Question Mark & The Mysterians - 96 Tears

? and The Mysterians return to vinyl!

The first two albums by the Michigan garage rock legends

For lovers of garage rock, new crystal-clear versions of ? And The Mysterians' two albums on vinyl — 96 Tears (1966) and Action (1967) show a band impervious to the psychedelic winds of change, persisting in playing lascivious, Brit-style R&B at teenage velocity, in blissful ignorance of anything The Beatles, The Rolling Stones — or indeed anyone else — had done since 1965.

Formed in the Bay City/Saginaw area of Michigan in 1962 by Mexican-American children of migrant farmworkers, the band gained popularity with the addition of drummer Robert Martinez's brother Rudy, aka Question Mark, as lead vocalist. The eccentric Question Mark (often stylized as ?) has claimed to have been born on Mars and lived among dinosaurs in a past life. The band's debut single "96 Tears," with its distinctive organ line played by Mysterians' keyboardist "Little" Frank Rodriguez, was originally released on Pa-Go-Go Records in 1966, but quickly reissued by the more established Philadelphia-based label Cameo-Parkway Records. The raw-yet-infectious song swept the airwaves, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 29, 1966, beating out The Monkees, Four Tops, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys, and many more established acts. ? and The Mysterians' debut album, also titled 96 Tears, followed in October '66 just as the single was crossing the one million sales mark. The LP filled out with ten more originals — including the Top 40 hit "I Need Somebody" — plus a version of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday," peaked at No. 66.

A mere eight months after 96 Tears was released, Cameo-Parkway put out the follow-up full-length Action in June of '67. Their sophomore album is more evenly split between originals and covers, among them "Can't Get Enough of You, Baby," written by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer and first recorded by The Four Seasons one year previous. ? and The Mysterians' version got to No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100, faring better than Smash Mouth's ubiquitous 1998 version, which appeared on four other Billboard charts but was absent from the coveted Hot 100. Action would be the band's last studio album for more than three decades.

Side A

1. I Need Somebody

2. Stormy Monday

3. You're Telling Me Lies

4. Ten O'Clock

5. Set Aside

6. Up Side

Side B

1. "8" Teen

2. Don't Tease Me

3. Don't Break This Heart Of Mine

4. Why Me

5. Midnight Hour

6. 96 Tears

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