The Tidal Waves, "I Don't Need Love" c/w "Big Boy Pete," Hanna-Barbera HBR 501 (rel. 10/1966)

Michigan was a hotbed of teen music in the 1950s and '60s. In the age of Beatlemania, dozens of garage bands emerged. From Detroit-adjacent Roseville came The Tidal Waves, who were inspired by the February 1964 Ed Sullivan broadcast to pick up instruments and become a happy-go-lucky young rock 'n' roll group.

    The group were fast studies, and soon had their act together. They appeared at local teen events, including a battle of the bands contest. They soon felt they were good enough to make a record. Brothers Jon and Tom Wearing visited a family member who worked at a Detroit recording studio. He auditioned the band and felt that had a saleable sound. For the local SVR label they recorded a frat-rock standard, "Farmer John," coupled with an intense minor-keyed teen folk-rock lament penned by Waves member Vic Witkowski. That side, which sounds like a different band, showed the group's versatility. "Farmer John," written and first recorded by Black LA duet Don and Dewey, was a recent-ish hit for Latino rockers The Premiers. Despite its familiarity (or, perhaps, because of it), the single was a smash in the Detroit metro area.

    SVR couldn't handle the demand for records. The label signed the group with Hanna-Barbera Records. This audio wing of the limited animation TV producers was at first all kiddie records. They branched out to rock 'n' roll and had an impressive roster of garage groups from all over the nation. Their release of "Farmer John" got to #79 on the national pop charts. HBR was over-booked and didn't publicize their releases aggressively. Still, a hit is a hit, and the single moved 50,000+ copies.

    For the follow-up, the group hewed to the same formula. Another Don & Dewey rave-up coupled with a more ornate melancholy ballad--this time a divine piece of baroque pop, thanks to the string section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In the wake of "Yesterday," "Eleanor Rigby" and The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee," this classical-rock fusion was en vogue.

    The group enlisted Richard Ciofarri, who taught music and was a professor emeritus at Bowling Green University, and the Wearing boys' relation, John Chekaway, to write the string arrangement and conduct the session. The song was penned by a new group member, bassist Dennis Mills. 

    It opens with jangly acoustic guitars. I assume the composer sings the lead vocal. The blend of folk-rock and classical is bewitching on this declaration of aromantic life. The narrator's been burned once too often by romance. "If I had a chance to do it over I wouldn't even try," he sings; "all she left me was sadness and the clothes I'm in."

    This sobering, intense psychodrama in song was a risky choice for a pop A-side. The Beatles considered "Eleanor Rigby" an album track, but Capitol Records picked it for a single. It was a major hit, but not every group could walk the same path with such fruitful results. "I Don't Need Love" is a masterpiece of its style and has a timeless feeling; on first hearing, I thought it could've been some indie band from the 1990s or later.

        It failed to chart but is this group's finest moment.

 

The group might have done better with "Big Boy Pete" as the A-side,

but they created a haunting and elegant song that gave work to members

of the Detroit Symphony. An appealing morsel, indeed!

"Big Boy Pete" is daylight to the other side's nuanced gloom. With a party atmosphere similar to one side of yesterday's record, this is a spot-on garage rocker delivered with a sense of fun and much energy. The harmonized lead vocals replicate Don and Dewey's harmonies on their 1959 original (their single was paired with "Farmer John"!)

    As with the group's first release, it's a schizophrenic presentation, but speaks to the versatility of the band. No session players; no bells and whistles. While I'm sure the group preferred the ambitious sound of "I Don't Need Love," this would have gotten them another charter. Had that happened, we might have an album by The Tidal Waves. Instead, we have three released singles and few out-takes.

The group's third single, "Action!" was issued just as HBR decided to phase out their record label. Thus, they didn't promote any of their last releases and the record, now quite rare, died on the vine. The label's bad accounting led to a conflict with the band. In a fit of youthful pique, The Tidal Waves abandoned ship and sailed for home.

Tomorrow: Black Nashvillian Jimmy Sweeney delivers solid pop r&b and a Nashville Sound ballad on a sweet 1959 single released by Columbia Records.