INTERNATIONAL July-Aug 2009

SOUND OF THE SCREAMING HAGUE
HUGH DELLAR has his mind blown yet again by this nigh-on perfect triptych of
late ’60s beat and psych long-players from the Dutch Small Faces, GOLDEN EARRINGS.

GOLDEN EARRINGS
Just Earrings
Winter Harvest
Miracle Mirror
All RPM CDs
www.cherryred.co.uk
Ah, the double-edged sword of success. In the wake of 1973’s monster hit, ‘Radar Love’, Golden Earring became global superstars. The momentum built up by this drum and bass propelled slab of prime-time freeway rock proved sufficient to sustain them through the subsequent thirty years – and the band are now fast approaching their fiftieth anniversary. However, so large has ‘Radar Love’ loomed over their careers that it is easy to forget quite how splendid they were before they dropped the oh-so-beat-boom-ish definite article (see also Pink Floyd and Status Quo) and the plural “s” from their name in ’69. Mercifully, these three CD releases – complete with relevant single sides – should go some way towards rectifying this lop-sided historical perspective.
Formed in The Hague in ’62 by 13 year old George Kooymans and Marinus Gerritsen – two years his elder – by ’65, The Golden Ear-Rings had tightened into perfect Beatle-esque beat-pop upstarts. That September, they unleashed their debut 45 onto a Dutch scene just starting to wake up to its own potential. ‘Please Go’ was well-crafted, moody downer beat with some nice harmonica work, but it’s the flip, ‘Chunks Of Steel’, that sticks in the brain like a dagger. Hinting at the toughness waiting in the wings, this was two minutes twenty-four seconds of clattering chords, unintelligible lyrics and a barely suppressed air of teenage sexual angst that rivals ‘Love Me’ by The Phantom for sheer anguished intensity!
Support gigs with visiting British luminaries followed and, at the close of the year, the debut LP, Just Earrings, gave full form to the latent promise. It’s a remarkably mature outing for a band so young. Apart from a rip-roaring adrenaline rush through ‘Sticks And Stones’ it’s all originals and runs the gamut from the dissonant propulsive hard-nosed mod pop of ‘No Need To Worry’ to the late-night bedroom folk blues of ‘Holy Witness’. What shines throughout, though, is the effortless sense of melody, the clear and confident melodies and songs with more hooks than an annual subscription to Angling News.
1966 began with a visit to Pye Studios in London, where they cut another 45, ‘That Day’ / ‘The Words I Need’, which even earned a UK release. The year saw a couple more amazing 45s sneak out, both of which are included on the CD of the follow-up album, the stone cold killer classic Winter Harvest. Fans had to wait until early ’67 for the LP, though it betrays little if any trace of the psychedelic storm that was brewing. Instead, it comes on like a tough ’66 set, full of the kind of soul-inflected hard mod moves The Small Faces, Who and Kinks were grooving London with. That said, it’s all shot through with a peculiarly Dutch twist that’ll be familiar to anyone who’s come across Q’65 or The Outsiders before. Hence the slightly quirky song titles like ‘Impeccable Girl’ and ‘You’ve Got The Intention To Hurt Me’!
So anyway, the music: Opener ‘Another Man in Town’ is all ringing, crisp power chords and “la-la-la-la” backing harmonies, whilst ‘Smoking Cigarettes’ is soul boy broke and blue balladry. Very understated and raw, but as with almost every song on the LP, a killer sing-a-long chorus to boot. Singer Frans Krassenburg had one of the white soul voices of his time and place in much the same way as Stevie Marriott did, or – later – a young Liam Gallagher did (that’s right, you heard me!). There’s then a killer Hammond organ solo on ‘In My House’, scorching fuzz leads on ‘Intention To Hurt Me’ , which sounds compressed to some kind of Joe Meek meets Sweet Gene Vincent hell .
The Motown-revved ‘Dream’ hits as hard as The Action at their best and ‘You Break My Heart ‘is blocked psychodrama. There then follows three of the finest songs to ever close an LP: ‘Happy And Young Together’, a joyous riot of pop-art clatter and harmonies telling the age-old tale of marriage and the in-laws; the Beatles-y acoustic ‘Lionel The Miser’, with another warped storyline that’s like a slightly better adjusted cousin of The Outsiders’ ‘Daddy Died On Saturday’ and the elegiac sea-deep outro ‘There Will Be A Tomorrow’, which you’re left with ringing in your inner ears like a lullaby for the heart. Utter genius!
The Summer of Love saw ructions in the camp, with original singer Frans Krassenburg getting the big bad call to do his military service, being replaced by Barry Hay, an ex-pat Brit and former frontman of The Haigs (they of ‘Where To Run’ fame), who also brought a new colour to the pallet with his virtuoso flue. Confusingly, both vocalists somehow appear on their huge summer smash, ‘Sound Of The Screaming Day’: an aching slice of kitchen sink observation welded to cyclical, hook-laden Superpop that just builds and builds.
The group then holed up in digs rented from a travelling circus and started work on what was to become their third LP, Miracle Mirror. Released in January ’68, it’s hailed by many as a pop-psych masterpiece, though to my ears it never scales the giddy heights of its towering predecessor, being neither quite as pop as I need it to be, nor quite as psych as, say, Groep 1850 were by this stage. Barry Hay’s strident vocals are an acquired taste and meat and potatoes isn’t a flavour I’d opt for as sauce on my lush, baroque quirk and strange. In addition, the broken English of the lyrics is ill suited to paisley poetry. That said, there’s still much to enjoy here: ‘Circus Will Be In Town In Time’ is haunting melancholia, ‘The Truth About Arthur’, twisted bad-trip paranoia and ‘I’ve Just Lost Somebody’, splendid orch-sike.
Within a year, the band had formed their own production company, played in the States with MC5 and Led Zeppelin and become the streamlined Golden Earring. The rest, of course, is history.

DEMON FUZZ
Afreaka!
Esoteric CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Afrobeat meets prog with touches of funk, avant-garde jazz and Arabic psychedelia. Demon Fuzz were a seven-piece act from the UK who developed their sound in Morocco. This, their sole release, appeared on Pye’s progressive imprint Dawn in 1970. The sound is something like what you might get if Jack Bruce sang in front of Fela Kuti’s band. The best parts of the long-running, ever-changing tracks are when the vocalist steps aside and lets the heavy grooves run unhindered. Wild saxophone, Hammond B3 riffing, wah-wah guitar and far-out drumming carry the load.
If I have a quibble, it’s that I wish they had let the grooves run longer without switching gears as often, and really they could have left the vocals off altogether.
Three bonus tracks are included here, one of those a unique take on ‘I Put a Spell On You.’ It’s easy to see why this has long since been a favourite with DJs.
Brian Greene

LOS FLIPPERS
Pronto Viviremos Un Mundo Mucho Mejor
Guerssen
www.guerssen.com
A very popular beat group in the mid-60s, Colombia’s Los Flippers had ditched the beat band shtick and became a solid long haired, soulful rock band by the early ’70s. Squealing leads and funky rockin’ beats aplenty fill their third album from 1973. Playing with everyone from Santana to The Chamber Brothers their sound is most certainly steeped in that oh so cool druggy rock sound with proggy undertones and some proto-metal shrieks reaching out from the pop and soul styled vocals. A lot more out there than Blood, Sweat & Tears or Sons Of The Champlin for sure.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

KING FOX
70.2.07: The (Un)forgotten Album
Du Monde CD
www.ozrecords.com
King Fox were five Sydney 15 and 16 year-old schoolboys who entered indie label Du Monde owner, Martin Erdman’s World Of Sound competition. This resulted in the now, well compiled psych 45, ‘Unforgotten Dreams’. In January 1970, an album was recorded but never released.
Just 38 years later, the tapes were discovered and this CD is the result. The disc is comprised of two parts. Remember these were schoolboys and the lyrical content reflects this. Musically however, this is a comparatively sophisticated piece of prog.
Part A is the seven-track album proper. Think along the lines of Rupert’s People’s ‘Reflections Of Charles Brown’ extended to an album format. Part B compiles the group’s singles, the catchy ‘I Think You’re Fine (Jenny Gray)’ being a stand out.
The booklet is packed with memories and eulogies from insiders and band members alike. Overall, this is a great find for Australian progressive music.
Paul Martin

THE MASTERS APPRENTICES
Apprenticeship In The Garage
Nickoff CD
nickoff@adam.com.au
Formed in Adelaide in 1965 The Masters Apprentices killer debut single ‘Undecided’ / ‘Wars Or Hands Of Time’ quickly brought them to the attention of the rest of Australia. Since the band’s subsequent catalogue – varying from proto-psychedelia through progressive hard-rock – had been well served and an excellent retrospective documentary produced, it came as a surprise five years ago when a lavishly packaged CD was released compiling 19 tracks of the group playing in a garage in early ’66.
This lower budget second volume brings together the remaining 23 songs from what was clearly a young band with a lot of promise. Recorded live to a reel to reel recorder the sound is surprisingly clear with the crude fidelity lending impetus to high-powered versions of perennial faves from Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and The Rolling Stones as well as the previously unheard R&B meets surf original, ‘Bye Bye Baby’.
Iain McIntyre

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Destroy That Boy!: More Girls With Guitars
Ace CD
www.acerecords.com
According to Mick Patrick’s liner notes, at one point during the ’60s post-Beatles beat boom there were upwards of 150 touring female bands in the USA alone. This internationally flavoured 24 track sequel to 2004’s Girls With Guitars samples efforts from some of the lucky few who actually saw the interior of a recording studio. A few sides in girl garage-band fashion by the likes of Ann Margaret (yep, the very same), Karen Verros and Sharon Tandy also rev up affairs.
Head turners are frequent, with the cover-depicted, Detroit-based Debutantes working out on ‘Shake A Tail Feather’, the UK’s She Trinity’s bristling revamp of Bobby Fuller’s ‘He Fought The Law’, The Feminine Complex’s percussive ‘I’ve Been Working On You’ (one of the few girl groups to get an album released) and The Termites’ soulful recasting of the Stones’ ‘Try Me’ at the top of my list.
And you thought The Shangri-Las were something!
Gary von Tersch

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Oz Beat Fenzy!
Fullpower CD
Although Australia enjoyed a massive live circuit during the mid-60s, very few of the hundreds of bands involved ever got to record a demo, let alone release a 45. In recent years a series of unofficial compilations – of which Oz Beat Frenzy! is the latest – have attempted to pick up where Raven Records’ pioneering Ugly Things series left off in the ’80s.
Whilst some of the tracks collected here, including those from key Aussie acts The Purple Hearts, Missing Links and Atlantics are available legitimately elsewhere most, such as The Throb’s snotty ‘Turn My Head’, The Hergs’ psych-punker ‘Style Of Love’ and Barrington Davis’ punchy ‘Raining Teardrops’, have long been unavailable. The Moods’ well moody ‘Say Hello To Me’ is reissued for the first time anywhere whilst an unissued Bo Diddley growler from rural feedback champs The Elois will be of particular interest to long term fans of ’60s stomp and snarl.
Iain McIntyre

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Raks, Raks, Raks: 17 Golden Garage Psych Nuggets From The Iranian ’60s Scene
Raks Discos LP
This is another of those labour of love projects which in an alternative universe receive music industry awards for services rendered to cultural, musical, and historical integrity rather than for “units sold”. As Gokhan Aya notes in his liners, it has taken a Turk and a Dutchman to push this stuff into the light of reissue day.
Aya spills a lot of ink on presenting a more balanced historical view of Iran, which is fair enough but this listener was left wanting more information on the artists, labels and recording facilities (or lack thereof). Presumably such information is still lost in time. Nonetheless, there are some cool picture sleeves.
The LP comes on multi-coloured vinyl and a striking sleeve in national colours. Musically, think in terms of those mid-60s Turkish high school bands (there’s even a Baris Manco look-a-like) and other Turkish delights. This is a great package and brings the hidden ’60s offerings of an unlikely country to our spoiled ears.
I for one am grateful. Shah-Shah A Go-Go indeed!
Paul Martin

SYLVIE VARTAN
Irrésistiblement 1965-1968
RPM CD
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
A mono-moniker implies a certain gravitas and is granted to few. In France she was simply Sylvie; undisputedly Bulgaria’s greatest gift to popular music.
Moving from her homeland to Paris at 10 and recorded by her record producer brother when another singer failed to turn up, the photogenic 17-year-old poppet was pretty much an instant hit and became an overnight star.
Irrésistiblement is a compilation of 22 songs composed specifically for Sylvie (as opposed to translations of Anglo-American standards) between 1965 and ’68. With a preference for the upbeat over the ballad, more akin to the pop of Sandie than the soul of Dusty, this is a great collection of French orchestral pop at its very best. Included are several numbers recorded in London with arrangers Arthur Greenslade, David Whittaker and Reg Guest.
The booklet contains extensive notes by compiler Kieron Tyler including an interview with Vartan especially for the release.
Vic Templar

WARLUS
“Songs”
Guerssen
www.guerssen.com
“Songs” was recorded on two Revox tape machines in 1975 in France and two years later 200 copies were finally released. Sung in English, these dissonant, fractured songs have a fragile beauty that recall the notable cornerstones of spooky, slightly disturbing loner music – Lennon demoing his psych material, solo Syd Barret and maybe even Skip Spence. Psychedelic in a sense, but far more prevalent of outsider music this collection of stark naked music is most definitely the most revered French private pressing. But be warned, it’s not for everyone. Together and cohesive it ain’t, but one can still sense that it was intended to be straight ahead pop.
Leader Richard Maubert is now a successful singer who goes under the equally baffling Cooltitude moniker!
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills