THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
946) The La De Da’s* — “Find Us a Way”
’67 B-side and album track by New Zealand’s own La De Da’s (see #216, 846). This “soulful” and “snarling” (https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/find-us-a-way) song with a “frantic, sweaty beat” (https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/the-la-de-da-s) helped chart a new direction for the band.
Andrew Schmidt tells us:
In their 12-year journey through New Zealand and Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, The La De Da’s never took a backward step. They conquered New Zealand with a passionate live show, a string of hard, uncompromising chart singles and two of the best NZ albums of the 1960s. Changing gear from R&B to psychedelia, The La De Da’s shifted base to Australia in 1967 and 1968 where they released New Zealand’s first rock opera, The Happy Prince. In England in 1969 they captured a fine version of The Beatles’ voodoo rocker ‘Come Together’ at Abbey Road studios before returning to Australia and success as pioneering festival blues rockers. . . .
Auckland’s finest R&B group dipped into their own strong collection of songs in May 1967 for successful [second] album Find Us A Way. They were billing themselves live as “Soul Blues”, which nicely sums up the churchier, more gospel feel of their new record. While the band still found a frantic sweaty beat on ‘Find Us A Way’, ‘I Gotta Woman’, ‘Tell The Truth’, ‘Cool Jerk’ and ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, they left room for the sunny pop of ‘Sonny Boy’ and spacier keyboard-led originals ‘All Purpose Low’, ‘Thank You For The Flowers’, ‘Rosalie’ and ‘Beside Me Forever’. Meeting the two strands in the middle was the fine organ-led, gospel inclined soul of ‘Goodbye Sisters’ – a take on The Artwoods’ third single from April 1965 – and their version of The Marvelettes’ ‘Too Many Fish in the Sea’ from 1964.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/the-la-de-da-s
Milesago.com gives us the definitive La De Das:
Formed in New Zealand at the very start of the beat boom, they were . . . . practically the only major group [Kiwi or Aussie] to emerge from the beat boom of 1964-65 who managed to ride out the massive musical changes of the Sixties and adapt to the new scene in the Seventies, emerging as one of Australia’s most popular hard rock groups during the first half of the Seventies. . . . [T]hey started off as blues/R&B purists . . . . moved into their ‘mod’ period – with covers of Ray Charles, Motown and Northern Soul favourites, replete with tartan trousers, satin shirts and buckle shoes. . . . [and then] plunged headlong into psychedelia (the obligatory concept album, covers of songs from West Coast outfits like Blues Magoos, paisley shirts, sitars, long hair and moustaches). They almost came unstuck after the inevitable — and ultimately futile — attempt to “make it in England”. . . . limped back to Australia, regrouped, and bounced back . . . .
The second LP, Find Us A Way showed the band taking a more progressive direction, with a deliberate move away from their R&B roots and taking in new influences from acts like The Spencer Davis Group, who were themselves starting to take some major steps away from their earlier style. This time the album contained some original compositions as well as stage favourites. Although they were apparently unhappy about not being not consulted over the final track selection or the cover art, it also sold very well. [Its] release . . . in May 1967 coincided with The La De Das’ first exploratory trip to Australia. Although they had their sights set ultimately on the UK, the only logical way to get there was via Australia, so they . . . flew to Sydney. The trip started fairly well . . . [including] a support slot on the historic homecoming shows at the Sydney Stadium by The Easybeats . . . . Unfortunately it was pretty much downhill from there on. . . . While they toiled away unhappily in Sydney, living in a squalid Kings Cross hotel and appearing at Dayman’s Op Pop disco, two Singles were culled from the Find Us A Way” album for release in NZ. Both did extremely well in spite of the band’s absence — the first, “All Purpose Low”/”My Girl”, was released in June and went to #3 on the NZ charts, followed in August by “Rosalie”/”Find Us A Way” which reached #5.
http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm
* The name? —
“The lads realised pretty quickly that “The Mergers” didn’t really reflect the toughness of their music . . . . They decided on something a bit more hardline — The Criminals — but Phil’s mother was less than impressed and after rehearsals one night at the Wilson house she jokingly suggested instead that they call themselves “something nice, like the la-de-das …”. Phil [Key] loved it, and the name stuck.”
http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm
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