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UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL 2011: BOHEMIAN VENDETTA
The folks at Bomp! Records had begun having some success in marketing garage rock and psychedelic rock compilation albums in the Pebbles series and others, so when punk rock came to the fore in the late 1970’s, they decided to have some fun and try to clandestinely introduce young punk rock fans to the glory days of 1960’s punk. They packaged an album that would have been a great addition to Pebbles, put a picture of a punk rock girl on the cover (complete with piercings and safety pins), and chose a suitable double entendre as the album title, Ear-Piercing Punk. The album cover was in Day-Glo pink, and the song titles and band names were typed on strips of paper in the manner of many genuine 1970’s punk rock compilation albums of that period. The album gave no clue as to its origin except for a “Made in U.S.A.” label; it was released by the fictitious Trash Records, and the only credit on the album was “Ripov Design–Ida No”. There was one clue for 1960’s rock fans though: The second track was “Ubangi Stomp” by the Trashmen, who were responsible for a delightfully peculiar surf rock hit in 1963 called “Surfin’ Bird”.
Well, I was totally fooled and was not a bit disappointed when I discovered what was really on the record. The songs include one of Bomp! Records founder Greg Shaw’s personal favorites, “Bottle up and Go” by the Mile Ends (that factoid was included in the liner notes for a compilation album of the Pebbles compilation albums, Essential Pebbles, Volume One). There was also a song called “She Ain’t No Use to Me” by one of the best 1960’s Canadian rock bands, the Ugly Ducklings. I just picked up a reissue of their original 1967 album last year, Somewhere Outside, and I have thoroughly enjoyed their late 1970’s reunion album that I have had for years, Off the Wall. Another is my favorite version of the absolute best anti-prejudice protest song, “Mister You’re a Better Man than I” by a band called the Herde. (First verse: “Can you judge a man, / by the way he wears his hair? / Can you read his mind, / by the clothes that he wears? / Can you see a bad man, / by the pattern on his tie? / Well then, mister, you’re a better man than I . . .”). “Mister You’re a Better Man than I” was written by two of the guys in Manfred Mann, though the better-known version is by the Yardbirds, so that is high praise indeed. A wacky version of “Jailhouse Rock” is included by Dean Carter, who also performs the scorching “Rebel Woman”. The album opens with a great version of “I’m a Hog for You Baby” by the Groupies; that might be the coolest Leiber/Stoller (i.e., Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) song of them all – “Jailhouse Rock” (a big hit song for Elvis Presley, not to mention a movie, Jailhouse Rock) is another of their many, many classics. And there was another song that still stood out, though it was almost tame by comparison to a lot of these other great songs: “Enough” by a band called BOHEMIAN VENDETTA.
Bohemian Vendetta came from Long Island, NY. The band leader of what was originally called the Bohemians was Arthur Muglia (also known as Brian Cooke), who sang lead vocals and played organ. His cousin Victor Muglia was the bass player; the other bandmembers were Randy Pollock (rhythm guitar), Richie Sorrentino (drums), and Richard Martinez (lead guitar). This line-up recorded two demo acetate singles, “Irresistible” b/w “Petrified, Like Stoned” (later called “Like Stoned”) and “I Don’t Go that Way” b/w “All Kinds of Lows and All Kinds of Highs”.
After neither disc went anywhere, the lead guitarist and drummer quit to be replaced by Nick Manzi and Chuck Monica, respectively. The newly rechristened Bohemian Vendetta recorded three more songs: “Enough” plus “Half the Time” and “How Does it Feel”. United Artists Records picked up the first two songs and released them as a single in the spring of 1967. “Enough” got some local radio play and even had a spot on Dick Clark’s “Rate-a-Record” on American Bandstand. This was, er, enough to get the band some better gigs; they opened for Vanilla Fudge and also another Long Island band the Vagrants. (The Vagrants had a regional hit song with Otis Redding’s “Respect” before Aretha Franklin’s version of “Respect” propelled them from the charts; bandmembers included Leslie West, later a member of the hard rock band Mountain).
Bohemian Vendetta recorded demos of several more songs and came to the attention of Bob Shad’s Mainstream Records. His company was famous for releasing albums by unknown bands for the nascent “underground” FM radio market and is known for their pedestrian production values and minimal promotion efforts. Mainstream Records does have some prominent albums to its credit, however, including the first album by Big Brother and the Holding Company (not long after Janis Joplin joined up) and the first three albums by the Amboy Dukes, Ted Nugent’s early band (including their big hit “Journey to the Center of the Mind”).
The Amboy Dukes’ raw treatment of Big Joe Williams’ “Baby, Please Don’t Go” from their first album was included on the original Nuggets compilation album and already features Ted Nugent’s signature guitar licks. Additionally, and incredibly, “Baby, Please Don’t Go” was originally the “A” side of the early single by Van Morrison’s band Them that includes the immortal “Gloria” on the flip. In his book Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles, rock historian Paul Williams has said of this record (as quoted in Wikipedia): “Into the heart of the beast . . . here is something so good, so pure, that if no other hint of it but this record existed, there would still be such a thing as rock and roll. . . . Van Morrison’s voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind.”
Bohemian Vendetta had already recorded demos of most of the songs on the album for Mainstream Records, but Bob Shad insisted that they re-record them in early 1968; and the results did not capture the feel of the demos, which were more representative of how the band actually sounded. Nearly all of their material was written by the band, but Shad wanted them to record the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction”. Their last recording efforts were helping out on an album called Introspection by another Long Island garage rock artist, Faine Jade. The Mainstream Records album, Enough finally came out in the fall of 1968; but Mainstream did nothing to promote the album or its lone single, “Riddles and Fairytales” b/w “I Wanna Touch Your Heart”, so the band broke up in late 1968.
If I find a garage rock song on one of the many compilation albums in my collection that I truly love, I will often try to track down a retrospective album by the band to see what else they have recorded. In this case, I found a 22-track CD on Distortions Records called Enough. Unlike many such albums, which are basically a collection of miscellaneous, unconnected songs, the Bohemian Vendetta CD really sounds like an album. Highlights include the early single "Like Stoned" (which has the feel of a Dutch “Nederpop” song with its offbeat tune and unusual vocal style), their last single “Riddles and Fairytales” (both the album version and the 45 version are included), “Charity Killjoy” (which was bumped from the Mainstream Records album in favor of “Satisfaction”), the willfully eccentric “Paradox City”, and of course “Enough”, a plaintive plea from a guy who is fed up with his girlfriend.
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The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.
Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn
Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters
Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland
Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I
Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop
May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up
Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica
Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock
Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop
Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota
Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II
Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter
Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave
Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock
Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s)
Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s)
Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s)
May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly
Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians
Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I
Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men
Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas
Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery
Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s)
Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s)
Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated?
Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave
Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music
Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III
May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders
Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I
Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II
Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I
Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History
Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II
Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide
Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV
Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival
Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray
Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs
Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language
May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan
Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I
Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II
Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V
Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock
Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III
Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I
Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II
Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III
Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV
Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V
Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren
Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren
Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones
May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree
Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III
Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music)
Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan)
Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles)
Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV
Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V
Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II
Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music)
Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan)
Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones)
Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles)
Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock)
Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide
Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands
Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music
Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics
Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop
Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock
Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock
Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands
Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums
Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles
(Year 10 Review)
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