Paul Revere & The Raiders - Here They Come! (1965)

One of the most popular and entertaining groups of the 1960s, Paul Revere & the Raiders enjoyed seven years of serious chart action, and during their three biggest years (1966-1969), sold records in numbers second only to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And their hits "Steppin' Out," "Just Like Me," "Hungry," "Him or Me-What's It Gonna Be," and "Kicks," in particular, are now seen by compilers as bold, unpretentious pieces of '60s rock & roll with a defiant, punk edge. Paul Revere was born on January 7, 1938 in Harvard, NE. He learned to play the piano as a boy, and developed a keen appreciation for the work of Spike Jones & His City Slickers. He joined his first real band while in his teens, and was later joined by 16-year-old Mark Lindsay (b. March 9, 1942), a singer/saxman who ended up replacing the group's vocalist. Called the Downbeats, they were popular at local dances, and cut a demo for Gardena Records in Los Angeles, where the company's owner was interested in issuing a record, but only if they changed their name. Revere's given name was such a natural as a gimmick that they became Paul Revere & the Raiders. Their third single, a Jerry Lee Lewis-style instrumental, charted low in the Hot 100, and by the middle of 1963, they were one of the major music attractions in the Pacific Northwest.

The song "Louie, Louie," which they'd picked up from their rivals the Kingsmen, got them a local release that was picked up by Columbia Records, which not only released it nationally but signed Paul Revere & the Raiders to a contract. Their next big break came in 1965 when their producer, Terry Melcher, suggested that they update their sound. He got them to create music that was a mix of fast-paced, guitar-and-vocal-dominated Beach Boys-style rock & roll, and also the more intense and intimidating brand of R&B produced by the Rolling Stones. Their new sound debuted with the single "Steppin' Out," a Revere-Lindsay original that was released during the summer of 1965. And they suddenly sounded punk -- like cool (yet frustrated) suburban white teenagers, which was the audience they were aiming for. Mark Lindsay sounded the way every male teen 14 through 17 pictured himself looking and acting at the age of 21, free and ready to say what he felt like and make it stick.

"Steppin' Out" coincided with the group's debut on the new Dick Clark afternoon music showcase Where the Action Is, which went on the air on June 27, 1965. The band had gone through a visual metamorphosis, adding Revolutionary War-style outfits to their look, and they stood out for playing straight-ahead rock & roll and having fun doing it. Their second album. Just Like Us!, released in early 1966, was a landmark record, filled with great songs and even better performances, and earned a Gold Record Award. The group also learned quickly, under Melcher's guidance, how far they could go in making records. By the time of their next album, Midnight Ride, released three months later, and, Spirit of '67, issued in November of 1966, the group members were playing multiple instruments. Those albums went gold, lofted high and long into the charts by the hit singles "Kicks" -- a great song that managed to be cool and anti-drug -- "Hungry," "Good Thing," and "Him or Me-What's It Gonna Be"."

Their fortunes took a downturn, however, when Where the Action Is went off the air in the spring of 1967, and by 1968, the Raiders were looking for a newer sound; and in addition to trying to figure out what would sell for the group, Lindsay developed aspirations as a solo singer (later enjoying a huge MOR hit with "Arizona"). And suddenly, it was 1969, and the era of the "Woodstock Nation," and "Paul Revere & the Raiders," with their goofy costumes seemed more than a little outmoded.

In a quest to shed their '60s image, the group switched to the name "The Raiders" in 1970. And suddenly, the Raiders tried to sound serious, heavy, and very modern. The result was the Collage album, a very strong rock record, built largely on songs by Lindsay and new member Keith Allison, that never found an audience. And the "Raiders" name change only seemed to confuse wary fans -- where was Mark Lindsay?

The group kept plugging along, however, and seemed to strike gold with their next single. The Raiders took a John D. Loudermilk song called "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" and cut a version that shot all the way to number one, their first chart-topper in their history. The problem was that they just couldn't sustain the momentum, or translate the sales of the single into parallel LP sales, or hold the public or radio programmers' interest from one single to the next. By 1975, Columbia Records had abandoned the group, and Lindsay had parted company with Revere. In the decades since, a version of the group that is as much devoted to comedy as music has performed under the leadership of Paul Revere (age 71 in 2009). Meanwhile, their old music has never commanded more respect, as serious reissue labels, spearheaded by Sundazed, France's Magic Records, and Australia's Raven Records have reissued audiophile-quality expanded-CD versions of the group's entire Columbia Records library.

****

Here They Come! (1965)

It took Columbia Records two years after signing Paul Revere & the Raiders to release this label-debut LP. In the interim, the group had released a string of singles that were only regional successes in the Northwest. Producer Bob Johnston had taken them into the studio to try to recreate their dynamic live show before an invited audience, but Columbia sat on the results until the group's coming residency on ABC-TV's Where the Action Is prompted this release. The first side of the album displays the Raiders as the raucous club band they were, grinding through R&B dance tunes like "You Can't Sit Down" and "Oo Poo Pah Doo." The second side previews their evolution into more of a pop group in the mid-'60s, although with songs like "Fever," it still retains something of their early R&B flavor.

01 You Can't Sit Down

02 Money

03 Louie Louie

04 Do You Love Me

05 Big Boy Pete

06 Oo Poo Pah Doo

07 Sometimes

08 Gone

09 These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby)

10 Fever

11 Time Is On My Side

12 Kiss To Remember You By

Brian Auger & The Trinity - Definitely What! (1968)

This was Brian Auger's proper solo debut album. It's billed to Brian Auger & the Trinity, but Julie Driscoll, who sang with Brian Auger & the Trinity on the act's most popular and best late-'60s recordings, is not present. Auger dominates the record not just with his organ, but also as composer of most of the original material, and as the vocalist. Auger was a good organ player, but not up to the level of the best British rock electric keyboardists of the 1960s, like Alan Price, Rod Argent, Graham Bond, and Vincent Crane.

He's also no more than adequate as a singer and songwriter, and the record is only adequate, sounding like a more progressive-minded Georgie Fame. Auger's principal influences are obvious in the songs he covers by Booker T. & the MG's, Wes Montgomery, and Mose Allison, although there's also an odd version of "A Day in the Life" that is bolstered by an orchestra's worth of horns and strings. He gets into a Roland Kirk vibe on the title track, which is the longest, most ambitious, and not necessarily best cut. The CD reissue on Disconforme has a bonus track, "What You Gonna Do?," of undisclosed origin; it's a standard Brian Auger soul-rock original, taken from a vinyl source by the sound of things, as surface noise can be heard.

1. Brian Auger & The Trinity - A Day In The Life (5:15)

2. Brian Auger & The Trinity - George Bruno Money (3:57)

3. Brian Auger & The Trinity - Far Horizon (5:10)

4. Brian Auger & The Trinity - John Brown's Body (2:57)

5. Brian Auger & The Trinity - Red Beans And Rice (5:35)

6. Brian Auger & The Trinity - Bumpin' On Sunset (4:55)

7. Brian Auger & The Trinity - If You Live (3:50)

8. Brian Auger & The Trinity - Definitely What (8:03)

9. Brian Auger & The Trinity - What You Gonna Do? (3:20)

Kevin Ayers -Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories (1974)

Kevin Ayers' fifth album, The Confessions of Doctor Dream and Other Stories, is typical of his work. He sings in his distinctive deep voice with his cultured English accent (sounding a lot like John Cale) in songs set in a variety of pop styles, from hard rock to a kind of music hall approach. He is frequently playful and engaging, although his songs don't ultimately add up to much. The album's second side contains an 18-minute suite called "The Confessions of Doctor Dream," featuring a cameo by Nico, which exemplifies Ayers' amiable if unfocused appeal.

Kevin Ayers is one of rock's oddest and more likable enigmas, even if often he's seemed not to operate at his highest potential. Perhaps that's because he's never seemed to have taken his music too seriously -- one of his essential charms and most aggravating limitations. Since the late '60s, he's released many albums with a distinctly British sensibility, making ordinary lyrical subjects seem extraordinary with his rich low vocals, inventive wordplay, and bemused, relaxed attitude. Apt to flavor his songs with female backup choruses and exotic island rhythms, the singer/songwriter inspires the image of a sort of progressive rock beach bum, writing about life's absurdities with a celebratory, relaxed detachment. Yet he is also one of progressive rock's more important (and more humane) innovators, helping to launch the Soft Machine as their original bassist, and working with noted European progressive musicians like Mike Oldfield, Lol Coxhill, and Steve Hillage.

Ayers cultivated a taste for the bohemian lifestyle early, spending much of his childhood in Majorca before he moved with his mother to Canterbury in the early '60s. There he fell in with the town's fermenting underground scene, which included future members of the Soft Machine and Caravan. For a while he sang with the Wilde Flowers, a group that also included future Softs Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper. He left in 1965, met fellow freak Daevid Allen in Majorca, and returned to the U.K. in 1966 to found the first lineup of the Soft Machine with Allen, Wyatt, and Mike Ratledge.

Wyatt is usually regarded as the prime mover behind the Soft Machine, but Ayers' contributions carried equal weight in the early days. Besides playing bass, he wrote and sang much of their material. He can be heard on their 1967 demos and their 1968 debut album, but by the end of 1968 he felt burned out and quit. Selling his bass to Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, he began to write songs on guitar, leading to a contract with Harvest in 1969. His relationship with his ex-Soft Machine mates remained amiable; in fact, Wyatt and Ratledge (as well as Ayers' replacement, Hugh Hopper) guested on Ayers' 1969 debut.

Ayers' solo material reflected a folkier, lazier, and gentler bent than the Soft Machine. In some respects he was comparable to Syd Barrett, without the madness -- and without the ferocious heights of Barrett's most innovative work. Ayers was never less than enjoyable and original, though his albums were erratic right from the start, veering from singalong ditties and pleasant, frothy folk ballads to dissonant improvisation. The more ambitious progressive rock elements came to the forefront when he fronted the Whole World in the early '70s. The backing band included a teenage Mike Oldfield on guitar, Lol Coxhill on sax, and David Bedford on piano. But Ayers only released one album with them before they dissolved.

Ayers continued to release albums in a poppier vein throughout the '70s, at a regular pace. As some critics have noted, this dependable output formed an ironic counterpoint to much of his lyrics, which often celebrated a life of leisure, or even laziness. That lazy charm was often a dominant feature of his records, although Ayers always kept things interesting with offbeat arrangements, occasionally singing in foreign tongues, and flavoring his production with unusual instruments and world music rhythms. He (or Harvest) never gave up on the singles market, and indeed his best early-'70s efforts in that direction were accessible enough to have been hits with a little more push. Or a little less weirdness. Even Ayers at his most accessible and direct wasn't mainstream, a virtue that endeared him to his loyal cult.

That cult was limited to the rock underground, and Ayers logically concentrated on the album market throughout the 1970s. Almost always pleasant, eccentric, and catchy, these nonetheless started to sound like a cul-de-sac by the mid-'70s. Ayers pressed on without changing his approach, despite the dwindling audience for progressive rock and the oncoming train of punk and new wave. He only recorded sporadically after 1980, though he remained active in the early 1990s, mostly on the European continent. The 2007 release The Unfairground was first 21st Century release.

01 Day By Day (3:49)

02 See You Later/Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You (4:39)

03 Everybody's Sometime And Some People's All The Time Blues (3:05)

04 It Begins With A Blessing-Once I Awakened-But It Ends With A Curse (8:17)

05 Ballbearing Blues (0:55)

06 Confessions Of Doctor Dream (18:53)

a-Irreversible Neural Damage

b-Invitation

c-The One Chance Dance

d-Doctor Dream Theme

07 Two Goes Into Four (1:38)

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Burrito Deluxe (1970)

The Flying Burrito Brothers helped forge the connection between rock and country, and with their 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, they virtually invented the blueprint for country-rock. Though the band's glory days were brief, they left behind a small body of work that proved vastly influential both in rock and country. The Flying Burrito Brothers reunited later in the '70s, albeit without their founding members Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, and continued performing and recording in a variety of incarnations into the '80s.


Originally, the Flying Burrito Brothers were a group of Los Angeles musicians who gathered together to jam. Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman took the band's name when they were forming their own band after leaving the Byrds. Parsons had helped steer the Byrds toward a country direction during his brief stint with the band, as captured on the 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Following the release of Sweetheart, he left the Byrds, followed shortly afterward by Hillman. The duo added pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow and bassist Chris Ethridge to the band and set about recording their debut album with a variety of session drummers.
The Gilded Palace of Sin, the Flying Burrito Brothers' debut album, was released in the spring of 1969. Although the album only sold 40,000 copies, the band developed a devoted following, which happened to include many prominent musicians in Los Angeles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. Around this time, Parsons and Stones guitarist Keith Richards became good friends, which led to Parsons losing interest in the Burritos. Before the band recorded their second album, Ethridge left the band and was replaced by Bernie Leadon, and the group hired ex-Byrd Michael Clarke as their permanent drummer.

Burrito Deluxe, the group's second album, was released in the spring of 1970. After its release, Gram Parsons left the group and was replaced by Rick Roberts, a local Californian songwriter. Roberts' first album with the band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, was released in 1971. After its release, Kleinow left the band to become a session musician and Leadon departed to join the Eagles. The Burritos hired pedal steel guitarist Al Perkins and bassist Roger Bush to replace them, as well as adding guitarist Kenny Wertz and fiddler Byron Berline to the lineup. This new version of the group recorded the live album The Last of the Red Hot Burritos, which was released in 1972. Before its release, the band splintered apart. Berline, Bush, and Wertz all left to form Country Gazette, while Hillman and Perkins joined Manassas. Roberts assembled a new band to tour Europe in 1973 and then dissolved the group, choosing to pursue a solo career. Roberts would later form Firefall with Michael Clarke.

Close Up the Honky Tonks, a double-album Flying Burrito Brothers compilation, was released in 1974 because of the burgeoning interest in Gram Parsons. Capitalizing on the collection and the cult forming around Parsons, Kleinow and Ethridge formed a new version of the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1975. The duo recruited Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau (vocals, guitar, fiddle), bassist Joel Scott Hill, and drummer Gene Parsons and recorded Flying Again, which was released on Columbia Records in 1975.

Ethridge left the band after the release of Flying Again; he was replaced by Skip Battin, who appeared on the 1976 album Airborne. Also in 1976, a collection of Gram Parsons-era outtakes entitled Sleepless Nights was released on A&M Records.

For the two decades following their 1975 reunion, the Flying Burrito Brothers performed and recorded sporadically, undergoing the occasional lineup change. In 1979, the group released Live From Tokyo on Regency Records; the album spawned their first country hit, a cover of Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever," which hit the charts in 1980. Also in 1980, the group abbreviated its name to the Burrito Brothers when they signed a contract with Curb Records. The Burrito Brothers' Hearts on the Line spawned three minor country chart hits in 1981. Sunset Sundown, the Brothers second Curb album, appeared in 1982 and like its predecessor, it produced three minor hits. Following the release of Sunset Sundown, Kleinow left the band to become an animator and special-effects creator in Hollywood. The group carried on without him, led by Gib Gilbeau and John Beland. That incarnation of the band fell apart in 1985, the same year that Kleinow assembled yet another version of the band. For the next three years, this incarnation of the Flying Burrito Brothers toured America and Europe. In 1988, the group split apart again, although it did occasionally reunite for further tours and recordings in the '90s, including 1999's Sons of the Golden West.

Gram Parsons had a habit of taking over whatever band he happened to be working with, and on the first three albums on which he appeared -- the International Submarine Band's Safe at Home, the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin -- he became the focal point, regardless of the talent of his compatriots. Burrito Deluxe, the Burritos' second album, is unique in Parsons' repertoire in that it's the only album where he seems to have deliberately stepped back to make more room for others; whether this was due to Gram's disinterest in a band he was soon to leave, or if he was simply in an unusually democratic frame of mind is a matter of debate. But while it is hardly a bad album, it's not nearly as striking as The Gilded Palace of Sin. Parsons didn't deliver many noteworthy originals for this set, with "Cody, Cody" and "Older Guys" faring best but paling next to the highlights from the previous album (though he was able to wrangle the song "Wild Horses" away from his buddy Keith Richards and record it a year before the Rolling Stones' version would surface). And while the band sounds tight and they play with genuine enthusiasm, there's a certain lack of focus in these performances; the band's frontman sounds as if his thoughts are often elsewhere, and the other players can't quite compensate for him, though on tunes like "God's Own Singer" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go," they gamely give it the old college try. Burrito Deluxe is certainly a better than average country-rock album, but coming from the band who made the genre's most strongly defining music, it's something of a disappointment.

01 - Lazy Days

02 - Image Of Me

03 - High Fashion Queen

04 - If You Gotta Go Go Now

05 - Man In The Fog

06 - Farther Along

07 - Older Guys

08 - Cody Cody

09 - God's Own Singer

10 - Down In The Churchyard

11 - Wild Horses

V.A. - The Chosen Few Vol.1 - 2

1)Gonn -The Blackout of Gretely 04:26

2)Tides In - Trip with Me 02:39

3)Debonaires - Never Mistake 02:25

4)Shames - The Special Ones 02:22

5)Mods - I Give You an Inch (and You Take a Mile) 02:39

6)M.G. & The Escorts - A Someday Fool 02:30

7)Chob - We?re Pretty Quick 02:21

8)Nomads - Thoughts of a Madman 02:59

9)Things To Come - Sweet Gina 02:47

10)Things To Come - Speak of the Devil 02:18

11)Mystic Five - Are You for Real Girl 02:42

12)Sleepers - I Want A Love 02:26

13)Gents - If You Don?t Come Back 02:06

14)Thee Wylde Main-iacs - Why Ain?t Love Fair 02:31

15)TV Wagner with the Scotchmen - I?m a Nocount 02:28

16)Romancers - She Took My Oldsmobil 02:48

17)Sir Michael and the Sounds - Can You 02:07

18)Syndicate - The Egyptian Thing 02:12

19)Quadrangle - She?s Too Familiar Now 02:31

20)Joys of Life - Descent 02:07

21)Primates - Knock on My Door 02:22

22)Brain Train - Me 02:23

23)Twelfth Night - Grim Reaper 01:56

24)Terry Knight and the Pack - How Much More 02:29

25)Mussies - Louie Go Home 02:18

26)Legends - I?ll Come Again 02:04

27)Quests - Shadows in the Night 02:33

28)Quests - I?m Tempted 01:37

29)Black Watch - Left Behind 02:31

 

Thanks XARA

Colin Anthony and His Beat Combo - Colin Is Fab

"...I was born in Bath, Somerset and as far as I remember was always interested in music of some sort or another, along with Radio and Films. There wasn’t TV around until I was about ten years old so it was a whole different life than it is today (now that really dates

http://www.colinanthony.co.uk/Biography/colin_biog.htm

After two albums (COLIN IS FAB & KINGS OF BEAT) and

a single (CRAZY BEATLE BOOTS ) released in Germany,

I decided it was about time to come to London to realise

my dream of fame and fortune, ha, ha! .."

1. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - Crazy Beatle Boots (2:25)

2. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - Yield Not To Temptation (2:19)

3. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - All I Need Is You (3:08)

4. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - Nervous (2:54)

5. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - 24 Hours From Tulsa (2:53)

6. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - I Got My Mojo Working (2:24)

7. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - When The Feeling Hits You (2:08)

8. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - So Much To Love You For (1:54)

9. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - Whatcha Gonna Do 'Bout It (2:09)

10. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - If I Loved You (3:14)

11. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - You Better Move On (4:01)

12. COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO - Jezebel (2:53)

The Spotnicks - Rare Collection 2CDs

If remembered at all today, it is probably thanks to their silly astronaut costumes, but in the '60s the Spotnicks were one of the most successful instrumental rock groups, alongside the Shadows and the Ventures. Their very specific sound had more in common with the Shadows, being clean and intentionally gentle. It originated from their first primitive demo recordings, but the record company liked it and, being plastic and twangy, it was promoted as a space sound. Already in the late '60s it was outdated, but that didn't stop the group from having big successes throughout the decade. In the '70s the sound was definitely antiquated, but like the Ventures, the Spotnicks found reliable audiences in Japan and Germany, as well as a cult and nostalgia following around the world. The Spotnicks have sold over 20 million albums, making them among the most successful Swedish groups ever, surpassed perhaps only by ABBA and Roxette. By the late '90s they had released 39 studio albums, recorded roughly 700 songs, and had more than 100 members in the different constellations of the band.

The Spotnicks were formed in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1957, by guitarist and undisputed bandleader Bo Winberg. The other members were guitarist and singer Bob Lander, drummer Ove Johansson, and bassist Björn Thelin, several of whom had already played together in local rock & roll bands like the Blue Caps, Rock Teddy, and the Rebels. The first year they performed under the name the Frazers, but soon changed it to the Spotnicks. In 1961 they were signed by Karusell and released their first singles containing mostly instrumental covers of famous songs. The selection of songs was as varied as the performances were homogenous, including titles like "Hava Nagila" and "Johnny Guitar." Later the same year, the Spotnicks toured Germany, France, and Spain, and in 1962 they released their debut album, The Spotnicks in London, recorded on their first trip to England. Featured on this tour were the space suits that the band would wear on-stage until 1969.
"Hava Nagila" became a hit in England in 1963, and the same year Johansson left and was replaced by Derek Skinner. The rest of the '60s led to increasing success in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and the band even managed to compete with itself on the Japanese charts when the Spotnicks' song "Karelia" took the first position from the Feenades' "Ajomies." The song was the same, just recorded under different titles. The Feenades were a Finland-based side project to the Spotnicks, built upon Winberg and Peter Winsnes, who had joined the Spotnicks in 1965. Winberg also released less successful recordings under the name the Shy Ones. Compared to the following decades, the '60s were a relative stable period for the Spotnicks in terms of the group's lineup. Some new members were recruited, though, like drummer Jimmy Nicol, bassist Magnus Hellsberg, and drummer Tommy Tausis, who had earlier played with Tages
In 1969 the Spotnicks disbanded, but Winberg continued to record using the name until the group reunited in 1972 upon the request of a Japanese record company. The same year, "If You Could Read My Mind" from the album Something Like Country became a big hit in Germany. The Spotnicks would retain their popularity there for a long time, even as it faded elsewhere. Only the Japanese audience proved more faithful and, accordingly, the Spotnicks devoted most of their touring during the '70s to these two countries. After the release of 1972's Something Like Country (the Spotnicks' best album according to many fans), they had practically ended being a band, consisting mainly of Winberg and various session musicians.
If the Spotnicks had started out as rock & roll, in the '70s they turned more toward easy listening, or even exotica, although perhaps not by changing their own sound as much as by stubbornly keeping it while trends changed. By the '80s they had essentially become a curiosity at home, but kept up their popularity in Germany and Japan. During the '90s Winberg still toured using the name the Spotnicks, but to little attention. And even in their hometown of Göteborg, the Spotnicks were mainly forgotten, except for an occasional article in the local paper reminding readers of some guys with silly helmets who were once international stars.

Spotnicks - Rare Collection CD1

01.The Spotnicks - Kon-Tiki

02.The Spotnicks - Theme From Leningrad

03.The Spotnicks - The Old Spinning Wheel

04.The Spotnicks - Two Guitar

05.The Spotnicks - Ajomes

06.The Spotnicks - Sekvens 007

07.The Spotnicks - Watermelon Man

08.The Spotnicks - Husky

09.The Spotnicks - Drum Diddley

10.The Spotnicks - Ach Du Lieber Augustin

11.The Spotnicks - Staggar Lee

12.The Spotnicks - C'mon Everybody

13.The Spotnicks - What A Fool I Was

14.The Spotnicks - You Don't Have To Be Pretty

15.The Spotnicks - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me

16.The Spotnicks - Manxman Island

17.The Spotnicks - Jupiter Special

18.The Spotnicks - Romance D'amour

19.The Spotnicks - High Noon

20.The Spotnicks - Tapiola

21.The Spotnicks - Diamonds

22.The Spotnicks - Lumpy Gravy

23.The Spotnicks - Gentle On My Mind

24.The Spotnicks - I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door

Spotnicks - Rare Collection CD2

01.The Spotnics - I Got A Baby

02.The Spotnics - Namenlos

03.The Spotnics - Memphis

04.The Spotnics - Big Boss Man

05.The Spotnics - Great Balls Of Fire

06.The Spotnics - Shine

07.The Spotnics - All Right

08.The Spotnics - Ku'damm Promenade

09.The Spotnics - Hootenanny Express

10.The Spotnics - Shamus O'Toole

11.The Spotnics - Funny Mae

12.The Spotnics - Boing Meets Girl

13.The Spotnics - Big Jump

14.The Spotnics - I'm Around

15.The Spotnics - How Can You Leave Me Like That

16.The Spotnics - You Can Go To Him

17.The Spotnics - I'll Never Get You

18.The Spotnics - Space Walk

Bern Elliot & the Fenmen - The Beat Years

"Money" was a staple of the set of most British Invasion bands. Oddly, the only group to have a U.K. hit single with the song was the obscure one-shot outfit Bern Elliot & the Fenmen.

Elliot's version entered the British Top Twenty near the end of 1963; it wasn't a patch on the Beatles' rendition (which had been released at about the same time on their second LP), but it was actually a pretty decent, soulful interpretation. Elliot and his backup group played in a sort of tough Merseybeat style (although they weren't from the Mersey), and Bern was a pretty decent R&B-influenced singer, somewhat along the lines of the Dave Clark Five's Mike Smith. Elliot & the Fenmen made a few singles and an EP without any more notable success; their reliance upon old R&B/rock tunes for the entirety of their repertoire made them almost instantly passe, although the songs were executed pretty well. Elliot fell out with the Fenmen in 1964, and briefly teamed up with the Klan, as well as putting out some orchestrated pop solo singles in 1965. The Fenmen went on their own and made a few singles for Decca and CBS in a harmony pop/rock style, highlighted by the original minor-keyed tune "Rejected." After the demise of the Fenmen, members Wally Allen and John Povey joined the Pretty Things, in time for that group's psychedelic recordings.

1. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Money (2:32)

2. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Nobody But Me (2:28)

3. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - New Orleans (2:43)

4. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Chills (2:11)

5. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - I Can Tell (2:30)

6. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - (Do The) Mashed Potatoes (2:42)

7. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Please Mr. Postman (2:17)

8. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Shake Sherry Shake (2:18)

9. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Talking About You (Live) (2:06)

10. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Everybody Needs A Little Love (1:59)

11. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Shop Around (2:27)

12. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Little Egypt (Live) (3:02)

13. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Good Times (2:39)

14. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - What Do You Want With My Baby (2:45)

15. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Guess Who (3:12)

16. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Make It Easy On Yourself (2:33)

17. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Forget Her (2:10)

18. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Voodoo Woman (2:13)

19. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Lipstick Traces (2:41)

20. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - Be My Girl (2:18)

21. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - 21 - Rag Doll

22. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - 22 - I've Got Everything You Need Babe

23. Bern Elliot & The Fenmen - 23 - Every Little Day Now

 

Twenty-three songs from 1963-65, including everything Elliot and the Fenmen recorded for Decca, together or separately: the Bern Elliot & the Fenmen singles, their EP and compilation tracks, the sole Bern Elliot & the Klan single, the Elliot solo efforts from 1965, and the first two singles the Fenmen recorded without Elliot. It's quite impressive that See For Miles went to all the trouble to tie up the loose ends for a band that was so marginal, even in the eyes of British Invasion specialists. Elliot & the Fenmen were a good rockin' combo, but one without any songwriting ambitions whatsoever, which limits the interest of the material here considerably, as it consists entirely of well-worn R&B/rock covers. Mildly unusual in this context are Elliot & the Klan's "Good Times," awith a more-poppy-Animals feel, and the Fenmen's "I've Got Everything You Need Babe," an obscure number that Al Kooper co-wrote. Unfortunately this disc doesn't have the Fenmen's 1966 CBS single "Rejected," the best thing they did, either with Elliot or on their own.

Billy Pepper & The Pepperpots - More Mersymania

NEWS FROM JANCY !

Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots, a “Mersey” band that recorded this albums in 1964 had solid connections to the Beatles. First off, their cover songs are dominated by Lennon-McCartney compositions. Their album artwork consists of either mock Beatle sets, or actual photographs of Beatle audiences.

Most important, however, is that Billy Sheppard, ostensibly a Pepperpots’ member, was also a Beatles insider. Sheppard, you see, penned a number of pieces, often depicting stories of the band's life on the road, for their fanzine. Most important, he wrote the band’s first authorized biography, The True Story of the Beatles. The words at the bottom of the cover read, “As told to Billy Sheppard. (James Oglethorp)
Review by Jason Ankeny allmusic.com
Rumored to include contributions from a pre-Velvet Underground Lou Reed and John Cale during their respective stints on the Pickwick assembly line, Merseymania is thus the most infamous of the myriad exploito records issued at the apex of Beatlemania. While the Knickerbockers' expert forgery "Lies" proved the public would embrace faux-Beatles done right, Billy Pepper & the Pepperpots' leaden melodies and tuneless harmonies are anything but fab. For the most part, the songs merely ape the sound and sensibility of the Lennon/McCartney catalog, but even the two genuine covers ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Here Standing There") are laughably bad, rendered with all the limited enthusiasm and verve you'd expect from anonymous studio hacks. It's worth noting that Billy Pepper was supposedly the alias of Billy Shepherd, who Beatles conspiracists know as the man who reportedly replaced Paul McCartney following his 1966 death. What? You didn't know McCartney died? Google "Billy Pepper" and "McCartney" and prepare to be blown away — or not.

11 - She Loves You

12 - In A Little While

13 - Tell Me How

14 - Night Without End

15 - Won't You Come Out Tonight

16 - Please Please Me

17 - Baby You Can Do No Wrong

18 - I Don't Need You

19 - What Shall I Do

20 - Don't Tell Me You Don't Know

Billy Pepper & The Pepperpots - Mersymania

NEWS FROM JANCY !

Wie viele Briten seiner Zeit wanderte auch Bill Shepherd nach Australien aus. Zuvor hatte er bereits in London mit dem Produzent Joe Meek und auch mit Gene Vincent zusammen gearbeitet. 1959 war sein Album Shepherd and His Flock erschienen, das Easy-Listening-Unterhaltungsmusik bot. 1963 und 1964 veröffentlichte er zwei weitere Alben unter dem Namen Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots, die einige Beatles Coverversionen enthielten. Die Titel 'Merseymania' und 'More Merseymania' waren in diesem Fall also auch Programm.

In Australien traf er 1965 auf die Bee Gees und erkannte in ihnen eine Art australisches Pendant zu den Beatles. Er förderte ihr Talent, ermutigte sie ihre Instrumente selbst zu spielen und produzierte mit 'Wine And Women' eine erste Single mit der jungen Band. Besonders Maurice Gibb verdankt Bill Shepherd als musikalischem Lehrer sehr viel.
Als die Bee Gees 1967 zurück nach England kamen, folgte Shepherd ihnen und war fortan für nahezu sämtliche Orchesterarrangements der Band bis 1972 verantwortlich - sowohl im Studio, als auch auf der Bühne.
Er arbeitet aber nicht nur mit den Gibbs, sondern arrangierte und produzierte auch andere Künstler, vor allem solche, die in den IBC Studios in London aufnahmen, wie z.B. The Shadows, Gene Pitney, einige Franzosen wie Michel Polnareff, Georges Garvarentz, Virgina Vee und Michel Delpech, die New Seekers oder, später, auch Marianne Faithfull.
Um 1980 ging Shepherd nach Los Angeles wo sich seine musikalische Spur verläuft. In den späten 80er Jahren verstarb er

01 - I Want To Hold Your Hand

02 - This Is What I Mean

03 - Tell Me I'm The One

04 - Jericho

05 - Maybe I Will

06 - I Saw Her Standing There

07 - Seems To Me

08 - I'LL Have To Get Another Girl

09 - Your Kind Of Love

10 - There I Go

The Skuns - Gettin' started (1968)

Originally a Milwaukee rock'n'roll combo called The Bonnevilles, they got the British Invasion bug and adopted the name, and hairstyle of, Skunks. Their debut 45 was recorded during a brief period in California but was released as by the Unbelievables, possibly because they caught the whiff of other Skunks around at the same time (one such had a 45 in 1965 - Youthquake / A Girl Like You, on Mercury).

The album is a patchwork of disparate styles - from pop covers and crooners to folk-rockers (the Byrds-like I Need No One). They do venture into garage and psych territory so the highlights, from our viewpoint, are a cover of Jefferson Airplane's Somebody To Love (with psychedelic guitar work), When I Need Her (good punk-psych) and The Journey (chiming folk-rock tinged with psychedelia).
 

1. The Skunks - Elvira (2:19)

2. The Skunks - The Journey (2:18)

3. The Skunks - It's Only Love (2:30)

4. The Skunks - When I Need Her (3:25)

5. The Skunks - I Need No One (2:07)

6. The Skunks - The Night Before (2:35)

7. The Skunks - Little Angel (1:55)

8. The Skunks - It's Too Late (3:33)

9. The Skunks - Knock On Wood (2:36)

10. The Skunks - Somebody To Love (2:27)

11. The Skunks - Watch To Flowers Grow (3:34)

12. The Skunks - I Belive (1:45)

The Sons of Champlin - Loosen Up Naturally (1969)

One of the last and more obscure bands to emerge from the late-'60s San Francisco psychedelic scene, the Sons of Champlin were relatively unusual among Bay Area bands for favoring heavily soul-influenced material and employing a prominent horn section. Their more introspective songs can recall the more subdued efforts of Quicksilver Messenger Service and Moby Grape, and their longer compositions boasted unusually complex song structures and tempo shifts.

 Revered by some collectors, their work hasn't aged as well as the best of their peers; the vocals weren't gritty enough to carry the R&B-based material and the ambitious longer tracks were prone to some half-baked songwriting and meandering jamming. Their first three albums (issued on Capitol between 1969 and 1971) are considered their best, though they recorded some other LPs in the '70s with shifting personnel. In late 1997, the Sons of Champlin reunited for a series of hometown reunion concerts, resulting in the release of their first-ever live LP a year later.

****

1. 1982-A

2. Thing to Do

3. Misery Isn't Free

4. Rooftop

5. Everywhere

6. Don't Fight It, Do It!

7. Get High

8. Black and Blue Rainbow

9. Hello Sunlight

10. Things Are Getting Better

11. Freedom

The Sandals - Wild As The Sea (1964-69)

The Sandals were the first true surf-rock group to score a major surf film, virtually defining the sound of the genre with their soundtrack to director Bruce Brown's landmark The Endless Summer. Originally dubbed the Twangs, the group was formed in San Clemente, CA, in 1962 by guitarist Walter Georis and his keyboardist brother Gaston -- recent transplants from Belgium, the siblings brought with them the profound influence of Europe's most popular instrumental band, the Shadows, while lead guitarist John Blakeley, bassist John Gibson, and drummer Danny Brawner were shaped in large part by the Ventures.

Rechristened the Sandells, they signed to the World Pacific label in 1964, soon issuing their debut single, "Out Front." Filmmaker Brown was already licensing World Pacific material for his projects, but had previously employed West Coast jazz recordings -- he felt the Sandells perfectly complemented his latest picture, the surfing documentary The Endless Summer, and the group quickly wrote a new instrumental title theme, changing their name to the Sandals to better suit the project. (Their previous World Pacific recordings were also repackaged as the film's official soundtrack.) Although the Sandals dissolved in 1968, their second and final LP, the soundtrack to Dick Barrymore's The Last of the Ski Bums, did not appear until the following year; Blakeley soon resurfaced in Stoneground, while the Georis brothers later operated the Tri-Surf label.

****

Wild as the Sea: Complete Sandals 1964-1969 holds 31 tracks --77 minutes of great surf sounds from the Sandals, a low-key Ventures-like group with the distinction of having created the music for the classic Bruce Brown film, The Endless Summer. This record is an incessant party, starting with a dozen instrumental tracks which saturate the brain but are not as redundant as say, the Ramones, the nuances of the jingling-jangling guitars making for great background to any party. These vignettes mostly clock in around the two-minute mark, the vocals on "All Over Again" are pretty humorous with some very uplifting changes and harmonica. The song "Endless Summer" owes more to the Four Seasons than the Beach Boys, and is not to be confused with the title that opens this package, the instrumental "The Theme From Endless Summer." Listen to that first track and see if Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra didn't borrow flavors from this for his 1968 hit "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Stephen McParland's essay Endlessly Summer is all we've come to expect from these excellent releases created by Australia's Raven Records. McParland calls it "An abridged story of the Sandals" history poured over the 12-page booklet which makes for fascinating reading as the music plays. There's material from the film soundtrack to Endless Summer and Last of the Ski Bums, as well as various non-LP singles all making for a true '60s artifact worth seeking out. Hearing this music makes one want to dash down to the video store to rent The Endless Summer, proving Jimi Hendrix wrong when he says you'll never have to hear surf music again! It's well over an hour's worth of listening time with gems like "Children of the Sun," which creates a different kind of atmosphere with its mellow strums and interesting feel. This isn't just another surf band, there's true creativity on the three-and-a-half minute "Coming Down Slow," and interesting acoustics and fuzz in "Summer's Gone." If not as complex as Esquivel's See It in Sound. The Sandals compilation still creates the same mood and stimulating effect. Play both at your next retro-party. When track 22, "Yellow Dove," comes on, you can turn down the volume to Mick Jagger's Performance film and let this be the audio. Try it!

1. Theme From The Endless Summer

2. Scrambler

3. 6-Pak

4. Driftin'

5. Good Greeves

6. Decoy

7. Out Front

8. Wild As the Sea

9. Trailing

10. Jet Black

11. Lonely Road

12. TR-6

13. School's Out

14. Always (I Will Remember)

15. All Over Again

16. Endless Summer

17. Tell Us Dylan

18. Why Should I Cry?

19. Winter Spell

20. Children Of The Sun

21. Agunus Night

22. Yellow Dove

23. Soul Something

24. Coming Down Slow

25. Summer's Gone

26. Return From The Casino

27. Flowers To Dance On

28. Water And Stone

29. Porsche

30. Cloudy

31. House Of Painted Glass

The Speakers - Vol.1 - Vol.2

The Fist Two Lp's From This Great Group

Fantastic psych albums by this band from Colombia that mixes Folk, Garage, Blues and Psych with lashings of that 'wasp in a jam jar' fuzz guitar. This is a real twisted album. Hats off to these Colombians who knew how to handle their magic plants by the sound of it.

Rodrigo Garcia - lead guitar/keyboards/vocals

Humberto Monroy - bass/vocals

Oswaldo Hernandez - rhythm guitar

Luis Dueñas - rhythm guitar/keyboards/drums

1. THE SPEAKERS - El Golpe Del Pajaro 2'50

2. THE SPEAKERS - Dod You Ever 1'54

3. THE SPEAKERS - Tendras Mi Amor 2'44

4. THE SPEAKERS - Ciudad Sumergida 2'44

5. THE SPEAKERS - I Need You 2'23

6. THE SPEAKERS - El Twist De Los Aiete Hermanos 2'26

7. THE SPEAKERS - La Bamba 3'44

8. THE SPEAKERS - Fuedes Ver Que Ella Es Mia 2'23

9. THE SPEAKERS - Every Little Thing 2'06

10. THE SPEAKERS - El Rey Del Surfin 3'05

11. THE SPEAKERS - Dona Dona 2'57

12. THE SPEAKERS - M.S 63-64 2'44

13. THE SPEAKERS - Mr. Spaceman 2'12

14. THE SPEAKERS - El Sorbito De Champagne 2'38

15. THE SPEAKERS - Glendora 2'39

16. THE SPEAKERS - Encuentro En El Harlem Espnтl 1'56

17. THE SPEAKERS - El Escritor De Novelas 2'10

18. THE SPEAKERS - Cantos a Las Catastrofes No.5 2'55

19. THE SPEAKERS - Berracho 2'08

20. THE SPEAKERS - Tu Eres Gente Que No Encuentras 2'23

21. THE SPEAKERS - Vete Ya 2'06

22. THE SPEAKERS - See See Rider 3'19

23. THE SPEAKERS - El era Un Amigo Mio 2'31

24. THE SPEAKERS - Niebla 2'11

VA - Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults

Since the first Nuggets in 1972, the entire series has been grounded in the gritty, dirty sound of garage rock, so much so that Rhino's 2001 box set of British and foreign psychedelic nuggets favored harder rock over the fruity, precious side of British psych. Collectors treasured rare singles before Nuggets, but the series created an aesthetic that emphasized the raw, trippy, wild, and woolly over the soft, lush, harmony-laden psychedelicized sounds of AM pop radio.
The Rubble Collection, Mindrockers, The Trash Box — all of them were dedicated to freaky guitar rock, and that mindset ruled until the latter half of the '90s, when the well had started to run dry, as labels like Sundazed issued the complete recorded works of obscure garage rockers who had released only one single during their lifetimes. Around this time, collectors — including many third-generation music fanatics raised in the era of CD reissues rather than record fairs — began to favor the soft sunshine pop of the late '60s, when square vocal groups started to get hip and record trippy music. Bands like the Millennium, the Association, and Yellow Balloon became hip currency, as did producers like Curt Boettcher and songwriters like Paul Williams. This was close to anathema for the hardcore garage rock fiends because this was not rock & roll, it was pop music whose commercial aspirations failed. Nevertheless, most hardcore record geeks have a fondness for this stuff, since it's not only melodic and well produced, but it's terribly interesting to hear how underground ideas were borrowed and assimilated into mainstream music; often, it's as strange as it was in the underground, if not stranger. Fans of this breed of psychedelic pop were insatiable, and there was a certain thrill to the fact that it was hard to track down, since it was either issued in Japan, buried as album tracks on reissues, or never made it to CD at all. That's why Rhino Handmade's foray into the sound with Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults and its companion release, Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults, is so welcome — while they're only available as limited editions (primarily sold via www.rhinohandmade.com), they're also the first widely available American samplers of this style. That alone would make them noteworthy, but what makes them essential (at least for hardcore record collectors), is that they're expertly done.



Where previous installments of Nuggets concentrated on singles, Hallucinations is a true excavation of the vaults, picking overlooked album tracks and neglected singles from a cornucopia of WEA-owned labels, including Warner Bros., Cotillion, Jubilee, Valiant, Reprise, and Atco. While the focus is on acts that released a single or forgotten album, there are a handful of recognizable names — the Association, Kim Fowley, the Electric Prunes, the Bonniwell Music Machine, the Tokens, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band — and in the Monkees' "Porpoise Song," there's even a genuine hit. But that song is the exception to the rule: most of these are quite obscure, and it's even arguable that because they were released on major labels (or at the very least, high-profile labels), the songs haven't been given the attention or respect as psychedelia released on smaller, regional labels. That argument is laid out in the introduction of the excellent liner notes, and the music on Hallucinations supports it strongly. Often, collections of rare heavy psychedelia and garage rock can grow a little samey even when the musical quality is high, since bands tended to emulate the same sounds and ideas, using the same production techniques as their peers. Hallucinations is a much more interesting listen than the average psychedelic rarities collection since these underground ideas are applied in bizarre, unpredictable ways to professionally written, melodic songs that were designed for mainstream radio. Where its companion collection, Come to the Sunshine, is heavy on lush surfaces and harmonies, Hallucinations is overtly trippy and psychedelic, filled with fuzz guitars, echoes, phased vocals, organs, studio effects, and minor-key drones. This brings it closer to familiar Nuggets territory, but there's a much heavier emphasis on studiocraft and production here than there is on anything on the original double-vinyl Nuggets or Rhino's original box set; again, the focus is on the record, not the song, even though there are some excellent songs here. Nevertheless, the sound and effects of the productions are the most memorable aspects, such as the way the vocals and guitars swirl through the Next Exit's Tokens-produced "Break Away" or how Jeff Thomas' "Straight Aero," quite likely the trippiest square anthem ever recorded, has a weird undercurrent of menace in its hiccupping bass and clanging piano. Hallucinations is filled with moments as strong as this, and it makes a convincing argument that psychedelic pop is at its best when it's pure, undiluted ear candy like this. It's not just a good introduction to the charms of psychedelic pop; it holds its own next to any collection of freaky, guitar-fueled garage-psychedelic rarities.
 

01. Baker Knight & The Nightmares - Hallucinations

02. The Misty Wizards - Itґs Love

03. The Next Exit - Break Away

04. The Collectors - Looking At A Baby

05. Adrian Pride - Her Name Is Melody

06. The Association - Pandoraґs Golden Heebie Jeebieґs

07. The World Column - Lantern Gospel

08. Tom Northcott - Who Planted Torns In Miss Alice Garden

09. John Wonderling - Man Of Straw

10. Ellen Margulies - The White Pony

11. Jeff Thomas - Straight Aero

12. M.C.2 - My Mind Goes High

13. Brass Buttons - Hell Will Take Care Of Her

14. The Salt - Lucifer

15. Kim Fowley - Strangers From The Sky

16. The Electric Prunes - Antique Doll

17. The Bonniwell Music Machine - Astrologically Incomplete

18. The Tokens - How Nice

19. The Coronados - Your Love Belongs To Everyone

20. Lee Mallory - Thatґs The Way Itґs Gonna Be

21. The Glass Family - House Of Glass

22. The Holy Mackerel - Wildflowers

23. The Monkees - Porpoise Song

24. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Smell Of Incense

The Smoke 2 albums from Redcap

More than any other band, the Smoke epitomized the groove of Swinging London — which was especially ironic when one considers that, at the height of their success, they sold more records in Europe than England. Their sound fell somewhere between mod and the Beatles — their instrumental attack was somewhat Who/Small Faces-like, yet they delighted in cheerful vocals and infectious harmonies and melodies. Only slightly popular on their home turf, and unknown in the U.S., their biggest success was in Germany (oddly enough, for such a British-sounding group).

  The band hailed from York, where bassist Zeke Lund and lead guitarist Mal Luker began playing together in a band called Tony Adams & the Viceroys, whose lineup eventually came to include drummer Geoff Gill. Though the band was successful locally, enjoying a decent fan base with a solid, basic rock & roll sound, built on early-'60s songs, Lund, Luker, and Gill could hear the changes going on around them in music, with the rise of Merseybeat and the blues, R&B, and soul-based music coming out of London. They eventually decided to strike out on their own, playing a more ambitious repertory. They linked up late in 1964 with singer Mick Rowley and rhythm guitarist Phil Peacock, refugees from a band called the Moonshots. The resulting band, the Shots, played a hard brand of R&B, similar to what the Small Faces were doing — they were taken on as clients by Jack Segal and Alan Brush, a pair of London-based agents (Segal had the know-how, Brush the financing), who fronted them money for rehearsals and equipment, and got them signed up with independent producer and music publisher Monty Babson, who cut four sides with the group, two of which were issued as a single under license to EMI-Columbia. It was at just about that time that events began breaking against the band — they lost Phil Peacock, who wasn't comfortable with the more complex sounds the rest of the band were interested in generating, and they lost their financing. They gamely decided to carry on as a quartet, the single-guitar configuration lending itself to an edgier sound, and sought new backing.




That was how they ended up in a bizarre management situation, when they were offered a seeming rescue by a pair of twin London-based entrepreneurs, Ron and Reg Kray. Renowned today the world over as notorious gangsters, the Kray brothers have been immortalized in books, including Profession of Violence and Reg's own autobiography Born Fighter, and one feature film (The Krays), and were even memorably satirized in one Monty Python sketch ("The Piranha Brothers"). They were among the top crime kingpins in London at the time, and among their other enterprises, they had an interest in a few clubs, and thought at one point that a more direct participation in the entertainment business might prove lucrative. (And yes, it sounds funny to read it, or even to write it, but that is exactly how Morris Levy, an American gangster and club owner, came to go into the record and publishing business in New York, and ended up founding Roulette Records). Thus, they signed the group and became the Shots' managers, but were never able to do anything with them in terms of bookings — strong-arming clubs for "protection" money was more their specialty than lining up engagements. The band decided to abandon the contract, and when they were served with an injunction, they were left unable to perform.



As luck would have it, however, they still had a publishing and recording contract with Babson and access to his studio, and so they took advantage of their ban on performing by writing and making records. Indeed, thanks to the fact that they were barred from performing as a band, the Shots probably had more free time to write and record than any working group in England (even the Beatles were touring in those days, though not for much longer). It was during this period that they also decided to change their name, dropping the Shots — no one remembered the Moonshots by this time, anyway — in favor of the Smoke. One of the songs they came up with was "My Friend Jack," a mod-flavored psychedelic number authored by Rowley and Gill. With its march beat and mix of shimmering and crunchy reverb-laden guitar, it was a catchy, striking, aggressively trippy work — in America, it would've been called psychedelic punk — that now seems like the most delightfully subversive piece of freakbeat, somewhere midway between the Who's power-chord-drenched teen anthems and the trippy cheerfulness of, say, "Dr. Robert" by the Beatles. Its drug references were so potent that the song had to be rewritten before EMI would touch it; released in February of 1967 — a period in which "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were as challenging or ambitious as the label wanted to be — the single only made it to number 45 before being banned by the BBC, limiting it to three weeks on the U.K. charts. In Europe, however, the record soared; the group were also fortunate enough to appear on an installment of the German television show Beat Club, alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers. "My Friend Jack" ended up riding the German pop charts to the top, and earned the Smoke a place on a tour with the Small Faces and the Beach Boys.

They were now stars, although not in the place they'd expected to be. The single charted high in Switzerland, France, and Austria as well, and suddenly there was demand for a Smoke LP in Germany. They delivered this in the form of It's Smoke Time, comprised of the best of the year-old tracks recorded for Babson in the spring, summer, and fall of 1966. The band actually relocated to Germany, while continuing to release records in England — their recording contract was sold to Chris Blackwell in late 1967, and he soon took over their management as well; they were free of their obligations to the Krays by then (who had, in any case, been distracted by a gang war and a prosecution). They cut some fine psychedelia and crossed paths with the members of Traffic in the studio during this period. The end came out of a degree of weariness, after five years of work and perhaps the sincere belief that they'd already enjoyed most of the fruits of their brief pop stardom — they declined to obey a Blackwell summons to return to England for a recording session, and that marked the effective end of their history, at least as a classic British beat/freakbeat outfit. Mick Rowley remained in Germany, where, as the voice and frontman for the band, he had a natural following. Luker, Gill, and Lund did finally return home and went to work for Babson's Morgan Studios, working in various bands within Babson's orbit, including Blue Mink, Orange Bicycle, and Fickle Pickle. A latter-day version of the Smoke — principally organized around Zeke Lund — surfaced in a distinctly '70s mode early in the ensuing decade but made no great impression on anyone. Meanwhile, "My Friend Jack" lingered in the memory of music mavens for its cheerful brand of psychedelic punk, and even It's Smoke Time — an incredible obscurity outside of Germany — enjoyed a reputation as one of the most cheerful records ever made. By the mid-'90s there were reissues of the single and the LP on CD, and in 2002 a comprehensive double CD of the complete work of the '60s and '70s versions of the band was available.