Customer Reviews

In Person

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want to get this CD because you want a copy of Louie Louie with the crowd noises dubbed-in and the great introduction: "Here they are, the fabulous Louie Louie boys...."(as it is presented on the LP) don't bother with this selection. This CD offers the original release without the dubbing--and this is a disappointment. The crowd noises create a nice varient to this classic song, and you probably have it without the dubbing elsewhere in your collection. The rest of the material is perhaps more nostalgic than exciting--although the CD does have its moments.

I bought this CD a few years ago, partly because it had the B-side "Haunted Castle". The only good copy of the song I had was on the noisy 45 RPM out of my sister's record collection (she hates all that old music now---lucky me, since she doesn't even miss the records I appropriated). "Louie, Louie" was the A-side.

Before I get into my only gripe against this CD, I'll briefly say what it is I like about it. Then I'll get back to the album itself in a minute. My regard for the music I owe in large part to the fact that I was approaching my next level of evolution when it came along, and I imprinted this and a lot of other music of the time onto my eager young psyche. It may not appeal to the younger listener. There are no extraneous exhibitionist guitar pyrotechnics here. It's minimalist and scruffy, strictly from the heart & soul, with just a dash of sham on the side. On the live material, they're like priests of Dionysus on a tear playing to a mass of drunken Greeks at an oversized frat party. Not literally, but it sounded like they were having a good time. Put the platter on the same spindle with Rusty Warren and Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts to recapture that time. Don't forget the booze and the sand on the floor, sticky and dirty.

As for "Haunted Castle", I loved that gritty, bare-foot, R&B dance instrumental. It was a trip to the amusement park funhouse. It was eerie, it was pagan, it was primitive, mating rite-of-passage stuff. It was great, to my impressionable preadolescent brain, and my older sister must have thought so too, because she played the 45 over & over & over (as was the custom in those days), with the raunchy sounding flip "Louie, Louie", at high volume when the parents were gone. It smelled like---freedom. I looked forward to those things that I would do when I got older, like get drunk & have sex, and play music loud. Yeeeee-haaaaaaayyyyy!!

Anxious to hear a good clean copy of "Haunted Castle" after so many years, I was totally dismayed, outraged, and disgusted, when I got to track 13 (how appropriate) & found that the beloved tune was inexplicably mutilated. About 2 minutes 11 seconds into the recording, a few crucial seconds of the last guitar ride (and the rest of the music) is brutally chopped out. What insensitive, incompetent dolt is reponsible for this? Did somebody nod out at the control panel during remastering, then catch themselves a few seconds later to switch off the pause button, figuring nobody would notice anyway? That's kind of like hearing: "My fellow Americans, ask not what your for your country." Just words, just a few seconds missing---right?

I can't stand to hear it. I made a digital transfer of the recording from off the 45 record, which is a shame, but what the hey---at least it's intact, and the scratchy sound adds character. Be forewarned: if you love this song as I do, this version has a serious flaw. Unless Sundazed, or whoever is responsible for the master, cleaned up their act and this is a re-release of the CD I have, which I doubt, track 13 is defective. If anyone knows anything to the contrary, please say so. There are no flaws on the read surface of my CD, it plays the same whatever player I use, and anyway I have another Kingsmen collection CD with the song on it ("The Very Best Of" on Varese Vintage)---and it has the identical flaw. So it's not a skip issue. I hope that they haven't ruined the original master. If they did, they need to splice in the missing piece from a good vinyl copy.

Aside from that, I love this CD. As per a previous review here, I think I have an old scratched up vinyl of this lp somewhere in my record collection, I'll check to compare crowd sounds. They probably did change it. Some of these tunes belong on the same homemade CD with "House Of The Rising Sun", "Hello Stranger" (another favorite of my Sis), "Green Onions", "Big Boss Man", "Heatwave", "Fingertips", and the like, maybe "Dancing In The Street" or even the throwback "Double Shot" if you're not stuck in period. Interspersed with "Out Of Limits", "Pipeline", "Since I Fell For You", "Our Day Will Come", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Cast Your Fate To The Wind", "Route 66 Theme", and so forth. The "Twilight Zone" theme wouldn't be out of place here. A shady region where the line between black and white becomes blurred and forgotten.

Although I love the Beatles, I like the Kingsmen version of "Money" better than theirs. It's grittier and it cooks. "Bent Scepter" (ha ha, get it?) is a moody instrumental 3 bar musically similar to "Money" that could remind one of staggering across the dance floor with the ceiling spinning, a bad hangover, or maybe crawling out of a primordial swamp. "The Waiting", yeah, like that one, surreal (the B-side "The Climb" ain't included). "Louie, Louie", of course. I like 'em all on this CD, pretty much, some better than others, the live with crowd sound is cool. Just a bunch of raucous alley cats yowling for mates. They definitely filled a niche back then in those days just prior to the British Invasion. America's Rolling Stones, before the Rolling Stones, before the Animals. But then, they were all just white boys copping the black man's blues. Nothing wrong with that. Let it spread, we all got the blues now.

© 2005 RAPWreckerds

This is one of my favorite pop rock songs from one of my favorite garage bands of the 60's. The legend of Louie Louie started(according to sources)with a Jamaican sailor love song and the tune from the song Cha Cha Loco by the Cuban composer Rene Tauzet. The late Richard Berry who was familiar with both songs combined the lyrics and the tune together and Louie Louie was created. The tune used in Louie Louie is similar to another Jamaican/Cuban song Havana Moon(see Santana Havana Moon album) apparently both of these songs were contemporary with each other and popular among the Jamaican sailors who traveled through the Islands back in those days. Many bands have recorded the song including Paul Revere & the Raiders who claim to be the first rock band to record it. However, credit goes to The Kingsmen from Portland Oregon U.S. They will always be remembered for making by far the best recording. It became a sensation and a national hit. If you want more information check the web site on Richard Berry or Louie Louie and read the book "The Story of Louie Louie". Well my friend hasta lavista and remember "Louie Louie,oh baby me gotta go"!

This is the album that started it all, and this is the album that brought the "Northwest Sound" to national attention. Any kid growing up in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland or Spokane in the early 60s will remember that the Kingsmen was just one of many bands that played fast, soulful, R&B influenced DANCE music. Most of the tunes recorded here were being done by virtually every Northwest band (before the British Invasion), including Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Wailers (not the reggae group), the Dynamics (with Larry Coryell on guitar), the Viceroys, the Dave Lewis Trio, and every other garage band and wannabe group.

Before the British Invasion, R&B ruled in the hearts of Seattle's teens, which is evidenced by tunes like "Twist and Shout" (before the Beatles did their cover), "Night Train" and "Fever" (which is still done by some jazz artists). The Kingsmen's humorous side can be found on the hokey, but hilarious, "Long Tall Texan." "J.A.J" (originally done by the Dynamics) was a local favorite with rumors flying around about what those initials stood for.

It's too bad that the only tune that gets airplay off this album is "Louie, Louie." We used to love that song, but I think most of us are sick of it from overplay on all the oldies stations and in several movies. If you want a taste of what the Northwest was listening to while rock and roll was being invaded by Pat Boone and Bobby Vinton, this album is one of the best samples still available. Who knows, you may want to jump to your feet and do "the pony?"

This was the first album by the Kingsmen, featuring "Louie, Louie", the all time garage band classic. It is supposedly a "live" album, but it's really a studio album with applause dubbed in. There is one other hit besides "Louie, Louie", that being a cover version of the Motown classic "Money". The rest of the album features a mix of group originals and cover versions of recent hits. About half of the album consists of instrumentals. This is a solid garage band album from the group that started the whole garage band thing.

Purchased for a Christmas present. Came quickly and in good order. Excellent transaction

Why didn't Sundaze use the version of Louie Louie with the audience sounds edited in--as the original LP did?
We have the standard version of LL all over the place; it would have been nice if Sundaze would have used the "live" version.