The Human Beinz
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1964-66) as The Premiers - John Richard "Dick" Belley -- vocals, lead guitar - Gary Coates --
drums, percussion - Mel Pachuta -- bass, vocals
line up 2 (1966-67) as The Human Beingz - John Richard
"Dick" Belley
-- vocals, lead guitar - Mel Pachuta -- bass, vocals - Gary Coates -- drums, percussion
line up 3 (1966-67) as The Human Beinz - John Richard
"Dick" Belley
-- vocals, lead guitar - Mel Pachuta -- bass, vocals NEW - Mike Tatman -- drums, percussion (replaced Gary Coates)
line up 4 (1968) - John Richard
"Dick" Belley
-- vocals, lead guitar
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- The Balkan Serenades (Steve Markulin) - The Mirko Roknich Orchestra (Steve Markulin) - The New Barkans (Steve Markulin) - The PIed Pipers (Richard Belley) |
Rating: *** (3 stars) Genre: rock Title: The Human Beinz/Mammals Company: Gateway Catalog: GLP-3012 Year: 1967 Country/State: Youngstown, Ohio Grade (cover/record): NM/NM Comments: still in shrink wrap; WOC Available: 1 Price: $40.00
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The Premiers were one of Youngstown, Ohio's contributions to mid-'60s garage-rock. Started their careers as a modestly talented cover band, by1966 singer/guitarist Richard Belley, rhythm guitarist Ting Markulin, bassist Mel Pachuta and drummer Gary Coates (replaced by Mike Tatman) had morphed into The Human Beingz. The quartet's initial break came when they released a pair of obscure singles for the small local Elysian label:
- 1966's "Evil Hearted Woman" b/w "My Generation" (Elysian catalog number 820F-8687) - 1967's "Hey Joe" b/w "Spider Man" (Elysian catalog number 820F-3376)
Opting for a name change to The Human Beinz) and a shift to Robert Schachner's Pttsburgh based Gateway label, they managed to attract regional attention with a nifty cover of an earlier hit by Van Morrison and Them: With the follow-on single "The Pied Pier" also attracting some local sales, Gateway invested in a supporting album.
- 1967's "Gloria" b/w "The Times They Are-a-Changin'" (Gateway catalog number 45-828) - 1967's "The Pied Pier" b/w "My Generation" (Gateway catalog number G-383-A)
(side 1) 1.) Pied Piper (Artie Kornfeld - Steve Duboff) - 2:14 2.) My Generation (Pete Townsend) - 2:41 3.) Gloria (Van Morrison) - 2:45 4.) The Times They Are a Changing (Bob Dylan) - 2:00 5.) Nobody But Me (Ronald Isley - R. Isley - O.'Kelly Isley) - 2:10
(side 2) 1.) I Say Love (P. Medley - B. Russel) - 2:15 2.) Hey Little One (D. Burnette - B. DeVorzon) - 2:27 3.) Stop! In the Name of Love (Brian Holland - Lamont Dozier - Eddie Holland) - 2:40 4.) Hold On! I'm Comin' (Isaac Hayes - David Porter) - 3:30 6.) Ooo Baby Baby (Smokey Robinson - Moore) - 3:00 6.) Up Tight (Henry Cosby - Sylvia Moy - Stevie Wonder) - 2:45
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Rating: **** (4 stars) Genre: psych Title: Nobody But Me Company: Capital Catalog: ST 2906 Year: 1968 Country/State: Youngstown, Ohio Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog number: 11281 Price: $40.00
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Produced by Lex de Azevedo
(best known for his film scores), 1968's "Nobody But Me"
found The Human Beingz finally making it to the big time via a contract with
Capital Records. There was one minor problem with the signing.
When Capitol released their debut single and album, the band name was
mis-spelled as The Human Beinz. Capitol promised to fix the effort,
but never followed through with the update. Musically the set offered up a mix of popular pop and
soul covers, four de Azevedo compositions and a pair of band originals
("Flower Grave" and "Sueño"0. Admittedly the
album was inconsistent, but given their youth and inexperience I've always found
this set to be charming. On YouTube, rhythm guitarist Markulin
described the band as: "We were four self
taught musicians that really didn't have much studio experience before
Capitol signed us. We just listened to the way the Beatles recorded
and realized most of the fullness of their sound came from the piano and
acoustic guitar." I'd argue that was (side
1) Usually young white bands covering soul standards serves as a recipe for disaster, but this was one of those rare exception. Powered by Pachuta thundering bass line, vocalist Belley's stuttering list of dance names and drummer Coates tapping along on a Pepsi bottle these guys gave their everything to get through these two minutes. Their performance wasn't going to make you forget The Isley Brothers sizzling 1963 original, but it was still worth hearing. Released as a single, the band enjoyed an unexpected worldwide hit. The irony is that today 99% of people with the song know it from hearing it in an episode of "The Office" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfokPqeSNcw
- 1967's
"Nobody
But Me" b/w "Steno" (Capitol catalog number 5990)
# 8 Billboard Top-100 charts Given this was an almost note-for-note rote cover of the Hendrix tune there wasn't anything wrong with it, other that why would you bother listening to this cover? Yeah, after a couple of beers, this one probably sounded pretty good in a small club. Docked a star for not putting any type of uniqueness on their cover. Always thought the song title was actually "Foxy Lady".
For hardcore fans, Capitol Records tapped it as a Japanese single:
- 1968's "Foxey Lady" b/w "The Face" (Capitol catalog number CR 1990)
3.) The Shaman (Lex de Azevedo) - 2:26 rating: **** stars Okay,
they didn't write it, but their performance of producer de Azevedo's
"The Shaman" was simply killer. The combination of Pahoa's rumbling bass
line and Belley's vocals and fuzz lead guitar made this a winner. Simply
drips lysergic energy. Shame the song wasn't longer and wasn't tapped as a
single. One
of two original compositions, "Flower Grave" was a psych-tinged,
but highly commercial ballad. Opening with some nice Belley fuzz
guitar (recalling something out of The Yard birds' catalog), once again Pachuta provided a killer bass line. The
song title always makes me smile ... While
the sound was a little more conventional than your standard Human Beinz
track, I'd argue "Dance On Through" was one of the album
highlights. The combination of strong melody, strumming guitars and de
Azevedo's tinkling organ made for one of those songs that I find hard to shake out of
my mental play list. With one of Belley's best performances, this was
another tune that would have made a great single. Bobby Blue Bland had the original hit with 'Turn On Your Love Light" and while his version stands as the classic I'll give these guys credit for turning in a more than credible cover. Yeah, Belley couldn't match Blend's intensity and their were no horns, but their Bobby Fuller styled version was enjoyable. The song was also tapped as the album's second single:
- 1968's "Turn On Your Love Light" b/w "It's Fun To Be Clean" (Capitol catalog number 2119) # 80 Billboard Top-100 charts
(side
2) Listening to
"It's Fun To be Clean" I've seldom heard
a song that managed to as effectively meld Beach Boys, Beatles and a touch
of The Free Design influences into a song. Yeah, the lyrics were kind of
MOOR goofy, but
it was still a fun two minutes. Gees, they even copped the Beatles'
trumpet sound. The song was also tapped as the "B" side of their "Turn On Your Love
Light" single. My
first exposure to this Scottish traditional track came via Nina Simone's
stunning performance. About all I can tell you is that complete with
acid drenched strings, ghostly sound effects and Belley's stoned vocals,
this is the most psychedelic version of the song you'll ever heard.
And de Azevedo's arrangement (complete with support from The Cleveland Symphony),
made perfect sense given
his previous work in film soundtracks. A+
performance. Co-written
by Youngstown-based artist Alan Castro under the pseudonym Lon Leatherwood
(aka Alan Leatherwood), the ballad "This Lonely Town" had more than a little
mid-'60s Dylan dripping from the grooves. Nice enough, if hardly one of the
album's more memorable tracks. In a YouTube posting Cassaro commented
on the song: "The
guys did a great job on this song I wrote under my pen name "Lon
Leatherwood". They were very faithful to my demo I submitted to their
producer." The
album's lone group composition, "Sueno" was a pretty ballad with some nice
acoustic guitar and what sounded like a flute solo kicking it along.
The track also appeared as the "B" side on their "Nobody
But Me" 45. Opening with some classic-styled de Azevedo piano, "Serenade To Sarah" was the album's contractually mandated big ballad ... Ever heard one of those Richard Harris albums ? Think along the lines of the pretentious "Macarthur Park". Yeah, that was seemingly one of the inspirations here. I'll give it an extra star for Belley's over-the-top earnestness and to de Azevedo for keeping the whole enterprise under three minutes.
© Scott R. Blackerby, June 2026
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Rating: **** (4 stars) Title: Evolutions Company: Capital Catalog: ST 2926 Year: 1969 Country/State: Youngstown, Ohio Grade (cover/record): G+/VG Comments: radio station copy; ring wear; SOC Available: 1 Price: $30.00
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Released the following year, "Evolutions"
found the band largely abandoning garage rock in favor of a blatantly
psychedelic sound. With de Alzevedo again producing and writing the majority
of material, their third effort was actually far more interesting and
entertaining than the first two sets. Exemplified by tracks such as
"The Face", "Every Time Woman", "I've Got To Keep
On Pushing" and the meltdown stunner "April 15th" the set was
full of nifty melodies, feedback guitar and Belley's snarling vocals - ah a
wonderful receipe. Actually, one of the set's highlights was the atypical
country-flavored "Two of a Kind" - always wondered if the were
actually destroying a piano in the studio ... "Evolutions" track listing: 1.) The Face (Lex de Alzevedo) - 2:32 2.) My Animal (Lex de Alzevedo) - 2:44 3.) Every Time Woman (Lex de Alzevedo) - 2:08 4.) Close Your Eyes (Jim Murray) - 2:36 5.) If You Don't Mind Mrs. Applebee (Lex de Alzevedo) - 2:08 6.) I've Got To Keep On Pushing (Lex de Alzevedo - R. Youshock) - 2:35 7.) Cement (Richard Belley) - 2:10 7.) Two of a Kind (Jim Murray - B. Kruck) - 5:05 8.) April 15th (instrumental) (Lex de Alzevedo - Richard Belley) - 7:05 Following the release of one final single ("This Little Girl of Mine" b/w "I've Got To Keep Pushing"), the band called it quits. |
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somewhat of
an understatement since the album's overall sound was quite diverse and technically
impressive. While their cover of
Hendrix's "Foxey Lady" wasn't anything special, elsewhere de Azevedo's
"The Shaman" and "Turn On Your Love Light" were all strong garage rockers. Blessed with a suitably
taunt and raw voice, Belley proved well suited for the material, while the
rest of the band displayed more competence than expected from your average
bar band. Elsewhere "Flower Grave", a cover of the traditional ballad
"Black Is the Color of My True Love's
Hair"
and the bizarro Beach Boys-collide-with- The-Beatles "It's Fun
To Be Clean" were interesting in that they found the band taking tentative
steps towards a more psychedelic-oriented sound. At least to my
ears the collection's most atypical performance was also the standout -
"Dance
On Through". With a distinctive pop edge, the combination of strumming guitars and tinkling organ made the song irresistible. \Was
it a perfect debut? Nah, but I've purchased far less impressive debuts
from "name" bands. Makes you wonder what the group could
have done if Capitol management had displayed a little more faith in the
band's creative talents.
