THE PLAINCLOTHES ROCK STARS

I ran into a collection of songs, nearly all hits, all backed by the Wrecking Crew. If you're not familiar with the Wrecking Crew, go look it up and come back. We've been over it here. [Documentary below. Recommended.] In short, they were shifting number of studio musicians (the core were roughly a couple dozen) who played on a shitload of hits in the sixties and early seventies. The thing that kills me is that, of the many hits that they played on, no matter who produced the sessions, the arrangements and playing carry the songs. The players, usually not credited, were the real stars.

I've posted stuff about the Wrecking Crew several times. I've known their story for years but I'm still finding out about songs that they played on that I didn't know of. Case in point, the Ventures version of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme, just mentioned in a post a week or so ago. The Ventures were an proto-surf instrumental band. What? An instrumental band that had to have help? They weren't alone either. Other instrumental bands leaned on the Wrecking Crew as well; the Marketts, a surf band, jazz dude Lalo Schifrin and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to name three. Then there were the fictitious bands of scores of surf cash-in records. (Sundazed Records has a number of the latter in their Surf Legends series of compilations. Highly recommended.) I love studio geeks in general. When they're musician studio geeks, forget it, it's off the charts. Total unequivocal respect.

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Listen:
Jack Nitzsche - The Lonely Surfer mp3 at Internet Archive
The First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) mp3 at Internet Archive
Lalo Schifrin - Mission Impossible mp3 at Internet Archive
Paul Revere and the Raiders - Kicks mp3 at Internet Archive
The Monkees  - Valleri mp3 at Internet Archive
Mason Williams - Classical Gas mp3 at Internet Archive
The Ventures - Hawaii Five-O mp3 at Internet Archive

THEM AGAIN

There I was, perusing a song list of sixties British female pop, stuff like Dusty Springfield, Lulu and Sandie Shaw. Bam! There were a couple cuts by the Liverbirds! I've a soft spot for the Liverbirds. Unlike a lot of British female singers at the time, the Liverbirds played their own instruments. Better, they looked as if they were not to be messed with. They were the cool chicks. That's all fine and dandy if their music backed it up. It did.

Having posted about them several times in the past, I didn't expect find much of anything new online. I was surprised to see that they now have their own YouTube channel and that the two surviving members wrote a book about their band. I'm still in rabbit hole mode. Join me, it beats doing the dishes.

 

First off, check the live clip, "Peanut Butter". So completely badass. A shitload more of that at their YouTube page. When you check the mp3s below, just imagine them with a meatier production. Even a crunchy Kinks-like sound. Even better? A time machine wherein Jon Spencer produces them à la Blues Explosion. Shit. now I'm just fantasizing.
 

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Listen: 
The Liverbirds - Talking About You mp3 at The Rising Storm
The Liverbirds - Hands Off mp3 at The Rising Storm

The Liverbirds - Long Tall Shorty mp3 at Internet Archive
The Liverbirds - Why Do You Hang Around Me? mp3 at Internet Archive
Podcast:
'Girls don't play guitars!' The Liverbirds' story at BBC
Video:
The Liverbirds - Channel at YouTube Live clips, music, etc
Visit:
The Liverbirds - Bio at The Hound
The book:
The Liverbirds: Our life in Britain's First Female Rock 'n' Roll Band by Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders

THE TWANG IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE TWANG!

Duane Eddy wasn't a surf guitarist but his sound, the echo and tone of his guitar, were hugely influential. There had been guitar instrumentals as long as there have been guitars but Eddy played his leads largely on the bass strings and that, combined with the echo, provided the "twang" that producer Lee Hazelwood dubbed his sound. (Hazelwood devised the echo chamber from an empty 2,000 gallon water tank.) This was a couple years before Leo Fender made the first reverb unit for Dick Dale. So, in regards to his influence on surf music, as one of his album titles says, "The 'Twangs' The 'Thang'"

Duane Eddy died last week. For me it's almost like losing a relative. [Personal story alert.] Hear me out. When I was about ten, my Uncle Mike had just returned home after an Air Force stint in Okinawa. When we went to visit him at my Grandma's he had this enormous sound system set up. He'd had bought it in Japan and had it shipped home. He asked my brothers and I if we wanted to hear it. At that young age our collective record collection consisted of three 45s. We'd only heard music from transistor and clock radios and a crappy portable record player.  We did not know what we were in for. Uncle Mike proceeded to blast the Ventures' version of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme at a thousand decibels. There it began.

A while later we got a few hand me down LPs from Uncle Mike. The Ventures, Santo and Johnny and Duane Eddy. Having no LPs of our own, these ushered in the guitar mania that would dominate the next several decades of our listening habits. I know, I can hear it. You're saying "It's not all about you. How about some Duane Eddy background info?" Fine.

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Listen:
Duane Eddy - Moovin' n' Groovin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Rebel Rouser mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Stalkin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Ramrod mp3 at Internet Archive