60's Garage Punk!

Here are a couple records from the 60's that flat out rock!

First up is The Sonics from Tacoma, Washington. The Sonics were a pretty big deal in the Pacific Northwest in the 60's. Their release of "The Witch" on Etiquette Records became one of the biggest selling singles in the history of the Pacific Northwest. This song is "Like No Other Man" released on Jerden Records around 1966.

The next single is by The Swamp Rats on the Co & Ce label. The Swamp Rats are from McKeesport, PA, a small town near Pittburgh. They were only around for a year and a half, but they released a good amount of decent records. Unfortunately, they were mostly cover songs and they didn't get very good distribution, so they never really gained any popularity. This record, "It's Not Easy" was released in 1967.

The final single today is by The Underdogs on Hideout Records. The Underdogs are from Grosse Pointe, MI and were one of many, including Bob Seger and The Last Heard and Ted Nugent and The Lourds, to play the Hideout Club in Harper Woods, MI. The owners of the club decided to go into the record business, so they released this single as the first record on their new label in 1965. The song, "Judy Be Mine" was later recorded by The Romantics in the 70's.

Eddie Bond

Eddie Bond
Originally uploaded by loshuevos15

Here is Eddie Bond on Mercury Records singing a great uptempo rockabilly tune called "Boppin' Bonnie". This is a great song with great guitar playing and a cool walking bass line in the breaks. One of my favorites for sure. Eddie Bond is a rockabilly and country singer who grew up in Memphis and was a contemporary of greats like Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Eddie and his band, The Stompers, auditioned for both Sun Records and Meteor Records with no success. They were able to secure a recording contract for the much smaller Ekko records and they released two decent country flavored records. After these two releases, they were picked up by a major label, Mercury Records. Here Eddie Bond and the Stompers really came into their own releasing such great rockers as "Rockin' Daddy" and "Slip, Slip, Slippin' In". This record is one I've had for a while that I found at a record show in Oakland, CA back in 2002. I hope you enjoy it!

Barbara Lynn

Barbara Lynn is a bad-ass... I have been a fan of her recordings for a long time, but I had no idea how cool she really is. I found some of her 45's on our recent trip up to Omaha, which I'm really excited about, but as I was getting ready to post this entry I found a live video of her from 1966. It's amazing! The song is great and so is the performance. I had no idea that she was a guitar player as well as a singer. It's unusual to see a 60's soul singer playing an instrument, so I think it's especially cool. So, here are two recordings by Barbara Lynn on the Jamie label. I think these are both from 1962 or 1963 and like I said, the live video is from 1966.

Ronnie Self

Ronnie Self
Originally uploaded by loshuevos15

Here's a couple of good rockabilly records from Ronnie Self. The first one is "Pretty Bad Blues" that was released on ABC Paramount. ABC Paramount is a major label that released all kinds of good rockin' songs in the 50's. They even had some good blues and soul into the 60's. This record, even though it was released on major label, is still pretty rare to find. I think I traded one of my friends for this copy. The second song is "Bop-A-Lena" on Columbia Records. This was one of my first "holy crap I can't believe I found this in a thrift store" records. Later I found out that this song was pretty popular and sold pretty well, so it really didn't turn out to be the find that I thought it was. Oh well, you really can't beat that feeling even if it turns out to be unwarranted. Ronnie Self had a few more releases on Columbia which unfortunately all failed to chart. He saw his greatest success as a composer of Brenda Lee's "Sweet Nothings".

Sid King and the Five Strings

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post... Here is a record that I've been playing a lot recently. It's Sid King and the Five Strings playing "When My Baby Left Me" on Columbia Records. I'm glad this was released on Columbia, otherwise if it was released on a smaller label with less distribution it would be ridiculously expensive. It's just got that classic sound. I was fortunate enough to see Sid King and his brother Billy perform in San Francisco in 2003. They still put on a great show.

Johnny Burnette Trio - Lonesome Train

burnette trio
Originally uploaded by loshuevos15

Wow! What a great rockabilly record! This really is the epitome of what the rockabilly sound is all about. Slap bass, great guitar lines, hiccup-y vocals.... I don't know what else to say! Enjoy!!

Curley Money on Rambler - Stop Your Knockin'

Curley Money
Originally uploaded by loshuevos15

Here's a really good 45 I found recently... it's Curley Money on his own Rambler label out of Columbus, Georgia. I don't know much about this record and it doesn't seem that much has been written about it. It's been on a couple compilations, but I can't find it in any of my books. It's a great rockabilly song, so hopefully with this posting a few more people will have some exposure to it.
***Update: Since I recorded this and put it on youtube, I have been lucky enough to get an email from the son of Curley Money who is a good musician in his own right. His name is Dannie Money. Check out his youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/bigmoney1950

Barrett Strong on Tamla - Whirlwind

Here's another great soul rocker from Detroit. This is an early Tamla release by Barrett Strong. Don't have time to write much more, so here ya go!

Nathaniel Mayer on Fortune Records

Ok, here's an easy transition into more soul that I wanted to post. We had early 50's country 78's on Fortune Records in the last post and now here's an early 60's soul 45 on Fortune Records. Nathaniel Mayer was only 18 years old when this was recorded in 1962. It's a fantastic soulful rocker which quickly became a national hit when it was released. Unfortunately, nothing he released after this did very well. He took a long break from recording and in 2002 came out of retirement. He released a few albums and even did some touring. Sadly, he passed away on November 1st of 2008. Here is part of his legacy...enjoy!

Early Sun Records

These records speak for themselves, which is good because with finals coming up this week I don't have time to write much....

The songs are:
Sun 211 - Malcolm Yelvington - "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee"
Sun 218 - Sammy Lewis - "So Long Baby Goodbye"
Sun 219 - Billy "The Kid" Emerson - "Red Hot"

Anyway, these are classics, though they probably are the easiest of the early sun records to come up with. Regardless, the music is awesome, so enjoy!

Malcolm Yelvington

The Phantom - Whisper Your Love on Dot

Ok, one more... Here is the flip to that one from earlier... The Phantom singing "Whisper Your Love".

The Phantom - "Love Me" on Dot

This will be it for tonight... I really could do this for hours. Here's The Phantom on Dot Records singing the frantic "Love Me". I love how this song starts off with that crazy scream! And then the song gets wilder from there. I have no idea how this song found the light of day, especially on a record label owned by Pat Boone. I know it bombed and that's why this record is so tough to find. Just the fact that it made it to release is amazing, but since it's such a great song, I'm happy that it was. The flipside is another great song called "Whisper Your Love". It's a slower ballad, most likely originally considered the A-side. It has a great echo-y sound to it. Maybe I'll post that one too....

This record was another ebay purchase and my first leap into more expensive records. I'm pretty sure I did a little dance when this showed up in my mailbox. Someday I hope to find one in better condition, but I'm happy just to own this one.

Pat Cupp - "Do Me No Wrong" on RPM

Here's a record I've had for a while. Pat Cupp on RPM Records singing "Do Me No Wrong". This is a fantastic uptempo rockabilly song from 1956. I picked this up on ebay back when you could still find deals. I'm not going to rant about it (it wouldn't be the first time), but it's been pretty frustrating for the past couple of years. As soon as the value of the dollar fell, European collectors took over ebay. It's hard to compete these days... though I do have my own tricks.

Haha, I just noticed that you can hear our dogs barking at the end of the recording... no charge!

Doug Weiss - "Do You Love Another" on Tosa

This is a record I picked up recently. Doug Weiss on Tosa Records singing "Do You Love Another". Not a bad song. Not crazy rocking, but not bad. The song was rerecorded and released on Dinamo Records a year or so after this was released. I haven't heard it yet, but apparently the Dinamo version is a little better. Still, I have never seen this record before and I've seen a ton of the Dinamo releases, so I would assume this one to be pretty rare.