STEEPLE PEEPLE Green Plant '67 wild fuzz psych 45 HEAR

$

54

I’m wondering if anyone ever put out a compilation featuring various bands’ takes on one song.  There are certainly enough renditions of “Hey Joe” or “Mister You’re a Better Man Than I” for example to warrant such a full-length exploration;  I’m just not exactly sure if anyone would actually shell out money for such a thing.  Well, if you’re keeping score at home, here’s the fourth version of the Tokens’ bizarre “Green Plant” to grace the psych-punk world, and in many ways, it might just be the best one.  Or at least the closest to how Nirvana might’ve covered it.

That’s right, if grunge had happened, oh, about 25 years earlier, you’d be worshipping the Steeple People today.  And their slowed-down, fuzzed-up, echoed-out, f**ed-up rendition of “Green Plant” would be the “Lithium” of its generation, heavier than the Majic Ship’s version, and pretty much the AntiChrist compared to the Cherry Smash.  Thanks in part to an angry, filthy, ripping fuzz guitar that kicks things off and never once lets up.  Not to mention vocals practically buried beneath an avalanche of echoplex.    If only the Steeple People had put together enough material for a full album (they didn’t), and if only Courtney Love had been born 30 years earlier (she looks it), grunge might’ve started right here, wherever these kids were from, and Eddie Vedder might never have existed.  Hey, we can dream, can’t we?

So, what could possibly be more sick and twisted than a raunchy, slowed-down, mucked-up cover of the Tokens?  How about the flipside, a super lightweight, harmony-pop take on the old Showboat standard “Ol’ Man River.”  I kid you not, that’s exactly what we have here, complete with old black blues singer intro and outro, while the Steeple People in the middle seem to be infatuated with the pop craft of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  I can’t imagine what a concert with these guys must’ve been like – heavy sludge rock one minute, old show tunes the next.  I’ve seen Guns N’ Roses shows that were more predictable than this. 

Still, in a way, that even further solidifies the proto-grunge ethic of these early musical pioneers.  Even back in 1967, there were kids on a semi-major label (White Whale) who thumbed their nose at the system and did whatever the hell they felt like doing.  You might not like both sides of this single (and frankly, I can’t think of anyone who would), but you appreciate their nerve for releasing it.  And it’s still infinitely more entertaining than a Hole album.

Original 1967 pressing on the BT Puppy label.  A-side plays VG++, B-side plays VG+.

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