Beached Soul

The Tams: "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me", "What Kind Of Girl Are You"
From: Hey Girl Don't Bother Me [ABC-Paramount Records, 196?]

My friend's white `91 Nissan Stanza is a blast. Last Tuesday the back right tire blewout in a Tim Hortons parking lot-the Stanza is wack, but that's its shtick and we like it.

Blasting The Tams over tinny Nissan factory speakers through a worn Clarion CD player that recently was stolen with a mix CD-R of Whitney Houston slow jams in the deck-Stanza 1 Petty Crime 0-is an experience my friend and I enjoy over coffee, and a mean catalog of car music.

The Best of The Tams: Hey Girl Don't Bother Me is a recent compilation that features a version of the ABC-Paramount compilation released in 196?. I found The Tams' ABC-Paramount compilation in a small record store on the Canadian prairies, an ironic place to find beach music. The record has 12 tracks that have similar production, teeny lyrics and vocal arrangement.

The Tams are brothers Josph and Charles Pope, Robert Smith, Horace Kay and Flyod Ashton. Living in Atlanta and making music with Atlantians like Joe South and Ray Whitley branded The Tams sound. "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me" is a Whitley composition so the country rhythm guitar is not a suprise. The smooth timing, deadly vocals and Atlanta charm make "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me" an official Stanza summer jam.

"What Kind Of Girl Are You" sounds like beach party theatrics play out and we like the up-tempo two-minute Northern Soul songs that feel like Saturday nights in summer. There is a lot going on with the arrangements on this track. Josph Pope leads "What Kind Of Girl Are You" while clever flute and vibraphone arrangements add zing to this quick soul-pop ballad. Drop this single at your next BBQ and see cats bop to this rhythm.