Helter Seltzer!!! The Liquor Giants--Something Special for The Kids

No Clown that drives this Plow....

 

Doing a bit on the Russian language version of California Dreaming in the last post, got me to thinking about cover albums. Also I belatedly realized that my Laughing Clowns post must have got me thinking about Clowns. Something Special for the Kids, by The Liquor Giants is a really good covers collection, released in 1998 on Blood Red Vinyl & Discs. It's a rough but tightly played collection of 60's tunes, and most of them are less than obvious, at least to me. The Liquor Giants are Ward Dotson's band, a veteran of The Gun Club and Pontiac Brothers. He's gone from wearing influences on his sleeve to overt homage on this record. And the band is having a lot of fun here. I'm reminded here of the Pop Art Toasters a bit, a New Zealand super group of sorts that put out a 6 song ep on Flying Nun, a band that included both David Kilgour of The Clean and The Chills' Martin Phillips.



Nothing complicated here---just a lot of lovingly played 60's pop. Some of the songs are obvious, like the take on Tom Jones' campy What's New Pussycat?. Don't Ever Leave Me by the Zombies is here also. They do a nice cover of the Move's Fire Brigade and The Idle Race's Days of Broken Arrows. Boys Keep Swinging by David Bowie is also covered in raucous fashion.



The Liquor Giants on this release are:

Matt Simon: Drums
Ward Dotson: Vocals and Guitar
Mark McNally: Guitar and Vocals
Mark McGroarty: Bass and Vocals
Marx Ferguson: Keyboards


For me, I find it as much fun to hear the other songs in this collection, like the tunes previously recorded by female singers, Don't Ever Leave Me by Connie Francis and Stay Awhile by Dusty Springfield. Del Shannon's Led Along is here, hewing fairly close to the original but a take no less fun to hear. When I hear the songs on the album, I want to find out who some of these groups are like Tin Tin the originator of Toast and Marmalade. Even curiosities like Beatles Please Come Back by Gigi Parker and the Lonelies and I Don't Know Why by Sons of Thunder are fun listens. (The Beatle's homage Gigi original can be found on the Beatlemaniacs! compilation album, which is chock full of mop top themed tunes from the early 60's.)

So there you have it, a covers collection of 60's music, performed with enthusiasm and love. You simply can't beat it. If you find this one, scap it up. It seems like the label doesn't have a presence anymore on the internet. Certainly check out some of the Giant' albums with original material, which can be had for a pretty reasonable price.


This is not on the record, but what the hell...