American mid-'60s garage rock is most often stereotyped as a kind of macho suburban variation on the R&B-based British Invasion rock of the Rolling Stones. But there was also a wide strain of gentler midtempo rockers and ballads that were often prone to lachrymose adolescent self-pity. Subtitled "29 Tales of Woe and Despair," Sigh Cry Die has 78 minutes of the stuff, which -- in keeping with most Arf! Arf! '60s compilations -- is populated with bands mostly unknown even to the '60s garage buff. When King's Ransom and Fenwyck are about the most familiar bands, you know this music is way-obscure. The influence of the Beatles, the British Invasion, and the Byrds permeates much of the material, with some side nods to the Beau Brummels and the Zombies, though there's usually a layer of amateurish lovesick despondency missing even from the most downbeat songs done by these role models. It makes for a nice change of pace from the usual '60s garage collection, though not many of the songs are all that strong, and it's something of a downer heard in one gulp. King's Ransom's "Without You," with its tense clock-ticking rhythm, is about the best number here, and some of the other tracks (like Strange Fate's vibes-adorned "Love Is Like") have fair melodies, harmonies, and production, though most of them aren't highly memorable. The Fyrebirds' "I'm So Lonely" might be taken as evidence of a band with above-average promise if you're not aware it's actually a cover of a 1965 Hollies B-side. It's music to drag out to suit the mood on those first foggy November mornings after the switch to daylight savings time, preferably when recalling your first unrequited adolescent crushes. The packaging divulges no hard information about these never-made-its, other than reproductions of rare 45 labels in the booklet.
A very special album rescued from the vault – 12 previously unreleased 1970 recordings from American psychedelic garage rockers, The Litter!
The Litter’s late ’60s output, includiing the all-time classic “Action Woman,” has been hailed as some of the finest psych garage rock to come out of the States and this lost album will be welcomed with open arms by fans of vintage rock!
Re-formations are a tricky thing. It’s hard not to question the motivation, and the end result can find a precious entity becoming a Marshalled-up chugganaut with little authenticity or self-respect.
This is different. Cali garage giants The Chocolate Watchband’s ‘original line-up’ (questionable, as members from three incarnations are here) have re-recorded 13 tracks exactly the way they did in the 60s. Instruments, echo room, the works. It’s a good set, and fun to play spot the difference against the originals.
Some tracks retain attitude and raw power (Gone And Passes By, Sweet Young Thing), some reflect the pace of the 60-somethings remodelling them (Are You Gonna Be There, I Ain’t No Miracle Worker).
Obscure 1965-1968 recordings, most of them previously unreleased, by The Individuals, The Tokays and Euphorian Railway, bands which featured Andy Cahan aka Johnny Farfisa as main songwriter and organ player. Over those three years, Cahan and his teenage bandmates produced a remarkable set of R&B/garage/blue-eyed soul tracks of outstanding quality.
1990 private pressing, DIY psychedelic stoner rock album. All instruments on this recording Played by Christopher Seyton including: Electric and Acoustic Rhythm and Lead Guitars, Bass, Mandolin, Sitar & Flute,Drums, Piano, Assorted Percussion (Bells, Chimes, Gongs, Bongos, Congos, etc..) and All Lead and Backing Vocals.
Maybe John Cooper Clarke's brief window of fame passed with the demise of punk. But his poems are every bit as arch and funny now as they were in the '70s. There are sly wordplay, groaning puns, and also plenty of strong social observation. He essentially took the ethos of the Liverpool poets of the '60s, using common language and bringing in lots of humor, but made his mark through speech, not print. This collection, cherry-picked from his major-label work, is an absolute joy. Backed by the relatively all-star Invisible Girls (which included Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks), the Bard of Salford deadpans his way through the epic "Psycle Sluts (Parts 1 & 2)," "The Day My Pad Went Mad," and the piece that really gave him his first big exposure, "I Married a Monster From Outer Space." But in "Beasley Street" and "Postwar Glamour Girls" there's a more serious undercurrent happening, while "Kung Fu International," for all its lightheartedness, shows that little has changed in English street violence, and "Twat" remains as deliberately outrageous and hilarious as it was on its initial release. Culled from the four albums Cooper Clarke did for Epic, it shows that what was good then is still good. The world needs a Cooper Clarke for the new millennium.
