Shadows Of Knight - Gloria (Reissue) (1966/1998)

Chicago’s The Shadow’s Of Knight remains an often overlooked ‘60s garage rock band, though they were one of the few acts to bring blues-rock around full circle, reclaiming those Chess-Records-favored numbers from British invasion acts with an injection of young American punk energy. The band’s 1966 debut album Gloria rocks feverishly, proving that English teens weren’t the only ones dressing up in hip mod fashions and grooving to maximum R&B. Shadows Of Knight’s cover of Van Morrison and Them’s “Gloria” opens with plenty of attitude and though it may not be as strong as the original, this rendition surpassed Morrison’s version on the radio charts (if only because the original contained the lyrics “She comes to my room” which was too risqué for airplay in 1965). Frontman Jim Sohns must have been aware of his high-toned nasal inflection because he toughens up the vocal performance on a cover of “I Got My Mojo Working” Conversely, he plays up his androgynous croon on the band’s own ballad “Dark Side.”