The Rogues - Train Kept A-Rolling b/w You Better Look Now (Audition - 1966)

In my world, music is what keeps me spiritual aligned to the material world, through my record collection I vicariously live out my own life turmoils, pleasures and experiences.

One such record which arrived on my door-step this week was an original and mint copy of garage folk-rock opus The Rogues and their 45rpm single Train Kept A-Rolling b/w with the hypnotic and amazing 'You Better Look Now'.

The latter track has been a song in which upon my first listen to it on The Teenage Shutdown compilation series a few years ago, captivated me beyond comprehension.

I thought to myself I must search out this 45, it means so much to me, thankfully the time came and I managed to purchase the 45 at a very good price.

The Rogues hailed from Buffalo, New York and as stated above, created for me one of the finest moments in teenage 60s garage music.

I am unable to find any information in my record collection which gives me details on who The Rogues' as people were, all I know is they were a Buffalo NY group.

The track 'You Better Look Now' has been special to me for nigh on near to 5 years now, I was so exceptionally happy to finally pick up an original 45 of this.

Have a listen to the track below.

What I love about this song, aside from the folk punk genius which is hitting my aural nerve centres, is the lyrical aptness that coincidentally speaks to me on a whole different and relative level, the song is much more substantial moreso now than ever.

What I really dig about this song, is it is an extension to my own vocabulary, in essence it does my talking for me, it conveys the message I need to get out of my soul, it tells the story of me and let's you know how and what I am thinking and feeling at this moment in time.

A 12 string guitar solo, which sends the heart into a frenzy, a bass line which holds the tears back and vocal harmonies which each sound enriched with turmoil and teen-tragedy.

Lyric lines which instantly jump out at me and of which I consider truly genius are -

"Well be that way then!, be stubborn and cruel, admit that you're lost and there'll be no chance for you"

"Be true to your friends, that's what you told me you'd be like, but as it turned out, it was true, you told me a lie, now all that is left, is memory past"

"you say you'll be mine, but there is no telling whose on your mind"

Pure GENIUS... a class song, for broken hearted young men, lost in an abundance of foggy notion and confusion.

The Flip-side of the 45 is a work of art too, possibly the most savage cover version of Train Kept A-Rolling to ever grace tape.

Both sides are easily found on the Teenage Shutdown compilation series.

Enjoy

Paul Messis

The Girls - My Baby b/w My Love (Capitol 1965)

Recently I purchased a killer girl-garage 45 by Los Angeles' group The Girls, The 45 is a double sided killer 45, featuring teen-drama, garage band frustration and 60s innocence,the slab of wax sounds like a meaner version of The Shangri-las, what was cool with The Girls is that they played their own instruments and in the case of the bands song 'My Baby' with it's menacing 12 string riff, haunting backing vocals and lyrical content in ode of the hip guy in town, the Girls actually wrote their own songs too, the aforementioned song was written by The Band's drummer and lead singer Margaret Sandoval.

The Girls were sisters and formed in 1965, the chicks were in The Sandoval Sisters and The Moonmaids before forming The Girls.

The Girls were -

Rosemary Sandoval - Lead Guitar

Diane Sandoval - Rhythm Guitar

Sylvia Sandoval - Bass Guitar

Margaret Sandoval - Drums & Vocals

The Girl's had two killer singles, the one of which I will share below via Youtube and also the biker anthem Chico's Girl b/w Nightmares, both releases cementing The Girls in garage band history, The Girls played shows in the Southern California regions, but also toured the Far-East and played shows for troops in Vietnam. The Girls looked great too and it's fantastic that their label Capitol invested money in them by making cool promo pics and posters for the group.

I have no idea how popular the Girls' 45's were when they were released but I sure as hell dig them and suggest you dig them too.

Original 45s of these singles are quite common and not too expensive, the reason for this is they were released on a major label and had good distribution and production, however if vinyl isn't your thing, you can find both tracks on recent Girl's From The Garage compilations on cd.

If any of the band members read this blog, please get in touch with me, I'd love to conduct an interview to ask about your time in the 60s and what happened after 1967 for The Girls.

Enjoy the Youtube videos below of both sides of The Girl's debut single My Baby b/w My Love (the videos have additional photographs of the band and this is why I have shared via video rather than mp3 player)

DIG IT.... Paul Messis

The Folklords - Release The Sunshine (1969)

Firstly, upon embarking on this blogpost, I would like to apologise profusely for my lack of blogging, I have been exceptionally busy with a whole heap of things i.e. life, work, pleasure and pain.

I am going to try and blog about music more frequently and get back into a rhythm of things again.

Ok let the blog post begin...

The date is 1969, the place is Canada and the product, is possibly the finest Acid-Folk psych LP ever released; The Folklords' 'Release The Sunshine' album is one of those fine gem's which seemed to have gone astray in the corridors of time and is a work which is quite unlike anything that has been created.

This album has most definitely been a huge influence to me of late, not only has it become the soundtrack to my Autumn and Winter of 2011, it has also inspired my own new sounds even down to the style of the front cover, which I will be ripping off and borrowing heavily from when I shoot my own sleeve.

The Folklords were -

Paul Seip - Vocals and Guitar

Martha Johnson - Vocals and Autoharp

Tom Waschkowski - Bass and Vocals

With Craig Boswell - Drums

The resulting album is a product of beauty, down to the last note, mystical lyricism, psychedelic ambience, mind altering chiming via the sounds of Autoharp, tripped-out melancholy, blurry visioned hope and a wonderful array of rich and textured harmonies, complemented entirely by Martha Johnson who anchors the whole thing.

The album is one of my finds of 2011 and this album has been engrained into my emotional D.N.A and whenever I listen to it, it will remind me of this period of my life.

Please find below three of my favourite songs on the LP.

Jennifer Lee

Forty Second River

Unspoken Love (single version)

Enjoy

Paul Messis