The Foul Dogs – No. 1 (1966) @ 320

Members:

Dev McLean, Doug McLean , Mark Andrews , Pete Wheelright, Tom Chambers , Will Dick

Comprised of students from St. Paul's School in New England, the Foul Dogs put out a rare and extremely Rolling Stones-influenced mid-'60s garage rock LP, No. 1, in 1966. It was comprised mostly of covers of songs written or popularized by the Stones and fellow travelers the Yardbirds and Them, interpreted with a downbeat pouty attitude and raw teenage execution, with a bit of original material in the same vein thrown in. 

One cut, I'm A Man, also appears on Oil Stains (LP).

  01. The Foul Dogs - 2120 South Michigan Avenue  (3:09)

 02. The Foul Dogs - The Singer Not The Song  (2:25)

 03. The Foul Dogs - Suzie-Q  (2:01)

 04. The Foul Dogs - Blue And Green  (2:56)

 05. The Foul Dogs - Gloria  (2:39)

 06. The Foul Dogs - Tell Me  (4:13)

 07. The Foul Dogs - I'm A Man  (2:32)

 08. The Foul Dogs - Baby I Know  (2:35)

 09. The Foul Dogs - Hang On Sloopy  (3:02)

 10. The Foul Dogs - Not Fade Away  (2:00)

Review by Richie Unterberger

Only one of the numerous mid-'60s limited-pressing garage rock LPs by bands from New England prep schools (the Rising Storm's Calm Before...) is really worthy of attention by general rock fans. Among the others, however, the Foul Dogs' No. 1 is one of the better known, at least to garage rock collectors. Even by garage rock standards, it's extremely Rolling Stones-influenced, half the tracks being either Stones covers or rock & roll oldies ("Suzy Q" and "Not Fade Away") based on the Stones' arrangements of those. Otherwise some typical teen band cover fare ("Hang on Sloopy," "I'm a Man," "Gloria") fills out the disc, along with a bit of original material in the melancholy folk-rock instrumental "Blue & Green" and the Stonesy dirge "Baby I Know." Actually all of the tunes have a sort of melancholy dirge quality, accentuated by the relatively primitive production. In all, don't come here expecting anything too fresh, but the Foul Dogs do play competently, with a sullenness almost archetypal of borderline professional '60s garage bands.

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