Operation Shake The Earth #1
You might think that you don't need another regional scene to be responsible for, but the Greek, it turns out, is too great to miss; it's a question not of whether but of how much to get. The CD is a good place to start and not just for dabblers - Shakin' In Athens is well-sequenced, has ample, coherent notes and overlap with the ongoing record releases has been kept to a minimum. It starts auspiciously with gratuitous changes of rhythm by the Knacks. The Zoo, the Idols, the Crowns and again the Idols follow. Regular choral support for sentimental or vindictive excess and call and response trade-offs with the frontman make every song a group effort. As the production is murky, finicky arrangements put one instrument after another in the foreground. At first it's only when the guitars drop out that we hear someone is leaning on the keyboard, one chord at a time Then neurotic beeps and swells start punctuating the spindly guitar riffs. By the time the New Hopes put across the first non-English song (cut six) it's the Vox or Farfisa heading the ensemble. The Blue Birds, the Olympians (pictured with a Hammond-like instrument) a second Zoo tune (called "Six Miles From the Cage"), the Juniors, Phoenix (in Italian) and a Zombies cover are all organ-driven, by turns diabolic and melancholic. The comp ends with an Animals cover by the Charms. All in all Shakin' In Athens is the moody, Mediterranean antipode to that blast from the Baltic, Searchin' For Shakes.
If superior CD overviews aren't to your liking then the Royal/Modal from-the-groundup, only-500-copies, proud, informed enthusiasm of a native son in the notes may be the way to go. "All the Greek `60s garage bands available in the most complete series possible" reads the credo to Six Miles From The Cage. Volume One is long on the ethereal teen sincerity: "Lonely Rider", "Falling Star", and "Kiss Me Not For Money" are each paired with their flips, getting across well the particular flavors of the Saints, the Teenagers and the Quites. Bill & Psychedelic Band (despite their name and a sinister looking picture sleeve) are of the same drums, bass and guitars stripped down honesty. On these eight cuts one of the guitars generally offers up a heartfelt reprise of the melody (sans bendy notes) as break. The Farfisa spasms then of Adam's Boys' "Get Away From Me" are quite a contrast. (This was on Exploiting Plastic Inevitable 2). On the tough side also are the Squirrels whose guttural Greek phonemes sound Slavic to me. The poignant centerpiece of the album is four songs by the Juniors and their story as recounted in the liners. A car crash, a wake and the beat goes on "We always remember you, every time we don't sleep at night. We hear you laughing, joking, playing the old melodies that you love" from "Lost Friend". The Juniors are the only group on this album who have the quirky Farfisa sound of the CD.
The second Six Miles From The Cage installment is as adolescent as the first but in a `punk' nihilist sense this time. A and B sides by the Loubogg, the Knacks, the Dragons and the Stormies set the tone with guitars scratchy, treble strumming meandering fuzz doodles emphatic four-to-the-bar attack or sub-rockabilly riffing, all with fraternal choral backing. The B-sides aren't so defiantly focused: a couple of ballads, a Beatles cover, and a "Dedicated Follower of Fashion"-like ditty with some passing choral dissonance that wins you over when the last Dragon finds his place in the triad. There are two atmospheric rave-ups with B-3 by the Olympians and a couple of slightly strange beat-crooner hybrids by the band that established the scene, Forminx, Vangelis Papathanassiou on organ. "A Boy Like Me Loved The Beatles and The Rolling Stones" is sung in Greek by We Five and Gus and George do an organ ballad "Always With You". These last shouldn't really fit in with the tougher guitar driven tunes. By this time however, 17 sketchy group profiles and 20 slightly too small but still evocative photographs have set you assembling an overarching sense of the scene and the dynamic element - how Loubogg must strive to be Forminx - can't but intrigue the sensitive listener. We're often told that these singles are rare but then I guess they are. I'm looking forward to the next Six Miles installment.
If Forminx whets your appetite for more singular Greek product, Operation Shake may be for you. There are "shakes" in French, Italian, Greek and of course English by various celebrities and their orchestras testifying to a rarified nite-club milieu where transworld ye ye was purveyed as exotica. Most cuts have saxophone as well as Farfisa. There are early sides too by teen combos like the Juniors, the Idols and the Charms. The Galaxies may have recorded their infectious gigglefest, "Right Now" while their parents were out dining to Errika and Margarita's "Little Kiss". And then there's "Mafia", an instrumental by Adam's Boys.
Greece Goes MODern is another niche market sort of record. It's mod not in that it sounds like `65 Who, rather the combos cover the sort of American soul songs that Mods favored. A horn revue sound predominates as with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by The Skyrockets Combo. Only the Charms can write top notch songs in this vein but The Esquires Beat Group can cover Chris Kenner and Brenton Wood, and the Ariones can put across Manfred Mann's "Don't Ask Me What I Say" in a manner that fits right in. There's a "Gimme Some Lovin'" I wish hadn't been included but then I was won over by a Famous Flames-like take on Hendrix's "Fire"' by The Prophets, a British band on working holiday. The MGC, "Athens' only real beatniks", offer an affecting original, "I Almost Cut My Head" and a version of "Summertime" as a duet between Satchmo and Chet Baker: not for everyone. Two Otis Redding tunes by the Charms worked maybe because I don't know the originals. Initially I thought Operation Shake was the better set but I actually play Greece Goes MODern more: I Gotta.
- Randal Wood (Originally published in Ugly Things #19, 2001)
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