The Yellow Dogs - The Sheik Of Araby 7" - White Vinyl

Tinstar (2000)

Since I wrote about one of the two Yellow Dogs 7"s I picked up in Japan last week, I figured I'd knock out the other one today.  Just to recap, I picked up both of the Yellow Dogs 7"s because I thought the artwork looked cool.  I wasn't familiar with the band and for whatever reason, during my tear through the record store, I didn't realize that all of the songs on both 7"s were covers of older songs from the 60's. Looking at the art, I had figured this to be a fun power pop/mod something or other.

My opinion of this Yellow Dogs 7" is pretty much the same as my thoughts on their prior one.  The songs are all good and fun to listen to, but I just can't picture any reason that would make me listen to them that often.  "Sheik Of Araby" is a fun upbeat cover with really nice jangly guitar.  "Three Cool Cats" has an easy going swing to it and "Boys" has some really nice call and response backing vocals, but none of the three songs really are that engaging.  They're nice background music, but nothing special.

I haven't bought many records based solely on the artwork in quite some time.  It was fun digging around record stores in Japan and taking some chances, but the chance I took on the Yellow Dogs didn't pay off quite how I was expecting.

The Yellow Dogs - "The Sheik Of Araby":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcJnYiD1Zrk

The Yellow Dogs - "Three Cool Cats":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLnJ4AvZIVc

The Yellow Dogs - Ooh! My Soul 7" - Pink Vinyl

Tinstar (2000)

One of the things I really tried to do while I was record shopping in Tokyo was to try to behave like I did when I went to record stores in America as a younger man.  What that means in the context of this review is that I picked up a handful of records simply because they looked cool or looked like the sort of thing I would enjoy.  I bought two 7"s based on fonts alone.  One of the bands I decided to check out on a whim was The Yellow Dogs.

The sleeve of this 7" and another one of theirs that I picked up just sort of grabbed my attention.  It looked like a fun, power-poppy mod band and that seemed like the sort of thing I'd like to check out.  What I didn't realize at the time was that all of the songs on both 7"s were covers.  The Yellow Dogs absolutely seize a kind of ramped up 60's throwback vibe, though a large portion of that is because they are playing actual songs from that era.

The best song is also the lead off track, "Ooh! My Soul."  It's a Little Richard cover that's sped up and played with a ton of energy and enthusiasm.  It's a fun, though short listen.  Next up is another rocker, "Lonesome Tears In My Eye."  I'll admit I'm not quite as familiar with the original version of this song, but once again The Yellow Dogs deliver a pretty killer version of it.  Last up is "Money (That's What I Want)."  Truthfully, I've never really liked any version of this song over the years and The Yellow Dogs can't really save it either.  The vocals drop to a weird growl and the song just kind of plods along.

This isn't really the victory I was hoping for when I just started grabbing some 7"s based on artwork.  It's not bad at all and the first two songs are pretty good, all things considered.  I just can't imagine it's the sort of thing I would end up listening to very often.

The Yellow Dogs - "Ooh! My Soul":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkl3dFK3X2Y

The Yellow Dogs - "Lonesome Tears Over You":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF0EgKN7hg4