Borderline (our Great Bible forever): Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
A garage band from Chicago, formed in 1964 by Warren Rodgers, Norm Gotsch and Wayne Pursell, who went to Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. They took their name after the UK act The Shadows, adding the "Knight" reference from their high school mascot and recruited Jim Sohns. Strongly influenced by the Brit-Invasion sounds, they even started a teen-club The Cellar, named in honour of The Cavern Club.
The original line-up was discovered playing a showcase concert at the Cellar Club in Chicago's Arlington Heights which was being staged to attract talent spotters from record companies. Bill Traut and George Badonsky of Dunwich Records bit the bait and the band was signed up and went on to give this hitherto obscure label its major national success.
Before the release of their debut 45, however, Wayne Pursell was replaced by Joe Kelley (ex-The Vectors) in September 1965, and in December, Norm Gotsch was also replaced by Jerry McGeorge.
Their restrained version of Van Morrison's classic song with Them, Gloria, was chosen for their debut 45 because it was the band's showstopper. It made No. 10 in the charts, giving them their only Top 20 hit. Tom Schiffour's machine-gun drumming over the final choruses perhaps gave it a distinctive edge. By contrast the flip, Dark Side was a haunting melodic piece, in contrast to the bands other material... it turns out that this track was written by Wayne Pursell, but copyrighted in Warren Roger and Jim Sohns names, after Wayne had left the band. Shortly after the 45s release, Warren Rogers and Jerry McGeorge swapped bass/lead guitar roles.
The Shadows Of Knight's debut album, recorded during March/April 1966, was flush with cover versions of classics like I Got My Mojo Working, Hoochie Coochie Man and Oh Yeah. The album climbed to No. 46 in the U.S. Album Charts and provided their second single, Oh Yeah, a Bo Diddley cover. The Shadows Of Knight's version climbed to a tremendous climax of blasting fuzz guitars and just made it to the lower reaches of the U.S. Top 40. Their third 45, Bad Little Woman, a reinterpretation of a very obscure British R&B single by The Wheels was another guitar extravaganza and coupled with its rather weird-sounding 'B' side Gospel Zone, which was dominated by wildly overechoed percussion, some regard this as their finest hour. In commercial terms, however, it was less successful peaking at No. 91.
The band's second album, Back Door Men was a mixture of cover versions and originals. It provided more examples of their Bo Diddley-inspired sound and of Joe Kelley's superb guitar work. However, the band were now beset again by personnel problems with Dave Wolinski, (of The Males), who'd played keyboards on some tracks on the second album joining to replace Warren Rogers, who was kicked out of the band after a gig and subsequently drafted into the U.S. Army. This line-up cut a raw version of I Got My Mojo Working in December 1966, which was later included on the 1972 compilation Early Chicago (Happy Tiger (HT 101 7). Two more 45s were recorded, Willie Jean and Someone Like Me, but neither enjoyed any commercial success. Indeed the last one didn't feature the group at all, as the band had disbanded in July 1967, but was the work of Jim Sohns and a group of session musicians. Of the departing members, Wolinski and Schiffour formed Bangor Flying Circus and Jerry McGeorge joined H.P. Lovecraft. This concluded their first musical phase during which they played punkish and R&B numbers.
Next, Jim Sohns (who'd had the band's name copyrighted in his name) put together an entirely new line-up, which recorded the album for Super K and lasted through until mid-1970. During this 'bubblegum' phase they enjoyed another minor hit with the Kasenetz-Katz produced Shake, which was also very big regionally. When they fell apart Sohns got together line-up, which played heavy metal music. Indeed Sohns kept the band together gigging on the local circuit with various personnel for most of the seventies. With the dawning of the 'punk' era of the late seventies came a new interest in mid-sixties garage bands of the first 'punk' era. Passport were keen to sign them in 1977 but only if they reverted back to their sixties image and style, which they refused to do.
Of the original line-up, Joe Kelley departed to form his own blues band, which also included Tom Schiffour; Jerry McGeorge joined H.P. Lovecraft and Dave Wolinski firstly went on to the Bangor Flying Circus and later Rufus. He has also worked with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. Wayne Pursell started a band called "The" which later became The Regiment. ~ (Vernon Joynson/Lloyd Peasley/Stephane Rebeschini)
$CUT$01. gloria 2:37
02. light bulb blues 2:35
03. i got my mojo working 3:33
04. dark side 2:04
05. boom boom 2:31
06. let it rock 1:55
07. oh yeah 2:48
08. it always happens that way 1:55
09. you can't judge a book (by the cover) 2:41
10. (I'm your) hoochie coochie man 3:55
11. i just want to make love to you 3:52
12. oh yeah (single) 2:48
13. i got my mojo working (alt) 3:18
14. someone like me (single) 2:19
TOM SCHIFFOUR - drms
JIM SOHNS - vcls
JOE KELLEY - bs, ld gtr
JERRY McGEORGE - gtr
DAVE WOLINSKI - bs, keyb'ds
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