The Boots – Beat! The Complete Telefunken Years (RPM)

The Boots were a Berlin band whose place in garage rock history was cemented when two of their songs (“Gaby” and “But You Never Do It Babe”) were featured on Rhino’s Nuggets II compilation. They’re excellent songs, but the full Boots story is best told told by this double-disc compilation of their mid-’60s output. Disc one is dominated by their 1965 debut album, Here Are The Boots, wherein the sharply-suited quartet go covers crazy. An album leaning so heavily on oft-covered chestnuts like “Gloria,” “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” and “Got Love If You Want It” won’t win any points for originality, but it’s not boring either, as the band attack the standard material with high-energy, typified by the Phil May-like vocals of Werner Krabbe and their Yardbirds-style instrumental rave ups. This isn’t mind-blowing stuff, but if you like the tough UK r&b style of Them, The Pretty Things, The Animals, and the like, then The Boots should do the trick.

The Boots, sensing the winds of change around them, knew they had to do more than beat covers or else they’d get left behind in the wake of progress. Unfortunately the choices they and their label made from this point on were uniformly misguided, and the results of these bad choices are heard all over the second disc. Their first mistake was adopting a cheesy pop-soul affectation, which drove singer Krabbe from the band. He was replaced by Jacques Eckhard, an odd choice to sing for a German band considering he was previously the drummer in a Dutch band! For their next mistake, The Boots let their label talk them into recording songs from a writer on their roster named Sanford Alexander. In itself this wasn’t such a bad thing – especially considering that the band was lacking in original material –  except that their next album, 1967’s Beat With The Boots, was credited to The Boots and The Sanford Alexander Beat, even though Alexander only played on one track and wrote just four others. The band members weren’t happy with the material being forced upon them, nor did they like the resulting album, with guitarist Jorg Schulte-Eckel sitting out the sessions in protest. Listening to it now, they were absolutely right to be mad. The Sanford Alexander material was weak, but The Boots are also completely out of their league covering Wilson Pickett, Booker T. & The MGs, and James Brown. They never recovered from the Beat With The Boots debacle and, after a few unsuccessful attempts at “re-Boot-ing”, called it a day in 1970.

In addition to the two albums, Beat! features non-album singles, four live tracks recorded in 1965, sharply remastered sound and informative, if sometimes grammatically challenged, liner notes.

 

Another Splash Of Colour: New Psychedelia in Britain 1980-1985 (RPM)

Another Splash of Color expands 1982’s similarly-titled single-album A Splash Of Colour into a three-disc set featuring a selection of U.K. psychedelic revival acts from 1980-1985. These were mostly underground groups who turned their backs on cutting edge post-punk, goth and hardcore for the comforts of the 1960s. Like the Paisley Underground in America, their self-conscious embrace of the past was an act of retreat, but there were enough interesting sub-factions and genuinely weird individuals working in the scene’s margins to make it worth exploring again in 2016.

Among the musical flavors found here are Mod Revival (including The Purple Hearts and The Vandells), the early Creation Records scene (Revolving Paint Dream, Biff! Bang! Pow! and The Jasmine Minks), classic English surrealists/nutters (Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock, Cleaners From Venus and Nick Nicely), and a handful of punks trading in their spikes for paisley (Charlie Harper from the U.K. Subs; The Damned performing as Naz Nomad and The Nightmares, Captain Sensible; and Knox from The Vibrators, who does an excellent cover of Syd Barrett “Gigolo Aunt”). Even an Elvis Costello-less Attractions get in on the fun.

With sixty-four songs, there’s some wonderful highlights to choose from. The Soft Boys and Robyn Hitchcock are always great fun, and their respective entries, “Only The Stones Remain,” and the hyper-surreal “It’s A Mystic Trip” are typically well-crafted. The Blue Orchids (with Martin Bramah of The Fall on vocals) manage a strong Bunnymen/Doors vibe on “Work.” Creation head-honcho Alan McGee’s band Biff! Bang! Pow! squeeze so many guitar effects onto “A Day Out With Jeremy Chester” (it’s hard to imagine a song title more squarely aimed at recapturing the essence of 1967) that you wonder if he slipped their tapes to the members of Ride early on. Londoner Nick Nicely’s two songs (“49 Cigars” and “Hilly Fields”) are perhaps the set’s most notable, with an excellent blend of timeless 1960s song-writing and decidedly 1980s sounds.

However, many struggled to maneuver through the sounds of the ’60s during the time of mullets and gated reverb, with duds from Miles Over Matter, The Chicaynes and, literally, a few dozen others to sift through. Start at the beginning of Disc One and you’ll soon realize there were only a few folks in this scene with songwriting talent, musicianship, or a flair for the unique. For the most part, the bands whose names are familiar are the ones you want to hear – after all, there’s a reason they haven’t been forgotten 30+ years on.

Looking Back: 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets (RPM Records)

Looking Back’s cover – a photo of a well-dressed couple dancing in Swinging London with overlayed pop-art graphics – is a pretty good indication of the kind of music you’ll hear over 80 tracks on this 3-cd box-set. I’m not a huge fan of the terms ‘mod’ or ‘freakbeat’, so let’s just say this is the music the youth culture in England embraced in-between the peak of the British Invasion and the rise of psychedelia. It’s a high-energy mix of cheap teen thrills, dancefloor fillers, and blue-eyed soul.

Unfortunately the biggest proponents of this sound (The Who, The Small Faces) aren’t found here, but a tremendous wealth of B-and C-level bands are, each given a bio in the liner notes, which also feature great vintage photos. However, for all of the uber-cool fashion and lifestyle aspects of Mod culture, about 3/4 of the music here is pretty weak. Most of these bands were still teens, and their inexperience shows in tentative musicianship and almost uniformly terrible lyrics. Perhaps they sounded brilliant blasting out of teen dance clubs in 1966 after swallowing a couple of amphetamine pills, but if you’re listening on your stereo at home, there’s not much to excite the brain. Some of the highlights are the Shel Talmy-produced thumper ”Daddy Long Legs” by Lindsay Muir’s Untamed and the psychotically unhinged “Crawdaddy Simone” by The Syndicats (a Joe Meek production), but for each winner there are several cheap rip-offs like “But She’s Mine” by John’s Children (a dumbed-down rewrite of “Can’t Explain” featuring a young Marc Bolan) or inconsequential instrumentals like “Bond Street P.M.” by Mood Mosaic. Interestingly, several musicians who went on to superstardom in hard rock and heavy metal have their mod pasts revealed here: Lemmy plays in The Rockin’ Vickers, Bon Scott sings on a surprisingly fey Soft Machine cover by The Valentines, and Roger Glover and Ian Gillian of Deep Purple were both members of the pre-Purple outfit Episode Six whose “Jack D’Or” is campy and vapid.

Tracklist:

DISC ONE

1. THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP – Looking Back 2. THE ARTHUR BROWN SET – Don`t Tell Me 3. THE UNTAMED – It`s Not True 4. THE SYNDICATS – Crawdaddy Simone 5. THE BATS – On The Waterfront 6. JOHN LEE`S GROUNDHOGS- I ll Never Fall In Love Again 7. LLOYD ALEXANDER REAL ESTATE – Watcha Gonna Do (When Your Baby Leaves You) 8. THE IN CROWD – Things She Says 9. LINDSAY MUIR SUNTAMED – Daddy Long Legs 10. THE ROCKIN` VICKERS – I Don`t Need Your Kind 11. THE MIDNIGHTS – Show Me Around 12. THE OTHER SIDE – Out My Light 13. THE TRIBE – Gamma Goochie 14. RAY SINGER – Ah Oop 15. MOOD MOSAIC – Bond Street PM 16. LAUREL AITKEN – Bongo Jerk 17. THE OTHERS – Oh Yeah 18. RAY HOFF & THE OFFBEATS – My Good Friend Mary Jane 19. THE MINISTRY OF SOUND – Mary Mary 20. THE TREKKAS – Please Go 21. THE ALLEYKATZ – The Friendly Undertaker 22. TOMMY BRUCE – Can Your Monkey Do The Dog 23. THE COURIERS – Done Me Wrong 24. THE QUIET FIVE – Tomorrow I ll Be Gone 25. A WILD UNCERTAINTY – Broken Truth 26. THE THOUGHTS – Call Me Girl (previously unissued) 27. EARL PRESTON`S REALMS- Daddy Rolling Stone (live)

DISC TWO

1. SOUL PURPOSE – Hip Huggin Mini 2. THE BROTHERS GRIMM – Looky, Looky 3. J.J. JACKSON – Come See Me 4. THE ARTHUR BROWN SET – Baby You Know What You`re Doing 5. LLOYD ALEXANDER REAL ESTATE – Gonna Live Again 6. THE MIRAGE – You Can t Be Serious 7. LAUREL AITKEN & THE SOULMEN – Last Night 8. THE KNAVE – Ace Of Clubs (previously unissued) 9. FADIN` COLOURS – (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet 10. GLENN INGRAM – I ll Be Doggone 11. TONY RIVERS & THE CASTAWAYS – Can t Make It Without You Baby (previously unissued) 12. A WILD UNCERTAINTY – La La La Lies (previously unissued) 13. THE MIKE STUART SPAN -Workout 14. THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP – Every Little Thing 15. THE COURIERS – Take Away 16. BOBBY JOHNSON & THE ATOMS – Tramp 17. THE CORDUROYS – Too Much Of A Woman 18. MAYNELL WILSON – Motown Feeling 19. WATSON T. BROWN & THE EXPLOSIVE – I Close My Eyes 20. RAM JOHN HOLDER- Yes I Do 21. HOAGY BENSON – Kangaroo 22. JOHN LEE SGROUNDHOGS- Over You Baby 23. THE IN CROWD – Stop Wait A Minute 24. THE TREKKAS – We Got A Good Thing Going (previously unissued) 25. THE VALENTINES – Love Makes Sweet Music 26. THE SORROWS – Ypotron 27. JOHN`S CHILDREN- But She’s Mine

DISC THREE

1. KRIS IFE – Hush 2. WATSON T. BROWN & EXPLOSIVE – Crying All Night 3. STU JAMES & THE MOJOS – Until My Baby Comes Home 4. THE MINISTRY OF SOUND – White Collar Worker 5. KATCH 22 – Baby Love 6. JOHN`S CHILDREN – Just What You Want, Just What You ll Get 7. THE FLIES – I m Not Your Stepping Stone (Demo) 8. THE BIRDS – No Good Without You 9. THE RENEGADES – Thirteen Women 10. THE KIRKBYS – It sA Crime 11. THE MIRAGE – Hold On 12. THE ALAN BOWN SET – Jeu De Massacre (The Killing Game) 13. THE SORROWS – Which Way 14. HARDIN & YORK – Little Miss Blue 15. THE PICADILLY LINE – Gone Gone Gone 16. THE SALON BAND – Sweet Motion 17. SUGAR SIMONE – Take It Easy 18. TWINKLE – Micky 19. VAL McKENNA – I ll Be Satisfied 20. JACKI BOND – Reviewing The Situation 21. BARBARA RUSKIN – Pawnbroker Pawnbroker 22. THE McKINLEYS – Sweet And Tender Romance 23. SHE TRINITY – Climb That Tree 24. THE EXPLOSIVE – Step Out Of Line 25. RAY SINGER & THE FENMEN – What`s Done Has Been Done 26. EPISODE SIX – Jak D Or