Begging For Mersey Dept.

The Koobas/Kubas were a beat group straight outta Liverpool onto the Reeperbahn, and they had everything but the breaks. By the time their eponymous album limped out in '69, they'd already broken up.

This pimped version is retitled/recovered. The cringe-inducing and jaw-droppingly inappropriate "humorous" interludes and funny voices have been edited out - too late! The damage is done! A couple of tracks - a ho-hum cover of A Little Piece Of My Heart, and an ill-advised and over-long concept piece about a circus - called Circus - are replaced by a couple of B sides; the monster freakbeat Face, and the strangely lovely Woe Is Love, My Dear. Both these tracks are a tad rougher in quality, but they're the best I could find.

In this form, it's an unfeasibly tough-sounding album, with memorable original songs and a yearning edge to the vocals, and should have done better. Trying to lighten the mood with the funny stuff didn't help, nor did the banality of the original cover and the crippling absence of a hit tune. But it's a swell late 'sixties U.K. pop-rock album you'll be proud to play at your next Visualization Workshop.

Both album sleeve and rip are at the low, low quality you've come to demand from the best in our-type entertainment!