The Lost - "No Reason Why"

It's always a joy when I happen across a garage rock disc at a record show or elsewhere. Most garage 45's, except for the few that were big hits, are in short enough supply that just running into one, without the resultant collectors price tag, is a fine occasion. Today's disc was one of those, something I picked up in St. Louis for just a few bucks. And it's a tremendous record.

The Lost were from Boston. During their existence, they released but three singles, all on Capitol. Today however, they're a well documented outfit, with a pair of CD retrospectives on the Arf!Arf! label. Those discs cover their Capitol recordings, both the singles and previously unreleased tracks, plus other things that hadn't seen the light of day until recently. The band was long on talent. Among their members was Willie Alexander, who'd go on to form his own Boom Boom Band.

"No Reason Why" is from 1966 and is the b-side of "Violet Gown", a slower, sort of dreamy pop number. Both sides were composed by band member, Ted Myers. I like the topside but it's the flip that scores huge points on the It's-Great-Shakes-O-Meter.

There's so much going on in "No Reason Why" that it's kind of tough to do it justice. Great percussion, rockin' guitars and swirling keyboards all go a mile a minute. There's some wailing harmonica. The vocals, which seem secondary, merely repeat the title several times, with a couple of "yeah babies" tossed in. And it's all over in just two minutes. Despite the rudimentary description, the song somehow seems ahead of its time, even (gulp!) progressive in some ways. Maybe a music scholar could explain it better. I just know that I love it and feel lucky to have found it at such minimal expense.