Volume Four comes with a wild cover shot of the colourfully attired Richard Wright Group (you read about them in UT#5) who are represented by the pounding pop punker "Miss Hargreaves."
The Beethovens (from Germany) pull a fast one with a crafty rewrite of "She's About A Mover," pluggin' in a twistin' Ray Charles R&B groove and riotous fuzz guitar noise to good effect, while the French discover the sinister applications of feedback in the shape of Le Bain Didonc's wonderful "Four Cheveux..."
The Charms from Greece turn in an aggressive, offbeat beat punker with "Coming Back" - and judging from tapes currently circulating that's only the tip of the iceberg as far as Greek `60s gems go. South Africa's scene was less exciting, but the Shangaans' "Yeh Girl" is a fine melodic beat tune with exotic percussion effects and the Hoochie Coochies' version of "I'm A Boy" is saved from words-all-wrong goofiness by a long, noisy instrumental rave-up segment.
Leave it to the Aussies and the Dutch to come through for you every time though. Highlights from downunder are Bobby James & the Vibrants' berserk feedback-laced Punk R&B screamer "I've Learned" and the Last Straws terrific Easybeats-styled "Woman Of Gradual Decline," while the Dutch turn in four varieties of great stuff including Insect's bizarro Diddley beater "Be Good & Go" and the Clarks' masterfully dramatic love plea "All the Time."
Honourable mentions also go to the (Irish) Kingbees' solid version of "I'm A King Bee" (a totally obscure independent label release which was issued with a very cool picture sleeve) and English songwriter Tony Colton's "I've Laid Some Down In My Time," a driving beat'n'fuzz number with brilliant vocals taking an `Angry Young Man' stance.
Keep this gold comin', boys, and we'll keep diggin' it.
- Mike Stax (Originally published in Ugly Things #14)