The Luv’d Ones – Truth Gotta Stand

Last time, when writing about Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets, I mentioned that Yep Roc Records was one of the only modern record labels I gave any credence to as a label. Well, Sundazed and its subsidiary Modern Harmonic is another – I tend to look thoroughly through their catalog because the chances they will have something relevant to my interests is very high indeed. When Sundazed has a sale and there’s something that I want, it’s almost certain that I’ll hunt around and find something else I want, too.

So earlier this year they were having a big sale, and I checked through the “garage” section, where they never fail to please. The description on the Sundazed page for this album reads:

Led by no-nonsense, all-purpose, guitar-totin’ Char Vinnedge, the Luv’d Ones – a Y-chromosome free, fuzzed-out garage update of the Shangri-Las – were light years ahead of their time. Here’s everything these butt-kicking Michigan trailblazers cut in the ’60s for the legendary Dunwich label, rare single sides, demos and more!

Yes, I’m buying that. And yes, I’m loving that. I think the reference to the Shangri-Las makes this sound like it’s gonna be “girl group” songs – but these are sides with some edge. Most of the songs were written by guitarist and lead vocalist Char Vinnedge, and they’re really strong. It may sound strange, but her voice most reminds me of Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, and the songs exist in that late-mid-’60s space of melodious angst-pop.

This starts out with what seems like a standard surf-adjacent bopping dance number – but Vietnam creeps in:

While you’re young the devil may wait
But after school’s out
He’ll check at the gate
Uncle Sam’s got your number
You’ll go off to war
So dance, kid, dance, with something worth dancin’ for

“I’m Leaving You” has a similar darkness –

It breaks my heart to tell you
I’m mad, I think I’ve lost my head
Babe, I’ve got your choice now
Our past makes all our future dead

Their covers of “Walkin’ the Dog” and “He Cried” seem like fresh takes on well-worn covers, entirely their own approach. The more I play this, the more I love it.

I was happy to learn that when bassist Billy Cox, who looms large in Jimi Hendrix’s legend, went to record a solo record (1971’s “Nitro Function”), he sought out Char Vinnedge as his guitarist. Unfortunately, that seems to be her only credit outside her own bands (The Luv’d Ones and The Tremolons), and she died in 1997, just before her songs were set for re-release and discovery. Picked up this 2021 reissue of music from circa 1966 earlier this year, 2025.