The Little Black Egg [CD]

Along with "Louie Louie," this Florida band's 1965 single "The Little Black Egg" is one of the most enigmatic (and catchy) tunes in pop history. Primitively recorded, the single had to be released three times before it caught on at the bottom of the Billboard charts. Still, regional play made it a garage band staple in the mid-60s, and its catchy guitar riff and childlike lyrics still fare well today. In typical "That Thing You Do" fashion, the original NightCrawlers lineup had broken up by the time the single began to catch, and a reforumulated group filled out an LP and recorded a few more singles before evaporating. The band's sole LP release, included here in its entirety, adds several more Beau Brummel-esque folk-rock originals, highly influenced by the British Invasion, all rendered in superbly basic garage-rock style.

For all the tracks that were gathered to flesh out this one-hit-wonder band, this collection is oddly unsatisfying as the ultimate statement on the band's recorded history. In particular, the tracks are sequenced oddly, neither following the order of singles releases, nor duplicating the band's Kapp LP. The latter can be reproduced as 1, 12, 5, 6, 7, 2, 10, 11, 4, 13, though even there you'll find that the version of "If You Want My Love" removes the dubbing Kapp added for the LP (which, like it or not, is how it was issued). The title tune has a nasty squeak (one of the drummer's pedals?) not evident on the original LP, and the tape used for "Me for Me" is surprisingly hissy. The album tracks are all mono (which makes sense, since the stereo LP - which sounds surprisingly good - was electronically produced), except for "Little Black Egg," which was recorded in true stereo. Several of the bonus tracks (8, 14-15, 17-22, 24) are true stereo. Also surprising is that the latter-day single "My Butterfly" is missing. Overall, this simply doesn't sound as good as the original vinyl; perhaps the tapes had deteriorated by the time they got around to making a digital transfer.

Alec Palao's liner notes put the band in context, and extensive remembrances from the band make for good reading (and provide the songwriters' explanation of the origin of "The Little Black Egg."). This is absolutely worth picking up, whether or not you have the original vinyl. If you don't have the vinyl, it's a quick and fairly thorough introduction to the band. If you do have the vinyl, the extra tracks (including a fine acoustic demo of "Washboard" and the previously unreleased Brummelesque "He Shouldn't Hurt You") are worth the price of this CD; just hang on to your original records, as this CD is not an equal substitute.

4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings.

Oh! What memories! I learned to play guitar with the title track in the mid 60s. Makes me remember going to dances with live bands playing in the old days before disco. This disk will make you old timers like myself want to dance again. This is from a time when making music was fun not big business. A must for anyone who was a teenger during these times. I also remember how practicing "The Little Black Egg" on guitar kept my family up at night. Thanks for the memories.

Finally, a great quality mid-60's garage band I been searching for for years. Not just a one song wonder but a good album all the way through.