The Nazz was Todd Rundgren’s band in the late 60’s. This psych-pop song was highly influential on 70’s power-pop bands as they formed. Interestingly, these guys, along with the Move, were pioneers in both power pop and progressive rock. Genres were fluid then, still formulating, so bands picking up on the experimental pop of the Beatles often found themselves pulled in both directions. By the mid 70’s the lines were clearer, and by the late 70’s prog-rockers and power-pop/punk guys barely spoke to each other.
M-E-L-V-I-N!
My posts are beginning to resemble a Dr. Demento playlist, but whatever. This take on Gloria never fails to crack me up.
I Think I’m In Love
You got the kind of body
That makes me come alive
But I’d rather have my hand around
A bottle of Colt 45.
Apparently a young Suzi Quatro was in this band, although I don’t know if she played on this.
Easy There, Fred. . .
And while I’m at it, below is the grandaddy of all pro-wrestler records. The Cramps did a good cover of it.
I Thought I’d Seen It All
Check out “Twink” miming with The Pretty Things for a bewildered French TV audience. Ever heard of Twink? I hadn’t, so I poked around on Google. Nicknamed after a British hair product, Twink was a mime, drummer, close friend of Syd Barrett, and general scenester of the London psychedelic underground. He played drums with an early version of T. Rex, with Syd Barret occasionally, on one Pretty Things album, and with the Pink Fairies. In the early 70’s, he was in Hawkwind with Lemmy. His band The Rings were on the ground floor of the London punk scene in ’77. Some refer to their lone single, “I Wanna be Free” as England’s first punk record. It’s not very good compared to what was about to come from the Damned, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Clash, and Jam.
What led me to this video was my fondness for The Pretty Things, a very good British r&b band who never made any headway in the U.S. Their guitarist, Dick Taylor, had been in an early version of the Stones. Like the Stones, their forays into psychedelia were not always memorable, as you can hear above. You can hear them at their best here and here. Their raucous version of Roadrunner is my favorite cover of that song.
Just Because
The violin tuning might be my favorite part of this movie.
That Suit Is You
Whatever you may think of these grand-daddies of prog rock (in the unlikely event you’ve thought of them at all), most would agree that these are some of the goofiest stage clothes this side of Angus Young and Gilbert O’Sullivan’s schoolboy suits. Looks like they were going for a Sherwood Forest vibe.
More Girl Pop
This one’s funny.
Girls In The Garage
If you like 60’s girl-group garage pop, here’s a fix. Offical music video version below.
I Sort Of Like It
A freind whose opinion I sometimes trust saw this duo of rock royalty at Music Fest last weekend and liked what he heard. The first song I listened to was pretty bad, but this one has some things going for it: good melodies, harmonies, and chording. It’s too long and proggy in places, and perhaps owes too much to the White Album and Pink Floyd. Whoever made the video has worshipped too long at Terry Gilliam’s altar. It mostly just makes me want to go back and watch the real thing.