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 65/118: Beg, Borrow, And Steal by The Rare Breed
From: Brooklyn, New York
Aphoristic Rating: 7/10
BEG, BORROW AND STEAL – The Rare Breed [2:26]
(Joseph DiFrancesco/Louis Zerato)
Personnel/unknown (later identified as Alexander “Botts” Norbit, Barry Stolnick, Joel Feigenbaum, John Freno, Tony Cambria)
Produced by JEFF KATZ, JERRY KASENETZ & SYLVESTER BRADFORD for SUPER K PRODUCTIONS
Recorded in New York, NY
Attack single #AR-1401 (6/66)
We ran across the unscrupulous pair Jeff Katz and Jerry Kasenetz a couple of Nuggets ago, with The Music Explosion’s ‘Little Bit O’Soul’. They’re back to their old tricks with the aptly named ‘Beg, Borrow, And Steal’. ‘Beg, Borrow, And Steal’ was recorded by a group of 16-17 year olds – they were minors and not under contract, so it was easy to take advantage of them. They’re not even identified in the Nuggets liner notes, but a 2009 YouTube video of the song identifies the Rare Breed as John Freno (vocals, guitar), Barry Stolnick (keyboards), Joel Feigenbaum (rhythm guitar), Alexander “Bots” Narbut (vocals, bass) and Tony Cambria (drums. According to keyboardist Barry Stolnick, the group never saw any money from the release, even though it sold half a million copies.
The band were unable to travel to support the song, so Katz and Kasenetz arranged for another group to tour in their place. It was also reissued, in the exact same version, under the name The Ohio Express. Ohio Express was an umbrella name for Katz and Kasenetz’s projects – they recorded Joe Walsh and 10cc’s Graham Gouldman under the same name, as well as the hits ‘Yummy Yummy Yummy’ and ‘Chewy Chewy’.
The song itself is unremarkable – it’s clearly borrowed/stolen from ‘Louie Louie’, with the exact same riff with a lighter, more keyboard-oriented arrangement. It’s a great riff, however, and the song features one of my favourite guitar solos from Nuggets, a blazing cornucopia of notes.
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It’s a good’n. Sorry to hear they received no recognition on the compilation album and even more importantly made not a penny.
Getting ripped off is a pretty recurrent theme on these Nuggets stories, unfortunately.
I guess this one is sort of okay but I never listen to it. Even though that Katz guy and the other one were kind of like the kings of bubblegum producers, I never thought their stuff was all that good. And their Ohio Express hits werent really all that hot either. Especially not Chewy Chewy. But Yummy Yummy is kind of fascinating just because it’s weirdness.
Little Bit of Soul was just a fluke for them. I forget if they’re the ones who did Simon Says but that was okay too. But not One Two Three, Red Light.
I didn’t get the impression that Katz and co. were as involved with the music on this one as they were with the later stuff. Maybe more on the promotional end?
Wow, while the tune doesn’t sound bad, they clearly ripped off “Louie Louie”. How ironic they called the tune “Beg, Borrow, And Steal” – that’s really incredible! I guess if your promoters’ names sound like they could be a slick law firm, beware – you might never see a dime!
Yeah, I like the tune – but it’s a little superfluous given that ‘Louie Louie’ did a better job with the same riff.
The music business at its worse. Yea they did “borrow” from Louie Louie…they even took some of the solo from Louie Louie…it doesn’t diminish the song though… a cool sound they got.
I gotta start following you again and work with WP to fix this.
Can you let me know what happens when you try to follow? I can ask support at my end.
Here it is…they told me before that you would have to fix it now that I think of it:
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Yeah you were right. Wiki says that they just remixed a previously existing single and then it became a hit. So that’s probably why it doesn’t sound like their later productions. And I never knew they did the Shadows of Knight either, but not their totally excellent version of Gloria. But they did do the great Gimme Gimme Good Lovin by Crazy Elephant. That’s their other bubble gum masterpiece besides Little Bit o’ Soul, as far as I’m concerned.