C90: Proto-Glam!

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Prompted by recently seeing this term in two different articles tagged to two different 1964 records I’ve always liked but never connected to 70s glam (or to each other), namely:

Dave Clark 5 - "Bits and Pieces"
Honeycombs - "Have I the Right?”

What’s great is how far both records were from prefiguring glam fashion, flamboyace or gender mischief. It’s all in the stompin’-addictive-singalong-chorus sound. Before, if I thought of proto-glam, it meant later, Mod-er bands like those Bowie covered on Pinups: Who, Kinks, Small Faces, Creation, Easybeats, etc. And a few of those should be in the mix, fer sure. (“Dedicated Follower of Fashion” with its demented “Oh yes he is!” call-and-response springs to mind.) But what I’d really like is more examples of the aforementioned earlier, less obvious stuff. So let’s say, nothing later than ’67 or ’68. And how about some non-Brit artists? And hopefully something from the girls, too. And easy on the psychedelia. OK, platforms on!!

― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:11 (twenty-three years ago)

The first thing that springs to mind is Donovan--his feyness, the wordplay in "Mellow Yellow" and "Sunshine Superman". And sometimes I think Denny Laine invented Sparks on "Catherine's Wheel". I'm still trying to think of a stomper....maybe something by the Move?

― Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

the Move were pretty glammy (as opposed to the later, full-on glam of Wizzard)... maybe Blackberry Way? It's like Gary Glitter doing Paul McCartney...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Great question! I love this stuff more than just about anything.

'bits n pieces' is a good call but
Bo fuckin' Diddley just about runs this thread, I think.

also, for pure stomp, handclap and call & response elements all in perfect place:

Shirley Scott (?) - The Name Game
Strangeloves - I Want Candy, Night Time
Isley Brothers - Shout
Bobb E Soxx - Not Too Young To Get Married
Gary US Bonds - School Is Out
Freddie Cannon - Palisades Park
Bob Seger System - Ramblin Man (maybe that's like 69-70 though)
Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs - Wooly Bully, Haunted House
The Illusion (?) - Did You See Her Eyes? (it's on tons of ktels)
The Jaggerz - The Rapper
The Equals - Red Light
The Boxtops - Soul Deep

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:26 (twenty-three years ago)

1910 Fruitgum's "Indian Giver" & The Raiders' "Indian Reservation" both paved the way for Glam's dodgy "First Nations" beats too, later seen in Sweet's ultrasensitive "Wig Wam Bam"

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:31 (twenty-three years ago)

'course that goes back to Kaw-Liga and is probably another thread, so I'll leave yours be.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I heart Fritz.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:50 (twenty-three years ago)

These are all great - doubly great for getting me to think beyond the Pinups usual suspects. I never would have thought of the Equals, and they were tremendous! I'll have to check into "Did You See Her Eyes".

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 8 November 2002 01:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Tommy Roe's U.S. bubblegum hit "Dizzy" always struck me as rather glammish, with a lazy stomp-beat and Bolanesque strings. Along with his other hits from that era, like "Sweet Pea" and "Jam Up Jelly Tight", it had a kind of pervy pubescent vibe to it, too.

― briania, Friday, 8 November 2002 01:27 (twenty-three years ago)

like Gary Glitter doing Paul McCartney...

Now that's glam!

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 8 November 2002 01:42 (twenty-three years ago)

the verses are a bit too dark and weepy to be proper glam, I think, but the chorus is a foot-stomping singalong with that wall-of-chorused-vocals thing that Glitter was so fond of... there must be others in the Move catalog, I just can't think of them without the records in front of me.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 8 November 2002 01:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I've never heard Tommy Roe; sounds right up my alley! Must investigate...

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 8 November 2002 02:35 (twenty-three years ago)

i heart sean!

Leadbelly - Black Betty
Tommy James - Mony Mony/Hanky Panky
Dion & The Belmonts - Runaround Sue

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 04:08 (twenty-three years ago)

and it's shirley ellis of course...

oh and
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Shakin' All Over

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 04:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Arthur's OTM about The Move - maybe 'Night of Fear'? It's theatrical enough.

I think for the roots of glam you have to go back to 64/65 or even to the Rock n Roll era. In the Beat>FreakBeat>Psych>Prog or Hard Rock run, 'pop' content gets squeezed out the further you go towards the late 60's (yes, yes there are exceptions!!), so there are some great examples in 64/65 Britbeat.

Actually Jagger/Richard were proto-glam, I mean what else is 'Satisfaction'? Also two Jagger/Richard tunes by other artists - The Mighty Avengers - Each and Every Day and Thee's - Walking Through The Sleepy City - fit the bill. There's a great vers. of 'Tell Her' by The Movement from 1967 which someone (Hello? Arrows? - brain failure here! M. Carlin to thread if we're still talking)ripped off completely at the height of glam.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 8 November 2002 10:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I heart The Move.

As for the Stones, although I wouldn't want to load up the mix with overexposed hits, I do like it when you can slip in something less known by a "major" act, like "All Sold Out". I was even running through Beatles possibilities: "Baby You're a Rich Man", "Good Morning Good Morning".

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 8 November 2002 16:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe "I'm Down" for the Beatles?
too fast though maybe...

"Revolution" & "Come Together" kinda have the thunka-thunka glambeat though, but those might be too overexposed for what you're thinking.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 17:08 (twenty-three years ago)

did I mention I love this thread?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 17:09 (twenty-three years ago)

also

Archies - Bang Shang A Lang
Kasenetz Katz - Quick Joey Small
Dylan - Rainy Day Women
McCoys - Hang On Sloopy, Fever

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 8 November 2002 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

If there's room for any Zim, it's gotta be "Absolutely Sweet Marie". Didn't Mott the Hoople even cover it?

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 8 November 2002 17:17 (twenty-three years ago)

also manfred mann's covers of "Sha La La Lee" & "Do Wah Diddy"!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Sunday, 10 November 2002 23:22 (twenty-three years ago)

"Do Wah Diddy"s chorus is practically the definition of proto-glam. Good one!

I came across a supercharged one today on one of the Rhino Best of the Girl Groups comps (the volume without the Shangri-Las): "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget" by The Raindrops. The drums are mammoth. "My Boyfriend's Back", from the same comp, might work, too, if not for the overexposure factor. I love the lead singer's cool in the call and response refrain, then how she rips into it in the fade out.

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 11 November 2002 00:59 (twenty-three years ago)

What about The Sorrows 'Take a Heart' from 1965. (On Mojo's 'Maximum 65' comp and also on Nuggets 2 box, I think). It *almost* hints at The Glitter Band with pattering toms and nasally distorted guitar.

Also The Birds 'Say Those Magic Words' - I'm surprised that no-one, as far as I know, dug this out for a cover version in the early 70's.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 14 November 2002 11:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, 'Take a Heart' was a highlight of Nuggets 2 for me. And 'Say Those Magic Words' would be good, although I think I must have assumed it was the Small Faces. For a Move song, I'm leaning towards 'Fire Brigade': Great chorus with a cool little guitar lick, and the lyrics are so - almost corny - they save it from the kind of self-aware psych/hippie vibe that I feel would run against the proto-glam spirit.

My latest find: 'Les Filles C'est Fait...' by Charlotte Leslie, track one on the French psych-pop comp Wizzz, a real fuzz-powered stomper.

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 15 November 2002 21:10 (twenty-three years ago)

search: The Snobs - Buckle Shoe Stomp

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 15 November 2002 21:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Fritz, I literally did search the Garage Comp DB for that, and it shows up on so many different compilations, it's some kind of statistical freak that I don't have it already.

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 15 November 2002 22:05 (twenty-three years ago)

The Snobs: Proto-Glam or Full-On Glam?

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Villa/9500/snobs.jpg

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 15 November 2002 22:14 (twenty-three years ago)

ha! yeah and the song is real glam too. you'll dig it.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Saturday, 16 November 2002 02:20 (twenty-three years ago)

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