This live performance of the Imperial Dogs' original version of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" is taken from the band's new DVD, Live! At Long Beach (October 30, 1974), which is available for purchase directly from this site. (See details at top left.)
Written by vocalist Don Waller and guitarist Paul Therrio, the Imperial Dogs' original version first surfaced as the A-side of the band's posthumous 1978 single on Back Door Man Records, which wasn't released until after the song was recorded -- in a radically revamped version that retained only the hookline ("This ain't the Garden of Eden/This ain't the Summer of Love") and none of the original music -- by NYC-based metal-masters the Blue Oyster Cult on their platinum-plus 1976 Agents Of Fortune LP.
Incidentally, the Imperial Dogs' original version also appears on their Unchained Maladies: Live! 1974-75 album, which was issued by Australian indie Dog Meat Records in 1989.
Meanwhile ... the B.O.C.'s version has inspired a 1986 single by Swedish garage-rockers the Nomads (recording under the in-jokey pseudonym the Screamin' Dizbusters) and a 1988 Bucketful Of Brains flexi-disc by Australian neo-punkadelic outfit the U.V.'s. It's also been covered by British eccentrics Current 93 on their 1988 Swastikas For Noddy album, by L.A. rock-grrrls L7 on the 1997 soundtrack album to I Know What You Did Last Summer and by L.A. shock-rockers Lizzy Borden on their 2000's Deal With The Devil album. (The song's chorus was also interpolated by Seattle grunge pioneers Green River into into their 1988 re-recording of "Swallow My Pride.")
Note: Owing to the song's length, this videoclip is presented as an MP4 file. The actual DVD was created by transferring the original half-inch, open-reel, black & white, mono videotape into the MPEG2 format, which should provide a superior audio and video experience. To view a full-screen version of this clip, go to YouTube.
Since every ballad should have a rockin' B-side, here's the Imperial Dogs' original composition, "Midnite Dog" ... . (Also available in full-screen version at YouTube.)
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