? and the Mysterians-We Are Not Alone: Rarities 1968-1970

During the ‘60s, no one else was like ? and the Mysterians and no one else sounded like them. Their “96 Tears” surged all the way to #1 in October of 1966, eclipsing the Beatles and the Supremes in the process. Today “96 Tears” is recognized as an essential garage rock classic. 1966 & 1967 were whirlwind years for them as they released a slew of singles and two outstanding studio albums along with almost non-stop touring. 

Fortunately, their other songs were built on the glorious keyboard-driven Michigan Tex-Mex garage au-go-go soul foundation of “96 Tears.” Staying in their lane worked for both them and their listeners, until their record company (Cameo-Parkway) no longer worked and was bought out in fall 1967. Cameo-Parkway’s demise meant their last and one of their best singles didn’t get the push and promotion that it deserved. “Do Something to Me” features the hypnotic, swirling, incessant organ that made “96 Tears” the #1 song in America just a year earlier. Tommy James and the Shondells actually covered “Do Something To Me” and took it to the top 40 in 1968, although it’s a much inferior version in my perspective. The glorious and smile-inducing “Love Me Baby (Cherry July)” epitomises the best parts of summer for me and brings back memories of being at Bay City boat festivals where oldies-circuit acts like Mitch Ryder, Len Berry and Sonny Geracii would appear (out of a trailer).

Top Deck (South  Bend, IN) clipping courtesy of Rob Branigin

The band got lost in the monkey…I mean music business and was required to jump from label to label. This 1968-1970 period included singles released on the towering Capitol Records and Tangerine Records, which was owned by Ray Charles.  These four late-period singles stand up-even if they were considered passé in the chaotic late '60s/early ‘70s pop-rock period. Their Capitol 45 record “Make You Mine” has all the elements of a hit mid-sixties AM radio song, but it quickly stalled out in the heavy times of 1968. The flip “Love You Baby (Like Nobody’s Business)” seems inspired by “The In Crowd” by Ramsey Lewis Trio with its liveliness. You can actually hear the crackle 'n' pop of the “needle drop” on the digital transfer of both sides of this 45, which adds to the charm of being a singles collection. The band signed on to Super K and went straight up bubblegum with “Sha La La,” that is downright equal to the Equals. Hidden away on the b-side is “Hang In.” It’s a somewhat mysterious instrumental that first evokes the Yardbirds meeting the Chocolate Watchband, before later revealing itself as a stellar cover of “Going All the Way” by the Squires. 

The band got bluesier when they switched over to Ray Charles’ Tangerine label in 1969. However, it was not much of a stretch as the group had delved into the blues before with their cover of “Stormy Monday” on their debut album. Besides its bluesy-tinge, “Ain’t it a Shame,” was frequently requested by Rachel of the Detroit Cobras during live performances. The flipside "Turn Around Baby" has a Paul Revere & the Raiders kick to it. Further intrigue surrounds their Tangerine Records phase as they recorded their third album for Ray Charles’ label with the the Raelettes on backing vocals, but it has yet to see the light of day and is supposedly locked away in the vaults. 1970’s “Talk is Cheap” starts off with a bit of space-age organ that leads into the infectious “96 Tears” keyboard riff and overall feel that slants towards Sly Stone with a stomping glam-ish beat. The flip ”She Goes to Church on Sunday” is another impressive “lost in time” groove-edged pop number permeating with garage fumes and that percolating organ. As testament to their strength, most of these singles were included as part of their live repertoire when they returned to regularly playing shows and festivals in the late ‘90s and were among the highlights in their set.   

?, their flashy singer with many flashes of brilliance, could be the missing link between Little Richard, James Brown and Michael Jackson and Prince. It could be argued that ? had an especially strong influence on Prince as the purple one was also known by a symbol at one point in his career.  Returning the favor, ? covered Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” in 2007. To this day, ? claims Mars as his birth planet and waxes poetic about seeing a "? constellation" in the desert skies over Joshua Tree National Park.  When I look up to locate the Pleiades (aka Seven Sisters, aka Subaru), I often think of ? (aka Rudy Martinez). 

? live at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI 1997

They have never been equaled, and their songs still endure. Their sound went on to have a major influence on some of my favorite bands in subsequent decades including the Modern Lovers, the Original Sins, Lyres, Reigning Sound and Fortune & Maltese. Call these singles infectious. Call these singles hypnotic. Call these rare singles undeniably ? and the Mysterians.

? and the Mysterians at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI-1997
L to R: Frank Lugo (bass), Frank Rodriguez (keyboards), ? (vocals)

Daytonas-Ready Set Go!

Surf and Hot Rod harmonies can be as daunting as approaching a 50 foot wave.  Accordingly, there have only been a handful of bands (the Chesterfield Kings, Fortune & Maltese, the Untamed Youth from the U.S. and Japan’s Charlie & the Hot Wheels) that have risen to the challenge and pulled off the feat during the ‘90s. Notably, it was mostly groups from outside the surf state that excelled at the California vocal sound. Daytonas were also a first-rate instrumental band that were able to strike the perfect tone that crowned them as the successors to the Chantays and slotted them with top-tier contemporaries like the Huntington Cads. Furthermore, it’s amazing they released this album in 1993-an entire year before the Pulp Fiction soundtrack arguably launched the third wave surf revival of the mid-'90s. They also continued the grand surf vocals tradition of Bruce & Terry, Fantastic Baggys, the Sunrays, Ronny & Daytonas, the Astronauts and those Pendleton-wearing kids from Hawthorne-the Beach Boys. Brothers were also involved as the Daytonas featured Jack Fjellgren (drums) and Klas Fjellgren (guitar), Lars Lindberg (bass), Patrick Hammarsten (keyboards) along with ex-Stomachmouths, the Livingstones Lars Kjellén (lead vocals, guitar). Somehow, someway, this group and their music, so perfectly evocative of the Pacific Coast, made its way across the Atlantic from such an unlikely locale as Stockholm, Sweden. Their debut Ready Set Go! perfectly introduces their sound built on lavish reverb, soaring harmonies and precious remnants of '60s surf culture. 

Switching Tracks

Covers such as “Geronimo” by Jon & the Nightriders are indicative of their deep knowledge of surf instrumental music, while original vocals numbers “I Love California” (composed by Lars Kjellén) declare their yearning for the Golden State. This standout is reminiscent of the early Barracudas and features a captivating organ solo on par with “Kind of a Drag” by the Buckinghams before floating into space like “Telstar.” Across the record, their guitars sparkle like sunlight reflecting off the onrushing sea. Ready Set Go! also includes the charging “Go!” which also led off the outstanding instrumental compilation Beyond the Beach that was released by Upstart in 1994. I used to start my college radio show with “Go!” from the aforementioned compilation. I didn’t think I ever needed to hear another cover of “Hawaii Five-O,” but when the Daytonas’ version burst from the speakers sounding like it came from the Pacific shores of Peru with the organ prominently on the forefront, it quickly became my favorite rendition. Vocals numbers return with the title track “Ready Set Go,” that reimagines the Fantastic Baggys’ “Tell’em I’m Surfin,” while “Baked Beans & Chicken” features cool South of the Border guitars and lyrics highlighting hidden, but perilous surf spots under the Baja, California Sun.

Heights Attained

The Daytonas certainly deserved broader exposure during the brief time before “The Great Surf Crash of ‘97” when some surf outfits (e.g. the Bomboras) were even signed to major labels. The Fjellgren brothers went on to record what I consider to be the three best surf instrumental albums of Century 21 with the Surfites. Big Pounder, Escapades in Space and Surfites & Co. on Double Crown Records are remarkable achievements filled with rippling melodies that shift and swirl unpredictably like the sea itself. Additionally, these stellar records offer an impressive array of original instrumentals that are conversant with the many strains of ‘60s instrumental sounds (i.e. surf, R&B, biker fuzz, space, Euro-twang) and delivered with an emphasis on melody and total attention to tone. Today, their legend lives on through their recordings. Ready Set Go! allows listeners to hear where it all began when an unlikely, but determined group of Swedes were able to momentarily recapture the elusive California Dream.  

L to R: Lars Lindberg (bass),  Lars Kjellén (guitar, vocals) Jack Fjellgren (drums), Klas Fjellgren (guitar) and Patrick Hammarsten (keyboards).

United Space League: Mission 66 and Beyond

Prestage
August is always the cruel(l)est month in the low desert of Arizona, when one is spurred from car AC to building AC by a nasty humidity that imposes itself over the default heat. It quickly makes one start Coastal California Dreaming where even the parking lot of the Oxnard Costco takes on a magical and mythical aura with its sparkling 74 degrees of warm sun and cool breezes. I try to tell myself that August is equivalent to February in the dirty snow Midwest and a countdown to the autumnal equinox offers artificial solace. Frequently, the Bell Notes’ famous declaration of “I’ve Had It” comes to mind--wishing the 114 degrees summer days would speed up as I reach into a toaster-oven mailbox engulfed with utility bills and stuffed with wasteful redplum.com flyers. A few blazing desert days ago, I spotted a yellow maize envelope underneath the daily detritus--signaling something I actually wanted. My mind reeled to do a quick recent ordering inventory: Was this the new Surfites disc on Double Crown Records? Or perhaps the always welcomed appearances of one of the last standing print zines like Ugly Things or The Continental. Seeing the return address declaring Royal Oak, MI in bold and black Sharpie strokes, I knew it was the latest from Sound Camera Records. The weight of the heat, humidity and workday lifted as I unfolded to reveal the lost art and hope of the 45 rpm record.

Side B-LiftoffGoing right to the flip “Water Under the Bridge” makes one wonder if Freddy Fortune is getting topical or has just rediscovered his Barry McGuire and Chambers Brothers records. Immediately, a galvanized “we’re not messing around” sound (similar to the final Fortune & Maltese single featuring members of the Gore Gore Girls, the Hentchmen and Jonny Chan himself) shoots through the circuits without losing any of the unmistakable character and continuity that stretches back ‘round the bend to “No Stone Unturned.” (Is a song titled “Don’t Burn Your Bridges” loaded up next in the canon?) Fortune acts as the town crier as he urgently proclaims the necessary overdue changes in the headline chorus between verses detailing the realities of the existing order and the continuous strife.

Eve of Destruction>Dawn of Correction>Ball of Confusion?Could all this be taken as an implicit treaty on the grand American scheme? Fortune confronts “the dread, the grief” of the fallout due to “Too Many People” pushing angles and agendas and destroying things in the name of progress while human dignity is being ransacked under the ruse of security. The question of overall collective direction takes precedence as we discern if we are scraping bottom or even worse apathetically letting another year repeat itself under a President, who in theory, has given the people the most hope since JFK, but in execution might end up closer to James Earl Carter-possibly due to the insurmountable mess leftover from the previous “full-greed-ahead” regime. On an individual level, how do we react to things seemingly beyond our control or even more counteract the unceasing and insidious forces that in Fortune’ direct words “are not good”? The ultimate concern can be conjectured as a lopsided sphere (without Sky Saxon) not simply spinning out-of-control, but directly headed to an Altamount-like end and Soylent Green beginning on a grand scale. All this weighty matter is packed and delivered with the urgency of We the People punched up with the toughness of the Woolies and the Uniques and snapped together with an underlying mid-sixties pop sensibility that make Fortune’s records so enduring and lasting when also-rans have long stalled out. A magnificent and stinging fuzz worthy of Davie Allan opens up a vista to a possible turning point. In the end, there are no easy answers, no easy solutions and most of all no retreat.

Side A-Tang Not IncludedThe top side original “You Told Me a Lie” written by Ryan Dawson, showcases their sneer, snot and snarl-- rendering them acolytes, but not mere reflections of Mirror-era Chesterfield King (the Stop album in particular). As a given, these songs are muffled by myspace where the clunky characteristic of the website and overwhelming flatness overwhelms songs. In other words, get the real thing complete with the “Hojo blue” deadstock labels if you want to hear the dynamic mono blast off and not two songs sounding sourced from a C-60 Kmart tape.

Out of this WorldIn writing this, I realized that it has been almost 20 years that I have been listening to the music of Freddy Fortune. His various musical slants and phases have all been marked by an unswerving devotion to the lost and found possibilities of the mid-sixties. I first recall his guest appearance at show by the Knaves at the Small Planet in East Lansing 1991 where he joined them on stage for “Little Black Egg” while outside mohican punks gathered in the plaza probably bemoaning not being old enough to see Black Flag or Flux of Pink Indians. Witnessing Fortune & Maltese and the Phabulous Pallbearers in their prime at Detroit’s Gold Dollar preparing for their 1998 European tour is likely the closest to 1966 I will get. Another time they caught me by total surprise when they covered “There’s a Storm Coming” by the Standells under a starkly incongruent band shell in a perennially overcast Sterling Heights, (MI) Metro Park. It’s hard to believe it has been over a decade since the Four-Gone Conclusions stirred up an international frenzy and caused a big bang with their big beat at the Las Vegas Grind II. Supposedly this is Fortune’s last band, however like faraway stars yet to be discovered, we could only be scratching the surface. With the United Space League, it’s time to explore these new sounds emerge and converge with the configurations of light and shape of things to come.