Oriphiel

Welcome to the garage, where the music is loud, the go go boots are stomping, the pictures are occasionally obscenely large (though never off the screen, i'm not a monster), left randomly becomes right, and everything is stark! This is a haven for the strange and obscure, throughout all the ages (though particularly from the Psychadelic 60's). So if you have any super-freaky vintage songs in your library that you're just itching to recommend to someone, you now have a place to let your hair down and let loose. Recommend to your hearts desire! And if you're here simply to listen to music, I hope you have a fun voyage into the garage!

*Now with 30% more fuzz guitars!*

The Story So Far...

Albums Examined - 34
Favorite Album - "Girlsville" by Thee Headcoatees!
Favorite Song - Guys: Los Dug Dugs - "No Te Astuses, Es Solo Vivre" / Gals: The Pandoras - "That's Your Way Out"
Least Favorite Song - Guys/Gals: Kim Fowley/Althea and the Memories - "Worst Record Ever Made"
Weirdest Song - Guys: The Elastik Band - "Spazz" / Gals: She - "Hey You"
Most Embarrassing Mistake - I swear, I'll add the songs that I missed on Ultra Girls one of these days!

Album Index...

Garage Rock:
Girls in the Garage Vol 1 (CD) - Page 1
Friday at the Hideout (CD/LP) - Page 1
Ultra Chicks (CD) - Page 1
Here Are The Sonics! (LP) - The Sonics - (CD/LP) - Page 1
It's About Time (LP) - The Pandoras - Page 2
Pebbles Vol 1 (LP) - Page 2
Girls in the Garage Vol 2 (CD) - Page 2
She Wants a Piece of You (CD) - She - Page 2
Gloria (LP) - The Shadows of Knight - Page 3
Los Nuggetz (CD) - Pages 3 - 4
From Nowhere (LP) - The Troggs - Page 3
Drop Out With The Barracudas (LP) - The Barracudas - Page 4
Midnight Ride (LP/CD) - Paul Revere and the Raiders - Page 4
My First Holly Golightly Album (CD) - Holly Golightly - Page 5
It's Bad For You, But Buy It! (CD) - The Ace of Cups - Page 6
Headcoats Down (LP/CD) - Thee Headcoats - Page 7
Girlsville (LP/CD) - Thee Headcoatees - Page 7
Girls in the Garage Part 3 (CD) - Page 8
Pebbles Volume 2 (LP) - Page 8
Back From the Grave (LP) - Page 8

Rockabilly/Psychobilly:
Here's Little Richard (LP/CD) - Little Richard - Page 5
On Tar Beach (LP/CD) - The Deadbeats - Page 6

Punk/Post-Punk:
The Story So Far (LP) - The Mo-Dettes - Page 5
The Muffs (CD) - The Muffs - Page 6
Nikki and the Corvettes (LP/CD) - Nikki and the Corvettes - Page 7
Les Hell on Heels (CD) - Les Hell on Heels - Page 8

EP Madness!
Teen City (EP) - The Modernettes - Page 5
Bangles (EP) - The Bangles - Page 5
I'm Here, I'm Gone (EP) - The Pandoras - Page 5
Twist and Shout (EP) - The Beatles - Page 5
Gravest Hits (EP) - The Cramps - Page 7
Kleenex (EP) - Kleenex/Liliput - Page 7
Sir Psycho (EP) - The Sharks - Page 8
Cold Wars (EP) - The Rezilos - Page 8

Singles Mixer!
Sweet and Tender Romance - The McKinleys - Page 6
Bird Doggin' - Gene Vincent - Page 6
About My Baby - The Pandoras - Page 6
Walk - The Pandas - Page 6
Gloria - Los Rockin' Devils - Page 6
Willie Joe - The Mystery Trio - Page 6
Move - State of Mind - Page 6
I Fought the Law - The Cans - Page 9
Waitin' for my Girl - The Silvertones - Page 9 from outer space!
Good Connection - Five by Five - Page 9

Mystery Shots!
On Top of Things - The Chains - Page 6
Underground Oldies Volume 7 - Page 6
Songs For a Future Generation - The B-52's - Page 6
Koffin Kats - The Koffin Kats - Page 6
Sweetheart of the Sun - The Bangles - Page 6

Other:
The LHI Years (LP/CD) - Lee Hazlewood - Page 3
Honey Ltd. (LP) - Honey Ltd. - Page 3
Chariot Rising (CD/LP) - Dantalian's Chariot - Page 4
Stray (LP) - Stray - Page 7
Four Sides of Melanie (LP/CD) - Melanie Safka - Page 9
Airconditioning (LP/CD) - Curved Air - Page 10

Hey! I love Garage Rock from the 1960's, and I also love to talk about it, so I decided to put those two loves together into the super-love (that sounds like a Funk album) that is this journal. Feel free to read, or not, I'm fine with basically talking to myself until I forget about this journal and then stumble upon it years later leading to a good laugh. So, I guess I may as well start. Here's "Girls in the Garage", a fantastic compilation. It is a little hard to find, and when it pops up it's a bit pricey, but the entirety of it has been uploaded to youtube by those die-hard bootleggers who made this compilation possible in the first place. It's a little long, so I'll split it into two parts. Well, here we go...

Girls in the Garage: Volume One



Part One

A CD reissue/compilation of the first two records in the "Girls in the Garage" series, with a slight change-up of the songs. Really, this is the CD that cemented my love for Garage Rock, even if it is a bit rough and obscure... Anyway, this series has a strange history. Released by Romulan, it apparently was based off of old bootlegs and mystery mix tapes that were passed around, and kept the Garage Rock bands in this compilation alive with a sort of cult following.

1. Denise & Co. - "Take Me As I Am" - A really wild track about a girl who makes it clear that she can take her man, or leave him. Apparently, nobody actually knows who "Denise and Company" were, only that their song was passed around on tapes with their band's name scrawled on the label. This is definitely the angriest song of the bunch, and the singer's voice has a nice grit to it, adding that kind of rough blues/rock authenticity to the sound. Addendum: The Denise from this song has been identified as Denise Kaufman from the Garage Rock band The Ace of Cups! This song is a demo for their 45 "Boy, What'll You Do Then".

2. The Puppets - "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" - I believe this is a cover of a song by an all-male band, which is a nice twist. Kind of a turning of the tables. The harmonies work, and the band seems skilled enough with their instruments, although there is that trademark done-in-one-take feeling of Garage Rock (everything is just a little weird, a little "off", from the harmonies to the keyboard solo, leaving a solid yet unrefined sound).

3. The Models - "Bend Me, Shape Me" - Made famous by the sometimes garage rockers The American Breed, of Dunwich/Atco, The Models performed this song first, coming even before The Outsiders. This is a weird song that sounds distant, echo-y, maybe because of the poor quality of the master it was lifted from. Still, the harmonies work well, particularly in the second half of the song. Oh, as an aside, apparently The Models actually were models in real life. And the song ends with some strange proto-Techno noises, possibly just feedback added in for kicks.

4. The Chymes - "He's Not There Anymore" - Man, The Chymes are just the happiest Garage band you'll ever hear. I love how the Garage scene didn't just have raw-as-hell rockers, it also had clean pop-rock to balance things out. Anyway, happy as they were, The Chymes struggled to survive alongside every other band of the scene. This song isn't that raw, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that it managed to chart well in it's time. Clean harmonies, a catchy tune, teen heart-break drama, it had all of the staples of the sixties.



5. The Bittersweets - "Hurtin' Kind" - A very classy take on the Tulu Babies' (or Baskerville Hound? I'm not sure why their name changed) minor hit. I highly recommend this song, as it's the one that tends to resonate most with people when I loan them this CD. Mastering the raw minimalism of Garage Rock, The Bittersweets really made something fun and timeless with this song. It may not be the roughest or the sweetest of the bunch, but it just has something in the way of impact that the original lacked. Also, there's a picture of the band all riding on a motorcycle floating around out there, which I find really funny for some reason... (I found it! Check out my avatar!)

6. The ID - "Them Ever-Lovin Baby Blues" - Imagine a girl pop band doing a sloppy-as-hell blues song, and you've got the gist of this one. This is one weird and rough song that people generally don't like, or are just unimpressed with. I can understand that. I personally get a kick out of it, especially by just how lazy the band seems with their playing, like they don't care at all. Addendum: I recently heard a rumor that "The ID" was actually the band "She/The Hairem". I personally don't think it sounds like them, but considering how weird and playful they could be, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the rumor ended up being true.

7. The Belles - "Come Back" - Love that bass driven intro, with the tambourine in the background! This song is really fun, and shakes up it's simplicity by having a complete change of tune and tone in the middle, but it quickly goes back to the core sound. Kind of has a bit of a Merseybeat/Liverbirds feeling to it, doesn't it?

8. The Belles - "Melvin" - Melvin! I don't even know where to begin with this one... It's like a roughed up, psyched out version of "Gloria" by the band Them, only played by an all-girl band. Everyone loves this song in a cult-classic type way, just for the fun and strange nature of it. The Pandoras did a cover of this one for "Bomp! Records" if you'd prefer to hear an even rougher version of it. As an addendum, I originally wrote that The Doors played "Gloria" first, which was dead wrong! It was made by the band "Them", and later covered to great success by "The Shadows of Knight".

9. Luv'd Ones - "Up Down Sue" - Yeah, The Luv'd Ones! The leading ladies of Dunwich Records! This is probably their most Psychadelic song, probably influenced most by front-lady Char Vinnedge who loved the Hendrix guitar style, even though she really keeps it simple on this track. With stark and resonating Fuzz guitar work, this song should hit any fans of the early Psych-Sound right in the feelers. The singing is pretty good, but Char was definitely no power-vocalist.


The Luv'd Ones

10. Kim and Grim - "You Don't Love Me" - A Merseybeat-esque take on the bar band classic. This version is light and bouncy, staying fun and simple (if a bit unexciting) throughout.

11. Lydia Marcell - "The Girl He Needs" - I didn't think much of this track at first, but people seem to respond well to it. I've listened to it a few more times, and it really isn't bad. Kind of simple, but the vocals are pretty good.

12. The Continental Co-ets - "Melody of Junk" - A great band with that knack for surf-rock that mid-west bands seemed to inexplicably have. This isn't my favorite track of theirs, being kind of simple and a little too sloppy (if that's even possible in Garage Rock) for my tastes. They constantly stop the song to insert what are essentially guitar fingering practices, like the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", which is both fun and funny, but kind of kills the speed and edge of the song.

13. The Beatle-ettes - "Only Seventeen" - A hilarious song that mashes up various Beatles songs, presumably sung from the point of view of the seventeen year old from "I Saw Her Standing There". This gal wants to hold your hand, and loves you ("Yeah, yeah, yeah!"). That being said, it's a really fun song that isn't horrible! I promise!

14. Althea and the Memories - "Worst Record Ever Made" - And we end this half of the CD on a low note. Thanks to music producer and big-shot Kim Fowley, we have this weird and kind of annoying improve ramble. Basically, this is just Kim talking into a microphone about random stuff, while some people lightly play a "Louie, Louie"-esque tune in the background, and a group of school girls that Kim apparently brought in from the street laugh and chatter away. Avant Garde artwork, or annoying pretentious junk that doesn't belong here because it isn't Garage Rock, and wasn't made by an all-girl or girl-vocalist band? You decide. Fun fact: Kim Fowley later went on to produce, manage and mastermind The Runaways, of Joan Jett fame. Addendum: You know, after thinking about it, I was a bit harsh on this one. It isn't horrible, and you can hear a definite sound that influenced many bands to come, such as The B-52's. And what would the world be like without The B-52's?! Love shack, baby love shack...