VA - Required Etiquette (2003) @320]

"While LA was carving its rep as crucible of ’60s garage rock, the parallel Pacific Northwest scene was boiling up a mean old stonk of its own. Centred around the twin Washington scenes of Seattle and Tacoma, The Wailers’ Etiquette label threw up the raw strut’n’raunch of The Galaxies, Paul Bearer & The Hearsemen and the now legendary Sonics . Nestling alongside unissued takes on the latter’s “Psycho”, “The Witch” and “Shot Down” is an unreleased curio from Ron Davies (“Mistake”), whose “It Ain’t Easy” was famously covered on The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust… " ~ By Uncut

VA - Required Etiquette (2003)

 01. The Wailers - Out Of Our Tree 

 02. The Sonics - Psycho 

 03. Paul Bearer & The Hearsemen - I've Been Thinking 

 04. The Bootmen - Ain't It The Truth Babe 

 05. The Galaxies - She Said I Do 

 06. The Sonics - The Witch 

 07. The Bootmen - Off The Hook 

 08. The Rooks - Believe In You 

 09. The Bootmen - 1,2,3,4 

 10. Rockin' Robin Roberts - Louie Louie 

 11. The Galaxies - Make Love To Me Baby 

 12. Paul Bearer & The Hearsemen - Route 66 

 13. The Bootmen - Love You All I Can 

 14. Ron Davies - Mistake 

 15. The Sonics - The Hustler 

 16. The Rooks - I'll Be The One 

 17. The Bootmen - Black Widow 

 18. The Galaxies - On The Beach 

 19. The Bootmen - You Can Be Replaced 

 20. The Sonics - Shot Down 

 21. The Bootmen - Wherever You Hide 

 22. The Galaxies - I'm A Worker 

 23. The Sonics - Boss Hoss 

 24. Mayalta Page - Don't Worry About Me Baby 

Review by Richie Unterberger

If it had done nothing other than record the Sonics' "Psycho" and "The Witch," Etiquette (operating out of Tacoma, WA) would probably be esteemed as the most notable Northwest independent rock label of the mid-'60s. It did a good deal more than that, though its total output wasn't that voluminous. This well-selected CD has a good chunk of it, the 24 tracks including five cuts by the Sonics. Those are certainly the most famed inclusions on this disc, though note that the versions of "Psycho" and "The Witch" here aren't the standard ones that have shown up on many compilations. In what might be a boon for serious collectors, if a slight disappointment for the relatively few people buying this CD who don't have those songs already, the version of "Psycho" is a previously unissued full-length take, while "The Witch" is a previously unissued alternate take with strange sounds produced by dragging a piece of metal over a guitar. Otherwise, much of this collection will be unfamiliar even to most '60s garage collectors, with the exception of the Wailers' best and most powerful cut, "Out of Our Tree" (which appeared on the Nuggets box set). Much of the rest of the set has the kind of chunky, raunchy R&B-infused mid-'60s garage sound typical not just of the Sonics and the Wailers, but of much Northwest rock in general. And as one finds with many '60s Northwest comps, some of that material is quite energetic but otherwise ordinary and unmemorable. But this is one of the better '60s Northwest anthologies, both because of the power of the Sonics and Wailers' contributions, and also because it does offer some variety in some tracks that were more British Invasion-influenced than the typical Northwest garage record. Those songs include the fuzzed-out "I've Been Thinking" by Paul Bearer & the Hearsemen; the uncommonly mild (for Etiquette) quasi-Merseybeat of the Galaxies' "She Said I Do"; the competent Liverpool imitations on the two sides by the Rooks; the previously unissued suicidal folk-baroque-rock of "Mistake" by Ron Davies (later famous for writing "It Ain't Easy," covered by David Bowie); and the raw girl group-soul of Mayalta Page's "Don't Worry About Me Baby." All of the tracks date from the mid-'60s save the notable exception of Rockin' Robin Roberts & the Wailers' 1961 single "Louie, Louie," which played a key role in that song's transition from mid-'50s R&B tune to '60s garage rock standard.

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