Round 2 of the Battle of the Garage Bands Bracket: The Chocolate Watchband v The Ugly Ducklings

Round 8 is in the books. The representatives from Texas, The 13th Floor Elevators, bested the kings of the Pacific Northwest, The Sonics. It was hard for all of us to send a band like The Sonics packing, but that is the nature of the competition, isn't it?

Today one more band will be voted off the turntable while another gets a patch on their shoulder and matriculates to the finals, which we call the Thrilling Three. So without further hesitation...

On turntable 1 we have the Northern California champions, The Chocolate Watchband. They put forth with their final single, released in October of 1967 on Tower Records, Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In) with a flip-side of No Way Out. The single has already bested the likes of The Mourning Reign, The Brogues and The Shadows of Knight just to have the opportunity to spin at 45rpm on this fine morning.

On Turntable 2 we have the champions of Canada. The entire hopes and dreams of the great white north now rest on the dusty grooves of The Ugly Ducklings and their third release, from 1966, on Yorktown Records: Just In Case You Wonder with a flip-side of That's Just A Thought I Had In My Mind. This Canuck of a single has bested the likes of The Painted Ship, The Haunted and America's The Enfields as it now starts spinning with the 7-inch white hot fury that can only come from a homely water fowl.

Here is a link to the original Chocolate Watchband post. 

Here is a link to the original post on The Ugly Ducklings

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

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!

Battle of the Garage Bands: The 13th Floor Elevators v. The Bad Roads

Day two of the bracket system witnessed The Misunderstood of the Southern California region getting past the midwest region winner, The Litter. Our congratulations go out to The Misunderstood who, we have on good authority, are huddled at a restaurant in Las Vegas watching the returns with baited breath. Stand by boys, we are about to move on. 

Today we move to a bracket with two very strong region representatives: The 13th Floor Elevators representing Texas and The Bad Roads from nearby Louisiana representing The South region. Our celebrity judges will now weigh-in with eloquent words located in the comment section below and let you know who comes out ahead today. So, without further ado, let's get ready to rumble!

See the original post on the Elevators here. 

See the original post on The Bad Roads here. 

 And here is a look at how The 13th Floor Elevators and The Bad Roads came to win their respective regions.

Canada Spotlight: The Free-For-All - Show Me The Way/Blue Monday

Day four of the Canada Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Nova Scotia, Canada. Seriously. We definitely don't know of any other garage bands from Nova Scotia. 

The band name on the label says The Free-For-All but the band is really the Halifax, Nova Scotia band, The Great Scots. The Great Scots recorded a number of solid records in their native land for London Records and Epic Records before they made their way to LA to try to hit the big time. The band seemed to be on the edge of success when they ran into a brick wall. Maybe it was their silly Kilt outfits and coordinated dances. Or maybe it was their tight cut non-Beatle hair that held them back. Who knows? But in an effort to trick jaundiced radio programmers, the band released Show Me The Way (which is actually the Flip-Side of the record) under the name The Free-For-All. Show Me The Way just soars. Catchy melody and a great guitar riff. How was this not the A-Side?

The A-Side was the more pedestrian blues number, Blue Monday, a rewrite of T-Bone Walker's often covered number, Stormy Monday Blues. 

The single was released on Challenge Records in the Summer of 1966. Ultimately the prestidigitation didn't work and the record went nowhere, despite it's inherent quality. Then the Canucks got a rude awakening. Dave Isnor was conscripted into the US Army and sent off to Vietnam. Yep, when you were here on a working visa, you could be drafted. Whoops. The remaining members, Gerry Archer, Bill Schnare, Rick McNeil. and Wayne Forrest high-tailed it back to Nova Scotia on the first dog sled out and their chance at stardom was lost. Luckily they left us this gem before they got lost in the snow drifts of time.

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

Canada Spotlight: The Painted Ship - Little White Lies/Frustration

Day three of our Canada spotlight takes us to Vancouver, British Columbia. I believe this is our first stop in that fine, fine town.

The Painted Ship kicked out two records in their brief career. Today we spin their first record, released in December of 1966 on London Records.

Little White Lies gets the A-Side and it is a humdinger of a song. It turns the lying cheating no good lover story around. In this approach our singer, William Hay, admits that he is a lying, cheating, no-good scoundrel. Cool guitar work, hushed whispers of "white lies" makes this a unique song. We love the end of the song as our protagonist seems to really enjoy his rogue role.

The flip-side is Frustration. Another cool number with some squeaky Vox Continental organ backing up Hay's understated approach.

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

Canada Spotlight: The Haunted - 1-2-5/Eight O'Clock This Morning

Day 2 of our Canada Battle of the Garage Bands has us visiting Montreal, Canada. In this hip town we find a band called The Haunted. The band was formed in 1965 by gutiarist Jurgen Peter and grew to include Bob Burgess on vocals, Al Birmingham on lead, Mason Shea on bass and Dave Wynne on drums. The Haunted immediately became THEE band in Montreal and opened for the Stones, Them and a host of other cool cats.

The band cut their first single for Quality Records in May of 1966. We feature that number today. The released version of 1-2-5 required a recut as the record company deemed the lyrics too risqué for the French-Canadian audience. Ironically, the original version, which is not nearly as good as this recording, saw the light of day in the puritanical US on Amy Records. Now that is a hard record to find! 1-2-5 tells the tale of a boy just strolling down the street with five bucks burning a hole in his pocket. Who does he see but Mary Jane, a local prostitute. Exchange of cash, and then she is pulling down the shades.

The flip-side is Eight O'Clock This Morning. Composed by Burgess and Birmingham, this proves the band knew what they were doing. Great bass, great vocals, great guitar. All great.

1-2-5, replete with snarly vocals, edgy lyrics, a brilliant bass line and a killer guitar lead, broke nationally and made the band a household name across the great white north. But whose name? You'll note from the picture above that the band's name was misprinted on the first pressing of the single as The Hunted. These record companies did this so frickin' often back then it is really hard to imagine who they had editing their work.

The sound sample above apparently comes from the LP, with a different singer, than either of the released single versions, which are linked below.

The USA release.

The first Canadian release

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Bootmen - Ain't It The Truth Babe/Wherever You Hide.

Day 9 of our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands has us spinning another 45 from Riverton Records, the Etiquette subsidiary.

The Bootmen hailed from Tacoma, Washington and released three singles in their brief career. The first was a pair of instrumentals on Etiquette Records and then two more singles, with vocals and all, for Riverton. We focus today on their swan song of a single, Ain't It The Truth Babe with Wherever You Hide, released in March of 1966.

The band appeared to change members quickly but it looks like a core of the band was Duane McCaslin on bass, Neil Anderson on guitar, Barry Bellandi on drums and Mike Moore on organ and Ron Gardner on vocals. But we can't swear that is the lineup here.

We don't know too much more about them expect Dickerson, Moore and McCaslin penned the excellent a-side, Ain't It The Truth Babe. Vocals are awash in reverb. Dig that guitar solo.

The flip-side is pretty amazing as well. Wherever You Hide has a nice snappy rhythm to it and, to this listener, sounds like it would fit in with some of the great Aussie singles featured on Ugly Things. Now that I listen closer, it sounds like they may have been listening to Questions I Can't Answer, by Heinz.

Photo below is courtesy of Pacific Northwest Bands website.

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen - I've Been Thinking/Route 66

This is why we love garage music. From the small town of Albany, Oregon, a town not too far from the college town of Corvalis, comes the brilliantly named Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen. Yeah, baby.

Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen released one single in July of 1966. It was released on Riverton Records, a subsidiary of the Seattle based Etiquette Records.

Flipping this record over, as usual, we are going to start with I've Been Thinking. The 2:40 second blitzkrieg was composed by the band's guitarist, Ed Westby. Ed, along with his brother, Jim, who is on vocals here, Marshall Adams on bass, Peter Brown on drums and Gary Snyder on organ, created one of the most manic, aggressive records ever. And it came out in 1966. Holy crap.

The A-side is a brilliant cover of Bobby Troup's standard, Route 66.

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Daily Flash - Jack of Diamonds/Queen Jane Approximately

Back to our Pacific Northwest Spotlight as we determine, region by region, the greatest garage single ever.

Today we spin a band out of Seattle, Washington. The Daily Flash started in the folk clubs of the PNW town and eventually would make their way down to the hipster scene of LA and then San Francisco. The band was guitarist and lead singer, Steve Lalor, guitarist Doug Hastings, Don MacAllister on bass and Jon Keliehor on drums. 

The band recorded only two singles in their brief existence. Today we feature their debut single, and, as usual, we flip the record over to start on the superior flip-side. The record was released in July of 1966 on Parrot Records.

The flip-side is the brilliant Jack of Diamonds. It opens with a wall of feedback before it gives way to a rolling bass line and wailing harp. The hard charging arrangement is never better than at the ever so brief, incendiary guitar break led by Doug Hastings. Dig that bass work behind the lead. The song gets writing credit from the band. However, that is a bit suspect. The song dates back to at least 1926 when Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded the number in Texas. The Daily Flash give it a pretty wild reinvention, but let's be honest, they rearranged it, they didn't write it. 

The A-side is a great cover of Bob Dylan's Queen Jane Approximately. It showcases the band's folk roots brilliantly. Truly one of the best Dylan covers from the era. Another great guitar solo and some real fine harmonies. Now if Dylan just hadn't written that number with the awkward sentence that ends improperly in a preposition, I would have nothing about which to complain.

The band released one more single, on Uni Records, in January of 1967 and is well worth seeking out. We wrote about here back in 2013.

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

Pacific Northwest Spotlight: The Talismen - I Know A Girl/I'll Take A Walk

Day 2 of our Pacific Northwest entrant in our region by region Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Wenatchee, Washington, a small town smack dab in the middle of the state. For a very brief moment the town became a hotbed of garage rock. That's because a local DJ by the name of Don Julian Bernier founded his own label and started going around the local high school, middle school and dances to sign acts. And boy did he get some good ones.

One of the two best acts he picked up was a local high school band calling themselves The Talismen. The Talismen were John Wood on guitar and, I believe, lead vocals, Jack Cooper on guitar and vocals, Loren Bolinger doing double duty on guitar and keyboards, Leon Jeffreys on bass and Joe Britt on the drums. The Talismen released only three songs (they got only one side of one record) in their brief two year career. Today we focus on their second, and final single. You know, the one where they got both sides of the record.

I'll Take A Walk/I Know A Girl was released on Julian Records in 1966. As we so often do, we are going to flip the record over and start with the flip-side. Sadly our copy of this rare disc has a bit of surface noise on it. Bare with us, please.

I Know A Girl is a raver in the first order. Raving vocals, repeated bass breaks that are marvelous and a guitar solo that makes you stand up and take notice of the teens from little old Wenatchee! It's very reminiscent of the guitar work done on the Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' records. Of course the solo ends with a bass break. We love the ending as John screams into the microphone and Loren Bollinger pushes his farfisa organ to the max. The original composition was penned by Wood and Cooper.

Sure, I Know A Girl is the obvious garage rocker here, but I want you to really stick with us on the sentimental A-Side, I'll Take A Walk. Teen love abounds on this slow number composed by Jack Cooper, bassist Leon Jeffreys and drummer Joe Britt. Great lead vocals, great harmony singing, a tasteful organ bed and, again, an outstanding guitar lead. This time very gentle and jazzy.

Both numbers were recorded in Spokane, Washington. I've nicked photos from a couple of sites and want to give credit where credit is due. Links to both included. The first picture comes from Pacific Northwest Bands and shows (from left to right) John, Loren and Jack rocking it up while wearing grandma's curtains.

The second photo comes from a great site dedicated exclusively to Julian Records! How cool is that. I got some good info on the label from that site. It looks like they got this picture from a guy named Craig Green.

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

Northern California Spotlight: The Oxford Circle - Foolish Woman/Mind Destruction

Our final entrant in our Northern California region of the Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to Davis, California, the home town to both publishers of this fine music blog! Here we find Gary Lee Yoder, Dehner Patten, Jim Keylor and Paul Whaley. Collectively they were known as The Oxford Circle. The band only released this one single and it got a Fall release in 1966 on the micro-label, World United Records. That label was set up by and for The New Breed (click here for link to music), a Sacramento based band. They are the only other two releases on the label.

The A-side, Foolish Woman, was composed by Yoder and Patten (though no credit is given on the record) and is way ahead of its time. This doesn't sound too much like anything else from 1966! Sure, you can hear a little bit of Van Morrison and Them in Gary Lee Yoder's vocal approach. Sure, there is the Jeff Beck influenced guitar work performed with great dexterity by Jim Keylor. But the backwards tracking, the time changes, the feedback, the pounding drums of Paul Whaley make this a cut above most other records of it's day. There are rumors that Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) was the organ player on the session, but I can not confirm that.

The flip-side is a band composed instrumental called Mind Destruction. Thanks to Matt Brown of the lovely Nitro-Retro blog for loaning it to us.

The Oxford Circle played regularly in nearby San Francisco and a live recording from The Avalon Ballroom in 1966, shows Foolish Woman was not an anomaly, they were a solid band. The band went in for one more recording session but failed to get the number released, making this their lone output.

Whaley left the band to form Blue Cheer and was soon followed by Yoder who joined Randy Holden (The Other Half and The Sons of Adam - click for link) and Dickie Peterson (who sold me my first bass amp ever!) in what would become a revolving cast of musicians.

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

Northern California Spotlight: The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction/They're Gonna Get You

The Count five produced one of thee all time great garage classics with their '66 release of Psychotic Reaction for Double Shot Records. Loosely based off of The Yardbirds' Better Man Than I, Psychotic Reaction epitomized the budding garage sound of the United States perfectly.

The band's debut single was 2:56 of unadulterated teen frustration and bravado. The song somehow cracked the Top 10 and allowed for The Count Five to release a full length album, something rather unheard of for a band of their local-ness. The members were Kenn Ellner, Sean Byrne, Craig Atkinson, John Michaski, and Roy Chaney. The oldest member of the band was a geriatric 19. The lead guitarist, Michalski, still in High School. Sadly, Atkinson and Byrne have both passed.

The flip-side is the Sean Byrne composed They're Gonna Get You. It's a funky little beat with incessant guitar noodling and some whimsical vocals that illuminate for the listener just how tough it was to be a long haired, cape wearing freak who stands outside the infamous "Winchester Mystery House". 

Growing up in this general area of California in the 80s, I can tell you that the 1966 album, also called Psychotic Reaction, on Double Shot Records, could be found everywhere. There wasn't a record store or Salvation Army in Northern California that didn't have 6 copies in the used bins. An easy find at a low, low price. A garage freak's nirvana. The eleven songs on the album are all written by members of the band, with the very notable exception of the two songs by Pete Townshend (both sides of The Who's third single in the US). All in all, the 9 original compositions are pretty damn solid and give you a sense of how much excitement the Count Five must have brought to the teen hops in San Jose.

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Standells - Why Pick On Me/Mr. Nobody

More So Cal Battle of the Bands has us in Los Angeles with the legendary party band turned, snarly garage band, The Standells.

We've talked about The Standells before. We've talked about producer and songwriter Ed Cobb before. We've lauded the brilliance of engineer Richie Podolor before. We've even done a whole series on the great Tower Records label. So we'll just spin the two songs.

Why Pick On Me gives us another great Ed Cobb composition of defiance. The flip-side, Mr. Nobody, was written by organ player, Larry Tamblyn. The single was the band's 9th release. But really the band was a different band after they got with Ed Cobb on Tower Records. So let's say this was their 3rd release on Tower. The single was released in October of 1966.

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Other Half - Mr. Pharmacist/I've Come So Far

Day 12 of the So Cal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands gives us The Other Half. The band hailed from Los Angeles and released 5 singles in their brief career.

Mr. Pharmacist was the A-Side of their debut single, released on G.N.P. Crescendo in November of 1966. It would be the only release on that label. The band would relocate to San Francisco and move to Acta Records after this debut. Mr. Pharmacist, written by singer Jeff Nowlen, is a raver in the first order. Baritone vocals, wailing harmonica, grimy guitar, and an absolutely brilliant guitar solo from Randy Holden. Holden had come over to The Other Half from LA garage band, The Sons of Adam.

The flip-side of the single ain't so bad either. I've Come So Far features a pounding rhythm and a less aggressive approach, vocally and otherwise, than on the A-side. To this listener it reminds us a lot of the work that Zakary Thaks of Corpus Christi, Texas were doing at that time for J-Beck Records. Great guitar work from Holden and Yardbirds styled interplay with the harmonica. Plus it drops a Kinks reference in the lyrics. In fact, the vocals sound so different that I believe it may be Westen singing, and not Nowlen. Sadly I don't own this record and can't even tell you who composed this track. Ugh!

From left to right the band was Nowlen, Larry Brown on bass, Randy Holden on lead guitar, Danny Woody on drums and Geoff Westen on rhythm guitar.

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Magic Mushroom - I'm Gone/Cry Baby

We jsut keep spinning more records for our SoCal region of the Battle of the Garage Bands. 

Last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) we spun San Diego's The Lyrics performing the Chris Gaylord penned ravers from the Summer of '65, So What!! and They Can't Hurt Me. Shortly after recording those two legendary numbers, Chris Gaylord and lead guitarist Mike Allen were fired from The Lyrics. The two wandering minstrels joined with John Buell and Gary Williams to become one anew as The Magic Mushroom. The Magic Mushroom (not to be confused with the Philadelphia band of similar name) recorded only one solitary, single and released that blistering 45 in the Summer of '66 on Warner Bros. records. I believe it was released on a smaller local label, Coastline, under the name The Sons.

The A-Side of this Magic Mushroom rocker is the John Buell composed I'm Gone. Gaylord's Harmonica is front and center in this snotty number about a girl who runs around and fails to realize that she's got a good man right in front of her. But damn, she's going to miss him when he's gone! This song appeared on the legendary What A Way To Die comp. Yep, it's that good.

The Flip-Side is the Gary Williams composed Cry Baby. This number is nearly as good as the A-Side. I would go so far as to say that this had hit potential. Jangling open chords and lush harmonies augment a beautifully restrained lead guitar. 

The band traveled to New York to strike it big, recorded some numbers of Gaylord's at Les Paul's house in New Jersey, but nothing ever came of them. This is it. Can't even find a picture of the band. So enjoy what they left us. We're not even convinced that Gaylord and Allen appear on this recording. See the comment section below. 

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Bees - Voices Green and Purple/Trip To New Orleans

Day 8 of our So Cal region Battle of the Garage Bands gets us a truly bizarre record.

The Bees hailed from the LA town of Covina, California. The band never really existed outside of the garage. Sixteen year old Robbie Wood and his high school chums, Gary Briggs and Al Singer were practicing in their garage. Along came some dude who said he wanted to make them a star. His name was Tom Willsie and he asked the kids to write a couple of originals and he would pull together a recording session for them. After Willsie gave singer and bassist Robbie Wood the task of writing a song about a drug trip gone bad, Wood sat down and came up with Voices Green And Purple.

The band, which hadn't ever performed live in front of an audience, then went into a studio in LA in October of 1966 to record the Wood/Willsie composition. Willsie overdubbed Wood's pedal steel parts for the "freakout" moments of Voices Green And Purple.

The flip-side was another song written by Wood after being given an idea from Willsie. Trip To New Orleans has a bit of a whimsical sound that harkens to the lighter flip-sides of the early Stones singles, such as West Coast Under Assistant Promo Man and Spider and the Fly.

Tom Willsie only had a few hundred singles pressed up for his own Liverpool Records and even hand made a very, very few picture sleeves. Bizarre picture sleeve at that! Being that the band had broken up at the recording session (without ever doing a gig), Willsie blacked out the faces of Singer and Briggs. Pretty crazy stuff. It really looks like the DIY sleeves that would come out of the California punk scene in the early 1980s. Willsie then drove the records around to various stores in SoCal and tried to get it some airplay on local stations. One college station in Santa Barbara bit and actually played this on the radio. Surely the only place it was ever broadcast back in it's day.

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

Southern California Spotlight: Love - 7 And 7 Is.../No. 14

It's all about the sevens today. Day 7 of the Southern California region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us, naturally, spinning the incendiary 7 And 7 Is.

We've written extensively about one of our favorite bands, Love. So we are largely going to let the music stand on it's own 7 inches.

The A-Side from this groundbreaking Hollywood band, 7 And 7 Is was performed largely by Arthur Lee himself. Guitar, vocals, most of the drums and perhaps bass too. The abstract words probably aren't as abstract as they seem on first listen. In an interview in Ugly Things magazine a few years back, lead guitarist Johnny Echols suggests that the song has a lot to do with Arthur as a 14 year old kid dealing with his journey into manhood and living with not so engaged family members who didn't always treat him well. In it Arthur Lee recounts watching his dad get his feet too close to the fireplace as his aged dog stared direct into the fire.

If I don't start cryin' it's beacuse that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night, but I'm a day and I go oop bip bip, oop bip bip yeah!

The title is a reference to the shared birthday of March 7 between he and the gal with whom he was smitten, Anita "Pretty" Billings.

The flip-side is, very logically, No. Fourteen. The song was an outtake from the first album's recordings.

The single was released on Elektra Records in July of 1966, the band's second single.

Southern California Spotlight: The Satans - Makin' Deals/Lines and Squares

Back to So Cal with our regional Battle of the Garage Bands. Today we embrace The Satans. Nothing is known about The Satans. Nothing. Some claim they are from Fullerton, California. Some have thought they hailed from New Orleans. But me? I think this is not really a band. I think this was a studio creation. Let me explain. 

Bob Summers, the gentleman who arranged and produced the number was an independent record producer who worked with Mike Curb and his business, Sidewalk Productions. At the time of this release, in May of 1966, Mike Curb was spearheading a number of Biker exploitation films that played up all things taboo: drugs, rape, murder hell and motorcycle gangs that went by the names of The Devil's Angels, The Born Losers and, of course, The Satans. 

Posit this release, the inaugural release for Manhattan Records, into that paradigm and strong signs point to this song being a studio creation perhaps intended to be used in one of the soundtracks of a Russ Meyers directed film produced by Mike Curb. Bob Summers wrote, produced, arranged for a variety of labels and released a few numbers under his own name. He would go on to write a number of TV theme songs, including the theme for Grizzly Adams. 

Now to the record. Makin' Deals was composed by "The Satans". In it's brief 2:08 of eternal life, our singer poses as the devil and offers up all sorts of deals to the listener. He also poses the question, "can you guess my name?" This has led many to wonder if The Rolling Stones may have got ahold of this record when they were touring California at the time that this record was released. That is because the Rolling Stones asked the very same question in their very similarly themed recording, Sympathy For The Devil, which was recorded on the 4th of June, 1968. 

The flip-side is a straightforward jangly number called Lines And Squares. This one also gets writing credit from "The Satans". But the reality is that the lyrics are taken from a poem of the same name written by A.A. Milne. How satanic is it to steal from the author of Winnie The Pooh? 

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

Southern California Spotlight: The Roosters - One Of These Days/You Gotta Run

More SoCal Battle of the Garage Bands. The Roosters hailed from Westchester, California, home of the infamous, Randy's Donut Shop. That particular part of Los Angeles was known for it's rich surf scene (and late night donuts). Then the British Invasion hit and the bands began growing their hair long and ditching the silver suits for Chelsea Boots and vests. The Roosters were clearly influenced by local heroes, The Byrds. Hell, even the name comparison could make you cocksure of that one. The singer of The Roosters was Ray Manginin, lead guitarist was Tim Ward. Levitt Earhart on guitar, Floyd Fletcher on bass, and Jim Peters on drums rounded out the rest of this poultry in motion band. The band recorded four singles, two independent releases and two for Phillips Records. But by the time they got to Phillips, the band's creative force had shipped out to Vietnam.

We turn now to the band's debut single. Tim Ward wrote both sides of their 1966 debut single for the micro label, Progressive Sounds of America. The A-Side is the show stopper.

One Of These Days first came to my attention via a comp released in the 80s. Jangly 12 string guitar, minor chord progressions, tight harmonies, nice little funky rhythm change at the chorus and put down lyrics make this one of the best to come out of Los Angeles. And that's saying a lot.

You Gotta Run is damn fine as well. It has a real Beau Brummels sound to it. Not as strong, but it shows the band had talent. For days.

Richie Podolor (working under the pseudonym Richie Allen), the man who engineered many a fine Standells and Chocolate Watchband record for Ed Cobb, was the producer of this fine single.

In one interview (noted below), Ray Manginin suggests that this single was not released for sale, only in promo form. It's a shame they never had a chance to see how this record might play out. Oh well, makes it more rare!

Check out an interview over at Flower Bomb Songs with lead singer Ray Manginin for more info.

Southern California Spotlight: The Misunderstood - Children of the Sun/I Unseen

Our fourth entrant in the SoCal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands is a bit of a misunderstood band. Too often The Misunderstood get tagged as a UK band. But they were not. Yes they recorded their only two singles in the UK. Yes their only two singles were only released in the UK. Yes they had one member of their five piece band that was from the UK. But all the other cats were from Riverside, California. 

Five years ago we wrote extensively about The Misunderstood (specifically the flip-side of their debut single for Fontana, Who Do You Love) and that gained attention from two of the members of the band who, in turn, left great comments. For detailed info we suggest you read that post here. 

We turn today to their second single, Children Of The Sun/I Unseen. The single was recorded in 1966 upon the band's arrival in the UK. However, the record was not released until much later in 1969 when Fontana Records got around to realizing what they had on their hands. 

The A-Side, Children Of The Sun was written by singer Rick Brown and rhythm guitarist Tony Hill. Note that Brown's name is misspelled on the label. There is just so many great things to say about this 100% perfect song that I am left scratching my head as to where to start. I guess I'll start with the wonderful guitar work of Glenn Ross Campbell and his very unique pedal steel guitar riffs that lift this song to unique and brilliant heights. Rick Brown growls away as he and Campbell battle it out and Rick Moe propels the song at break neck speed with his full drumming. Brilliant. 

The flip-side, I Unseen, gives writing credit to Brown and Hill again. But the reality is that the lyrics of a post nuclear haunting are from a poem by Turkish writer, Nazim Hikmet. That aside, I Unseen is as powerful as the A-Side. A blistering lead guitar riff backed by a really nice rhythm laid down by Tony Hill give way to a couple of great music breaks where the whole band just owns the song. And bassist Steve Whiting is never forgotten as he has laid down some of the best bass work of anybody to ever record on a rock record in the 60s.

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