Another album I stumbled upon recently from a band that deserve your attention!
PLAY LOUD AND ENJOY!
The Blue Squares emerge from Detroit's underground rock scene with their debut album, Hard Times. Featuring 10 songs reminiscent of The Kinks, The Zombies and MC5, the long-player draws from the sounds of an era long past, but eternally cherished for its cultivation of timeless music. From their beginnings as a 3-piece known as The Wednesdees, the group has since matured into a quartet while continuing to channel legendary underground rock bands from the Sixties and gaining comparisons to such contemporaries as The Greenhornes and The Len Price 3. The evidence of misfortune in Detroit is sadly difficult to avoid, and all too obvious. Using the dilapidated city as a backdrop, Hard Times delivers a sound full of grit and determination that speaks to both the city’s past and future.
Take the sound of early recordings of The Kinks, The Animals or The Doors. Now add more power to the drums and more fuzz to the guitar and you have The Blue Squares. Their new album Hard Times is going to make you proud of the musical talent and vision Detroit has to offer. With a '60s garage rock sound, this quintet harkens back to the days when music was simpler. They'll have you singing along in your car and entertaining the thought of pursuing a career as an international spy.
A few days ago I heard a tune that really grabbed my attention, it had a great 60's vibe to it, after days, well, a week to be honest, I managed to track down who they were, they are New Shouts, the band are based in Pittsburgh PA and are currently unsigned, quite why, I am unable to fathom because they have a great sound and they look like pretty cool geezers too!
They say about themselves: "We wanted to be a 60's r&b girlgroup, but couldn't get to the 60's and couldn't find the girls so we decided to be a rock n' roll band of dudes."
Get the EP's: here and here for free, you can also purchase the bands 7track EP/mini album: here for a mere $6.99
Back in the early eighties my brother, who was a scooter boy, very kindly made me up a compilation of Northern Soul songs as I had expressed an interest in the genre. Having been really into RnB and Motown, it was no surprise that Northern Soul was going to grab, and hold my attention as it has.
Among the tracks, none of which were listed on the cover, was a track with a marching beat, punchy brass sound and great vocals, it immediately stood out as a really strong track among all the others, which were all great, but this song really stood out and I decided to find out a little more about Lorraine Silver and couldn't believe what I found.
In the school summer holidays of 1965, a 13 year old Lorraine headed out shopping in Oxford Street London and after looking through records, she decided to make a record and that wasn't as difficult as it sounds, as back in the sixties, Woolworths had their own record booths where you could record your voice and get a vinyl disc delivered in pretty much the same way as you get passport photos!
Record Booth.
Lorraine sung a rendition of the Bryan Hyland song "Sealed with a Kiss" and then made her way to PYE records at Marble arch and delivered the disc to them asking if anyone wanted to hear it. A pretty bold gesture for a 13 year old girl. About 2 months later Lorraine was invited to an audition at PYE and subsequently given a recording contract.
Lorraine Silver Aged 13.
The song scheduled to be recorded was The Marvelettes song, "I'll keep on holding on" but then she was given a ballad by American Shelley Fabares and asked to cover that instead. A band was arranged for the recording which included, on bass Klaus Voorman, who was a close friend of The Beatles and also designed the cover for the "Revolver" album.
Lost Summer Love was well received and heavily played on Radio Luxembourg amongst many other radio stations, including Ready Steady Radio which was based in The Marquee Club. Many articles appeared in the press and the teenager became a heroine amongst her friends at school and probably a figure for jealousy as she was allowed to miss out on lessons to appear at photo shoots and the like.
With everything going so well, the world was her oyster until The Overlanders turned up. Lorraine was due to appear on Ready Steady Go with a rendition of Lost Summer Love which could have lifted her career to dizzying heights, however, this was not to be, Lorraine's agent was also agent to The Overlanders and their rendition of "Michele" was making a big impact on the charts and Lorraine was replaced by The Overlanders for the filming of the show.
Lorraine recorded one more record for Pye, "The Happy Faces" an original song written by Johnny Harris who had produced "Lost Summer Love." The single didn't receive the backing it required and subsequently failed to chart.
Lorraine went back to school to finish her education but continued to perform in cabaret clubs and television talent shows like "New Faces."
"Lost Summer Love" continued to grow in popularity in the Northern Soul clubs, especially at the famous "Wigans Casino."
Jumping forward 23 years later in 1988, Lorraine's 2nd husband entertainment agent Barry Collings showed Lorraine an issue of Blues and Soul magazine that listed Northern Soul DJ Nick Greg's top ten Northern Soul tunes which, obviously, in my opinion, listed Lost Summer Love. Lorraine was amazed and totally knocked out to learn how popular the record was, even now.
As a result of this Lorraine went on to perform at many Northern Soul functions and still performs to this day.
Lorraine Silver today.
Lost Summer Love has become something of a collectors item with original copies changing hands for £100.00 plus, in fact a copy sold on Ebay a while back for £360! The track, along with all her other recordings, has appeared on numerous Northern Soul collections.
Lorraine is currently touring with Chris Farlowe and Steve Ellis (Love Affair) as part of The Mod All Star Band.
And if that wasn't enough, Lorraine is also appearing on The Northern Soul Tour 2012 as a guest singer with Edwin Starr's band The Team:
EDWIN STARR’S BAND- THE TEAM
With ANGELO STARR + Special Guest LORRAINE SILVER
AGENT 00 SOUL * LOST SUMMER LOVE * 25 MILES
THE HAPPY FACES * STOP HER ON SIGHT * I’LL KEEP HOLDING ON * TIME * LANDSLIDE * WAR * GOODBYE NOTHING TO SAY * HEADLINE NEWS * I’LL DO ANYTHING * EYE TO EYE CONTACT
The late great EDWIN STARR’S brother ANGELO STARR is the original musical director of THE TEAM. He has now taken over lead vocals performing all the fantastic Edwin Starr classics, plus dynamic performances of some great Northern Soul covers.
EDWIN STARR’S original 8 piece band THE TEAM who backed Edwin on all his shows are still intact, with sax, keyboard, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussion & female backing vocalist.They have a new CD out called “Keeping the Faith ”The first track is titled “Bless My Northern Soul”www.theteam-online.co.uk
THE RIFFBACKERS - THE CURTAIN SHOP AND ALTERATIONS
The Riffbackers are headed by two members of the much-missed The Winnerys. Shot to the top of my Top 15 list for best of 2009, too! Fret not fans of The Winnerys. No diversions here; The Riffbackers will filled the void very nicely - arguably, even better. Taking cues from a long list of power poppy favorites, The Riffbackers DELIVER! Each song as a different frame of reference - Lead off track "Now It`s Fine" sounds like a long lost favorite from The Plimsouls or Paul Collins Beat, from there listen for Raspberries, Cheap Trick, The Who, early 70s McCartney and on and on.
Another brilliant band giving away a free download of their latest album, so if you like a little indie rock go and get it now whilst it is still available.
The Hush Now have been compared to My Bloody Valentine and Guided by voices and have been called "Audio candy for the art school crowd." What that means exactly, I don't know, but it is a great album.
Stuart Kidd of The Wellgreen, ex-BMXer, sometime Pearlfisher, Jonny drummer and ex-St. Deluxer is offering a FREE download of his album JUNK MUSEUM here: http://kidd.bandcamp.com/album/junk-museum
A few months ago, I found some old flyers of gigs I attended in a box in the basement. It was interesting to see how the flyers had been made up approximately 23 years ago with a letter set, a picture and a photocopier, not as easy as it is today with home computers and printers, hey, kids even stood on the street and handed them out to you, hasn't the internet made things easier!
Some of these flyers, along with other memorabilia will be used in a C86 display (see my previous post) night by How Does It Feel To Be Loved at The Canterbury Arms in Brixton, London Friday 7th of October .
The Chesterfields - Electric guitars in their hearts.
