Texas Spotlight: Mouse and the Traps - Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice/I'm The One

Day six of spinning old records from Texas for our regional Battle of the Garage Bands takes us back to Tyler, Texas. That's the same town that gave birth to Murphy and the Mob. 

Mouse and the Traps were Ronnie "Mouse" Weiss on vocals, Knox "Bugs" Henderson, David Stanley on bass, Jerry Howell on organ and Nardo Ken Murray on drums. Nardo? Okay. The band scored a regional hit right out of the gate with a bit of an original (okay, a Bob Dylan rip-off) called A Public Execution. 

We feature today their sophomore release, also released on Fraternity Records in May of 1966. It was at this moment that the band unleashed fury on the world with the Weiss-Henderson composed Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice. I don't know what to say about this song that the song doesn't say for itself. It's a major league garage number in the first order. The musicianship is stellar as stellar gets. 

The flip-side, I'm The One, also composed by Weiss-Henderson, is not so strong. But in many ways it demonstrates the schizophrenia that was Mouse and the Traps. A garage band trying to smooth the rough edges to get a hit. 

Ultimately this fine single was a commercial flop. But that makes it even better to us collectors!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: Positively Thirteen O'Clock - Psychotic Reaction

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!