GREAT LOST KIWI SINGLES: Rock follies

They are found at the back of cartons at record fairs, under beds in long abandoned houses and sometimes stored lovingly -- but rarely played -- in the collections of the obsessives. They are great, and not that great, rare Kiwi singles with an interesting story behind them -- often more interesting than the music. Here are some examples, more as they come to light.

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Six60, Drax Project, LAB ft Hilary Barry: Just Call to Say (You Love Me)

When media personality Hilary Barry felt the public wasn't getting enough of her – despite nightly appearances on The Seven Project , that charades quiz show thing with desperate politicans and fashion shoot-tell all interviews – she took to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder and her other social media outlets to announce this single with New Zealand's most popular groups.

Word has it that before a recent Covid lockdown these groups were corralled into a “bubble” at a remote location and “persuaded” by Barry's “people” to record this slow, reggae-flavoured version of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You.

Barry then added her spoken word part which became Just Call to Say (You Love Me), the theme to her two-hour Sunday morning television show Talk-Magic TV in which celebrities and the public were invited to chat with Barry – aka “Hils Babe” – about her fabulous career, life and being nominated as NZFA (New Zealand's Favourite Aunty).

The programme lasted three weeks but the single – signed by and given away free with any purchase at Bunnings, The Warehouse and Countdown supermarkets – became a chart-hogging Kiwi classic, later covered by Beastwars, Anika Moa and the re-formed Sticky Filth.

However it seems no one kept a copy and within weeks it had all but disappeared aside from a few in the hands of collectors who file it between Paul Holmes and Kim DotCom. The rare unsigned copies more valuable than the signed ones. 

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Lorde and Laing: Solar Power and Nuclear Free

This daring eco-pleasure mash-up of Lorde's new single Solar Power and Shona Laing's Neutral and Nuclear Free mixed by Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie may have entirely missed the point of each song, but its hypnotic Balearic groove certainly found favour with the new E-generation.

Taking lines from Lorde's wispy delivery and throwing them against Laing's singalong acoustic crowd-pleaser from her 1987 album South was certainly daring if also utterly confusing.

But as Gillespie noted, “no one listens to the words, man, stoners just want to dance like Bez in the [Happy] Mondays, innit?”.

The litigation from Lorde and Laing which followed rather soured the upbeat vibe of the thing and the single – available as a limited edition, 20 minute single-side day-glo 12'' – was quickly withdrawn.

Gillespie was unrepentant however and undertook a similarly contentious mash-up of Benee's Supalonely with the Vandals' punk-thrash version of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It wasn't an especially original idea (see below). 

It made even less sense but is now equally sought-after by record collectors because it came on triangular 7'' vinyl which meant it was famously unplayable on any stereo system.

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Benee: Supacalifrastillistic ft Meghan Markle

After the versions of Benee's hit Supalonely with Meghan Trainor, Megan Thee Stallion and Megan Fox, many thought the song and name connection had been thrashed to death. But when Meghan Markle's deal with Netflix fell through – the company rejected the sub-royals idea of a bio-pix starring Meghan as both Diana and herself – she reached out to Benee and contributed the guest vocal on this version where she requested the line “I'm a lonely bitch”. Then later in a fuck-you to Netflix, the Royal Family and the Hollywood establishment substituted, “I'm a loaded bitch, don't you know”.

If she was courting controversy however it didn't work because radio dismissed it (“she can't sing” was the consensus) and its release coincided with Camilla Parker-Bowles chart-topping banger version of the Game of Thrones theme music as “Throne Be Mine, Suck On Dat MoFuggas”.

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Fat Freddy's Drop Fly and Roots Black Pretties: Gimme Some Money

When the CLOVIS-19 pandemic hit, this collection of musicians from Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties, Trinity Roots and Fat Freddy's Drop decided to record this fund-raising single to keep themselves in "strings, reeds and weed". Their choice of a song to cover -- the original by the Sixties Beat-era group the Thamesmen -- was inspired in its message and their slow, roots reggae treatment was interesting.

However because of social distancing the group -- which numbered between 35 and 58 apparently -- had to record this in a huge hanger at Wigram Air Base while standing many metres apart. The result was a terrible echo which rendered the song almost inaudible.

Sales were also hindered when they decided to release it only as limited edition 78rpm shellac in a cover which depicted a rather too literal interpretation of the band name.

A collector's item which collectors have conspicuously failed to collect. 

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Nadia Reid: O Le Fu'a o Le Sa'olotoga o Samoa

After her daring rewrite of the Canadian national anthem Oh Canada on her latest album Out of My Provenance, folk-rock chick Reid offered this courageous heavy metal version of the Samoan national anthem as a flexi-disc single to be given away free at Pasifiki and PolyFest.

Unfortunately not only were those two festivals cancelled but Reid was the target of internet trolls who took her to task for making the plastic discs. In a fit of pique she took the boxes of the single to a field in Northland and set them alight, and was prosecuted for violating the fire ban. Reid appeared in court and promised not to record another note until the CLODIV-19 pandemic was over and she could go to Samoa in person to perform her song for people there.

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Jamie McDell with Head Like a Hole: Wipe Out b/w Helter Skelter

This unexpected pairing was apparantly prompted by McDell's new management who wanted to reposition her from the pop market into a more adult demographic.

The cover of the Surfari's classic surf rock got no traction at radio. But the video -- in which the band remain fully clothed but a stark naked McDell wearing devil's horns and covered in blood cavorts around a bonfire on a beach then does something unspeakable to a goat, a dog and a really cute little bunny rabbit -- garnered 2.7 billion You Tube views.

"She was just a lunatic," said HLAH's Booga when released on bail last week. "She was drinking vodka all the time and injecting P and marijuana and other drugs and was totally out of it. We were freaked out, and it wasn't our idea to ram-raid that dairy for cigarettes. We don't even smoke anymore.

"That little girl scared the heck out of us."

Wipe Out has only had 12 plays on Spotify but HLAH's gentle folk-rock and born again version of the Beatles' Helter Skelter fared better with 27. 

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Lorde: Green Flicker Twitter Bleat

This unusual single by Lorde features a mash-up of her singles Yellow Flicker Beat and Green Light by DJ Random, but most interest alights on her voice-over parts where she reads a series of apparently un-posted Twitter messages. In them she rants about her former famous friends (Miley, Taylor, Morrissey), former boyfriend, former manager, former producer and “that skinny shouting bitch Miss Nepia” whom friends have identified as Lorde's kindergarten teacher.

This briefly appeared on limited edition 12'' bile-coloured vinyl with her own “Hard House Therapy remix” on the flipside.

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Te Vaka/Opetaia Foa'i: Moana Beats Your Beats

A terrific collection of various percussion beats from around the Pacific (log drums etc) curated by Te Vaka's Foa'i after the success of the Moana film and soundtrack. Foa'i undertook the work himself at great personal expense and all profits from sales go to worthy causes in the region.

The intention was that “the beats be made available free to samplers so the message about Pasifika music could carry on beyond Moana” he said.

However the lack of a comma in the middle of the title lead some woke Pakeha critics and two prominent Maori academics to slam it for its suggestion of personal arrogance and cultural superiority.

The 12'' was quickly withdrawn when a complaint about it was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal.

Much sought after by DJs because of the attractive, framable cover image of a postcard-perfect Pacific island beach with what looks like an extremely high tide washing around pretty village houses.

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Neil and Liam Finn: Father and Son

In many ways this cover of Cat Stevens' famous inter-generational song was the ideal first single from the debut album of Finn pere et fil. But their lyrical changes from the antagonistic relationship in the original into self-congratulation about how cool it is to be wealthy, happy, talented and enjoying an excellent father/son relationship rather undercut it.

Sole interest alighted on Neil's ad libbed lines towards the end about “sad losers who listen to Don McG's intellectual bullshit songs” and Liam's spontaneous laughter which goes on into the run-out groove where it is looped endlessly as on the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album.

It is believe the “Don McG” is a reference to fellow songwriter Don McGlashan but none of the Finns or McGlashan would confirm this at the time of going to press. In fact McGlashan denies ever having heard it although he was seen outside Neil Finn's house in the week after the song's release with a can of petrol while swigging from a bottle of vodka.

All copies of the single have been bought up by a mystery buyer and it is believed none now remain in existence.

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KINGS: She'll Be Right, S'all Good Bro, Don't Worry 'Bout It:

Tapping into Kiwi laissez-faire attitudes and aspects of local indolence, this 15 minute 12 inch single tried to link across the generations with references to common phrases from the past ("she'll be right" and the more recent, "s'all good bro") but by the time he got to his own contribution to the lineage ("don't worry 'bout it") he had forgotton what he wanted to say.

The final five minutes were just instrumental with KINGS sometimes being heard to mutter "Ahh . . . yeah, nah . . ."

A fortnight later he had another crack at it and just shaved off the first historical ideas and jumped straight into his own take with "don't worry 'bout it" . . .  although in an unedited version which appeared on the internet he can be heard to say at the end, "Jeez bro', there's a shitload to worry 'bout when you think 'bout it, eh?" 

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SixSix60: The Devil Went Down to George Street

Few people know that before they became famous, Dunedin's Six60 were actually Satan-worshipping, baby-eating black metallers. As SixSix60 they recorded this one-off single inspired by the Charlie Daniels Band hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

The fiddle part was played by a member of the NZSO who they had drugged up on P, which explains her furious playing style. Shortly after however they actually met Satan and he offered them riches and fame as long as they converted to the MOR/reggae religion. Which they did.

But he now owns their immortal souls.

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Anika Moa with Babymetal: Bubbas, Live at Budokan

While she was holidaying in Japan, a chance encounter between Anika Moa and local metallers Babymetal (three young poppets backed by a hard rock band) resulted in a day-long saki session and Moa joining the band onstage at Budokan that night for a thrash metal medley of material from her Songs for Bubbas album.

Bootlegs appeared in Tokyo and copies now go for in excess of $500. Encouraged by this, Moa started a Crowdkicking campaign to raise funds to get her and Katchafire to Denmark for a festival there to record a live album . . . Bubbas, Reggae From Roskilde.

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Lorde-Dobbyn: Call Me Royal: This ill-conceived duet seems to have been instigated by the New Zealand Monarchist League in the months before the 2014 visit of Prince William and his lovely wife Kate Middleton. It was well known Dave Dobbyn was angling for a knighthood at the time but quite why new 12-year old sensation from Hillsborough, Lorde (aka Ellie Hypenated-Something) got involved is a mystery.

But lyrics like "call us royal and keep it that way" did seem to capture something of the pro-monarchy sentiment of the time, and got them a cover story on the New Zealand Woman's Weekly.  

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Dave Dobbyn; Welcome Home, Yeah Riiight

Those who were there when Dobbyn recently re-recorded his Welcome Home hit say it seemed he'd fallen off the wagon after being burned by financial advisors now living in luxury homes on the Gold Coast. YouTube footage -- since deleted -- showed a clearly angry and possibly intoxicated Dobbyn on Paratai Drive shouting profanities at builders working on the former home of an investment advisor while the soundtrack played this brutal and offensive song. Mr Dobbyn was unavailable for comment.

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Fat Freddy's Drop, Wandering Hands

Some say this captured the band in their P-period, others are less kind. But this thrash-metal shout-out to kiddie-fiddin' teachers was only briefly released as a download through their website and instantly deleted when their manager woke up and discovered their website had crashed. It is said the song had over three million hits in 24 hours because it was leaked with a photo taken at five-year old girl's birthday party. Mr Freddy was unavailable for comment.

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Ray and the Reptiles, She's a Gob

Ill-conceived project by John Baker (of Wild Things fame) who aligned Ray Columbus with the reformed Suburban Reptiles for this '87 punk version of She’s A Mod. Wreckless Eric covered it on his '89 comeback album. He didn’t come back.

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D.D. Smashed, Outlook for Thirst Day

After the boozy Bliss, Dave Dobbyn briefly fell prey to commercial interests from breweries and threw his lot in with an Irish metalhead pub band. Liberally applied sponsors’ products resulted in this rather off-key single which Dobbyn later reworked to greater effect.

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Chris Knox, Address to the Third Soviet Congress 1921

Those who were there say it was late and the background noise intolerable, so perhaps Chris misheard. But being a Beatles fan he felt he had to immediately record what he took to be the lyrics of a previously unreleased John Lennon song. The 37-minute cassette-only single began with unpromising line: “Comrades and fellow party members . . .”

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Greg Johnson, Shave Yourself

Indulging his interest in things Brazilian -- body grooming, not the music -- Johnson demoed this interesting song with the chorus "first you shave yourself, then you shave the girl". Three days later when he sobered up he rejigged it to become "first you save yourself, then you save the world" for Save Yourself on the album Here Comes the Caviar. (Not the first time Johnson had changed a lyric: If I Swagger was formerly the inebriated and barely coherent If I Stagger).

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Mika, Out in the Street

Genuinely inspired reworking of the old Alistair Riddell/Space Waltz hit but, naturally, given a gender flip. Released on the eve of the ‘81 Springboks tour with a flamboyant street parade to promote it -- which regrettably clashed violently with a pro-tour march. All copies of the double A side single, being carried by lightly oiled boys, were destroyed in resulting melee.

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Swingers, Counting the Sheep

Terrific folk-rock song hampered by lyrics that were clearly drawn from the band's rural isolation on a high-country run in the South Island. A move to Sydney saw a toughening up of the band’s attitude (the bagpipe solo was dropped) and lyrical rewrite. Remaining copies of this early version ruthlessly sought by Phil Judd and the Bats.

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La De Das, How is the Air Up There '89

Ecologically-conscious former rockers reformed to rework their Sixties hit as a new-age plea to ban “spray cans and stuff because of the ozone layer and all that.” Picture sleeve single recently valued at $45 ($35 if record still in cover).

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Mutton Birds, Karangahape Road (But Not That Boring Bit Up By the Sheraton)

Somewhat limp follow-up to Dominion Road and not among Don McGlashan’s best. Two versions exist; collectors favour the one with 27-second euphonium solo after the words “and I’m lying in a coma, outside Verona.”

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Elsewhere readers are invited to contribute their own Great Lost Kiwi Singles by using the Post A Comment option.

For other articles along these lines check out Absurd Elsewhere here.

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