In Dan's Garage...#140

Greeting music lovers!!!! Glad to be here whipping up another post for you and getting it done in a timely fashion as well. I haven't got any rants today so I'll just get right to it by mentioning that #140 is another "mixed bag" of 45's as I grab unsorted handfuls out of boxes and start spinning them on the turntable. We've got some garage, blue eyed soul, pop/psych, and a rather amusing honky tonk tune for all you country & western fans. 

I'd just like to mention again that "Dan's Garage" is also a radio show! We're streaming on the web @ Radio Free Phoenix on Wednesdays at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and we repeat the show on Sundays 2:00 PM @ Deep Oldies. Check it out, we're sure you'll enjoy it, and as if THAT isn't enough, we also have a YouTube channel, so you can hear music and imagine all those little platters spinning around on a turntable as well!

Oh by the way, if you'd like to listen to past shows you can do so at Mixcloud. Just a disclaimer here...I'm not a "pro" user so the functions are somewhat limited, in other words you can't FF or rewind and I believe the track list functions are limited as well. Not every single show from the past is there, but we're doing our best to keep up. That being said, you can listen at no cost and we think you'll enjoy it immensely.

Have fun out there, keep your cool and enjoy #140!

Flying Circus - I'm Going / Midnight Highway (1967)

Pretty crude stuff on the A side for 1967, this coming from a San Francisco group no less, who's music scene at the time consisted of The Gratetful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & The Fish, etc. The B side is somewhat more polished, but still quite "garagey". They would release two more on MTA records, the second is featured in IDG #78 and is more folk rock than garage.

Canadians - You Don't Love Me No More / You're My Baby (1964)

Prism Records out of Dayton, OH had a decent roster of acts that went from country to flat out garage/punk. Last post featured The Fink Muncx IX, a classic for sure, this time around we present a totally unknown band who are supposedly from Miamisburg,OH just outside of Dayton. Great teen garage here.

Bobby Carey - Ain't That Too Bad / It's All Over (Except The Cryin') (1967)

Here's another dead end. Don't know much about Bobby Carey, or The Jades, or "Tony Twist" for that matter (although there is an NHL player by the same name). All searches for "Bobby Carey" turned up a lot of pics of "Mariah Carey", so the only thing I can get out of this is that it was produced by a younger Charlie Daniels, who would go on to fame and fortune with his country rock act. This was one of those records that was listed as "garage" by a seller I buy from often, but as you will hear, this is definitely what most of us would call "blue eyed soul", not that that's a bad thing, in fact, I like this record a lot which is why I included it.

Matthew Moore - Come On / White Silk Glove (1967)

Matthew Moore had several 45's on a few different labels but outside of that I don't much about this guy either. What I did discover though, was that he had a somewhat close association with David Marks, ex-Beach Boys guitarist and they both went on to form "The Moon", a band that had a few 45's on Imperial records. He had a KILLER version of Buffy Ste. Marie's "Codyne" in 1965, but I'm afraid this one falls a bit short of that one. This 45 is definitely what I would describe as "mod" for lack of a better description. It moves along quite well with some fuzzy guitars and a few horns as well. Not bad.

Raves - Mother Nature / Mister Man (1967)

Oooh Oooh, as one my heroes Gunther Toody would say...here's a real good one! The Raves were from Brooklyn, NY, and unlike their contemporaries from the tri-state area, they didn't go for the "Rascals", "Vanilla Fudge", "Vagrants" style with a heavy Hammond B-3 organ sound, they were a lot more like The Blues Magoos. This 45 is pretty genius if you ask me, and the somewhat complex arrangements are pretty cool as well. Great guitars, wild cheezy organ riffs, it's a great example of a garage/psyche two sider. I hesitate to even brand these guys as "garage" because they sound so professional. They had three 45's on Smash, the first is pretty much what you hear on this one and it was featured in IDG#4. Their last one "Everything's Fire" is really good as well, but heads in a heavier direction and had some horns thrown in as well. Oddly enough that last one is the most "desirable" of the three, but I think it pales alongside this one IMHO.

Circus Maximus - Lonely Man / Negative Dreamer Girl (1967)

A group out of Austin, TX that included Jerry Jeff Walker, the guy who wrote "Mr. Bojangles". This group is not exactly 'The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band", but a pretty good psychedelic outfit. Circus Maximus released two LP's but only this one 45.

Fever Tree - Girl, Oh Girl (Don't Push Me) / Steve Lenore (1967)

The Fever Tree were most famous for their song "San Francisco Girls", a timely masterpiece of psychedelic pop. Hailing from Houston, TX, they began their career with a couple of 45's on Mainstream Records (Janis Joplin was from Port Arthur, a mere stone's throw away and Big Brother & The Holding Co.'s first LP was released on the same label), moving on to Uni and finally Ampex in the early seventies. Both sides of this 45 are laid back and on the bluesy side.

Human Touch - Sally Go 'Round The Roses (1969)

Here's a song that I know a little bit about, but trying to get solid info on The Human Touch has been a kinda rough. The song was originally sung by The Jaynetts, who everyone describes as a "one hit wonder". I personally hate that term because although many groups throughout the history of Rock & Roll, R&B, Soul, etc. have had only "one hit", quite often you'll hear a body of music that is sadly overlooked, but I digress. The Great Society which featured a pre-Jefferson Airplane Grace Slick, performed this song live at The Matrix and was released on a 45 by Columbia Records. This version is quite similar with it's haunting eerie vibe. An excellent 45 if I do say so!

Meditations - Transcendental Meditations / Beautiful Experience (1967)

Well...I told you this was going to be a mixed bag, and this 45 really takes things in another direction entirely. Probably a studio group, The Meditations were definitely cashing in on the good vibes and karma from the summer of love and produced this syrupy sweet pop/psyche number. Perfect for a summer evening and a bottle of white whine.

Noel Deschamps - Ah, Si J'Avais Pense / On Se Moque De Toi, Laisse Dire / C'est Pa La Piene / Curieux Doctueur (1966)

A few months back, I took in a decent haul of very good deals on Ebay that included three French EP's, and several import singles as well as a bunch of other way cool stuff that I'll be featuring in the future. Of the three French EP's I aquired were two by Noel Deschamps who, from what I can estimate, was was a very popular singer in France. Although some might think these are a tad bit overproduced, perhaps because he was such a big pop star, they're actually really cool. Two of these tracks are really decent covers, one of The Brigands classic punker "Would I Still Be Her Big Man", and a cover of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers' "I'm Your Witchdoctor". The other two songs are great as well. I have another one of these by Noel which I will feature in a future post. Stay tuned.....

Lyterside - Love Is A Game / Yesterday's Highway (1970)

The Lyterside was basically a lounge duo from Dayton, OH that released this 45 and a "live" LP both on ClearHill Records who's most "famous" 45 was The Cranberry Mustache's "Far From Home", an excellent psychedelic 45 from the early '70's that sounds a lot like something from the 1960's. This 45 is OK, and I'm only including it here because of it's cheezy lo-fi sound. This 45 certainly has the same vibe as the Cranberry Mustache's 45 and so like a lot of the 45's of this nature, it grew on me.

Neil MacArthur - It's Not Easy / Twelve Twenty Nine (1969)

Here's one of those 45's I got in my recent haul of way cool records. My wife and I were trying to find cool things to watch on Netflix, I myself am happy to watch reruns of The Saint and Columbo, but my lovely wife likes something a bit more, "engaging" and she definitely hates shows in Black & White. I had heard that the Netflix series "The Queen" was very good so we commenced watching it and we were both sucked in, HEAVILY. So, at the end of one of those episodes while the credits were trailing off, a version of "She's Not There" played. I was suddenly intrigued and discovered that it was a post Zombies Colin Blunstone with the nom de plume of "Neil MacArthur". I swear I am a HUGE Zombies fan, and I think Colin's voice is one of the most unique in the history of rock & roll, so I set out looking for his post Zombies, pre-solo career work. It turns out he had three 45's on Deram as Neil MacArthur so when two came up for auction I jumped right on them, and although they are very well produced POP 45's, Colin's voice is unmistakable, so I basically consider this an extension of the Zombie's legacy.

Little Bob Story - All Or Nothing / Hot And Sweaty (1977)

Little Bob a/k/a Roberto Piazza, was the bandleader of Little Bob Story, a way cool band from the mid to late 70's which for lack of a better description, were a "pub rock" band from France. I have one of their 12" EP's on Chiswick which is one of my favorite records ever, but when I came across this 45 I had to nab it. A side is a cover of a very good Steve Marriot era Small Faces song and the B side is great as well. 

Ernie Hoppe - I'm A Loser (1970)

I warned you. This was going to be an "eclectic" roundup of 45's for this post and this one's the icing on the cake. As of late, I have become a big fan of "Honky Tonk" style Country & Western music. My favorite right now is Porter Waggoner, and everything that falls into that wheelhouse. So when someone has a half dozen really obscure 45's like this at a very cheap price, I jump on it immediately, so I received this lot 45's from the famous "Camaro" label out of Memphis, TN. If you haven't been there, you ought to go (wait for this carona shit to go away, you don't want to be visiting in masks and all that crap) it's a cool town. Visit Beale Street, Pig BBQ, The Sun Studio, The Stax Museum of Soul, and Graceland. It's worth it. Seriously, you smell BBQ when you get off the plane. Anyway, Camaro records was based out of Memphis, and they had a somewhat diverse roster of acts, including Ernie Hoppe here who performs a very cool rendition of The Beatles' "I'm A Loser" and takes the writing credit himself to boot!!!! He probably thought that his fans had never listened to a Beatles record in their lives, so he figured he could probably get away with it. GOTCHA ERNIE!!!!!!

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UPDATED COVER

Flying Circus - Midnight Highway

Dan's Garage #139

Greetings music lovers!!! Glad to be working at the ol' keyboard and turntable spinning cool 45's for our pleasure, and as usual I'd like to give a big thanks to all of our friends and followers out there enjoying my little slice of the cyber universe. I had an issue with my old scanner which workrd just fine, even after I migrated to Windows 10 earlier this year, but I unplugged it from the PC and for some reason I couldn't get the son-of-a-bitch to work anymore. I threw up my hands and bought a new one which as you can see works just fine. 

Unlike the last post which was sort of a kookfest, I've gone back to more "traditional" fare here (whatever "traditional" means on this blog), and I spun a bunch of  45's that focus on garage, surf, psych, freakbeat, and pop from the 60's and early 70's. As usual, I hope you all enjoy.

As I was perusing records on Ebay these past few weeks, I've noticed how "Garage" records, and 45's in particular, have split into many "sub-genres". I know how this kind of thing irritates purists to no end, but I, as an avid collector, find it very interesting. Let me just preface this by informing all out there that this is strictly my opinion and hypothesis on this phenomenon, and I'm sure that there are a whole bunch of you out there that will either agree or completely disagree with it.

When I started collecting what at the time we called "Garage and Psychedelic" 45's, the benchmark was Nuggets, Pebbles, and Boulders, three seminal comp series that reshaped my way of looking at the history of rock & roll. When I first discovered these I still thought songs like "For What It's Worth" & "Space Cowboy" were really far out. "Venus" by Shocking Blue??? Definitely a deep cut man. I eventually got turned on to "Nuggets" (the original LP) which by today's standards, is held up as the genesis of all that cool garage and psychedelic shit. It was on a 90 min. cassette tape and the rest was filled with a "best of" from the Pebbles series. This was truly heavy stuff at the time and all I wanted was more. It was nice having a band like The Chesterfield Kings in town, and having Greg Prevost working at the House Of Guitars, he could guide me to the latest and greatest comps that came out that week. Eventually, I felt the need, as a record collector, to seek out originals and I spent years focusing on what were described as "killers". I managed to get a few and bought bunches of other cool 45's that didn't quite fall into the "killer" category as well, but the main thing was I was accumulating a modest, yet very nice collection of 45's. Then I had kids. That put the kibosh on serious collecting for about 15 years as 45's only trickled in once or twice a year. A comp here, a few 45's there. I threw them in boxes and basically filed them away for the future....

In 2009 I discovered that you could have your own forum on the web, this little thing we call "blogging". I also discovered that good records could be had for a reasonable price on Ebay if you played your cards right. Another discovery was how sellers were plying their wares as "garage", but were nothing like what I considered garage "back in the day". Now you have "Pop Psych", "Sunshine Pop", "Tittyshakers", "Teen Garage", "Garage Soul", "Mod", "Mod Dancer", "Heavy Psych", "Bonehead Crunchers", "Outsider",  the list is endless, and they all sort of fall under that "hip" umbrella. Know what I mean????

Personally, I'm glad things shook out this way. While greedy sellers are trying to dupe people by advertising Dave Clark 5 45's as garage, if you sniff around you'll find some very cool sounds that break away from the "Garage" orthodoxy. I can listen to records that I thought were complete shit when I bought them 30 years ago, and actually appreciate them now with a fresh set of ears. 

So as I enter my fifth decade of collecting records (holy shit, I AM GETTING OLD!!!), I have learned to appreciate all the different sounds that deserve play here on this blog. Although the title of this blog is "Dan's Garage", it's much more than strictly a repository of  "garage band records", but a look into hip sounds that that we may have missed while listening to AM or FM radio while we were growing up, and as for the younger folk out there who are digging this, we're glad you came along with us to dig all these crazy sounds from what I consider, the greatest era in music history.

Dig it.

Novas - The Crusher / Take 7 (1964)

Let's start this shindig off with a true classic. An ode to professional wrestler Reginald Lisowski a/k/a "Crusher" Lisowski, this Minneapolis band backs up a guy doing his best "crusher" bit. "Do The hammer lock", "Do the eye gouge" as if it were the Frug, the Mashed Potato, the Twist or some other dance craze of that generation. Fortunately the dance craze never really caught on (although it did hit the Billboard charts), or else we'd have a lot of broken bones and eye patches out there.....

Underdogs - Judy Be Mine (Friday At The Hideout) / The Man In The Glass (1965)

Another bona fide classic. The Underdogs were from Grosse Point, MI and played a bunch of gigs at "The Hideout" and rubbed elbows with Bob Seger, The Pleasure Seekers (featuring Suzi Quatro!), and a bunch of other Michigan luminaries at the time. They had seven 45's released on Hideout, Warner Brothers, and V.I.P., which was a subsidiary of Motown and all are great but this one here is the "gem" of all. Truly great stuff.

Fink Muncx IX - Coffee, Tea, Or Me / What's Right (1964)

Wow. Another "classic" so to speak. This came out on the "Garage Punk Unknowns" series back in the mid 80's and was always one of my favorites because of it's rawness and the frantic performance. 

The story of The Fink Muncx IX is as follows and I will try to be brief...

A couple of high school pals from Dayton, OH wanted to raise money to buy a car for another one of their buddies who was about to attend Ohio University. These geniuses thought recording a record and selling it would be a good idea so they mustered up seven more guys, three to help with the singing and "hand clapping", and four actual musicians, hit the studio and came up with this wild and wacky 45. For those that have never heard the B side, it's not as crazy, but pretty cool as well.

Bobby & The Bombers - "Dance Time" (1964)

I was on social media this past February, and one of my neighbors asked who their favorite band was when they were teenagers growing up. One of them wrote "Bobby & The Bombers" who were a local act from Irondeqoit, a suburb of Rochester which is on the other side of the Genssee River from where I reside. I recall my buddy Chuck Ciriello bringing this over for one of our "taping sessions" which we did quite often back in the 80's and remembered it being a cool local artifact. So I subsequently looked on Ebay on the off chance there would be a copy for sale and there it was. For a mere "bag of shells" and, it came with the nifty jacket as well.

By the sound of this, it was most likely recorded at Fine Recording Studios given it's lo-fi nature. These guys must've been pretty popular at the time because most bands couldn't muster up enough dough to put out a quality package like this. As for the music???? Well, Bobby and Co. run through three covers and a cool moody instrumental original called "Greenfields". The rest of them are pretty routine including a rendition of The Beatles' "You Can't Do That". It should also be noted that the band included an accordion player!

Michael's Mystics - You Ran Away / Hi Bird (1965)

A great garage 45 by a group out of Minneapolis, MN that has that real "recorded in a basement" type sound. This band has a pretty complex history to go into too much detail here, but they started out as a seven piece called The Galaxies, broke up, regrouped as a five piece and called themselves "Micheal's Mystics" and recorded this way cool 45 at Dove Recording Studios. They later would add a horn section and record the original version of "Pain", a song that gets a lot of attention from the Mod, Northern Soul, and Beach Music crowd, which incidentally was covered by two other groups featured on this blog, The Novas Nine and The Downbeats.

Fables - I've Got The Will / Lonely Boy (1966)

Super cool moody 45 from Texas. This one is a classic with great fuzz guitar and cheezy Farfisa organ as well. One of my all time favorites! I'm not exactly sure who Don Perry was, but I'm guessing he's the lead vocalist on both sides of this record.

Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man / Not Fade Away (1963)

I just had to do it. It was sitting there, in a pile of obscure stuff, and then I plopped it on the turntable and man oh man, there it was, one of The Stones' greatest cuts which would propel them to fame and fortune. It's quite fascinating when you juxtapose The Stones' career against The Beatles', I mean, they both recorded this song, and although Lennon and McCartney wrote it, each version is a polar opposite of the other. The Beatles' version is pretty wild, I guess, when compared to the other tracks on "With The Beatles" (or "Meet The Beatles" if you were in the U.S.), but this version is so full of raw intensity, The Fab Four's attempt pales alongside it. Perhaps it's why they (The Beatles) had Ringo sing it, because John and Paul couldn't do it justice the way The Stones did? Maybe, maybe not, but this is truly one of The Stones' best.

Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs - Old MacDonald Had A Boogaloo Farm / I Never Had No One (1968)

You gotta love Sam The Sham. One of Rock & Roll's greatest characters, he amassed a bunch of hits in the mid sixties, only to get pushed aside by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Cream and a bunch of other "heavies" that made rock & roll "progressive".  That's OK, because in 1968 Sam was still whooping it up with 45's like this one, his take on the Old MacDonald nursery rhyme and in usual genius Sam The Sham style, he nails it!!!! This would be the last official "Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs" 45 on MGM. After this he went on to "The Sam The Sham Revue" and a solo LP or two and then pretty much disappeared. Too bad, he was one of Rock & Roll's finest

Beauchemins - My Lovin' Baby (1966)

The Beauchemins were a Folk/Rock/Pop group out of L.A. which was produced, I would imagine, by Bob Keane head honcho at Mustang Records. The A side is pretty good folk rock, perhaps a bit "heavier" than The Mamas & The Papas and a little more Byrds like, which comes off really well. The B side, which I have not included, sounds a bit like Peter, Paul, & Mary. Meh. I have a TON of folkie stuff like the B side, and perhaps in the future I'll write a post on that!

Congregation - I Need Your Love (1968)

Probably a studio group from Nashville or thereabouts turning in a nice bubblegummy 45 which, in my opinion, is better than most that came out at the same time.

Grass Roots - Where Were You When I Needed You / (These Are) Bad Times (1966)

P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri were perhaps one of the best songwriting teams of the mid sixties andrival the best to come out of that era. They wrote a slew of hits for Barry McGuire, Herman's Hermits, Terry Black, Jan And Dean, Johnny Rivers, The Turtles, and a bunch for The Grass Roots before they became horn band mega-stars. This was The Grass Roots' second 45 and is a stand out two sider not just for it's A side which was their first chart topper, but for the B side "(These Are) Bad Times", which was originally recorded by Paul Revere & The Raiders on their "Here They Come" LP.

Rugby's - Rockin' All Over The World / Juditha Gina (1970)

Well here's an example of what some of us collectors out there would classify as a "bonehead cruncher" of sorts. The Rugbys were from Louisville, KY and had some cool garage 45's before evolving into a "heavy rock" band in the late 60's and having a semi-hit with "You, I" on Amazon Records. They released an LP entitled "Hot Cargo" and a few more 45's before splitting up and changing their name to Lazarus, another heavy rock band. 

Alan Bown - Toyland / Technicolour Dream (1968)

The Alan Bown were a British band formed in the mid-sixties with trumpeter Alan Bown being the leader. They were originally a mod/soul act and then evolved into a very cool psychedelic band as evidenced by this way cool psych two sider. They would eventually go back to their mod roots and then disband in1972.

Cory Robbins & The Tone Deafs - When Oldies Weren't Old / We're Out Of Love (1974)

Here's a novelty record of sorts. I think these guys were trying to cash in on the "American Graffiti" craze which took hold of the US back in 1973/74. I remember this era very well as I was an AM radio listening teenager and some of the biggest hits were stuff like "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay", "Rock Around The Clock", Crocodile Rock", and I guess this was an attempt at capturing that vibe. Unfortunately, Cory Robbins and his crew really do sound tone deaf on this rather lo-fi attempt at a 50's rock revival. Cool stuff though......

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In Dan's Garage...#138

 

Greetings music lovers!!!!! Looky here, I got to work in another post in as many weeks and I don't think I've done that in over four years. I figure if I'm just going to goof off and play records, I may as well rip them, scan the labels and fire away with another one, and the theme of this one is literally "goofing off listening to records". 

I had/have another blog that I largely ignore (because I just don't have the time) called "Dan's Leftovers. That's for the stuff that lies outside of the garage/psychedelic/surf orbit and includes pop, girl groups, novelty records, and just plain ol' weird stuff. I have TONS of 45's like these, and I actually like quite a few of them, so you may see more of this kind of  junk from time to time. I'll buy anything these days if it's priced right. Hell, I recently bought 150 Italian 45's that all came with picture sleeves and they were all in real nice shape. No garage or psych mind you, but a lot of San Remo pop type records plus three spoken word records by the Pope. In other words "oddballs". That's precisely what your getting here, a bunch of oddballs, girl groups, pop, and novelty records so enjoy this one and take all of this with a good sense of humor.

Tender Slim - Hey Joe! / Teenage Hayride (1959)

Here's a cool 45 by a guy named "Tender Slim" who from what I can gather was also known as "Tender Joe Richardson", and "Fender Guitar Slim". apparently he was the guitarist and bandleader for the Shirelles. This is good lo-fi blues/R&B/Rock And Roll that was produced by Teddy Vann who has a resume that's way to long to list here.

U.B.'s Group - Percussive Woman (1962)

O.K., This 45 is not going to go over well with the "Me Too" crowd and any of you out there who are "politically correct". This "novelty" record came out in 1962 when views of women were quite different than they are in 2020. Personally I find none of this offensive, in fact this is 4+ minutes of beatnik style poetry that describes woman's power over men. Maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe this is an attempt at showing how women are actually more powerful than men.(?) In any case, I find this record to be rather amusing and a real good microcosm of the times in 1962. P.S. I just realized that I did not add "Sneaky Pete" the A side to this 45 which is a great instro. I'll add it next time.

Carran Bruce - When The Rains Came / I Looked Away (196?)

This one is tough to get ant info on. I wanna say that this is someone from the east coast, perhaps someone here in upstate NY as it is a "Circa Release", a label that appears on many upstate NY records, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, I've had this 45 forever (one of the first things I ever bought for 25¢) and have listened to it on and off over the past...oh...35 years, and it has grown on me. Somewhere between girl group, garage, and country, this is actually quite an enjoyable record.

Henry Thome - Scotch And Soda / Wolf Bait (1962)

Well....I did a little research on this and discovered that this was a song performed by Johnny Ray back in 1962 but this is actually the original article which ol' John Boy copped off of Henry Thome. Now seriously, who's record are you gonna buy? Johnny Ray's or Henry Thome's??? Most people bought Johnny Ray's but frankly, I've listened to both and think Henry's is the superior cut. The flip is also great. An ode to a chick who Henry's got a thing for.

Ronnie Wallis & The Rajahs - Never Leave Me / Goin' Steady (1965)

Here's a 45 that is rather interesting. I read about this one a while back but have had trouble recalling the website where I read it (BOOKMARKS DAN!!!!) but I will paraphrase here. Ronnie Wallis' mother was somehow connected to the music business and ended up in Australia for something, I cannot recall, BUT, she brought her daughter with her, Ronnie, and got The Rajahs, who were a very popular group at the time to back Ronnie up on a few songs and these are at least two of them. The Rajahs basically did tributes to the Beatles, backed Johnny O'Keefe, a very popular Australian singer, and worked in the studio as well, as evidenced by this rather cool 45 by Ronnie Wallis. Ronnie never hit the big time but at least she left us with this little boppin' gem.

Kelly Garrett - Save Me From Myself / The Boy On The Drums (1965)

Here's a real nice 45 from Kelly Garret who made appearances on shows like "Shivaree", Shindig", "American Bandstand", etc. but never really hit the big time. I bought this 45 from Ebay from a seller who listed it as "garage", yet, it had a really low opening bid (99¢ I believe) so I figured what the hell. Excellent pop from the mid 60's and I'm not sure what happened to Kelly Garrett, I think she had a successful career as an actress on Broadway and Hollywood but at least she left us with this fine piece of pop music.

Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band - The Eggplant That Ate Chicago / You Can't Fight City Hall Blues (1966)

If we weren't in novelty territory yet, we're here now. Dr. West and his band were basically Norman Greenbaum's side project as he was having huge hits on the top 40 with "Spirit In The Sky". This one is from 1966 and pre-dates his "hit" but is a good example of the "Jug Band meets novelty song" concept.

Shannons - Born Too Late / Mr. Sunshine Man (1968)

Very nice sunshine pop from a trio of L.A. girls that sound so sweet on their cover of the Poni-Tails big hit. Unfortunately, the public wasn't into a re-make of an "oldie" from six or seven years ago. Perhaps if The Shannons had made "Mr. Sunshine Man" their 'A' side , they would have had better luck. Just speculating......

Vanity Fair - Peter Who? (Peter Pan) (1967)

Sooo...another girl group,and from what I've gathered, they were from somewhere around Houston, TX as they were managed buy the same crew that managed Fever Tree, who were on Mainstream Records, an affiliate of Brent. Not to be confused with the British group of the same name that had a hit with "Hitchin' A Ride".

Dion - Purple Haze (1967)

Yow! Everyone knows Dion DiMucci, a great Italian American, from the Bronx, who led one of the most iconic do-wop groups ever, recorded tons of hits and had a great career. Well, somewhere in the mid sixties, Dion got sidetracked somehow and recorded this absolutely bizarre take on Jimi Hendrix's classic. I can't rally describe this one, except that ol' Dion was probably pretty high at the time and decided to take the song in a different direction???

Art Nouveaux - Extraterrestrial Visitations / The Way To Play It (1967)

Here's a 45 that's probably some sort of studio concoction. I can't really find any info on this 45 except that producer Steve Douglas was a respected sax player and session musician who worked with Phil Spector, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, and also produced The Lettermen and Mink DeVille. I think if this was a studio group it would be safe to assume that the band here were a bunch of The Wrecking Crew.

Daddy Dewdrop - March Of The White Corpuscles / Fox Huntin' (On The Weekend) (1971)

Daddy Dewdrop a/k/a Dick Monda, released an LP and a few 45's in the early 70's including "Chick A Boom" (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)" which reach #9 on the Billboard charts. I must admit, I've never heard that song in my entire life and I grew up on AM radio back in the early seventies (I was in 'junior high" at the time) and stil haven't heard it, in fact, I never heard of Daddy Dewdrop until I picked up this kooky 45 a while back. It's actually kind of cool with a haunting organ and the vocals sounding like they were piped through a Leslie speaker to nice effect. The B side sounds like typical early seventies "rock".

Misty - Resurrection Shuffle / Baby, I Love You (197?)

Another one of these 99¢ 45 listed as "garage" that I was able to score for the low bid. I'm not sure if "Misty' is a band or solo artist but it really doesn't make a difference. The first time I ever heard this was truly a WTF moment. The band is nothing terribly exciting, it's when "Misty" starts singing. That's when things get, well....exciting? Misty's voice is, to be kind, "unique". I'm not sure if she's an 11 year old, or an adult trying to sound different, but rest assured, the results are flabbergasting. The A side is a cover of  Ashton, Gardner, & Dyke's "Resurrection Shuffle", another song of which I was totally unfamiliar with, until I heard this. The B side is, well...if Misty is 11 years old, rather disturbing to say the least. After hearing this I tried doing some research on this record, and outside of a couple of other bloggers who pretty much hold the same opinion as mine, I came to a dead end. I have some other 45's that are from Ohio which have similar labels, so that might be a good guess as to where they're from, but I really can't say for sure. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Willard & The Kohouteks - Purple People Eater / I Can Make It By Myself (1973)

In late 1973 when I was a young lad of 12 going on 13, the comet Kohoutek was one of the biggest crazes in pop culture at the time. It was huge, it was from outer space, it was supposedly from outside the solar system and in December of that year, it was going to light up the sky like nothing any earthling had ever seen in their lifetime. Well....Kohoutek turned out to be a big dud, but not before these guys decided to cash in on the hype with a re-make of Sheb Wooley's classic "Purple People Eater" done in true early seventies "rock" style!!!!

Dust - The Pledge / Bertha (1969)

I'm going to end this post with a 45 that's not actually a "45". "Dust", I believe, were from the Detroit area, or perhaps western Ohio, I've seen different info, but these are definitely not the guys who had a couple of LP's on Kama Sutra and featured Richie Wise and Kenny Aaronson. This group had two 45's, this being their second and I must say, it's another kook fest. Don't get me wrong here...I'm all for the Pledge Of Allegiance, and I consider myself a pretty patriotic guy, but the "lead vocalist" goes way over above and beyond mere patriotism, no, the lead vocalist here explains (in 6:55 excruciating minutes) what "The Pledge" means to him, all this done over a backdrop of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The flip is a comedy routine done over Them's "Gloria" so you sort of get a two-fer of nuttiness on this 7 incher. So, why is this not really a "45"???? Because in order to fit the lead singer's pledge soliloquy on the A side, they had to slow things down to 33⅓ in order to fit every word. Pretty clever huh?

IT'S ALL HERE

 

In Dan's Garage...#137

Greetings music lovers!!!!! Holy crap, as I write this I'm trying to wade through a bunch of changes that the "blogger app" has gone through and being a very old school guy, am having a bit of difficulty with it. But I'm sure after muddling through this for an hour or so, I'll get the hang of it. 

HEY!!! I haven't communicated with you for a while and I'm feeling somewhat guilty about that, but as you all know, we only have so much time on our hands to play around with this shit, and time is a precious commodity these days (as always) but I managed to get a couple of hours of solitude to spin some 45's, scan some labels, and now I'm here writing!

Thanks to all the friends and followers who've stuck around, I appreciate your continued interest in this humble blog of mine which will keep going on for the foreseeable future.

I managed to somewhat organize my 45's this summer into "posted" 45's and "not posted" 45's. That took several days and you'll all be glad to hear that there's TONS that haven't been posted yet.

I did take a hiatus from buying stuff due to the covids and the financial uncertainty that it caused. I'm happy to report that all is well here and my lovely wife Red and I are doing fine, as well as the rest of my family and my mother who will be turning 90 on September 2. I visit with her at least twice a week, and outside of the usual creakyness a 90 year old experiences, she's in excellent health and she's sharp as a tack. But I am back to procuring cool 45's and have gotten a few gems in the last few weeks. Please stay tuned!

On a more somber note, my best pal and band mate Jerry Flanagan passed away on June 23rd from cancer which was diagnosed in April. He was experiencing some discomfort in his chest around Christmastime and by the time he got a proper diagnosis, it was too late. I played in a band with this guy for the better part of 37 years and I will miss him dearly. We were still playing together as of December 2019 and our last "gig" was a Christmas party we played here at my house back in mid December. It was one of our better performances but never in my life did I think it would be our last. So I dedicate this post to his memory. 

R.I.P. Jerry Flanagan

So here we are, August 2020 and I'm trying to get this thing back up and running on a regular basis. As usual we have a varied mix of styles here from straight up raunchy garage to beautiful Sunshine Pop. So pleas sit back and enjoy the ride!!!!

Ravens - Are You A Boy, Or Are You A Girl / Imagine You And Me (1966)

I'm not sure where these guys are from, but somewhere near Cincinnati, OH would be a good guess as this 45 was pressed at the Rite Records factory in WKRP town. "Ravens" do a weird job on the Barbarian's classic here with a very slow loopy delivery and a wicked cool sax as well. Extremely lo-fi this record is one my coolest acquisitions of the last two years or so. The flip is a real slow ballad, but is cool nonetheless.

Classels - Love Is / Tomorrow May Be Too Late (1966)

The Classels were a very popular outfit out of Montreal, Quebec, CA and had over twenty 45's released up there, this one here is the only one to be released in the U.S. Most, if not all of their Canadian singles were sung in French but on this one here they sing in English, the A sided being a take on the traditional French song "Alouette" and the B side a nice beat/pop number. Their "schtick" was wearing multi colored or all white suits and having their hair dyed bleach blond. They are well featured on IDG #56. Check it out!

Last Five - Kicking You / Weatherman (1966)

A decent 45 from a Hartford, CT that features a nice B-3 organ and a cheezy guitar solo as well. Apparently this was their only 45 but they evolved into a group called Boffalongo that had a few 45's on United Artists including the original version of  the soft rock classic "Dancing In The Moonlight". Eventually Boffalongo evolved into King Harvest, re-recorded the song and had a huge hit with it.

Victor & The Spoils - I Wish That I Could Make You Love Me / Lonely Memory (1966)

Here's a 45 that I would presume was a studio concoction by Bo Gentry who was involved with Tommy James & The Shondells, The 1910 Fruitgum Co., had at least one solo 45 that I know of and some collaborations with Richie Cordell who was also heavily involved with Tommy James. This isn't a spectacular 45, but it's kinda nice with it's Buddy Holly flavor, think "Everyday" only with a little more drive so to speak.

Little Boy Blues - Look At The Sun / Love For A Day (1965)

The Little Boy Blues were a band out of Chicago, Il and had about a half dozen 45's released and all of them are good to fantastic. Their claim to fame was "The Great Train Robbery" which was featured on "Highs In The Mid 60's Vol. 4" one of my favorite comps. This is their first 45 on IRC, a local Chicago label, and its great folk rock with some wailing harmonica and twangy guitars. They would later release an LP and a 45 on Fontana which are good, but they headed in a decidedly heavier  direction.

Rock A Go-Go's - I'm Out To Win You Over / Blossoms In May (1968)

I don't know a thing about this group, but 'm guessing by the label they were an east coast act????? Perhaps, but in any case the B side which I'm featuring first is the standout track. It starts off really cool with some nice fuzz guitar and some pounding drums, but then settles into somewhat of a pop tune with these "do-do-wah" backing vocals as well as a few shifts in the rhythm. Very cool overall and a nice find. The A side is a pretty typical garage band ballad.

Culver Street Playground - East River Lovers / Feedback (1968)

Oh man oh man, THIS is one of my all time faves!!!!! I was first turned on to this by guy named Ron Simpson from Indiana who used to trade tapes with in the 80's and into the early 90's. Somehow these two songs always were standouts with me and my old band The Projectiles even covered "Feedback" a way cool bit of psychedelia if I do say so myself and "East River Lovers" is perhaps one of the best "moody" garage band ballads I've ever heard, in my humble opinion. From what I gather this band was from New York City and they did have another 45 which I featured on IDG #40.

Association - Everything That Touches You / We Love Us (1968)

I don't normally post stuff like this, well..... yeah, I actually post a LOT of stuff like this, but not by big time bands like The Association who had a bunch of hits in the mid sixties, and they had so many I'm not going to reference all of  them here. Turn on oldies radio and you will hear them eventually without waiting too long. This one did pretty well hitting #10 on the Billboard in 1968, but it never stuck in my brain like the other ones they had (you know what I'm talking about). I plucked this 45 out of a stack that was lying around (as many around here at Dan's Garage Central do) and decided to give it a spin. I recall hearing this song in the past but never realized how good it was. When it comes to sunshiny pop type songs, it really doesn't get any better than this. Nice harmonies and the arrangement isn't way over the top. Sit back, close your eyes, and marinate in some top notch pop music goodness.

Joe Brown - A Little Help From My Friends / Won'tcha Show Me Around (1967)

I got this one in a "lot" of what some people on Ebay call "weird" 45's so I took a chance and ended up with about a half dozen very cool records including this one here. Joe Brown is a very famous, well pretty famous singer and guitarist that influenced quite a few young British lads back in the early sixties. Guys like Hank Marvin and The Beatles come to mind as Brian Epstein worked out a deal where The Beatles could warm up for Joe so's they could be exposed to a wider audience. In any case, The Beatles fame eclipsed Joe's but he did record this gem in 1967 not long after Sgt. Pepper's was released, and I must say, Joe did an excellent job of it. "With A Little Help From My Friends" is one of my all time favorite songs and Joe Brown does true justice to this tune. I like this way better than Joe Cocker's cover hands down. Oh, by the way...the flip's pretty good as well!

Future - Shape Of Things To Come / 52% (1968)

So here we have a another unknown group that I would assume was out of L.A or San Francisco or some other west coast town, doing a cover of "Max Frost & The Trooper's" "Shape Of Things To Come". This 45 was arranged by Vic Briggs who played guitar with Eric Burdon & The Animals, and I think it's his fuzz guitar that is heard on "When I Was Young". I don't know why "Shape" always reminds me of some old Dragnet episode where Joe Friday & Frank Gannon corner some hippies and lecture them about how their lifestyle is going to ruin America and they should get on the straight and narrow and all this hippy revolution stuff is nothing but bullshit! Oh...where was I???? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure where "Future" was from, but they do an excellent job on this two sider and their version of the A side might be better than Max Frost & The Trooper's???? Now THAT'S a revolution!

Maryann Farra And The Genesis - Society's Child / One Day Boy (1971)

Society's Child was originally written and recorded by Janis Ian in 1966 and was subsequently covered by at least a dozen other acts including Spooky Tooth, Camel, plus a slew of garage/psychedelic acts including this east coast act from 1971. I couldn't get much info on Maryann Farra and her backing band, but apparently she became a disco singer in the mid-seventies. I think this version and the flip are pretty good, and this doesn't sound like typical early seventies "progressive" rock.

Wet Paint - Glass Road / Give You Everything I've Got (1970)

Here's a cool 45 by a group from New England, but since I really couldn't find much info them, I can't pinpoint exactly where they're from since Methuen is just over the border from New Hampshire, and just north of Lowell, MA and perhaps an hour's drive from Boston. I love records like this because here it is, 1970, and these guys sound like they just stepped out of the garage (or basement) with a rather crude sound for that era. Both sides are great and to make up for any perceived ineptitude, they released this in stereo!!!!

Wool - The Witch /Listen To The Sound (1970)

Wool was led by guitarist Ed Wool who was from Watertown, NY, about 3 hours northeast of Dan's Garage Central. He recorded as Ed Wool & The Nomads, The Sure Cure, The Pineapple Heard, and eventually Wool. They had an LP and a couple 45's on ABC and then landed a deal with Columbia which produced two 45's before the label dropped them. One was a cover of Elton John's "Take Me To The Pilot" and the other is this one, a cover of The Rattles' "The Witch" a good choice, but I think these guys could have shown a little more intensity in their execution.

HERE