Various Artists - Alice In Wonderland and Other Rainy Day Girls : The Great Lost Southern Popsike Trip 2 x CDs in digibook (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-Charly 658 X
“I grew up in the US South during this fertile musical period in the 1960s, but I was too young at the time to have known about any of these bands, much less having heard this music. All these years later, it's a joy to catch up with these "great lost Southern popsike" tracks. To sum up the sound even more creatively, the liner notes call this compilation a "trip into the obscure backwaters of Southern popsike, blues-infused garage and bubblegum soul." Throw in a bit of sunshine pop and you have yourself a dynamite collection of music. Perhaps all of the songs are not 5-star efforts, but I upped my rating simply because this 2-CD set is so well-packaged and documented, showcasing an era, and a region, that deserves much more exposure and recognition.
It’s puzzling why so many of these groups were not better known. Chock it up to the usual small labels with budget woes and marketing and distribution problems, plus many of these acts only released a single or two before breaking up. Well-known or not, the fact remains that the overall quality of these songs is very high. Any fan of '60s garage rock and sunshine pop will find a lot to like on here. Indeed, there are several songs on here that rank with the very best of this era, worthy of inclusion on a "Nuggets" collection.
The Gentrys, a band from Memphis that had a previous hit in 1965 with "Keep On Dancing," have two tracks on here; an excellent cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" and "Goddess of Love", an enchanting song with some riffs borrowed from Santana's "Evil Ways." Another group with multiple offerings on this collection is the Jerms from Topeka, Kansas. Among their three songs is a sizzling cover "Green Door." The Jerms were also one of the rare mixed-race garage groups of this era. Other standout songs on here include the catchy title track by the Berkeley Kites, the wild "Wait Until Tomorrow" by the United Notions, and "Wild and Free" by the Strange Bedfellows (described as "C&W Psyche"). A couple of other acts with cool songs are notable for their members who gained fame with other bands. The Tiffany System included Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers) and Scott Boyer (Cowboy), and Lord August & the Vision of Light featured Augie Meyers from the Sir Douglas Quintet.
The 2-CD set comes housed in a sturdy hardcover gatefold case, one that includes a very informative 24-page booklet, packed with groovy vintage photos and reproductions of original single labels and album covers. A thoroughly enjoyable trip down the rabbit hole!”-Donald E. Gillialand
“For once, the cover graphics on this collection give a good idea of what's inside. With all the many "popsike" collections available, is there still rarely heard, worthwhile (that being the key word) tracks for fans (like me) of pop/psyche/garage music? The answer is yes. These 40 "lost" tracks will take you back to that whole era (if you were there to begin with), or will give you a good idea of the kind of music being recorded and released in the Southern portion of the U.S. during that whole weird period.
The sound overall is very good--clean with a slight warmth without any compression used to" heighten" the music's impact. The 24 page booklet contains information on the bands, the music, the era, plus band photos and other memorabilia. The discs snap inside the front and back covers of the hardback, "bill-fold" style packaging. All in all a very nice presentation of this music.
In a nutshell--listen to the title track "Alice In Wonderland", "Goddess Of Love", "Stompity Stomp (Slummer The Slum)", and "The Vacuum", on the first disc, and you'll have a good idea of the trip you're beginning to take. With so many collections of similar music, who knew that there were so many lesser/unknown Southern U.S. bands putting out all this great pop/psyche music? Much of this music is equal to more well known tracks by bands that appear on other collections. The arrangements are on the softer side, with some slightly harder garage band sounds here and there. Influences are many--virtually every track will remind you of other better known bands. But bands like The Berkeley Kites, The United Notions, Randy & The Rest, Half A World Away, The Rugbys, The Strange Bedfellows, The Sound Laboratory, The Jesters, and others all gave it their best shot. And with titles like "Rainy Day Girls", "I'm A Teardrop", "The Light", "Twenty-First Century Girl", "Finding It", "Hang-Up City", and "Let Me Be Me", among many others, this is a real trip back to another era.
Neil Young fans need to hear The Gentry's version of "Cinnamon Girl" released before (with both garage fuzz and acoustic guitars) the well known version by Young and Crazy Horse. The vast majority of bands and musicians will be unknown to most fans--one exception being The Tiffany System--with future Allman Bros. Band drummer Butch Trucks, bass player David Brown, and Scott Boyer who went on to play in Cowboy, a great band who released several albums on the Capricorn label. Why the Cowboy albums haven't been reissued is a real mystery. But this music isn't a mere copy of well known band's sounds. Much of this stuff floats out there on it's own thank you. And listen to The Jerms' version of that late 60's AM radio hit "Green Door", sounding like someone kicked The Archies in the butt and taught them how to play instruments.
Why didn't any of this music make more of an impact? Who knows. But with this strong collection from a region not widely known for this type of sound, more fans should "take the trip" heard here, and add this great set to their late 60's pop/psyche collections. While closer to pure pop/psyche, this set is a good match for the recently released (and hard to find) "Love, Poetry And Revolution--A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966 To 1972" collection. Fans of this music--miss this--and it's your loss. Me, I'm going to look in the back of my closet for my Nehru jacket, bell bottoms, and tambourine. Groovy man!”-Stuart Jefferson
- LabelCharly
- UPC803415765829