LOOK WHAT I HAVE FOUND vol 225
"Cool gool" - 16 ghoulish tunes for cool cats

 

In The Trashcan Records       GARBAGE225
"Even cool ghouls like the colour of darkness, fire and brimstone or a spaceship going bang bang during a popcorn lesson with Babette..."

1. spaceship boogie - winifred atwell

Born in Trinidad she became a well known ragtime pianist. Here's she's playing a space trip boogiewoogie instrumental in 1958. From an EP on Decca. See also vol 240.

9. erotico-vieillot - henri salvador

This track used to be the intro of a Dutronic show. It's a ballad with fuzz guitar breaks, one of the weirdest songs from the vast collection of Henri Salvador, who released this on his own Rigolo label in 1970.

2. the squelch - lord rockingham's xi

They were the show band on popular music show "Oh Boy!", including Cherry Wainer on the organ. About a dozen times you can hear someone saying "Oh boy!" while the rest is yelling "yayayayaaaaaah" and "tatatatataaattta". Recorded in 1958 for Decca. Terrific instrumental.

10. hound is on the run - bintangs

Incredible twanging guitar sound on the B-side of the better known "Travelling in the USA" from 1969. Written by guitar player Arti Kraaijeveld, brother of bass player Frank who founded the band in 1961. They both left the band in 1972, three years after this great recording.

3. babette - tommy bruce

Popcorn beat from 1962 by teen idol Tommy Bruce, this time without his Bruisers.  This London boy was 25 when he recorded this for Columbia.

11. honey girl, you're lonely - tommy bruce

Slow flipside to "Babette", from 1962. He was an orphan from London and his backing band The Bruisers came from Birmingham. He even lived in Belgium for a while in 1958.

4. popcorn crazy - vic upshaw

Vic Upshaw with backing band The Mickey Baker Orchestra recorded most of his material in France in the 60s and 70s. Born in Alabama he spent most of his life in Paris, France. For me this 1969 release was his ultimate achievement. It's obvious he loved the late 60s James Brown.

12. popcorn lesson - vic upshaw

Sleazy popcorn soul similar to Vigon's "Original popcorn", released as by Franz Auffray. It's the flipside to "Popcorn crazy".

5. cool gool - sharkey todd & the monsters

The 45 is difficult to find, but this EP is almost impossible to track down. Who was Sharkey Todd? It's actually Wallace "Wally" Whyton who founded skiffle group The Vipers with Shadows members Hank Marvin, Tony Meehan and Jet Harris. They are The Monsters, a one-off fun project for this "Cool for cats" EP from 1959. A ghoulish popcorn novelty gem.

13. the horror show - sharkey todd & the monsters

This sounds like all those crazy horror rock 'n' roll novelty tunes from 1958-59 coming from the US. Together with "Cool gool" it was also released as a 45rpm on Parlophone. See also vol 220 for another track from this fabulous EP.

6. with a little help from my friends - the young idea

A US vocal duo with one 1968 album and four singles in 1966-67. After leaving Douglas MacRae-Brown producer Tony Cox formed The Bunch. A not so bad version of this Beatles classic, released in 1967 on Columbia.

14. the colour of darkness - the young idea

A non-album track, B-side of "With a little help from my friends", an excellent psych-pop tune with an oriental flavour from 1967 by this duo.

7. fever - junior byles

Kerrie Byles Jr from Jamaica formed The Versatiles and met Lee Perry. Six years long they recorded single after single, both with the band and solo. This solo recording was released in 1972 on Pama, a great reggae version of Little Willie John's classic tune.

15. angel on the beach - george garabedian players

Where the Middle East meets the Caribbean in a New York lounge dreaming of an angel on a beach in 1960. B-side is "Morroco", see previous volume.

8. bang bang - love childs afro cuban blues band

In 1966 Joe Cuba had a smash hit with his own "Bang Bang", not to be confused with the Sonny & Cher chartbuster. Nine years later this Michael Zager produced studio outfit did an excellent effort to catch that latin soul vibe. See vol 219 for the flipside.

16. fire and brimstone - link wray

A fantastic vocal song by the king of the instrumental fuzz guitar sound, showing his native American roots. Both sides of this 45 appear on his eponymous 1971 album, all on Polydor.