released some memorable material during its short run.


Many of the 20 tracks assembled


here are of the baroque pop variety, making the compilation something like a mini-Nuggets if some of the minor acts were trying to be The Left Banke instead of The Stones and The Who, et al. The most notable name from the rag-tag bunch on SNB’s roster is Mellow Candle, whose ’72 album Swaddling Songs is now a rediscovered acid-folk treasure. The song that will make you howl is Andy Ellison’s (former singer for John’s Children) fey, camped-up version of The Beatles’ ‘You Can’t Do That’. Hubert Thomas Valverde & The HTs (who?!) do a number called ‘Genevieve’ that sounds like a drag performer tarting up Scott Walker. A lot of this stuff is throwaway but almost all of it is at least interesting (if not just for its oddness), and a few tracks are downright jewels. Brian Greene


VARIOUS ARTISTS Treacle Toffee World: Further Pop Psych Sounds From The Apple Era RPM CD www.rpmrecords.co.uk


The third volume of RPM’s fascinating excavation of the Apple Publishing vaults turns up several gems. By saving some of the best ’til last we


get to enjoy such familiar favourites as Fire’s gloriously gonzo mod-psych anthem ‘Fathers’ Name Is Dad’ (not to mention its equally fabulous flip ‘Treacle Toffee World’ and both sides of the scrapped follow-up) and Sands’ sprawling ‘Listen To The Sky’, possibly the only example of that most ’60s of sub-sub-sub genres: bubblegum/ freakbeat/classical/anti-Vietnam propaganda. On the “what the?” side, you get


no less than three previously unreleased studio cuts from Shindig! darlings Grapefruit and similarly delicious demos by gifted unknowns Rawlings & Huckstep, pre- Badfinger hopefuls The Iveys and cult scousadelics The 23rd Turnoff. Add lost sides from Dennis Couldry, Legay and a staggering slice of acid-infused folk by Gallagher & Lyle called ‘Goodbye Mozart’ and you’ve got another winning set. Wonder if there’s enough stuff left


for a fourth… Andy Morten


REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS


more reviews at www.shindig-magazine.com 60


BOBBIE GENTRY Ode To Billie Joe/Touch ‘Em With Love Raven CD www.ravenrecords.com.au


Of course Ode to Billie Joe – Bobbie Gentry’s debut album from 1967, centres on the mystery-laden title track, a huge hit at the time and the basis of a mid-


70s movie. But the album’s opener is the one more people need to know about: ‘Mississippi Delta’ is a funky rocker that features some gritty guitar, a swinging beat, and Gentry’s husky vocals. Gentry is a talented songwriter, but on Touch ‘Em With Love (’69), her fifth and best overall album, she mostly worked up renditions of others’ material. Her spot-on version of Bacharach & David’s ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’ was another hit for her, and she also shows a deft vocal touch doing ‘Son Of A Preacher Man’ and ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’. The title track, written by the same team of Hurley/Wilkins who penned ‘Preacher Man’, is an arresting slice of Southern soul that kicks off the record nicely. Still, the finest track here is a Gentry original: ‘Seasons Come, Seasons Go’ which combines reflective lyrics with a rolling, mid-tempo beat and Gentry’s sultry singing.


Bobbie was something like a


Dusty Springfield from the Delta in her prime, equally comfortable singing thought-provoking folk, orchestrated pop, swampy soul, and down-home country. She is also one of the more enigmatic characters in popular music history – a one-time Philosophy student whose two marriages lasted a combined 14 months, she has been living in quiet seclusion, not performing and not talking to the media, since the late ’70s. Brian Greene


THE JESTERS Cadillac Men – The Sun Masters Big Beat CD


Drawing majorly from the twin influences of R&B and rockabilly, The Jesters were young rebel rockers from Memphis who included Sun supremo Sam


Phillips’ son Jerry on rhythm guitar with older brother Knox capturing the sounds on tape. He recalls The Jesters’ sound as ‘unplanned raw energy’ – I agree wholeheartedly. In 1966 they produced this mighty


collection of rockin’ sounds, evoking cool ‘50s Sun sides alongside distinct echoes of


Howlin’ Wolf and The Johnny Burnette Rock‘n’Roll Trio, especially in the crazed lead guitar playing of Teddy Paige. Perplexingly, only a souped-up remake (there’s two versions here) of ‘Cadillac Man’ made it onto disc, with the legendary piano/vocal man Jim Dickinson replacing Tommy Minga’s vocals and wailin’ harmonica.


Other cuts were just as deserving


of release while the group existed, just listen to ‘Get Gone Baby’, their fine rendition of Carl Perkins’ ‘Boppin’ The Blues’, and my favourites the truly wild ‘What’s The Matter Baby’ and the Bo Diddley-styled raunch (in ‘Cops‘n’Robbers’ mode) of ‘Strange As It Seems’.


Also included here and of


importance to garage fans are the four cuts from The Escapades, also fronted by Minga circa ’66. The most famous of these is the incredible Pebbles organ-punker ‘I Tell No Lies’, though the others are all particularly fine genre-defining examples too. More must-hear excavations from Big Beat! Lenny Helsing


KENNY & THE KASUALS 1966-68 The Singles… Plus Missing Vinyl LP www.veamusic.com


One of the Texan garage era’s most consistent acts, these local stars achieved garage- psych nirvana and chalked up a hit along the way with their


anthemic 1967 single ‘Journey To Tyme’, but that’s only part of their appeal. If the fuzzy and edgy ‘Chimes On 42nd Street’ (their final 45) ploughs a similar area to their classic, Kenny and his boys earliest sides focused on moody Brit Invasion styled ballads and enjoyable garage frat dancers, driven by excellent foot to the floor drumming, atypical garage guitar breaks and smart teen vocals. The later gentle psych folk of ‘When Was Then’ even portrayed them as a very able Simon & Garfunkel styled vocal act. Unreleased gems from the Eva


albums include the excellent snot fest ‘Things Getting’ Better’ and ‘Revelations’, which sounds not unlike The Standells’ finest moments. Varied in tone and always


good…essential garage fare. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE Live At The Fillmore 4th Feb 1968 Voiceprint CD www.voiceprint.co.uk


That’s the problem with Quicksilver live albums: you wait ages for one and then five turn up at once. Yes, Voiceprint – for reasons I can


barely begin to fathom – have seen fit to


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