Canada Spotlight: The Free-For-All - Show Me The Way/Blue Monday

Day four of the Canada Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Nova Scotia, Canada. Seriously. We definitely don't know of any other garage bands from Nova Scotia. 

The band name on the label says The Free-For-All but the band is really the Halifax, Nova Scotia band, The Great Scots. The Great Scots recorded a number of solid records in their native land for London Records and Epic Records before they made their way to LA to try to hit the big time. The band seemed to be on the edge of success when they ran into a brick wall. Maybe it was their silly Kilt outfits and coordinated dances. Or maybe it was their tight cut non-Beatle hair that held them back. Who knows? But in an effort to trick jaundiced radio programmers, the band released Show Me The Way (which is actually the Flip-Side of the record) under the name The Free-For-All. Show Me The Way just soars. Catchy melody and a great guitar riff. How was this not the A-Side?

The A-Side was the more pedestrian blues number, Blue Monday, a rewrite of T-Bone Walker's often covered number, Stormy Monday Blues. 

The single was released on Challenge Records in the Summer of 1966. Ultimately the prestidigitation didn't work and the record went nowhere, despite it's inherent quality. Then the Canucks got a rude awakening. Dave Isnor was conscripted into the US Army and sent off to Vietnam. Yep, when you were here on a working visa, you could be drafted. Whoops. The remaining members, Gerry Archer, Bill Schnare, Rick McNeil. and Wayne Forrest high-tailed it back to Nova Scotia on the first dog sled out and their chance at stardom was lost. Luckily they left us this gem before they got lost in the snow drifts of time.

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

Canada Spotlight: The Painted Ship - Little White Lies/Frustration

Day three of our Canada spotlight takes us to Vancouver, British Columbia. I believe this is our first stop in that fine, fine town.

The Painted Ship kicked out two records in their brief career. Today we spin their first record, released in December of 1966 on London Records.

Little White Lies gets the A-Side and it is a humdinger of a song. It turns the lying cheating no good lover story around. In this approach our singer, William Hay, admits that he is a lying, cheating, no-good scoundrel. Cool guitar work, hushed whispers of "white lies" makes this a unique song. We love the end of the song as our protagonist seems to really enjoy his rogue role.

The flip-side is Frustration. Another cool number with some squeaky Vox Continental organ backing up Hay's understated approach.

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

Canada Spotlight: The Haunted - 1-2-5/Eight O'Clock This Morning

Day 2 of our Canada Battle of the Garage Bands has us visiting Montreal, Canada. In this hip town we find a band called The Haunted. The band was formed in 1965 by gutiarist Jurgen Peter and grew to include Bob Burgess on vocals, Al Birmingham on lead, Mason Shea on bass and Dave Wynne on drums. The Haunted immediately became THEE band in Montreal and opened for the Stones, Them and a host of other cool cats.

The band cut their first single for Quality Records in May of 1966. We feature that number today. The released version of 1-2-5 required a recut as the record company deemed the lyrics too risqué for the French-Canadian audience. Ironically, the original version, which is not nearly as good as this recording, saw the light of day in the puritanical US on Amy Records. Now that is a hard record to find! 1-2-5 tells the tale of a boy just strolling down the street with five bucks burning a hole in his pocket. Who does he see but Mary Jane, a local prostitute. Exchange of cash, and then she is pulling down the shades.

The flip-side is Eight O'Clock This Morning. Composed by Burgess and Birmingham, this proves the band knew what they were doing. Great bass, great vocals, great guitar. All great.

1-2-5, replete with snarly vocals, edgy lyrics, a brilliant bass line and a killer guitar lead, broke nationally and made the band a household name across the great white north. But whose name? You'll note from the picture above that the band's name was misprinted on the first pressing of the single as The Hunted. These record companies did this so frickin' often back then it is really hard to imagine who they had editing their work.

The sound sample above apparently comes from the LP, with a different singer, than either of the released single versions, which are linked below.

The USA release.

The first Canadian release

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

Canada Spotlight: The Ugly Ducklings - Just In Case You Wonder/That's Just A Thought I Had In My Mind

Our regional Battle of the Garage Bands heads to the great White North. The Ugly Ducklings hailed from the suburbs of Toronto Canada in the town of Yorkville Village. 

The Ugly Ducklings were Dave Byngham on vocals and harmonica, Glynn Bell on rhythm guitar, Roger Mayne on lead, John Read on bass and Robin Boers on drums. The group released six singles in their heyday of '66 and '67 on Yorktown Records and Yorkville Records. Today's double sided feature is their third single: Just In Case You Wonder/That's Just A Thought I Has In My Mind.

Just In Case You Wonder (misprinted on the first releases as Just In Case You're Wondering) is a standout of the entire garage genre and makes a strong argument for the best Canadian garage record of all time. Roger Mayne's fuzzed out guitar work gives the song a strong backbone without getting to the point of ridiculous fuzz (as was sometimes too often the case with garage bands). It's nicely complimented by Bell's distinct jangly rhythm work. The song is written by Byngham and Bell and our singer lays it out clear that he's psychologically damaged by a mean, nasty girl. 

Just in case you wonder
Why I'm feeling blue
There's no need to ponder
It's all because of you 

I'm sitting at home
Sitting alone
I'm waiting for you to come back
Knowing that you won't 

Just in case you wonder
Baby where I'm at
I'm in the basement yonder
counting all the rats!

Yeah baby! One rat, two rat. Then we go into a very impressive extended lead from Roger Mayne. 

That's Just a Thought I Had In My Mind is a solid Flip-Side. Much different from the A-side, more straight out pop, but I think you'll agree, it deserves a little love from us today. The flip was written by Byngham and Mayne. 

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

And The Winner of the Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands Is...

We have a winner in our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands!

I don't think anybody is surprised that The Sonics have unanimously won the coveted Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands competition. Quite frankly, we could have put up three of their earliest singles and any of them would likely have won the top spot. That's how good they are. A little more surprising is how high The Daily Flash finished. We love the record, but that is quite the honor to get ahead of The Wailers and The Kingsmen, two of the most influential bands in the region.

The Sonics are now the kings of the last United States region. That's 11 regions in all!  But we're not done. We so love our brothers to the north that we are going to include Canada for the next round. A lot of geography for just a few singles, but I think it will be worth it. Plus, it will give us an even number for our bracket system that will soon pit the winner of each region against the winner of another region. We'll battle each band against each other until we can crown one big winner in the coveted Battle of the Garage Bands. Dare we say, crown one single as THEE greatest North American garage single ever!

So, The Sonics take a breather and wait to see what Canada can give us. That will start tomorrow. Until then, enjoy a cut from all eleven winners.

Pacific Northwest: The Sonics - Cinderella/Louie Louie

Northern California: The Chocolate Watchband - Are You Gonna Be There/No Way Out 
Southern California: The Misunderstood - Children Of The Sun/I Unseen

Rocky Mountains: Phil and the Frantics: Say That You Will/'Till You Get What You Want

Mid-West: The Litter with Action Woman/Legal Matter

Texas: The 13th Floor Elevators with You're Gonna Miss Me/Tried To Hide

New England: The Squires with Going All The Way and Go Ahead

The South: The Bad Roads with Too Bad/Blue Girl

Great Lakes: The Shadows of Knight with Bad Little Woman/Gospel Zone

The Mid-Atlantic: The Enfields with She Already Has Somebody/I'm For Things You Do

New York: The Blues Magoos with We Ain't Got Nothing Yet/Gotta Get Away

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