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Pop Rock Nation

Author: David Middleton

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #24: Grapes & Wheat Clock

    ? & The Mysterians' 96 Tears 45

    ? & THE MYSTERIANS  “96 Tears” b/w “I Can’t Get Enough Of You, Baby” (Abkco Records #4020, original realease 1966-67, reissue circa early-’80’s)

    This is not the extremely valuable, highly sought-after original Pa-Go-Go pressing from early ’66.  Nor is it the not-quite-as-valuable-but-still-quite-desirable Cameo/Parkway version that soared to #1 that September.  This is an Abkco double-A-side oldies-bin cash-in repress from the very early 1980’s, when AM counterparts across the country still spun 45s of “Louie Louie” and “Wolly Bully” for the over-40 crowd.

    Needless to say, I latched onto oldies stations like black on a widow;  not only did that hard-driving 2-chord garage rock sound great blasting from the dashboard of a ’65 Dart at 2 A.M., it provided a much-needed antidote to the diabetes-inducing Olivia Newton-John and Air Supply in heavy rotation on pop radio, and the dour, suicide-hotline-on-speed-dial ploddings of all the Pink Floyd and Foreigner clogging up FM AOR at the time.  ’80’s be damned, I was gonna head-bang to ’60’s tracks and keep scarfing up these sexy 45 RPM reissues, my favorite by far being this eternal classic, ? & The Mysterians’ “96 Tears.”

    I’m not going to waste your time with band biographies, speculations on ?’s real identity, the possibility of life on Mars, strange voices emanating from Aztec temples, or even those ever-present, cooler-than-cool wrap-around shades.  You can scour the internet for that crap.  We are gathered here today, my friends, to honor THEE greatest garage-rock single of all time;  to relive the thrill of the sexiest, grungiest, most Vox-organ-driven paean to lost love that could only be conjured by these dynamic young Detroit-based Tex-Mex rock ‘n’ rollers.  Behold this sweet clip before Dick Clark unceremoniously yanks it.  Dig, Lazarus, Dig!

    See ? & The Mysterians performing 96 Tears on YouTube

    The B-side of this disc is actually an A-side from ’67;  our boys give the “96 Tears” treatment to the Brill Building pop classic, “I Can’t Get Enough Of You, Baby.”

    Originally a non-hit for both The Toys and The Four Seasons before them, The Mysterians managed to bring it into the Top 100, but not far enough to make a significant splash.  Steve Harwell and Smash Mouth rehydrated The Mysterians’ arrangement with several gallons of fat-guy sweat and pushed it into the Top 30 in the summer of ’98.  But fuck all that.

    Seen by contemporaries as godfathers of punk, garage rock, and Latino rock, ? & The Myterians are held in high esteem by music lovers of all ages, and “96 Tears” continues to be a staple of oldies radio and beyond.  Despite numerous break-ups and set-backs, The Mysterians (with and without ?) remain active.  You can keep abreast of their happenings at the clunky-but-fun 96Tears.net.

    NEXT WEEK: Drink your big black cow & get outta here.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #23: Pimp Who’s Talking

    igho45

    IAN GOMM  “Hold On” b/w “Another Year” (Stiff/Epic Records #50747, Fall 1979)

    September ’79.  School was back in session, and everyone but me had grown a foot taller.  I didn’t care.  I was the only kid in class with tickets to the Dire Straits concert, thee hottest bill in town.  I’d gladly sacrifice a foot of height to have Knopfler & Co. melt my face off from the 3rd row, hands down.  What’s that you say?  You don’t care what I was thinking or feeling or listening to back in junior high 30 years ago?  OK, well fuck you, then.  Just click this link & let the opening chords of today’s 45 RPM platter set you adrift on a sea of memory bliss.

    Play \”Hold On\” by Ian Gomm

    Warming up for the Sultans Of Swing that chilly Fall night 3 decades ago was Ian Gomm, the former Brinsley Schwarz bassist, Nick Lowe cohort, and co-writer of the everlasting power-pop classic “Cruel To Be Kind.”  Touring in support of his Summer Holiday LP (from which “Hold On” was pulled, punnily retitled Gomm With The Wind stateside), Gomm brought along an all-star pub-rock who’s-who to flesh out the material, including Andrew Bodnar on bass and Martin Belmont on guitar.  Twenty-four hour service, in-deed!

    A lush & lovely ballad celebrating out-with-the-old/in-with-the-new mentality (a market once cornered by the likes of Guy Lombardo), B-side “Another Year” would’ve sounded right at home at the tail-end of any of Squeeze’s post-East Side Story LPs, as would just about any tracks off the brilliant Summer Holiday.  “Hold On” climbed to #18 on the US singles charts, and still pops up on AM radio now & then, sounding brilliant as ever.  Still active, Gomm’s current whereabouts can easily be tracked via the ever-rhyming Ian Gomm Dot Comm.

    NEXT WEEK: The greatest garage-rock single of all time?

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #22: Texas If You Can

    ftryp45

    FLESHTONES  “Ride Your Pony” b/w “Roman Gods” (I.R.S. Records #IR-9905, 1981)

    Way before Jack & Meg White called attention to America’s gurgling underground garage-rock movement, New York City’s Fleshtones were brewing a heady concoction of farfisa-driven proto-punk and Stax/Volt-style soul dubbed Super Rock.  After being wowed by their fine perfomance in a late-night screening of Urgh! A Music War, I high-tailed it to my local record shop to buy up all the Fleshtones records I could find.  Sadly, this lone 7-inch was all they had in stock at the moment.  It would have to suffice, but oh what a great little party-platter it is.

    Listen to a sample of \”Ride Your Pony\” by The Fleshtones on Last.FM

    A faithful, almost-live-sounding remake of Lee Dorsey’s Naomi Neville-penned classic, “Ride Your Pony” wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from these CBGB denizens whom I’d just witnessed going head-to-head with The Police and DEVO in Urgh! , but it did rock nonetheless, and it was pretty super.  So there you have it. (As a sweet bonus, check out this performance by Dorsey himself before it gets unceremoniously yanked.)

    The flipside is a remix of the instrumental title-track from the ‘Tones’ I.R.S. debut, Roman Gods, featuring layers of horns, handclaps, gated snare, Bootsyesque bass pops and “ya ya-ya ya-ah” gang-vocals.  A sure-fire dancefloor filler at the nightclub in my brain.  There’s no vids available for this track, but grab a cocktail and swing, you lovers, to this spectacular clip (from a 1980’s Detroit-area public access cable show, mind you) of the boys performing \”Right Side Of A Good Thing\” from their 1983 LP, Hexbreaker.  If that don’t make you miss the ’80’s (or sorry you missed them.  Or glad you missed them), nothing will.

    The Fleshtones still make great records, and still put on the greatest live show on earth, to this day.  Keep up with their dastardly doings at The Fleshtones Hall Of Fame.

    NEXT WEEK: Hold on to another year of English pub-rock.