Skip & The Creations: Mobam (US, 1966)

From Colonial Heights, just outside of Richmond, Virginia. This band's album is a rare and sought-after collectable. The album is garagey frat-rock of the soulful sort - covers include Harlem Shuffle, 99.5, Double Shot, Turn On Your Lovelight, Respectable, Gimme Some Lovin'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - you get the picture? I'm Calling You Baby is the most uptempo offering here - a jerky and infectious ditty but overall not recommended for garage fans.
Practically nothing is known about Skip & the Creations, apart from the fact that they were a sextet, that their first names were Walter, Brute, Jeffrey, Skip, Rick, and Tommy, and that Skip was their lead singer, Jeffrey was the lead guitarist, Walter may have been the organist, and Brute played a Fender-model bass. And that they seemed bent on becoming Virginia's answer to the Outsiders. They cut 11 songs for Justice Records sometime in 1967 or thereabouts, and disappeared sometime after that. and

ALBUM REVIEW

These boys really tried hard, mixing r&b and gospel influences in a surprisingly effective fashion, and their concert performances must've been awesome in the context of the times. It's a shame they didn't leave more of a trail behind that could be followed today, apart from these 11 songs cut around 1967. Their cover of "Double Shot Of My Baby's Love" was no threat to the Swingin' Medallions, nor was their "Respectable" going to make the Outsiders worry about losing gigs-but even here Skip and company did sing with a demented, soulful snarl that makes their work entertaining and animated, and puts these performances over. The songs include their version of the Jamess Brown standard "I'll Go Crazy" (also covered by the original Moody Blues-these guys sound like they learned it off the original), and Skip is a pretty mean soul shouter here. "Try Me" is the highlight of the album, a seriously soulful rendition with a gospel-tinged organ that lights up the entire song. "Turn On Your Lovelight" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" are also desirable tracks, their drummer probably losing 10 pounds everytime he did the former on stage, with its myriad changes and embellishments.

THE CREATIONS

Fire: Underground and Overhead; The Alternative Fire (UK, 1967/69)

Formed in Hounslow, Middlesex, in 1966, and originally known as Friday's Chyld, their first 45 was a fine slice of pop psychedelia complete with frantic chord changes and a catchy tune on the 'A' side, whilst the 'B' side was almost as good. Their second 45 lacked the sparkle of the first, however, and is consequently far less sought-after and expensive to obtain.
Prior to recording their first 45, they cut some demo's in early '67 at R.G. Jones' Morden studio, and auditioned for Decca with demo versions of Father's Name Is Dad and Treacle Toffee World. Suitably smitten, Decca offered them a deal, and on the strength of the recordings, they were also signed by Apple Publishing.
Their first 45 was released in March '68, many months after it had been recorded, and two versions exist - after Paul McCartney heard it on the radio, he arranged for the band to recut the 'A' side with backing vocals, and doubled guitar riffs an octave higher... It didn't make much difference however, although both versions have now been preserved on the Underground and Overhead album. Following this failure, the band recorded a number of demo tracks, many of which are again featured on the Underground...

Rather inexplicably, both sides of the Round The Gum Tree were written by Mike Berry, head of Apple Publishing, after he had rejected all of The Fire's demos as 'unsuitable'. The band refused to play on the disc, and The Fire's contribution to the 45 is limited to Lambert's vocal on the 'A' side.
With their relationship with Decca and Apple Publishing damaged, the band set about demo'ing tracks for what would become The Magic Shoemaker a concept album that revolved around a cobbler and a pair of magic shoes.

their 1st lp here

FIRE

The Apostles: An Hour Of Prayer With (US, 1965)

Preprock band from the same school (Phillips Academy) as the Rising Storm and the Ha'Pennys. "An hour..." supplies one track to a Garage Punk Unknowns. Haven't heard these though it seems to be all covers. Great primitive sleeve designs.

This was a prep/punk group from Philips Academy, Massachusetts, who recorded two albums. A cover of The Kinks' You Really Got Me, from their second LP, later resurfaced on Garage Punk Unknowns, Vol. 7 (LP). The albums probably have a value of $150+.

APOSTLES

Los Bulldogs (URU, 60`s comp + bonus tracks)

This Uruguayan quartet started out in 1964 as Los Epsilon. After recording a single for the Clave label, they relocated to Buenos Aires in Argentina. There they released various singles and two garage-orientated beat albums sung in English which are now very rare. Before the third album Kano, their singer, forced them to rename themselves as Kano Y Los Bulldogs. Their eponymous album featured the hit Sobre Un Vidrio Mojado. They returned to Uruguay prior to their final album, which was only released in that country. This largely featured mainstream pop/rock.
They released several singles, mostly in picture sleeves. Psychedelic garage from Uruguay. Highly Recommended.

LOS BULLDOGS: Nengo (guitarra líder), Kano (segunda guitarra y voz), Jorge (bajo), Ricardo (batería). Grabaron en 1964 con el nombre de The Epsilons un SP en el sello Clave de Montevideo y luego cambiaron su nombre a Los Bulldogs. Se radicaron en Buenos Aires, donde realizaron varios simples con covers en inglés, como "Black is Black", de Los Bravos, incluido en "Los 16 Hits del Momento", un LP de varios intérpretes de RCA en 1966. Después de grabar dos LP comenzaron a presentarse como Kano y los Bulldogs, obteniendo cierto éxito con "Sobre Un Vidrio Mojado" en 1969. Regresaron a Uruguay, donde editaron para Sondor su último LP ("Carita con Carita") en 1972.

KANO

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*.

this weell´s ON FIRE

The Foul Dogs: No.1 (US, 1966)

A Concord, New Hampshire group whose album comprised typical local R&B/prep rock. One cut, I'm A Man, also appears on Oil Stains (LP). The album sounds very Stones-influenced but had a couple of self-penned numbers. Great covers repertoire.

#1

Fever Tree (US, 1968)

A minor, if reasonably interesting, late-'60s psychedelic group, Houston's Fever Tree is most famous for their single "San Francisco Girls," with its dramatic melody, utopian lyrics, and searing fuzz guitar. Most of their best material, ironically, was written by their over-30 husband-wife production team, Scott and Vivian Holtzman, who had previously written material for Tex Ritter and the Mary Poppins soundtrack. These odd bedfellows produced some fairly distinctive material with more classical/Baroque influences and orchestral string arrangements than were usually found in psychedelic groups.

The self-titled debut album of this unfairly neglected psychedelic band is an odd mix of slick studio work laced with surprising moments of eclecticism, from soundtrack references to hard rock worthy of the best bands of the time. They open up with a pretty good piece of musical prestidigitation, melding Johann Sebastian Bach and Ennio Morricone into the album's first track, which segues neatly into a hard rock style that's their own on the spaced-out, Ravel-laced "Where Do You Go," which sounds like the Doors and the Jimi Hendrix Experience jamming together. They also roll over "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out," squeezed into a two-song medley, like a proto-metal steamroller while quoting "Norwegian Wood" and "Eleanor Rigby"; then switch gears into a beautifully elegant, gently orchestrated pop/rock rendition of Neil Young's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" that's worth the price of admission by itself. The harder rocking numbers (especially "San Francisco Girls") are highly diverting artifacts of their time, while the last two songs, "Unlock My Door" and "Come with Me (Rainsong)," show off a totally unexpected and beautifully reflective folk-rock side to their sound that's strongly reminiscent of Phil Ochs' work on Pleasures of the Harbor and Tape from California. The variations in sound and content, plus the fact that the only keyboard player, Rob Landes, made any large contribution to the in-house songwriting (mostly the work of their producers, Scott & Vivian Holtzman), makes it difficult to pin down precisely what Fever Tree was about, beyond the evidence at hand; but taken on its own terms, the album ought to be better known than it is, which is probably also true of the band itself.

FEVER

The Litter Action Woman 7"

One of Minneapolis' most popular '60s bands, the Litter are most known for their classic 1967 garage rock single "Action Woman." With its demonic fuzz/feedback guitar riffs and cocky, snarling lead vocal, it was an archetype of the tough '60s garage rock favored by fans of the
Pebbles reissue series.

ACTION WOMAN

The Litter I´m A Man 7"

Banda de garaje y psicodelia, fundada en 1966 en la ciudad estadounidense de Minneapolis. Influenciados por bandas británicas como The Who, Spencer Davis Group, Yardbirds o The Small Faces, The Litter ejecutaron algunos de los pasajes garajeros más potentes de finales del decenio, con vibrantes versiones y piezas propias dominadas por el ritmo y la distorsión.

PURE FIRE: I´m a Man

The Standells Dirty Water 7"

A finales de 1965, gracias a Cobb, los Standells publicaron "Dirty Water" en el sello Tower (de la Capital Records). El éxito fue brutal, y en julio del 66 "Dirty Water" se encontraba en el número 11 del Billboard. La canción, escrita por Cobb, era toda una demostración de saber hacer standelliano, con un riff pegadizo y un sonido muy Rolling Stone. Gracias a este éxito, los Standells fueron los teloneros de la gira de Sus Satánicas Majestades en ese mismo año.

RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP