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Thursday, September 2, 2010

In Dan's Garage...#42

OK!!! I got everything up and running, so it's back to business here at Dan's Garage. Summer is almost over, and with that comes the new football season, (that's "American" Football to all those overseas...), and the start of baseball's post season. Truly the finest time of the year if you're a sports fan in the US! Whoever your team is, go to a game (if you can afford it) or enjoy the spectacle on your TV in the comfort of your living room, with some chicken wings and a pizza perhaps. Oh yes. DO NOT forget the beer. If you really hate those dorky sports announcers you can play some of the fine rock and roll I've posted here while watching. It really works well with the beer and pizza. Hope you enjoy this latest offering. As usual it goes all over the place with some very interesting cuts. Cheers!

Casuals - Mustang 2+2 / Play Me A Sad Song (1965)
Cool hot rod/surf from a very unknown band.

Chris & Craig - I Need You / Isha (1966)
 Another obscurity, this time a terrific pop/psych two sider.

Stonemen - No More / Where Did Our Love Go (1966)
 According to Fuzz, Acid, & Flowers this is considered a "significant" recording. I'm not so sure about that, but it definitely is a very crude, inept garage two sider. The top a ballad and the flip a mid tempo number. From Fall River, MA.

M.H. Royals - She's Gone Forever / Tomorrow's Dread (1967)
One of my all time favorites!!! Although this 45 is from '67 and on a major label, it's also pretty crude and simple compared to similar records of this time. From Chicago.

Vacels - I'm A Poor Boy (1966)
 Formerly known as Ricky & The Vacels, these guys went from do-wop to garage/beat with this 45 and another "You're My Baby". This is definitely the better of the two.

Romans - You Do Something To Me / I'll Find A Way (1966)
Cool as hell two sider from Little Rock, AK. I'm not sure if the flanged out sound on the A side was deliberate, or if someone was leaning on the tape deck, but it sure is pretty neat and a very early example of this effect.

Wig/Wags - I'm On My Way Down The Road / The Goofy Google (1966)
 A real classic. Probably a Texas group but I have no way of knowing for sure. The sadly overlooked B side is a great slice of garagey frat-rock.

Bare Facts - To Think / The Only Thing (1967)
 The same guys who cut the superb "Bad Part Of Town", this is a more psychedelic effort with some cool eastern style guitar effects. From Portsmouth, OH

Del Shannon - Under My Thumb / She Was Mine (1966)
 I saw Del Shannon around 1989 on a "package tour" of oldies artists. He was with The Angels, Gene Chandler, who had recently suffered a stroke and put on a depressing performance, Joey Dee & The Starlighters who were real goofy, and Del Shannon, who played all of his great hits and blew every pathetic oldie act off the stage. Even The Starlighters (the backing band for all the acts) who were relatively comatose during the entire program lit up as Del did his thing. He played guitar (an Epiphone Coronet) and sang without missing a note. I was really sad when I learned he committed suicide shortly after this performance. I really thought he could have made some kind of resurgence given the accolades every other "big"rock star was giving him at the time. Fortunately he left all of us a great catalog of music, this being one of them. Thanks Del.

Everpresent Fullness- Fine And Dandy (1967)
 The second flip of "Wild About My Lovin'" featured on IDG #35

Thomas Group - Ordinary Girl (1968)
 A real good psych/pop 45 with some Pet Sounds style vocals and that mystic harpsichord in the foreground. A Sloan/Barri production......

Him - It's A Man Down There / 4A.M. (196?)
 One listen to the vocals on this, and you'll know who "Him" is.

Silver Fleet - Look Out World (1971)
 Yup, you read it right. 1971. That's when Led Zeppelin released "Stairway To Heaven". I'm not sure what is up with this 45, but it's been rumored to have connections to 10c.c. Well....maybe on the hard rock A side (not featured here) but I'm going out on a limb. I think the group that did this particular cut was probably The Music Explosion working as a studio group for Kasenetz and Katz, the producers of this fine cut.

Herman's Hermits - For Love (1966)
 I think Herman's Hermits get a bad rap. Yeah, they played a lot of lightweight crud, and were wrongly accused of not playing their own instruments, but you knew they actually had something in them when they recorded this fabulous B side. An original no less!

Kingsmen - Wolf Of Manhattan / Children's Caretaker (1967)
 What have we here???? I was stunned when I heard this, primarily because most of their output was frat rock and essentially an extension of the "Louie Louie" aesthetic. They ventured into British Invasion/Folk Rock with "If I Needed Someone", but much of it was predictable. This on the other hand is superb psych pop which is nothing like "Louie Louie".

King Biscut Entertainers - Take My Thoughts Away (1968)
 A group that evolved from The Furys, Don & The Goodtimes, and The Wilde Knights, they had several 45s with mixed results. This side here is pretty good.

Group Image - Hiya (1968)
 A collection of New York/New Jersey hippies that had some kind of commune or something and released an album of Jefferson Airplane styled psyche. The wildest cut was "Hiya" which is an out of control screamer that lasts 6:00 and ends with a lot of noise. The side featured here is the shortened B side. I would have liked to have posted the long version, but the level is so low on the 45 you can barely hear it above the pops and crackles.

Wicked - The Spider And The Fly (1979)
 A 1979 remake of the psychotic "tune" recorded by The Monacles and featured on Pebbles Volume 3.

Get it HERE 






15 comments:

  1. Hi just discovered your fantastic site. Guess I'll be making many future visits to sample your wares.Thanks in advance.Dave in New Zealand

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  2. New computer, bigger label scans - I like it!!

    How come I haven't heard Mustang 2+2 before? It's a scorcher! Tried to Google it, but I couldn't find any comp appearance - weird.

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  3. Hey, Dan, great stuff!
    The Wig/Wags were from Arkansas.
    The single is featured on Psychedelic States, Arkansas compilation.

    The band was formed in Hope, Arkansas (it's true that our lead guitarist was from Texarkana, but we hadn't any link with Ohio, whatever the rumor says).
    The personnel consisted in:
    - Johnson Perry: lead guitar (and songwriting)
    - Gary Rinati: drums
    - Paul Rinati: bass
    - Me (Steve Orak): rhythm guitar and vocals
    I met the Rinati brothers in 1965 and we discovered we had a lot of common musical leanings: rhythm'n'blues à la Pretty Things, Yardbirds, but also soul music (I was—and still am—a big Motown fan) and delta blues à la Skip James or Fred McDowell. I knew Johnson since school, and we began to rehearse in a barn owned by the Rinati family. We played many covers ("Roadrunner", "Heatwave", "You Gotta Move"—before the Stones!) and had some original material, including the 45 you know ["I'm On My Way Down the Road"/"The Goofy Goggle"]. We made several gigs with local bands (including the Vipers) and opened for the Swinging Medallions and the Gants in the summer of 1966. Shortly after that we recorded an acetate for Sama, but some personnal matters made us split in late '66, just before the 45 was published.

    I was only nineteen at this time, and my father got promoted in France, so I had to follow my family. I haven't talked to any other member of the band since 1967! So I can't tell you what they've done since, and I guess they might have recorded this 45 you mention under that silly name [Fuzz, Acid and Flowers suggests that the Wig/Wags may have recorded a 45 in 1967 under the name the Loving Years]. I'm sad and not too proud to say that I do not play music anymore (I have a lot of work), but I keep on listening to it, sharing these delights with my son Simon, who is DJ on a local radio in Orléans where he plays sixties pop music.

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  4. Hi Dan,

    hard to catch up with your never ending charges of new gems.... means I definitively must no go in vacation... anyway, hugh thanks as always

    MichaelVee

    PS why don't you come over to Italy and change the Schlitz with a big bottle of Chianti? (I would love to give you a hand with that....)

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  5. Steve,
    That is truly incredible. One of the great things about this blog is that it brings out members of these groups and the great stories that they tell. Thank you for stopping by, and infinite thanks for your contribution to this beautiful thing called Rock & Roll!
    Sincerely, Dan

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  6. Michael,
    I'd love to come to Italy and take on that bottle of Chianti! I'm quite the wine drinker as well as a "hop snobber". Also, being of Italian descent (my father's family lives in Rocca Di Mezzo, and my mother was born in Palermo)we may be able to have a nice conversation in Italian as well!
    Salute!

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    Replies
    1. DAMN! My Mother's family emigrated to Boston in 19.... 09? They were from Palermo! My Mother's maiden name is Marguerite Rose Sapienza!

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  7. Thanks for another set of obscure gems. Your collection is truly amazing.

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  8. Link broken already??? Maybe my internet tubes are clogged... I'll try again later.

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  9. vincent the soul chefSeptember 9, 2010 at 8:39 PM

    Killer!!! I've got some traveling music for when the missus and I go to Detroit this weekend. Thanks as always.

    Peace and blessings.

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  10. looks like the Casuals were a Louisville, KY group....

    MichaelVee

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  11. Thanks,
    what a gold mine of treasures!

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  12. Hi Dan,
    I've been wanting to hear Del Shannon's Under My Thumb for ages. Thanks very much.

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  13. re The Casuals
    Just speculating here - the Sound Stage 7 label was out of Nashville, founded by Fred Foster of Monument Records fame. The record was co-produced by Ronnie Shacklett, who is/was Brenda Lee's husband.

    Now there was a late 50s Nashville band The Casuals containing Buzz Cason aka Garry Miles, who put out a couple of doo wop things, seen here http://doo-wop.blogg.org/themes-_casuals__1_-171265.html - but what interested me was a comment on another site that said that those Casuals from Nashville provided tour backing for guess who?...Brenda Lee! http://www.45cat.com/record/4515557

    So I'm thinking that this record has a Nashville Casuals smell about it.

    Any thoughts?

    Jeff in Sydney

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