Now here's a CD I hadn't played for more than 10 -maybe 15- years! And it might have stayed this way, if it wasn't for Random Selection. Why? Because the way I remembered it, this was as an album of covers of contemporary British Invasion hits. There was a time when I'd buy just any 60's garage album I could find, and get a kick out of every one of them. But most of them were just too similar, and were logged in my mind as "more of the same" - and that included The Walflower Complextion. I mean why listen to their cover of "Gloria" instead of two dozen or more that I have in my collection? Truth be told, now that I'm re-listening to it, there is something different about this version: an insistent guitar motiff that runs through the whole song, and handclaps used as extra percussion; little details I hadn't noticed the first time around that make this stick out as more than another Them/Shadows of Knight copy. Other songs, too, prove that this CD was worth more than the cursory listen I initially gave it. But first a few info about the band: apparently they took their (deliberately miss-spelled) name from a face cream ad. When I saw their photos, I had to laugh, too: the complexion of these pasty redhead teens is indeed not what you'd expect from a bunch of Sudamericano youths - and with good reason; these boys were the sons of yankee officials, all going to the same expat high school in Bogotá, Colombia. Their ages vary between 14 (guitarist Fred Sampson) to 17 (his drummer brother, Richard). Pat Sinex (16) plays bass in all but two tracks, and Mark Lusk (16) is the lead singer. Chris Kyzs (16) also plays guitar on disc 1. Apparently, they made a splash at local dances, enough for Colombian label Daro Records to offer them a recording contract, and even secure them a couple of TV appearances. CD 1 of this comp contains the band's eponymous debut from 1966, featuring four Rolling Stones covers: "Tell Me", "Last Time" and ballad "Blue Turns To Grey" are well played and rather faithful, albeit rather lo-fi, covers. "Empty Heart" on the other hand is embellished with stinging guitar licks; generally the guitarwork on this album is amazing given the age of these kids. That's even more evident in the four instrumentals: their own compositions "Chris's B's", "Blue Bells", "Sapphire" and Link Wray cover "Yack, The Ripper". These instrumentals went unnoticed by me the first times I listened to this album, because I'm not really partial to instrumental music, but after re-listening this CD, I'd have to say that they show where the real strength of the band lies. Of course, by the time they recorded this, surf music was out of fashion, so the focus is more on British-style R&B. Next to the Rolling Stones covers, we get their versions of The Kinks' "Long Tall Shorty", garage folk "Open Up Your Door" (The Richard and the Young Lions) and frat rocker "Hanky Panky" (Tommy James and the Shondells). The only original vocal song ("Sapphire" does have some spoken vocal, but it counts as a surf instrumental in my book) is opener "All It Is", also released as a single. It's a nice garage folk tune with pleasant harmonies, but I prefer the harder stuff myself. Only a few months after their debut, the band produced the follow up When I'm Far From You (1967). Chris Kyzs had in the meantime left, so there's only four of them pictured on the album cover. Funnily enough, their debut's cover photo also originally featured only four members: Mark Lusk joined the band at the last minute, and his photo had to be cropped-in after the fact - and not too subtly, as is obvious by looking at it. The second LP ditches the surf music, and replaces it with some Latin-inspired tunes: "El Caiman" and "Santa Marta" are covers of contemporary cumbia hits, which would have been popular with the crowds at local dances, and "La Bamba" is of course a Ritchie Valens cover. There's only one Stones tune here ("Not Fade Away"), but this time they draw inspiration from Van Morrison's Them, including four songs from Them's repertoire: "Baby Please Don't Go", "Route 66", "Gloria", and "Out Of Sight", all of which provide the highlights on Disc Two. There are two more more, less interesting, covers (Bob Dylan's "She Belongs To Me" and a lukewarm take on The Searchers' "Needles & Pins") and two originals: folk ballad "When I'm Far From You" and instrumental "From Head To Toe" (unfortunately not on a par with the ones on the previous album). The Walflower Complextion folded soon after the release of Far From You, but left their mark on the Bogotá rock scene - as well as leaving two whole LP's behind, something that few garage bands can boast of. According to the liner notes, Fred Sampson later joined local scenesters Los Young Beats, but he's not mentioned on the notes of the LP I have (The Exciting Sound Of Los Young Beats, to be presented here sometime) so he probably didn't record with them. Apparently he's still making music; his official website introduces him as the "platinum selling songwriter" of "I Need Your Love" fame (from Boston's 1994 Walk On album), and he has recently released a Howlin' Wolf tribute album. For my part, I'm more impressed by his guitar playing skills at such a young age. The Walflower Complextion may not have been incredibly important or original, but this CD still contains some of the best garage rock to come out of South America in the 60's. Now that I've properly listened to it, I'll be sure to play it more often.
**** for Empty Heart, Blue Bells, Sapphire, Open Up Your Door, Baby Please Don't Go, Gloria
*** for All It Is, Tell Me, Chris's B's, Last Time, Hanky Panky, Blue Turns To Grey, Long Tall Shorty, Yack The Ripper, Route 66, When I'm Far From You, Not Fade Away, La Bamba, She Belongs To Me, Santa Marta, Out Of Sight
** for El Caiman, From Head To Toe, Needles & Pins
No comments:
Post a Comment