JohnTem82387976

8 February 2018

The New Survivors - Pickle Protest/ But I Know



Odd 60s garage rock record referencing the protest movement. 

Label: Scepter
Year of Release: 1968

Here's a bit of a mystery. This 1968 garage rock record has a sparse organ-driven arrangement and a southern USA accented lead vocal, and appears to be referring to the protest movement and trying not to get itself into a tizz about the fact that "Red China's got the bomb". We are urged quite strongly that one way of not getting ourselves into too much of a panic about the world ending might be to just move our "happy feet".

I can't argue with that, really, since this attitude is what has made most popular music such a powerful force for time immemorial, through wars, recessions, and general uncertainty, but the lead singer's continual hiccups of laughter throughout - which sound like an accident initially, but are clearly staged - make me think this whole affair is a bit of a piss-take. It's intriguing, and quite catchy, and presumably made a lot more sense in 1968 than it does now and was possibly referencing a specific incident ("What is a 'pickle protest' anyway?" you might ask, and I can't help you there).

The B-side "But I Know" is a much more serious and soulful ballad which is actually a preferable listen for me. When I originally ripped these sides to mp3, I had to double-check my sources to check that "Pickle Protest" definitely was the original plug side - and it would seem that was the case.

It apparently picked up quite a bit of airplay in some US states, but wasn't a hit as a result, and The New Survivors seemingly didn't go on to record anything else. I've no idea who they were, but if anyone can enlighten me, I'd be grateful.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you David, very unknown band from the USA

A little more information about The New Survivors

The New Survivors

Personnel
TONY TEEBO


45s:
1 The Pickle Protest/Little One (Kanwic 147) 1968
2 The Pickle Protest/But I Know (Scepter 12227) 1968


A Pittsburg/Fort Scott, Kansas combo put out the poppy Pickle Protest that still retains a garage feel with some reedy doodlings. Teebo would go on to a solo career in the seventies.

23 Daves said...

Thanks for the information! That clears things up a little bit.

Richard said...

Obviously, the composer A A Thiebaut Jr and "Tony Teebo" must be the same person.

Vlad The Chart Collector said...

Are those the shades and echoes of "Nights in white satin" I hear in the B-side or am I mistaking it for something else?