The Peels - Juanita Banana b/w Fun is a pretty neat little piece of 60's novelty pop that I was lucky to find for practically nothing, and purchased more for the cool label logo (KARATE) than anything. I found it in a 49 cent bin at a record store and the kitsch-appeal of the corny fake Asian font spelling out "Karate" with a hand-drawn martial artist made me pick it up. It was obviously a novelty record from the 60's, and I figured for 49 cents I would love to find out if it was a gem that might sound cool and have a decent b-side, or if it was going to be a wall decoration.
I put it on, and the obvious stereotypical Americans-trying-to-be-kinda-ethnic-but-also-poking-fun-at-a-culture vibe of a 60's novelty tune was evident on "Juanita Banana" (as well as on the Karate label logo). Lots of info about the actual song can be found at this other blog, but for my taste it was a catchy novelty pop tune you could kinda dance to, and I could imagine it making it into a DJ set sometime in the future. The b-side, "Fun" cemented it as a winner in my book, as it's basically just a good 60's garage/soul/pop instrumental with no real lyrics except the word "Fun" kinda repeated every so often. The style reminded me somewhat of the Human Beinz' and other 60's garage/"frat rock" that was just fun dance music for the times, and still is as far as I'm concerned. I dig it a lot, and it will get some spins. This was a really nice little find, and I highly recommend digging in your local record store's cheap-o 7" bins for stuff like this! Download both scratchy sides that I ripped for you:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wzzjzwnmo4n
i got a version of this by a mex band i can't remember the name of (i'm not writin this from the same place my rekid collextion is at) - it's on this great record called "mexican rocknroll rumble & psych out south of the border" - great song, hot shit
ReplyDeleteI've got a track by The Peels on a German Karate pressing (on an organe label) called "Time Marches On" and I've always wondered who the hell they were. It's more of a soul instrumental , lots of horns and a chorus of female vocals who ocassionally sing the song's title. I also used to own a U.S. only pressing of "Que Sera Sera" by a U.K. act called Dave Curtiss and The Tremors which was also on Karate. The plot thickens.....
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, I'm glad I stumbled upon it!