THE
GO! SESSIONS - The Cherokees (Corduroy)
The Corduroy Detective Agency's on the job again, tracking down obscure slabs
of music and bringing them to the current generation. This is licensed from
Canetoad Records, who originally issued it on CD. The Corduroy release is
on
vinyl only, restricting its audience to those who are still turntable-capable.
There are a surprisingly large number of us, actually.
The Cherokees came out of Melbourne and lasted from 1961-68 - which is a damn
sight longer than most of their contemporaries. They never quite cracked it
for major success, however, having to contend with a plethora of similar sounding
beat bands with identical aspirations. They scored a number-three hit in several
states ("Oh Monah", missing here) and backed the Monkees on a national tour.
And so did Jimi Hendrix...
This is classic beat pop with occasional forays into fuzz rave-ups ("Little
Lover"). Tracks like "I'll Give You Love" - Barry Windley's wild drumming
apart - reveal a strong Beatles alignment. Windley's work behind the traps
on the early songs (he sang, too, but left midway through their career) is
what sets the Cherokees apart from other beat acts of the time.
At the direction of record companies (and, in the US, svengalis), many '60s
bands put covers or relatively tame songs on the A sides, reserving their
harder stuff or experimentation for the flip. I'm not familiar enough with
the Cherokees to say if that's the case here. Much of this stuff is workmanlike
but the results are occasionally great on tracks like "Ain't Gonna Cry No
More" or "That's if You Want Me To", where the band really cuts loose.
Many, if not all of these tracks, have been transferred from vinyl pressings
rather than master tapes and there are a few pops and imperfections evident.
Six of the tracks have been omitted from the CD issue, so if you're a completist
you're probably going to feel it comes up short. (Then again, if you're a
completist you'll probably already have the CD and you'll want to hear it
on black plastic).
If you're a beat aficionado, you'll want to lay your hands on a copy. It's
not the wildest Oz '60s stuff around but has its moments and shows the Cherokees
to be an act that probably deserved more attention. And speaking of relatively
obscure Aussie '60s stuff that deserves attention, if you can burn me a copy
of the Devil's Children Volume One, well you know my e-mail address. -
The Barman
