“You Never Come” EP (Groovie Records GROO22EP) October 2019
The Unclaimed | Kitty Girl Valentine | Groovie Records | 2019 | The return of The Unclaimed just over ten years ago was a welcome surprise. Who’d have thought it? But apparently leader Shelley Ganz had begun writing songs again and was even tempted out of his decades long ‘hibernation’ to piece together a new line-up of The Unclaimed and they soon commenced gigging in Los Angeles and spending time in a studio honing some demos.
Dave Provost, lead guitar on “Kitty Girl Valentine” sent me a demo sound-file of the song at least four years before the number was released on this Groovie Records EP. The song wasn’t mixed and was still in it’s early stages. Hence my delight that a fully-fledged “Kitty Girl Valentine” wasn’t forgotten or cast away in the vaults but reared it’s feline head in 2019.
Four new Unclaimed tracks are highlighted on the record, all written and sung by the now deceased Shelley Ganz. I knew Shelley on Facebook and he came across as one of the most genuine people on there. He certainly still had the talent to create masterful ’60s influenced garage killers, including the fuzz beast “You Never Come”, which is possibly the most commercial sounding record he ever created.
Other musicians who helped Shelley stitch together his new material included John Worley, Patrick Cleary, Shaun Bryant, Lee Joseph, Jose Rendon, Dave Klein, the previously mentioned Dave Provost and Cindy Gillen.
“Kitty Girl Valentine”, the bubblegum garage fuzz tormentor is my favourite track though. The melody is just beautiful and easily manages to find it’s way into my mind. I find myself humming the tune hours later. Great use of hand-claps and insidious fuzz. A modern-day classic.
“My Kind” and “Sick And Tired” also hold my interest and the surprising thing about the latter is that Shelley (in my mind) dons a huge Cowboy hat and goes all fuzztoned Country, just like some of those Mike Nesmith Monkees numbers.
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