"I Need Love" - the Independence reissue from '68, not, alas, the Thunder original from '67 - was bought largely on the strength of the vocal;. It's one of the coolest vocals I've heard on a garage record so far; nearly as cool as that on The Harbinger Complex's untouchable "Sometimes I Wonder". 'Cool' usually feels like a cop-out adjective but on this occasion it seems like the most appropriate one. The word 'need' may appear in the song's title but this fellow sure doesn't come across as desperate; I guess because he doesn't over-sing and when he does step things up, it ends with a jaunty little 'hey hey'. Certainly not the actions of a needy chap! No, most of the hormonal need is in the music. Check the intro or the last 20 seconds - it's a teenage boy's heartbeat when the object of his lust walks past wearing a tight sweater in musical form. Brilliant record! Of course, I prefer to picture The Third Booth as the dapper, neat haired, Byrds-like kids from the first picture in the clip above and not as the bearded longhairs of the second. Again, it's all about coolness.
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