It’s finally here! After years of legal obstacles,
“Thee Midniters Greatest” is available.
There have been bootleg collections in the past, but this
is the real thing. The CD has 20 songs, including their
classics “Land of a Thousand Dances,” “Whittier
Boulevard.,” “That’s All,” and “Sad
Girl.” It’s on the Thump Record label, which
also is the current home of eastside Chicano rock bands El
Chicano and Tierra. Thee Midniters, with Little Willie
G. on lead vocals, were the kingpins of East L.A. rock in
the 60s. The songs on this CD were part of the soundtrack
of the lives of those who grew up on the eastside of Los Angeles
in that era, myself included. Thee Midniters were always
best known for their great ballads crooned by Little Willie
G, but they also excelled at up-tempo r&b, British Invasion-influenced
rock & roll, and even garage rock. “Never
Knew I Had It So Bad,” and , “Jump, Jive, and
Harmonize” are strong examples of the latter two categories.
Little Willie G’s vocals are very strong in all the
genres. Their instrumental “Chicano Power,”
written by their trombonist/arranger Romeo Prado, has a Latin
groove and is a reflection of the raised consciousness of
the Chicano in the late 60s that affected many of the eastside
bands. The CD also includes their excellent version
of the r&b classic, “Everybody Needs Somebody To
Love,” which had also been covered by the Rolling Stones
in the mid-60s. Ten of the twenty songs on the collection
were written by various members of Thee Midniters, which shows
that they could do more than do original arrangements and
excellent interpretations of existing songs. “Thee
Midniters Greatest” is smartly packaged and contains
a booklet with lots of information and vintage photos of Thee
Midniters. It also has a photo of Los Angeles radio
station KRLA’s music charts of June 1965, which shows
Thee Midniters’ recording, ‘Whittier Blvd,”
sharing the top ten with “Satisfaction” by the
Rolling Stones and “Help” by the Beatles. This
CD is a must for anyone with a collection of East L.A. or
Chicano music.
On January 28, 2003, to celebrate
the release of "Thee Midniters Greatest," Thee Midniters,
reunited with Little Willie G and performed to a packed house
at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Invited by Willie
himself, I attended the event. Thee Midniters were introduced
by legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem. Thee Midniters
go way back with Casey. They had appeared on Kasem's
television show, "Shebang," and played live shows he MC'd in the
60s. This magic night at the House of
Blues, almost four decades later, Thee Midniters sounded great
and Little Willie G’s vocals and performance were world-class.
In great voice, he handled the ballads with his usual confidence
and cool, sang the rock and r&b songs with the proper
grit and edginess, and bounded around the stage testifying
to the audience of believers. The crowd, noisy and enthusiastic,
ate it up. Thee Midniters played virtually all the songs
from the CD and took them to another level. The House
of Blues was jumping with lots of people from the Eastside,
who came across the great divide for the event. Thee Midniters consisted of
trombonist Romeo Prado, saxophonist
Larry Rendon, bassist Jimmy Espinoza, along with Little Wilie
G, all members of Thee Midniters in the 60s. Other
musicians in the current Midniters at the concert were Bobby
Robles, guitar; Rev. Charles Williams, organ/piano; Bobby Loya, trumpet; Bobby Navarrette, sax/flute; Robert Zapata,
drums; and Michael Guerra and Willie’s son, Jacob Garcia,
on background vocals. The Blazers, an excellent Chicano
roots rock band with two albums on Rounder Records to their
credit, opened the show. I wanted to catch their set, but
unfortunately arrived a few minutes late. I did catch
a comedian who preceded Thee Midniters by the name of Gilbert
Esquivel. He was hilarious and got the crowd warmed
up and ready for the headliners.
I ran into a lot of
musician friends at the event. Members of Tierra; lead
guitarist and leader Rudy Salas, drummer Aaron Ballesteros,
and percussionist Dale Villavicencio; Ruben Guevara, formerly
of Ruben & the Jets; guitarròn virtuoso Lorenzo
Martinez, formerly of Los Rock Angels and member of a band with me that
backed my dad, Lalo Guerrero in concerts; Louie Mendez,
bassist of Los Rock Angels and sometimes for Flaco Jimenez;
and Joey Guerra, former keyboardist for Tierra and currently
playing with Steve Salas, former Tierra lead vocalist.
Also in attendance were guitarist Ron Reyes, formerly of The
Impalas and Yaqui and currently in my band, Radio Aztlán;
and the legendary Flaco Jimenez himself. I’m happy
to hear from Little Willie G’s manager, Gene Aguilera,
that Willie has several gigs coming up with Thee Midniters.
I’ll be listing them on my “What’s New”
page when I get the information. In the meantime, pick
up "Thee Midniters Greatest" and hear why they continue
to generate excitement after all these years.
It’s finally here! After years of legal obstacles,
“Thee Midniters Greatest” is available.
There have been bootleg collections in the past, but this
is the real thing. The CD has 20 songs, including their
classics “Land of a Thousand Dances,” “Whittier
Boulevard.,” “That’s All,” and “Sad
Girl.” It’s on the Thump Record label, which
also is the current home of eastside Chicano rock bands El
Chicano and Tierra. Thee Midniters, with Little Willie
G. on lead vocals, were the kingpins of East L.A. rock in
the 60s. The songs on this CD were part of the soundtrack
of the lives of those who grew up on the eastside of Los Angeles
in that era, myself included. Thee Midniters were always
best known for their great ballads crooned by Little Willie
G, but they also excelled at up-tempo r&b, British Invasion-influenced
rock & roll, and even garage rock. “Never
Knew I Had It So Bad,” and , “Jump, Jive, and
Harmonize” are strong examples of the latter two categories.
Little Willie G’s vocals are very strong in all the
genres. Their instrumental “Chicano Power,”
written by their trombonist/arranger Romeo Prado, has a Latin
groove and is a reflection of the raised consciousness of
the Chicano in the late 60s that affected many of the eastside
bands. The CD also includes their excellent version
of the r&b classic, “Everybody Needs Somebody To
Love,” which had also been covered by the Rolling Stones
in the mid-60s. Ten of the twenty songs on the collection
were written by various members of Thee Midniters, which shows
that they could do more than do original arrangements and
excellent interpretations of existing songs. “Thee
Midniters Greatest” is smartly packaged and contains
a booklet with lots of information and vintage photos of Thee
Midniters. It also has a photo of Los Angeles radio
station KRLA’s music charts of June 1965, which shows
Thee Midniters’ recording, ‘Whittier Blvd,”
sharing the top ten with “Satisfaction” by the
Rolling Stones and “Help” by the Beatles. This
CD is a must for anyone with a collection of East L.A. or
Chicano music. 
