In Dan's Garage #131

Greetings music lovers!!!!!!! It's great to be back here dishing out a few 45's for all of you who are still paying attention, I mean, I know these posts have been coming out as a mere trickle these days and I probably should do this more often, but time gets away from me real fast so I unfortunately forget the whole thing. 

Thanks to all who have been leaving kind comments and adding pertinent info to my feeble attempts at chronicling the history of these 45's and the bands that played in them. Like I've always said, you are as much a part of this thing as I am. 

As far as my record collection is concerned, I haven't been buying as much as I used to, mainly because of budget constraints. Not that I have less money, only because the prices on these things are going trough the roof! But hey, if you got the dough, spend it. On the bright side, if you could see what I've got here surrounding me in the deep bowels of "Dan's Garage Central", you would be shocked at how many records I've got, and most of them have not yet been chronicled on this blog so please stay tuned for more in the near future. 

For anyone that's remotely interested, I continue to do a show on the Internet hosted by radiofreephoenix.com and deepoldies.com. The Radio Free Phoenix show broadcasts on the Internet every Wednesday night at 10:00 PM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME. If you're in another time zone make adjustments accordingly. The same show is re-broadcast on Deep Oldies on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM EDT. What I do on these shows are basically the same as what I do on this blog. Spin records for OUR enjoyment.

As usual we've got a fine mix of cool sounds this time around. Have no fear, we are not going away anytime soon.

Love, Dan

Ritchie Dean - Time (Can' t Heal This Pain) / Farewell Angelina (1966)

Warren Schatz was a big time producer back in the 60's and early 70's and has a very long resume of hits which I won't get into here, but he did engineer some extremely cool garage 45's in the 60's on various labels, mostly studio projects like The Whispers, and The Shapes Of Things whose version of  The Kinks' "So Mystifying" is probably better than the original. He also released nearly a half dozen 45's as "Ritchie Dean", most of them on Tower records and the majority being songs in the  teen/pop/rock style. Except for this one. Here he taps into a very cool Bo Diddley vibe with "Time", a classic pounder, and settles down to covering a Bob Dylan song on the B side. Bothe very good but "Time" is the clear standout and a classic in my humble opinion.

Mary Jaye Four - Walk A Little Longer / Wondering Why I Can't Say (1964)

The Mary Jaye Four were most likely from the Minneapolis area, although I could be dead wrong about that because I can't find any solid info on Mary Jaye and her band on the greatest info provider on the planet Google. I tried other search engines and the only think I came up with was that this 45 was also released on Raynard, a label out of Wisconsin, so that mucks things up even more! Mary Jaye sounds real sexy on the A side, kind of like a Rock & Roll Julie London, and the B side which is a bit more up-tempo ain't bad either. 

Dave Gordon & The Reb-Tides - Hard To Love You / Call Me (Press)

 Press records was a pretty cool label which was distributed by London here in the U.S. They obviously were an outlet for bands coming from the U.K. and Europe and were similar to Deram, Colosseum, Chapter One,(all distributed by London) and Parrot, whose main British acts here in the U.S. were The Zombies, Them, and later in the 60's and into the 70's, Savoy Brown, as well as a host of others. Press' major claim to fame was Los Bravos whose "Black Is Black" was a pretty big hit in the U.S. but everything else on the label was fairly obscure, including this one by Dave Gordon & The Reb-Tides who do a note for note cover of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich's "Hard To Love You". Very nice, as well as the fuzz drenched flip Call Me. Dave Gordon apparently was from Germany, but I really can't say for certain.

Deep Six - I Wanna Shout (1966)

The Deep Six were a typical Folk/Psych/Pop group that basically put out very nice guy/gal vocal numbers ala The Mamas & The Papas, only not as good. Their output is real lightweight and was most likely recorded using musicians from the Wrecking Crew, but this one song is actually pretty darn good, so I'm featuring it here!

Lancastrians - The World Keeps Going Round / It's Not The Same Anymore (1966)

The Lancastrians released eight 45's, six in the U.K. and two in the U.S. all well worth finding. They were mostly folk /rock oriented (their first hit was "We'll Sing In The Sunshine") and the two 45's I have are very moody sounding including this gem, a cover of the Kinks' "The World Keeps Going Round" which is performed at least as well, if not better, than Ray Davies & Co. Jimmy Page is reported to be playing guitar on the A side.

Purple Gang - One Of The Bunch / Bring Your Own Self Down (1966)

Wow. One of my favorite 45's ever! "One Of The Bunch" is one of those songs that is clearly not a typical "garage band", but a bunch of guys (no pun intended), who really had their shit together. This is two of the best sides of sixties rock and roll I've ever heard. The Purple Gang were from North Hollywood, California and guitarist Mark Landon later went on to join The Music Machine.

Neil Diamond - You Got To Me (1967)

I asked a record collector who I once corresponded with quite a while ago what he considered really good records from the sixties and if  bands from "Back From The Grave" were the best of the best and blah, blah, blah, and he rattled off some stuff that at the time I thought was really lightweight, and I asked,"so you like that?", and his answer was, "hey, a good song is a good song". He was right. As I've matured, so have my "mental taste buds" for music and I can now appreciate a truly great song like this. This was not one of Neil's biggest hits, but it's basically all of the really good ones all rolled up into one 2:45 masterpiece.

Raga & The Talas - My Group And Me / For Old Times Sake (1966)

 This 45 has made the 60's comp rounds quite a bit and I really never get tired of it. I was trying to break down what the hell this band was comprised of and came to the conclusion that they don't have a bass player, at least I don't think they do, or their using a six string bass. In any case there are three guitars a drummer and a bunch of vocals flying around on this cool folk/rock two sider which was written and produced by Jackie DeShannon. Very cool stuff indeed.

Bill Wendry & The Boss Tweeds - A Wristwatch Band / Fire (1968)

Whoa. Now here's some truly cool psychedelic shit. "A Wristwatch Band" was the B side to a very mundane version of Jimi Hendrix' "Fire" which included some decent fuzz guitar but is marred by a horn section. The A side however begs you to light up as many dubys as you possibly can in it's rather short playing time. Bill Wendry and his Tweeds were from Springfield, MA and released six sides for Columbia, five of which are pretty good mod/psych/soul inspired tunes that aren't actually bad for a band with a horn section. "A Wristwatch Band" however jumps right off the wagon and hey, maybe they lit up a few joints before and while they were recording this, because it doesn't sound anything like the other five songs they cut. Kudos.

Paul Dowell & The Dolphin - It's Better To Know You / The Last Time I Saw You (1969)

Hey!!! It's one of those orange swirly labels again! This time we have a nice pop/rock two sider by Paul Dowell & The Dolphin who I believe were from the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area and evolved from The Hangmen who's "What A Girl Can't Do" is a garage band classic. The most notable thing about this particular 45 and the band that played on it, is that a young Nils Lofgren played and wrote both sides of this 45. Lofgren would later go on to join Neil Yong's Crazy Horse, play in his own band Grin, have a successful solo career and end up in Bruce Springsteen's "E" Street Band.

Phluph - Doctor Mind / Another Day (1967)

Yow! Let's light up up a few more dubys for this one out of Boston, MA!!! Phluph recorded this 45 and an LP for Verve records and I say that because this 45 version is a bit different from the LP version. Not radically different, but I believe a totally different take. I used to have this LP and thought it was good, but I sold it because i felt it was not "garage" enough to keep in my collection. What a stupid mistake that was.

Denny Ezba - Dimples (1968)

Denny Ezba was a guy from San Antonio, TX that released a bunch of 45's in different styles on different labels before he settled into whacked out Texas psychedelia. I featured "Queen Mary" in a previous post way back when, and that was an extremely cool track (anyone got a duby??), but this one is even more out there. Don't be fooled by the title, yeah, it's basically a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" and he does take credit for writing it, but the performance is classic nutty late sixties Texas psychedelia complete with crazed stereo panning of the guitar part (headphones and dubys required). Does anyone have a strobe light????

Patriots - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better / No More (1969)

A nice treatment of The Byrds' classic that's a tad on the soft side, but AOK nonetheless. The funny thing about this 45 is that they credit "The Byrds" as opposed to the actual composer, Gene Clark. Maybe they were trying to avoid royalties, or perhaps they only heard this song on the radio a couple of times because they royally screw the lyrics up big time. Presumably these guys were from Cincinnati or somewhere in southern Ohio or northern Kentucky. The B side is actually a pretty cool moody garage ballad. There were at least two other Patriots floating around in the mid-sixties and possibly more.

Sindicate - Hangman / If You Don't Need Me (19??)

Here's another 45 where info is very scarce, in fact it's pretty much non existent. The Sindicate, which I would presume was from New Oxford, PA, put out this lone single (to my knowledge) with a way cool pink and white label that reads right side up every which way you turn it. Both sides are decent late sixties/early seventies garage/psyche with a dominant Hammond organ driving both sides. This must've been "new old stock" from a jukebox haul because it came with a real nifty card as shown here....

That must have been a pretty cool jukebox!

HERE PLEASE

In Dan's Garage...#130

Greetings music lovers!!!! It's been quite a while since I last posted (as usual) but I hope all of you are still following this blog, even though I've been neglecting it of late. It's been a really nice summer up here in Western NY so far and the weather's been pretty hot and dry, but the upside of that is I haven't mowed my lawn is a month so that gives me extra time to work on this project! Records have been trickling in for the past few months and since I've slowed this blog thing down to a crawl, they've been piling up quite nicely. You know what they say...the slow drip fills the bucket and our bucket is overflowing right now so I felt I had to make a contribution sooner than later. The main reason I set this thing to the side is because of the weekly show on Radio Free Phoenix which airs every Wednesday night at 10:00 PM EDT. It also gets replayed on Deep Oldies every Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT. I have only so much time to spin 45's during the day so I have to prioritize, and if I have to choose between cleaning gutters and climbing on roofs and plucking weeds and blogging, I have to choose the chores that won't make me look like a slob and have my neighbors complaining. Such is life in suburbia, but it's a good one I must say. I picked a good dozen or so 45's that I've been spinning recently for The "Dan's Garage" radio show for this post, and I'm sure you'll like all of them. They run the gamut from frat rock to psychedelia so sit back, enjoy, and thanks so much for staying in touch.

Rockin' Robin Roberts - Louie Louie / Maryann (1961)

Let's start off with what could very well be considered the "genesis" of "frat rock". Robin Roberts moved to Tacoma, WA as a young lad and developed a love for R&B including the aforementioned classic, Louie Louie which was performed by Richard Berry and released in 1958. Roberts re-worked the song with The Wailers backing him up and became the template for all other versions afterwards including the classic rendition by Paul Revere & The Raiders, and thee definitive version by The Kingsmen, a band that was not exactly considered "top-notch" by their peers at the time. The Kingsmen recorded it, got picked up for national distribution by Wand Records, and the rest is history. I realize these are the "Cliff Notes" version of this story, but you get the picture.

Sammy King & The Voltairs - What's The Secret / Great Balls Of Fire (1964)

Sammy King & The Voltairs were a British group that toured with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and several other acts in the early 60's as well as backing up Cilla Black on several occasions. They had two 45's released here in the U.S. and this one is clearly the best, The 'A' side being a fast paced original and the 'B' side a spirited take on "Great Balls Of Fire"

Hi-Lites - On My Mind / Direction Unknown (1968)

This act is virtually unknown and I have no info on it whatsoever. Best guess judging from the label is that it's probably an east coast act. Both sides are very moody soul influenced garage with prominent B-3 organ.

Heinz - Questions I Can't Answer / The Beating Of My Heart (1964)

Heinz was the bass player for The Tornados and a protege of Joe Meek who groomed him to be a sort of  an Eddie Cochran clone. He had a bunch of 45's released in the U.K. and five in the U.S. including this one which bears all the trademark qualities of a whacked out Joe Meek production. A classic.

Pebbles - Love Me Again / It's Alright With Me Now (1965)

The Pebbles apparently were a popular group in Belgium and through Norman Petty managed to release this excellent 45 in the U.S. They had one other U.S. release in 1968 on Mainstream records.

Country Classic Esquire - Nashville Blues (1971)

This one's a hoot! I first heard it on Boulders Vol. 2, quite possibly THE WORST comp I've ever heard in my life, not that the content was bad, in fact it was top notch, it's just that the sound quality was atrocious and was real hard to listen to even on the best sound systems. So I was delighted to see this on a "buy it now" listing on Ebay for a very fair price, and the record was in excellent condition to boot. This is most likely a bunch of studio guys from Nashville getting together with a couple of cases of beer and having a jam session because if you ask me, these guys sound like they're all three sheets to the wind, especially the sax player who blows a honking two note solo. The guitar player tests his new wah pedal at the end and the singer had probably gone through a couple of packs of Luckies. Great stuff.

Red Dogs - Open Up (1967)

The Red Dogs were a very popular group out of Lawrence, KS and were actually a blue eyed soul band named after the "Red Dog Inn" where they made their home and toured all over the midwest. This 45 though is typical garage drenched in fuzz with a great guitar break mid-way through. A classic!

n.a.i.f. - Elephant In My Tambourine / Sweet Bird Of Love (1967)

These guys were from New Haven, CT and were mostly known as The North Atlantic Invasion Force. They had at least five other 45's on several different labels including "Black On White" on Mr.G records which I'd reviewed in an earlier post. 'A' side is great garage and the flip is somewhat of a novelty song.

Mickey Rooney Jr. - I'll Be There / The Choice Is Yours (1966)

This 45 by Mickey Rooney Jr. definitely exceeded my expectations when I first spun it. I couldn't call this garage or psyche, but it's excellent nonetheless with some real good folk-rock flavor to it. Rooney would have several other 45's as a solo artist and a few as The Rooney Brothers, and simply The Rooneys.

Mersey Beats U.S.A. - Nobody Loves Me That Way / You'll Come Back (1966)

Great moody two sider from a group out of Shivley, KY that reminds me of The Beau Brummels. Keyboard player Terry Adams and guitarist Steve Ferguson would later go on to form N.R.B.Q.

Sandals - House Of Painted Glass / Cloudy (1967)

The Sandals were a group that ended up in L.A. via Belgium and released about eight 45's on World Pacific, many of them surf instrumentals. Their standout songs are "Tell Us Dylan" which I featured in a previous post, and this kooky psyche number "House Of Painted Glass" which is actually the 'B' side, but I'm featuring this one prominently because the 'A' side is a rather routine rendition of Paul Simon's "Cloudy", which is fluff to begin with.

Smiths - Now I Taste The Tears (1968)

I really like this 45 a lot. It's got this country/blues type feel to it, but it isn't exactly either. Most people list this as a garage 45 but it's definitely not that. It's a song about a guy who comes home from work (presumably), finds dresser drawers empty, wash on the line, dirty dishes in the sink, goes to grab a beer (maybe this IS a country song!) and finds a letter from his wife (or significant other, we shouldn't make assumptions these days), and then HE GRABS HIS GUN! Holy crap! The song starts off really low key and builds up to this climax and goes way back down in volume and fades at the end. One of my new favorites for sure.

Hassles - Night After Day / Country Boy (1969)

The Hassles were typical of the bands from Long Island as they were very much like The Rascals, Vanilla Fudge, The Vagrants, et.al. Lot's of soul influence and heavy on the B-3 organ. The Hassles obvious claim to fame is that it included Billy Joel on keyboards who after this joined up with Hassles drummer Johnathan Small and formed Attila, an atrocious duo that featured Joel plugging in his B-3 into a stack of Marshall amps (presumably) and a wah-wah pedal and recorded an album of God-awful noise. He wised up, changed his persona and become one of pop music's most beloved singer/songwriters.

Young Enterprise - Morning Of The Velvet Fog / The Magician (1969)

A nice swirly sunshine pop two sider by a group of unknowns, quite possibly a studio affair. These guys must've just bought a new flanger because the effect is featured prominently on both sides of this record.

Mandrake Memorial - Something In The Air / Musical Man (1970)

A really good psychedelic group out of Philadelphia, PA that released an L.P. but from what I gather, this two sided gem is not on it. Both sides are great including their version of Thunderclap Newman's "Something In The Air".

HERE

P.S. In case any out there wonder what gets played on the "Dan's Garage Radio Hour", you can download an Excel file of all the shows that have been played over the past two years. Archived shows are also becoming available on Mixcloud so check them out there as I upload them, usually one or two a week. Thanks for checking them out!

In Dan's Garage...#129

Greetings music lovers! You know I always run off at the mouth here when it comes to the weather, and I'm sure most of you are bored to death by my whining about the fact that I live in Upstate New York where the climate can be somewhat challenging. I'm not trying to diminish the situations some other people and friends of this blog have, I mean, some of you have to deal with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, mudslides, and other tragic events so when I complain, some of you may say, "big deal Dan, you should live here". But it's April 29th today, and I'm looking out my window and it's SNOWING! There's a big fat robin on my back lawn who's probably been looking around for food the last couple of weeks and he has this WTF? look on his face. Enough already, I need some warm weather dammit! So I'm holed up here at Dan's Garage Central spinning 45's and writing this because I can't do much else right now, even though I'm getting way behind in my outdoor chores due to the persistent inclement weather. My loss is your gain I suppose.

Many thanks once again to all who have left me kind comments and vital information on some of the groups featured here. I'm eternally grateful to all. I'm starting to upload archived Dan's Garage Radio pod-casts to Mixcloud so If you haven't checked them out yet please do. It's as easy as pointing and clicking or better yet, if you're totally connected with an iPhone or Android and you've got a sound system with bluetooth etc. it's even easier yet! Tune in, you wont be disappointed, except for the fact that I'm a horrible broadcaster with zero skills and a glaring Upstate New York accent.

As usual this post runs the gamut from British Beat, to garage, to pop, to psychedelia, so please sit back and enjoy! 

Earl Royce & The Olympics - Que Sera Sera / I Really Do (1965)

Earl Royce & The Olympics were from Liverpool and their main claim to fame was that they appeared in "Ferry Cross The Mersey" with Gerry & The Pacemakers doing a decent version of "Shake A Tail Feather". Aside from that they only released two 45's, in the U.K. and one in the U.S., this one here, which is pretty typical British Beat. "Que Sera Sera" is actually a good version and I say that begrudgingly because every time I hear that song it reminds me of Doris Day.

Illusions - Little Girl / Big Beat "65"(Baker's Dozen) (1965)

The Illusions were a popular act from Cleveland, OH that released this one 45, a cover of a song previously released by another local act, "The Scruffy Group", with a way cool instrumental flip side which is a cover of Mickey Baker's "Bakers Dozen" retitled "Big Beat'65'"

Chantays - Beyond / I'll Be Back Someday (1964)

The Chantays were perhaps the most prolific act on Downey records. Not only did they release 45's under their own name but also as "The Leaping Ferns". Here's a re-do of "Pipeline" on the A side, and a cool, moody folk-rock flip with vocals.

Sons Of Bach - Stubborn Kind Of Fellow / I Knew I'd Want You (1966)

Here's a 45 that I can't find a whole lot of info on but I know this for sure. Jim Youmans was in a group called "The Swingin' Apolloes" who were from Atlanta and had a few 45's most notably a two sider with covers of "Slow Down" and "Summertime Blues" released on Look and White Cliffs and produced by Youmans who did the production honors on this one as well. I can't say for sure if it's the same group, but I don't think so, they sound a bit different, but I may be wrong. Both sides are excellent covers of  Marvin Gaye's classic "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow", and the Byrds' "I Knew I'd Want You".

Tuck and Jack With Mama, Sons & Mouse - All I Ever Do Is Cry / It Takes Two To Tango (1966)

Wow, this one's a bit of a stumper except for the fact that it's on a label out of Scottsdale, AZ. Tuck & Jack and the gang were most likely a family affair, I mean, why would they include "Mama" and "sons"???? This one's a bit of a surprise because although it's far from "killer" garage, it's fairly decent with some nice organ work.

Clock-Work Orange - Image Of You / What Am I Without You (1968)

This one's a really good psychedelic two-sider but alas, I can't find any concrete info on the group except that they may be from New York City. They did release another good two-sider on Rust, but outside of that, I know nothing else. I did discover that producer Irwin Levine was most famous for co-writing "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree" and "Candida" with L. Russell Brown for Tony Orlando & Dawn as well as "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" for The Partridge Family.

Patriots - What A Drag It Is / Blankets And Candles (1968)

A moody folk-rock inspired 45 from a group out of Baltimore, MD. Murbo was a rather obscure label out of New York City that had some very cool records in it's catalog.

Noel Odom & The Group - I Can't See Nobody / Pardon My Complete Objection (1969)

Well here's one that I got some good info on courtesy of the awesome website "Garage Hangover". Noel Odom And The Group were from Shreveport , LA and released three 45's, two on Tower and this one on Uptown. Apparently the songs were recorded at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis. Noel Odom eventually left the group and they continued on as The Bad Habits. Both sided of this are real good and I wish I could hear the other two 45's. Check out the in depth story on them HERE.

Butterscotch Caboose - High Places / Can I Borrow Some Time (1969)

A studio group presumably made up of staff musicians from American Studios in Memphis. Both sides of this 45 are excellent examples of finely crafted psychedelic pop.

Sixpentz - Don't Say You're Sorry / Tinkle Talk (1967)

The Sixpentz came out of Houston, TX and were originally known as The Six Pents who's "She Lied" on Kidd records is one of my all time favorite garage punkers. This on the other hand is a total shift in style and sounds a lot like The Association especially "Tinkle Talk". I hate to be critical, but what the hell were these guys thinking when they came up with that title? They changed their name to The Fun And Games and had a minor hit in '68 with "The Grooviest Girl In The World".

Neal Ford Factory - You Made Me A Man / I've Got To Find Me A Woman (1969)

Neal Ford was a big act also from Houston, TX and had a bunch of 45's and an L.P. on Hickory records that ranged in style from Bubblegum to the awesome, creepy, garage of "Shame On You", their finest moment. They re-named themselves "The Neal Ford Factory", switched labels to ABC, and hooked up with hit songwriters Jeff Barry and Andy Kim for this surprisingly good two sider. I half expected a real lightweight effort on this when I got it but it's got some good guitar/organ work and tuff vocals as well.

Brother Makes Two - Silly Ol' Me / Don't Abuse Me (1968)

Here's a 45 that is neither garage, nor psychedelic, but it is a catchy pop two sider with some country flavor to it, perhaps it has a singer/songwriter vibe to it as well. I took a stab at this one and was pleasantly surprised because it has some decent hooks to it. In any case, the two brothers were Mark and Kent McNeel who from the flimsy information I got were based out of Memphis and Kent co-wrote a book on other hit-making songwriters titled "Songwriters With A Touch Of Gold".

Tymepiece - Become Like You / Give A Little More (1969)

I don't have many 45's from Australia (only a handful), but when I score one, I get really excited because every one of them is at worst, great. Does that make sense????? Anyway, The Tymepiece were originally known as The Black Diamonds who were most famous for what could probably be considered one of thee greatest garage/punk songs ever to come out of Australia, "I Want, Need, Love You", a song that my old band The Riviera Playboys attempted to cover, but with mostly disastrous results. But I digress. The Tymepiece had this one 45 which was a very cool cover of The Small Faces "Become Like You" on The A side and a soul inspired, yet heavy, original on the B side. They supposedly released a cover of The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", but I've never heard it.

Pookah - Blue And Peaceful / Merlin's Party (1969)

Here's another 45 where good info is elusive. Although Pookah did have one 45 and an L.P. on a major label, they seemed to have gone completely under the radar, except for music aficionados such as you and myself. Pookah was definitely on the "progressive" side of the "rock" spectrum at the time, and left us with this one 45 which sort of reminds me of Procol Harum at times.

HERE

In Dan's Garage...#128

Greetings music lovers!!!! As usual I must give many heartfelt apologies for the utter lack of effort in getting these posts "posted" on a regular basis. It's not that I do not have a desire to do so, or have a lack of new material, on the contrary, fresh 45's pour in on a regular basis and I'm having a hard time keeping up with archiving and sorting and blah blah. Fact of the matter is, I have the radio spot which I do every week on Radio Free Phoenix and Deep Oldies, and that takes up a good chunk of my record playing time. The rest of my time is used up with life just getting in the way of things. NONE OF THIS IS A BAD THING. On the upside, because of my "situation" I've been able to upgrade my recording system, and get some cool items like a proper workstation for my turntable and speakers and mixer, and I've even got one of those boom things for my mic just like you see on re-runs of WKRP In Cincinnati! The long and the short of it is that I have to delegate my record playing time to one or the other so since I am an "employee" of Radio Free Phoenix and Deep Oldies, I have priorities. The good news is I still find time to spin 45's exclusively for the "Dan's Garage" blog which is why we are here today!!! I'd also like to thank all of you followers and friends who have left me kind comments over the last three or four months. You people are great! I'll continue with the rest of the re-ups ASAP. As for this edition, too many new 45's too mention in this one post, but I've tried to cover as much sonic ground as I possibly can. Something here for everyone, frat, garage, psychedelic, pop, you name it. That's what we are all about. Dig it.

Rivieras - Let's Have A Party / Little Donna (1964)

Woo Hoo!! Here's a rip roarin' 45 that'll peel the paint off of your car! You got to give South Bend, Indiana's Rivieras a lot of credit for sticking to their  guns stylistically, as they were one of the very last U.S. groups to have a hit stateside before the British Invasion came along. They really never changed their style of wild frantic frat/surf rock played at breakneck speed. The A side features the BEST cover of Wanda Jackson's "Let's Have A Party" and the flip is just as good! A re-work of Chuck Berry's "Rock & Roll Music" called "Little Donna" with such awesome lyrics like..."She's got a shape that's-a really keen-a, and she comes from Pasadena". True genius.

Bobby & Laurie - Hitch Hiker / You'll Come 'Round (1966)

Bobby & Laurie, also known as Bobby Allen and Laurie Bright, were a very popular duo from Australia, kind of like an Aussie Everly Brothers, or really more like a Peter & Gordon or Chad & Jeremy style duo, except these guys were WAY more aggressive and rockin' that their U.K. and U.S. counterparts. Even on the A side of this 45 that is a cover of Roger Miller''s "Hitchhiker", which originally was a country storyteller type song that was Miller's style, they intensify it with some wicked guitar swells that creates a real tense mood throughout the entire song. The flip is a great freakbeat number with awesome two part harmonies throughout. 

Hell-Fire - Please Come Home Again / The Town Of Dark (196?)

Here's a real obscure 45 by a group out of Belgium that I could not find any info on, except that they were from Belgium and it was released on the rather unknown Carina Records label. Both sides are pretty good organ driven beat tunes.

Samy Phillip - When I Say I Love You I Mean It, And I Don't Change My Mind / Baby, I Love You Today (1965)

One of the longest titles I've ever seen, right up there with The Outsiders' "What Makes You So Bad, You Weren't Brought Up That Way". Samy was actually a guy named Hirth Martinez that was in on the East L.A. scene back in the sixties with the likes of The Premiers, The Romancers (of "She Took My Oldsmobile" fame) Thee Midnighters and a host of other great Hispanic acts from that era. This 45 is a great mix of snotty punk and some Dylan influence. There's an in depth story about Samy if you click HERE. This was featured on Boulders #2 and I don't think it's been comped since, but I could be wrong......

Twilights - Needle In A Haystack / I Won't Be The Same Without Her (1966)

The Twilights were a rather popular group in Australia, but only managed to release this lone 45 in the U.S. which got picked up by Capitol Records in an effort, I would surmise, to capitalize on the interest in beat groups from Australia because of the success of The Easybeat's "Friday On My Mind". I'm probably wrong about that because I'm just playing "armchair" critic here, but one has to wonder why any group from Australia were picked up by any American record label if they weren't trying to cash in on a trend. The Twilights released 19 45s in Australia between 1965 and '68, but just this measly one here in the U.S. It's a shame because both sides of this are really good. The A side is a cover of The Velvelettes "Needle In A Haystack", a sorely overlooked song released on Tamala Records back in '64, but the flip is the most intriguing. "I Won't Be The Same Without Her" was recorded by the Monkees in 1966 but was shelved till 1969 when it appeared on their "Instant Replay" L.P. To muck up the story even more, Chicago area act, The Warner Brothers, also covered it (a truly fine version IMHO). So where did these guys get the idea to record this??? It was a Goffin-King composition so it may have been handed to them by record producers, or they may have heard The Warner Brothers version, or maybe they had some inside info on what The Monkees were recording at the time? Inquiring minds want to know! Oh, by the way, lead singer Glenn Sharrock ended up in the very popular Little River Band.

Gurus - It Just Wont Be That Way / Everybody's Got To Be Alone Sometime (1967)

A really decent psychedelic group out of Greenwich Village, The Gurus released two decent 45's on United Artists that had a bit of a "Middle Eastern" influence on them, although in my opinion they were more of a straightforward garage/psyche act. They recorded an L.P. in '67 but unfortunately it was never released until 2003 when the geniuses at Sundazed records decided to give them their due. Good move.

Moby Grape - Hey Grandma / Come In The Morning (1967)

Poor Moby Grape. They were the "victims", so to speak, of one of Columbia Records' biggest publicity stunts, and subsequent flops. They were perhaps one of the best bands in the Bay Area of that era and were excellent performers as well, eschewing the "jam" formula for tightly knit songs that had a whole lot going on in them with some excellent guitar interplay as well. So Columbia, in their infinite wisdom, promoted them to the hilt with huge promotional events, and releasing five (count 'em FIVE) singles and an L.P. on the same day. This apparently didn't sit well well with their core fans and they ultimately rejected the whole commercial aspect of the stunt, while at the same time ignoring what great music they were recording. It's a shame too, because those five 45's are some of the best in Columbia's catalog.

Regents - The Russian Spy And I (1966)

The Regents were an L.A. based band that were sort of like one of those groups you'd see in one of those cheezy surf/party movies, and were very good at playing covers. They released an L.P. on Capitol called "Live At The AM / PM Discotheque" which was presumably (I've never heard it) an album of straightforward cover/party songs that you could use as background music for any generic kegger. They did manage to release a couple of decent 45's though, one on Penthouse which is a decent cover of The Monkees "Words", and this one, which is an original, I guess, that's extremely  cool to say the least with some excellent guitar work. I must mention that I completely had a brain cramp and forgot to record the flip, a cool version of "Bald Headed Woman'. I'll get to that in the next post...

Strangers In Town - Inside Outside / Society (1966)

There's not a whole lot of info on this group, but the "Buckeye Beat" website says that they were "a vocal group of three or four guys" from Cincinnati, OH. That sounds about right as both sides of this 45 exhibit signs of a Four Seasons influence with some falsetto vocals thrown in the mix. They had a brief write-up in Cash Box magazine where they say the A side is an "Easy going melodic ditty", and the B side was an "Up-beat romancer". Sounds about right to me.

Cake - Mocking Bird / Baby That's Me (1967)

The Cake were a girl group trio that started off as an a-capella group in New York City and ended up on the west coast and hooking up with the Greene & Stone producers/managers, (I'm giving all of you the "Cliff Notes" version of this OK?) that also handled such great acts as Sonny & Cher, The Buffalo Springfield, and The Iron Butterfly. The record is obviously influenced by Phil Spector, and the whole "Wall Of Sound" thing is right in your face, so to speak. This happens to be a VERY cool 45, and even though it's not garage or psychedelic, well...it's a little psychedelic, it's pretty damn good. The Wrecking Crew guys were most likely in on the making of this, as Dr. John and Jack Nitszche were involved in it.

Cincinnati Music Co. - Let's Do The Thing / Time (1968)

I'm sorry to say that I don't have a lot of info on this group, except that they're most likely from Cincinnati, OH. Decent garage/pop/bubblegum with a a cool instro flip. Nice.

Candymen - Ways / Sentimental Lady (1968)

Aside from being Roy Orbison's backing band, The Candymen released two L.P.'s and several 45's on their own, including "Georgia Pines" which was a minor hit. Three of the members would go on to create The Atlanta Rhythm Section and have varied success into the late seventies. Their records are actually pretty a good mixture of pop and psyche as heard on this two sider.

Davy & The Dolphins - The Legend Of The Seagull / I'm A Poor Boy (1969)

This one's a tough one to get any info on except for the fact that the label says it's from New London, CT, which has a naval submarine base close by hence the name, "Subtown". Makes sense. I'm not sure if these guys were related to The Dolphins on Yorkshire records, but they're definitely not related to "The Dolphin" from the Baltimore/D.C. area which featured Nils Lofgren in his pre-Grin days. Both sides  are what we around here like to call, "meaningful folk rock" songs with a prominent acoustic guitar and soft vocals. Sorry for the condition. This 45 really doesn't look bad under the light, but is really noisy once you slap it on the turntable.

Terry Reid - Super Lungs / May Fly (1969)

Terry Reid has a long history of rubbing elbows with what some would consider "upper crust" musicians in the mid-sixties and seventies. He started his career off in Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, and became a well known solo act getting the attention of  people like Graham Nash and Jimmy Page who asked him if he would become lead singer for "The New Yardbirds" which eventually became Led Zeppelin. I kinda wonder what they would have sounded like if he'd taken the job. Reid eventually hooked up with producer Mickie Most who was working with Donovan (who wrote "Super Lungs") at the time and recorded this two sider as well as a great L.P. called "Bang Bang You're Terry Reid".

New Expression - We Got An Understandin' / That Foolish Game (1974)

Another real obscure act out of Ohio, although this time we dig deep into the seventies for this one. As with many bands from the Midwest and what would be considered more rural areas of the U.S., they were just one step behind the times, not that that's a bad thing because sometimes the reusts can be quite good as we hear on this 45 by a group who most likely were from Cincinnati where Jewel/Gem records were based out of. Where they were from for certain is really anybody's guess as Cincinnati and Columbus were magnets for groups from a wide area. Both sides of this 45 show hints of "progressive rock", but never quite make it with very garage like production and delivery.



HERE