Bohemian Vendetta – ”Riddles & Fairytales” (Mainstream 681) June 1968
By the time Mainstream Records released Long Island’s Bohemian Vendetta’s second single ”Riddles & Fairytales” was already a year old. The 45 was backed with the mod infused shaker ”I Wanna Touch Your Heart”. The record was an edited version of the album track.
”Riddles & Fairytales” is an organ dominated psychedelic rocker with Seeds like fuzz and obscure lyrics. It got some radio plays on the East Coast but probably failed to get beyond ’promotional status.’
Bohemian Vendetta – ”I Wanna Touch Your Heart” (Mainstream S/6106) January 1968
This album by Bohemian Vendetta has been my latest spin and it’s a decent effort combining psychedelic effects, fuzz and weirdness. Billboard magazine reviewed it as ”a natural for underground stations featuring psychedelic music.”
There is a classy garage number, the July 1967 single ”Enough” and the psych strangeness of ”Riddles & Fairytales” and ”Paradox City” are great but the extended versions of ”The House Of The Rising Sun” and ”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” are not really where it’s at in my mind right now but I’m sure others will dig ’em.
Check out ”I Wanna Touch Your Heart” which was used as the flip of their second single b/w ”Riddles & Fairytales.”
line-up:
Victor Muglia (bass)
Randy Pollock (rhythm guitar)
Nick Manzi (lead guitar)
Chuck Monica (drums)
Brian Cooke (organ / lead vocals)
The story of Bohemian Vendetta
In the beginning, there was a Long Island, NY group called The Bohemians, which con-sisted of lead singer/songwriter/organ player Arthur Muglia (a.k.a. Brian Cooke), his cousin Victor Muglia (bass), Randy Pollock (rhythm guitar), Richie Sorrentino (drums) and Richard Martinez (lead guitar). In early ’66 the group went to New York City’s Associated Recorded Studios to record their first demo, “Irresistible”/”Petrified, Like Stoned” (which would be renamed, ‘Like Stoned’).
After nothing happened with this disc or their second demo, “I Don’t Go That Way”/”All Kinds Of Lows And All Kinds Of Highs,” the drummer quit, and guitarist Richard Martinez left to join The Cats Meow (who released a few singles on Decca). The drummer was replaced by the much more proficient Chuck Monica, and guitarist Nick Manzi joined after leaving the pre-Faine Jade group The Rustics in the fall of 1966. This line-up recorded three songs at Ultra-Sonic Recording Studios in Long Island: “How Does It Feel,” “Enough” and “Half The Lime.” These recordings were brought to the attention of United Artists Records by the group’s
Local airplay
manager/songwriting partner Tony Sarafino, a.k.a. Tony Camp. The latter two songs were released as a single in the spring of ’67, under the more defiant-sounding name The Bohemian Vendetta.
“Enough” got some local airplay, and even a spot on Dick Clark’s “Rate-A-Record,” which led to better gigs at Long Island’s Action House, opening for The Vagrants and Vanilla Fudge. Although the single never got beyond the promo copy stage, “Enough” is a perfect example of “the Long Island Sound,” similar to The Vagrants’ great “I Can’t Make A Friend”.
In late ’67, the group began recording demos of songs which would later be re-recorded for the Mainstream label. The demos of “I Wanna Touch Your Heart,” “Images” and “House Of The Rising Sun” are much rawer sounding than the released versions, and more repre-sentative of how the group really sounded live. One song, “Charity Killjoy,” never made it to the album, because their manager wanted “Satisfaction” instead. The band disagreed with this decision.
Riddles and fairytales
The demos were brought to the attention of Mainstream Records, whose owner Bob Shad had the genius idea to release unknown rock groups for the “underground” FM radio market. He insisted that the group re-record the songs, but the results never really captured the quality of what the band sounded like as the demos did. The group recorded their only album for Mainstream in early ’68, and while waiting for what seemed to be a long time for its release, they helped play on Faine Jade’s Introspection LP.
By the time The Bohemian Vendetta album came out in the fall of ’68, the label did absolutely nothing to promote the record. It was typical for Mainstream to put out 10 albums at once and see if any would stick. When nothing happened with the LP or the edited-for-AM radio version of “Riddles & Fairytales,” the group was left disenchanted with the evils of the record industry. They fell apart in late ’68, unable and incapable of withstanding any more winters of discontent. And so it was…Bohemian Vendetta.
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