The original version of “Strategy” (off Archie Bell & The Drells’ 1979 album of the same name) is great in its own right, but today’s track—a re-edit by British producer Touchsoul off this year’s Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits compilation—might surpass it. Archie Bell & The Drells, originally from Houston, were among the acts signed to the influential Philadelphia International label in the ’70s (which you can read a little more about here). The success of their 1968 single “Tighten Up” led the group to record their first album, I Can’t Stop Dancing, with soon-to-be Philly soul luminaries Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. “Strategy” came late in the group’s career—weak sales of the record were one of the factors that led the group to disband in the early ’80s—and saw Gene McFadden and John Whitehead taking over for Gamble and Huff on production duties.
The Fresh and Onlys are a five-piece garage rock band out of San Francisco. They formed in 2008 and are considered part of San Francisco’s “new garage” scene, which includes WNUR favorites like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. “Waterfall” is the standout first single off their 2010 LP, Play It Strange, released on In the Red Records. The group also recorded a 7” single for Chicago’s Hozac Records, featuring the tracks “Tell Me What You Want to Know” b/w “Nothing Ever Happens.” Their most recent release, Secret Walls, came out last year on Sacred Bones Records.
To my great surprise, I learned that Ace Frehley, lead guitarist of Kiss, wrote the original version of this track. The cover comes from Australian composer and multi-instrumentalist Oren Ambarchi. The track is taken from his most recent album, Audience of One, which was released on Touch Records this year.
Ambarchi has performed with John Zorn, Otomo Yoshihide, Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke, Sunn O)), and countless others. Ambarchi first began playing music in the ’80s as a free jazz drummer, but most of his work since then has involved experimentation with the guitar. Ambarchi also plays in Gravetemple with Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O)), and in Burial Chamber Trio with the other half of Sunn O)), Greg Anderson.
Maps & Atlases stopped by the WNUR studios this past Tuesday, performing a stripped-down acoustic set in anticipation of their upcoming show. They’ll be headlining at Metro this Friday to kick off their US tour. Tickets are $16 and doors open at 8PM.
Be sure to download the exclusive mp3 from part of their performance below. As always, you can stream all of WNUR’s in-studio performances (including this one!) on the Airplay archive page here. Stay tuned for more exclusive in-studio mp3 releases in the future!
Fever (WNUR Live In-Studio) by Maps & Atlases — Right click to ‘save as…’ to download.
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