ACE
How Long: The Best Of (Varese Vintage; CD) 
     Alan 'Bam' King (he of "Ace Faces" THE ACTION) grew tired of freaking-out with the hippy-trip sounds of Mighty Baby and formed blue-eyed soul pub-rockers Ace in 1972. The band had a huge hit with 'How Long Has This Been Going On' in 1975 (which - excluding team writer Mike Fornatale -- is enough to make any Shindigger puke), but in honest truth some of their more soulful rockers aren't actually as horrid as one would suspect. Still … if Bam hadn't been in Ace they wouldn't have been reviewed 'ere. 'nuff said?
www.varesevintage.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE ACE OF CUPS
It's Bad For You But Buy It (Big Beat; CD)
     It has been the lot of all-girl rock 'n' roll groups of the 1960s, to have both remained under-recorded and unacknowledged. In the case of The Ace of Cups, their very existence has only been recognised by the frequent appendage of their name to so many San Francisco gig posters, which themselves have only survived a lot of the time because of their artistic collectibility. So by default, The Ace Of Cups have survived in the consciousness of west coast 60s fans as well.
     The only studio recording on the disc is the long-standing garage collectors #1 girl band collectible, 'Boy What'll You Do Then' by Denise & Co. Ever since its appearance as the kick-off track on Side 1, Volume 1 of the vinyl compilation series, Girls In The Garage all those years ago, this recording and its musicians have remained an extraordinary enigma. It was believed in fact to only have existed on tape and never released. Well, this at least (and at last) is cleared up in that it was a 1966 recording by later to be Ace Of Cups guitarist Denise Kaufman singing, playing guitar and blowing harp with a group of (male) friends. It was released on the Wee label, the flip of which was an instrumental version of the A side. Try tracking an original of that down if you can!
     All the other recordings are either home demos or live. The Ace of Cups full story is told (in depth and with band member interviews) by Alec Palao in the booklet, which also features some of those desirable posters that sport the groups name as second or third on the bill. The music as you would expect from such disparate sources is not all that cohesive, but as a document of work in progress, it shows the potential of the group (they had the usual missed chances). Particularly good are 'Glue', 'Looking For My Man', 'Pretty Boy' and their take on The Parliaments' classic 'I Wanna Testify'. Kaufman was a mean, kick-ass guitarist and the group as a whole clearly had their chops down pretty well. The sound in general is comparable to early Fanny in that it has a funkiness and sass along with soulful vocals and some fine instrumental astuteness. And if that's what boils your kettle you'll want to hear more.
www.acerecords.co.uk 
Paul Martin

AUDIENCE
Bronco Bullfrog: Original Movie Soundtrack (RPM; CD)
     Barney Platts-Mills' ground-breaking 1969 film, following the low-life exploits of a gang of teenagers in London's East End, has belatedly attained classic status following its release on DVD and screenings at a number of London film festivals. Its gritty Cinema Verite style begs comparisons with the work of later British auteurs Mike Leigh and Ken Loach while its no-nonsense mod/suedehead imagery and sensibility have assured it a place in the hearts of the lucky few.
     The soundtrack, composed and performed by London act Audience, is one of the film's most endearing characteristics. On paper, the band's saxophone-dominated brand of prog-pop may seem at odds with the film's geographical and social genesis. If you were to create a soundtrack to a poverty-stricken Stratford at the end of the '60s, it would surely be the ska and bluebeat favoured by the first wave of skinheads, not a bunch of art school long-hairs wielding song titles like 'Maiden's Cry' and 'Banquet'. All the more surprising then that Audience's series of short, snappy thematic pieces (no self-indulgence here) actually enliven the scenes that they adorn. 
     RPM's CD edition is a brave stab at presenting an aural version of the film, utilising large extracts of dialogue to plug the gaps between the 15 minutes of original soundtrack music, which, in the absence of the master tapes, has been dubbed direct from the film. Presumably to bolster the slim running time, RPM have also added a selection of tracks from Audience's eponymous debut album, cut just before the film. While this was an understandable decision, these high-fidelity extras tend to accent the sonic shortcomings of the film-derived material and intrude on the insular nature of the narrative.
     Audience frontman and songwriter Howard Werth contributes some background notes and project co-ordinator and super-fan Lynne Simms waxes lyrical about "tailored Crombies nipped in at the waist to flare out at the knee".
     It's a mod fing innit?
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/rpm/
Andy Morten

BEARDED LADY
The Rise And Fall (Angel Air; CD)
     In the aftermath of Record Collector magazine's highly regarded 'Junkshop Glam' RPM released the impressive Velvet Tinmine comp and kicked off a genuinely new and intriguing collector's movement. The psych, garage and soft-pop reissue arena had been done to death, so it seemed about the right time for the lesser-knowns of '70s glam be explored, stripping away the naff edge of Mud and co and revealing some post-mod, bricklayers-in-mascara, camp-pretty -boy-exiles, Bowie-wannabees that although never having made their mark did make some superior discs of the time. Bearded Lady's proto-punk testosterone fired 'Rock Star' being the perfect example of an undiscovered corker. 
     Although at times (actually, quite often) releasing some rather uncool anathemas of "bad rock" Angel Air have landed on their feet with this compilation of all of Bearded Lady's '75 recordings, including the correct version of the wonderful 'Rock Star'. The rest of the CD doesn't quite live up to the reputation of that uncouth rocker, but Bearded Lady were indeed a decent rock band, with strong songs that represented the "old school". During '76 they may have shared the stage alongside punk bands like The Damned and The Jam, but Lady harked back to the ampheto-pop sounds of The Small Faces and The Move (hear the cranky 'Song Of The Baker' rip-off in 'Lost In A Place' and the inspired Woody-like 'Up In The Air' and 'Thank You'), they offered a plentiful amount of unassuming Hendrix's guitar-noodling and dealt a sharp hand in the boogie booze-rock of The Faces and Thin Lizzy. Yet, like The Hammersmith Gorillas (singer Johnny Warman has the exact same snotty yobbish London intonation as Jesse Hector) Bearded Lady taught the young punks a lot with their Glam-With-Big-Hairy-Balls posturing! It was punk before it happened made by ugly builders in bright, sparkly clothes! It's almost superb! Phil King has a lot to answer for after including 'Rock Star' on Velvet Tinmine. Long live Bearded Lady!
www.angelair.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

BOLD
Lullaby Opus Four (Misty Lane; CD)
     Every now and then a record is released that is so amazing that you'll never forget it. 'Gotta Get Some' released way back in '66 on Cameo-Parkway by The Bold is definitely one of these rare beasts. I recall hearing it on Mindrocker #11 when I was about 14 and being absolutely blown away by it… no, let's say, actually obsessed by it, living out the "sittin' in class / waitin' for the time to pass" lyric! It was the perfect disc to sum up visceral teenage heavy-balled angst!!! A classic! The Bold soldiered on after cutting that disc and released an album in 1969 for ABC. The garage-edge had gone, as had the gnarly attitude. Like many others of the time they had learnt their instruments, stopped dressing up and got a bit hippyfied and serious. Similar to Ted Munda's post-Enfields act Friends Of The Family the Bold shared a jazzy vibe that is present across much of the album. But whereas Neil Young, David Crosby and the ilk of "happening dudes on the scene" could write strong material Steve Walker couldn't compete, and the jazzy musical passages are commonplace in songs that lack direction. But let's not pass this album off as tripe, as it ain't. Perhaps best is the pastoral 'Changing Seasons', which is anthemic in that drugged-out "changing my life" kinda way - it has great orchestration, acoustic guitars, harmony vocals and backwards ala 'Mind Gardens' bits too. Closer 'Words Don't Make It' offers a dope-infused response to 'Gotta Get Some', but rather than being pissed-off the guys are now quite happy to give up arguing and say nothing…. musically the cut is high-octane pop with some interesting flourishes. Elsewhere they rock, get psychedelic and even a bit countryish - all good too. But there're too many cover versions that, although imaginatively approached, are clearly filler. Nevertheless Lullaby Opus Four is a decent album. It comes with The Bold story by our man in San Diego Mike 'Don't Call Me Ugly' Stax, some neat pictures and good sound. As I know us SDers aren't just a bunch of farfisa-wielding fuzzed-out caveteens I'd advise you all to get this - besides you get the early Bold stuff tacked onto the end in order for the CD to finish with a bang!
mistylane@iol.it
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

LOS BRAVOS
Black is Black (Magic CD)
     Yes, it's back again. Los Bravos 1966 album of the single, but this time remastered in 24 bit high definition. Not only that but there're thirteen extra tracks! All from their '66-'69 period such as 'I Want A Name', 'Don't Be Left Out In The Cold', 'Bring A Little Lovin' and 'Dirty Street'. The German led Spanish group's style and repertoire is well known enough not to need re-emphasising, but for the benefit of the uninitiated, if you've heard and like the title track smash hit of '66, then here's a whole 25 track CD in the same style. If you dig the big voiced soul pop sound (fanatically avowed by Spanish youth in the late 60s and early 70s) then you'll enjoy this. If you've been meaning to get 'Black is Black' but never got round to it, this is a bargain way to get it and more, all presented in a tasteful digipack format, nice!
www.magic-records.com
Paul Martin 

LOS BUENOS
Groovy Woovy (Wah Wah; LP) 
     Mod-dancers and '60s collectors alike know and love Los Buenos' spectacular blue-eyed soul / beat confection "Groovy Woovy" (which regularly sells on Ebay for $150) and to be able to get our hands on it in superb sound along with the rest of the band's output on one well presented, affordable platter is quite a treat - the mini-album plays at 45RPM resulting in a crisp and loud reproduction. Comprising of four Spanish and Portuguese beat band heroes and Brit-abroad John Mayall's younger brother Rod on Hammond, Los Buenos gained dancefloor smashes in Spain's burgeoning discotheque scene with their version of Johnny Watson's 'Looking Back' (modelled on John Mayall's Bluesbreakers classic mod take) and 'Groovy Woovy' in 1969. If perhaps resembling the Spencer Davis Group a little too much and succumbing to record label pressure on two good, but commercial, pop discs Los Buenos have still etched themselves into the history of "cool as fuck" danceable beat music. 
wahwahsounds@terra.es
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

CROW
Colours By… (Wah Wah; LP)
     Minnesota's Crow are perhaps best known for penning Black Sabbath's first hit "Evil Woman" (their horn-dominated original kicks off this ten-track compilation drawn from their three albums that were recorded between '69 and '72). Formed from the ashes of garage bands the Aardvarks, the Rave-Ons, Joker's Wild and the Castaways, Crow typified the move towards a heavier sound, which was becoming the template for local acts as the '60s drew to a close. Singer Dave Wagner certainly possessed a warm, smoky powerful voice and there's some pretty funky bass, guitar and organ interplay going on: but Crow lacked variety and strong, instant tunes. Nevertheless, as far as late '60s post-garage/pre-Stadium American rock goes you could do a lot worse than spinning this compilation a few times. Their final single "Something In Your Blood" is particularly good.
wahwahsounds@terra.es
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

MIKI DALLON
That's Alright (RPM; CD)
     The very name 'Miki Dallon' and his photograph circa mid '60s conjures up an image of an East End barrow boy mod (he was actually from Edmonton in North London) with more front than Woolworths bigging it up with all the emergent faces of the decade's scene. Actually as Dallon relates himself there is some truth in this. Dallon, was essentially a '50s rock 'n' roller when he got up on stage at a local talent contest, hammering out Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard on the stage Piano and brought the house down. His nascent popularity as a R&R performer was temporarily cut short by the near amputation of half a hand in a saw mill accident. Undeterred and with, no doubt, the persistence of youthful ambition, Dallon perfected a vamping style which enabled him to continue as a jobbing piano player and got to know all the session musos of the day, including Chas Hodges (much later, the bass playing half of successful mockney knees-up duo Chas & Dave) with whom he composed and recorded demos (a few rough versions of which are added as bonus tracks including a truly feral version of 'You Got What I Want' which Dallon tells us was based on Hodges tape loop of an old Sandy Nelson drum riff continually repeated, over which the rest of the music and vocals were played, this was in 1964!).
     By the later '60s Dallon had grown tired of the circuit and had decided to become a songwriter full-time. Hence the RPM sets chronicling his Strike, Go! and later Younglblood labels output. Even if you have never heard of Miki Dallon, you will have heard his songs. Here we have his own rip-roaring renditions of such classics as the oft covered 'Captain Man' (Tropical Fish on Syde Tryps #.6 or Don Fardon for instance), 'I'm Gonna Find A Cave'; Let Me In; 'You Got What I Want'; 'Take A Heart' (all Sorrows mainstays) and 'That's Nice' (as recorded by Neil Christian amongst others). Dallon adds other orignals to these, the result of which is for the most part (say 2/3rds) a real modbeat, swingin' sixties delight. It's a cool set with which you can't really go wrong. Dallon was always a '50srock 'n' roller at heart but he uses his love of that idiom to translate it into a contemporary sixties beat storm, and catches the zeitgeist of the middle decade very well. He recruited Don Fardon for his new Youngblood label and if you're familiar with many of Fardon's late '60s / early '70s material and dig that, then Dallon is the wellspring of it. Dallon writes his own liner notes and relates his own story in them. Clearly an important even pivotal player in the sixties Brit pop scene, Dallon has perhaps been more well known behind the scenes than for his own performances, but here they are all in one place and with all the energy and professional sound you'd hope for. It's prelude to going out on Saturday night music and bites your ass, so buy it!
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Paul Martin

THE DEPENDABLES
Klatu Berrada Niktu (Rev-Ola; CD)
     Boettcher sideman Joey Stec and Blues Magoo Ralph Scalla get rootsy and soulful in the post-psychedelic era of "Cosmic American Music" with their horn-a-fied, Stax-obsessed Klatu Berrada Niktu. Think Exile…without the smack, a dirtier Box Tops and R Dean Taylor as a garage-rocker: great guitar tones, beefy Hammond and some quality Sam & Dave vocal work from the main men. Unfortunately due to the country-rock movement defining the long-haired post-come down era The Dependables' hippy-fried soul missed out on the big time, but there's no disputing the conviction and energy these guys expressed on this long forgotten 1971 album. 
www.revola.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

EUPHORIA
A Gift From Euphoria (Rev-Ola; CD)
     When Mojo magazine featured this long-forgotten album in their 'Buried Treasures' slot in 1996 I was instantly hooked. A seemingly improbable project recorded in Los Angeles, Nashville and London in 1969, it cost an unprecedented amount and yet gained virtually no promotion when begrudgingly released by Capitol the same year. I was over the moon when See For Miles re-issued the album soon after and I was not disappointed.
     Across its 15 tracks, A Gift From Euphoria tackles an unfeasibly wide-reaching musical spectrum with ambition, panache and style. One listen to the opening three tracks confirms this. The grandiose tones of orchestrated opener 'Lisa' sound unlike any other contemporary pop record. It's almost two minutes before the album's first vocal appears - a hushed, disembodied voice intoning "Take my hand, take my life". 'Stone River Hill Song' follows, a full-on bluegrass shit-kicker that feels both traditional yet light years removed from the routinely deified country rock sounds of the era. The listener is then plunged headlong into the psychedelic maelstrom that is 'Did You Get The Letter'. This track beggars belief. Five and a half minutes of demented fuzz guitar, backward tape loops and what sounds like a recording of the Nuremberg rally constituting a lysergic anti-war tirade par excellence.
     These three templates are re-visited on 'Young Miss Pflugg', 'I'll Be Home To You' and the sublime closer 'World' while 'Sunshine Woman' could have taken Euphoria onto FM radio and possibly saved the album from it's inauspicious early burial.
     Naturally, Rev-Ola's new edition looks and sounds fabulous. It's been re-mastered from the original tapes and band members William D Lincoln and Hamilton Wesley Watt Jr. elucidate on the band's frenetic and myth-laden history, bursting a few bubbles along the way.
     And wait til you see the photo of the greasy spoon café in Manchester above which the band lived during their stay in England. Los Angeles must have seemed so very far away…
www.revola.co.uk
Andy Morten

THE GOSDIN BROTHERS
Sounds Of Goodbye (Big Beat; CD)
     Vern and Rex Gosdin are probably best remembered for their collaboration with Gene Clark on his classic first post-Byrds long player in 1967. But, far from being mere sidemen, the brothers were as much the unsung pioneers of country-rock as the over-exposed Gram Parsons or the genuinely visionary Dillards.
     Between '66 and '68 they cut a series of singles for the Bakersfield International and Edict labels with the cream of the California country-rock fraternity (Gib Guilbeau, Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Chris Hillman, Michael Clarke, Gary Paxton, Jerry Scheff and others). These sessions culminated in the release of Sounds Of Goodbye in '68. The original album was an assured if slight affair, mixing disparate cover versions of 'Catch The Wind', 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and 'Let It Be Me' with a smattering of tracks written by the brothers, Gilbeau and White. 
     By re-sequencing the album, inserting the singles and adding a clutch of superb unreleased cuts, erstwhile re-issue co-ordinator Alec Palao has put the material into a stronger context and created the definitive Gosdins anthology. Just check the opening trilogy: 'Sounds Of Goodbye' recalls John Hartford's 'Gentle On My Mind' both lyrically and musically, 'Tell Me' is a vintage country-rocker with Hillman, Clarke and White in much evidence and the plaintive 'There Must Be Someone' was subsequently recorded by The Byrds on The Ballad Of Easy Rider. The "tears in my beer" melancholy of 'Multiple Heartaches', 'The Victim' and 'She's Gone' is levelled by the chipper 'Love At First Sight', 'No Matter Where You Go' and 'I'll Live Today'. 
     The brothers' flawless harmonising is stunning throughout and the various players get to flex their musical chops and sound like they're having a ball in the process. In these circumstances one can forgive the occasionally weak material and the odd lyrical clanger.
     Highly recommended.
www.acerecords.co.uk 
Andy Morten

THE GUILLOTEENS
For My Own: The Complete Singles Collection (Misty Lane; LP) 
     Not only were Memphis teen trio The Guilloteens the first real band signed to the cartoon king's Hanna-Barbera record label but they were also local legend Elvis Presley's favourite band… and they even impressed Phil Spector too! Yes, the Guilloteens were most definitely a cut above the average garage band. Although never gaining the acclaim they deserved with the five singles that they released across 1965 and 1967 they did manage to reach #1 in Memphis, to tour with Paul Revere & The Raiders and blow The Searchers off stage on national TV show Shindig! What made The Guilloteens particularly special was singer Lewis Paul's mature soulful vocal (which sounds distinctly like the Righteous Bros' Bill Medley on big ballad 'I Don't Believe'). But The Guilloteens didn't feel they had to hole themselves into one particular musical corner and ably tackled a number of styles: snotty Kinks broken-beat ('Hey You'), folk-rock ('For My Own'), trashy garage ('I Sit And Cry'), jangly psychish Monkees pop ('Crying All Over The Time'), Raiders-like stomping bubblegum-garage ('Wild Child') and commercial summery pop ('You Think You're Happy' and 'Dear Mrs Applebee'). 
     Playing the Guilloteens catalogue is a little like listening to a decent garage compilation as there's something for all tastes. Highly recommended.
mistylane@iol.it
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

FRED NEIL
Do You Think Of Me? (Rev-Ola; CD)
     Ahhh… Fred Neil. The man needs little introduction. The deep world-weary voice, 'Everybody's Talkin'', Dylan and the celebrity fan club, 'The Dolphins', the notorious anti-commercialism. Fred defined then eschewed the sensitive singer-songwriter ä tag, created some of the most ethereal music ever committed to tape and became a reclusive eco-warrior before most of the rock fraternity had even lifted their heads from the coke bowl for long enough to consider what 'cool' and 'integrity' might actually mean.
     Even if you've already got these two albums ('66's Fred Neil and '67's Sessions), it's still worth investing in Rev-Ola's new edition. The sound quality is superb and Joe Foster's liner notes positively overflow with love for the man's work.
www.revola.co.uk
Andy Morten

NIRVANA
The Story Of Simon Simopath
All Of Us (Island; CDs)
     Nirvana's place in the story of British pop-psych is often overlooked in favour of heavyweights such as Kaleidoscope or labelmates Traffic. Certainly the Irish/Greek duo's uniquely floral brand of chamber pop inhabits a peculiar corner of its own - too arty for those who rely on backwards tapes and Telecaster ragas for their psych kicks yet, as creators of a bona fide hit single in 1968's 'Rainbow Chaser', too commercial for the underground crowd.
     Their '67 debut The Story Of Simon Simopath is a concept album of sorts and, at less than half an hour, probably the shortest one in history. The sweeping strings of 'Pentecost Hotel', 'Wings Of Love' and 'In The Courtyard Of The Stars' and the bouncy 'We Can Help You' and 'Satellite Jockey' are formative jewels in Nirvana's canon. Only the ragtime nonsense of closing track '1999' lets things down slightly. Both the mono and stereo mixes of the album as well as four non-album cuts are included here.
     The band arguably peaked with '68's All Of Us. The aforementioned 'Rainbow Chaser', its phasing their only real nod to psychedelia, is joined by the wonderful 'The Touchable (All Of Us)', 'Trapeze', 'Girl In The Park' and, mysteriously, their debut single 'Tiny Goddess' from 18 months earlier. The consistency never dips and the production is exemplary. Again, the album is supplemented with four non-album tracks including the superb 1968 single, 'Oh! What A Performance' with fellow Island act Spooky Tooth providing a pounding rock backdrop. 
     Both CDs contain in-depth liner notes chronicling the band's adventures (including providing musical accompaniment at a Salvador Dali happening) with a host of photos and memorabilia.
     Third album To Markos III was declined a release by Island at the time and was eventually released by Pye but is also now available as part of Island's remasters series.
     No official website. Tsk!
Andy Morten

ROCK CITY
Rock City (Lucky Seven; CD)
     Before forming Big Star in 1972 and unwittingly re-defining pop music forever, Chris Bell and Jody Stephens cut this album with Thomas Dean Eubanks and Terry Manning as Rock City. Tellingly, most of the elements that would be honed to perfection with the addition of Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel were already in place when the teenage quartet entered Ardent Studios in late 1969. The crystalline electric/acoustic guitar interplay, the mid-60's Brit-rock obsession, the plaintive lyrics and the throat-shredding vocal harmonies. Indeed, the original recordings of 'My Life Is Right' and 'Try Again', both re-cut in almost identikit versions for Big Star's seminal debut #1 Record, appear here. Elsewhere, the yearning 'I Lost Your Love', 'Lovely Lady' and the opening 'Think It's Time To Say Goodbye', all powered by Stephens' unshakeable drumming and those everpresent multi-tracked acoustics, could easily have made the grade with Big Star. Bizarrely, there's a distinct prog-rock influence evident on 'Introduction''s tricksy time changes and doomy chanting while the instrumental 'Sunday Organ' is fairly self-explanatory and rather pointless in this context.
     Probably the most revealing moment here is the original recording of 'Feel' cut by Bell, Manning and Stephens under the name Icewater in 1969. The version of the song that opened #1 Record just two years later is this very same demo recording with new lead guitar and vocal tracks added.
     It seems we can add Rock City to The Beatles, Kinks, Who and Byrds in the hallowed hall of fame that influenced Big Star and therefore virtually every alternative guitar pop band since.
     A superbly presented and hugely significant release.
www.luckysevenrecords.com
Andy Morten

TAPIMAN
Tapiman (Guerssen; LP) 
     Although the late '60s Spanish music scene is readily associated with the nation's splendid adaptation of soul, a Barcelonan guitarist named Max fell for the power trio sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream rather than Otis. After meeting the ex-drummer of local band Maquina his dream was realised and Tapiman were formed in 1969. With Tapi's propulsive drumming and Max's sonic virtuosity, which combined the flowing guitar parts of Carlos Santana, the West Coast acidic patter of Quicksilver's John Cippolina and the bluesy heaviness of Clapton, Page and Hendrix, Tapiman forged a powerful and melodic style. 
     This well executed album, which was recorded in 1971, contains some stellar moments, and it's all very 'eavy! 
www.guerssen.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

TRUTH
Of Them And Other Tales (Epilogue; CD)
     Although not a new release, because of the rightful success of the two recent Rev-Ola reissues of Them's two Tower albums, especially Time In And Time Out For Them, Truth's CD needs to be brought to your attention. 'Truth' were Kenny McDowell and Jim Armstrong of Them (the CD includes three tracks from acetate with Ray Elliot as well) plus Curtis Bachman (bass) and Reno Smith (drums). They formed in the aftermath of the last version of Them splitting after the Time In... album. The full story is supplied in detail the great fold out poster tray insert (which also has a lot of pics and memorabilia). 
     The 68-minutes of music on this (fully legit) CD were recorded in 1969-70, much of it slated for an LP on Epic, but the deal went sour and the tapes lay dormant in Curtis Bachman's possession until their CD reissue in 1995 by John Berg. As the CD is almost eight years old, it has been assumed that it is no longer available. However, there are still some copies left, so if you want to get a hold of one, it costs a meagre £10 which includes airmail postage from US to UK (and marginally less within the US presumably). 
     For my ears it's a superb mix of psych, funky prog-psych and occasional jazzy tinges. Spread across 14 tracks, (mostly 5-10 minutes long) this is fantastic CD. 'Sonic Sitar' speaks for itself, and 'Square Room' is revisited, again as another ten-minute version only this time fully instrumental, as 'Archimede's Pad'. This version being marginally slower than the original and with more emphasis on the bass and drum end of things, and again with great guitar work. There's also a lot of great psych guitar moments on the other songs ('6.0 Clock Alarm' for instance). It's a great period document and worth every penny (no, I'm not plugging it for a cut, I just think it's a fine body of work that not everyone will already be aware of, even those that believe it to be deleted / sold out). So if you dig the later period 'Them' or longer, later '60s sounds in general, this is a great investment. 
     Contact John Berg at JB73004645@cs.com
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
A History of Memphis Garage Rock: The '90s (Shangri-La Projects; CD)
     We all know why the Detroit garage scene has come to be noticed by a far wider audience in recent years. The international success of The White Stripes has hipped a lot of folks to the sounds of the garage, to bands that had been… languishing is not quite right, more existing, I guess, in obscurity. Sure, they were well-known to those of us that are, ahem, in-the-know. But to those whose only source of music news is the NME or Rolling Stone the mere existence of such bands surely came as something of a surprise (if they even gave a shit). But, hey, guess what? It's not just Detroit. These bands are every-fucking-where! And the home-town of rock'n'roll - Memphis, Tennessee - is no different than anywhere else of course. Here you get a wide range of styles within the so-called garage-rock genre - ultra-primitive rock'n'roll, (Jeffrey Evans's version of 'Shake Rattle & Roll'), bargain basement blues-funk (The Compulsive Gamblers), organ-led garage stompers (The Oblivians), '60s country- and folk-pop (Jack Oblivian's and Greg Oblivian's respective solo cuts), Johnny Thunders meets The Rolling Stones (The Cool Jerks) guitar instro a-go-go (Impala), Delmonas/Headcoatees styled girl-group vocals (Lorette Velvette), the sonic attack of The Stooges et al (The Neckbones), punked-out blues (The Satyrs), frat-rockabilly (The Royal Pendletons), screaming R&B (King Louie)…and more besides. A great starting-off point for digging deeper into some great regional bands. The Compulsive Gamblers, The Cool Jerks and The Neckbones are three outta this bunch that I'll definitely be hunting down for some more cool toons.
http://www.shangri.com/Proj.html
Paul Marsh

VARIOUS
Dream Babes #5: Folk Rock And Faithfull (RPM; CD)
     The times they were indeed a changin' and the UK folk-rock stylings of a host of college girls who recorded under their Christian names only are here to remind us of it. Represented by such as Trisha ('The Darkness Of My Night'), Greta Ann ('Sadness Hides The Sun'), Ruth ('87 Sundays'), Angelina ('Wishing My Life Away') and inevitably Vashti (with two offerings in 'Train Song and 'Love Song'. Here, the single girl's paean to love gone sour or the solitude she was resigned to are deftly wedded to the new baroque sounds with lyrical leanings towards a thinking girl's experience (as opposed to mere empty yearnings as on previous volumes) of love and life. Ruth's '87 Sundays' indeed makes it quite plain in her song about wasted months with an uncommitted wastrel who leaves her pregnant, 'I Wanna Be Bobby's Girl' it ain't! 
     This is to my ears at least the best volume so far in this excellent series (and long may it run). Most of the songs have full band accompaniments and / or orchestration, with only a few acoustic guitar-only accompanied numbers, so we're still at the pop end of things for the most part, but with an erudite eloquence that the beehived babes of earlier volumes didn't quite have (they had exuberance instead). More introspective and considered for the most part, this volume is a delight and if there's enough material of this quality to do #6 as a part 2 of this genre, I for one will be applauding very loudly!
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
Glitter From The Litter Bin (Sanctuary; CD)
     "Well you can do anything but lay off of my brushed suede loons". In the early '70s it wasn't just girls who teetered precariously in high heels. Well do I remember my own misguided purchase from Ziggy's, the 'In' shoe shop at the top of North Street in Brighton, of a pair of black and beige leather stack heels, after one or two outings they were relegated to the back of the shoe cupboard as the pain of my twisted ankle was greater than my desire to look cool (but inevitably, I just looked a prat anyway!). This is the period nudged into the spotlight by Sanctuary's bid to board the 'junkshop glam' express so convincingly initiated by RPM with last year's Velvet Tinmine collection. Being the only two kids on the block at the moment in this scene comparisons are going to be obvious, so how does this one stack (ho ho) up to its predecessor?
     Very well indeed, it could in fact be Velvet Tinmine #2 as the quality, obscurity and consistency of the contents are of high calibre. The jewel case comes in it's own tactile card slip case (just like the Skip Bifferty and Honeybus double discs did) and liner note duties are carried out to a good standard by the ever present Bob Stanley. There's the usual pics (labels and artists) and oh, how the memories came flooding back to see the black and white promo pic of Ayshea Brough (Lift Off With Ayshea was early-teen TV pop fair at the time) Ayshea always ended the show with one of her own songs or latest single but I don't recall ever hearing her excellent Roy Wood composition 'Farewell' as resurrected here. As per usual with Woody's stuff, he does everything on and to it except sing which is left to the artists concerned to sound as much like him as possible, Ayshea does a fair job of a female impersonation and what a great track, like a classic Phil Spector version of 'Dear Elaine'!
     The Jook (watch out for a forthcoming full CD anthology of them) are all boots and football terraces with their two contributions 'Alright With Me' and 'King Capp' (truely an anthem for the post-suedehead, feather cut and boots smoothie). Other stompers (of which this collection is largely comprised) include Daddy Maxfield's 'Rave And Rock', Renegade's 'My Revolution' and Buster's 'Motor Machine' and 'Superstar'. As with punk rock at the other end of this decade, there were two definite strains, the brickies in stack heels we've looked at, but the more Bowie-esque end of the spectrum is represented here by the CDs most bizarre contribution (and in these retrospective times the most intriguing perhaps) in Billy Hamon's 'Butch Things'. If you're British and old enough (as am I alas) to remember the desperately gouache TV sitcom Please Sir -- about a young teacher in an inner city school, but all the actors playing "the kids" were at least 21! -- Hamon, was one of said "kids". Here, he seems to be aiming at out-Ferrying Brian Ferry (in earliest Roxy Music vocal mode a la 'Virginia Plain'), the warble and effected pronunciation not to mention the Rock Folliesness of the tune itself are the reason this 45 was probably only ever listened to by those intent on celebrity blackmail at a later period, but is exactly why it is so fascinating now. It's a brilliant record and worth the cost of the CD alone. Interestingly, Paul St John's 'The Flying Saucers Have Landed' is included here (and fits very well) having made its debut reissue outing on one of the Queen Victoria Records early '70s psyche comps last year, where it also sat very well! Barry Ryan makes a somewhat self-conscious appearance from 1975 with 'Do That', which is light years away from 'Eloise' as you might expect. And only on such a comp could the son of your grandparents favourite all-round entertainer, Max Bygraves ('I'm A Pink Toothbrush, You're a Blue Toothbrush' anybody?) make an appearance (and a bloody respectable one at that) as Anthony Bygraves does here with 'Painted Lady'. All in all this collection is rock solid and I very much hope there will be a second. If you dug Velvet Tinmine, you need this without haste, but don't go asking your gran to knit you any tank-tops, or you'll only regret it - I know I did!!
http://www.castlemusic.com
Paul Martin

VARIOUS
In The Garden: The White Whale Story (Rev-Ola; CD)
     This is #1 in Rev-Ola's Phantom Jukebox series exploring labels and writers. It also stands as a sampler for other Rev-Ola full-length artist anthologies such as Nino & April, Horses and Liz Damon's Orient Express, and is a good way to try out some of these collections. This volume is sub-headed as the 'White Whale Story' and whilst Steve Stanley's notes on the artists and the songs are as always useful and interesting, there was precious little about the story of White Whale itself. I got the impression I was already supposed to be familiar with its rise and fall between '65 and '71 (which I'm not). Nonetheless, this is a great collection of (for the most part) west coast pop and folk harmony stylings. The two Dalton & Montgomery tracks ('All At Once' and Tomorrow's Women') pretty much set the tone, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Californian pop, which over the course of the CD give you hope and faith in the human spirit when it can sound this optimistic.
     Standouts for me were the two contributions by Triste Janero, all breathy vocals and vaguely bossa rhythms swaying in a Californian breeze, I must get their CD (also on Rev-Ola). The two Lyme & Cybelle tracks 'Song #7' and 'Write If You Get Work' are also a treat. Freddie Allen's (first and original) version of 'We've Only Just Begun' does to some small extent at least reclaim the song's dignity from the variety club circuit it has been endemic on ever since the Carpenters made it an international hit. You get two Mathew Moore Plus Four tracks: 'You've Never Loved Before' and 'Codine' which are pretty cool (a couple of others were added to The Moon CD). Other joys include Laughing Gravy's 'Vegetables', The Committee's 'If It Weren't For You' and Dobie Gray's 'Do You Really Have A Heart'. Over its (long-play) distance, this collection is just the thing to rid yourself of those wintry British blues that fall upon us with the premature darkness of the season, and it'll last longer than a bottle of plonk!
www.revola.co.uk 
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Night Time Music: The BT Puppy Story (Rev-Ola; CD)
     Nurse… the screens! One can only speculate what musical traumas were experienced by Messrs Margo, Margo, Medress and Siegel between The Tokens' 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' topping the charts in 1962 and the release of their frankly bizarre Intercourse album (see the September 2003 reviews) in 1969 but it made for some heroic endeavours.
     What we do know is that they used the profits from 'Lion' to set up their own imprint, BT Puppy Records, an idea unheard of in 1964, and set about independently recording themselves and others. Their credits as writers, producers or performers on the majority of these cuts is testament to their unswerving ambition and singularly DIY approach to making music.
     Among the disparate array of cuts unearthed by Rev-Ola for this second instalment in their Phantom Jukebox series are M, M, M & S's own version of 'Mr Snail' (a Beatlesque gem also cut by The Canterbury Music Festival for their lone BT album), The Ugly Dogs' 'First Spring Rain' (actually the Canterburies before the name change), The Sundae Train's 'Sing Sweet Barbara' (The Buckinghams with a mellotron), Amanda Ambrose's 'Amanda's Man' (frantic soul-pop penned by Tokens pal Brute Force), The Steeple People's fuzzed-up 'Green Plant' (also cut by The Majic Ship who contribute a version of the compilation's title track here), The Scene's 'Scenes (From Another World)' (wonderfully spooky bubblegum-psych), the list goes on with more and more impenetrable and incestuous relationships unfolding on virtually every track.
     The label's entire output has an endearingly creaky quality to it - you can almost hear the valves buzzing and the tape wearing out as another version of 'Green Plant' or 'Oh, To Get Away' goes down.
     Few labels then or now can boast such a bold, brave, eccentric and fun catalogue of creations. Reason enough to investigate further.
www.revola.co.uk
Andy Morten

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Phil's Spectre: A Wall Of Soundalikes (Ace; CD)
     This obvious-but-well-compiled retrospective of early-mid '60s recordings that utilised Phil Spector's 'Wall Of Sound' production techniques is a thorough set of hits and misses featuring everyone from prime Spectorites The Beach Boys and Sonny & Cher through to The Supremes! The genius Nino Tempo's 'Boys Town' and Jackie DeShannon's 'When You Walk In The Room' may sit alongside a Tower Records Righteous Bros parody (The Wall Of Sounds' 'Hang On'), but on the whole this is a strong collection of echoey, castanet-flecked pop discs from the era when Spector was a major innovator and inspiration, as well as a nutter. 
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Pop In Volume 3: Buried Treasure From British Pop's Rainbow Years (Elevator Music Co; CD)
     So into the pop elevator we go for a third round of super smiley striped candy cane pop. On the menu this time round there are indeed some nuggets. If you've never heard Canadian Tom Northcott's interpretation of The Move's 'Blackberry Way' here's your chance, and a fine job he makes of it too. At last, the only non-comped studio track (?) 'Balloon' by Kaleidoscope, their final pre-Fairfield Parlour 45 gets an outing and it's a gem to have (compare to the session version on the Circle Records collection). Simon Dupree & The Big Sound's 'The Eagle Flies Tonight' has a great pop hook (watch out for their upcoming double CD reissue on EMI which includes a complete unreleased album, due out March 1st). Orchestrated pop pleasers abound in Jon Plum's Tony Hazzard-alike 'An Apple Falls' (on the obscure CBS offshoot SNB label); Vaughan Thomas's 'Black Sheep Of The Family' (great tune, shame about that Moog sound!); Cupid's Inspiration's big-voiced 'My World' and ex-Julian Kircher Julian Brook(s) 'Justine' with it's appealing Gibb-a-long melody (think 'Maypole Mews' here). The Luvvers (yep, Lulu's ex group) make a brilliant appearance in the shape of 1966's 'The House On The Hill' which has the fuzz / freakbeat edge that showed how the time were a changin'. 
     Japanese act The Tigers make a guest non-UK band appearance. A mundane even MOR tune perhaps, except that it features (on the sleeve and on the record) one Barry Gibb who also co-wrote it, which will of course be enough to entice many to listen further. More winners though come in the form of Schadel's 'Goodbye Thimble Mill Lane' which is a minor delight with its orchestrated pop and wobbly guitar line undertow. Pepperesque 'Chocolate Buster Dan' is Pandamonium's offering and what could have been a Neil Innes inspired piece of pop whimsy in The Marquis of Kensington's 'The Changing Of The Guard'. If whimsy's your thing, you'll be up for Grisby Dyke's 'The Adventures of Miss Rosemarie La Page' as well. 
     If you dig the other two volumes in this series, this won't disappoint at all. It's a collage of pop uplift that the elevator inspires each time it ascends. Oh yes, and that 'mystery track' 'Ski, the full of fitness food, for all the familieeeee, la, la la ,la la ,la...', would be a prime inclusion in a British version of those German 'pop-shopping' LPs, but who is perfoming the yoghurt ad, readers? My guess is The Iveys - see what you think!
sales@heyday-mo.com
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Psychedelic Experience Vol 1 + 2 (Subliminal Sounds; CD)
     You want weird! You want genuinely freaked out discs from the Owsley era? Well then, these two albums (originally released in the late '90s with ridiculously small pressings and now reissued on one handy sugarcube friendly CD) will definitely please. A number of tracks will be familiar to your average SD reader, but nearly everything else included on this CD is obscure and unavailable on in-print comps. The Waters' 'Mother Samwell' is superlative Hendrixified psych-rock with a catchy pop chorus, The Elevation (without Dave Diamond) turn in a delightfully wigged-out psych-popper in the line of the Strawberry Alarm Clock called 'Odyssey', Raving Madd's 'Boundaries' is a forlorn, big budget, orchestrated number and you can't get anymore demented than Dirty Filthy Mud's 'Forest Of Black', the Elopers' 'Music To Smoke Bananas By' or Johnny Thompson Quintet's 'Colour Me Columbus' - the latter sounds like Captain Beefheart trying to sing a chaotic take of '7+& Is' whilst heavily under the influence. But the cream of the crop has to be The Twilighters' 'Nothing Can Bring Me Down'. This declaration of endless narcoplexy is played at 100mph, and has one of the most dynamic vocals ever lain to wax. 
www.subliminalsounds.se 
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE WAILERS
Wailers, Wailers Everywhere / Out Of Our Tree (Big Beat CD)
     By 1964 even sensations like The Wailers were having to take note of the Brit invasion. To this end The Wailers 1964 outing Wailers, Wailers Everywhere did, as Alec Paleo points out in the liners, one of the best US jobs at assimilating rather than merely imitating the Mersey sound. Seasoned pros that they were The Wailers came up with a great and much maligned album. Dismissed as sounding thin (compared with their usual grand slam approach), Wailers, Wailers Everywhere is a really wonderful album both of its time and its genre, approximating The Beau Brummels. Beautiful melodic tunes abound like opener 'You Better Believe It', 'Hold Back the Dawn', 'I Think Of You' and 'Don't Take It So Hard'. There's the soulful edged beaters in mainstay instro 'The Wailer', 'Just A Little Bit Louder' and Lee Dorsey's evergreen 'Ya Ya'. In general a lovely album and well worth rediscovering. 1965's Out Of Our Tree on the other hand has more of the punch you would expect from The Wailers and has a better rep largely because of the two killer punches that are the title track and the scorching fuzz tone of 'Hang Up'. Other than this however this is a disjointed and largely disappointing album. It's full of covers which are done in the usual Wailers style such as Don Covay's 'Mercy Mercy', 'Hang On Sloopy', 'I'm Down', 'Baby Don't You Do It', 'Little Sister', 'Bama Lama Bama Loo'. From a unit with such talent this shouldn't have been necessary and they really should though have avoided ballads altogether ('Unchained Melody', 'Summertime') as they were clearly uncomfortable in this area and the songs don't work at all. One other original 'I've Got Me' demonstrates the lack of direction of the album as it lacks the usual confidence and delivery of a Wailers belter. The former album is a winner pretty much all the way, whilst the latter has its moments but fails to really satisfy.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Paul Martin