The Primitives

Reformed three years ago, THE PRIMITIVES now release their comeback album Echoes And Rhymes (Elefant) though rather than new material it turns out to be retro concept collection of covers of female fronted songs from the 60s and early 70s that stays true to the era but also mixes in the band’s own jangling sound.

They’ve resisted the temptation of going for the obvious and, save for a Tracy Tracy’s faithful reading of Sandy Posey’s Single Girl, none of the choices were ever hits and most of them are thoroughly obscure.

The album opens with Panic, the B side of Saturday Night Didn’t Happen, the follow up flop to Captain Of Your Ship by one hit wonders Reparata & The Delrons. Perhaps better known will be Jackie De Shannon song Till You Say You’ll Be Mine, though the version here hews closer to Olivia Newton John’s 1966 cover, and I’m Not Sayin’, Paul Court taking lead on the folksy Gordon Lightfoot number that provided a 1965 single for Nico.

Dutch outfit Shocking Blue were another UK one hit wonder with Venus in 1970 and their past is raked over here for a country tinged cover of Time Slips Away off their 1973 album Dream On Dreamer. Devotees of all girl 60s groups may recall The She Trinity, a brief-lived Canadian/British outfit best known for their cover of Bobby Fuller Four hit, retitled He Fought The Law. With Court again taking vocals and a lot more bongos and feedback, Wild Flower was both the B side of their second single, Have I Sinned, and the A side of the follow up.

The most successful name to be covered here is actress/singer Dana Gillespie, her 1967 debut album Foolish Seasons yielding the dreamy Where Will You Be? The rest though are all deeply and tantalisingly obscure.

The B side of Lolita Ya Ya from the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita, the poppy Turn Off The Moon was sung by its 14 year old star Sue Lyon who, as well as The Night Of The Iguana and Tony Rome, went on to appear in a film titled Crash, which, of course was also the name of The Primitives signature classic.

Elsewhere, The Witch is a psychedelic groove from German duo Adam And Eve that was covered by his then wife, legendary 60s sex scandal madam, Janie Jones, I Surrender’s the 1969 B side Tamla pop stomper that made Dutch singer Bonnie St Clair a favourite with the Mod scene, and, sung in French, the bouncy la la la-ing Amoureux D’Une Affiche was a 196 home grown Ye-Ye hit for Dutch/French singer Laura Ulmer.

But you’ll really score serious trivia points if you’ve ever heard of Le Grand Mellon, a mid 60s New York female singer who released three singles on Columbia, of which the freak beat Mod styled Move It On Over was the last. Or Polly Niles, a 60s American folkie who recorded for Ember who even the band had never heard of until they were half way through the album and whose Something For A Rainy Day Mind gets a carbon copy treatment.

At the end of the day, it’s probably all a rather pointless project, but it’s also great listening.