Iconoclastic Life(1967)
Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, USA, Showcase 9902
Re-released on vinyl on the compilations "I Was A Teenage Caveman" and "What A Way To Die". And on cd on "Hang It Out To Dry".
The band has nothing to do with Lou Reed and his band from his Pickwick Records days with the same name.
This killer song is starting with an intro almost identical The Who's "Can't Explain, while continuing more or less with those same chords, making a very simple rhythm witch is changing in intensity. To add to the rhythm & blues flavour there is also a simple train-simulating harmonica going through the verses.
Here is the extremely passionate tale about the too common theme, love. However the execution is the key here, as the singer makes it no doubt how much he is longing for his girl. It's not about what he says, it's about how he says it.
First there is an aggressive opening were the vocals are screamed, then there's an excellent middle part. The mood calms down, and the voice is begging: "Girl... I'm going crazy without you, girl... you're driving me mad...understand...hold my hand..", until there's the demanding and manically screaming of: "I'm your man, I'm your man", before the rustiest and loudest scream ever put on tape are howled.
Then desperation sets in with... "don't leave me girl.. I need your love now".
While the song end with a screaming rage: "I'll cry I'll cry I'll cry, cry, cry cry...".
There's no metaphors, or quotes to clever philosophers or literature here, just adolescent lust. That guy sure loved this girl.
Might as well put a link to an interview with bass player Clyde Snyder here. Definitively worth a read.
3 comments:
Sizzle reel video highlights from The Beachnuts Light of Day performance at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ, Jan. 16, 2016....special band intro from Sirius Radio Underground Garage/WFMU DJ and Garage Band Guru Bill Kelly....
To order copies of the band's Nature's Company and Iconoclastic Life recordings check out CD Baby, I Tunes and Amazon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI0WJzZy774&feature=youtu.be
Marv Gellman,
Drummer, The Beachnuts
Many thanks for the update on the release Marv! I'm a huge fan of yours! Heard Mike Stax got the interview you enquired me about(and I sadly was too drowned in work to get to do) just before the new year, which I'm glad to hear..As you can't really go wrong with Mike. Hoping to read it as soon as I get around to order that Ugly Things issue.
All the best,
Anders
coming soon....looking forward to sharing The Beachnuts history with your readers....
UGLY THINGS #41
Ships mid-April 2016
Includes an expansive interview with John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful. Sebastian opened up to reveal behind-the-scenes tales about the band’s formation, the making of their first three albums, a hashish-fueled meeting of the minds in London with George Harrison and Brian Jones, the drug bust that tore the band apart, and much more.
Also on the cover: Dutch blues rock eccentrics Cuby + the Blizzards, and Toronto garage punk icons The Ugly Ducklings, both the subject of in-depth features. This issue also includes interviews with Elliott Murphy, Lemmy, Moulty of the The Barbarians, cult folk singer Huckle, and stories on The Beachnuts (“My Iconoclastic Life”), West Coast '60s outfit The Joint Effort, The Bobby Patrick Big Six, and songwriter Suzannah Jordan, a tribute to David Bowie, and the latest installment in Cyril Jordan’s ongoing Flamin’ Groovies saga. Also, as always, our extensive review sections, our readers’ go-to consumers’ guide to all the latest vinyl and CD reissues and rock‘n’roll-related books.
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