Dan's Garage...#160

Greetings, Music Lovers!!! So glad to be back again with another wad of "interesting" 45s, to say the least. During my moratorium on buying new things, I've been able to root around in boxes of records that I haven't yet posted, and this one I'm working on is quite good, but that's subject to interpretation. This bunch ranges from early 60s British Beat to some good ol' hard rockin' sounds from the early 70s, so please dig in!

Dowlands - All My Loving / Hey Sally (1964)

The Dowlands were brothers Gordon and David, who did an Everly Brothers thing, and they were rather good at it. In 1963, they went into Joe Meek's studio. They recorded this two-sider, a decent version of The Beatles' "All My Loving" and "Hey Sally" as the 'B' side, a great original that highlights their Everly Brothers influence. 

Jackasses - Sugaree / Shake It Up (1964)

Out of Vancouver, WA comes this cool frat-rock two sider by a band that called themselves "The Jackasses". That's right up there with The Boogers and The Electric Toilet amongst others. They give the ol' Marty Robins nugget a great make over and the flip's pretty cool too.

U.S. Male - You Make Me Feel Good / What's Happened To You (1966)

I couldn't find a lot of information on this group, but indications suggest they're from Detroit or somewhere in Michigan. That'd make sense given the graphics on the label. These guys really liked the Zombies a lot because they covered one of their songs on each of their two 45s. On this one, they do a good job with "You Make Me Feel Good", although it has some annoying horns in it.

Troys - Gotta Fit You Into My Life / Take Care (1968)

Typical horn-driven Chicago R&B/Pop. A Dunwich production.

Chessmen - All By Myself / Sometimes I Wonder (1966)

I must admit quite a bit of ignorance on this particular 45. Although it comes from a Nashville address, you never really know because groups came from all around to record there. There were two other 45s on this label, but neither of those leaves any clues. In any case, we have a hot mash-up of Garage and R&B  on this 45, pretty typical of what came out from this area in the mid-sixties.

Hard Times - Come To Your Window / That's All I'll Do (1966)

Perhaps The Hard Times weren't the greatest "garage band" in the '60s; in fact, they were what I would call a "middle of the road" '60s group. But I can't think of ONE bad side they ever recorded or released. They would evolve into The New Phoenix, another band that released an excellent 45 on World Pacific. They would even later on splinter into T.I.M.E. and Ratchell, and guitarist Larry Byrom would eventually join Steppenwolf.

Hobbits - Daffodil Days / Sunny Day Girl (1967)

Decent late '60s flower pop produced by Terry Phillips, who founded budget label Pickwick. Most likely a studio group with arrangements by Jimmy Curtiss and Jerry Vance, all guys who worked together to produce "hit" records created in the studio.

Standells - Animal Girl / Soul Drippin' (1968)

Sorry for breaking my rules, but here's another 45 on Tower Records...

I recall back in what I think was the summer of 1983, going to The House Of Guitars and buying a bunch of "garage band" LPs. One of them was "The Best Of The Standells" a terrific compilation on Rhino Records. Of course, you had all the great songs, Dirty Water, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, but as the album progressed, I could see they were shifting from the "Dirty Water" garage punkers to a more, dare I say, progressive sound???  "Animal Girl" was the last song on that album and sounded completely out of place. Fast forward 30-some odd years later, and I was able to obtain a copy of what would be their last 45 on Tower Records. This is really not that bad if you take it on face value. By this time, The Wrecking Crew were probably doing all the studio performing, and let's face it, this ain't The Standells as we knew them. But it is a great song.

Junior Markham & The Tulsa Review - Black Cherry / Gonna Send You Back To Georgia (1969)

From Tulsa, OK, Junior Markham epitomizes the swampy R&B/Rock And Roll vibe that guys like J.J. Cale and Leon Russel perfected in the '70s through the '80s. Excellent two-sider, sorry for the sound quality, but I can only get what I get.  

Trakstod - Carolina Train / Say Hello (1969)

A bit of Bubblegum from a band out of California. They weren't from Carolina, but they did tour with a local band from there called "Initial Shock".

Rhinoceros - Apricot Brandy / When You Say You're Sorry (1969)

One of many bands that Paul A. Rothschild brought over to Elektra Records, like The Stooges, Clear Light, Paul Butterfield, and, of course, The Doors. Rhinoceros was something of a "super group" in that it had members from The Iron Butterfly, The Daily Flash, The Electric Flag, and The Mothers of Invention. Their LP was actually pretty good, mixing R&B with a bit of Psychedelia. They would release three albums before calling it quits in 1971.

Sterling Silver - What Ya Tryin' To Do / You Got Me Goin' (????)

Here's a real headscratcher. This is obviously a '70s, possibly early '80s 45, but I have no solid info on this band. Both sides are good. They're not really progressive, punk, or garage, but middle-of-the-road mainstream Rock & Roll from what I believe to be somewhere in the Midwest, most likely Ohio, but I certainly can't confirm that. It looks like it might be a Rite Records Co. pressing, but none of the matrix numbers line up with my research. Of course, I may be totally wrong here, but this is a cool 45 worth a spin.

Bad Boy - Disco / I've Had Enough (1977)

I whipped this one out of a box hiding in a corner somewhere in the deep dark crevasses of Dan's Garage Central, because I don't usually post Hard Rock here, especially mainstream-sounding stuff like this, but I couldn't help myself. This is the kind of shit my high school act "Razz" would've come up with when I was 17 years old. 

As I write this, I'm coming to the end of an extended leave from work due to shoulder surgery I had back at the end of March. I've never in my entire life as a working stiff, taken this much time off for anything. I really enjoyed this reprieve from the day-to-day grind, and it certainly got me back to this blog, which I love so much, mainly, as you all know, because it gives me a reason to play my records!

I go back to the daily grind next week, so things will probably slow down to a crawl, but please keep looking for posts. I'm going to try to get at least one in every month. Thanks again for all the kind comments. I really appreciate them. See you sometime next month and hopefully the upcoming holidays won't slow me down. Too much....

HERE

 

 

 

Dan's Garage #159

Greetings, music lovers! I wanted to get this out by the end of July, but a lot of personal stuff got in the way. As usual, I have a wad of 45s here that range from straight-up garage to pop/bubblegum/psyche and just general weirdness. I hope you like...

Dyanatones - Steel Guitar Rag / The Girl I'm Searching For (1959)

There were several "Dynatones" from the 50's through the '80s (at least). There were The Dynatones from Peterborough, UK, The Dynatones from W. Virginia that had a minor hit "The Fife Piper" on HBR, a couple of polka bands that called themselves The Dynatones, & The Dynatones from San Francisco, who backed up Charlie Musselwhite for a bit, and I was rather fortunate enough to see them perform at The Casablanca a night club here in Rochester back in the early eighties. That was a hell of a show, and those guys couldn't have been nicer bunch of guys, including Charlie Musselwhite himself. I'm going to off on a tangent here...

 I played in a blues band called "Shake Down" back in the early 80's, and we had a harp player named Joe Manuel. He was a Paul Butterfield devotee if you know what I mean, and we went to see Charlie who was backed by The Dynatones back then. Joe kept harping (no pun intended) on how Charlie claimed he could hit three octaves on the last note of a harmonica. Joe couldn't do it so he thought it was BS. So here we are yukking it up with the guitarist after the show, I think his name was Rick Welker, anyway, he invites us backstage and everybody's hanging out and Charlie's sitting there still wearing his shades drinking a glass of wine (I remember this like it was yesterday) and we shook hands exchanged niceties and Joe blurts out, "is it true you can hit three octaves on the top note of your harp?", so Charlie demonstrates that he actually could. Now, mind you, having to hit that note in a performance is totally unnecessary, and it doesn't really sound great, but HE DID HIT IT. Joe was not impressed. He was expecting some kind of God-like wail, so he said something to the effect of, "I thought you could hit that note?" and Charlie calmly responded with a "Well..I hit it, didn't I?" Joe shut up after that.

The  Dynatones on this 45 were apparently from Philadelphia, PA, and had a few 45s that were mostly instrumental, although this one has a decent vocal teen ballad on the flip.  

Accents - You Don't Love Me / Searchin' (1964)

The Accents from Minneapolis, MN were one of that town's most popular acts along with The Trashmen and Gregory Dee & The Avanties. A great frat rock two sider here.

Fantastic Dee Jays - Love Is Tuff / Just A Boy (1966)

I was first introduced to The Fantastic Dee-Jays way back in 1984. My pals Mike Murray & Mick Alber played "Fight Fire" on their Sunday radio show, "Psychedelic Sunday"(naturally). The Chesterfield Kings would later include it on their "Stop!" album. 

I was one of those guys back in the early 80's who bought everything I could get my hands on in the area of garage band comps and re-issues, so the Fantastic Dee-Jays were on my radar at the time. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed with that L.P. Lots of lightweight garage band stuff, not exactly what I was looking for at the time,  but I was lucky enough to score this 45, a great two sider that is totally representative of what these guys were doing at the time. 

The Fantastic Dee-Jays are always thought to be from Pittsburgh, PA, but they were from McKeesport, just the other side of the Monongahela River.

3's A Crowd - Making Do / I Don't Mind At All (1966)

Truly, a loser's anthem. These three guys from Springfield, IL, left us with two pretty cool 45s before packing it in. This was probably recorded at The Golden Voice recording studio up in S. Pekin, IL, a place where some extremely cool 45's were recorded. I can't confirm that, but their second was recorded there. "Making Do" is perhaps one of the best songs for "losery" guys as it explains how a high school nerd can score chicks just by concentrating on "the plain" ones instead of the leader of the cheerleader squad. All those lonely jocks, sitting at home with no dates because of the hot competition, but our singer here has no issues because he "treats them wonderfully," and hey...they're all "clamoring" for him! Sounds like a great set-up to me! I have firsthand experience with this tactic. I was too out of shape to make the football or wrestling team, forget basketball; I just didn't have the height, and to this day, I can't swing a baseball bat right (not to mention a golf club). But I did get hooked up with the P.A.C. at ol' A.Q. (that would be Aquinas Institute). The Performing Arts Club put on plays and musicals, and all the best-looking chicks who weren't cheerleaders joined up. It was the perfect arrangement. ;) B.T.W., I love how the label calls this a "Bossa Nova".

Aardvarks - Let's Move Together / Cherie Can't You Tell (1967)

The Aardvarks were from Muskegon, MI, just outside of Grand Rapids, and had four 45's all of which are killer. This was their second last, or last if you want to count the fact that this was re-released on a different label a year later.

Robbs - Race With The Wind / In A Funny Sort Of Way (1966)

The Robbs from Oconomowoc, WI, have the dubious reputation of having the most records "bubbling under" the Billboard Hot 100 without ever making it into the actual top 100 chart. This is unfortunate because they were a pretty good band worthy of at least one hit. This probably could've been it, but who knows? They recorded five 45s for Mercury, two for Atlantic, and three for Dunhill without any real success. They were also featured as the house band on Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is". You'd think that all that exposure would get them somewhere, right? Meh, not so much. This 45 is very good and stands up to the best that came out in that era. 

Bob Morrison - The Work Song / Go Away (1967)

My first encounter with Bob Morrison was finding "Hey Puppet Man" at Fat Chuck's warehouse way back in 1985. That 45 was a decent find with lots of fuzz guitar and some snotty vocals. He had five other 45s on Columbia, and they are all quite different from each other. He even released a Christmas 45!  Morrison would later move to Nashville and record a few records for Monument, an album on Capitol that went nowhere, and then became a prolific writer of Country songs his most famous being "Looking For Love", the theme song of "Urban Cowboy". Quite a career if I do say so myself! This 45 is a version of "The Work Song", a song co-written by Jazz artist Nat Adderley and covered by a plethora of singers, including Bob Morrison. 

Kathy & Larry - Magic Island / Time (1967)

Trying to get info on this duo is kinda tough. I didn't realize that I have two 45s by this act, and I don't think I've posted the other, which, to my recollection, is way better. This one isn't bad, though a bit more on the pop side. Kathy and Larry were definitely trying to ride the wave of girl/guy duos in the mid-sixties like Sonny & Cher, Friend & Lover, etc. What I do know is that Challenge records stalwarts Keith Colley and Knox Henderson both had their hands on this 45 and may have been part of the band that recorded this. 

Cinema - Looking Into A Dream / Tomorrow (1969)

I acquired this 45 in a lot that was mostly oddball girl groups or bands that had female lead singers. It was a pretty interesting bunch of 45s, and this is perhaps the most interesting because I got a message from the trombone player's brother stating that there were only SIX "test pressings" of this 45, and everyone in his family owned them. Well, either one of his family members coughed up a copy to sell on eBay, or there's more floating around than he thinks. This is horn-driven, shall I say, "progressive" rock with a heavy jazz influence, and the A side gets into some wild improvisations in the middle of the song.

Congregation - Sitting In A Rocking Chair / Sun Shines On My Street (1969)

Better than average Sunshine Pop.

Fever Tree - I Am (1970)

Solid 45 by Fever Tree from 1970.

Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids - Muleskinner Blues / Teenage Eyes (1972)

I remember the fall of 1973. I was 13 years old, and everyone in my family was saying how I was now a "teenybopper." I remember Thanksgiving of that year in particular because my cousin Elvet, who was about four years older than me, was talking about how she saw "American Graffiti" and what a great film it was. So on Thanksgiving night of 1973, my cousins and I, after a nice Thanksgiving feast in the afternoon, trekked over to one of the local movie theatres to see "American Graffiti". I distinctly remember the first time I saw the scene at the sock hop where there was a band playing, and one of the guys had a Stratocaster, and they looked so 50's cool. 

That was Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids. 

I also remember them having an LP on Private Stock records called "Sons Of The Beaches", but I was unaware of this 45 on Epic before they actually became a thing.

Both sides of this fall firmly into the "50's Revival" camp that was huge in the early 70's. Most of that was fueled by American Graffitti, the Broadway musical Grease, which was getting big before the film came out, and an episode of "Love American Style" that was basically the pilot for "Happy Days" and let's not forget Chuck Berry's biggest hit "My Ding A Ling" although as a Chuck Berry aficionado, I'd like to forget it, not to mention Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" which was a HUGE hit in that era.

There was lots more, but my memory gets a wee bit foggy. But this 45 is really good and it doesn't get bogged down with 50's cliches. Oh, by the way...Kim Fowley produced this, so you know it's going to be O.K.!

Redeye - Games / Collections Of Yesterday And Tomorrow (1970)

While we're on the subject of early 70's hits, this one was never huge, but I distinctly remember hearing it on AM radio at the time. You remember??? AM radio??? That was the soundtrack of my youth. It was always blasting from some radio somewhere, and you got to hear all of the "big hits". Those were good memories. Redeye was a band from California, and a lot of people compared them to CSNY, although I think they're somewhat poppier. Leader Dave Hodgkins was formerly in The Sunshine Company, which would explain all the great vocal harmonies.

?? San-Jo ?? - The Virgin (1971)

I'm not exactly sure what drew me to this particular 45. Who the hell is this mystery singer "?? San-Jo ??"? For starters, this is the 'B' side of a 45 by The Tokyo Happy Coats, a quintet of sisters from Japan that supposedly played 100 different instruments. They were featured on the Ed Sullivan Show, and recorded a bunch of stuff for King Records and its affiliates. I didn't put their side of the record on here as it falls waaaay out of the boundaries of this blog, but click on the link above and you'll get a taste of this fine act.

But who was San-Jo? I don't think we'll ever know. I did a bit of research on this, and perhaps she was related to producer Bob Marsano?  I can't say for certain, but this tune is kinda out there, real "outsider" stuff if you know what I mean. Eerie folks sounds with some cheesy organ and distant fuzz guitar thrown in. Very cool.

HERE

 

  

In Dan's Garage...#158

 

Greetings music lovers and welcome to Summer 2025! Oh yeah, Ima justa waitin' to have some good times these next couple of months and the upcoming "Fourth Of July Week" is a great place to start. I'm heading over to a weekly flea market in nearby Avon, NY this Sunday, something  they've been doing for years and this is going to be my first go around. Hopefully we'll find some good wax there to feature on the show! Wish me luck! 

On the more somber side of things, it seems that some of our more beloved rock musicians are seemingly leaving us in droves. Brian Wilson, James Lowe of the Electric Prunes, Sly Stone, Rick Derringer, and Mick Ralphs, and teen idol Bobby Sherman just to name a few. Fortunately most of these guys lived fairly long lives and gave us some very enjoyable music, especially Brian Wilson. Between 1965 and 1967 he wrote some of the greatest music of all time. I mean that. He was a guy that had to grow on me over the years. I always viewed The Beach Boys as a "lightweight" act singing surf songs and slow ballads like "Surfer Girl". They were kinda held in high regard by my brother Vinny who really loved them and compared them somewhat to the Beatles in a sense, or at least that's what I remember. "Surfin Safari" got a lot of playtime when I wad a kid. I guess back then he saw something in them that I didn't. As I grew older and wiser I learned to view or rather "hear" music quite differently. I started to break things down and analyze songs instead of just having them go in one ear and out the other. To be honest, I react to music viscerally as opposed to cerebrally, but there's this part of my brain that likes to listen to something, and as a musician myself say, "what the hell were these guys and gals thinking when they recorded this???"

As a fledgling "record producer" I I'm fascinated by the way songs were recorded and especially arranged. Some of this stuff blows my mind and every day I learn something new about what guys like Brian Wilson did in the studio. He was a true genius and he will be missed.

One of the more lesser known artists that passed away recently was James Lowe of The Electric Prunes. They were actually one of the more creative bands from the 1960's but in my opinion, their moniker kept them from hitting the real big time. I know...in that era you had all sorts of kooky names, but prunes aren't exactly something that people endear themselves to. In any case, The Prunes were a hell of a band and they had what I would consider the template for the "psychedelic garage band sound". I've featured a couple of songs by them on this blog, and I'm including one of their best in this edition.

I was never really a fan of Sly Stone, but he did produce some really cool records in the mid 60's for The Mojo Men, The Vejtables, and The Beau Brummels. A lot of music fans will miss him.

 

As I grew into my teens and began playing the guitar, my brother Vic, also a guitarist, was heavily into glam rock ala Bowie and Mott The Hoople who he thought were great. I remember his band playing "Driving Sister" and always thought that was a cool song. Ralphs would later join Bad Company, perhaps one of the greatest hard rock bands of the 70's and the rest is history. 

Honorable mention goes to teen idol Bobby Sherman. I remember him being a guest star on the last episode of season 1 of  "The Partridge Family". Good times for a 10 year old indeed.

These artists will all be remembered for bringing us some good times in our life. May they all rest in peace.

I've got another "potpourri" of 45's to share this time around, with perhaps a little less focus on poppier sounds. I have been coming across more instrumentals these days and I hope you all like them. I'm already working on the next post so stay tuned. In the meantime please enjoy this one.

Round Robin - Land Of A 1000 Dances "The Na Na Song" / Yea Yea (1965)

Round Robin was a guy named Robin Lloyd who had a bunch of 45's on Domain Records like "Do The Slauson". This was his version of "Land of A 100 Dances" and it pretty much falls in line with all the other versions out of L.A.

Rondels - Back Beat No.1 / Shades Of Green (1961)

Not to be confused with the "Ron-Dels" that featured Delbert McClinton or even the very obscure "Rondells" from Louisville, KY. This was an east coast group, from Boston perhaps? They released five 45's on Amy which were all instrumentals, I believe, and a couple on Nota Records out of Boston, Mass. (I featured one of the Nota 45's in IDG #145). Pretty tough sounding instros on both sides.

David Wilson & The Characters - Jamie / With All My Heart (1965)

Here's a head scratcher from a group who's origins I know nothing about. Both sides are lo-fi garage band sounds with a cool Farfisa organ. The 'B' side has a distinctive "Stones" vibe to it.

Rockin' Berries - The Water Is Over My Head / Doesn't Time Fly (1966)

The Rockin' Berries were a rather schizophrenic band out of Birmingham and I don't use the word "schizophrenic" in the pejorative. They were a really good band that had a few hits in the U.K. and they were one of the groups featured in the film "Pop Gear!" amongst other acts from the U.K. like Peter & Gordon, The Animals, The Spencer Davis Group, and The Honeycombs. This 45 is a good example. The 'A' side is a finely crafted pop tune with excellent vocal harmonies that feature a fair bit of falsetto vocals ala The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys. The flip side on the other hand is a straight up rockabilly tune with a couple of way cool short, but nifty guitar solos. I featured one of their other 45's in IDG #8. Boy, was that a long time ago......

Shane - Don't Turn Me Off / That Girl Of Mine (1965)

Here's another record with some twists and turns in it's history. I won't bore you too much or take you too deep into the weeds, "Shane", whoever he was, also released a 45 as "Kenny Shane". The songs were written by Angelo Spezze and his nephew Ken Ancell who I'm guessing is "Shane", although I could be wrong as usual. Both were involved in a bunch of records including some by "Johnny Shane" that came out on Imperial Records. The End.

Jimmy Rabbit - Wishy Washy Woman / My Girl (1965)

Finally, a 45 that has some concrete information. Jimmy Rabbit was from Dallas Texas and was a DJ at KLIF, a popular radio station in the area at the time. Jimmy thought he'd try his hand at being a rock & roll singer so he released a few 45's in 1965 this being one of them. Originally released on the local "Knight" label, it was picked up nationally by Josie Records. Jimmy had a couple of local 45's, and is probably most famous for his version of "Psychotic Reaction" by the "Positively 13 O'clock", a bona fide garage classic. Thanks to the awesome website Garage Hangover for the info.

Electric Prunes - Get Me To The World On Time / Are You Loving Me More (But Enjoying It Less) (1967)

I can't believe it took me this long to feature this 45 on this blog. The Electric Prunes were one of the better bands from the 60's and their first two albums are great examples of West Coast Psychedelic Garage/Rock. Lead vocalist Jim Lowe who just passed away lead the band through their first three albums, but by the time "Just Good Old Rock And Roll" came out, he had departed and the Electric Prunes weren't the same group. In fact, I believe another band recorded that album and was just credited to "The Electric Prunes". The first two L.P.'s are exceptional and this 45 was their third and the follow up to "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night", a masterpiece if there ever was one. Honorable mention goes to producer Dave Hassinger who helped craft the "Prunes" sound. Hassinger would also produce a few early Grateful Dead albums as well as engineering records for The Rolling Stones, The Mama's & The Papas, Frank Sinatra, and a slew of others that recorded at R.C.A. studios in L.A.

Berkeley Kites - Alice In Wonderland / What Goes Up Must Come Down (1969)

A nice sunshine pop group that had three 45's on Minaret Records. No one is exactly sure where they were from, but Nashville, TN or Florida is a good guess. I wish I had more info.

Berry Street Station - Sick Birds Can't Fly / Sweet City Song (1972???)

Typical weirdo Texas shit from a group that had several 45's on a few local Texas labels, this one from Fort Worth. Don't know much else about them.

Graffiti - He's Got The Knack / Love In Spite (1968)

Supposedly the remnants of Washington D.C.'s "The Hangmen" that relocated to NYC and started up this band managing to get a contract with ABC Records and having their L.P. produced by Bob Thiele who worked with guys like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and a bunch of other wild jazz musicians that ended up on ABC or Impulse! Records. Pretty good heavy psyche with some impressive guitar and keyboard work.

Mighty Manfred & The Wonderdogs - Bo Diddley / By The Time I Get To Phoenix (1969)

An obscure garage group. The 'A' side is a good cover of this classic song, but the flip is rather lame.

Stained Glass - Fahrenheit / Twiddle My Thumbs (1969)

One of my favorite groups from the 60's. The Stained Glass probably should've had more success, but they were hamstrung by major labels that didn't promote them properly. Too bad, they left us with some excellent music.

Ars Nova - Pavan For My Lady (Fall Winter Summer Spring) / Zoroaster (1969)

I'm not sure what to make of some of these groups from the 60's like The New York Rock And Roll Ensemble, or The United States Of America, or as we have here, Ars Nova, a band that incorporated classical music with rock. Sometimes this stuff really missed the mark, but I think this 45 is OK.

HERE

In Dan's Garage...#157

 

Well hello again! 

Ya know...I'm getting real close to retirement age and this extended time off is making me chomp at the bit to throw it all in and live the rest of my "golden years" without gainful employment. Unfortunately, I still need a steady income so I can buy lots more records in the future. Ha Ha Ha!!!! Seriously though, I'm liking this time off and since I've been more independent, so to speak, I've been able to get some "light" projects done here at home. Some tasks are a bit difficult like trying to hang a picture on the wall. I can hold a hammer with my right hand ok, but damn if I can reach up for the hook with my left, and no, I can't hammer with my left or I'll just end up crushing my fingers and that would not be a good thing. But I'm on the mend and healing nicely.

I've been meaning to take a trip out west to Buffalo where I hear the record stores are pretty good. I really need a good three or four hours of serious crate digging for cool 45's. Speaking of 45's, this post continues with more "back of the box" stuff. This is a real scattershot post in that you'll get a bunch of different styles of 60's/70's 45's that range from crude instrumentals to glossy pop and some "Neo Garage" as well. I hope you like it.

Wailers - Tall Cool One / Road Runner (1959)

The Wailers from Tacoma, WA were one of the best band to come out of the Pacific Northwest and were an early example of a "garage band", although I usually classify "garage" as anything that came out after the British Invasion in 1964. Early on they were primarily an instrumental band but evolved into a hard nosed R&B based garage band like they're crosstown pals, The Sonics.

This was their 1st 45 and went to #36 on the Billboard charts with a bullet. They would also back  Rockin' Robin Roberts on his 1961 recording of "Louie Louie" whose version and arrangement pretty much set the template for all other versions to follow.

They carried on all the way into 1967 and recently have had many of their early 45s and L.P.'s re-issued on Norton and Sundazed records.

Baskerville Hounds - Space Rock Part One / Space Rock Part Two (1967)

A really popular Cleveland, Ohio group rips off  the Stones' "2120 South Michigan Ave."

Astronauts - Around And Around / Main Title From "Ride The Wild Surf" (1964)

The Astronauts do an admirable job covering Chuck Berry's classic, in fact they released this in August of 1964, beat the Rolling Stones by a couple of months, but unfortunately never gained enough traction on the charts as The Stones would kick off their debut appearance on Ed Sullivan's show in October the same year with this song and...well...that's a hard act to follow, or catch up with. It also appeared on "12X5" their second album and in fact, the Stones' version could be considered the "definitive" version. So this 45 sort of languished in obscurity, "just another Astronauts 45" so to speak. 

The flip side of this is more in their vein. A great moody surf instrumental that was augmented by a bunch of horns and strings.

Fraternity Bros. - Laugh It Off / I Think It's Me (196?)

Not sure about the origins of this one. It was probably released in late '66 or early '67 but I cannot confirm that.  It was produced by Joe South and was most likely a studio project. Lots of "Four Seasons" influence here...

Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring - Please Don't Forget Tonight / For A Moment (1966)

Not too sure about this one either, but it has the same "Four Seasons" vibe as the previous 45.

Equipe '84 - Io Ho In Mente Te / Resta (Stay) (1966)

Equipe '84 were one of the biggest groups in Italy during the 60's and well into the '70's and beyond. Here they tackle the "We Five's" "You Were On My Mind" sung in Italian, and do a decent version of "Stay" on the 'B' side.

Outside of the garage, psyche, bubblegum, sunshine pop etc. that I usually collect, I have a strange fascination with Italian 45's. I have a bunch here, and someday I may do posts on them, although none of what I have falls into "garage" or "psychedelic'. It's mostly what I call "San Remo Pop" from the 60's and 70's. perhaps in the future I may entertain you with that....

Candymen - Georgia Pines (1967)

Ask, and you shall receive.

Main Attraction - Everyday / One Must Cry (1968)

A pop group from Pittsburgh that managed to get an entire LP released on Tower. Interesting arrangements with lots of slick background vocals, some strings, and a Farfisa organ that gives this somewhat well produced 45 a cheezy garage vibe. Not too bad.

Marbles - Only One Woman / By The Light Of A Burning Candle (1968)

The back story on The Marbles is a bit more interesting than the music on this 45, in my opinion. Obviously this British duo which comprised of Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon worked very closely with The Bee Gees who wrote the songs and produced this 45. Gordon played lead guitar on some of The Bee Gees early cuts and The Bee Gees backed him in 1965 on "Little Miss Rhythm And Blues", a terrific slice of Australian R&B Garage Beat. Fast forward to 1967, Gordon leaves for Britain hooks up with his cousin Graham Bonnet and joins the Graham Bonnet Set who later evolved inti The Marbles. Being friends with the Gibb Bros certainly helped as they wrote about a half dozen songs for the duo. They eventually broke up around 1970, Gordon leaving the music business not before releasing a couple of solo LP's and Bonnet would take a turn as a hard rock/heavy metal singer replacing Ronnie James Dio in Rainbow (?) and also doing some time in Alcatraz, The Michael Schenker Group, and released a solo LP featuring the likes of Cozy Powell, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Stays Quo, Mick Moody from Whitesnake, and Deep Purple legend Jon Lord.

As for this 45...it sounds like the Bee Gees had their fingerprints all over it. Not exactly a bad thing.

Marmalade - Hey Joe! / Lovin' Things (1968)

I got this 45 real cheap with a bunch of other stuff and I said to myself, Dan???, how bad could this be? Well, it's pretty damn good. The Marmalade from Glasgow, had a slew 45's before they hit it real big in 1970 with "Reflections Of My Life", a song that was played to death on AM radio here in the states. I always considered them a one hit wonder, but after a lot of digging I found out that this group were very talented and accomplished. A pleasant surprise I might say.

Think - Stop Runnin' Away / Faster Faster (1968)

A west coast group that had two 45's on Columbia. A decent 45 albeit with a lot of brass involved.

Wishbone Ash - Blind Eye / Queen Of  Torture (1971)

The first 45 released by this fantastic band in 1971. I was very fortunate to see Wishbone Ash last November here in Upstate New York at club called "Fanatics" in what one would call a "very intimate" setting. The current lineup which still features Andy Powell on lead guitar is still touring and if they come around to where you live, I would definitely check them out.

Last Nikle - She's The One (1969)

I should have put this one before the Wishbone Ash 45. Heavy brass on this one. Not too bad, but some out there may wretch...

Detroit - Rock And Roll / Box Of Old Roses (1971)

I remember my brother Vinny telling me about this band once when we were having a conversation about Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, and what a great band they were. He mentioned them and said they had this one-off LP released after The Detroit Wheels sort of broke up and told me how they were a great hard rock band. So I'm in The Bop Shop around 1988 and I see this 45 and say what the hell. I played it once, filed it and really never listened to it much. This one here kind of aged like fine wine because when I put on the turntable some 20 years later, I was blessed with some of the finest early 70's hard rock sounds ever. Now, mind you, this was a song I heard Lou Reed sing a gazillion times on "Rock 'N Roll Animal', perhaps one of the finest live LP's ever (in my humble opinion), and wouldn't ya know? Guitar whiz Steve Hunter, the man who laid down some of the finest riffs in hard rock lore with Reed and Aerosmith is playing lead guitar on the A side of this gem. This, again in my humble opinion, is the definitive version of this song. Mitch just blows this out vocally and his backing band is top notch, thanks to Hunter's guitar work and Ryder's trusty drummer and Detroit Wheels band-mate Johnny "Bee" Badanjeck. A+

Free-Men - Elanor Rigby (1969)

I put more instrumentals in this post than I usually do. It really wasn't planned that way, but it's what I came up with. I sometimes have fun getting weird covers of Beatle songs, and this is one of them. I'm guessing "The Free-Men" were a studio group of some kind and I don't exactly know where they were from, but New York City may be a good guess...or not. This sounds like it may have been recorded as a background for a TV commercial or perhaps the intro to some cheezy local late night talk show.

HERE