From The Ronettes through the likes of The Marvelettes to The Pipettes, the suffix ‘ettes’ in a band’s name is a reliable indicator of certain qualities. It is a guarantee of a female fronted act, either 1960s originals or heavily inspired by girl action from that era, and punchy pop songs with big choruses and hearts on the dancefloor. From its monochrome cover to its contents, ‘The Soul of… The Fabulous Courettes’ adheres to this template, albeit with a few twists of its own. A Brazilian and Danish wife and husband duo (Flavia and Martin Couri), their fourth album sees them developing what had been their garage rock inspired sound and leavening it with their love of Motown and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. In fact, they achieve the considerable coup of getting La La Brooks of The Crystals, the voice of ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’, adding backing vocals to two of the songs. Other significant 1960s figure contribute to the album. Darian Sahanaja, who worked on the production of Brian Wilson’s ‘Smile’, mixes the two numbers that Brooks sings on, ‘California’ and ‘Run Run Runaway’, giving them a Beach Boys vibe. Richard Gottehrer, a songwriter at The Brill Building, who co-wrote ‘I Want Candy’, mixed two tunes, ‘Keep Dancing’ and ‘Boom Boom Boom’.
The album begins with the infectious ‘You Woo Me’, the organ playing of Soren Christensen, who also mixed the album, proving to be a massive component of their sound. The aforementioned ‘California’ is a dose of pure pop while ‘Keep Dancing’ is indicative of a willingness to tackle darker themes (“I’ll keep dancing on my own / I’m feeling so much better / now you’re dead and gone / Dancing on your grave.”) It is one of a pair of songs prompted by the death of Flavia’s father who abandoned her at an early age but retains power over her. ‘Don’t Want You Back’, the other track he inspired, musically has the air of a teen ballad that could have been written for The Shangri-Las.
The energy rush of ‘Here I Come’, together with its ‘woo’ cries and garage guitars ought to be bottled while the Mellotron led ‘Wall of Pain’ is embellished with castanets and timpani, together with the first of the 60s style ‘soft centre’ spoken sections that frequent three of the album’s songs.
Side Two introduces a further welcome addition to The Courettes’ sound, Peter Kehl and Kasper Wagner from Danish band Black Tornado playing horns on three tracks: ’Shake!’, ‘Better Without You’ and ‘Stop! Doing That’. The former is an impressive soul blues stomper that blends the horns with organ and a greasy guitar riff. ‘Better Without You’ marries a stomping beat to no nonsense attitude and turn of phrase (“Don’t sprinkle glitter on your shit / Who you trying to impress / With your fancy dress.”) The handclap led ‘Stop! Doing That’ drips with harmonies and melody while its organ swirls along merrily.
‘Boom Boom Boom’ shows their way with lyrical swagger (“But I’m not a stupid girl / I’m nonchalant”) and adds the ‘Needles and Pins’ melody to a Wall of Sound production. ‘Run Run Runaway’ could easily have been a Spector construction with its spoken insert and clever use of repetition in its “give and take” chorus.
It is worth emphasising that even though some of the songtitles, maybe deliberately, echo 60s tunes (Otis Redding’s’ ‘Shake’, Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway’), ‘The Soul of… The Fabulous Courettes’ consists entirely of original compositions. Mercifully, ‘Boom Boom Boom’ shares only its title with The Outhere Brothers’ massively annoying 1995 hit. ‘For Your Love’ could not be further removed from the Yardbirds song of that title and closes the album at a more reflective pace and allows Martin to share the lead vocals.
The combination of original craft and knowledge, together with The Courettes’ genuine enthusiasm for the musical styles result in a record that transcends pastiche, its thirteen songs each racing along and making their mark within a three-minute timespan.
The Courettes: The Soul of… The Fabulous Courettes – Out 27th September 2024 (Damaged Goods)
The Courettes will be touring the UK to coincide with the album’s release and will be at Manchester’s Night and Day venue on 3rd October 2024.
Courettes – “Keep Dancing” (youtube.com)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
