The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man

Out of Our Heads (USA version)
Side 2, Track 3
"The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" (Nanker Phelge) – 3:07




The last of these Nanker Phelge numbers, and I couldn't be more relieved. Another bit of support for the idea that inside jokes make for terrible song ideas.

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Image courtest out-take.co.uk.

2120 South Michigan Avenue

12 x 5
Side 2, Track 1
"2120 South Michigan Avenue" (Nanker Phelge) – 3:38
Wikipedia Note: "This is the full length version, previously only available on German compilation Around and Around (1964)."




Imagine a stereotypical early-sixties movie scene set in a disco. There's go-go dancers with false eyelashes doing the Mashed Potato, guys with big glasses and funny hats, people dressed in bright blue and orange -- all the colours of Twister. It would probably look something like this:



That is exactly what I think of when I listen to "2120 South Michigan Avenue" -- a generic, unobtrusive instrumental, some studio executive's idea of this dang "rock and roll" music those kids can't seem to get enough of.

Can you believe these same guys that came up with "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "Rip This Joint"?

Empty Heart

12 x 5
Side 1, Track 3
"Empty Heart" (Nanker Phelge) – 2:37




The first song so far that I'd never heard before. It really is nice after all the crappy blues tunes to hear a fairly straight-ahead rock and roll number, even one as generic as this. There's not much going on here – just a steady ride cymbal, some off-time tambourine (thanks, Mick!), and Keith's great guitar sound. According to this site the track was recroded at Chess Studios in Chicago.

Nanker Phelge once again makes its appearance as a writing credit, and it's easy to see why – the song is essentially a jam, with a simple 2-bar chord pattern that repeats without any changes. Mick's meandering vocal can hardly be called a "melody", a word that suggests some sort of compositional effort.

Not to bad-mouth the track – it has a nice groove, and the vocals, for all their sloppiness, hardly intrude at all. This is the type of song that would be playing in the background of a sixties cop movie, when the detectives visit a club looking for information, only to be shined on by the hipsters inside. It has that informal, unobtrusive groove.

Little by Little

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 1, Track 6

"Little by Little" (Nanker Phelge, Phil Spector) – 2:39

Another generic blues workout. Maybe I'm jaded now, but I can't hear this song as anything but filler – the Nanker Phelge/Phil Spector co-writing credit gives a little support to the idea that nobody is taking this too seriously. Keith throws in a respectable solo (his guitar sounds great here) and Brian Jones throws in another dull harp break. I can't believe I used to love this album – how did I forget about the near-endless boring blues/rock tunes?

I know it's unfair to compare anyone to the Beatles, but at this stage in their devlopement, they had filler a million times more interesting than stuff like "Little by Little" – their first album had great covers of "Anna", "Boys", and "A Taste of Honey". I'm only at the end of side 1, but I sure hope this album gets a lot more attenion-grabbing than "Little by Little".

A thought struck me: Keith takes his solo after the first chorus – is there any good song that has done that, ever? The only one I can think of now is The Sonics' "Have Love Will Travel".

Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 1, Track 5

"Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)" (Nanker Phelge) – 2:29

Kids, let me tell you a story about the old days. See, back then, bands would create albums by padding their singles releases with filler. Thank god we don't have to deal with that anymore. This filler often took the form of hastily written instrumentals that, unlike the singles which were usually written by professional songwriters, the band could get a writing credit for – or, in this case, an instrumental of an existing Marvin Gaye song, with the melody removed. Nanker Phelge is a pseudonym used by the band for writing credits of these filler songs.

Aren't you glad I told you all that? Aren't you glad you spent two minutes of your life reading that information rather than wasting your time listening to the track, like I did? I'm already dreading the next track on this album, which also has a Nanker Phelge writing credit.

(BTW, and I’m not sure why anyone would care, but the "Uncle Phil" and "Uncle Gene" of the title are Phil Spector and Gene Pitney, who both got credit for playing something or other on this track. I’d try to find out more about why these two respectable recording artists were in the studio with a bunch of English long-haired louts, but the result just isn’t interesting enough for me to do the legwork.)