Call me Skeptical...

Yeah. I’m just not really ‘feelin’ Christmas this year. I mean, the day after Halloween I was already being choked-out by tinsel and red felt @ the local drugstore. More and more I fear there is not ample time for decompression between the Holidays and, as such, I think I’ll sit Christmas out this year (Don’t wanna get the Holiday bends and burst a blood-vessel, now do we?). Still, I am the giving sort, and in the interests of comity, I give you a healthy dose of SKEPTICism from Bartlesville OK circa 66’

From the G200 website:

"hands-down prize for 60's group with the most utlrarare picture sleeve 45's goes to Oklahoma's Skeptics, with a total of 3 ULTRA rare picture sleeves, each known in a quantity of less than 10 copies. Much less. This one, "Apple Candy", is probably the second-rarest, with around 5 copies known. The hands-down rarest is their release on Thrush, with only one copy with picture sleeve having ever been found. However the existence of a fourth sleeve, "Bit O' Honey" (Scratch) is now in doubt. Although listed in many discographies, no-one has ever actually seen it. We doubt it exists."

Now, if only I had the picture sleeve...

Apple Candy - Skeptics

Ride Child - Skeptics

Note: Special thanks to Gregorious from HPRS who - in a moment of greed and weakness - sold me this killer-diller disc!

I've Become A Warlock Just For Spite.

Ever notice how the blogosphere – particularly that sliver of musical devotees of who’s ranks I myself patronize – set a store by obscurity? Whether it be some nameless acetate or vanity press, we (and I am as guilty as the next) tend to gravitate towards the obscure without recognizing that mainstream record labels are just as capable of releaseing bizarre platters, many of which have just as little redeeming social value as your average Susbsidary tax shelter or mafia-run narcotics front (Thank god).

Now that Poe has set the tone its time to roll up our jeans and get knee-deep in October Country. Bet you had no idea that October Country is in Canada, right? Me neither. I assumed, like everybody else that ‘My Girlfriend is a Witch’ owed its debt to Hanna Barbera, the song featured prominatly in the short-lived cartoon the ‘Cattanooga Cats’ (See below). As it turns out October Country were a full on sunshine-pop band who failed to crack the canuk market w/ their beatles-esque harmonies and thick instrumentation, finally sliding one off of American Staurday morning culture w/ this ode to a winsome witch.



Hard to say which version excels (HB v. OC), several crime fighting, bell-bottomed cartoon cats not withstanding (HB were always a one-trick pony). But in all fairness, I have sat many a time, bleary-eyed @ the Court Tavern watching the Impossibles silently on the T.V. in lieu of whatever shitty band was sulking in the basement, proslytivzing about their problems like we all ain't got our own (It is a bar, after all). Point being, I might be slightly biased. But nobody can take can hope to encroach upon October Country’s green acres without getting the business end of a some round-bottomed bass and a witch’s broom. The Cats are just incidental.

My Girlfriend Is A Witch - October Country

Where the Wild Things Is...er, Are.

If I were to say the phrase ‘Wild Thing’ and visions of feuding Troggs crept into your mind, then I’d say you stand w/ most music aficionados. If, consequently, visions of Denise Richards and Neve Campbell dikeing out w/ Matt Dillon from the Outsiders permeate your grey matter, then I’d say you watch too much Showtime Late nite and are an unapologetic pervert. In this case either one is perfectly acceptable, as the Wild Things I’m sellin are of neither camp, yet at the same time, decidedly camp -a terminally obscure, if not, unknown variety of hair-hopping garage punk monsters.

Don’t believe me? Dig the pix. I mean, these guys look like a cross between Johnny Suede, Sleazy P. Martini (from GWAR) and Congo Powers. The later, in particular, as majority of the members are of Mexican extraction, doing there best Tav Falco, sporting Gomez Addams moustaches and Teddy boy frocks.



While decidedly ‘Drape’ in appearance, these hombres are straight up amateur night garage punk, if their first single ‘Weird Hot Night (Suffer Baby) is any indication. I see this track turn up on some of the more obscure private press comps- a rare gem considering how close to the bottom of the barrel we’ve come with regards to good, unreleased garage punk tracks. The flip ain’t no slouch either, with both tracks exhibiting low production values without even the slightest regard for technicality, a surprise given Gary Us Bonds involvement in SQRLs production

The third track enclosed, Old Lady, tends to complicate matters, as this later incarnation (69’) of Wild Thing is widely regarded to be the same band as the previous single, though I can find no definitive copy to back that up (Fuck it. I’ll just assume and make an ass out of me). Despite what the mile-high hair and shtick might suggest, Wild Thing were not a studio creation, but were signed by Electra at the behest of a scene headhunter, a full length LP of covers rounding out their single input – a move ultimately considered an embarrassing failure by the Electra production team – never quite living up to the intensity of their previous singles.

While I might spare you the horrors of this lack-luster lp, these singles represent the unhinged talent (and follicles) of a true, grass-roots project - unfettered by the demands of a major label and free to let their hair down, or up, as this ridiculous picture seems to suggest.

Weird Hot Nights (Suffer Baby) – Wild Thing

Don’t Fool With My Girl – Wild Thing

Old Lady – Wild Thing

P.S. Special thanks to Vinyl Dog (Oddly enough, his real name)for inadvertantly sending me on a Wild (Thing)Goose-chase

Revenge: A Dish Best Served Cold (and w/ Cheese)

I’m takin’ this opportunity to shine a light in my little corner of internet sky (Be it ever so humble). One-Hundred thousand hits might seem like a drop in the bucket, especially in a place where information flows like so much blood and attracts just as many rubberneckers as it does flies to the edges of its sticky imbruement, but it’s a distinction I’ll wear w/ pride. If I could turn just one noggin upside down w/ an unknown, or unknowable recording thanks to my efforts, than it is worth a thousand times a thousand computer crashes and just as many unwarranted political entanglement (I’m always right- just for future reference).

Now, if psychologists are to be believed, then we are not born bad, we are, however, every last one of us born square, and as such, we each have to start from square one.

It’s precisely for this reason that I’m highlighting – what is in my humble opinion- the greatest record ever pressed - a record which blew my mind like a cherry-bomb in a trash bin at a time where I was branching off from what I understood music to be (Totally wrong, by the by), and into a miasma of detritus popular critics would exemplify as everything music should NOT be. The record is the Rat’s Revenge; the reasons it strikes a chord, albeit, slightly out of tune, are myriad.



First, the Rats Revenge is not so much a song, as it is a meandering jam; loose in a way that seems juvenile, yet w/ the sincerity that only some wet-behind the ears 16 year old could hope to muster up. Second, Rat’s is completely spontaneous in it’s arrangement; one gets the feeling even the Rat’s themselves don’t quite know where this shit is going’, even knowing full well where this shit has been. Third, as I am a sucker for anything with a pt 2, these bookends are actually on par w/ each other, continuing the narrative (Such as it is) in lieu of just dumpin’ a slightly tweaked DUB track on the flip.

As for the Rats themselves? Word on the street places the Rats in Ohio circa 66’. Word on Tim Warren’s liner notes for BFTG vol 1 places them in the studio where, as the sensational combo the Decades, they recorded the instro classic ‘Strange Worlds’. Would that that had been enough, Mystics producer Terry Rose decided to hip the Decades to a lucrative proposition: Being that the beach party films staring Frankie Avalon & Annette Funichello were so popular, and a big part of that popularity is thanks to their antagonist, Erik Von Zipper (the late Harvey Lembeck) and his motorcycle gang, the Rats, how could a song by the Rats, about the rats, not sell a million copies? The result: after several dismal takes, the band was cautioned not to be so ridged and just have fun with the track…and thus the Rats Revenge was born. Needless to say, the disc sunk like a stone, was disavowed by the band and remains a cult classic to this day, despite the fact that “Most of the 500 copies pressed ended up in a garbage dump in Kent Ohio” …which is right where I come in…square one.

As a kid burned out on punk and ripe for some non-sensical, non-proselytizing R ‘N’ R, Rats revenge is everything I wanted out of a disc; stupid, crude and w/ absolutely no social message or redeeming value…kinda like this blog and it’s owner. SUPERGORILLA!!!

He’s to a Hundred Thousand more! Salute!

Rat’s Revenge pt 1 – Rats

Rat’s Revenge pt 2 - Rats

P.S. Fuck the Golden Pelicans!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Available NOW from GO APE! records.

"Prepare yourself for the all new release from Go Ape Records: three rug-cutters from New Jersey's favorite hellions, the Brimstones! In the grand tradition of records that don't suck, the Brimstones new 45 lifts and separates like a bullet bra for your soul. This is a very limited release, so get it while it's white hot. It's more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys and only costs your sanity."

Lock & Loll!!!

I'm sending this one out to Professor Grewbeard (I'm gonna need to see credentials, professor) over @ Magic Carpet Burns on account of his affection for the Land of the Rising Sun.

One can't spin hip Japanese culture w/o Takeshi Terauchi much like one can't really begin to wrap their grey matter around Japanese popular music unless one consider the previously posted death of Ventures co founder Bob Bogle. Yes, the Ventures were that big; big enough to squash the Beatles w/o so much as Brighton scowl or a Liverpudlian lip-quiver. Why? Because the Ventures are painfully pasty Caucasian models of musical efficiency. Needless to say, the Japanese swallowed these Tacoma boys feet first (there goes that over-achiever stereotype again). Then there are, of course, the myriad of Asian acts(Both good and patently ridiculous) which followed in the Ventures more-than capable wake. But as w/ any master/teacher relationship, the new guard must best the old, applying methods both contemporary and traditional in an attempt to outshine their predecessor.

Yes, Takeshi Terauchi is that good



Perhaps it is the loose playing, Takeshi dive bombing that Bigsby and bending those notes into configurations the Ventures would be want to explore. More than likely it is Takeshi's observance of traditional Japanese scales as played on the Koto, an instrument whose essence has been fully adopted into Terauchi's musical style much as it has the pervading culture in the form of Eliki music. Regardless of the particulars, this SOB can sure hang an axe!

I'm Not Quite Sure What This Song is About - Takeshi Terauchi

I Think This Song is About the Beach - Takeshi Terauchi

Note: Special thanks goes out to Amy & Mike over @ Fancy magazine and Go Ape Records for furnishing me w/ this lovely 45rpm while on their travels in the far east. Much obliged!

Are You Ready?

From Bill Fay to Jenny...


The stars at night may be big and bright, but the guitar chops of this San Antonio psych combo could use a little stove polish to bring the shine out. Hard to imagine the guitar-face that went along with the tasty lix on this solo attempt, but rest assured, it's loose in all the right places, and inept enough to make you thank your lucky stars for rock and/or roll. Flip this disc over and dig a pretty thorough ham-stringing of Carlos Santana, complete w/ bongos and by-the-book B-3. And as an added bonus, you get the whole shebang laced-up on 'Skate' records. I tells ya, I can almost taste the stale pizza and Pepsi. Just don't get you skates caught in the floor-length urinal. Chicken Dance anyone?

Are You Ready? - United

Amor - United

Pussy-Whipped in Rhode Island

Only the addition of big honkin' guitars could've ever gotten the redux of this sappy 66' love dirge across Tim Warren's desk and into the annals of BFTG. If the original version - presented here- seems a tad dandified it's because Rhode Island's Malibus hadn't yet gotten around to futzin' w/ the AM formula by way of some cowbell and a liberal dollop of germanium-fueled excess.

Yup, these kids actually put a lot of effort into murdering their nice little ditty for subsequent re-release on 'Planet' records. Is the version which appears of BFTG vol 1 superior? Beats me, but plenty of people with funny haircuts tend to think so. Personally, I think they're both aces (and you ain't even seen my haircut).One things for sure, these kids sure grew a pair between cuts.

Let this be a lesson to you romantic types out there w/ your silk handkerchiefs and your "feelings" - You may catch more flies w/ honey than you do w/ vinegar, but you can catch even more w/ crap.

Cry - Malibus

David's Current Mood: Anger.

Ok, so you are Jack Ely, the singer of Portland Oregon's own watered-down Wailers, the Kingsmen. Now, you ain't no sap. You've been kickin' the shit just long enough to know that playing this Rock and/or Roll junk in some crappy little band is just never going to cut the mustard. Taking matters into your own adolescent hands, you drop your band mates like a two-dollar pistol (or, if it pleases you, a twenty dolla' ho) for the life-affirming embrace of college (Yuck!)

There you are, on the fast track w/ your keggers and your Cardigans, when a certain Boston DJ blows the dust off one of your previous band's old singles and Bang! You ex-band mates got America by the short-hairs w/ their hit version of Richard Berry's 'Louie Louie', and you got 'Advanced Calculus' and your dick in your hand.

But not to fear! Your old band would always take you back right? Wrong! They are, after all, the mighty Kingsmen, and even though you sneered your way through their hit single, they tell you, in a decidedly kingly fashion, to hit the bricks before they crown ya.



So, picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, you do the only thing a musician of that time could do, you form your own goddamned Kingsmen, and when that doesn't pan out you rustle up some 'Courtmen' and cut your own 'Louie'(b/w a catchy little instro dubbed 'David's Mood') on the McCoy's old alma mater, 'Bang!' Records, and what happens next?

I'll give you a hint: THEY SPELL YOUR FUCKIN" NAME WRONG ON THE DISC!

Still...I guess it could be worse. I mean, you could be Pete Best. Poor Pete.

David's Mood - Jack Eely & the Coachmen

Turn the Key On the Little Tin Soldier

Before you go crownin' your dome piece with a 'Natani Nez' wide-brim and kicking people (Namely Me) in the face, be forewarned that this is NOT the tune made famous in the movie 'Bill Jack'. That would be Coven of 'Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls' fame.

Not about to be outdone by some Kung-Fu injun (or Jinx Dawson for that matter), this fuzzy soul bit is brought to you by the wonderful architect of dance-floor favorite 'The Push', though to be fair, I think this tune has got enough moxie to push right back and then some.

Cut on the 'Jewel' imprint in 67' (Fuck what the label says), 'Soldier' was produced by The great Charlie 'The Best That's Ever Been' Daniels and features a back-up band of 'Jades', though I doubt they are related to either the 'Surfin' Crow' or 'Boomstix' variety. Still, I like to think William Jack would approve.



Oh...and thank you for not kicking me in the face.

Little Tin Soldier - Billy Joe Young

One If By Land! Two If By Turntable!

Do you know what it's like to search the interwebs for the terms 'Spirit of 76' and 'Revolution' in tandem? I'll give you a hint - Fuckin' nightmare! Coupled w/ the fact that the A:side is called 'The Ballad of Ethan Allen' and you can just about fully fathom how much of a hens tooth this 68' disc is turning out to be. As the flip implies, Revere's Raiders were pretty soundly aped for this enterprise. No doubt riding boots and ruffled shirts were involved in some capacity.

Yeah, it sounds like It was recorded inside a tri-cornered hat, but beneath the fog of war is some top-notch guitar work in this militia's call to arms. Imitation being the sincerest, yadda, yadda, yadda this soulful track packs a patriot punch right below your rifle sling. Better cup your 'Dragoons'!

Note: I think we'll save the A:side for a season a little more 'Rocket's Red Glare-ish'.

Call on Me - The Spirit of 76' Music Revolution

"I've Got to Know the Girl in the Miniskirt"

With summer winding down and the coming autumn exuding it’s cooling influence over exposed midriffs and chilly knees alike, the time has invariably come to say goodbye to the minskirt as the come-hither garment of choice for choice chicks.


(sigh) As much as it pains me to say it, there is a definite correlation between the yearly harvest and a very noticeable decrease in the ratio of knee-high boots to pleated Skirts; even stocking are adversely affected.

Though the 'Sunshine State' has never suffered such a seasonal shortage, that didn’t stop California natives ‘The Flower Children’ from making the socially conscious choice and penning this public service announcement extolling the virtues of that ever-present garment.

Simultaneously pressed on both Allied and Castil , all signs point to a 67' release on this, the bands only cut. Once you get passed all the beaded, unwashed activism implied by such a name, 'Flower Children' actually becomes quite apropo, especially when you consider the fact that it sounds like a bunch of kids playing four different songs at once.

A slight technicality when you consider the strong overall message:

"She Did the 'Coffee Grind' and the 'Buffalo Flirt'. That tantalizing temptress in the Miniskirt."

Mini-Skirt Blues - Flower Children

Marching Lovers - Flower Children

Mashmakhan!!!

@ the tail end of a merciless weekend record bender comes this firebrand...

Like the succinctly named Boffalongo, the mouthful of Canadian mush known as Mashmakhan certainly doesn't paint itself into any corners. From buzzy psych to baroque poofery, influences abound in the 1970 debut of these enigmatic million-sellers.

Pierre Senecal, Brian Edwards, and Rayburn Blake formed their first band in 1960 as teens and played local Montreal dance halls and perform on the local scene under the band names like the Phantoms, Ray Blake's Combo, and the Dominoes. In 1965 they were still playing together but with the addition of another Montrealer, Gerry Mercer, who stepped in to replace Edwards (who left the band for a short while). When Edwards returned to the band, Mercer stayed on to make it a quartet, and by now they were calling themselves the Triangle and backing up Montreal R&B singer Trevor Payne. They continued in this vein until 1969, when producer Bob Hahn recognized their talent and took them to Toronto, then the music capitol of Canada, and helped them get signed with Columbia Records. The name of the band was changed to Mashmakhan, after a type of drug being peddled by a local dealer, to become more hip with the young people, and the journey began. Pierre Senecal's "As Years Go By" was released as a single in an edited form, and became the group's first hit. The single sold 100,000 copies in Canada, 500,000 copies in the U.S., and over 1,000,000 copies in Japan, which led to a Beatlemania-like tour for the band in the latter country; it received much publicity and made Mashmakhan an international success story. The band followed the hit with two singles, "Gladwyn" and "Days When We Are Free." In 1970 Mashmakhan released its debut self-titled album, containing the three singles in alternate form, to international critical acclaim. Mashmakhan was one of two contributors to the musical score of the 1971 NFB film Epilogue/Fieve and recorded the song "Couldn't Find the Sun" for the movie. Then, for some unknown reason, the bottom fell out. Mashmakhan's second album, The Family, was released in 1971, and bombed; fan support was lost, and despite a couple of good singles, they did not have the right formula to make it back to the top. Although the album did sell well in Japan, the band split up shortly thereafter. ~ Keith Pettipas

For space reason (Compounded by abject laziness) I have cherry-picked some of the heavier tracks off the LP, but with its thick key work and expressive guitar leads, the entire record richly deserves your patronage. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy before it suffers a similar fate as the Gospel According to Zeus - i.e. Gets gobbled up as prime break beat real-estate.

Warning: Don't let the fluffy quality of the tracks fool you. You're about to get punched in the kidneys.

Days When We Are Free - Mashmakhan

Afraid of Losing You - Mashmakhan

The Rocket Went So Fast, I Couldn't Hear the Blast!

My current fave.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know Garage Hangover got to it first. So sue me! I'm into even sharin'.

Doubtlessly inspired by the Apollo missions of the late 60's, this disc appeals to my love of both the cold, incalculable majesty that is outer space and the pissed off youth demographic. So irreverent that it could only truly be conceived by that rubics cube of non-linear thought - the teenage mind, 'Moon is one Heavenly-ass body.

Note: 'Moon', if you're listenin', you better give this kid his baby back before he breaks a Cuban-heel off in your crater-havin' ass

Straight outta Carolina (Does it really matter which one) circa 69' (or 70' if your a bettin' man), this is about as frantic as it gets.

Moon, Send My Baby - The Challengers

Bold and Bracing, Lusty Tasting?!?!

Yup, its the Vandals

Nope, not those Vandals

Not these Vandals either

What we got here is a Grade-A wax advert, brought to you by the fine people @ Macy's and the 7-Up beverage company (Patent pending). 'Wet & Wild' is a refreshing romp though the gossamer hedgerows of the celebrated Lemon-Lime tonic, replete w/ some heavy Vox Continental action (1966 Natch!). I love how the lyrics are blatantly sexual - "Sooo Wet!"

'Mustang Georgie', likewise, is a steamin' 'Mersey Pie' of bubblegum, Muscle Cars and repressed anger - "My Mustang didn't cost me half as much as you!!!". Man alive, these Vandals are pissed! And while none of these tunes illicit even a remote response with regard to me buying either a Mustang, or a 7-Up, I am totally game for buyin' more kitchy pop-advertising records.

Wafflehouse...here I come!!!

Wet & Wild - Vandals

Mustang Georgie - Vandals

The "Now" Sound of the Salvation Army!?!?

Grabbed this outa the Xian junk-box @ a local Waxiteria in Somerville. I honestly didn't have high hopes for it - as religious recordings tend to be painfully quaint no matter what horrors their salacious covers might suggest - but this LP was tracked in Asbury Park in 67', so I figure 'What the Hell'. True to form, most of the LP blows, and not in an empyrean trumpet kinda way. There is, however, on conspicuous holdout...


I don't know which is cooler, the fact that 'Sinkin' is a non-secular cover from 1912', or that a bunch of righteous pimple-pusses manage to desecrate said song right from the opening chord.

Way to go Bennies! Ya gone and made the baby Jesus cry!

Sinkin' - The Real Soul

"Say man...let's do the Wombat Twist."

Hands down, one of the greatest opening lines, nay, thee greatest opening line in music history. How could you not wanna do the Wombat Twist after such a gracious invitation, even if it meant getting crushed by a bus? This tune has been gettin' around since Hound days, and I really wish there was more of a whale of a tale to tell, but as is the nature of the inspired word that often occasions true genius, perhaps it is best that the story of 'Wombat Twist' remains shrouded in mystery. Still, in the interests of competent blogging, I feel compelled to educate any way I can. Here is some food for thought:


From the memoirs of the Rossetti family (1869)

"The beasts upon which Dante's affections were prodigalized were the first wombat and his successor the woodchuck. The second wombat, having died immediately, counts for little. No more engagingly lumpish quadruped than the first wombat could be found, and none more obese and comfortable than the woodchuck. They were both tame, especially the woodchuck; and Dante would sit with either in his arms by the half-hour together, dandling them paunch upward, scratching gently at their cheeks or noses, or making the woodchuck's head and hind-paws meet. With the wombat no such operation was possible. Each of them was his housemate for some time, and each expired without premonition. I do not assume that my brother wept over them, but certainly "his heart was sair." For the wombat (not having yet seen it) he wrote from Penkill Castle the following quatrain:

"Oh how the family affections combat
Within this heart, and each hour flings a bomb at
My burning soul! Neither from owl nor from bat
Can peace be gained until I clasp my wombat."

Indeed.

Wombat Twist - Glen & Christy

The Decades on 'Era'. Ironic.

If I had to pick just one song that made good use of pig squealing, gibberish, a punch press and backward tape loops, it would be a close call, but I'd have to go w/ 'One Sunset' by the Decades.

No surprise here, but little is known about these gents. Judging by the promo stamp on this platter 1967 seems like a safe bet for production, but don't quote me. If one can look passed the glorious irreverence of the notorious flip-side, the lead in track 'I'm Gonna Dance' is a solid raver w/ some uncharacteristic flute thrown in to good effect. Have at it!

I'm Gonna Dance - Decades

On Sunset - Decades

Green Slime!!!

Dropped by the Meadowlands for a rummage sale this morning - By the by, that new Xanadu sports complex looks like someone ate a bag of Razzles and threw up on an airport. Anyway, while jiving w/ the local color, a kindly old woman, upon noticing a copy of the Divine single under my arm, opined "Ain't he / she the one in that movie where the guy whistles 'Surfin Bird' out his asshole" (yup). Feeling a sale coming on, she points me towards her corner of sky and several boxes of vinyl. Most of it is Rogers and Hammerstein shit w/ the exception of one single...The Green Slime (!?!?!)



Composed by Charles Fox of 'Barbarella' fame this 1968 promotional tie-in was designed to cater to the youth market with it's sharp leads and ambiguous (Awful) lyrics regarding disassociation and, what else, but Green Slime!?!? Not quite sure how the two relate to a Japanese Sci-Fi movie, but it makes for a wonderfully awful theme.

Check out the trailer.



So there it is, 'The Green Slime'. It's more fun than whistling 'Surfin' Bird' out your Asshole. Enjoy.

Green Slime - Green Slime

Moongooners, Strangers & Brothers.

I dig Scott Walker, and to a greater extent, the 'Walker Brothers'. They kinda remind me of Tom Jones in that they manage to put an incredibly upbeat spin on some ultra depressing shit (Ahem...'The Big Hurt'). That said, the 'Walker Brothers', much like their compatriots, made their bones in the studio bands of the late fifties and early sixties. Here we have two wildly different examples of the talent which would one day don page-boy locks and threaten to topple even the Beatles.


Moongoon Twist - Moongooners

Willie & the Hand Jive - Moongooners

Cut one the Donna label (an offshoot of the incredible Del-Fi record imprint), 'Moongoon Twist' features 'Walker Brothers' alumni Scott Walker (Ake Noel Scott Engel) and John Walker (Aka. John Maus) as the aformention 'Moongooners'in what can only be described as a spontaneous fit of Instrumental rage (Dig that crazy scream!!!)! The single is backed by an Instrumental reworking of the R & B classic 'Willie & the Hand Jive' as popularized by the 'Johnny Otis Show'. Hard to believe that somebody saw enough artistry to issue a followup single to the ole' Moongooners, but the beauty of the people at Del-Fi has always been a complete disregard for the merits of popular music (Thank God)


Tell Me - Strangers

Easy Livin' - Strangers

This next cut is "allegedly" the same twosome behind the Donna records fiasco (Engel & Maus)according to the session notes of singer / rhythm guitarist William Lincoln (note: Lincoln would later go on to record the legendary psych opus ‘A Gift From Euphoria’ for Capital). Baring further confirmation, part of the beauty of the blogosphere is not having to be responsible regarding my sources, but honestly, how can a million record dorks be wrong? Making good use of the Rolling Stones' 'Tell Me', this single onCalifornia's Linda label backs it up with a cool, brass-heavy instro tune dubbed 'Easy Livin'.