Monday, May 09, 2016

Oh, to Be In England When the Heather is in Bloom....

...or, rather, more specifically, in London on June 29th when Boston's great roots/punk rockers The Real Kids...


...are playing at the Dirty Water club.

I love those guys, but I had no idea they were still kicking out the jams after all these years (their first studio album, which is a classic, was released in 1977).

And if you've never heard them, from that eponymous LP...


...here's their blistering cover of the venerable "Roberta."



Pretty kick ass, I think you'll warrant. But as a historical note, here's the version from where they probably learned it.

From the 1965 LP Animal Tracks. By -- who else? -- The Animals.



And because I love you all more than food, here's another great version of the song -- from the late Lonnie Mack's brilliant 1969 Glad I'm in the Band.




And finally, here's a live performance by "Roberta"'s co-composer, New Orleans legend Frankie Ford.



Okay, that was exhausting. But before I crash, here's a recent interview with Real Kid founder/frontman John Felice over at the Dirty Water WEBSITE.

You're welcome very much, you bastards. Now get off my lawn.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frankie Ford's was the flip of "Sea Cruise" with Huey "Piano" Smith's band as backing on both sides. Strong single. Arguably the best version.

VR - how was your Kentucky Derby day.

Dave said...

Have to agree with VR. Frankie Ford's original, coming in at exactly a sleek two minutes and with the help of Huey Smith and the Clowns, blows the covers away. Of the other three, I prefer The Real Kids' version -- at least it's distinctive. Huey didn't just play on "Roberta" -- he wrote it.

Dave F.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, Huey wrote both sides of that single. Frankie Ford died not that long ago.

There was an early 1970's version of "Roberta" done by a local band from Redlands/Riverside which had a near brush with fame. Top Thirty in Berdoo, but barely cracking the Hot 100 nationally. Here is the Richard Perry produced version by Bones (featuring the Faragher Brothers) from the early 1970's. It is what it is - bar band stuff. A very simple song played by local yokels who became the house band at Gazzarri's in 1969 and got third bill at some local concerts a few years later.

I saw them a few times locally. In high school I was dating an assistant History professor from UCLA that I met at the Wildcat. I convinced him to take me to see Bones play with Alice Cooper, Halfnelson and Christopher Milk. Afterwards we discussed Leda and the Swan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97CK-SaP8ug

VR