Archive for the ‘ Garage ’ Category

The Pretty Things “The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind”

The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind is a disc of highlights from recording sessions that took place from 1967 to 1969. Three of these albums were recorded in the 60s with the best of these tracks (all the tracks with vocals) collected for this reissue. For contractual reasons, the Pretty Things recorded this music under the Electric Banana moniker for the De Wolfe Sound Library. The original Electric Banana albums had one side with vocal tracks while the other side had instrumental versions of those same tracks. For many years the music on the Electric Banana series were unavailable through retail music outlets which is why few people were familiar with these Pretty Things songs.

While not as essential or as groundbreaking as S.F. Sorrow or Parachute, The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind does indeed include some killer tracks. The album opens with one of the Pretty Things truly great songs, the psychedelic punk classic Alexander. Dick Taylor’s guitar work remains distinctive as heard on the droning pop of It’ll Never Be Me. Eagle’s Son, from the third and best Electric Banana LP (1969 – Even More Electric Banana), features plenty of guitar distortion and an inventive arrangement. Blow Your Mind is a Yardbirds style psych rave up with good organ and fuzz guitar interplay – very trippy in the best sense. There’s an early version of S.F. Sorrow’s I See You that features a cleaner arrangement but with treated/echoed vocals. Dick Taylor even steps up to the mic for the contemplative A Thousand Ages From The Sun. Finally, Love, Dance and Sing is a good swinging London psych style track that’s worth hearing. Admittedly, there’s a couple of throw away pop tracks with horns and sappy vocals but most of this is truly essential stuff for psych fans.

Again, the best tracks on The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind are on par with S.F. Sorrow and their 45 releases from around the same time. Overall, not an all time classic but a very good release nonetheless.

Alexander:

Eagle’s Son:

Love, Dance and Sing:

:) LP | Tenth Planet | discogs ]

The Ro-D-y’s “Earnest Vocation”

Earnest Vocation, released in 1968 by Philips, is probably the Ro-D-y’s finest hour. While history primarily remembers the Outsiders, Q65, The Golden Earrings, the Motions and Group 1850, there were many other excellent rock groups from the Netherlands such as Sandy Coast, Supersister, Bintangs, Cosmic Dealer and of course this group, the Ro-D-y’s.

Harry Rijnbergen, the band’s chief songwriter, was also lead guitarist and vocalist of the Ro-D-y’s. His vocals sound like a cross between Roy Wood and Ray Davies. What set these songs apart from Rijnbergen’s peers are the sophisticated lyrics (remember English wasn’t his first language) and unique song structures – they simply do not sound like anything I’ve heard. Of the twelve tracks on this LP, only one of them falls short of the mark, the music hall dud Everytime A Second Time. There are many highlights though which include the dynamic phased rocker Easy Come, Easy Go, the weird psychedelia of Dr. Sipher and the bouncy Let It Be Tomorrow. Some tracks feature strings and brass such as the complex title cut while others betray a strong european folk influence – check out the bridge of album opener Unforgettable Girl or the folk rock track No Place Like Home. This is definitely one of the better Euro psych albums I’ve heard, a minor classic worth seeking out.

Also worth checking out is the Ro-D-y’s debut album, Just Fancy from 1967 which is nederbeat pop/garage but a strong effort nonetheless with many highlights. The group also released many fine non LP singles throughout the 60s.

Love Is Almost Everywhere:

Let It Be Tomorrow:

:) LP | 1968 | Philips | discogs ]

Peabody Co. “Peabody Co.”

Nothing is known about Peabody Co., other than that the group recorded 10-11 tracks on acetate back in the late 1960s. Record collectors agree these recordings probably date from 1967-1968. If you’ve never heard their music, which hardly anyone has, Peabody Co.’s sound is reminiscent of Bohemian Vendetta or a private press version of the Blues Magoos.

For most psych fans, the first taste of Peabody Co. was their crazed version of Tobacco Road, which appeared on the A Fistful of Fuzz compilation in 1998. This seven minute rendition is characterized by insane blasts of theremin, guitar noise, a drum solo and sloppy, amateur vocals. It’s gone on to become an underground classic and rightly so. OUT-SIDER, along with the help of Crypt keeper Tim Warren, have finally mastered and released the rest of Peabody Co.’s recorded legacy on vinyl. The good news is that it’s a very good garage psych platter with mostly original compositions. They give a good reading of the Who’s I Can’t Explain, again with wild use of theremin and raw vocals. This track opens the LP (A side) and is very different when compared to the original recording by the Who. Other worthy gems on the A side are the garage punk of People Go/Better Life and two acid rock ballads Mountain High and Sunny Daze. Side B was even stronger, a true classic of acid punk. It opened up with the eastern style guitar work of A Hundred Percent of Nothing followed by a wigged out Seeds-like number titled Love. Both cuts are excellent. These songs are followed by Sleep, a solid garage rocker with a stop/start rhythm and a raga style solo (listen to clip below). The album ends on a high note with Tobacco Road. Again, song for song, the B-side is flawless and to this writer a highpoint in the local garage psych cannon.

Note there are no fuzz guitars or studio sound effects. This LP has a primitive sound that’s psychedelia is apparent through the guitarists eastern scales, guitar feedback and the occasional appearance of the theremin. If you’re into private press garage albums or acid punk this is a must own title that lives up to the hype.

Sleep from B-side:

:) Vinyl | 2020 | Out-Sider | discogs ]

The Frantics “Birth”

Along with the Initial Shock, the Frantics were one of Montana’s top garage/hard rock groups throughout the 60s. They released a raw garage 45 in 1966 and later on in 1970, Lizard Records released the Conception album. At this point, the Frantics story had come to a close until 1994, when Collectables released the Relax Your Mind recordings. This CD was sourced from a poor cassette tape which did much to explain the terrible sound quality of the recordings. The music dates from 1968, straight from the Norman Petty Studio vaults and surprisingly, it all gels as a coherent album – a lost garage/hard rock psych classic. In 2018, Lost Sounds Montana cleaned up the sound and released these recordings on vinyl (mono) as Birth.

Now in excellent sound quality, Birth can be enjoyed by all psych fans for the superb album it is. The A side of the LP opens and closes with two powerful psych tracks that have hard rock strength and lots of stinging fuzz guitar work – take a listen to near classics Her and Her Mountain and Relax Your Mind. At times the lead singer recalls Jim Morrison circa 1968 (Waiting for the Sun), as heard on the fine psychedelic ballad Lady of the Night. Many of these tracks have a psychedelic punk feel to them, with lots of heavy fuzz guitar, unique production tricks, feedback and pounding beats. Think of a very accomplished garage band who just started dropping acid and is exploring the possibilities of the recording studio for the first time. Stone Goddess, Child of the Universe, Just for Awhile and Sweet Mary reflect this experimental attitude to recording music and all are highlights in that respect. Other cuts go for different sounds such as soft rock, blues, avante garde psych and folk rock but none of them are duds.

Highly recommended for those listeners who enjoy garage, psych or hard rock sounds.

Think About It (from Birth):

Lady of the Night (from Relax Your Mind):

:) LP | 2018 | Lost Sounds Montana | discogs | ebay ]

The Litter “$100 Fine”

$100 Fine was the Litter’s second LP, coming off the heels of an otherwise excellent, mostly covers album titled Distortions. The $100 Fine LP was released in 1968 by the Hexagon label.

This time around the Litter focused their efforts on more group originals. There are a handful of lesser known covers that were originally written/recorded by artists such as Jeff Beck, the Eire Apparent, the Zombies and Procol Harum. The album opened with the powerful acid punk madness of Mindbreaker. After hearing this track, one would think or hope this album would be a garage psych monster but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Mindbreaker is only matched by another freaky hard guitar psych gem titled Under The Screaming Double Eagle. These tracks are absolutely essential. The rest of the album falls short. Tallyman and the heavily phased Kaleidoscope are solid, worthy covers that have held up over time. Morning Sun, a group original, features lots of excellent Zippy Kaplan fuzz guitar work. She’s Not There, a Zombies cover, is a 9 minute jam that could have been cut in half but was probably added to pad the album out because the group was short on material. Also, Blues One, a pure blues rock number doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album’s psychedelic ambitions. So while $100 Fine isn’t a bad album, it’s not the masterpiece that some record dealers or psych experts claim it to be. Their next and last album, Emerge, would be a more consistent hard rock effort that’s worth tracking down.

Kaleidoscope

Under The Screaming Double Eagle

:) LP | Sundazed |2016 | buy from Sundazed ]

The Troyes “Rainbow Chaser: The Troyes Complete Recordings (1966-1968)”

The Troyes were a garage psych band who hailed from Battle Creek, Michigan. The group formed in 1965 and later on released two coveted 45s in 1966/1967 by the Space label. In later years, Cicadelic Records/Lion Productions released two CDs/LPs of fantastic, unreleased music from the group’s prime years, 1966-1968. These recordings stand up with some of the very best local garage/psych of the era – without a doubt essential listening.

Most of the songs recorded by the Troyes were in the 2 to 4 minute range. Some of these tracks, such as Morning of the Rain, the Good Night and Tomorrow verge on acid punk (all tremendous cuts), with fast tempos, crazed vocals, fuzz guitars, and raga guitar solos. Blanket of My Love recalls the folkish cuts on the Beatles’ Revolver LP, with its circular guitar riffs and stoned sensibility. One of my personal favorites, Someday You’ll See My Side, has raw vocals and buzzing organ that remind me of the Monks. Some tracks are repeated with alternate versions but none of it is overkill. We also get the classic Rainbow Chaser and Love Comes Love Dies 45 versions, which are perhaps the group’s best cuts.

The CD/LP has 3 earlier teenbeat folk rock cuts and one late period (1968) guitar fuzz monster that clocks in at nearly 5 minutes which effectively ends the Troyes story. The Lion Productions vinyl repro is preferred but beware as it’s relatively expensive. As mentioned above, garage psych sounds don’t come any better than what’s on this first-rate reissue. Well above average songwriting, strong pop instincts and tight playing make this a very attractive package.

Love Comes Love Dies

Morning of the Rain

:) LP | Rainbow Chaser | Cicadelic/Lion | ebay ]
Stream | Glimpses V1 & 2 | amazon ]

The Misunderstood “Before The Dream Faded”

Before the Dream Faded

Of the thousands of 1960s garage bands who progressed from garage rock to psychedelia, The Misunderstood were quite possibly the best. They were a legendary group who at the peak of their powers, could meet groups such as the Yardbirds and the Animals on a level playing field.  In Rick Brown they had a commanding vocalist who at the end of the group’s legendary run began writing songs that are now acknowledged psychedelic classics. Their lead guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell had an unorthodox playing style but what he lacked in technical form he made up with in innovation. In 1966, they were a force to be reckoned with.

The Misunderstood started out in Riverside, CA in the mid 60s.  They began playing the blues, much like their British Invasion counterparts the Animals and the Yardbirds. The second side of Before The Dream Faded is made up of recordings from this formative era (1965).  While these songs aren’t up to the standards of the first side (6 psychedelic era tracks from 1966), they are still enjoyable pieces that show the group developing a signature sound. Among them, “I Need Your Love” is a fine garage cut that weds Mersey style harmonica with raw, under-produced American garage. Another track, “Who’s Been Talking” is a strong rendition of an old Howlin’ Wolf blues classic.  The best song on side B is a powerful psych rendition of “I’m Not Talking.” This gem features squalling feedback and a huge, guitar-heavy sound that could only be compared to the Yardbirds. The only real dud on this album is the sappy teen ballad “Like I Do.”

In 1966, just before Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Pink Floyd began recording their great psychedelic era material, the Misunderstood walked into the studio and laid down 6 outstanding tracks that even today are still revered as some of the finest rock n roll ever cut. Most of these tracks are originals although note the radical psych reworking of “Who Do You Love” and the hard rock arrangement of “I Unseen.”

mp3: I Need Your Love
mp3: Find a Hidden Door
mp3: I Can Take You to the Sun

:D Compilation | 1997 | Cherry Red | buy here ]
:) Compilation | 1982 | Cherry Red | search ebay ]
8) Spotify link | listen ]

The Roosters “All Of Our Days”

All Of Our Days

This Westchester, CA group released just three singles in the mid 60s.  The last single, released in 1967, is a disappointment (mediocre sunshine pop) in light of what came before: two of the best chiming guitar folk-rock singles of the 60s.

On these 45s the lyrics are above average, the vocals strongly recall Roger McGuinn, and the band plays with an exciting garage band energy.  “One of These Days” (Progressive Sounds of America label – 1965) is perhaps their best known single and a classic but the flip “You Gotta Run,” a hybrid of Byrdsian folk-rock and British Invasion pop, is also a winner.  Their next single, released in 1966, was the excellent “Rosebush” (Enith label)  backed by another fine, hard hitting B-side, “Ain’t Gonna Cry Anymore.”

It’s said that the Roosters were headed by lead guitarist and head songwriter Tim Ward and vocalist Ray Mangigian.  Before the Roosters, Tim Ward had played in the Avengers and then a bit later in the Five More.  In 1965, the Five More released a fine surf instrumental (“Avalanche”) backed by the raving, Mersey influenced “I’m No Good.”

All Of Our Days collects all of the above tracks plus the Roosters 1966 Gold Star Studio sessions.  Thankfully, these tracks measure up to their official 45s.  “She Sends Me,” a dark, minor key folk-rocker is one of their finest songs while “Help Me Please” and “Deep Inside” explode with enthusiasm and strong pop hooks.  This compilation, released in both vinyl and cd format by Break-A-Way Records  is better than most “real” garage albums as it’s a strong listen all the way through.

mp3: Rosebush
mp3: She sends me

:) Vinyl Reissue | 2011 | Breakaway | search ebay ]

PODCAST 29 Garage,Psych,Folk-Rock

I Will Go  – The Beau Brummels (1965)
You Gotta Run – The Roosters  (1966)
Song of a Gypsy – Damon (1969)
Invisible People – Hamilton Streetcar (1968)
Walkin’ Shoes – The Trolls (1964)
The Losing Game – The Five Americans (1966)
Thesis – The Penny Arkade (1968)
Swim – The Penny Arkade  (1968?)

Do I Love You – Powder (1968)
Wanting You – Paul Revere & the Raiders (1967)
Mother Nature – Father Earth – The Music Machine (1969)
Merry Go Round – Reggie King (1969)
So Now You Know Who You Are – Peter Lindahl (1970?)
Think of the Good Times – The Stumps (with the Grodes)  (1967)
Secret Police – The Belfast Gypsies (1966)

Download: Podcast29.mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: https://therisingstorm.net/podcast.xml [?]

The Stained Glass “A Scene In-Between 1965-1967”

stainedglass

The Stained Glass hailed from San Jose CA, the same scene that spawned 60s garage heroes the Chocolate Watch Band, the E-Types and the Syndicate of Sound. Being 45 minutes outside of San Francisco, it was inevitable that the Stained Glass would rub shoulders with and even play on the same bills with many of the region’s big name acts. Chief songwriter and guiding light Jim McPherson would even go on to play in John Cipollina’s early 70’s post Quicksilver band Copperhead. The music heard on A Scene In-Between 1965-1967 suggest that had things gone right for the Stained Glass, they could have been – should have been – serious contenders.

The Stained Glass started out life in 1964 as a raw folk-rock, British Invasion influenced outfit called the Trolls. The group’s story began with Jim McPherson (bass) answering guitarist Rodger Hedge’s local advertisement to form a band.  Drummer Dennis Carrasco joined by way of recommendation, followed by lead guitarist Bob Rominger.  The group’s earliest songs, all originals mostly written by Jim McPherson, were an impressive lot. “Walking Shoes”, the Trolls only 45 (Peatlore) is a superb folk-rock track with a raw, garage feel – by far their hardest rocking early number and a track often championed by garage rock obsessives. “How Do You Expect Me To Trust You” (45 flipside) and “Sweeter Than Life” compare favorably to what the Beau Brummels were recording around the same time in that they are lyrical, downbeat folk-rockers with strong melodies and a mystical edge. “Such Good Friends,” “She’s Not Right” and “No Rhyme or Reason” were a nod to the Trolls’ British Invasion influences – all are giddy, driving numbers that compare favorably to the early Zombies or Kinks work from around the same time (circa 1965/1966). Jim McPherson’s songwriting, the group’s excellent harmonies and tight ensemble work separated them from countless other regional groups.

From 1966-1967, around the time the group changed their name to the Stained Glass, was when McPherson (and the group) recorded some of their finest material. In 1966, the group travelled to Columbia’s Sunset Boulevard Studios to audition for the label.  They recorded a few gems which ended up being shelved. “Lonely Am I” is a worthy minor key Zombies influenced gem but it was the devastating “Broken Man” that really catches the ear.  “Broken Man” stuck out for it’s well written, enigmatic lyrics, unique chorus and proto psychedelic guitar solo which was innovative for the time.

The Columbia deal didn’t pan out which led the group to RCA Victor. Here, they recorded and released a fine version of the Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone” (before Rubber Soul had hit the market) backed by a recut of “How Do You Expect Me To Trust You.”  This single flopped and the Stained Glass gave it another go. “My Buddy Sin” backed by an underrated Kinks-like “Vanity Fair” (think “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”) was superb but somehow failed to connect with music fans. “My Buddy Sin” was one of the group’s true classics; the back bone of the song is harmony pop but the harmonica flourishes give it a rootsy folk-rock flavor that recalls some of the Byrds best mid 60s tracks. The band was disappointed with the outcome as they did not want harmonica added to the single but it’s interesting to note that the harpsichord intro was played by Jim. The songwriting on “My Buddy Sin” was once again interesting (religious imagery) and ahead of its time. When “My Buddy Sin” failed it did little to the group’s confidence as they were getting plenty of live work and making lots of money.  For their next 45, RCA Victor forced the Stained Glass to record a catchy Barry Mann/Cynthia Well offering. “We Got A Long Way To Go,” was a big hit locally and notable for it’s catchy melody and stinging distorted guitar solo.  It was more in vein with the Turtles pop sound, which wasn’t really where the Stained Glass stood from an artistic standpoint.  At around this time the group were in the studios, recording music that was more in line with Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield and the Beau Brummels.  “Inside Ouch” a fine balance between soul and folk-rock, would have fit comfortably on Buffalo Springfield’s debut.  The outstanding “Dollar Sign Friends” is a driving jangle rock track with defiant lyrics, which were written by Bob Rominger while “Second Day” was the kind of lyrical folk-rock that could be found on Moby Grape’s debut classic.  A latter recording session yielded two cuts that ended up being issued as a 45 in 1967, the bizarre “A Scene In-Between” and the pure pop of “Mediocre Me.”  Both songs are minor psychedelic pop classics and represent a high point for the Stained Glass.  During this session they also recorded two other fine tracks, “Bubble Machine,” a vibrant piece of sunshine pop with echoplex guitar, shimmering bells and keys and the morbid “Mr Martyr.”  The latter track once again featured unique lyrics and superb harmony vocals.

From here the anthology ends although the Stained Glass would go on to record two albums in the late 60s, the excellent Crazy Horse Roads from 1968 and the disappointing Aurora from 1969.  A Scene-In Between 1965-1967 is a much needed overview of this great lost American band.  This is easily one of the best 60s reissues of 2013 and it goes without saying that this disc is mandatory listening.

mp3: My Flash On You
mp3: Broken Man
mp3: Dollar Sign Friends

:D Reissue | 2013 | Ace Records | get it here ]