Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Daily Flash - Jack of Diamonds/Queen Jane Approximately

Back to our Pacific Northwest Spotlight as we determine, region by region, the greatest garage single ever.

Today we spin a band out of Seattle, Washington. The Daily Flash started in the folk clubs of the PNW town and eventually would make their way down to the hipster scene of LA and then San Francisco. The band was guitarist and lead singer, Steve Lalor, guitarist Doug Hastings, Don MacAllister on bass and Jon Keliehor on drums. 

The band recorded only two singles in their brief existence. Today we feature their debut single, and, as usual, we flip the record over to start on the superior flip-side. The record was released in July of 1966 on Parrot Records.

The flip-side is the brilliant Jack of Diamonds. It opens with a wall of feedback before it gives way to a rolling bass line and wailing harp. The hard charging arrangement is never better than at the ever so brief, incendiary guitar break led by Doug Hastings. Dig that bass work behind the lead. The song gets writing credit from the band. However, that is a bit suspect. The song dates back to at least 1926 when Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded the number in Texas. The Daily Flash give it a pretty wild reinvention, but let's be honest, they rearranged it, they didn't write it. 

The A-side is a great cover of Bob Dylan's Queen Jane Approximately. It showcases the band's folk roots brilliantly. Truly one of the best Dylan covers from the era. Another great guitar solo and some real fine harmonies. Now if Dylan just hadn't written that number with the awkward sentence that ends improperly in a preposition, I would have nothing about which to complain.

The band released one more single, on Uni Records, in January of 1967 and is well worth seeking out. We wrote about here back in 2013.

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

The Cops N' Robbers - There's Got To Be A Reason

The Cops N' Robbers hailed from Watford, England where they kicked out only three records. Amazingly all three were also released in the US. The first on Parrot Records and the other two on Coral Records.

We focus today on the Flip-Side of their debut single. Released in November of 1964 in the UK on Decca and on Parrot in the states, There's Got To Be A Reason was the Flip-Side of the band's perfectly fine cover of the US folk/blues song, St. James Infirmary. The band, at the time of this recording was Terry Fox on keyboards, Henri Harrison on drums, Steve Smith on bass and Brian Smith on vocals. Brian Smith would soon depart the band to front a Pretty Things related band, The Fairies. The Fairies singer, Dane Stephens, would, in turn, sing for The Cops N' Robbers final single. To further complicate things, There's Got To Be A Reason was co-composed by some cat named Stephens. Dane?

The Cops N' Robbers barely made a blip in their home country and made not even a ripple here in the US. But they get credit for composing the song You'll Never Do It Baby. That song was only released on a French EP but was covered by Berlin band The Boots and UK band, The Pretty Things. More on that in a later post.

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

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Ides Of March - You Need Love and Sha-La-La-La-Lee

You Need Love

Sha-La-La-La-Lee

We're going to wrap up our Parrot Records spotlight with a band out of Chicago suburb, Berwyn, Illinois. The band go by the name of The Ides Of March and are best known for their 1970 mega-hit, Vehicle. I hate that song soooo much that I have trouble accepting The Ides Of March's earlier work as good. But it is. 

The Ides Of March released a string of singles for Parrot Records starting in 1966. The song we play today is their third record for Parrot, released in November of that fine music year. The A-Side is the understated You Need Love, written by the band's frontman, Jim Peterik. Jim was yet to unleash hell on America with Vehicle and his other infamous composition, Eye Of The Tiger by his subsequent band, Survivor.

The Flip-Side is a fine cover of The Small Faces number, Sha-La-La-La-Lee.

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

PS. Ralph. Do you really need to write your name all over this damn record? If this record was so damn important to you as to tag your geeky name on it, then why, oh why did you get rid of it? Huh? BTW, Ralph, you forgot the possessive apostrophe. You didn't even do it right. Sheesh. 

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Zombies - Whenever You're Ready and I Love You

Whenever You're Ready

I Love You

You can't leave everything to fate. Sometimes just because you do good work, doesn't mean you will meet success. Such is the case with The Zombies. Note for note, perhaps the most consistent band to come out of the UK in the 60s. The band of nerds met only modest success.

Now that said, behind perhaps only Tom Jones, no group was more successful for the under achiever Parrot Records than were The Zombies. The Zombies were far more influential and appreciated in America than in their native UK. Yet even in the British Invasion hungry US, The Zombies limped and crawled under the radar too often. Case in point is today's Song of the Week. This August 1965 release on Parrot Records failed to chart in the US top 100. Similarly, when it was released a month later in the UK for Decca Records, the single failed to chart in the UK top 100. Such was the life of a Zombie. Make incredibly great music, influence other musicians (mostly in the US), fail to sell many records, fail to fill even the smallest venues.

Whenever You're Ready was written by the band's pianist, Rod Argent, the band's most prolific songwriter. As is always the case, the vocal work from Colin Blunstone is hauntingly good. The harmonies spot on. The electric piano break wickedly clever. The lyrics tight and thoughtful. How did this not sell records?

The Flip-Side is equally as good. I'm telling you, EVERYTHING they put out was superb. I Love You was written by the band's bassist and secondary songwriter, Chris White. From the title alone, I should hate this song. But I don't. The trademark Zombies minor chord work, the theme of frustration and unrequited love and Colin Blunstone's voice. Rod Argent even better on the keyboards on this song. You can't go wrong with any Zombies record.

As mentioned earlier, The Zombies had a larger influence than they had record sales. To point, a California band with the dreadful name of  People covered I Love You very nicely and released it on Capitol Records in January of 1968. They had a hit with it. Meanwhile, at the same time, The Zombies were getting dropped by Decca Records and were begging for studio time to record their second and last album, Odyssey and Oracle.

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

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Novas - The Crusher and Take 7

The Crusher

Take 7

Day four of our Parrot Records spotlight takes us to the frozen tundra of Minnesota, USA. The Novas may be the first American band to get a release on Parrot Records with their November 1964 release of The Crusher/Take 7. Bob Nolan, the singer of the Novas, usually a surf instrumental band, gets songwriting credit on The Crusher, a tribute to wrestling legend, Crusher Lisowski. The Crusher was covered by both The Cramps and The Ramones. Not bad. We include here today the Flip-Side, the fine instrumental track, Take 7. Believe it or not, the song actually charted at number 88 on the national charts! Dig on the photo of the band rocking the geek chic look. 

And check out Crusher Lisowski to see the inspiration for the song.

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

Parrot Records Spotlight: Lulu and the Luvers - I'll Come Running and Here Comes The Night

I'll Come Running

Here Comes The Night

We're letting our Parrot Records freak flag fly for the third day. The first day found us in Newcastle, England. Then we went to Belfast, Ireland. Today we listen to Lulu and the Luvers who hailed from Scotland. 

Lulu scored a hit right out of the gate with her cover of the Isley Brothers' Shout in 1964. That got the diminutive Lulu attention from both sides of the pond. For her second UK single, Lulu recorded a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. That single got skipped by Parrot Records here in the US. But the next thing you know, legendary songwriter and producer, Bert Berns, (whom we have written about here extensively), came a-knockin on Lulu's door. He composed the A-Side and produced both sides of her third UK single (second in the US). We present today the unique US version which features a Bert Berns composition/production on both sides. As we tend to do, we're going to start by flipping the damn record over.

The Flip-Side of the November 1964 US single is the far superior song, in our flippy opinion. The song didn't make it onto any UK single, just the US. The song is the Bert Berns composition (under the pen name Bert Russell), I'll Come Running. The song has that trademark four-chord down beat that Berns made famous with songs like his oft-covered Everybody Needs Somebody To Love. But what makes this nasal voiced rocker a little different is the guitar work by session guitarist, Jimmy Page and his brand new wah-wah pedal. That's some pretty characteristically solid work from Page at 1:46. Lulu lets it all fly as she and Jimmy spar as the song fades out.

Here Comes The Night is the A-Side and it is damn solid and well worth being the chosen side. Garage fans will likely more closely associate the song with yesterday's act, Them. This version of the song is the first recording of the Bert Berns composition, predating Van Morrison and Co.'s take on the song by four months. While I will go on record as saying Them's version is the far superior, let's not blow this one off too fast. Lulu's voice is spectacular and Bert Berns' production is lush and fabulous. The guitar riff made famous in the Them version is still there, albeit a bit hidden. 

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

Parrot Records Spotlight: Them - Richard Cory and Don't You Know

Richard Cory

Don't You Know

Day 2 of our Parrot Records Spotlight. Squawk! 

Northern Ireland's Them had to have been Parrot's most heart warming success story. The unknown Belfast quartet, you see, was fronted by a diminutive man with a big voice, Mr. Van Morrison, who went on to write a song or two in his day. The first release of Them in the US was the January '65 release of Baby, Please Don't Go with a Flip-Side of G-L-O-R-I-A...Gloria. That wasn't the hit you may think it was. It was the Chicago garage band, The Shadows of Knight, who turned that first Parrot Flip-Side into a US hit, not Them. The easy to play song took-off on stages all across the country and the musicians started to look closer at the little Irish band whose singer wrote the tale of teenage sexual frustration. 

Today we look at one of Them's lesser known releases on Parrot Records, Richard Cory. It's Them's 6th release (of seven) and it was released in the US on May 28th of 1966. The single went nowhere fast. The A-Side is kinda a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song "written" by Paul Simon. In reality Paul Simon wrote the music, but the lyrics are a direct lift from the poem, Richard Cory, by Edward Arlington Robinson of Maine in 1897. The song, like the poem, tells the tale of a well todo man who is the beacon of his community. The story is told from a third person admirer who lusts for Richard Cory's life of wealth, privilege and excellence. Then one day, our narrator is shocked to learn that Richard Cory, the man who had it all, went home and put a bullet through his head. An act that our narrator still yearns to emulate. For years I heard rumors that Jimmy Page played the baritone guitar on Richard Cory but I have not been able to unearth credible evidence to suggest as much. Anyone? There is another version of Richard Cory that has surfaced on some odds and ends records out there. It is quite different with no baritone guitar, a more languid pace and a big heap of country styled harmonica. 

We're including the Flip-Side of Richard Cory, which is the very strong jazzy number Don't You Know, written by producer Tommy Scott. Scott, incidentally, wrote the A-Side of the preceding Them single, Call My Name, as well as the last Them single (with Van Morrison at least), the hugely influential I Can Only Give You Everything. 

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

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Alan Price Set - I Put A Spell On You and Iechyd Da

I Put A Spell On You

Iechyd Da

By popular request (one anonymous request to be exact), On The Flip-Side will feature each day this week a different single from the US based Parrot Records.

Parrot Records was created in 1964 as a subsidiary of London Records to release singles licensed from the UK version of Decca Records. Got it? While it was mostly a front to release these UK recordings, Parrot Records did, however, release a few US based records. We'll try to hit some of both this week. One note before we move on to today's single, we want to lay it out there that from a graphic design stand point, few company's had a cooler looking label/sleeve combination. 

The first record in our Parrot Records Spotlight is from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The artist is The Alan Price Set, and as any serious Flip-Side reader will know already, Alan Price was the founding member of The Animals. He was also their earliest casualty, exiting the band he formed by mid-1965.  In March of 1966, his new band, The Alan Price Set, released their second single in the UK, a cover of the oft-covered Screaming Jay Hawkins song, I Put A Spell On You. In this writer's estimation, hands down the finest version to be committed to wax. A month later The Alan Price Set version was released in the US on Parrot Records, his first US release. As one can well imagine, the single failed to light the world on fire. But that doesn't mean it isn't great. Not a chance. Alan Price's beautiful organ work builds slowly from a smoldering ember to a full on blazing fire. at 1:53. But Price's strong vocal work doesn't get lost by his immense organ skills. He belts out the vocals with confidence and composure and brings the song to a soaring conclusion. 

The Flip-Side is included here today. It is the Alan Price composed jazz instrumental Iechyd-Da. We hope you enjoy.

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

Song of the Week: "I'm Gonna Dress In Black", Them

Listen - Them perform I'm Gonna Dress In Black.

Ahhh, it's Them. I must say, it has been a while since I had Them on the turntable. Too long. So how sweet it was when, just the other week, I pulled out some of my US label Parrot Records-stamped Them 45's, a few O'Dell's IPA beers, and had a grand old time playing records at ear splitting volumes.

Understandably, Them is often recognized for only two things: 1) being the first band of the 5'4" musical giant that is Van Morrison, and; 2) being the originators of the garage band standard, Gloria, a Van Morrison penned flip-side to the stellar cover of Baby Please Don't Go. But Them were much more than that. The Belfast boys put out two excellent records and a healthy amount of solid 45's. Them albums sounded different than most of their "British Invasion" brethren. Certainly part of it is their Irish homeland influence, but most of it can be traced to the multi-instrumental ability of their frontman and predominant song composer, Van Morrison. He brought Irish folk, American folk, American Jazz, American blues and rock-n-roll influences, and mixed them all together in a wonderful little stew. Only Manfred Mann albums had as much diversity as did the two albums by Them.

Today's SoTW comes from Them's first album, the excellent 1965 release, The Angry Young Them. The song seems to be neither a cover nor an original, but rather a song brought to the group. Perhaps by sometime Them producer and songwriter, Bert Berns. (See an old post on a bitching Garnett Mimms song he produced, As Long As I Have You). The song for the week is I'm Gonna Dress In Black. Thematically and musically, it has a certain feel similar to The House of the Rising Son as performed by The Animals. The organ dominant song features some of the most unexpected chord progressions, mixing up minor and major chords nicely, you're likely to hear out of song from this era. Van Morrison is, as always, exceptional on the song. You can really feel the Ray Charles influence in his performance. But it is really the organist who shines on this. Who that organist is, we just can't say. You see, Them was really a revolving cast of musicians with only bassist Alan Henderson and Van Morrison remaining constant. Additionally, it is very evident that studio musicians were employed generously on Them recordings. Question me on that? Just watch a live performance of Them and you'll hear a great difference in ability from stage to record. Whomever the musicians were, the song is killer.

Enjoy, today's SoTW, I'm Gonna Dress In Black. And enjoy the two vids below. The first is a live performance of the Bert Berns produced/composed Here Comes the Night, the latter a lip-synch version of Van Morrison's composition, Gloria.