Los Chijuas – from Mexico, 1968.
“Changing the Colors of Life” was written by José M. and Julian Genem.
Category Archives: Label
The Pink Fairies
The Pink Fairies – they have plenty of mediocre stuff, but “The Snake” / “Do It”, their first 45 is their best – pure grunge & very heavy for 1971.
“Kakkoi” my friend Ryoma said when I played him “The Snake” for the first time.
Red vinyl from the Italian issue.
The Pleasure Seekers
The Pleasure Seekers gave Suzi Quatro her start, for all you bubble-glam fans.An ode to teenage drinking!
Well I love you baby
I’m telling you right here
But please don’t make me decide baby
Between you and a bottle of beer.
Baby come on over,
come on over to my side
well I may not live past twenty-one
but WOO!
what a way to die!
Your lovin’ fluctuates baby
and everybody knows
but the temperature always stays the same
on an ice cold bottle of Stroh’s
When I start my drinking
my baby throws a fit
So I just blitz him outta my mind
with seventeen bottles of Schlitz
You’ve got the kind of body
that makes me come alive
But I’d rather have my hands around
A bottle of Colt 45
Baby come on over,
come on over to my side
well I may not live past twenty-one
but WOO!
what a way to die
The Action (NZ)
The Action I’m posting today isn’t the UK group of the same name but a New Zealand group from Auckland. Seems like they didn’t mind being confused with their more famous namesake, as they recorded the UK Action’s “Never Ever” for their second 45. Not an unusual practice at the time, there’s also an Australian group calling itself the Birds who covered two of the UK Bird’s 45s, “No Good Without You” and “Say Those Magic Words”.
This Action cover the Vagrants “I Can’t Make a Friend” on the flip side of their first 45, “Romeo and Juliet”, doing an excellent job of it too. This was recorded in April of 1967. Though you wouldn’t think it from this song, they were actually known as more of a soul and r&b band than pop or garage.
Evan Silva wrote to me about “I Can’t Make a Friend”:
That was the first song I recorded with the Action at Stebbings studio in Eldred Stebbing’s basement. I sing on all but Romeo & Juliet. The A sides were Stebbing’s suggestion for the pop market and we selected the B sides. We never played the A sides live as we did not like them, except for Try A Little Tenderness we played that regular especially in Oz! Brett [Neilsen] our drummer was the La De Da’s drummer prior to us and did not want to go back to Oz, then joined the Action and off we went to Oz!
Brian Harris then took Brett’s place in the La De Da’s!
Eldred Stebbing was the owner of the Zodiac label. Many of the great New Zealand bands recorded at his studio, and the Action, the Pleazers and the La De Da’s all played residencies at his nightclub, the Galaxie.
A detailed history of the band is available here
The Chants R&B
They came out of Christchurch and put out two 45s in 1966. Band members were Mike Rudd guitar and vocals, Jim Tomlin guitar, Martin Forrer bass and Trevor Courtney drums.
After the first 45, the insane “I Want Her”, Jim Tomlin left the band and was replaced by Max Kelly. Tomlin came back, however, to produce their next and last 45, the solid “I’m Your Witchdoctor” / “Neighbor Neighbor”, both sides of which feature non-stop fills and razor sharp soloing behind the vocals. An amazing record.
Their live shows were legendary with episodes like Mike Rudd nailing his guitar to the floor while still plugged in, generating wailing feedback! A glimpse of their live sound is available on The Stage Door Tapes.
The Pleazers
Great band from Brisbane who relocated to New Zealand.
They had many fine releases, including some that are more soul and pop than these I’m featuring here. I recommend seeking out the rest of their recordings. Their full story is at the New Zealand Music of the 60’s site.
The Tongues of Truth & The Grodes
In honor of the Chocolate Watchband playing the Underground Garage festival in NY this weekend, I’m featuring the original version of their most famous tune, “Let’s Talk about Girls”.
The Grodes and Tongues of Truth were two names for the same band – originally from Tucson, Arizona, but often recording in L.A. They were renamed Tongues of Truth without their knowledge by their manager and promoter, Dan Gates, dj at local KTKT in Tucson. Gates didn’t bother to tell the band about the rechristening until he announced the new single, “Let’s Talk About Girls”, over the airwaves. They stuck with it while the 45 had it’s time on the charts (#37 locally), then returned to being the Grodes. “Cry a Little Longer” is an earlier 45 on the Tri-M label, and one of their best.
Mike Furber
His 45’s “You Stole My Love” and “That’s When Happiness Began” are famous, but some of his lesser know tracks are good too.
“Where Are You”, originally released on Kommotion KL 32030 in 1966. Available on the Festival CD “Mike Furber: Diddy Wah Diddy: A Tribute Anthology”, if you can find it.