10.20.2009

While there's a sea of groups today mixing the brash delivery of garage with the blue-eyed soul of 60's girl groups, it wasn't such a crowded field back in the original garage wave. Though the boys dominated the field of pouty lipped rockers and fuzz-toned romps, the girls could do it just as well as any tight-trousered lads. These girls paved the way for quite a few of RSTB's current faves. Big love to Romulan's Girls in the Garage series here. Collect the whole set if you're down.

[MP3] The Belles - Come Back
Kicking off with a thick slab of bass then switching to a sweet jangle of garage pop, this track by The Belles is a standard garage rocker with just a hint of girl-group in the vocal interplay. Seems the girls are much nicer about ex flames than the boys, asking for forgiveness rather than issuing scorn.

[MP3] The Models - Bend Me, Shape Me
Throwing a bit of psych style on top of this 60's staple, The Models have fuzz in check and a great source of swing. The effects start to get a bit over the top towards the end but they're far from the first group to take studio trickery one step to far. A joyous version of this well worn tune.

[MP3] Kim and Grim - You Don't Love Me
Proving their male counterparts don't have a lock on garage blues either, Kim and Grim bring the twang and rumble with a down and dirty blues riff topped with their dichotomy of accusatory/apologetic vocals. This one swings more 60's psych-pop in the vocal department than girl group but it's still got that twinge of sweetness under the surface.

[MP3] The Blue Orchids - Oo Chang a Lang
Not to be confused with the 80's post-punk group of similar name, The Blue Orchids rip the fuzz and keep things down and dirty. No there's a blast of sneered delivery? This is the template for brash girl groups to come, no more pleading, just fiery garage action.

[MP3] Karen Verros - You Just Gotta Know My Mind
Verros brings the thick vocals on top of a swinging, twangin' garage rocker that can't help but move those feet. Sugar and spice on this one, as the vocals cool down the heat from the guitar solo and the drums pepper along the way.

[MP3] Crazy Girls - Hey Hey Ha Ha
We'll leave things off on a light and fun note with this simple rocker that's not much in the lyric department but the guitars cook in prime garage fashion. Tie those laces tight and get ready to move!
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posted by dissensous at 9:37:00 AM

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awesome man! It's good to see that girls can make great music without being annoying punks or over-acting "pop divas". Great stuff!

5:18 PM  
Blogger ross said...

Love your blog. Q about the track identified as Blue Orchids' "Oo Chang a Lang" - it's great, but it's something else, not on the versions of vol. 1 & 2 that I have. What is it?

6:41 PM  

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