The Steadfasts/ Cashions' amazing split 45

[axel]

"Girl Be Steadfast" by the Steadfasts was one of the tunes that stood out for me on the Prae-kraut Pandaemonium series. I think PKP is a great series anyway, a lot of amazing stuff on there, but what makes "Girl Be Steadfast" special is because it is one of the most "garage-y", "back-from-the-grave-y" songs from Germany I ever heard. It was their first single, a private pressing, and probably a lot rarer than their second on CCA. Also, the Steadfasts were from Memmingen, Bavaria, which is not far from my hometown.
So, when I met a record collector/dealer last year, I asked him about it, and surprisingly enough he had it. I was actually quite excited to have a chance to see it, but when I finally did I was totally stunned by its overall coolness. It turned out to have an ultra-cool DIY-style cover, not only the front, but also the back which shows The Cashions, with whom they share this split single. The moody instrumental by the Cashions is quite nice, too.
So recently I asked the guy if I may get it on camera. He is a very nice man and helped me with it and here it is. It's both sides of the vinyl and sleeve in one shot. The camera is a bit shaky in places, so sorry for that. Hope you enjoy it just the same. And- play it LOUD!!!

 

[bosshoss]

Very good. Very nice.
I would like to have that. It would go so nicely with my copy of the second 45, which now seems kinda lonely on the shelf. Sigh.

 

[michaelvee]

.. the Steadfasts' are in my top 10 of German Garage, and I didn't know the flip, a TRUE BEAUTY!!! Hope it'll turn up on some sampler soon (maybe in a better rip-quality)..... anyway, thanks for posting Alex, und beste Grüße in die alte Heimat!

 

[axel]

.. the Steadfasts' are in my top 10 of German Garage, and I didn't know the flip, a TRUE BEAUTY!!! Hope it'll turn up on some sampler soon (maybe in a better rip-quality)..... anyway, thanks for posting Alex, und beste Grüße in die alte Heimat!

Danke, schöne Grüße zurück nach... Italien, richtig?

Yeah, it's a beauty indeed. An exact repro would be cool, because the music and cover design goes together really well. And it's a good two-sider, too. There could be "repro" written on the label, to make clear it's not the original. I'd love to do it, but someone professional would have to do this, especially the recording and vinyl mastering.

 

[axel]

Tim Warren maybe? He knows how to treat sounds like these...

 

[MopTopMike]

This is really cool!
The title is hilarious, however - "Steadfast?" No one says that here in the USA, hahaha

 

[axel]

Yeah, there's a lot of funny vocabulary and off-key English in German teenbeat. I think it adds to its charm. The compilers of Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium dig it muchly, too. The liner notes are full of amusing remarks about it.

 

[michaelvee]

Yeah, there's a lot of funny vocabulary and off-key English in German teenbeat. I think it adds to its charm. The compilers of Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium dig it muchly, too. The liner notes are full of amusing remarks about it.

.. i.e. my good pal Werner Voran, RIP. I agree, the broken Kartoffel-English, just like Spanglish and all of those desperate, dadaistic sounding attemps to cope with the masterlanguage (remember the hilarious "Judy In The Sky With Nazis"-comp?) add even more fun. And I dig the liner notes to PKP nearly as much as the sounds.

Saluti da Milano!

 

[axel]

I didn't know who's behind PKP. What do you mean- RIP? What about those new volumes of PKP still coming out online from time to time? Is this other people in Mr. Voran's footsteps?

 

[gregk25]

Yeah, there's a lot of funny vocabulary and off-key English in German teenbeat. I think it adds to its charm.

Just the other week I met with the guitarist of The Loosers (of "Understand"-fame, another PKP "mainstay"). One gig the singer wasnt allowed to go, they were all 14 - 16 yrs, and so he had to handle vocal duties. With no grasp of the english language beyond listening to his Beatles/Stones/Kinks records, he started simulating the best nonsensical english sounds he could muster. He said he got a lot of respect from his teachers afterwards for how good he was in english. So much for language training in mid-60s Germany...

 

[michaelvee]

I didn't know who's behind PKP. What do you mean- RIP? What about those new volumes of PKP still coming out online from time to time? Is this other people in Mr. Voran's footsteps?

.. other than the PKP-series and Electrick Loosers (spelling intended) , Werner (from Stuttgard) did the 23 Tommyknockers /Beat Wunderbar-comps on British Beat. At first, the PKPs (20 pieces, pressed in vinyl) and the Loosers (4 CDs) were distributed via small shops, and mailorder-services, then, from PKP#17 on, he decided to share his compilations for free download at http://spurensicherung.blogspot.it/ , including the most fabulous Tommyknockers-series. In 2012, he had sent me 12 MCs of which I created 2 final Electrick Loosers-comps. Unfortunately, at 59, he rather inexpectely passed away from stroke on Apr 13th, 2013. His death is truely a great loss for the Garage-comunity, and you can read many sad comments and obituaries at the Roots&Traces blog. As you will see, I tried to go on with Tommyknockers by selecting uncomped tracks we had interchanged in the recent years (3 volumes, all downloadable at http://michaelvee.livejournal.com). I'm still missing his knowledge on 60s Beat and Garage and his unique sense of humor.

 

[axel]

That's sad news. I didn't know all that. Gotta check out the Spurensicherung blog more properly. You can tell that Werner was a humorous and knowledgable guy by reading his liners for PKP. Really sorry to hear about his untimely passing away.

I think Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium is the one series that captures the German 60s beat scene at its very best and together with the liners it helps getting the best out of a big heap of music that others would not be able to present as something else than an ultimately boring affair. Some of the older Bear Family German Beat comps are like that. No spirit, just filing away.
Werner Voran obviously had the spirit, the taste and the sense of humor to fulfil the task. A labor of love in every sense.
Of course, not every song on PKP is a killer. But there's something interesting to almost every song. Be it only the ultimate lack of ANYTHING interesting (and if you don't realize it yourself, Werner would make the relevant remark in his liner notes). There's some pop psych on it, which some here might despise, but I like it, and I dig the mixture of genres on PKP muchly. It's closer to Pebbles than to BFTG in that respect. The last volumes (on vinyl at least), went more into the straight R&B/ Beat direction, which I thought a bit sad, because it lacks some variety and surprising moments.
The liners are in a category of their own. They are funny, interesting and they "breathe" the spirit of the German beat scene. Just as much as Hans-Jürgen Klitsch's great "Shakin All Over" book. The fun factor is very important to the German scene. I mean you just can't take it too seriously if those ole Krauts start growing their hair and run around in Beatle boots...
At first I was irritated by the difference of sound on every tune. But then I realized it's just that: Werner obviously did no awful messing around with the sound, filtering and all that shit, he just let the songs sound as they sound on the record, which is completely different for every song, naturally. At first it's irritating, but it's the only true way to present those old 45s, in my opinion.
Interesting that Bear Family now comes up with 60s comps that have more sense than anything they did in that field before (and in fact almost look like "Best of" Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium). But what they do now looks more like skimming the cream, whereas Mr. Voran had love for all those unknown bands, the originality, the funny ideas and imperfections they came up with.

Sorry for being lengthy. I just wanted to pay some respect to the man. He did a very important job (for us Krauts at least). RIP

 

[michaelvee]

Axel, your comments aren't lengthy at all but perfectly express the same huge respect I feel for Werner's work. I never met him in person (I did meet HJ Klitsch you mentioned, a good pal and another amazing and witty connaisseur of the German Beat-scene), and I'm very happy indeed your lines ease the same urge which is at the bottom of all my compiling and posting, too: knowing not to be alone! Thanks a lot brother!

 

[axel]

Keep it up, Michael!