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Classic Vinyl

With Allan Day

Garage Bands Of The 60's Part 4

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The Barbarians Mouse & The Traps Neighb'rhood Childr'n The Cords The Bad Seeds

I hope to do several of these columns over the year on the 60's garage bands and I hope you find some of their albums or better yet, newly re-released cd's. Not all of the bands managed to get number 1 hits, some came very close, but they left their mark in Garage Band History. Now the ultimate collection to find these days is the 2 box sets put out by Rhino Records, The Nuggets Collection---each set contains 4 cd's of garage rock bands with a great booklet, pictures and descriptions of the bands small history----these are a must have for the 60's generation collector.

Who can forget Question Mark and the Mysterians, The Seeds, The Electric Prunes--The Leaves--The Strangeloves--The Cryan Shames--Chocolate Watch Band--Michael & the Messengers--The Third Rail, this list could go on and on, so I will stop here and feature 5 bands i have researched for this weeks review---I hope you like them as much as I do, when you find their music.

The Barbarians "Hey Little Bird" 1964 Joy Records 45K-290

Band members Jerry Causi---lead vocals/bass, Bruce Benson---guitar/vocals, Jeff Morris---guitar/vocals and Victor Moulton---drums/vocals. formed in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1963, they have the distinction of possibly being the FIRST LONGHAIR American band---back in 1963 they state that their hair was longer than the Beatles---just musicians that grew their hair long after watching an afternoon of Tarzan movies, which they thought was just too cool of a look to pass on. This great vocal, heavy bass fuzz pop hit actually got them a shot to play on the TAMI show along with the Stones, James Brown and The Beach Boys. Although they didn't generate high sales from the song, they went on to sign with Laurie Records and had a fairly successful run on that label.

Mouse & the Traps "Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice" 1966 Fraternity 966

Band Members are: Dave Stanley---bass guitar, Jerry Hall---keyboard, Ken Murray---drums, Bugs Henderson---lead guitar and Ronnie Weiss---guitar and vocals. This HUGE band, hailed from Tyler,Texas and played from '65-'69.

Their first successful hit was "A Public Execution" which is on the Nuggets box set---the 2nd hit "Maid of Sugar" is considered one of the greatest PUNK songs of the '60's. In their short career, they recorded thirteen 45's (on the Fraternity Label and one on ABC/Bell label) along with 1 LP---to date, each member of this 60's band, has had successful musical careers and a reunion in 1986, playing to 7000 of their die hard fans produced a much sought after video of the gig---i highly recommend this performance if you can find it.

Neighb'rhood Childr'n---"Feeling Zero" on Acta LP A-38005 in 1967

Band members: Dyan Hoffman--vocals/organ, Ron Raschdorf--guitars, vocals/harmonica, W.S. Farrens---drums/vocals, Rick Bolz---12 string guitar/vocals. The band hailed from Medford Oregon and played mainly in the San Francisco area, opening for bands like The Who, the Grass Roots and Iron Butterfly for Bill Graham's Fillmore venues. They recorded one album for Acta and were turned down for a 2nd album----their 1 album is reported to demand HUGE SUMS (referred to as a ransom price tag) in the collector's circle today. I consider this Jefferson Airplane style, hippie colours and all music style to be the BEST of this week's groups---log onto google and search out this bands GREAT music released on the Sundazed label CD

The Cords---Ghost Power on Cuca Records JS-1513 (1970)

Band members are: James Kendzierski---tambourine, Kevin Schroder---guitar, Matthew Gawlik---bass, Bertin Bieda---accordion, Jim Bertler---organ, Earl Hyulok---drums. This great instrumental heavy metal for its time, had the flavor of a MC5 or The Stooges record. The band members were actually real life monks, Franciscan Order, from Pulaski, Wisconsin. Their intent was to sway the younger generation's opinion of religious life away from the preconceived idea that it was all prayer and no fun. This GREAT song is layered with screams, distortion and YES!!!! Accordion with a plastic horn----other experimental ideas on this song was a cistern for reverb, torn speakers, singing into a waste basket and vocals at 1/2 speed----the band also had a great all-polka set they played in concert.

The Bad Seeds---"A Taste Of The Same" Beck Records J-1002 1965

Band members: Mike Taylor---vocals/rhythm guitar, Rod Prince---lead guitar, Henry Edgeington---bass and bobby Donaho---drums. Another great band from Corpus Christi, Texas (the state was loaded in the 60's with rock n roll talented bands) The band's short life span (approx. 2 years) recorded this great fuzz toned song with flowery lyrics, and was the 2nd solid rocker for the band written by guitarists and vocalist Mike Taylor---they also did an killer take on "I'm A King Bee" Check out a sample of their 37 song career on The Bad Seeds website.

Stones tidbit: For all you Rolling Stone lovers out there, click on this web page for a preview of "Stoned" the movie trailer for the Brian Jones Story--i can't wait to see it, and who cares what the critic's had to say, movie reviewers have always sucked! especially with anything related to the Rolling Stones. The soundtrack sounds amazing. http://www.stonedthemovie.com/stoned.html

Hope you enjoyed this weeks column and see you in 2 weeks---contact me at bluesslider88@yahoo.ca or at cktimes with any comments you would like to make about classic vinyl.



Allan Day----long time acquaintance of John Gardiner----I presently live in Goderich Ontario, retired (oh yeah) and live for the sound of music, especially from the 60's music explosion---I hope you enjoy some of my articles and they bring back some lost memories of bands gone by. Now I have to let you know that I am a HUGE Rolling Stones fan, collector, historian and I hope to hear any stories you might have on this GREAT Band from the 60's----email me at CK Times and let me know what you have or memories you have of this group. I will include stories and short stories on The Stones each week.