CHRIS FARLOWE-Out Of Time/Baby Make It Soon/Think/Don't Just Look At Me E.P. Holland Stateside/Immediate HSE 2011 1967
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Cool Foreign E.P.'s Part Twenty One:Chris Farlowe
CHRIS FARLOWE-Out Of Time/Baby Make It Soon/Think/Don't Just Look At Me E.P. Holland Stateside/Immediate HSE 2011 1967
Hermans Had His Course...
HERMAN'S HERMITS-I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving/Marcel's U.K. Columbia DB 8327 1968
Herman's Hermits first single of 1968, "I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving" was a number that was simultaneously issued by our heroes, The Foundations (see Anorak Thing December 19, 2009) as a B-side to their "Back On My Feet Again" single. The single was the band's last U.S. Top 40 hit (#22) and clocked in at # 11 in the U.K. (where they still had four more Top Ten 45's up their sleeve). It's not bad, there's some pretty cool stuff going on in it thanks to Mickie Most's inclusion of everything that added up to "hit". It's a soulful song, but "soul" and Herman and Co. do not go hand in hand but they give a good show of it anyway and it's got a great melody and some cool Four Seasons style chord changes. The flipside is far more interesting, in fact as a kid I scored a U.S. pressing of this 45 on MGM and played the flipside incessantly(both sides were the same as the U.K. release). It's a group original (with help from fellow Mancunian Graham Gouldman and their manager Harvey Lisberg) that's sort of a bizarre pop song about some cat named Marcel who has a houseboat on the Thames where all the freaks can be found. Groovy baby. It's campy and was probably an ill advised attempt at getting lyrically "with it" for the times, but hey it's a halfway decent number, in fact it's still one of my favorite tunes by the band. I'll bet you whoever owns the rights to the band name these days isn't playing this odd duck of a track at the County Fair or casino!
The band perform "I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving" on "TOTP" January 15, 1968
Hear "Marcel's":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8681zz_B4
Monday, November 8, 2010
Cool Foreign E.P.'s Part Twenty: Manfred Mann
MANFRED MANN-"Groovin' With.." E.P.:Groovin'/Do Wah Diddy Diddy/Can't Believe It/Did You Have To Do That U.K. HMV 7EG 8876 1965
Keef In Print
I've recently finished Keith Richard's new autobiography "Life" at a time when I really shouldn't be reading anything not related to Criminal Justice. But when an original Rolling Stone writes a book, well I've just gotta read it.
Unlike Bill Wyman's "Stone Alone", "Life" is not about groupies or money. In fact Allen Klein's swindling The Stones out of the rights for their Decca/London catalog barely merits half a page! It's about rock n' roll, life on the road, the people he's met and yes the brown stuff that he finally kicked in 1978. I won't spoil the book but it's entertaining because Keith is unapologetic about anything, from being a junkie to a bad parent (he took his 7 year old son Marlon on the road rather than leave him with his druggie/unpredictable common law wife Anita Pallenberg and dumped his daughter with his mum to be raised by her). He minces few words about anyone. Especially Mick Jagger whom he refers to as "Brenda" or "the bitch" and has very little nice things to say about Brian Jones. In fact his descriptions of Jones paint the picture of an annoying, insecure person who just happened to like to slap chicks around ("I was hanging out with Bob Dylan last night. He doesn't like you"). When Bill Wyman quits he quips "Why would you quit the world's greatest rock n roll band to open a fish and chips shop?". This quote alone should give you an indication of what it's all about!
If you're a Rolling Stones fan or even just a rock n' roll devotee "Life" is something you'll want to read.
Keef and friend in happier days, 1965.
Friday, November 5, 2010
David Bowie On Pye (Yet Again)
DAVID BOWIE-Do Anything You Say/Good Morning Girl U.K. Pye 7 N1079 1966
The A-side, "Do Anything You Say", is a tune that is carried on the strength of some slightly off key guitar and piano (an alternate version exists with organ in the mix as well which sounds much better) banging away and call-and-response backing vocals from what one would assume were his backing band The Buzz. The song is not without charm, but not one of his better 60's releases either and seems to get slagged off quite a bit.
The flipside is far superior in my book and sees a return to a more Flamingo Club r&b inspired flavor he'd explored on his second 45 which he cut with The Manish Boys the previous year ("I Pity The Fool"/"Take My Tip" Parlophone R5250 March 1965). With it's uptempo beat, mild organ, jazz drumming and some nifty improvisational scat be-bop singing by Bowie during the guitar solo it's easily at home in that style of British r&b. The whole thing is swinging and reminds of Manfred Mann '66 when they really got cooking (with jazz) sans horns! I think it's interestesting that Bowie chose to revisit the style he'd used earlier, which is most unusual for him to revert back to something he'd already done.
Both sides are contained in various compilations of 1966 Bowie material. Notably the 45/CD box set of all three Pye singles (A's and B's) "I Dig Everything:The 1966 Pye Singles" or it's predecessor from the late 80's (that's still floating around in used bins in all good record shops) "1966". The tracks can also be found on Rhino Records comprehensive pre-Deram Bowie 60's collection CD "Early On" which compiles all of his 1964-1966 material (plus some acetate demos).
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Enter Grapefruit
GRAPEFRUIT-Dear Delilah/Dead Boot U.K. RCA 1656 1968
We already gave the rundown on who Grapefruit were in a previous entry (Anorak Thing September 8, 2010) so we'll dispense with a history and get straight to this single at hand.
This was their debut 45 produced by Terry Melcher. It's full of phased drums (ala "Itchycoo Park" and Caleb's "Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad"), a churchy organ intro, strings, woodwinds and catchy pop hooks. The whole thing is nothing short of a pop psych masterpiece from it's arrangement to it's delivery, everything clicks. What grabs me are the lyrics that reflect pure despair while the happy go lucky main chorus seems to dismiss it. Here's some snippets of the symphony of sorrow:
"she wanted someone else that I couldn't be.."
"even with the crowd I'm on my own..."
"was I too fast, too slow or did the weather change ?"
My old Mod Fun pal Bob Strete drew my attention that that last quote, brilliant ain't it? Melancholy orchestrated pop sike at it's best! The strangely titled "Dead Boot" on the flip sounds almost like another band. It still has the band's trademark magic harmonies but it's just a completely god awful song.
With heavy friends: Grapefruit launch party. The band w/ Brian Jones, Donovan, Cilla Black and 3/4's of The Beatles, Saville Row January 1968
Both sides are contained on the Repertoire CD reissue of their highly recommended debut LP "Around..".
"Les Grapefruit". The band plug "Dear Delilah" on French TV!
Hear "Dead Boot" (and ask me why you had to):
Icelandic Freakbeat Mayhem!
HLJOMAR (THOR'S HAMMER)-"Umbarumbamba" E.P. Better Days/My Life/I Don't Care/Big Beat Country Dance U.K./Export Parlophone CGEP 62 1966
So let me tell you a true little 60's beat music fairy tale, an Icelandic beat quartet called Hljomar (Thor's Hammer in English) come to the U.K. to record a few tracks for release on the Parlophone label in their mother country through "export only" copies (a common practice in the 60's). A four song E.P. (with a bonus 7" 45, more on that one in a later entry) is recorded and pressed to go along with the band's own "A Hard Day's Night", a film called "Umbarumbamba". Fast forward twenty eight years later and their records are unearthed by a Scandinavian record collector named Jurgen...the rest is record history with original copies of the E.P. (w/ the bonus 45) going for anywhere from $1,000-2,000.00! Back in the day (around 1993 or so) my Scandinavian freakbeat mentor and pal Keith Patterson hit me with a tape of Thor's Hammer stuff and my world was changed. Keith made it his personal crusade to spread the word(sound?) of Hljomar much like he did years earlier with the Monks (whom he played no small part in reuniting for the very first time but that's another story for another day). His band at the time, the Spectors played the whole E.P. and one of the bonus 45 track numbers ("If You Knew") in many of their live sets during their visits "out East" from Minnesota. I'd like to think the combination of these things by Jurgen and Keith brought them to a world wide attention.
Like nearly all the great 60's Scandinavian/Western European groups the band sang in English (though they did record a few earlier releases in Icelandic), though with the sheer musical ferocity of the tracks on this E.P. it wouldn't have mattered. The band are a perfect example of this. "Better Days" is my fave of the bunch. It reminds me of a record by the 60's Dutch masters Q65 the way it double times and then explodes into mayhem around the totally blistering fuzzed guitar solo, only it's better than any Q65 record. "My Life" follows the same recipe with some more restrained "beat group" style vocals but this insane barrage of fuzz and distortion that only comes from places where the climate is harsh or the people are backward like some of the best 60's sides from rural America or Australia . "I Don't Care" is pure 1966 punk rock from it's distorted guitar to it's angst and nihilism riddled lyrics to it's calculated lead vocalist's sneer, laugh if you will but lyrically this one would've perfectly fitted in with The Sex Pistols early set and sits well alongside The Blue Star's "Social End Product" or The Lyric's "They Can't Hurt Me". "Big Beat Country Dance" is not country, nor is it beat, it's pure freakbeat mayhem, like The Yardbirds on a meth binge.
It is alleged that this is Thor's Hammer rocking The Cavern Club, Liverpool, 1966
All four tracks are available on the HIGHLY recommended Thor's Hammer Big Beat CD compilation "From Kelflavik With Love".
Recording the E.P., 1966 Landsdowne Studios, U.K.
Hear "My Life":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7m0-59LqP0
Hear "Better Days":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZxHMo5tx3c
Later era (1967) Hljomar live on Icelandic TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDRTHAd6ZJM
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