Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American psychedelic and garage rock singles that were released during the mid-to-late 1960s. It was created by Lenny Kaye, who was a writer and clerk at the Village Oldies record shop in New York. He would later become the lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group. Kaye produced Nuggets under the supervision of Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman. Kaye conceived the project as a series of roughly eight LP installments focusing on different US regions, but Elektra convinced him that one double album would be more commercially viable. It was released on LP by Elektra in 1972 with liner notes by Kaye that contained one of the first uses of the term "punk rock". It was reissued with a new cover design by Sire Records in 1976. In the 1980s, Rhino Records issued Nuggets in a series of fifteen installments, and in 1998 as a 4-cd box set.
The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the Yardbirds took the Chicago blues and gave it an English interpretation. We've taken the English version of the Blues and re-added a Chicago touch," to which rock critic Richie Unterberger commented: "The Shadows of Knight's self-description was fairly accurate."
Thor's Hammer, or Hljómar, was an Icelandic rock band primarily active in the 1960s. Outside of Iceland, they are known among music collectors for their rare releases on Parlophone, sung in English and recorded in London for export. The most famous of these is the 1966 EP Umbarumbamba, regarded as one of the rarest released records in the world and known to fetch prices into the thousands of dollars when a copy surfaces. Their style can be described as garage rock, fuzz rock, and freakbeat, with noticeable influences from both The Who and The Beatles.
The Outsiders were an American rock and roll band from Cleveland, Ohio, that was founded and led by guitarist Tom King. The band released the hit single "Time Won't Let Me" in early 1966, which peaked at No. 5 in the US in April. The band had three other Hot 100 top 40 hit singles in 1966, but none on the Hot 100 afterwards, and released a total of four albums in the mid-1960s.
The Litter was an American psychedelic and garage rock band, formed in 1966 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. They are best remembered for their 1967 debut single, "Action Woman". The group recorded three albums in the late 1960s before disbanding, but they re-united in 1990, 1992, and again in 1998, when they recorded a new studio album consisting of both old and new material. All of their Minneapolis recorded material was produced by Warren Kendrick, who owned the Scotty and Warick and Hexagon labels.
The Choir was a garage rock band largely active in the greater Cleveland area from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s. Originally called The Mods, their largest commercial success came with the release of their first single "It's Cold Outside" in December 1966. The song, considered to be a classic of the garage rock era, was featured on Pebbles, Volume 2, one of the earlier garage rock compilation LPs. The flipside, "I'm Going Home" was included as a bonus track when the Pebbles album was reissued as a CD, and it can also be found on a garage rock compilation LP on Ohio bands, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9. The Choir is well known for containing three of the four original members of Raspberries.
The Ugly Ducklings were a Canadian five-piece garage rock group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, most notable during the mid-1960s.
Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965–1970 is the fourth Nuggets box set released by Rhino Records. It was released in 2007 and packaged as an 8 1/2 x 11" 120 page hardcover book, the first 73 pages of which were made up mostly of vintage photographs. The compilation focuses on San Francisco Sound bands. Its title is derived from the first line of "Get Together," two versions of which open and close the four-disc set. Although the liner notes cite the 1965 Rag Baby EP as the source for the Country Joe & the Fish track "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag", it was actually taken from the 1967 LP I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die.
We the People was an American garage rock band from Orlando, Florida, that was formed in late 1965 and professionally active between 1966 and 1970. Although none of their singles charted nationally in the U.S., a number of them did reach the Top 10 of the local Orlando charts. The band are perhaps best remembered for their song "Mirror of Your Mind", which reached the Top 10 in a number of regional singles charts across the U.S. during 1966. The song has subsequently been included on several compilation albums over the years.
Peter Wheat and the Breadmen were an American garage rock band formed in Fremont, California, in 1964. The group became a popular live attraction regionally, and released one single that has since been reissued on compilation albums.
The Brigands were an American garage rock act who are best known for the 1966 song, "(Would I Still Be) Her Big Man", which appeared as the A-side of a single released on Epic Records. Little is known about them other than that the song was recorded in New York City. Their origins are unknown, but some have attributed their residence to Forest Hills, Long Island, New York. Others have speculated that they were an ensemble of session musicians who recorded the song as a one-time act under the moniker "the Brigands." One reason mentioned by exponents of this hypothesis is that there would be more known about them, if they had indeed been an actual performing unit. They point out that there are no printed artifacts available, such as flyers and listings of live performances, records of battles of the bands, and newspaper clippings. They also point out that, since the song was released on Epic Records and produced by Artie and Kris Resnick, who wrote the Young Rascals' "Good Lovin'" and other popular hits of the time, it is unlikely that such an unknown band would have received the attention of such well-known and established fixtures, unless the song had been recorded by a "ghost band" of session musicians under their tutelage.
"Bad Girl" is a song by the American garage rock band the Zakary Thaks, written by the whole group—Chris Gerniottis, Pete Stinson, Stan Moore, Rex Gregory, and John Lopez—and was first released for the band's debut single on J-Beck Records in July 1966. The song was an immensely successful regional hit in Texas, precipitating "Bad Girl"'s national release on Mercury Records later in the year. Since its initial distribution, the tune has received further recognition for its appearance on several compilation albums.
The Palace Guard was an American garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Though the band never obtained national success, they made a huge splash in Southern California with their song "Falling Sugar". The group is also notable for featuring the first commercial appearance of Emitt Rhodes, later a member of the Merry-Go-Round.
The Groupies were an American garage rock-psychedelic rock band from New York City who were active in the 1960s and are known for an innovative approach to primal blues-based rock exemplified in such songs as "Primitive". They were a popular fixture in the New York club scene and recorded for Atco Records, later venturing to Los Angeles. Due to their uncompromising stance the Groupies failed to attract a wider audience outside of their local enclaves. They have come to the attention of garage rock and psychedelic enthusiasts and their work has been included on various compilations such as the 1998 Nuggets four-CD box set, which was released on Rhino Records. Their material has been re-issued on other garage rock and psychedelic compilations such as the Pebbles, Volume 10 LP.
The Opposite Six were an American garage rock band from Sacramento, California, United States, who were active in the 1960s. They are not to be confused with another group of the same name, also from the Bay area, but from Marin County that had a more rhythm and blues orientation and comprised the basis of the later group the Sons of Champlin. This group was known for a more primal 60s punk sound, which in spite of their lack of wider success, have come to the attention of garage rock collectors and enthusiasts over the years. Their work has appeared on several compilations.
The Knack was an American garage and psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles, California who were active in the 1960s. They are not to be confused with either the American band of the same name who became popular in the late 1970s, nor the British band of the same name in the 1960s. They were noted for their melodic and instrumental finesse and secured a recording contract with Capitol Records. The band nevertheless failed to break through to a national audience. In the intervening years their work has come to the attention of 1960s music collectors and enthusiasts, especially with the release of the Time Waits for No One anthology.
The Underdogs were an American garage rock band from Grosse Pointe, Michigan who were active in the 1960s. They became a regular attraction at the Hideout, a club that was an early venue for acts such as Bob Seger, Glenn Frey, and The Pleasure Seekers, featuring Suzi Quatro, and it also served as the home to the Hideout record label, which released several of the Underdogs' singles. The group enjoyed success in the region and came close to breaking nationally with two records released through a joint deal on Reprise Records and then their last on Motown. The Underdogs' work has been included on various garage rock compilations such as the 1998 Nuggets 4-CD box set released on Rhino Records.
The Aardvarks were an American garage rock band from Muskegon, Michigan who were active between 1964-1968. They recorded three singles, two of which were issued on labels of Dave Kalmback's Fenton Records based in Sparta, Michigan. The group scored a local hit with "I'm Higher than I'm Down", which is now considered a garage rock classic, and several of their songs have been included in garage rock compilations.
The Oxford Circle was an American garage rock and psychedelic rock band from Davis, California, near Sacramento, who were active from 1964 to 1967. They became a popular garage rock act with a proto-punk sound influenced by Them and other blues-based bands of the British Invasion, that, in addition to heavy guitar feedback, came to encompass psychedelia. The group began to make appearances in San Francisco, where they became a top draw in venues such as the Avalon Ballroom. They taped a show at the Avalon in 1966 and, after lying in the vaults for years, it was rereleased in 1997 on the Nuggets from California: Live at the Avalon 1966 anthology. In 1967, they released the single, "Foolish Woman" b/w "Mind Destruction", which is also included, along with several other studio outtakes, on the Nuggets from California compilation. In 1967, drummer Paul Whaley left to play in pioneering heavy rock act Blue Cheer. Lead vocalist and guitarist Gary Lee Yoder and bassist Dehner Patten left to form Kak, who recorded for Epic Records. Yoder subsequently went on to join Blue Cheer in one of their later configurations.
You Got Yours! East Bay Garage 1965-1967 is a compilation album featuring American garage rock bands that were active in the San Francisco Bay area between 1965 and 1967. It was released on September 18, 2007 on Big Beat Records and is the twenty-third installment of the Nuggets from the Golden State album series. Generally overshadowed by the garage scenes located in Los Angeles and San Jose, the San Francisco scene was uniquely influenced by the surplus of folk rock, which would eventually develop into psychedelic rock. For the most part, the groups presented on You Got Yours! do not exemplify the teenage-angst and rawness associated with the garage rock genre, but rather display a level of professionalism not expected from an adolescent band.
