Knave - Detourists (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.4)

This band seems to have been forgotten by the gods of rock 'n' roll. Try doing a Google search and you'll find even fewer of the kids on your street who picked up instruments a week ago and are brazenly playing in their old man's garage. Even their label, the legendary Detour Records, which is well known in garage, mod and freakbeat circles, only shares two lines about them in their website and points that they were former members of The Clique. And that's it! Their two singles are available for download only and if you want something more, you should go to Discogs and try your luck there. And yet, Knave was a short-lived band that had nothing to envy from its cult ancestors, The Clique!

If the aforementioned had the mid-60s mod/R&B zeitgeist in mind, as well as the freakbeat that came a little later, Knave seem, to my ears at least, to be a missing link between the hard psychedelic soul of the late Small Faces and the garage punk that was revived by the Prisoners, the one who wasn't ashamed to say that he liked Jimi Hendrix and early Deep Purple as much as The Who, The Creation and The Fleur De Lys. 

As far as I know, the tracks you'll find here are all those that have been released in one way or another, officially. I'm pretty sure though that there are still some more in some old dusty box of tapes, but I'll have to wait until someone bets on a certain economic failure and makes a compilation with the ones you'll hear here and the ones all the rest of us haven't heard. Yet...

The Boys - "Boys Only Demos 1980" (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.3)

Boys' fourth album, 'Boys Only', remains a divisive record. People either praise it or slaughter it; there's nothing in the middle. The truth is that their last album of their first period — I mean, before the mid-life reform — was a bit deranged. I have no problem at all: power-pop, guitar-driven brilliance, and quite possibly a template for later bands like The Exploding Hearts or The Cute Lepers. As a long-time fan of theirs, I'm not objective, but I'm trying, as you can see. Anyway, the demos they cut for this LP are unbeatable, and to my ears they sound far better. It's raw, hard-edged pop, just like the early Romantics releases or anything Bomp! issued back then. You should definitely try them.

Dedicated to the memory of Honest John Plain.

Various Artists - Modernist Jukebox: Paul Orwell

 

This next one came up when I was searching for more information about Paul Orwell's influences (although it was obvious just by listening to his records). If you're not familiar with his music, the London-area genius will steamroll you with his retro energy. If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was a solo project from a member of the Pretty Things, Small Faces, or the Creation. In a word: Freakbeat! All the basic ingredients are in here, fuzz guitars, Hammond organ and tambourines. I love this guy because he's like me; he doesn't care if he's a mod or a rock 'n' roller. He likes his Fred Perry shirts as much as his bomber leather jackets. Fuck borders in any case!

So, I came across a Modculture.uk post from 2017 in which Paul picked his favorite tunes and made short comments about them. The problem is that this "Jukebox" playlist is on Spotify, and I can't stand people who listen to music on Spotify. To make matters worse, some of the tracks that this guy chose weren't in the streaming site's database. Enter White Trash Soul again to set things straight. The whole list could have easily been mine. If someone had asked me to compile an introduction to that era, I would have only changed a few songs. For example, I would have chosen the amazing original "Shadows and Reflections" instead of the punked version of "I'll Keep Holding On" by The Action. But nevermind, it's still a kick-ass song collection. Head over to the original post to read Orwell's remarks while listening to what I've made for you this time.