I first discovered The Leopards thanks to Rodney on the Roq. In 1985/86 he was constantly playing this really cool sixties pop tune the tongue in cheek outlined the mod lifestyle, "Psychadelic Boy." It became a sort of mod cult favorite, and The Leopards quickly became one of my favorite garage bands. Partly that was due to the fact that they sounded more like The Kinks then, well, then The Kinks themselves during those days.
The album I found was, unbeknownst to me, their second Magic Still Exists, after relocating to LA from Kansas of all places. It was full of British Invasion sounding two minute pop songs with a very jangly tone, and I thought it was fantastic. It wasn't until years later, thanks to the in-for-ma-tion su-per-high-way that I stumbled across their first album, produced in 1977 for all that it sounded like it was right out of 1967. That release, Kansas City Slickers, reminds me of the Kinks (though not as much as Magic Still Exists), but also brings to mind the kind of quirky vaudeville like sound of David Bowie's mid-sixties Pye recordings. There's a much better history write up at Beat Garage Pop, along with rips of the two albums.
The Leopards -- Psychadelic Boy
