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What’s up everyone? I trust you are doing well out there. Summer is here officially, although we’ve had some three-digit temperature days already this year here in North Carolina. Hopefully you are keeping cool. Of course, if you are reading this in the southern hemisphere then this probably won’t apply to you. In which case, I hope you are keeping warm. Lol. Enough about the world’s weather patterns and let’s get on with this.
Some weeks I feel like I could write about anything and everything and other weeks I struggle to pick just one. That’s just down to me and my moods and how the ol’ noggin is feeling. Generally, I prefer to go with whatever I am feeling at the time, although I sometimes have things in mind for a future staff pick. This week it’s a combination of the two. I have wanted to mention my regard for this band here in these pages for a while and today whilst looking through a box of records we bought over the weekend for something to play in-store I found one of their records in it. As the record played, it seemed like now was the time.
The group in question is SRC from Michigan, USA who were active for about five years during the late 1960s through to the early 1970s. They were a part of a very flourishing scene in southeast Michigan. The teen bands of the area were influenced by the British Invasion but the tougher end of the spectrum and of course the sounds of Detroit and Motown. The members of SRC served their apprenticeships in various local bands, notably The Fugitives and The Chosen Few. The former being the house band at premier teen hangout The Hideout. There is an LP of bands that played the Hideout and some notable names such as Bob Seger and The Last Heard, The Pleasure Seekers (with a young Suzi Quatro) to name two groups put out early singles on the Hideout label. The other notable label at the time releasing new band sounds was A-Square run by local impresario Jeep Holland and it was he that put the members of The Fugitives together with Scott Richardson, lead singer from The Chosen Few. The band’s name at first was The Scott Richard Case, formed by shortening the singer’s name and adding the last of the guitarist. Jeep Holland taught the band a lot about stage presence and being in a band, and was instrumental in exposing the group to some of the hot new sounds coming from across the Atlantic. He had the band record a cover of Cream’s I’m So Glad before it hit in the US and as a result The Scott Richard Case scored a sizable local hit with their cover.
The group were popular with the local audiences as they covered the best of the new rock ‘n roll from the US and UK acts as well as their own material. They also had the flash Carnaby Street stage threads to go with it, famously making special trips to New York City to buy clothes. Eventually, though, the groups’ ambitions to play their own music clashed with the ideas of Jeep Holland and they parted ways. Through their new manager and producer, they were introduced to Capitol Records and scored a multiple album deal. The name was shortened to simply SRC and their debut album was released in the autumn of 1968.
That self-titled album contained all original compositions and combined the band’s interest in Eastern music, poetry and philosophy with good Detroit style rock. The album was a local hit and entered the Billboard charts for a few weeks and the lead single called Black Sheep was a definite highlight. Ex-manager Holland was a little peeved at losing the band, understandably as he had seen Bob Seger and The Rationals go to Capitol also. As a response, he released an earlier SRC cover version of The Pretty Things’ Get The Picture credited to The Old Exciting Scott Richard Case. I like their version of the tune and you should check it out. If you see the compilation on A-Square whilst digging in your local store, I highly recommend you pick it up. You’ll get these early SRC sides along with a ton of other cool stuff from the likes of The Rationals and MC5.
With the success of the first album came a decent advance from Capitol to record the follow up. With this cash and money earned from gigging, the band invested in building their own studio at their band house and were thus able to spend more time practicing and recording than if they had to rely on outside studio time, etc. The resulting album was titled Milestones, and came out in the spring of 1969. The record did well, better than the first, and gained the band fans abroad as well. Radio DJ John Peel was a big fan. His support helped the band get exposure in the UK to the point where EMI considered their records worthy enough to be released in their European markets. I like this record. There’s pop, psych and rock songs in equal measure. All originals apart from a medley of In The Hall Of The Mountain King with Beck’s Bolero, a feature of their live shows. I have always enjoyed Jeff Beck and Beck’s Bolero is a great tune. SRC cover it well. Highlight of the record, though, for me, is the song Up All Night, a total ripper. A true Detroit rock gem. The tune was released as a single but got buried in the aftermath of a backlash against songs with supposed drug references. Shame, it’s such a banger. Finding a copy of the 45 took me a while, but I’m so glad to own one. I love it. If you only bought Milestones for this song, it would be money well spent.
As far as finding their records, it has never been too easy, though. The first one is considered their “best” and most psychedelic and contains the hit Black Sheep, and thus is the most in demand. Copies do turn up but expect to pay a little for a nice one. The second, Milestones, sold well and strangely is not so in demand and thus can be picked up at a cheaper cost. We have one priced quite low in the store currently for a canny local. The third, Traveler’s Tale, released in 1970 was not well received and the lack of sales make it harder to find now and so prices are a little higher on this one. It’s not a terrible record and does have a couple of good tunes but key to its failure must come down to the fact that original guitarist Gary Quackenbush (his real name, his brother Glenn played piano in the group) left and was replaced by Ray Goodman. Goodman wasn’t a bad player, but Quackenbrush’s guitar sound was a major part of the SRC sound. He came back to the band after the failure of Traveler’s Tale and plays on the sessions for the group’s unreleased fourth album. They were dropped by Capitol and spent most of 1971 fulfilling touring dates and trying to find another deal. They released a one-off single on their own Casino label and briefly changed their name to Blue Scepter and released a single on the Rare Earth label. However, they reverted to SRC for gigs they had during 1972. Throughout this latter period, they were managerless, without a label, and broke. By early 1973, they played their last gig and disbanded.
Interest in the group stayed dormant for many years, but as the 60s psych and garage revival gathered steam in the 1980s and 1990s people began talking about them again and looking for their records. My first exposure was from a 1986 Bam Caruso compilation that I picked up in the 90s and from other sets that included some of their songs. It was the tune Up All Night though that cemented my love for this band. It really is up there with the best of them. If they had only cut that one 45, they would still be legends. I do own this record but spent half the night trying to find my copy. At the time of writing, I still haven’t located it. I have a less than perfect filing system at home. Lol. But it’s there, somewhere. Whilst digging though I did find my Bob Seger System 45 of 2+2+?, another classic, also on the Capitol label, and highly recommended. That and a reissue of The Pleasure Seekers single What A Way To Die, which features a young Suzi Quatro with her sisters. So not a waste of time and you should take a listen to those records if you don’t know them. The video link to the Pleasure Seekers tune is worth watching.
Okay, that’s enough from me. Blah, blah, blah. Thanks for reading and hopefully one or two of you out there share my love for this type of stuff. Have a great week and summer and we’ll see you around here next time.
Cheers - Dom