Age Of Reason (US, 1969)

A teen garage quintet from the Bronx, New York. Their sole 45 became a sought-after item many years later after Magnet, a brooding punk-popper, was included on the 1983 compilation LP Ear-Piercing Punk (reissued on CD in 1996).
Larry Russell recalls: "Our original name was The Loose Ends but, when we recorded Magnet on 9/8/66, our manager decided to change our name (that night) because there had been another band with the same name that had a record deal before us."
"On that day we recorded 4 songs, the other two besides the single were (It's A) Dirty Shame, which was going to be our follow-up single, and Pride, written by our producer and which, in our opinion, sucked. I have copies of all of those recordings."
Their 45 did well enough to make the national charts and the band found themselves opening for top division acts like The Four Tops, Drifters, Box Tops and Young Rascals. However the big push from the label did not materialise and the follow-up never happened. The band called it a day in the Spring of 1968. Thirty-five years on Dirty Shame has finally been unveiled, on Psychedelic States: New York Vol. 1 (CD). It's a catchy swinger that harks back to upfront 1964-era Merseybeat shouters, punctuated with "yeah"s aplenty.
Larry Russell was 16 when the record was cut. He went on to tour with Billy Joel, Gary U.S. Bonds, Mary Travers, and Robert Gordon. In the late nineties he was the percussionist for wimp-rock superstar Bryan Adams.
Psychedelic Bluesy Garage*.

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