Back to the garage files for today's selection, a 1967 release from an Ohio band called The Chylds. This record was originally released on the Giant label before being picked up by Warner Bros. And what a record it is, a double sided hit, if ever there was one!"Hay Girl" is uptempo, teen oriented garage stomp, with a somewhat crude, lo-fi sound. It has walloping drums, a healthy dose of organ and a lead guitar that almost sounds like it never got plugged in. The vocals are upbeat, with even a bit of harmonizing at the end of each verse. There's an all too short guitar-organ combo break before those big drums come back to take over. It's the type of tune that'll have you up bopping around the house.
Then, there's the flipside. And for whatever reason, I had this record for several years before I ever paid much attention to "I Want More (Lovin)". My loss because it's even better than "Hay Girl". It's sweat soaked, r&b tinged garage rock that's also picked up various influences from Paul Revere & the Raiders ( via "Good Thing"), Mitch Ryder ("Sock It To Me Baby!") and Question Mark & the Mysterians ("I Need Somebody"). Yet, it's not so slavishly derivative of any one of those to make you think blatant ripoff. In fact, they take all of the influences and whip up their own delightful concoction. We're even treated to the cool organ break that we craved over on the other side. Whew, I doubt that I could recommend this highly enough.
The Chylds had a subsequent single that also appeared on the Warner Bros. imprint. I haven't heard that one, so feel free to chime in with your own report.
2 comments:
I always loved "Hay Girl," both because of the ridiculous spelling and the fact that it's one of the few garage rockers like this that is lyrically upbeat. "I'm happy now" is not a phrase you'll often find in garage records!
Correction time: I Want More was the A side and the one that WHLO and WINW played. By the time their manager Nick Boldi got it on Warner Brothers it was already a solid regional hit.
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