The Renegades – Thirteen Women

It’s a sixties garage rock themed half dozen track selections this week beginning with this, a raucous and still ever-so-slightly cheesy version of a song that, up to that point, was maybe best known as a Bill Haley b-side. It has a special place in my garage rock heart for it was a routine enquiry about this tune, being played by a dealer at a Record Fair, that led to him giving me a cassette tape compilation he’d made of similar tracks which proved to be my gateway to a lifetime of sixties garage and psych collecting. I think it might have been that little keyboard riff that hooked me in with this one? The Renegades were from Birmingham but had their biggest success in Finland and they are just one of hundreds of under-the-radar Beatles / Stones inspired bands from the era who put out killer 45s…. (more to follow, but first)…

The Sonics – Strychnine

This, now legendary in the right circles, band from Tacoma, Washington, produced a raw and ragged, totally aggressive sound that was punk by any other name. Their debut album ‘Here Are The Sonics’ seems so ahead of its time for a 1964 release with singer / main songwriter Gerry Roslie attacking his vocals with a pure venom that must have sent a lightning jolt through any of the middle America populace that encountered this at the time. Original film material is scarce but I am good with this later clip from The Sonics 21st century reformation; if nothing else, the gig they played in London sometime around 2008 remains one of my all time definitive life-affirming gigs…

The Lemon Drops – I live In The Springtime

Chicago’s The Lemon Drops only issued one 45 in 1967 but, despite that, they still managed to release more incredible singles than Spandau Ballet and Heaven 17 combined (in my opinion). In fact this rather delicious fuzzy guitar explosion of sound on the Rembrandt label was something of a curio in its own right because there was a version released, which was actually the more common, or at least more frequently heard version, that was issued as a mix without the bass and drums. The track presented here has the full mix although weirdly the edition without the full range of instruments remains satisfyingly hypnotic and glows with a dawn-of-summer hazy warmth. Just goes to show what a good song it is then doesn’t it?

The Smoke – My Friend Jack

The Smoke were an English psych band from York who played with a pure garage energy and it is indeed a treat to find some film footage of them that captures the Mod edge in their style. This one was an outstanding 1967 45 that effectively bottles the spirit of the period; inevitably it was banned by the BBC and therefore received very limited exposure. Sometimes the British institution could be a little too trigger happy with their black listings, a mere hint of a drug reference needlessly halting a promising tune at birth, but here I suppose you have to admit the lyric goes beyond a vague suggestion of chemical stimulants. At least they had a number 2 hit in Germany though, a great single will always find a way eventually…

Rupert’s People – Dream On My Mind

It is hard to definitively define who Rupert’s People really were or who they were supposed to be. Songwriter Rod Lynton’s original band, the Extraverts, had split but he gained a management contract as part of a new act called Sweet Feeling at which point an acetate, including a song called Charles Brown, was advised to be re-written to the tune of Air on a G String, reflecting the classical ambitions acts like Procol Harum and the Moody Blues were flexing successfully at the time. The band Les Fleur de Lys were involved in the recording but then backed out necessitating the formation of a new group for Lynton’s work, which is where Rupert’s People arrive. By the time of this track they were deep diving into the flowery, childhood memory referencing psychedelia stylings of the period which, bizarrely, left a groovy little psych-rocker like this languishing as a 1967 b-side…

Ty Wagner – I’m A No Count

This was one of only two 45s that fell under the garage umbrella issued by Wagner, ‘I’m A No Count’ being the first from 1966 on the Chattahoochee label. It is an out-and-out sleazy and scuzzy outsider bluesy rock classic; no wonder Jon Spencer was happy to showcase Ty on the, actually quite recent, clip below. What I love about this is how Ty comes across as completely and utterly the cool real deal, he does not break into a smile even for a split second! If you enjoy this you need to check out the original recording (it’s findable, as most things are online nowadays) but for now, let me sign off this weeks dig into the audio / visual archives with a performance that is about as real as you can get…