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Dean Nimmer, drummer for Milwaukee's Baroques, 1965.

#The Baroques #Chess Records #Psych #Garage Bands #1965 #Milwaukee #Men's Fashion #Teenbeat

in 1967, milwaukee group the baroques were salvated by national label chess on basis of their regional hit, 'mary jane'. before i really start digging in, i would like to note that what chess did was not an uncommon practice - struggling blues and jazz labels often went to great lengths to sign up 'hip' groups in the late 60s, reaches that either proved to be average to truly earth-shattering (so i guess we can thank verve for the velvet underground, then).

but yes, back to the baroques here. it's a surprise that chess even got to discover them, as 'mary jane' was banned from heartland radio for being about... no one really knew for sure, though they decided it was un-christian and was promptly put to rest on the airwaves. besides that history, i think the most remarkable thing i heard was the baroques' almost absolute rejection of guitar and embrace of a lot of cool, groovy sounds in the vacuum of it. somber but adventurous at its core, the closest thing i can put to it is some of the kinks' output, though not as folky and if ray davies had a flat baritone. so, if psychedelic oddities are your thing, this track is an interesting little sound byte.