you but it does have a eerie feel to it that seems to have a Nuremberg rally feel to it) . Immediately after Andy starts to get venomous while he spits out misogynistic lyrics with the lovely catchphrase "what's in it for me?" and whispers "don't think I don't know just what you want" (punctuated with a shouted response "Everything!") and then "don't think I don't know just what you'll get" ("Nothing!). Well constructed and well crafted it stands as probably in my estimation one of their best pieces of work.  The flip side, "But She's Mine" is pretty muddy.  The lyrics are positively strange ("I need a woman, mother would do...")and it relies on a simplistic mod/power-pop 4 chord Kinks-style progression with a Dylanesque chorus and a burst of lead guitar pyrotechnics c/o Napier Bell's charge Jeff Beck (who was added as Napier Bell disowned the ability of the band's guitarist Geoff McClelland).  McClelland would soon fall victim to the axe and be replaced by a solo artist under Napier Bell's umbrella by the name of Marc Bolan.  The band would go on to achieve some notoriety with this line up, break up in late 1967, reform and blow up my friend's amp at '66-'99 in San Diego, California.

Both tracks are readily available on a multitude of John's Children CD's floating around out there.

Hear "Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get" (and be changed forever):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm0Il3jdn40

Hear "But She's Mine" (and agree that the lyrics are "odd"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbP3GmXxtps

Extended Play de la France

THE SMOKE-My Friend Jack/Don't Lead Me On/We Can Take It/Waterfall  E.P. France Impact IMP 200.010 M 1967

Paul Weller once observed "In general you can't put a value on style because it's so personal. Perhaps that's it's appeal. It's like a million people telling me that Picasso was a genius; well, I think he was shite and that a French Small Faces EP cover can piss all over any of his paintings".  Ask any vinyl nutcase about French 60's EP sleeves/covers and they'll all agree, they're works of art regardless of whether they're jazz, Motown or British 60's freakbeat like our article in question here.  Content wise they were always cool too because they'd take a single and it's B-side and add either another single and it's B-side or in the case of this here Smoke E.P., two LP tracks.

I needn't trouble you with a history of the U.K. foursome known as The Smoke.  They never made it big in their home country of the U.K. but were quite popular on the continent as there miscellany of amazing looking German and French picture sleeves will attest to.  Best known for "My Friend Jack", a tremelo laced groover that got them in trouble with some stuffy censors back home for the offending line "my friend Jack eats sugar lumps" (as in the practice of  dropping L.S.D. on a sugarcube).  Luckily the alternate version was not released (where the previous line added "oh what beautiful things he sees"). 

Anyway as you can hear "My Friend Jack" is a powerhouse.  A tad overplayed but still brilliant. It's normal 45 rpm flipside, "We Can Take it" is another amazing slice of clasic mid 60's British proto freakbeat with some nicely descending melodic licks, choppy power chords on the verge of feeding back and all.  Great stuff! The next two tracks are culled from their legendary 1967 German only LP "It's Smoke Time". "Don't Lead Me On" has some nice throbby Motown-ish bass and the expected slashing guitar, in fact The Smoke rarely had any numbers with restrained guitar, the exception being our next track "Waterfall".  "Waterfall" is a ballad, the only ballad I know of in their catalog.  It's at odds with their sound but it works because it's subtle and not too sappy or cheezy.

All four cuts are available on a variety of Smoke CD's floating around out there from the "It's Smoke Time" plus bonus tracks LP CD to the 46 track comp CD "High In A Room-The Anthology".

Hear "My Friend Jack/We Can Take It":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTuDixEmlXE

Manfred Mann: Pop Jazzbos

MANFRED MANN-Instrumental Asylum EP HMV 7EG 8949 UK 1966

Being no strangers to jazz Manfred Mann threw the pop world on it's ear(s) in 1966 when they released "Instrumental Asylum", an E.P. chock full of jazz versions of currents "pop" hits of the day. By now the band were on the verge of losing lead singer Paul Jones. The multi-instrumental guitarist Mike Vickers had already jumped ship. Bassist Tom McGuinness had shifted into his place with his bass vacancy being briefly filled by Jack Bruce who'd recently left the Graham Bond Organization. With Manfred on keyboards and Mike Hugg on drums the band were complimented by a two man horn section comprised of Henry Lowther (saxophone) and Lyn Dobson, later to join Georgie Fame's live band (trumpet/flute).

Upon it's release the E.P. was both praised and savaged by the U.K. music press, this mattered little as it went on to become the band's least successful (sales wise) E.P. on HMV, and also their last for the label. Ex-Band of Angel's lead singer Mike D'Abo joined to replace Paul Jones and the band switched labels to Fontana.

The arrangements on the E.P. vary. The E.P. kicks off with The Yardbird's "Still I'm Sad" which swings (rather heavily I might add) thanks to some great solos by Lowther and Dobson who pretty much carry the tune and some heavy ivory pounding by Manfred. "My Generation" is barely recognizable from The Who's amphetamine mod stutter "anthem" until the vibes play the melody of the chorus (I'm curious who it was as the band's previous "vibes man" Mike Vickers was gone) before it returns back to Bruce's speedy bass runs backed by some fine horn work. Sonny & Cher's pedestrian "I Got you Babe" is turned into a cheeky, sped up elevator jazz project with Lowther and Dobson again receiving the accolades making it, in the words of a great jazz Lp "a swinging affair". The group's swipe at The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a wonderful number. It's a mish mash of the powerful horn section (with a wonderful solo by Dobson as he trades licks with Manfred's B-3 and also a nice solo by Lowther), football terrace like "chants" by the band of "hey hey hey that's what I say" during the breaks and some over the top fuzz guitar by McGuinness right afterwards! Brilliant. The band returned the to " jazz versions of pop hits gimmick" (though less exciting) later in the year on Fontana with another jazz themed E.P. titled "Instrumental Assassination" (TE17483).

All four selections from the "Instrumental Asylum" E.P. can be found on the LP "The Soul Of Mann" which has been reissued on CD by EMI bearing both mono and stereo versions of all of the cuts on one disc.

"Still I'm Sad" on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGAEJ3TJao

"My Generation" on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHlzHOz4G1w

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2qfcHRXz0g

Hear "I Got You Babe":

https://youtu.be/C2ICP6CZaGc

When Freakbeat Met Soul

THE KOOBAS-You'd Better Make Up Your Mind/A Place I Know U.K. Pye 7N1707 1966

The Koobas ( Stu Leathwood-vocals/rhythm guitar, Roy Morris-guitar, Keith Ellis-bass and Tony O'Reilly-drums)were from Liverpool. They were previously known as "The Kubas" and had a cut on the "Ferry Cross the Mersey" film soundtrack (but were sadly not in the film) before dropping the "u" and adding "oo" to their name. They were managed by Tony Stratton-Smith, who also managed the Creation. They'd cut one beat single as The Kubas ("I Love Her/Magic Potion" on Columbia DB 7451 in January 1965) before moving on to Pye records. Their first offering on Pye as The Kooba's was a competent version of Evie Sand's soul ballad "Take Me For A Little While" b/w "Somewhere In The Night" Pye 7N 17012 in December of 1965 (with numerous non-U.K. picture sleeves for the 45 showing the band in their black shirts and floral hipsters, including one in the U.S. on Kapp). Never commercially successful, the band had a somewhat decent following on the Continent (like most of the best 60's U.K. unsung heroes who never had a chart hit).

Their second single for Pye (and their final before moving onto Columbia for the next two final years of their career) was more interesting. Arriving in April of 1966 it coupled a cover of the Brooks O'Dell soul heart breaker "You'd Better Make Up Your Mind" with an original "A Place I Know", written by Leathwood and Ellis on the flip. Usually U.K. soul covers can go either way: lame (listen to any Keith Powell soul cover) or good (like, The Action!). By now The Koobas had shifted from a beat group to more of a mod/freakbeat type band with far more soul covers and guts to their music and period pics show them in patterned trousers and stripey sweaters/tennis shirts with center parted hair and onstage with Rickenbacker guitars. Their cover choice was fairly obscure and they made it their own by throwing in some fuzz guitar to play the original versions horn section's melody line. This earns it the "freakbeat" tag and vocalist Stu Leathwood's pipes are nice and strong but solemn enough to pull this one off perfectly. Truth be told I'd heard The Koobas version a good 15 years before the original! Flip it over and you've got a mid-tempo "mod" dancer with lots of lyrics about grooving, cool places and the like. It's accented by some high backing vocals and a funky beat and is a taste of the brilliant original material the band would soon be relying on over the next two years. There are two seperate appearances of the band on TV in Germany on "Beat Beat Beat" performing it live in November 1965 and September 1966 respectively!

Both sides have seen proper reissues: "You'd Better Make Up Your Mind" appeared on Sequel's "Doin' The Mod Volume Four:Ready Steady Stop" CD while "A Place I Know" graced "Doin The Mod Vol One:The Go Go Train".

"A Place I Know":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2evIVILgQSI

"You Better Make Up Your Mind":

https://youtu.be/PDn1u-zXfm0