This strange garage track with the vampire guy singing puzzles even Shamrock J. Cat, our resident authority on acne-ridden teenagers with Rickenbackers and Beatle Boots. We just can't decide to which sub-genre of 60s garage rock it belongs. Is it the "See you in Hell" category as exemplified by the Sonics' "He's Waitin'?" Or would it more correctly be placed in the "maniacal laughter" category along such classics as "Good Times" by Nobody's Children and "Little Girl" by the Syndicate of Sound? And anyway, how did something like this end up on what was for all intents and purposes a major label?

One thing we can tell you with considerable clarity is that Sundazed Records' new Garage Beat '66 series is what the kids like to call "the bomb." Great track selection with plenty of genuine rarities, including some tracks I'd been wanting to hear for years, excellent liner notes, and the best sound quality ever on any re-issue of this particular genre. "Shame On You" is on Vol. 1, as is the absolutely manic "Hipsville 29 B.C. (I Need Help)" by the Sparkles, a great jangly version of P.F. Sloan's "I'd Have To Be Out Of My Mind" by Words of Luv, and other oddball stuff tending toward the tougher, heavily fuzz-toned end of the genre. The other two volumes currently available are of similar quality, with two more due June 7. A bit more expensive than some of the other compilations, but absolutely worth it. Try one.

Whether the name on the label is the Holy Rollers, the Beautiful Losers, or his own, a Greg Dear songwriting credit is an assurance of quality. Not exactly like the Birdman lovers or the shiny hard pop bands that were so prevelant in Australia at the time, Dear seemed to be mining some fairly trad American sources in a similar fashion to that of US bands like Zeitgeist (later the Rievers). Actually, there were a number of Australian bands doing this, Harum Scarum, Porcelain Bus...but I digress. While we feel pretty confident that we have the 7" realm covered, but we're still trying to track down the LPs, which seem to be a tough score. There's one by the Beautiful Losers, and at least one by the Holy Rollers...can anybody tell us more?

The UK Favourites made two terrific singles; after much deliberation, we have decided to run this one, a cover of some Swedish band I forget the name of. The morse code guitar bit is pertty clever, no? Their other single, "Angelica"/"Cold," besides being another solid two-sider, had a great sleeve, a parody of Blondie's Eat To the Beat LP. All the singles tracks plus demos are available on a vinyl LP (sorry, no CD) on the Low Down Kids website.

I would like to thank all of you witty, sophisticated folks who contributed to the discussion of great two-siders and cool Australian picture sleeves in recent days. I'd like to thank Stephen L. for reminding us of this record, which neatly merges the two concepts. The lone Eastern Dark 45 is nearly sacred in the Little Hits hut, an object the boys and I like to gaze upon with awe before spinning it at a volume that will sterilize roaches.

The Eastern Dark were formed when James Darroch left the Celibate Rifles to more fully pursue his glorious vision of the Beach Boys fronting the Ramones. Tragically, he was killed on tour in 1986, and as a result the band was sadly under-recorded. Two things worth mentioning though: 1) If you find the "Long Live The New Flesh" EP on What Goes On, you need to put that Modest Mouse remix EP right the hell back in the racks and stick with the real rock. 2) A good deal of the band's material, including both sides of this 45 and the "New Flesh" EP are on a CD released by Australia's Half A Cow Records.

I got my copy from Brian Kirk for buying him lunch at the Steak and Shake in Champaign-Urbana. Patrick Hawley (Twiggy/Pansy Division/Prisonshake/Erik Voeks/The What Gives) was there too. Ahhh...glory days will indeed pass you by.

Dave Allman and Mark Johnson may recall that sometime during 1989, there was a Bar None sampler cassette called Time For a Change that was, for about a month, our favorite record. It had Freedy Johnston's "Fun Ride," "King Of Joy" by Bill Drummond, a couple of Rage To Live tracks, and "Living Life" from Kathy MacCarty's (of Austin's Glass Eye) absolutely wonderful Dead Dog's Eyeball: The Songs of Daniel Johnston (which has just been re-issued). Oh, and two Embarrassment tracks ("D'ya want I should fuck somethin'?"). And this little gem by Illinois's Otis Ball (and the Chains). He was discovered by They Might Be Giants (that's them singing on the chorus) and made this one album. He has been heard from since only on samplers and tribute albums, (or in karaoke form) many of which are catalogued here.

Re: the LP title. Doesn't Game Theory have a line in "The Real Shelia" that goes "I'm gonna love you until I do?" Coinicidence...I wonder.

Unlike many of his neo-mod contemporaries, Anthony Meynell was able to do more than make a couple of good singles that sounded like the (early) Jam; his later efforts blended the Byrds and Beatles into a then-contemporary sound that sometimes suggested Big Star. While this early 45 is overtly mod-ish, it suggests that Meynell could work a pop hook, whereas so many lesser Weller wannabes relied entirely on anthemic chants.

The UK's Fischer-Z (say "Fisher Zed") are often maligned as strident new-wave goofballs, and while it's true that an LP might provide an overdose, I've always enjoyed their singles. This one is a huge favorite, both commercial and creepy at the same time. The lyrics and lead vocal stand out; singer John Watts makes a perfectly believable stalker.

Fischer-Z singles have been known to change hands for as much as $3.99, while their albums may set you back a fiver. A solid career retrospective CD would be well worth having though.

The Summer Suns (named after the Chris Stamey gem) seem to consist of Kim Williams and whoever else is available at the time. Over the years great Australian popsters like Dom Mariani (Stems/SomeLoves/DM3), Gary Chambers (Hoodoo Gurus), and Joe Algeri have all conributed to the handful of Suns 45s that have appeared since their first, "Rachel Anne" on Easter Records back in the late 80s. They also did singles for Waterfront, Bus Stop, Parasol, and House of Wax, as well an LP on House of Wax and a 10" on Get Hip. This is perhaps my favorite example of their mix of breathy vocals, mushy sentiment, and ringing guitars, and one of the records that kickstarted my personal Oz-mania.

Steve Mitchell is a leading authority on UK punk and twee pop, and he wrote all of your favorite Pooh Sticks songs. Those things along make him very popular here in the Little Hits mansion, but if those weren't enough, today we examine his collaboration with Michel von der Woude, International Language. The duo has thus far produced one LP, a delightful concept piece about groupies and fandomania entitled Where the Bands Are. WTBA spun off a couple of singles; the one presented here was pressed up as a promo-only sort of device with blank labels.

Unfortunaltely, International Language had their record released by SFTRI, which made it sort of inevitable that it would get lost in the shuffle. The same week this CD came out, for instance, SFTRI also released records by the Devil Whores, the Demon Prostitutes, the High School Cheerleader Sluts, God Scum, Scum God, and three different Billy Childish records, all of which, unlike Where the Bands Are, had sleeves portraying horned women with large pointy breasts.

Steve is rather good-natured about the fact that Where the Bands Are did not make him a household name, but lately, as he relaxes with his lovely wife, his cats, and many, many punk rock 45s, he is plotting another IntLang record. We'll keep you posted.

My friend Chris Beneke is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. His songs have an honesty, a simplicity, and a beauty thatI admire and envy. These tracks are from an open mic night performance at the Bottleneck in Lawrence in the winter of 1990 (is that right, Mark Johnson?). There were just a handful of people there; I seem to remember it was very cold that night. I also believe it was the first time I ever heard him play. There was a board tape made of this brief performance, and for years a few cassettes circulated amongst a few of us Wilmas guys and and other members of our camp. It would be no exaggeration to say that they were prized by each of us who owned it, and that we felt we were privvy to something unique and fragile.

Chris didn't play in public that often, I'm not exactly sure if he just didn't care for playing, or just didn't care for the venues available to him, or just had several other irons in the fire most of the time. He tried a few things with a band (which Mike Horan and I participated in), but I recall most vividly his solo acoustic performances, his breathy voice and buckling knees evoking nothing so much as some absurd cross between Daniel Johnston and Big Star. Chris recorded a longer tape of his Little Hits a few years later while out of the country, and there are some four-track demos around somewhere, so maybe Chris will let us run some of his other gems at some point.

Here's another candidate for the next volume of Yellow Pills: Prefill. Ray Paul was a Boston songwriter who played most everything on this record, though he did recieve some assistance from another Boston legend known as Mr. Curt, who made a few records of his own. "How Do You Know?" gets the slight nod over Paul's Twilley-ish first 45, "Lady Be Mine Tonight." He also released an LP called Go Time in 1980, and a CD compiling most of the above in the late 90s.

Recently Ray Paul has reactivated his Permanent Press label (which released discs by the likes of the William Pears and Spongetones during the 90s) to do a DVD release of some of his archival material, including a performance with Emmit Rhodes.

More neglected Australians. I see in the drawer here that there are three 45s, of which I can reliably say that this is the second. Over on the CD (I kind of wish the guys would learn to fetch) shelf we also find a CDEP entitled "Fairydust," also on the most excellently-named Plenny O' Hooks label. Was there anything else?

Were the Welcome Mat being realistic or merely cynical when on the back of the sleeve they thanked "Collector scum the world over?"

When little Mickey hears this, his fuzzy heart starts beating so fast I worry that he'll explode. "He means it so much!" he says, on the brink of tears. The "he" in question is Mike Jarvis, the amazing voice of the Lackloves, and prior to that of the Blow Pops. This is one of THEE examples of what happens when SOUL meets power pop. "UNTIL THE END OF TIME!" My God, the infinite sadness...is there something NOT to get about that?!? An absolute classic, our single favorite song of 2002, and one to play over and over, because you will NEVER forget that moment when you discover that your love, while it is so strong that you can physically feel it dissolving your internal organs, is not powerful enough to overcome mere circumstance.

This is an alternate version from the one on the Starcitybaby CD. Mr. Rainbow Quartz decided he liked the basement demo better, but we prefer the "finished" version. Either one is deadly.

This probably isn't for everybody, (or then again, maybe it is) but I've always thought this was an amazing, haunting gem of a record. It has the intimacy of an improvised lullabye, or a work song for folding laundry. The inevitable "house" remixes miss the point, stripping the song of it's awesome quiet.

Elvis Costello and Talking Heads have been cited as important influences on this Chapel Hill combo; on the charming "Venus" it is clearly the former that is predominant. The "Big Boy's Dream" EP was the first of several X-Teens releases and was produced by...surprise!...Don Dixon. They would later comply with the 1982 law that required all southern pop bands to work with Mitch Easter; he produced their eponymous LP on Dolphin (See also: Tommy Keene, Lifeboat) in 1983.

The first dBs album without Chris Stamey, Like This, was an unqualified success. Peter Holsapple loaded it up with great songs, and while certain production flourishes make it seem a bit dated, it still stands up just fine. Neither it nor the following The Sound Of Music are currently in print, although I'm sure someone will rectify that eventually. "Darby Hall" would not have been out of place on Like This; perhaps it was felt that it was too similar to the lovely "On the Battlefront." For whatever reason it was relegated to the b-side of the"Love Is For Lovers" 45, and was included as a bonus track on the CD issue of the album, which changes hands on eBay for exhorbitant prices.

A very highly sought after garage 45, a teenage classic, and a good lesson for young bands. Do not assume that it will be harmless fun to allow an untalented friend to be the tambourine player, no matter how much fun he or she may be to have around, or how good looking she or he may be, or if you are currently sleeping with him or her. The results can be disastrous. Especially if the tambourine is going to be the loudest thing in the mix.

Cool local angle: This song was recorded by Topeka's Psychic Archie in the early 80s. You can hear it on Fresh Sounds From Middle America Vol. 3, along with cool stuff from the Homestead Grays (Chuck Mead from BR5-49), Lions and Dogs (Little Hits hero Todd Newman), and the Pedaljets (as well as their side project, the Von Bulows).

You can pick up this track on the Pebbles Vol. 8 CD, or the Essential Pebbles CD, either of which will cost you well under $1000.

The Distractions made great, commercial pop singles, but they were a bunch of nerdy boys and their inability to fit comfortably into the proper niches of the time hurt them (meaning they had bad haircuts as opposed to stupid haircuts). They did make a handful of great records: 45s for Factory and Island (including "Boys Cry"), a 12" EP, "You're Not Going Out Dressed Like That," and a terrific LP called Nobody's Perfect, which the late Steve Greenwood insisted that I buy in the dollar bin at Love Garden long before I started working there. We still miss you, Steve.

Pop singles don't get much better than this, the first of three 45s from the Hummingbirds' loveBUZZ album, produced by Little Hits first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Mitch Easter. The other two, "Alimony," and "Word Gets Around" are also terrific, but this one is the monster. This record and "All Away" by the Summer Suns were the singles that ignited my fascination with Australian guitar pop bands in the late 80s, at which point I already had quite a bit of catching up to do. The Hummingbirds reported being quite taken with Dinosaur Jr. at the time, which may account for some of the guitar din.

For some reasons Australia had the best looking picture sleeves in the world during this era. They tended to be in color, and were generally die-cut and glued, as opposed to the wraparound jobs that were so common here. I picked a LOT of Oz discs out of the 45 bin at Kief's just because they looked great. Batting average? About .500. This particular sleeve is a favorite; it looks like the record sounds. A most satisfying object; It gives me no small amount of glee just to pick it up and look at it. Which is really what record collecting is all about, right? I mean, it's not like I have time to listen to all of these things...

Ths is perhaps my favorite Dutch beat 45; It sounds like it could have fit right in on side two of Happy Jack. I've never seen a copy of the original vinyl, but it turns up on the Distortions Records compilation CD Dutch Beat Explosion, which is an excellent way to use up fifteen or so of your dollars.

Because it is our friend DEAN's personal anthem and because I just saw the Wedding Present last night (Magnificent! They've no business being that good at this late date.) who were also mentioned in the Bodines post and because I just picked up the 45 of this and because I need to get something put up here so I can get back to worrying about school (it will all be over this time tomorrow) here's a great indie-pop anthem from a band that had a bunch of 'em.

Back in the early 90s, there used to be these pretty cool poetry slams (held at a local strip bar, no less) that were organized by one of the Kansas University faculty members. She and her co-conspirators would often arrange strange performance art pieces between the poets, so as to keep a variety of things happening, and the events had a surprising amount of energy. One of the best pieces I saw was created by the professors from the fine arts department. It involved dry ice, and metal bowls or other objects that would make horrible groaning and whining noises as a result of the vibrations caused by contact with the dry ice. They stood there and performed their bit, much as an indie rock band would perform their most popular song, with a bit of rock-star gesturing thrown in, and then left to a good bit of applause. And the only reason I'm telling you this story is because the racket they made was quite similar to the guitar break in this song. Sweden's Shoutless made several fine singles and an LP or two, but this one is the most brutal. My favorite little moment on this 45 is that little bit of Eastern guitar riff that comes in after the guitar break. As if anything could posssibly seem threatening after THAT.

Rotjoch's only LP, Bad Boy, is a surprisingly strong and consistent pop album, with some interesting variations on the sound heard here spread throughout 14 tracks that tend toward Ramones-ish brevity. it is definitely CD reissue-worthy, though I suspect that they were obscure even in the Netherlands. Besides "Tomorrow," the title track was also issued as a 45.

We're not that impressed with guys who can play lightning-fast torrents of notes. There are plenty of social retards down at the guitar shop with their fat asses perched on the tops of amps doing just that, annoying innocent customers who are standing in line to buy strings. No, what we like is guys who can mash into chords with a speed that seems nearly inhuman; we dig the early Wedding Present singles, the Feelies, feedtime, stuff like that. The C86 scene that crossed the classic UK post-punk bands with the Smiths produced a bunch of bands who took a machine-gun approach to brittle chords that would have been funky in the right hands. Bands like the Wolfhounds, Bodines, Big Flame, and many, many others made wonderful singles that are not yet attracting much interest from unwashed record collectors with stained sweatshirts, so get 'em while you can.

One of my favorite UK DIY singles. One of my favorite sleeves. The Thin Yoghurts, known individually as Smoz, Kenny, Duck, and Davy, had a homemade cassette release in addition to this single. Anybody know if it has anything as good as "Girl On the Bus?" Steve?

Every few years I make a concerted attempt to enlighten myself re: Can. Their appeal continues to elude me, and they remain one of those revered-by-hipsters acts that I can't quite get my head around, right up there with Townes Van Zandt, the Free Design, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Wesley Willis. This record by Inner Space, Can's immediate precursor...this I like very much. It appeared on Vol. 1 of Electric Loosers, a series of compilation CDs devoted to (mostly) German Beat and psych weirdness; it was based on the Prae Kraut Pandemonium series of vinyl LPs, which are easily the strangest of the Rubble/Pebbles/Diggin' For Gold-type comps I've run across. There is a very entertaining article about this record on Julian Cope's Krautrock site, as well as a scan of the rather stunning picture sleeve.

Boston's Jigsaws didn't last long, but they did release 2 45s, the second in a wraparound sleeve with a fake airport tag attatched. That's pretty cool, right? They also turned out Cereal Toy, a solid CD which also includes "Luggage," (Suburban Records, Seattle). The album was distirbuted by TenPop, (remember our friends The Sparrows and the Vandalias?) which should provide some clues as to the band's aesthetic. The singer's world-weary whine contrasts beautifully with the uptempo beat and chorus harmonies, and this one still gets pulled out of the drawer frequently when we have Little Hits Record Night.

Hi Everybody! I thought I'd take a break from thinking about Flannery O'Connor and the theme of retribution in her short stories to update this Little Hits thing. In what will probably become a tradition, since I'm flustered and overwhelmed here are two songs by The What Gives. Whatever meagre success was attained by this deservedly underknown Lawrence combo was undoubtedly the result of the incredible genius of Stephen Naron. While Jon Harrison and Bret Dillingham stole most of the credit, most onlookers (including Jon and Bret) agree that whatever brilliance existed in the What Gives was located inside the deft and fertile mind of reknowned bassist/scholar Naron. Unfortunately, the experience of playing with marginally talented egomaniacs soured Naron forever, and after burning his bass in a ritual ceremony, he has retreated into the world of academia. We present here two of the finest examples of his genius.