A Danish-based duo, The Courettes are husband and wife Flavia (guitar and vocals) and Martin Couri (drums and vocals). Their second album is imaginatively titled We Are The Courettes contains 12 tracks steeped in early psychedelia with a heavy garage/rock feel thrown in. Opener ‘Hoodoo Hop’ starts with frantic drumming and a great sounding guitar, then a screaming Flavia joins in singing “Hey don’t touch my juju”!
Track two ‘Time is Ticking‘ begins like Ugly Kid Joe’s ‘I Hate Everything About You’ but changes into a fabulous Toyah-like vocal over a 1965 soundtrack.
‘Nobody But You’ is the Kinks with a female vocal. ‘Strawberry Boy’ is a slower number which has a 60’s girl band feel but with lovely John Lennon style guitar providing the backing. It also has (what used to be obligatory) spoken sections. ‘All About You’ is another girl band song with fantastic old-fashioned/modern backing. The last track, ‘Fool Fool Fool’, begins with quiet strumming and a clear heartfelt vocal which again evokes this wonderful period of pop and early rock.
Martin works his socks off on every song and whatever that semi-acoustic guitar is (Gretsch crossed with Fender jaguar?!), Flavia makes it sound great and is perfect for this blend of heavy pop and rock.
This album would have been huge anytime between 1960 and 1969. It feels like you have access to the jukebox in an old ice cream parlour. If you like that era, you will love this. I know I do, but then I am old enough to remember the age of jangling guitars before all those tedious genres and labels were invented!
