The following all came from a large thrift shop find of 45s (Nov):
*The Guilloteens - Wild Child / You Think You're Happy. 1966 Columbia promo (SP). What a great name for a band! 'Wild Child' is quite good garage, with a snotty Stones attitude and some pretty cool backwards psych fuzz for the early date. The flip is the usual timeframe's fumble, going for a poppier sound in case the other side offended too much. They were from Memphis. Keeping this one, something of a memento I suppose.
The Barbarians - What the New Breed Say / Susie Q. 1965 Laurie promo (SP). 1965 garage music - so I'll let you figure out who they copied. This is version #965 of 'Susie Q'. No one had any imagination in those days apparently. They were from the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts.
Guess Who's - Hurting Each Other / Baby's Birthday. 1965 Scepter promo (SP). The Guess Who? Well this says the Guess Who's, so that's who! A side sounds very much like a Burt Bacharach / Hal David composition. B side is very Beatlesque.
The Jackals - Linda Come Lately / Everywhere She Goes. 1969 Liberty promo (SP). The only release from this unknown group. Pop psych with horns. Nothing distinctive to gather them notice and off they went into obscurity.
The Liverpool Set - Oh Gee Girl /Walking the Dog. 1966 Columbia promo (SP). The Liverpool Set were a garage band from Canada. Obviously patterned after The Beatles, not a lot of surprises here, but always fun to hear stuff like this.
*Love Sculpture - Sabre Dance / Think of Love. 1968 Parrot promo (SP). 'Sabre Dance' apparently was a live song that gained notoriety and thus helped this truncated version sell much copy. They later recorded the extended version for their second album Forms and Feelings. In any case it's a spirited rendition of the classical chestnut with absolutely killer and fast guitar, especially for the era. 'Think of Love' is unique to this 45, and is even better. Again some great fuzz and features a good piano driven riff.
*The Rising Sons - Candy Man / The Devil's Got My Woman. 1966 Columbia promo (SP). 1966 is usually too early for me to be engaged, and this is no exception. 'Candy Man' is jangly acoustic driven garage and the flip is similar with a slight rural feel. Los Angeles based group that featured Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal.
Wichita Fall - Going to Ohio / Ornamental Sideshow. 1969 Liberty promo (SP). 'Going to Ohio' is from that annoying element of psych that mixed in Baroque and pop for a completely silly song. The flip is much better with some fine harpsichord, though it gets a bit too brassy towards the end.
---end of sale
Fever Tree - Another Time, Another Place. 1968 Uni (LP). From RT (Nov). There are some very good tracks here including the opener and closer, but there's also some boring ones. It reminds me of later Iron Butterfly in this way. Seems they went into the studio without much material, and just made it up as they went along. Wasted opportunity.
The Beatles VI. 1965 Capitol (LP). And more Beatles from RT (Nov). If I have my facts straight this album, along with Beatles '65, were both culled from the UK release called Beatles For Sale. In the US, Capitol was attempting to milk the brand for all it was worth. As with Beatles '65, most of these tracks are throwaway numbers. The only track I recognized is 'Eight Days a Week', which I never really cared for too much. The cover looks like guys I worked with when I joined the permanent work force in the late 80s. Paul McCartney is in his element, but boy did John Lennon ever change... Sell bin it is.
The Beatles - Beatles '65. 1964 Capitol (LP). From the RT collection (Nov). Well... Beatles again. Most of my knowledge of this era of the band goes back to grade school when I bought the Beatles 62-66 2xLP set. In contrast to 67-70, there was no Magical Mystery Tour favorite album to refer to as a favorite. In fact the "red" compilation was much more varied for the source material. The only track I recognize here is 'I Feel Fine', and after hearing this album, it would be my pick for best song. Now whether that's due to familiarity, or it is in fact the best cut for my tastes, I'm not entirely sure. For the most part, I hear this album as average and won't keep it.
*The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour. 1967 Capitol (LP) From the same picker as below (Oct). Well, Beatles again. But... I think this is my favorite one. Maybe Revolver is in that race too. The very first full album I ever bought (age 12) was the 2xLP Beatles 1967-1970 set. I played that to death (still own it remarkably). I used to read all the lyrics and got to know all the melodies. After all, it was the only album I owned at one point - and I was excited to use my new stereo. As in all day, every day. What those liner notes told me back then is that many of my favorite tracks came from this very album. 'The Walrus' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in particular (early clues that all was not right inside my head....). But also 'Penny Lane', 'All You Need is Love', and 'The Fool on the Hill'. Magical Mystery Tour is usually not the album many folks point to as their best, but I think it's their most truly psychedelic album - more so than Sgt Peppers.
*The Beatles - Abbey Road. 1969 Apple (LP). From a local picker (Oct). I'll freely admit that I'm not the biggest Beatles fan alive. But Abbey Road is in their top 5 for certain. 'Come Together' is brilliant and I certainly do enjoy 'Something', 'I Want You', and 'Here Comes the Sun'. There's probably a couple of others, but their overall eclectic nature wears on me. The cover has the sewer drain (something of a big deal for Beatles collectors I come to find out).
various artists - Easy Rider. 1969 Dunhill (LP). Thrift shop find (Oct). Nice selection that does a good job of capturing the ethos of the psychedelic era, especially that of the west coast. I prefer the heavier and trippier material, of course, like Steppenwolf (including the iconic title track), Hendrix, The Byrds, and The Electric Prunes. Not as keen on the folky and countryish numbers, but again it is representative.
*Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails. 1968 Capitol (LP). It's back. I just sold my copy a year ago, and then another popped up at a thrift shop, in about the same great shape (Sep). That's a divine message to me apparently. They are at their best here, just letting the jams fly. Nothing too sophisticated, and songwriting is optional. I wish I could now visit San Francisco - but in 1968. My first time there was in 1995 - long after Silicon Valley had been established. To be fair, I spent many years in the SF Bay Area afterward, because of said industry. It's so hard now to imagine San Francisco as a "city of the Western frontier".
* - Keeping for the collection
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