 OH WOW!!!! WE’RE BACK!!!!! After a long two month hiatus I’ve finally gotten my act together to produce another post and ahead of my schedule as well! I must say the “man cave” is coming along quite nicely with a nice little “office space” for my blogging, a bar complete with the “dogs playing poker” portrait, and my “hi-fi” complete with Harman'/Kardon receiver, Sansui loudspeakers, Technics turntable and a sweet JVC cassette deck so I’m ready for all kinds of entertainment!! WOO HOO!!!! Bust most important of all is my new analog to digital setup which I’ve been grappling with for the past two months. For those who don’t know I’ve been doing these transfers with an Ion portable turntable sitting on my desk plugged into my USB port. Not exactly a “hi-fi setup. But I think I had some decent results with a bit of tweaking and the help of some software. Now that I have lots of room to maneuver I can transfer my vinyl to digital using a full fledged hi-fi sound system comprising of a Technics SL-20 turntable with an Ortofon Omega cartridge going through a vintage Technics SA-211 receiver. This is all plugged into a “Behringer U-Control” gizmo that goes into my USB port and converts the analog signal into a digital one. Very nifty! You'll notice a fuller sound with lots more bottom and it sounds more natural. There’ll still be pops ‘n crackles, but I;’ve completely eliminated any restoration software because quite frankly, I don’t think it's necessary. What do you think??????
Do you realize how HARD it is to obtain a turntable that works 100%????? Yeah, my Ion was reliable and handy as well, but it really is a toy and I had no idea how delicate these “vintage” things were. When I was a vinyl FREAK back in the day I got away with one turntable for 20 some odd years and it amazes me that the unit NEVER broke down. I still have that first turntable, but for some reason it spins at about 120 RPM and I can’t figure out why. I have at least 8 others now and only two work 100%. Same thing with these receivers. You stash one away for a while and after 10 years they are worthless pieces of junk, but I have been diligent in the restoration process and giving these things a bit of TLC is worth it.
The moving process has kind of jumbled up my boxes of records, so it was a chore to figure out where I left off. I still haven’t got myself totally organized, so I grabbed a fistful of records that I’ve recently acquired and went at it. As usual it's a cornucopia of garage, psych, pop, beat, bubblegum, and wee bit of the “hard rock” as well. I sincerely hop you all enjoy the fruits of my labor as it is with the utmost pleasure that t I bring you “In Dan’s Garage #74”!!!!!!!!!!!
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Arkay IV – Surprise Love / Another Way (1966)
 Great moody garage from Erie, PA. A fine group who had another great 45 on Marion (Down From No. 9) plus an LP. Apparently, the cool film “That Thing You Do” was loosely based on this group’s “success”. |
Soul Agents – I Just Want To Make Love To You / Mean Woman Blues (1964)
 A British band that reportedly had Rod Stewart as a member at one point. Excellent treatments of two standards especially the wild Bo Diddley beat of Mean Woman Blues. |
Uniques - It Hurts Me To Remember / I Sure Feel More (Like I Do Than I Did When I Got Here) (1968)
 A pretty good two sider from this prolific Louisiana band. Top side is a nice moody minor chord ballad and the flip is a great tough sounding psych number. |
Boys Next Door – See The Way She’s Mine / Begone Girl (1967)
 From Indianapolis, these guys specialized in nice pop harmonies (something we kind of like here at Dan’s Garage Central) and a nice clean cut image. Both sides of this were written and produced by super wimp Bobby Goldsboro and I was unaware that he’d done any work for Dunwich. |
Torquays – Stolen Moments (1965)
 Let’s shift gears with this growling punk classic.This was actually a minor hit in the San Bernardino area where they were from. |
Pepper & The Shakers – Semi Psychedelic / I’ll Always Love You (1967)
 Strange psych/punk from a real obscure outfit that I know very little about. I’ve read that they were from Detroit, New York, and possibly Kentucky where another “pepper & The Shakers” released a do-wop 45 on Chetwyd in 1959 but seriously doubt that they are the same group. But then again I might be wrong………. |
Flying Giraffe – Let’s Get To Getting’ / Bring Back Howdy Doody (1969)
 Here’s some bubblegum from the masters Kasenetz & Katz. An interesting story about this 45 was that they were actually a group called “Lt. Garcia's Magic Music Box” and were one of the Super K house bands (naturally). Before that they recorded several 45s for ABC records as The Scoundrels. Check out a cool interview with member H.J. Boyle HERE. |
Jimmy & Connie Jordan – Action Speaks Louder Than Words (1971)
 More “nice” bubblegum from a duo that I’ve never heard of and can find no info on. |
Marcia Strassman - The Flower People / Out Of The Picture (1967)
 Boy was I amazed when I found this one. I had no idea that Marcia Strassman who appeared in several episodes of M*A*S*H, “Welcome Back Kotter”, and “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids” began her career as a recording artist. She actually had two others but this one here was somewhat of a hit in the “Summer Of Love”.  |
Mark Wirtz – Mrs. Raven / Knickerbocker Glory (1968)
 Mark Wirtz’ claim to fame was that he wrote “A Teenage Opera”, a project that was never fully completed. This 45 is a very nice piece of British pop/psyche. |
Ones – You Haven’t Seen My Love / Happy Day (1967)
 Possibly the first and only “white” act to be on the actual Motown label although The Underdogs and Rare Earth were on VIP and Rare Earth records respectively, both subsidiaries of the Motown enterprise. This is another great example of how soul, garage, and psych fused together in the late 60s with a prominent B-3 organ driving all of it. |
Piccadilly Circus – New Orleans Ruth / Come Down To Earth (1970)
 Here's the tale of a young man who's father saves his money up and sends the young lad to “swingin’ New Orleans” so he can meet up with a hooker that he knew back in the day. Nice dad to be sure, but he may have been better off buying him a car instead, or maybe not who knows???? I’m pretty sure these guys were from Memphis just up the road from New Orleans on highway 61. |
Them – Dark Are The Shadows / Corinna (1969)
 One of the later “post Van Morrison” efforts by this legendary band. I really like a lot of this stuff as it’s some of the best psych from this era. This one’s kind of obscure and I’ve not seen it too often. |
Jason Garfield – A Picture Of Lilli / Where Did I Lode My Way (1970)
 I’m not sure if this is an actual group or another studio concoction. This was written and produced by Elliot Chiprut who was heavily involved with the Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Factory, and a slew of other Kasenetz & Katz acts. |
Illinois Speed Press – Get In The Wind (1969)
 A Chicago based group that was formed by members of The Rovin’ Kind and H.P. Lovecraft, both very popular groups in the area. Great heavy fuzzed out psych here that was produced by James William Guercio the guy responsible for the group “Chicago”. |
