Claiming absolutely no kinship to the Outsiders from Cleveland, Ohio, who raced to the top of the charts in 1966 with the horn-rocking “Time Won’t Let Me,” these boys called Brooklyn, New York home and languished in obscurity.
Not only were kids going ape over the boss British Invasion ballyhoo monopolizing the radio dial in 1964, but they were also emulating the fashions sported by the bands. Much emphasis was particularly placed on the length of hair, which in hindsight seems so silly considering the locks barely fell past the ears. But you have to remember this was the age of the crew cut or at least neatly trimmed hair. A boy with long hair was instantly labeled a rebel or juvenile deliquent.
Primal yet punchy, “The Guy With The Long Liverpool Hair” (Karate Records) rollicks and rumbles to a wall of surf rock guitars, riddled with a dab of the new sounds wafting from across the ocean. Not quite Beatlesque but getting there, the loopy little ditty serves as a cool snapshot of the radical musical transition then happening. The vocals are exuberant, the playing is edgy and sloppy, and innocence sweetens the pot. Definitely a fine and fun attempt at mimicking, uh, those long hair guys from Liverpool.
An adolescent drama, “The Guy With The Long Liverpool Hair” actually tells the story of a jealous girlfriend who spies her boyfriend hanging out with another young lady. The boyfriend insists the person his girlfriend spotted him with is a fellow from work who has “long Liverpool hair.” But the girlfriend refuses to believe him, so to prove he’s not cheating on her, he brings her to work to meet the guy. Well, the guy with the long Liverpool hair suddenly decided to pay a visit to the barber, leaving egg on our poor narrator’s face. No further details are provided but you can bet that relationship went south.
Corny, catchy and intentionally novel, “The Guy With The Long Liverpool Hair” is Anglophile garage rock at its purest.
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