LOST TREASURES – The Waves

Posted on 08 May 2015

LOST TREASURES

THE WAVES

“Shock Horror!”

The Waves

By Peter Marston

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Most power pop bands start out a little rough and polish off the edges as they develop their sound and as their producers become more committed to scoring a big hit single. Often when they do, they cease to be power pop bands at all. Such is clearly the case with the Waves, whose first record, Shock Horror!, is a little-known power pop gem. Later, they would come to be known as Katrina and the Waves, hitting big with the very slick “Walking on Sunshine.”

The Waves LP

The Waves were originally formed by singer/guitarist Kimberly Rew and drummer Alex Cooper in the mid ’70s. They played around the Cambridge scene from 1975 to 1977, when Rew departed to join The Soft Boys. Though some recordings were made, none were released at the time. The Waves continued without Rew for a couple years but finally broke up when Cooper joined Mama’s Kitchen, which also featured Katrina Leskanich (vocals), Vince De La Cruz (guitar) and Bob Jakins (bass). When The Soft Boys broke up in 1981, Cooper convinced Rew to join the band, who promptly adopted the earlier name, The Waves. Though later on, Leskanich would become the band’s lead singer and namesake, but initially Rew was handling most of the lead vocals and provided all the original material for the band. In 1982, a single, “Nightmare,” was released and later the same year an eight track EP Shock Horror! appeared on Richard Bishop’s Armageddon label.

 

The album opens with “Going Down to Liverpool,” later covered by the Bangles. The Waves’ version is rougher and more tense and is a solid opener. “Strolling On Air” bears the influence of bubblegum and late ’70s NYC punk and features a droning tag that could have been lifted directly off Revolver. “Riding My Bike” is one of the highlights—a jangly impression of ’60s British psychedelia that achieves the perfect balance of whimsy and nostalgia. “I Caught the Milk Train,” on the other hand, approximates the Alice Cooper Band covering the Velvet Underground. “Brown Eyed Man” is a more traditional folk song, but played with the same sort of approach that Social Distortion used in their cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” “You Can’t Stand Next to Judie” is another somewhat psychedelic number but this time channeling American influences like the Blues Magoos. “Atomic Rock ‘n’ Roll” is a boilerplate rave-up and one of only two songs featuring Leskanich on lead vocals. The other is the closing track, “Saturday Week,” another ’50s-style rocker.

Waves band

Neither the single nor the EP charted, but the band was confident enough on to record a self-financed LP titled Walking on Sunshine (featuring an earlier version of the title song). By this time, Jakins had left the band, De La Cruz was moved to bass and the band was renamed Katrina and the Waves. Walking on Sunshine was released only in Canada (on Attic Records) but when Bangles cover of “Going Down on Liverpool” appeared on their debut album, All Over the Place, Katrina and the Waves were signed by Capitol. “Walking on Sunshine” was augmented with a punchy horn arrangement, remixed and released as single and the rest is history.

Waves 2

Shock Horror! was reissued as a CD by CBG in 2010. It features the original eight tracks from the EP along with four bonus tracks recorded in 1976 by the band’s original line-up, all of which are excellent. With original copies of the EP appearing rarely on the second-hand market (and for a fair sum of money), the reissue is definitely the way to go. Track it down and catch The Waves!

 

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation due in June, 2015.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katrina_and_the_Waves   and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Rew

AMG:  http://www.allmusic.com/album/shock-horror!-mw0000943063

Buy the reissue:  http://www.bongobeat.com/TheWa_ShoHo.php

History:  http://www.katrinaandthewaves.com/history.html

 

VIDEOS:

 

“GOING DOWN TO LIVERPOOL”

“BROWN EYED SONS”

“ATOMIC ROCK ‘n ROLL”

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