Friday, January 4, 2013

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968


Well in honor of Nuggets celebrating its 40th anniversary I went out and purchased the 180gram reissue, I'm not big of reissues but I made an exception with this compilation. Nuggets was probably one of the first real introductions for me into the strange wonderful world of psychedelic rock. Finding a good used copy of this album is difficult unless you stalk it on eBay. so I went the reissue route and I can't wait to spin this many times over!!
 
LP Track List
 
1. I Had Too Much To Dream (The Electric Prunes)
2. Dirty Water (The Standells)
3. Night Time (The Strangeloves)
4. Lies (The Knickerbockers)
5. Respect (The Vagrants)
6. A Public Execution (Mouse)
7. No Time Like the Right Time (The Blues Project)
8. Oh Yeah (The Shadows Of Knight)
9. Pushin' Too Hard (The Seeds feat. Sky Saxon)
10. Moulty (The Barbarians)
11. Don't Look Back (Remains)
12. An Invitation to Cry (The Magicians)
13. Liar, Liar (The Castaways)
14. You're Gonna Miss Me (The Thirteenth Floor Elevators)
15. Psychotic Reaction (Count Five)
16. Hey Joe (The Leaves)
17. Romeo & Juliet (Michael & The Messengers)
18. Sugar and Spice (The Cryan' Shames)
19. Baby Please Don't Go (The Amboy Dukes)
20. Tobacco Road (Blues Magoos)
21. Let's Talk About Girls (The Chocolate Watchband)
22. Sit Down I Think I Love You (The Mojo Men )
23. Run, Run, Run (The Third Rail)
24. My World Fell Down (Sagittarius)
25. Open My Eyes (Nazz)
26. Farmer John (The Premiers)
27. It's A-Happening (Magic Mushrooms)



If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different -- an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting -- the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside -- but the frequent bursts of fuzztone, Farfisa organ, and vocal sneering in the 27 tunes Kaye selected codified a musical approach that flourished in the mid-'60s, and at a time when rock was becoming more self-consciously serious and arty, the primal power and sheer sense of fun audible in this music seemed like a minor revelation that became a clarion call to musicians, fans, and music scribes around the world. Nuggets proved to be of seismic importance in the years after its release, but just as importantly, it's a blast to listen to; Kaye's sequencing gives the album the joyous flow of a great afternoon of AM radio, and the album blends hits both big ("Pushin' Too Hard" by the Seeds, "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five) and small ("You're Gonna Miss Me" by the 13th Floor Elevators, "Hey Joe" by the Leaves) with high-quality obscurities ("Don't Look Back" by the Remains, "It's A-Happening" by the Magic Mushrooms) and early efforts by future stars (Leslie West in the Vagrants, Todd Rundgren in Nazz, Ted Nugent in the Amboy Dukes). And while many of the garage compilations that would follow would focus relentlessly on the obscure and the noisy, Kaye's set not only demonstrates that some of this stuff actually made the charts, but that there was as much great pop as snotty proto-punk pouring out of America's rec rooms back in the day. And Kaye's liner notes were nearly as important as the music in defining the importance of this music and its era. Very few "oldies" compilations have had an influence approaching that of Nuggets, and even fewer are as rewarding to listen to; if you care about rock music in the '60s, you need to own this album. [In 1998, Nuggets would be expanded into a superb four-disc box set, but the original two-LP set remains available as a standalone CD release.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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2 comments:

  1. This is definitely an album I need to add to my vinyl collection as well. I've never seen a used vinyl copy of it, just on CD. But we know that just ain't the same!

    I had an mp3 copy of this at one point. Dunno what happened to it.

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  2. I recomend "Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969" just as good with some real cool stuff on it I think it only comes on CD so far.

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