The Hergs "Style of Love"

Everything I know about Adelaide, Australia's The Hergs was gleaned from this Garage Hangover article. "Style of Love" is the a-side of the group's sole contribution to the avalanche of great 45s released in the mid-60s. It's an admirably snotty, vaguely psychedelic rammy that takes a trip to the twilight zone. Singer Eddy McPherson could teach Liam Gallagher a thing or two about drawn-out, sneering delivery but he's also surprisingly precise when it comes to enunciating his t's and d's. The slow bassline married to frenetic guitars is a great trick with the overall effect that the listener is left a bit battered and bruised when its 3 minutes are up. Being a bit of a masochist, Not Unloved gleefully places the needle back to the start of the groove in anticipation of another ear bashing.

The Fenians "Got A Feeling" (Dee Gee Records)

Recently, a post on Not Unloved made reference to 'rummaging on discogs for affordable 60s bangers '. A recent example of the riches to be had is "Got A Feeling" by The Fenians (Dee Gee, 1966). Despite costing less than a tenner for a near mint copy, it's absolutely one of my fave 60s janglers. It's so chirpy, romantic and wholesome that it can't fail to lift the mood whenever it plays. There's something incredibly endearing about the big showbiz ending, too. The Fenians only made one 45 so I'm glad they really went for it to the best of their abilities. I'll bet that in 1966 they could've had no idea that nearly 60 years later a middle-aged bloke in Scotland would be playing it on repeat and (ill-advisedly) singing along. What a lovely legacy.

Senza Di Te

"Feel A Whole Lot Better" by The Byrds is rightly considered one of the finest pop tunes of the 1960s. It also features Not Unloved's favourite guitar solo ever. A solo which I've been accurately, but smugly, referring to as 'a ceilidh in 30 seconds' for more than three decades. One of Not Unloved's most cherished gig memories is seeing Sid Griffin with his post-The Long Ryders group The Coal Porters absolutely nailing a rendition of it at Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut sometime in the early 90s. Sublime stuff! Whilst rummaging on discogs for affordable 60s bangers recently, I spied an Italian language version by Swiss beat group Les Sauterelles which appeared on the b-side of one of the issues of their excellent "Routine" single. It's a little less refined than the original but makes up for that through the sheer attack of the performances. Unfortunately, at around 500 GBP for a near mint copy, it's the very opposite of an 'affordable 60s banger' so Not Unloved will have to make do with significantly increasing the view count on the clip, below.

Wayne Dailey "Pain and Sorrow"

1960s pop doesn't come much gloomier than Wayne Dailey's "Pain and Sorrow" (Moonglow, 1966). The woozy opening chords set the sombre tone before the most melancholy of jangles seals the deal. Wayne's restrained croon is the perfect vehicle for delivering the lyrics of pure teen misery:

"Gone are the swallows
Far across the sea
Gone is my loved one
So far from me" 

"Pain and Sorrow" is the b-side to the far more produced/histrionic "Wreck of a Man". Another case of the real riches being tucked away on the flip.

Freedom Rides

When I was 11 years old I was obsessed with football and biscuits (especially Bourbon Creams). I certainly wasn't writing and recording blasting power pop anthems with killer hooks. Dennis Harte, on the other hand, was and "Freedom Rides" (Roundtable, 1967) by his group Pure Madness is something special:

"Love has died
  Freedom rides
  Love has died
  Freedom rides
  I don't love you
  I don't need you
  I don't want you...
  Because you're not mine" 

From what I've read, this his been mis-categorised as a girl garage number which is understandable given Dennis's pre-teen voice. I reckon the young Kim Wilde could've knocked out a cracking version of it in 1981.

A horror film

Sending and receiving records through the mail can be a fraught business. Anyone who buys significant numbers of records online will have their own horror stories of parcels gone missing, inadequate packaging, seams splits, badly dinged corners etc.. A couple of months back a Mint- copy of one of the best garage pop 7"s to hit Not Unloved's eardrums - The Reasons Why "Tell Her One More Time" (Amy) - came up for sale so I stumped up the pennies and waited excitedly/nervously for the postal system to do its work. What a record! :

When it finally arrived, however, the parcel was damaged; it looked suspiciously like it had been stood on. Despite being well enough packaged, the vinyl was cracked and unplayable. Argh! In more than two decades of buying records I had never had that happen before. The seller was very understanding so I got a full refund and moved on mourning yet another one that got away. I hadn't really thought too much more about it until I stumbled upon this horror clip on Friday:

Imagine paying 9000GBP for one of the rarest soul records ever only for it to be run over by a truck - *shudder*. It sure puts my comparatively meagre loss into perspective.

All My Nights, All My Days

Thanks to some Covid-19-enforced time at home, Not Unloved has been getting reacquainted with some recent-ish buys. "All My Nights, All My Days" by The Breakers has all the elements to make it a 60s girl group classic: the dreamy lead vocal, the swaying backing singers, the romantic/affectionate lyrics etc.. Sure, it's sung by a fella but that doesn't change anything does it? Oh, and how sweet is that middle section where the singer sings from inside a watering can before breaking into a falsetto? Top stuff.

Brown Paper Bag "Something Tells Me"

"Something Tells Me" by Texan garage rockers Brown Paper Bag ranks as one of the finest 60s b-sides - 1967 according to the internationalnetwork - to soothe Not Unloved's ringing ears. All the elements necessary for obsession are there: the gentle voice, the moody/haunting sound, the downer lyrics, the tremendous drumming etc.. When you add to all of that some stupendous swirling keyboards and a Shangri-la's-style talky interlude, well, I could EXLODE.

The Prime Mover "When You Made Love To Me"

A hot contender for the Best Record Purchased By Not Unloved In 2019 garland is The Prime Mover's "When You Made Love To Me" (Sock-o, 1967):

Just listen to that arrangement - it has everything: glockenspiel (shouldn't every song?), groovy bassline, driving guitars, wonky guitars, soft, echo-ey voices, tempo changes. If yr band is only going gonna cut one 7"and disappear for good, might as well throw everything at it, eh?

Les Mystics "Mon Père Est Millionnaire" (Vedettes)

Sometimes I pity the poor folks around me.  Ever since I heard "Mon Père Est Millionnaire" by Quebec mid-60s dandies Les Mystics yesterday morning, I've wittered on about very little else.  How to find an as close to mint as possible copy of it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning (the copies I've found online so far don't sound quite pristine enough).  It's an obsession, for sure.  Last week,   "Cryptique" by The Karovas Milkshake proved a timely reminder of just how great Francophone pop can be so YouTube couldn't have nudged me in the direction of "Mon Père..." at a better time.

 What a voice! Those 'aaah, aaah, aaah, aaah's, too - sublime.  Thanks YouTube algorithm, you're a pal!

The Deverons "She Is My Life"

"She Is My Life" by Winnipeg, Canada's The Deverons is one of the most endearingly romantic wimp-garage singles of the 60s.  Derek Blake's lyrics are pure tongue-tied, love-struck teen:

"When she's with me my knees feel weak
 When she's near me I cannot speak"
 ...
 She has my heart
 She has my soul
 Eveyone knows she has me"

The killer keyboard break expresses beautifully the protagonist's rush of boyish adrenalin at the mere sight of the object of his love.  Not many singles are perfect but, for me, this is one of the few.  It is the most instantly lovable track on "Turn To Stone 2 - Long Lost Sixties Garage USA" (Astray Records).  I got mine from Cornucopia Records - a pop-up shop in the basement of Offshore on Gibson Street, Glasgow.  Unfortunately, tomorrow is the last day it's open but the smitten can buy it from their website.

(As ever, original 45s are pricey.)

Stuck In The 60s

BBC Radio 5Live ran a feature the other night about how Environmental Health officers had clocked crazy 100+ db sound levels during showings of recent blockbuster movies such as Godzilla.  Of course, I tut-tutted in agreement.  I mean, who hasn't come out of the cinema in the last few years rubbing their ears and moaning about it?  Of course, I am a total hypocrite when it comes to volume.  If 5Live ran a similar feature on the volume of music played in cars, I would be totally busted.  Tonight I stopped by the ever-wonderful Monorail Music and picked up a bunch of hot new vinyl spins and one second hand cd - this - and you should have heard the loopy volume at which I repeatedly played Bob & Kit's incredible 60s jangler "You've Gotta Stop" (HBR):

The first thing I did when I got home was to fire up ebay and search for an original 7".  Unfortunately, there's only 1 copy for sale and it's quite visibly scratched so I won't be investing in that.  I'm willing to wait for a pristine(ish?) copy.  After all, thanks to the impeccable taste of the cd's compiler, Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond, I can blast it on cd till my ears stop working completely.

Another recent 60s cut to have won my heart is The Striders' adorably perky "There's A Storm Coming" (Columbia):

A tenner secured me a(n allegedly - we'll see when it arrives!) Mint- copy.  The slightly wimpy songs from the mid-60s that straddle the line between garage and pure pop are just so endearing.

Finally, while revisiting Ace Records' ridiculously great "Boy Trouble: Garpax Girls", this Rev-lons stunner swelled my heart all over again:

If "Whirlwind" doesn't have ya shufflin' and a handclappin' and a ooh-ooh-in' then just how do you get your kicks?

There's a fair chance the above 3 songs will form my Three In A Row suggestion for Brian Matthew's Sounds of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2.  Yeah, let's do this!

Cry

A couple of months ago the unbelievably still improving Veronica Falls asked via Facebook and Twitter for suggestions of songs they should cover.  The Changing Times' "Cry" was Not Unloved's suggestion:

Has there ever been a janglier intro?  I doubt they'll ever record it which is a wee shame as I reckon they'd do a smashing version of it.

("Cry" appears on Texas Flashbacks Volume 4)

The Gentlemen

"Gangnam Style"?  No thanks. I prefer Vandan style!

Sheets and sheets of prime fuzz!  "It's A Cry'n Shame" must've melted radios in the mid-Sixties.  The lyrics are pure teen frustration ("Why do I love you?  You don't feel the same") while the guitar solo could carve the name of the uninterested girl into a science class desk.  It's available on Norton's "Fort Worth Teen Scene Volume 3" (that's where Not Unloved first encountered it) and on 7" via Garage Greats.  Blistering!

Sadly, Norton Records' warehouse was badly affected by flooding as a result of Superstorm Sandy and they lost a heap of stock.  This coming Wednesday there's a fundraiser at Mono featuring The New Piccadillys and a bunch of other like minded groups.  Full details below.  Well done the organisers!

Little Miss Love

For a brief wee while I was the owner of this 60s fuzz/jangle belter on vinyl.  The Road Runners retrospective on which it appears was listed recently in the sale section of an online store so I placed an order with a real rush of excitement only to get the deflating 'out of stock' email a few days later. Ah well, it would only have caused more stomping around the living room and general over-heating so maybe I've saved myself a heart attack and my downstairs neighbours a few nights of raised blood pressure.  Still, it would have sounded phenomenal at volume so I can't help feeling a little...bereft.

Bud & Kathy "Hang It Out To Dry"

Due to the need for financial prudence, if I'd had a cartoon thought bubble above my head last Saturday afternoon as I walked to Monorail it would've read: "Right. Just get the Terry Malts record and, maybe the new Grimes cd but nothing more. Absolutely nothing more".  Then I heard this tremendously crunchy slice of co-ed garage scuzz :

Irresistible harmonica!  It's the lead track on a new Big Beat e.p. of tracks from the vaults of Southern California's Downey label.  It's a strong e.p. but unquestionably it's Bud & Kathy who provide the main feature. "Hang It Out To Dry" also appears on this Big Beat cd which is guaranteed to contain a smash or two.

The Rumbles

The Rumbles' "Fourteen Years" is yet another winner from that seemingly endless stream of moody 60s janglers that is almost perfect in every way.  It's a beautifully sung tale of a young lad counting down the days to his release from prison for a crime he didn't commit;  classic wronged outsider stuff.  It's only 'almost perfect', however, because the last note sung (the 'cent' at the end of the final 'innocent') is actually a bit ridiculous and takes a little of the shine off the tune as a whole.  Still, that didn't deter me from parting with a few quid for a Mercury Records promo of the 7" on which it was the b(a? - there's some confusion online as the sides aren't clearly marked on the record!)-side after hearing it on the "Tymes Gone By" lp where it was by some distance my favourite song in a strong selection.