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Original pressings of this private press biker rock GRAIL have sold for as much as $2000! Only 13 very lucky people have this record in their collection and nearly 300 have it in their wantlist on Discogs. Tough luck for most, considering only 200 copies were pressed back in 1971!
Track List –
1. Boogie With You
2. Blind With Shame
3. Just for Fun
4. High Rollin On The Freeway
5. River Bummin
6. Handful (Of Love)
7. Thank You
8. Learn How To Boogie
9. Harley Perdoo
10. Lights Gonna Shine
BETTY Handful 1971
“Thank you for being what you really are”… key words from this impossibly rare 1971 private pressing LP. BETTY lays down who they really are straight upon “Handful” like a breathing snapshot in time. The performances and mix sound like they were done on the fly, which in the private pressing tradition means the artists are captured unfiltered with diamond-in-the-rough vitality. Their influences are seamlessly integrated into a personality filled biker rock roadhouse attack with discreet echoes of Canned Heat, Steppenwolf, the Doors, even throwing an early ’60s UK beat rock curveball at one point. They are pro at communicating but not slick enough to compromise their own reality by aping their influences. The musical elements here will be familiar but the band’s audacious attitude fire this baby up with undiluted excitement. The music feels like real life captured out in the wild rather than created in the studio.
BETTY was a working band out of LA gigging primarily around Pasadena at the time. An early biker rock vibe dominates, post ’60s west coast moves moderate the more typical hard-drinking-woman-trouble-raising-hell scenarios the genre usually exemplifies. Most of the songs are about women… though they may be a “handful” to deal with mentally, the eye-popping “handful” pictured n the LP sleeve is the ultimate bottom line. Treat ’em right, get down all night. There’s a genuine sense of appreciation for the ladies here, little in the way of macho posturing. The guitars keep it tough and the singer’s preposterously ragged confidence hits the bullseye from left field continually. Anthon Davis may be a bit over the top but it really works. Character to spare.
BETTY were main songwriter Anthon Davis on guitar and lead vocals on tracks #1 – #9, Mike McMahon on guitar and backing vocals, Kerry Kanbara on bass and backing vocals, Al Rodriguez on drums and backing vocals. Tom Jordan guests on keyboards and Lee Marks guests on backing vocals. McMahon and Marks also helped with the writing on several tracks.
Only 200 copies of “Handful” were custom pressed by Thin Man Records in 1971 made to sell at live shows. BETTY unleashed an uncompromising serendipitously emergent killer here where these real guys get in your head as they really are… or were, ripping it up at dive bar remnants of Wild West saloons before hitting the highway. A perfect triple bill would have been these guys, Bear Mountain Band and the Estes Brothers!
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