Mid-West Spotlight: The Five Americans - I See The Light/The Outcast

Back with day six of On The Flip-Side's Mid-West Battle of the Garage Bands. 

The Five Americans hailed from Durant, Oklahoma, a ninety minute drive north of Dallas, Texas. The band was comprised of singer and guitarist Mike Rabon, guitarist Norman Ezell, drummer Jimmy Wright, bassist Jim Grant and organist John Durrill. The Five Americans scored a local Dallas hit on Abnak Records with I See The Light in November of 1965. It was the band's 5th attempt.  In swooped HBR to take the song national a month later. A pretty solid full length LP followed.

We give you, today, both sides of that first release on HBR, I See The Light/The Outcast. Both songs were written by Ezell, Rabon and Durill. I See The Light is a real rocker with dominant organ, tight harmonies and a great, great instrumental break. I'm particularly fond of the repeated guitar riff wrapping up the guitar lead at 1:11 as it gives way to a solo organ riff back into the raver before it all wraps up at a tight little 2:06. Curiously the song would be covered on the other side of the pond by Freakbeat mods, Simon Dupree and the Big Sound some 11 months later. 

The Outcast is quite different. The Flip-Side is a slower more somber number. The bass dominant song showcases the country influence of the Oklahoma band with nice harmonies and a harmonica solo. Enjoy both sides. I usually do.

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

The South Spotlight: The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe (Call On Me)/Hey You

The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

The Guilloteens - Hey You! by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

Our Battle of the Garage Bands in The South has taken us from Louisiana to Florida to North Carolina. Now we move over to Tennessee. 

The Guilloteens not only had a real clever name, but they also had real solid talent. The band hailed from Memphis and they made some pretty good friends and fans in that town. From the cool cats at Stax Records to a local star named Elvis Presley. It was Elvis who, after catching the band perform in Memphis, brought the trio -- Louis Paul Jr., Laddie Hutcherson and Joe Davis -- out to LA to get a residency at a hotspot called the Red Velvet Cloud. In walked Phil Spector who started working with the band. Everything was going great as they started recording I Don't Believe, a Louis Paul Jr. composition. But Spector may have treated the band as an afterthought and an over-eager manager signed the band to the newly formed Hanna-Barbera Records label without the Guilloteens knowledge. So The Guilloteens severed their relationship with Spector and started recording their first single with a new producer working for HBR.

That first single, released July 1965 on Hanna-Barbera Records is a double sided gem that shows great maturity. I Don't Believe features the incredibly strong vocals of it's composer, Louis Paul Jr. The song is like a kudzu vine, it grows on you quickly. The chimey guitar work creates an incredibly strong bed for the echo chamber harmonies and Louis Paul's baritone vocals. Paul really takes flight on his vocals towards the end of the song. At 2:14 we really get to see how strong a vocalist this Guilloteen was. The song almost feels like it has been slowed down, but nope, that's how it is. 

The Flip-Side, Hey You!, features the vocals of it's composer, Laddie Hutcherson. Hey You! is pure garage joy. A strong guitar riff and tons of teen bravado. Hutcherson isn't as strong a singer as Louis Paul Jr., but the pairing with the A-side makes this double sided gem one of the stronger singles HBR ever put out.

Louis Paul Jr. quit the band after their second single and returned to Memphis. The band soldiered on with other musicians, making another strong single for HBR before signing with Columbia when HBR got the axe. They even supported Paul Revere and The Raiders on tour, but like so many others, the band faded into obscurity without ever really getting the recognition they needed to succeed.

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

The Time Stoppers - I Need Love

I really don't know a whole lot about this band. One source puts them as a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania band. The fact that we have listed St. Clair Productions would make me think the band hailed from the suburbs of Detroit, a place where Hanna-Barbera Records found lots of bands such as The Unrelated Segments and Tidal Waves.

I Need Love was originally done by Washington DC area band, The Mad Hatters. That version was released in 1965. The Time Stoppers released their version on Hanna Barbera Records in 1967. In fact, it was the last release for the quick lived label.

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

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe/Hey You!

I Don't Believe (Call On Me)

Hey You!

We're going to wrap up our almost two-week long Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight Series with a real nice gem. I know, they've all been real nice gems, right?

The Guilloteens not only had a real clever name, but they also had real solid talent. The band hailed from Memphis, TN and they made some pretty good friends and fans in that town. From the cool cats at Stax Records to a local star named Elvis Presley. It was Elvis who, after catching the band perform in Memphis, brought the trio -- Louis Paul Jr., Laddie Hutcherson and Joe Davis -- out to LA to get a residency at a hotspot called the Red Velvet Cloud. In walked Phil Spector who started working with the band. Everything was going great as they started recording I Don't Believe, a Louis Paul Jr. composition. But Spector may have treated the band as an afterthought and an over-eager manager signed the band to the newly formed Hanna-Barbera Records label without the Guilloteens knowledge. So The Guilloteens severed their relationship with Spector and started recording their first single with a new producer working for HBR.

That first single, released July 1965, is our final song of the HBR series. A series, btw, I have really enjoyed putting out. I Don't Believe features the incredibly strong vocals of it's composer, Louis Paul Jr. The song is like a kudzu vine, it grows on you quickly. The chimey guitar work creates an incredibly strong bed for the echo chamber harmonies and Louis Paul's baritone vocals. Paul really takes flight on his vocals towards the end of the song. At 2:14 we really get to see how strong a vocalist this Guilloteen was.

The Flip-Side, Hey You!, features the vocals of it's composer, Laddie Hutcherson. Hey You! is pure garage joy. A strong guitar riff and tons of teen bravado. Hutcherson isn't as strong a singer as Louis Paul Jr., but the pairing with the A-side makes this double sided gem one of the stronger singles HBR ever put out.

Louis Paul Jr. quit the band after their second single and returned to Memphis. The band soldiered on with other musicians, making another strong single for HBR before signing with Columbia when HBR got the axe. They even supported Paul Revere and The Raiders on tour, but like so many others, the band faded into obscurity without ever really getting the recognition they needed to succeed.

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

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: Tidal Waves - I Don't Need Love

As we drink our Flip-Side coffee and thumb through the massive volumes of records in our highly secure Flip-Side record vault 13 stories below ground, we keep finding more 45s from the HBR label that we want to share with you. But I have to admit, I present today's song to you with a noticeable amount of hesitation. Not because it's not a great song (because it is), but because it is not an obvious attention grabber. We usually try to spin a certain type of song that will grab people's attention from the first beat. Cool groove, nice riff, compelling vocals and high energy. I think this song is great, but I do have concerns that the melancholy presentation of the song doesn't fit the standard. I hope you'll stick around the song long enough to fully appreciate what we have here. 

The Tidal Waves were a bunch of Middle Schoolers (seriously!) and High Schoolers who hailed from Roseville, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit along Lake St. Clair. The band consisted of Roseville High Schoolers Mark Karpinski and Tom Wearing and Burton Junior High alums, Bob Slap, Bill Long and John Wearing. In the Spring of 1966 the quintet of pubescent punks released a cover of Farmer John on the local SVR label. The upbeat dance number went to number 1 on the local charts and HBR did what they did, they swooped in and bought the record contract of the teens and released Farmer John nationally. Bob Slap left the band and Dennis Mills stepped in as a replacement. He brought with him a moody number he had written called I Don't Need Love. HBR put some money behind the band and the kids recorded the minor key original with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the Summer of '66. Pretty cool. The number did well locally but flopped nationally, which is not surprising since the song is a bit of a downer (in a good way). I Don't Need Love tells the tale of a tearful young man who gets burned by a girl and decides his days of  being in love are over...at the tender age of 14. This teen troubadour doesn't need a girl. No way! Too much trouble. All this kid needs to survive in life is a paper route, a tutor in algebra and for his dad to leave him alone on Wednesday and Thursday nights just long enough for him to watch Batman on ABC. Macaroni and Cheese for dinner wouldn't be too bad either, mom. 

Tidal Waves recorded one more record for HBR, the upbeat Action (Speaks Louder Than Words), but HBR was shuttering their doors and the record was barely even distributed let alone promoted. All three of the bands' records are worth seeking out. Action gets all the love from collectors, but I Don't Need Love isn't so bad either. Don't yo agree?

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

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Hogs (The Chocolate Watchband) - Loose Lip, Sync Ship

Back after a weekend off with the Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight. So far we've featured The Five Americans, The Unrelated Segments, The New Breed and we even had Mouse and the Traps masquerading as a faux band called Positively 13 O'Clock. Today we have the Chocolate Watchband masquerading as faux band, The Hogs.

In December of 1966 someone had the bright idea of having The Chocolate Watchband record a version of Blues Theme, which was released just a month before by Davie Allan and The Arrows on Tower Records. Why I can not say. The Chocolate Watchband were apparently in studio with producer Ed Cobb recording their debut single for Tower Records subsidiary, Uptown Records. That 10-star single, Sweet Young Thing/Baby Blue wouldn't be released until a month after this release, however.

The Hogs' version of Blues Theme is quite inferior to the Arrows' original recording. It's the Flip-Side that we feature here today. The song is composed by The Chocolate Watchband's David Aguiar and Mark Loomis and goes by the obtuse name, Loose Lip, Sync Ship. The song is a bit odd and certainly has a "made up on the spot feel". It starts off as a decent enough riff and then at 1:38 David Aguilar starts an abstract rambling monologue that would make Frank Zappa proud:

Oh baby, I loved you
Please come back to me
I miss you
You're the best
Baby without you by my side
My whole complexion is a mess. 

Freaks are for kids
Not for silly rabbits

Then starts the weird stuff. Ok, at least more weird than what we already had...which was weird. The song breaks down into abstract jazz riffs, coughing, caterwauls and laughing before Aguilar turns to the gospel for inspiration.

Friends, I would like all of you to turn to Chapter 37
And we will all sing hymns
Row, row your boat
Gently down the stream. 

It's not for everyone, that's for sure. But HBR released it!

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

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The Unrelated Segments -- Story Of My Life/It's Not Fair

Story Of My Life

It's Not Fair

Day four of the Hanna-Barbera Records spotlight takes us to suburban Detroit, Michigan. It's February of 1967 and five geek-chic kids with some pretty serious musical chops just found out that the first record they ever recorded for the local SVR label is being picked up for national distribution by Hanna-Barbera Records out of LA. The five kids -- Ron Stults on vocals, Rory Mack on lead guitar, Barry Van Engelen on bass, John Torok on rhythm guitar and Andy Angellotti on drums -- call themselves the Unrelated Segments. They've recorded two songs written by Mack and Stults: Story Of My Life and It's Not Fair.

This double sided gem is flat-out a nasty-ass garage classic (as are all three singles the band put out). Story Of My Life is an upbeat number preaching the warning of money grubbing girls trying to exchange love for monetary rewards like jewelry. The song is highlighted by the brilliant bass work by Barry Van Engelen. Van Engelen's closing bass work at 1:57 is a thing of bizarre beauty far beyond what most of his contemporaries could produce. And again at 2:26. WTF?!?!?!?!

It's Not Fair is more than a solid Flip-Side. The slow number clearly owes much to the Zombies' She's Not There, but it stands on it's own legs in the end. The jazzy guitar work by Rory Mack is worth the price of admission alone. Reminds me a lot of the guitar work done by Minnesota garage band, The Gestures. 

Not more than a month ago we did a more extensive feature on The Unrelated Segments and their second single, Where You Gonna Go?/It's Gonna Rain. Check that out here to learn more about the band.

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

Hanna-Barbera Records Spotlight: The New Breed - Want Ad Reader

Day three of the Hanna-Barbera Spotlight has us spinning an HBR release from Sacramento, California based teen heart-throbs, The New Breed. The quartet of Encina High School students would record four singles for three labels in their two year existence and featured the musical stylings of George Hullin on drums, Tom Phillips and Ron Floegel on guitar and Tim Schmidt on bass on vocals.

Today's song of the week is called Want Ad Reader, the band's third of four singles. Want Ad Reader is a clear play off of some other band's song called Paperback Writer, both lyrically and musically. Want Ad Reader tells the sarcastic tale of a couple of lonely hearts who find each other in the classifieds. The woman is not quite what she had made herself out to be in her lonely hearts ad. Now the whole thing is a horrible fright for our poor protagonist. The single was originally released on the local label, World United, in September of '66 and must have received enough airplay locally that HBR swooped in (as they were prone to do) to give it a national release in November of 1966. Nothing came of it and the band went back to World United for their fourth and final single the next year. 

But our story doesn't end there. No. Ultimately The New Breed would unleash a devastating horror on the public. How? The bassist and lead singer of The New Breed was none other than one Mr. Timothy B. Schmidt (far left in the picture above) who would later go on to be a member of the two soft rock outfits, Poco and The Eagles. Two bands that can make a musicologist's stomach churn like few others could. Just ask Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, man.

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!