Sweden’s The Shanes were absorbing British influence even before
The Beatles took their homegrown pop international in 1964. The previous year The
Shanes got started as a Shadows-type instrumental band, but started yelping
into mics and surfing the Mersey Beat in ’64. Their output that year had an
R&B beat but a light approach that was more Beatles (for whom they opened
in Stockholm) than Stones. In 1965, they toughened up a lot for some really
wild records, such as “I Don’t Want Your Love”, a crazed lift of The Kinks’ early
power chorders, “Crazy County
Hop”, which has some of the most eardrum-piercing harmonica squealing on
record, and a live version of “Roadrunner” with fiery guitar that would do
Townshend or Beck proud. This was The Shanes’ most powerful period as evidenced
on Let Them Show You: The Anthology
1964-1967, the band’s first compilation released outside of Sweden. The
punchy, maraca-rattling R&B in the center of this disc—much of it pulled
from the sophomore LP, The Shanegang—
is its bread and butter. The Shane’s odd return to lighter, 1964-style pop in
the psychedelic years is a bit confusing and considerably less satisfying (they
even rip off Herman’s Hermits with “Chris Craft No. 9”), but there’s still
stuff to dig in this period, particularly the moody chamber pop “Like Before”.
