THE BELFAST GYPSIES
I Want You / It's All Over Now Baby Blue (Break-A-Way; 10' single)
     There's some really cool garage blasts around this month, but these two previously unreleased sides by The Belfast Gypsies are amongst the very best. Prior to meeting Kim Fowley and recording their legendary LP with him, as the band's Ken McLeod tells us, the group entered KPS studios in February 1966 'somewhere in North London…' and at their own expense laid down three tracks. Two of them have just resurfaced on a long thought to be lost acetate, whilst the third 'Movin' Free' seems to be gone for good. We can however be eternally grateful that these two tracks have been rediscovered. After Rev-Ola's reissue of The Belfast Gypsies LP on CD in 2003, they received a message from one Christian Jespersen, a Danish record collector, who had bought a copy of the acetate at a collectors fair some years ago, and here it is now for you all to enjoy. The version of 'Baby Blue' is a raw and pulsating one. It was recorded using a Vox 12-string guitar (which McLeod had borrowed from Jennings Music). The feel of the number sounds like this was the first or second time they'd run through it lending it an air of immediacy and intensity that makes it quite distinctive from later versions. The cover of Graham Bond's 'I Want You' is pure unadulterated snotty, hard-assed garage, period. It equals if not surpasses the finest moments on the Gypsies LP and is pure Pretty Things circa '65-'66. A pulsing Kinks riff with the snarliest vocal you will have ever heard from a British beat group, battling against a wailing harp lead and driving guitars. One blast of this baby and it will reaffirm your faith in God. If you have affection for garage at all, you simply have to own this.
     Congratulations to Wolfgang Volkel's Break-A-Way label for the care and attention that has been given to this vinyl venture. The packaging comprises a great colour picture sleeve of the group taken in Copenhagen in June '66 and a double sided 10' insert with Ken McLeod's 'brief, true story of the Belfast Gypsies'. The sound is excellent and you won't find a better slab o' wax of this intensity for a good while I'm quite sure. Play it often, play it loud.
www.break-a-way.de
Paul Martin

Blue Angel
Blue Angel (Hip-O Select; CD)
     A few years before she just wanted to have fun, Cyndi Lauper fronted Blue Angel, whose lone album deftly embraced several classic '50s and '60s styles while giving them a decidedly New York spin. Lauper's identifiable chirpy voice was (thankfully) not yet honed, as here her Debbie Harry meets Pat Benatar delivery is better suited to the material, and the band, featuring the ever-present keyboards of John Turi, provides strong, pliable support. You pretty much get it all on Blue Angel, with songs recalling classic girl group sounds (the Spectorian 'I Had A Love' and 'Fade'), Buddy Holly ('Can't Blame Me' and 'Just The Other Day'), Jerry Lee Lewis ('Late'), and frat rock ('Cut Out'), and the band shows a bit of prescience with 'Everybody's Got An Angel', with a sound that pre-dates The Smithereens transcendent debut by six years. As good as the aforementioned tunes are, Blue Angel is at their best when they tone down the aping, as they do on the very pretty 'Anna Blue' and the straight ahead popper, 'Lorraine'.
     It's kind of surprising that, in the wake of Lauper's success, it took this long for Blue Angel to be reissued, but it was certainly worth the wait.
www.hip-oselect.com
David Bash

BILLIE DAVIS
Tell Him: The Decca Years (Spectrum; CD)
     Billie Davis first scored with the corny Mike Sarne duet 'Will I What?' in 1963 before the perennial favourite 'Tell Him' hit the top ten the same year. She then spent the next three years changing labels (Decca to Columbia to Piccadilly) and styles (largely Spectoresque pop and the commercial end of the soul covers market) before landing back at Decca with what may be the definitive version of Goffin and King's sublime 'Wasn't It You?' (also cut by Petula Clark and later The Action) in early '67. A string of assured pop/soul singles followed including a further minor hit in 1968 with the bombastic 'I Want You To Be My Baby'. Unfortunately, releasing versions of established songs like 'Angel Of The Morning' and 'Nights In White Satin', regardless of their unquestionable quality, may have proved her downfall as a chart act.
     1970's eponymous album gathered most of the previous three years' singles and even 'Tell Him' from seven years earlier in a bid to appeal to record buyers. For most late 60s/early 70s pop fans however, the real meat of the album lies in its superb takes on Nilsson's 'Without Him', The Turtles' 'Me About You', Neil Diamond's 'Love To Love' and Jethro Tull's 'Living In The Past' while Billie's reading of the bubblegum soul gem 'Billy Sunshine' leaves Judi Scott and Merrilee Rush's versions in the traps. Billy soldiered on through the 70s and disco on half a dozen different labels without re-capturing the heights she reached here.
     Hot on the heels of Oxford's recent boot comes an official release through budget label Spectrum which features all of the single sides from both of her stays at Decca but sadly ignores some of the more interesting 1970 album tracks.
www.track-records.com
Andy Morten

ETERNITY'S CHILDREN
From Us Unto You: The Original Singles (Rev-Ola; CD)
     In soft pop circles, Eternity's Children have often been tagged with the label of 'poor man's Sagittarius', mainly due to their direct involvement with Curt Boettcher, who produced several of their sides, as well as because they mined similar musical territory. No matter; Eternity's Children could boast two excellent albums and several equally excellent singles on their resume. From Us Unto You: The Original Singles compiles the 45s and appends solo sides and alternate takes as a bonus, all of which displaying the earmarks of classic soft pop, including sophisticated chord changes and tight, full-bodied harmonies. Highlights among the singles include an early side on Apollo Records, 'Can't Put A Thing Over Me,' which, although the band hailed from Biloxi, Mississippi, has a very striking LA feel, the breezy 'Rumours,' which strongly recalls The Spoonful's 'You Didn't Have To Be So Nice,' the simultaneously haunting and uplifting 'Little Boy,' the obligatory slam on the upper class guy, 'Rupert White,' the soft-soul 'Till I Hear It From You,' and a couple of tracks that show off very un-soft like stinging guitar licks, 'Sunshine Among Us' and the national hit, 'Mrs. Bluebird'. Bonus tracks include post-Eternity's top shelf solo singles by vocalists Linda Lawley and Charles Ross III; the former mining similar gospel territory to '69/'70 Lulu, and the latter having a bit of a country feel.
     From Us Unto You: The Original Singles should forevermore propel Eternity's Children to the upper echelons of 60s pop.
www.revola.co.uk
David Bash

TONY HAZZARD
Go North: The Bronze Anthology (Sanctuary; 2-CD)
     And about bloody time too! Tony Hazzard, much like Graham Gouldman (surely his closest stylistic contemporary), has been appallingly ill served by the digital age. There are no anthologies of his work as a hit-making songwriter for Manfred Mann, The Hollies, Lulu, Herman's Hermits and Andy Williams amongst others and his own three wonderful albums and smattering of singles released between 1966 and 1973 remain beloved artefacts in the collections of the lucky few who have bothered to track down original copies. Until now.
     Sanctuary has compiled all of the material Tony cut for the Bronze label between 1971 and 1973. It charts his transition from Eurovision-friendly but equally underground-savvy commercial pop writer to bandleader and rural troubadour in the tradition of The Band, Bob Dylan and Randy Newman. Well, didn't everybody have to at least dabble with that sound in 1971? But for all of Tony's Woodstock aspirations (which include covering everything in dense layers of acoustic guitar, pedal steel and piano courtesy of B J Cole, Mike Batt, Caleb Quaye, Dave Greenslade and the biggest session names of the day), he could never escape his northern English roots and effortless pop nous. And it's those qualities that have saved his solo work from going the way of so many Heads, Hands And Feets.
     1971's Loudwater House has two modes: full-on mid-paced country-rock ('Blue Movie Man', 'Woman In The West' and the hilarious ode to a particularly brain-impairing local beer 'Abbott Of The Vale' – "too much of him, you'll turn a whiter shade of pale") and short, solo vignettes with guitar or piano accompaniment ('Daffodils', 'Sara's Birthday', the gorgeous 'Another Day Will Come'). Only the rambling in-jokes of 'Loudwater Zoo' spoil this one. By the time of 1973's Was That Alright Then? (to which one razor-sharp reviewer at the time remarked simply "no"), the musical palette had been expanded to include fragile, baroque pieces like 'The Potter' and 'Blossom', the epic tear-jerker 'I Think I'm Over Getting Over You' and the self-depreciating fish 'n' chips whimsy of 'Paul McCartney' ("I'm beginning to hate the style of T H / I wish I was McCartney"). It also boasts one of the greatest opening tracks in memory, the rousing call to arms that is 'Loudwater Band'. If that one don't put a smile on your face then you should get back to scrutinising ELP matrix numbers pronto! The only clunker here is 'Mama' which is far too long, way too sentimental and should have been jettisoned in favour of the non-album B-sides 'Mrs Q' and 'Hangover Blues' which are both winners.
     A good selection of singles, demos, alternate versions and even a brand new and utterly tasteful re-recording of '(Get Back Go Home) Go North' plus informative liner notes courtesy of David Wells round off this superb package.
     Come on in and join the cult of Hazzard!
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
Andy Morten

THE SOUP GREENS
That's Too Bad: The Complete Story and Recordings of (Misty Lane; CD)
     A very '65 Garage group hailing from New York City. Farfisa Organ driven sounds abound. Eight songs in all of their known recordings. Think The Castaways' 'Liar, Liar' mixed with some Frat-Rock for a good idea. 'Shed a tear' being a good example. Your typical 60's teenage ups & downs Boy/Girl song themes. Being mastered from old records, you'll definitely get that Pebbles lo-fidelity sound on this CD. The moody ballad, 'Please Don't Go' is pretty good and alternates its' slow/fast tempos back & forth well. The title track appears twice here, first as the band's only A-Side released single and secondly, as a similar sounding abet, a slightly slower early first version. Both are very typical but, very likeable 1965 Garage. It's B-side, Dylan's 'Like A Rolling Stone' (and featured on Pebbles Volume 1) is given the Farfisa driven treatment with upbeat harmony vocals working very well as a Garage tune. 'Satellite' is a pleasant sounding 'Telstar' like instrumental which, reminded me of music you would've heard played in a 60's roller rink. 'You can't have my woman' their first demo from late 1964 is an atypical mid-tempo Garage rocker yet, features more guitar than their later Farfisa lead stuff. A recent interview with Soup Green guitarist, Dave Eagle and swell packaging add up to another find release from Misty Lane Records.
http://crea.html.it/sito/NOWSOUND/
Steve Elliot

THE SPECTRUM
The Light Is Dark Enough: Recordings 1965-1971 (Oxford; CD)
     Here for the first time are the complete recordings of Captain Scarlet faves, The Spectrum. Put away your over-recorded CDRs of the LP, this is remastered from vinyl to a higher degree. There are 25 tracks altogether. Tracks 1-10 are the Light Is Dark Enough LP from 1970 and the rest are the single As & Bs starting with their 1965 debut 'Little Girl' / 'Asking You' and ending with 1971's 'Launching Place Part 2'. Spectrum of course are known as the group who recorded the Captain Scarlet TV puppet show theme (not included here alas!). The LP as many readers will know is something of a hotch potch put together in 1970 but comprising (or compromising!) singles and other tracks from as along ago as 1967. It kicks off with a generic cover of the hideous 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' for which crime alone McCartney should be stripped of his knighthood! Nonetheless, much better fair greets us in the form of 'Mr Jenkins New Boots', 'Portobello Road', 'Jacqueline' and 'Samantha's Mine'. All have been compiled elsewhere, but here they all are together. In all, the LP is a mix of great period paisley pop, some MOR and a dash of prog experimentation, some works, some doesn't. Their 1965 single is pretty forgettable, veering too much on the conservative side (think The Symbols for instance). 'Comes The Dawn' from 1967 is a pretty pop number with a vague whiff of Blossom Toes about it in places. 'I Wanna Be With You' is a mid-paced southern soul based number whilst 'Tables And Chairs' is a good middling pop number. 'Free' is a singer-songwriterish sort of mid-paced ballad whilst both 'The Tale of Wally Toft' and 'I'll Be Gone' are essentially slow blues numbers. 'Launching Place Part 2' is a good Argent-like prog-sike number and it's a pity they didn't do a bit more in this direction before splitting in '71.
     Overall, like the LP itself, the CD is something of a curate's egg. As long as you have a broad enough sound pallet between your ears, you are going to find something of merit here, but you might have to hit the skip button a few times.
www.w-voelkel.de
Paul Martin

SPIRIT
Model Shop (Sundazed; CD)
     Cut at sessions between their second and third albums, The Family That Plays Together and Clear, Spirit's soundtrack to Jacques Demy's little-known 1969 art/hippie exploitation flick Model Shop has remained as unheard as the film has remained unseen. It gave the band a great opportunity to cut a bunch of the more experimental instrumentals that subsequently peppered their studio albums and provided an appealing duality to their exquisite psychedelic pop side. These dozen cuts show them straddling the jazz and rock camps with the kind of confidence and lightness of touch that wipes the floor with their contemporaries. Spirit were, quite literally, light years ahead of their time.
     Several of the musical themes introduced in these recordings morphed and grew into album tracks such as 'Ice', 'Clear' and 'Space Chile' and the likes of 'Mellow Fellow', 'Fog' and 'Coral' were only rescued from obscurity in the '90s when they were added to the reissues of the band's albums. These transcendental instrumentals always sounded like film scores to this reviewer and it's a real pleasure to discover that 'The Moving Van', 'Model Shop II' and 'Song For Lola' are natural extensions of that sound. Even the tracks that have already seen the light of day appear here in alternate versions and, as if that wasn't enough, the set ends with a blistering fully-realised demo recording of 'Aren't You Glad?', hewn of its strings and production sheen and representing something akin to the true Spirit experience.
     Outstanding.
www.sundazed.com
Andy Morten

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Beat It: Global Sixties Beatin' Garage Barrage (Boss; LP)
     This one has a great pic of Les Hu Lops on the front of its sleeve. A motley crew of garage bangers and beat pounders that works well as a collection. Some are old chums such as Holland's The Hamlets ('Looking In Your Eyes') and Argentina's Los Walkers ('I Can Only Give You Everything'). There are also some great new discoveries such as Thunderbirds (Singapore) frying bacon fuzztoned take on 'Sorry She's Mine' (with added stinging guitar break) and Greece's Brightness who ask 'But Why I Can't'. There's British ex pats in the form of Brian (or 'Brain' as he's referred to here in the first instance) Neale with The Checkmates 'Man Hunter' and 'Mojo Working', great numbers both. Just when you thought new Zealand's garage larder had been stripped bare, we find The Principals 'Lord, Lord', a great moody garage number. Columbia's The Speakers turn in a great fuzzy 'Glendora' that sounds like it's been recorded in a bathroom and Poland's Chocholy hit well with their 'Nowa Gra'. Sweden's St.Michael Sect commit a searing version of Road Runner to wax and Norwegian band Divorced, delight with 'Big Little Woman' (is there enough by them to give them their own anthology I wonder, I've long been a fan ever since I heard them on the old 'Raveyard Paradise' comp). All these darlings date from between 65-7 with the exception of Czech band Olympics 'Teflon' from which is from '68, but which still sounds '65-6 anyway. All winners here, so buy with confidence
www.w-voelkel.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Conquer the World Volume 2 (Psychodelic Records; LP)
     Congratulations to Psychedelic Records for keeping the tradition of coloured vinyl going, this one's bright pink! Another great volume in this enjoyable series of global beat merchants. This time winners come from The likes of Norway's Divorced (them again, see the Beat It comp review earlier as well) with their 'A Real Man', another unknown Kiwi act in Terry Dean & The Nitebeats 'If I Can', all the way from 1964. Why so few artists from Portugal (compared to the abundance in Spain for instance) seem to have been compiled so far is a mystery. If Spain's beat scene could thrive even under a tyrant like Franco, would not the same apply to Portugal under the equally distasteful Salazar? Well Os Apices 'Your Turn To Cry' would seem to suggest it might have, but let's see more Portuguese 45s turning up on these global comps, or if there's anyone pout there with knowledge of Portugal's 60s beat scene contact Shindig! Or Ugly Things etc and get it in the public domain, I'd be keen to learn. We have more Singapore acts in the form of The Trailers 'Quiver' and The Styles 'Mrs Sell from '68 (one of my Ave son this comp, a more psych feel to it than some of the others). The fabulous Brazilian Sully E Os Kantikus's 'Que Bacana' is one of this collections real stars, a fantastic pop edged garage number and I wish there was more to be heard of them (but apparently not). Another antipodean lost in time act in Australia's Reggie Norton & The Ideas 'Take It Easy' also pleases. As with all these collections and as I say every time, they are great fun and throw up surprises you feel glad to have found. The LP comes with double-sided illustrated liners and is another great garage / pop collection, again, buy with confidence.
www.w-voelkel.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Fragments Volume 1 (U-Spaces UK; CDR)
     Wow! A really great 'for trade' only collection of previously uncompiled US 45s (30 of them!). This emanates from the UK chapter of the excellent U-Spaces group whose mission it is to compile the previously uncompiled 45s from the later '60s. This is worth having, if for nothing else, the opening blast of a hitherto acetate only garage cruncher from the Fanatics (sans Neal Ford) 'I Can't Go On', dig that wild guitar break! Don & Jerry's 'I Can't Quit' follows it and is a great, dramatic pop pounder. The overall sound covers garage / beat, pop and pop-sike. The Alphabetical Order's 'All Over The World (La La)' and The Trolls (yes, they of 'Animated Music' fame) 'Something Here Inside' are beautiful examples of jingle-jangle. Hex's acetate only 'Doubt' is a fab example of garage turning into acid rock combining as it does a Dave Davis Kinks riff with acid rock lead guitar, a real winner. Similarly, December's Children's 'Dirty City' combines the underdog blue collar sentiments of the Animals with a more developed and confident garage rock pop riffing rhythm. Bob Rains & Admiral Strange's 'Wastin' My Time' is a Boyce & Heart a-like mid paced pop pleaser with a great big vocal hook. Danny Warner turns in a nice pop rendition of Janice Ian's 'Go 'Way Little Girl' (as also recorded with gusto by The Shame on Poppy). The Gretta Spoone Band's 'Close Your Eyes' is a lovely light and sleepy pop ballad with one of those great Jimmy Webb type chord sequences that give what might have otherwise been a lesser work a definite edge. Its moroseness emphasised by the plaintive harmonica lines makes you want to keep hitting the repeat button. Inbetween great contributions from the likes of The Knack ('The Spell'), San Francisco Earthquake ('Su Su'), The Candymen ('Go And Tell The People') and Our Patch of Blue (Zoom, Zoom, Zoom) make this comp a work of art. As usual with U-Spaces, all these 45s have been remastered and it comes with liner notes. The sound is full and frontal. Winners all round I'd say, hopefully Volume 2 isn't far away!
colinlsd1967@msn.com
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Immediate Mod Box Set (Castle; 3-CD)
     One would expect near enough all Shindig! readers to know the basics of the Immediate story – Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham sets up the template for all of the most influential independent UK record labels to follow and scores hits with the likes of the Small Faces, Chris Farlowe, etc. So I won't go into that here. Suffice it to say that anyone with a love for sixties music should consider this set to be absolutely essential.
     Sure there are a number of cuts here that all fans of sixties music will have already – the sublime '(If You Think You're) Groovy' by PP Arnold, The Small Faces' blissed-out 'Tin Soldier', to name just two. But there are many tracks new to me here too, as well as those I'd previously only heard on the dancefloor being deejayed by the mod scene's ultra-collectors (not to mention stuff like the Poets, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and so on which many of us have only on inferior quality bootlegs).
     Here you get – count 'em! – 50 tracks of mod-pop, psychedelia in its various forms, jazz tinged blue-eyed r&b and freakbeat… You just can't go wrong. With its sheer quality and its variety of sounds, playing these three CDs is like having the best DJ in town spinning vintage 45s for your own private party.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
Murray Abisch

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Les Caves And Co…Se Rebiffent Volume1 (Out of Limits; LP - 400 only)
     Sixteen French (or Francophone anyway) titles from 1965-69. As with other 'Out of Limits' LP compilations ('Jugobeat', 'O Toi Beatnik', 'Don't Turn me Off'), the sounds collected have that charming naivety that implies learning on the job. There's plenty of that on this comp (there are extensive liners but only in French). There are some fab out there-isms in the form of A Special Mind's 'Gold Flake' for instance. They may have been recording an ad for pipe tobacco but whatever it is it's a shambolic and whacked out garage number that's just too sloppy to be contrived, it must have been how they were on the day, it has a great 'I don't careness' about it. They also crop up on side two with 'In The World A Planet', which is in similar vein. Intermittence's take on 'Black Magic Woman' sounds like an eleven year-old who'd be happier (and more comfortable) with an action man play set than a woman of any kind, plaintive and delightful. Les Kilts 'Jerk Bastos' is a great floor shaking number but you also have Les Landles 'Le Monde Est Morte' and you will believe it indeed is 'morte' when you hear this short downbeat ditty . You need to know the lingo to fully appreciate the Jaques Dutroncisms of Longmai's 'A Capitat S'es Adaptat' which is the kind of number that makes you want to learn. Les Kents 'Pour la Revoir' and Les Twilights 'Shadows In The Sky' also stand out. A curious and most enjoyable journey that I would encourage you all to take. Gold Flake anyone?
www.w-voelkel.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Lost Sixties Delights Volume 3
The Light Show Volume 2
Way Out Wonders Volume 1 (all U-Spaces; CDRs)
     Another clutch of strictly 'for trade only' comps from the excellent U-Spaces group (the American chapter this time). Lost Sixties Delights Volume 3 is another excellent collection of ad hoc 60s US 45s that slipped through the net. Lyn Le Salle's 'Randy Ramjet' is a great example of a commercial pop vocal hook overlaid with minor scale acid rock guitar. Zeitgeist's '(Herein Lie) The Seeds of Revolution' is a delightful folk-pop pleaser with paranoid lyrics about who you can or cannot trust in your daily life! Liquorice Schtick's 'Flowers' could be taken as hippie exploitation by a bunch of studio musos, but it could also be for real, who knows! It's a great breezy, floater with a good chorus hook. One side of the amazing acid rock acetate by Hex is featured on 'Fragments Vol.1' (see review elsewhere this month). The other side 'You Laugh & I'll Cry' is on this comp. Wonderful guitar weaving throughout and a steady organ rhythm keeps it grounded. White Wash's 'You Better Think It Over' is a nice late 60s organ led prog pop number also and Morocco's 'Ela 'Tho' has a great Gurus type eastern modal vibe with a female vocal refrain making it a semi-instrumental. All told another grand sweep of uncollected gems by U-Spaces.
     The Light Show Volume 2 is a Rev-Ola label-friendly series, focussed on the more soft pop sounds of the US 60s. Forte Four's 'Don't Let The Sun Shine On Me' is a fantastic example of the day-glow voiced approach to folk pop, short and sweet. The Answer's 'The Disadvantages Of You' is a feather-light floater with a female voice la-la-ing over a gentle musical rhythm that sways for Summer, close you eyes and go 'emmmmm'. Every such comp has to have a version of 'Aquarius' and this one has a great version by the Collection, a lovely tune made lovelier if anything. The Chosen Few's 'Last Man Standing' is another folk-pop winner (or loser if you are the last man alive being rejected by the female object of your affection!). Great mannered harmony vocal style meshed with an underlying groove that lifts it above the purely average. Folk rock proper comes in a rather forceful way from the 27^th Airbone Submarine's 'Old Time Story' whilst The Lords of London's 'Candy Rainbow' is a delicious commercial vocal group pop number with it's refrain of 'Wow! Candy Rainbow' and soulful bridges.
     A new series to the U-Spaces fold is Way-Out Wonders. This initial volume compiles wacky (or wacked out) 45s such as the wonderful 'Monarchy' by Dreams, interspersed with nuggets of DJ wisdom for the troops by Dave Rabbit, from an allegedly Vietnam grunt radio station c.1970-71. Musically, Crackerjack Society's 'Play This Side First' is the synthesised sound of a racing car changing gear on a tape loop, or at least that's what its sounds like! Anglo Saxton's 'Ruby' on the other hand is an 'eve of destruction' sounding number but of course the chorus is 'Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town'. Coupled with a lyric about doing one's patriotic duty in 'nam but coming back broken (physically at least) amidst its plea for a woman's comfort. The Carriage Company's 'The Beasts' on the other hand is an acid fried winner that kicks off with a bible quote before going 'heavy man'. Chicago Loop's 'Saved' is an r&b beater about street corner preachers whilst Purple Wine's 'It's My Mind' is a trip comedown inspired number. Quite a few of these better numbers would fit easily onto comps like 'World of Acid', 'The Psychedelic Experience' or 'A Fistful of Fuzz'. The novelty numbers and especially Dave Rabbit's links give this a wider context and so what might sound like an assorted and disjoined jumble of sounds and words, comes together to present both a sound pallet and social context for the times of their production. All three collections come with liner notes and all selections have been digitally remastered from the original vinyl. Three great collections you should investigate I think.
velvetfogg@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/VelvetFogg/HTML/U-Space2.html
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Quagmire Volume 5 (Finest Hour; CD)
Gravel Volume 2 (Kumquat May; CD)
     Normally a double or multiple review is a product of lazy journalism or space saving. In this case these two US garage punk compilations share so many similar features that they deserve to be reviewed together. If you like one, it's a safe bet that you'll need to have the other. If you are the proud owner of the previous volumes in either series, buy with confidence – these are at least as good as any of the others. If you don't like compilations of very obscure, largely uncomped US 60s garage punk, or if you have made your mind up that all the good stuff has already been re-issued, you won't buy these whatever I write. ( If you won't buy 'em because you don't have the earlier volumes to 'complete the set', then you have been afflicted with 'recordcollectoritis' and need to remember that the reason you started buying records in the first place was because you liked music, not collecting. )
     At 27 and 30 songs respectively both collections are great value, as there is very little padding. I prefer to listen in batches of about ten songs, probably because this is about the length of an old LP. Quagmire 5 gets off to a blinding start with some crude, raunchy and wonderful punkers such as The 4 Speeds 'Why Did You Leave Me'. The Gories could have based their entire sound on the Klansmen's primitive version of 'Gospel Zone'. Sound quality is fairly crackly on some cuts, but it doesn't spoil their charm. Sound quality on Gravel is generally cleaner. Both discs have plenty of variety, ranging from out and out wildness and fuzz to good well sung pop such as The Green Beans '( Don't Give Me No) Friction' or the Socialites daffy girls-in-the-garage 'Phooey Phooey On You'. Gravel includes some fine jangly folk-punk for good measure.
     The cover of Quagmire might put off the casual browser, as it shows four greasy-quiffed types who looked dressed for The Tijuana Brass. At least Gravel has a photo of five weedy moody mid 60s youths, so you know what you're getting at first glance. There are no liner notes except Quagmire's inclusion of a semi-literate rant about garage compilations culled from an e-mail forum. Even if the compilers don't have much factual detail about the bands, it would be fun to know what they liked about each song. Gravel includes several neat songs from bands with popular and common names, such as The Aztecs, Aardvarks, Sloths, Trolls, Wild Ones etc. Several bands in the same state had such names, so which ones are on the disc? Surely the compilers could speculate about such great band names as The Girl Getters and The Baroque Brothers?
     Minor reservations aside, each time I play these CDs I hear neat little touches I didn't notice before, suggesting that the supply of obscure 60s classics may be as bottomless as Dr. Who's Tardis.
Phil Suggitt

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Winning Sides Volume 2 (Hip Shake; LP)
     Volume 1 of this series was a global collection of beat and garage. Volume 2 is an all-American affair and is comprised of greasy R'n'B and frat stomp numbers, mainly from '65-'66. Essentially it's another enjoyable party-time collection of the obscure and the amusing, the sort of collection you find in Crypt's catalogues for instance. The standouts amongst the seventeen numbers featured here are The Divers 'Feels So Fine' (on Hot records) which sounds circa '66. It's a fuzz punker but with serious rather than frivolous intent, a great find for any garage fiend. The World of Milan's 'One Track Mind' (Brunswick) is a great pounder and a solid beat throughout. Sue Patrick & The Nomads 'You Found A New Love' on Process from '65, sounds like the entire band plus reel to reel recorder all squeezed into the same toll booth at once – a wonderful primitive recording with added novelty (as it was then) of a girl singer who also wrote the song. Skip Drinkwater's 'Silly Sally' (on Karate) kicks the show off with a great '66 reinvention of the late 50s greasy r'n'b vibe. The Rejects 'Hey Girl' (on Big Sound) starts as the accompanying liners note, like an average Beatles number then suddenly storms into Bo Diddley guitar riff that just keeps going. Billy Sandlin & The Interns 'Poor Rich Girl' (Royale) comprised of US serviceman Sandlin and his German backing group, The Interns. The refrain of 'Poor Rich Girl' is heavily accented and muddily recorded causing it to sound more like 'Porridge Girl', a garage ode to Goldilocks perhaps? The Jagged Edge turn in a pretty storming 'Midnight To Six Man' and Buddy Sharpe & The Shakers (from 1961) ' Please, Please, Please, Please' (Spear) is a great r'n'b pounder that allegedly caused Noddy Holder to decide how he wanted to sing! Have fun cutting a rug on a Saturday night with this comp, it's just pure fun.
www.w-voelkel.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Yellow Pills Prefill (Numero; 2-CD)
     Power pop aficionados will recall Jordan Oake's four volume CD series of Yellow Pills based on his mag of the same name. Well he's back with a 33 track double CD set of rarities and curios from the skinny tied 1978-82 era (a couple of tracks by Brat and The Finns from the early 90s being the only exceptions to this time frame). There are some corkers on here as well. You should buy it just to own The Tweeds' 'I Need That Record' which sums up everyone reading this review right now! The Speedies 'You Need Pop' and Colors 'Growing Up American' are fellow barnstormers you can no longer afford to live without. There's good contributions from the solo artist's masquerading as bands as well; LMNOP (AKA Steven Fievet) goes into speaker shredding overdrive with 'Forever Through The Sun' and The Toms (aka Tom Morolda) hits hard with 'Sun' and 'House of Horrors' – look out for important Toms reissues in May on Not lame as well. The Trend's 'She's So Hi-Fi' and the two contributions from The Kids 'Hey Little Girl' and 'There Goes My heart Again' are sublimely melodic and powerful (they had two double-neck guitar players) whilst The Finns 'Hello Mr Jenkins', a tale about everyday American red-neck prejudice gives a good social commentary slant on the otherwise girl trouble laden lyrical content. Hearty slaps on the back to Jordan Oakes not only for the fine track selection but for the beefy 27 page fact-packed booklet in which he overviews the history of power pop and its schisms with aplomb and not inconsiderable poetic vocabulary. Dig that Japanese pic sleeve of The Colors 'Rave It Up' on page 12 as Oakes says, so bright you could use it as a lamp! This is a labour of love for the ears and the eyes that you owe it to yourself to buy. Hooks and melodies a plenty and a history lesson we all need to revisit. Thanks Jordan, 11 out of 10 for this one and I hope there's more where this came from!
www.numerogroup.com
Paul Martin