Behold, the greatest double sided American garage psych 45, EVER; and you may quote me on that. From the fabulous Chocolate Watch Band, who hailed from my neighborhood (well, fifteen minutes away in San Jose/ Cupertino), proving once again that much of the greatest music comes from the suburbs, and not major cities. San Francisco has (and had, according to people I know who were on the scene in the 60's) an incredibly provincial outlook and looks down upon areas that are outside of the city when it comes to the arts and culture. Records like this certainly call bulls*%t on those types of attitudes.
Released shortly before the band's "classic" lineup went up in flames, this record captures the group at their incendiary peak, and shows how it was not only plausible but DEFINITE that they blew many of their San Francisco Sound peers off of the ballroom stages in 1967.
Singer David Aguilar shows a serious Mick Jagger influence (and that ain't a bad thing), while group musical director/ guitarist Mark Loomis positively SOARS over both sides of this record while the band cuts a serious, locked-in groove. "No Way Out" started as a studio warmup jam, until Aguilar launched into a spontaneous lead vocal that epitomizes a certain type of experience that may be psychedelically charged but comes off as quite punk, leading up to that incredible ending. "Are You Gonna Be There" is catchy enough to where it could have been a smash hit, but the rawness (and lack of promotion) kept it at bay.
from 1967...
THE CHOCOLATE WATCH BAND - ARE YOU GONNA BE THERE (AT THE LOVE-IN)
b/w NO WAY OUT
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2 comments:
I agree that this may be the single greatest single in the history of rock-n-roll.
http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/http://ontheflip-side.blogspot.com/
Indeed. One of the very very best, if not THE best.
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