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

Lyn & The Invaders - Boy Is Gone b/w Secretly (Fenton Records -1966)

Fenton Records is my favourite label in the garage genre, almost every 45rpm single released from the label is a work of pure genius, I will likely write more about other 45s from this label, as I consider them all in such high regard.

Fenton Records had it's own recording studio facility called 'Great Lake Recording Studio' based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the sound on all the recordings made at 'Great Lake Recording Studios' has such a wonderful production sound and quality, as a musician myself I have tried very hard on my own recording to replicate this production sound, because the sound on most, if not all of the 'Fenton' releases are opulent jewels in terms of their sound production.... I can't explain it really, but to me it's a great work of art.

I am also really into Girl-Groups of the 60s and love the whole bubblegum appeal many of these girl groups had, I think a great deal of songs from the era sung by girls were pretty powerful and ultimately pretty cool.

The Fenton label had it's share of girl groups, but the best by far was the female-led group 'Lyn and The Invaders' who cut one absolute killer single on Fenton in 1966. (Although not stritly a Girl-Group per sá, I feel this 45 can be forgiven)

I adore the A-side cut of the single (I have never heard the B-side) however the plug side 'Boy Is Gone' is a great minor-key garage number which screams total Teen-Drama, these are the songs I really dig, the ones about break-up and loss, I have a leaning towards these type of song, especially when they are played with such intense conviction as Lyn and The Invaders are playing with on their song.

Lyn and The Invaders were -

Linda 'Lyn' Nowicki - Vocals

David Bergsma - Guitar

Bob Phillips - Drums

Denny De Cook - Guitar (possibly not on 45 as he left the group)

Fred Munch - Organ

Doug Pollak - Bass

Enjoy the Track!

Boy Is Gone

Thanks

P