Greetings music lovers, and Happy New Year!!!!!!!! It's great to be back at the old keyboard, mouse, PC, turntable, scanner combo once again! Before any of you think that something catastrophic happened to me, all is OK with my well being, or at least my physical well being anyway. My mental health is a bit strained because the only catastrophe around Dan's Garage central lately has been the total meltdown of my hard drive. This was certainly a challenge as I feared all of my data and info were wiped out for good. Thankfully, they make these nifty little boxes you can stick your old drive into, plug it into a USB port and, VOILA! I was able to recover much of what I thought was permanently lost, including much of the content of this post which has been sitting in the can since last June! Seriously, that's been a long time and since I have some extra time this week, as well as having a properly working setup, I can glide through this in much less time.
I hope you all have been checking out my weekly radio show on Radio Free Phoenix. It airs every Wednesday evening at 10:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time and as usual I spin an hour's worth of my dusty crusty collection of 45s. It repeats every Sunday at 2:00 P.M. on Deep Oldies, in case you hit the sack early on Wednesday nights.
I must say I have kept myself rather busy over the past several months. Work is killing me these days as we are severely overworked and understaffed, which leads to little time off, and what little time off I've had has been spent with my lovely wife Red doing some traveling. November saw quite a bit of it as we first took a trip down nearby Cayuga Lake for what they call, "The Holiday Shopping Spree". You pay for your "ticket" and then you hopscotch around every participating winery on the lake. They serve a bit of food and then they pair it with a wine. When your done, each winery gives you a little ornament to hang on this wreath made of grapevine branches. Totally cool, plus a cookbook with all the recipes as well. Oh, the wine is included as well.
After The Thanksgiving holiday we took a four day trip to New York City. Red always wanted to go there at Christmastime to check out the giant tree, store windows, lights, Macy's, and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Extravaganza which I must say is a treat. That is truly a great show no matter what age you are. Sandwiched between all of that and the actual Christmas holiday, I was fortunate enough to travel to both Cleveland, OH and Pittsburgh, PA to go see my beloved New York Giants play football in the flesh (so to speak). Although they were successful in Cleveland, they pretty much got embarrassed in Pittsburgh, but it was worth the trip. My drummer pal Joe Minotti and I took a ride on over to Primanti Bros. after the game to get one of those crazy sandwiches with the french fries and cole slaw all in there. Very tasty indeed especially with a couple of bottles of Iron City beer.
Before I continue with this post I'd like to thank all of you out there who are still following, and especially the ones that inquired about my well being. Thanks for caring. Most of the links are now dead but I'm slowly trying to re-up everything so please, refrain from sending me re-up requests as I'm well aware of the situation. I'll get to it when I get to it. Check periodically to see what's been restored. In the meantime enjoy this offering.
Legends - Lariat / Late Train (1962)
A group out of Milwaukee that had at least 10 45's on several different labels including Capitol, Warner Bros., Date, and Parrot. Excellent instrumental sounds here indicative of what was going on in that region at the time.
Reflections - Johnny B. Goode / Whole Lotta Shakin' (19??)
Here's a real stumper. These guys definitely sound like an early 60's group, but the catalog number on this particular 45, plus the fact that it's in stereo, puts it somewhere in the late 60's possibly early 70's. Tough to say because researching Sonic records came up with a mish/mash of different numbers so it's rather hard to pinpoint the release date on this. Excellent 45 nonetheless.
Kingsmen - (You Got) The Gamma Goochie / It's Only The Dog (1965)
You gotta hand it to the Kingsmen for being the "kings" of frat rock in the 60's. Here they deliver another two sider who's roots are planted firmly in the "Louie Louie" camp.
Sparkles - Jack And The Beanstalk / Oh Girls, Girls (1966)
Before the Sparkles released their two legendary garage/punk 45s "Hipsville 29 B.C." and "No Friend Of Mine", they produced several records that were a bit more on the "rocker" side of things. This two sider is a perfect example.
Sandmen - You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover / I Can Tell (1965)
Not much is known about these guys except that they're most likely from Minneapolis (although there was also a Sandmen from Wisconsin, but my sources dispute this), and they recorded two Bo Diddley covers. I think this 45 is pretty good, even though the tempo is a bit loopy, but some may disagree with my somewhat favorable review.
T.C. Atlantic - Mona / My Babe (1966)
Here's another Twin Cities act that was far more popular than the previous group we just heard from, The Sandmen. These guys did their recording at Dove Studios and released several 45's, including the great "Faces", as well as an L.P. They, like the aforementioned Sandmen, release R&B influenced with a Bo Diddey cover on the top side. Maybe they shared set lists with the Sandmen.
Dept. Of Sanitation - Don't Ever Leave Me / Just A Good Show (1967)
Moody invasion / folk rock crossover from an unknown group, probably from somewhere in the Northeast but I could be wrong.........
What-Knots - I Ain't Dead Yet / Talkin' 'Bout Our Breakup (1967)
Supposedly a band from Memphis, the What-Knots here totally rip off The Breakers "Don't Send Me No Flowers", and supercharge it by speeding it up, adding some horns, a Hammond organ, and a few James Brown style breaks. I think this 45 is quite good though, because it's so different from the original.
Tangents - Good Times / Till I Came Along (1965)
Impression records had a couple of real heavy hitters on their roster, some of the best and rarest 45s of the garage band era. Although, this would not fall into the category of "killer 45s", it's very good nonetheless. They also covered Hey Joe as well.
Joel Christian - Masters Of War / Young Blues (1965)
Decent version of the Dylan classic is on the A side of this, the other side is a rendition of "Young Blues" which The Vagrants recorded on the B side of "I Can't Make A Friend". Both the Vagrants and Joel Christian had Trade Martin producing their 45s as well as co-writing this song.
Frosted Flakes - The Hullaballoon (1969)
Now we take a left turn into what most definitely sounds like some kiddie bubblegum rock. Naturally, this bunch would be named after America's favorite sweet breakfast food.
Douglas Good & Ginny Plenty - Sunny And Me / Children Dreaming (1968)
Nice sunshiny pop from a guy/gal duo that's most likely backed by a group of studio cats. Produced by Wes Farrell famous for such acts as The Partridge Family.
Robbs - Movin' / Write To You (1969)
The Robbs were a great pop act that had definite hints of garage, folk rock, and psychedelia in their songs. This was one of their last 45s.
Sarofeen & Smoke - Susan Jane / Tomorrow (1969)
A group with a female lead vocalist that doesn't sound unlike The Jefferson Airplane. Apparently this band was from nearby Auburn, NY and was arranged and conducted by Central NY legend Bobby Comstock.
Blues Magoos - Heartbreak Hotel / I Can Feel It (Feelin' Time) (1969)
The second to last 45 issued by this great band. By this time they had gone through several personnel changes and were creeping into progressive rock, and sound nothing like the guys that recorded "We Ain't Got Nothing Yet'.
