It was a strange song; half mused, half sung. Nobody in their right mind would have given it half a chance of being a hit, including Peggy's record company.As she later understated, "There was resistance. They said it was far out..."But one Capitol executive informed Lee that sales of her records had helped build the Capitol Tower, giving her the right to record anything she wanted. And so, the addball Lieber and Stoller song ,clad in Randy Newman's orchestral flourishes, became a fascinating reality. Somehow , despite being distinctly at odds with the music word that surrounded it, Is That All There Is? managed to touched a nerve. Maybe it was because it dropped something approaching fantasy into a chart dominated by The Archies' twee Sugar Sugar. With it, Peggy Lee notched her final great US success.
Availability: Best Of The Capitol Years Capitol CD
79. THE SONICS: Boss Hoss/The Hustler (1965)
IT'S DRIVING as soon as the needle hits the wax, the Parypa brothers laying down a motorvatin' guitar'n'bass groove, ably assisted by Bob Bennett's pounding drums and Rob Lind's distant saxophone grind. This is dragstrip rock'n'roll, 0-60 in five seconds with no-one to touch them. And then it comes , nine seconds in, a glass-grinding declaration'n'growl from Mr Gerry Roslie that shifts the whole thing into another , meaner gear. "Just bought myself a new set of wheels," he barks, "My folks helped me swing the deal/Believe me buddy I'm no fool/I got the money working after school." The second Etiquette single from these Washington-state garage teens, Booss Hoss has it all, a relentless, driving beat, some top-drawer screams from Rosalie and classic, cackling wood-pecker sax solo from Lind. A song without any inhibitions, it's just the thing for when you lose yours. And the best thing is that the B-side appears to be about exactly the guy the kid on Side A will never be, a dude with surfer hair and an even hotter rod who gets all the girls cos he treat'em mean. Teenage symphonies to Satan.
Availability: Psycho-Sonic Ace CD
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