The Fuzztones have always been renowned for ensuring that every live performance is a unique experience - as frontman Rudi Protrudi puts it, “if you weren't there, you missed out! Until now, that is.”
Because, heading your way on November 6 is a collection of songs that even the most devoted fan might well have missed out on hearing - beginning today with a cover of The Lyres’ “Help You Ann,” still a relatively new release when this version was performed and recorded at primo garage scene hang-out The Dive in New York City in 1985. And it’s been locked away in the vault ever since.
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_helpyouann
As were the remainder of the tracks on this one-of-a-kind collection.
Rudi explains, “What we have here is a collection of super-rare live tracks that were performed once - and only once - but, due to the miracle of modern technology, you get to hear them NOW!
“Of particular interest,” he continues, “is the band's choice of cover songs.” Like “Help You Ann,” The Cheepskates’ ”Run Better Run" was also recorded at The Dive, at the Fuzztones’ final NYC appearance before heading over to Europe for the first time.
“As the band would be AWOL for almost three months, they decided to show unity to the scene by covering a few tunes by other bands on the scene.” (He adds, “The band also covered ‘She Told Me Lies’ by The Chesterfield Kings, but as that appears on the album Snake Oil, it is not included here.”)
But there’s a lot more as well! From Richard Berry’s “Louie Louie” - the song that launched a full fledged FBI investigation after concerned parents complained that their kids were singing all manner of obscenities to the record’s mumbled lyric; to “Louie Louie Go Home,” an answer song recorded by a host of talents, among them the young David Bowie, leading his band The King Bees through their very first b-side.
Bobby Belfiore of The Optic Nerve joins the ‘tones on “Hard Times”; the untrammeled spirit of Van Morrison and Them haunts the raucous “Baby Please Don’t Go”; “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet,” Psyclone” and “How Many Times” date from a 1982 show at another New York venue, Great Gildersleeves; “Hidden Charms” from Irving Plaza just before Christmas, 1984. \
“Sorcerella” digs deep into the American rock archive for a 1969 Jefferson Lee b-side; “The Rebel Kind” was a 1965 flip side for Dino Martin, Desi Arnaz Jr and Billy Hinsche… this collection is more than a simple live compilation. It’s the gateway to a glimpse inside the kind of record collection that we all wish we owned! With plenty of Fuzztones included!
Largely recorded during what many fans regard as the prime Fuzztones era of the early-to-mid 1980s, both at home and abroad (Mouse & The Traps’ 1966 epic “Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice” was recorded in the UK in 1985), the album leaps forward, too, to European dates in 2011 and 2017 - a reminder (as if you need such a thing) that The Fuzztones, like the music they make, remain as earthshakingly voluptuous today as their influences were up to 60 years ago!
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=the+fuzztones+just+once
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_justonce
Track Listing
1. Help You Ann (Live at The Dive, NYC 1985)
2. Run Better Run (Live at The Dive, NYC 1985)
3. Numbers (Live at The Dive, NYC 1985)
4. Hidden Charms (Live at Irving Plaza, NYC Dec. 14, 1984)
5. Hard Times feat. Bobby Belfiore of the Optic Nerve (Live at The Dive, NYC 1984)
6. How Many Times (Live at Great Gildersleeves, NYC 1982)
7. Louie Louie (Rehearsal, NYC 1984)
8. Louie Go Home (Live at Electric Banana, Pittsburgh, PA. April 26,1984)
9. Psyclone (Live at CBGB; NYC 1982)
10. The Rebel Kind (Live at Left Banke, Mt. Vernon, NY. 1983)
11. We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet (Live at CBGB, NYC 1983)
12. Baby Please Don’t Go (Rehearsal, NYC 1984)
BONUS TRACKS [CD ONLY]
13. Sorcerella (Live in Europe 2011)
14. Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice (Live in England 1985)
15. Five To One (Excerpt) (Live at Blah Blah, Torino, Italy 14-11-2017)
Just Once! The Fuzztones’ New Single “Help You Ann” Was Performed Just Once In Concert. Thankfully, Somebody Recorded it!
