The Top Three Greatest North American Garage Singles Ever Are...

You know the story by now. If not, it goes something like this. Back in October of 2014, On The Flip-Side innocently undertook a region by region Battle of the Garage Band singles. At that moment we failed to understand the scope of our endeavor.

Twelve regions in all. Generally 10 singles per region (more in So Cal, less in Canada). That means that roughly 120 singles got a digital spin on the turntable. Then each region winner went head to head with another region winner. A panel of 7 judges - from the Rockies to the PNW, to So Cal to NorCal to the South - each weighed in on the final 12 singles as they went into a bracket system against each other. The final votes have been tallied by On The Flip-Side's San Francisco accounting office and we can now announce the Top Three Podium winners of the North American Battle of the Garage Bands.

Coming in at No. 1 is The Chocolate Watchband's swan song of a single, Are You Gonna Be There on the A-side and No Way Out on the Flip-Side. The single was released in October of 1967 on the Tower Records label. The Chocolate Watchband represented the Northern California Region in the battle on their way to the Gold Medal.

Coming in at the number 2 spot is the winner of the hard fought Texas region, The 13th Floor Elevators. Their debut single, recorded in '65 and released in '66 for IA Records, of You're Gonna Miss Me on the A-side and Tried To Hide on the Flip-side was a very close 2nd. A slightly stronger flip probably would have put them at the number one spot overall. But the Silver Medal is not so shabby folks. 

And taking the bronze medal is the most controversial of them all. Some thought they shouldn't be considered in America since they recorded in the UK. Others thought they shouldn't be considered garage because they sounded so different. Others still thought that the record shouldn't be considered at all since it wasn't released until three years after the band broke up. But we hold the keys to the car, so we get to drive it as we see fit. The Misunderstood, from Riverside, California beat out Love and the Music Machine and The Grains of Sand to lay claim to the crown of what we consider the most competitive region, Southern California. Their 1966 recording (released in '69) for the UK version of Fontana Records is a mind blower. Children Of The Sun on one side and I Unseen on the Flip-Side. 

It's been fun. 

Round 2 of the Battle of the Garage Bands Bracket: The Chocolate Watchband v The Ugly Ducklings

Round 8 is in the books. The representatives from Texas, The 13th Floor Elevators, bested the kings of the Pacific Northwest, The Sonics. It was hard for all of us to send a band like The Sonics packing, but that is the nature of the competition, isn't it?

Today one more band will be voted off the turntable while another gets a patch on their shoulder and matriculates to the finals, which we call the Thrilling Three. So without further hesitation...

On turntable 1 we have the Northern California champions, The Chocolate Watchband. They put forth with their final single, released in October of 1967 on Tower Records, Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In) with a flip-side of No Way Out. The single has already bested the likes of The Mourning Reign, The Brogues and The Shadows of Knight just to have the opportunity to spin at 45rpm on this fine morning.

On Turntable 2 we have the champions of Canada. The entire hopes and dreams of the great white north now rest on the dusty grooves of The Ugly Ducklings and their third release, from 1966, on Yorktown Records: Just In Case You Wonder with a flip-side of That's Just A Thought I Had In My Mind. This Canuck of a single has bested the likes of The Painted Ship, The Haunted and America's The Enfields as it now starts spinning with the 7-inch white hot fury that can only come from a homely water fowl.

Here is a link to the original Chocolate Watchband post. 

Here is a link to the original post on The Ugly Ducklings

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

Battle of the Garage Bands: The Chocolate Watchband v. The Shadows of Knight

Yesterday The Sonics, representing the Pacific Northwest region, steamrolled Phil and The Frantics, the representatives of the Rocky Mountain Region.

Today we witness Northern California do battle with the monsters who emerged from The Great Lakes region.

The Chocolate Watchband of San Jose, California, will put forth with their 4th and final single, Are You Gonna Be There/No Way Out. The record was released in October of 1967 on Tower Records. The Shadows of Knight will put up their 2nd single, Bad Little Woman/Gospel Zone.  It was released on Dunwich Records in August of 1966.

Here is a link to the original Chocolate Watchband post. 

Here is a link to the original post on The Shadows of Knight. 

Take a look at the graphics here to see some of the top competition that these two bested on the way to their awesomeness. Both of these bands had to beat some real great talent to get to this point. 

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

Northern California Spotlight: The Chocolate Watchband - Are You Gonna Be There/No Way Out

Back to San Jose, California for more of our Nor Cal region of the epic Battle of the Garage Bands.

The Chocolate Watchband recorded for producer Ed Cobb between '66 and '68 down in LA. The recordings don't always feature all of the band as Cobb had a penchant for bringing in studio musicians. He even went so far as to record instrumentals with not a single member of the band in it (think Expo 2000) and even vocal songs with a different singer (think Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go!).

Are You Gonna Be There was written for the band by Cobb's friend and LA songwriter, D. Bennett (who occasionally sang lead on these records as well) and was the third, and last, single under their name (they had done a 4th under the pseudonym of The Hogs). It was released on Tower Records in October of 1967.

The Flip-Side of Are You Gonna Be There is the excellent quasi-instrumental, No Way Out. That song gets an Ed Cobb credit for composer. That said, credible claims by the band suggest they were really the composers of the song. Producers aren't always so honest, you know. The pairing of the two strong songs, the quality of the production and the quality of singer David Aguilar's voice make this one of the most desired singles out there.

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Standells - Why Pick On Me/Mr. Nobody

More So Cal Battle of the Bands has us in Los Angeles with the legendary party band turned, snarly garage band, The Standells.

We've talked about The Standells before. We've talked about producer and songwriter Ed Cobb before. We've lauded the brilliance of engineer Richie Podolor before. We've even done a whole series on the great Tower Records label. So we'll just spin the two songs.

Why Pick On Me gives us another great Ed Cobb composition of defiance. The flip-side, Mr. Nobody, was written by organ player, Larry Tamblyn. The single was the band's 9th release. But really the band was a different band after they got with Ed Cobb on Tower Records. So let's say this was their 3rd release on Tower. The single was released in October of 1966.

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

Rocky Mountain Spotlight: The Moonrakers - Baby, Please Don't Go/I Don't Believe

We start the day off with our first submission in the Rocky Mountain Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands. 

The Moonrakers of Denver, Colorado released their fourth and final single on Tower Records in the summer of 1966. That single contained two covers. The A-Side was a blistering cover of Baby, Please Don't Go, the 1935 Big Joe Williams composition. The Moonrakers, however, clearly picked the tune up from Van Morrison and Them which had released the number in November, 1964 for Decca Records (Parrot Records in the US). The Moonrakers' version is a powerhouse of blistering guitar, wailing harmonica and aggressive vocals. It's damn nice. 

The Flip-Side of The Moonrakers' final single for Tower Records is a great cover of The Guilloteens original composition, I Don't Believe. Released just 11 months after The Guilloteens failed to light the world on fire with their debut single for HBR, the Moonrakers gave it another try. The production is less lush and a little faster than that of The Guilloteens. What their spry version demonstrates is the inherent crispy goodness of the song.

The Moonrakers were a multi-vocalist threat. Astute listeners will notice the singers are different on each side of this record. I Don't Believe features the vocals of Bob Weber while Baby, Please Don't Go features the vocals of Veeder Van Dorn. 

We featured The Moonrakers one time before with their first single, You'll Come Back, with Denny Flanigan on vocals. Check out that post here for more on The Moonrakers. 

More info on The Moonrakers can be found here, which is where I got the photo below. 

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

The Sidewalk Sounds - The Born Loser's Theme

Here is a nice 1:46 moto-psycho instru-mental for you today. It is labeled as The Sidewalk Sounds but is really none other than Davie Allan and the Arrows, kings of the moto-psycho instrumental. This one, The Born Loser's Theme, comes from July, 1967 on Tower Records and was part of the soundtrack for the motor cycle biker-gang exploitation film, The Born Losers. The film, incidentally, spawned the character Billy Jack that would be part of a series of vigilante films of bigger budgets and more success.

Mike Curb, who claims a little co-writing credit here (yeah, right) was the producer and "conducted" the number. Mike Curb was a relentless self promoter and even managed to get a play off of his name for the band's fictitious name. Curb went on to be the Lieutenant Governor of California between 1979 and 1983 and now works in NASCAR.

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

Four Just Men - That's My Baby/Things Will Never Be The Same

Back in August we did a nice little Tower Records Spotlight. One of those featured in that two week spotlight was a band called Just Four Men doing their song, There's Not One Thing. Read that post here. We're back today with the same band, but here they are called Four Just Men. This double sider was the Liverpool quartet's debut single, released in the UK in November of 1964 on Parlophone Records. In the states it was released in February of 1965 on Tower Records.

The A-Side was composed by singer Dimitrius Christopholus and guitarist John Kelman. That's My Baby has a wonderful and unique whining guitar riff throughout the song. It lifts the ballad to new levels. The Flip-Side, Things Will Never Be The Same was composed by Christopholus and Kelman and bassist, Lawrence Arendes. The break-neck speed song features more great guitar work from Kelman and a chord transition reminiscent of an early Everly Brothers song. This song would have been prime for a screaming lead, and clocking in at a quick 1:48, would seem they would have had time to stick one in there. Both sides are solid all the way through.

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

Song of the Week: The Rebounds - (I'm Not Your Stepping Stone)

Hailing from the State Capitol of Columbus, The Rebounds were a quintet of pimply faced High School cats from Brookhaven High School in Ohio. Early in '66 the snot nosed punks recorded (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone for Tower Records after winning a local Battle of the Bands competition. The song had already been recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders but by the time Tower released The Rebounds' version in November, The Monkees put their mark on So-Ci-E-Tee by releasing The Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart composition as the Flip-Side of I'm A Believer the very same week as The Rebounds. The Rebounds, which were, according to the website, Buckeye Beat, Bob Bishop, Tom Williams, Will Finch, Brady Wanger, and Dave Manley, failed to rebound from the simian beat down they received from the Pre-Fab Four. The Rebounds never released another single. Too bad for us.

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

R.I.P. Dick Dodd of the Standells - Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White and Why Did You Hurt Me?

Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White

Why Did You Hurt Me?

We were a little slow learning that the voice of The Standells, Dick Dodd, died earlier this week. Tardiness aside, we need to show him some love. Here are The Standells performing the Ed Cobb penned and produced tune, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White with a Flip-Side of Why Did You Hurt Me?, which is co-written by Dodd. The second single with Dodd was released on Tower Records in August of 1966. The Standells, once a lightweight twist, frat-band, took on a new life when Dick Dodd left the surf band, The Bel-Aires, and took over the drum kit and vocal duties of The Standells. Under Ed Cobb's tutelage and behind Dodd's sneer, The Standells became the epitome of the new attitude of LA garage bands. Dick's voice can be heard over the PA system at Fenway Park 82 times a year as The Red Sox play Dirty Water at every game. RIP Dick Dodd. 

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! 

Tower Records Spotlight: Them - I Happen To Love You

Yeah baby, it's Them on Tower Records! Except it's not really "Them". At least not the Them that you know and love. It's a version of Them...post Van Morrison. Van Morrison wasn't very central to the band anyway.

So...here is the post-Van "Them" doing a Goffin-King song, I Happen To Love You. Also recorded by The Electric Prunes about the same time. Interestingly, this promo copy has I Happen To Love You on both sides. But when the song was officially released, it was relegated to a Flip-Side. From December, 1967.

Tower Records Spotlight: Beat Merchants - So Fine

Dropping three bonus posts for our Tower Records Spotlight. First one is from the UK band, The Beat Merchants doing So Fine. As with the Just Four Men post from a few days back, this one only appeared as the Flip-Side to a Freddie and The Dreamers single in April 1965. The Beat Merchants only other single, Pretty Face, was covered by San Diego's The Crawdaddy's.

Tower Records Spotlight: Jake Holmes - Dazed and Confused

It exists! No, despite what he says, Jimmy Page did NOT write Dazed and Confused. Not one single part of it. He got the writing credit, he got the royalties, But Jake Holmes wrote the song and released it on Tower Records well before Zeppelin stole it. I already wrote about this extensively here in one of my Led Zeppelin song etymology posts, so I'm going to regurgitate a little of that. An update to my earlier post, Jake Holmes has filed a lawsuit against Page and his publishing company. That case, I believe, is being dealt with now. 

###

On August 25, 1967, The Yardbirds (of which Page was now a member) performed at the Village Theater in New York. A little known folkie named Jake Holmes was touring in support of his 2 month old album, The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes on Tower Records, and was the first act on that bill. The Yardbirds' drummer, Jim McCarty was the only member of the Yardbirds to catch the act that night. According to McCarty he purchased Holmes's new record the next morning at the House of Oldies Record Store in Greenwich Village and suggested to his bandmates that they cover Dazed and Confused (1967 ASCAP copyright, 340119544). The Yardbirds collectively did a slight arrangement change for the song -- adding a middle bridge and Keith Relf rewriting some of the lyrics -- and the song became a staple of the Yardbirds' set in their waning days. They performed it on their never released Yardbirds Live at the Anderson Theatre album, on the BBC and on a French TV show called La Bouton Rouge.

According to Jake Holmes, he had no idea that the Yardbirds had been covering his song and learned about the Led Zeppelin version only when it appeared on wax with the writing credit going singularly to Jimmy Page (ASCAP copyright, 1968 340128276). Holmes: "Yes, yes, and that was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving hands of Jimmy Page." (source: Greg Russo. Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-up). Jimmy Page was pressed on this matter sometime in the '70s and then claimed that he never knew of Holmes's version and that the deceased Yardbirds singer Keith Relf had claimed to have written the song and gave Page permission to claim it as his own. McCarty: "He's [Page] a fibber. We'll have to bust him on that one." (ibid)

Rumors have swirled for years that Jake Holmes was quietly compensated many years later by Page's Swan Song Publishing as they fended off legal action. Neither Holmes nor Page have, to my knowledge, spoken publicly about the matter since. Rumors have also swirled for years that Jimmy Page and Atlantic Records purchased the rights to The Yardbirds Live At Anderson Theatre album and had it withdrawn from publishing, ostensibly to suppress the earlier version of Dazed and Confused which credits Holmes and thus would prove Page's knowledge of the song's origination.

Things haven't been all bad for Jake Holmes. He went on to be one of the most successful advertising jingle writers in America, penning such tunes such as Be a Pepper, Alka Seltzer's Plop, Plop Fizz, Fizz and the Army’s Be All You Can Be.

Tower Records Spotlight: Heinz - Movin' In and I'm Not A Bad Guy

Movin' In

I'm Not A Bad Guy

The list of artists so famous, so head and shoulders above other artists that they require only one name is impressive. There is Sting. Cher. Madonna. And, of course, there is the biggest of them all...Heinz.

The professional music story of Heinz, born Heinz Burt in Germany, is inextricably intertwined with producer Joe Meek. Heinz played bass for the Joe Meek produced instrumental band, The Tornados, who struck gold in 1962 with the Meek composition, Telstar. By all accounts, Joe Meek was deeply infatuated with Heinz and decided to craft Heinz into a solo star replete with peroxide blonde pompadour, leather vests and, to paraphrase The Ruttles' Leggy Mountbatten, with some very tight trousers. 

Despite some rough starts, the boys actually scored a hit in 1963 with their second single, Just Like Eddie, a tribute to Eddie Cochran. The records kept coming but the hits kept getting harder to find. Movin' In/I'm Not A Bad Guy (misprinted on the US Tower release as I'm Not A Bad Boy) was to be the last record for Heinz. Released in the Summer of '66 in both the UK and the US, the swan song of the creative duo was also their best. Not a bad way to go out. Heinz and Joe Meek would have a falling out and within a year Joe Meek would use a gun owned by Heinz to kill himself and his landlord. 

Movin' In is a piece of musical brilliance. Beautifully produced by Meek, the number is driven by the chicken clucking guitar work of guitarist Barry Tomlinson. The chicken's head finally explodes into a guitar feeding frenzy at 1:15 that will make anybody stop and take notice. Tomlinson doesn't take his foot off of the chicken's throat for the remainder of the song as the song culminates with one last crow of his fuzzed out guitar.

The Flip-Side is no slouch either. I'm Not A Bad Guy was written by Jerry Allison of The Crickets who released the number on Liberty in 1962. The Heinz cover removes The Crickets' Everly-like harmonies and goes straight for the darkness. According to music writer Mike Stax, the guy who turned me on to Heinz, the impressive guitar work on I'm Not A Bad Guy features none other than Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple fame. Blackmore goes toe to toe with Tomlinson on the lightning fast solo and the frequent fills. Now, here on one page you can play both songs and have a guitar-off to the death. Tomlinson v. Blackmore. No flipping of the record required.

Thanks to Mike Stax of Ugly Things for identifying these guitarists for me and for turning me on to Joe Meek and Heinz in the first place. I still have that cassette after 27 years! Cheers mate. I owe you a Grolsch. 

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

Tower Records Spotlight: The Moonrakers - You'll Come Back

Back with more from the vaunted Tower Records label. Today we look into a song that is one of the first 60s garage songs that really caught my attention. I first heard it when it was released on the kick-ass Pebbles Voume 10. It's You'll Come Back by Denver, Colorado's, The Moonrakers. Or, as they appear on the records, The Moon Rakers. (Tower has a history of misprints on their records). The Moonrakers, by all historical accounts, were THEE band in Colorado in the latter half of the 60s and were big enough to play Lakeside Amusement Park, Red Rocks, Tulagi's in Boulder and other such storied venues.

The band was comprised of Bob MacVittie, Veeder Van Dorn on the Ric 12-string, Joel Brandes, Bob Webber on lead guitar and Denny Flannigan on keyboards. The Moonrakers had four releases on the Tower Records label of which You'll Come Back is the Flip-Side to their first single, released August 1965. I'll also go on record as saying it is their best. Very Zombie-esque (I know, it's not a word, but...)

The Moonrakers had three legitimate singers in Webber, Van Dorn and Flannigan, each of whom carried lead singer responsibilities on their releases. Denny Flannigan composed this number and provides us with the excellent mousy vocals lead.

Ultimately Bob MacVittie and Bob Webber would splinter off from the band and form Sugarloaf and strike gold with Green Eyed Lady.

Tower Records Spotlight: Davie Allan and the Arrows - Devil's Angels and Cody's Theme

Devil's Angels

Cody's Theme

-- Vox Fuzz Tone Bender? Check.

-- Wild Audio of a Chopper revving engine? Check

-- Not so subtle tip of the leather vest to Joe Meek production/composition style? Check.

-- Evil song title? Check

-- Heaping dose of Bad Assitude? Check and double check. 

Yep, we've got ourselves a bitchin'-ass single from one of those biker exploitation films of the late 1960s. Tower Records became the outlet for Mike Curb (who would go on to be the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California) and his down and dirty biker movie soundtracks. Nobody could do it better than Moto-Psycho guitarist, Davie Allan and his much imitated, never duplicated, Arrows. Most people know Davie Allan and the Arrows for their semi-hit, Blues Theme. But recent scientific testing at the National Center for Moto-Psycho Instrumental Laboratories (NCMPIL) has shown that Devil's Angels is actually a better song. Can't argue with science kids. The Devil's Angels/Cody's Theme single was Davie Allan's 7th for Tower Records and followed Blues Theme for a release date of June 1967. We've thrown in the cycle-delic Flip-Side, Cody's Theme for good karma.

Tower Records Spotlight: The Toggery Five - I'm Gonna Jump/Bye Bye Bird

I'm Gonna Jump

Bye Bye Bird

[See comments section below for insightful comments from the song's author and singer, Frank Renshaw]

Another great double sided gem on this post. Today's Song(s) of the week are given to us from the Toggery Five, a Manchester based band named after a mod clothing shop which employed one Graham Nash of Hollies fame. He went on to do other stuff, but I'm not too sure what.

The Toggery Five were led by guitarist and vocalist, Frank Renshaw who was joined by Keith Meredith, Ken Mills, and Graham Smith. A wee-lad named Paul Young (he of the 80s blue eyed soul hits) rounded out the quintet. Today's songs are from their debut single recorded on Frank Renshaw's birthday and released in the Summer March of '65 in the United States. The songs are a Frank Renshaw original, I'm Gonna Jump, about a lovelorn and love scorned lad contemplating taking a leap off a Manchester bridge into the chilly River Irwell. The Flip-Side (we like flip-sides) was a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bye Bye Bird. A song also covered nicely by the Moody Blues at about the same time. The double sided gem was released in the Summer of '65 on Parlophone and even saw a US release on the legendary Tower Records. [Note that Renshaw's name is misspelled on the US release.] The US pressing has become quite a coveted single, and for good reason. Both songs are wickedly good. I'm Gonna Jump being the superior and, quite frankly, one of the best of the garage singles to come out that year. Despite having the very talented Paul Young in the band, Renshaw takes the lead on both of these numbers as Young had just joined the band a few weeks or months prior to the recording session. For more about the band, check out Frank Renshaw's webpage for The Toggery Five. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip-side.