Listen: I’ll Do Anything (Anything He Wants Me To Do) / Doris Troy
DorisTroyIllDoAnything.mp3

Like a few other great vocalists from the US (Madeline Bell, P. P. Arnold), Doris Troy visited England as a backup singer yet found appreciation for her own voice from both UK fans and musicians. So much so that, like the other two, she relocated there during the 60′s, just after releasing an early Gamble & Huff track ‘I’ll Do Anything (Anything He Wants Me To Do)’ on Cameo Parkway, which later became a Northern Soul success. As a result, it was re-released a few times, including on this Mojo pressing from ’71.

When it comes to the genre, a song almost doesn’t get better than this one. A slightly over complicated chord arrangement was way more quality songwriting than careless stumbling. Possibly the original reason for it’s lack of airplay upon release, but not many years later, instead, it became the track’s appeal.

Listen: She’s Fallen In Love With The Monster Man / Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages ScreamingLordMonster.mp3

I finally got around to reading the Screaming Lord Sutch feature in the June issue of MOJO. Try to do the same, maybe it’s even online. A few priceless pictures and so many stunning details, I really don’t know where to start. He was everything I already knew and way more as well. Some of the live show descriptions and antics, well we now know where Alice Cooper got more than one idea. Don’t blame him for lifting a few, they’re just too good to waste. Okay, here’s a tiny bit: “cherry food dye, cold scrambled eggs with a few masticated inches of seaside rock and it’ll look like you’re spitting out teeth”.

No question about it, his recordings were made very inexpensively, several produced by Joe Meek, complete with dreadful sound effects – and I mean that in a good way. As the ’70′s arrived, more than one act paid respects. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Damned and The Revillos even covered and released as their A side as well, ‘She’s Fallen In Love With The Monster Man’. You’d think the song was written just for them listening to the original above.

Listen: Dracula’s Daughter / Screaming Lord Sutch ScreamingLordDracula'sDaughter.mp3

So many soon to be name musicians passed through the ranks of being Savages in the ’61 – ’63 period, prior to their own later successes. The list, also in the article, is long and fairly jaw dropping. Jimmy Page plays lead on ‘She’s Fallen In Love With The Monster Man’, and Jeff Beck on ‘Dracula’s Daughter’. Even then, in ’64, his style was recognizable and it’s easy to see how much he moulded The Yardbirds’ sound from one listen.

The usually precise MOJO does flub one detail. ‘Dracula’s Daughter’ was not his last for Decca, it was his first for Oriole after being dropped by Decca. While I’m at it, the above Cameo Parkway 7″ is the only US release from his period with The Savages.

Listen: You Can’t Sit Down / The Dovells DovellsCantSit.mp3

I may be wrong, but ‘You Can’t Sit Down’ seems to mix doo wop with hully gully and jitterbug rock, if there are such things. Preceding the English Invasion revolution, this sound was about to be exterminated. Still, during it’s brief moment, it was raucous and rocking.

In a previous post about The Vogues a few days back, I referred to Len Berry as having been a member. Wrong. Thanks to Chris Miller for catching my mistake. He indeed was with The Dovells, eventually going solo and having some hits. Everyone loves ’1-2-3′. Despite making the creative step forward, he was determined to keep that DA hairdo during the height of mop top. Too bad, even Lou Christie and Brian Hyland had loosened up.