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All posts for the month December, 2013

Chain Reaction – Ever Lovin’ Man b/w You Should Have Been Here Yesterday

Posted by funky16corners on December 29, 2013
Posted in: 45s, Culture, garage punk, Iron Leg, Music, pop, Rock. 5 Comments

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The Chain Reaction

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Listen/Download – Chain Reaction – Ever Lovin’ Man

Listen/Download – Chain Reaction – You Should Have Been Here Yesterday

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The record I bring you today is something that I sought for years, before finally grabbing a copy at the Allentown 45 show a few years ago.

Chain Reaction is a band that would be all but lost to time, were it not for the later success of its drummer/vocalist, a young fellow named Steven Tallarico, better known these days as Steven Tyler.

If the group’s two 45s were terrible (which they are NOT) they would still pull money on the collector scene because of the Aerosmith connection.

As it is, both of their records are quite cool, and as a result all of us garage pop fans have to compete with the ‘Love In an Elevator’ types whenever copies turn up.

The group was formed in the New York City suburb of Yonkers in 1964 as the Strangers (later Strangeurs) before morphing into  Chain Reaction.

Featuring Tallarico/Tyler on drums and vocals, Don Solomon (Sloan) on keyboards, Peter Stahl on guitar, Alan Strohmayer on bass and Barry Shapiro (Shore) on drums (alternating with Tyler), the group recorded their first 45 ‘The Sun’ b/w ‘When I Needed You’ in 1966 for the Date label (both sides psych-inflected pop).

They recorded their second 45 for Verve in late 1966 (released in 1968).

‘Ever Lovin’ Man’ – written by Sloan and Stahl – features Tyler’s unmistakable voice on an excellent slice of garage pop. The song features some very groovy electric piano, fuzz guitar and great backing vocals by the group. It is – of all their tracks – the one that should have been a hit.

The flipside, ‘You Should Have Been Here Yesterday’ is a much poppier number, with a good-timey, slightly Beatle-y edge and a much fuller arrangement.

The production, by Artie Schroeck is pretty cool (their first 45 had been produced by Richard Gottehrer).

Tyler would go on to add backing vocals to the second Left Banke LP, before finally falling in with his Aerosmith chums in 1970.

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

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

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Ananda Shankar – Jumping Jack Flash / Metamorphosis

Posted by funky16corners on December 22, 2013
Posted in: cover versions, Culture, Iron Leg, Mod, Music, pop, psychedelia, World Music. Leave a comment

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Ananda Shankar

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Listen/Download – Ananda Shankar – Jumping Jack Flash

Listen/Download – Ananda Shankar – Metamorphosis

Greetings all.

Are you ready to zip up your paisley caftan and trip out?

Whether you’re ready or not, you’re gonna get some Ananda Shankar, right in your third eye.

I was after this album for a long time when I finally scored a copy a few years back.

To answer the most obvious question first, Ananda Shankar was in fact related to the master Ravi Shankar, being the son of famed Indian dancer (brother of Ravi) Uday.

He migrated to Los Angeles in the late 60s, and made his way into the recording studio, laying down the record you see before you today.

The self-titled LP was released in 1970, produced by Alex Hassilev (who had been an original member of the Limeliters, alongside Glenn Yarbrough) and former Electric Prune James Lowe.

What you get is a mixture of pop-inflected originals featuring Shankar’s sitar (naturally) as well as some fairly tasteful Moog synthesizer action by Paul Lewinson. I stress the “tasteful” angle, since so many records saw the Moog used like so much psychedelic cake frosting.

The backing group on the record included prominent studio heads like Jerry Scheff on bass and ex-Raider Drake Levin on guitar.

The tracks I feature today illustrate the two sides of the LP.

The opener, ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ is simply the most remarkable piece of late-60s, light-show, au-go-go freakout.

Starting out with fuzz guitar and synth, the drums and handclaps kick in and before you know it you’re (happily) trapped in a dayglo intersection of the Banana Splits and Owsley’s basement.

The sound reminds me a lot of Dave Grusin’s mighty ‘Ascencion to Virginity’ from the ‘Candy’ OST.

‘Metamorphosis’ leans more in the direction of mellow, ever so slightly new agey head music, once again mixing the Moog and the sitar tastefully. You also get a groovy drum/table break, and then things get even trippier.

Shankar went on to record the album ‘Ananda Shankar and his Music’, which is sought out by funk collectors and tends to change hands for over 100 bucks.

Fortunately, this LP is much easier to find on the cheap, and is a great listen all the way through.

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

And, oh yeah, Merry Christmas!

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #32

Posted by funky16corners on December 15, 2013
Posted in: 45s, Au Go Go, cover versions, Culture, folk rock, freakbeat, garage punk, Garage Revival, Iron Leg, Iron Leg Radio Show, Mod, Mod Revival, Music, Phantom Five, pop, Power Pop, psychedelia, Punk, R&Beat, Rock, Sunset Strip. Leave a comment

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Beep beep beep beep…..

Playlist

Alan Hawkshaw and Keith Mansfield – Action Scene(KPM)
Chesterfield Kings – She Told Me Lies (LP version) (Mirror)
Chesterfield Kings – Cry Your Eyes Out (Mirror)
Pandoras – Hot Generation (Voxx)
Smithereens – Got Me a Girl (Dirt)
Stomachmouths – R&B 65 (Got To Hurry)
The Scene – Stop-Go (Diamond)
Untold Fables – When the Night Falls (Dionysus)
Vipers – Nothing’s From Today (Jem/PVC)
Vipers – Never Alone (Midnight)
Vipers – You Don’t Believe Me (Midnight)

The Fuzztones – Bad News Travels Fast (Midnight)
The Fuzztones – We’re Pretty Quick (Midnight)
The Fuzztones – Gotta Get Some (ABC)
Green Telescope – Two By Two (Imaginary)
Hysteric Narcotics – Electric Children (RPM Mag Flexi)
Cynics – Painted My Heart (Dionysus)
Funseekers – It Should Be You (Susstones)
Original Sins – Come On Up (Chaos)
Royal Nonesuch – You Need Love (UP)
Telltale Hearts – It Came To Me (Voxx)

Boys From Nowhere – Beg (Young Lion)
Creeps – Rattlesnake Shake (Tracks On Wax)
Fleshtones – The World Has Changed (IRS)
Insomniacs – My Favorite Story (Umbrella)
Lyres – How Do You Know (New Rose)
Plasticland – Go a Go Go Time (Enigma)
Plasticland – The Windowsills (Enigma)
Plasticland – Rattail Comb (Scadillac)
Secret Syde – Hole In My Pocket (Mutha)
Spectors – I Fell In Love (Get Hip)
Stems – Make You Mine (Citadel)
Stems – Under Your Mushroom (Citadel)

The Bangs – No Mag Commercial (Ear Movie)
The Bangles – The Real World (IRS)
The Bangles – The Hero Takes a Fall (Columbia)
The Rain Parade – This Can’t Be Today (Restless)
The Rain Parade – Prisoners (Enigma)
The Eyes of Mind – Yesterday Is Gone (Voxx)
Mad Violets – Psilocybe (Voxx)
Lord John – Westminiature Abbey (Bomp)
Mod Fun – I Am With You (New)
Mod Fun – Grounded (Cryptovision)
Phantom Five – She’s Not (Making Tyme)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode 32 – 256MB/256kbps

Greetings all.

Welcome to this month’s episode of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

I have a very special edition of the show lined up for you this month.

Though I have included some garage/psych revival tracks over the course of the previous 31 episode of the podcast, I have always wanted to dig out a big stack of 80s (and some early 90s) vinyl, digimatize it and devote an episode to the sounds of my misspent youth.

So I did (finally).

Though it is by no means comprehensive, it is a good look at the kind of stuff my friends and I were digging during the first wave of the garage/psych/mod revival in the the early to mid 80s.

There’s a bunch of American stuff (both coasts and the middle) as well as the UK, Europe and Scandinavia represented.

There are even a couple of really rare things in the mix for the trainspotters in the crowd.

You get almost two and a half hours of sounds!

As always, I hope you dig it.

See you next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners

John Wonderling – Midway Down b/w Man of Straw

Posted by funky16corners on December 8, 2013
Posted in: 45s, cover versions, Culture, freakbeat, Iron Leg, Music, Original versions, pop, psychedelia. Leave a comment

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John Wonderling on the cover of his 1973 LP

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Listen/Download – John Wonderling – Midway Down

Listen/Download – John Wonderling – Man of Straw

Greetings all.

Welcome to a groovy new week here at Iron Leg.

Today’s selection is one of those records that I chase FOR YEARS, never really expecting to find a copy.

Flash back – if you will – to the mid-80s when my garage/mod brethren and I were first starting to dig the criminally underappreciated sounds of the Creation.

One of the cooler songs in the more psychedelic end of that band’s discography was a tune called ‘Midway Down’.
The tale of a trip to the circus, the version by the Creation has a hard-edged, UK mod pop sound with some of that heavy Eddie Phillips guitar.

Flash forward some years later, via a Rhino Handmade comp called ‘Hallucinations’ (which featured the tune ‘Man of Straw’) and I discover, much to my surprise that ‘Midway Down’ was not a Creation original, but rather a cover of a tune by an American named John Wonderling.

Wonderling, who hailed from New York recorded one 45 – ‘Midway Down’ b/w ‘Man of Straw’ – in 1968. It was released on Loma and then Warner Brothers.

I’m not sure how the song found its way to the Creation (recorded the same year), whether it was via the 45, or a publisher’s demo, but the two versions make an interesting contrast.

Wonderling’s original version has a softer, more psychedelic focus, opening with a calliope and moving along with a ringing rhythm guitar and pulsing organ, as well as lots of echoed, trippy vocals. Things get a little heavier in the chorus (there’s even a harmonica buried in the mix) but never quite as much as the Creation.

The flipside, ‘Man of Straw’ definitely has a UK psych sound to it, with the phased vocals, churchy organ and creepy lyrics about a scarecrow being taunted by a chorus of crows.

The copy I did finally land had seen better days (there are some pops) but I think you’ll dig the sounds.

Wonderling would go on to release a rare LP called ‘Day Breaks’ on Paramount in 1973.

That said, have a greet week and I’ll see you when I see you.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

RIP Dick Dodd of the Standells

Posted by funky16corners on December 1, 2013
Posted in: cover versions, Culture, garage punk, Iron Leg, Music, pop, Rock, Sunset Strip. 2 Comments

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Dick Dodd 1945 – 2013

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The Standells

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Listen/Download – The Standells – Little Sally Tease

Listen/Download – The Standells – Why Did You Hurt Me

Listen/Download – The Standells – Dirty Water

Listen/Download – The Standells – Medication

NOTE: Word came down this weekend that Standells drummer/vocalist (and former Mousketeer!) Dick Dodd had passed away at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer. The Standells were one of the great garage bands of the 60s and a huge influence on the 80s garage revival.

I’m reposting an article that originally ran here in 2009, and adding in a couple of other songs that have run in this space before (and one that hasn’t), all classics.

I hope you dig the sounds and raise a glass to the memory of a very groovy cat.

Peace

Larry

PS – Dig the Standells on ‘The Munsters’ (en Espanol!)

PSS – And in Riot On Sunset Strip

>>Originally Posted November, 2009

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your end as another week comes to a close.

The daylight savings time thing has come to an end, and this year (as opposed to all those in the past that I can still remember with any clarity) it doesn’t seem to be causing me any trouble. Usually I find my self dragging my ass around for at least a week as I pull myself into synch with the clock.

I’m putting this post up a little early since the fam and I are hitting the road for a couple of days of R&R.
The tune I bring you today has been a favorite since back in the garage revival days of yore. Back then, next to the Chocolate Watchband, the Standells loomed over the mid-60s like some kind of garage punk colossus, having created several anthemic tunes and having the added benefit of having recorded for a major label and having their moving image captured on film a number of times.

Though for most garage heads the go-to Standells numbers are ‘Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White’ and the Nuggets-y ‘Dirty Water’, my faves by the LA combo have always been lesser known killers like ‘Why Did You Hurt Me’ and today’s selection, their ramped up cover of Don and the Goodtimes PNW classic ‘Little Sally Tease’.

Originally waxed by D&the GTs, then later covered by the Kingsmen, ‘Little Sally Tease’ is one of those stompers that seems as if it were created in the lab of a mop-topped mad scientist attempting to formulate the perfect garage punk record, having exhumed and stitched together pounding drums, throbbing combo organ, fuzz guitar and snotty adolescent girl trouble lyrics of the first order.

The original version of the song is no small potatoes, but the Standells took it into the studio and beat it like a rented mule until every single drop of snot and bad attitude was placed on display like a hood ornament on their own high powered muscle car. Things get off to a strong start with heavy bass and witch doctor drums, but it isn’t until the chorus, shredded guitar solo and combo organ workout that things reach a truly explosive climax.

‘Little Sally Tease’ is a cut on the 1966 LP ‘Dirty Water’ which may pack more garage punk power than any full length in the history of the genre. Alongside the title cut, ‘..Good Guys’, ‘Medication’, ‘Little Sally Tease’ and ‘Why Did You Hurt Me’, you also get slamming covers of ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ and ‘Hey Joe’, as well as the cover photo of the Standells looking positively badass.

It’s just that heavy.

As your physician I recommend you get this on a CD (or patch the MP3 thingy into the car radio) and drive around with the stereo at full blast and the windows wide open. No sense in hiding the fact that you’re a fuzz addled freak from the rest of the neighborhood, is there? Hmmmm?

Dig it and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry<<

 

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.