Friday, August 05, 2005

The Flower Children: Mini-Skirt Blues/Marching Lovers (Castil 101)


"I've got those goin' to a go-go,
workin' with my mojo,
checkin' out the mini-skirt blues!"

This is the problem the singer of this 1967 record faces when he comes into contact with a certain "tantalizing temptress in the mini-skirt." She walks up to him and says 'How ya doin'?' He could see in her smile that evil was a-brewin.' But he hangs around with her long enough to see her do the grind and the buffalo flirt or something like that. One can almost see this in an Austin Powers movie or something. Don't ask me why this reminds me of Austin Powers, but it does.

Anyway, this California group lays on the heavy organ with slight guitar bits, while the singer tells his tale with snotty teen vocals. Then, when the rest of the group chimes in on the chorus, they sound a little like they'd been drunk at their most recent frat bash. If they weren't stoned on something else.

On the other side, "Marching Lovers," the drummer lays out a march-type beat, while the bass pounds away, the organ whines and groans and the guitar slashes its way through, while the singers (all in unison) this time moan something like "Marching, marching, marching." Or maybe I just couldn't hear the lyrics.

If I made this record sound unappealing to you, believe me that's not my intention at all. I'm not sure, but I think I heard that The Cramps covered "Mini-Skirt Blues" at some point, but even if they didn't, it would still be a cool garage-psych tune. "Marching Lovers" is a bit more psych-oriented, but still pretty good in its own right. So there ya go with another 45 to add to your collection of songs about mini-skirts.

2 comments:

Rufus said...

Yeah, they covered it on "Look Mom! No Head!" and actually the singer Lux Interior performs it as a duet with Iggy Pop!

Anonymous said...

The Vibes, from London, did a great garage cover in the eighties.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1cvu2e0lXo