simultaneously issue a series of previously unreleased sets of prime vintage on-stage Quicks recorded during their regular stands at the Avalon and Fillmore ballrooms between September ’66 and April ’68 – roughly the time it took them to get enough tracks down in the studio to fill their studio debut.


This, chronologically the third


instalment and a double to boot, is the best entry point for scaredy cats and novices alike, capturing the fine if inconsistent SF quartet at a point where they seemed as happy playing songs as they were trading licks over interminable Bo Diddley and Howlin’ Wolf staples. Indeed, fiery readings of early gems ‘Dino’s Song’, ‘Pride Of Man’ and ‘It’s Been Too Long’ are highlights here, alongside Quicks signatures ‘Who Do You Love’ and ‘Mona’. The sound quality’s not at all bad


either but the packaging does the band few favours. Andy Morten


THE TUNEFUL TROLLEY Island In The Sky Now Sounds CD www.nowsounds.co.uk


You’ve heard it all before: A bunch of talented teenagers get together and create musical magic that no one gets charmed by at the time, to be recognised as a


“lost classic” or coulda-been shoulda-been some 30 years after. In the case of these particular


Long Island kids, one of Jay’s Americans, Sandy Yaguda, did hear enough to sign them up for JATA Enterprises, arrange a Capitol contract and even produce their


CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL Creedence Clearwater Revival Bayou Country Green River Cosmo’s Factory Willy And The Poor Boys Pendulum All Universal CDs


It’s one of those smile-inducing scenes which stick in the memory banks, maybe carrying more weight now than it seemed nearly 40 years


ago: walking into my local club, the now- legendary Friars Aylesbury, on its June 1969 opening night, DJ Andy Dunkley is playing a song which harks back to times before the psychedelic sounds saturating the previous two years: simple, guitar- driven with words concerning “a bad moon rising…” but making the hairs stand up with elation. I have to ask the genial DJ who it is. “Creedence!” he grins with pride. Of course I’d already


encountered their previous two albums


sole 1969 album himself. Of references such as Beatlesque rock, Beach Boysesque harmonies, fuzz guitars or garage pop sensibilities, it’s only the first one that isn’t that obvious. To these ears, the range of influences stretches far wider. Stand-outs include The Idle Race-like toytown-ish popsike pair of ‘M.A.C.K.’ and ‘Uncle Joe’s Armada’, the Sell Out- era Who quirk of ‘Written Charter’, or the Kinky ‘My Apple Pie’. All more than tuneful. Goran Obradovic


VARIOUS ARTISTS Breakaway: The Songs Of Jackie DeShannon 1961-67 Ace CD www.acerecords.com


This latest release in the wonderful singer-songwriter series features many of the fine compositions Jackie DeShannon composed either alone or with


Sharon Sheeley, Jimmy Page and Jack Nitzsche as a contracted writer for Liberty’s subsidiary Metric Music. The range of artists covering Jackie’s songs is staggering, ranging from soul singers (Irma Thomas’ ‘Breakaway’, Barbara Lewis’ ‘Stop That Girl’) to early rockers (Duane Eddy’s ‘Guitar Child’, Rick Nelson’s ‘Thank You Darlin’’) and rock groups (The Bandits’ ‘I Remember The Girl’ and The Boys’ ‘Splendour In The Grass’).


Some of these tracks are very rare


like ‘There’s Gonna Be A Fight’ by Dick Lory who was in fact one of Jackie’s favourite producers, Dick Glasser and ‘In My Time Of Sorrow’ co-written with Jimmy Page and


[the eponymous debut and Bayou Country] on Peel and could spot John Fogerty’s soulful clarion call anywhere. From their version of Screamin’ Jay


Hawkins’ ‘I Put A Spell On You’, the first track on their eponymous debut album, this band had a sound of its own which reached back to the very roots of rock ’n’ roll and earlier.


Formed out of the San Francisco scene in ’68, Creedence rode the back-to-basics revolution started by artists like The Band and Dylan, pioneering what’s


now known as Americana while bombarding the love generation with the sounds of early Sun rock ’n’ roll, classic blues and beseeching soul. They blew away Fillmore crowds with Fogerty’s lengthy guitar excursions on standards


produced by him for Gay Shingleton. Containing copious notes by Jackie and rounded off by the inclusion of ‘Only You Can Free My Mind’ a previously unheard demo from 1967 by the lady herself, this comes highly recommended. Pat Curran


VARIOUS ARTISTS Do Wah Diddy – Words & Music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry Ace CD www.acerecords.com


Most of these were not hits in the UK and some that were eventually hits were cover versions such as the title track via Manfred Mann. Nonetheless this is


pretty great stuff, starting with the Carl Wilson led Beach Boys doing a fine version of the Ronettes’ I Can Hear Music and then following that up with the Drifters’ immortal I’ll Take You Where The Music’s Playing, this latter a staple of the “beach music” scene in the Carolinas and in Georgia. The other notable hits are Lesley Gore’s Maybe I Know, The Ad Libs’ He Ain’t No Angel and the Down South regional smash that was You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me by the Dixie Cups. Although the Greenwich-Barry trademark has gone down in 1960s’ pop history next to Goffin-King, Mann-Weill and even Lennon-McCartney for every unpolished and relatively unheard gem such as Hanky Panky by The Summits there are a few question marks such as the ghastly Fleetwoods’ Every Little Beat and Vic Donna’s bizarre I Won’t Be Me Anymore. Nonetheless this is a fine sample from a long gone era. Sid Griffin


like ‘Susie Q’ then captured the mainstream with vibrant, radio-friendly outings like the aforementioned ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Fortunate Son’, ‘Travelin’ Band’, ‘Up Around The Bend’, ‘Down On The Corner’ and ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’. Their influence is inestimable, tracks like ‘Run Through The Jungle’ defining swamp- rock while ‘Ramble Tamble’ unleashed psychobilly’s blueprint for bands like the Gun Club.


Creedence’s unfettered glory is now presented on expanded reissues of their first six albums, remarkably all recorded between ’68 and ’70.


Bolstered by live recordings and alternative takes, they’ve more than stood the test of time and make for a thrill-packed journey if listened to chronologically, but if you can only pick two, go for Green River and Cosmo’s Factory. There’s natural magic afoot here. Kris Needs


61


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