This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM, featured a lot of garage rock that was more on the poppy side, followed by some moodier psych tracks towards the end. Sometimes it's fun to rock out to a whirlwind of emotions!
We kicked off this episode with a fun little ditty by Debbie Williams and The Unwritten Law named "Love Seems So Hard To Find." The song's intro is reminiscent of The Doors' "The End" or maybe even The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" before it quickly transitions into a thumping garage rock anthem. In addition to the dark introduction, you have a 14-year-old Debbie Williams singing lines such as: "Today, today he shot me down because I was tripping hard" with her country twang and higher pitched voice along with a somewhat intense fuzzed out guitar solo which adds to the song's uniqueness. The flip-side of the record, "Ask Me" is a little more straightforward, but highlights the strength of Williams' voice which makes me think of a younger and less gravely Wanda Jackson.
From what I can find, it appears that Williams never recorded any other songs, which is a shame because I can only assume she would have gotten better with age. As for The Unwritten Law, they recorded at least one more single featuring the songs "This Whole World Is Blind" and "Actions Speak Louder." I'm somewhat surprised that The Unwritten Law didn't go on to record more, being that they seemed to have had the potential to write popular songs, but that's how things worked out for a lot of garage rock bands. You can find more info on the group from this article on Garage Hangover.
As the show went on you heard a Spanish and Dutch band known as Los Zooms perform their song "Give Me More." The band's international heritage comes from the fact that they were formed through singer/musician/producer Tony Ronald who was born in the Netherlands but settled in Spain. Ronald's musical career began after he formed a group known as Kroner's Duo with José Luis Bolívar. At the time, Spanish duo groups were gaining popularity due to the success of Dúo Dinámico, a pop group that frequently appeared in the Spanish charts. Unfortunately for Ronald and Bolívar, Kroner's Duo didn't find similar success.
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| Tony Ronald's October 29th, 1971 appearance on Hits à gogo. Any info on that wild car? |
However, Tony Ronald eventually stuck music gold with his international hit song "Help (Get me some Help)." Ronald recorded versions in Spanish and English while other artists recorded versions in French, Portuguese, Swedish, German, and Italian. The song is a fairly standard 70s pop song but for some reason it stood out to listeners around the world in ways that many of it's contemporaneous songs didn't.
Towards the halfway point of the show Paupers performed their song "Searching For Someone" and I talked a little bit about the history of their hometown Leavenworth, Kansas. Not only was Leavenworth the first city in Kansas, it also has a unique history as being a place that was initially established by members of the pro-slavery movement before quickly becoming an important part of abolitionism.
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| Naomi Watts, as seen in this video. |
Later on, you heard me talk about The Cutaways' hometown of Bellaire, Ohio but rather than delve into the town's past, I talked about the Bellaire Toy and Plastic Brick Museum which is supposedly one of the world's largest unofficial Lego sculpture museums. From the photographs and videos that I've seen, it appears that the museum is in a former school or government building and the exhibits range in scale and subject matter. Funny enough, if you watch Youtuber Daze with Jordan the Lion's video about his trip to the museum, you can spot a portrait of Naomi Watts based on her appearance in David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive. Now I desperately want to see some Lego artwork based on Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, or Eraserhead. Imagine that!
Anywho, that's everything from this episode! Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST or listen to an archived version of the show here. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In.
You can check out this week's playlist below:
Debbie Williams and The Unwritten Law - Love Seems So Hard To Find
Terry Gordon and The Virtuals - Lucille
Deacons - You Can't Get There From Here
Paupers - Searching For Someone
Jerry Williams and The Epics - Tell Me What You See
The Chain Reaction - When I Needed You
The Carnabeats - As Long As There Is A Blue Sky