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Saturday, September 18, 2010

In Dan's Garage...#43


I was having some random thoughts earlier this week about which era of the Rolling Stones was the "best". My brother always claims that the latter day Stones were better, but he pretty much based that on how many records they sold, and his logic was that if they sold more they had to have been better. Well, Justin Bieber sells a hell of a lot of records, but that doesn't make him any good. The latter day Stones definitely sold more but people these days are buying more than ever, and there is an expanded fan base which includes young people, as well as "mature" customers like myself. That being said, I think the last great Stones LP was "Sticky Fingers". I know there's lots out there that think "Exile On Main St." is better, but I never could sit through the whole two albums. For my money, you can't beat the 1964 to 1966 era. I know lots of you will disagree, and you're probably saying "there goes Dan again with his narrow minded myopic 'sixties' view of things...blah...blah". Well...what the hell is "Emotional Rescue" compared to say..."Satisfaction"??? How about "Miss You" compared to "The Last Time"???? Or even a fairly decent song like "Angie" compared to "Play With Fire"??? I could go on, but you get the point. It's not that they're horrible, er...wait...yeah, judging by their performance at the Super Bowl a few years back, I'd say they're horrible, and it's a shame. They were once a truly great band that really can't get it up anymore. Maybe it's not even that. I think they have an attitude problem. "Well we're the Stones and we really don't need to give a shit so we'll do whatever we want and people will pay $200 a ticket anyway so fuck 'em". I don't know, maybe I'm just being real cynical, but I see lots of "old guys"out there doing their thing and they're still bringing it. The Who (or what's left of them anyway) did the same Super Bowl halftime thing, and although they're not what they used to be vocally, they still have tons of energy. Same with Paul McCartney. He's got one of the best bands in the business, and he's not losing any steam. Tom Petty's no spring chicken and he's still rockin'. I saw the Moody Blues (or what's left of them) three years ago, and they were excellent. Hell, I saw Bad Co. (I band I hated for a long time) do a TV concert thing, and was really impressed that they could still "rock". Mick Ralphs looks like a curmudgeonly old dickhead though.  Enough of this blather. I think the Stones are cool and I guess I should give them some credit for still hanging around, even though Keith Richards should buy himself a guitar tuner. Did I mention I have a new "bunch" to post today??? I sure do! As the weather gets cooler, I'll probably have a little more time to do this so there'll  be more frequent posts. As usual, I offer up a diverse medley of cool sound for all of you, so you never know what's coming next. So without further adieu I present In Dan's Garage #43!!!!

Applejacks - Like Dreamers Do / Everybody Fall Down (1964)
A six piece from Solihull, UK which is close to Birmingham and thus considered a "Brum Beat" group, they had the distinction of having a female bassist, something quite rare at the time. On this, their second 45, they tackle the Lennon-McCartney cut "Like Dreamers Do', and they do it well, but the flip is the fantastic "Everybody Fall Down", a superb chunk of British Beat!

Unit Four plus Two - Hark / Stop Wasting Your Time (1965)
 Just like "Concrete & Clay", Unit 4+2 show some very diverse influences on "Hark" as opposed to the standard British beat formula. The flip is a more traditional affair, and really good.

Misfits - This Little Piggy / Lost Love (1964)
 From San Diego, this group's claim to fame is that it featured future Moby Grape member Bob Moseley on bass and vocals. He also "wrote" this decent rework of "I'm A Hog For You".

Bruce Duncan & The Impulses - Lonely Too Long / No More Movin' (1967)
 Great soul influenced garage from the Louisville, KY area. This is a great cover of The Young Rascals' hit with cool cheesy organ as opposed to Felix Cavaliere's Hammond B-3.

'D' Men - Don't You Know / No Hope For Me (1965)
 Good two sider from the band who would eventually become The Fifth Estate and release "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead"

Lancers - Somebody Help Me / (You've Got To ForgetHer) (196?)
 Another obscure soul influenced garage band from the south. These guys might be from Mississippi.

Wylde Main-iacs - Why Ain't Love Fair / Not The One For Me
 Rumoured to be record collector Erik Lindgren, my guess is that's probably true given the good production on this one. Although this is probably a "neo-garage" band, it deserves inclusion on my blog because it's so true to the spirit of the genre. In this case they take the "Pushin' Too Hard" riff and expand on it nicely. True genius!

13th Power - I See A Change Is Gonna Come / Captain Hassel (1967)
 Allegedly this is Max Frost & The Troopers, but I'm not convinced. That would mean this is also Davie Allan & The Arrows, and it really doesn't sound like them, and by the way, Mike Curb's name is nowhere to be found on this 45. Anybody out there know the scoop????

Young Lions - We Better Get Along / Live And Learn (1965)
 Good pop from 1965 with a folk group feel to it and some deep fuzz in the background.

Id - Boil The Kettle Mother / Short Circuit (1967)
 Also from San Diego comes this awesome piece of demented psychedelic genius. Real great guitar stuff on this one. One of my personal all time favorites.

Truth - Wade In The Water / Love Locked (1970)
 One of the many bands who called themselves "The Truth", this very obscure hard psych act probably hailed from the Nashville area. But of course I might be wrong.......

Uglies - Hello Gooday / Previews (1969)
 A very popular act from Minnesota who were originally known as The Unbelievable Uglies", and had a bunch of records released in the mid 60's including the awesome "Get Straight" on Liberty records. This one here is a cool "post 1966" Beatles influenced 45. They continue with reunion shows to this day.

Underground Sunshine - Don't Shut Me Out / Take Me, Break Me (1969)
This Montello, WI group had a minor hit in 1969 covering the Beatles' "Birthday", a cool lightweight version with cheesy Farfisa organ. This, their second 45 features a bubblegummy A side with a great fuzzed out psyche number on the flip.

Aardvark - Salty Dog (1969)
 Here's a neat hard rockin' 45 from a southern group that has some wild fuzzed out guitar, and a rather amusing "southern rock" style vocal delivery.

Young Californians - Hey Girl / In A Garden (1969)
 Another tale of two groups. On the A side we have great bubblegum with nice organ fills, and on the flip we have a cool trippy pop tune. I wish I could tell you more about this one, but all I know is that they're from California. Most likely L.A.

Get It HERE











15 comments:

  1. As usual, another great assortment of cool tunes. Man, I can hardly keep up..lol Thanks once again Dan!

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  2. You think Erik gave it away with the "Wylde" spelling? I'd cut the Stones in two between Exiles and Goats Head. 1963-1972: An incredible catalog. 1973-2010: an 80-minute CD would be enough.

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  3. I spoke to Ken Evans recently about the D-Men / Fifth Estate's early years and he told me he's been told by lots of people that they felt if the record had been flipped over and No Hope For Me get the push from the record company that it could've been a hit. I told him I disagree, I felt that Don't You Know was the better side. He did hint that the current Fifth Estate's new cd would be finished later this year and that reissues of back catalog material (including early music from the D-Men) would hopefully happen soon.

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  4. Talking about fake bands comped on 60s garage comps, the Wylde Main-iacs on Chosen Few vol.1 are another example. Here's what Erik Lindgren once told me about that:
    "Speaking of the bonus track ... we tossed that on as a joke on the first pressing of 1000 discs. That was actually a version that I produced in '78 that included Jeff Connolly (DMZ/Lyres) on vocals, Roger Miller (later of Mission of Burma) on bass and lead guitar, Boby Bear on drums (he played with Roger, Clint Conley and me in the pre-MOB Boston art punk band Moving Parts), and myself on guitar and piano. Don't think many people know about the cut nor the personnel involved. We got a good chuckle out of including that mystery track..."

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  5. a propos the 13th Power, Wikipdia says it's Max Frost & Co, and it's the last track on Tower LP "Shapes of things to Come"....

    cheers
    MichaelVee

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  6. I also prefer STICKY FINGERS over EXILE. EXILE definitely has some great tracks on it, but I think the double-album format dilutes the overall impact of the LP. LET IT BLEED and BEGGARS BANQUET are my other two must-haves. SOME GIRLS was the only post-EXILE Stones album that I thoroughly enjoyed. Nothing they did after SOME GIRLS satisfied me as much...

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  7. Hi Dan!I just found this blog and I have to say it is wonderful. You have new fan in Czech in Europe. BTW if you are interested in czech 60's beat garage records, let me know, I have few good records in your blog style that I don't need. Feel free to contact me on markyzjohn@gmail.com

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  8. Hi dan alla the track has the same noise/distortion (I don't convert them) so is impossibile to her .. i've tried to hear whit mediamonkey or windows media player or Ipod, bt always tha same noise, not the usual noise of the old 7", but a costant noise.
    Thanks

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  9. I read somewhere that Max Frost/Troopers included Stan Ayeroff plus the other guy from Michael Lloyd's Smoke. Davie Allan recorded his own lp of Shapes of Things to Come tracks so I think that's how his name always gets associated with Max Frost. To my ears, Davie Allan & Arrows aren't Max Frost & Troopers.

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  10. The B-side of Underground Sunshine's wimpy cover of "Birthday," "All I Want Is You," is really worth seeking out. In my opinion, it's actually the A-side.

    Michael Vee is right (as usual): the 13th Power track is also the last track (as "A Change Is Gonna Come") of the Max Frost & The Troopers LP on Tower that was put together in 1968 after the success of the Wild In The Streets soundtrack & the MF&TT "Shape of Things To Come" 45.
    Len at RedTelephone66 used to have it available for download.

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  11. The Young Californians' guitarist was Creed Bratton of the Grass Roots and "The Office".

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  12. Can you re-upload #43 to Zippyshare? Mediafire has blocked the download link.

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  13. Hi Dan! I'm eight years late with this so maybe you already know. The ID was mostly studio musician (and Shindogs guitarist/Wrecking Crew member) Jerry Cole. His story is far too long to share here so please read his Wikipedia page. He recorded a bunch of great stuff and budget/"Cash In"/exploitation LP's such as "T. Swift & The Electric Bag", "The Projection Company" and my favorite "The Animated Egg"!

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    2. It's never too late to enter Dan's Garage "inner circle" (not that there really is one....) but many thanks for the info on that 45! I always kind of wanted this thing to be an interactive sort of project, mainly because I DON'T KNOW ALL THE FACTS, and was hoping all of you out there in the "cyberuniverse" could fill in some of the blanks. Thank you for contributing and please, feel free to contribute anytime you like!
      Love, Dan

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