The Ikon Records Story
Several years back the good folks at Frantic Records treated us to The Ikon Records Story. This vinyl sampler of the fabled label was followed by a grand, 2 cd set (60 tracks!), which included plenty of bonus cuts, lost 45s and unreleased tracks. Many of these tracks were recorded during the prime garage/teenbeat era (1964-1966) at Ikon Studios, which was located in Sacramento, California.
There are no fuzz (Eirik Wangberg’s excellent “Every Night I Dream A Little” is a notable expection – it’s a twisted gem of a record) or freaky garage stompers a la Back From The Grave. Be that as it may, The Ikon Records Story is loaded with great slices of mid 60’s rock n roll, surf, instrumental numbers, folk-rock, garage punk, spy-themed novelty bits and Brit influenced pop. It’s nearly the equal of Back From The Grave but focuses on a wider array of vintage teenbeat sounds: key cuts being Madd, Inc.’s powerful, rebel rocker “I’ll Be The One” (a near classic), the Knightsmen’s impressive, Rolling Stones-like “Daddy Was A Rolling Stone,” the Mergers’ fine British Invasion influenced pop rocker “Love, You Funny Thing,” and The Shondells’ downbeat jangler “It’s True.”
There’s really too many highlights here to list – The Ikon Records Story is a terrific collection of adolescent, fresh-faced sounds from the days when rock music was new, raw and vital. Most of the original 45’s are so rare that it would cost thousands of dollars to piece this collection together. If you’re into classic mid 60’s sounds you should really own this superb compilation of regional rock n roll.
Sel-Sync – The Fire Is Gone
CD Issue | 2006 | Crypt Records | search ebay ]
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Hello: I host a weekly radio show on KOOL 104.5 FM (Dick Lee and 60’s Garage Rock from the Valley) and only play tracks from valley bands during the 60’s. I also do pre-recorded interviews with band members. I am attempting to get a hold of any 1960’s Sacramento band members for a brief interview. If you know of any – please cntact me.
I played drums for a rock band called the Inmates. We played at many school dances in 1964,1965, and 1966. We also played in the Battle of the bands at the
Old California state fair grounds. We also recorded at IKON records a 45rpm
but never got our records as the company went out of business. I then went on to play drums with John Rosasco from 1969 to 1979. Still today John and I get together about twice a year and play jazz as a duo. He still plays great piano!!
Jan Brewer drummer