* En anglais uniquement
Very little is known about
the Whatever, an East Coast garage rock band of the mid-'60s, beyond the fact they cut one memorable single in 1967. A pair of moody but propulsive numbers, "The Valley of Death" b/w "No More Do I Dream" had a sound rooted in close vocal harmonies, clean but spare guitar figures, and subtle organ lines that supported the melodies.
The Whatever only released that one single in their lifetime, but those two songs were collected with a handful of unreleased tracks for a belated anthology album in 2021 titled
Valley of Death (Or Whatever).
Doing business in Long Island, New York,
the Whatever's solo single was the brainchild of Al Locke, a vocalist and songwriter whose forte was easy listening material. He had penned a pair of tunes and was looking for a rock band to record them; he recruited a local group that had previously made the rounds under the names the Lookouts and the Raincoats. Under Locke's direction, the combo set up at the Belltree Music Company studio in Franklin Square, New York and put two songs to tape -- "The Valley of Death," a somber ditty inspired by Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and the lovelorn "No More Do I Dream." After completing the session, there was a discussion about what their name should be, and someone said, "Just call it whatever." Locke took the advice literally, and when the local Eclipse Records label brought out the single in 1967, the artist credit went to
the Whatever.
The single didn't generate much in the way or airplay or sales, but Easton, Pennsylvania radio listeners did hear some of
the Whatever's work when the backing track for "The Valley of Death" was appropriated by a Dodge dealership for their radio spots. The commercials themselves don't appear to have survived, but blue-humored variations recorded for fun but not broadcast have surfaced. The trail goes cold on
the Whatever after their record came and went, but Sundazed Music's BeatRocket subsidiary released a brief (21-minute) album in 2021 titled
Valley of Death (Or Whatever), which featured both
Whatever tracks, six songs from the Lookouts and the Raincoats, and two of the rude radio spots using "The Valley of Death." ~ Mark Deming