Witness Inc. - Jezebel b/w Not You Girl (picture sleeve)

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Jezebel	03:15

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Not You Girl	01:46

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Information/Write-up

Musically, you have to hear this sucker to believe it! Whoa! "Jezebel" starts of like Seabiscuit busting out of the gates, then eases back... shows a little restraint for a moment and then STRUTS with the same gusto and swagger as a young Jagger, Bowie or even a lean mean Marlon Brando for that matter. SOLID GOLD EAR CANDY! Why wasn't this a hit across the globe???? "Not You Girl" is the musical equivalent of a illegitimate love child if The Animals "House Of The Rising Sun" and The Zombies "Time Of The Season" had ever spent some time together in the back seat of a '63 Lincoln! Damn! The keyboards SCREAM, this thing is AWESOME.

Witness Inc. came out of Saskatoon in the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan and immediately became a touring sensation in the western provinces. They released a series of 45s which became increasingly pop after the second, finally catching on in Ontario after several years and many personnel changes. The original band consisted of Kenny Shields vocals, Ed Clynton guitar, Allen Ayers bass, Les Bateman organ and piano, and Dave Tupper on drums. Their first 45, I'll Forget Her, is a fine pop song. The A-side of their second record, Jezebel, is a cover of the old Frankie Laine standard. Well done, as good as the Teddy Boys version, it was probably their biggest hit, reaching #1 on CKXL in Calgary in February, 1968. Garage fans generally prefer the flip side, Not You Girl, an original by Clynton and Bateman, which speeds by in a hasty 1:46 with a great scream from Shields and an nifty organ solo by Bateman.

Ed Clynton, Les Bateman, Dave Tupper, Allan Ayers, Kenny Shield (Later from Streetheart)

MUSICALLY you have to HEAR this sucker to believe it! Whoa! "Jezebel" starts of like Seabiscuit busting out of the gates, then eases back... shows a little restraint for a moment and then STRUTS with the same gusto and swagger as a young Jagger, Bowie or even a lean mean Marlon Brando for that matter. SOLID GOLD EAR CANDY! Why wasn't this a hit across the globe???? "Not You Girl" is the musical equivalent of a illegitimate love child if The Animals "House Of The Rising Sun" and The Zombies "Time Of The Season" had ever spent some time together in the back seat of a '63 Lincoln! Damn! The keyboards SCREAM, this thing is AWESOME.

Out of the prairies – Saskatoon to be exact – came local heroes the Witness Inc., who got their 15 minutes’ worth with their second seven-incher for Apex, a cover of the Frankie Laine hit ‘Jezebel’ that scaled the prairie pop charts in early 1968. Covered by countless acts through the years from the Everly Brothers to Herman’s Hermits (with the latter’s 1967 Ed Sullivan appearance most likely the template for this version), the cowboy crooner classic is given a rather potent garage punk whooping here, bolstered by some hefty guitar/organ and Kenny Shield’s robust pipes. Some relentless touring across the prairies (some of it with Cream) solidified there fan base there, with the boys even receiving airplay as far off as Seattle and Spokane (Washington). By February of ’68, it was payday for the band as ‘Jezebel’ climbed to Number 1 at CKXL-AM in Calgary. However, the fiery ‘Not You Girl’ is what really makes collectors go all aflutter, though it’s hard to see why. It is standard garage fare, decked with a nervous, amateurish organ intro, the requisite scowl and a rather nifty organ solo that is sadly longer on spirit than on chops.

Singer/ heartthrob Shields suffered a near fatal car accident in 1969, leaving him out of commission for several years. The band soldiered on with a replacement singer to little success, eventually packing it in. Shields tried to reform the band in 1975 as Wascana, and then later as the shortened Witness, but it was all in vain (and a good thing too, as that same year the name Witness Inc was appropriated by a Christian cult whose aim is inexplicably to preach the word of God to Jehovah’s Witnesses). In the end it was Shields who would stray from his garage roots, ultimately finding more chart action with uber-wankers Streetheart during the early eighties.

Witness Inc. came out of Saskatoon in the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan and immediately became a touring sensation in the western provinces. They released a series of 45s which became increasingly pop after the second, finally catching on in Ontario after several years and many personnel changes. The original band consisted of Kenny Shields vocals, Ed Clynton guitar, Allen Ayers bass, Les Bateman organ and piano, and Dave Tupper on drums. Their first 45, I'll Forget Her, is a fine pop song. The A-side of their second record, Jezebel, is a cover of the old Frankie Laine standard. Well done, as good as the Teddy Boys version, it was probably their biggest hit, reaching #1 on CKXL in Calgary in February, 1968. Garage fans generally prefer the flip side, Not You Girl, an original by Clynton and Bateman, which speeds by in a hasty 1:46 with a great scream from Shields and an nifty organ solo by Bateman.

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