 Greetings!!! I’m enjoying a late summer day here in lovely Rochester, NY watching the Three Stooges, and doing one of my favorite things…writing this blog. I was going to get into this gigantic thing about my evolution as a record collector, but I think I’ll bore you with that some other time. Instead, I’ll just get right to the records at hand…. |
Teemates – Moving Out / Dream On Little Girl (1964)
 Woah. Here’s a fast paced blaster from the NYC area to start off the festivities. They were considered a Beatles clone, but you can’t tell by the sound of these two tunes. |
Chancellors – Little Latin Lupe Lu / Yo Yo (1964)
 Great version by a bunch from Minneapolis, MN. It’s real indicative of the sound that was coming out in that area about that time sharing the same springy reverbed guitar sound with The Trashmen and other groups. |
Billy Gary & The Grupe – Who Are You / Too Young (1966)
 Lightweight, moody 12 string ballads from an unknown grupe. |
Bruins – Go On And Cry / Can’t Believe You’ve Grown Up (1964)
 Here’s a British band that had two other 45s released in the US, all of them share the same raw, yet restrained invasion style. I read somewhere that Eddie Phillips from the Creation was in this band but I’m probably wrong. |
Dimensions – She’s Boss / Penny (1965)
 A really great 45 from the Pacific NW, Seattle to be exact. I’m not sure if these guys became the “Nu Dimension” featured in IDG #9 |
Four Frogs – I Think I’m Losing You / Mr. Big (1964)
 An unknown group from New Mexico on the infamous Frodeath label which was run by an El Paso DJ named Steve Crosno. I wish I knew more about this particular band, but they were label mates with Danny & The Counts, and Mike Renolds And The Infants Of Soul. Some copies even had a picture sleeve shown here…  |
Gil Bateman – How To Do It / The Night Before (1967)
 Gil Bateman was also from the Pacific NW and had a string of singles on Piccadilly and Panorama records. This one is very pop oriented. The A side sounds a bit like the Lovin’ Spoonful and the B side is a slow moody version of The Beatles’ “The Night Before”. It sounds like The Springfield Rifle may be backing them up on that one. |
Chaps – Remember To Forget Her / You’ll Be Back (1966)
 The second 45 from this band of geniuses out of Pine Bluff, AK. The A side of this is one of finest examples of an American group emulating British sounds. The B side takes a riff from the George Harrison’s “I Need You”. |
Upper Class – Help Me Find A Way / Can’t Wait (1967)
 Nice upbeat pop sounds with good vocal harmonies from a Fort Worth, TX group. This would later be picked up for national release by Smash Records but unfortunately went nowhere….. |
Improper Bostonians – Come To Me Baby / Set You Free This Time (1967)
 I wish I knew more about these guys. They got a real nice folk rock sound on this one and do a great version of The Byrds’ “Set You Free This Time” on the B side which gets mucked up by a stupid kazoo solo. |
Grass Roots – Depressed Feeing (1967)
 The vastly overlooked flip side to their great “Let’s Live For Today”. The Grass Roots recorded some very good music before becoming a horn dominated pop group. |
Blues Project – No Time Like The Right Time / Steve’s Song (1967)
 One of the great bands to come out New York City during the 60’s. Guitarist Danny Kalb started the group after appearing solo on an album entitled “The Blues Project”, a collection of folk blues tracks by various artists. Al Kooper saw them in their early days and liked them so much he joined the band playing keyboards. These two songs were taken from the “Live At Town Hall” LP. |
Blues Magoos – Pipe Dream / There’s A Chance We Can Make It (1967)
 Another great New York City group who did the Greenwich Village scene with the aforementioned Blues Project. The Magoos’ sound was definitely of the psychedelic variety and it shows on this fantastic two sider. |
Amboy Dukes – You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire (1968)
 Ted Nugent burns (as usual) on this wild follow up to “Journey To The Center Of The Mind” |
Flamin’ Groovies – Somethin’ Else / Laurie Did It (1969)
 Not much needs to be said about these legends of Power Pop. This 45 was taken from their debut LP on Epic. |
