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The Grand Wazoo
01-05-2009, 01:02
I promised John this one quite a while back now...........and it turned into a monster!



Garage Bands (Blues to Punk - a natural progression)

We all know how The Yardbirds, had three of the most influential guitarists to come from the UK, and then turned into Led Zeppelin. We also know the effect that that they had on music. But there was another little ripple that the Yardbirds caused to come rolling out of the doors of the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond – this one stoked the fire under something different altogether.

In March 1965 The Yardbirds were about to record a single called ‘For Your Love’ but Eric Clapton didn’t want anything to do with such a commercial track & refused to play on it. He left the band and introduced them to Jeff Beck. The single did well, and not just in England. So when they recorded the follow up - ‘Heart Full of Soul’ in June of that year, they went to America to try and sell a few extra copies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4HIgqFnvik
The next year they went back, still with Jeff Beck, but this time Jimmy Page was in the band as well – playing bass.

They later went on to have both Beck and Page playing guitar for a while, but it was not to be for long. Beck left, and in July 1968 he recorded the first Led Zeppelin album……….Oh, sorry, - he called it ‘Truth’ by the Jeff Beck Group. That’s right, I remember now. The album I’m thinking of came out a little while later and it was called Led Zeppelin and was recorded by a band called Led Zeppelin (of all things!). It’s just that ‘Truth’ sounded like Led Zep I. Or have I got it the wrong way round? Either way, Beck’s album was released earlier and is a sorely overlooked gem. The band was Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Ron Wood on bass and Rod Stewart on vocals.

The Led Zeppelin album was recorded in October 1968 and that particular train kept a rollin’ till John Bonham died in 1980……..




In The Garage

Back when The Yardbirds were blazing away onstage in the States (far better than they ever managed in the studio) certain young men were watching and listening very, very hard…….And thinking about clearing some space in their parents’ garages…..And working through the summer vacation to save enough cash to buy some guitars and amps.

And just like today, record companies started signing bands because they sounded a little like the Yardbirds, hoping some of the magic would rub off (working on the theory that if band who get a little success spawn a myriad of semi-clones – this must mean that the kids like ‘em, right? How many bands got signed because they sounded vaguely like the Arctic Monkeys or Franz Ferdinand?). If they did a Yardbirds, cover then great, if not they could damn-well learn one! Of course, The Who, The Kinks & The Stones played a big part too…….and to the really switched on, The Pretty Things, but The Yardbirds were the boys.

We’d already seen things like"Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen and “Dirty Robber” by The Wailers but now, the British were coming! The more blues based bands gave that genre a much needed shot in the arm and The Beatles did their thing, but the dirty sound of The Yardbirds led straight to an important part of the sound of The Seeds, The Knickerbockers, The Sonics, The Sanctions, The Shadows of Knight, The Count Five, Question Mark and the Mysterians, The Shondells, The Standells, The Squires, The Blues Magoos…….hundreds of bands.
So far, it was all pretty regional, with, spookily enough, a particularly different sound coming from the Pacific north-west (grunge Mk I?) but several bands managed to turn out national hits. "Psychotic Reaction" by The Count Five, "Dirty Water" by The Standells "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds, "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians….the list goes on.
The best place to start with this all stuff is through compilation albums, and most notably the 1972 ‘Nuggets’ album, which was compiled by Lenny Kaye, later a key member of Patti Smith’s band. Compilations are useful because, frankly, you’ve got to wade through some fairly sub-standard stuff to find the gems and that might put you off – you’ve got to ease yourself into this!

The Sonics – Think of something like Little Richard singing with Dave Davies of The Kinks at his dirtiest, playing guitar through speakers with slashed cones. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Nffq0bOgE

The Count Five – The band who’s self-titled debut album cover was taken from the bottom of a grave! Pure Yardbirds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzdNltWfRw4 The LP also has a cover version of ‘My Generation’.

The Seeds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmHTyLBIZ1g

Chocolate Watch Band – I’ve got a much treasured copy of their debut album ‘No Way Out’ – Here’s a recent live version of ‘Are you gonna be there (at the love-in?’(!!) come on, it was the sixties!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gIR3sYPwv8&feature=related

13th Floor Elevators – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfcHgk10rbg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSA0Tckwbk&feature=related




The Double Garage

The MC5 – Formed in 1964, the MC5 remained unrecorded until 1966. Politically motivated, they were charged with enough energy to start a revolution ……..and that was part of their manager’s plan. Their musical influence had incredible impact.
There were three albums: The live debut, “Kick Out The Jams”, “Back In The USA” and “High Time.

Kick Out The Jams
A bit of controversy is always guaranteed to sell you a few extra albums and that’s what surrounded the release of this album. There was the use of ‘a certain sweary-word’ and the banning of the album by several stores, followed by the band putting an advert in the underground press with their (more sweary-worded) response.
Back to the music though. What a great decision it was to go with a live debut. As a rule, live albums are generally pretty disappointing; however, this one is different. This is where the MC5 were at their best and the album has to be played at anti-social levels to truly appreciate the gloriously sloppy, but tight when necessary, performance. The combination of Michael Davis (bass) and Dennis Thompson (drums) made a great rhythm section, supporting the very different guitar styles of Wayne Kramer and Fred Smith. There’s a brooding and violent cover of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Motor City is Burning’ laced with juicy blues licks. The title track is partly a comment on the performance that Cream made at the Detroit venue The Grande Ballroom, with The MC5 supporting and getting more encores – one of the key philosophies of UK punk almost a decade later. One of the best albums of snotty rock music ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM6nasmkg7A

Back In The USA
In the studio this time, and badly let down by their producer – treated sympathetically, this album could have been truly something special. As it is, we’ve got a flawed gem. The production is compressed and thin sounding, with way too much top end and it’s a bit short for an album (not so bad in the age of digital formats, but a nightmare with vinyl!). This album was so different from the debut, that it could’ve been a different band. The political material was largely gone and the tracks were pared down to tight, cleaner tracks, all of short length. The influence of Little Richard and Chuck Berry is there in covers of ‘Tutti-Frutti’ and ‘Back in the USA’ and this was not what the MC5 fans had come to expect from the band that had delivered the previous album. The high point, though is ‘Looking at You’, a re-recording of an early single – perhaps not quite as good as that version but essential nonetheless. This one track makes putting up with the production worthwhile. It’s where they get closest to the magic of their live energy with two guitar solos that serve to perfectly demonstrate the different styles and techniques of Smith & Kramer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEi1-FSec24&feature=related (Looking at You – live)

The political themes re-emerge on ‘The American Ruse’ where ‘the land of the free’ indoctrination of school in the U.S. is compared to the atmosphere of the draft and police brutality. Fred Smith takes his Chuck Berry influences several steps forward with a brilliantly manic solo that begins with a snatch of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcuGVqrzGhg&feature=related

Perhaps the choice of the title track was a bit of sarcastic irony on the same subject? (“…..I’m so glad I’m livin’ in the USA…..”).

High Time
This album is where it all came together – a sympathetic producer giving a band who knew each others playing inside out the freedom to develop their ideas properly. The songs were credited to individual members rather than the band as a whole. Nowadays, for me, the standout track is ‘Gotta Keep Moving’ and it’s Fred Smith’s guitar playing that does it for me. There’s also a certain urgency to the rhythm on this track and ‘Skunk (Sonically Speaking)’ that means I can’t listen to this album when I’m driving because it makes me behave like Attilla the Hun with road-rage! The first tracks recorded for High Time were done in London, when the ‘5 were over for the Phun City festival which was (badly) organised by Mick Farren, ex-doorman of the UFO club, journalist, and founding member of The Deviants (……..hold that thought for now).



The Stooges – When The MC5 were signed by Elektra, Wayne Kramer tipped off the label about another Detroit band coming along behind them and playing at The Grande Ballroom – The Stooges. They both got signed. The Stooges made three studio albums (before their reunion and “The Weirdness” in 2007): “The Stooges”, “Fun House” and “Raw Power”.
The first two albums with Ron Asheton on guitar are brutal, unsophisticated music that drops like a lump of sludge out of your speakers and oozes across the floor towards you until it swallows you like quicksand, while Raw Power is musically more manic.

The Stooges
Produced by John Cale, this was essentially their stage show (each track recorded in one take) plus a few extra tracks whistled up, literally overnight, and played for the first time in the studio. Some people bought this because the cover looked a bit like the first album by The Doors! Even 30 years after punk happened this album is arguably more subversive, sinister and aggressive than anything that came out of that movement. So imagine what stunned ears must have made of it in 1969! This was the year, don’t forget, that had notable number 1 singles such as ‘Sugar Sugar’ by The Archies**, ‘Two Little Boys’ by Rolf Harris and ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’ by Bobby Gentry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU_m5-o63No&feature=related

**(the cartoon video of which, incidentally, is the first thing I ever saw on a TV. Top of the Pops the week my family moved back to the UK after a prolonged period abroad – now there’s a sight to turn an innocent young kid on to underground music!!)

Fun House
This one starts with the perfect opening track – ‘Down on the Street’ and this is so much better than the single version with nasty cheesy quasi-Doors organ added.
‘Fun House’ is the debut album turned up several notches. The sleeve perfectly captures the sound of the album – Iggy Pop being engulfed by the swirling flames of hell! My favourite Stooges track is on this album – ‘Dirt’. The guitar playing is deceptively simple – I’ve posted on here before about the way that the power of the playing is as much in the gaps between the notes as in the notes themselves. Ron Asheton was a sorely under-rated talent who died earlier this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDo2w1MCDM

Raw Power
Produced by David Bowie, this album has a different feel perhaps because of the very different playing style of guitarist James Williamson. It’s even more ferocious than the first two and certainly more energetic. The label rejected the first mix & gave the job to Bowie………who stuffed it up. The recent remix is better, but apparently not a patch on what it could’ve been. I bought this when I was 14 and Led Zeppelin & Black Sabbath were my thing. I’d never heard anything like it. At first it seemed just too much, I couldn’t listen to it all the way through – but not because I didn’t like it. It’s pretty intense stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvkCACgPC6c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_hegaKOaY



Out In The Drive

Meanwhile..........on this side of the Atlantic……….the revolution was going to be played out to the sounds of The Deviants if Mick Farren had his way………things were happening in Ladbroke Grove. Elements of The Pretty Things were chucked in a pot with the underground press, drugs, marches and future members of bands like Hawkwind and Motorhead. The first serving of this heady concoction came from………

The Deviants – Made three albums between 1967 and ’69. “Ptoof”, “Disposable” and “Deviants #3”
There’s a very obvious MC5 and Mothers of Invention flavour going on here, but without the quite so much of the invention! Farren is no Frank Zappa and the political message was not nearly as convincing as the one blasting out from Detroit. But there was nothing quite like it coming out of the UK at the time.

They started out as The Social Deviants and, if you can find a copy, the first album was released in a Roy Lichtenstein style sleeve that folded out to become a huge poster – no doubt this is why almost every copy in existence looks knackered. This album is the best of the three – they’re all an acquired taste, but Ptoof is perhaps most accessible. They all seem a little dated now, but they were never of their time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79y3XqWV2OE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epYwOfM3oMA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQX1PGf20MU


The Pink Fairies – The Deviants ejected Farren, leaving him stranded in Vancouver & took the name he’d given the collective of freaks & hippies who gathered at his London flat - Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club and All-Star Rock and Roll Band and shortened it (a bit!). The high point of the 4 studio albums must be ‘Never Never Land’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbiClJthb64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpQH6SaatCE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwsSbP2RHlM&feature=related


Back in the Double Garage

The New York Dolls – Famously described by a certain presenter on The Old Grey Whistle Test as ‘mock rock’. Don’t be fooled by the image or put off by the drug hound reputation – this is great music. Formed in 1972, they made two albums before falling to pieces in a tornado of drugs: “New York Dolls” and “Too Much Too Soon”. There’s also a reunion album – “One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This” and another on the way. Some of the making of this album was filmed and there’s a sequence that pretty much sums up the attitude. The band have got a new guitarist and he wants to use a Fender Stratocaster on one particular track – the producer agrees. Veteran member Sylvain Sylvain, also a guitarist (who plays a fat Gretsch semi-acoustic) snarls something like “You can’t use that. That’s not a f****n’ New York Dolls guitar.” A clean polished sound is not what this music is about! This is dumb, messy, noisy rock & roll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-R0k2HK5lY&feature=related

New York Dolls
Personality Crisis is the absolute standout track here, but I don’t think there’s a single bad one (unless you mean bad in attitude). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct9aBySJkRQ
The whole album is full of energy – garage rock with all the bells and whistles. There’s a gnat’s nadger between this and what was to come from British punk – you can hear the Sex Pistols in Johnny Thunders guitar sound.

Too Much Too Soon.
Rarely was an album title so perfectly apt – burn out followed soon after.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rpAJXWuIK8


…...and then Malcolm McLaren batted the ball back over the Atlantic when he failed to effectively manage the Dolls and went home to convince the world that he invented it all with the Sex Pistols……..a band who he could manipulate to his own ends.

But despite what he would like us to believe, the last word has to go to Lester Bangs who wrote in 1977:
“I was thinking about giving up writing about music altogether last year when all of a sudden I started getting calls from all these slick magazine journalists who wanted to know about this new phenomenon called ‘punk rock.’ I was a little bit confused at first, because as far as I was concerned punk rock was something which had first raised its grimy snout around 1966 in groups like the Seeds and Count Five and was dead and buried after the Stooges broke up and the Dictators first LP bombed. I mean, it’s easy to forget that just a little over a year ago there was only one thing: the first Ramones album”
an article in NME reprinted in ‘Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung’




So apart from the fact that the Yardbirds became Led Zeppelin which spawned a whole raft of heavy rock we find there’s also a natural progression from The Yardbirds to the Sex Pistols. And it all came from the blues………it’s all just music – don’t let yourself be constrained by labels. It’s all good sh*t!

Recommended further listening:
‘Heart Full of Soul’ – Box of Frogs. The best Yardbirds cover came from the Yardbirds themselves with Roger Chapman singing on one of the best versions of this track. (I can’t find it on the web though). Box of Frogs were several members of the original band, back together with guest singers (like Chapman, John Fiddler and Ian Dury) and guitarists (including Rory Gallagher & Jimmy Page).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRufwn-Cee4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiMpZOOCXWw

‘City Slang’ – Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. (Legendary 1978 single: Fred Smith from the MC5 with Scott Asheton from The Stooges on drums) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgL1H0dOBgc

Mick Farren – The Aztec Calendar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoqMp8fucWw (crap quality, sorry).
Farren has also made some spoken word albums which I quite like – he recites his ‘poetry’ over Andy Colquhoun’s over –amped guitar – ‘The Death Ray Tapes’ is a good ‘un - also featuring Jack Lancaster, sax player from Blodwyn Pig - soundclips on: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1067933/a/Deathray+Tapes.htm

John
01-05-2009, 04:55
Wow cheers for sharing Chris I have a proper read at the weekend

Jason P
01-05-2009, 10:39
Excellent post, Chris - there's some writing talent on this forum!!

Garage rock is always something that I love when I hear it - the sheer energy and balls-out attitude is infectious, and I suppose for me has it's later counterpart in bands like The Pixies and Liz Phair. Having a guide like this makes buying some a little less of a lottery!!

Thanks again!:fingers:

Jason

The Grand Wazoo
04-05-2009, 14:04
Excellent post, Chris - there's some writing talent on this forum!!

Garage rock is always something that I love when I hear it - the sheer energy and balls-out attitude is infectious, and I suppose for me has it's later counterpart in bands like The Pixies and Liz Phair. Having a guide like this makes buying some a little less of a lottery!!

Thanks again!:fingers:

Jason

You're welcome!!
Maybe you should try listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage - http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/home.html

It's a radio show on Sunday nights, but every one since 2002 is archived. He (Little Steven, in case yo don't know is Steven Van Zandt - guitarist in the East Street Band, Little Steven's Deciples of Soul & actor in The Sopranos) takes as his fulcrum The Ramones, & he plays stuff that influenced them & stuff which they had influence on.

I listen to it when I'm DIY'ing - ie I can't stop what I'm doing to put something else on, 'cos I'm up a ladder or covered in paint or mortar or something.

The Grand Wazoo
27-05-2009, 22:51
I made two new discoveries recently that could, I guess, fall into this category.

The Flamin' Groovies - I bought a copy of 'Teenage Head' & loved it. I never really knew what they were about & despite knowing the punk-era single 'Shake Some Action', I suppose their name must've put me off. However, this album is great. I've since heard it compared to 'Sticky Fingers' - one of my favourite Stones albums. Actually, that's not too far off the mark.

Holly Golightly - I stumbled across a few tracks on t'internet & quite like them, but my daughter heard them & they ended up on constant repeat her MP3 player. It was her birthday this weekend & I bought her a copy of 'My First Holly Golightly Album' a compilation. It's fantastic & I'm going to explore this artist's pretty large back catalogue a bit further. Think of (if you can) the delinquent daughter of Nancy Sinatra and Howlin' Wolf & you'd be somewhere approaching the sound!

The Grand Wazoo
27-05-2009, 23:17
STOP PRESS

The three original Deviants albums: “Ptoof”, “Disposable” and “Deviants #3”have just been re-released on CD.

Sand Dancin Donkey Walker
28-05-2009, 00:28
Chris

Just been reading and following the links on your original post, then I came across 'The Pink Fairies' remember seeings these lot at the Coatham Bowl in Redcar many moons ago.

My overriding memory was they were the loudest band I have ever seen. Totally ear splitting levels. So loud I can't now remember if I enjoyed them or not :confused:

Andy - SDDW

The Grand Wazoo
28-05-2009, 00:44
Chris

'The Pink Fairies'

My overriding memory was they were the loudest band I have ever seen. Totally ear splitting levels. So loud I can't now remember if I enjoyed them or not :confused:


Hehee!
I've been to a few gigs like that!!

But I've always thought that 'Never Never Land' is one of those 'should have been' albums that have been overshadowed by other things (or stuff) that got in the way of the music. It was a moment of inspired music making that was never approached by anything they ever did again.....a shame.

Joe
31-05-2009, 22:12
This is getting spooky! I had the original 'Nuggets' double LP, featuring many of the groups in your first section, until I foolishly sold it to buy food.

An interesting link: Todd Rundgren, lead singer of The Nazz ('Open My Eyes' is on 'Nuggets') also produced the New York Doll's debut album. And has a track dedicated to the then-unknown Patti Smith on his 1972 double LP ''Something/Anything'

michaelhigh
18-10-2010, 20:44
I made two new discoveries recently that could, I guess, fall into this category.

The Flamin' Groovies - I bought a copy of 'Teenage Head' & loved it. I never really knew what they were about & despite knowing the punk-era single 'Shake Some Action', I suppose their name must've put me off. However, this album is great. I've since heard it compared to 'Sticky Fingers' - one of my favourite Stones albums. Actually, that's not too far off the mark.

Holly Golightly - I stumbled across a few tracks on t'internet & quite like them, but my daughter heard them & they ended up on constant repeat her MP3 player. It was her birthday this weekend & I bought her a copy of 'My First Holly Golightly Album' a compilation. It's fantastic & I'm going to explore this artist's pretty large back catalogue a bit further. Think of (if you can) the delinquent daughter of Nancy Sinatra and Howlin' Wolf & you'd be somewhere approaching the sound!
+1 on the Groovies.

michaelhigh
18-10-2010, 20:54
As y'all like the American Nuggets, I dig the Nuggets II set featuring British and European rock artyfacts from the original wave of rock (2nd wave???)... I especially enjoy the freakbeat stuff, Rubble, Bam-Caruso from the 80's, all of it, really. I probably enjoy the groups from UK more (dare I say?) than my native fare. As I type that I fathom the farcity of my statement, as it's all spectacular. Why else would I be here, with y'all talking about rock in general? I do, in fact, lean toward the British stuff, actually.