A deluxe vinyl-only collection of guitar-wielding all-girl bands, drop-dead female frat rock and axe-centric she-pop. Pressed on 180g tomato red vinyl in heavy-duty sleeve, with a swanky inner bag sporting a fact-filled 3500-word track commentary and an array of rare photos.
Pride of place on this gorgeous to behold release goes to a bevy of gen-u-ine all-gal combos. The eye-grabbing front cover features a great shot of Girls Take Over – sisters Cindy, Rinie and Wendy Wilhelmi and their pal Geri Gibson – who open the show with their one and only single, a fabulously raw and pounding rendition of Tommy Tucker’s ‘Hi Heel Sneakers’, recorded in “some guy’s attic” in Milwaukee circa 1969. The group She also released a sole 45, yet amassed sufficient shelved recordings to eventually fill an entire CD, including the ominous ‘Like A Snake’, an early effort taped when they were still known as the Hairem. Mormon sister band the Clingers, on the other hand, boast a sizeable discography, the gem of which is their Kim Fowley-produced version of the Easybeats’ ‘Gonna Have A Good Time’. Genre faves the Debutantes of Detroit also knocked out a few 45s, of which their version of frat rock staple ‘Little Latin Lupe Lu’ is a highlight. From much further afield –Sweden, in fact – the Plommons feature with their latter-day cult favourite ‘Last Train To Liverpool’.
Completing the collection are the jangly ‘He’s Not There Anymore’ by the teenage Chymes from the suburbs of Los Angeles; Karen Verros’ much-prized freakbeat bauble ‘You Just Gotta Know My Mind’; Kathy Lynn & the Playboys’ self-penned rocker ‘I Got A Guy’; a version of Gerry & the Pacemakers’ ‘How Do You Do It’ by the short-lived Lady-Bugs, alias the Murmaids with Jackie DeShannon helping out on lead vocals; the Delmonas’ Milkshakes-backed update of the Knickerbockers’ ‘Lies’; a version of the Blues Project’s ‘Wake Me, Shake Me’ by the Wrongh Black Bag, a band fronted by the young Christine Ohlman of later Saturday Night Live fame; and the cod-Merseybeat ‘I’d Rather Fight Than Switch’ by the Tomboys, a one-off studio group led by beloved session singer Jean Thomas.
MICK PATRICK
