Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965-to 1968 and was a major influence on punk rock. Rhino Records reissued an expanded version of the set in 1998, with 118 tracks in total. I’m profiling and rating each of these 118 tracks, working backwards.
Track 73/118: Primitive by The Groupies
From: New York City, New York
Aphoristic Rating: 7/10
PRIMITIVE – The Groupies [3:10]
(Robert Cortez/Norman Desrosiers/Peter Hendleman/Gordon McLaren/Ronald Peters/Steven Venet)
Personnel/RONNIE PETERS: vocals, tambourine * PETER HENDLEMAN: lead guitar * NORMAN “COOKER” DESROSIERS: guitar * GORDON McLAREN: bass * BOBBY CORTEZ: drums
Produced by STEVE VENET
Recorded in New York, NY
Atco single #45-6393 (1/66)
The Groupies formed in the Lower East Side of New York. They became a popular live attraction and Ahmet Ertegun signed them to AtCo records. They never delivered on this auspicious start – they only released one single, ‘Primitive’.
‘Primitive’ takes a classic blues riff, derived from Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Smokestack Lightning’ and ‘Spoonful’. It slows the riff down and slathers it in spacey psychedelia. The Groupies named their style “abstract rock”. Its experimental nature marks The Groupies as one of the most adventurous bands featured on Nuggets – ‘Primitive’ is as much avant-garde as it is garage rock. It’s not a favourite of mine but it stands out on Nuggets as one of the most adventurous tracks, ahead of its time in January 1966.
The Groupies only recorded one single – the b-side was a cover of Leiber and Stoller’s. ‘I’m a Hog for You’. The label Sundazed have reissued the single, augmented with a 1967 live show. Here’s some of their entertaining blurb:
Decades before it caught on as the empty boast of every eighties and nineties hair metal band, there was a group – or Groupies, as it were – who fully earned the title, “the bad boys of rock.” Rising from the gutters of New York, the Groupies rose to brief east coast notoriety in 1966, issuing the astounding “Primitive,” a loose rewrite of the Willie Dixon-Howlin’ Wolf blues standard “Spoonful,” rewritten in the Groupies’ own image.
On this occasion, the Groupies’ live set reads like a tribute to Chess Records, with an emphasis on Howlin’ Wolf and songwriter Willie Dixon. This blues material is all predictably intense, the same can be said for their cover of Ike & Tina Turner’s “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine.” With a nod to their British Invasion influences, also included are fervid covers of Them and the Kinks. While it may be a fool’s errand comparing a Kinks cover to the original, when “It’s Too Late” kicks into the chorus, watch out!
https://sundazed.com/groupies-the-primitive-lp.aspx
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Not a bad tune. And, yep, The Groupies’ sound was ahead of its time. I’m a bit surprised they only managed to issue one single.
I read they didn’t really play along with what their record company wanted. They managed to get a record out before the more lauded experimental/avant garde bands though – Mothers of Invention, Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators.
You get signed by Ahmet Ertegun and only release one single…yea they must have been some trouble. It’s somewhat punkish… A lot of promise in them. Sounds really good.
I like “I’m a Hog for you Baby”…a little heavier.
Finally got around to listening. You can only make it to Nuggets if you sound like A) The Yardbirds; B) Them or C) early Stones.
Next time out we have a cover from yet another English band from the same era.
You’re getting closer and closer to where the great ones start coming more fast and furious. In just a few more slots there’s a couple great ones right in a row, and then it won’t be long until you reach big long stretches of good ones.
I’m assuming the first disc is the strongest, but I’ll find out when I get there.
I guess it all depends on someone’s taste, but yeah. The first disc has most of the ones that made Nuggets famous in the first place.
The way it was compiled, it would make sense that the first disc is strongest, then the other three are about even in quality.
I read about Lenny Kaye planned another Nuggets after that one and it had a lot more of the kind of songs that were also big pop hits, but for some reason it was never released. I think some of them turned up on the box set, but if I remember it right there was a better selection than what it has now. It had more of those familiar ones that everyone likes.
He’s still alive, right, so there’s still time? It would appeal to the demographic that still buys physical media.