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Sunday, March 21, 2010

In Dan’s Garage…#26

Greetings once again friends and followers. It’s a pretty nice day here in upstate New York, and after the first day of spring, I can finally feel it coming on for sure. Daylight savings time kinds pissed me off though. Aside from losing an hour, I have to travel to work in total darkness again, and my commute is scary enough when people are driving when the sun’s up, but they get really messed up when the sun’s down and become totally maniacal. Thank God it’s not snowing. (fingers are crossed here…) Today, I present another nice batch of 45s, most of them firmly in the ‘65 to ‘67 era with a couple of them from the class of ‘68. I’ve gotten some new things too and they’ll be up on the next post. I’d like to mention that I screwed up the front cover in the file, so just save this one to replace the bad cover. Now without further adieu… In Dan’s Garage #26!

Judge 'N Jury - Roaches
This song totally cracks me up! Sure, it's a "novelty" tune of sorts, but it's defintely garage, with a frat rock flavor to it. I can't say much about where these guys are from. Interesting to note that Tom Wilson produced this 45 about the same time he was working with The Mothers Of Invention and The Velvet Underground.

Bruthers - Bad Way To Go / Bad Love
Truly one of the all time greats! Actually real brothers, they were from Pearl River, NY which is just the other side of the Hudson River from White Plains. Both sides are incredibly raw and snotty anti girl rants.

Allusions - You Better Think Twice / It'll Never Be The Same
 Here's a group with a very interesting history. They were from North Texas and played shows with such groups as The Five Americans, The Chessmen, and Mouse & The Traps. They signed up with Major Bill Smith and changed their name to Cast Of Thousands whose "Girl Do What You Gonna Do" is absolutely one of my favorites. A detailed story can be found HERE.

Transatlantics - Stand Up And Fight Like A Man / It's All Over
We last heard from this Grays,Essex UK group in Vol. #19. Here's more of the same invasion type harmony pop.

By Popular Demand - You Might Need Me
Here's a great moody 45 from a pretty obscure outfit. I think they're from Ohio, but I can't say for sure.....

Green Gang - She Means That Much To Me / Dream Of Me
Here's a nice lightweight garage number from another real obscure group. This one's probably from somewhere around Nashville, but exactly where is anybody's guess.

Mark Farrell & The New Blue Angels - Sweet Donna Lee
Another mystery record from Orlando, FL. Real cool Hammond Organ sounds from this one...

Bush - To Die Alone / Don't You Fret
Intense fuzzed out song from San Bernardino, CA. They had a couple more 45s, but I think this one's the best.

Creatures - Turn Out The Light / It Must Be Love
Not the same as the fantastic Australian group, these guys were reportedly from Ireland, although I can't really confirm that. This is a terrific two sider, that to me, sounds almost like Dire Straits??????

Vinnie Basile - Gypsy Girl / Girl
OK, here's a real interesting 45, not only because it's on the famous "Davy Jones Records" label, but because there might be some confusion about who this actually is. This 45 originally was released on the Syncro label (from who knows where) credited to The Staccatos. Garage aficionados know about The Staccatos from Ottawa, ON, a very popular Canadian group, but this one is not listed in their discography, or on any of their reissues. So my guess is that there was another "Staccatos", and were eventually picked up by the "famous" Davy Jones and re-released on his label as "Vinnie Basile" who was probably the lead vocalist. All this is speculation on my part though......

Exchequers - Is There Some Girl
Yeah! I had to include the entire scan of this green goodie from LaCrosse, WI. A rare and great, inept folk rocker.

Invasion - The Invasion Is Coming / I Want To Thank You
As long as were in Wisconsin, let go to Milwaukee and check out The Invasion. Here's another "novelty" song that doubles as a snotty punk killer. The flip ain't bad either....

Models - Bend Me, Shape Me
Super cool version of The American Breed's hit. This actually came out before the American Breed's version and has some extremely whacked out editing and special effects. Most likely a studio group, this was also produced by the aforementioned Tom Wilson.

Music Explosion - Little Black Egg / Stay By My Side
Not much needs to be said about this group, but it's interesting to note that this was a 1969 re-release of their 1st 45 from 1967. Both sided are great, especially the flip....

Huck Finn - Two Of A Kind
A very cool 45 from a group that once was The Balloon Farm who released the ultra classic "Question Of Temperature".

Growing Concern - Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled / A Boy I Once Knew Well
Finely crafted psyche/pop. They also had an album which unfortunately never went anywhere.

Chylds - No More Tears / Grey Days
The last of four 45s released by this great Canton, OH group. Although not as cool as Hay Girl / I Want More Lovin', it's better than their almost hit, Psychedelic Soul, and in my opinion, sadly overlooked.

Enjoy






11 comments:

  1. Another great set of tunes.Once again, thanks seems so weak but, your sharing is much appreciated! Mike

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  2. Dan,
    I'm the guy who suggested he might be having withdrawal symptoms after missing my weekly Sunday fix. My comments were not intended as a criticism but rather to let you know how much I look forward to your posts.
    Back in the mid-60's my friends would go out to listen to local bands every night but Monday and Tuesday.
    I heard many, many different bands of varying talent. They all had one thing in common: enthusiasm.

    Sunday night things always wrapped up by 11 so everyone could get to school or work the next day and I'd go home with a sense of disappointment that a new week was ready to start and no live music for almost 72 hours.

    The last few months Sunday nights have me thinking about those days when I never knew who I'd hear next.

    Thanks, Gary

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  3. Hi Dan!
    Coincidentally, I just made a post about Vinnie Basil on a forum and here's pretty much his/their story as summarized by MopTopMike:

    The Staccatos referred to in this thread were from Long Island, NY.
    Featured one Vinnie Basile, a blind performer. Issued on the Syncro label. When released nationally on the 'Davy Jones Presents' label, the group name was dropped in favor of promoting the 45 as by Vinnie Basile.
    Both tracks "Girl" and "Gypsy Girl" are the same/exact versions as found on the Staccatos release

    Here's also a link to the incredibly ugly sleeve:
    http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs456.snc3/26093_360782760630_726540630_5447213_3627309_n.jpg

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  4. Made this comment before, but worth repeating. Appreciate this blog. While I have over 45,000 songs that were on 45's from the sixties, you always manage to add a couple every week.
    One slight request, if you know release year, would greatly help me in filing info on songs. However right now it forces me to do a lot of Googling and I do find out some "interesting" things about some of the more unknown groups. For example the Mark Ferrell song appears on a WLOF play rotation chart (Orlando FL) for May 25th, 1968.

    sixtiesoldiesguy
    Rich

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  5. Liner note from the "Electric Coffeehouse" CD.

    VINNIE BASILE: Gypsy Girl
    Here’s a strange one. This single is actually from 1966 by a Long Island band called The Staccatos who were fronted by a blind lead singer called Vinnie Basile. A year after this record was released on the local Syncro label, it was picked up by Davy Jones of The Monkees for national release on his own label ‘Davy Jones Presents’. Although both sides are identical, the record was credited just to Vinnie Basile, while The Staccatos only got a mention as the songwriters

    sixtiesoldiesguy
    Rich

    ReplyDelete
  6. "There's roaches comin' up the stairs"-Priceless! Thanks for all your hard work Dan, great selection on #26.

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  7. Once again, this collection looks GREAT!!!
    Thanks SO MUCH for such an awesome series!!!

    Might anyone have some alternate links for this?
    Sharebee has been down for the last 20 hours or so. :(

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  8. What a wonderful blog!
    What a great job!
    And what a great joy for all who love this music!
    And this new collection - again rarities-diamonds SP's!
    Please - to be continued...
    Thank You very much!

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  9. Correct on Mark Ferrell's Central Florida origins. He's married to baseball great Ted Williams' daughter, and was in the news several years back when the Ferrells opposed freezing Williams' body.

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  10. you're giving me a musical orgasm....uh thanks !!!
    from Jimmy , Ontario, Canada

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  11. Could you tell me the name of the group in the cover photo?

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