rubber soul

Well, I guess some of you noticed my original journal remains closed. That’s mainly because I’ve now put my top twenty-fives in a blog in a galaxy far far away known as Blogger.com. Anyway, I may eventually post the short version on this journal when the time comes. In the meantime, while I was compiling my top twenty-fives, I found some real gems that I hadn’t heard before, so this journal will be mostly about some of the artists (mostly garage but in some other genres as well) I’ve either have had in my collection or discovered on Spotify or Youtube. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some videos under the spoiler function in case you’re wondering what in the state of Alberta Rubber Soul’s talking about.

And, of course, feel free to comment, criticize, eat mustard with your hands, whatever.

And with that, enter…. IF YOU DARE….



( Artist number one to be posted soon)

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Trollheart

It's The Fraggles, isn't it?

Must say, when I caught sight of this I thought the title was Rubber Soul's Bag of Garbage!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

rubber soul

Actually, it's the Jefferson Airplane after one of their psychedelic trips

Well, some people might think it's garbage, you know this place

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rubber soul

There was darkness, and God said…





Okay, so it wasn’t all that pompous, but the idea of teenage boys playing rock n roll in their parents’ garages was fairly unknown in the 1950’s. Indeed, the true inspiration for these bands were only themselves beginning to form. Still, the seeds were already forming with artists and bands that were incorporating a rawer form of rock and roll. These artists would be the forerunners for what would become surf music and frat rock.

So who was the first? Well, some might argue (Okay, maybe I might argue) it was Johnny Burnette (later famous for You’re Sixteen) and his Rock n Roll Trio. Indeed, the rawest form of rock n roll in its infancy was seeded in the roots of rockabilly. Check out their version of Train Kept a Rollin’


Rockabilly was undoubtedly an influence but the real roots of garage rock, like most forms of rock, would be found in R&B, Case in point: The great Link Wray, who practically invented the fuzz guitar. Some people have referred to him as the Father of Heavy Metal. He certainly was one of the earliest purveyors of distortion as we note in his legendary first and biggest hit, Rumble. He would also score instrumental classics like Rawhide, Comanche, and Jack the Ripper.



Probably separate from the rockabilly bands and Wray, but not in spirit, the first region where the first garage bands would become notorious cropped up. The Wailers, out of Tacoma, Washington, are considered, perhaps, the first of the many garage rock bands that would sprawl out over the world, really. They scored a hit with Tall Cool One in 1959. Another instrumental band, the Frantics, followed, and soon there were R&B outfits spread out all over the Pacific Northwest that included Paul Revere and the Raiders out of Idaho of all places.









Finally, we get to the early sixties and a new form of music now known as Frat Rock. This was a genre that featured one hit wonders like the Trashmen (Surfin Bird) and the Rivieras (California Sun). By far the biggest of these bands, another Northwest band out of Portland Oregon, would record a version of Richard Berry’s Louie Louie. By the end of 1963, the Kingsmen had produced one of Rock’s great anthems.



The Kingsmen would release a string of live albums from 1963 to 1966 and you can hear the energy on these albums


Mojo Workout (From the Kingsmen in Person)



And thus the cast was dyed. Maybe this was the future of Rock n Roll. But then some pesky guys out of England arrived on the scene and not only changed the face of Rock n Roll, but also changed the face of what would one day become known as garage rock. But, we’ll delve into that later. Until then, to quote one Peter Ivers of New Wave Theatre, don’t be a gherkin. See you next time.

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rubber soul

It goes without saying that the Beatles changed everything. One of things they changed was the attitude among teenagers that they could form their own bands and maybe make it big. Of course, so few ever did and, if not for Greg Shaw, Pebbles, and various other garage rock compilations, these groups would have been left to the trash heap of obscurity.

A couple bands did have some success in 1964 and 1965. One such band were the Gestures, out of Minneapolis. The released a Beatlesque single in the Fall of 1964 and it managed to reach number 44 on Billboard.


A more successful band were the Barbarians, from Massachusetts, who first recorded Hey Little Bird in late 1964. This song would later be covered by the Chesterfield Kings



Of course, they are best known for their hit, ‘Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl,’ which went to number 55 nationally. By that time, folk rock was the rage and that too began to influence the direction of the teen set.


Finally, we have Moulty, from 1966. Now the Barbarians featured a drummer with a prosthesis for his left hand. Moulty recorded a song about it and it’s kind of creepy in retrospect with the chorus of, “Don’t turn away.” Ironically, the Barbarians (except for Moulty of course) aren’t even on the record. According to Wiki, Moulty was backed up by the Hawks (later, the Band, of course).


Some other bands would become better known though only a couple would enjoy true success such as Question Mark and the Mysterians. Most of the bands languished in obscurity trying to sound like their favorite British bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, of course, but also bands like the Animals, the Kinks, and, believe it or not, the Zombies. I’ll do a chapter on Zombies influenced bands later.

For now, though, I’ll finish with this raver out of Los Angeles, supposedly also from 1964, though I have my doubts (sounds a little later to me). It didn't chart, but what a raver.

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rubber soul

By 1965, the new sound, led by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, had taken hold of the rock n roll landscape and bands were cropping up like an infestation of bed bugs. Few would make it and some really great music was being missed out. Still, a few bands did break through. The best of them seemed to incorporate the organ driven frat rock into the popular British sounds of the day. Case in point, the Castaways out of Minneapolis. Minneapolis had one of the best garage scenes out there. The Trashmen had also hailed from there. As for the Castaways, they scored a top twenty hit with Liar Liar. They later lip synced the song in the movie, It’s a Bikini World.



Towards the end of 1965, the Knickerbockers, out of suburban New Jersey, scored a top twenty hit with Lies. See if you can hear the resemblance to a certain song from 1964.




The Northwest wasn’t without its heavy hitters. While the Kingsmen were fading a bit, Paul Revere and the Raiders were churning out hits like it was butter while becoming pets of Dick Clark, They scored a permanent god on his Where the Action Is in the Mid Sixties. The newest band though was miles ahead of the pop oriented Raiders. The Sonics hailed out of Tacoma, Washington and while most of the bands were incorporating the sounds of British and Folk rock, the Sonics stayed true to their Northwest roots and churned out some of the raunchiest songs of the era. I think many of you here remember this track.




1966 will be remembered as the ground zero year for garage rock. So many bands recorded at least one single. So few scored on the charts. Those that did would leave their mark. Each of these bands had their moment in the sun. We start with the Shadows of Knight out of Chicago. Chicago even had its own label, Dunwich, and quite a few bands wild record on that label. Ironically, one band that didn’t were the New Colony Six who recorded on Centaur or Sentar and later on Mercury. Anyway, the Shadows of Knight scored big with a cover of Them’s Gloria. I think their second album is better though so I’ll play a track from that instead. It's a cover of a recording by the Wheels.


The Remains hailed out of Boston. One of their claims to fame was being the opening act for the Beatles on their final tour. Their songs tended to be highlighted by the electric piano. They never charted on Billboard, but they certainly should have.



The Syndicate of Sound, from San Jose, did chart, twice in fact. Their big hit, Little Girl was a top ten hit and nearly became something of a garage punk anthem. It was typical teenage angst as lead singer Don Baskin sneers



By 1966, folk rock had been incorporated into the garage rock sound. One notable band would be the Knaves out of Chicago. One of the more successful bands, though, would be Los Angeles’ Leaves who scored a hit with a speeded up version of Tim Hardin’s Hey Joe, a whole year before Jimi Hendrix would take it into the stratosphere.


We finish off with a band that wasn’t even heard of in the United States, maybe because they were from Canada, who knows. They weren’t especially all that successful in Canada, scoring a few minor hits there. Yet, they were one of the punkiest bands out there. Their best song is straight out of the Rolling Stones. See if you agree.



There are hundreds if not thousands of bands they are relegated to the vast number of garage rock compilations out there. Stay tuned, though, I’ll eventually spotlight some of these bands. Next up though, we’re going deep in the heart of Texas. I think it has a clogged artery or something.

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rubber soul

NOTE: If somebody had stumbled on this within the last two hours, apologies. I was having issues with YouTube for some reason. All is fixed now.

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rubber soul

While garage rock was making its mark in other parts of the country, a demented new scene was rearing its head in a state known for big hats and big hair. Bands came from all over from Dallas and San Antonio and Austin. And while the sounds differed, one thing that had in common, was the music seemed to be from another planet.

The most conventional of these bands, was perhaps the most successful commercially, and the earliest on my list here. The Sir Douglas Quintet hailed out of San Antonio and was best known for their farfisa led beat. Frontman Doug Sahm would have a nice long career long after the Quintet faded into memory. She’s About a Mover (1965) was probably their biggest hit. They also later scored with Mendocino in 1969.


Like the rest of the country, things really exploded in 1966. I guess I should mention the Thirteen Floor Elevators but let’s face it; they deserve a chapter to themselves. Meanwhile, there was Mouse and the Traps, from Tyler. Their popularity pretty much stayed within Texas but they became something of a legend when garage became recognized as its own genre.


Another band that only had regional success were the Bad Seeds, out of Corpus Chrsti. Their raw sound made them one of the most sought after bands for garage rock collectors


Zachary Thaks also hailed from Corpus Christi. I think they were lo-fi before lo-fi was cool. They had some success opening for the Elevators and Jefferson Airplane (wiki). They sounded a bit amateurish with their fairly crude sound, but then again, that is the spirit of what is known as garage rock.



The Texas sound went well into the Psychedelic era as bands like the Red Crayola (Hurricane Fighter Plane) and The Bubble Puppy (Hot Smoke and Sassafras), recorded as late as 1969. The Puppy scored a top twenty hit Hot Smoke and Sassafras. The Red Crayola recorded an psychedelic classic with their Parable of Arable Land album.





We’ll end this chapter with two artists everyone is familiar with. Neither is known for doing anything like garage and one of them has already been panned here. Still, before ZZ Top, Bill Gibbons got his start with this band. This was an organ driven, blues inspired band out of Houston. They could be pretty demented too. Listen to their rendition of I Wanna Hold Your Hand from 1968.


And finally, there is Johnny Winter. Yeah, I know, what is a premier blues artist like Winter doing on here? Well, it turns out that Winter did some folk rock based material as well. It’s clear he was obviously influenced by the Byrds as noted in this late sixties gem.



And that’s about it for Texas, except I forgot one group. Well, actually, I didn’t, but you’ll have to wait until the next installment for these guys. In the meantime, saddle up, or whatever they say in Texas (Hey, I’m from Maryland, what do I know?)

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rubber soul

Speaking of resurrecting threads, how about I bring this one back?

I think I was trying to do a quickie history of garage rock originally and I was going to do the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, but I'll hold off on that for a bit.

Because, maybe I'm better off just exploring the bands and one shot wonders that really do it for me (and yes, that certainly includes the Elevators)

But it also includes these wackos out of Los Angeles. They scored a medium sized hit with Pushin Too hard in the fall of 1966 and, in some ways, predated the Doors as they too, didn't feature a bass player, Daryl Hooper playing the bass parts on his electric piano.

Of course their frontman was one who went by the name of Sky Saxon (real name, Richie Marsh). He started out singing doo wop in the early sixties.

He did this with the Electra-Fires in 1962



In 1965 he formed the Seeds with Hooper, Jan Savage, and Rick Andridge and signed on with GNP Crescendo Records. They developed a psychedelic sound long before anyone even knew what psychedelic music even was.

Garage rock aficionados will remember this classic, released in 1965 but wouldn't chart until 1967



Of course they really hit it big with their debut album in 1966. Their follow-up album, A Web of Sound, may even been punkier than the debut



Later in 1967, the Seeds would delve into the world of flower power with their album, Future. To me, this was a watered down version of the Seeds but some people seem to like this album. This is probably the best track from that album



In 1968, they would release A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues, a live album would follow, and then the Seeds we're never heard from again.

Though I did find this gem from 1969 on a garage compilation



Rumor has it that Saxon would wander around Los Angeles not doing much of anything in the seventies and beyond. The truth is, he would continue to make music until he passed away in 2009. As for the others, well, I guess I have to do some research

I finish this set off with a track from one of their compilations, probably from about 1967. Anyway, it's a classic

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Dram Goodbarrel

Didnt they do "I had too much to dream" or was that another band. Looking forward to some 13th floor. Just saw a video today where Malkmus was talking a out them.