Battle of the Garage Bands: The Squires v. The Blues Magoos

Day one of the Battle of the Garage Bands epic bracket system showdown. Today we have the winners of the New England Region going head to head with the winners of the New York region. The Squires of Connecticut v. The Blues Magoos of Greenwich Village. Celebrity judges will vote below to determine who moves on to the next round. Enjoy.

Original Squires article can be found here.

Original Blues Magoos article can be found here.

And the winner of the So Cal Battle of the Garage Bands is...

What an epic adventure that was! Seventeen entrants in the So Cal region of the Battle of the Garage Bands. We tried to cap it at 10. Then 15. But our offerings of goodness just kept spilling over like a beer being poured by a blind barkeep.

Unbelievably we had a unanimous choice for the coveted number 1 spot! The Misunderstood, a band that had to leave their hometown of Riverside for the rain and fog of London to get a recording contract, have brought home the coveted "best garage record from Southern California" award. The other bands rounding out the top five are Love, The Grains of Sand, The Music Machine, all of Los Angeles, and The Lyrics of San Diego.

The Misunderstood are misunderstood no more. Now they saunter over to the holding pen where they will join our other regional winners as they await the next region. That region is Northern California and Hawaii. We'll launch that assault tomorrow!  Until then, here is a sample from all the winners thus far. And a nifty map down below.

Southern California: The Misunderstood - Children Of The Sun/I Unseen

Rocky Mountains: Phil and the Frantics: Say That You Will/'Till You Get What You Want

Mid-West: The Litter with Action Woman/Legal Matter

Texas: The 13th Floor Elevators with You're Gonna Miss Me/Tried To Hide

New England: The Squires with Going All The Way and Go Ahead

The South: The Bad Roads with Too Bad/Blue Girl

Great Lakes: The Shadows of Knight with Bad Little Woman/Gospel Zone

The Mid-Atlantic: The Enfields with She Already Has Somebody/I'm For Things You Do

New York: The Blues Magoos with We Ain't Got Nothing Yet/Gotta Get Away

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

New England Teen Spotlight: And the winner is...

The legendary Executive Committee of On The Flip-Side has meticulously gone through the 10 nominations for "the best 1960s garage record out of New England" and have come to a unanimous decision.

The winner is Connecticut's The Squires with their double sided gem on Atco Records, Going All The Way/Go Ahead. That can be heard here. Congratulations go out to Michael Boyeau who composed both sides, sings lead and plays drums.

Here are the top five finalists:

1. The Squires - Going All The Way

2. The Bold - Gotta Get Some

3. The Others - I Can’t Stand This Love Goodbye

4. The Shames - My World Is Upside Down

5. The Rockin’ Ramrods - She Lied

The Squires will now move on to the next round as they await their counterparts from other parts of the country.

Next up in our regional Battle of The Bands will be the states of New York and New Jersey. Until then, click dreamy pic below (which, contrary to public opinion, is NOT the much vaunted Executive Committee of On The Flip-Side relaxing at our offices high atop Mount Garagemore) to "like" us on Facebook. Yep, you can get On The Flip-Side right there in your news feed.

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

New England Spotlight: The Squires - Going All The Way and Go Ahead

The New England Battle of The Bands continues into this new week. We start the week with a monster double sided record.

The Squires were a bunch of high school buddies out of Bristol, Connecticut (perhaps best known today for being the home of ESPN). In the fall of '66 they loaded into the van and drove to New York to record a few original songs. One of them was the mega gem, Going All the Way, from drummer and singer, Michael Bouyea. Thomas Flannigan was holding the Fender Jazzmaster guitar, John Folick owned a cheap bass that looks to me to be a Kay; and Kurt Robinson from nearby Torrington, played a mean Farfisa organ. The band would later add a drummer and move Bouyea to the front, but that guy isn't on this recording.

The A-Side is the Bouyea composed Going All The Way. The jangly guitar, the lonely bird chirp of the far off organ, the lyrics that exude cockiness, the blazingly fast jazzmaster guitar lead that takes up nearly 1/4 of the entire song. Michael Bouyeau's scream that leads us into said guitar solo. It is perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. The Flip-Side is nearly as good. Go Ahead, also composed by Bouyeau, is a classic folk rock, pop number and tells the tale of the 60s garage, time-tested theme of "bad girl does good boy wrong." With all it's suspended chords and efficient 2:07 of length, this could have been an early Byrds number. 

The record was released on Atco Records in September of 1966. But Atco fell down on the job with a monster record on their hands. The Atlantic Records subsidiary did not promote their local gem and the number of pressings of the record is rumored to be 2,500 or less. I want it. 

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