THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,958) The Beatniks — “Alligator Hat”
Exuberant and sometimes downright crazy garage rock . . . from São Paulo, Brazil! It is indeed heavenly — thanks, Saint Paul! This “gritty, fuzzy [’68] soul-rock with a powerful studly vocal (and weird breaks for bird-call-like a cappella chanting) . . . certainly counts as the[ band’s] best recorded effort” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/outside-chance-mw0001895537), a “rip-roaring, mad performance full of silly singing and all the better for it . . . ca[tching] that raw, in-your-face fuzz sound . . . that perfectly exemplifies the naive, reckless abandon of the late 60s.” (Rich Aftersabbath, https://aftersabbath.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-day-after-sabbath-84-liberdade.html)
The hilarious thing is that the number is based on “Waiting for You”, a song (with both instrumental and vocal versions) by the cheesy Belgian organist André Brasseur! In fact, Rich Aftersabbath says it “is clearly the exact same composition, released a year previous” . (https://aftersabbath.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-day-after-sabbath-84-liberdade.html) Well, the Beatniks found its zany soul.
Bethania Lauschner tells us about the Beatniks:
[They] were born in Sao Paulo, Brasil . . . in 1962 actually, when they were still known as The Hits, a 5-piece of rock’n’roll and twist. . . . In 1965, The Beatniks were officially born. At first they were strongly influenced by Beatlemania, they were soon noticed by Roberto Carlos [see #1,506, 1,638], [host] of the most famous [Brazilian] music TV program of that time, called . . . Jovem Guarda. . . . Their set usually included covers of Turtles, Kinks, Them and later Jimi Hendrix. At the same time the band would show up on TV, play during the Sunday happenings in Sao Paulo, tour the whole country . . . backing the singer Silvinha as well as performing in the TV show O Bom . . . .
The liner notes to the Beatniks’ CD anthology Antologia (1968-1978) — I think — adds (courtesy of Google Translate):
[They] pursued a diverse range of aesthetic approaches—singing in English or Portuguese, or simply driven by the prevailing circumstances of the time. . . . [w]ith a lifespan stretching from 1965 until its conclusion in the early 1980s . . . . [In the 70’s they turned to hard rock and s]ome say that could be the Portuguese Black Sabbath. Since 1976 the band embarks on a style “progressive”, very close to each Yes, Genesis, or in Portugal, Tantra.
Here is André Brasseur (instrumental). For more on André, go to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Brasseur.
Here is André (vocal):
Here is a kind of weird bio of the Beatniks on YouTube (in English):
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