We're going to spend a little time looking at records by geographical location. A bit of an old school Battle of the Bands, if you will. We're going to start in New England, since that is where the country started anyway.
A few weeks back we wrote about The Blue Beats who hailed from Ridgefield, Connecticut, an affluent bedroom community of New York City. (You can read that article here.) The quartet of Kit Miller, Peter Robbins, Lance Drake and Jack Lee kicked out two nice records for Columbia Records. Today we look at both sides of their first single. Extra Girl was written by Lee and Drake, while the Flip-Side of She's The One was written by Lee and Robbins. The single was released with a picture sleeve on September 6, 1966. The single didn't do too much, which is a little surprising as Extra Girl is quite the catchy number. Both sides, but particularly She's The One, mine that same vocal-first/pained-John Lennon influenced genre that The Merry-Go-Round and The Left Banke also did so well.
Great pop single filled with quirky ideas such as the downward guitar lick on Extra Girl (:20 for example). Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really dig this double sided gem
DeleteHi Morgan - I just came across this. I have a CD of all the 45s recorded by The Blue Beats, The #1, and The Moovees. I traveled with the band and created the CD with their permission. Contact me if you would like a copy at bnews123 (AT) gmail.com. I have also posted a few videos on YouTube under "bluebeatsfan."
ReplyDeleteHello brother, can you tell me if any of them are still alive apart from Louie Mazza? Which one is jack Lee? Can I find anything about him on google? THANKS
DeleteJack Lee and Peter Robbins are both still making music. They are both on Facebook
DeleteJack Lee is on the far right in the photo above.
DeleteI'm very interested in buying a copy. I just learned about The Blue Beats and am amazed. I lived in Connecticut most of my life but never heard of them until now,although I was only 9 years old in 1966. I will email you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit young when they played our local hullabaloo in Norwalk just down the road from Richfield. But we all knew about them and what could have been had they released their cover of and your Bird can sing before the Beatles management decided to release it in the states. They were an awesome band !
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