Rex Garvin is another one of those artists who’s responsible for the original version of a cover tune that became much more popular than the original – his track “Sock It To ‘Em JB” was covered by The Specials, and his version often makes appearances on on Northern Soul comps.
“Go Little Willie” is his first single with his own band, and was originally released in 1961. DD likes to play this every so often when we DJ. I love the ridiculously fizzy organs and finger-poppin’ sax. I can’t find it on any compilations, bar one that seems to be out of print. Another one for the ebay watch list. Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers – Go Little Willie by hells-belles
Palladium by Liz Brady is the embodiment of so many brilliant musical anomalies: French 60s girlpop (yé yé, if you want to put a genre name to it), covers (done in a language other than English: bonus!), and frat rock. It’s got riffs, fuzz, and Liz’s rapid-fire vocals over a wail of teenybopper crowd hysteria. How can anyone not adore this?
Liz is often mistakenly credited as a French-Canadian yé yé girl, presumably due to her later success with RCA act Les Scarabées. Her career actually began in France, where despite a string of fantastic EPs and extensive gigs, promotional and TV appearances in France, Belgium and Switzerland, she never really quite took off. Her record label, Pathé, certainly tried every marketing trick in the book to make her a commercial success (a book that the majors still seem to be following today, meow). In order to fit her into the French yé yé scene her record label decided that her ancestry was a bit too confusing for the French audiences and opted to cash in on London Carnaby Street cool instead. Apparently being born in Egypt to a French father and Italian/Greek mother and raised in the then-British colonial outpost Kenya wasn’t quite interesting enough. Since Liz spoke French with a British accent (acquired from her teenage upbringing in Kenya) her label changed her name from Raymonde Fleurat, fabricated a British background and shaved 6 years off her age (24) for good measure.
Ever the indie girl, Liz chose to cover an obscure track by an obscure Texan garage rock band for her 3rd French EP – Palladium, a reworking of The Hip by Tuesday’s Hells Belles stars, The Sparkles. Palladium was originally released in France in Feb 1966, and is comped on the Swinging Mademoiselles series (both bootleg and legit versions) and on the now OOP Ultra Chicks Series.
Liz often rewrote the lyrics to her covers, but as I don’t speak French, I can’t tell if that’s the case with Palladium. Here’s both versions. Maybe one of my French-speaking friends can shed some light? Liz Brady – Palladium by hells-belles
One of the first songs The Cramps taught us, this is badass Texan garage rock from a band who rocked two drummers while the 70s prog-rockers were still in diapers.
I first heard this track thanks to the garagehangover.com blog. Jack Bedient and The Chessmen were active mainly in the Pacific Northwest 1961-1972. A large amount of their material veers towards the schmaltzy end of the crooners, and while I generally have a lot of time for easy listening, I’ve never really fallen in love with The Chessmen’s take on it. They played a lot of Vegas shows, weddings, and similar tuxedo-wearing gigs, so I suspect the schmaltz factor was borne out of necessity rather than desire. For over the second side of their third LP, Where Did She Go? looms the shadow of a lurking frat-rock garage werewolf beast. Or at the very least, Paul Revere and The Raiders.
Just got hit in the eye with a snowball thrown by one of the little shits from over the road. Day at the eye hospital or just risk it?about 16 hours ago
Rex Garvin is another one of those artists who’s responsible for the original version of a cover tune that became much more popular than the original – his track “Sock It To ‘Em JB” was covered by The Specials, and his version often makes appearances on on Northern Soul comps.
