Nuggets: Let’s Talk About Girls by The Chocolate Watchband

9 Comments

1. The song “Let’s Talk About Girls” isn’t bad, but I agree with you the rendition by The Undertones is better. I also think the two other songs by The Chocolate Watchband, which are on Nuggets, are more compelling.

   • Yup, my least favourite of the three Chocolate Watchband songs too.

2. I agree that the Undertones version is superior and their vocalist does a better job, but I think the more important difference is the how the performances were recorded and mixed. In the Chocolate version the drums, which are all muddy kick and floor tom, and the lead vocal, drown out everything else. The bassline is the best thing in the song and it’s too quiet and lacking in midrange to shine, and the guitar and backing vocals are almost entirely absent until the cool outro thing hits. I’d be interested to hear the original with some modern tech sonic reconstruction and a decent mix.

   • Yeah, you’re right – I don’t really think about the mixing much with Nuggets, as I don’t expect too much from a bunch of garage bands in 1960s. But this one is particularly egregious. I generally think there was a big jump in recording technology around 1969, which is why Abbey Road is a lot of people’s favourite Beatles album and the early Led Zeppelin albums still sound great.

     • I completely agree, especially with your point about Abbey Road. On the whole, I’m usually impressed with the recordings of the stuff on the Nuggets collection. They may have had limited tech, but they tended to know how to get the most of it. Plus it’s refreshing to listen to something that hasn’t been pro tools’d to within an inch of its life. Most of those old recordings have a vibe, which IMO is pretty rare since digital took over.

       Now I’m going to go back to listening to ‘Don’t Look Back’ by the Remains over and over.

3. I agree with your assessment… I really like the other two songs they have on there…this one not so much. It’s not bad but not good either and doesn’t compare to the other two. I never heard of a session musician singing in place of your singer. Too bad they made the wrong moves…they were a good sounding band.

   • It’s pretty weird having a session guy cover the singer. Seems like drummers are normally the likely suspects for getting replaced by a session guy – happened on Crowded House’s debut.

     • I fell in love with this song when I purchased the original Nuggets compilation in 2016. My all time favorite song is Dirty Water by the Standells (also produced by Ed Cobb)

       • Thanks for writing in! I’m currently enjoying Nuggets II.