THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,706) The Primitives — “Help Me”
This “real scorcher[]” (N.E. Fulcanwright, liner notes to the CD comp Freakbeat Freakout) is “a classic blast of punky mod/r’n’b” (happening45, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jlaqM43d8M&pp=ygUWVGhlIHByaW1pdGl2ZXMgaGVscCBtZQ%3D%3D) that sounds positively primitive next to Sonny Boy Williamson’s original. Bruce Eder can’t get enough:
They could and should have been one of the top groups on the Pye label, based on their rough-and-ready debut “Help Me,” a cover of a Sonny Boy Williamson [‘63 A-side] that was beautifully raw and authentic, and wonderfully intense across an astonishingly long three minutes and 39 seconds, [John] Soul’s harmonica and [Geoff] Eaton’s guitar keeping the verisimilitude right up there like a Chess Records session gone out of control, amid [Jay] Roberts’ ever more intense romantic lamentations.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-primitives-mn0001875538#biography
Eder on the Primitives:
The group, signed to Pye Records in 1964, never found even a small national audience in England, but managed to make a name for themselves in Italy . . . . The[y] started life as the Rising Sons, before taking the unpromising name of the Cornflakes, under which they won a local band competition in Northampton, the first prize of which was a contract with Pye Records. They’d already developed a strong following with their strong (if somewhat heavy-handed) R&B-based sound in the clubs around Oxford, but coming off of the competition, they also got professional management in the guise of the owners of the Plaza Theatre, where the contest was held, and they changed [to] . . . the more . . . appropriate name the Primitives. The . . . lineup consisted of Jay Roberts . . . on lead vocals, Geoff Eaton on lead guitar, John E. Soul on rhythm guitar and blues harp, Roger James on bass, and Mike Wilding on drums — their sound was very similar to the Pretty Things [see #82, 94, 153, 251, 572, 731, 892, 1,001, 1,327], rooted heavily in American R&B, and Roberts was a serious, powerful shouter who could sound seriously, achingly raspy, rough, and growly, while the others played with virtually none of the niceties or delicacy that usually marred British attempts at the music. Astoundingly, neither that single nor its follow-up, the raw and raspy “You Said” b/w “How Do You Feel” . . . managed to chart. With two failures in a row, the group and their management felt under increasing pressure to do something drastic, and they did this by splitting up — Roberts had taken over the bassist spot, doubling on the organ, and Soul kept the group name and formed the core of a new group backing vocalist . . . Mal Ryder . . . who had just lost his backing band, the Spirits. This incarnation of the Primitive . . s included Stuart Linnell (lead guitar) and Mick Charleton (drums). They had a sound similar to the original group, although Ryder was more of a dramatic singer, with an intense but less raspy delivery . . . . “Every Minute of the Year” was a suitable A-side, similar to the group’s past work . . . . [and also] failed to chart, and for a time the Primitives retreated to Northampton[. T]hey accepted a gig in Norway. . . . discover[ing] . . . that they were treated like visiting rock & roll royalty . . . and that there was a good living to be made there. . . . That was the lineup that made it to the Piper Club in Viareggio in 1966, after a short stay in France, where they recorded a killer EP. It was in the Piper Club that they became stars — like the Rokes [see #1,370] before them, the band quickly became part of the musical ether of Italy, where they had a credibility that the homegrown bands could only envy. They had a huge hit in late 1966 covering the Rascals’ “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” (entitled “Yeeeeeeh!”), which resulted in their only LP, entitled Blow Up. . . . filled with covers of American and British hits . . . . Eventually, Mal Ryder moved to center stage on their records and in the group’s promotion, and became a recording star in his own right, while the bandmembers receded in importance and influence. In the later ’60s, he released a million-selling single (an enormous statistic in Italy) of “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” (as “Pensiero d’Amore”), and ultimately became a star of stage and the small screen, becoming something of the Italian equivalent to Rick Springfield. The Primitives endured into the 1970s . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-primitives-mn0001875538#biography
Here is Sonny Boy Williamson:
Here is Johnny Winter with a cool blues take:
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