Great record. Terrible band name. The Tongues Of Truth that we feature here on this record were really a band out of Tucson, Arizona who went by the equally awful name, The Grodes. In May of 1966 they recorded an original composition called Let's Talk About Girls and released it on the micro-label, Current Records. Their manager decided they needed a new name. But he forgot to tell the band. Ahhh, you have to love managers, producers and record company A&R men who think they are bigger than the band.
Let's Talk About Girls charted in the Top 40 locally in Tucson, but not much else happened. The song is perhaps best known today as a song by The Chocolate Watchband. But again, we turn to unscrupulous record weenies. In this case, Ed Cobb (who we love) recorded the song with his friend Don Bennett singing lead and released it as "The Chocolate Watchband". Even though it really wasn't.
All that weenieism aside, Let's Talk About Girls, written by band singer and leader, Manny Freiser, is one kick-ass song. The kid had a way with writing. The Grodes recorded a number of catchy tunes in their short two-year history. Let's Talk About Girls has bravado, a unique recurring guitar riff and a catchy beat.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
I believe The CWB's Dave Aguilar is the back-up singer on The Chocolate Watchband version.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get that info? I would love it if it were true, but I don't hear it. Thanks for the input!
DeleteSuch an excellent composition - there's practically nothing else like it.
ReplyDeleteThe "Chocolate Watchband" do this justice but Aguilar's vocals would have been perfect for this, and so it's a shame the co-opting was happening so much around them. At least it was Ed Cobb. He had a vision.
Hey -- Manny Freiser here. Over the years, I've heard SEVERAL versions of the song - even a chick version, named Let's Talk About Boys, by The Brood - I think from Germany. The one that interests me most is a version credited as va remake byv the CWB -- with Aguilar singing lead -- which I like the best of all the versions. Don't get me wrong: I really like the commercial version by CWB -- but Aguilar's is even better. They just should have let HIM sing it in the first place!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you, Manny. I love your music. Thanks for sharing it with us. I'll seek out the version (online I guess) of the CWB with Aguilar singing the lead. Looks like our link for the music has expired on this link. We did another piece on one of your other records. The music file links are still active. You can check that out at http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/2015/03/rocky-mountain-spotlight-grodes-cry.html
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