The Key Brothers & The Quivers, "Since I Lost Your Love" c/w "Get Out," Triola [Norway] TN 367 (rel.9/1964)
Here’s an oddity I’ve had for a couple of years. This popped up amidst some new acquisitions from my friend Paul, who collects and sells records. I have a fascination with the way music of one culture seeps into another and this Norwegian single from early 1964 is a fine example. Plus, when was I ever gonna see another copy of today’s record?
The Scandinavian culture showed a fascination with Anglo-American music in the rock ‘n’ roll era. A major influence on youth of this area was the UK guitar group The Shadows. Their clean, striking sound inspired countless young men to purchase electric guitars and attempt the twangy, compelling sound of Hank Marvin, the Shadows’ lead player. This birthed a genre called “Shadowsband.” These young players excelled at recreating the Shadows’ sound, and there are hundreds of recordings from several countries including Denmark and Sweden.
Much of these three countries’ pop music was steeped in tradition; in-between rock ‘n’ roll efforts come polkas, modernized folk songs and revivals of old ballads. It made for a curious mix; Finland also contributed its fair share of such records.
Today’s single represents a Norwegian supergroup: vocal trio The Key Brothers and Shadowsband The Quivers united to attempt a Beatles-style rock ‘n’ roll single. Rock ‘n’ roll might seem at odds with the cultural tidiness of the Scandinavian world, but there’s a crazed energy to the result that is offbeat and, at least for me, fascinating.
The Key Brothers formed in 1957. Member Tor Myrseth played rhythm guitar with The Quivers, so a merger was inevitable. The resultant single was issued in three countries; the Brothers had a US release on the Jamie label in 1962—a year in which American pop sampled the sounds of other cultures as possible hit fodder. Their singing may sound too mannered to our ears; it’s so…precise. No slurring of words, no clipping Gs, ev-er-y R pronounced with a sharpness seldom heard from American voices.
“Since I Lost Your Love” is credited to Bob Howell, which must be a pen name; the songwriter has no other credits. It’s a big-sounding Merseybeat-type rocker that’s been vacuumed, washed and dried to an immaculate state. The Quivers play a modified version of the beat-group rhythm section with a touch of the Shadowsband twang still on board, while the Brothers come across with strong three-part harmonies that, as said, don’t deviate from the sound of an elocution class. Their voices pack a punch, and it’s always interesting to see which English words pose issues with those not native to it. The word ‘misery’ gives Scandinavian tongues a challenge; if one listens to a variety of pop music from this culture, one hears many unusual renditions of it.
The song’s coda, borrowed from The Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” shows the Key Brothers at their most impressive; at times you might long for one of the voices to get out of step or go flat or sharp. Ain’t happenin’ here.
“Get Out” is a group original, by Myrseth and Lasse Hovd. It’s a blend of various Beatle-esque influences, with a sound patterned on “I Saw Her Standing There” and some hot guitar passages from lead Quiver Arne Schulze, who works up some heat and inspires the Keys to get downright manic. Like so many early Beatle wanna-bes (wanna-Beatles?) they borrow the high-pitched “woooo”s the Fab Four pilfered from The Isley Brothers. Thus, we have music that’s gone through two cultural filters. They once again have problems with ‘misery;’ their tendency to hold on the S is endemic of Scandinavian pop. Missssss-ur-ree!
Both groups had a long life and did well in their home area. Outside Norway, they’re known by a few odd birds like me, who find the outer limits of recorded music fascinating. Well, here’s something I bet you’ve never heard before!
Tomorrow: Mavis Staples and The Staple Singers bring gospel glory via an exceptional 1968 Columbia Records single for your Soulful Sunday.
Definitely 'wanna-Beatles' is the phrase to use. I see what you mean about their meticulous enunciation. Even their beat has measured clip. Love that 'leeesen to your lies' line. Hooboy! The Rutles were not far from my mind when I leeesened to these two songs. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." These guys had greatness to imitate in the Beatles.
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