Day 9 of the So Cal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us spinning a brutally awesome double sided rocker from Los Angeles band, The Starfires.
I really know very, very little about this band. The Starfires appear to have been Chuck Butler on vocals, Dave Anderson on guitar, Sonny Lathrop on rhythm guitar, Freddy Fields on bass and Jack Emerick on drums. The band released a few singles and this is their first record, released in 1965 on G.I. Records. Bassist Freddy Fields composed both sides.
For our money, the A-Side is the stronger of the two cuts. I Never Loved Her is clearly written by a bassist! And a bassist who is tired of being teased and bugged to death about some not so hip gal with whom he really never had that much interaction. Dudes, he only gave her one ride home. Her house was on the way home! Leave Freddy alone. Well at least all the teasing gave us a cool song. Chuck Butler swings back and forth between a snarly growl and a soft croon as the bass just grooves along.
The flip-side has a great little warble of a guitar riff throughout. Linda is an evil girl. We have no idea what she did to be so evil but we do know this about her. "Linda, she is an evil schemer. Linda, she is a Stanley Steemer." Man, that must be bad!
The band put out three more records over the following two years. One more for G.I. Records and two for Yardbird Records.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
Serious punk. Great percussion, great contrasting bridge, great screams, great guitar bursts. Speaking of percussion, I can't figure out the logic of the tambourine timing, and I guess there just doesn't need to be any - it's perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe group released five 45s from '65-66. Three issued on the G.I. label, and two on the Yardbird label.
ReplyDeleteThey also recorded a live LP while performing in Las Vegas sometime during late 1964-early 1965.
A change in the lineup resulted in a new moniker, Sweet Marie.
Have been looking for label scan of 'Linda' side(Original label) - anyone help? Thanks JB
ReplyDeletejohnburton@jaybopmusic.com
JohhnyB, [url=https://www.45cat.com/record/gir655001]try here[/url].
ReplyDeleteThis deck has been bootlegged. But the bootleg (2010) has maroon characters on a white label.