Teen Expo: The Sara Label
From his vantage point in small town Wisconsin, Jim Kirchstein made his Cuca Records and the label’s adjacent studio ready to capture the mid-20th century’s surge of rock 'n ' roll as it emanated from the upper Midwest. His Sara imprint specialized in the softer side of the teenage explosion and thanks to Chicago reissue specialist Numero Group’s acquisition of the Cuca catalog, 20 of its singles’ sides have been collected onto the occasionally amazing Teen Town.
Among the most astounding of the acts appearing on the collection is Joey Gee & The Come-Ons. The sextet’s four selections reveal a band circuiting the Texan rockabilly of Buddy Holly as through SoCal surf music guitar reverb. Taking surf sounds into the kind of accessible experimentalism English producer Joe Meek tuned into occasional U.S. success were The Citations. When the band weren’t proffering Santo & Johnny-styled serenity, that is.
Later in the ‘60s, co-ed Columbus, Wis. band The Caliphs winningly resemble a janglier, non-lysergic Jefferson Airplane. Elsewher, The Teen Kings proffer a rave-up that could have sound-tracked high school partying in a Roger Corman American International Pictures exploitation flick, and The Jaguars earnestly take to a Beatles Hard Day's Night deep cut.
The rest of Expo spotlights the kind of teen idol types that might have populated “American Bandstand” were they living in Philadelphia during those years. Similar to other anthologies collecting the highlights of other regional U.S. pop labels, Teen Expo reflects how local scenes reflected national trends and flashes of additional inspiration that could have merited broader exposure.
