The Rogues - Train Kept A-Rolling b/w You Better Look Now (Audition - 1966)

In my world, music is what keeps me spiritual aligned to the material world, through my record collection I vicariously live out my own life turmoils, pleasures and experiences.

One such record which arrived on my door-step this week was an original and mint copy of garage folk-rock opus The Rogues and their 45rpm single Train Kept A-Rolling b/w with the hypnotic and amazing 'You Better Look Now'.

The latter track has been a song in which upon my first listen to it on The Teenage Shutdown compilation series a few years ago, captivated me beyond comprehension.

I thought to myself I must search out this 45, it means so much to me, thankfully the time came and I managed to purchase the 45 at a very good price.

The Rogues hailed from Buffalo, New York and as stated above, created for me one of the finest moments in teenage 60s garage music.

I am unable to find any information in my record collection which gives me details on who The Rogues' as people were, all I know is they were a Buffalo NY group.

The track 'You Better Look Now' has been special to me for nigh on near to 5 years now, I was so exceptionally happy to finally pick up an original 45 of this.

Have a listen to the track below.

What I love about this song, aside from the folk punk genius which is hitting my aural nerve centres, is the lyrical aptness that coincidentally speaks to me on a whole different and relative level, the song is much more substantial moreso now than ever.

What I really dig about this song, is it is an extension to my own vocabulary, in essence it does my talking for me, it conveys the message I need to get out of my soul, it tells the story of me and let's you know how and what I am thinking and feeling at this moment in time.

A 12 string guitar solo, which sends the heart into a frenzy, a bass line which holds the tears back and vocal harmonies which each sound enriched with turmoil and teen-tragedy.

Lyric lines which instantly jump out at me and of which I consider truly genius are -

"Well be that way then!, be stubborn and cruel, admit that you're lost and there'll be no chance for you"

"Be true to your friends, that's what you told me you'd be like, but as it turned out, it was true, you told me a lie, now all that is left, is memory past"

"you say you'll be mine, but there is no telling whose on your mind"

Pure GENIUS... a class song, for broken hearted young men, lost in an abundance of foggy notion and confusion.

The Flip-side of the 45 is a work of art too, possibly the most savage cover version of Train Kept A-Rolling to ever grace tape.

Both sides are easily found on the Teenage Shutdown compilation series.

Enjoy

Paul Messis

The Folklords - Release The Sunshine (1969)

Firstly, upon embarking on this blogpost, I would like to apologise profusely for my lack of blogging, I have been exceptionally busy with a whole heap of things i.e. life, work, pleasure and pain.

I am going to try and blog about music more frequently and get back into a rhythm of things again.

Ok let the blog post begin...

The date is 1969, the place is Canada and the product, is possibly the finest Acid-Folk psych LP ever released; The Folklords' 'Release The Sunshine' album is one of those fine gem's which seemed to have gone astray in the corridors of time and is a work which is quite unlike anything that has been created.

This album has most definitely been a huge influence to me of late, not only has it become the soundtrack to my Autumn and Winter of 2011, it has also inspired my own new sounds even down to the style of the front cover, which I will be ripping off and borrowing heavily from when I shoot my own sleeve.

The Folklords were -

Paul Seip - Vocals and Guitar

Martha Johnson - Vocals and Autoharp

Tom Waschkowski - Bass and Vocals

With Craig Boswell - Drums

The resulting album is a product of beauty, down to the last note, mystical lyricism, psychedelic ambience, mind altering chiming via the sounds of Autoharp, tripped-out melancholy, blurry visioned hope and a wonderful array of rich and textured harmonies, complemented entirely by Martha Johnson who anchors the whole thing.

The album is one of my finds of 2011 and this album has been engrained into my emotional D.N.A and whenever I listen to it, it will remind me of this period of my life.

Please find below three of my favourite songs on the LP.

Jennifer Lee

Forty Second River

Unspoken Love (single version)

Enjoy

Paul Messis

The Rising Storm - Calm Before (1967)

Currently one of my favourite albums which is constantly spinning on my record deck and also on cd in my car is the album pictured above; The Rising Storm's delightful and landmark release in 1967 'Calm Before...'

The album is possibly one of the highlight LP's in the garage genre in my opinion and is to me ranked equally alongside other great lost albums within the genre such as Illinois' The Bachs' - Out of The Bachs or Florida's The Nightcrawlers with their cult classic album 'Little Black Egg' LP.... The Rising Storms' album is a classic and a totally unique gem full of genius song writing craft and original material (which was pretty uncommon for a band like this in 1967) and a couple of really cool cover versions

'Calm Before' played a huge influence on my own album and was sort of was the mold of which inspired the concept of my own album, the album has twelve songs (so does mine), the album has a couple of cover versions of the groups favourite tunes of the day (so does mine - however I only have two), the album is pretty melancholic and moody yet has a strong sense of song-writing style and flare (so does mine) and I guess it was one of the most unique albums of it's kind at it's time (just like mine hehehe)

The Rising Storm formed at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and were active between the years 1965 -1967, the band would essentially have been the Universities house group and would probably have played local frat parties playing the usual standards of the day to rowdy teenage boys and girls, however as is the case with the bands sole release 'Calm Before...' you know that there was much more depth to this band and the album is a first hand experience of this.

The Rising Storm were (in order of the pic above) Todd Cohen, Tom Scheft, Bob Cohan, Tony Thompson, Richard Weinberg & Charlie Rockwell.

The album is a great insight into a 60s group, in particular one who were a 'university/school group', the album is like a time capsule to a time-gone-by and I am sure the LP acts as a great momento to the memories of each band member.

Likewise with my own LP, I have it as a document to my own life now and hold the memories dear to me, mainly as a reminder of the people in my life who shared the period of creating the album within and I am sure The Rising Storm have a similar thing going on with their release.

When I first purchased The Rising Storm's album I didn't get it if truth be told, but after repeated listens the genius of the album consumes the listener and you slowly enter the innocent and dreamy psychedelic world of a band who were young and clearly had great minds on their shoulders.

There is a moodiness and melancholy all over 'Calm Before..' and this is what I really dig and relate too, especially as I have been absorbing this album almost every day for two weeks now, it  seems to fit my mood perfectly, the album is folk-tinged and beautifully psychedelic in it's presentations.

'Calm Before...' has a bunch of really cool cover versions of tracks by other New England Garage bands such as The Remains, The Rockin'Ramrods amongst a host of other hits of the day, However it is the bands moody and sombre originals that make this album a masterpiece, the cover versions of other band's songs are genius and The Rising Storm totally make them their own but there is something truly mystical about the band's original tracks.

See below a few links of the tracks off the album, please take a listen

The Cover of the Remains' - Don't Look Back, The Rockin' Ramrods' - Mr Wind and a few of the band's own magical original tracks.

The song above; 'Frozen Laughter' influenced the track called 'Why?' on my own LP, as a homage to 'The Rising Storm' I too placed my song as track 6 to end side 1 of the vinyl.

I LOVE THIS ALBUM, I REALLY DO!!!

Mr Wind, don't laugh as I begin to cry.... GENIUS!!!

Enjoy

Paul Messis

The Juju's - You Treated Me Bad 1964 - 66

Michigan was home to one of my favourite record labels 'Fenton Record' and is also home to one of the greatest rock n roll sounds of America. Mid-60s' Michigan produced a wealth of great teen-beat bands who were inspired by the British Invasion and created a very unique garage sound which is still pretty unnoticed amongst 60s garage fans. Many of the groups who came from Michigan and had records released on 'Fenton' particularly are now deemed lost classics to fans of the genre the world over, I myself am highly inspired by such groups and the Michigan "sound".

One such band who rank high up there in my opinion, is the JuJu's.

I recently purchased the newly compiled 1964-67 JuJu's collection and I have to say it is an absolute delight that the music on this record has survived and been made available to the public, the LP is a great insight into a teenage group of the mid 60s.

The Juju's are responsible for creating the teenage genius which was their 45rpm single 'You Treated Me Bad', the said song is a huge influence to my own music, if you listen closely to my own songs, you may hear that I am highly influenced by the guitar playing style, especially from JuJu's songs such as 'You Treated Me Bad' and 'Do You Understand Me' (the latter unfortunately not featuring on this LP collection.

The JuJu's were - 

Ray Hummel III - Vocals, guitars and harmonica (also main songwriter)

 Max Colley Jr. - Tenor Sax, backing vocals.

Rod Shepard - Bass, Lead Guitar, backing vocals

Bill Gorski - Drums

Rick Stevens - Lead Guitar

The JuJu's formed in 1964 in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan, Grand Rapids was a rather hip place to be during the 60s, many great teen bands played and came from there.

The album is a great insight into a teenage group of that era, the LP is compiled by Ray Hummel III himself and much of the songs on the LP are rare unheard tapes from Hummel's own private collection, the album features a fantastic booklet with interesting reading into the band's history not to mention commentary by Ray Hummel.

The music on the album is a really really great listening experience, when you listen to this record especially with tracks like 'Hey Little Girl' demo  and the band's rather crass version of 'Summertime', you instantly get transported back to a school dance held inside a school gymnasium in mid 1965.

What I like about this collection is hearing the influenced transition between that of 50s rock n roll a'la Buddy Holly, Doo-Wop etc and the British Invasion of The Beatles et al, this album beautifully makes available the sounds of a band who were stuck in between the past sounds of American Rock n Roll and the then current influences coming from across the pond.

Ray Hummel III was a great vocalist and songwriter whowrote class songs, which thankfully have been graced here on LP for the many to hear.

The album is a good addition to anyone who like's 60s garage or rock n roll's record collection.

You can purchase the album here -  THE JUJU's (Please Click)   (whilst you're there you can also pick up my records - they are JuJu's inspired) - I am warning you it is limited to only 450 copies, so get them while they are still here.

Please take a listen to The JuJu's monsterous and killer track 'You Treated Me Bad' of which I got outbidded on ebay last year by $20, had that last buyer not outbid, I'd have owned this 45.... DAMN!!

Enjoy

Paul Messis

The Optic Nerve - Like It Was Before (1985)

My friend Marty turned me onto The Optic Nerve last year, I had just gotten out of the bath, I was preparing to record a session myself that day, I think it may have been my own 'Time Will Tell' session and Marty goes "Hey Paul, you'll dig this, it sounds kind of like you and I feel you'll love it"... the album in question that day was the album pictured above, The Optic Nerve and their brilliant  long-player 'Lotta Nerve'.

I will do a blog post on the history of 'The Optic Nerve' and their albums at another time later on.... Right now I however just wish to make a post about one of their songs and write about it, purely because I feel the song is totally genius and one of their best songs, it's my favourite song from the tracks I have so far heard of theirs.

'Like It Was Before' is an amazing track, it's not on either of the bands two albums and is only available on Youtube, it is a live recording of the group from an infamous New York music venue called 'The Dive' way back in 1985 (the year of my birth).

Basically I dream of one day writing a song like this and admit that this song has influenced me greatly with my own music, it's perfect folk-rock styled garage punk, the mood and vibe is totally heart felt and meaningful, it's a personal song and I guess relates heavily to my own frustrations and mood at the moment, this song has been my 'song' of 2011, purely because the vibe of it reflects so much to me and my life, heartache ain't too fun, but you have to just deal with it I suppose?? thankfully there are others who get it and write hip songs like this.

I really dig the lyrics in this song.. "I think about you all of the time, both day and night you're on my mind, I wonder if you feel the same? but lately you don't even know my know!"

The desperation and urgency in the deliverance of this song, is true, raw and heartfelt.... I really dig it!!!

Bobby Belfiore is a genius songwriter and The Optic Nerve are amazing players, I guess as a group of musicians, I wish I can have a group the same as these guys one day.

Enjoy the track and please be sure to check out more of The Optic Nerve, they really are one of the most underrated bands of the 80s, if not ever!!! 

Paul Messis

The Vejtables - Anything b/w I Still Love You (Autumn - 1965)

Recently I purchased the wonderful 4-cd/book boxset - Love is The Song We Sing; The San Francisco music scene 1965 - 1970 on Rhino Records and have thus far thoroughly enjoyed the set, it is well packaged and is a great compilation full of facts and cool pictures.

The Vejitables are a group I've overlooked in the past, I dunno why??? but I guess I've always assumed they had no real songs that I'd dig, I was proven wrong. I've been into 60s underground music since I was a teenager, so almost ten years of intense research into the genre and I missed the boat with The Vejtables, until very recently, I guess that is the good thing about music, it continuously surprises.

The track 'Anything' blew me away when I heard it and  has since become one of my favourite songs of the moment.

The track was recorded and released in mid 1965, which is amazing as it sounds like it belongs  a couple of years later in 1967, it easily sounds like it influenced what the Mama and The Papa's went on to later do, the rich harmonies, the strange chord progressions and general summer time vibe.

The Vejitables consisted of -

Bob Bailey - lead vocals, percussion

Ned Hollis - lead guitar, organ and backing vocals

Reese Sheets - rhythm guitar and backing vocals

Rick Dey - bass and backing vocals 

and the ever so gorgeous and talented Jan Errico - drums and backing vocals.

Jan was one of the first ever female drummers and she was highly talented, not only was she pretty but she was also a phenomenal songwriter, musician and later went on to be in the Mojo Men.

The Vejtables were a short lived group but I feel in their short time were pretty important if only for their initial influence via their harmony style.

They had four 45rpm singles ranging from Folk-Rock, Beatles-esque Garage pop, and Psychedelia, they disbanded in late 1967.

For me the highlight of their recording output is 'Anything', have a listen to it below.

Pics taken by Jim Marshall and photographed from the 'Love Is The Song We Sing' cd/book set on Rhino Records

Thanks

Paul Messis

Jake Holmes - The Above Ground Sound (1967)

Some day's when the rain is pouring down, the feelings of emptiness fill the soul, the sadness of other people's ways hurt you and cause you pain, there seems to be no-one else on the planet who seems to understand what is going down in the dark recesses inside your head. However there are, on these strange and desperate days the odd album which seems to fit that very moment and seems to alleviate the pain and make things a little less worse than it is.... I guess you can call these albums 'Rainy Day Albums'.

Today after being asked if I liked Led Zeppelin, it got me thinking about the musician I am writing about in today's blog-post; Jake Holmes. 

Jake Holmes is a really cool singer-songwriter who came from the Greenwich Village Folk scene during the mid to late 60s.

In response to the question of if I liked Led Zeppelin, I did answer NO!!! I have never understood Led Zeppelin and what they were about and I think what they did was all too grandiose, over-the-top and up its own arse for my own liking, plus I feel their songs have no real emotional basis and don't impress  me at all aside from the fact that they may be good from a technical standpoint. I also hold a huge disdain towards Led Zeppelin purely as they stole 'Dazed and Confused' from the aforementioned Jake Holmes and claimed it to be their own??? they didn't originally give Holmes any credit and took the song and claimed it was written by them.... For that alone I kind of hate them, how low can you get?? 

Jake Holmes released two LP's during the 60s, 'The Above Ground Sound' (1967) and 'A Letter to Katherine December' (1968) both of which at the time received no critical or public acclaim, in fact both albums were totally ignored and faded into obscurity as soon as they were released, which I guess is why philistines like Jimmy Page took songs from it and claimed it as his own.

Jake Holmes' song-writing greatly influences me, I guess how it does so, is because his songs are very personal to him and his life.

Jake Holmes also suffered with depression, I can relate to this, as I do too, Holmes' mental state can be heard throughout in the lyrics and feel within his songs on both of his albums, I really enjoy that fragility and tenderness in Jake Holmes, it is most apparent on his debut long-player, his second long-player is similar to Syd Barrett's albums in that it makes for difficult listening as you are actually hearing the soul of a man, breaking down slightly.

I can really relate to his mind-set and can understand where he is/was coming from, often I find that my best friends come from my record and book collection (sad hey?) , Jake Holmes is one of those friends who seems to be kindred to me and who only comes to hang out with me every so often when my mind and soul need his songs and words, I have found, it always seems to be raining when we meet each other??

There is a lot of pain in 'The Above Ground Sound' album, you can hear it all throughout... there is a lot of pain inside of me also and I guess this album helps me through a great deal of things, especially on day's like this when the sky is grey and the rain falls heavy to the ground.

'The Above Ground Sound' has ten great songs each with their own individual personalities, of these ten, one is the infamous 'Dazed and Confused'.

The LP sleeve has a real cool picture of Holmes, plus a bunch of fantastic and personal liner notes for each of the songs (I will put a few examples below in italics under the songs I choose to play)

I will now post a few videos/clips of songs which I really dig from the album and a short explanation why I like the songs.

LONELY  - "Explaining the lyric is fairly simple. When you spend time at anything you can grow to like it. People must have something to hold on to and if there is nothing, they hold on to nothing...."

The liner notes above pretty much say it all about this song.... I guess when I first heard this song, my mind flipped-out, mainly because the music is so mad, it is the sound of confusion in music, it is anger, it is frustration, it is sadness and it makes real sense to me, then to top it off you get a really killer lyric to end the song "I have a friend his name is lonely, he's always by my side, he borrows all my confidence and steals all my pride!!!"..... no other lyric can express manic depression as well as that, especially when it is sung by Jake Holmes in the most gut wrenching and venomous of manners.

 She Belonged To Me - "Almost everybody has owned a car they shouldn't have sold. A Ford '49, '53 Chevy, '55 Plymouth an occasional Crosley... I had a girl like that once."

This track is possibly the most upbeat track on the album, I really like it for it's cleverness, I like the fact the title is written in the past tense 'She BELONGED to me', it's rare for a song of this nature to be like that, I think it's pretty cool and a smart idea. I think I understand what Holmes is on about in this song, when you get a 'special' girl come into your life, you become spellbound, I guess this song is a magical ode to such girl's from the point of view from guy's like me and Jake Holmes.... I don't even know if that makes sense???? 

I also like the humour used in the lyricism throughout the song especially at the end.

Genuine Imitation Life - "I don't like talking about this song. It's an accident that took a long time to write. I wish I didn't feel that way about life"

This track is a magical piece of beatnik styled folk music, I love the pure poetry in this song, it's wonderful, the first time I listened to this song I cried, because it made so much sense to me, this track is a pioneering protest song against all the things in society I hate and despise. Jake Holmes puts to music one of the hardest things to complain about in this world and that is people and their faults. It's an amazing song... Listen out halfway through for the chord change which will make you feel very funny inside.... check out the venom sung in the lyric "People worship crosses, fingers crossed behind their back"... GENIUS.

Dazed and Confused - "This song is a combination of colors, a place I understand but cannot stay too long in. I get empty. I like it most because it makes sense by being unreasonable"

This is the song that Led Zeppelin had the cheek to claim as their own.... this version, the original is more raw and schizophrenic and that is why I much prefer this than the Wayne's World styled mockery which was the Led Zeppelin version.

Signs of Age - "Policeman, athletes and schoolteachers are all supposed to be older than me... they're not. Suddenly I'm not a child, I won't trade what I've got though"

This song is quite fantastic, I guess Jake Holmes was the same age as me when he wrote this, twenty-five and he is asking the same questions and having the same doubts... I think it is one of the few songs ever written which openly questions that weird age of the mid-twenties in such an honest way... it's kinda cool and a fitting ending to both the album and this blog post.

Enjoy the rain if you can?

Paul Messis