Friendly strangers in a black sedan
Yours truly, reviewing a wondrous little record called “You Wouldn’t Listen”:
For those of us who loved the British Invasion, this jangly welding of Searchers guitars to Hollies harmonies, issued on London Records’ Parrot label, erstwhile home of Tom Jones and the Zombies, was a wonderful addition to the ’66 airwaves. How were we to know that the Ides (or, as they were once billed, the “I’des”) hailed from the highly-unBritish Berwyn, Illinois? Then again, it probably wouldn’t have mattered if they’d hailed from ancient Rome; while no one would have ever accused them of being wildly original, they were a truly solid band with decent songwriting chops. “You Wouldn’t Listen” was written by guitarists Larry Millas and Jim Peterik and drummer Mike Borch, with Peterik taking the lead vocal. Chicagoland ate it up, and after a false start with the Windy City’s own Mercury label, London leased the track and put it out nationally on Parrot, where it stalled just short of the Top 40. After years on the label and only one other chart item (the Byrds-y “Roller Coaster”), the Ides decided to change direction, and noting that other Chicago bands, including, well, Chicago, were selling tons of records with horns, they delivered a single to Warner Bros. that fit right into the mold — Peterik’s “Vehicle”, which brought the Ides to #2 with a song that sounded nothing like them. At least they finally got a hit.
“Vehicle” has been their calling card ever since. The band faded in the 1970s, Peterik resurfacing as a member of Survivor, and when the Eye of the Tiger began to close, the Ides reunited. They’ve been a working band ever since, which is somehow reassuring, given the dread connotations of their name.
