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Sunday, April 11, 2010

In Dan's Garage...#29

Happy Sunday friends! I hope everyone is enjoying the day, and I hope your week went well also. I acquired some rather interesting 45s this week, which I've included in this post. I'm sure you'll all enjoy them as much as I do. I'll just keep it brief today by thanking all who made comments and much needed corrections. Thank you once again! So without further adieu....#29.....

Bobby Russell & The Beagles - Roll Over Beethoven / Right Or Wrong (1965)
Spar Records was affiliated with Hit, and Modern Sound Records, all known for recreating hits by current artists. There were a bunch of house musicians who played on these 45s using names like The Jalopy Five, and The Chellows, among others. Bobby Russell was one of the more prolific artists to record on these labels. Perhaps Bobby was best known for writing some of the biggest, (and crappiest) hits of the 60's and 70's. He wrote "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" for Vicki Lawrence who he was married to at the time, and "Little Green Apples" for O.C. Smith. He's also responsible for the hideous and depressing "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. Fortunately he left us with some pretty cool sides as we see here, including the insane "Freakout U.S.A." by The Communication Aggregation. If you see anything on these Hit/Spar labels, pick them up. They're usually pretty cheap, and not that bad. By the way, "Right Or Wrong" is an original which is pretty scarce on these records.

Fenways - Be Careful Little Girl (1964)
One of Pittsburgh's most popular acts, they backed the Vogues on the classic "Five O'clock World" while releasing a bunch of 45s on Bev-Mar and Co&Ce. Check out their Myspace here.

Alva Starr - Light Of A 1000 Years / Anna (1967)
From Baton Rouge, LA, he had at least one other 45 titled "Clock On The Wall" which is not the same as the Guess Who classic. You can hear that one on "Obscure 60's Garage Vol. 6".

Ray Columbus & The Invaders - She's Back Again (1965)
A very popular act out of New Zealand, Ray later moved to California and recorded the crazy "Kick Me" as Ray Columbus & The Art Collection. This one here is a real cool freakbeat number with real weird timing.

New Arrivals - Let's Get With It / Just Outside My Window (1967)
Real neato garage from a San Jose area band. I really dig the reedy Farfisa organ. It almost sounds like an accordion!!! Probably a promotional item from Macy's department stores trying to get people to guzzle as much "Uncola" as they possibly can!

St. George IV - Love Has No Place For A Clown / What'cha Doin' To Me (196?)
Both sides of this real moody 45 were written by Dale Hallcom, who from what I gather (and that wasn't much) was a studio bassist for Del-Fi records, and is also credited on some Everly Bros. recordings. Aside from that, this rather obscure 45 is pretty much a mystery to me.

Fabulous King Pins - For What It Worth / More Than I Do (196?)
Here's another incredibly obscure one from who knows where. This bunch tackles the Buffalo Springfield hit, and kind of spruces it up a bit. Cool!

Toads - Leaving It All Behind / Babe, While The Cold Wind Blows (1965)
 Here's another Gary Usher folk rock production from 1965, not unlike The Devons "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" featured in #27. He was also working with The Byrds at this time. Both sides are terrific.

Mysteries - Please Agree / I Find It's True Love (1967)
A real cool one reportedly from Orlando, FL. This one features a unique "warbly" guitar sound most likely done by plugging into a Leslie speaker cabinet, or possibly a very early use of the "UniVibe" pedal later made famous by guys like Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower. There's a fuzz guitar running through the A side too!

Ellie Pop - Seventeen North Frederick / Can't Be Love (1968)
There isn't much known about this group, except they released this one 45 and an album. Fabulous power pop sounds.

Heads - Are You Lonely For Me Baby / You (1968)
Here's another head scratcher (no pun intended). Probably an east coast group, the A side was written by Bert Berns who wrote some of the best classics of the 60's as well as producing Them, and Lulu. George Goldner was a record company exec who was involved with such artists as Frankie Lymon, and The Sahngri Las. Aside from those notes, I can't tell you anything else. Perhaps they were a studio group???

One Eyed Jacks - Love / Sun So High (1967)
**sigh** Alas, another unknown 45. Fuzz, Acid, and Flowers claims that this was a Florida group that migrated to Champaign, IL., as there was a One Eyed Jacks that included future R.E.O. Speedwagon member Michael Murphy. I personally don't buy that, but hey, I've been wrong before. Great psychedelia here on both sides.

Savage Resurrection - Thing In 'E' / Fox Is Sick (1968)
Great heavy psyche from this west coast outfit. If you're into Blue Cheer, you'll love this one.

Dorians - Means And Ways / Help For My Waiting (1969)
These guys were from Windsor, ON in Canada just across the border from Detroit. Here's a very weird late 60's effort that's definitely soul influenced, but still has a lot of psyche tendencies to it.

Special Delivery - Gloria / Big Brown Eyes (197?)
Garage bands in the mid 70's????? Why not? This was recorded at 700 West Studios in New Palestine, IN, just outside of Indianapolis. The approximate date is uncertain, but the studio ran from 1972 to 1983. What we have here definitely sounds like a bunch of amateurs trying to tackle Them's "Gloria" with some rather inept results. Notice how the drummer kind of loses his place as the rest of the band chugs along. He does find his way back towards the end though. The other side is a nice folk rock type thing, I guess. That too has a real charm to it that was thought to be completely lost in that era when "progressive rock" ruled the airwaves. Bravo gentlemen! Wherever you may be today!


18 comments:

  1. Hey Dan!! You are awesome in regards to you making it possible to download through send space!! Many Thanks!!!

    There is one other problem I am having though. I still am having a hard time playing your downloads on my windows media player.

    I am beginning to think the main problem is the fact that these are not being uploaded as an mp3 file. Instead you are uploading them as an RAR file, which is most certainly not compatible on a lot of media players, then you cannot even listen to the damn thing until you convert the files. In the end, I want to enjoy hearing your garage collectibles, but cannot due to this hassle.

    My suggestion would be to use send space as you are now, but instead of converting them to a rar upload file. Just convert them a regular mp3 upload file. This way everyone regardless of whether, or not they have a rar compatible player can enjoy your awesome collection!! If you can help Dan, this would be greatly appreciated!! Many thanks!! Keep the goods a comin'!!

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  2. Great post as usual - thanks!

    On The Heads:
    they released an LP on Liberty, more info and DL link here:
    http://redtelephone66.blogspot.com/2010/01/heads-heads-up-1968-liberty-lp.html

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  3. Hi Dan,

    I want to be the first the say thanks you once again for best way to finish the weekend.

    Hugs
    MichaelVee

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  4. Here’s the scoop on .rar files. A .rar file is much the same as a .zip file. It’s an archive, not an audio file. It won’t play in any media player, Windows, Winamp, etc. The file needs to be downloaded and then extracted. What you will find in that little bundle (the .rar file that is) is all the mp3s, a couple of jpegs you can use as “covers”, a track list, and a folder with ALL the label scans. Extracting these files is very simple. First you need a file archive utility like 7zip. It’s small, easy to use, and best of all, it’s free. You can get it at http://www.7-zip.org . Once you’ve installed the software, and downloaded the .rar file in the folder of your choice (we have to do this regardless of what kind of file it is), open up 7zip, find the file, click extract on the menu bar at the top, and it will open it up in a nice neat little folder for you and then, voila! ALL the files will be visible, and you can just drag and drop them into your media player, or create a play list, or dump them into an mp3 player, etc. The reason I do this is because it’s much easier to manage one upload, and one link, than it is to deal with say 20 or more. I hope this was helpful.

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  5. Thanks again for sharing another fine batch of vintage garage goodness. I drool at the thought of what your 7-inch collection must be like. A picture sleeve of Savage Resurrection's "Thing In E"... Sweet!

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  6. Good bunch of songs. Of the 28 songs you posted, I added 10 I didn't have to my collection and also 1 upgrade. Very possibly the King Pins 45 came from 1968.

    sixtiesoldiesguy

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  7. Quick comment on rar zip file.

    By doing what you are doing I can download all 28 of these songs at ONE time. Much much much faster than having to download 28 different files containing just one song. Then it takes probably all of 2 seconds to unzip the 28 song zip folder and I have all 28 songs ready to play.

    And like you mentioned the time savings for you to post this way works the same way.

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  8. Mr DAN FRANK
    1000 THX
    for collection and for YOUR TIME !!!
    RV

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  9. Hi, Dan,

    Thanks for all the great music! I pilfered some of your rips and compiled an "In Dan's Garage" primer on my blog, linking it to yours: http://toiletguppies.blogspot.com/2010/03/net-nuggets-31-dans-garage.html Hope you don't mind. Will of course remove the download if you do...

    Keep up the good work, and looking forward to future volumes!

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  10. Never disappointing...another great comp. Thanks Dan!

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  11. Mighty Louche,
    Thanks for the comments and good vibes. I have NO issues with you posting this stuff on your blog. I don't own the music, just the records....

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  12. Hello Dan. I am still having a complicated time with what could seemingly be a simple solution regarding the situatiion with getting access to the rar files. You see I have never had to install anything concerning rar, and I am really new to this. Unfortunately, I have not been able to hear not one thing in your Dan's Garage series from volume one, all the way up to now. Is there a way that you can show me step by step on how to be able to play rar files on my windows media player?? This would be greatly appreciated, so that way I do not miss anymore of this great music you keep sending my way, which I cannot even hear. If you need me to I can give you my email address, and perhaps you can help me with this. My email contact is: recordfanatic@yahoo.com. Excuse me for I am computer illiterate!! Thanks!!

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  13. Hi Dan,

    Love this series! Can you upload the cover of nr 21 from Dan's Garage and what should the tracklist look like?
    Keep up this wonderful work,
    Hans

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  14. Hey! I live in Champaign and was just talking about The One Eyed Jacks with someone who saw them live over forty years ago. The One Eyed Jacks from Champaign were never based in Florida but did include Michael Murphy eventually. This is their first single, and although "Love" appears on You Gotta Have… Moxie, Vol. 2, "Sun So High" appears nowhere else. Hope this helps!

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  15. Oops, make that their second single. Both "Die Today" and "Love" are from 1967.

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  16. Another fab set, Dan! Awesome work you're doing with these.

    I came across a website by an alum of Ellie Pop: http://www.billlongband.com/history.asp

    They were from Michigan (Roseville, a northern suburb of Detroit), and Bill Long had previously played in The Tidal Waves, who scored the hit version of "Farmer John" (not to be confused with the New England Tidal Waves, who also released a 45 of "Farmer John," in what must be one of the freakiest coincidences in '60s rock!)

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  17. More background on Hit-Giant-Spar, et al:
    Bobby Russell & the back-up band were also the same musicians Bill Justis used for the Ronny & The Daytonas recordings (not the touring R&TD groups). They'd do a bunch of songs in one Nashville studio as R&TD, then go up the road and cover the same songs for Hit, just in case any of them charted.
    There's a publishing/management company that now controls the rights to Giant-Spar recordings, but not any of the other Hit labels, which doesn't make sense. All the tracks were re-released under different names on a variety of Hit labels, and then grouped together for LPs on Modern Sound and Country & Western.
    The now defunct Tobaldalong's dolang.blog had a bunch of different music bloggers, including Red Neckerson, contributing to recreations of all the Modern Sound LPs, so they managed to amass the entire Hit Records discography.
    A decent selection is available on German CDs (from 45s) as "The Giant Records Story" and "The Spar Records Story" although I wish they could have found better copies of some of the tracks.

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  18. My dad wrote "You" and did vocals on most of "The Heads-Heads Up!" Record, Lou Santilli. I would Louvre to get an extra copy if you were interested in selling?

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