Buried Treasure: The Best Of The Standells

[Today: A Standells hit withstands the test of time...]

Nothing is as it seems with The Standells. They’re often labeled a ‘garage band’ but they had been playing for years around Los Angeles before their song ‘Dirty Water’ reached #11 on the charts in 1966. And while it etched their name into the early history of punk, their only bona fide hit is itself an enigma. None of the band cared for it, and only sang it after endless pestering by their manager, Ed Cobb. The song comes across as a defiantly proud ode to Boston, but none of the group were from there – it was written by Cobb after he was mugged on the Massachusetts Avenue bridge while visiting that city.

The Best Of The Standells collects the choice cuts from the four lumpy albums the group released in 1966 and ‘67. Taken together, these songs comprise an excellent whole, from the punk plea ‘Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White’ to the the paranoid aggression of ‘Why Pick On Me’ to the wonderfully dated ‘Riot On Sunset Strip’. Some tracks fall well short of greatness, but they’re never less than interesting. ‘Have You Ever Spent The Night In Jail’ is no toe-tapper, but it faithfully tells the story of being thrown in the clink, and has enough whimsical attitude to match Johnny Cash’s ‘Starkville City Jail’.

Fortunately, the story of The Standells doesn’t end with a greatest hits compilation and a pat on the back. In 1997 the Boston Red Sox adopted ‘Dirty Water’ as their theme song, and have played it after every home victory since. The band reunited to perform the song in front of a raucous, sold out Fenway Park before game 2 of the 2004 World Series. Lead singer Dick Dodd told The Boston Globe “When you get to be my age, you get a little choked up by this.”

Listen: Dirty Water

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Nuggets, The Standells