The Buckinghams: "Kind of a Drag"

February 18, 1967 (2 weeks)

By the midway point of February, 1966 there had already been seven number ones on Canada's RPM chart; a year later, there had been just four — and one of them was a holdover from the end of the previous year. The days of the one-week wonders seemed to be at an end. (Or so one might assume: they'll be back, albeit with fewer lengthy streaks than over the previous couple years)

"Kind of a Drag" feels like the sort of thing that was suited to the era of the seven day chart reign: it was mildly engaging, The Buckinghams had passable harmonies, it has one bit that really stands out and it was very much that pop song everyone should have become completely sick of in a very short period of time. Yet somehow it managed to remain on top for a fortnight when far better singles were hard pressed just to spend a single week on top.

Hailing from the Windy City, having a producer named James William Guerico guiding them and playing what has been described as 'brass-rock', you might think I'm describing the 'World's Most Accomplished Yet Also Most Unlikable Band' Chicago but The Buckinghams beat them to it. Though they took on a name that made them seem like they were part of the British Invasion, the Illinois five-piece were forward thinking enough that they were playing stuffy, middle-of-the-road pop well before any of the acts who would truly profit off of it. (And to think, everyone considers The Velvet Underground to be the most influential group of 1967)

Their name may have suggested tenth rate Beatles and their style anticipated some of the worst music of the seventies but their sound also owed a lot to pre-Fabs American pop. They couldn't quite hit the notes that The Beach Boys and Four Seasons were capable of and it didn't feel like they came out of the garages, more like they'd been playing loads of Elvis records as well as The Champs' "Tequila" in their family rumpus rooms and they just went from there. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with that approach only that it failed to spur anything of interest.

But wait! Didn't I mention above that there is a "bit that really stands out"? Yes, I did! Those distinctive cries of "anyway!" are when "Kind of a Drag" springs to life. For those fleeting seconds it's no longer a fifties throwback that also predicts the future but a burst of inspiration. It feels like there's a whole other song in there waiting to be written and performed that sadly never came to pass. Aside from that, it's mostly just tedium. Competently played tedium but tedium nonetheless.

Kind of a drag? Well, quite.

Score: 4