BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY BY THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE (WB, 1968) - EPISODE #82

Any self respecting devotee of fuzz and farfisa will genuflect at the mention of Talk Talk by The Music Machine, the brain busting bombshell that exploded in 1966 at the height of the garage band culture. Along with Psychotic Reaction by The Count V, and 96 Tears by ? And The Mysterians, The Music Machine ruled the airwaves that year. My middle school band, The Full House, could play 96 tears, but Talk Talk was a bronco that was harder to ride. And, the guttural snarl of lead singer Sean Bonniwell, as he spit out the red meat of his teenage angst, was an inimitable storm surge of passion. But, as so often happens, the complications of keeping a band together pulled at the group’s threadbare fabric, and by ’69 the band was in shreds, and Sean was on his own. This cut, Absolutely Positively is off the album THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE (because he was the only one left), but features some of the original players before they split. After that, the Music Machine was no more, and Sean soldiered on through an unforgiving solo career. But, I’m thrilled hearing the roiling organ arpeggios on the verses as Sean expresses the ambivalence of not knowing what he wants, but then, emerging with determination, as he stands firm during the choruses, declaring: “Absolutely Positively I want your love!”.