The Dubrovniks - Medicine Wheel

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 12
Label: Normal Records
Year: 1994

The band were first established in August, 1986 when Radalj teamed up again with James Baker (by then ex-Beasts of Bourbon), together with Boris Sujdovic (ex-Rockets, The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon) and Peter Simpson (Spectre's Revenge) as the Adorable Ones. Within a year the Adorable Ones had renamed themselves The Dubrovniks in honour of the fact that Radalj and Sujdovic were both born in the historical Croatian city of Dubrovnik. The band having to change names as there already was a Brisbane band with that name... -Wikipedia-

The Lovin' Spoonful - French 60's EP Collection

1 - 2

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 40 (20 + 20)
Label: Magic Records
Year: 1995

Right on the tails of the Beau Brummels and the Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful were among the first American groups to challenge the domination of the British Invasion bands in the mid-'60s. Between mid-1965 and the end of 1967, the group was astonishingly successful, issuing one classic hit single after another, including "Do You Believe in Magic?," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," "Daydream," "Summer in the City," "Rain on the Roof," "Nashville Cats," and "Six O'Clock."
Like most of the folk-rockers, the Lovin' Spoonful were more pop and rock than folk, which didn't detract from their music at all. Much more than the Byrds, and even more than the Mamas & the Papas, the Spoonful exhibited a brand of unabashedly melodic, cheery, and good-time music, though their best single, "Summer in the City," was uncharacteristically riff-driven and hard-driving. More influenced by blues and jug bands than other folk-rock acts, their albums were spotty and their covers at times downright weak. As glorious as their singles were, they lacked the depth and innovation of the Byrds, their chief competitors for the crown of best folk-rock band, and their legacy hasn't been canonized with nearly as much reverence as their West Coast counterparts.-Allmusic-

The Music Explosion - Anthology

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 21
Label: One Way Records
Year: 1995

One-hit-wonder Ohio garage band that reached number two in 1967 with "Little Bit O'Soul," a great gutsy pop/rock number with a classic bass-organ riff. Whatever personality they may have had was coated in the studio by producers Jeffrey Katz and Jerry Kasenetz, who would soon help create bubblegum with acts like the 1910 Fruitgum Co. and the Ohio Express. The Music Explosion didn't have nearly as juvenile a sound as those groups, but they never latched onto another piece of material nearly as attention grabbing as "Little Bit O'Soul," entering the Top 100 only once more with the tiny hit "Sunshine Games." -Allmusic-

Pink Floyd - Relics Plus (1967-1971)

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 19
Label: Bootleg
Year: ????

While Pink Floyd are mostly known for their grandiose concept albums of the 1970s, they started as a very different sort of psychedelic band. Soon after they first began playing together in the mid-'60s, they fell firmly under the leadership of lead guitarist Syd Barrett, the gifted genius who would write and sing most of their early material. The Cambridge native shared the stage with Roger Waters (bass), Rick Wright (keyboards), and Nick Mason (drums). The name Pink Floyd, seemingly so far-out, was actually derived from the first names of two ancient bluesmen (Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). And at first, Pink Floyd were much more conventional than the act into which they would evolve, concentrating on the rock and R&B material that were so common to the repertoires of mid-'60s British bands. -Allmusic-

This CD contain the LP "Relics" with 8 bonus tracks from singles (1967-1971)

The Blues Magoos - Kaleidoscopic Compendium (The Best Of)

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 23
Label: Mercury
Year: 1992

Bronx-based quintet, denizens of the Greenwich Village club scene, and originally known by the tres psychedelic moniker The Bloos Magoos, The Blues Magoos made their mark in 1967 with a rousing, full-throttle, sub-literate, psychedelic garage rock single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet." It wasn't a spacy, pretentious song, nor did it contain vague attempts at hippie-era mysticism, but was rather the kind of simple, direct, infectious rock & roll you could imagine five guys from the Bronx making. With a snotty lead vocal from keyboardist Ralph Scala and some wild-eyed guitar playing courtesy of then-16-year-old Emil "Peppy" Thielheim, America made the Magoos' debut single a Top Ten hit, sending it to number five in January 1967. With this impetus, the band used all the trappings of marketable psychedelia to promote their second album, Psychedelic Lollipop, which, despite the title's obvious pandering, was a fairly cool chunk of psych-garage rock. The album featured trebly, crappy-sounding guitars, a whiny Farfisa organ, yelled vocals, and a rhythm section that shelved nuance for thudding simplicity. But as the psychedelic era gave way to the hippie era's extended raga-rock proclivities, by 1969, the Magoos seemed anachronistic. Amazingly, they released a third album, with an equally absurd title, Electric Comic Book, that wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. The original Magoos split up in 1969, but Thielheim couldn't resist beating a dead horse and led a mediocre blues-rock version of the band into 1972. -Allmusic-

The Electric Prunes - I Had To Much To Dream & Underground

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 24
Label: Bootleg
Year: ????

Though they got considerable input from talented L.A. songwriters and producers, with their two big hits penned by outside sources, The Electric Prunes did by and large play the music on their records, their first lineup writing some respectable material of their own. On their initial group of recordings, they produced a few great psychedelic garage songs, especially the scintillating "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night," which mixed distorted guitars and pop hooks with inventive, oscillating reverb. Songwriters Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz wrote most of the Prunes' material, much of which in turn was crafted in the studio by Dave Hassinger, who had engineered some classic Rolling Stones sessions in the mid-'60s. "Too Much to Dream" was a big hit in 1967, and the psychedelized Bo Diddley follow-up, "Get Me to the World on Time," was just as good, and also a hit. Nothing else by the group made it big, and their initial pair of albums was quite erratic, although a few scattered tracks were nearly as good as those singles. Although they began to write more of their own material on their second album, their subsequent releases were apparently the products of personnel who had little to do with the original lineup. Their third LP, Mass in F Minor, was a quasi-religious concept album of psychedelic versions of prayers; a definitively excessive period piece, its best song ("Kyrie Eleison") was lifted for the Easy Rider soundtrack. None of the original Prunes were still in the lineup when the band dissolved, unnoticed, at the end of the '60s. -Allmusic-

This CD contain the two first discs of The Electric Prunes.

Downliners Sect - The Definitive (Singles A's & B's)

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 29
Label: See For Miles
Year: 1994

Of all the British R&B bands to follow the Rolling Stones' footsteps, the Downliners Sect were arguably the rawest. The Sect didn't as much interpret the sound of Chess Records as attack it, with a finesse that made the Pretty Things seem positively suave in comparison. Long on crude energy and hoarse vocals, but short on originality and songwriting talent, the band never had a British hit, although they had some sizable singles in other European countries. Despite their lack of commercial success or appeal, the band managed to record three albums and various EPs and singles between 1963 and 1966, with detours into country-rock and an EP of death-rock tunes. Although they recorded afterwards, it is the Sect's early work that continues to attract connoisseurs of '60s garage and punk. -Allmusic-

THE RETURN

THANKS FOR ALL COMMENTS IN HOLIDAYS

TIME FOR HOLIDAYS

Bonniwell Music Machine - Beyond The Garage

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 20
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1995


Most famous for "Talk Talk", a Top 20 single from 1966 that was one of the most manic '60s garage-punk hits, the Music Machine had much more depth and songwriting talent than the typical one-hit wonders of the day. Lead singer and songwriter Sean Bonniwell's strangled lyrics and dark, verbose vision paced the group's wiry psychedelic guitar lines and ominous, minor-key Farfisa organ. The San Jose, California-born Bonniwell had been inspired to form his first group in high school in the late 1950's, after hearing "Only You" by the Platters. -Allmusic-

The Standells - Try It & Why Pick On Me

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 20
Label: Revenge
Year: 1991
This CD contain the discs "Try It" and "Why Pick On Me"

The Standells - Dirty Water & The Hot Ones

1 - 2

Format: MP3 (320K)
Tracks: 19
Label: Eva
Year: 1990


The Standells made number 11 in 1966 with "Dirty Water," an archetypal garage rock hit with its Stonesish riff, lecherous vocal, and combination of raunchy guitar and organ. While they never again reached the Top Forty, they cut a number of strong, similar tunes in the 1966-67 era that have belated been recognized as '60s punk classics. "Garage rock" may not have been a really accurate term for them in the first place, as the production on their best material was full and polished, with some imaginative touches of period psychedelia and pop.

The Los Angeles band were actually hardly typical of the young suburban outfits across America who took their raw garage sound onto obscure singles recorded in small studios. They'd been playing L.A. clubs since the early '60s, with a repertoire that mostly consisted of covers of pre-Beatle rock hits. Drummer (and eventual lead singer) Dick Dodd had been a Mouseketeer on television, organist Larry Tamblyn was the brother of noted film actor Russ Tamblyn, and Tony Valentino was a recent immigrant from Italy. Gary Leeds (later to join the Walker Brothers) was an early member (though he was replaced by Dodd). -Allmusic-
This CD contain the discs "Dirty Water" and "The Hot Ones"