The Kingsmen – The Kingsmen on Campus

Still soaking in their lingering success from their mega-hit single “Louie, Louie,” The Kingsmen quickly churned out their fourth studio album in just as many years. Released on Wand Records in 1965, The Kingsmen on Campus strays from the pure garage rock sound that dominated the band’s first three studio albums. Beginning with The Kingsmen in Person (reviewed in January 2013) and continuing through Volumes II (reviewed in May 2013) and III, The Kingsmen made a name for themselves with raw guitars, aggressive vocals and simple but driving rhythms. However, The Kingsmen on Campus deviates from this style by covering conventional rock ‘n’ roll hits like “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Stand By Me.” While the band does put their own unique spin on both of these covers, they do not put a raw and heavy garage rock spin on them but rather perform jazzy sax-heavy renditions. With these jazzy covers, The Kingsmen are clearly way out of their element. Although many bands can successfully diversify their sound, The Kingsmen seem to solely be masters of attitude-filled garage rock. In this case, they should have stuck with what they knew. Despite the failed attempts at evolving their style, the album is not wholly a failure. In fact, there are several powerful tracks that harken back to the band’s amateurish rock ‘n’ roll style. Songs like “Rosalie,” “The Climb” and “Genevieve” match the rhythm and style of early Kingsmen songs. These songs are much heavier and faster than many of this album’s songs. They are full of the energy and emotion that is garage rock. Unfortunately these real garage rock tunes are not quite enough to overcome the pop-friendly covers littered throughout the album. While The Kingsmen’s pure, raw sound does find its way to the surface from time to time, overall, this album is a disappointing departure for one of the greatest garage rock bands of the 60s.  B-