Round 2 of the Battle of the Garage Bands Bracket: The 13th Floor Elevators v. The Sonics

In our first day of Round 2, The Misunderstood of the So Cal Region went through New York champions, The Blues Magoos, like a hot knife through butter. The Misunderstand now move on to the top three and await their next opponent. Misunderstood no more. 

Day 2 of the second round pits two epic records against each other (after 10 months of doing this, they better all be epic at this point!). 

From the highly competitive Texas region we have The 13th Floor Elevators with their debut single, You're Gonna Miss Me c/w Tried To Hide. The single was released, first on the local label, Contact and then on International Artist records in early 1966. 

The Sonics are representing the birthplace of American garage records, The Pacific Northwest. They are putting forth with their 5th single, released in the Fall of 1965 on Etiquette Records. We have the original Cinderella on the a-side and Louie Louie on the flip-side.  

Go forth judges. Look at both sides of the single and make your call. We don't envy your task. 

Here is the original post on The Elevators

Here is the original Post on The Sonics. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: Don and the Goodtimes - Little Sally Tease/Little Green Thing

Day five of our Pacific Northwest spotlight takes us to Portland, Oregon. Here we find a band called Don and the Goodtimes. Lame name. Not lame music.

Don Gallucci had been the organ player for The Kingsmen. That's him that opens the legendary recording of Louie Louie. But after that song hit it big, The Kingsmen went in to upheaval as the drummer and his parents smelled money and began pushing everyone out of the band to assert control. Don was one of those casualties as was singer Jack Ely. Ely apparently served as the earliest singer of Don Gallucci's band, but I am not clear if that is him singing in this record. I assume it is Don Gallucci singing.

Today we spin the a-side of the band's second single, released in 1965 on the Seattle based Jerden Records. Little Sally Tease was written by the band's guitarist, Jim Valley. The number only gained modest local attention, but it was enough to get Dunhill Records to release it nationally in August of 1965. Little Sally Tease tells the tale of a young gal who liked to lead the boys on and had all the skills to get what she wants. The number would later be picked up by The Standells for their 1966 LP, Dirty Water. As fine as that more famous recording is, we prefer this, the original version.

The initial release on Jerden came with a cover of the Rogers and Hammerstein number, You'll Never Walk Alone. I can't seem to find that so I will share a YouTube vid of the flip-side of the Dunhill Release, Little Green Thing.

Members of Don and The Goodtimes would swap spots with members of The Kingsmen and Paul Revere and the Raiders often. The Kingsmen would even go on to record Little Sally Tease with a particularly banal version released on Wand Records in 1966. They also did a rendition of Little Green Thing as the flip-side of their third release of Louie Louie, in 1965. 

The photo above was taken from the website, Pacific Northwest Bands and has a credit of Trisha Nerney. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Wailers - Out Of Our Tree/I Got Me

Day four of our PNW region of the Battle of the Garage Bands gives us a record that one Gladys Smith appeared to have owned at one point. Luckily Gladys decided this record was too rockin' for her sensitive ears and it eventually found itself falling into my record collection. Now you get to hear it.

The Wailers hailed from the same blue collar town as yesterday's submission, The Sonics, as well as the hugely influential instrumental band, The Ventures. The Wailers really bridge the gap between those two bands and, thus, between two very important musical contributions from America. Surf music and garage punk. The Wailers released their first single in 1958 and became a powerful presence on the frat party circuit immediately. Then, in 1961, they made an amazingly huge, but largely unknown, contribution to the history of Rock-n-Roll. They teamed with a singer from a rival band and rearranged a calypso/doo wop song called Louie Louie. That song would soon become the signature tune for every band coming out of the PNW. It was billed under the name of Rockin' Robin Roberts as the band was trying to break from a restrictive contract with The Golden Crest Label and form their own label, Etiquette Records.

The band would become a revolving cast of characters anchored by Richard Dangell on guitar, Kent Morrill on organ and vocals and John Ormsby on bass. It is those three who composed today's A-side.

Out Of Our Tree was released on Etiquette Records in October of 1965. It just flat out rocks. Pounding drums, a solid bedrock of organ, roving bass lines, a growl of vocals, fuzzed guitar and a catch phrase of "Out Of Our Tree". It's got it all, baby. It's so, so, so...Pacific Northwest!

The flip-side, I Got Me, was composed by Dangell and Morill. I believe it is Dangell singing on this recording. It's a damn nice tune that fails to get comped properly.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Northwest Spotlight: The Sonics - Cinderella/Louie Louie

We return today with more on our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands. Today we travel to Tacoma, Washington where we have the garage legends of all garage legends, The Sonics.

The Sonics were Gerry Roslie, Andy Parypa, Larry Parypa, Rob Lind, Bob Bennett. The five Tacoma boys recorded for Bill Wiley at the Griffith Studios and recorded for Etiquette Records, based on the second floor of a tiny building at 2442 NW Market Street in Seattle.

So much has been written about them, and so much about their songs that I'll just say this. The Sonics were a tour de force. Our songs from them today are their 5th single (actually 4.5 release) and came out in November of 1965.

The A-side, Cinderella, was composed by singer and organ player, Gerry Roslie. The flip-side is a great rewrite of the PNW standard, Louie Louie.

The Sonics are touring North America as I type. Go see them!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Northern California Spotlight: The Marauders - Since I Met You/I Don't Know How

Day 8 of the Northern California Battle of the Garage Bands spotlight!

I don't know too much about these cats other than they hailed from Sacramento, California. The Marauders released this one single in November of 1965 on the one-off label, Skyview Records.

Since I Met You is a wonderful original composition with a great melody which was comped on the legendary, Pebble Vol. 10. And cool beans of all cool beans, they released it with a picture sleeve! Pretty darn uncommon. Our copy is as minty as mint gets, but it's still such a low-fi recording it is hard to make out anything the singer is saying. See the comments section below for another recording of this record. The songwriting credit goes to G. Strawn, B. Barmby, R. Jagla and J. Giere/

The flip side is the tepid, I Don't Know How. Jack Giere gets writing credit here.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Northern California Spotlight: The Brogues - I Ain't No Miracle Worker/Don't Shoot Me Down

Day six of our Nor Cal Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to the center of the state in the farm town of Merced. That's where we find a five piece band calling themselves The Brogues.

The Brogues released their second and final single in November of 1965 for Challenge Records. The band at this time was Bill Whittington, Eddie Rodriguez, Rick Campbell, Greg Elmore and Gary Cole.

I Ain't No Miracle Worker was a song written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, two songwriters who would soon score garage and psych classics for The Electric Prunes. I Ain't No Miracle Worker would also be recorded by The Great Scots about the same time and later covered by The Chocolate Watchband, who slowed the number down quite a bit. The Brogues original recording of the song is a surprisingly fast paced number with some scorching guitar from Eddie Rodgriuez.

The flip-side is the band composed Don't Shoot Me Down. It's a blitzkrieg of a rewrite of Bo Diddley's Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut. Probably by way of The Pretty Things as the singer, Rick Campbell, even gets in a few Phil May inflections.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Leaves - Too Many People/Love Minus Zero

Our final Southern California Battle of the Garage Bands entrant. What a rich well of music out of SoCal!

The Leaves hailed from Los Angeles. I thought that The Seeds discography was a mess with multiple releases of the same song with different catalogue numbers and different flip-sides. Man, let me tell you, The Leaves take the cake.

We focus today on The Leaves' first release, Too Many People/Love Minus Zero. It was released on the local label, Mira Records, and hit the stores in July of 1965. The A-side was composed by the band's first lead guitarist, Bill Rinehart and bassist, Jim Pons. Too Many People is a scorcher of an original. Wailing harmonica, pounding bass, double vocal attack from Pons and John Beck, snarly lyrics about fighting back against "the man" and some very nice Rickenbacker guitar leads.

With this first release, the flip-side was Bob Dylan's Love Minus Zero. A perfectly fine version, but ultimately a tepid number compared to the A-side.

Too Many People would be rerecorded for the band's LP. That rerecording is a greatly inferior version to what we have here on their debut single. The single would get released again, a full year after this initial release, with Girl From The East as the flip-side. That song would be released on no less than four straight singles from the band! And we haven't even touched on the three different recordings of Hey Joe that the band released in less than six months. Sheesh!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard/Out Of The Question

The Seeds released their signature tune, Pushin' Too Hard, twice. The first time in November of 1965 on GNP Crescendo 364x with the flip-side of Out Of The Question. That release gave the title of You're Pushin' Too Hard. Then in July of 1966, they gave us a different release as GNP Crescendo 372x backed with Try To Understand, which had been released as an A-side months prior in February of 1966.

We feature today the first release of You're Pushing Too Hard/Out Of The Question (even though we picture the second release).

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Starfires - I Never Loved Her/Linda

Day 9 of the So Cal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us spinning a brutally awesome double sided rocker from Los Angeles band, The Starfires. 

I really know very, very little about this band. The Starfires appear to have been Chuck Butler on vocals, Dave Anderson on guitar, Sonny Lathrop on rhythm guitar, Freddy Fields on bass and Jack Emerick on drums. The band released a few singles and this is their first record, released in 1965 on G.I. Records. Bassist Freddy Fields composed both sides. 

For our money, the A-Side is the stronger of the two cuts. I Never Loved Her is clearly written by a bassist! And a bassist who is tired of being teased and bugged to death about some not so hip gal with whom he really never had that much interaction. Dudes, he only gave her one ride home. Her house was on the way home! Leave Freddy alone. Well at least all the teasing gave us a cool song. Chuck Butler swings back and forth between a snarly growl and a soft croon as the bass just grooves along. 

The flip-side has a great little warble of a guitar riff throughout. Linda is an evil girl. We have no idea what she did to be so evil but we do know this about her. "Linda, she is an evil schemer. Linda, she is a Stanley Steemer." Man, that must be bad!

The band put out three more records over the following two years. One more for G.I. Records and two for Yardbird Records. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Lyrics - So What!!/They Can't Hurt Me

Day 2 of the Battle of the Garage Bands for the SoCal region takes us to San Diego, California.

From November of 1965, we present to you The Lyrics. What we have here is the greatest record to ever -- EVER -- come out of that fine, sunny city of San Diego. Both sides of this Era Records single are filled with teen angst, anger and bravado.

The composer of both numbers is Chris Gaylord, the singer and harmonica player. Chris apparently dated a girl who lived in swanky-ass Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego's north county. As you can hear from the lyrics to The Lyrics' songs, she had tons of nice things (yep, an electric typewriter!) for which she was particularly proud. Then the girl turned on poor Chris. (Abstractly speaking, this is always a key thing for any good 1960s garage band song. If the singer hasn't been dumped by a no-good, scheming girl, then we just don't get great songs.) Lucky for us, Chris took his anger out on the girl in a constructive, creative and generally healthy fashion - he wrote two songs about her and published them for the whole world to hear. 

Our A-Side, So What!!, tells the tale of Chris being toured around this little Jezebel's house.

Well, now everything you got is in excess
And it goes without saying, it's got to be the best
From your swimming pool, to your daddy's racing car
To that senseless, useless bomb shelter in your back yard
Well, I guess there ain't too much you haven't got
But all I can say to you about that is So What!!

This is actually the second release of So What! as the number was released months before as the flip-side to Why'd He Go?, written by band leader Craig Carll, on the local, Feather Records label.

The Flip-Side of this Era Records release is the fabulous They Can't Hurt Me. For some bizarre reason, the girl that Chris had been going with started to think that maybe this was not the guy for her. Maybe it was his condescending, judgmental words that he regularly spewed out at her. Apparently she starts talking trash on our poor broken down, stomped upon protagonist. What's an angry young guy to do? Well, he writes a song saying that her venomous words can't hurt him. 

Chris got booted from the band shortly after this record came out and he moved on to other great things.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Rocky Mountain Showdown: Jack Bedient and the Chessmen - Double Whammy/I Want You To Know

Day 7 of our Rocky Mountain Battle of the Garage Bands has us taking a liberty or two. How? Good question dude or dudette. You see, Jack Bedient hailed from Wenatchee, Washington (definitely a Pacific Northwest state) and started playing lounge circuits back in the 50s there in the Apple State. As a hardworking musician from the center of the state, Jack crossed paths with The Wailers and The Kingsmen and other such up-and-coming bands from the PNW. Jack had been doing a little bit more of a loungey act back then. But ever the professional musician, Jack started working rock-n-roll into his act. 

I don't know when, but at some point Jack split Washington for greener lounges. That took him first to South Lake Tahoe then to Reno and, of course, the lounge mecca of them all, Las Vegas. That is how we are counting him as a Rocky Mountain Region contestant. 

Jack Bedient and his Chessmen had a regular gig there and, as all good lounge acts do, they adapted quickly to the swinging sounds of the day. In July of 1965, Jack and his Chessmen headed down to Berkeley, California to record their rockin' original tune, Double Whammy for the Fantasy Label. This is the same label for whom the hometown heroes, CCR would soon record. I've always thought the signature guitar riff was taken from Vince Taylor and the Playboys' Brand New Cadillac, but some cats over at The Garage Hangover rightly note that the riff most likely is lifted from Dorsey Burnette's recording of his brother's composition, Bertha Lou. I've heard other Jack Bedient songs and none have come close to measuring up to Double Whammy. I love the vocal interplay and I love the way the guitar riff changes, particularly at the lead.

The flip-sider is a fine cover of the 1957 release by Fats Domino, I Want You To Know. The band on this recording is believed to have been Jack on guitar, Jerry Bledsoe on drums and Bill Britt on bass.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Rocky Mountain Showdown: Phil & The Frantics - Say That You Will/'Till You Get What You Want

Rocky Mountain Battle of the Garage Bands extends into it's third day. And today we travel to Phoenix, Airzona.

Phil And The Frantics were fronted by one Phil Kelsey. He would be the "Phil" in Phil and the Frantics. The band had little impact outside of Phoenix and are probably best known for their Zombies-fied "original", I Must Run, which was included on the original Pebbles Volume 1. That song, like this one, was produced by one Waylon Jennings. Go figure. 

However, it is their second single that we spin today. In fact, I could make a strong argument, based on the strength of both sides of the single, that this double sided gem is one of the best garage records to come out of the mid-60s. That's why it's here, right?

The A-Side is the sublime Say That You Will, a song over flowing with quirkiness. Every aspect of the song: the saxophone, the chuncka-chunka incessant lead work and the funky little stutter stop organ breaks -- first heard at :25 -- are just wickedly odd. Everything, EVERYTHING, about this record is excellent.

The flip-side is the brilliant 'Till You Get What You Want.  Minor key organ, ethereal guitar work and Phil's faux British accent work perfectly. And then there is that surprisingly aggressive bridge that starts at 1:14. That would be Phil going from sensitive Phil to aggressive Phil in a snap of his Frantic fingers. Moody, baby. Moody.

Say That You Will or the flip, Till You Get What You Want? Let us know which you think is better in the comment section below. Oh, say that you will.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Mid-West Spotlight: The Blue Things - La Do Da Da/I Must Be Doing Something Wrong

Mid-West Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Hays, Kansas. You can't get more Mid-West than that! Today we spin the major label debut from The Blue Things.

The Blue Things were Mike Chipman, Richard Scott, Val Stoecklein, and Bobby Day. The band had released two singles on the Texas label Ruff Records when RCA came around. In came Dale Hawkins to produce a full length album cut down in Nashville. Speaking of Dale Hawkins...as usual we are going to flip the record over and spin La Do Da Da first. The Blue Things give the Dale Hawkins number a raucous, garage take. (We wrote about his original version back in September of 2014, you can hear it here.) Stoecklein's vocals are mixed deep in the record but the lead guitar work of Chapman is really something to behold. 

The A-side of the single is the band composed I Must Be Doing Something Wrong. It's a little over produced in our opinion, but not too bad. Harmonies aplenty (including some female-like falsetto) and chimey guitar give this number a nice Byrds meets The Beau Brummels folk feel to it.  

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The South Spotlight: The Barracudas - Baby Get Lost

Day seven of our Battle of the Garage Bands from The South has us spinning a rare little gem from some little kids in the heart of nowhere, Bunkie, Louisiana. Not too much known about The Barracudas other than they are in a hurry to tell that little middle school girl to get lost. They only gave her 1:43 to listen to their high pitched ultimatum:

Well why should I be a raving fool
I'm the boss so I make the rules
Well do me a favor
Well, baby get lost (get lost! get lost!)
I don't care, I don't care
Well, baby get lost (get lost! get lost!)

And then they fit in a drum solo! Awesome. The pre-teens released this on Zundak Records in April of 1965.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The South Spotlight: The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe (Call On Me)/Hey You

The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

The Guilloteens - Hey You! by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

Our Battle of the Garage Bands in The South has taken us from Louisiana to Florida to North Carolina. Now we move over to Tennessee. 

The Guilloteens not only had a real clever name, but they also had real solid talent. The band hailed from Memphis and they made some pretty good friends and fans in that town. From the cool cats at Stax Records to a local star named Elvis Presley. It was Elvis who, after catching the band perform in Memphis, brought the trio -- Louis Paul Jr., Laddie Hutcherson and Joe Davis -- out to LA to get a residency at a hotspot called the Red Velvet Cloud. In walked Phil Spector who started working with the band. Everything was going great as they started recording I Don't Believe, a Louis Paul Jr. composition. But Spector may have treated the band as an afterthought and an over-eager manager signed the band to the newly formed Hanna-Barbera Records label without the Guilloteens knowledge. So The Guilloteens severed their relationship with Spector and started recording their first single with a new producer working for HBR.

That first single, released July 1965 on Hanna-Barbera Records is a double sided gem that shows great maturity. I Don't Believe features the incredibly strong vocals of it's composer, Louis Paul Jr. The song is like a kudzu vine, it grows on you quickly. The chimey guitar work creates an incredibly strong bed for the echo chamber harmonies and Louis Paul's baritone vocals. Paul really takes flight on his vocals towards the end of the song. At 2:14 we really get to see how strong a vocalist this Guilloteen was. The song almost feels like it has been slowed down, but nope, that's how it is. 

The Flip-Side, Hey You!, features the vocals of it's composer, Laddie Hutcherson. Hey You! is pure garage joy. A strong guitar riff and tons of teen bravado. Hutcherson isn't as strong a singer as Louis Paul Jr., but the pairing with the A-side makes this double sided gem one of the stronger singles HBR ever put out.

Louis Paul Jr. quit the band after their second single and returned to Memphis. The band soldiered on with other musicians, making another strong single for HBR before signing with Columbia when HBR got the axe. They even supported Paul Revere and The Raiders on tour, but like so many others, the band faded into obscurity without ever really getting the recognition they needed to succeed.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Mid-Atlantic Spotlight: The Hangmen - What A Girl Can't Do

Day seven of the Mid-Atlantic Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Garrett Park, Maryland, a small town in affluent Montgomery County abutting Washington, DC.

The story of The Hangmen is very confusing and I'm not going to try to explain it all here. This is the quickie version. Once upon a time there was a surf band that called themselves The Reekers. The Reekers put out one bitchin' instrumental record in 1965 called Don't Call Me Flyface with a Flip-Side of Grindin'. That was released on the tiny Baltimore soul label of Ru-Jac Records. Both songs were composed by band leader, Tom Guernsey. It got enough air-play that it gave The Reekers a glimmer of hope. The Reekers then recorded two more Tom Guernsey vocal originals (this time with band member Joe Triplet singing) at two different times at two different studios. Shortly after recording the numbers, singer Joe Triplet and another member of The Reekers went off for their freshman year of college.

So here was Tom Guernsey shopping two demos by a band that no longer existed. Around this same time, Tom and his brother John Guernsey agreed to join a local upstart band called The Hangmen. Monument Records bit on the demos that Tom was shopping and someone, perhaps Tom, decided to release it under the name of his new band, The Hangmen, even though it was members of The Reekers playing on the record. What A Girl Can't Do became a minor local hit when released at Christmas time in 1965 and Monument pushed The Hangmen into a studio to record a full length LP. The problem was that The Hangmen on the LP and on the subsequent two singles was largely a different band - with a different singer -- than on their hit record. Clear as mud, right?

The picture below is of The Reekers, the band that actually recorded What A Girl Can't Do. But Joe Triplet is not in the picture. Tom is in the middle. The pic was lifted from the good folk at Garage Hangover.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

New England Teen Spotlight: The Others - I Can't Stand This Love, Goodbye

[Please see comment section below for some updated info from one of the band members for more on this great song]

New England Battle of the Bands takes us to today to tiny little Rhode Island.

Goodbye. What a powerful, multiple-meaning word it is. The intent of the word is entirely in the tone. It can be a flat statement of departing. It can be a sad, sorrow-filled departing. It can be an anger filled statement to end a conversation. Or it can be to the tone of, as sung by Kingston, Rhode Island's The Others, something along the line of "piss off you mean mistreating girl."

The Others were formed by a bunch of University of Rhode Island college students and one student from nearby Brown University: Jim Destout, Mike Brand, Pete Shepley, John Costa and Mike Patalano. On the connections and dollars of one of their As the result of a chance meeting Mike Brand's father had with an established talent manager, Bob Marshall, the Ocean-Staters headed down to New York in June of '65 to cut some demos. Dad's connections was able to pull some strings and get  led to an RCA executive audition who liked what he heard and signed the boys on the spot. Next thing you know The Others are on a major label and opening for The Byrds and The Lovin' Spoonful.
I Can't Stand This Love, Goodbye (written by Brand and Shepley) is the first (and best) single from the boys. It was released by RCA Records in September of 1965. It features a biting guitar riff that plays throughout the song, a nasty little scream leading into a perfect guitar solo and some classic 60's garage lyrics about how all these poor, innocent teenage boys are treated poorly by runaround teenage girls. This world only existed on record, by the way.

Well I hate to leave you but I have to go, goodbye. Well you played me bad, you deserve it so...goodbye. I can't stand this love, so goodbye!

Now, ironically, I first heard this song as performed by punk pilgrims, The Damned (click here to read a Flip-Side article on the Damned). The boys from London once recorded a one-off record under the monicker of Naz Nomad and the Nightmares and this song was one of their standouts. How they came to it, is beyond me. Ironically, that same record, Give Daddy The Knife, Cindy, featured a cover of the Boston based group the Rockin' Ramrods' 1964 recording of their non-hit song, She Lied! That song got a little flip-love from us back in April. Check it out here.

I'm gonna wrap it up but, for full disclosure and for those who want more info on The Others, I suggest you check out this fine interview with drummer Mike Patalano from a site called Fancy Mag. It's got tons of cool pics of The Others.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Video Diary: The Kinks - Set Me Free

Video Diary: The Yardbirds - "I Wish You Would"