THE A-SIDES
Seeing Suzy / Going Gone (Prison Jazz; 45)
After the great white tiger-hype of the New Millennium has mauled the name of '60s garage with sharp claws, every Tom, Dick and Harry have used the "garage" prefix and
every office worker spoken about it! But here come the REAL thing. The A-Sides are another new American band who play '60s styled beat with one foot in 2004 -- a little like SD faves The Singles. However The A-Sides veer towards more of an early Who sensibility rather than The Singles' major Beatles fixation. Their vocalist sings from deep down inside with a London styled mod-soul voice, the guitar has a great AC30 edge, which naturally distorts with glee, yet still sounds warm, and the tom-tom bashing drummer is pure Moony -- plus they do a great Yardbirds rave-up sections on 'Going Gone'. Great stuff! The kids are alright!
www.prisonjazz.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE EMBROOKS
Back In My Mind / The Time Was Wrong (Butterfly; 45)
The Embrooks go psychedelic! Yes indeed. And this Mike Stuart Span-tinged rocker is a joy from start to finish, right from Mole's stoned vocals, The Factory-like megaphone effect on the backing vocals and Al's searing guitar work. This is no mere rip-off though.
'Back In My Mind' is a song written and performed by aficionados of the music, and here they have captured the late '67 / early '68 zeitgeist most admirably. This is The Embrooks at their best! Flip 'The Time Was Wrong' is no disgrace either, and is another example of the kind of sound that ex-blue-eyed soul mod bands and longhaired R&B yobs made after they'd ditched all of "that old stuff". It's still pop, but a bit warped - which reminds me, the jukebox centre of this disc is too large and the record needs to be fiddled with to play!!! Everything is great right down to the Eddie Phillips-goes-Tintern Abbey guitar solo. Sod all of those pesky kids The Embrooks are still the best! If this was recorded in that happening era John Peel would have given it a lot of airtime on The Perfumed Garden. (Oh yeah, I know The Embrooks don't take themselves too seriously, but the less said about the cover better…)
www.butterfly-records.com
embrooks@ntlworld.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE GENTLEKIN
The Gentlekin (International Tape Association; CD)
The Gentlekin are Jon Fellman, Jefferson Parker and Joe Zarmin who hail from sunny southern California. In Jefferson Parker they include one of the people behind the excellent
Soft Sounds For Gentle People CD compilation series, which signals the kind of territory this
CD is exploring. They profess to be influenced by such luminaries as David Gates, Ray Davies, Brian Wilson and Curt Boettcher and some of these influences can be discerned in the music. Since their formation in 2000 they have performed with ex-Byrd Gene Parsons and shared the bill with the Brian Jonestown Massacre amongst others.
This is a nine (original) song album that for my ears at least has specific highs and lows. The overall feel of the album is in keeping with the southern Cali sixties sound. Where this works, it works very well especially in 'Another State Sky', which perhaps is the most successful, in evoking the southern California soft pop aesthetic, a good tune with a strong structure. Others like 'Westerly', 'Where Love Lies', 'Leap Of Faith' and 'Something Changes Here' definitely notch up the substance quotient and portend a more developed sound to come. Others such as opener 'Fair Weather', Borrowing A Dream' or 'El Camino Real' sound somewhat too diffident.
Overall, the album sports some very nice original songs which have a soft, gliding feel to them. However there is also a sense of wanting there to be a little more depth to the sound. When the Mellotron is (perhaps too sparingly?) used it begins to help the songs bloom. There's also a certain coyness to the vocals which could be helped by an additional (third?) vocalist perhaps. I would have liked to have heard more harmonised lead vocal in many of the songs as where this occurs (usually on choruses) it again, tends to draw the songs out more.
In general then, a nice set of original songs that point in the right direction but which have room for further development. Keep watching!
jeffersonparkerson@hotmail.com
thegentlekin@hotmail.com
Paul Martin
THE HYPNOMEN
Crystal Skies (Stupido Records; CD)
Finland's ex-early '60s surf/twangesters have reinvented themselves over the years, moving from Exploito-fuzz merchants
to Latin groovers and have now ended up comfortably playing contemporary Scandanavian psychedelia: think Soundtrack Of Our Lives with a touch of Spiritualised. A few tracks have vocals, but mainly this is good modern instro-psychdelia primarily focusing on Pekka's liquid guitar and Sami's Hammond. The songs range from Allen-styled cinematic pieces to droney mantras and bluesy grooves. These guys are clearly stemming from the past, but have no problem with a clear, trippy modern production. If you liked their last few albums, you'll warm to this too.
www.hypnomen.com
www.stupido.fi
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
JANUARY
Motion Sickness (Must Destroy; CD)
As my friend David put it during a riveting game of Pictionary, "this album sounds like the soundtrack to Ronan Keating's life". Must Destroy
display a schizophrenic approach to A&R by following up excellent rock releases by The Darkness, Ten Benson, and Sludgefeast with a slice of blandola. January released an album on Poptones before that label went bang, and if it was as anodyne as this, it was a mercy killing. Their music sounds like Nick Drake knocking around with a bunch of shoegazers shortly after his overdose started kicking in. Chapterhouse, Ride and the Drop Nineteens were also cited as suitable comparisons, and track seven, it was suggested, is a direct swipe from something on the Pale Saints' second album. Meanwhile, 'Caught' is a Floyd-alike - "yeah, Keith Floyd: Cake Piping at the Gates of Prawn", surmised another scribbling chum. I had to fumigate my head with a blast of Mötörhead in order to recover, and even my listening companions, all inveterate indie kids, found Motion Sickness to be "nice background music that you wouldn't bother listening to". So to the Big Star, Neil Young and Abba comparisons that their new label makes: no, no, and thrice no. Because if they were anything like that, January would have gone down a treat with us. But they aren't. So they didn't.
www.mustdestroymusic.com
Betty Chienne (plus special consultants: Colin, David, Gary, Liam, Matthew, Ruth and Vici)
THE MAHARAJAS
Wait & Wonder EP (Loser Records; 45)
Four older Maharajas' songs cut by the band in 1995, minus fab new singer Mathias. All are in the moody
Shutdown 66 whiney vein and will appeal to older miserablists and teenage shutdowns. Decent authentic garage, but nowhere as good as where The Maharajas are at now (see below review).
Loser Records, 9 Cambridge Street, Tomorden, OL 14 5BN, Lancs, UK
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE MAHARAJAS
Unrelated Statements (Low Impact; LP / CD)
In January I raved and raved about these chaps' Misty Lane 12" vinyl album
h-minor, and now I'm going to have to do it all again x 10. Unrelated Statements is a masterpiece.
The Maharajas clearly have that Scandinavian cool which oozes from everyone from Soundtrack Of Our Lives through to Baby Woodrose and Dungen. A cool that allows the band to whole-heartedly ape the past, yet not sound out of place today. Twat-like journos may use the term "retro" -- and sure, this stuff is just that: but does it matter? The spirit of R&R is still alive, and with nearly 50 years of inspiration to look back on why should it be a crime to use the formula? That should never be forgotten. Garage-rock has finally become a known "commodity", and for most kids it certainly doesn't conjure up visions of
Pebbles albums and Beatle boots. R&R is timeless! The Maharajas are timeless! Like the mentioned bands, and more, The Maharajas are in love with R&R. And boy, can you hear it!
Unrelated Statements continue from where the young Strollers left off with the added wisdom of Jens Lindberg and his over-30s team!!! On this latest effort (their first Swedish release) young Mathias is to the fore; demonstrating the best voice in Sweden since Robert Jelinek oozed soul and fire into '80s garage with The Creeps (and then promptly lost it). The young dynamo also possesses a demon pair of hands and coaxes devils from his fuzzed-out guitar (see Will Shade's superlative final Strollers article in SD#6 for further praise - order the mag now on the
"What's Happening?" page of the site if you don't have it). Yes, this album could almost be the third Strollers album. Yet the fine songs are all down to band leader Jens Lindberg and bassist Ulf Guttormsson, and they are superb. 'Please Leave A Message' has the spirit of Gene Clark's 'Elevator Operator' as if performed by Mike Nesmith singing on the set of
Head! Great guitar. A brilliant vocal. Pop hooks galore. This deserves to be released as a 45 and to hit the top of the charts! We can dream… but… 'Odd Socks' commits the R&B hereditary of The Yardbirds, New York Dolls and Feelgoods into the garage cannon, equally as pop and catchy, but featuring chugging bluesy vamps and riffs galore. 'Dead' recalls The Strollers at their most Bonniwell dark-psych. 'Medication' is pop-garage in the style of The Stems, and owes everything to the classic '66 descending chord structure. 'Maggott Mocker' is fuzzed up '80s garage - but better! 'You For President' has a touch of We The People and The Third Bardo about it (ie rousing psych-punk)… 'Papa's Dead' is both stupendous and stupid and 'Nice Guys Finish Last' is a suitable closure for a wonderfully varied album that isn't trying to fit into any particular mould. Like it says on the tin: unrelated statements.
Finally, 'Nice Guys…' is a beautiful bittersweet warning to the nice guys of the
world and sees the boys rekindle their New England teen-scene sound.
The production of this album is perfect for mass consumption (ala the great Jet album), yet totally captures the '60s vibe. This band are just getting better and better… AMAZING! Thankfully crap garage is dwindling and the good stuff is back in fashion…
www.lowimpact.nu
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE OWSLEY SUNSHINE
Look To The Merry-Go-Sun (StartARiot Records; CD)
Here's a great new debut offering from a Glasgow group that calls itself The Owsley Sunshine. It's called
Look To The Merry-Go-Sun and it's out right now on their own Start A Riot label. Naming themselves
after a powerful brand of 1960s LSD tabs you may just guess where their influences are gonna lie. They are kinda obsessed with The Beatles to put it mildly, but in a really engaging and creative way. These guys are young but already know a lot of different moves and combine power and lyrical wit together with elements of piano rocka-boogie, gorgeous harmony-pop and psychedelic guitar strut, giving their songs a nice familiar feel to wrap your head easily around. Opening number 'Dr Donaldson's Charity Bandstand' says it all really, and it's a fab way to begin the proceedings. Crikey, even The Rutles would've killed for this one I'm sure. Other moments of glory include 'Pay Yer Dues', the weird and wonderful 'Dutch Hardcore' and 'What I've Said'.
There are a few other things going on too in Look To The
Merry-Go-Sun, like an electro-blip segment that gives way to a mainly spoken interlude called 'Vole Dome'. Elsewhere, passages of surreal beauty recall such diverse luminaries as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Pink Floyd (just a tiny little bit) and Peru's We All Together (an early 1970s bunch of total Beatles and Badfinger nuts who were, a lot of the time, even better than the real deal!!!) But in the here and now of today it's Joe Kane and his cohorts Nic Denholm, Neil Harris and Stephan Mors who are blasting out all these choice cuts down in a Glasgow basement flat. It's DIY but not the lo-fi kind and it's doing a splendiferous job of making my head seriously spin.
www.theowsleysunshine.tk
Lenny Helsing
VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Bucketfull Of Possibilities (Bucketfull of Brains; CD)
This CD is free to Bucketfull of Brains magazine subscribers, but you can also buy it separately. Most magazine freebies include a lot of stuff commercially available elsewhere, but, in the tradition of previous BoB comps, this includes some specially recorded tunes and many that see the light of day for the first time.
Naturally the selection reflects the loves of the editors. In the '80s editor Jon Storey championed garage bands and guitar bands from around the glob, particularly the US and Australia. The current editorial team favour power-pop and U.S. alt/roots rock. Here the two sit rather uneasily together. Whilst I can appreciate and enjoy some of the roots-type stuff when heard separately, it suffers when sandwiched between bright, shiny pop songs. Good power pop is by definition immediate, "in-your-face" music. In comparison, the rootsier stuff seems at best pleasant and at worst bland. (I guess other listeners might feel that the subtle alt-country songs beat the simple pop songs hands down!)
There are strong contributions from relatively well known pop acts, such as Cotton Mather, who do an acoustic demo of 'Private Ruth', along with good songs from more obscure acts like Drazy Hoops. There is a classic, sparse chiming Phil Seymour cut, 'Love Letters', and a recently recorded Aerovons song that was originally intended for their one and only '60s LP. Of the 21 songs, only the odd synth pop of the Ju Ju Babies does nothing for me at all.
Phil Suggitt
