In Dan's Garage...#13

Hellooooooooooooo everyone and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! In the last post, which seems like eons ago, I mentioned how beautiful and balmy the weather was here in upstate New York. Well, you know... Mother Nature likes to turn on a dime, and now were in the midst of a January like deep freeze. No problem though. It actually feels Christmasy out there with a nice blanket of white snow covering everything. We're not exactly knee deep either, and that makes life a little easier. I've been really busy doing the shopping thing for Xmas, and my lovely wife has been so busy baking delectable goodies for all to enjoy. She's also very adept at candy making, and this years bounty was one of the best. She made these almond joy like things, you know, with coconut and almonds and chocolate that were literally out of this world...ummmm....I'm sorry. I got a little sidetracked there. This is a music blog, and I do have another post here. As usual, you get a veritable cornucopia of hip 60's sounds ranging from frat-rock to freakbeat. So here it is....In Dan's Garage #13!!!

Dee Jay & The Runaways - She's A Big Girl Now / He's Not Your Friend

 

Dee Jay & The Runaways' big claim to fame was "Peter Rabbit", and were one of the biggest bands to come out of Iowa. This was their follw up, and as you can see by the label, this particular tune was "restricted" because the theme of the song has to do with a girl "blossoming out". Pretty strong stuff back in '66.

Kenny & The Fiends - She Kept Doing Him Wrong / Last Night Was The Night

Great two sided frat rocker from L.A. I don't know much else.....

Untamed - Someday Baby / Lonely Boy

 

Fantastic, upbeat garage from a Chicago area group, with an upfront electric piano as opposed to the cheesy vox/farfisa organ sound that was so popular at the time. The flip is a cool moody ballad.

Vandals - Ballad Of A Loser / My Girl

From 1966 comes this coolest of moody garage "ballads". This was the same label that brought us the crushing "I Love You" by The Worlocks. This one on the other hand is a little more polished with dripping, surfy guitars and ultra cheesy organ. Both sides are fantastic.

Bob Morrison - Hey! Puppet Man / I Looked In The Mirror

I'm not exactly sure who Bob Morrison was, but I presume he was a studio musician from either N.Y. or L.A. He did leave us with at least three 45s on Columbia Records, and this great two sider was his best. Puppet Man has a nice snotty vocal with teriffic fuzz guitars, and the B side is a fantastic folk rocker. He allegedly had an LP on Capitol too, but I've never seen it...

Dearly Beloved - Wait Till The Morning / You Ain't Gonna Do What You Did To Him To Me

One of Tuscon, AZ finest groups. They reportedly recorded an entire albums worth of music for Columbia, of which only four songs were released. This one's pretty good, even with the slightly wacky B side.

Caeser & His Romans - Green Grass Makes It Better / Why Make A Fool Of Me

 I should have saved this Buffalo, NY 45 for my "Upstate New York" post, but what the heck... As you can see, singing songs about "Green Grass" in 1967 wasn't too cool with radio station WSAY (I'll get to this legendary Rochester, NY radio station in a later post...), so they "renamed" the song "Changes". This band eventually became "Big Wheelie & The Hubcaps" who were sort of a "Sha Na Na" 50's revival band. I saw them once, and they were actually pretty good....

Gypsy Trips - Ain't It Hard / Rock 'N Roll Gypsies

 Another Los Angeles Guy/Gal combo, this was the original that was later covered by The Electric Prunes.

Hardtimes - Fortune Teller / Goodby

Originally from San Diego, these guys moved to L.A. and were regulars on Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is" An excellent version with a great B side in my opinion...

Jerry Raye - I Cry

 The guy who sang the legendary "Mindrocker" in Fenwyck, this one is a solo effort which features a blistering fuzz guitar throughout. Great stuff.

 New Dawn - Slave Of Desire

 Here's an obscure one that I know nothing about. Great soul influenced psych/punk...

Newluvs - Be My Girl / It's All Over

No, this isn't the real label artwork. Just some teenager getting wild with a handful of magic markers. An awesome garage/punk two sider from Reading, PA

Noah's Ark - Love In / I Get All The Luck

Groovy, eastern influenced psych from Tampa, FL.

Ron De Voos - Trip So Wild / Run, Run, Run

 I'll presume this is the same group who gave us "The Maid" on Back From The Grave Vol. 7. This single is a weird psych effort though, and not exactly punk like their earlier record.

Second Summers - Bad Vibrations 

Another real obscure group, probably from the NYC area. Released in 1969, this is a great example of how some bands still avoided the more "progressive" sounds of the "Woodstock Generation" (blechhh)

Smoke - My Friend Jack / We Can Make It

I'm gonna finish this off with one of my absolute favorite singles ever. You can't beat this one for total freakbeat goodness!

Get it HERE