Down in

my heart

I've got a feeling

it ended a long time ago.

What a girl can't do

In 1966, a Washington D.C. band called The Reekers caught the ear of somebody from Monument Records. The label was ready to sign the band right about the same time the band broke up. The label was still interested though and released a terrific Reekers song, "What A Girl Can't Do", under the name chosen by several ex-Reekers that were forming a new band.

Monument sent the band - now called the Hangmen - to Nashville to record an album with Buzz Cason. The LP is a little on the weak side, it's a little softer than a band called the Hangmen should sound. There are a few covers of songs by Roy Orbison (with a sitar so you know it's from 1967), The Everly Brothers and a really good storming version of "Gloria". I wish the whole LP was as tough as this. Tom Guernsey wrote some originals for the LP, "Isn't That Liz" is one of the better songs.

There are more Reekers and Hangmen songs over at Garage Hangover. Go get 'em!

I'm gonna run

to the city of refuge

That girl is

neither fish nor fowl

Failure to thrive

The band J.D. King formed in Rhode Island was good but it's the kid that joined the band in New York that the band is remembered for. Guitarist King had first met 17 year old Thurston Moore in a New Haven record store in December 1976. They were both looking for Velvet Underground records and after a conversation about the Flamin Groovies & the MC5, the two became friends.

King and the band weren't getting anywhere playing punk & garage covers in Providence so they decided to move to New York. After living there for a few months, King invited Moore bring his guitar down to the city.

Moore joined the Coachmen, the band started playing clubs and parties. The band's main influences were The Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers and Television. In late '79, the band recorded a demo tape. Nobody offered to release a record, the shows started getting farther apart, the crowds never got very big. The band ended in August 1980.

At a Coachmen show at Georgio Gomelsky's loft, Thurston met Kim Gordon and started teaching her how to play bass. at another party, the pair met a guitarist named Lee Renaldo. After the Coachmen ended, the three started a new band.

The demo tape was released on New Alliance Records in 1988. J.D. King and the Coachman released an LP in 2000 and a CD in 2006, both on Moore's Ecstatic Peace Records.

All the clothes

in this milkcrate

Are you ready

for that great atomic power?

Least favorite?

Yesterday, somebody left a comment stating that "A Certain Girl" was their least favorite Yardbirds song.

Really?

I don't understand why that one get reissued but the Anderson Theatre show can't get a proper re-issue.

Any other nominees for least favorite Yardbirds song?

Return of the Hi-Boys Combo

Now somebody from Germany has been googling the Hi-Boys Combo. Any excuse to repost this record is good enough for me:

The Hi-Boys Combo were a trio (maybe) that had been playing since the early 60's and were probably Huntsville's first garage band. The band was Curtis Bolden on guitar and vocals, Bobby Glenn on bass, and Ray Sanderson on drums. Terry Barkley also drummed for the band.

This 45 in was released on Gold Master Records, probably in 1965 or early '66. Gold Master was owned by Sonny Limbaugh, a local dee-jay that could guarantee airplay and shows. Both songs were written by Curtis Bolden.

The Beatles-ish "Some Man (Other Than Me)" was probably the A-Side and played to get the kids dancing at the teen clubs. "Why (Must I Love You So)" is the song they played after the lights got turned down low.

This is the only copy that I've ever seen. I found it at a WLRH record sale in 1993. Somebody must have donated a collection of local records to the sale because the the box that I found this in also had records by two other local bands: The Shandells and The Rocks. None of then are available on any garage comps.

I don't know what I want

but I want it now

What's her name?

There's a certain girl I've been in love with a long, long time.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)
I can't reveal her name until I've got her.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)
Well, I've tried to get her time and time again.
We just end up as nothing but friends.
And there's a certain girl I've been in love with a long, long time.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)

Well, there's a certain chick I've been sweet on since I met her.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)
I can't reveal her name until I get her.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)
Well one day, I'm gonna wake up and say,
I'll do anything just to be your slave.
And there's a certain girl I've been in love with a long, long time.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)

Well, I've tried to get her time and time again.
We just end up as nothing but friends.
And there's a certain girl I've been in love with a long, long time.
(What's her name?) I can't tell you. (No!)

I can't tell you. (No!)
I can't tell you. (No!)
I can't tell you.

- Naomi Neville

R.I.P.

Isaac Hayes

There's a land

beyond the river

Running with our eyes closed

waiting for the end of the world

Oogsy-moo!

Three and a half years after I first asked the question, somebody finally knew something about The Premiers!

The other night, JP of the Birmingham Record Collectors Club let me know that the Premiers were from Fairfield Alabama. The band started playing in the late 50's and released at least one other record. A 45 of "Ruby Baby"/"Oh Babe" at a studio in Birmingham in 1958 or '59 and released it on an unknown label. Anybody got a copy of this single? Did they have any others?

If you haven't heard them, here's "Locomotive" and "Oogsy-moo".

In addition to Dale Kahrr playing lead guitar, the band included singer Len Wade, bassist Howard Tennyson and drummer Bobby Hewlett. There was also a rhythm guitarist whose name is unfortunately forgotten.

Now if I could find out who was behind "Chicken Backs".

Fish beat rock

Hen Gates and his Gators are a group of talented young Rock 'N Roll musicians who were molded into one group for the purpose of recording.

Public Acceptance of this group indicates that Hen Gates and his Gators have been recognized among the top exponents of Rock 'N Roll. - from liner notes by Marty Ostrow

Except that there never was a Rock & Roll combo called Hen Gates & The Gators. Hen Gates is actually sax player Freddie Mitchell and the Gators were whoever was sitting in with him during a recording session sometime in the late forties.

Masterseal Records wanted to get some of the money when rock & roll got popular, so they released these sessions in 1957. Whoever the label hired to name the songs earned his pay, every song has 'rock' somewhere in the name. "Fish Beat Rock" is a great name for a song - it could be a Half Japanese or Fall title - the music matches the free associating title.

Freddie Mitchell was the leader of the house band at Derby Records where he had a hit with "Doby's Boogie". Mitchell and band probably didn't think that these recordings were ever going to be released, The musicians are just playing around waiting for the singers to return from the bar.

In 1956, Mitchell appeared as the sax player in the Alan Freed's Rock & Roll Orchestra in the movie Rock, Rock, Rock.

Masterseal included a couple of Mitchell's real records (including "Doby's Boogie") on the Hen Gates LP as unlisted tracks at the end of each side. Were these be the first ever bonus tracks?

Don't lie to yourself

take things as they are

Saturday night astral plane

ALL GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE SHOES, Andy Dale Petty's debut CD has been out for about a month. I was going to mention it earlier but got distracted. Sorry Andy.

Anyway, the disc has Andy Dale playing 13 songs on various stringed insruments, There's some originals, covers of Dylan, Cash and Fahey and also a few traditional numbers. Members of The Pine Hill Haints and Thomas Function show up a couple times. So do some of Petty's older relations.

This is as good as one of Petty's live sets. The disc is on Lightning Beat Man's Voodoo Rhythm Records. Get one!