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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

In Dan's Garage...#40

I was going to post this last Sunday, but I got so sidetracked I had to postpone it till this evening. Instead of rewriting this, I'll let you all make believe it's late Sunday morning. Better yet. Just stop reading now, and save it for next weekend!!!! 
   Happy Sunday friends!!!! After a blistering hot week here in "lovely" Upstate N.Y., I think it's about time we cracked open an ice cold beer, or mixed ourselves a nice cool cocktail and kick back with some good music, don't you think???? I love a good beer in the afternoon or early evening. Maybe with a nice shot of fine bourbon, or Irish Whiskey perhaps??? My favorites (bourbon that is...) are Jim Beam Black and Wild Turkey 101. I'm also a huge Jack Daniels fan too, and Makers Mark is oh so fine. Those all go great with a nice India Pale Ale. There's a place up here that The True Believers play at often called "Monty's Krown". These are some of the best people in Rochester, and they are the ONLY venue in town that let's us play whenever we like, provided there's an open date that is. It is in my opinion, the only true melting pot of Rock & Roll in the city. It's a small pub style bar that's kind of dark and the smell of beer hangs heavy in the air, but it's got such a great "underground" atmosphere, it reminds me somewhat of the Cavern in Liverpool.They also have one of the best beer menus in the city, and they don't serve any Budweiser, the absolute worst beer in the world. I had an argument with a co-worker of mine who thought Bud Light (even worse than regular Bud if that's possible) was a great beer, and he said "It's the most popular beer in the US, so they must be doing something right". My response was, "No, it just means that there are more non beer drinkers drinking beer than ever before". He scratched his head trying to figure out what I meant, and what I mean is, junk like Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light, etc., are made for people who can't handle "real beer". Don't get me wrong. I may be a "hop-snobber", but I will drink what's being served. My wife once asked me "If all that's left in the world is the worst beer you ever drank, would you quit drinking beer?" I responded "NO". I consider myself a "cheap beer" connoisseur. Pabst Blue Ribbon is great. So is Utica Club which I was totally surprised they even still brew. Sorry, I got off track here. Drink what you like today. An ice cold brew, a room temperature Guinness, a crisp cool Martini, whatever. Enjoy yourself!!!!!

Black Jeans - El Tigre (196?)
Early 60s or late 50s effort from a wild, rocking Mexican group who had several releases if I'm not mistaken. Excellent rockabilly/proto punk.

Scot High & The Highlanders - Sure Fire (1961)
 More "proto-punk" from a very obscure group. Great guitar on this one.

Surfaris - I'm A Hog For You / Wipe Out (1963)
Of course we all know the legendary surf instrumental from 1962 "Wipe Out", but what makes this 45 interesting is it's garagey flip "I'm A Hog For You" and the fact that this issue is a entirely different version than the original Dot Records release.

Preachers - Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow / Shake That Thing (1966)
A pretty obscure 45 that claims it was "Recorded In England" on the flip, but these guys sound like they're from the good ol' USA to me.

Scoundrels - Easy / The Scoundrel (1966)
A great folky punker from Brooklyn, NY. Nice production on this one too, with those great background vocals. These guys also released the fantastic "Up There" which is a lot punkier than this one.

Shy Guys - We Gotta Go / Lay It On The Line (1966)
Real teenage stuff from a bunch out of Michigan. Both sides are A-1 garage punk.

Badd Boys - Never Going Back To Georgia / River Deep, Mountain High (1967)
Here are the same guys featured in IDG #17. I still haven't come up with any solid evidence of where they're from, but both sides of this 45 are really good. Even the cover of "River Deep,Mountain High" which has some pretty over the top production on it.

Dawnbreakers - I'll Never Ask You Why / Love Me Or Let Me Be (1966)
An extremely moody two sider from Kentucky. This 45 features a trumpet, not an entire horn section, but one guy playing trumpet, who was probably in the high school band or something and wanted to be cool, so he hooked up with these guys. They also had a cover of "The Alligator" which is really wild and nothing like this record.

Greek Fountains - I'm A Boy / She Does It (1966)
A Louisiana group who was managed and produced by Huey Meaux, the same genius who produced The Sir Douglas Quintet. This two sider features a nice cover version of The Who's "I'm A Boy"

J.J. Lancaster - So Unkind / The Parade Has Passed Me By (1966)
Presumably from Tulsa, OK, this is the only thing I've ever found by him. "So Unkind" is a cool, snarling fuzz punker, but the flip is a nice pop tune, with the same guy laying down fuzz guitar I would assume.

Wreck-A-Mended - Dirty Old Man / (a)Sally's The One (b)Long Tall Sally (1967)
Way cool, deranged fuzz punker from Philadelphia. The flip starts off and ends as a nice garage ballad and then segues into the Little Richard classic.

Ox-Bow Incident - Harmonica Man / Reach Out (1968)
These guys were a very popular Brooklyn, NY outfit that had two 45s, this being their first. The A side is a cool number with some decent harp and the flip is a cover of "Reach Out" which is another sterling example of a NYC area band doing the heavy organ thing much like The Vanilla Fudge, with great results I might add. They were produced by Steve and Bill Jerome who also worked with the Left Banke and the....

Front End - Remember (Walking In The Sand) / The Real Thing (1968)

Released just a short while after the Ox-Bow Incident 45, these guys took a stab at The Shangri-La's epic hit. They do a great job too! Those Jerome guys must have been pretty busy back in those days....

Culver Street Playground - Alley Pond Park / Decent Sort Of A Guy (1967)
A real obscure group who might also have roots in the NYC area. Their second 45 "East River Lovers" / "Feedback" is cool organ driven psych. This, their first, leans very heavy on the pop side of things.

Grapefruit - Dear Delilah / Dead Boot (1968)
Dreamy psychedelia by a four piece outfit from England. One of my favorites.

Sorce - Tomorrow Won't See Me / Courthouse Massacre (196?)
 Some real heavy organ drenched psyche from the deep south. Crowley, LA lies between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge and this obscure group were probably popular in that area. The flip is a wild freaky instrumental workout, and was most likely reminiscent of their live shows.

Get it HERE











15 comments:

  1. A garage-rock connoisseur AND a beer snob... You're a man after my own heart, Dan!

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  2. Dan,
    That's quite a garage you got yourself there... Thanks for letting us hang out every once and a while...
    Cheers.

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  3. Another volume of Dan's musical education. I just love hearing things I never heard before and you always have some of them. Thanks!

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  4. Concerning Culver Street Playground, I would say that your guess that they are a NYC band is pretty accurate. In fact, I'm guessing they were from Queens, NY as there is an Alley Pond Park in Queens. I don't know where Culver Street is though.

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  5. Dang thats some good stuff, thanks

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  6. Hi Dan,

    just in tyme before vacation, this new batch of gems sure will make a perfect soundtrack...
    didn't know this great 45 of the Greek Fountains (my fave group name, they tell it stands for "throwing up?")
    Wreck-A-Mended's Sally's a winner, too...

    thanks a lot (and get yourself a pint of good German beer!)

    Michael

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  7. The Scoundrels consisted of 4 members, three of them came from the group The Echoes who had a hit in 1961 with the song Baby Blue...they would change their name again (to what, i can't remember) and record some bubblegum music for Buddah as well...

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  8. This is really an extraordinary bunch of songs - one of your best!
    Thanks,
    AZ54

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  9. Has anyone else had a problem with a file called "dan's garage " that was 0 bytes and couldn't be deleted or modified? I did on both my old hard drive and my new one, but I found a fix this morning:

    C:\Users\Username\Downloads>del Dan'SG~2

    With that fly out of the ointment, everything's awesome.

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  10. 5 belgium beer for dan !

    & 1000 thx !!!!
    SEB

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  11. You da man, (is that what the cool kids are saying these days?)
    What a cracking collection, and I've finally caught up with you.
    All I have to do now is find the time to listen to them all. Road trip in order I think.
    Thank you.

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  12. Great site, Dan! I wanted to let you know about a new film about Duke Bardwell (second from left in that Greek Fountains pic at the top.) After the Fountains disbanded, Duke played for a short time with another Baton Rouge garage band, The Basement Wall, and then joined Casey Kelly (center above) playing for folk revivalist Tom Rush. He then formed a band back in Baton Rouge with some guys who had played for John Fred and the Playboys and had recently worked as the Atlantic session rhythm section Cold Grits. The new band was Cold Gritz and the Black-Eyed Peas. Following that band's demise, Duke moved to LA, again joining Casey Kelly as they toured with Loggins and Messina. Eventually, Duke would find himself playing in Elvis' TCB Band. This film is about that period in his life. Check it out: http://kck.st/nOy560

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  13. The Black Jeans single, mexican group from 1960... greetings: GZ

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  14. Wow! This is really a great one....Thanks a lot Dan!

    Cheers, NG

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