“What are we fighting for?” Country Joe tells it like it is.


VARIOUS ARTISTS …Next Stop Is Vietnam: The War On Record 1961-2008 Bear Family 13-CD box set/book www.bear-family.de


Unprecedented in terms of its sheer scope, the comprehensive- ness of its all inclusive approach, the depth of research


involved and the determination of Bear Family to do justice to what is a truly monumental subject – there has never been a box set quite like this. Housed in a 12” x 12” slipcase sleeve ...Next


Stop comprises 13 CDs, containing a total of 334 tracks and a playing time of some 16 hours and 49 minutes, accompanied by a full colour hardback book with a foreword by Country Joe McDonald detailing the history of the conflict which came to be known as the first rock ’n’ roll war. Each of the 13 discs is organised around themes (Proud To Serve, Hell No – We Won’t Go, Peace, Now!), which reflect the various phases and key events in the unravelling history of the conflict and the diversity of responses to it both on the battlefield and back at home in the US. One of the many fascinating things about


...Next Stop is the way it acts as a reminder that the musical response to Vietnam wasn’t solely the


for Verve, with West’s distinctive fuzz guitar breaks to the fore. Disc two on the other hand is a barely


listenable, poorly recorded historical record of Corky Laing’s pre-Mountain combo Energy. Together the two discs make a mismatched collection, complete with shoddy booklet and appalling artwork. Mountain fans will be shaking their heads in bewilderment while Vagrants fans won’t even know what lurks within. Roger Baswell


LAZY SMOKE Corridor Of Faces Jackpot LP


www.jackpotrecords.com


Lazy Smoke’s lead vocalist/guitarist John Pollano may sound uncannily like John Lennon, but a whole ’nother thing entirely is happening throughout


these exceptional grooves. Intensely heady whiffs slide off ‘All These Years‘,


the more experimental ‘Salty People’ and the charmingly beatific ‘Sarah Saturday’ and ‘Jackie- Marie’. It also boasts the exquisitely-fashioned ‘Underskys’ and the village-life nostalgia of ‘There Was A Time’. Lazy Smoke were clearly on the cusp of something I believe the great record-listening public could’ve shared in – perhaps rewarding LS with further disc opportunities; major success even! Recorded in summer 1968, Corridor Of Faces


only appeared in tiny quantities on the private Onyx label. Unofficial issues have turned up, but now this rarity can claim its legitimate place as a masterpiece of electric-acoustic psych-garage whimsy; with a delightfully strange undertow. Jackpot have liaised with Pollano, remastered the tapes, reinstated original cover artwork, added a photo/info inner and struck gold. Lenny Helsing


VARIOUS ARTISTS Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth Volume One Rev-Ola CD www.revola.co.uk


At last, all you ever wanted to know about the short-lived but lucrative while it lasted late ’60s


phenomenon that was the bubblegum pop


experience – and all on one indispensable album. In hallowed Rev-Ola tradition this is a souped-up reissue of the original 1969 album as assembled by Buddah label boss Neil Bogart, minus two filler tracks and bolstered by the addition of seven bonus tracks. Bearing the unmistakable stamp of the hit


machine that was Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz’s Super K Productions, the lion’s share of the compilation’s 19 tracks come from the joint kings of bubblegum, The 1910 Fruitgum Company and The Ohio Express, with variations on the candy store pop template served up by The Lemon Pipers and The Shadows Of Knight. However, the single greatest moment of garage-pop perfection here has to be The Kasentez-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus’s‘Quick Joey Small’. Grahame Bent


VARIOUS ARTISTS Great Googly Moo Ace CD


www.acerecords.co.uk


Can someone please explain to me why people in their thousands would pay to stand in a field and watch the likes of Muse? Worst of all, these


people sing along and look like they are enjoying


themselves. What’s all that about? When did this pompous, over theatrical horror show, with shit songs and crap clothes become acceptable? Whatever happened to a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop- bam-boom? Thank God then for Great Googly Moo, the


prefect antidote to all that unnecessary evil. This is not nostalgia at work here; these authentic nonsensical boppers still sound great when blasted out loud. Larry Williams rips it up with ‘Hocus Pocus’, The


Rivingtons kick ass with the ‘The Bird’sThe Word’, The Boss-Tones sound ridiculously irreverent on ‘Mope-Itty Mope’ and those masters of gobbledygook The Kingsmen taunt us with the garagey‘(You Got) The Gamma Goochee’. Shirley Ellis fans will be thrilled to hear the unreleased ‘Ka Ta Ga Boom Beat’ which she attacks in her own inimitable style but, best of all, Gene & Eunice sound cool as fuck on the ass-swivelling jump- blues classic ‘Bom Bom Lulu’. All in all, this sounds like the most mother-


flippin’ fun you can have with your clothes on. Paul Ritchie


VARIOUS ARTISTS The London American Label Year By Year: 1962 Ace CD


www.acerecords.co.uk


This, the third volume in an ongoing series chronicling the history of the London American label, offers a cross section of the landscape of American pop


available on 45 in the UK prior to the arrival of Beatlemania. With London then the third party outlet of choice for many American 45s released in the US on a variety of labels, including Atco, Sun, Liberty, Monument, Atlantic, Stax, Imperial and Dot, its stylistic range is reflected in the roll call of


province of folk-rock protesters, as evinced by the inclusion of missives from artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Barry McGuire, Steppenwolf, Donovan, The Fugs, Country Joe & The Fish, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Tim Hardin, Melanie, Grand Funk Railroad, The Doors, Johnny Cash and The Plastic Ono Band. With songs from prominent soul and blues artists including The Shirelles, Marvin Gaye, The Dells, Edwin Starr, Freda Payne, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Jimmy Cliff, John Lee Hooker and Lightnin’ Hopkins also present, the cross cultural breadth of opposition to the war is here for all to hear.Another illuminating feature of ...Next Stop is the way it documents the sharply divisive opinions on the war through the inclusion of pro ’Nam songs recorded by a variety of service personnel including the infamous staff sergeant Barry Sadler, along with previously unreleased songs recorded by the vets themselves both in the years and decades after the war. In addition to the music, the epic track listing


comes interspersed with a running commentary of excerpts from archive radio broadcasts, public service announcements, field news reports and intercepted North Vietnamese radio transmissions by Jane Fonda and Hanoi Hannah. This is no less than the soundtrack to our


modern history. Grahame Bent


featured artists which includes The Coasters, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Crickets, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Bobby Darin, Ben E King, Ketty Lester, Charlie Rich, Sandy Nelson and Fats Domino. Arguably the most iconic titles in the collection


come in the shape of Little Eva’s ‘The Locomotion’, Pat Boone’s‘Speedy Gonzales’, Carole King’s ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’ and two evergreens which sank without trace at the time of their original release – Booker T & The MGs’ ‘Green Onions’ and Bobby (Boris) Pickett’s ‘Monster Mash’. Grahame Bent


VARIOUS ARTISTS With Love - A Pot Of Flowers Big Beat CD


www.acerecords.co.uk


If Mainstream Records founder Bob Shad hadn’t recorded a clutch of Bay Area bands in ’66 an important chunk of US popular music would be lost forever. With Love -


A Pot of Flowers – expanded here from its original 12 to 26 tracks – features precious Bay Area recordings. The Harbinger Complex (Bomp’s Greg Shaw


once operated their lightshow!) deliver the blistering fuzz thumper ‘I Think I’m Down’, rivalled only by Euphoria’s awesome ‘Hungry Women’ and ‘No Me Tomorrow’ – the latter giving The Electric Prunes a run for their banana skins. Euphoria are further represented in their earlier incarnation as The Word. Other contenders include the folk rocking Wildflower and the harmony laden Otherside. With stacks of bonus cuts – including some by


the phenomenal New Dawn – and stunning sound quality, let’s hope this is just the start of a campaign to issue Mainstream’s back catalogue, one of the iconic garage/psych labels of the ’60s. Richard Allen


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