In The Past: Garage Rock Podcast

It's finally time to examine a song from Sgt. Pepper's, and we've chosen "Getting Better"! We wonder if the album has slipped in the public consciousness in favour of the later period Beatles dirtbag albums? We also include covers from Davy Graham (folk), The Five Stairsteps (soul), Steve Hillage (prog), The Wedding Present (indie), and, er ... Smash Mouth (smash mouth). Yes, we talk a lot about Smash Mouth, wondering if they're kinda garage? and what it might have been like to be in a wildly successful but disrespected band ...  You have to agree we're cool teachers, right? Right?!?

You know we love The Kinks, so this week we're showcasing the 1966 b-side to "Sunny Afternoon" by the North London quartet, the garage evergreen "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." It's thought to be a defiant statement of individualism, but we think Ray Davies could be winding us up. The first cover we discuss is by France's Lionets: their rendition is charmingly inept but undeniably moody. The Chocolate Watchband offer up the reliable garage rock snarl we expect from them, while Belgian trio Hubble Bubble bring the song into the 70s. The final version by Chris Spedding adds a nice musical theatre touch that Ray D would probably love. Let's go to town!

Because this is the podcast where we talk about a song for way too long, you've gotta be patient. But that can be hard, especially if you're The Supremes! That's right, this week we're talking about "You Can't Hurry Love," the seventh of their 12 consecutive number one singles. We love how the tune jumps from verse to bridge (but it doesn't make you want to jump off a bridge!) ... there's more reasons to love it, which we also discuss. The next version is by Montreal's Les Beatlettes. A garage-girl group belter ... magnifique! In the late 70s, R. Stevie Moore authored a one-man-band-as-girl-group version and it's boffo lo-fi! In the 80s the song had a resurgence with renditions by The Stray Cats and, of course, the inevitable Phil Collins - now break!!

Lou Reed and John Cale's pre-Velvet Underground songwriting partnership produced a song that straddles many genres: "Why Don't You Smile Now" is the tune we're fancy talking 'bout this week. The original version was done by LR's Syracuse buddies known as The All Night Workers and its soul-garage-drone! The best known version is most likely by our friends The Downliners Sect who make it a little more fuzzy and loud ... Renaissance man Donnie Burkes hits a three-pointer with his version, then we turn to The Crawdaddys who beat-ify the song for the coming garage revivalists! Finally, one of Spiritualized's early singles was a cover which they simply titled "Smile." You won't be frownin'!

A long-awaited sequel to our "60s Moon Rock" show (Episode #117), we present more lunar hymns, this time from the 70s to today! We start with Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right," the Moog and marimba smash hit of '76. The next expedition comes just a few years later, with "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" by The B52s. Kate & Cindy's harmonies conjure up little green men! In 1985, The Dukes of Stratosphear set a course for 1967 with "Bike Ride to the Moon" - does this mean they beat Neil Armstrong? Finally, to those spacey days of the pandemic, where we had to have a lot of space between each other, to enjoy Danny Michel's one-man-band rendition of "The Whole of the Moon" by The Waterboys. To the moon and back!