Thee Midniters are my favorite East LA band. The diversity of their releases is amazing. They could do full on Soul, Latin, blasting Garage, catchy instrumentals, sweet ballads, funk, psych, you name it. I would recommend picking up the book "Land of a Thousand Dances" where you can read about them and many other east LA acts.
I've been trying for a while now to get all of Thee Midniters records, both 45's and LP's. There's a couple that remain elusive but especially the Whittier (W-511) release "You're Gonna Make Me Cry" / "Making Ends Meet", even in far from Mint condition this 45 will easily reach over US $500 or more on eBay. The 45 I've posted here, although not even close to being that expensive, is very hard to find.
So here's a super rare one from Thee Midniters from 1967. It's beyond me why this track didn't make it to the Greatest Hits CD that came out a few years ago. It may not be their best, but it's certainly an excellent track. Kind of an unusual record for them since their early stuff mixes Latino Soul and Garage in the best way possible and their later stuff mixes in some funk. This record is purely Garage/Psych/Pop and very much sounds like 1967 but at the same time they still don't lose that Midniters edge. Listen below.
THEE MIDNITERS - BREAKFAST ON THE GRASS
Note: I'm not sure why I didn't also record the other side "Dreaming Casually", but will on the next recording session and add it here. It's a great dreamy ballad in the American Chicano Rock tradition.
UPDATE: Jan 7, 2009: Here is the track "Dreaming Casually" as promised. These types of tracks are the bread and butter of East LA and Chicano rock in general.
THEE MIDNITERS - DREAMING CASUALLY
Note: The above mp3 is from a kind of crackly 45. I would suggest buying THEE MIDINTIERS GREATEST HITS CD for better quality and support one of the greatest bands EVER!
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4 comments:
Very cool. I've heard a couple of tunes by these guys but didn't know anything about them. Thanks. W.
I'll post more for sure!!
Holeee- you have some amazing music here! When I talk about downloading with people, including musicians, I like to point out how much music like this would be lost or only available to few people.
Thanks for the chance to hear these...
dugg
I love Thee Midnighters too, so recently bought the 4-CD box "The Complete Midnighters". There's some filler and the sound quality could be better on some tracks (a few sound awful!), but it was a worthwhile purchase. Still, the LP that came out on Norton a couple years ago is enough for most people, as it has the absolute best tracks.
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