So, here’s an ancient math equalization.
Small kids + full time job = no personal time at all
I’m trying to read three books at the same time. I’m trying to listen to every new record I bought (that’s why i-pods exists, God bless their little digital heart!) and when this little devil goes to sleep, I remember my undergraduate years writing words like these, in the late hours. Of course my wife’s moaning constantly, but hey, I’ve got a life too!
So, one of these books is Dave Marsh’s “Louie Louie” and I tell you, it’s a good one. Until now has a good structure and even though dealing with the most popular rock & roll tune ever, has lotsa more to tell you than the song’s history. Anyway, I maybe own about a hundred different “Louie Louie” versions but I’m sure I heard already more than 500 (at least). If anyone’s interested, my faves are by Motorhead, the Troggs (actually I strongly believe Lemmy had as blueprint Troggs’ version), the Sonics, Black Flag…gosh it’s endless. If you’re in a real rock & roll act, simply you can’t fail with a song like this. Everybody knows that “Louie” was a Richard Berry’s song. The first that adopted it and transformed it into a protopunk hymn were the Sonics’ fathers and idols, the Wailers. Rockin’ Robin Roberts was a key figure on this for sure and turn out of turn this Wailers’ version was the landmark for the Kingsmen.
Ahhh, the Kingsmen! OK, I think that even my mother knows them. Landis’ “Animal House” carried the torch to the younger generations and at the time Kingsmen recorded this menace, got a big hit (no 2 – November 1963). The youngsters got crazy, the parents got scared and the cops tried to understand if this two and a half chords, hided communism behind. The picture lower down is one of the many by the FBI files on rebellious "Louie"! How much stupid these @#$^$# were they?!
“In Person” was the LP (originally by Wand) that included “Louie Louie”. It also has "Ben Scepter", a Don Gallucci composition that got it with him after leaving the Kingsmen and forming the magnificent Don & the Goodtimes, which is a crude R&B stomper perfectly designed for garage and mods hops! I don’t like that much the other Kingsmen’s platters (too clean-cut frat for my tastes), but this one for sure a must have. Tough and dirty R&B punkers on a pre-Beatles era and with a strong NW influence all over it! Not bad at all, right?!
The many R&B and Soul covers in it via their garage aspect makes “In Person” a sure shot and a protopunk classic, that has all the important elements to be on the White Trash Soul’s pantheon! And remember this, for this blogger any primitive record that makes people wanna go insane and get drunk, is an ESSENTIAL.
PS: I did this rip from the Sundazed's CD reissue of 1993 with the bonus singles cuts of "Haunted Castle", "the Krunch" and "the Gamma Goochee" . As i checked on their site it's sadly an out of print item. I can't wait for a big fat vinyl reissue of this and i promise to get rid of this digital copy!
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