Record collectors, like the records they hunt, never seem to grow older, just crustier and weirder. Here's a sample of another year's worth of finds and resulting damage to my stereo system, eight albums and a couple more LPs worth of singles.
Albums
Scream Loud -- The Fenton Story
Mid-'60s teenage garage laments and/or shouts for attention don't get any better than this. The Fenton label's most prolific period was '65 to early '67, concurrent with the prime time for the garage punk form. This compilation makes a strong statement for the label as the best garage label ever. Kudos to Way Back for taking the time to also release this as a three-LP vinyl edition. ( -- Tales from the Crypt
The story behind this LP is somewhat hazy. It's listed on the band's official discography, but was apparently not an official release. Either way, my discovery of Mummies recordings I hadn't heard before caused me to shorten the lifespan of my speaker system by listening to this album at TOP VOLUME about four times in a row after it came in the mail. This album is definitely an oddity in the band's catalog, as the different instruments and even the lyrics are mostly intelligible -- which is probably why it wasn't officially released. (Bootleg, mid-'90s).
The Beach Boys -- Love You
I didn't expect to be surprised by a late-period Beach Boys album, but this one features Brian Wilson coming out of the sandbox to handle most of the writing chores. Wilson's voice may not have retained its '60s glimmer, but his gift for melody sure did, and the often childlike lyrical bent at times pushes this one nearly into outsider music territory. (Brother/Reprise, 1977)
Chris Bell -- I Am the Cosmos Singles Cargoe -- Feel Alright/Wondering Dave Davies -- Hold My Hand/Creeping Jean The last of the Kinks releases under brother Dave's name, and possibly the best due to the amazing B-side, "Creeping Jean." Kinks fans may have heard the song on the recent three-disc "Village Green" reissue, but the CD mix doesn't do it justice. On vinyl, in mono, it sounds like the speakers are going to explode. (Pye UK, 1969) Bonzo Dog Band -- I'm the Urban Spaceman/Canyons of Your Mind Fuse -- Hound Dog/Cruisin' For Burgers Lyme & Cybelle -- Follow Me/Like the Seasons Jangle-pop from the pen of a young Warren Zevon. The A-side, "Follow Me," can also be heard on the Nuggets box set of a few years back; the B-side sold zillions of copies when covered by White Whale label-mates The Turtles for their flip side of "Happy Together." (white Whale, 1966) Don & the Goodtimes -- Little Sally Tease/Little Green Thing The Third Rail -- Overdose of Love/It's Time to Say Goodbye The Third Rail was a studio band comprised of songwriters Artie & Kris Resnick and bubblegum maestro Joey Levine. They had an almost-hit ("Run Run Run") in 1967, which led to an album and a number of follow-up singles during the rest of the decade, most sung by Levine. This one is an over the top sunshine pop shot at the hippie movement. (Epic, 1968) Solomon Burke -- In the Ghetto/God Knows I Love You Dion & The Belmonts -- My Girl the Month of May/Berimbau Jerry Williams -- Sock it to Yourself/Shipwrecked Isley Brothers -- Nobody But Me/I'm Laughing To Keep From Crying The Spats -- She Done Moved/Scoobee Doo
Finally released on vinyl, this collection rounds up the late Big Star co-founder's only solo single and other tracks he had been working on at the time of his death. Combine this album and the various version of "Big Star's 3rd" and make your own definitive final Big Star album. (4 Men With Beards, 2006)
Largely forgotten today, Cargoe was the band that Ardent Records thought would be a hit, and the label made them a promotion priority over future power-pop legends Big Star. It's easy to see why when the Nebraska band could create loping rock songs like "Feel Alright," recorded at Dan Penn's studio in Memphis before the band signed with Ardent. The single would be re-recorded and released on Ardent in 1972, but plagued by the same distribution problems as the first version. The group broke up shortly after releasing their lone LP. (Beautiful, 1971)
Another single find notable for a B-side, this time due to a completely different vocal take of the crooner parody "Canyons of Your Mind." The A-side, produced not-so-secretly by Paul McCartney, was a top five hit in England, but sunk without a trace in America. (Imperial, 1968)
This was a record I had been trying to track down for years. Originally released as by The Grim Reapers on Madison's Smack label, the single was re-released nationally on Epic with a new band name, Fuse. Eventually, after more name & lineup changes, the band would become Cheap Trick. "Hound Dog" is a strange blues-rock-psych recasting of the Elvis hit; "Burgers" gives hints of the direction of the band in later years. (Epic, 1969)
An early example of Northwest frat rockers going garage punk, also released on the mighty Jerden label. (Dunhill, 1965)
Still an unstoppable force to this day, if Solomon Burke has ever made a bad record, I've never heard it. This one's a gospel-tinged take on Elvis. (Bell, 1970)
After the hits dried up in the mid-'60s and Columbia dropped his contract, Dion got back together with the Belmonts for one album before recasting himself as a sensitive singer songwriter late in the decade. Yes, the doo-woppers sound somewhat adrift in this beat pop-folk rock concoction, but when Dion's the anchor shore can't be far away. (ABC, 1966)
Around the end of the 1960s, Atlantic staff producer/songwriter Jerry Williams transformed himself into Swamp Dogg. He went on to release a string of classic iconoclastic soul albums (his latest, "Resurrection," came out in 2007). While this single came out under his real name, it sure sounds like Dogg to me. (Cotillion 1969)
The Human Beinz had the hit, but the Isleys did it first. (Wand, 1963)
More frat-rockers pretending to be garage punks, featuring the keyboardist from the Music Machine. The lyrics of "She Done Moved" are guaranteed to lower your IQ. (ABC, 1966)
