The Haircuts & the Impossibles – Sock It My Way
The Haircuts & the Impossibles – Bun Buster
The Haircuts & the Impossibles – Inside Looking Out
For a long period of time I never would have bothered with a record like this. No-name, exploito records had no appeal to me. I preferred to find the original records from the artists whose coat-tails these bands attempted to ride on. A couple recent trips to Groove Merchant in the last year or so have gotten me to rethink that prejudice. Since today is Record Store Day it made perfect sense to post up this record, which I just got at Groove Merchant last week.
From what I’ve been able to figure out, The Haircuts & the Impossibles, are basically the same crew behind the Animated Egg, Young Sound 68, Sounds of Love, Black Diamonds and even T. Swift & the Electric Bag, which makes this bunch ground zero for most of the exploitation records in the late-60s. The music is not exactly “all killer,” but it’s not “all filler” either. There’s several solid tunes on here, including a nice cover of “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” from the Beatles, and a slew of instrumentals that sound like other songs, but not enough to incur the wrath of copywright lawyers, such as “Bun Buster,” “Inside Looking Out,” “Wilson, Otis & Aretha” and “Frankie & Johnny.”
The belle of the bunch is the hypnotic fuzz freakout “Sock It My Way,” which just sounds like it should be connected to DJ Shadow. That was the track that cemented my acquiring this record. It reminds me a bit of Harvey Mandel’s “Wade In The Water,” just the way that fuzz washes over everything and those great mid-tempo drums. Thanks to Groove Merchant, I’ll be diggin’ on this for quite some time and will pay a bit more attention to those no-name records wasting away in the bins of many many record stores. So, on Record Store Day 2010, I hope you’ll support your own local record stores! You never know what treasures await…
Cheers,
Michael
By the way, this album (and the other sessions) also found their way onto the 101 Strings classic LP Astro Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000, which is where I first heard what I now know as “Sock It My Way,” titled as “Flameout.” It’s the exact same track, just with moody Axelrodian strings….Seriously, someone needs to write a book.
Check out Sundazed Records reissue of The Animated Egg. There you will find the whole story behind all these explo LPs….they are all by Jerry Cole, LA session guitarist. He was also the guy behind a slew of mid sixties fictitious hot rod and surf groups on various record labels.
Thanks Mike, it really does seem like all these exploito records came from the same minds, which strikes me as pretty crazy, but that is what makes diggin' into the history of this music so interesting.