Little Black Egg

It Seems that other folks want this album so badly they will steal it from me. Course a few of them I did give to them also. The very first one I owned came on black vinyl LP at 33rpm I even had to record it to an eight track recorder I had. Well to tell the truth the first time I recorded it was to a 4 track. That is how old it was and I wasn't. Then I bought an 8 track recorder and recorded it to the thing that was going to revolutionize the world of music the infamous eight track tape player. Then we finally got to cassette players that were OK still not that good. now we have blue ray DVD boy how thing that have changed remain the same. O bye the way I do know the guys who are in this band. I did not know them back when they were a group but later I lived in the 80's and 90's in Daytona Beach. Sylvan Wells rebuilds classic guitars Not to bad for an Esquire. is it.dray

Oh! What memories! I learned to play guitar with the title track in the mid 60s. Makes me remember going to dances with live bands playing in the old days before disco. This disk will make you old timers like myself want to dance again. This is from a time when making music was fun not big business. A must for anyone who was a teenger during these times. I also remember how practicing "The Little Black Egg" on guitar kept my family up at night. Thanks for the memories.

GREAT

Along with "Louie Louie," this Florida band's 1965 single "The Little Black Egg" is one of the most enigmatic (and catchy) tunes in pop history. Primitively recorded, the single had to be released three times before it caught on at the bottom of the Billboard charts. Still, regional play made it a garage band staple in the mid-60s, and its catchy guitar riff and childlike lyrics still fare well today. In typical "That Thing You Do" fashion, the original NightCrawlers lineup had broken up by the time the single began to catch, and a reforumulated group filled out an LP and recorded a few more singles before evaporating. The band's sole LP release, included here in its entirety, adds several more Beau Brummel-esque folk-rock originals, highly influenced by the British Invasion, all rendered in superbly basic garage-rock style.For all the tracks that were gathered to flesh out this one-hit-wonder band, this collection is oddly unsatisfying as the ultimate statement on the band's recorded history. In particular, the tracks are sequenced oddly, neither following the order of singles releases, nor duplicating the band's Kapp LP. The latter can be reproduced as 1, 12, 5, 6, 7, 2, 10, 11, 4, 13, though even there you'll find that the version of "If You Want My Love" removes the dubbing Kapp added for the LP (which, like it or not, is how it was issued). The title tune has a nasty squeak (one of the drummer's pedals?) not evident on the original LP, and the tape used for "Me for Me" is surprisingly hissy. The album tracks are all mono (which makes sense, since the stereo LP - which sounds surprisingly good - was electronically produced), except for "Little Black Egg," which was recorded in true stereo. Several of the bonus tracks (8, 14-15, 17-22, 24) are true stereo. Also surprising is that the latter-day single "My Butterfly" is missing. Overall, this simply doesn't sound as good as the original vinyl; perhaps the tapes had deteriorated by the time they got around to making a digital transfer.Alec Palao's liner notes put the band in context, and extensive remembrances from the band make for good reading (and provide the songwriters' explanation of the origin of "The Little Black Egg."). This is absolutely worth picking up, whether or not you have the original vinyl. If you don't have the vinyl, it's a quick and fairly thorough introduction to the band. If you do have the vinyl, the extra tracks (including a fine acoustic demo of "Washboard" and the previously unreleased Brummelesque "He Shouldn't Hurt You") are worth the price of this CD; just hang on to your original records, as this CD is not an equal substitute.4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings.

Twenty-four track compilation of this little known '60's band, coming to you from Daytona Beach, Florida. Best described as garage rock with a folk edge to it. Way I discovered this band was I heard a song of theirs on the 'Nuggets II' 4-CD box set. Better tunes include their sole hit, the disc's title cut "The Little Black Egg", "Basket Of Flowers", "I Don't Remember", their Kinks cover "All Day And All Of The Night" as well as their two Stones covers "Grown Up Wrong" and "Heart Of Stone". Line-up: Rob Rouse - harmonica & vocals, Sylvan Wells - guitar, Charlie Conlon - bass & vocals, Pete Thompson - rhythm guitar & vocals and Tommy Ruger - drums. Might draw in fans of Shadows Of Knight, Byrds, Barbarians, The Haunted and Beau Brummels. Give this CD a listen.

"Little Black Egg" is one of those gems you never forget. It has also been covered by the Cars on their 2-CD anthology, (and probably unintentionally) by the Gin Blossoms on their tune "Allison Road". There's plenty of other good music on the album, but it's missing "Won't You Say Yes To Me Girl", one of the best songs on the "Little Black Egg" album.

It is a cool compact disc to listen to when I want to listen to some groovy music I enjoy listening to.