Monday, June 15, 2015

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen - I've Been Thinking/Route 66

This is why we love garage music. From the small town of Albany, Oregon, a town not too far from the college town of Corvalis, comes the brilliantly named Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen. Yeah, baby.

Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen released one single in July of 1966. It was released on Riverton Records, a subsidiary of the Seattle based Etiquette Records.

Flipping this record over, as usual, we are going to start with I've Been Thinking. The 2:40 second blitzkrieg was composed by the band's guitarist, Ed Westby. Ed, along with his brother, Jim, who is on vocals here, Marshall Adams on bass, Peter Brown on drums and Gary Snyder on organ, created one of the most manic, aggressive records ever. And it came out in 1966. Holy crap.

The A-side is a brilliant cover of Bobby Troup's standard, Route 66.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

2 comments:

  1. This record just further confirms that the PNW was way ahead of the curve with the heavy sound.

    Curious that the title of the flip has quotes. It would seem to be part of the title, no?

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    Replies
    1. It is curious. But never underestimate the lack of ability of someone at the the printing plant to type in the info wrong.

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