Saturday Morning Psychedelic - Blues Magoos

Actually they're more a blend of garage and psych than purely psychedelic, but they did have the gumption to put "psychedelic" in the title of their first album for Psychedelic Lollipop on Mercury Records in 1966. I think it's a great title, myself. Tells you right away what you're getting when you flip that vinyl on the turntable and have the kids gather around to dig the sounds...

The album features their original hit, "(We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet" among a selection of originals and covers, including "Tobacco Road" (J.D. Loudermilk) and "I'll Go Crazy" by James Brown. The whole record is a gas, to borrow an ancient term, and I was happy to find a nice copy of it on vinyl recently.

Line up on the album is Ralph Scala - "Quiet, Shy, Good-Looking, plays his organ while singing." Ronnie Gilbert - "Loud, Funny, Lazy, plays bass." Peppy Thielheim - "An Idol, Lovable, '17', Drop-out, plays rhythm guitar." Mike Esposito - "Psyched Out, Warm, Friendly, Rich, plays lead guitar. And Geoff Daking - "Blond, Beautiful, Straight, plays drums."

Linked here is their song "Sometimes I Think About" written by Gilbert-Scala-Thielheim-Esposito and produced by Bob Wyld and Art Polhemus.  Noted here is that the liner notes taken from the album cover say that it's Thielheim and not Thielhelm as I've seen elsewhere. Perhaps someone who knows more than I do will correct me on that.

Wednesday Night Garage - Trouble by The Music Machine

"Trouble" by Sean Bonniwell, performed by The Music Machine. More well known for their hit "Talk Talk" this is the second song off The Music Machine's first album in 1966. It's also my favorite of theirs - at least of the songs on this record. Unfortunately the album is loaded with cover songs that the label insisted go on the record in lieu of their own material. "Kids want to hear songs they know!" I would have preferred a disc of all original material, which would have been all written by Sean Bonniwell. This song has a nice ratty guitar lick through it that I love. Also a nasty bass in the break.

In their early gigs they performed one song after another without breaks for talking and bullshitting around. They embodied their name literally as a Music Machine, night after night. Their look was simple. They all wore black, all had black hair, and each wore one black glove. The glove always make me think of that Spinal Tap title, "Smell the Glove."

Other musicians in addition to Sean Bonniwell here include, Ron Edgar (drums), Mark Landon (guitar), Keith Olsen (bass) and Doug Rhodes on organ.

Ramones - Howling at the Moon

Produced by David A. Stewart, "Howling at the Moon" is a classic should-have-been-a-monster song for the Ramones from their 1984 album Too Tough To Die. Couple notes about the song; Ben Tench (familiar to fans of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) adds his talents to keyboards. It features a somewhat rare guitar break in it. Also the song had some small exposure as a video on MTV. But by small exposure, I mean almost no exposure compared to the other crap on MTV's rotation back then. It was written by Dee Dee Ramone and dedicated to Vera Ramone. Why this song didn't explode from radios that year, I have no idea. I'm trying to remember what bullshit songs were hits back then and I'm drawing a blank. No doubt some dreck by Phil Collins instead. Enjoy...

Saturday Night Rock - Johnny Cash by The Mission Creeps

Very cool song by The Mission Creeps called "Johnny Cash off their newest CD Midnight Blood. I know they're coming to Phoenix in June for an appearance at the Retro Ranch Party, details of which are on their website you can visit through the attached link. I'm hoping to check them out. I think it will be a good time.

Wednesday Night Rock - "Loose" by The Stooges

Iggy Pop is probably one of the coolest rockers around and The Stooges deserve all the praise they get, even if it is late. This is my favorite song off The Stooges second album Fun House. There is no way you can listen to "Loose" and not feel that power kicking right to the groin. I hear songs like this and want to smoke cigarettes, drink whisky and grab that dirty girl who likes to throw that up-from-under look at you by the keg. Released in 1970 Fun House was written and performed by Iggy Pop, Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton and Scott Asheton. Steven Mackay joined the band playing saxophones on two of the songs. The Fun House album gives you The Stooges at their best, when Rock was dangerous and dirty.

Sunday Morning Psych - Swami

Here is a fun psychedelic nugget (or pebble) from 1967 by William Penn Fyve. This was originally released on Thunderbird Records. William Penn Fyve (aka William Penn V) was a San Francisco band in the mid-sixties who had some moderate regional success. This is a garage rock classic and has popped up on various compilations over the years. And for any who hasn't heard it before, a careful listen to the lead vocals will reveal that's Greg Rolie behind the mike before he left to join Santana. And years before he left Santana to form Journey.

Ugly Things

That's right, UGLY THINGS, the magazine bringing you "wild sounds from past dimensions" a couple times a year.

This is one of my favorite magazines to pick up on the rare instances I find it. Oh sure, I should just go to their site, but I'm old enough that I don't think of that first. Instead, whenever I'm in a record shop I check the magazine/book rack to see if they carry it. It's kind of a mental test, to rate the place. It's not a pass/fail kind of thing, but a place scores points for me if I see it there in the racks. There was a cool record store in Tempe, East Side Records, that carried it. Sadly, it's no longer around. For fans of garage rock, psych or whatever, UGLY THINGS is chock full 'o articles, reviews, pics and all kinds of sources to tickle the punk inside us all. Actually, the issues are more books than magazines, at least the handful I've got from past years 2008 and 2009, which weigh in at over 200 pages each. So yeah, this is coming across as a huge plug but I like it and like seeing cool things get the support they deserve. Check it out.

I Found a Peanut, one day....Thee Midniters

I’m the first to admit that I can’t spell for beans, but that’s the real name of a terrific mid-sixties garage rock band from East L.A. Thee Midniters could pretty much do it all; surf, rave-ups, soul, rock and you get the idea. Apparently, early in their career they’d wear Lone Ranger masks when performing and throw them to the girls in the crowd. I have no idea what the girls would throw back at them in return.

 

The lineup changed a bit through their career and included Little Willie G., Larry Rendon, Benny Caballos, Little Ray Jimenez, George Dominguez, Roy Marquez, Ronny Figueroa, Romeo Prado, George Salazar and Benny Lopez, in addition to later members Danny La Mont and Jimmy Espinoza.

 

There is a killer live version of “Land of a Thousand Dances” they do that I would recommend checking out if you’re so inclined. They had a regional hit with the terrific “Whittier Blvd.” that you may have heard, or not if you’re only glued to commercial radio. I got introduced to Thee Midniters through one of the numerous garage rock compilations I’ve picked up over the years. Later on, I was happy to find IN THEE MIDNITE HOUR!!! CD from Norton Records, exclusively of Thee Midniters songs including the ones mentioned above. Here is “I Found a Peanut” for your pleasure. It’s got a weird vocal about what happens after eating that strange peanut you found. You’ll have this one stuck in your head later, trust me.