Royal Guardsmen - The Four Best Songs from RETURN...

Although they're best remembered for their novelty hit "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," the Royal Guardsmen show on their second album, RETURN OF THE RED BARON, that they wanna be rock 'n' roll stars.

Including everything from jangley folk rock to fuzzy garage punk and even Eastern-influenced psychedelic instrumentals, the Guardsmen's second album serves as a testament to the talent and versatility of this "novelty" band. Here are the best songs from that album:

1) "Any Wednesday"
2) "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star"
3) "Leaving Me"
4) "Om"

Always underrated by garage punk enthusiasts, The Royal Guardsmen deserve more respect, and hopefully this video will help spread the word.

I found my copy of this Guardsmen album a few years ago at a flea market in Rogers, Ohio.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 60s
• garage
• punk
• nuggets
• psych
• vinyl
• records
• albums
• LPs

[runawayimagination]

I mentored these guys while working a summer job in 1965 when they were Juniors & Seniors in High School, and I was between my Freshman & Sophomore year of college. I reconnected with the surviving members of the band just a few months ago.

[myrecordcollection]

Did you tell them that the hits would dry up and that they ought to major in something marketable and join a frat with good career connections?

[flibideegibbit]

oops, just noticed a jacket mistake. richthofen was from world war one.

[myrecordcollection]

I know! Someone commented on this a few months ago and I said, didn't anyone notice that the song begins with the lyric "After the turn of the century..." ??

[kurskss]

Re, the liner comments..you would think the promo dept. of a band that used the Red Baron as part of its schtick would know that he was an experten of the first world war!!

[myrecordcollection]

Yeah, you'd think somewhere along the way (grade school, e.g.) they would have gotten the word that the Baron fought in the first World War rather than the second. Not to mention the fact that the band's biggest hit begins with the line "After the turn of the century..." Oh well, Laurie was a small, independent label. The person who wrote these liners also probably swept the floors and did the books.

[Midnightman3741]

"Any Wednesday" is absolutely beautiful, and i agree with "Bi-Plane Evermore". My dad saw these guys back in 1966-67 and said they were great.

[amt253]

2:07 instrumental of So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star ... my favorite version of this song ... there's something elegiac about it ... after every song has been played, the stages taken down, and the old 45's dusty and lost ... the music is still good, and the party goes on, even if so few yet remember it ... "Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are" ...

[arcturusaf52]

This song is from September, 1967. I was going to college in New york City at this time,a nd I can remember hearing this song in a record store across from the building my class was in.

[theSwan7777]

thx for posting. had this album in hs and these 4 hits were my favorites, though "searchin, searchin, searchin for the goodtimes" would be close in there.

PLEASE post a couple more if you ever find the chance.

[vampyros1]

"Leaving" was always a great psych-punker that made its way onto my mix-tapes.

[runawayimagination]

@myrecordcollection None of them got rich during their heyday, but they got to have some cool experiences. They've recently put the band back together. I'm still playing professionally too - although we all know that the secret to a successful music career is a day job.

[flibideegibbit]

@myrecordcollection . . . and answered the phones and sharpened the pencils . . . lol

[freqazoidiac]

Wow, very byrdsy :D

[Megesse]

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