The Bugs “Pretty Girl” and “Slide” on Polaris

The Bugs had a reputation as jokers, but are solid professionals on their excellent first single. “Pretty Girl” is a fine British-influenced pop number that apparently hit the charts of local radio stations from Maine to Chicago to Florida. The flip is the raucous “Slide”, supposedly written in the studio but the band sounds too rehearsed for it to be a spontaneous performance. It must have been a staple of their live sets.

Both songs were written by Eddie and Rose McGee. I believe the drummer of the group was James McGee, another family member. This 45 was engineered by Ray Fournier.

From Erik Lindgren’s notes to The Polaris Story:

The Bugs were a quartet from Marlboro, MA that cut two singles for Astor records (Pretty Girl/Slide was also issued as Polaris 001) along with one unreleased track, ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’. They were a ‘wacky’ group that included a female bass player by the name of Rose, who was in her early 40’s and married to guitarist Ed McGee. Polaris booked them throughout greater Boston and Rhode Island, including an appearance on Channel 12 in Providence.

‘Strangler in the Night’, originally credited to Albert De Salvo [the Boston Strangler], was actually written by a ghost writer, James Vaughn, who got drafted three weeks after the making of the single. The narration for ‘Strangler’ was done by Dick Leviatan, a well-known radio personality from New York City.

‘Pretty Girl’ and ‘Slide’ were recorded at Fleetwood Studios in Revere, MA., while ‘Strangler’, ‘Albert’ and ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’ were recorded at Triple A [AAA Recording Studios] in Dorchester. The organ on the tracks done at the Triple A session was played by the engineer, whose name remains lost for posterity [actually it was Ray Fournier].

Producer Joe Melino dropped the Polaris label in the aftermath of the under-attended state-wide 1966 Battle of the Bands competition. The Astor label was named after the Astor Motor Inn, where Joe and his new partner had their office.

“Strangler in the Night” failed to get the hoped-for notoriety in the press. The single’s failure led to the end of a great run of 45s on the Polaris and Astor labels. Hear both sides of that novelty as well as the Bugs’ excellent unreleased track “Gonna Find Me a Girl” on The Polaris Story CD.

6 thoughts on “The Bugs “Pretty Girl” and “Slide” on Polaris”

  1. HIT RECORDS (label) #161 is a 45 RPM by THE BUGS covering the DC5’s ANYWAY YOU WANT IT. Is this the same group? Thanks

  2. Hello,

    In th sixties I had a vocal trio known as The Inspirations. Joe Melino signed us to record for Polaris, at a cost of $900, which our parents put up. He also convinced two of them to buy stock in the company. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say, Mr. Melino is not the most popular person in our history.

    However, we DID get into the studio and recorded two sides at AAA studios. The engineer was a very nice, blind guy named Ray Fornier. Ray also played organ. I’m betting that he is your mystery organist.

    I sure wish I could get my hands on those two recordings. They would make a nice surprise Christmas gift for my two partners, with whom I remain in contact. You don’t suppose AAA still has them somewhere, do you?

    Thanks
    Paul Penta

    1. Lendog! I’m Eddy McGee’s nephew! I sent you an email and left you a voicemail! Contact me back at your earliest convenience! I look forward to hearing from you! ??

  3. The fourth member of the band was Art DuBois who happened to be a friend of my Dad’s. Art was an amazingly talented guitarist who sadly died in 1998.

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