Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE 

68. A Puppet by The Mod 4

TEENAGE ALL-GIRL band The Mod 4’s career highlight came in early 1969 on the telly variety show Happening, hosted by Paul Revere and the Raiders. 

That they were beaten by pre-teenagers called Paula & The Pipsqueaks epitomizes the tragi-comic elements of pop failure that make it so fascinating. That Swiss graphic designer and record collector Ivan Liechti has unearthed a double LP's worth of similar warmly ambitious treasure for Oz label Efficient Space with a forward penned by my former guru Sonic Boom is definitely a Christmas come early. 

By the time the Beatles publicly turned their back on LSD, the damage had already been done; scientific zealotry had taken hold, Brian Wilson had lost his mind, and, introspective, more imaginative, soul searching, pop songs were big business. It's no surprise that bands immersed in LSD actually sound worse than the more youthful ones influenced by them. Billy Nicholls, being the exception. Slight misunderstandings make these teenage songs sound less velvety, saccharine, and insincere. 

The Mod 4 had money and in Nellie Hastings a songwriter who had read and listened just enough to craft a song more creatively and imaginatively than the folk she was in part imitating. Big dreams have never sounded so fragile, and the transparency of thought is its biggest charm. 

I had my own big dreams too this year, but, with the sheer quality of compilation albums coming at me, I'm happily mired in a listening mode for the foreseeable. Acting on them will just have to wait.