Southern California Spotlight: Love - 7 And 7 Is.../No. 14

It's all about the sevens today. Day 7 of the Southern California region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us, naturally, spinning the incendiary 7 And 7 Is.

We've written extensively about one of our favorite bands, Love. So we are largely going to let the music stand on it's own 7 inches.

The A-Side from this groundbreaking Hollywood band, 7 And 7 Is was performed largely by Arthur Lee himself. Guitar, vocals, most of the drums and perhaps bass too. The abstract words probably aren't as abstract as they seem on first listen. In an interview in Ugly Things magazine a few years back, lead guitarist Johnny Echols suggests that the song has a lot to do with Arthur as a 14 year old kid dealing with his journey into manhood and living with not so engaged family members who didn't always treat him well. In it Arthur Lee recounts watching his dad get his feet too close to the fireplace as his aged dog stared direct into the fire.

If I don't start cryin' it's beacuse that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night, but I'm a day and I go oop bip bip, oop bip bip yeah!

The title is a reference to the shared birthday of March 7 between he and the gal with whom he was smitten, Anita "Pretty" Billings.

The flip-side is, very logically, No. Fourteen. The song was an outtake from the first album's recordings.

The single was released on Elektra Records in July of 1966, the band's second single.

Southern California Spotlight: The Satans - Makin' Deals/Lines and Squares

Back to So Cal with our regional Battle of the Garage Bands. Today we embrace The Satans. Nothing is known about The Satans. Nothing. Some claim they are from Fullerton, California. Some have thought they hailed from New Orleans. But me? I think this is not really a band. I think this was a studio creation. Let me explain. 

Bob Summers, the gentleman who arranged and produced the number was an independent record producer who worked with Mike Curb and his business, Sidewalk Productions. At the time of this release, in May of 1966, Mike Curb was spearheading a number of Biker exploitation films that played up all things taboo: drugs, rape, murder hell and motorcycle gangs that went by the names of The Devil's Angels, The Born Losers and, of course, The Satans. 

Posit this release, the inaugural release for Manhattan Records, into that paradigm and strong signs point to this song being a studio creation perhaps intended to be used in one of the soundtracks of a Russ Meyers directed film produced by Mike Curb. Bob Summers wrote, produced, arranged for a variety of labels and released a few numbers under his own name. He would go on to write a number of TV theme songs, including the theme for Grizzly Adams. 

Now to the record. Makin' Deals was composed by "The Satans". In it's brief 2:08 of eternal life, our singer poses as the devil and offers up all sorts of deals to the listener. He also poses the question, "can you guess my name?" This has led many to wonder if The Rolling Stones may have got ahold of this record when they were touring California at the time that this record was released. That is because the Rolling Stones asked the very same question in their very similarly themed recording, Sympathy For The Devil, which was recorded on the 4th of June, 1968. 

The flip-side is a straightforward jangly number called Lines And Squares. This one also gets writing credit from "The Satans". But the reality is that the lyrics are taken from a poem of the same name written by A.A. Milne. How satanic is it to steal from the author of Winnie The Pooh? 

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Roosters - One Of These Days/You Gotta Run

More SoCal Battle of the Garage Bands. The Roosters hailed from Westchester, California, home of the infamous, Randy's Donut Shop. That particular part of Los Angeles was known for it's rich surf scene (and late night donuts). Then the British Invasion hit and the bands began growing their hair long and ditching the silver suits for Chelsea Boots and vests. The Roosters were clearly influenced by local heroes, The Byrds. Hell, even the name comparison could make you cocksure of that one. The singer of The Roosters was Ray Manginin, lead guitarist was Tim Ward. Levitt Earhart on guitar, Floyd Fletcher on bass, and Jim Peters on drums rounded out the rest of this poultry in motion band. The band recorded four singles, two independent releases and two for Phillips Records. But by the time they got to Phillips, the band's creative force had shipped out to Vietnam.

We turn now to the band's debut single. Tim Ward wrote both sides of their 1966 debut single for the micro label, Progressive Sounds of America. The A-Side is the show stopper.

One Of These Days first came to my attention via a comp released in the 80s. Jangly 12 string guitar, minor chord progressions, tight harmonies, nice little funky rhythm change at the chorus and put down lyrics make this one of the best to come out of Los Angeles. And that's saying a lot.

You Gotta Run is damn fine as well. It has a real Beau Brummels sound to it. Not as strong, but it shows the band had talent. For days.

Richie Podolor (working under the pseudonym Richie Allen), the man who engineered many a fine Standells and Chocolate Watchband record for Ed Cobb, was the producer of this fine single.

In one interview (noted below), Ray Manginin suggests that this single was not released for sale, only in promo form. It's a shame they never had a chance to see how this record might play out. Oh well, makes it more rare!

Check out an interview over at Flower Bomb Songs with lead singer Ray Manginin for more info.

Southern California Spotlight: The Misunderstood - Children of the Sun/I Unseen

Our fourth entrant in the SoCal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands is a bit of a misunderstood band. Too often The Misunderstood get tagged as a UK band. But they were not. Yes they recorded their only two singles in the UK. Yes their only two singles were only released in the UK. Yes they had one member of their five piece band that was from the UK. But all the other cats were from Riverside, California. 

Five years ago we wrote extensively about The Misunderstood (specifically the flip-side of their debut single for Fontana, Who Do You Love) and that gained attention from two of the members of the band who, in turn, left great comments. For detailed info we suggest you read that post here. 

We turn today to their second single, Children Of The Sun/I Unseen. The single was recorded in 1966 upon the band's arrival in the UK. However, the record was not released until much later in 1969 when Fontana Records got around to realizing what they had on their hands. 

The A-Side, Children Of The Sun was written by singer Rick Brown and rhythm guitarist Tony Hill. Note that Brown's name is misspelled on the label. There is just so many great things to say about this 100% perfect song that I am left scratching my head as to where to start. I guess I'll start with the wonderful guitar work of Glenn Ross Campbell and his very unique pedal steel guitar riffs that lift this song to unique and brilliant heights. Rick Brown growls away as he and Campbell battle it out and Rick Moe propels the song at break neck speed with his full drumming. Brilliant. 

The flip-side, I Unseen, gives writing credit to Brown and Hill again. But the reality is that the lyrics of a post nuclear haunting are from a poem by Turkish writer, Nazim Hikmet. That aside, I Unseen is as powerful as the A-Side. A blistering lead guitar riff backed by a really nice rhythm laid down by Tony Hill give way to a couple of great music breaks where the whole band just owns the song. And bassist Steve Whiting is never forgotten as he has laid down some of the best bass work of anybody to ever record on a rock record in the 60s.

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Grains Of Sand - That's When Happiness Began/She Needs Me

Day three of our SoCal Region of The Battle of the Garage Bands takes us back to Los Angeles. Today's entrant shows that you don't have to record for a tiny label in a small town like in Delaware or Corpus Christie, Texas to go virtually unnoticed. Musical anonymity can happen right in the heart of one of the music meccas of the world.

The band in question is The Grains Of Sand, featuring David Hodgkins on guitar and harmonica, Douglas Mark on lead guitar, Rich Brand on bass and Willie Shider on drums (Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine plays drums on the plug side and I'm not sure who is on vocals). The band has the rare distinction of putting out two of the all time greatest garage singles. Today we feature their first release.

The song is the superbly crafted That's When Happiness Began released on Valiant records in February, 1966 and written by the songwriting brothers and Valiant recording artists, Don and Dick Addrisi.  The brothers would soon score a mega hit with their penning of the saccharin Never My Love, as recorded by fellow Valiant artists The Association.

Attesting to the hit potential of today's song, That's When Happiness Began has the unique distinction of being recorded in three different continents by four different acts, all in 1966 (in addition to the GoS, this was recorded by The Montanas in the UK, Mike Furber and the Bowery Boys in Australia and Gwynn Owen in New Zealand in that order). How this little non-hit wonder so efficiently made its way around the world boggles this Flip-Sider's mind; in any case, it was The Grains Of Sand who released it first and frankly did it best. Regardless, the song didn't go anywhere, partly, I am sure, because Valiant records, as part of the label's stated intent to the band, did not put a valiant effort behind it at all. Instead, after its all-too-brief heyday, this single gathered dust until the excellent What A Way To Die garage compilation surfaced it around 1983. Even among the stiff competition on that comp, Happiness stands out with its great melodic hook, harmonica solo and stomping beat, and was among the first songs in the genre to etch an indelible groove in this listener's ear.

It's just a great song. Yet what takes this single to the upper stratospheric reaches of garagedom, commonly known as Mount Garagemore, is the Flip-Side, She Needs Me.  After a few beats, the song hits us with an ear-bending, reverb-soaked, era-defining guitar motif with few parallels. Just brilliant in all respects. The lyrics then deliver a lonesome, urgent sense of yearning that is coupled with an economical use of words calling to mind By My Side by Australia's The Elois. Words and music are by band members David Hodgkins and Willie Shider:

She needs me!
Wants love!
Then why can't she accept me? 

She wants me, she loves me, she needs me, she says she do!
Well, she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, say you do! 

Can she see?
My heart will never be free! 

Well she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, she says she do!
Well she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, says she do! 

I'll take her!
God knows I won't forsake her!

Flip-side talks about the band's second single here. Photograph of band and certain information are from the interview of Rich Brand on the excellent 60sgaragebands.com site.

Enjoy and until next time, we'll see you on the Flip-Side.