Valley Of Death Or Whatever
Unheard garage greatness! Whatever you call this many monikered group, their impossibly rare 1967 single has been making collectors everywhere salivate. But there’s more to the story– these NY teens made it into the studio to cut 6 additional songs, plus a couple car dealership jingles that rowdily repurpose their iconic single! In 1967 an unknown band called The Whatever transformed Tennyson’s famous poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” into a magnificent, pulse-racing one-shot garage single called “The Valley of Death.” They were, it turns out, a group of teenage friends from Long Island, New York. Somewhere along the way they connected with Al Locke, a local songwriter and aspiring vocalist in the Frank Sinatra mould. Locke was responsible for dispensing a new name for the group each time they entered the studio, though inspiration was in short supply the day they recorded their lone issued single. “Just call it whatever,” suggested someone, so they did. This quintessential piece of garage rock history is reissued for the first time, with 6 additional studio cuts and a duo of radio jingles that must be heard to be believed!