The Englishmen › ...Summer Is Here

Some soulful and original vintage '60s twanging from the Englishmen. They may have tried to disguise their roots as Southern boys, but doing songs like "96 Tears" and recording on the very American Justice label were complete giveaways.

Englishmen: John Workman (vocals, guitar); Tommy Howard (guitar); Tommy Medlin (electric organ); Warren Daniels (bass, background vocals); Ronnie Wheeler (drums).

Includes original release liner notes.

Summer Is Here is a surprisingly strong album from the vaults of Justice Records in North Carolina, showcasing this quintet in generally fine style, with not only a raucous "96 Tears" but a handful of eloquent yet nicely rocking instrumentals. Mostly the guitars (courtesy of Tommy Howard and John Workman) are in the spotlight, though organist Tommy Medlin also gets to step into the spotlight. Vocally, they do best on the real garage rock classics, although "Catch the Wind" also comes out decently, their harmonies kind of meshing in ways that they don't elsewhere, and it might've made a good single if they'd done the song at a slightly faster tempo. The recording quality is also above average for this tape library, and these boys were at least worth checking out on a Saturday night back in 1966, which makes them worth a listen or two today as well. ~ Bruce Eder

Genre:

• Pop / Rock

Labels:

• Collectables Records

Music Categories:

• Rock & Pop

Product Groupings:

• Collectables Records - Audio CDs