One Crazy Summer With Garbo’s Daughter
Published on July 30th, 2009 in: Issues, Music, Popcasts |
7. Chris Stamey, “The Summer Sun” (single, 1977)
Following the 1976 release of the self-titled Sneakers EP, South Carolina-born Stamey (later of The dB’s) enlisted fellow Southern power-popper Alex Chilton to produce this jolting, jangly solo single. Stamey re-recorded “The Summer Sun” in 2004 with Yo La Tengo for their collaborative V.O.T.E. album.
8. Rocket, “Lost Summer Love” (from Too Hot To Be Bothered, 2004)
Before morphing into the all-girl outfit showcased on the ill-fated hot mess of FOX’s Next Great American Band, Rocket consisted of three singing Laurens, Teenacide founder Jim Freek and Dr. Congo, who recorded this irresistibly fun all-summer-covers album. “Lost Summer Love” was originally recorded by Shelley Fabares in 1962; Lorraine Silver’s 1965 version was to become a future Northern Soul compilation sensation.
9. Barracuda, “Summer Girls” (single, 1973)
Pay close attention, this one gets a bit tricky! A UK studio concoction credited to Barracuda (not to be confused with the aforementioned Barracudas, the Heart song or the one who used to govern Alaska), “Summer Girls” was penned by the legendary Marty Wilde (Kim and Ricky’s pops) and Peter Shelley (not the Buzzcock). Flash Cadillac and The Continental Kids covered this in 1975, redubbing it “Hot Summer Girls.” Did you get all of that? Good.
10. Child, “Here Comes Summer (I Can’t Explain)” (single, 1979)
Rollers and Hello fans, take note! This obscure post-glam gem from the UK segues a shimmering summer salutation into The Who’s classic before blending the two into a frothy teenage tizzy.
11. Outsiders, “Summer Is Here” (single, 1967)
Originally formed in 1960 (when at 11, Wally was not the lead singer and Jimmy Revon was), top Nederbiet group, Outsiders (without “The”, and not to be confused with the “Time Won’t Let Me” group from Ohio) went through years of line up changes and many reinventions of their own R & B influenced sound. Here Wally explains the unusual instrument choices for the “Summer” single (b/w “Teach Me To Forget You”):
“Summer Is Here,” yeah, with all kinds of different instruments. I played balalaika on it, and Buzz, the drummer, played an instrument that wasn’t really a zither. This one wasn’t like the classical one. This one was with knobs, so you could just push in a knob and have a chord. So he didn’t really have to learn how to play the zither, and could still, play chords. Only the bass was electric. Acoustic guitars, of course, 12-string and six-string.
—From Ugly Things #16
Outsiders parted ways in 1969 to focus on different music projects, including the excellent, Tax Free, with Wally and Buzz, who released just one record. Ron Splinter is still performing music.
12. Robin Ward, “Wonderful Summer” (single, 1963)
When songwriter/producer Perry Botkin shaved at least a decade off of prolific session singer Jackie Ward’s vocals with a tape-speed experiment, she suggested that the resulting single be released under her daughter Robin’s name. The youthful “Wonderful Summer” shot to #14 on the Hot 100 chart, selling over a million copies in the US.
Click to read more from Garbo’s Daughter on. . .
Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.