Donnerstag, 24. Juni 2010

Dienstag, 22. Juni 2010

THE ONCOMERS - Every Day Now (Gateway)

Uptempo Garage Beat Winner You probably heard the great moody topside "You Let Me Down" on 'Love Is A Sad Song' or 'The Unheard Of'. Now let's check out the other side of this great McKeesport, PA teen combo that waxed their sole 45 in 1964, probably, since they changed their monicker to Grant Street Exit (cf. FAF) the following year. What a shitty idea! Obviously, those guys recorded quite a batch of songs as well as a live show. Cool rave-up rhythm takes us right into the middle of the song which turns out to be a broadly smiling bastard of Brit invasion sounds and slightly raw U.S. garage beat. The icing on the cake is a cool doo-wop styled coda of the song. Corny, you say? Well, I'd say that there is pretty much the exact dash of corny-ness in here that makes this a nice garage beat rocker for your next frat party.
You can find lots of additional info here.

Mittwoch, 16. Juni 2010

TOMMY & THE NIGHTBEATS - Green Eyes (Princess)

Fantastic Nerdy Pop Garage BeatA long want of mine for quite some time. And all I got was a g+ copy. Anyway, let's check out the flip of the comped cool top side, 'Come On Darling' which got me excited the first time I heard it on 'One Hand In The Darkness'. The flip is in a similar vein, featuring cheesy organ fills and this pretty nerdy guy Tommy who is leading the band obviously. This is far more in the Pop vein than many people will be willing to accept. But don't let it go... Stick with it. Check out those harmonies and the slightly eerie vibes of the song. From Houston, TX, 1964.

THE WEE FOUR - Give Me A Try (Nu Sound Ltd.)

Godlike Rochester Garage BandEverybody knows 'Weird', the topside of this 1966 release from NY. One of the true and eternal Garage classics in my book. This was comped on 'Teen Shutdown' and 'Pebbles'. Not so the flip, so it's gotta suck. Right? Fucking NO! Flipside is great! It's... moody. Pretty much. Even some slightly jazzy modulations like the ZOMBIES or the classic New England bands did. Check out this bad motherfucker of a song. How great is this? Unfortunaltely, my copy of this double-sided monster ain't too hot, so you'll have to wait for the big garage guys to deliver FLAC's or whatever.
Check out the mucho fine feature on Garage Hangover here.
And a cool interview on the BTBG site can be found here.

THE SHILLINGS - Just Like A Girl (Dayton Band Co.)

Fab Moody Ohio Garage LamentThe flipside of the equally great "Yesterdays Dawn" [get an .wma here] kicks some serious ass. In a moody way, that is. They had another way great 45 on the same label in the same year, "Forgive Me My Love"/ "I Call For Her", the latter you can find on 'Strange Worlds #2', which makes an quite impressve output of four excellent sides without any fillers. This very song is pretty sparse, shifts into higher gear as we roll along and features a cool guitar break. Cool backup singing all the way.
Some additional info from Rick Dryden from the 'Ohio Sounds' blog:
Leader of the Shillings was Rick Bashore, who also produced their records. I think the lead singer was Ward Newman, both from Fairview HS 1967. Don't remember the other members. Rick Bashore wrote "Yesterday's Dawn" (along with L.Pierce, don't know him.) Rick also wrote the B side "Just-Like-A-Girl." They released this 45 in 1966 on the Dayton Band Company label.
Now, according to Wickham, this is their first platter, and both 45s are from '67. Need some confirmation here.