Iron Leg Halloween: The What-Knots – I Ain’t Dead Yet

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Unngghhh!!!

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Listen/Download – The What-Knots – I Ain’t Dead Yet

Greetings all.

The witching hour (or week…as it is) has arrived.

Halloween is right around the corner, and I have some rollicking, slightly morbid garage wax for you to stuff in your ears.

Way back in the day, I wrote up one of the early versions of this tune (not the OG) by the Gentrys.

When that one came out in 1966, it was called ‘Don’t Send Me No Flowers’, and it was a cover of a record by another Memphis garage band, the Breakers.

The record I bring you today, rather boldy stolen, retitled and waxed by a crew calling themselves the What-Knots is groovy indeed.

My guess (going by the style of the record and the Buddy Killen production credit) is that the What-Knots were also from the south somewhere, but I can’t say for sure, since they are pretty obscure, even for a garage band.

It is of course possible that 45 years hence (this dropped in 1967) the What-Knots are still hiding from the Breakers’ lawyers, but you never know.

That said, their version of the song is a hopped up bit of southern/frat rock garage, with a singer that sounds in the breaks like the inspiration for James Brown’s Hot Tub Party.

I’m still not sure what he’s saying in a couple of places.

At one point it sounds like

“LEMME HEEYA BLOOTY SIGH!!!”

Okay Luther….whatever you say.

The combo organ and the honking sax-o-ma-phone are top notch, as is the thick, soup bass that threatens to overwhelm the whole affair.

It’s the kind of garage record that could only be made south of the Mason-Dixon line by a pack of likkered up snotballs, and for that we are all thankful.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

October 28, 2012
Categories: 45s, cover versions, Culture, garage punk, Halloween, Iron Leg, Music, Punk, Rock . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: Leave a Comment

Friday Night & Saturday – Going Nowhere

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Listen/Download – Friday Night & Saturday – Going Nowhere

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today was one of those nice surprises you happen upon when you spend a lot of time digging around in records.

I should start by saying that though I didn’t know this particular record, the song on it was already a favorite of mine via the stunning version by Los Bravos.

The small, Detroit-based Tuba label was of interest to me, mainly for its soul and funk offerings by artists like Derek Martin, Johnny Lytle and Richard’s People.

I had surmised – after seeing a Tuba discography – that their offerings were probably not exclusively soulful.

Though I have not managed to track down copies of many of these 45s (there were only 15 of them, and a couple of LPs) I did manage to pick up the record you see before you today, via a friend’s sale list.

It was only after the record made its way to me via the US postal service and I had a chance to listen to it that I discovered that it was in fact the same song as recorded by Los Bravos.

Once I realized that, I finally took the time to peruse the writing credits and discovered that ‘Going Nowhere’ was in fact written by two Americans, Estelle Levitt and Ruth Sexter.

Though I haven’t been able to locate any biographical information on either of the composers, tracking down their songwriting credits reveals that they both seem to have been active in pop music circles in the 50s and 60s, having had songs recorded by Frankie Avalon, Herman’s Hermits, Lulu (Levitt co-wrote the amazing ‘Love Loves to love Love’), the Seekers and others.

My educated guess is that Levitt and Sexter were likely working out of New York (as was producer Lou Stallman) and since Tuba picked up some of it’s masters from the East Coast I’ll go ahead and assume that the group Friday Night & Saturday (about whom I have been able to discover nothing) were too.

Their version of the song (which appears to be the original, having been released a year before the Los Bravos version) is taken at a much slower pace, and with a singer who’s delivery is decidedly uninspiring, especially when compared to Los Bravos singer Mike Kogel.

The arrangement of the Friday Night & Saturday version is centered around an almost surf-y guitar, heavily reverbed/tremeloed and the whole thing is delivered in a different key (maybe changed by Los Bravos to accommodate the higher range of their singer).

The end result tends toward the garage end of the spectrum, whereas Los Bravos managed to turn the tune into a Freakbeat classic.

It is an interesting artifact, and I hope you dig it.

I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

October 21, 2012
Categories: 45s, cover versions, Culture, garage punk, Iron Leg, Music, pop . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: Leave a Comment

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #18

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Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Intro – Action Scene – Hawkshaw/Mansfield (KPM)
Joe South – Hush (Capitol)
Joe South – Games People Play (Capitol)
Joe South – I Knew You When (Capitol)
Joe South – Yo Yo (Capitol)
Joe South – Mirror of Your Mind (Capitol)
Joe South – A Million Miles Away (Capitol)
Gallenkamps Shoe Ad

Equals – Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys (Shout)
Chain Reaction – Ever Lovin’ Man (Verve)
Chain Reaction – You Should Have Been Here Yesterday (Verve)
The Knack – Banana Man (Capitol)
The Knack – Pretty Daisy (Capitol)
Spotlights – Batman and Robin (Smash)
Spotlights – Dayflower (Smash)
Montanas – That’s When Happiness Began (WB)
Playboys of Edinburgh – Mickey’s Monkey (Columbia)
Houston Post Now Sounds Groove In Ad

Ohio Express – Beg Borrow and Steal (Cameo Parkway)
Other Side – Walking Down the Road (Brent)
Other Side – Streetcar (Brent)
What-Knots – I Ain’t Dead Yet (Dial)
The Lamp Of Childhood – Season of the Witch (Dunhill)
The Lamp Of Childhood – First Time Last Time (Dunhill)
The Lamp of Childhood – Two O’Clock Morning (Dunhill)
The Lamp of Childhood – You Can’t Blame Me (Dunhill)
Connie Francis – Fallin’ (MGM)
The Velvet Underground – Who Loves the Sun (Cotillion)
L.U.V. Movie Ad

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 18 – 150MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

It’s time once again for the Iron Leg Radio Show, our eighteenth episode!

This month’s show is – thanks to a very fruitful day at the Allentown All-45 record Show – packed with recent acquisitions.

This time out we start with a tribute to Joe South, moving on to lots of excellent garage, folk rock , sunshine pop and as always a few wild cards.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back next week with something groovy.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners

October 14, 2012
Categories: 45s, Baroque, Beatles-esque Sounds, British Beat, Country Pop, cover versions, Culture, folk rock, freakbeat, garage punk, Iron Leg, Laurel Canyon, Leon Russell, Mod, Music, pop, psychedelia, Sunshine Pop . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: Leave a Comment

Connie Francis – Fallin’

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Miss Connie Francis

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Listen/Download – Connie Francis – Fallin’

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The song I have for you today recently fell through the old ear-slot in a rather unusual manner.

Over the course of a few days – always in another room – I heard the strains of a very interesting song playing in a TV commercial, never enough to provide any solid info, but just enough to tickle the pleasure centers of the brain.

So, the third time I yell to my lovely wife – who happened to be actually watching the TV – and asked what the commercial was for.

“Target” she replied.

“Target, eh?” says me to my own self, all the while tapping characters into a search engine already idling at the curb.

My intial forays onto the intertubes were for naught, but then I actually saw the commercial myself, picked up enough of the lyrics to flesh out the search and before long I find out that the singer of said song was none other than Connie Francis.

Wha?

Yes, teen queen Connie Francis, of the ‘Stupid Cupid’ and ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’ and ‘Who’s Sorry Now’, the only song of hers known to catch my ear, and only then because it’s playing in the background as Babs Jansen betrays Mandy Pepperidge to Greg Marmalard, who then leaves to administer a beating to Eric Stratton (you’ve seen Animal House, right?).

I mean, to be honest, the pop-end of the early “rock” scene never had a lot of appeal to me, with Connie Francis (among others) lodged in my brain as the soundtrack to a generation that was still scuffing their saddle shoes a few years before I was born.

Now, I realize that there’s a lot of groovy stuff out there that I haven’t explored in depth (for good reason), so spare me your lectures about “high school pop”, “teeners” or whatever sub-genre record collectors are jet-puffing up this week like so many marshmallows.

That said, I am able to recognize when the folks extruding product from the pop factories of the day accidentally struck gold, and this is one of those instances.

Miss Francis was an undeniably gifted singer, and she had a decade long run on the charts before the evolution of pop music and the cruelty of life interfered and pushed her off the rails.

When she recorded ‘Fallin’’ in 1958, she had already hit with ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ and ‘Stupid Cupid’.

‘Fallin’, which was written by Neil Sedaka* and Howard Greenfield has the sound not of a New Jersey heart-on-her-sleeve balladeer, but rather something closer to Wanda Jackson (who would record the song – not nearly as well – later that same year).

The song is driven by a deep, twangy, reverbed guitar, sounding like some hopped up greaser got lost on his way to Memphis and thought he might be able to pick up a couple of dollars in a New York studio.

Francis herself was never sexier, purring and yelping like a hillbilly out for a night of sin.

Naturally, despite hitting in some regional markets, ‘Fallin’’ wasn’t remotely as successful as her first two hits, peaking in the Fall of 1958. She wouldn’t hit big again until the spring of the following year with ‘Lipstick On Your Collar’. It was however a Top 20 hit in the UK.

It’s a very cool record, and I hope you dig it.

I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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*Sedaka recorded his own version of ‘Fallin’’ in 1959, which fails to rise to the level of Francis’s for a variety of reasons, not the least of which were his voice and the arrangement.


PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

October 7, 2012
Categories: 45s, cover versions, Culture, Iron Leg, Music, pop, Rock, rockabilly . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: 3 Comments

The It Don’t Matter To Me Variations

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Bread (L-R Royer, Griffin, Gates)

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Listen/Download – Bread – It Don’t Matter To Me (LP Version)

Listen/Download – Bread – It Don’t Matter To Me (45 Version)

Listen/Download – Josie and the Pussycats – It Don’t Matter To Me

Listen/Download – Petula Clark – It Don’t Matter To Me

Greetings All…

Whether or not those of you that fall by Iron Leg on the reg ever expected to see the music of Bread here (if you were paying attention I suspect that you did, but whatevs…) I think you will dig the tracks I bring you today.

I have certainly made reference to Bread as a group (via covers of their songs) and component parts (by posting the early sounds made by members David Gates, Robb Royer and James Griffin), and have mentioned before that ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’, a significant hit for the band in 1970 (their second big single after ‘Make It With You’) is one of my favorite songs.

I have long since passed the point where I give a shit whether someone thinks me an apostate for professing my admiration for a band like Bread.

This is for two basic reasons, the main one being that despite their lingering (and sometimes deserved) rep for cranking out maudlin mush, they made some great music (the other being that having turned 50 I am now officially too old to give a shit).

As a youngster with my ear attached securely to the AM radio, Bread were a frequent fixture on the airwaves for just about all of the 1970s.

They formed in 1968 after Gates, who had worked as a producer, composer, arranger and performer for everyone from Pat Boone to Captain Beefheart decided to form a group with James Griffin and Robb Royer, both of whom he had produced in previous groups (the Pleasure Fair and the Morning Glories).

The group was initially drummerless, with the drums on their debut album provided by Ron Edgar of the Music Machine and Jim Gordon (of everything else).

It’s important to note what a departure Bread was for Elektra records.

From the label’s earliest days when it concentrated on folk and world music, through the mid 60s when they were signing and recording some of the most progressive pop and rock bands in the world, Elektra had a reputation for treading the margins. The late 60s saw Jac Holzman working that angle even moreso, adding bands like the Stooges and the MC5 to the line-up.

Bread were not only light years more ‘conventional’ than most of their labelmates, but also more successful.

The were all over the Hot 100 between 1970 and 1973, when they broke up for the first time (the friction between Gates and Griffin – over who’s songs got to be singles – getting to be too much).

Though I cannot say for sure, my suspicion is that what made the group interesting was that very friction.

Gates was a consummate craftsman, but also seemed to lean in a “softer” direction.

The tracks I bring you today explore the various interpretations – inside and outside of Bread – of one of their best (and my favorite songs), ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’.

Released in mid-1969, ‘Bread’ is – like many 1960s anchored debuts by bands that went on to success in the 1970s – still marked by the sounds of the earlier decade. That first album displays the influence of groups like the Beatles, but also most of the musical strains floating in the southern California zeitgeist.

‘It Don’t Matter To Me’ (written by Gates) has an interesting history.

The weak spot for me – as far as Bread are concerned – were their lyrics, which like many of the artists of the day seemed to emit the patchouli-soaked aroma of the softer, self-actualization end of the hippie experience.

It’s not that they didn’t make sense when Gates wrote ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’, but that they contain an odd, time-specific philosophy/sentimentality that did not age well.

The very idea of a character that is so deeply enamored of a woman that he will fight a lengthy war of romantic attrition until, after long last she realizes the error of her ways and finds her way back to him, might have had much to offer for the ladies in the audience, yet I’m still left wondering who – outside of someone afflicted by the deepest unrequited love – on the male side of the equation this was supposed to appeal to (maybe no one??).

All of which I can (and will) overlook, if there are melodies to be had, and when you’re talking about Bread, they are many and of an exceptional quality.

Though it is one of the group’s best known songs, it wasn’t issued as a single when their debut LP was released (‘Dismal Day’ and the excellent Griffin/Royer composition ‘Could I’ being the A-sides from ‘Bread’).

This could have a lot to do with the fact that the version of ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’ is markedly different than the one that made it into the Top 20 almost a full year later.

The version that appears on the first album is a more rustic, folk-rock effort. The vocals, guitars and tempo are all different, the pace a touch faster.

The song, which Gates wrote prior to the formation of Bread was rerecorded/rearranged for the single release (a full year after its appearance on ‘Bread’) with a slower tempo, string section, more complex guitar and brighter, fuller harmonies. The beauty of the song’s chord changes and melody seem much better framed by the later arrangement.

The Bread catalog has never wanted for outside interpretation, even on the soulful side of things.

The Friends of Distinction covered ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’, and there are excellent versions of ‘Make It With You’ by Ralfi Pagan (epic) and Ronnie Dyson, as well as a very nice take on ‘Everything I Own’ by Oscar Toney Jr.

Though Josie and the Pussycats are best known as an animated (cartoon) commodity, there was an album (and several single-only tracks) recorded to accompany their Saturday morning show in 1970.

The vocalists included Cheryl Ladd (later of Charlie’s Angels), Patrice Holloway (sister of Motown legend Brenda) and Cathy Douglas.

The album included a number of original songs (many written by Danny Janssen and Bobby Hart) as well as a number of contemporary covers, including ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’.

The Josie and the Pussycats version of the song features a fairly faithful arrangement (featuring a band of familiar West coast session musicians) and aside from some awkward harmonizing in the first verse, nice vocals.

Later the same year, Petula Clark ( a few years past her last big hit) traveled to Memphis (a la Dusty Springfield) to record an album with the American Studios crew.

I had this album for years before I realized that the track listed as ‘It Doesn’t Matter To Me’ on the label was in fact ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’.

Clark’s version is really well done. Though she was known for a brassier, showbizzy style, she was also capable of subtlety, which she displays here.

The arrangement is laid back and the production – by no less a light than Chips Moman – is spot on.

More recently, there were covers of the song by Matthew Sweet (on the soundtrack to the film ‘Ash Wednesday’) and Josh Rouse.

I hope you dig the tracks, and if you shied away from Bread before, maybe take a minute to dig into their early stuff.
See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

September 30, 2012
Categories: 45s, Bread, cover versions, Culture, folk rock, Iron Leg, Music, pop, Rock . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: 5 Comments

The Bougalieu – Let’s Do Wrong

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The Bougalieu

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Listen/Download – The Bougalieu – Let’s Do Wrong

Greetings all.

I hope you all had a chance to open up your head and let your mind marinate in episode #17 of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

With all of the sophistpo-sunshiney pop stuff that I’ve been posting of late, I figured that we were all ready to dip into some garage fuzz.

I first heard the Bougalieu (one of my fave 6Ts punk names) way back when in the olden days of yore, with the poorly-fitting Beatle boots, long hair and bodega beer, on one of the old Boulders comps.

Though almost all of that first wave of comps were “bootleg”, the Boulders series, with the low-rent B&W covers (not to mention the 7” eps) was a tad bootleggier than all the rest.

I also found the Boulders records to come correct with the really interesting sounds, so much so that much of the OG 6Ts punk 45s that I have first entered my ears via those very comps.

‘Let’s Do Wrong’ by the Bougalieu is an especially cool example of the genre, ultra snotty, with the ragged guitars and the Jagger/May-esque vocals.

It also a testament to the spirit of musical economy, clocking in at way under the two minute mark.

What I find particularly interesting about this biscuit is the fact that despite all sonic evidence to the contrary, ‘Let’s Do Wrong’ falls pretty far along the timeline, bringing the heat well into 1967, when most of the world was knee deep in flowers and love.

The Bougalieu hailed from upstate NY (Albany), and included members Mike Rothman, Lester Figarsky, Bill Gallagher, Larry Scarano, Parker Wheeler and Parker Kennedy (yes, TWO Parkers…).

They recorded their sole 45, ‘Let’s Do Wrong’ b/w ‘When I Was a Children’ in July of 1967, with the record being released a few months later. There was also a white-label DJ promo of the 45 that featured different takes of both songs.

Oddly – or maybe not so oddly when you take the date into consideration – ‘Let’s Do Wrong’ was neglected, with the much lighter ‘When I Was a Children’ garnering airplay, charting regionally in NY and Florida.

A year later – after an extended period in Florida – the band had run it’s course and broke up.

Gallagher, Figarsky and Scarano went on to join the band Friends of Whitney Sunday which recorded some singles for Capitol Records and then changed to Whitney Sunday for an LP on Decca.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

September 23, 2012
Categories: 45s, Culture, garage punk, Iron Leg, Music, Rock . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: Leave a Comment

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #17

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Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Intro – Action Scene – Hawkshaw/Mansfield (KPM)
Don and the Goodtimes – Little Sally Tease (Dunhill)
Los Gatos Negros – Land of 1000 Dances (Vergara)
The Equals – My Life Ain’t Easy (President)
Terry Knight and the Pack – Got Love (Lucky 11)
Chancellors – I’m a Man (Soma)
The Mods – Satisfaction (Revelation VII)
The Mods – Go (Steinbachs Mustang) (Revelation VII)
Mars Bonfire – Ride With Me (UNI)
Mars Bonfire – Born To Be Wild (UNI)
Hollywood Bowl Concert Radio Spot

Fun and Games – Elephant Candy (UNI)
Fun and Games – Grooviest Girl In the World (UNI)
Fun and Games – Something I Wrote (UNI)
The Hardy Boys – Here Come the Hardys (RCA/Dunwich)
Three Ring Circus – Groovin’ On the Sunshine (RCA)
The Pleasure Fair – Fade In Fade Out (UNI)
Morning Glories – Love-In (RCA)
Bread – Could I (Elektra)
Bread – It Don’t Matter To Me 1969 LP Version (Elektra)
Stone Poneys Pepsi Commercial

Gene Clark and the Gosdin Bros – So You Say You Lost Your Baby (Columbia)
Brewer and Shipley – She Got the Time She Got the Changes (A&M)
Brewer and Shipley – Pig’s Head (Kama Sutra)
Gordon Lightfoot – The Pride of Man (UA)
John Denver – Molly (RCA)
Glen Campbell – Guess I’m Dumb (Capitol)
Primrose Circus – PS Call Me Lulu (Mira)
Jimmie Haskell feat. Denny Doherty – To Claudia On Thursday (ABC)
Kaleidoscope – Egyptian Garden (Epic)
Clear Light – Think Again (Elektra)
Jacques Dutronc – Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi (Vogue)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 17 – 172MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

It’s time once again for the Iron Leg Radio Show, episode the seventeenth!

This month’s Iron Leg Radio Show is packed with recent acquisitions.

The last month has been very fruitful digging-wise with lots of sunshine pop, psychedelia and even a long sought after local garage 45 that finally came my way.

You get to check out some prime, late-60s California pop, including some very interesting early stuff from Bread (and pre-Bread 45s too)!

As always, I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back next week with something groovy.

Peace

Larry

 

Example


PS Head over to Funky16Corners

September 16, 2012
Categories: 45s, acoustic, Beatles-esque Sounds, British Beat, cover versions, Culture, folk rock, freakbeat, garage punk, Iron Leg, Iron Leg Radio Show, Laurel Canyon, Local Music, Music, pop, psychedelia, Rock, Sunset Strip, Sunshine Pop . . Author: funky16corners . Comments: 4 Comments

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