The Bachs - Out Of The Bachs (1968)

The original post of this article was featured in Optical Sounds Fanzine and written by me originally sometime earlier this year, please support the fanzine by visiting their website here... http://opticalsoundsfanzine.bigcartel.com

In the year 1968, five teenagers got together and created what to me is the finest moment in psychedelic garage band history, the band; The Bachs. the album; the groups only recorded output. the aptly titled 'Out Of The Bachs'.

During the year 1968, the hippy era was thankfully dead, the teen-beat era was just a distant memory. 1968 was a musical wasteland and in this mystical of years five teenagers based in Illinois got together and crafted one of the finest albums of their generation.

The band formed in 1966 in the Chicago suburbs of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, the group were together for 3 years, mostly playing school dances and various other shows in their local area. In 1968 they self financed and put-out their LP privately, they managed to put their 'Out Of The Bachs' album out and pressed around 100-150 copies (exact amount is unknown to me and is debatable amongst collectors), this means original copies of this album are exceptionally rare and extremely expensive too.

The album was released as a means for the band to say 'goodbye' to their fans and also to document their time together as a band.

'Out of The Bachs' features twelve stunning, original penned tracks (which during the time was rare, as most albums usually featured a bunch of covers) written by band members Blake Allison and John Peterman.

The Bachs were -

Blake Allison - Bass Guitar and Lead Vocals.

John Peterman - Guitar and Lead Vocals

John Babicz - Drums and Percussion

Mike De Have - Rhythm Guitar

Ben Harrison - Lead Guitar

'Out of The Bachs' is one of if not, my all time favourite album within the garage genre, the songs fit the zeitgeist of the times and for me are a perfect insight into the mindset of a group of young men in 60s America.

The album opens with the triumphant and angst-ridden 'You're Mine', this is a song I totally relate to, the song opens with the desperate plea "You Better Listen To My Advice, He Don't Treat You Very Nice"... the song continues in a frantic manner akin to Arthur Lee and Love's debut; killer jangle and punk attitude.

Following on from this initial teen-punk explosion, the mood takes a turn and what proceeds is the wonderful moody monster which is the track 'Pleasure Of Your Company' which features haunting harmonies, mood altering melodies and heartfelt desperation in the lyrics, Innocent love torn confusion commited to tape.

The album then tail spins into a psychedelic summer vibe with the stoned hay-fever like evocations of 'Free-Fall; which sends the mind into a dizzy ecstasy that makes the listener comfortably happy and numb at the same time.

'I See Her' turns the speed up a notch of which The Bachs turn the jangle button up and sing a track about one of those 'girls' that tend to ignore guy's like us (me and the Bachs), amazing guitar riffs and yet again harmonies which take the breath away.

Side 1 of the LP finishes on what can only be described as the best ending to a vinyl side ever!!!, side one ends with two amazing moody garage classics. 'My Independence Day' which is my favourite song on the album, features an amazing chord progression, fantastic instrumentation and an amazing dual vocal shared between Peterman and Allison, to top it off there is interweaving harmonies about finding and losing love. the song is so full of teen confusion and subsequently is one of my personal favourite songs recorded.

The final track on Side 2 is 'Minister To A Mind Disease', which breaks into the paranoia of psychedelia, here we have a track so rooted in being 'freaked out' that just by listening to it you'll suffer some anxiety induced panic attack, You only need to hear the ear-piercing fuzztone guitar solo to know that, that will clear any cobwebs that your mind holds within..."It's 6 o'Clock now and it's time to eat and rest your feet, of course you're hungry cos you eat to live or is it live to eat??"... mind boggling yet strangely wise??

Just before I begin to talk about Side 2, I want to remind the reader that this album was recorded by teenagers, yep!!! that's correct - young kids.

Their album during it's release was criminally unknown and I guess even to this day it is still considered an 'unknown' release even amongst garage and psych heads and collectors - which in my opinion is a real crying shame.

Side 2 kicks off with the total folk-psych dreaminess of 'Tables of Grass Fields' which sends the listener into more happy stoned vibes, imagine scenes of cornfields and walking hand in hand with that special girl (or guy) that you love in the summer sunshine is shining down and the world is perfect, well then this is the song for you, if you have that mindset currently going around your brain.

The next track 'Show Me That You Want To Go Home' is strangely contemporary sounding, again the lyrics point at love lost and the confusion of young love. Proceeding is the morbid 'Sitting' which instantly kicks in with minor chord 12 string jangle, this song is the tale of isolation, yearning and teenaged confusion and questioning.

This type of songwriting and subject matter and the total conviction with which The Bachs relay the message is a huge influence to me and my own music and well my life too. With regards to The Bachs you can't help but believe they lived the life they sung about - they were truly Outcasts amongst their peers and society, this is something I relate to, cos it's how I feel too.

After the misery-fest of the song above we drift back into hazy psychedelia with the track 'Nevermore' which is one of the stand-out tracks on the album for me, What I love is the call and response  in the vocals and I totally dig the desperation in the lyrics... The song moves along like a snake, amazing 12 string guitar jangle and extravagant songwriting craft and to top it off a ferocious fuzztone guitar solo that would have blown any of the guitar gods away!

The theme of teenage innocence continues on the next track 'Answer to Yesterday' which is a mournful heartbreak of a song and acts almost like an apology in record format, song such as this act as an anecdote to anyone who has lost someone in their lives.... these Guys REALLY understood the deal with things.

The album ends on a momentous high with the proto-grunge track 'I'm A Little Boy', the song is fantastically psychedelic and also highly mesmerising, I would classify this one of the finest endings to an album ever (just like side 1 ended hip too) and is a great swan-song for the band to end their short-lived career's on.

The Bach's were a tremendous group, their stand alone album is one of the hallmarks of 60s music for me and is also in my opinion one of the BEST albums out there.

Blake Allison and John Peterman were genius songwriters who wrote fantastic music and lyrics, the created the sound track soundtrack to my early to mid twenties and I still completely adore this album.

There have been many reissues of this album which sadly since the 80s have all been mastered wrongly at the wrong speed, Time-Lag records have recently reissued the album properly and it is almost as good as  original copies (apparently???, however it sounds great on my Hi-Fi).

Please find below 5 tracks from the album posted below - Enjoy!!!

You're Mine

My Independence Day

Minister To A Mind Disease

Nevermore

I'm A Little Boy

Cheers

Paul Messis

Bumble Bees - Maybe Someday b/w Girl Of My Kind (Phillips - 1966)

Continuing with the Dutch theme, one of my favourite releases by a Dutch group is this by The Bumble Bees, a really cool moody and mildly psychedelic double-sider 'Maybe Someday b/w Girl Of My Kind.

The Bumble Bees were a great group from The Haag, they released three 45rpm singles between 1966 -67 and then faded into obscurity like all great bands do.

The Bumble Bees were -

Jim Ten Boske - Vocals, Organ, Rhythm Guitar

Joop Leileveld - Lead Guitar, Vocals

Rene Bakker - Bass

Nico Overgaauw - Drums

The Bumble Bees were a pretty cool band by my reckoning, their releases on the 'Op-Art/ Muziek Expres labels are cool however by far,I feel this 45 on Phillips is their best work and is currently being spun a fair amount of times at the moment at my home.

Maybe Someday

This is a kinda weird piece of moody psychedelia that would only had been found in the coffee shops of Amsterdam and Den Haag, it is slightly folk influenced, slightly jazz influenced, slightly psychedelic and it is fully in keeping with the Dutch Beatnik vibes of the time. This track comes on like some tripped out, folk styled nursery rhyme however the scene is slowly ruined (or enhanced) with themes of forlorn despair and love lost, a killer track, with added weirdness via use of the flute which gives the song an odd whimsy  and also you can hear use of a Mellotron which gives a strange Gregorian undertone to the song.

Girl Of My Kind

Another moody gem, I really really love this song, you can't beat those echoed out harmonies, the song sounds lyrically as if it was inspired by The Outsider's 'I Love Her Still (I Always Will)'... With The Bumble Bee's though you can hear a genuine truth and sincerity in their song. I love the innocence and pure awkward desperation which this song portrays lyrically and musically. I think anyone who is a bit of a true romantic, a slight social dud or a bit of an odd ball could relate to this song.... I certainly do, the theme is the story of my life!

 Paul 

The Outsiders - Keep On Trying b/w That's Your Problem (Relax - 1966)

The Outsiders are one of my top five bands ever, I love almost everything the band ever released, I am a huge fan of the group, particularly the lyrics and genuine 'outcast' vibes emanating from the soul and mind of  lead vocalist Wally Tax, who seems to communicate many of the things which I personally can't communicate in my own world, yet he does with great ease in music.

Wally Tax and his song-writing, is a huge influence on me, as the songs are clearly personal and you never get the feeling they are put on or phoney for the sakes of it, the words Wally Tax sang were real to his life and you got that vibe from his music, this is what I've tried to do in my own music, by incorporating my thoughts and feelings into sounds.

The Outsiders released an  abundance of fabulous 45rpm singles and a couple of ultra-cool albums during the 60s and the legacy they created is fabulous. I haven't met too many genuine 'Outsiders' fans on my travels which is remarkable as I personally feel they are one of the greatest bands from the 60s and I even feel they had better songs than The Rolling Stones, however unlike The Stones, The Outcasts never really ever released  a 'Smash Hit' record, yet their song writing craft exceeds Jagger and Richards tenfold.

The Outsiders were actual Outcasts in their native Netherlands, they came to the fold looking like a bunch of misfit long hairs, in 1965 when the world was still donning mop-top's, these cats came outta nowhere, with very long hair, scruffy yet hip clothing, stoned-out beatnik mindsets, punk attitude to boot, outsider mentality, and a bunch of killer songs to spread to a world which for the most part was never really listening in the first place (and still doesn't sadly).

Almost all the Outsiders releases to me are worthy of investigation, I would even say that all twelve 45rpm singles the band put out between 1965 - 68 are great, I would rank each one as a piece of unique musical genius.

I don't have a particular favourite release by The Outsiders as all the songs pretty much mean a great deal to my life and my viewpoint on things in their own individual ways, the 45 which seems to related mostly to my life and train of thought at the moment however is 1966's Keep On Trying b/w That's Your Problem.

I am currently in a Dutch-Beat mood and seem to be listening to a great deal of the stuff, The Outsiders are frequently on my turntable or car cd-player, the lyrics of Wally Tax act as a kindred spirit and a soulful remedy for me, Tax seems to 'get it', what 'it' is  can only really be known by the people who have 'it'.... for me lately 'it' seems to be an illness of sorts.

I relate to the Outsiders, cos I am an Outsider too (I don't mean that to give creedance or appear cool - cos being an Outsider sucks for the most part), misunderstood by the world around me, misunderstood by my family and misunderstood by even my closest friends.... I am most likely misunderstood to myself too!

But I thankfully have a bunch of records which help me deal with these moments and Holland's The Outsiders have always been the best of friends to me, they really seem to hit the spot some times.

Keep On Trying

This song is on repeat at the moment, lyrical aptitude and empathetic cadences to my current feelings on things, I like when the song goes into the weird refrain after the chorus section and adds a whole new dimension to the song, "Just You Keep On Running Around With Every Man, Every Man You Know Now, You've Got  Me Down And Out, I'll Be Crying Before You Know Now", giving way to a tremendous harmonica solo that you just don't get enough in songs anymore.... how can anyone not like a song with the opening lyric "Just Keep On Trying And You'll Succeed In Breaking My Heart, Just Keep On Lying And You'll Succeed In Tearing It Apart".... TOTAL GENIUS!!!

That's Your Problem 

This one ups the anti a little, ferocious guitar attack, lyrical angst, wailing harmonica, bass lines that can kill someone flat out, drums keeping everything held down together... this one kinda taps into the more dodgy head space my head goes at times..."I Like To Be On My Own, Girl From Now On You're  Alone".... "I Try To Be A Good Guy To Lend You A Helping Hand, I Told You, Every Reason Why, But You Never Understand?".... Confused yet Punk as hell Greatness there, Wally Tax was a conflicted guy, just like myself.

Dig It!!!

Paul

The Sevens - Seven b/w In God I Trust (Layola - 1965)

The Sevens were a really hip band from Switzerland during the mid 60s, and they released a handful of really cool 45s and one killer LP.

In my opinion 'In God I Trust' is one of the best 60s beat offerings from Europe, it is a fabulous piece of song-writing craft, I totally dig the minor-key change in the refrain, totally hip idea, the vocals sung in a perverse Jagger-esque manner complete with snotty attitude with added franticness in drums, guitar, bass and organ.... coming across like a better version of The Animals and giving Holland's The Outsiders a run for their money. The Sevens produced a wealth of consistently good material and this in my opinion is the icing on top of the cake for me.

The Sevens were -

Markus Hungerbuehler - Organ

Nando Gasparini - Drums

Pierre Aebischer - Vocals & Rhythm Guitar

Michael Bovay - Bass

Pini Gasparini - Lead Guitar

The Sevens are the best thing to come out of Switzerland aside from Swiss Army Knives, Clock-Making, Albert Hoffman's experiments with LSD and Chocolate.

If you wish to purchase the Sevens LP... please feel free to take a look at my record label; State Records' Ebay store where we have the The Sevens LP available to purchase - TRUST ME it is a piece of  60s beat wonderment, and a totally killer and fantastic LP.

BUY NOW!!!

Listen to 'In God I Trust' below, if you have any sense it'll shatter your brain... this song is also on the LP too.

In God I Trust

Dig It!

Paul 

Q65 - Cry In The Night b/w The Life I Live (Decca - 1966)

The Netherlands during the 60s was a hot-bed of amazing musical talent, just like in other parts of the world, beat music influenced teenagers to buy guitars, form bands and go nuts.

The Netherlands is a small country yet it produced a vast amount of 60s 'Nederbiet' groups, who all released an amazing wealth of killer 45s and EP's.

Unlike their American counterparts, the Dutch bands took more influence from the likes of The Pretty Things and The Kinks rather than The Beatles and The Zombies, making the sounds coming out of Holland some of the meanest and most sinister Rhythm n Blues sounds in the most teenage and primitive of fashions.

One of the top bands (amongst many) in The Netherlands at this time were The Q65.

The Q65 formed in 1965 and what came forth was a handful of killer singles of cult status.

The Q65 were

Joop Roelofs - Guitar

Frank Nuyens - Guitar

Willem Bieler - Vocals

Peter Vink - Bass

Jay Baar - Drums

From 65-67 Q65 released an amazing wealth of singles and a totally amazing album called 'Revolution' in 1966. My favourite of their singles is Cry In The Night b/w The Life I Live, which for me is a consistent two sided monster of a 45.

I would at times class The Dutch Beat scene as superior to the British, cos although there was a large influence from the likes of The Rolling Stones and Pretty Things etc, the Dutch groups investigated old R&B records and took it too even more powerful and honest realms.

The Q65 took these influences and made some extra-ordinary  45s.

Dig the two sides of the 45 below.... originals of this 45 are frequently available and don't sell for a mad amount of money and won't break the bank, however there are a bunch of very faithful pic sleeve reissues which are available for under £10 and these are pretty faithful to the originals.

Cry In The Night

The Life I Live

Don't Blow Your Lid!

Paul

The Beat Merchants - Pretty Face b/w Messin' With The Man (Columbia - 1964)

The place is Horsham in West Sussex, the year was 1964 and a band by the name of The Beat Merchants released one of the finest 60s beat 45s that the country has offered.

As a resident of West Sussex myself and living in Billingshurst which is 8 miles South-West of Horsham (it being the nearest town), I would call Horsham home and thus it makes me feel exceptionally proud that a great band like The Beat Merchants came from my neck of the woods as it were.

Weirdly I feel I am the only person in Horsham district making any music of any real worth today and so consider myself as the next best thing after the Beat Merchants, I just hope my own 45s are considered as legendary as theirs one day. 

Another weird and slightly boring fact for those who are reading this, is that my Barber Allan, claimed to have cut these guys' hair back in the day and he is still in the profession today and cuts my hair.

Anyway... moving on to the music.

The Beat Merchants were originally a beat-instrumental group in The Shadows vein and went by the name of Peter and The Hustlers until the time the Rolling Stones played a gig locally at St Leonards Hall and what appears to be over night, these local Sussex lads ditched their matching suits and reverb units and what came forth was a ferocious sound of the highest 'mod' order.

Armed with Burns Guitars, Vox Amplifiers and style to boot, The Beat Merchants formed and instantly worked hard playing the South Coast gig circuit and recording a couple of Acetates at the infamous Regent Sound complex on Denmark Street in London, also Acetates were made for Oak Records and Emidisc.

The Beat Merchants were -

Geoff Farndell - Bass

Chris Boyle - Vocals

Vic Sendall - Drums

Gavin Daneski - Rhythm Guitar & Harmonica 

Ralph Worman - Lead Guitar

The Beat Merchants were fortunate that their acetates got picked up and they had two released singles on Columbia.

Pretty Face b/w Messin' With The Man (which this post will honour)

&

So Fine b/w She Said Yeh

The track 'So Fine' was the b-side on a split-single with Freddie & The Dreamers which got to Number 1 in America.

'Pretty Face' entered the UK charts at number 44, which during the 60s was a pretty cool position to be in, especially if you were from a middle of no-where town like Horsham.

The Beat Merchants split up in late 1966, which is a shame cos they could of gone on and done great and wonderful things, an example of these songs are on the recently compiled 'The Beats Go On' cd which compiles all the band's recordings, my personal favourite being the track 'What Have I Done' which should have been a 45 of its own.

Both tracks of their debut 45 are found beneath the label pics below, copies of the original 45 are somewhat easily obtainable and can be found on Ebay and the like from time to time, I found my copy in one of the Record Shops in Guildford for £30, although copies of both Columbia 45s have been known to sell for over the £100 mark at times.

As stated above a really cool cd called 'The Beats Go On' is available and can be found both cheaply and easily and as mentioned there are some pretty cool unreleased cuts that never saw the light of day until now on it.

Enjoy the West Sussex Beat Music.

Paul

The Honeycombs - That's The Way b/w Can't Get Through To You (Pye - 1965)

Inspired by a recent blog post by Anorak Thing, he made mention of his favourite Joe Meek produced songs, in the cannon of Joe Meek productions there is a wealth of amazingly weird and wonderful treats, some of these treats were found onsome of the most popular british pop singles of the day.

My own personal favourite Joe Meek production also happens to be one of Joe Meek's own songs, the ever warped and demented genius of 'Can't Get Through To You' which was recorded by The Honeycombs.

The Honeycombs were a popular beat group in the UK during 1963-66, they reached their height of popularity in 1964, The Honeycombs were somewhat popular in America during the British Invasion and had major success in the UK having sold a million or so copies of their hit single 'Have I The Right?' again produced by Meek.

The Honeycombs were -

Colin Boyd - Vocal & Guitar

Rod Butler - Lead Guitar & Vocals

Eddie Spence - Organ & Vocals

John Lantree - Bass

Honey Lantree - Drums & Vocals.

Honey Lantree was one of the first female drummers in a pop group.

The story of Joe Meek deserves a blog post of it's own as it was full of complexities, fantastic stories and a troubled life and soul of a very talented man. Meek was a unique studio producer during the early to late 60s, his records influenced generations of people in the UK and across the pond in the US and to this day are heralded as great amongst fans of music.

I wish to speak about the man's music rather than his personal life at this stage, I may write a biopic as such at a later point in time.

In regards to the killer cut I am sharing on this blog, 'I Can't Get Through To You' is one of (in my opinions) Joe Meek's top masterpieces. Meek was a homosexual man during the 50s and 60s and in the UK during this time it was highly taboo to be gay and it was even illegal and could get a man arrested at one point, Meek was already an emotionally charged guy who showed early stages of schizophrenia to those around him, he was also highly egotistical and you can hear all of this internal madness and frustration on this record in particular.

'I Can't Get Through To You' is a wild amplified Rock 'n' Roll number recorded by The Honeycombs, who gave it their fullest on this recording (probably under the strict whipping leash of Meek himself at his infamous Holloway Road studio), The cut is a worthy piece of studio experimentalism as the drum's sound kind of looped and the backing track has been sped up on the tapes, making it a great piece of early experiemental music in a pop setting. Lyrically this record is what 'frustration, confusion and angst' sound like in the mind of a madman before the onset of a moment of dementia.

I spent a good 40 minutes listening to this track on repeat driving in my car with the windows down... I was in a demented head space and this record was my remedy and saviour.

So without futher a do.... here is the killer piece of British Beat from 1965, this wipes the floor with most other recordings by other British groups of the time.

Dig it and the more chart friendly A-side below.

Can't Get Through To You

That's The Way

Thanks

Paul