Posts Tagged ‘Garage Rock’

French Kissing: Oh Suzanne / The Lonely Streets of Cairo

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Guitar rock meets retro DIY in a UK garage by the beach

French Kissing is a London band that’s carving out retro garage and surf sounds echoing the twang and reverb of British Invasion instrumentalists like the Shadows, the DIY ethos of late ‘70s punk and new wave bands, the retro vibe of The Milkshakes and Barracudas, and the thick, pop noise of the Jesus and Mary Chain, et al. Their upcoming single rethinks the song “Oh Suzanne,” as originally released on their 2009 EP I Would Let You Know. The new version is more polished, with the bass and drums more evenly blended and the lead and harmony vocals more deftly balanced. The guitar solo that kicks in at 1’40 still suggests Dave Davies’ early work, though with modern tone in place of the raw studio sound of 1964. The new version is planned for a limited edition of 200 vinyl singles, and can be picked up from their label, or streamed below. The B-side, “Cairo,” remains vinyl-only. I’d also highly recommend picking up their previous EP for its evocation of garage punk (ala the Morlocks and Chesterfield Kings) on “I Would Let You Know” and “Please Please.”  [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Oh Suzanne
French Kissing’s MySpace Page

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Various Artists: Radio Hits of the 60s

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Terrific collection of AM radio’s highly varied legacy

Rather than picking an artist or label or scene or sound, Legacy’s pulled together thirteen original hit recordings that show the range of music that AM radio brought to its listeners. Collected here is New Orleans R&B (“Ya Ya,” 1961 and “Working in the Coal Mine,” 1966), Dixieland Jazz (“Washington Square,” 1963), Easy Listening (“A Fool Never Learns,” 1964), Folk Pop and Rock (“We’ll Sing in the Sunshine,” 1964 and “In the Year 2525,” 1969), Garage Punk (“Little Girl,” 1966), Soul (“I’m Your Puppet,” 1966 and “Cherry Hill Park,” 1969), Bubblegum (“Simon Says,” 1968), Trad Jazz Vocal (“The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde,” 1968), and Vocal Pop (“Worst That Could Happen,” 1969).

Even within these individual songs you can often hear more than one genre exerting its influence, such as the steel guitar and horns that provide accents to the superb pop production of Merrilee Rush’s “Angel of the Morning.” In this day of highly balkanized music channels and individually programmed MP3 playlists, it’s hard to imagine such variety inhabiting a single mass-market playlist, but that was part of AM radio’s power to attract and keep a broad swath of listeners. Playing this collection will remind you how good record and radio people were at picking and making hits – the winnowing process disenfranchised many, but what got through the sieves, particularly what got to the top of the charts, was often highly memorable.

Legacy’s disc clocks in at a slim 35 minutes, but what’s here is a terrifically nostalgic spin whose songs stand up to repeated listening forty-plus years later. True, Andy Williams’ “A Fool Never Learns” might wear out its welcome before the other tracks, but it’s part and parcel of the ebb and flow of 1960s AM radio. This set isn’t meant to be an all-inclusive compilation of any one thing in particular, but a reminder of the breadth that once graced individual radio stations across the land. There was a unity to AM radio’s audience that’s been replace by the free choice of the empowered individual. That personalization carries with it many benefits, but the range of this set may remind you of what’s also been lost. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

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Various Artists: ’60s Indie Garage

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Rich collection of mostly original mid-60s garage-rock obscurities

You know you’re in for an interesting ride when a compilation begins with an obscure single, “Lady Greengrass” (and it’s flipside “Love of Mine”), by a pre-Tangerine Dream light-psych incarnation called The Ones, from a 7” single that sported the legend “Music for Hippies.” There are a few better known garage items, like the Litter’s “Action Woman,” and E-Types “Put the Clock Back on the Wall,” but most of these cuts are obscure to all but completist collectors of Nuggets, Pebbles and Boulders compilations or the original 45s from which they’re made. You’ll hear lots of fuzztone and reverbed guitars, whining Farfisa, badly recorded drums, tambourine, frat-rock dance beats, and vocals that range from snotty and bored to loud and confrontational. Tracks by the Shadows of Knight’s (“Gloria”) and the Mojo Men (“She’s My Baby”) aren’t the original single versions – though they may be period alternates, and Blue Cheer’s bombastic “Summertime Blues” doesn’t really belong here. Audio quality is good (though, of course, the original records weren’t always great to begin with) and the transcriptions seem to have been cleaned up as there’s virtually no surface noise, clicks or pops. What’s here is listenable, if not always from the best source; the E-Types “Put the Clock Back on the Wall,” for example is available in higher fidelity stereo on Introducing… The E-Types. Like many of Goldenlane’s compilations, the lack of provenance for these tracks keeps this set from achieving the collector’s nirvana of the Nuggets box sets [1 2 3] or Pebbles reissues [1 2 etc.], but 50 tracks for less than the price of a single CD is a great deal even without band bios or track notes. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

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Mike & The Ravens: No Place for Pretty

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

MikeAndTheRavens_NoPlaceForPrettyObscure early-60s rock band continues their comeback

Is it possible that an obscure early-60s garage rock band that broke up after a few regional singles could find their mojo forty-five years later? Last year’s Noisy Boys: The Saxony Sessions proved the answer a definitive ‘yes,’ and this year’s No Place for Pretty shows they have even more hard-driving pre-British Invasion frat stompers to bestow upon the world. Hailing from the Northeast Northfield/Plattsburgh scene, the Ravens early years can be found on the collections Nevermore: Plattsburgh 62 and Beyond and the broader Heart So Cold!: The North Country ‘60s Scene, but unlike just about any sixty-year-olds who’ve set out to recapture their youth, the Ravens actually rock harder and meaner and looser than they did in 1962.

Bassist Brian Lyford and drummer Peter Young lay down primal rhythms that are embellished by the hammering rhythm guitar of Steve Blodgett and decorated with screaming leads from his brother Bo. Mike Brassard’s vocals may not have the range or flexibility of his younger years, but they have just as much passion, and passion is what counts here. The Ravens pump out the dark strain of rock that flourished briefly between the original ‘50s innovation and the ‘60s British Invasion reinvention. It’s got the urgent DIY feel of mid-60s garage rock, but without the reactive counterculture pretensions. This is sledgehammer dance music for frat parties, teen dance clubs, roller rinks and dark, sweat-filled bars.

The band’s originals, written with their producer Will Shade, are the sort of elemental rockers that would sound at home on Wailers, Sonics and Kingsmen records. There are crunchy guitar riffs, Bo Diddley beats, a driving guitar instrumental, and plenty of vocal swagger. The album loses a bit of focus in the second half, with the six-minute practice room jam “Dum Doovi,” a loose instrumental coda on “Broken Boy,” and psychedelic inflections that occasionally drift from the rock fundamentals. The album closes strongly with the bass-riffing, “I’ve Taken All I Can,” reminding listeners that well after the novelty has worn off of sixty-something rockers relocating their mojo, these boys are still making some rock ‘n’ roll noise. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Sister Raeven
Mike & The Ravens’ Vintage MySpace Page
Mike & The Ravens’ Contemporary MySpace Page

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Various Artists: The Ikon Records Story

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

various_ikonrecordsstoryTreasure trove of mid-60s Sacramento garage sides

This two-CD set catalogs 58 obscure garage-rock sides waxed at Sacramento’s Ikon Studio in the mid ’60s. Ikon was one of Sacramento’s top professional recording studios, and in addition to commercial work, they operated the custom Ikon label. Local groups, including many Battle-of-the-Band winners visited Ikon to imortalize themselves on a hundred copies of a 7″ single. The low production runs kept Ikon a secret from even many ardent garage rock collectors, and poorly mastered third-party vinyl (by Modern in Los Angeles) often failed to convey the high quality of the original recordings.

Compilation co-producer Alec Palao dug up a reel of original masters, and as the project rolled along, additional masters were recovered. The resulting snapshot of mid-60s young Sacramento is rendered in sound quality often better than the original singles. As a studio-for-hire, Ikon recorded all kinds of music, but Palao and co-producer Joey D keep a bead on garage rock (including snotty punk, folk rock, surf, frat stompers and organ rave-ups), some quite polished and some lovingly inept. This set is a gem, offering top-notch sound quality, good tunes, and plenty of spirited performances. Palao’s extensive band notes fill out a booklet thick with photos and reproductions of period ephemera. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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