Do y’all know about The Equals? In the wake of The Troggs, Kinks and Beatles, they released a run of insanely catchy, stomping pop songs throughout the mid to late 60s (and beyond). They were one of the first racially mixed rock bands (2 white dudes, 3 black dudes) and are one of my favorite go-to, always on-point, listens. You know Police On My Back, the Clash covered it well. You’ve probably heard Baby Come Back and thought “I love this song!” but never clocked who it was. But, if you’re like me you bought an Equals greatest hits album a long time ago and know that every g’dam song they recorded is an earworm.
When Adelle and I got a second car, a used mini-van, I was delighted that it had a CD player. CDs sound way better than streaming songs on yr streaming services. They just do. They also sound better than playing vinyl LPs on a turntable/receiver combo costing less than 1,000 dollars. It’s a fact. I don’t wanna argue about it. You audiophiles know it’s true.
Now, what CDs , out of the many I accumulated, do I bring to the mini-van? What have I, can I, never hear enough of? Cross all the normal classics off the list. No Velvets, Beatles, Ramones, Big Star, Neil, Joni. Love all of them endlessly but I want something fresh but familiar. Who can it be?
The Equals. To my ears the magic link between early Jamaican Ska and mid 60s Garage Rock, my 2 hands-down favorite varieties of music. Both genres captured in early multi-track studios, mostly live, quick, rough, and brimming with palpable human joy.
Eddy Grant (of Electric Avenue fame) was an immigrant to the U.K. from Guyana, moving to London when he was 12. The dude wrote some MASSIVE choruses for The Equals. His singing is Caribbean in delivery, echoing Ska, but also full-throated Rock foreshadowing glamrock bands like Slade (note to self: find a Slade CD for the van). One of the weirdest, funnest tunes in The Equals catalog is Michael And His Slipper Tree. It’s a sketch of a fairy tale about a boy (man?) who has a tree that grows shoes. It is possibly the most infectious song I have ever heard. Perhaps it’s the lyrics that don’t quite make sense that keep me coming back. I crave resolution in a mid 60s pop song. Even if it’s just “I want you” or “don’t leave me” (Ray Davies always completes the circle). With Michael And His Slipper Tree, many questions remain. Why are the King and Queen involved? If the tree only grows silver slippers once a year why is Eddy saying it yields “brand new shoes for you and me”? Little did I know that an innocent review of The Equals ‘First Among Equals’ Greatest Hits CD would send me into a vortex of questions, the chorus of Michael And His Slipper Tree endlessly repeating in my head, day and night.
I knew I had to cover the song. I made the instrumental and then thought it would be AWESOME if Izzy (our 9 year old) sang it with me. But, would she? She’s not easily amused nor willing to have her dad martial her through the repetitive, not-as-fun-as-it-should-be process of recording. She gives when she wants to give.
I mentioned the song after she returned from sleep-away camp: “Hey sweetie, I’m working on a song, lemme know if you wanna do some singing”. No response. I was continuing to run through the song, singing it around the house (though not near Adelle because I wanted the cover to be a surprise) and gearing up to do a final vocal. Then, I heard Izzy singing the chorus, on her own, in her room. Yes. I asked again if she’d come into the studio and sing it. She agreed but with one caveat: she would only sing through what she called the “4-Track Man box” , my BOSS VT-1 Voice Transformer, the thing that makes you sound like a cartoon.
Long story short (LISTEN TO THE EPISODE) I put 2 microphones on her and covertly captured her real voice along with the high pitched Minnie Mouse voice. Our cover of Michael And His Slipper Tree appears here, remixed from the podcast version ‘cause nothing’s ever right, am I right?
Do yourself a favor and have an Equals day. Stream all their hits, marvel at the RAW enthusiasm and politically charged songs like Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys. Great, great stuff.
-lou
SLIPPERS ahoy…
Spotify link
Apple link
LouTube!
Ok that was one of the best father daughter moment done very well you have your hands full my friend I can see her singing Bikini Kill or slant six to perfection.
Check out the message I left you on the other one. Let me know if you/what you can do with it