For some odd reason, this "maximum r&b"/ mod UK band never scored ANY hits in England or elsewhere during their existence. The musicianship was top notch (organist Jon Lord later went on to Deep Purple, drummer Keef Hartley his own Keef Hartley Band, singer and namesake Art Wood is the brother of Ron Wood) and the quality of their singles is uniformly excellent (they also cut a scorching version of Marvin Gaye's "One More Heartache" for their lone LP release).
The song itself was written by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint under his occasion pseudonym "Naomi Neville" and was originally cut by Benny Spellman (which itself is a great version, but I actually prefer the Artwoods revved up, fuzzed out rendition in this case, although Spellamn's vocals are far superior in my opinion).
from 1966...
2 comments:
yeah, that song is sooo amazing. one of my favourite tunes from the sixties. i love the cool drive and the fuzz-guitar. first heard it on the edsel-compilation in the early nineties (in the pre-ebay-time, when you had to rely on reissues or a trip to london). later i heard the benny spellman-version, which i think is second best. "one more heartache", "keep lookin" and "be my lady" are great too.
The Artwood's certainly 'got' what Mr. Toussaint intended, at least in an ironic sense. This is one of a handful of songs he wrote with 'beating the enemy at it's own game' in mind.
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