The Iguanas "The Iguanas" 1963-1964(recorded) 1996(comp)***

Here are The Iguanas. Five high school kids with matching suits and cool sunglasses. Truth is, no-one would still remember them if it wasn't for their drummer Jim Osterberg, who later found fame as a member of... let me see you guess. If you already know, don't tell the others and spoil the fun. Noo... nooo... Hint: in this group he was the singer, not the drummer. Yes, you found it! Iggy And The Stooges, Jim Osterberg is actually Iggy Pop! How did you guess? Yes, "Iggy" does come from Iguana. Plus, if you look closely you can recognize him. Even with his sunglasses and pants on. These recordings come from 1963/1964 which would make him 16 and 17 year old at the time, respectively. They were re-issued on CD and vinyl by Norton Records in '96. The '63 recordings are instrumental demos featuring just a trio: Iggy/Jim (drums), Jim McLaughlin (guitar) and Sam Swisher (sax). They're joined by Nick Kolokithas (guitar/vocals) and Don Sickerath (bass) for another demo from '64 as well as 3 songs cut in a professional 4-track studio. These consist of a Stones-y cover of Bo Didley's "Mona" and two originals: the folk rock "I Don't Know Why" and Iggy's primitive garage punk "Again And Again". The rest of the album consists of the band's live set, amateur recordings never intended for release, just a sample of their work they circulated in order to get gigs. It's a nice selection of covers, basically what the kids danced to in those days, which is way cooler than what kids dance to now... or in my time. Surf, frat rock, and the nascent sounds of the British Invasion: a couple of Beatles covers and a Rolling Stones one. As is evident, especially in the instrumentals, the band are rather proficient for a bunch of schoolkids, especially the guitar and sax. Iggy's sole lead vocal is "Louie Louie", a song that remained with him throughout his career, although it took him 30 years to put in an album (1993's "American Caesar"). The liner notes inform us that he used to sing it with naughty lyrics live, even back then. "If I Had A Hammer", "Johnny B. Goode" and "Surfin' Bird" are instrumental versions, while the rest are similar to the originals, maybe with a bit more sax than usual. Is it any good? you ask. Well, it's a bunch of semi-competent kids playing music they love to make other teens dance. What's not to like?

**** for Again And Again

*** for Mona, I Don't Know Why, Out Of Limits, California Sun, Walk Don't Run, Louie Louie, Twist And Shout, Slow Down, Johnny B. Good, Tequila

** for Things We Said Today, Surfin' Bird, Wild Weekend, Tell Me, I Feel Fine, Pipeline, If I Had A Hammer

Various ‎"Lysergic Saviours" 1968-1974(rec) 2017(comp) ✞ ✞ ✞

They say the Devil has all the best tunes, but it doesn't always have to be so. God held his own for a while, with some help from Händel, Bach, and their like. Until rock'n'roll came along, and God was left to eat Devil's dust in that particular race. Look at Elvis, luring the kids in with "Tutti Frutti" and "Hound Dog". Sure he also recorded albums with hymns and spirituals, but did the kids take the bait? Hell no! Now if one could combine The Devil's Music with The Lord's Prayer... wouldn't that be something? Well, here are the first bands who tried it. The fact that their names don't ring any bells -not to mention that the most famous Christian Rock band ever is Stryper, for Chrissake- means that the idea really is as stupid as it sounds. To be fair, despite the lyrics' unwitting hilarity, there is some musical value to the songs here - especially if you're partial to the sound of fuzz guitars. There's that genuine enthusiasm that I love about garage bands, and some of the musicians do justify this compilation's title, sounding suspiciously like someone had spiked their holy water with LSD. The singers, on the other hand, sometimes disappointed me seeing as they sound like they've watched Jesus Christ Superstar once too often. The contrast is most evident on The New Folk's "Love Comes Down" which combines Hendrix-like guitars with an annoyingly upbeat vocal duo that sing like they're selling toothpaste or laundry detergent. Opener "Praise" is the kind of crunchy hard rock typical of the era's biker movies - until you realize it's about the joy of being a born again Christian. Unconventional as it is, though, it can't compare to New Dawn's garage punk "Dark Thoughts" featuring a monster riff and a singer sounding like a meaner Sky Saxon. Search Party's "The News Is You" is even more out-there, featuring some discordant noise and a weirdly high-pitched female vocalist - their other tune "You And I" is closer to Jefferson Airplane but still wacky at times. The Accompany offer a trippy psychedelic ballad, while Azitis play a more conventional folk rock, and Mind Garage are heavier, reminiscent of Vanilla Fudge (on "There Was A Time") and The Free (on "Communion/Water"). Concrete Rubber Band and Koinonia mix fuzz guitars with Doors-y keyboards (lots of those in this comp, I guess these kids had a lot of practice time on the local church organ). Out Of Darkness, the only UK band here, offers more psychedelic hard rock, and the compilation closes with the slow, trippy, and outrageous "Rejoice" by Agape. To summarize, as late-60's/early 70's garage-psych compilations go, this is above average and likely to appeal to fans of the era. As a curio, on the other hand, it's positively priceless. My CD contains an informative booklet and nice remastered sound. The LP trumps it though, as it's pressed on beautiful multicolored vinyl, and contains the CD as a bonus. So, if possible, go for that one. Amen, and blessings to you all!

***** for Dark Thoughts [New Dawn]

**** for The News Is You [Search Party], What Shall We Do? [Concrete Rubber Band], I See A Day [New Dawn], Reality [Whispers Of Truth], Communion (Water) [Mind Garage], On Solid Rock [Out Of Darkness], You And I [Search Party]

*** for Praise [Our Generation],  Love Comes Down [The New Folk], Beside The Still Waters [The Accompany], Creation Lord I See You Cry [Azitis], There Was A Time [Mind Garage], Won't You Join Me [Koinonia], You Can [Earthen Vessel], It'S Been Sent Down [Exkursions], Rejoice [Agape]

** for Shady Day [Eden], Where Do We Go From Here [The Sheep]

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "B.R.M.C." 2001****

B.R.M.C., now on their 7th release, never quite managed to repeat the success of this debut of theirs. By which success I don't just mean sales (we all know how actual physical sales have dwindled during the last couple of decades) but reviews and radio play. For those of you too young to remember, radio was something we had before YouTube and Spotify. People called radio DJ's would play records and cd's in a studio, and the sound would be transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves on the air to be caught by devices called radio receivers or tuners. No digital conversion to little 0's and 1's, no subscription and no internet necessary. But if you missed the broadcast at the moment it happened, there was no way you could listen to it at your own leisure. Crazy times!

Well those rock radio DJ's went crazy for B.R.M.C. for a while. How could they not? They were the epitome of cool: named after a bikers gang in a young Marlon Brando movie, dressed in black leather, making a noisy racket but never appearing to break a sweat. Except probably in "Whatever Happened To My Rock'N'Roll (Punk Song)", which is a supercharged Stooges-inspired hymn to the pioneers of punk rock. Most of the rest is simultaneously noisy and drowned in feedback, but curiously laid-back. The music press of the time painted these Californians as staunch anglophiles, highlighting the obvious similarities with Jesus And Mary Chain, as well as name-checking other Brit rock groups: Ride, Stone Roses, Spiritualized etc. Curiously not so much the other obvious reference, Irish shoegaze paragons My Bloody Valentine. It's possible that these were BRMC's direct influences (after all, the original trio did contain a Brit expat) but the basis of their music is, as with all good rock'n'roll, American: Iggy & The Stooges, Velvet Underground, and Suicide. In the opener "Love Burns", a melody and infectious chorus emerge slowly from a swamp of feedback, "Red Eyes And Tears" is a mid-tempo piece with a monotonous riff, "Awake" a hypnotic ballad, and "White Palms" a groovy rocker while the album's hit "Spread Your Love" is a contrasting mix: a repetitive riff out of 70's boogie rock and a cocky vocal a la Primal Scream, all drowned in muddily produced indie sludge. "As Sure As The Sun", "Rifles", "Too Real" are droney psychedelia and closer "Salvation" a kind of drugged-out gospel reminiscent of Spiritualized's Ladies And Gentlemen... Never less than cool, this album is one of those rare cases where you can believe the hype.

***** for Love Burns, Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song), Spread Your Love

**** for Red Eyes and Tears, Awake, White Palms

*** for As Sure as the Sun, Rifles, Too Real, Head Up High, Salvation

Various "Pushing Scandinavian Rock To The Man! Volume 3" 2002(comp)***

Now why the hell would you be interested in an album entitled Pushing Scandinavian Rock To The Man! Volume 3? Have you even heard Volume 1 or 2? I have an excuse for buying it: I used to suffer from a compulsive buying disorder which compelled me to get any garage record or CD I could get my hands on for a reasonable price. I would then blast it on my car player while driving to work and fantasize I could part, Moses-like, the slow-moving sea of cars around me and step on the gas to the tune of earsplitting rock'n'roll. I have therefore a whole slew of neo-garage compilations, from the most essential (I take it you all have Voxx's Battle Of The Garages Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4?) to the most specific like this one, catering to a geographical corner of a niche of a subgenre. Don't be deceived by the Blaxploitation cover art: there's no funk here, the music moves strictly between Sonics-style 60's garage and Stooges/MC5 hi-energy rock'n'roll, with a dash of surf and punk. The cover art is a reference to the name of the Danish label Bad Afro (there has to be a funny story behind that name) for which this compilation presumably acts as a sampler. The timing of its release couldn't have been better: Garage rock was back in vogue thanks to the commercial success of The Strokes, while the British music press was waxing lyrical about a Scandinavian garage band called The Hives. But despite the good timing and their apparent chops, none of these bands managed to follow The Hives into international success. Many of their albums did find their way to my collection, though, thanks to my aforementioned affliction. This is how I know that The Royal Beat Conspiracy's Standells/Electric Prunes tribute "Try Me" is the gem in an otherwise unremarkable record, or that Baby Woodrose is a remarkably productive group reminiscent of, but not comparable to, The Fuzztones and Monster Magnet. Their track "Never Coming Back" borrows heavily from The Moving Sidewalks' classic "99th Floor". Who Cares? It rocks, doesn't it? Other bands playing Nuggets/Pebbles 60's pastiche include Stockholm's The Maggots and Oslo's Launderettes who give a female twist to The Human Beinz's "Nobody But Me". The other girls here are Helsinki's Thee Ultra Bimboos with a dirtier sound that reminds me of The Pandoras. Their compatriots Flaming Sideburns sing, for some reason, the verses in Spanish and chorus in English. The Defectors offer more 60's style Farfisa sounds, The Mutants instrumental surf, and Vegas V.I.P. a cool exotica/surf piece with nice sax. The rest of the bands adopt a harder sound: The Chronics, On Trial, Species, and Flaming Sideburns all play MC5/Radio Birdman-like hi-energy rock, Sweatmaster sound a bit like The Dirtbombs, while The Borderlines and Burnouts are more punk rock a la Hives. All in all this is a cool bunch of songs from a region with a penchant for loud and dirty rock'n'roll (think Nomads, Hellacopters, Turbonegro etc). See? you did have a reason to check this out after all!

**** for I Am A Demon And I Love Rock N' Roll(Sweatmaster), Try Me(The Royal Beat Conspiracy), Nightrider(Vegas V.I.P.), Nobody But Me(The Launderettes), Leave Me Alone(The Maggots), The Flaming Sideburns(Blow The Roof)

*** for Never Coming Back(Baby Woodrose), Slippin' And Slidin'(The Chronics), Higher(On Trial), Ram It Up(Species), Come On, Hold On(The Borderlines), Kung Fu(The Mutants), You Lose (The Burnouts), Live To See Your Face Again(The Defectors), No Man's No Good/Pms 666 (Thee Ultra Bimboos)

The Fleshtones "Hitsburg USA!" 1997***

Some time ago I presented Hitsburg Revisited together with an account of my first Fleshtones concert circa 1998. As I mentioned then, that album was a sequel to Hitsburg USA!, their first all-covers compilation. The latter was a bit harder to get as it was only issued in vinyl in the States, and had a single CD edition by a Spanish label. I recently happened upon it at a second hand market in Barcelona and thought "Why Not?". You can't go completely wrong with The Fleshtones, though some of their albums are a bit samey and therefore inessential. Some funny mis-spellings aside ("Wild Cat Tanner?" "Keep Her Guesting?") the most frustrating thing about the Spanish edition is that there's no mention of the original versions, many of which are rather obscure. One exception is "Inside Looking Out" which suffers in comparison with the over-familiar Animals' original. Another is Joplin's "Down on Me" which is refreshingly re-imagined as garage-soul. The most familiar for me was "Speedy Gonzalez". That Pat Boone tune is the first rock'n'roll song I remember loving, when I was in kindergarten or something. It's cool that people still play it (yes, The Fleshtones apparently still play it live) even though it isn't too politically correct with today's standards. Finding out the rest of the originals required a lot of searching, which only enhanced my admiration for Zaremba & Co's encyclopedic knowledge of vintage R&B. For Hitsburg they just picked and recorded some covers from their huge live repertory (this site lists 250+ songs covered by them). No matter what the original was like, they turn it into party music injecting it with their particular brand of garage punk, soul and rockabilly. Best among them are Arthur Alexander's "Keep Her Guessing", Richard Berry's "Next Time" and Rosco Gordon's ode to booze "Let's Get High". There are a couple of slower tunes (blues "This Sporting Life" and country "Rainbow in My Heart"), 50's-60's novelty rock ("Dick Tracy", "Mr. Custer"), red hot rockabilly ("Let the Doorbell Ring", "Wild Cat Tamer") - all from the 50's and 60's except from "If and When" from The dB's debut power pop single (1978, around the same time the Fleshtones started out). The album's production (by Peter Zaremba himself) is simple and sounds as if recorded live. Supposedly that's the best way to record garage bands but the Fleshtones' manic intensity doesn't translate so well on record and the songs often sound more hurried than animated. An enjoyable listen nevertheless, recommended for fans of garage rock and vintage R&B. Better yet, go see the band live while you still can!

**** for Keep Her Guessing (Arthur Alexander), Next Time (Richard Berry), Let's Get High (Rosco Gordon)

*** for Let the Doorbell Ring (Jack Dupree), Down on Me (Trad. arr. J.Joplin), Panic (Otis Williams & His Charms), If and When (Chris Stamey & The dB's), This Sporting Life (Brownie McGhee), Dick Tracy (The Chants), Mr. Custer (Larry Verne), Wild Cat Tamer (Tarheel Slim), Speedy Gonzalez (Pat Boone)

** for Inside Looking Out (Animals), I'm Crying (Dave Davies/Kinks), Rainbow in My Heart (George Morgan)