Why Don't You Smile - The All Night Workers

'Why Don't You Smile' is an early piece of sixties garage drone from a pre-Velvets Lou Reed and John Cale (along with Terry Phillips and Jerry Vance). It was the heavy (and frankly far superior) B side to the bopping single 'Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket,' released under the band name The All Night Workers. While Reed and Cale's performing on the record is debated Cale did revisit the song solo later on in his career, but there's something undeniably special about the original article.

From it's Northern Soul vocals to it's droning psych-blues backing, the song slowly inhales before blowing viscous technicolor fumes down your ears. The record was cut towards the end of Reed's tenure as a staff writer for Pickwick Records. The session band consisted of a myriad of rising sixties musicians including Lloyd Baskin (of Seatrain), Mike Esposito (Blue Magoos) and the rumored involvement of Peter Stampfel (The Holy Modal Rounders).

It's a fascinating look at the experimental drone rock sound Reed and Cale were concurrently developing with The Velvet Underground and a powerful piece of classic garage in it's own right.

A tip of the hat to Popsike.com for filling in the gaps in my knowledge on this rare single. Also! A second version of the song that's less clean, but heavier for that real drone sound.