THE RATTLES - "The Witch" (1969-1970)

 

In the "If You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" category, the winner is the German band The Rattles.

In 1969, when this record was recorded, the members were Kurt “Zappo” Lüngen playing bass, Rainer Degner on guitar, Peet Becker playing the drums with Henner Hoier doing the vocals.

"The Witch" was released as the 'B' side of a record titled "Geraldine." 

 

The record didn't do well, and by 1970 most of the original band was gone, leaving only Kurt “Zappo” Lüngen from the original band.

The new band re-recorded "The Witch with vocals by Edna Bejarano, with Frank Mille, and Borny Bornhold now playing guitar and drums, and the song became a hit.

They flipped the order of the songs to "The Witch" being the "A" side.

 

There are countless versions of this song on YouTube but I do believe even the one that says it's the original from 1969 is still the 1970 version, so instead of giving you two versions of the same thing, here's a version with Henner Hoier that's sung in German followed by the hit version.

HENNER HOIER &THE RATTLES - "The Witch" (Auf Deutsch) 

 

THE RATTLES - "The Witch" (1970) 

The Supergroup You May Never Have Heard Of - Toy Matinee, "Last Plane Out" (1990)

 

Rich Here. In the late '80s some of LA's new crop of session players gathered together to start Toy Matinee, a band whose only eponymously-named album was a masterpiece of playing and singing and production and intriguing arrangements. 

 

Out front was Kevin Gilbert, a young good looking, charismatic singer whose "knowing" voice was full of personality. Keyboardist Patrick Leonard and guitarist Tim Pierce created an interesting tapestry of sound (some may be aware of Tim Pierce due to his frequent appearances in Rick Beato's videos) -- all underlaid by Guy Pratt's bass and Brian MacLeod's drums.

 

Together, their playing was several notches above the Alternative music that was starting to dominate the charts. Their debut album was a tour de force with an intellectually-inclined bent -- subject matter included surrealistic painter Salvador Dali, a Czech poet, an Eastern European political figure, escaping a war zone, and even a song about Madonna. The songwriting was tight and focused, and the arrangements intriguing, with influences ranging from prog to pop to new wave. And full of hooks. It was the kind of musical ambition that had characterized The Beatles and The Beach Boys. 

 

A couple songs received fairly wide radio play. But, alas, the should-have-been mainstream success was short-circuited. Despite the accessibility of the band's appearance and songs, their complexity and intellectualism was not what the Public was looking for in the Age of Nirvana. As well, each of the band's members were busy with more session work than they could handle, and touring required replacing them with new players who weren't on the album was daunting. 

 

And, then, disastrously, Kevin Gilbert, who'd tried to promote the band and the album, died of tragic circumstance.

 

But they left behind one magnificently-made album.

TOY MATINEE - "Last Plane Out"  

BOBBY & DALLAS - "Vampira and Elvira"

 

Well, All Saints Eve is almost upon us so how about a small tribute to the mistresses of the dark, none other than 'Horror Hostesses' Vampira and Elvira.

"Elvira" was a song written and recorded by a guy named Dallas Frazier in 1966, and has nothing to do with Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira who didn't appear on the pop culture scene until 1981.

This song made it to number 72 on the music charts in 1966. 

It was recorded again in 1970 by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition but was not released as a single. 

In 1981, Dallas Frazier probably made a couple of million dollars when The Oak Ridge Boys recorded "Elvira" again, and it rose to the top of the Country and Billboard charts.

And why not, since the lyrics "Elvira, my heart's on Fi-ra" is probably one of the best rhymes of all time.

DALLAS FRAZIER - "Elvira" 

 

It's just a coincidence that both the song "Elvira" by The Oak Ridge Boys, and the first appearance of Elvira, Mistress of the Night both happened in 1981.

Believe it or not, Cassandra Peterson just recently turned 75. 

 

Besides her appearance in the Ed Wood Classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and other films, Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira had her own hit TV show from 1954 to 1955.

It's said that Vampira was also the model that Disney's Maleficent was based on, and Vampira's look was based on Morticia from The Addams Family. 

What a wild trifecta! 

Oddly enough, Maila's Mother's maiden name was also Peterson. 

Here's the awesome opening introduction from her TV show! 

 

In 1965, Bobby Bare brought out this less than scary looking album with his song "Vampira" on it, which unlike Dallas Frazier's "Elvira" was actually a tribute to Vampira.

Although it's an endearing Halloween classic, it never made it to the top 100.

BOBBY BARE - "Vampira" 

FOUR SONGS THAT REFERENCE FRANKENSTEIN!

 

Over the years there have been countless references to Frankenstein in popular music, so here are just four that I find either good and/or interesting.

Let's start off in 1961 and a song called "You Can Get Him - Frankenstein" that was written by none other than the scary Phil Spector along with Ahmet Ertegun, and Ed Adlum who was a member of the band The Castle Kings who recorded the song. 

 

Great song, but I actually prefer this 2014 version.

EMMY LOU AND THE RHYTHM BOYS - "You Can Get Him Frankenstein"

 

In 1962 The Crystals put out an album called "Twist Uptown" that oddly enough was produced by who else but Phil Spector?

THE CRYSTALS - "Frankenstein Twist"

In 1964 Elvis Presley was in the film "Viva Las Vegas" with Ann Margaret

The Japanese poster for the movie is pretty crazy. 

 

Oddly enough, they chose to only release this four song EP instead of a full soundtrack for the movie.

Maybe they didn't want Ann Margaret to outshine The King, but here's an awesome excerpt from the film featuring both of them, and the lyrics first with Elvis singing "How's about having dinner at eight?" and Ann's reply of "I'd rather dine with Frankenstein."

ELVIS PRESLEY & ANN MARGARET - "The Lady Loves Me"

 

Now here's a weird one you probably were not expecting.

In 1974, Buck Owens And The Buckeroos released an LP titled "(It's A) Monsters' Holiday"

Even weirder, looking at the song titles, this is the only 'monster' song on the record with lyrics like,

"Frankenstein was the first in line, And the Wolfman came up next" 

BUCK OWENS AND THE BUCKEROOS - "(It's A) Monsters' Holiday"

AFTER HOURS with Moe Tucker (1969) and Lord Litter (2011)

 

"After Hours" is the only Velvet Underground song sung only by Maureen "Moe" Tucker, and I also think that it's the sweetest song they ever recorded.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - "After Hours"

 

My good friend Jörg Dittmar, aka the late Lord Litter, felt the same way as I do about this song, and recorded his own sweet version in 2011.

LORD LITTER - "After Hours"

GANG OF FOUR - "Entertainment" (1979)

 

Now here's a song from 1979 by Gang Of Four from their album titled "Entertainment" that anybody and everybody should be able to identify with, because who in the Hell wants to get the disease Anthrax?

That's definitely something I don't want to catch, right up there with the plague!

 So why wasn't this a world wide hit? Beats the heck out of me!

GANG OF FOUR - "Love Like Anthrax" 

FRED ARMISEN - "What A Crackup" (1989-2026)

 

I'm going to go see a Fred Armisen show tonight, and boy, am I excited about it. This guy is so incredibly talented, I have no idea what he's going to come up with for the evening, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be amazing!

 

 

Fred's done so much, there's just no way I can get into all of it, but here's a few highlights of his wild and funny career.

In the late 80's and early 90's, Fred was the drummer in the band Trenchmouth who made music like this!

TRENCHMOUTH - "Doing The Flammability" 

 

As a regular Saturday Night Live cast member, Fred performed in fake bands such as Crisis of Conformity and this Clash-like punk band called Ian Rubbish & The Bizzaros in 2013. Bill Hader had the role of  bassist Derek Gash.

IAN RUBBISH & THE BIZZAROS - "Maggie Thatcher"

 

Since Fred is also fluent in multiple languages, he can pull of things like this 2014 release by Joshua Rainhorn with additional vocals by the daughter of the phenomenal singer Minnie Ripperton, actress Maya Rudolph.

JOSHUA RAINHORN - "Voce Tem"
 

In 2015, Fred was in this very fake easy listening pop/rock band called Blue Jean Committee, again with the help of Bill Hader 

Is there any style of music he can't do? I don't think so! 

BLUE JEAN COMMITTEE - "Catalina Breeze"
 

In 2019 it was a mock up of The Talking Heads, a band called Test Pattern, with Bill Hader on bass.

This video from the "Late Night" TV show is very relatable and hilarious!

TEST PATTERN - "Art + Student = Poor"

So who knows which sides of Fred will show up tonight, but whoever they are, I'm sure this is going to be one helluva night to remember.