Guitars In the Garage

One of the best discoveries so far this year is Lydia Marcelle's other two singles. Her "The Girl He Needs" from 1967 has been one of my alltime favourites since ploughing through the Girls In the Garage series, but Rateyourmusic has two more singles listed. I've heard "Everybody Dance" from her debut, but it was nowhere as great as her second a-side "It's Not Like You", which you can find on the northern soul comp Wigan Forever (and also on Youtube). If anyone has the other sides, please let me know!

The other big surprise was Cécilia et Ses Ennuis, who sound like The Bristols singing in French. Their four eps all come from the same recording session at Toerag, so no surprise there. Their singer Cécilia Meneau also runs a record label and has played with the legendary garagepunk group The No-Talents, and later with Opération S. She also sings in garage supergroup Cécilia & die Sauerkrauts, that include members of the also French Les Terribles, The Mummies and King Kahn & the Shrines.

In other female garage group news, The Flips are about to release their second 7" - this time on Hozac. Their debut came out last year, and I was particularly impressed with "I Still Wanna Be His Girl" which is quite jangly. Otherwise they sound quite similar to Stolen Hearts, who are also great.

Late last year I also listened to some Japanese girl groups, like the amazing The Apricots, who Pierre told me about. I think they only have one album, called Swingin'! Smilin'!. Then The Bunnies, who have released at least two albums and are apparently still playing. I've only heard their second album Ooh Wee Baby, which was great but not as great as The Pebbles, who I finally heard today. They are from Japan as well, and Sympathy For the Record Industry reissued their first album in 1997. I don't know if they have released any more albums, but here is an interview with them. For a great introduction to similar Japanese bands, check out the compilation My Summer Love on Daiki Sound.