Standells
Hot Ones - Tower 1966
Tracks: 1. Last Train To Clarksville / 2. Wild Thing / 3. Sunshine Superman / 4. Sunny Afternoon / 5. Li'l Red Riding Hood / 6. Eleanor Rigby / 7. Black Is Black / 8. Summer In The City / 9. You Were The One / 10. Schoolgirl / 11. Ten O'clock Scholar / 12. When I Was A Cowboy / 13. Don't Ask Me What To Do / 14. Misty Lane / 15. Standell's Love Theme
Comments:
The fact that the Standells chose for their third album to release a collection of cover versions of contemporary hits, was hardly a wise strategic move for their future career. After two solid albums, consisting mainly of new original material and among those several great tunes, it seems something of a setback for the group to release a cover version album.
The group never got their big break-through, but did optain a top twenty place with the single "Dirty Water". All this said, what we have is a solid, though not particularly innovative, collection of cover versions of contemporary hits. The raw Standells sound is present on most tracks, and in a few cases, Standells versions have probably aged more gracefully than the originals. The Standells version of "Lil Red Riding Hood" works really excellent.
Otherwise you have look at the bonus tracks to find something really exciting. "Misty Lane" on a par with the group's best recordings, and classic garage rock.
Producer Ed Cobb, has written two Mersybeat-inspired ballads "You Were the One" and "Ten O'Clock Scholar", where especially the latter is quite charming, but probably not something you would expect from a group like the Standells. The same can probably be said for "School Girl" that stylistically could have fit well into the team last album "Try It", which was strange mixture of various styles anyway. "When I Was a Cowboy" and "Do not Tell Me What to Do" are two unpretentious cuts, the first has a certain charm, while the latter is just tiresome.
No doubt that this album is Standells' least interesting, but not without good moments.
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