Search - Standells :: Dirty Water

Standells: LA garage / punk classics reissued--TRY 'EM!!

J P Ryan | Waltham, Massachusetts United States | 08/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Standells' career was both helped and hindered when the band signed with manager Ed Cobb and Tower / Capitol Records. Cobb wrote some classic hits for the group, and raised their profile. But Tower and Cobb's plan was -characteristic for the era - very shortsighted, issuing, for example, "The Hot Ones" a third album styled on the Beau Brummels' 1966 misconceived set of current top-40 hits. "Hot Ones" like the its predecessor, the group's excellent sophomore album, "Why Pick On Me/Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," repeated 1 or 2 tracks from "Dirty Water."

Luckily, when Sundazed licensed the Standells' catalog in the mid '90s the label eliminated duplicated tracks, and packed each of the group's four Tower-era classics with rare singles and unissued bonus tracks. Now each set contains 15 songs - The Standells thus recorded a prolific 60 releasable tracks - plus a nifty 1966 archival live set issued in 2002 - beginning with the classic single / title track "Dirty Water" in 1965 through their final 45, the haunting "Animal Girl," from early 1968 (the latter has been appended to the underrated fourth album "Try It.")

"Dirty Water" is the Tower debut. The title song is a Punk classic reproduced on numerous "Nuggets"-type comps, and along with the five and-a-half minute b-side, "Rari" was recorded in Hollywood by Richard Podolor. Most of the remaining tracks - originals, covers, and songs written by Cobb, an accomplished sonwriter - were recorded a year later (April 1966) at Kearnie Barton's Seattle Studio, and as re-mastering engineer Bob Irwin points out, were "over-modulated directly to the multi-track tape, causing the finished master to become a powerful...gritty and distorted wash of sound..." charactistic of the Northwest punk/garage bands recording at Barton's studio during the period (such as the Sonics). These early recordings contained influenced later groups like the MC5.

Drummer Dave Dodd (an ex-Mouseketeer!) had a sexy, delicately cool and seductive voice that influenced (N.Y. Dolls guitarist)Johnny Thunders' breathy singing on "Hurt Me" and other classics. Dodd sings about two-thirds of the material included and is a near-forgotton punk-rock progenitor. He could snarl with the best Jagger-imitators and convey the soft bad-boy sexiness that exudes both cruelty and vulnerability. (His vocal on the classic "Medication" is one of the most understated and seductive ever!). Despite scores of versions recorded in 1966, Dodd manages to make "Hey Joe" sound like it was written for him. Keyboardist Larry Tamblyn also contributes a couple of fine rockers. The bonus cuts are all worthy,including the pre-Cobb audition track, the early-Beatles influenced "It's All In Your Mind," and two solid outtakes from the "Try It" sessions, with ex-Love bassist (and "Jaws" cinematographer) John Fleck. I advise the reader to pick up all four Sundazed remasters rather than the earlier Rhino Best-of or the ugly Hip-O comp. Not only do you get the complete Tower recordings, but the best sound and notes as well. With more forward looking management, this group might be remembered as more than 1 or 2 hit wonders today - they were LA garage rockers of the first rank, with plenty of attitude and raunch - and, good songs - to spread macross these four killer sets. (The other remasters are "Why Pick On Me/Sometimes Good Guys Dont Wear White," 1966; the much improved-by-bonus-material "The Hot Ones," from early '67; and the mostly brilliant and risk-taking "Try It," 1967.)

Hey kids, collect 'em all!

"

Lost Treasure

G.C. | Potomac, MD USA | 08/07/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great LP from the '60's. "Dirty Water" is a classic. "Medication" is great too. But the best thing I like about the Standells is their legendary 1965 TV appearance on "The Munsters", where they sang "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". Unfortunately, the individual band members were not much for writing songs, and the band broke up in the late 1960's."

I'd like to spend time with my baby, walk around.

Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 02/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Standells were a 1960s rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California who, like The Seeds, exemplified the garage rock style. "Dirty Water" was their only legitimate hit song, although they had a couple of others come close. Other than "Dirty Water" there are a number of other great songs on this album. "Medication", "Little Sally Tease", "Rari" and "There's a Storm Comin'" are all terrific garage rock songs. The group also does a good cover version of the Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown". Most of the songs on this CD are good, although the group doesn't handle ballads that well. Fans of the '60s garage rock sound will enjoy this CD."