Pebbles (series)

Last updated
Pebbles (series)
Pebbles-logo.jpg
Compilation album by
Various Artists
Released1978–2007
Recorded1965–1968
Genre Psychedelic rock, garage rock, Freakbeat
Label AIP
Mastercharge
BFD
ESD
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic (series)Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]

Pebbles is an extensive series of compilation albums in both LP and CD formats that have been issued on several record labels, though mostly by AIP. Together with the companion Highs in the Mid-Sixties series , the Pebbles series made available over 800 obscure, mostly American "Original Punk Rock" songs recorded in the mid-1960s — primarily known today as the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres — that were previously known only to a handful of collectors. In 2007, the release of the Pebbles, Volume 11: Northern California CD marked the final album in the Pebbles series (curiously, Vol. 12 had been issued in 1999). The following year, Bomp! marked the 30th anniversary of the original Pebbles album with a spartan, limited-edition, clear-vinyl reissue complete with the original pink cover insert.

Contents

The Pebbles series played a significant role in the emergence of a "canon" of garage-rock music and artists in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In his review of the Pebbles series for Allmusic, Richie Unterberger comments: "Though 1972's Nuggets compilation reawakened listeners to the sounds of mid-'60s garage rock, it only focused on the tip of the iceberg. Behind those forgotten hits and semi-hits lurked hundreds, if not thousands, of regional hits and flops from the same era, most even rawer and cruder. . . . More than any other factor, these compilations [in the Pebbles series] were responsible for the resurgence of interest in garage rock, which remains high among collectors to this day." [2]

Including the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series , Best of Pebbles series , Essential Pebbles series , Planetary Pebbles series , and two box sets, more than 60 compilation albums have been released using the Pebbles name. [3] Following on the heels of the success of the Pebbles series, dozens of other series of garage rock compilation albums have been started, with numerous albums being released each year for several decades.

"Pebbles" compared with "Nuggets"

The name "Pebbles" is a derivative of the name of the seminal Nuggets album of similar music; since in almost all cases, the recordings compiled on these albums were lesser known regional hits or releases with little or no national exposure. [2] By contrast, several of the bands presented on the original Nuggets compilation had one or more national hit songs, such as the Seeds, Blues Magoos, Electric Prunes, the Standells, Count Five and others. As additional albums were released under both of these names over the years, Nuggets albums tended to feature more familiar bands, while Pebbles albums usually unearthed virtually unknown recording artists or previously unreleased tracks by better known bands. As the Pebbles albums were compiled from record collections, dubbed from discs (not from the master tapes like the Nuggets series), often without the knowledge of the musicians or producers involved, BFD and AIP had a much larger range of music to choose from.

In addition, while the original Nuggets album from 1972 bore the subtitle "Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1969," the Pebbles series made a different claim through its subtitle: "Original Artyfacts from the First Punk Era." In this way Pebbles explicitly sought to connect the garage style of the 1960s to the then-current (1979) punk movement typified by artists like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and others.

Nature of the music

The Pebbles series describes the recordings on their albums as "Original punk rock from the psychedelic 60s!" [4] These recordings were primarily made by the numerous American bands that were formed in the wake of the British Invasion. Essentially referring to the young age and lack of sophistication of the musicians, the term "punk rock" was coined (or at least popularized) by Lenny Kaye, who was involved in compiling the original Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 . Some of the recordings of this type were credited to individual musicians, but most were made by young combos and rock bands that were typically composed of teenagers; the term "garage rock" comes from such an archetypal combo's usual rehearsal space: the suburban American family garage. The songs almost invariably come from 45 rpm singles. In many cases, the band would release a routine cover song of a well-known hit as the "A" side of a single and include a more interesting original song as the "B" side that would be more appropriate for inclusion on a compilation album. However, the wild covers by some of the garage rock bands are as renowned as any of the original songs, and numerous cover songs have also been compiled on the Pebbles series.

"Punk rock" is now mainly applied to several waves of bands that formed in the 1970s and later, and many of these bands cite the music on Nuggets and Pebbles albums as major influences. This type of music is now generally identified as the genres of garage rock and psychedelic rock, since many songs were designed to be enjoyed while under the influence of psychoactive drugs such as marijuana and LSD, or to artistically replicate the feelings generated during such an experience.

Mastercharge Records

The original release of the first Pebbles album was on the Mastercharge label in 1978 and was circulated primarily among a small group of collectors in Australia, where interest in this obscure music seems to have first germinated. Only 500 albums were pressed, sporting a pink pasted-on cover sheet. "Mastercharge Records" was apparently not a real record company and might have been a reference to the financing of the release by a credit card. ("Master Charge" was the name of the credit card company in the 1970s that is now known as MasterCard). One radio playlist posted on the Internet mentioned a "Pebbles, Volume 2" on Mastercharge Records, but this was probably an incorrect reference to the BFD release.

BFD Records

The first 10 LPs in the Pebbles series, including a reissue of the original volume were credited in the name of BFD Records of Kookaburra, Australia. These albums were released in a span of just two years (1979 and 1980) and are regarded by some as the best volumes in the series. [2]

The legitimacy of BFD Records (and the apparently associated company BFD Productions) has long been in question, not least because Kookaburra is actually the name of a bird of Australia, not a city or town. As an example, the back cover of the BFD pressing of Pebbles, Volume 3 includes the following: "Licensed by special arrangement with Mastercharge Records, Dacron Ohio, USA" (Mastercharge being the label under which the first Pebbles volume was originally issued), followed by "® & © 1979 by BFD Records, Kookaburra, Australia 2157. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. All rights reserved." [5] The first licensing notation is clearly fictitious (possibly inspired by the location of the National Lampoon's High School Yearbook parody) Dacron is an artificial fiber, while the city in Ohio is Akron  – and the same might easily be true of the second. Also, the Bomp! website says of its AIP label: "Since 1978, this Bomp-affiliated label has been assembling compilations of punk, psych, beat, garage, and related obscurities." [6] Actually, the first AIP album was the Pebbles, Volume 11 LP, which was released in 1983. Thus, Bomp! seems to be taking tacit responsibility for the entire series.

In any case, whether or not it is a charade, the BFD label has been perpetuated throughout the releases on the Pebbles series. The reissues of the first 10 volumes have no reference to Bomp! or AIP, and the first 10 CDs in the Pebbles series include the same "BFD" catalogue numbers—which are not all consecutively numbered—as the corresponding LPs. Copyright notices referring to BFD continued to be exhibited on almost all of the albums in the Pebbles series well into the 2000s, including both the ESD CD's and the AIP CDs. Also, there are subtle differences in the packaging and programming of the BFD releases as compared to the later releases on AIP. Although the albums in the Pebbles series were produced in such small numbers that tracking down anyone regarding royalties might have been next to impossible, neither Bomp! nor anyone else has evidently been sued for copyright infringement with regard to these releases. Finally, these same charges have been made about other reissue record companies over the years as well, such as Collectables.

AIP Records

Beginning in 1983, Bomp! created the AIP record label in part to issue further volumes in the Pebbles series. In addition to the 10 volumes on the BFD label that were reissued several times over the years, another 18 LPs and 12 CDs have been issued in the Pebbles series under their auspices. Many of the LPs and CDs have basically the same catalogue numbers, and there is significant overlap in the tracks on the first 6 volumes on LP and CD—with the CD release of Volume 6 being shifted to the English Freakbeat series —adding to the confusion. However, the overlap is far from complete; Pebbles, Volume 5 is the sole CD that has all of the songs from the corresponding LP, and only about half of the surf rock tracks from the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP were released on that CD.

When AIP renewed the Pebbles series in 1983, the company was apparently more interested in documenting local music scenes than in scattershot groupings of American garage rock records, so the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series was begun concurrently, with a total of 23 volumes devoted to recordings from specific American cities, states and regions, as compared to the 18 volumes of AIP Pebbles LPs. What's more, 10 of the 18 LPs that AIP issued in the Pebbles series were compilations of recordings from continental Europe in the sub-series The Continent Lashes Back .

According to the Bomp! website, the release of the Pebbles, Volume 11 CD in 2007—actually several years after the release of the Pebbles, Volume 12 CD—represents the last album that will ever be issued in the Pebbles series. More recently, AIP has begun the Essential Pebbles series and Planetary Pebbles series ; whether there will be future volumes in these series is uncertain.

To their credit, when AIP began issuing Pebbles albums on CD, the albums included numerous recordings that were not as yet on the LPs. Also, after the release of the first six volumes on CD, all of the tracks on the Pebbles CDs had been previously un-reissued on CD. Even the first two releases in the Essential Pebbles series include a second CD of previously un-reissued music in addition to the distillation from the previous Pebbles albums.

ESD Records

According to the AIP website, ESD Records (also known as East Side Digital) issued 4 volumes of CDs in the Pebbles series in 1989–1990. Though compiled by AIP, the tracks are almost completely different from those in the corresponding volumes of the LPs and CDs described previously (although a sizable number of the tracks on ESD's Pebbles, Volume 2 appear on both the earlier Pebbles, Volume 3 LP and the later CD reissue). Particularly on ESD's Pebbles, Volume 1 , many of the tracks are either new to Pebbles or are buried on the higher-numbered volumes in the Pebbles series or Highs in the Mid-Sixties series. The albums had a limited run of only 1,000 each and are now difficult to locate; but, not surprisingly, the ESD and AIP CDs are often confused. One added bonus in the ESD CDs is that the excellent liner notes are written by Nigel Strange (who wrote liner notes for several of the BFD Records albums also).

Discography

LPs

CDs — AIP Records

CDs — ESD Records

Box Sets

See also

Related Research Articles

Freakbeat is a loosely defined subgenre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups during the Swinging London period of the mid-to late 1960s. The genre bridges British Invasion R&B, beat and psychedelia.

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.

Milan Radenkovich, who was always credited mononymously as Milan, was an American record producer, songwriter and recording artist on numerous songs made throughout the 1960s, mostly though not exclusively in the garage rock genre. He released an LP and numerous singles for seven different national record labels and other independent labels under a variety of names, including Milan with His Orchestra, Milan, The World of Milan, Milan , and The Leather Boy, and also worked under the name Rick Rodell. As a producer, arranger and/or songwriter, Milan oversaw many other releases by a variety of artists ranging from the pop singer Lou Christie to the psychedelic rock band the Head Shop.

AIP Records Record label

AIP Records is a record label that was started by Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records in 1983 to continue the Pebbles series. AIP stands for "Archive International Productions". The first 10 volumes in the Pebbles series had been released by BFD Records of Kookaburra, Australia in 1979–1980 and have been kept in print by AIP for many years. Including those in the companion Highs in the Mid-Sixties series – which concentrated on American regional music scenes – there are over 50 LPs covering some 800 obscure, mostly American "Original Punk Rock" songs recorded in the mid-1960s – primarily known today as the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres – that were previously known only to a handful of collectors.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 1</i> 1978 compilation album

Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979. It was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums. This album is nowadays known as Pebbles, Volume 1 and was originally issued in 1978 as Pebbles, Volume One: Artyfacts from the First Punk Era, an obvious riff on Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, a similar, groundbreaking compilation from 1972.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 2</i> 1979 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 2 is a compilation album featuring American underground psychedelic and garage rock musical artists from the 1960s. It is the second installment of the Pebbles series and was released on BFD Records in 1979.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 3</i> 1979 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 3, subtitled The Acid Gallery, is a compilation album featuring American underground psychedelic rock musical artists from the 1960s. It is the third installment of the Pebbles series and was released on BFD Records in 1979. The album is marked for containing among the most unusual recordings of psychedelic music.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 4</i> 1979 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 4 is a compilation album in the Pebbles series that has been issued in both LP and CD formats. Unlike other volumes in the series – which compile obscure garage rock and psychedelic rock music – Volume 4 collects rare examples of surf rock. The LP is subtitled Summer Means Fun, while the CD is subtitled Surf N Tunes. Another Pebbles, Volume 4 was issued on CD a few years earlier by ESD Records and has completely different tracks.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 5</i> 1980 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 5 is a compilation album in the Pebbles series that has been issued in both LP and CD formats.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 6</i> (1979 album) 1980 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 6 is a compilation album among the LPs in the Pebbles series. Subtitled The Roots of Mod, Volume 6 is the only album in the Pebbles series that features primarily British music. The Pebbles, Volume 6 CD is not at all related to this LP; instead, the CD featuring the songs on this LP was released as English Freakbeat, Volume 6.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 8</i> (1980 album) 1980 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 8 is a compilation album among the LPs in the Pebbles series. The music on this album has no relation to Pebbles, Volume 8 that was released on CD many years later.

<i>Pebbles, Volume 10</i> (1980 album) 1980 compilation album

Pebbles, Volume 10 is a compilation album among the LPs in the Pebbles series. The music on this album has no relation to Pebbles, Volume 10 that was released on CD many years later.

<i>Pebbles Box</i> 1987 compilation album

The Pebbles Box is a 5-LP box set of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings, primarily by American bands. Several years later, a similar 5-CD box set was released that was called the Trash Box. The Pebbles Box purports to collect the first five volumes of the Pebbles series, although there are fewer songs than on the original LPs: 72 total tracks on the five discs, as compared with 86 on the original LPs. Also, as is generally true of the CD reissues of these five volumes, the tracks differ significantly on all five discs as compared to both the original Pebbles LPs and the later Pebbles CDs in the corresponding volumes; and the surf rock rarities on Pebbles, Volume 4 have been eschewed entirely.

<i>Trash Box</i> 2004 compilation album

Trash Box is a 5-CD box set of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings, primarily by American bands. This box set is similar to the earlier Pebbles Box and includes almost all of the same recordings in that box set, along with numerous bonus tracks at the end of each disc. Supposedly, the Trash Box collects the first five volumes of the CDs in the Pebbles series. However, as is generally true of the CD reissues of these five volumes, the tracks differ significantly on all five discs as compared to both the original Pebbles LPs and the later Pebbles CDs in the corresponding volumes; and the surf rock rarities on Pebbles, Volume 4 have been eschewed entirely. Overall, there are 109 tracks in the box set as compared to 101 songs on the individual CDs and 72 tracks in the Pebbles Box. Although most of the recordings on the Trash Box were released at some point on one of the individual Pebbles albums, several of the songs have not appeared elsewhere in the Pebbles series. Inexplicably, one of these songs is the well-known hit "I Fought the Law " by the Bobby Fuller Four – which is also included in the Pebbles Box – in place of the much rarer "Wine Wine Wine" by Bobby Fuller that appears on Pebbles, Volume 2.

Highs in the Mid-Sixties series Series of rock music compilation albums

The Highs in the Mid-Sixties series is a group of 23 compilation albums of garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings that were issued by AIP Records in the mid-1980s. This series is a companion to the Pebbles series of similar music; the title is technically preceded by "Pebbles Presents:". The title sounds like it might have come from a weather report, although "Highs" intends to mean "the best", while the recordings on these albums were originally released in the mid-1960s.

Nuggets is a series of compilation albums by Elektra Records, continued by Rhino Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essential Pebbles series</span>

The Essential Pebbles Collection is a series of compilation albums of obscure garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings that were originally released in the mid-1960s. As the name implies, the series was created by AIP Records as a distillation of the albums in the Pebbles series and the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series that had been released in earlier years. Only two more albums in the Pebbles series have been issued since the Essential Pebbles series was begun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Human Expression</span> American garage/psychedelic rock band

The Human Expression was an American garage and psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles that released three well-regarded singles, and made additional demo recordings between 1966 and 1967.

<i>English Freakbeat</i> series

The English Freakbeat series is a group of five compilation albums, released in the late 1980s, that were issued by AIP Records. The LPs featured recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by English rock bands in the early punk, proto-punk, R&B, mod, and beat genres. The series served as a follow-up to the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP, itself subtitled The Roots of Mod, which was the only album in the Pebbles series that was devoted to English music. When the English Freakbeat series was reissued as CDs in the 1990s, the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP was adapted into the English Freakbeat, Volume 6 CD.

Back from the Grave is a series compilation albums of 1960s garage rock created and compiled by Tim Warren and released by Crypt Records. The series originally consisted of eight LP records released between 1983 and 1992. Volumes seven and eight were double albums. Starting in 1994, the series was reissued on compact disc. Due to the longer playing times offered by CDs, the first seven volumes were contained on four discs, save for a few tracks that were omitted. And, while all of the songs on the first four CDs are included on first seven vinyl albums, they do not necessarily correspond to the individual LPs bearing their same titles. However, the Volume 8 CD corresponds almost directly its LP double-LP counterpart, but with the addition of four bonus tracks not included on the LP. The eight vinyl albums are titled consecutively "Back from the Grave, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, Volume 9, and Voume 10". In similar fashion the five CDs are titled "Back from the Grave, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 8, and Volumes 9 & 10". There are no volumes 5, 6, or 7 for the CDs. Two separate LPs for Volume 9 and 10 were released in 2015 as well one CD, released the same year, which combines Volumes 9 and 10 onto one double-length disc.

References

  1. Allmusic (series) review
  2. 1 2 3 Richie Unterberger, Pebbles series at Allmusic.
  3. "Searchin' for Shakes" on-line compilation album database at Ugly Things website. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  4. Included as a stock section on the liner notes of several of the Pebbles LPs.
  5. Liner notes, Pebbles, Volume 3 LP.
  6. Temporary entry on the Bomp! website on AIP Records Archived 2007-04-09 at the Wayback Machine .