Nuggets II: Bad Little Woman by The Wheels

The success of Rhino’s 1998 Nuggets boxset justified a follow-up. The sequel covers the rest of the world since the first volume only chronicled the USA.

Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 emerged in 2001. It features music from countries such as Iceland, Uruguay, and Japan. I’m profiling and rating each of the 109 tracks, working backwards.

Track 93 – Bad Little Woman by The Wheels

From: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Credits

4/13. BAD LITTLE WOMAN – The Wheels (Northern Ireland)
(Tito Tinsley/Victor Catling/Roderick Demick/Herbert Armstrong/Brian Rosbotham)

PERSONNEL/ROD DEMICK: vocals, harmonica, guitar * HERBIE ARMSTRONG: lead guitar * BRIAN ROSSI: keyboards * TITO TINSLEY: bass * VICTOR CATLIN: drums
Produced by TOMMY SCOTT & MERVYN SOLOMON
Recorded in London, England
Columbia single #DB-7827 (1966)

The Wheels

The Wheels came from the same scene as Them – I’ll let the Nuggets II liner notes explain.

The Wheels grew out of the same closely knit R&B scene as Them. Van Morrison had even blown sax for them for a spell, until commitments to his own group became too demanding. While Them originally held forth at the Maritime Hotel, The Wheels–formerly known as The Golden Eagles–were based out of the nearby Plaza Ballroom. In 1965 they left Belfast for an extended engagement in the north of England, where their popularity scored them a deal with Columbia Records.

Maintaining the Them connection, they released “Gloria” as their first single in September 1965 and followed it up with this self-penned monster in February 1966, a live favorite cut from the same cloth as Morrison’s classic. Perhaps too terrifying for the charts, the single went nowhere, but a demo version did find a U.S. release, billed as The Wheel-a-Ways. Probably it was through this route that Chicago’s The Shadows of Knight picked up on the song and covered it for a 1966 single (hear it on the first Nuggets box set). Coincidentally, that band’s biggest hit was, of course, “Gloria.”
Mike Stax, Nuggets II liner notes

The group lived on a farm in Blackpool during 1964, sharing accommodation with the Rockin’ Vicars, featuring a pre-fame Lemmy Kilmeister.

Bad Little Woman

‘Bad Little Woman’ appears on both Nuggets and Nuggets II. This version is the original – the Shadows of Knight version on Nuggets is a cover.

Bluesy Nuggets are often my least favourite. But this one works – it’s intense and spooky. Brian Rossi was originally the band’s lead vocalist – he’s on keyboards here, adding to the spooky atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Rod Demick resembles Van Morrison in Them. While he’s not as charismatic, he shares the same sneering vocal style.

The Aftermath

Several members of The Wheels enjoyed long music careers. Guitarist Herbie Armstrong played in Van Morrison’s band from 1978 to 1982, appearing on records like Into the Music and Common One. At 66, he entered Britain’s Got Talent, singing his way to the semifinals.

Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Rod Demick found work as a bassist, playing with The Strawbs, David Essex, and The Yardbirds.

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2 Comments

Badfinger (Max)

July 28, 2025 / 3:03 pm Reply

I love this…he has a Van/Mick sound to his voice. Love the rhythm guitar in this one and that odd lead guitar through out the song. You can tell they had a close association with Them….tight band.
- Aphoristical
  
  July 29, 2025 / 8:06 pm Reply
  
  Can see why Them were the ones that made it big, but still pretty cool.