U.S. 1960s


THE BLUE THINGS The Blue Things Story: Volume One (1964-65) Cicadelic LP


www.cicadelic.com


Let The Blue Things Blow Your Mind 2-CD anthology has it all: it contains all of The Blue Things Story, some rare late sides and their entire classic album from


1966, Listen & See. For those who find CD anthologies daunting, the ’87 vinyl album Volume One has been issued on heavy vinyl once again. Sure, this material (seven of the songs made in


’64 when the Kansas lads were called The Bluesboys and sounded uncannily like Buddy Holly) does not feature anything quite as inspiring as ‘Orange Rooftops Of Your Mind’ – which incredibly was made only two years later. But their early sides still shimmer as forlorn early folk-rock paeans. Most impressive are the early Val Stecklein tracks recorded with The Hi-Plains Singers in ’63, which show how good this tormented soul was from the very start. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


THE CATALINAS Fun Fun Fun Sundazed LP


www.sundazed.com


Originally released on the tiny Ric label in 1964, The Catalinas were one of the countless short- lived studio projects put together in California to cash in on the surf/hot


rod craze of the time. This, however, was an all-star supergroup featuring Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston on vocals backed by members of The Wrecking Crew including Hal Blaine, Leon Russell, Steve Douglas, Billy Strange and Tommy Tedesco and, as a result, the playing and production values are way above many of the similar one-off albums of the times. Containing 12 tracks, three of them instrumentals, the predictable ‘Surfin’ USA’ and ‘Summer Means Fun’ are counterbalanced by the


rare ‘Boss Barracuda’, ‘Beach Ball’ and ‘Surfer Boy’. Remastered in a limited pressing on coloured


high definition vinyl from the original analogue tapes, this is a welcome reissue and a great soundtrack to summer. Pat Curran


DION Wonder Where I’m Bound Now Sounds CD www.nowsounds.co.uk


Originally released in 1969, this collection, mainly dating from the mid-60s, has gained something of a cult reputation over the years. Frequently lauded


as Dion’s folk-rock masterpiece these days, it’s true it does have its moments: self-penned numbers like ‘Now’, ‘Knowing I Won’t Go Back There’ and ‘Wake Up Baby’ show a kind of maturity several steps removed from his early material, and he makes a pretty good fist of the various covers here too. There’s a particularly sublime version of Woody Guthrie’s‘900 Miles’, whilst ‘Southern Train’ and ‘Seventh Son’, both Willie Dixon compositions, are certainly inspired. Elsewhere, the cloyingly sentimental ‘Sunday


Kind of Love’ is representative of the worst kind of ’50s style crooning imaginable. It lets the side down badly, and leaves you wondering just why the hell it was included here in the first place. This gross error of judgement aside,Wonder


Where I’m Bound is good, but not that good. A case of the emperor’s new clothes maybe? Rich Deakin


BOBBY FULLER El Paso Rock: Early Recordings Volume 3 Norton CD www.nortonrecords.com


Many automatically link Bobby Fuller’s name with ‘I Fought The Law’ but go no further (some even think it was written by The Clash!). The mighty Norton are back for a


third time with more demos and home recordings, Thursday’s Children prepare to break up from school.


including the knee-trembling version of ‘Nervous Breakdown’ released in 1962 on Bobby’s Eastwood label, plus a further killer unreleased version. A beautifully presented set made by fans for


fans, it also includes deranged instrumental ‘Wolfman’, ‘The Fanatic’, ‘Skag’ and a whole bunch more, the Norman Petty influence often in evidence. There’s also previously-unheard live recordings from Bobby Fuller & The Fanatics captured at The Skylanes Bowling Alley in ’64, including rollicking versions of The Rivieras’ ‘California Sun’ and Bobby Freeman‘s ‘Do You Wanna Dance?’. Further exciting news is that Norton are


compiling a Fuller-related West Texas garage band collection, while co-honcho Miriam Linna is completing his authorised biography.That should be fantastic. Kris Needs


RICHIE HAVENS Mixed Bag/Something Else Again Raven CD


www.ravenrecords.com.au


Havens’ first two proper albums, originally released on Verve Forecast in 1967 and ’68 respectively.About half of the selections are covers, Havens offering


unique interpretations of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Maggie’s Farm’, as well as tunes written by the likes of Tuli Kupferberg, Gordon Lightfoot and Billy Ed Wheeler.


Throughout you get Havens’ signature


rhythmic guitar strumming and his gruff yet pretty vocal style. The material has a gentle, almost adult contemporary feel, even when the lyrical content includes hard-edged anti-war sentiments and outcries against racial injustice; you get the feeling you’re hearing a protest singer performing with a light jazz band backing, at a supper club. Mixed Bag has the prettier songs, but


Something Else Again has a little more intensity and immediacy. Havens is most famous for his set that opened Woodstock, but as a recording artist he peaked out on these two albums. Brian Greene


VARIOUS ARTISTS Epitaph For A Legend International Artists/Charly 2-CD www.internationalartistsrecords.com First appearing as a double vinyl album back in the early ’80s, this was actually a pretty hard artefact to come by, unless you knew where to


score such things. And it all but disappeared fairly swiftly too. Hearing this for the first time was a complete


revelation back then and, despite the passing years and the jaded ways that sometimes infiltrate record collector-type minds, Epitaph remains an awesome treat for today’s ears. Not only do you hear some great – and what


were once very rare – Elevators, Roky Erickson & Clementine Hall and Red Crayola pieces, but some great obscure fayre too, including The Rubayyat, Thursday’s Children, Lost And Found, The


56


JAMME Jamme Now Sounds CD www.nowsounds.co.uk


Mentored and produced by John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas and recorded in the attic studio of his Bel Air mansion, Jamme’s one and only album surfaced


in March 1970 as one of only two releases on Phillips’ short-lived label Warlok Records and then promptly sunk without trace. Originally christened Strawberry Jam after the


band’s first composition, ‘Strawberry Jam Man’, Jamme’smelodic Anglophile pop opus was recorded at the same time as Phillips was putting together his debut solo album Wolfking Of LA. This first time on CD edition includes the


original 10 track album plus eight bonus tracks, including the John Phillips tribute ‘Thanks To The Man In The Rabbit Hat’ and amiscellany of 45 mono versions, alternative takes, instrumentals and demos. In best Now Sounds tradition, the whole fascinating and long forgotten story of Jamme is chronicled by respected Mamas & The Papas historians Chris Campion and Jeffrey A Greenberg in their voluminous sleeve notes. Grahame Bent


CORKY LAING/LESLIE WEST First Steps Voiceprint 2-CD www.voiceprint.co.uk


There was nothing quite as powerful as Leslie West and Mountain in full flight. Unfortunately, what you get here isn’t going to remotely satisfy anyone looking for the


kind of paint blistering thrills these heavy-rock leviathans could deliver on a good night. If you’re looking for one of the best garage


combos of the ’60s then The Vagrants (featuring West on guitar) deliver on every front. Originally available as the vinyl-only Great Lost Album back in 1986, disc one of this confusingly assembled set is a collection of The Vagrants’ soulful singles


Chaparrels and three of the best: the non-Texas garage punker ‘I Want My Woman’ by The Emperors, The Inner Scene’s raw redo of Led Zep’s‘Communication Breakdown’ and The Bee Gees’ salutatory psych-fuzzer ‘In My Own Time’ given a good seeing to by The Patterns. Factor in Roky’s legendary pre-Elevators


blast through The Spades’ ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ and the seductive primitivism of that 45’s flip ‘We Sell Soul’ and you already have yourself almost an hour or so of truly tantalising sounds. Some fine-etched blues courtesy of


Lightnin’ Hopkins and Big Walter plus weird off- kilter moments like Sonny Hall’s ‘Poor Planet Earth’, a snippet of a Roky radio interview and Gregg Turner’s Roky interview that appeared on the original’s gatefold – both from 1978 – elevate it further, depending on your point of view.


Jon Savage adds newly updated text and the


mighty Mole from The Higher State supplies a blow-by-blow account. If you don’t already have it, then whatcha still waitin’ around for? Lenny Helsing


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