In Person – THE KINGSMEN**

Louie Louie/The Waiting/Mojo Workout/Fever/Money/Bent Sceptre/Long Tall Texan/You Can’t Sit Down/Twist & Shout/J.A.J/Night Train/Mashed Potatoes/Haunted Castel/The Krunch

Garage rock band The Kingsmen debut album In Person includes the much covered Louie Louie which peaked at No. 2 on the US singles chart. Their stripped down back to basics sound was, to some extent, a precursor of the late 1970s British punk craze. (US:20)

"I suppose this rating is more for the Wand label than for The Kingsmen In Person, as I doubt it was their idea to intertwine fake crowd noises into these tunes."

"For me, the thing that vaults The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie into the realm of greatness is the uniquely depraved vocal style of lead singer Jack Ely. Unfortunately, it seems that that song is the first and last Kingsmen recording featuring Ely, who was replaced by the much more ordinary Lynn Easton."

"One of the first albums that I ever owned. The Kingsmen recorded a number of songs in the studio and audience reaction was added afterwards. What we have are good raw tracks that represent one of the mid-1960s frat rock party bands; Louie Louie is an all time classic. The rest of the tracks give a wonderful picture of an era long gone. Still a great listen."

"These albums on Wand are 'mock live recordings'. It's not that fun to listen to - the choices of covers are pretty sad."

"There are no extraneous exhibitionist guitar pyrotechnics here. It's minimalist and scruffy, strictly from the heart and soul, with just a dash of sham on the side. Just a bunch of raucous alley cats yowling for mates. They definitely filled a niche back then in those days just prior to the British Invasion."

"This was the first album by The Kingsmen, featuring Louie Louie, the all time garage band classic. It is supposedly a 'live' album, but it's really a studio album with applause dubbed in. There is one other hit besides Louie Louie, that being a cover version of the Motown classic Money. The rest of the album features a mix of group originals and cover versions of recent hits. About half of the album consists of instrumentals. This is a solid garage band album from the group that started the whole garage band thing."