VA - Nuggets, Vol. 7: Early San Francisco [1985]

Various – Nuggets Volume Seven: Early San Francisco
Label: Rhino Records – RNLP 031
Series: Nuggets – RNLP 031
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Folk Rock   [discogs]

Review  by Richie Unterberger [allmusic]
A fine collection of pre-Summer of Love rarities from the mid-'60s. Besides hits by The Beau Brummels and We Five, it features rarities by The Vejtables, the Great Society (featuring a pre-Jefferson Airplane Grace Slick), and Country Joe & The Fish.

Tracklist
A1 Beau Brummels, The – Laugh, Laugh
A2 Beau Brummels, The – Just A Little
A3 Mojo Men, The – Dance With Me
A4 Mojo Men, The – She's My Baby (M)
A5 Vejtables – I Still Love You
A6 Vejtables – Last Thing On My Mind (M)
A7 Jan Ashton – Cold Dreary Morning
B1 We Five – You Were On My Mind (M)
B2 We Five – You Let A Love Burn Out
B3 Charlatans, The – Codine (M)
B4 Great Society, The – Somebody To Love
B5 Great Society, The – Free Advice
B6 Country Joe & The Fish – Bass Strings (M)
B7 Tikis, The – I Must Be Dreaming

mp3@320 & scans 106MB
here

 Liner Notes

Revolutions don't grow on trees. Nor do they just pop up, 'shroom-like, overnight. They all start somewhere, sometimes in the unlikliest places. San Francisco's psychedelic tea party didn't catch the world's eyes and ears until 1967; suddenly that summer, its Quick and Dead and 'Plane and Brother were news, noisy international front-page stuff. They had arrived, so the story went, to rearrange the face of pop; in fact to punch out the lights of the whole hit single/Tin Pan Brill Bldg./Beatle-beat music biz — with a megadose of solo-spiked acid rock. Which they in effect did, with all sorts of historical consequences. In the ensuing haze and hype, the "San Francisco Sound" came to mean freaked-out "cosmic" lyrics and deliberately obtuse music — perhaps best described by the Mystery Trend's Ron Nagle as "psycho-babble in A minor." But it wasn't always thus. Two short years before, Frisco rock had walked a straighter, but still adventurous, Pop line. Over at Autumn Records, local Top 40 deejays Tom Donahue and Bob Mitchell, with the help of producer Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone), were trying to cut hits. Across town, Kingston Trio manager Frank Werber was after the same thing, having just found the recently electrified folk group We Five; and so was Lovin' Spoonful producer Erik Jacobsen, who thought he'd stumbled onto the next big thing in the dandified, pistol-packin' Charlatans.
EARLY SAN FRANCISCO NUGGETS is a roots record, a souvenir album of the opening shots of Frisco's rock revolution. Collected here for the first time, those shots sound primitive and powerful, occasionally naive but always brimming with promise. Tune in, turn on, and dig . . .
The BEAU BRUMMELS were the city's premier pre-psychedelic band, and Autumn Records' biggest act, a folk-rocking fivesome who scored two national hits in 1965. Despite (or maybe because of) the success of "Laugh Laugh" and the sublime "Just A Little," Ron Elliot, Sal Valentino & co. were denied membership in S.F. 's emerging rock underground. One listen to these two tracks proves it was the underground's loss.
Following the Brummels, Autumn's next pick-to-click was a semi-pro bar band called the MOJO MEN. The quartet (which featured Steve "Where the Action Is" Alaimo's brother Jim) enjoyed a Northern California hit in '65 with "Dance With Me," a gruff novelty item with heavy "Alley Oop" influences. "She's My Baby" is tougher stuff, buzzy Stonesish blues with echoed harp, penned by Sly himself.
The VEJTABLES toiled in the same post-Brit Invasion fields as the Beau Brummels, with one major difference; a mainstay of the Vejs' sound was a striking female vocalist-drummer, JAN ASHTON. After singing lead on I he local hit "I Still Love You" and a twelve-strung version of Tom Paxton's "Last Thing On My Mind," she left the Vejtables to join the Mojo Men, who subsequently scored ('67) with a Van Dyke Parks arrangement of Steve Stills' "Sit Down, I Think I Love You." Before doing so, Ashton cut the affecting "Cold Dreary Morning," a thick slab of electro-folk with vague Sandy Denny overtones.
The WE FIVE occupy a pivital place in the Frisco rock saga. With the perky, six-string strum of "You Were On My Mind," the University of San Francisco folkniks scored a Top 5 smash in the fall of '65, then vanished. Their achievements, though, didn't go unnoticed; singer Marty Balin used their two gals-one guy harmony approach in assembling his folk-rock band, as suggested by the dramatic, highly Airplane-esque arrangement of "You Let A Love Burn Out."

If the We Five were the transitional link, the CHARLATANS were the genuine article, Frisco's pioneer psychedelic band. They were also the first to record — through their debut single, a stark reading of Buffy Saint Marie's "Co'dine," makes its first vinyl appearance on this LP, exactly 20 years after it was cut. Kama Sutra Records' cold feet over the song's druggy subject matter blocked its initial release; subsequent smart moves k.o.'ed the Charlatans' career. Dig Mike Wilhelm's vintage acid-blues solo, Dan Hicks on drums.

It took more than 50 takes before Darby Slick, his sister-in-law Grace and their band got "Somebody To Love" down right. Or before producer Sly Stone threw up his hands; nonetheless, the original GREAT SOCIETY version of the Airplane supersmash remains a classic, from its raga-drone rhythm down to Darby's surging power-mower solo. Released as a single, with "Free Advice" as its whirling derv flip, on Autumn's North Beach subsidiary.
The TIKIS, a preppy foursome from Santa Cruz, almost didn't make it onto Autumn at all. Donahue and Mitchell considered the band's' whole Bermuda shorts-and-loafers style supremely unhip, and thought only slightly better of their xerox Beatlesongs ("If I've Been Dreaming"). The hits, however, didn't start until the Tikis became Harper's Bizarre ('67); founder Ted Templeman went on to produce the Doobie Bros, and Van Halen.
COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH's "Bass Strings" resembles few records that came before or after it. Eschewing the Autumn route, the Berkeley-based jugband cut their own EP shortly after electrifying late in '65. While CJ&TF are best remembered for their politics ("Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag"), their flipside is revealed in "Bass Strings" — an exotic echo-and-organ piece that uncannily succeeds at summing up the phrase "psychedelic music" in all its glory. What's striking is the fact that all of these tracks — despite their diversity — really do belong together under the psychedelic parasol. They give an evocative and accurate account of the peculiar mix of musics that was San Francisco '65: bubbling under, not yet cooked down or cooled. For the next batch, you won't have to wait long; Rhino's already at work on Volume Two.
GENE SCULATTI
(For a full exploration of the S.F. scene, we recommend SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS: The Psychedelic Music Trip, by Davin Seay & Gene Sculatti, published by St. Martin's Press 1985.)

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01  Vol. 02  Vol. 03  Vol. 04 

Vol. 05  Vol. 06                Vol. 08
Vol. 09   Vol 10  Vol. 11  Vol. 12

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 10 Folk Rock [1986]

                                                                 

Label: Rhino Records  – RNLP 70034
Series: Nuggets – RNLP 70034
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Folk Rock [discogs]

Review    by Richie Unterberger (allmusic)

One of the weakest offerings in the series, with oft-anthologized hits by The Byrds, Turtles, Scott McKenzie, and Barry McGuire. The non-hit cuts tend toward the lightest, poppiest facets of folk-rock. An exception is the powerful acoustic, original version of "Dazed And Confused" by Jake Holmes, which was transformed into heavy metal by Led Zeppelin.

Tracklist

A1 The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man 

A2 The Turtles – It Ain't Me Babe  

A3 The Grass Roots – Only When You're Lonely

A4 The Deep Six – Rising Sun       
A5 Jake Holmes – Dazed And Confused 

A6 The Sunshine Company – Back On The Street Again 

A7 Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) 

B1 Barry McGuire – Eve Of Destruction 

B2 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Buy For Me The Rain 

B3 M. F. Q. – Nighttime Girl

B4 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy – It's A Happening Thing 

B5 The Love Exchange – Swallow The Sun 

B6 P.F. Sloan – The Sins Of A Family

B7 Hearts And Flowers – Rock 'N' Roll Gypsies

mp3@320&scans 131 MB

Dazed And Confused  here

 Liner Notes

Hey. we were tense, right? After all, the world had actually come close to destroying itself during 1961's horrible Cuban Missile Crisis. (Look it up kids, it's in all the books.) Nikita was alive and pounding his red shoes all over our democratic tables, shouting, "We will bury you!" and millions of Americans were beginning to believe that Kubrick's brilliant Doctor Strangelove nightmare was an all-too-possible reality. Then JFK was assassinated in 1963, and Bye Bye Miss American Pie—that seemed to be The Day The Music Died.

Or at least, evolved... began to think. Oh, we had had our share of thinkers in the past, of course; the social conscience of America, don't ya' know: pioneer Woody Guthrie and his contemporary and protege, Pete Seeger; Tom Paxton pleading with us not to go to war; and Peter, Paul and Mary crying for us because they knew we had no choice.
The answers were, indeed, "Blowing In The Wind." That's what the messiah, rebel Dylan, had written in '62, and that's what he and Baez had sung to a crowd of forty thousand at Newport, a year later. That same 1963 was not a banner year for the pop music scene in the good ol' U.S. of Α., either. Rock'n'roll in America, post-Elvis and pre-Beatles, was bleak territory. Bobby Vee and Connie Francis were not exactly breaking new ground, and although the Beach Boys were rockin' and rollin' and surfin', they weren't thinking. At least, their music required absolutely no thought from their listeners.
Then, the Beatles hit the fan and nervous Americans were, at least momentarily, content to tap their toes to Ringo and cast aside their lingering fears that their lives might actually hinge on a bad case of indigestion contracted by whomever might push the Big Red Button on a given day. So, we were thinking. Yes. And Rocking. Yes. But not at the same time And then, he did it. Bobby did it. The Zimmer-Man.
He strapped on an electric guitar at the very same Newport Folk Festival in 1965, and the polar caps shifted. Bob was rocking out. Thousands of sensitive Forest Hills elitists screamed that he was "selling out." But the public didn't think so. The times, they were a changing, and if The Big One was going to drop, American kids wanted to go out dancing. Dylan gave them "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and they danced. And when everyone decided that it was 0. K. to dance and to think at the same time, along came The Byrds.
Newsweek magazine called The Byrds "Dylanized Beatles," although there are healthy arguments that it was the other way around. At any rate, "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the first official folk-rock hit. It zoomed to Number One and today remains the quintessential example of the genre. For myself and for the other members of my musical group, the Byrds' debut performance at Ciro's on Sunset prior to their record's release, was the beginning of the rest of our lives.
McGuinn, Crosby, Hillman, Clark and Clarke—I owe these guys a lot. (Of credit, fellas, not money!) Millions of us do. They started the ball rolling. They got thousands of us to buy 12-string guitars and find something to protest. In 1965 there was plenty to protest about. So, if the Byrds could make a Bob Dylan classic into a rock hit, why couldn't we? Immediately, six South-Bay surfer-types from Los Angeles changed the name of their band, washed the pomade out of their hair, quit college, and released "It Ain't Me Babe—the second  Dylan song to be a huge national hit, and the record that launched the on-going careers of The Turtles. I thank you.
As the war in Vietnam escalated, the youth of America got angry. And as the Baby Boomer Population was of monumental proportion, it became increasingly popular to be angry. Popular enough to make the public's anger commercial.
Barry McGuire's classic "Eve of Destruction" was the first Number One record to prophesy doom, a statement a little strong for many AM radio programmers who refused to play the record despite its sales. (For a real collector, try to find "The Dawn Of Correction" by the Spokesmen, on Decca. the right wing reply.)
McGuire may have sounded angry-perhaps he was-but those weren't his own words he was espousing The song, in fact, had been written by a rebellious young songwriter named Phil Sloan. Or P.F. Sloan, if you will. Or Flip, as his friends used to call him. Flip had asked the Turtles to record "Eve Of Destruction" as our second record, but we told him that the song was, in our opinion, far too radical to ever make it Sure. What instinct! We chose his "Let Me Be" instead, but it all worked out, Barry had a hit, we had a hit, and Flip put out his own album including "Sins Of The Family," a classic opus of genetic inevitabilities (included on Rhino's recently released "Best of P.F. Sloan"). Sloan, together with co-writer Steve Barri, wrote a zillion hit records during Dunhill Records' heyday. I wonder where he is today? Everything changes.
M.F.Q. changed, too. Before on-stage electricity became chic, they had been the Modern Folk Quartet- Cyrus Farrar, Jerry Yester, Chip Douglas, and Henry Diltz. Acoustic and multi-ethnic, the Quartet played all the same coffee houses that Theodore Bikel and Judy Collins had, with an up-beat comedic cabaret-type show. Then, they found rock'n'roll.
The gypsy-caravan approach of"Nighttime Girl" was a bit too experimental for the era (and for Dunhill), and their second effort, "This Could Be The Night" remains a classic of Phil Spector's record publication but did little to propel the MFQ's popularity.
One of their label-mates, however, had considerably more success. Scott McKenzie had a national Number One record with "San Francisco," a song penned by Papa John Phillips. Scott and John had performed together in the Journeymen just prior to the Mamas and Papas' surprise stardom, and was nearly a "Papa" himself. Though "Like An Old Time Movie" almost followed-up his initial entry to the charts. Scott's second biggest claim to fame is being godfather to Laura (McKenzie) Phillips. In fact, he is currently on tour with the presently reformed Mamas and Papas, opening the show with Flowers in his hair.
While Lou Adler was producing slick, Hollywood-folk hits, others on the West Coast were deliberately trying to get back to Roots. Anybody's roots. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band took up the gauntlet in 1966 with influences from Spike Jones to the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Their big hit, "Buy For Me The Rain," from 1967, is included here, although since then, they've changed band names nearly as often as members. (Jackson Browne started his career with them.) They've been the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; Nitty Gritty; The Dirt Band: you name it. Next week they're changing their name to simply "Dirt" Well, maybe not.
Also from California, following the optimistic tone set by the Kinks, the Lovin' Spoonful and yes, the Turtles, came The Sunshine Company.Initially a duo, Mary Nance and Maury Manseau were doing an acoustic club act until they fell in with a surf group's rhythm section and began to make records. Their first was Jimmy Webb's "Up Up And Away," but it bombed. Go figure. Jackson Browne wrote songs for this band, too (boy, does he get around!), but it was Steve Gillette who's responsible for their single chart success.
Hearts And Flowers were Mary Murray, Rick Cunha and Dave Dawson. Already this is probably more than you need to know about Hearts And Flowers, but let's continue. The group formed in Hawaii and later moved on to the L.A. area playing Randy Spark's Ledbetter's Club and the Ice House in Pasadena. Future Burrito Brother, Bernie Leadon joined the group for their second album, but despite the flowing hippie imagery of their first single release, no one cared.
Back on the more profitable side of the fence, Adler's Dunhill Records was still churning out non-stop hits fueled, to a large degree, by the songwriting team of Sloan and Barri, and the seemingly endless amount of quality singles by The Grass Roots. Warren Entner crooned and Rob Grill harmonized. It was smooth; it was professional; it was about as folky as the Turtles had become, which is to say that the Grass Roots were a Hit Machine Songs like "Midnight Confessions" and "Live For Today" became instant anthems, and will probably outlive us all. "Only When You're Lonely" was not one of the Roots' biggest hits, but certainly was among their best,
Driving around Hollywood in those halcyon days, i can remember seeing a bumper sticker that said, "The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading!" I wondered for three solid months what the hell that was supposed to mean-one of those new Psychedelic bands no doubt... harrummpff! Then I heard their new record, "It's A Happening Thing"—real AGo-Co stuff aimed at the "Love American Style" audience. But cute. Sandi Robinson was the singer's name: I remember Sandi—with an "I". Cute. A bit wimpy, but it was on Columbia Records for heavens sakes—instant credibility! "Turn On A Friend" was their follow-up single, only no one turned it on and the PBC disappeared. I never saw that bumper sticker again, either.
But I have lived through deja-vu flashbacks. No, not the old drugs kicking in. I'm referring to the strange feeling I got only recently hearing Jake Holmes' 1967 version of "Dazed And Confused" for the first time Silly me, I had attributed that classic urban blues to Led Zeppelin even though their version followed Jake's by several years. So, who says that Page and Plant were innovators? Just kidding.
Jake's been a Greenwich Village mainstay as long as 1 can remember: an ethereal enigma who quoted Dostoevski on his 1969 album, but now makes a healthy living singing the praises of McDonald's (among other products) on television commercials. Who deserves a break today anyway?
I know absolutely nothing about Deep Six, except that I bought their record after hearing it one time on local LA. radio. That guitar line sounding like a French horn got to me I guess. The record, I discovered upon purchase was a) on Liberty Records-very reputable, b) by a group from San Diego, and c) not to become a very big hit—oh well. C est la vie... they got Deep Six after all.
Likewise, 1 feign ignorance about the limited careers of Love Exchange represented here by "Swallow The Sun." Hang on... I've just been told that they originally attended my old alma mater, Westchester High School, and that their former name was the Crusaders... hummm... the Crusaders-wasn't that Freddy Barnett and his brother, and before that they called themselves Freddy and the Fanatics? Yes! Yes! I've never heard their record, but I've still got their business card.
See, what comes around goes around. Same as it ever was. So, what have we learned here? If it's true that by combining relevant socio-political statements and derivative African folk rhythms, a new form of music evolved in the mid-sixties, who then are the artists carrying on this tradition in the eighties? Folk-rock in the eighties is Springsteen and Mellericamp, the Roches and the Del Fuegos. Lou Reed and the Talking Heads or indeed the Dream Academy and the Pet Shop Boys.
Folk music is (and always was) music of the people, by the people and for the people And you know what? The people still want to rock!

Howard Kaylan
The Turtles

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01  Vol. 02  Vol. 03  Vol. 04 

Vol. 05  Vol. 06  Vol. 07  Vol. 08
Vol. 09              Vol. 11  Vol. 12

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 3 Pop [1984]

Nuggets, Vol. 3: Pop

Various Artists [1984]




Label: Rhino Records – RNLP 027
Series: Nuggets – RNLP 027
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Pop Rock

Tracklist
A1. Lies - The Knickerbockers (M)
A2. Sugar And Spice - The Cryan' Shames (M)
A3. I Feel Good (I Feel Bad) - The Lewis & Clarke Expedition (M)
A4. Sunshine Girl - The Parade (S)
A5. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight - Boyce & Hart (S)
A6. Turn Down Day - The Cyrkle (S)
A7. You're A Very Lovely Woman - The Merry-Go- Round (S)
B1. Let Her Dance - The Bobby Fuller Four (S)
B2. Can I Get To Know You Better - The Turtles (S)
B3. Red Rubber Ball - The Cyrkle (S)
B4. Baby What I Mean - Spiral Starecase (M)
B5. Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders (M)
B6. I Love You - People (S, long LP version)
B7. October Country - October Country (M)

mp3@320&scans 95 MB
Time Won't Let Me
HERE

Liner Notes

While pop music of the mid-to-late 1960's brought far reaching change and experimentation, the vast majority of musicians were still trying to concoct good old fashioned, pop-oriented hit records. The San Francisco Sound was promoting turning on and dropping out, but many musicians from all over the country were more interested in becoming the next Beatles, while only marginally incorporating the more radical ideas going on around them. Yet, even on the most conventional rock band records of the era, subtle changes were evident: October Country and the Merry-Go-Round infused their work with classical arrangements; while such songs as the latter's "Live" and the Cyrkle's "Turn Down Day" expressed alienation and escape rather than the traditional boy-meets-girl themes. In the case of this POP volume (one), many of the groups were directly inspired by the Beatles. When the Knickerbockers made the charts with "Lies," many refused to believe that the group was from New Jersey, insisting it was the Beatles themselves. A listen to the Merry-Go-Round's "You're A Very Lovely Woman," re-calls"Yesterday," while the band's hip suits & bushy hair that of the Fab Four. Although the Cryan Shames with "Sugar and Spice" opted to cover a song by the Searchers, the Searchers were from Liverpool and had a similar Beatle-ish sound. Even the Turtles, who originally made their mark as a folk-protest rock band, were inspired by the Beatles to develop an acid-pop sound.Year in, year out, the list of hits grows prodigiously as current chart smashes fade into the realm of "oldies." Every pop music fan knows the big hits, but how about the little ones, or the non hits; how about the record that topped the charts in Boston, but received little airplay elsewhere? Many of these records made the far reaches of the national charts, but many not at all. Yet, just because a record was not a big hit, doesn't necessarily reflect its lack of quality. The Nuggets series is dedicated to discovering and compiling those relatively obscure hits, and those "hits" you never heard.

OCTOBER COUNTRY, and their self-titled single, are a typical example. Undeniably obscure, the record received enough Los Angeles airplay to outsell the Beatles one week at Hollywood's largest record store, Wallach's Music City. It's a great record, and typical of the "discoveries" that will comprise the selections on Nuggets. Although the resulting song may have given the Beatles a run for their money in a Los Angeles record store, it failed to generate much interest around the country, and a short time later, the group disbanded. Composer Michael Lloyd has remained October Country's most visable member, having worked with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Cotton, Lloyd and Christian, before moving behind the scenes as a successful record producer and songwriter.

Another band from Los Angeles was THE PARADE. For the most part, the group was composed of aspiring actors who were more intent on furthering their careers in TV than they were in music. The exception was leader Jerry Riopell, who wrote, arranged and produced their music, and who maintained visability in the 1970's with solo albums and performances. Because the group didn't tour, and because their completed album was never released, not many people outside of California heard their music.

Also from the area, THE MERRY-GO-ROUND made a big name for themselves locally, but never achieved success nationally. The quartet was led by Emitt Rhodes, ex-drummer of the Palace Guard (see volume 4). After a couple of years and a half dozen singles on A & M, Rhodes became a solo artist. Very Beatle-rooted, his acclaimed 1970 debut LP was very favorably compared with Paul McCartney's first solo album, both in sound, and in playing-all-the-instruments approach. Rhodes later moved behind the scenes as a record company A & R man, and drummer Joel Larson joined the Grass Roots. Rhodes now operates a recording studio in the South Bay area.

PEOPLE had only one hit."I Love You", a cover of an obscure Zombies' album track that climbed to 14 in 1968. A couple of years later this San Jose band re-emerged with an almost entirely new line-up, and an album, "There Are People." North, in Sacramento, SPIRAL STARECASE were perfecting their Rascals influenced soul-pop approach. Although "More Today Than Yesterday" was their biggest hit, here we've opted for the more rollicking, rock band sound of "Baby What I Mean" (which, incidentally, was also recorded as the "B" side of "October Country.")

While new groups were springing up all over the West Coast, the East Coast was experiencing a similar reaction. The CYRKLE received considerable attention, as they were Beatles manager Brian Epstein's first American singing; he quickly added them to the Beatles 1966 tour package. The Cyrkle are remembered also for their two catchy Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball," penned by Paul Simon, and "Turn Down Day," written by Jerry ("Here Comes Summer") Keller. After Brian Epstein died, the band was left with little direction, and the members broke up the band a short time thereafter.

THE KNICKERBOCKERS relied on an energetic, very Beatle-ish sound, that clicked with "Lies." An affable bunch who received lots of TV exposure, their appearance was disappointing, looking more like an early 60's New Jersey lounge band (which they were) then a hip Beatles-era rock band.

Saxist Buddy Randell (previously with the Royal Teens) and drummer Jimmy Walker developed as solo artists, with the latter filling in briefly for Bill Medley when he took time off from the Righteous Brothers.

At the same time, the Midwest was also developing its own share of quality rock bands, including Chicago's CRYAN SHAMES, whose biggest record was "Sugar and Spice." Although the single only charted at 49 nationally, it caught the attention of Columbia Records, which signed the band and stood behind its subsequent releases, None quite had the appeal of "Sugar and Spice," however, and eventually the group was dropped from the label. Cleveland's THE OUTSlDERS enjoyed success for awhile, despite having a name that made them sound like they were on the outside looking in. During 1966 they racked up a remarkable four Top 40 records, but that was the extent of their chart activity. "Time Won't Let Me," their first single, was the only one that managed to break into the Top Ten. Although the group was forgotten by the 1980's, singer Sonny Geraci resurfaced as a member of Climax, which recorded the million-seller "Precious and Few."

For the most part, groups like the ones mentioned were straight-ahead, no frills rock bands. THE LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION were an exception, however. They wraped themselves in buckskin, and reeked of the Wild West, both in name and in dress. The group was best known for being the only other rock group to be pictured on Colgems Records' innersleeves that jacketed millions of Monkees albums. Their first record,I Feel Good (I Feel Bad)," exemplified the band's good-time, party personality. The record only mid-charted nationally, but Lewis & Clark persevered. Boomer Castleman became one of Nashville's top session musicians and later hit the Top 40 with "Judy Mae"; Michael Martin Murphy recorded several pop and country hits, including the million-selling "Wildfire."

Also related to the Monkees, were the group's main songwriting/production team, BOYCE & HART, who provided them with hits like "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Valleri." "If they can do it, so can we," and they did too, with "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," which climbed to number eight in the winter of 1968. For the most part, the duo were more successful as writers/producers, so the Boyce & Hart "artist" concept was short lived, although they joined ex-Monkees' Dolenz and Jones, and recorded and toured in the 70's as "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart."

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR was originally from Dallas, but relocated to Hollywood, where they became a very popular club band. A listen to their best work (available on Rhino RNDF 201) reveals what might well have been the state-of-the-art of rock recording for that period. "Let Her Dance," included here, preceded "I Fought the Law," and was the record that established the band in Los Angeles. Phil Seymour thought enough of the song to record it in the 1980's. Unfortunately Bobby's vast promise was stopped short when he was found dead of mysterious circumstances. Group member, (and Bobby's brother) Randy tried to keep the band going under his own name, but when that failed, the remaining musicians went their separate ways. The final band included in this compilation is THE TURTLES, who were undoubtedly one of the most popular acts of the 1960's. Although the group had a ton of hits, they also released a number of single? that sound like they should've been hits, bur only managed various regional play. Such was "Can I Get to Know You Better," a bonifide Top Tenner in the group's native Los Angeles, that only managed an 89 nationally. The song came in the transition slot between the early hits, "It Ain't Me Babe" — "You Baby" and the second phase of the band's career that was kicked off by "Happy Together." While the sound of these records definitely recalls the 1960's at the same time that sound is sneaking back onto the charts. The Go-Go's records sound like they were made in the 1960's, the Romantics are clearly rooted in the era, and the Bangles second album features a close copy of the Merry-Go-Round's "Live." It seems likely that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, and that in the not-so-distant future the elements that made up this period will once again become part of the contemporary rock scene.

SANDY STERT BENJAMIN

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01  Vol. 02              Vol. 04
Vol. 05  Vol. 06  Vol. 07  Vol. 08
Vol. 09  Vol. 10  Vol. 11  Vol. 12

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 5 Pop, Part Three

Various
Nuggets
Volume Five
Pop, Part III




A little sappier than the previous "pop" installments of this series. Highlighted by obscure, minor hit singles by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Knickerbockers, the Association, and the Lovin' Spoonful.[allmusic]

Label: Rhino Records 
Series: Nuggets – RNLP 029
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Vocal   [discogs]

Tracklist
A1 Knickerbockers, The – High On Love (M) 
A2 Vacels, The – You're My Baby (And Don't You Forget It) (M)
A3 Vogues, The – You're The One  (M)
A4 Hackamore Brick – Got A Gal Named Wilma (S)
A5 Lovin' Spoonful, The – She Is Still A Mystery (S)
A6 Association, The – Pandora's Golden Heebie Geebies (S)
A7 Mojo Men, The – Sit Down I Think I Love You (M)
B1 American Breed, The – Bend Me, Shape Me (S)
B2 Cherokee – Girl, I've Got News For You (S)
B3 Grass Roots, The – Where Were You When I Needed You (S, original with P.F. Sloan's lead vocal)
B4 Electric Prunes, The – Everybody Knows You're Not In Love (M)
B5 Tradewinds – Mind Excursion (S)
B6 Strawberry Alarm Clock – Tomorrow (S)
B7 Primrose Circus – P. S. Call Me Lulu (M)

Mp3@320&scans
Bend Me, Shape Me  
Here

 Liner Notes 

"In the era these records deal with, Pop meant more than overblown video vom set to cheesecake soundtracks; Pop was practiced as art!" So noted Edwin Pouncy when he reviewed the first two volumes of "Nuggets—Pop" in Sounds magazine. What inspired the Nuggets "Pop" volumes was considerably more than "let's have hits so we can make a lot of money." It was an era of challenge, experimentation and artistry. Initially the presence and accomplishments of the Beatles were so alluring that thousands of American teenagers formed rock bands to ape them, and other British bands. The KNICKERBOCKERS' first hit, "Lies," was mistaken for a Beatles single by many listeners. The similar "High on Love" effervesed with a confidence and energy that belied the Bergenfield, New Jersey group's straight appearance. Other, similar groups from the East Coast, the VOGUES (from Pennsylvania) and the VACELS (from Long Island) had hits with "You're The One" and "You're My Baby ( And Don't You Forget It)." "You're the One" was composed by Petula Clark and her husband Tony Hatch.Petula had a top thirty English hit with it around the same time as the Vogues'American version climbed to number four, nationally. The Vogues later evolved into a successful lounge group, racking up an impressive list of hits that included "Five O'clock World." Meanwhile, The Vacels hold the distinction of having had the first record released on the Kama Sutra label. Los Angeles based groups, less rooted in conservative traditionalism, seemed to embrace the various post-Beatles trends much mere quickly than those based in older cities like New York. Folk-rock was no exception, with the Byrds. Turtles and Grassroots all hitting the charts. The latter two evolved into exceptional pop bands. The GRASSROOTS "Where Were You When I Needed You" was originally recorded as a songwriting demo, probably for Barry McGuire. The demo turned out so well (P.F. Sloan sings and plays guitar) that it became a hit as a transitional Grasssroots single (see Nuggets Vol. 6). Grassroots lead singer Rob Grill's voice replaced Sloan's for inclusion on the group's "Greatest Hits" LP, but included here is the original, hit version. "Girl, I've Got News For You" easily sounds like it could have been a Top Ten smash by the Grassroots (and was in fact produced by Grassroots producer Steve Barri), but the performance is by CHEROKEE, aka the Robbs. The Robbs are best known for their 1966 regional hit "Race With The Wind," and for being regulars on the "Where The Action Is" TV Show. As the 60's srilled into the 70's, the group's name was changed to Cherokee. These days the Robb Brothers can be found operating Cherokee Studios, one of Hollywood's top recording complexes.
A side from one's personal enjoyment, it soon became evident that the consumption of drugs often inspired outrageous creative leaps. Even a band that had as straight an image as The ASSOCIATION was affected, and came up with a very strange record like "Pandora's Golden Heebie Geebies" which was named after the controversial Sunset Strip nightclub Pandora's Box, that was conveniently demolished when hippiedom reared its anti-establishment head. Later on, apparently, the Association were so embarrassed at their psychedelic forray that they left the song off of their "Greatest Hits" LP.
A large attraction of LSD was its enhancement of color. Musically, this translated to a variety of tones and textures, as well as an enchanting quality. Typical was The MOJO MEN'S "Sit Down I Think I Love You" which sounds similar to the Mamas and Papas.For the recording, arranger Van Dyke Parks brought this former San Francisco bar band a new Steve Stills composition in an effort to provide a new direction.
The STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK needed little more than their name and look - a debut album cover of Authentic Indian fashion gone away, looking like the group had been the victims of an ice cream fight - to enshrine them as flower power archetypes. They appeared, along with the Seeds, in the period film "Psych-Out" and had a few hits. Their second, "Tomorrow," is a simple love song that would have sounded trite had it not been given a churning arrangement of swirling organs and sustained guitar fuzz. Guitarist Ed King later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Gershwin-like strings and woodwinds color the intro of the LOVIN' SPOONFUL'S last top thirty hit, "She's Still A Mystery," which fades to the accompaniment of a Dixieland band. The group's head-in-the-clouds good-timey personality seemed perfectly compatible with the heady euphoria that was prevalent in the era. The song is from the group's last LP before John Sebastian left, the "Sgt. Pepper"-ish "Everybody's Playing." While the ELECTRIC PRUNES better known sides (available on other "Nuggets") were more manic, the obscure single "Everybody Knows You're Not In Love" finds them with a charming love song. Originally from Seattle, but later based in Los Angeles, the group benefited from the production of Dave Hassinger (best known for his remarkable engineering of The Rolling Stones' "Aftermath"-era records). Once during a press party, the group served a dinner of prune juice, prune salad, prune meat pie, stewed prunes and prune dessert."Mind Excursion by New York's TRADEWINDS shows how even (presumably) straight groups co-opted the trend by utilizing a suggestive title that, in actuality, encouraged a positive physical adventure rather than a head trip. As conventional as Chicago's AMERICAN BREED's powerful top fiver, "Bend Me, Shape Me" was, their previous release was the timely "Step Out Of Your Mind." "Bend Me, Shape Me" was, their biggest hit, but was actually the eighth recorded version of the song. Producer Bill Traut (Nazz, Shadows of Night) recollected that it wasn't until 2:00 a.m. when the singers became hoarse, that the proper texture of their voices was achieved for the hit recording. The group reformed in 1985. While HACKAMORE BRICK's "Got A Gal Named Wilma" dates from 1971, it easily could pass as a 1960's artifact. Among the more obscure groups present, their only LP aroused some attention from Richard Meltzer's rave review in Rolling Stone, when he likened their sound to that of the Zombies. Says Richard, "Live, they were more guitar heavy, and had a sound that was like an early 60's psychedelic band. The fact that they couldn't find a regular drummer probably prevented them from playing much outside of Brooklyn."
HAROLD BRONSON

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01  Vol. 02  Vol. 03  Vol. 04
            Vol. 06  Vol. 07  Vol. 08
Vol. 09  Vol. 10  Vol. 11  Vol. 12

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 2 Punk

Various

Nuggets

Volume Two:

Punk





Label: Rhino Records
Catalog#: RNLP 026
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock,Punk Rock

Tracklist
A1 Love  -  My Little Red Book
A2 Shadows Of Knight, The  -  Gloria
A3 Seeds, The  -  Can't Seem To Make You Mine
A4 Music Machine, The  -  Double Yellow Line
A5 Chocolate Watchband, The  -  Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)?
A6 Del-Vetts, The  -  Last Time Around
A7 Vagrants, The  -  Respect
B1 Standells, The  -  Try It
B2 Shadows Of Knight, The  -  I'm Gonna Make You Mine
B3 Music Machine, The  -  The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
B4 Leaves, The  -  Too Many People
B5 Sonics, The  -  Strychnine
B6 Elastik Band, The  -  Spazz
B7 Standells, The  -  Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White

Credits
Artwork By [Cover Art] - Don Brown
Compiled By - Gary Stewart , Harold Bronson , Richard Foos
Other [Art Direction] - Art D. Rekshun
Photography [Archives] - Michael Och  [discogs]

Mp3 @ 320 & scans 86 MB
Are You Gonna Be There
HERE

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits
and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01   Vol. 03 Vol. 04
Vol. 05 Vol. 06 Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 09 Vol. 10 Vol. 11 Vol. 12



PS : I don't have this album in my collection, so i made it from different compilations and records...
Anyway, enjoy it...
Photos from discogs

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 4 : Pop, Part Two

Nuggets, Vol. 4

Pop, Part Two

Various Artists

[1984]





Most of the acts here take their cues from the lightest aspects of The Beatles. More often than not, the results are pretty infectious. Highlights include The E-Types, the Royal Guardsmen, and the Palace Guard, which featured future Merry-Go-Round leader Emmitt Rhodes. Review by Richie Unterberger [allmusic]

Label: Rhino Records
Catalog#: RNLP 028
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Pop Rock
[www.discogs.com]

Mp3@320 & Covers 86MB

Put The Clock Back On The Wall Here


Tracks
Side A'
Live - The Merry-Go-Round (S)
Lost In My World - The Outsiders (S)
Baby Let's Wait - The Royal Guardsmen (M)
We can't Go On This Way - Teddy & The Pandas (M)
She Sleeps Alone - The Parade (S)
Put The Clock Back On The Wall - The E-Types (S)
Like Falling Sugar - The Palace Guard (M)

Side B'
One Track Mind - The Knickerbockers (M)
She's The One - The Chartbusters (M)
All Night Long - The Palace Guard (M)
Follow Me - Lyme & Cybelle (M)
1,2,3 And I Fell - Long Island Sound (M)
Without Her - Rumor (M)
Yellow Balloon - Yellow Balloon (S)

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01 Vol. 02 Vol. 03
Vol. 05 Vol. 06 Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 09 Vol. 10 Vol. 11 Vol. 12


PS : (M) means Mono, (S) means Stereo.

This one for Claudio. Greetings...

VA - Nuggets, Vol. 1: The Hits

RNLP 025

Nuggets, Vol. 1:

The Hits

Various Artists [1984]



Label:Rhino Records
Catalog#:RNLP 025
Format:Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country:US
Released:1984
Genre:Rock
Style:Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock

A straightforward collection of garage-punk chart successes, including "Psychotic Reaction," "Dirty Water, " "Nobody but Me, " and "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night." [Review by Bruce Eder]

Tracklist
01 - The Leaves - Hey Joe
02 - The Electric Prunes - I Had To Much To Dream Last Night
03 - The Five Americans - I See The Light
04 - The Standells - Dirty Water
05 - The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me
06 - The Blues Magoos - We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet
07 - The Barbarians - Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl
08 - The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard
09 - The Music Machine - Talk Talk
10 - The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction
11 - The Balloon Farm - A Question Of Temperature
12 - The Nazz - Open My Eyes
13 - The Amboy Dukes - Journey To The Center Of The Mind
14 - Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues

Mp3@320 & Covers
Here





Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits
and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...


Vol. 02 Vol. 03 Vol. 04
Vol. 05 Vol. 06 Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 09 Vol. 10 Vol. 11 Vol. 12


PS : I don't have this album in my collection, so i made it from different compilations...
Anyway, enjoy it...
Photos from www.discogs.com

Nuggets Vol. 11: Pop, Pt. 4

RNLP/RNC 70035
Nuggets Vol. 11:
Pop, Part 4
Various Artists
[1986]


Solid collection of slightly psychedelic-influenced, progressive '60s pop. Fine hits by The Left Banke, Fever Tree, and the Grass Roots, neat tracks by The Blues Project, Lee Michaels, and Gene Clark, worthy obscurities by The Magicians, Montage (a Left Banke spinoff), The Critters, and Keith.
Review by Richie Unterberger [allmusic]

Label : Rhino Rec.
Catalog#: RNLP 70035
Format: Vinyl, 12",
Country: USA
Released: 1986
Genre: Rock
Style:Psychedelic , Progressive, Pop , 60's
Mp3@320 & Scans
Filesize: 96.83 MB

Let's Live Take it Here

Tracks

Side A'

Let's Live For Today - The Grass Roots
Pretty Ballerina - The Left Banke
I Shall Call Her Mary - Montage
Echoes - Gene Clark
Happy - The Sunshine Company
Invitation To Cry - The Magicians
San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native) - Fever Tree

Side B'

Hello - Lee Michaels
Run Run Run - The Third Rail
Mr. Dieingly Sad - The Critters
I Can Hear The Grass Grow - The Blues Magoos
No Time Like The Right Time - The Blues Project
Step Out Of Your Mind - The American Breed
Ain't Gonna Lie - Keith




















Pop music was a wide-open territory from 1966 to 1968, a dayglo Land of Oz with a surprise around every turn of the radio dial. It was an especially fertile period that found the standard formulas governing song composition bending in the wake of an emergent experimentalism, a charge led by the Beatles and by hallucinogenic drugs. (Let's not play coy here; Spiro Agnew was right all along, and you and I know it.) During this two-year blip on the pop-culture time line, a torrent of great music-too much to be properly absorbed, appreciated or even catalogued, as it turns out-was released. Listen closely and you'll hear a dialogue being worked out between discipline and excess, short songs and long songs, screaming and crooning, guitars and violins, Utopia and apocalypse, druggy liberation and old-fashioned hand-holding in the park. Fortunately, compromise worked all to the good in the halfway house of AM radio.
 Keith, he of the Top Ten hit "98.6," is as normal sounding a singer as you'll find on this (or any) Sixties pop collection. "Ain't Gonna Lie" was the first single from the warm-voiced Philadelphian (James Barry Keefer to his mom and dad), who enlisted the Tokens to sing back up. It hit #39 for one week in late '66, a couple of months before "98.6" went Top Ten, and would have gone higher had hundreds of thousands of records not been pressed off-center. The low-key jazz-pop sound of Keith's records owes much to Jerry Ross, who mined a similarly brassy groove as producer of Bobby Hebb's classic "Sunny." "He has star quality!" radio-tipsheet king Kal Rudman raved of Keith on the sleeve notes to his first LP. "His will be a big career?' The U.S. Army deemed other¬
wise, spiriting him from the concert stage to the oblivion of a New Jersey barracks at the height of his popularity.
 The loveliest singles of the Sixties were recorded by The Left Banke, who proved that a pop ballad could incorporate aspects of classicism without sounding effete, and that a rock band could sing and play sensitively without sounding effeminate. "Pretty Ballerina" was well-nigh perfect in its well-tempered execution, owing to the compositional genius of Michael Brown and the mannerly vocal delivery of Steve Martin, who sang it as if he were reciting an Elizabethan love sonnet "Pretty Ballerina" sounds as sweet and disciplined as a Bach piano etude, and the public applauded it all the way to #15 in early 1967.
 In some quarters, The Blues Project were regarded as "the Jewish Beatles," but their incipient blues and jazz leanings ultimately denied them broad exposure or even so much as a Top Forty single. Al Kooper was the closest thing they had to a pop messiah, and every now and then he would come up with a gem like "No Time Like the Right Time." It has the sound of '67 all over it, in the urgency of Kooper's vocal and the galloping beat, the psychedelic organ stabs and, of course, a tambourine, shaken for all it's worth on the chorus. Oh, and not forgetting Kooper's mind-bending solo on the "ondioline-a keyboard that made a high-pitched Middle Eastern whine every bit as mysterious as Kooper's up-and-down career.
 Another set of "blues" musicians, The Blues Magoos, were no mere acid-rock dilettantes; they were full-tilt, falling-off-the-face-of-the-earth psychedelic. They wore electric suits that lit up onstage, called their first album Psychedelic Lollipop (lick at your own peril) and even marketed a Blues Magoos lava lamp. The Blues Magoos' brand of acid had a lot of speed mixed in with it; led by the garage vocals of Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm, they made a trio of albums that remain classics of the genre. "I Can Hear the Grass Grow'-written by Englishman Roy Wood, leader of the Move-appeared on Basic Blues Magoos. "My head is attracted to a magnetic wave of sound," sang Peppy, and, hearing this, you couldn't doubt him.
 More down to earth (pardon the pun) were The Grass Roots. The group was blest with a steady stream of pop/protest songs from the talented team of PR Sloan (author of "Eve of Destruction") and Steve Barri. Rob Grill sang the Sloan/Barri songbook with the air of troubled earnestness that they demanded, and the Grass Roots—L.A. natives all, and originally the "13th Floor-racked up hits all the way into the Seventies. "Let's Live for Today" is a late Sixties' milestone, with Grill's cathartic vocal betraying the uncertainties of a generation grappling with drugs, the draft and dropping out.
 The Critters represented the flip side of the pop coin. They were all sweetness and light and mellow vibes-New Jersey's answer to the Lovin Spoonful, without benefit of a summer in the city. "Blue be your eyes, blonde your hair," they sang to a comely inamorata on "Mr. Dieingly Sad." their #19 hit from the fall of 1966. The quasi-jazzy arrangement, complete with vibes, wistful vocals and a samba-like lilt, was reminiscent of Keith's several singles Both the Critters and Keith, if truth be told, seemed to derive no small inspiration from Chris Montez, the jazzy pop singer (and Ritchie Valens protege) of "Call Me" and "The More I See You."
 The Chicago-bred American Breed hit the charts in 1967 with a timely invitation to "Step Out of Your Mind." Never as psychedelic as they pretended to be, for currency's sake, the American Breed were really a white soul band trapped in paisley boutique clothing. A couple latter-day members wound up co-founding the Seventies soul-funk group Rufus. In their heyday, the .American Breed sounded something like Britain's Amen Corner. Amen. who. you ask? Ah, that's another story. Suffice to say that both groups had a large-scale hit, in their respective countries, with "Bend Me. Shape Me" (available on Pop. Part III of the Nuggets series).
 There has never been a burst of feedback to rival that which closes Fever Tree's ode to ''San Francisco Girls''-it sounds like an amplified swarm of killer bees, capable of turning healthy minds to head cheese at twenty paces This stentorian footnote to the psychedelic era comes from a guitarist known only as Michael. He, along with producers Scott and Vivian Holtzman. wrote "San Francisco Girls," Fever Tree's brilliant burst of neon-rainbow psychedelia. It's quite a different ode to the city by the sea than the one Tony Bennett popularized. Almost suite-like in its movements, it passes from pastoral rhapsody to ear-splintering rave-up in the time it takes to say "Hey Joe," which it resembles.
 Lee Michaels arrived on the recording scene with his heavy organ, and ex-Paul Revere and the Raiders guitarist Drake Levin, in 1968. "Hello" was just that: an electrified hail-fellow-well-met from a formidable L.A. keyboardist who followed the Jefferson Airplanes siren call north to the psychedelic ballrooms of San Francisco. His first album, Carnival of life, was a nine-song smorgasboard of pithy meditations on the human condition. In addition to "Hello," there was "Love," "Tomorrow" and "Why." Michaels' second album, Recital, remains his most virtuosic work-and one of the quintessential albums-as-albums of the Sixites.
  Montage was one of Michael Brown's infrequent projects, formed in the wake of his one-album stint with the Left Banke. He wasn't even a bonafide member of Montage, (Is this a guy with a commitment problem, or what?) On Montage's lone album, he was given "special thanks... for all keyboard instruments and vocal arrangements." He also, incidentally, co-wrote nine of the ten songs, and they are all wonderful, per usual. In a sense, The Montage can be regarded as The Great Lost Bank Album, insofar as Brown's prowess and participation are concerned. "I Shall Call You Mary" bears the thrilling orchestral-pop hallmarks of the Left Banke's classic "Desiree."
  The Sunshine Company cast themselves in the mold of Peter, Paul & Mary, Spanky and Our Gang, and the Mamas and the Papas: folk-rock groups with girl/guy harmonies whose mission was to sling lovey-dovey good vibes 'round this here planet (or at least the West Coast). Mary Nance's hearty alto meshed nicely with Maury Manseau's gentle tenor on "Happy," a Summer of Love single whose cup runneth over with happiness. Taking a good thing one step further, they titled their first album Happy Is the Sunshine Company and filled it with such Aquarian Age love polemics as "Children Could Help Us Find the Way" and "Love Is a Happy Thing." Groovy stuff, but where's they go? Up, up and away?
  Disciplines of late Sixties pop frequently find themselves chasing obscure, scratchy 45s through the dustbins of time and trying to answer such zen koans as, "Who are The Third Rail?" The Wizards of Id behind The Third Rail were Artie Resnick and Joey Levine, a pair of songwriters in the employ of the Kasenetz/Katz bubblegum hitmaking machine; the Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company were among their beneficiaries. "Run Run Run" is a whimsical bit of social commentary. As a putdown of the nine-to-five rat race, its judgments are harsher than the bubblegum vocals, complete with Jan and Dean-style falsetto swoops, might otherwise suggest.
  There's no mistaking the heart-on-the-sleeve emotions of The Magicians' "Invitation to Cry." This waltz-time weeper, a failed 45, fairly bleeds romantic duress. For a brief while in 1966, the Magicians, who had solid musical credentials and a strong following around New York City, seemed poised to make it. "Invitation to Cry" was the strongest of their three singles. The Magicians welded the Long Island R&B sound of the Young Rascals and the Vagrants with the surging power of Massachusetts garage bands like the Remains and the Barbarians. In hindsight, the Magicians' greatest trick, however, was their vanishing act. Guitarist Allan "Jake" Jacobs later re-surfaced as the leader of Jake and the Family Jewels, and drummer Alan Gordon and guitarist Gary Bonner teamed as songwriters to amass a trunkload of late-Sixties pop gems like "Happy Together" and "Celebrate."
  After Gene Clark quit the Byrds, he cut a little-heard album with a pair of country singers, Vern and Rex Gosdin, and such stellar L.A. sidemen as Leon Russell and Glen Campbell (just back from his half-year as a Beach Boy). Clark also got his solo flight off the ground with the help of a few Byrds: Chris Hillman, Mike Clarke and Bryd-to-be Clarence White. "My inspirations, as I remember, were Rubber Soul and early Mamas and Papas," Clark reflected years later. "Echoes" seems to pay homage to Bob Dylan as well, in the elusive symbolism of its lyrics. One of the first solo albums as such, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers was here and gone, like a mist, in 1967; it appeared again, remixed and annotated, in 1972, only to drop from sight just as quickly.
Parke Puterbaugh.



Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits
and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01 Vol. 02 Vol. 03 Vol. 04
Vol. 05 Vol. 06 Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 09 Vol. 10             Vol. 12

Nuggets Vol. 9: Acid Rock

RNLP/RNC 70033
Nuggets Vol. 9
Acid Rock
Various Artists
[1986]



Switching to a decidedly heavier mode, this comp includes hits by Love, the Byrds, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, the Chambers Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock, as well as worthy lighter, slightly obscure offerings by The Grass Roots, the Monkees, and the Young Rascals.
Review by Richie Unterberger [allmusic]

Label : Rhino Rec.
Catalog#: RNLP 70033
Format: Vinyl, 12",
Country: USA
Released: 1986
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage , Psychedelic , Rock'n'Roll , Pop , 60's
Mp3@320 & Scans

Eight Miles Here


Tracks

Side A'
7 And 7 Is - Love
Eight Miles High - The Byrds
Feelings - The Grass Roots
Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - The First Edition
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
It's Wonderful - The Young Rascals
Porpoise Song - The Monkees
Side B'
She's My Girl - The Turtles
Incense And Peppermints - The Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Wind Blows Her Hair - The Seeds
You Keep Me Hangin' On - Vanilla Fudge
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly
Time Has Come Today - The Chambers Brothers
I Won't Hurt You - The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits
and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01 Vol. 02 Vol. 03 Vol. 04
Vol. 05 Vol. 06 Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 10 Vol. 11 Vol. 12

Nuggets Vol. 6 : Punk Part Two

RNLP / RNC 030
Nuggets, Vol. 6:
Punk Part Two
Various Artists [1985]



Includes a lot of the greatest regional garage hits of the mid-'60s: the Brogues, We The People, the Unrelated Segments, the Chocolate Watch Band, and Mouse & the Traps all weigh in with strong cuts. Also includes worthy obscurities by Captain Beefheart ("Diddy Wah Diddy") and minor but exciting hits by The Shadows of Knight ("Oh Yeah") and The Electric Prunes (the psychedelic classic "Get Me To The World On Time"). [allmusic]

Label : Rhino Rec.
Catalog#: RNLP 030
Format: Vinyl, 12",
Country: USA
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage , Psychedelic , Rock'n'Roll , Pop , 60's

Mp3@320 & scans

Take me Here

Tracks

Side A'

Public Execution - Mouse & Traps
Diddy Wah Diddy - Captain Beefheart
Little Black Egg - The Nightcrawlers
I Ain't No Miracle Worker - The Brogues
Where You Gonna Go - The Unrelated Segments
Forget It - Black Pearl
Mirror Of Your Mind - We The People

Side B'

Oh Yeah - The Shadows Of Knight (S, 45 version)
Sookie Sookie - Steppenwolf
Sweet Young Thing - The Chocolate Watch Band
Mr. Jones (Ballad Of A Thin Man) - The Grass Roots
Try To Understand - The Seeds
Love's Gone Bad - The Underdogs
Get Me To The World On Time - The Electric Prunes

Nuggets is a series of releases dedicated to preserving the hits
and undiscovered gems of the first psychedelic era...

Vol. 01 Vol. 02 Vol. 03 Vol. 04
Vol. 05             Vol. 07 Vol. 08
Vol. 09 Vol. 10 Vol. 11 Vol. 12