Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Great Lost Singles of the '80s: Special "Sirens of the Salon" Edition

From 1981, please enjoy The Fabulous Perms and the lead-off track to their indie EP Good Answer, the delightfully catchy slice of New Wave Girl Group revivalism that is "Touch Me."

The song was written by Jersey Shore stalwart (and Bon Jovi collaborator) Jack Ponti, and produced by WPIX-FM deejay John Ogle; the backing band is a bunch of folks out of the whole Springsteen/Southside Johnny Asbury Park Mafia axis (Betty Perm is actually the ex-Mrs. Southside). And in the interest of full disclosure, I should add that Laura Perm, who's singing lead on the track, is an old and dear friend, although I didn't actually meet her until a decade after this was released.

In any case, a terrific record, I think; for more on The Perms, just click on the clipping below for a more readable (i.e., full-size) version of their story, which behooves beholding.



I'm not sure any of that stuff about Finland is strictly true, BTW.

I should add that the EP has never been on CD, alas, but the rest of it -- including a way cool cover of The Exciters' "Tell Him" -- is equally fab, and I'm gonna put the whole thing up on Bandcamp in the next day or two. I'll keep you posted.

[h/t Steve Schwartz]

2 comments:

pete said...

great guitar riff

Anonymous said...

Guitar was Mick Seely.
We did this as a joke. Was all done tongue & cheek.
It was tons of fun And a blast being on the Uncle Floyd show