The Saturn V featuring Orbit - Behind Closed Doors At A Recording Studio - Big Ben Records EP BB-500.

Hey! Hey! Hey! Blogger chums, here's a single by the Saturn V featuring Orbit. Pretty good stuff if you like your rock to be frat, a la Fortune and Maltese. This was one of four 7" singles they released. I'll hopefully share them all with you over the passage of time. The biggest shame about this combo, which featured Johnny Bartlett from The Phantom Surfers and The King of Power Pop, Chris Von Sneidern, along with our titular hero, Orbit (whose real name is lost to the mists of time), is that they never issued a proper vinyl LP. There were two unique CD-released long players from Big Ben Records, as well as a mini-CDR jobby that compiled the singles and was sold at gigs, but no vinyl.

As with all the truly great records, there's plenty for you to read - the insert and the back sleeve are festooned with some of my very favourite words placed in a mind-bogglingly unique sequence. The back cover also features the band posing on what should, going by the thrust of the sleeve notes and the concept of the release, be a street in Swinging London. Except it's not, it's somewhere much more special.

Enjoy.

The Saturn V featuring Orbit - Behind Closed Doors At A Recording Studio - Big Ben Records EP BB-500.

big ben records frat rock johnny bartlett Manchester The Saturn V featuring Orbit

Fortune & Maltese and The Phabulous Pallbearers - Konquer Kampus - Hillsdale Records LP HLP 103.

It's only a few days since I accused The Lustorama of being Winkle Picker Rock and here I am uploading a full LP of frat rock vampirism. Except I think Fortune & Maltese have decent tunes and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour which lifts them above pastiche. I do, I really do. Them, The Untamed Youth and The Saturn V featuring Orbit. This is a great record. Enjoy.

Fortune & Maltese and The Phabulous Pallbearers - Konquer Kampus - Hillsdale Records LP HLP 103.

fortune and maltese frat rock Hillsdale Records johnny bartlett The Saturn V featuring Orbit the untamed youth

The Royal Pendletons - Goner Records 7" EP. 4-GONE

This early Goner release features New Orleans' finest frat act, The Royal Pendletons. The four tracks on this seven could easily have been lost in the vaults since the 60s. Smokin' is a rocking instrumental that nearly runs away from the bass player (keep your ears, er, peeled towards the end), Sheep Suit is an excellent companion piece to Sam the Sham and The Pharoahs' Lil' Red Riding Hood, Losing Hand is a stomping frat rocker and instrumental Royal Blood Part II would grace the back catalogue of any 60s instro band. The pressing isn't great, so there are a number of crackles (it used to jump, but I managed to eke one straight play out of it). Play it loud. Enjoy.

The Royal Pendletons - Goner Records 7" EP. 4-GONE.

frat rock garage goner instrumental king louie new orleans

Fortune & Maltese and the Phabulous Pallbearers. Keystone Records Co. 7" KEY2-EP. (240)

Jukebox labels insert.

This is a nice, solid project. The Keystone Records label only released four singles in total, but if they're as well-presented as this one they're certainly worth seeking out. With Freddie Fortune and Michael Maltese you certainly know what you're going to get, so here's four more slices of Frat Nouveau backed by the ever Phabulous Pallbearers. Fortune and Maltese have a great tumblr here. Enjoy.

Fortune & Maltese and the Phabulous Pallbearers. Keystone Records Co. 7" KEY2-EP.

fortune and maltese frat rock pop

The Saturn V featuring Orbit - Buckleshoe Stomp. Hypothermic Records 7". H-100.

The Saturn V featuring Orbit. Or what Johnny did next. Following his departure from The Phantom Surfers Johnny 'Big Hands' Bartlett needed a new band so assembled this group of garage rock superstars. Orbit, he's the big fella in the middle of the photo above, went to school with Raul Balcarcel from out of The Fingers. It's true. Ron Silva (that's him far right, holding the drum skin) was in The Crawdaddys - the once and future Kings of the Chelsea Boot Stomp. Chris Von Sneidern (CVS) has a third sector organisation named after him in England. And I can't remember if that's Tom Ward or Teenage Rob Douglas on the far left. Rumours of the band's potential reformation have begun to be spread by manager Riff Ryan. Enjoy.

The Saturn V featuring Orbit - Buckleshoe Stomp. Hypothermic Records 7". H-100.

frat rock johnny bartlett raul balcarcel The Saturn V featuring Orbit

The Untamed Youth - Doin Me In. Teen-Rage Records 7".

Released, at a later date, on Deke Dickerson's Teen-Rage Records (a subsidiary of ECCO-FONIC INTL.), this contains the earliest recordings of The Untamed Youth. But you can read all that in the sleeve notes, can't you. Ignored by the many, loved by the few, The Untamed Youth were the very best of the many frat / surf bands, and you can hear their 'chops' developing in this ancient relic. Enjoy.

The Untamed Youth - Doin Me In. Teen-Rage Records 7".

Deke Dickerson frat rock phantom surfers the untamed youth

Various Artists - Hang It Out To Dry! (16 Roughneck Rompers). Satan Records LP.

I've been busy. Busy, busy, busy. Busy recording, labelling and compressing lots of lovely vinyl. In the pipeline are sevens by, amongst others, 68 Comeback, Blacktop, BMX Bandits, Deke Dickerson, Infections, Jackknife, Primal Scream, TV Personalities and TSOL, along with a few LPs. In the meantime, here's one of the earliest rips I did of a great frat LP on Satan. I'd not worked out my labelling protocol at that point so the filenames are rudimentary ... but all the information is available in the Audio ID tags.

Various Artists - Hang It Out To Dry (16 Roughneck Rompers). Satan Records LP.

60s frat rock lp satan

Fortune & Maltese and The Phabulous Pallbearers - Genie In The Lamp. 360 Twist Records 36T-009.

It's that Frat Rock sound! Any band good enough to have an LP released on Johnny Bartlett's Hillsdale Records has to be worth listening to.  I have nothing more to say.

Fortune and Maltese and The Phabulous Pallbearers - Genie In The Lamp. 360 Twist Records 36T-009

360 twist records fortune and maltese frat rock