In Dan's Garage...#149

Greetings music lovers!!!!! Alas, alack! I'm back with a new post, still digging through boxes of records, and still scrounging around for good buys, although I haven't been too successful in the last year, but I still manage to obtain some very cool records, and a few surprises along the way. I'll admit that lately I've been buying more L.P.s than 45's, and as usual, just looking for cool stuff as opposed to big ticket items. I think I mentioned in my last post my dismay at how expensive things have gotten, so I won't bore you with that rant again. But I do manage to obtain the records that my whims take me to, and that's a good thing. As far as 45's go, I bought a wad back in September, and will eventually get to posting those, after I get to the wad I bought in 2016!!!!! Seriously though, I still have LOTS to get to here, it's just a matter of me having enough "down time" to get it done. Right now I'm home feeling very poorly, and that's the perfect time to convalesce, and knock out this particular post, chock full of cool goodies. While this may lack somewhat in hardcore garage/punk, it makes up for in eclectic value. Make sense? Sure. Now please enjoy.

Underbeats - Route 66 / Foot Stompin (1964)

I swear, anytime I see ANYTHING on Garrett, Soma, Bangar, Re-Car, Studio City or any of those other labels out of Minneapolis, I jump on it and this is one of my favorites. Not only is the A side the de-facto theme song of The True Believers, but it features one of my all time faves on the B side, a cover of The Flares' "Foot Stompin"!!!!!

Marv Dennis IV - Honeycomb / The Hurt Will Go Away (1966)

Another group out of the Minneapolis area. Not too sure about this band's history, but judging from the looks of a few of the pictures I've seen, they seem to be some kind of hokey lounge act. THIS IS MERELY SPECULATION! Please, no hate mail from Marv Dennis fans, they may have been the rockingest group in the mid-west for all I know, but judging from this 45, we certainly have a mixed bag here. Their cover of "Honeycomb" is better (IMHO) than the original, (not a fan), but the B side is low key horn driven pop music. Not horrible, but not overly great. I'll give this 45 a solid 6.5 out of 10. :)

Erik & The Smoke Ponies - I'll Give You Love / From Where I'm Standing (1967)

Supposedly from Hempstead on Long Island, these guys put out this 45 on Kama Sutra, and I guess, released one more on Cobblestone as simply, "The Smoke Ponies". Maybe Erik got tossed out of the band????? I'm not sure, but that Cobblestone release seems to be fetching big bucks. In any case, "I'll Give You More" is a fast moving number with some cool fuzzy guitar in the background and a prominent harmonica as well. The B side is a great overlooked folk rock number. Highly recommended!

Nicco E I Gabbiani - Ora Sai / Parole (1966)

I always like taking a stab at oddball 45's, especially Italian 45's, being that I am from solid Italian/American stock, and understand the language, although I wish I could speak it a little better. But when you grow up in a house where both parents spoke Italian on a daily basis, and still have relatives that do, records like this take on a somewhat different life. Not that this record is really special, in fact, it's pretty tame compared to some other Italian garage/punk classics, but I think this one deserves some attention. Both sides of this 45 are decent organ driven garage type sounds, nothing crazy, but like I said, they deserve some attention. Nico e I Gabbiani, translated to English is "Nico And The Seagulls", Ora Sai translated is "Now You Know" and "Parole" translated is "Words". There's your Italian lesson for the day!

Boots Walker - They're Here / A Bum Can't Cry (1967)

It's time for a rant. I hate Google. You'd think that the "ultimate search engine" with the farthest reach (supposedly) of the internet could find me SOMETHING about Boots Walker outside of selling boots and walking. Yeah, they suck. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a link to Spotify, last.fm, bleh, blah, blah, Discogs, 45cat (where you'll most likely get the most info), but not much else. Oh yeah, there is a group out of Japan called Boots Walker, I got a link to that. So I'm gonna have to go on what I see on the label, and that's that this 45 was produced by Ernie Maresca, famous for singing "Shout, Shout, Knock Yourself Out", probably one of the best do-wop songs ever. He did go on to produce a slew of records for Laurie, Rust, Roulette and other affiliated labels, so I'm guessing Boots was just a studio group he assembled for this one particular 45. As for the record. It's definitely a "novelty", but it's kind of cool in a garage/psyche sense. Very enjoyable. Not like this last rant.....

Clear Light - Black Roses / She's Ready To Be Free (1967)

Oooh I love this band!!!!! Originally known as "The Brain Train", they had a monster garage/psyche 45 released on Titan records, and was featured on The Chosen Few compilation. They were managed by a guy named Bud Mathis, who was quite the personality in the mid-sixties. I guess he was a boxer, a country singer, he can be seen on the early episodes of "The Buck Owens Show" decked out in a Nudie Suit, and was a manager for several bands on the Sunset Strip including The Brain Train who eventually re-named themselves "Clear Light", got a contract with Elektra Records, and ended up being produced by Paul Rothschild, the guy who brought us The Doors, Love, and a slew of other famous acts. This is as good as a debut 45 gets and it kills me that these guys weren't as famous as their labelmates, The Doors, or The Stooges, Love, or even The Butterfield Blues Band for that matter. I've yet to get a copy of their L.P., but I'm guessing the rest is at least as good as this 45. Top shelf stuff here...

Black River Circus - Love's Gonna Carry Me On / A Ritual Melody (1968)

From Richmond, VA, this band was largely unknown and had one 45 on the local MRC label. Both sides are very good.

Cavalry Twill - All You Need Is Love / The Girl (1969)

I've been using this tune as the outro to the "Dan's Garage" radio show (featured on Radio Free Phoenix and Deep Oldies) for a few years now and I figured I'd include it in this post, mostly because I really love it! This was produced by Neil Levenson who wrote "Denise" for Randy & The Rainbows, and also produced a few records on Columbia, most notably (at least in these circles) The Creatures from Ireland, who had four 45's released on Columbia Records, all Dan's Garage favorites. There's something about the way cool arrangement of this Beatles classic that gets to me. The over the top fuzz guitar, the B3 organ in the background, the choral style vocals...a very nice musical package indeed!

Hook - Love Theme in 'E' Major (1968)

One of these days I'm gonna do a retrospective post on Uni records. No, seriously. there's TONS of stuff on this label that runs the gamut from way out psychedelia, straight up garage, to top 40 pop. That's because Uni was kinda sorta transitional label from Decca, Brunswick, Coral, Kapp, and any other act under the "Universal" umbrella, before they all fell under MCA. Uni had a lot more going for it at the time besides Neil Diamond and Elton John. The very first "rock" effort by The Osmond Brothers was released on Uni. Remember Marcia Strassman???? Yeah, she was in "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" as well as being Gabe Kaplans wife on "Welcome Back Kotter", and a few episodes of M.A.S.H. They were also the home of such great garage psych acts as The Lollipop Shoppe, Fever Tree, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Yellow Payges, The Daily Flash, The Giant Crab, etc. etc. The Hook were a very unknown group, but in the flotsam and jetsam of Uni releases, this is a good one!

California Gold Rush - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (1969)

Here's a cute little bubblegum tune I figure I'd throw in....

Rare Bird - Sympathy / Devil's High Concern (1969)

A "guitar-less" band, Rare Bird were kinda like The Nice and Van Der Graf Generator, bands that were signed to Charisma Records at the time. Real progressive stuff here, if you're into that kind of thing. I like the atmospheric vibe of this 45....

Scorpion - Can't Get Blood From A Stone / I'm Only Human (1973)

These guys were from the Philadelphia area, and they were kind of popular there. Not bad for 1973!

49th Parallel - (Come On Little Child &) Talk To Me (1969)

A legendary Canadian band from Calgary, The 49th Parallel's biggest garage/punk moment was "You Do Things", one of the all time greats. They did, though, have several other 45's in the mid to late 60's, including "Close The Barn Door" and this one here, a 45 that I had passed on many times because of it's commercial type sound. But time seems to give one perspective, and when I first heard this, I was looking for those "killer" 45's, but this one deserves inclusion here. It really is a great song.

Stamford Bridge - Little Boy Blue / Roly Poly (1969)

Pretty good Bubblegum/Psyche from a British band that I  have very little info on....

Yankee Dollar - City Sidewalks / Sanctuary (1968)

Let's finish this post with a 45 by a typical west coast  group, that sounds a LOT like The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,. Personally, I think these guys and gals could have gone toe to toe with any of their contemporaries, including bands like The Jefferson Airplane, but alas, they unfortunately were destined to obscurity, until now! 

Get It HERE

    

 

In Dan's Garage...#148

Greetings music lovers!!!

I hope you're all well out there. Here I am, at home, with a case of the shingles. I can probably think of more severe ways mother nature can torture someone, and I shouldn't be whining too much because I will get over this, eventually, but it really has been messing me up for several days, and now that I feel that I'm kind of "over the hump", I started spinning and ripping 45's and getting another blog post going, being that I'm home sick from work and I'm starting to get really bored. I've watched as much as I possibly can about that Titan submersible tragedy on YouTube, binge watched two seasons of Rocky And Bullwinkle, and at least one season of Barney Miller. I really needed to get down to the basement and play some records. This is pretty good therapy because it takes my mind off the constant pain and it's also somewhat constructive as well. So here we are with #148. As usual, I've grabbed a fist -full of records and just let it rip. Most of these are major label things and it's kind of an eclectic mix, there's the usual garage classics, some early 60's teen stuff, some late 60's/70's heavy rock, and a dose of psych/pop. All in all,28 tracks which will provide you all with some good fun.

Please enjoy.

Skip Arne & The Dukes - Sunshine And Rain / Angel (1964)

I'm not exactly sure who Skip Arne was. I know that this 45 was originally released on "Little Fort" records out Waukegan, MI, and "Angel" is a cover of an Elvis song. I think this was a regional hit, but I'm including this one because  A, "Sunshine And Rain" is pretty good, even for early 60's teen garbage, and B, it was in my stack.

Newbeats - Run, Baby Run / Mean Woolie Willie (1965)

OK, I 'll admit it. The Newbeats are one of my guilty pleasures. One of those bands you don't really want to admit that you like, but or some reason, I dig almost all of their records. This one from 1965 is particularly good, and one of my favorites.

Bats - Listen To My Heart / You Look Good Together (1965)

The Bats were from South Africa, and outside of getting names of band members and discographies, I don't know much about them. It appears they were very popular in their homeland as they released a bunch of 45s down there as well as in Rhodesia. They did manage to get this one released in the U.S. which has songs from two different 45s released in the U.K. Confused??? "Listen To My Heart" was supposedly a big hit for them, the flip not so much, but the interesting fact is that the flip side was not released in South Africa, but only in the U.S. and The Philippines. Weird, but the songs are really good Beatle / British Invasion style stuff produced by Tony Clarke who was responsible for most of The Moody Blues' greatest era.

Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright - Mojo Queen / Judy Green (1965)

Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright were popular singers from Australia and have some very cool 45's in their catalogue. I don't have very many Australian 45's, but this one is a real winner.

Emergency Exit - Why Girl / Maybe Too Late (1966)

A relatively unknown garage band from Seattle, WA that released three 45's, this one a re-release of their first 45 which came out on the local "Ru-Ro" label, and another one on Dunhill which is also very good. This is somewhat of a classic as it was on one of the Boulders comps.

Soul Survivors - Shakin' With Linda / Devil With The Blue Dress (1967)

Not related to the "Expressway To Your Heart" Soul Survivors, this bunch was reportedly from Pittsburgh, PA and released this one swingin' 45 for Decca which was featured on one of the original Pebbles comps. The flip is a slow, loopy version of "Devil With A Blue Dress".

Sparrow - Green Bottle Lover / Down Goes Your Love Life (1966)

The second of two 45's released by The Sparrow on Columbia after Jack London left the band and John Kay stepped in. A year or so later they would become Steppenwolf and have a score of hits including the rock anthem, "Born To Be Wild".

Lemon Pipers - Monaural 78 / Quiet Please (1967)

Oddly enough, this is the only 45 in this post that's not on a major label, or one that had national distribution. Apparently, after the Lemon Pipers achieved fame with" Green Tambourine", someone got a hold of some masters they had recorded before hitting the big time, to cash in on their success. I understand that The Lemon Pipers were kinda pissed off about that so this 45 languished in obscurity. Both sides are actually pretty good and better than their bubblegummy output (which I understand they hated too). I particularly like "Quiet Please", a rip-off of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues".

Trade Winds - Mind Excursion / Little Sally's Dreamin' (1966)

You'd think with a title like "mind Excursion", this'd be a wild psychedelic trip of a song. On the contrary, this is very sweet psych/pop, not bad, but the title is sure misleading. It's OK for what it is, it's just not what you'd expect. I rather like the flip side "Little Sally's Dreamin', which is very nice psych-pop with some twinges of folk/rock. I guess this went up to #51 on the Billboard charts in '66, but it's one of these "hit" songs that kind of escaped me. Until now.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Son Of A Houndog Man / Gypsy Lover (1969)

These guys were previously known as The Next Exit and were from Beaumont, TX. This is a nice blues/rock 45 which was produced by Huey Meaux famous for producing The Sir Douglas Quintet.

Pure Jade Green - Bootleg / Purple Grass Growing (1969)

So I go to a record show last November, the first I had been to since 2019, hoping to score some 45's, but was sorely disappointed when I discovered the pickins' were real slim. The usual vendors that I'd buy from hadn't brought anything in the way of 45's, I guess L.P.s are where the real money is at these days.

    People must have some real deep pockets, I mean, I own a nice modest home smack dab in the middle of suburbia on a quiet street, my wife and I make a decent living, but I'm constantly struggling to find extra cash to buy vinyl. Who the hell lays out $175 on a copy of  The Velvet Underground's first album? I had two of those that I'm pretty sure I paid 99 cents apiece for back when it was considered an oddity that no right minded person would ever really listen to. (Except myself of course.) I did manage to buy about two dozen albums at $1 a pop, and most of them were pretty good classic rock, you know, The Doors' 1st album, Dark Side Of The Moon, a copy of "Electric Comic Book" by The Blues Magoos, "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock, and a copy of  The Alan Bown's self titled L.P. which is pretty scarce. Just trying to fill holes in my L.P. collection, ya know? 

   Anyway, I come up on this one guy who has a box of junk and he asked me if I'd take the whole lot for $20. I have friends who go to auctions and buy mass quantities of 45's. They pick through all of them keeping the good stuff, and show up at my house with three gigantic shopping bags full of records that they don't want. Not your typical grocery bags, but the ones you get at Macy's or some other department store, you know the ones with the ropes for handles? Anyway, I kindly declined the vendors offer explaining that I already had too much junk to sift through. I think he was a little insulted but I couldn't tell for sure behind the N95 he was wearing, but I was a nice guy and bought a couple of dollars worth of 45's, and this was one of them. 

   I was pleasantly surprised when I plopped the needle on this. "Bootleg" is a Creedence song that I wasn't too familiar with, at least it's not one of the ones that they play incessantly on classic rock radio, and is actually really good, because Creedence kind of annoys the hell out of me. Maybe it's because they play the same songs incessantly on classic rock radio. Too bad, I really used to like them. The flip is even better, with some very cool fuzz guitar. It kind of reminds me of  The Bubble Puppy who were from Austin, TX a ways down the road from Houston where these guys were from.(Someone out there please correct me if my info is wrong)

   Okay, had to get a rant in here, sorry to bore all of you. On to the next record....

Stoneground - Queen Sweet Dreams / Total Destruction (1970)

A group from San Francisco that included ex Beau Brummel Sal Valentino on vocals. This has some pretty decent guitar work on it and was a pleasant surprise.

Yellow Payges - Slow Down / Frisco Annie (1969)

I have at least 7 or 8 Yellow Payges 45's and they run the gamut from garage/punk to psych/pop. This one's on the psych/pop side. 

Illusion - Together / Don't Push It (1970)

Let's end this with a band from Long Island that had a bunch of 45's on Steed records. "Together" is kind of a "Hey Jude" type thing with a repeating chorus towards the last 1/3 of the song, and it's accompanied by some pretty wild fuzz guitar. The 'B' side ends this post with a typical "rock drum solo", something that you don't usually hear on a 45. Both sides worth listening to.

HERE

 

 

Accidents will happen...

 So, thanks to The Hound, who's ears are finely tuned to this blog, he (or she) noticed that the file for The Move's "Yellow Rainbow" was missing sound in one channel. That's because I hastily edited it without doing any "proof-listening". Lazy on my end. Here's a link to a proper MONO track. Have fun.

The Move - Yellow Rainbow (A&M)

In Dan's Garage...#147

 Greetings music lovers!!!!! I started this post last weekend after attening "Record Store Day" for the very first time in my life last week. I was at one of these events back in 2012, but I was playing with The True Believers that day in a live music event that was tied in to the whole affair and was promoted by a local record store guy. I really didn't do any record shopping 'cause I was so distracted by setting up, playing, blah, blah, blah, and I had just returned from a trip to D.C. that really cut into my schedule, but I had to be there.

So last Saturday I went mostly to go see one of my bandmates who was playing a gig at this rather large record store in Rochester, but being a record collector I had to really witness the "hoopla" involved with "Record Store Day". Turns out, my buddy got sick and wasn't even playing, and the atmosphere was...eh...chaotic? I didn't know where they were keeping the so-called "valuable' "Record Store Day" stuff so I migrated towards the bargain bins (where bottom feeders like me usually reside), and scoured all of them. Long story short, I spent $20 and walked away with 10 L.P.'s including a decent copy of Badfinger's "Straight Up', a huge hole in my collection of albums. 

I'm certain that there's mixed feelings about this event. I get that "exclusives" are part of what record collecting is about. You want that cool stuff that is limited so you can say, "I got that one", but I'm not so sure the cost of these things are worth it. I can safely say I got Badfinger's "Straight Up" now, but do I really need a copy of Dave Mason's "Alone Together Again" for 30+ dollars? Probably not. I know some of you friends out there will strongly disagree with me and that's OK, we love to collect records and revel in the joy of dropping the needle on them, but personally, I think going out for a day and spending four figures on a bunch of records is way over the top, at least for my budget. Even if I had that kind of money to spend, I'd be looking for originals, and not some repacked stuff on colored vinyl. That's just my opinion.

Glad to be here again, and I'm striving to make this at least a monthly thing. This time around we have some very cool 45's featured so dig in and enjoy!!!!

American Four - Luci Baines / Soul Food (1965)

Here's a pre-Love Arthur Lee re-making the classic "Louie Louie" riff into a serenade for Lyndon Johnson's hip swingin' daughter Luci Baines. I'm not sure if this was a hit, but it sure is a classic. Lee would then go on to form Love, and become a cult hero.

Belairs - Mr. Moto / Little Brown Jug (1962)

I rarely feature instrumentals because A: they don't exactly fit with the general theme of this blog (although that may change sooner than later) and B: I don't collect many of them. This however, is one of my all time favorite instros of all time and it took me years to come across a copy and this one was in decent shape and affordable! The Belairs were from L.A. and featured Eddie Bertrand of Eddie & The Showmen fame and a pre-Standells Dick Dodd. Richard Delvy replaced Dodd on the drums and after the Belairs split up formed The Challengers, another boss surf group that released a slew of cool stuff on Del-Fi.

Overtones - La La La La La / Please Let Me Know (1965)

Here's a great garage band from The Bronx that actually released FOUR 45's on the Ajax record label. I've heard at least one other and it's also very good. On this one they cover The Blendell's "La La La La La" with a very moody flip side.

5X5 - Shake A Tail Feather / Tell Me What To Do (1967)

The Five By Five, as some of you may know, had a slew of 45's on Paula Records. They hailed from Magnolia, Arkansas and released EIGHT 45's and a full length LP on that label. This was their first and is a decent rendition of "Shake A Tail Feather". A lot of people dig the flip side which is a cover of The Uniques' "Tell Me What To Do" which ironically was released on the same label a year before. I need two more Five By Five 45's to complete my collection.....

E-Cellents - And I'm Cryin' / The Slide (1966)

The "E-Cellents" were actually better known as the "X-cellents". They were from Dayton, Ohio and released three 45's, two on Sure Play and one on Smash, a nationally distributed label. Apparently, they misspelled the band's name on this 45 which caused some confusion amongst the Dayton, OH record buying public.

Deadlys - On The Road Again (1966)

Penetrations - Midnight Hour (1966)

I don't like to feature re-issues or bootleg 45's on this blog because I try to find originals. In the case of this 45 there is no "original 45" as both of these songs were taken from a "sampler L.P." that came out on Hillside Records, a label out of Columbus, Ohio that had a dozen or so 45's released on it, most being Country and a bit of Soul. They did though, release an L.P. of local bands in 1966 which is very sought after by collectors of Garage bands and these two songs were taken from it. I'm not sure if these are the best examples from that record, but I do know that The Deadlys "On The Road Again" was on a "Highs In The Mid Sixties" comp and is certainly deadly in terms of garage band cred. "Midnight Hour" is no slouch either. It seems as if all of this was recorded in a high school auditorium on the same day, because there's really no difference in in the quality of the recordings (next up...THE DEADLYS!). There's a few of these 45's floating around on Ebay at a decent price. By the way...dig the colored vinyl! Highly recommended.

Esquires - It's A Dirty Shame / Love Hides A Multitude Of Sins (1966)

The Esquires were a Canadian band out of Ottawa, Ontario that started as an instrumental group, they backed Any Kim early in their career and kind of migrated towards being a vocal band. They released several 45's and once had Don Norman (of The Other 4) and Bruce Cockburn in the group. Both sides of this 45 are really hip and it's one of my better finds from 2022.

Bad Boys - The Owl And The Pussycat / That's What I'll Do (1965)

Gadzooks!!!! I completely skipped this 45 in the original post. The Bad Boys were a British band that had most of their success in Italy, in fact they released 10 45's there. They didn't fare as well in the U.K. (one 45 on Piccadilly), and this one release in the U.S. on Warner Brothers. The 'A' side is pretty good, but I prefer the 'B' side. Sorry for the screwup..........

Cut-Ups - Everything's Yellow (1967)

Here's a 45 that I came across very early in my days of crate digging at "Fat Chuck's" warehouse in downtown Rochester. Fat Chuck bought the entire library of records from former radio station WSAY, a LEGENDARY spot on the dial that was run by on old guy named Gordon Brown. After he passed on, the station got sold along with it's contents, but I digress. 

Chuck's inventory was literally in cardboard boxes. Boxes of all types including fruit boxes and the like, but it was an amazing place! Lot's of things were sorted by label which is where I found my copies of The Sparkles "Hipsville 29 B.C. and Neal Ford And The Fanatics' "Shame On You" as well as Roy Jr.'s "Victim Of Circumstance". 

So anytime I'd come across a record on the Hickory label I was thinking, "good stuff here" right??? Well.....maybe not so much. I played this one and after the first 15 seconds or so I thought, yeah baby, KILLER! No, not so much. This isn't a Horrible record, but it's rather unique in it's mashup of garage and pop. I was able to find a nice copy for real cheap because, hell, I wouldn't pay a lot for this, but it has strangely grown on me over the years....

Three People - Have You Ever Been There / The Good Times (1966)

I like this 45 because it reminds me of The Seekers, and I love that group because they had this rather innocent style of folk music unlike the folk groups in the U.S. that were mainly into political and social issues. Not being into politics when you're trying to reach the public can be a good thing IN MY HONEST OPINION, should be avoided. But that's just MY HONEST OPINION. That being said, Three People, who were from Manchester released three 45's, three in the U.K. and this lonely one here in the U.S. Apparently, Deep Purple bassist and producer Roger Glover wrote the A side to this and Episode Six made a demo of it before Three People got a hold of it and turned it into a very nice meaningful folk rock tune.

Lovin' Cohens - Noshville Katz / Shoily Klien (1966)

I don't usually feature "novelty" songs on this blog unless they're really cool. This is one of them. I'm going to keep this short, because I love Jewish culture, and it really is like Italian culture (where I was brought up) where food is an important component to daily living.

This tune, which is a re-make of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Nashville Cats" is hilarious! The 'B' side is not bad either, so if you're near a nice kosher deli grab a potato knish, or a corned beef on rye, and play this while you're noshing. Eat darling, eat.

Koffee Beans - Orange Colored Penguin / Ad Man (1970)

Koffee Beans were a group out of the Baltimore, MD area and once were The Henchmen, a band that released a KILLER 45 on Ru-Jac. Obviously as the years went on, they went a bit "progressive", changed their name to Koffee Beans and released two 45's on the Format label. Both of these are really good and this one is a little more on the psychedelic side.

Move - Something / Yellow Rainbow (1968)

I love The Move. They were one of the British bands that straddled the line between freakbeat, mod,  and total psychedelia. In my opinion, they were one of the greatest "pre-power pop" bands ever. They had quite a few 45's released here in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and their history is somewhat hard to keep track of, but the main characters in the band were, Roy Wood, Trevor Burton, Ace Kefford, Jeff Lynne... almost a revolving door of British superstars. They would split up several times in their career, evolved into the Electric Light Orchestra, and left us with some very cool music. This 45 from 1968 is one of their best.

Bob Seger - Tales Of Lucy Blue (1968)

I was at a record show (or 'fair" as some folks call them these days) and came across a seller who was basically trying to get rid of shit. Seriously, he had a box of 45's that were mostly garbage, but had a few cool things in it and asked me if I would take the entire box off his hands for $25. I declined, as a dear friend of mine (Rox, are you reading this???) gave me three large shopping bags full of 45's a few months before, and I'm still trying to sort though all of them. Anyway....I did buy a half dozen or so from him at 25¢ apiece and this was one of them. I gotta admit, I love Seger's early work on Cameo Records, but I kinda have to put my foot through the radio when I hear the typical "classic rock" stuff that's played 500 times a day on FM radio. This tune here was the flip of "Rambin' Gamblin' Man" one of his better songs that transitioned him into an FM mainstay. I'm posting this one, because it's really freakin' cool and possibly one of his last garage/psyche songs ever to be released.

Neil MacArthur - She's Not There / World Of Glass (1969)

Neil MacArthur is one of my favorites and was actually Colin Blunstone post Zombies and released three 45's that were produced by Mike Hurst a guy that was involved with Dusty Springfield in "The Springfields", a band called "The Methods" that included Tony Ashton and Jimmy Page, and then discovered Cat Stevens and produced some of his early hits on Deram, as well as producing Manfred Mann's "Mighty Quinn", Marc Bolan's "The Wizard", The Spencer Davis Group (post Steve Winwood), The Move, plus scores of others. His imprint on these 45's by MacArthur are not exactly "rock", but a fusion of pop and psychedelia that's rather unique and quite catchy. I love this version of "She's Not There" and I first discovered it watching the Netflix series "The Crown" where they used it for the closing credits of an episode.

HERE 

In Dan's Garage...#146

 Greetings music lovers! As promised at the beginning of the year, I would at some point resume this blog, something I've neglected to do for way too long. I started this post last year and started ripping 45's and scanning labels. At some point I reshuffled stuff and the un-scanned 45's got lost in one of my many boxes of records laying around my workstation so I put it off until I could retrieve them. This week I got lucky and happened to find them so I resumed the task of ripping and scanning and this one came together quite nicely. Records haven't been pouring in, but whatever I do get seems to be of good quality and I'm happy to share some of them this time around. Good news is, as I've said before, I have LOADS of stuff yet to be posted. I'm just not as organized as I should be!!!! So please dig in to this newest edition of "Dan's Garage", I'm sure you'll all enjoy it.

P.S. Thanks to all of my friends and followers who have stuck around for this. You're what makes this blog worthwhile. 

Idle Few - Farmer John (1966)

The Idle Few were from Indianapolis and released this great version of "Farmer John" with a very lame flip side. Actually, the flip was the 'A', but this tune is way better IMHO. This also came out on Dunwich records.

Tri-Counts - You've Got It (1965?)

I can't exactly nail down a date on this particular 45. BRB Records had only three releases that I'm aware of, and trying to figure out where they are from also turns up a lot of dead ends. My best guess is that this is an east coast band, perhaps from Pennsylvania? I don't know, but I really love this cheezy re-work of the Bell Notes' "I've Had It" into "You've Got It"!

Jim & Monica - Slippin' And Slidin' (1964)

Jim And Monica were from the Chicago area, and from what I gather were a popular act. Somewhere along the way, people started thinking that this was Jimmy Gilmer from the Fireballs, but I guess that theory has been debunked. 

Ian & The Zodiacs - The Crying Game / Livin' Lovin' Wreck (1964)

Ian & The Zodiacs were a pretty good band from Liverpool, unfortunately, they never achieved the fame and fortune that The Beatles acquired, not that they weren't decent musicians, they just "were who they were", a really good band that played some really good songs that never quite made it. I, for one, think they were very good, in fact I have all their 45's that were released here in the U.S. and "Why Can't It Be Me" is right up there with any Beatles song from the pre Rubber Soul era. That being said, Ian & The Zodiacs will unfortunately be just a footnote in the history of "Merseybeat". It should also be noted that the band travelled to Hamburg to play the Star Club in '64 and became so popular there that they stayed on for another three years.

Volcanoes - Someone Like You / Two Of A Kind (1966)

Here's one that threw me off. Upon listening to this 45 I always assumed (when you ASSUME you make an ASS of U and ME) that this was a group from the south. Thanks to the fine people at garagehangover.com, I got the straight scoop. These guys were actually from Burlington, Vermont, not exactly a hotbed of garage band activity, but hey, even teenagers in Burlington needed to let loose once and a while, and I guess The Volcanoes were the band that delivered!

Jack Eely & The Courtmen - Louie Go Home / Ride Ride Baby (1966)

Ya gotta love Jack Eely. He was thee undisputed voice, of "Louie Louie", but when he got back from a stint in the armed forces,and was ready to resume his duties as The Kingsmen's lead vocalist, Lynn Easton kind of shut him out, soooooo, he formed the Squires and had a superb 45 on RCA (as Jake E. Lee) with "Love That Louie" which rivals "Louie", and then moved on to Bang records where he, and The Courtmen, released two 45's in typical Pacific Northwest form. The first being "Louie Louie '66" and the second, this rendition of the classic "Louie Go Home". Unfortunately Jack Eely's career faded at this point, but at least he left us with some true frat-rock classics. 

Lords Of London - Time Waits For No One / Cornflakes And Ice Cream (1967)

The Lords Of London were a group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada that released three 45's up north and two here in the U.S. I'm giving the 'B' side on this one feature status, not because it stinks, but because "Time Waits For No One" is clearly the superior track. "Cornflakes And Ice Cream" is pretty much what the title describes. Very good Bubblegum Rock.

Critters - No One But You / I'm Telling Everyone (1967)

Not sure what the real story is on this 45, apparently this record was released in '67 in the wake of the success The Critters had with "Mr. Diengnly Sad" as a cash in? These sides are supposedly either Critters demos from '65 or so, or not even them at all. There were also lawsuits filed to get it pulled off the market. I think this is better than anything else they ever put out, a nice moody garage band two sider.

Easybeats - Falling Off The Edge Of The World / Remember Sam (1967)

I love the Easybeats, one of the best beat groups from the'60's, a band that should have gone further even though "Friday On My Mind" was a smash in the U.S. The released two L.P.'s in the States, "Friday On My Mind", which was produced by Shel Talmy and "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" (Titled "Vigil" everywhere else) produced by Mike Vaughn an recorded here in the U.S. while they were on tour. Side 'A' is from the latter and side 'B' from the former. Personally, I consider the stuff produced by Talmy to be far superior and all the cuts he produced for them are my favorites, especially "Remember Sam" one of the best songs ever. A gem.

Nazar Blues - Ninety Nine And A Half / Hubie (1967?)

Heres one that I have a little bit of info on. The Nazar Blues were from the Columbus, OH area and I guess according to Buckeye Beat, were quite popular. Decent R&B/Soul with a blues instro on the 'B' side.

Group Therapy - Thoughts / Come On (1967)

Joe Renzetti was a session guitarist and producer that did a lot of work for Mercury, Philips, & Smash records including producing Keith's "98.6" and Sunny by Bobby Hebb. This must've been some kind of one-off studio concoction as both sides are quite different from each other. one's real psychedelic and the other is R&B/Soul. Renzetti was from Philadelphia by the way and did play guitar on a lot of Cameo/Parkway records including "Let's Twist Again".

Sidewalk Skipper Band - Strawberry Tuesday / Cynthia At The Garden (1967)

This group was from Milwaukee, WI and released two 45's on Capitol which were recorded at Universal Recording in Chicago and one on Teen Town, a local Milwaukee label. Very nice pop/psyche on this 45.

Ronnie Burns - All The Kings Horses / Coalman (1967)

Ronnie Burns was a popular guy in Australia during the mid-sixties and his career extended into the 80's although he apparently moved towards "Adult-Contemporary" music. He started his career with The Flies who were a pretty good beat group and went solo around the end of 1966. In 1967, he hooked up with the Gibb brothers of Bee Gees fame, that had recorded a bunch of material, and Ronnie laid vocal tracks over them. This excellent two sider is a great example and "Coalman" is the standout track here.

Fearn's Foundry - Now I Taste The Tears / Love, Sink, and Drown (1968)

Here's a real sad tale o' woe. I featured this song way back in 2018 on IDG #130 and was done by The Smiths. I guess this is the original version? It was written by Buzz Clifford, a guitarist, songwriter, and producer. He was also a member of Hamilton Streetcar and Carp with Gary Busey. Fearns Foundry was was a Mod/Soul band from the U.K. and was knowns as "Fearns Brass Foundry". As for Noel Walker who produced this, his name shows up on many Decca and Deram records so it's probably safe to assume he was a staff producer. A few of his credits include The Big Three, The Bachelors, The Eyes Of Blue, The Fortunes, The Amen Corner, plus scores of others.

Spectrum - London Bridge Is Falling Down (1968)

Pretty good pop/psyche from a band out of the U.K., even if it is a re-work of a nursery rhyme.

Brimstone - Blowin' In The Wind / Trinket (1969)

I'm not certain of where Brimstone is from, but they're not related to a band with the same name that was from Ohio. I've read some info that these guys were from Florida, but it's on a N.Y.C. label. "Trinket" is good Soul/Psyche and their version of "Blowin' In The Wind" has an interesting gospel flair to it.

Esko Affair - Morning Dull Fires (1969)

Of the four sides these guys recorded, two were blue eyed soul, one was "On Broadway" done in a heavy Vanilla Fudge style, and then this wicked ass piece of psychedelia which is by far their best song. Unfortunately, my copy is pretty scratchy, but plays well enough (I guess) to enjoy. I wish I knew what the words to the chorus were because I don't know what "Morning Dull Fires" refer to. From Philadelphia.

HERE