Tuesday, July 26, 2005
The Chiefs: How!/Tom Tom (Valiant 6038)
A record like this probably wouldn't get made today. Yes, I know that both songs are instrumentals, but notice that the titles come from Native American stereotypes. Then put stylus to groove and take heed of the pounding drums and Indian war whoops. Also notice that both "How!" and "Ugh!" are both said during pauses on the A-side. See, there you go. You'd probably have the ACLU on your case faster than you can say "Paleface speak with forked tongue." This kind of thing was very commonplace in all of popular music up until at least the mid-sixties. And the early rock 'n' roll era had songs like Jorgen Ingman's "Apache" and Johnny Preston's "Running Bear" as big hits. But not in today's world, nosiree! At any rate, if you can get past all that, you just might enjoy these two instro sides, as they have some pretty nice chunks of smokin' guitar. The drummer really gets a workout on both of them. My particular fave is "Tom Tom" which sounds like Link Wray and Sandy Nelson having an impromptu jam session during a raindance. Cool, baby! Who needs political correctness anyway? (NOTE: I have another record by The Chiefs on the Greenwich label with a song also called "Apache" (not the Jorman Ingman one). I don't know if it's the same group or not, but being that so many groups used the same names, it wouldn't surprise me if that was a different band.)
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