In Dan’s Garage… #107

Greetings once again music lovers. As I reflect on the quiet snow falling outside while I write this, I dream of flowers blooming in the spring breeze and even gentle rain showers in the summer that bring comfort to one’s frozen winter soul. Oh well….right now I have to settle for the sweet sounds scratchy 45s on my turntable deep within the bowels of my man cave. It seems that most of my posts lately have been heavy on “major labels”, something that I’m sure the G45 muckity mucks would pooh pooh (I jest) but as we all know, beauty is in the ear of the beholder, and today, lo and behold, I offer fresh fruit for hungry ears. Seriously though, there’s some cool sounds here that many of you will be familiar with, and if you’re not I’m sure you’ll like them anyway. So let’s get with it already……#107.

Swinging Blue Jeans – Hippy Hippy Shake / Now I Must Go (1964) I had to do it. One of my all time favorites even though it’s been played to death, but it was in the stack and I couldn’t think of a better way to kick start this edition. The flip is seldom heard by the way…….

Nightcrawlers – Little Black Egg / You’re Running Wild (1966) Another familiar cut and one of the most often covered songs by garage bands in the sixties.

Roy Junior – Victim Of Circumstances / Looks Like The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (1966) One of the great snarling garage/punk songs of the 60s. This 45 is kinda weird in that It’s one of those Rock & Roll-Country crossovers. Don Gant was a bigwig at Hickory Records and worked as a song writer for Acuff/Rose as well as being an artist himself. The song here was written by Don Turnbow who was probably an in house writer like Gant and has the distinction of writing the classic “Hipsville 29 B.C.” which brings me to wonder if this is The Sparkles backing ol’ Roy on this track. Hmmmm???

Pretty Things – Cry To Me (1966) The Pretty Things released “I Can Never Say” twice. Once with “Honey I Need” on the flip, and the other with this bluesy R&B classic.

McCoys – Say Those Magic Words / I Wonder If She Remembers Me (1967) The McCoys certainly need no elaborate introduction. Hang On Sloopy” is practically the anthem of the state of Ohio, and IS the anthem of Ohio State University. The McCoys had a nice run back in the mid to late 60s recording and releasing a slew of singles on Bang Records and later some real good psychedelic stuff on Mercury. This one, from ‘67, is a standout and was also a well known song by Britain's The Birds which featured a young Ron Wood on guitar at the time. There's some debate as to which is the better version. Many prefer The Birds’ rendition but I like this one.

Plunkers – Hippy Lippy Goosey / Night Time Love (1966) Not sure where this one’s from. I think L.A. maybe????? In any case, it’s sort of a novelty song, but it has a real good band providing backup to a goofy sounding vocalist.

Johnny Fever – Zombie (1967) Here’s a real mystery. To this day I’ve speculated on what , or who the hell “Johnny Fever” was. I know he was a character in the mid-seventies sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”, but this isn't the same guy. “Zombie” is a novelty song…..I guess, but it’s so freakin’ cool that it goes beyond that, with it's fuzzy guitars, spatial production, and the guttural “ZOMBIE” at the end of the chorus. Some out there have asked to hear the flip. Take my advice….you don’t want to even bother. It’s total pop crap and sounds kind of like Johnny Mathis. Wait……do you think?????? Nah.

Lost Souls – Artificial Rose / Sad Little Girl (1967) A popular group from Dickenson, North Dakota they had two releases and this was one of them. This 45 was originally issued on the local Dawn label and was then picked up by Liberty for national distribution. Read more about them HERE.

New Hudson Exit – Come With Me / Waiting For Her (1967) The New Hudson Exit have the distinction of being guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy’s group before he joined Glass Harp and then went on to fame making Christian music. Both sides of this showcase his talents, but they’re so different. The A side is blue eyed soul with some intense riffing and the flip is a rather lightweight psyche/pop number.

Standells – Try It / Poor Shell Of A Man (1966) Can the Standells make a crappy record????? They may have, but I’ve yet to hear it.

Unchained Mynds – Going Back To Miami / We Can’t Go On This Way (1968) A group from LaCrosse, WI that tackles Wayne Cochran’s classic song. They do a stand up job too! The flip is kind-of well…good but pales compared to the A side.

Paupers – Think I Care / White Song (1967) One of the most popular of all Canadian bands in the late 60’s. Unfortunately, they had relatively little output consisting of a handful of 45s and a couple of LPs.  This 45 version is distinctly different than the LP version.

Hangmen – Dream Baby / Let It Be Me (1968) Washington D.C.’s Hangmen are most famous for their song “What A Girl Can’t Do” a garage/punk classic. On this 45 they cover two early sixties classics by Roy Orbison and the great Everly Bros. giving both the late sixties psychedelic treatment.

Orange Colored Sky – Sweet Potato (1969) An L.A. pop group that had several LPs and 45s in a mixture of styles. This ones a hard hitting blue eyed soul tune.

New Survivors – The Pickle Protest / But I Know (1968) An unknown group from Kansas led by Tony Teebo who I assume wrote and sang lead vocals on this interesting  novelty two sider. I love this one because even though it’s a late 60s effort, it still retains that ultra-cheezy Farfisa organ driving the whole thing.

Koobas – The First Cut Is The Deepest / Walking Out (1969) This band from Liverpool were contemporaries of The Beatles but unfortunately didn’t have nearly as much luck as their “paisans”. Hell, they didn’t even have as much luck as The Swinging Blue Jeans!!! That being said, they did leave us with some more than worthy beat music, and in their latter stages took on a more psychedelic feel as evidenced in this fantastic two sided slice of freakbeat.

HERE