Mod-A-Day: Little Murders

The Little Murders were probably Australia first (and most) bona fide mod band, arriving during the mod revival heyday of 1979. Named after an early 70s Jules Fieffer movie starring Elliot Gould, the band wasn't nearly as quirky as their namesake playing straight ahead, sixties influenced power pop thought of as punk rock by many at the time. The lead singer, Rob Griffiths was a Brit, and on a vacation to the UK in '79 fell in love the mod revival already in full force. He brought home a more soulful idea for their sound and the band moved forward producing a handful of hard driving pop singles with obvious sixties roots, all with solid flares of soul, as well. This track, "Take Me I'm Yours",was the flipside of their third single which sold out a 1,000 copies making the band a big local success at the time.

The song is tight, and when you hear the guitar licks and the fast-popping drums it's quite obviously influenced by the Jam. It's a great song, with these trippy horns echoing in the background throughout, and then all of a sudden the chorus sneaks up on you and is both laid back and infectious. C'mon kiss me with your lips/You can touch me with your fingertips/Cuz I'm yours/Yeah I'm yours.

Sadly,the Little Murders never made it big outside of Melbourne. The original band broke up in 1983, although Griffiths revived the band with different lineups a few times in the mid-80s. They never recorded anything other than singles, most of which endedup in the compilation LP Stop released in 1986. It wasn't until 1997 when Griffiths was fronting yet a new version of The Little Murders that they actually released a full CD of new material, ...and stuff like that. A second CD followed a few years later, First Light, which in turn was followed by We Should Be Home By Now in 2001.

The Little Murders -- Take Me I'm Yours