This page is kind of a Post Game Review of 004 songs that are NOT on their CD, from my own very personal perspective. This band worked very hard, and I only saw a fraction of their shows -- mostly at Tom Bullen's Hole in The Wall Saloon. They did some fine concerts at the University of Utah, where they both starred, plus opened for New Wave pioneers Bow Wow Wow, and the fabulous Blasters, the latter who congratulated them for their professionalism.

I missed so many performances -- When their fans gathered en masse at the Utah Arts Festival, there were THOUSANDS of us!

Like most every band that ever existed, 004 played songs made famous by other artists among their own originals.
The term "covers" is often used, although it is a now-ancient term referring to the recording industry "covering" different markets with various singers performing one popular tune.
The term "standard" is also tossed around - a well-known song sets a standard by which an audience can gauge a performer, in the benevolent sense of the word.

This is an attempt to describe my idea of a typical, but totally made-up 004 show -- interspersing standards and originals from my memory.

I'll start with an actual recollection -- reinforced by a tape of the same gig played for Wanda and me a few years later.

It started with an uncharacteristic bass solo by Scott Simons, an hour or so before sunset, during one of Salt Lake City's glorious midsummer weekends, beginning a multiple-set show at the Hole In The Wall Saloon on State Street.

I had an idea what song would follow this elaborately plunked introduction, and guessed correctly:

It was The Maytals' chugging arrangement of Louie Louie, a delightful reworking of the R&B/Garage Rock classic from the recording studios that created SKA and Reggae --
under "Jamaica's moon above."

I always enjoyed Doug's playful vocals, and the band's bouncing spirit on this song.

Turn Around and Don't Look Back fitted 004's style perfectly:

Motown's Temptations recorded this beautiful song, which unfortunately languished just outside the popular spotlight, although it was later recorded by Johnny Nash, and then garnered somewhat wider attention as a duet between Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh.

It was funky, with lots of space for vocal and instrumental imaginations to run. The exhortative lyrics allowed Doug to shout-out to the dancers as far as he could see them, and vice-versa.

Terri could sing call-and-response, echo the chorus, keep things grounded, or help Doug make the dance floor surge. This number could accelerate a set, or make a good finish before a break.

Doug's - Eye View of Terri Mitchell

Terri temporarily surrendered her bass to Doug, and sang solo on *King Floyd's Groove Me Baby.

Instead of the slow pace of conventional arrangements, 004's version was faster, with Rock dynamics -- like Doug's zooming, melodic bass lines. Terri's vocal cut across the rhythm, though, and SHE controlled the delivery of this sensual soul tune.

*I am, and was, aware that the Blues Brothers had recorded a Reggae-styled version in the same era, but I never asked anybody in the band where they'd heard this song first.

004 totally avoided Belushi and Ackroyd's clowning, and their arrangement was unlike any other. It was the highlight of any set when Terri chose to sing it.

Doug had his own take on Jimmy Cliff's Harder They Fall. He used the upper range of his voice to set up multiple choruses of a song which was very well-known to his audiences, got them all dancing, and made each moment work by the force of his invigorating personality.

Concentrated Wanda Day

The road less taken -- Scott used to sing lead at times!

004 wrote an original called You Are A Machine, with Devo-like staccato rhythms, featuring Scott's low voice, Doug's lead counterpoints, and some robot-like dancing by Edwards, as Simons smiled at everyone.

They seemed to retire that Machine number early in their career,
which was too bad. I shot enough photos of Scott to learn how little he moved once a gig began. Despite looking down all the time, he was aware of everything, but SO concentrated on the music, that it was a joy to see him facing the audience and spreading a whole new level of humor on top of the set.

The Who's I Can't Explain got a similar treatment!

It was played with a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat syncopated arrangement, that still had enough pace and drive to keep people hopping. Mod Music like this sneaked into the Zeitgeist again after the Quadrophrenia movie -- shot with a New Wave sensibility.

Doug talked ME to into road-racing too.

That's The Way God Wants It became famous as Billy Preston's gospel - flavored show-stopper during the Concert for Bangledesh.

Doug was very fond of this song, and even created a semi-theatrical character named Reverend SKA to sing it. He'd wear a robe and sunglasses, all topped with a squarish brocaded hat.

Once he talked me into joining in a procession with him and the band through a very thick crowd, since he was starting the next set with this song. (Successfully, I must add!) I was crunched up next to Wanda, trying to act as a good-natured linebacker, and she exclaimed something like: "This is so weird!"

Doug also brought his Reverend SKA character and this song to his next band, Temple of Rhythm, along with a disciple or two.

Doug was a prolific writer, and fearlessly tried out songs, riffs, and chants in performance -- sometimes they worked, sometimes not, but it was always fun to be on hand when he was creating.

I Don't Love You was the "A" side of 004's 45 RPM single.

It was a delightful uptempo duet between assertive Terri and baffled Doug, with humor, pathos, and a wicked groove tying it all together.
Terri: I never loved you!   Doug: WHAT? -- HOW DARE YOU!

I know people who heard it on the radio, but I bought MY copy from one of the band members -- at Scott's apartment I seem to recall.

The reworked image (right) is from a performance of this number.

I Don't Love You always took the level of excitement several clicks higher - sometimes even to ELEVEN!

Since we're on the subject of the single -- Unlike the dub on the CD, Brite Lite, the "B" side, was a vocal version of the song, featuring Doug and Terri intertwining their voices. Scott picks a short,trebly guitar solo. Phil's sax supports the bass and sets the instumental "hook." Wanda's drums sound fairly 'crisp' in comparison. These two sides represent producer Eliot Case's first sessions with the group.

Daktari was an original song, with a backstory of its origin related to me by one of his roommates - supposedly Doug was inspired by watching a re-run of this old Ivan Tors TV show, and extemporaneously made up the core of the song while leaping about the living room.

Quoting from my liner notes: I'll never forget 004 unleashing Daktari in the late hours. Doug went percussively gonzo with his lyrics,
while Scott and Wanda churned out counterpoints. The dancers leaped and surged at Doug's command, then Terri took over with her
mighty electric bass - plunking a sinuous riff that caused waves of sensual, passionate movement which were impossible to resist. Wanda's thundering drums drowned the crowd in dance-sweat, while their backbones, hips, thighs, and feet skanked away uncontrollably.

Expanding from my liner notes: There were many reasons why this group didn't last. Utah's stupid, self-contradicting liquor laws under-mined the economic health of places like Hole In The Wall Saloon -- which was set up to showcase music, but whose owners were forced to sacrifice their gains to the state-controlled booze industry, and enforcers from on-high. These same laws also fractured 004's audiences along the fault line of the legal drinking age. Mixed concerts were almost impossible to arrange, because there was no way of paying the overhead and staying within the limits of the laws. Sure there were other factors involved, but Reason Number One was the liquor laws!
I was also in the entertainment business before I met this band, and I'll testify that rent and gas tanks will drain capital faster than any amount of small-gig money can replenish it. Record sales, song royalties? If a musical group survives long enough to get lucky with these kinds of things, there are wolves who know what to do with the sheep. Sex and drugs? You tell me YOUR stories, I'll tell you MINE, but I'm not going to gossip about anybody else. The bars were full of those kinds of tales. The same stories walked in and out of the doors at every public place too, but there was a time when 004 created dancing magic with their incredible music -- outshining the garish cacophony of Salt Lake's entire State Street drag strip!