There’s been alot of musical exploration into 60’s/70’s Africa these days. Everywhere you turn there are reissue comps of little known Afro-funk bands from Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria etc. Don’t get me wrong ….I appreciate and love almost all of that stuff…but what really gets me charged are the more hard-to-come-by 70’s Afro-fuzz-punk bands. You may remember my Chrissy Zebby Tembo post a month or so ago….well here is another hunk of Afro proto-punk to wreck your lugs with. I kinda liken Witch as the MC5 to Chrissy Tembo’s The Stooges. A bit more refined….better players….but still holding true to that punk attitude that makes these Zambian garage-rockers so appealing.

“Motherless Child” is taken from the album Lazy Bones which was recorded in Zambia in 1975. The track kicks off with a baby’s wail (all the best ones do…see Dillinger’s Headquarters dub) then tears into a Stones-like blues riff. She’s a rocker thru and thru and perfect for that hot-summer raw R&R mix you’ve been meaning to put together….

ARTIST: Witch (We Intend To Cause Havoc)
TRACK: Motherless Child
ALBUM: Lazy Bones
YEAR: 1975
REISSUE LABEL: Shadoks

Oh boy…su’more proto-punk magic for all you cough-syrup swillin’ freaks out there. Here we have a scorching, acid-damaged psych-punk “classic” from San Antonio’s The Outcasts. Legend has it that “1523 Blair” was the address of Lelan Roger’s (yep…Kenny’s brother!) the Doyle Jones recording studio in Houston Texas. The track is true 60’s punk if I’ve ever heard it….fast, ugly and heaps of attitude. The guitars are what first caught my ear…that initial delayed strum just snags and hooks you in for the blast of druggy sac-punch that follows. The track is a mere 1:46, which is the best part….it’s so fast and furious you wanna keep hitting repeat. A real killer.

I’m sure the original single is super hard to find and ridiculously expensive. I recommend picking up a recent comp called Acid Dreams on the Past and Present label…it’s where I pulled the track from. The rest of the comp is pretty amazing as well…tons of damaged sike-punk from the sixties. Apparently it is a re-issue of a compilation put together in the late 70’s by a Berlin record shop owner. He pressed up 77 copies and only sold them at his store save a few that went out to friends and label owners. If your into 60’s punk you must pick this CD up….do it!

the sketchy details:

ARTIST: The Outcasts
TRACK: “1523 Blair”
ORIGINAL RELEASE: 45rpm Single (Gallant)
RECENT REISSUE: Acid Dreams (Past and Present) 2009
YEAR: 1966 (I’m guessing….they existed from 1964-1967 and I think this was a later single)

So this here gem is a recent discovery of mine and wowsers….it was like getting teabagged by Sasquatch! I’m a HUGE fan of all things proto-punk and how this band managed to elude me thus far is a mystery….but I’m glad we found each other ‘cause this sounds like the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.

The Edgar Broughton Band were part of the London “underground” in the late sixties. They palled around with the likes of Hawkwind, The Pretty Things, The Pink Fairies et al. How TEBB didn’t achieve the mythical status of their contemporaries is downright astounding. I’m guessing they were just a bit too “punk” a bit too early.

This track sees the boys channeling Captain Beefheart and the Shadows creating a fusion-cover of “Dropout Boogie” by Beefheart and “Apache” originally written by Jerry Lorden and made famous by The Shadows in 1960. The original track was released as a single by EMI subsidiary Harvest in 1971.

“Dropout Apache” starts out innocently enough with a standard cowbell count in then proceeds to barrage you with this face-meltingly heavy yet punk riff with Rob Broughton doing his best (and to these ears bestING) Beefheart…commanding us to turn on, tune in and…you got it…dropout. This slaying riffage is then followed by the familiar “Apache” guitar line….just GENIUS!

Our hero ladies and gents…..

I could do without Peter Jenner explaining the reasons why they created this aural assault at the end of the track….but I’ll look past it because the song is so fucking AWESOME….this is the only version I’ve gotten my grubby lil’ mitts on so far. I ripped this from the re-issue of TEBB’s second album “Sing Brother Sing”….which is solid as a rock in it’s own right. “Dropout Apache” appears as a bonus track and is not included on the original album.

ARTIST: Edgar Broughton Band
TRACK: “Apache Dropout (Peter Jenner Version)” *
ALBUM: “Sing Brother Sing” - EMI/Harvest re-issue w/ bonus tracks
YEAR: 1970/2004

*Originally released as a 7” single in 1971 on Harvest (sans Peter Jenner) b/w “Freedom” (HAR 5032)