March 12, 2009 Earworm

Before NARA shuts us down...

The Cowsills were none too pleased to have Tony Romeo's "Indian Lake", nor producer Wes Farrell, foisted upon them but the folks at M-G-M were not too pleased with the failure of the act's last two Cowsills produced and co-written singles in reaching the top twenty. Romeo arranged it to pop perfection with what sounds to me like an ear toward some good vibrations on the vocals. The listening public, recognizing a fun time when they heard one, took the outing to number ten and everyone was happy*.

"Indian Lake" may not be very deep but there is no room for shame in the shallow end. Life at forty five revolutions per minute looks pretty good on the days that you feel every year of your age. In fact, after a couple of spins of this silliness, I found myself eating peanut butter directly from a knife and not caring a lick about just how much a trip like this would cost today.


*(happy!
happy!)

March 11, 2009 Earworm

The fine line between bubblegum and power pop was barely evident in 1969 when Mark Gutkowski and whomever else was the 1910 Fruitgum Company by then unleashed "Indian Giver". Sure, that intro is right out of a politically incorrect Disney mirage but it's pretty obvious that Mark's suffering from the withdrawal of something far more libidinous than the games his gang were usually on about, no matter what Simon Says.

March 10, 2009 Earworm

If you keep dipping your fingers in oddities, you're bound to find things that knock your jaw to the floor and prompt that famous question, "WTF?". Such is the case with "Ghost Power" by The Cords. Coming straight outta Pulaski, Wisconsin, it's one of the gnarliest records I've ever heard, sans pretense, and I can only imagine the nirvana reached if the brothers Reid ever got their hands on a copy. If the mouth-on-tummy faux fart noise - allegedly created by a plastic horn - doesn't slay ya, maybe the freaky sci-fi phaser thingys will. If that doesn't work, there's always the accordion or the feedback.

If this description hasn't made you a wee bit curious, let me mention that The Cords were Franciscan monks who, when not creating a hellish garage/punk noise at church socials, could be found entertaining the crowds with their polka set!

All of that can (sometimes) be found on the 1970 Cuca single (in stereo!) or safe yourself the searching and find it on volume four of Sundazed's series, "Garage Beat '66: I'm In Need".

for a quick fix, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaLht-drX_E