Monday, March 16, 2015

Rocky Mountain Spotlight: The Grodes - Cry A Little Longer/She's Got What It Takes

Rocky Mountain Showdown keeps us in Arizona with The Grodes.

The terribly named The Grodes was a vehicle for teen maestro, Manny Freiser. The kid from Tucson had a knack for a hook and a penchant for a melody. That's for sure. Today we're looking at the band's second single, Cry A Little Longer/She's Got What It Takes. The single was released in March, 1966 on the mighty Tri-M Records. It's not their most famous single, but I think when you look at this, A-side and flip-side, you'll agree, it was their best. 

Cry A Little Longer is a fast paced foot stomper with a groove that is hard to resist. Manny Fresier's snarly vocal performance is garage band 101 material. A boy who finally has the nerve to stand up to a do-nothing girl and has all the bravado he can muster to tell her to just "cry baby". A great guitar solo punctuates the number.

Flip it over. What do we find? She's Got What It Takes. Now Manny Freiser is in love with a girl who, well, is too much. The house party rocker has lots of starts and stops to keep the song nice and interesting for us. 

For the band's fourth single, released in October of 1966, the band's manager, in a fit of frustration with The Grodes not getting air play beyond Tucson, decided to rechristen the band The Tongues Of Truth. The band knew nothing about this until they had that Spinal Tap moment when they received the pressing of their record. That record failed to light the world on fire but did catch the attention of Ed Cobb who had one of his bands, The Chocolate Watchband, cover the A-Side. Of course we are talking about Let's Talk About Girls. If the flip-side of that single was stronger we would have spun it.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

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