Tuesday, June 17, 2014

GET OUT OF MY HEAD

As you might know, the Equals recorded the original version of "Police On My Back", covered by the Clash on their 1979 double LP, London Calling. What you may not know is that they were one of Britain's few multi-racial bands from the mid-sixties, with two British members, two Jamaican, and one from Guyana, the latter being Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant. And that's about it. There's nothing much all that remarkable about their sound, nothing extreme or crazy, and by all matters of reason I shouldn't even be attracted to their music. But, there's this thing, their songs have a tendency to get stuck in your head. "Baby Come Back", their first and only big hit, is a good example. I hadn't listened to it in years. Heard it today, and it was "Aw shit, I'll be hearing that jostle around in my head for hours". So, what the hell, let's exorcise this shit.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Equals - Police On My Back mp3 at Mr. Suave (?)
The Equals - Baby Come Back mp3 at David Fullmer (?)
The Equals - Michael and the Slipper Tree mp3 at Brobots
Covers:
The Clash - Police On My Back mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Pato Baton - Baby Come Back mp3 at Cool Sound
Video:
The Equals - Police On My Back (Beat Club) at YouTube Hey! Check this video. It's that fräulein from the Beat Club! She introduced the Monks on another episode of the same show. (I wonder...) American television was never this cool.
The Equals - Baby Come Back at YouTube

3 comments:

missjulied said...

There's a two-person (guitar/drums) Equals cover band in Seattle called the "Less Than Equals".

Tom G. said...

I don't know about that one. Tempted to give it an eye rolling "Oh, brother...", but they've gotta add some punch to it, right? I'm curious enough to look further. Which is, I guess. the point.

missjulied said...

They're good! We call them "The Hardest Working Men in Seattle Show Business".

It's Kurt Bloch (Fastbacks, et.al) and John Ramberg (Model Rockets and Tripwires), and they wear matching kind of goofy suits and ROCK IT and sweat like motherfuckers. I think you'd enjoy it.

They don't have ANY online presence though, so you should come visit. :-)