Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop & Electric Comic Book (1966-1967 )

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A Bronx-based quintet, denizens of the Greenwich Village club scene, and originally known by the tres psychedelic moniker the Bloos Magoos, the Blues Magoos made their mark in 1967 with a rousing, full-throttle, sub-literate, psychedelic garage rock single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet." It wasn't a spacy, pretentious song, nor did it contain vague attempts at hippie-era mysticism, but was rather the kind of simple, direct, infectious rock & roll you could imagine five guys from the Bronx making. With a snotty lead vocal from keyboardist Ralph Scala and some wild-eyed guitar playing courtesy of then-16-year-old Emil "Peppy" Thielheim, America made the Magoos' debut single a Top Ten hit, sending it to number five in January 1967. With this impetus, the band used all the trappings of marketable psychedelia to promote their second album, Psychedelic Lollipop, which, despite the title's obvious pandering, was a fairly cool chunk of psych-garage rock. The album featured trebly, crappy-sounding guitars, a whiny Farfisa organ, yelled vocals, and a rhythm section that shelved nuance for thudding simplicity. But as the psychedelic era gave way to the hippie era's extended raga-rock proclivities, by 1969, the Magoos seemed anachronistic. Amazingly, they released a third album, with an equally absurd title, Electric Comic Book, that wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. The original Magoos split up in 1969, but Thielheim couldn't resist beating a dead horse and led a mediocre blues-rock version of the band into 1972.

Blues Magoos:

Ralph Scala - Keyboards, Vocals

Emil “Peppy” Theilhelm – Guitar, Vocals

Ron Gilbert – Bass, Vocals

Mike Esposito – Guitar

Geoff Daking – Drums, Percussion

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Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop & Electric Comic Book

Another great 2 lp's-on-one CD release brought to us by the Collectables label.Some of you may not remember much about the Blues Magoos.They were a Bronxe five piece that played some decent psychedelic garage rock that released six lp's from 1966-70,with the first three probably being their best work.This 2-on-1 includes two of those three albums.A total of 22 songs,starting off with their only hit,"We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" along with many of their other decently penned tracks,like "Gotta Get Away","One By One","Pipe Dream",their outstanding six-minute cover of "Gloria"(one of the disc's best tracks) and "Let's Get Together".Aimed at fans and collectors of '60's psych/garage rock.Will appeal to fans of Shadows Of Knight,Strawberry Alarm Clock,The Creation,The Leaves and Count Five (review by Mike Reed )

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1. (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 02. Love Seems Doomed - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 03. Tobacco Road - Blues Magoos, Loudermilk, John D. 04. Queen of My Nights - Blues Magoos, Blue, David 05. I'll Go Crazy - Blues Magoos, Brown, James 06. Gotta Get Away - Blues Magoos, Gordon, Alan 07. Sometimes I Think About - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 08. One by One - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ron 09. Worried Life Blues - Blues Magoos, Merriweather, Major 10. She's Coming Home - Blues Magoos, Atkins, Roger 11. Pipe Dream - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ron 12. There's a Chance We Can Make It - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 13. Life Is Just a Cher O'Bowlies - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 14. Gloria - Blues Magoos, Morrison, Van 15. Intermission - Blues Magoos, Esposito, Mike 16. Albert Common Is Dead - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ronald 17. Summer Is the Man - Blues Magoos, Esposito, Michael 18. Baby, I Want You - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ron 19. Let's Get Together - Blues Magoos, Reed, Jimmy 20. Take My Love - Blues Magoos, Gilbert, Ron

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