Their hit 45 and their Number One chart
Listen/Download – The Wanted – In the Midnight Hour
Greetings all.
I hope the new week finds you well.
The record I bring you today, in addition to being a swinging bit of garage soul, is that rarest of music unicorns, something that simply cannot exist in the current environment, a bona fide regional number one record.
The Wanted were a Detroit-area band that released a half dozen singles in 1967 and 1968 on the local Detroit Sound imprint as well as a few national releases on A&M.
Their version of Wilson Pickett’s ‘In the Midnight Hour’was a big success in the Great Lakes region, charting in the Top 20 all over Michigan, Ohio, Canada, and Wisconsin and a few other markets like Kansas City, Missouri.
However, and this was not an isolated incident (see Seger, Bob and the Last Heard ‘East Side Story’) they managed to top the charts in their home town of Detroit, making it all the way to Number One in March of 1967.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t able to find a picture of the band. There’s video of them performing on Robin Seymour’s local TV show bu the video quality was too poor to pull a screenshot.
Their version of the song (produced by local hotshot Doug Brown) is a certified ass-kicker with some very solid forward motion for the dancers making it one of the more memorable versions of song that became a standard of sorts for American garage bands.
The Detroit Sound label is a gas, as well, with pictures of the band’s gear and a full listing of personnel.
The Wanted had some minor local success the following year with a song called ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ (not the Beach Boys tune) and seemingly faded into oblivion after that.
It’s a groover and I hope you dig it.
See you next week.
Peace
Larry
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