And now perhaps you're wondering -- why did I post that?
Well, as you may have noticed, the above is a mono version, re-jiggered (at great personal expense) by my friend Steve Schwartz from the commercially available stereo album cut. With as much of the information on the right stereo channel removed as is technologically feasible.
Which is to say that most of the vocals are gone. So you that can hear, pretty much anyway, just the band. Whoever they were.
And as I've been telling people for decades now, to my ears, without the goofy singing, what's left is as tough a rock instrumental track as anybody has ever made. I'm talking Rolling Stones or Velvet Underground tough here.
Needless to say...turn it up?
11 comments:
About effing time someone properly appreciated the toughness
I always thought this song kicked ass. I covered it way back when. Never kinda liked Joey Levine's voice though.
Wasn't that him from the early 70's doing Life Is A Rock with a group called Reunion?
I am digging the bass and drum sound here. Actually a few of the bubblegum pop hits from that period had decent to awesome instrumental tracks.
I think you oversell the power of the track but only a little. You're right about the Velvet Underground connection.
ROTP(lumber)
Well, sure, I'm exaggerating to make a point, but not much, I think. It's a killer track....
Well, sure it's catchy, that's why it was a mega-earworm hit back in the day.
But tough? I dunno....
I must confess a preference for "Chewy Chewy" due to the staccato organ, but I'm glad to see the merits of bubblegum being dissected here. Listen to that snarling guitar...that ain't your sister's bubblegum!
Not sure about the Rolling Stones/Velvet Underground connection, though. To me, truly superlative bubblegum always had that "polished studio musicians going garage and having a hell of a time" type sound. Like the Wrecking Crew tackling a single from the Seeds, or something. "Yummy..." has moments where it lapses into the Velvets' blistering monotony, but it never quite believes in itself enough to get messy. Probably because the musicians were more concerned about getting the rent paid than making art.
Another Gum Favorite of mine: "!, 2, 3 Red Light" by the 1910 Fruitgum Company, a song so infectious that freakin' Talking Heads covered it back in the day. Blurs the line between Bubblegum and progressive quite befuddlingly.
"Yummy..." has moments where it lapses into the Velvets' blistering monotony, but it never quite believes in itself enough to get messy. Probably because the musicians were more concerned about getting the rent paid than making art.
What he said.
Although, the Yummy guitars are to my ears all but indistinguishable from those on the Velvets "Waiting For the Man." And the drums are so minimalist and primitive they might as well be Mo Tucker.
IMHO.
It does sound like the Velvets - good catch.
That's actually quite good. It's the foundation of a hell of a power pop song. Funny how the lead vocal and harmony are so dated and yet the backing music is almost timeless. The bass reminded me of Creedence, as in "Hey, Tonight".
This was a very cool find!
Perhaps not one of your most popular theories, Steve, but I've got your back on this. That lead guitar was just wicked stinging.
Thanks for pointing it out. I really appreciate that.
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