Comped to Death

Sometimes there are just some songs that are available in a bunch of different places that are just too good not to throw up here for the fuck of it. I don't know, maybe there are still some folks who haven't been overexposed to the bottomless pit of Nuggets and Pebbles collections and are unaware of some of these things. Or perhaps you're just some kind of weirdo who really like to have crackles and pops in their mp3s so they can pretend they're having an analog experience. I don't care I really really fucking love this stuff.

 

the Rationals (1966)

the Rationals were from Ann Arbor, MI. The A side is a decent enough cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" that apparently was a minor hit in a few markets around the country, but not enough to really take them to the next level. It's Ok. But nothing special. But like lots and lots of garage 45's the gold is on the flip.

I have to say I'm not really much of a Beatle fan. (They're kind of meh to me in comparison to so many of their contemporaries and frankly I've just heard their shit so much in my life that it bores the fuck out of me and I'd really rather listen to something else I haven't heard a million times already.) All that being said, "Feeling Lost" is probably the best Beatles song that they didn't write. (See also: "Lies" by the Knickerbockers which I've had to patiently explain to more than one person was not the "Fab Four") The Rationals took the harmonic blueprints and ran with them and produced pure gold. This is one I can listen to multiple times at a stretch.

 

the Todds (1967)

This super fast fuzz monster eeked out a little bit late in the cycle of garage punk monsters, but is no less fucking awesome. In 1967 it probably already sounded a bit dated by a year or so, but who cares from the perspective of the 21st century. The Todds were obviously from Chicago, IL. (The Toddlin' Town label is a pretty good clue there.) Once again the other side is a bit of let down. A pleasant enough ballad "Things Will Change" but everything you need is in "I Want Her Back". Strap on your Go-Go Boots and go to town.

Things Forgotten

Back in the Stone Ages of the 80's before the compact disc there were relatively few options for a poor fellow to have his music on the go. There was the transistor radio, of course, but that kind of tied you to what was on the radio and it was pretty bleak. You could spend some dough and get a ghetto blaster style boombox, but then you'd have to share and not everybody was amenable to that.

Then came along the Walkman and by the early part of the decade the price came down enough to be economically feasible for a penniless schmuck like myself to afford one and make his ever expanding record collection go portable. This involved lots and lots of cassette tape compilations that would be carefully chosen in the morning and carried around with a journal of juvenile profundity and various other bits of detritus in an over the shoulder man bag purchased at the Army/Navy store on Boylston st. I'd usually carry five or six ninety minute cassettes of most recent purchases. I loved making tapes. I traded tapes with other like minded individuals. I made compilation tapes for potential dates. (which is in itself a very special courtship ritual that's all but lost today.) I liked doing it.

Fast forward to the 21st Century and as I start digging into the 60's Garage/punk/psych box that I haven't really paid attention to in quite a few years and I start remembering how much I absolutely fucking loved this shit and I can still almost recreate the track listings of certain tapes that I played over and over again....

 The Lyrics (1967)

From San Diego. Both sides are quite good garage rockers of the era. This is their third single of three. It's the second one with the snotty bluesy "So What" that's been comped to death, but I personally listened to this single a whole fucking lot and still can't decide which side I like better.

 The Muffins (1966)

The Muffins were most likely from Rhode Island. They're kind of a mystery. They back two different vocalists on this single One side of this is a reverb drenched romantic ballad as performed by John Broughton called "Walk Alone" which is cool enough by itself if you're like me and like that moody New England garage thing.
But it's the garage punker "One More Time" on flip that gets all the action. This one is fronted by the inimitable Shawkey Se'au that gets all the panties damp in collector circles. Primitive and repetitive and wild. Just like the doctor ordered.

 the Novas (1964)


The Novas were from Minneapolis and threw down this love note to famed wrestler Crusher Lisowski in 1964 during some of the last gasps of the US surf music era that would be unceremoniously killed off by a bunch of lame English bands that year. But here's your opportunity, you turkeynecks to finally do the eye gouge in the safety of your own home.

The Other Singles Box

For a long while I was also pretty obsessed with 60's garage/punk/psych records. I dug deep and picked up as much as I could afford along with the other multiple musical obsessions I had. (Keeping up the prolific output of The Fall alone was enough to break any starving twenty-something's bank or at the very least put a sizable dent in one's beer money.)

I broke into that box the other day with a decision to finally do away with the arbitrary vinyl segregation of that crap from the rest of my crap. It was all going to be one gigantic pile of vinyl crap from now on. There's some really good stuff in there.

Since that's how I roll, I'm a gonna start with some of shit from the New England area because that's what I wanted to listen to when I pulled this shit out.

 

Hey Little Bird (1964)

I'll Keep Seeing You (1966)

The Barbarians are probably the famous names here. They have two big claims to fame. 1. They made an appearance in some cuts of the "T.A.M.I. Show" along side of such big names as Chuck Berry, Beach Boys, an amazing James Brown and a really really baked Rolling Stones. They performed their first single "Hey Little Bird" and 2. the drummer, Moulty, had suffered an accident earlier in his youth and had lost a hand and drummed with the aid of a prosthetic hook. Not really a gimmick, but something interesting. (there was at least one other 60's percussionist with a hook in the Cryan' Shames which though hardly qualifies as a trend makes you go hmmm...) This does however come into play for the B-side of "I'll Keep on Seeing You" which features a rather over the top inspirational number entitled "Moulty" about persevering in what you want to do in life despite the setbacks you may encounter along the way....Forgive me, I'm getting misty just thinking about it...

It is truly a camp classic that I'm sure Moulty regrets agreeing to do to this very day. I can't blame him, but still I find it a rather guilty pleasure. The one thing I've found of note about this particular recording is that the actual Barbarians don't actually play on this one. Instead, Moulty's passionate inspirational plea is backed by the Band (you know, the one who backed Bob Dylan) without Levon Helm. I'm not sure that they keep this on their resume, though.

 Is This It (1965?)

Georgie Porgie put out a number of singles with a couple of different groups during the 60's. This is maybe the second or third one. Here's an interview with him. It's one of those ones where the A-side is kind of crap, but the B-side is gold. "You've Been Gone a Long Long Time" is a little garage pounder slathered in a shit ton of reverb. I'd forgotten how much I really loved this song. It's also one that for whatever reason hasn't been comped to death like most of its ilk. I have one long suppressed memory of making an epic journey home one lysergically inspired evening many many years ago because I really really needed to hear that song because it was calling to me and it was exactly the way my head sounded that evening. It was pretty blissful and we probably played it a dozen times before moving on. Ahhhh, youth.

Rag Bag (1965)


Little John & the Sherwoods on the Fleetwood label. The A-side is a reasonable garage number about dating a girl from the other side of the economic tracks. Not bad, but listenable. The money side is on the flip with "Long Hair". It's a lovely snotty fuzzy manifesto regarding hair length the upshot of which appears that despite society's disapproval of their coiffures, they're still banging society's daughters anyway. I find that message a lot more inspirational than "Moulty".