The Wild Oats

The Wild Oats

BIG BEAT. LP Impressive tribute to East Anglia’s lost 1964/5 Brit R&B hopefuls. Leiston, Suffolk’s The Wild Oats made no dent in the popcultural firmament when they issued their only record in 1964. Not only were they from a small town far from the happening London scene, their EP was pressed in an edition of 100. As pricey originals are scarce, this smart 10-inch album plugs the gap by adding an outtake from the EP and four tracks from later in 1964 and early 1965. A rough-edged R&B combo, The Wild Oats stretched out the songs they covered without turning them into pop. Their recklessly kinetic Route 66 retains the original’s barrelhouse flavour. Though Will You Love Me Tomorrow is a crowd-pleasing stinker, the country-edged You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover posits The Wild Oats as a great lost roots band. They could have been bigger than The Downliners Sect.