The Sunrays: For Collectors Only: Vintage Rays (US, 1960s)

A near-complete collection of everything the Sunrays ever recorded, including a 1996 reunion track ("Longboards Rule"), this is the only collection you'll ever need by this third-string surf group. The Sunrays are historically important only for the curiosity value of the fact that their manager was Murry Wilson, who assembled the group out of spite after he was relieved of his duties as the Beach Boys' manager. Unfortunately, Wilson didn't realize that surf music was pretty much over by early 1965 when the earliest Sunrays tracks were released, or that surf-inflected renditions of blues classics like Willie Dixon's "Seventh Son" were not a very good idea. There are a few really nice tracks here, particularly the semi-hit "Andrea" and the folk-rocking "Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously," but this set only proves that the Sunrays were only marginally talented, and many of these 58 tracks are simply filler at best. For Collectors Only is, for once, honestly titled: This set is only for surf historians.

CD 1 Pre-Sunrays recordings
CD 2 Tower Records releases & alternates versions
CD 3 Unreleased songs & various demos

The Creation - Painter Man/Biff Bang Pow (UK, 1966)

(Planet PLF 119)

Painter Man, a No 36 in November 1966. Both featured fine guitar work from Phillips who was the first musician to use a violin bow on his guitar.

BIFF

The Creation - Making Time/Try & Stop Me (UK, 1966)

(Planet PLF 116)

This group evolved out of The Mark Four, which featured Phillips, Pickett and Jones, with John Dalton on bass. The Mark Four recorded four singles, which are now very sought-after, primarily because they were the first recordings by this personnel. When Dalton departed to join The Kinks, Bob Garner joined from Tony Sheridan's Band as a replacement.

The group then changed their name to The Creation and had two minor UK hits with Making Time, which reached No 49 in July 1966.

Girls are NAKED everywhere...

The Kinks 45s #4 (UK, 1964)

All Day And All Of The Night/I Gotta Move (Pye 7N 15714)

The 45 follow-up, All Day And All Of The Night, was very much in the You Really Got Me mould, but it ensured another massive hit (No 2 UK, No 7 US).

#4

Sky Saxon R.I.P

June 25, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sky Saxon (Richard Marsh), lead singer and founder of the 1960s band the "Seeds," who had a Top 40 hit in 1967 with "Pushin' Too Hard," has died after a brief illness.

Publicist Jen Marchand says Saxon died Thursday but did not have other details. He was in his 60s.

The Seeds sprang up in California, and their garage-band sound with Saxon's distinctive vocals became a favorite of the flower power generation.

Other Seeds singles included "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" and "Mr. Farmer."

Saxon (born Richard Marsh) had recently moved to Austin, where he played with his new band, Shapes Have Fangs.

He had been planning to perform this summer with the California '66 Revue, a tour featuring a lineup of California bands from the 1960s.

4 PK - Down & out (HOL, 1966)

"Down and out"by Eindhoven's 4PK is simply stunning, fuzz-driven stomping freakbeat that will now be on many people's wants list.

..."Sun is shining but not like yesterday"...
Me like it a looot. Clockwork orange beat song, pure meat here.

Down & out/so there

4 PK - It´s my day today (HOL, 1966)

They were from Eindhoven, Holland

One of their 45s here.

Its my day today/I laugh at you

The Kinks 45s #3 (UK, 1964)

1st of all: Happy Father's Day

You Really Got Me/It's All Right (Pye 7N 15673)

Tras un par de fracasos comerciales, llega la bomba, el single "You Really Got Me", en Agosto de 1964, supone una autentica revolución en la música de entonces, sobre todo por ese espectacular riff de guitarra del señor Ray Davies (por cierto, descubierto de casualidad, mientras manipulaba su amplificador con una aguja)

#3

The Rationals: Unreleased Tracks + Singles (US, 60s)

Welly well, heres the deal, dig it!
aka The Rat`s

• SCOTT MORGAN - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Flute, Harmonica
• STEVE CORRELL - Vocals, Lead Guitar
• TERRY TRABANDT - Bass, Backing Vocals
• BILL FIGG - Drums, Backing Vocals
  
  

INTRO

Whether you're a garage fanatic, an R&B lunatic, or a Motor City maniac (I claim all of the above), Scott Morgan's got the goods to satisfy your particular jones.

When you think about sixties veterans with great R&B-inflected rock voices, the one that stands the tallest, in terms of uncompromising integrity and overall quality of recorded work, has to be the estimable Mr. Morgan. Just look at the competition. Of his Detroit/Ann Arbor contemporaries, Mitch Ryder hasn't had it (IT being the confluence of talent, material, and band) since 1971's Detroit. Bob Seger started out like he might be the best of all (those songwriting chops!), but wound up spinning his pickup truck wheels in the morass of AOR pablum. Steve Marriott (RIP)? Paul Rodgers? Rod Stewart? All of 'em had the pipes, the tunes, the bands; all of 'em enjoyed more commercial success, but somewhere along the line, all of 'em lost the essential spark that made them great to begin with. (continue here)


Scott is the noble exception. He's been kicking out the righteous jams since 1962, starting out as a junior high school kid in Ann Arbor, Michigan, fronting soulful garage kings the Rationals; moving on in the seventies to hard-rocking Detroit "supergroup" Sonic's Rendezvous Band (with Fred "Sonic" Smith from the MC5, Scott "Rock Action" Asheton from the Stooges, and Gary Rasmussen from the Up); soldiering on into the eighties and nineties, well below the radar of public consciousness, with his own vehicles the Scott Morgan Band and Scots Pirates (often in tandem with the unbeatable rhythm team of Asheton and Rasmussen). And he's still sho 'nuff doin' it (but more about that later).

As garage bands go, the Rationals were almost too good to be true.
More info HERE!
Classic bands web.

In one of Nardwuar's oddball interviews from several years ago, Iggy Pop remembered his days as drummer for Ann Arbor's fabled Iguanas:

"Recently some Iguanas stuff has been re-released. Are you aware of that?"

Iggy: "Vaguely."

"Have you got one?"

Iggy: "I've ordered it."

"Who were the Iguanas' main rivals at that time? Who were you fighting against?"

Iggy: "The Rationals were our main rivals."

SCOTT MORGAN INTERVIEW
(complete and very interesting!!!)
part 1 - part 2
More stuff from the Rats here.

Of all the Michigan talent that flirted with stardom but never got invited to the party, there is probably no other band of the era so beloved and still so mourned as Ann Arbor's The Rationals. Certainly, here was a group that deserved fame and fortune but, incredibly, failed to get the notice and air-play that should have landed them among the best recording acts of all time. They were that good.
(Michigan 60s bands & more)

BOOM!

Los Hooligans : El Gato Loco (MEX, 1965)

La carrera de Los Hooligans inicia en Noviembre de 1960 cuando ganan un concurso organizado por Radio Éxitos y Discos Columbia. Del mismo concurso, surgieron también otros grandes grupos del rock'n roll sesentero: Los Loud Jets, Los Spitfires, Los Sparks y Los Blue Caps.

A partir de 1963 el grupo entra en su segunda etapa y firma contrato con Discos Orfeón, ingresa también Micky Salas en la batería y nuevamente se colocan en los primeros lugares con Johnny Ortega como vocalista. Despeinada, Bat Masterson y Para cuando Joven son sus primeros hits de este periodo; les siguieron El Secreto (1964), El Gato Loco (1965), Juanita Banana (1966) y Judy con Disfraz (1968). Los Hooligans participaron en varias películas como La Edad de la Violencia y algunas otras, así como en innumerables programas de televisión destacando el legendario Discoteque Orfeón a Go Go. Mas info.


CRAZY CAT