UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL 2011: BOHEMIAN VENDETTA
The folks at Bomp! Records had begun having some success in marketing garage rock and psychedelic rock compilation albums in the Pebbles series and others, so when punk rock came to the fore in the late 1970's, they decided to have some fun and try to clandestinely introduce young punk rock fans to the glory days of 1960's punk. They packaged an album that would have been a great addition to Pebbles, put a picture of a punk rock girl on the cover (complete with piercings and safety pins), and chose a suitable double entendre as the album title, Ear-Piercing Punk. The album cover was in day-glo pink, and the song titles and band names were typed on strips of paper in the manner of many genuine 1970's punk rock compilation albums of that period. The album gave no clue as to its origin except for a 'Made in U.S.A.' label; it was released by the fictitious Trash Records, and the only credit on the album was 'Ripov Design'Ida No'. There was one clue for 1960's rock fans though: The second track was 'Ubangi Stomp' by the Trashmen, who were responsible for a delightfully peculiar surf rock hit in 1963 called 'Surfin' Bird'.
Well, I was totally fooled and was not a bit disappointed when I discovered what was really on the record. The songs include one of
Bomp! Records founder
Greg Shaw's personal favorites, '
Bottle up and Go' by
the Mile Ends (that factoid was included in the liner notes for a compilation album of the
Pebbles compilation albums,
Essential Pebbles, Volume One). There was also a song called '
She Ain't No Use to Me' by one of the best
1960's Canadian rock bands,
the Ugly Ducklings. I just picked up a reissue of their original
1967 album last year,
Somewhere Outside, though I have thoroughly enjoyed their
late 1970's reunion album that I have had for years,
Off the Wall. Another is my favorite version of the absolute best anti-prejudice protest song, '
Mister You're a Better Man than I' by a band called
the Herde. (First verse: 'Can you judge a man, / by the way he wears his hair? / Can you read his mind, / by the clothes that he wears? / Can you see a bad man, / by the pattern on his tie? / Well then, mister, you're a better man than I . . .').
'Mister You're a Better Man than I' was written by two of the guys in Manfred Mann, though the better known version is by
the Yardbirds, so that is high praise indeed. A wacky version of '
Jailhouse Rock' is included by
Dean Carter, who also performs the scorching '
Rebel Woman'. The album opens with a great version of '
I'm a Hog for You Baby' by
the Groupies; that might be the coolest
Leiber/Stoller (i.e.,
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) song of them all ' '
Jailhouse Rock' (a big hit song for
Elvis Presley, not to mention a movie
, Jailhouse Rock) is another of their many, many classics. And there was another song that still stood out, though it was almost tame by comparison to a lot of these other great songs:
'Enough' by a band called
BOHEMIAN VENDETTA.
If I find a
garage rock song on one of the many compilation albums in my collection that I truly love, I will often try to track down a retrospective album by the band to see what else they have recorded. In this case, I found a 22-track CD on
Distortions Records called
Enough. Unlike many such albums, which are basically a collection of miscellaneous, unconnected songs, the
Bohemian Vendetta CD really sounds like an album. Highlights include the early single
"Like Stoned" (which has the feel of a
Dutch '
Nederpop' song with its offbeat tune and unusual vocal style), their last single
'Riddles and Fairytales' (both the album version and the 45 version are included), '
Charity Killjoy' (which was bumped from the
Mainstream Records album in favor of
'Satisfaction'), the willfully eccentric '
Paradox City', and of course
'Enough', a plaintive plea from a guy who is fed up with his girlfriend.
* * *
The
Honor Roll of the
Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original
Facebook posts and the theme of the article.
Dec 2009 ' BEAST; Lot to Learn Mar 2010 ' BANG; Record Collecting I Jul 2010 ' THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock Mar 2011 ' INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960's) Apr 2011 ' BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960's)
Nov 2013 ' CHIMERA; Women in Rock II Jan 2014 ' BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV Apr 2014 ' HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones Jul 2014 ' MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music) Sep 2014 ' NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles) Mar 2015 ' PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie/Bob Dylan) Dec 2016 ' THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock Jun 2017 ' THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands Dec 2017 ' SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles
