Underground luminaries of garage rock, The Ugly Ducklings are considered a top-shelf Canadian rock ‘n’ roll band of the '60s. This eponymous 2005 reissue compiles the Toronto quintet’s sole 1966 album, Somewhere Outside, with previously unreleased songs, alternate takes, a few 45 singles, and B-sides. “Just in Case You Wonder” opens on a Pretty Things–inspired groove (perhaps why it was chosen to be part of Pebbles, Volume 10 back in 1980). The surf-infused R&B rave-up “Nothing’” was the band’s one breakthrough single. It came out in 1966, one year before The Ugly Ducklings released the bouncier 45 “Gaslight.” Although it shows more original songwriting, that single didn't do as well as “Nothin’.” But The Ugly Ducklings also proved to be talented at putting their own spin on the songs of others, as evidenced by their smoking take on “My Little Red Book” by Burt Bacharach and the late, great Hal David. Other gems include the driving “I Wish You Would” and the spitting and spiteful “Hey Mama (Keep Your Big Mouth Shut).”
More By The Ugly Ducklings
- 2004
- 2019
- 2009
- 1966
- 1997
- 1967
Featured On
- Mandala
- Various Artists
- Dr. Music
- The Knickerbockers
- The Fire Escape
- Terry Black
- A Foot In Coldwater