RiffRaf

Lost Gems: "Sick On You" by the Hollywood Brats

                                                                                                                                    By Jim Pace

Song: Sick On You

Artist: Hollywood Brats

Released: 1973

Genre: Proto Punk

There are days when we’re fed up with everyone and everything. That’s the perfect time to talk about the Hollywood Brats.

Some people will tell you that the Sex Pistols or The Ramones gave birth to punk. Those people are piss heads. (Please send your email address along with any complaints, so I can respond with a picture of my middle finger.)

Many bands had the punk act down but few were punks.

When Andrew Matheson headed to London in 1971, he came with a new attitude, so he found fellow hooligans, ES Brady (Guitar) Wayne Manor (Bass) Casino Steel (Piano) and Louis Sparks (drums) to play with.

They started out as Queen, but when the other Queen scored a hit, they changed their name to the Hollywood Brats.

They were a loud, trashy, arrogant, rude, makeup wearing band long before it was in vogue. According to Brady, they existed solely to “disturb and annoy." From start to finish, they were a punk band.

The band played three dates at The Speakeasy Club before they were banned for life for puking in the drinks and throwing an ashtray at Bryan Ferry’s head.

The Brats showed nothing but contempt for the audience. Men wanted to fight them. Crowds tried to beat them.

Keith Moon called them the “greatest band I’ve ever seen” and helped them get a management deal with gangsters (The Kray twins). They signed a lousy record deal with NEMS in 1973, when every other label turned them down.

They recorded one self-titled album, that included the bile spitting punk classic “Sick On You” and broke up before it ever saw the light of day. The song will leave you ready to pummel the first unlucky bastard who crosses your path.

They used Room A at Olympic Recording Studios. Rooms B and C were occupied by The Eagles and The Bee Gees. The Brats fought them in the toilets and bloodied Maurice Gibb's nose.

They fired two producers the first week, which caused exasperated engineer Irish O’Duffy - who worked on The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed - to quit, saying, “I’m sorry, I just don’t understand this.”

That was Punk. Those were the Brats.

Politically correct? Let’s see.

During one interview, they discussed who was pussy-whipped, their favorite Nazis, and women they’d like to shag and punch in the face. Their favorite color? Caucasian. They liked girls with "bad aim for crockery throwing."

Offended yet? Good. That was Punk.

It doesn't go down easy. It's not a soccer mom giving her four year old a mohawk. It doesn’t come with your proof of purchase on that Gap t-shirt.

When the label refused to release the album, they didn't hire some prick attorney, they stole the tapes and split. Cherry Red Records finally released the album in 1980.

In 1982, Wayne Manor was stabbed to death by a prostitute in New Jersey.

That was Punk. Those were the Brats.

So this gem is dedicated to the Right, to the Left, to the Bible thumpers and the Atheist "clubs." To the pretentious intellectuals, to the smug and to the satisfied.

You're all so stinking sure, aren't you?

To the editor of this very blog, who has issued the following edict for this series, "In the future all Lost Gems are to be five hundred words."

That being said, the last word you count will be number six hundred. Exactly.

So fuck off, Wankers.

These are the Hollywood Brats.

And I'm sick of you all.       

       

(Jim Pace is a musician and filmmaker living in NY.)

Lost Gems: "Yr Own World" by The Blue Aeroplanes

 

Song: Yr Own World

Artist: The Blue Aeroplanes

Released: 1991

Genre: Alternative/art rock

Raise your hand if you remember this song. Yep, that's what I thought. Let me fill you in on this little gem...

The Blue Aeroplanes are an art rock band that formed in Bristol, England in 1981. Due to frontman and principal songwriter Gerard Langley's half-spoken, half-sung poetic lyrics, The Blue Aeroplanes have drawn comparisons to the Velvet Underground.

The band released four albums, Bop Art (1984), Tolerance (1986), Spitting Out Miracles (1987) and FriendLoverPlane (1988), before signing with a major label, Chrysalis/Ensign, joining its cool stable of artists: The Waterboys, Sinead O'Connor and World Party.

1989 was a tremendous year for The Blue Aeroplanes; they released their most critically acclaimed record Swagger, which was produced by the highly-touted Gil Norton fresh from his recent production of The Pixies' Doolittle, and opened for the Darling Buds and R.E.M. on their respective tours.

Beatsongs (1991), the group's follow-up, more than lived up to expectations. On the strength of a handful of outstanding tunes - "Yr Own World," "Fun," "My Hurricane" and a cover of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" - Beatsongs was their highest charting album, reaching #33 on the U.K. album charts. 

But then the bottom fell out.

Legal trouble, lineup changes and a move to a new label, Beggars Banquet, prolonged the band's next release, 1994's Life Model. A three year absence is like three hundred years in music business years.

The band released a few more albums and there were a hundred more lineup changes (they change guitarists as often as one changes his underwear) before Gerard Langley decided he had had enough and took a break for several years. 

More than twenty years after the release of Beatsongs, The Blue Aeroplanes released an album last year, Anti-Gravity, and are performing once again, bringing their vibrant live show, which includes a dancer, to small indie venues or major international tours in support of larger acts.

          

Lost Gems: "What She Does to Me" by The Producers

                   
Song: What She Does to Me

Artist: The Producers

Released: 1982

Genre: Power Pop

In 1982, The Producers had a single that was climbing the Billboard charts, a couple of videos on regular rotation at MTV, and they co-headlined MTV's 2nd annual New Year's Rock and Roll Ball with Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls. 

In 2009, on his high school class reunion bio page, Wayne McNatt (aka Wayne Famous), one of the founding members of The Producers, listed next to occupation: Recording Artist /Taxi driver.

The surprising part is that he'd been driving that taxi for twenty years. Which means five years after he was on MTV, made a couple of appearances on the national charts, released two fantastic power pop albums, and toured with superstar acts, he was driving people to the airport.

Let's start from the beginning...

On New Year's Eve, 1979, after a bad gig with his previous band, Whiteface, Kyle Henderson went to see his friends' band Cartoon. It consisted of Bryan Holmes (drums), Van Temple (Guitar), Keith Christopher (bass) and Wayne Famous (Keyboards). Christopher had a bit too much to drink, so Kyle sat in for him. The new lineup caused a stir. Kyle had a record deal with Whiteface, but they already had one failed album on their resume’, and band members with over inflated egos. On New Years Day 1980, Kyle left Whiteface and joined Cartoon.

Whiteface’s manager, Hugh Rogers agreed to manage the new band, now called The Producers and landed them a record deal in six months.

In November 1980, The Producers recorded their self-titled debut album with Tom Werman in the producer's chair. The album is considered a power pop classic. The first single, "What She Does To Me," set the tone. It has a great hook, tight harmonies and guitars that Werman pushed way up front.

The single climbed to #61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and then stalled. Curiously, the record company, Portrait Records, decided to make videos for "What's He Got" and "Certain Kind of Girl," rather than the album's lead single. All three songs, plus "I Love Lucy" and "Boys Say When/Girls Say Why," make the album one of the genre's must-haves.

Over a 14 month period, they played 340 shows and quickly recorded a follow-up LP, You Make The Heat, with Tom Werman producing once again. The album featured another great single and early MTV staple, "She Sheila," which reached #48 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, but Portrait Records had already lost interest and the band was dropped before a third album could be recorded. 

Tom Werman said the band's failure to make it was "...the biggest disappointment in my career. I thought they were a brilliant, brilliant band. I thought the two records we made were unbelievable. For one reason or another they just didn’t get out there. I was really unhappy about it. That is one of the reasons that I left CBS."

We all want our favorite artists to be pure and authentic. Well, nearly thirty years later and after being kicked around countless times, The Producers are back together, playing gigs and working on new material for an album that will be released in 2012. Enthusiasm is the only explanation. It doesn't get any more pure and authentic.

You can't stay away from the things you love. Unrequited, or not. As far music goes, I understand. She does the same to me.

             

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)

Lost Gems: "Strychnine" by The Sonics

Song: "Strychnine"

Artist: The Sonics

Released: 1965

Genre: Garage Rock/Proto Punk

The Sonics are the Thomas Edisons of the music world. They invented garage rock. They invented punk too. They even invented grunge. 

Well, saying they "invented" three genres might be a bit of hyperbole, but The Sonics certainly paved the way for all three movements. Their influence can be detected in such bands as: The Dead Boys, The Cramps, Japandroids, Mudhoney, The Fall, The Hives, L7, The White Stripes, The Flaming Lips, The Fleshtones, The Fuzztones and LCD Soundsystem. 

The unconventional five-piece garage band from Tacoma, Washington had a brash, gritty style and their original material had somber themes. While some of The Sonics' material dealt with typical early 60s subjects like cars, surfing and girls, their most successful numbers revealed a darker side: witches, psychopaths, Satan and drinking strychnine just for the heck of it. 

For those of you who don't know - I had to look it up myself - strychnine is a pesticide that is used to kill small birds and rodents. It causes muscular convulsions and eventually leads to death through asphyxia. One pint of poison coming up!

The Sonics' contemporaries - The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, and Paul Revere & The Raiders - weren't tackling such gloomy subjects as drinking strychnine for kicks. 

"Some folks like water / Some folks like wine / But I like the taste / Of straight strychnine"

By the time The Sonics were set to record "Strychnine" for their 1965 debut album Here Are The Sonics, the classic line-up was in place: Larry Parypa (lead guitar, vocals), Andy Parypa (bass guitar), Bob Bennett (drums), Rob Lind (saxophone, vocals, harmonica) and Gerry Roslie (organ, piano & lead vocals). With Roslie as lead singer and primary songwriter (penning all four originals on Here Are The Sonics) the band was poised to record their debut album that established them as a cult favorite.

"Strychnine" is a bizarre, aggressive tune that combines Gerry Roslie's rowdy, Little Richard-like vocals with boisterous, loud frat rock. Although it was only a modest hit on a modest-selling record, "Strychnine" has contributed to The Sonics enduring cult status.

Here Are The Sonics pioneered their primitive yet effective recording techniques. The album was recorded on a two-track tape recorder, with only one microphone to pick up the entire drum kit. 

From a musical and production standpoint, The Sonics did everything wrong. However, with the exception of The Ramones, never has a band that has been so wrong been so right.

            

Lost Gems: "Crying in the Night" by Buckingham Nicks

Released: 1973

Genre: Pop/Rock

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have always been that good looking couple from high school who we all thought would be together forever, but never made it past senior year. We always root for that couple. If they can make it, then maybe we can hold on to some of our unrealistic, romantic dreams a little while longer.

They first met at a party where Stevie saw Lindsey sitting alone, playing "California Dreaming." She thought he was "beautiful," so she walked over and sang the harmony, which impressed Lindsey. Soon after, her family moved to Chicago and they would not see each other for two years when they met up in college, and Lindsey asked Stevie to join his band, Fritz.

Fritz was a popular local band that would go on to open for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, CCR and Chicago, but they couldn't secure a record deal. Frustrated, Lindsey and Stevie quit the band in 1971 and forged ahead as a duo.

Lindsey used his inheritance to buy an Ampeg 4-track tape machine; they locked themselves in a small office space at a coffee plant where his father worked, and recorded all night, every night for about a year.

They recorded seven songs and headed to Los Angeles to score a record deal. They were turned down by every record company in town except for Polydor Records, who eventually signed the duo in 1973.

Keith Olsen, who was Curt Boettcher's whiz kid engineer and collaborator, was brought in to produce the album. He showed up with a gaggle of session players, including legendary drummer Jim Keltner, Waddy Wachtel on guitar and Elvis Presley's famed TCB band. But make no mistake, the album is dominated by Lindsey Buckingham's unique guitar sounds and the duo's strong vocals. They were seasoned pros by the time they recorded their debut record and it shows.

What makes Buckingham Nicks special, however, are the songs. "Crying in The Night," which has Stevie already warning Lindsey about the dangers of other women, could have been the lead track on the album Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham's "Without a Leg to Stand On" would have felt right at home on Rumours, while "Don't Let Me Down Again," is a long time Fleetwood Mac concert staple. Nicks' "Crystal" packs a bigger wallop here than it does on the Mac version, and "Races Are Run" is Stevie's first kiss-off song, a mean little middle finger to her old Fritz bandmates. This album could have been titled Rumours, the Prequel.

The critics loved the record, but the early sales figures were poor and Polydor dropped the duo. Within weeks they were living in Richard Dashut's house; Stevie began cleaning Keith Olsen's apartment and waitressing to make ends meet, whereas Lindsey raised some cash, touring with Don Everly. Meanwhile, they began recording a second Buckingham Nicks album. The songs included such Fleetwood Mac hits as "Rhiannon," "Monday Morning," and "Landslide."

Fate stepped in when Mick Fleetwood stepped into Sound City Studios, looking for a place to record the next Fleetwood Mac album. He was also looking for a new guitar player to replace Bob Welch. Olsen played Fleetwood a copy of the Buckingham Nicks' track "Frozen Love" to demonstrate the studio's and his capabilities. Fleetwood loved the guitar work and offered Buckingham the gig but had no interest in Nicks (good call, Mick).

Buckingham told him they were a package deal. After talking it over with John and Christine McVie, they agreed to let them both join. They rehearsed for a month, recorded the Fleetwood Mac album in three months and went on the road. By the end of 1975 they were superstars.

Before the venom, the affairs and the mountains of cocaine, there was Buckingham Nicks. Their sole record has never been released in any digital format; it's a “classic” album we’re not sick of yet, like your old high school sweetheart, showing up after so many years, looking exactly the same, without the baggage, without thirty years of life's bruises. Still fresh-faced, filled with hope, dreams of the future, before everyone went their own way.

And you had nothing but time.

           

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)

Lost Gems: "Flying Up Through the Sky " by The Oxfords

                    

Released:1970 

Genre: Pop

Today we'll take a walk on the sunny side of the street. While it seems The Oxfords had three or four identities in their seven years together, these days they are mainly thought of as a classic "sunshine pop" group.

In 1964 Jay Petach, a high school student in Louisville, loved The Beatles and decided to start a band. After a few failed attempts, he came up with a brilliant strategy - steal players from the best bands in town. Petach recruited bassist Bill Turner, rhythm guitarist Danny Marshall, drummer Glen Howerton, and vocalist Bill Tullis. Petach took lead guitar duties, and they called themselves The Spectres. 

Meanwhile, drummer Jim Guest founded The Oxfords. A year later, Guest was having problems with his bandmates and asked The Spectres if they'd join The Oxfords, so the bands switched drummers. 

In 1966, Ray Barrickman took over on bass and Ronnie Brooks replaced Danny Marshall on guitar. Years later, Barrickman toured with Hank Williams Jr., while Brooks became a record producer as well as the voice of the middle frog in the famous Budweiser commercials. His brother Randy Brooks wrote the loved/despised Christmas song "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

They recorded their first single, the Bacharach/David song "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" - still the best version I've heard - with Barrickman on lead vocal. The record was sent to Nashville producer Buzz Cason (he wrote "Everlasting Love"), who liked it and got them a record deal at Bell Records. Naturally, that's when Ray Barrickman decided to enroll in college. That would happen today, right?

In 1968, the band evolved once again, recruiting vocalist Jill DeMarco from the all-girl band The Hearby, who along with Jay Petach, Donnie Hale on drums, Dill Asher on bass and Keith Springs doing the orchestration, became what you might call the classic version of The Oxfords, and was the group that recorded the bulk of their one and only album.

No longer a garage band, the group became a sunshiny cross between The Fifth Dimension and The Cowsills. They received two label offers, but they had to give up the rights to their songs. They declined, pressed 500 copies themselves and finally released the record under their own label in 1970, but they didn't have the means to promote it.

The album featured a handful of very strong pop songs, but none found the national charts. To this day "My World", "Lighter Than Air" and "Flying Up Through the Sky," all written by Petach and Demarco, are still held in high regard by fans of the genre.

The Oxfords toured with Frank Zappa and opened for The Grateful Dead, but by 1972 the band ended its ride.

Jay Petach still produces records in Louisville; Jill DeMarco left the music business in the 1980s for a career in Federal Aviation Administration. I guess to keep us safe when we're flying up through the sky. 

               

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.) 

Lost Gems: "Hey Sandy" by Polaris

                          

Released: 1993 

Genre: Indie/College Rock

For anyone in their mid to late twenties, "Hey Sandy" is a song you'll recognize from its first note. While the rest of us were cranking Nirvana, you guys were in front of your television sets with a bowl of Fruit Loops, watching "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" on Nickelodeon, in between marathon sessions of Nintendo.

Admit it, you wish you were there right now, don't you? So do I.

For the rest of us who are over or under the target age, "Hey Sandy" will immediately shoot up our list of great TV theme songs. And none of us will ever figure out the lyrics.

Polaris was an offshoot of the band Miracle Legion, beginning as a duo - singer/guitarist Mark Mulcahy and guitarist Ray Neal - in New Haven in 1983. They added Jeff Wiederschall (drums) and Joel Potocsky (bass), and in 1984 they recorded the EP The Backyard, which includes the great title track. The song was a college radio hit and the band was poised to take off. They were even drawing comparisons to REM.

           

After a couple of label changes and a new bass player (Steve West), they finally released an LP in 1987, Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!, to decent reviews. But the landscape had changed. In college radio time, three years is an eternity.

More lineup changes followed. They recorded Me and Mr. Ray as a duo, and a pretty track, "You're The One-Lee" (as in "only"), hit the airwaves a few times on a show called 120 Minutes that was on a certain Music Television channel.

There were more personnel changes and more label trouble. The band recorded two more albums, fan favorite Drenched in 1992, and Portrait of a Damaged Family, which would not see the light of day until 1996, when it was released by Mulcahy's own label, Mezzotint.

The creators of "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" were fans of Miracle Legion, so they asked the band to record some music for the show. By that time the band had splintered, and Ray Neal wasn't interested but Mulcahy accepted. He worked on the show with a new band, but they called themselves Polaris. They were the house band for all three seasons, and recorded enough material to release one album that was the closest they ever came to the "sound" they had on The Backyard. Many twenty-somethings claim the show shaped their listening habits for life.

In 2009, long time fans, Thom Yorke, Frank Black, Michael Stipe and The National, among others, recorded a Mark Mulcahy tribute album - Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy - to help him out after his wife had suddenly passed away.

Whether it was college kids seeking refuge from the all too familiar sounds of top 40 radio in the 80s, or twenty and thirty-somethings reliving the glory days of childhood, at one time these "two" bands meant something to two different generations, leaving both with a lot to remember.

                   

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)  

Lost Gems: "Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide

                                    

Released: 1977

Genre: No Wave/post-punk

Suicide is a punk/dance/synth pop duo who opened for The Clash in 1978, got booed off the stage every night, and may have been every bit as influential as those punks from London. 

Alan Vega and Martin Rev have been called "Electronic pioneers," "Fathers of Synth Pop, Techno and Industrial," and "A true rockabilly outfit who sing bubblegum melodies with a dance beat." And way back in 1970, they were the first band to use the phrase "punk music" on a flyer.

I thought long and hard on how I would introduce Suicide to the uninitiated. Normally, if you want someone to explore a band's catalogue, you might want them to hear something melodic, a cool guitar riff, maybe some great harmonies or even a dance beat. 

And if I was excited about a group, the next sentence would go something like, "Well, here's a song with all of that!" And the listening party would begin. You can hear the floor shaking already, can't you?

But I can't say that this time.

When you introduce Suicide to someone, there is really only one track to put on. And "Frankie Teardrop" is none of that.

I've listened to thousands of songs in my life. Songs that have made me feel happy, sad, melancholy, lovesick, and angry. Many had me dancing and on some occasions, I was compelled to throw things.

But "Frankie Teardrop" is the only song that has ever scared me. 

The first time I heard it, it startled me, so I turned it off. It took me a few seconds before I gave it another spin.

Now, I can hear a few of you snickering. But consider yourselves lucky. You've had a warning. You know something's coming. I wasn't prepared. And if it's quiet wherever you’re reading this, or if you're alone, do yourself a favor. Listen to the song some other time. Spend the next ten minutes doing something else.

But maybe you like being scared. Maybe there's no one at home where you are. Maybe it is dark outside, and maybe you'll turn up the speakers and give it a listen anyway. So go ahead. Put on your best false bravado and click play.

I'll know this. For the next ten minutes, you'll be whistling in the dark. Just trying to survive. 

                 

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)  

Lost Gems: "Starry Eyes" by The Records

                                                

Released: 1979

Genre: Power Pop

"The British Big Star." Those four words have already sent some of you racing over to iTunes. The rest of you are asking, "Who's Big Star?" That's unfortunate. Not as unfortunate as some younger folks asking, "What the heck is a record?" But that's my issue, so we'll move on.

To power pop fans, "Big Star," "The Beatles," "Raspberries," and "Badfinger" are the Holy Grail. When a band is compared to them, you pay attention and hope they stick around.

However, the rise and fall of The Records was so swift, the band should have sued everyone in sight for whiplash. But knowing these boys, they would have eventually sued each other. 

After a brief stint together in Kursaal Flyers in 1977, Will Birch asked John Wicks if he wanted to write some songs; he had been impressed with Wicks' sense of pop melody. Wicks, the rhythm guitarist in Kursaal Flyers, would become the singer of The Records; Birch would stick to his drums.

Bass player Phil Brown answered Birch and Wicks' ad in Melody Maker. They placed a second ad, and two hundred guitarists later, they found the left-handed, Huw Gower.

In 1978, Dave Edmunds put music to some lyrics Will Birch had written called "A1 on The Jukebox." Around the same time, a Wicks/Birch song, "Hearts In Her Eyes," was recorded by The Searchers, and still another song was recorded by Rachel Sweet. None of the songs were hits, but it didn't matter.

The Records recorded a new song called "Starry Eyes" and the band rose like a comet. 

The new single was a power pop masterstroke, and the band knew it. The song features ringing guitars, memorable hooks and great harmonies. What's not to like? The record companies noticed and came after them hard.

By 1979, they were signed to Virgin Records, and a young hotshot producer was brought in, Robert "Mutt" Lange, whose credits included the Boomtown Rats and would soon become one of the most successful producers in the history of pop music (Def Leppard, The Cars, Shania Twain). 

Their U.S. debut, The Records, was well received, and the band was taken on a whirlwind promotional tour. Bands they loved, like the dB's opened for them. They met celebrities, went to parties in limos, opened for The Cars in Central Park, they were giving dozens of interviews and Billy Joel even gave them ties. It looked like nothing could stop them.

According to Birch, after the 1979 U.S. tour, the band made "two big mistakes." The first was the firing of Huw Gower. The second mistake was not bringing back Mutt Lange to produce the second record. But as Birch notes, "I'm not sure he would have stuck around." He probably wouldn't have. In the next eighteen months, Lange would produce AC/DC's Back in Black, Def Leppard's High 'n' Dry and Foreigner's 4.

The second album, Crashes, and the 1980 tour wasn't as much fun. There were no limos, they had to ride public transportation, carrying their own instruments. In seven weeks they did not give a single interview and Billy Joel did not show up with any ties.

After a third record, Music on Both Sides (1982), was shelved by Virgin, the boys went their separate ways. Phil Brown passed away earlier this year; Will Birch became a music critic and published a biography of Ian Dury of The Stone Roses in 2010; John Wicks still plays with a version of the band and Huw Gower has recorded for his own label.

Maybe this should serve as a cautionary tale of some kind. Don't take others for granted? Appreciate what you have? Maybe. But I say screw it, put on some headphones, turn up the volume and listen to this great, great single.

Just do it. I don't want to argue. 

          

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)  

Lost Gems: "Break it All" by Los Shakers

  

Released: 1965

Genre: Pop/Rock

 

This one goes in the hard to believe box. You remember the British Invasion, right? Did you know there was a Uruguayan Invasion? Neither did I. 

Back in the mid 1960s, at the height of Beatlemania, these four "clean cut" kids from Uruguay, cut their hair into moptops, put on "Beatle" suits and made a Beatle-like splash in South America. 

And when I say Beatle-like, I mean they recorded similar music, wore the same clothes, made the same type of promo films and even took the same photographs! Did you ever see the picture of The Fab Four getting off the plane at JFK? So did Los Shakers.

  
It all started when brothers Hugo and Osvaldo Fattoruso watched A Hard Day's Night and were inspired to write songs and start a group of their own. In 1966, they recorded the album Break It All, which is filled with jangly guitars and some broken English, and was a hit in Uruguay and Argentina.

At first, I thought they were doing a Latin Rutles-style mockumentary. I mean they couldn't be serious, could they? They were.

They recorded three albums. Each record would mimic what The Beatles were doing at that point in time. 

By 1968, they introduced psychedelic elements in their recordings, just as The Beatles did a couple of years earlier. It seems the band had one influence, and one influence only. The Beatles. Not a trace of Dylan, Stones, Elvis or anything.

Though they never made much noise in the States, most of their recordings are still in print, while many of the original Mersey Beat artists have long been relegated to compilation heaven.

If you like those early Beatles' records, chances are you'll like some of these recordings. The songs are catchy, the harmonies are fun and they're solid musicians. They could have called themselves "The Uruguayan Monkees."

They made an attempt to mix in some candombe and tango with the psychedelia on the last album, but the label (EMI) didn't like the new sound and refused to promote it. So much for originality. 

Without label support, by the end of the 1960s, Los Shakers would eventually "break it all" up. In 2005, the original lineup reunited, recorded an album, Bonus Tracks, and toured South America.

          

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)