Mod-A-Day: The Crooks

The Crooks were one of the great mod revival bands that never received their due. They were head and shoulders above a lot of other mod bands that got more press and bigger gigs (The Jolt comes to mind). The Crooks had that great ability to blend the sixties sound of the Small Faces (who they covered excellently when they recorded Understanding) with the burgeoning new wave sound and power pop beat of the late 70s. Songs like "Waiting for You" and "Let's Get Together" have a perfect new wave sensibility that so many mod bands of the era lacked. Still, The Crooks' singles "Modern Boys" and "All The Time In The World" are fantastic mod songs, anthemic in the way that only mod revival songs can be. In 2006 "Just Released" appeared, a two-CD anthology that had all of the band's recorded materials as well as a disk's worth of live tracks from a 1980 appearance at The Marquee club. With all that build up how can I give you anything less than a double dose of The Crooks. Don't say I don't love you!

The Crooks -- Waiting For You


and

The Crooks -- All The Time In The World