The Bruthers
Bad Way To Go

(Sundazed)

www.sundazed.com

Too often in the world of garage 45 collecting, a music fans scores a golden find...some awesome pairing of garage genius...inspiring the scout to want to delve more into this band's output..."I've juts gotta hear more of this band, whoever they were,"...only to discover that the 45 he's stumbled onto represents their entire released output. The legacy begins and ends there with that one piece of seven inch plastic.

Such has long been the case for fans of Pearl River, New York's The Bruthers. The quartet of the Delia brothers (who represent only about one-third of the Delia siblings) have but one entry on their discography, that being an RCA single in 1966, that paired two explosive "bad" songs ("Bad Way To Go" and "Bad Love") that became classics with garage collectors everywhere. But unfortunately, garage collectors were in short supply in mid 1966, and at the time of release the scarcely promoted single moved neither no one nor nowhere. And though RCA let them record material for subsequent releases, the label changed their mind about follow-ups before the pressing stage.

But recently, Sundazed Records managed to gather the lone single, the shelved RCA tracks, plus some choice cuts of meat from the personal individual archives of the four members of the group, and pieces all these scraps together for an eleven track CD, Bad Way To Go.

Suddenly having their available recorded output multiplied almost by six is kind of like managing to finally squeeze enough drops of ketchup for your burger from what is essentially an empty bottle. But Sundazed has done such a thing.

As this collection proves, The Bruthers were not an outstanding group. They weren't innovators or overlooked geniuses. They were, quite simply, a fun group. They capture the true spirit of 1960s garage...some nice young kids playing music for the fun of it. When they sing "My Generation," you know they don't really mean the angst Pete Townshend's lyrics express. You know they're just singing a favorite record of theirs. And though sometimes their own lyrics hint at punk and rebellion, it's hard to take that feeling too seriously upon seeing reproductions inside the booklet of telegrams from Mom and Dad wishing them success.

None of this detracts from the musical content. In fact, if anything, it makes it more enjoyable, and reassures us how even though a slightly older band may sound tighter, more adventurous, more original, none of these are a substitute for fresh-faced youth.

The roller coaster ride of sound that is "Bad Way To Go" kicks off the set. Like a roller coaster, it's fast, surprises pop up here and there, and you're never quite sure where it's going to turn next, even if you think you can see ahead, and when it's all over, you take a long breath of relief. Yes, you did like it.

The flipside, "Bad Love," isn't nearly as fast (until the end when it speeds up like a runaway train trying to catch up with "Bad Way To Go") and is a happy sounding number (albeit with less than happy lyrics) that could stand as proto power-pop. In fact, it almost qualify as jangly pop, as some of the lead guitar lines suggest the guitarist wished the whole time he had a Rickenbacker 12 string.

"The Courtship Of Rapunzel," the proposed second single, is uptempo garage in the style of The Sonics' "Cinderella," ie garage band sings to fairy tale character in modern day concept. It's fun, but sloppy in parts while very tight in others. It's the punkish song on the set, with the singer putting forth some anguish cries for the long-haired damsel.

By contrast, "Don't Forget To Cry" is one of the most pop, but only in places. It's as if The Bruthers couldn't decide whether to go for a pop feel or a garage feel, and changed their minds back and forth throughout the song. It's slightly Young Rascals-ish in feel, before giving way to the same double-time segments heard on every track so far.

"Just Had To Cry" sounds almost uncannily like a long-lost Remains selection...except The Remains' harmonies were usually quite together. Here, the siblings warble rather warbously. And yes, they throw in another double-time rave-up.

All of the selections so far come from April through October 1966. We next take a trip backwards to the previous year for an early demo, where the group trods through a piano-dominated cover of "I Wanna Be Your Man." Seemingly based on The Beatles' version rather than The Stones' (though it's only a partial match), this take turns the instrumental break into a 12 bar blues showcases first for the grand piano, and then for some surfy sounding guitar that hints at "Pipeline" for a moment.

We go back to 1966 for a fine pop-minded original, "Walk Out In The Sun," laced with a fuzz-tone lead guitar line kept in check, preventing it from turning the song into another "Satisfaction," though harpsichord and vibraphone do their own part to keep that from happening.

We then jump to one of two 1967 recordings on the set, both covers. First is that cover of "My Generation" referred to earlier. While it's a spirited cover (despite some questionable bass solos), it's a hard listen, for a reason having nothing to do with the performance: The tape sounds quite worn and warped, and I personally was tempted to skip over it the first time I heard it for this very reason.

Back to 1965 for the dark and mysterious "I'm Gonna Be Alone," drenched in reverb over minor chords and pounding threatening drums.

A cover of The Blues Project's "Wake Me Shake Me" returns us to 1967, but unfortunately also returns us to the same warped reel of tape from which "My Generation" came. Equally unfortunate is that it's not just the tape quality that sinks this performance...for an upbeat stage number, this sounds rather forced. When Al Kooper sang "And I gotta say yeah, I gotta say yeah" he sounded like he really had to...but when The Bruthers try the same thing, they sound like they only do so because they think these are the actual lyrics.

The disc closes with the instrumental backing track for "The Court Of Rapunzel." Including instrumental tracks is generally regarded in the world of reissues as a sign that the well was on the dry side.

So all in all, Bad Way To Go won't amaze you, nor will it have you henceforth placing The Bruthers in the same sentences you'd place The Seeds and The Chocolate Watchband. What it will do is remind you how much fun it was to be in a band at such a young age, and why, to paraphrase David Crosby, no matter what musical paths your life takes you down, you never ever forget the magic of that first band.

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