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!

Pacific Northewest Spotlight: The Kingsmen - Louie Louie/The Haunted Castle

Day six of our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands finds us still kicking it around Portland, Oregon.

I could make a very strong argument that The Kingsmen's Louie Louie was both the most important and influential recording in rock history.

It was in 1963, Portland, Oregon, that the The Kingsmen paid $36 to record this number at a small radio studio with only two mics: One for the drums, one for the rest of the band, including the vocalist. The band banged it out and released it on the Seattle based Jerden Records in the Summer of 1963. From there Wand Records picked it up and released it nationally in October of that year.

The record spread like a wild fire and even launched a Justice Department investigation to determine if the lyrics were obscene (the answer was, "we can't tell") and was banned by one midwestern Governor who thought his state's impressionable teens should not undulate to the suggestive beat.

But the record persevered. This rag-tag stutter rhythm recording would soon be replicated by every garage and frat rock band in America. And when Pye Records released it in the UK in December of 1963, the Brit bands would be jumping on board as well. Bands like The Kinks, The Who, The Eyes and The Troggs would soon be pounding out their own interpretations of this rhythm and selling it back to the Americans who started it.

At the time of recording, the Kingsmen were comprised of Jack Ely on vocals, Lynn Easton on Drums, Mike Mitchell on guitar, Bob Nordby on bass and Don Gallucci on keyboards. Two notable moments to listen for in this recording. At :54, Lynn Easton yells "fuck!" (how the Justice Department missed this is beyond me) after breaking a drum stick. At 1:58, Jack Ely jumps in early and starts the next line before aborting and starting again.

Jack Ely would be forced from the band by Lynn Easton who wanted center stage. His mom trademarked the name and the Easton family began cleaning house.  That's the drummer, Easton, in the 1000 lip-synched versions you've seen on YouTube. Don Gallucci would be the next casualty with him being forced from the band as he was too young to tour.

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: Don and the Goodtimes - Little Sally Tease/Little Green Thing

Day five of our Pacific Northwest spotlight takes us to Portland, Oregon. Here we find a band called Don and the Goodtimes. Lame name. Not lame music.

Don Gallucci had been the organ player for The Kingsmen. That's him that opens the legendary recording of Louie Louie. But after that song hit it big, The Kingsmen went in to upheaval as the drummer and his parents smelled money and began pushing everyone out of the band to assert control. Don was one of those casualties as was singer Jack Ely. Ely apparently served as the earliest singer of Don Gallucci's band, but I am not clear if that is him singing in this record. I assume it is Don Gallucci singing.

Today we spin the a-side of the band's second single, released in 1965 on the Seattle based Jerden Records. Little Sally Tease was written by the band's guitarist, Jim Valley. The number only gained modest local attention, but it was enough to get Dunhill Records to release it nationally in August of 1965. Little Sally Tease tells the tale of a young gal who liked to lead the boys on and had all the skills to get what she wants. The number would later be picked up by The Standells for their 1966 LP, Dirty Water. As fine as that more famous recording is, we prefer this, the original version.

The initial release on Jerden came with a cover of the Rogers and Hammerstein number, You'll Never Walk Alone. I can't seem to find that so I will share a YouTube vid of the flip-side of the Dunhill Release, Little Green Thing.

Members of Don and The Goodtimes would swap spots with members of The Kingsmen and Paul Revere and the Raiders often. The Kingsmen would even go on to record Little Sally Tease with a particularly banal version released on Wand Records in 1966. They also did a rendition of Little Green Thing as the flip-side of their third release of Louie Louie, in 1965. 

The photo above was taken from the website, Pacific Northwest Bands and has a credit of Trisha Nerney. 

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Wailers - Out Of Our Tree/I Got Me

Day four of our PNW region of the Battle of the Garage Bands gives us a record that one Gladys Smith appeared to have owned at one point. Luckily Gladys decided this record was too rockin' for her sensitive ears and it eventually found itself falling into my record collection. Now you get to hear it.

The Wailers hailed from the same blue collar town as yesterday's submission, The Sonics, as well as the hugely influential instrumental band, The Ventures. The Wailers really bridge the gap between those two bands and, thus, between two very important musical contributions from America. Surf music and garage punk. The Wailers released their first single in 1958 and became a powerful presence on the frat party circuit immediately. Then, in 1961, they made an amazingly huge, but largely unknown, contribution to the history of Rock-n-Roll. They teamed with a singer from a rival band and rearranged a calypso/doo wop song called Louie Louie. That song would soon become the signature tune for every band coming out of the PNW. It was billed under the name of Rockin' Robin Roberts as the band was trying to break from a restrictive contract with The Golden Crest Label and form their own label, Etiquette Records.

The band would become a revolving cast of characters anchored by Richard Dangell on guitar, Kent Morrill on organ and vocals and John Ormsby on bass. It is those three who composed today's A-side.

Out Of Our Tree was released on Etiquette Records in October of 1965. It just flat out rocks. Pounding drums, a solid bedrock of organ, roving bass lines, a growl of vocals, fuzzed guitar and a catch phrase of "Out Of Our Tree". It's got it all, baby. It's so, so, so...Pacific Northwest!

The flip-side, I Got Me, was composed by Dangell and Morill. I believe it is Dangell singing on this recording. It's a damn nice tune that fails to get comped properly.

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

Northwest Spotlight: The Sonics - Cinderella/Louie Louie

We return today with more on our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands. Today we travel to Tacoma, Washington where we have the garage legends of all garage legends, The Sonics.

The Sonics were Gerry Roslie, Andy Parypa, Larry Parypa, Rob Lind, Bob Bennett. The five Tacoma boys recorded for Bill Wiley at the Griffith Studios and recorded for Etiquette Records, based on the second floor of a tiny building at 2442 NW Market Street in Seattle.

So much has been written about them, and so much about their songs that I'll just say this. The Sonics were a tour de force. Our songs from them today are their 5th single (actually 4.5 release) and came out in November of 1965.

The A-side, Cinderella, was composed by singer and organ player, Gerry Roslie. The flip-side is a great rewrite of the PNW standard, Louie Louie.

The Sonics are touring North America as I type. Go see them!

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