01. The Runabouts. the chase [SG Vox 1965]
02. The Jagged Edge. how many times [SG Twirl 1966]
03. The Malibus. cry [SG Malibu 1966]
04. The Headlyters. girl down the street [SG Phalanx 1965]
05. The Jades Ltd. you're not there [SG Tower 1967]
06. Hoppi and the Beau Heems. when i get home [SG Laurie 1968]
07. Lee Grant and the Capitols. that's what worries me [EP Belter 1965]
08. The Vampires. new love [EP sesion 1966]
09. Ian and the Zodiacs. this empty place [SG Philips 1964]
10. Oscar and the Majestics. my girl is waiting [SG u.s.a. 1966]
11. Ritchie Knight and the Mid-Knights. work song [SG Rca Victor 1966]
12. The Bar Boys. hit the road jack [SG Lyar 1968]
13. Destination Soul. i know your kind [SG Uptown 1967]
14. The Razors Edge. baby's on his way [SG Pow 1967]
15. Basis of the Thing. individual of society [SG Chi-Line 1966]
16. Esquires. settle down [SG Scratch 1967]
First show in two years! A bunch of jangly and moody guitar garage beats mostly from the US with a few europeans thrown in the middle. Enjoy!
01. Dave Heenan Set. so many roads [SG Epic 1967]
02. Bill Soden. my mermaid and me [SG Compass 1967]
03. The Oracle. don't say no [SG Verve Forecast 1967]
04. The Roman Numerals. the come on [1967]
05. The Shaggs. ring around the rosie [SG Palmer 1966]
06. The Lollipops. i'll stay by your side [SG Karusell 1965]
07. Paul Messis. time will tell [SG State 2010]
08. The Yellow Payges. never see the good in me [SG Showplace 1967]
09. The Plastic Cloud. shadows of your mind [SG Allied 1969]
10. The Touch. no shame [SG Public 1968]
11. Nineteen Eighty-Four. amber waves [SG Kapp 1969]
12. North Atlantic Invasion Force. blue and green gown [SG Congressional 1967]
13. Emergency Exit. why girl [SG Dunhill 1966]
14. The-Xtreems. facts of life [SG Star Trek 1967]
15. The Enfields. face to face [SG Richie 1966]
16. Stefan Arngrim. where has christmas gone [SG Jerden 1967]
Last episode of 2012 and maybe the last before the world goes to and end, as we all hope!
First set kicks off quietly with Dave Heenan Set. This was no other than New Jersey's fave band Glitterhouse with english frontman Dave Heenan (ex Merseylads) on vocals. After this lone single, Heenan left and they changed the name to Glitterhouse. "So Many Roads" is a sad tale of despair by someone who is quite exhausted of life on earth («this sadness will never end») and was the back side of Alice in Wonderland, nice pop psych too! Then we sail in enchanted seas with Bill Soden and the sitaresque psych masterpiece "My Mermaid and Me". No details to be found about this songwriter who released a bunch of singles.
We move now to LA with the team of Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsenrecording here as The Oracle. They teamed up with female folk goddess Ruthann Friedmann (of Windy fame) who wrote this absoulte personal fave. "Don't Say No" is a quiet shout for love hidden in the mists of sitars, tablas, wind effects and beautiful string arrangements.
«Standing in this rainy darkness, not a star pervades the night Standing in my lonely shadow, will I ever see the light? Don't say no, give me just a little of your sunshine Don't say no, can't you see how dark my life is without you? In the winter of my life time, longing for a hand to hold Want to find my only true love, before my eyes have grown too old Don't say no, give me just a little of your sunshine Don't say no, can't you see how dark my life is without you? People always call me on earth I think that you hang far between Always searching for my rainbow Going where the grass is green Don't say no, give me just a little of your sunshine Don't say no, can't you see how dark my life is without you?»
The set ends now with the Roman Numerals. Again, no information to be found. Just one lonely release for Columbia, but what a great sad sunshine epic tune!
Second set starts with The Shaggs and "Ring Around the Rosie". A pretty 19th century nursery folk song turned into moody garage bitternes («you treated boys like you play with toys, you break them apart like you broke my heart») by this Miami band that toured a lot in the Detroit area. After a song for kids, now is the kids talkin! The Lollipops were a succesfull band in Denmark. They were about 13 years when their career started, and achieved excellent skills in both songwriting and playing. Released many personal faves (i.e."Look at this Boy") including "I'll Stay By Your Side", a sweet promise of eternal love.
Minor key folk garage follows with Paul Messis. This british guy is just awesome. A handfull of singles and one LP make him one of my top five artists that Europe has produced in the last years. Don't miss his work, also now writing and playing with The Higher State. The set ends with the first release, back in 1967, by California's fave band The Yellow Payges.
We take a psych turn now in the third set, straight up into obscure rainy skies with the Plastic Cloud. "Shadows of Your Mind" was taken from his rare rare lone album. This guys from Canada really knew how to translate angst and the feelings of disturbed and troubled minds into an elegant, fuzzy, dreamy and restrained anger sound. A total fave! Then we move again to LA. From Oregon, The Hunger established there to release another top five psych algum, "Strictly From the Hunger". But right before that, they released a couple of songs, later remade for the album, as The Touch. "No Shame" is a pure psych baroche gemm about the end of a love.
Then, and still in LA, the Nineteen Eighy-Four (ex Mark and the Escorts) tell us in Amber Waves a summer daydream love story with a misterious girl («she walked along the bay, her hair was shining bright, bathing in sunlight») and how they ended up knowing not what to do «standing there staring at her amber waves» and finally «suddenly in a blur I found myself in a sidewalk in LA».
The flight through dreamy skies ends with the North Atlantic Invasion Force. «And when you come down wear your blue and green gown». A short (1.35min) organ psych tune and one of my faves by this obscure Conneticut band that released five singles.
For the final set we take the Emergency Exit. This Seattle guys waxed just a few songs, but oh boy, "Why Girl" is a mindblower cry for an answer of the lost love. Overwhelming bass line and effects make the whole thing quite intense. Talking about intensity, The Xtreems from St Louis are next breaking a fuzz storm in "Facts of Life", a tale of youngsters inadapted to modern society rules.
«People try to talk to me, they try so hard to make me see, but to me the facts of life just can't be right»
Ending the set, personal idol Ted Munda with The Enfields. His work with both The Enfields and Friends of the Family deserves a golden plate, a marble obelisque, a silver pyramid! I really can't tell how much I like all of the songs they released and even more the ones unreleased, all available at the great Distortions compilation.
And since it's Christmas time, the final minutes go for Canadian actor Stefan Arngrim, produced here by Kim Fowley in a weird and sad christmas song with some anti capitalism wise thought about this time of the year.
«Marching soldiers made of tin, teddy bears and dolls, store stay open every knight, you know where the money goes, but where has Christmas gone, there's more to Christmas if you just open up your eyes»
01. The Bassmen. the last laugh [SG Gallantry 1965]
02. The I.C.C. (In Crowd Consolidated). don't love me [SG Hy Nibble 1967]
03. The Dinks. penny a tear drop [SG Sully 1965]
04. The Flower Children. mini-skirt blues [SG Allied 1968]
05. J.T. and the Trolls. I can't believe it [SG Tyondal 196X]
06. Jordan Parker Revue. man of the hour [SG Night Owl 1967]
07. U.S. Stamps. pull the wool [SG Galiko c1967]
08. Le Ombre D'Oro. buio in sospensione [SG Esse 1968]
09. Shags. you're a loser [SG Rocky 196X]
10. MG & the Escorts. next to nowhere [SG Reo 1967]
11. 13th Precinct. you gotta be mine [SG TRX 1967]
12. The Grammy Fones. now he's here [SG Brent 1967]
13. The Morticians. now that you've left me [SG Roulette 1966]
14. The Berwick Players. images [SG Look 1968]
15. Los Pepes. un dia feliz, otro de llanto [SG Hit 1966]
16. The Regents. she's got her own way of lovin' [SG Reprise 1965]
17. The Bare Facts. georgiana [SG Jubilee 1966]
Moody garage beats & psychs all the way this time. Well, some uptempos too!
In the first part we start with hard feelings waiting for revenge from The Bassmen (Tucson, Arizona) - "I'll never be satisfied 'till you've cried"! - followed by a word of advise from Misessota's In Crowd Consolidated (I.C.C.) - "look at the life i live, nothing to offer you but grief, don't look at me". Obscure song written by Walker Munson, related with The Big M's. Kansas' Dinks are next with their brilliant moody tear drops and then the psychy organ grooves of LA's Flower Children and their Mini Skirt Blues.
More obscurities to be found the second part. Intense bitternes and loneliness feelings cried out by J.T. and the Trolls. No information at all found about this horn & organ garage stomper, so any enlightening comments are more than welcome! Next is the Jordan Parker Revue from Dayton, Ohio. A recent discovery and personal fave from the start! "My only dream is to spend 24h with you!". From that we move to New York for the second and last 45 by the U.S. Stamps pulling the wool over their girl's eyes. And then to Italy to more obscure feelings by Le Ombre D'Oro (The Golden Man) after a relation break up.
The Shags are next spitting out their feelings to a non correspondant love - "You're a loser, you'll never find somebody to love". Again, no information found about this nugget apart from it being recorded in Omaha. Montreal's MG & the Escorts follow up with one of the most touching songs I've ever heard in my life about the end of a love:
"You never used to wake up so weary, you say the world is getting you down, but I know it's different. You never smile at me like you used to, you never woke me and tell me you love me and I know it's ending. And though I try to hold us together, there ain't no use in carrying it all, I know that I'm losing".
Closing the third part are Illinois' 13th Precinct and "You Gotta Be Mine". Positive thinking here and 'go for her' attitude now!
All moody midtempos in the fourth part. It kicks off with The Grammy Fones seeing how their loving target turns her head the other way when a new boy enters the scene. And they beg and beg for love. Any additional details about the band are more than welcome! We move then to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, for the only realease by The Morticians. More despair and loneliness here laid over a moody guitar and electric piano arrangements. A complete fave! The Berwick Players then also tell us, in their first of three 45s for Nashville's Look label, about a breaking up and how hard is to leave someone, seeing her image everywhere they look at. More details about the band welcome too!
This fourth set ends with Los Pepes (Valencia, Spain). One of the
best beat garage bands in Spain in the sixties. "Un DÃa Feliz, Otro de
Llanto" (a day for happiness, another for crying) is brilliant jangly
beat about self-esteem, encouraging lyrics for moving forward after a
bad affair.
Just before ending the show are LA's The Regents (faves!) with their first 45. And they can't help telling their ex how glad they're they found a new girl!
"She'll love me twice as much as you, she's not the most beautiful girl, but to me she's all the world, and I know she wont lie to me like you. She won't run around making me jealous like you"
At last, The Bare Facts (Portsmouth, Ohio) and their first (of two) release telling Georgiana how much they love her, but also giving her the word: "I won't let you hurt me anymore".
Enjoy! See you in the next episode.
[+ info welcome on] I.C.C., J.T and the Trolls, Le Ombre d'Oro, Shags, Berwick Players and Grammy Fones
[+ The Dinks] Garage Hangover blog
[+ Jordan Parker Revue] PurePop blog
[+ 13th Precinct] Garage Hangover blog
01. Saturday's Children. deck five [SG Dunwich 1966]
02. Noel. hey yesterday where's my mind [SG Tower 1969]
03. The Lewis and Clarke Expedition. blue revelations[SG Colgems 1967]
04. Gordon, greensleeves [SG Uptown 1967]
05. The Best Things. chicks are for kids [SG United Artists 1967]
06. The Critters. no one but you [SG Prancer 1965]
07. The Soothsayers. I don't know [SG Acropolis 1966]
08. The Scoundrels. come home with me [SG Verve 1966]
09. Allah-Las. tell me (what's on your mind) [SG Innovative Leisure 2011]
10. Michael and the Medallions. I wanna talk to you [SG Bragg 1965]
11. The Travelling Salesmen. days of my years [SG Rca Victor 1967]
12. The Boys from New York City. take it or leave it [SG Laurie 1967]
13. The Hardtimes. goodbye [SG World Pacific 1966]
14. Dion. daddy rollin (in your arms) [SG Laurie 1968]
15. The Honey Jug. warm city baby [SG Hip 1967]
16. Aquarian Age. old man don't cry [SG Mercury 1969]
17. The Victorians. wasn't the summer short [SG 1967 Bang]
We kick off the 14th season with a bunch of moody garage and folk rockers from all over the States. From the phasing echoes of Noel Odom trying to find his mind ("what if I won, what if I lost?") to the teenage angst of the Soothsayers, finding some revelations with the Lewis and Clarke expedition and some hidden gems like the Greensleeves adaptation by Gordon Kjellberg. Also the early efforts of New Jersey's Critters, a devoted band here at NMdT, or the Travelling Salesmen looking to their back pages written in the days of their years. Towards the end, the hunting rhythm of the Daddy Rollin by Dion and the beautiful harpsichord melodies of the Honey Jug. It all finish with the Aquarian Age, a studio artyfact related to the Cuff Links team, and a beautiful ode to the summer by the Victorians.
Oh, and don't forget to get your hands on the debut album by LA's Allah-La's, which includes the single featured here plus more luminiscent melodies for the dune and meadows days. A HUGE fave here! http://innovativeleisure.bigcartel.com/product/allah-las-allah-las
