Nuggets: It’s Cold Outside by The Choir

20 Comments

1. When I read the members of the band…I thought wow that’s the Raspberries! It may have been more successful a year earlier…good song though…it fit that British sound.

   • There’s another well-known 1970s act coming up next time too – Warren Zevon.

     • I don’t know much about his back story for some reason….so cool.

2. Nuggets truly is the gift that keeps on giving. While “It’s Cold Outside” perhaps isn’t the most original tune, I like its ‘60s British Invasion flavor. I’m not sure calling the band The Choir was helpful!

   • Yeah, I think there was probably a better name out there than The Mods or The Choir. The Mods is probably not a good name for a US band, even though they’re massive Anglophiles.

3. I love this song, superb Beatles-influenced, early power-pop. The photo above (evidently on a belated CD release) is a later lineup without Bryson or Smalley, both of whom had played on “It’s Cold Outside.”

   • Cool – I take it you knew it already?

     It’s often pretty hard to find nice photos of these semi-obscure 1960s bands. I just found the nicest one I could. Even harder to find a photo with the guy who wrote the song, because it seems he didn’t stick around very long.

4. I really like these retro reviews. I’d never heard of this band, even though I know and love Patti Smith. Maybe you could have some of your members review, say, their favourite album of all times. That would be interesting. Some of the younger members (like me) could review some contemporary albums too. All adding to our knowledge of music culture. Just an idea.

5. Sounds pretty good. Reminds me of surf music.

   • There’s a little bit of twang in those guitars.

6. You’re right that it’s not really like a garage rock song but the way it sounds is.

7. I give it a 7/10 cuz it sounds like they actually recorded it in their garage. On an old cassette recorder. That’s what it sounds like. lol

   • I don’t really mind some rough-sounding recording on Nugget – it’s all part of the experience. I’ve never been an audiophile anyway.

8. Yes, I have a Choir compilation CD, Sundazed Records, different photo. Plus, I once worked with a guy (and jammed with him) here in Ohio who said he knew Wally Bryson, so I know what Bryson looks like.

9. Good tune. Never heard before it but like what I hear. Why wasn’t this a hit? Love that modulation. And the Raspberries? That’s huge. “Go All the Way” is a great song, not so crazy about Carmen’s solo work.

   • I think it might have a had a better chance of being a hit a year or two earlier – recorded in 1966, but not released until 1967.

     Carmen seems like he’s gone off the deep end on conspiracy theories, but I have a huge soft spot for his ‘Dirty Dancing’ song ‘Hungry Eyes’, mainly for Carmen’s vocal.

     • Oh, I didn’t know that about Carmen. Half this country has gone nuts over conspiracy theories.

10. No, actually I meant it as a compliment. Otherwise I would have just gave it a 5 or a 6. It’s nostalgic for me cuz when I was like 8 years old my prize possession was one of those cassette recorders which I wanted for Christmas really bad. But there was no way you could hook it up to the radio or a stereo to record off them, so you just had to hold the whole thing up to the radio speaker to record. And it only had a jack for a single earpiece, so you couldn’t even use headphones. And that muffled sound like this song is how everything sounded. It reminds me of that.

11. And I didn’t get my own stereo system till I was about 12 I think and it was one of those ones that had plastic speakers and everything. But it did have a built-in cassette recorder so at least I was able to record off of the radio or turntable. But a few years later my parents gave me their old system for my bedroom and it was pretty decent. It had big old Altec speakers and even an equalizer, so I was just in ecstasy as you can well imagine.

    • My first “stereo” was terrible. It was a tiny tape player/radio with tiny speakers that my mum encouraged me to get from a mail order catalogue.