THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,581) The Specters — “Depression”
Here is the Worcester, Massachusetts, band’s only A-side, “a killer, Joe Meek sounding dirge with lyrics that’ll drive anyone feelin’ low to throw in life’s towel” (liner notes to the CD comp Teenage Shutdown: Vol. 7: I’m Down Today: Moody & Brooding Teen Misery Lowdown), with “[s]uperb guitar nothing short of outstanding”. (ThomasSmith-hq7in, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJWewUGR28&pp=ygUXVGhlIHNwZWN0ZXJzIGRlcHJlc3Npb24%3D ) “This is SO great it makes me get goosebumps! True dark psychedelic sounds!!” (knowmoore5536, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJWewUGR28&pp=ygUXVGhlIHNwZWN0ZXJzIGRlcHJlc3Npb24%3D)
Actually, the song was a joke! The Specters’ drummer, Paul Odgren (who later earned a PhD at the UMass Medical School) tells us about how the song came to be and its fate:
It was originally supposed to be called “A Place for Sin,” but the producer was worried that it sounded like an invitation to a whorehouse. So [lead guitarist] Jack [Pezanelli], in a sardonic mood, instead re-wrote it into a brooding teen downer piece. “Depression” was exactly the same song, even many of the lyrics, as “A Place for Sin.” It’s a little amusing now to see how people take the song as a glimpse into the dark soul of alienated teens when really, it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. I guess it sounded too sincere… The Melbourne label was based in Manchester, N.H., and the producer [James N. Parks] had produced Paul Anka’s first big hit, “Diana.” To our young eyes, it looked impressive to see the gold record on his wall, but really it was kind of a scam. We paid for the recording and for the pressing out of pocket and there was no effort by the “label” to market it whatsoever. Its airplay was largely limited to Worcester’s rock ‘n roll AM station, WORC.
https://thebasementwalls.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-specters-worcester-ma.html
Teenage Shutdown: Vol. 7 adds that:
“A Place for Sin” was a favorite original tune, played live, which was a Kingsmen-inspired pounder about a local whorehouse. When one of the parents overheard the song being rehearsed, they demanded the guys to do a different song. . . . The lead guitarist decided to write a tune that was nothing like the sound they’d established, exaggerating the mood and lyrics as a complete joke.
Odgren tells us about the Specters:
The Specters (Ron Hadley, organ; Jack Pezanelli . . . Dave Galli, rhythm guitar, bass; Paul Odgren, drums) were born in Worcester in 1966 after re-organization of the Dischords. . . . The Dischords played regularly at . . . local spots . . . . The Specters did the same in 1966 and ’67. . . . Hadley went to Dartmouth College in the fall of ’66 and the band played a number of gigs there, too. For the summer of ’67, the band moved to Wiers Beach on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH, mainly because Hadley’s girlfriend spent summers there. That summer was a mix of feast or famine, with the band occasionally resorting to shoplifting to avoid starvation. They opened for Teddy and the Pandas (“Groovy Kind of Love”) at the Big Venue in the area, Irwin’s Winnipesaukee Gardens. At that time, there was a pretty popular band in the area of southern NH and Massachusetts’ north shore called the Spectras. To avoid confusion, the Specters changed their name again, this time to The Wednesday Review. . . . The Wednesday Review for a part of that summer rented a small hall in Sunapee, NH, named it “The Tumbling Sun,” and played some concerts/dances there. The kindly owners of the Langley Cove Cottages where the band was staying, knowing that money was often in very short supply, waived the rent in exchange for some outdoor concerts. Local newspapers picked up on them, and the locale picked up some free publicity. There were late-night rides home from venues around New Hampshire, sometimes running out of gas in the middle of nowhere and having to hitchhike to the only 24-hour gas station in the state in Concord. . . . In late ’67 and into ’68, the band added female lead vocalist, Marion “Yuye” Fernandes, from Marion, MA. They also got connected with an agent in Boston just out of Ivy League business school named Watson James. Watson booked the band in some memorable gigs, including opening a concert at the old Boston Arena for UMass, Boston, that featured some big name acts – The Chambers Brothers, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. . . . Fernandes decided to go to Northeastern U. full-time, and Renatha Saunders who hailed from northern NJ via Gddard College in VT joined as lead vocalist for a short time. The band’s demise came about when a rehearsal hall in Boston was broken into and thieves left with Hadley’s brand new Fender Rhodes electric piano, two new high-end Fender amps, and other pieces of equipment, all uninsured . . . .
https://thebasementwalls.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-specters-worcester-ma.html
Finally, Eyehate Werk reports that:
I contacted J[ack] back in the early 1990s when he still lived in Worcester and was teaching at Berklee School of Music. He was amazed that anyone cared about the 45. He managed to uncover 4 or 5 copies which I bought from him; he used the money toward repairing the transmission on his car.
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