Well, this will make you smile. The Peel show that I’m currently making selections from included Shine by David Gray, released well in advance of his success with White Ladder. I haven’t included Shine among my selections and it remains to be seen whether David Gray ever appears here. However, what I can offer you today is Dave Gray, lead guitarist with the Graytones, who released a solitary 45 in 1959 called You’re the One, and pretty execrable it was too. However, the B-side, a slinky, stylish instrumental called The Weird One was a different beast entirely. Peel was often apt to play records which sounded like things he would have played at home while getting ready for a night out during his early years in America, and there’s a swagger to The Weird One which evokes walking down boulevards past all-night diners, bars and clubs, while young people talk to each other from open-top cars while pulled up to the sidewalk.
It’s a wonderfully evocative record, given a potential new audience through its appearance on a 1986 compilation album called Strummin’ Mental! Volume One. The only false note is struck by the scream/depraved laugh towards the end of the track which suggests that The Weird One of the title is a flasher. I think this may have been a deliberate intention, if only to contrast with its insipid A-side.
Video courtesy of Bob Bradley.
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