collage

collage

Saturday, February 27, 2016

In Dan's Garage...#117


Greetings once again friends and followers! Although being somewhat busy (as usual), I've made a concerted effort to try getting this blog out at least twice a month. Hoarding records is great, but if you don't listen to the darned things they're completely useless, that is unless you get a box full of Perry Como records, then you don't know what to do with them. I have at times bought records in bulk, and they've been disappointments for the most part, but my dear friends Tim & Rox, who scour estate sales and auctions look out for me from time to time and when there's a cheap bundle of 45s they'll buy them and pass them along to me. Great friends they are and I have found some pretty decent finds in all that vinyl, but most of them miss the mark for this blog. Good items for the collection though. Perhaps I'll include them in "Dan's Leftovers", a blog that is completely neglected by yours truly mainly because I haven't been able to decide on a definitive format, and I'm looking for a file sharing service that will let me embed one file into the post but not be a "fly by night" affair like Div Share which I was using but now they are kaput. Cest la vie. I did use box.net for a couple of posts, but they're rather expensive, and I can see myself racking up huge Internet costs for uploading one song at a time. If anyone out there has a suggestion let me know. I'd love to get that thing going full throttle. For now, dig on this latest offering. As I stated in my last post, Windows Live Writer continues to stonewall and not allow me to upload my posts to blogger.com. This is really pissing me off and as of yet I have come up with no solution. The last post was somewhat of a debacle because I used the old time blogger app which is OK, but I made one wrong keystroke and sections of it came up messed up or altogether unreadable.Sorry. I shall do better :) In the meantime, enjoy this set of "nuggets". I'm sure they will pique your interest.

Tigers - I See The Light / She Calls Me Baby (1965)
 The same band that released "Jingle Jump" on Raynard which was featured on IDG #19. This one is certainly better and definitely more "garage" that the previous effort with some great bashing drums and cool guitar. From Milwuakee, WI.

Fugitives - Sticks And Stones / Lonely Weekends (1965)
A completely unknown group, but some evidence says they are from Bloomington, IN. On this two sider they tackle Ike Turner's classic "Sticks & Stones", on the flip we get Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekends". Both are great!

Lady-Bugs - How Do You Do It (1964)
According to "Fuzz, Acid, & Flowers", this was a girl garage band from Norfolk, VA that had some connection to Kim Fowley. Go figure. What we have here is definitely a bunch of adolescent girls whooping it up with Gerry & The Pacemakers' big hit and doing a rather spirited job of it if I might say.

Spats - She Kissed Me Last Night / There's A Party In The Pad Down Below (1964)
Typical frat rock goodness from the Spats, this being the follow up to "Gator Tails And Monkey Ribs". 

Blue Things - I Must Be Doing Something Wrong / La Do Da Da (1965)
From Hays, KS this was the first 45 this legendary Midwest band would release on RCA Victor records and it's a pretty good one. The A side definitely has a pop feel to it with some extra orchestration added, but the B side is a solid Gene Vincent cover that rocks nicely.

Brute Force - Toys For Tots / Brute's Party (1967)
The second Brute Force 45, this one being somewhat anti-war, but kooky nonetheless. The B side I believe was not on his LP "Confections Of Love".

Blues Project - Lost In The Shuffle / Gentle Dreams (1967)
This one is tough to pin down date-wise, but I believe this was the last 45 released by The Blues Project before (or possibly after) Danny Kalb and Al Kooper left the band and Andy Kulberg and Roy Blumenfeld continued on and released "Planned Obsolescence" which was basically the pilot LP for the band Seatrain.

Stained Glass - A Scene In Between / Mediocre Me (1967)
The last 45 to be released on RCA by this fantastic group out of San Jose. This one is quite possibly their best

Simon Dupree & The Big Sound - Kites / Like The Sun, Like The Fire (1967)
Simon Dupree & The Big Sound were actually the stepping stone for Derek, Ray, & Phil Shulman who would go on to form the progressive rock band Gentle Giant. During their tenure as Simon Dupree they lamented the "progressive" style of this particular 45 as they saw themselves more of a "tough" R&B type band, which is a head scratcher to me because this is closer to Gentle Giant than any R&B they might have been doing at the time. Oh well, I was never a fan of Gentle Giant anyway but this 45, which they thought was crap, is kinda cool. It is rumored that Elton John auditioned for Gentle Giant but was turned down. Sucks for those guys because I think E.J. got the better end of the deal. Such is fate.

Fruit Machine - The Wall (1969)
A mostly unknown outfit from the UK that I believe had several other songs released in their homeland but had this one off 45 released in the US only. No matter. This is a terrific late 60s psych number which I'm pretty sure made it to one of the "Rubble" comps.

Sugar Shoppe - Save The Country (1969)
A Canadian Sunshine Pop group that had an LP released on Capitol and this one off (I believe) 45 o Epic where they cover Laura Nyro's "Save The Country". I know this is real "poppy", but I love Laura Nyro songs so I included it.

Yellow Payges - I'm A Man / Home Again (1970)
A pretty good band that had a slew of 45s in many diverse styles. Although this one was released in 1970, "I'm A Man" comes off as something three years too late, or maybe they were way ahead of their time as the vocals eerily remind me of every Billy Childish record (and his clones) I've ever heard. Great stuff on both sides here.

Goliath - Come With Me (To My World) / Cross Roads (1969)
A pretty good psych group that reminds me of a cross between Vanilla Fudge and The Graham Bond Organization. I believe these guys were from Philadelphia.....

Gun - Hobo / Don't Look Back (1969)
A British group that I have very little info on except for the fact that they released one LP on Epic and at least this one 45.

Scott - Peachnut Brandy / Miss America (1970)
A duo from Hollywood that had this one 45 that was strangely issued on Kent records, home of such garage/psych greats as Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King. Just joking. Scott Passen and Scott Crane played all the instruments on this rather excellent bubblegum flavored 45 and it even came with a picture sleeve as well. I don't have the actual sleeve but here's a scan I found on the web....


Lance - Working Overtime (1976)
In my never ending search for cool records I often am baited by Ebay listings that describe a record as 'garage". About 30% of the time it's nothing near garage-like and 5% of those outright suck completely (i try not to bid over $1 or $2 for these types of things. Sometimes, the "non-garage" items are a pleasant surprise as in the case of "Lance", a band who most likely came from Iowa, but since IGL Studios served a great deal of the upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota) I really can't pinpoint the exact origin of this one. Being from 1976 the A side is pretty much what you'd expect. It sounds a lot like "Bread" or some other soft rock band from the mid-70s, but on the flip they let loose with a surprisingly decent simple rock & roll tune that isn't over the top hard rock as you 'd think you might get from a band of this era. I really like this one and since it was only $.99, I'm loving it even more!!!!!!!





Tuesday, February 9, 2016

In Dan's Garage...#116

   Hello friends and music lovers!!!! It's nice to see you all again as I've trudged through another month basically neglecting this blog. It's not that I haven't tried, I just get so caught up in my spare time these days that I can't fit it into  my schedule. Perhaps if the weather here in Upstate NY was WORSE, I'd have more idle time to spin records and work on this thing.
   I'm really annoyed with Windows Live Writer right now. It seems that it will not log onto Blogger at all so whatever I compose in that program, will not upload because it somehow doesn't communicate with Google or something. If anyone out there has some insight in on this I'd appreciate a tip or two. For now I'm doing it "old school" with the on line blogger app. It isn't pretty, but it's damned reliable.
   So we had another Super Bowl last night, and as far as games go, it was rather lackluster, but I'm glad the Broncos won given the fact that it's probably Peyton Manning's last game and I'm not particularly fond of The Carolina Panthers. I did eat good food and drank good drink so all was right with the world. Now let's get through NCAA basketball and March Madness so we can get to the beginning of the MLB season.
   Someone had commented that a bunch of links were dead so I've done my best to re-up lost links to posts. I want everyone to be happy happy.
  As usual, I've served up a veritable smörgåsbord of hip sounds on this one. It certainly waners all over the place, but in my usual style, I lay things out chronologically. Well..mostly. I hope all is well with you, and please enjoy my latest offering.

Legends - Say Mama / My Love For You (1962)
A legendary band from Milwaukee that had several great 45's on the Ermine label. This one here is a re-issue (which I try to avoid), but it's a great garage/rockabilly platter that deserves merit here. A great way to kick off this edition!!!!! 

Shoremen - Dance USA! / I Expect Too Much (1965)
The Shoremen were from the Baltimore / D.C. area and released about 4 or 5 45's this being the second. Both sides are clearly garage with a touch of beach Boys influence, but definitely in the lo-fi garage camp. "She's Bad" is their finest effort. Look it up......

Next Five - Little Black Egg / He Stole My Love (1966)
Another Wisconsin band that recorded on a Chicago label. These guys are best known for giving us "Talk To Me Girl" which was featured on Pebbles Vol. 10, one of the best comps ever. This 45 is just as good!

Togas - Baby, I'm In The Mood For You / Hurry To Me (1965)
Fuzz, Acid, & Flowers describe this 45 as "inferior beat-folk pop". I think they are full of shit.

Kings Ransom - Shadows Of Dawn / Street Car (1967)
A great group out of Allentown, PA. They also released the killer "Same". This one here is a little more subdued, but still excellent.

Jynx Pack - She's In Love / I Can't Make Up My Mind (1966)
A band that was thought to be from the U.S. but apparently is from the U.K. Great sounds nonetheless!!!!!!

Brute Force - In Jim's Garage / Cudd'ly (1966)
Well...what the hell can I say about this one???? The name of this blog is predicated on the title of this "song" and it certainly is one of my favorites. I guess it's pop, and it's certainly a "novelty" record of sorts, but it definitely has it's own messed up thing going. Stephen Friedland was a member of The Tokens. He also wrote stuff for Little Peggy March, He also wrote stuff for The Chiffons, The Cyrkle, Del Shannon, et. al. Some of you long time friends and followers know that THIS is the title that this humble blog is predicated on. Of course this 45 is somewhat out of place here because it's neither garage nor psychedelic, it is a freakish example of pop gone nutso, if you will. Brute Force's most notorious release (or non-release) was "The King Of Fuh" which was to be put out by Apple Records, but apparently they chickened out.

Five Sounds - Loadin' Coal / Baby Please Don't Cry (1966)
A group that I don't know a whole lot about, but I know they had one other 45 that was real good on Epic, and they may have been from Nova Scotia in Canada!

Clique - She Ain't No Good ' Time, Time, Time (1965)
ButA very obscure, but great freak beat group out of the UK. This was their only stateside release, but this was released in the UK as well as their fantastic "We Didn't Love  Now We Do Do".

Sunshine Company - Willie Jean (1968)
One of the best releases from this prolific sunshine pop band.

Jorge - Everybody Want's To Be Loved / Tic Tac Toe (1968)
Kooky bubblegum 45 from what is most likely a studio concoction.

Billy Lee Riley - Midnight Hour / Southern Soul (1968)
Billy Lee Riley was most famous as a star on Sun Records releasing such greats as "Red Hot" and "Flying Saucers Rock & Roll". In the mid/late 60's he obviously adapted his style to a more R&B styled rock & roll and incorporated a somewhat "Johnny Rivers" style live thing. Some people hate this stuff because they try to compare it to his Sun output, but I thing it's pretty good. Enjoy.

Plain Jane - Who's Driving This Train (1969)
A largely unknown hippie type band that is probably from California or the west coast. Nice psych sounds here, but the flip is a real drag so didn't include it.

Arrangement - We've Got A World To Build (1970)
I have little info on this, but I'm thinking it's a well crafted east coast (NYC to be exact) studio project

Louie & The Lovers - I Know You Know / Driver Go Slow (1970)
Incredibly cool easy going Rock & Roll by a group from Salinas, CA where Doug Sahm most likely discovered these guys. Tex-Mex flavor abounds on this terrific two sider which kind of defies description. I mean, it's definitely Rock & Roll, but it isn't psychedelic or garage or country or really Tex-Mex for that matter. Just good music. 

Tongue & Groove - Come On In My Kitchen / Mailman's Sack (1969)
A bay area band that included ex- Charlatan Michael Ferguson. Good psych/rock that is quite typical of what was going on around San Fransisco in those days.