We're going to spend the rest of the week spinning some odd-ball discs and garage gems from the brief lived Hanna-Barbera Records, or HBR. The label only lasted two years, spanning 1965 to the early part of 1967 -- the golden age for American Garage rock. The HBR label started as a way for the animation company best known for The Jetsons, Scooby Doo and The Flintstones to capitalize on their established television brand by releasing music from their hit cartoons. To fill out the catalogue and reach a slightly older, cash-in-the-pocket crowd, HBR hired a young cat named Danny Hutton to seek out hot rock combos. They signed some acts like The Tidal Waves and The Guilloteens (great name!), but they focused more on relicensing and distributing songs released on regional labels and picking up one-off numbers from bands already signed to other labels.
Today's SoTW is one of those one-off numbers by a band recording under a pseudonym to avoid conflict with an existing contract. Today's song should sound familiar to most all of our readers. It's a cover of The Count Five's much loved 1965 number, Psychotic Reaction. To discerning ears the band may sound familiar as well, even though Positively Thirteen O'Clock didn't actually exist. The band was, in reality, a band called Mouse and The Traps from Tyler, Texas. Another great band name.
Mouse and The Traps had just had a hit with their Bob Dylan influenced, A Public Execution for Fraternity Records when they recorded this number. How it came to life on the HBR label and with the name Positively Thirteen O'Clock is beyond my knowledge other than producer Jimmy Rabbit seems to have been pulling the strings. This version of Psychotic Reaction is, well, psychotic. More aggressive and more musically accomplished than the excellent original, the distinguishing element of this version is the fuzzed out guitar work of Bugs Henderson.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
