10.09.2007

Now That You're Down




The Impacts Now that You're Down 45 (Associated Artists, 1966?)

Argh! Here is a great garage pop song with some cool falsetto backing vocals and dammit if I can find anything on this. That I am not getting anywhere researching this isn't frustrating. What bugs me is that there are all these little hints that dead end. The first thing is the name of the band, The Impacts. Now I am sure that there were a hundred bands called The Impacts, the most famous being the great Merrell Frankhauser's great instrumental responsible for the classic surf tune "Wipe Out." Are these Impacts the same band? Since this is a vocal group I don't think so. None of the people the songs here are credited to were in surf version of The Impacts, though how many of their own songs the surfies wrote I don't know. One of the persons credited as a songwriter is a fellow by the name of Jan Davis. If it is the Jan Davis I am thinking about than we are talking about the 60s guitar wizz who was also very much associated with the Sixties So Cal surf scene. That Jan Davis was not only B Bumble of the Kim Fowley vehicle, B Bumble & the Stingers, but he also is the guy who yells at the beginning of Dick Dale's "Miserlou". BUT Davis was known for his guitar work, not writing pop songs and ballads. So is this the same Jan Davis? Who was the producer? Impact Productions. Google "Associated Artists" and see how many listing you get. Thousands. I am not even sure of the date this was released and am going by 1966 because it sounds like '66 and the matrix number of 1166. What about the dead wax? Any pressing plant marks? Nope. Nothing there either. Now if this was a mediocre tune, I wouldn't care. If it was a total mystery like the Cajun Kings below, I'd be able to live with it. But this is a great single and the label is teasing me with partial information!

I laying one of the two songs on you. The other song, Don't Walk Away, is a good early 60s ballad in the style of Dion or Del Shannon but not mind blowing. You get the cool cooker in Now That You're Down, a song that bridges the pop rock vocal style of the early 60s with the garage pop of the mid 60s. Most of the time when this happens it sounds like bubblegum but it doesn't here. Dig this one!


# posted by Scott Soriano : 21:08
Comments:
Nice one. From its font and typeset, it looks like a Los Angeles label to me. It'd be hard to believe that it was the handiwork of any other Jan Davis, too.

Oh, and the Cajun Kings were probably another California group. I have a garage record on the Valon label (also "Keith Williams Presents") by the Gentry V, and the 45 has a label address in Pacific Palisades, California.
# posted by Blogger DJ Little Danny : 21:22
 
Great song. Try this link, scroll down to "impacts" there are 2 separate songs by them with the word "now" changed to "how that youre down". The matrix numbers are are 1166 and 1163. Odd.

http://www.peggrecords.com/frss4506.html
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 20:36
 
Hi Scott,
Sure kinda sounds like in the Lou Christie Style of 'Lightning Strikes' circa 1966 ?
Byron
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 17:49
 
Quality. Seems like this should be smurfed up and turned into the hook to some Kanye track.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 04:04
 
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