Genre: garage
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Summer Is Here
Company: Justice
Catalog: JLP-155
Year: 1967
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: --
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 4942
Price: $375.00
Produced by Calvin Newton, like most Justice releases 1967's "Summer Is Here" exhibited that peculiar 'lost in time' vibe that will either strike a chord with you, or make you wonder what all the hype was about.
Led by singer/rhythm guitarist John Workman, the album featured a standard mixture of popular pop covers with a couple of originals thrown in. Like many Justice acts Workman and company weren't the most proficient musicians. Workman was 27, but the other four members were 16 and 17. That youthful ineptitude gave the album part of its low-tech charm, though I have to tell you that 16 year old drummer Ronnie Wheeler was actually pretty good. Elsewhere you probably won't be surprised to learn that none of the band's covers were particularly inspiring. Gawd only knows why they felt the need to take on the MOR-sih 'The Girl from Ipanema' or the equally sedating 'Unchained Melody but since their rock covers were just as pale, it simply didn't make much difference in the general scheme of things. Certainly worth hearing were the sleep inducing 'Are You Ready?', the world's lamest cover of '96 Tears' and a lobotomized 'Catch the Wind'. As for the originals ... well the title track was an instantly forgettable ballad, while the brief instrumental theme song sounds like the ripped it off of another well known song (though I can't pin down the original song). Sure it may have been recorded in 1967, but dressed in their white coats and thin black ties these guys looked and sounded like they were living in 1962 - which may account for at least part of their oddball charm.
"Summer Is
Here" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Summer Is Here (John Workman) - 2:03
2.) Ghost Riders In the Sky (instrumental) - 2:20
3.) 96 Tears - 2:32
4.) The Girl from Ipanema (instrumental) - 2:57
5.) Are You Ready? - 3:45
6.) The Englishmen Theme (instrumental) - 1:22
(side
2)
1.) Long Tall Texan - 3:07
2.) Unchained Melody (instrumental) - 3:32
3.) Bootleg (instrumental) - 1:32
4.) Catch the Wind - 2:47
5.) Penetration (instrumental) - 3:02