For Psyclist....hope ya don't have ALL of these

My great friend and frequent blog contributor Psyclist has asked for a bit more Nugget-rock, happy to oblige, I thought maybe it might be interesting to put up a few full albums by some of those individual bands rather than Various Artists comps......I hope you don't have ALL of these, buddy, I do have more (Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Remains, Blues Magoos, others) who I didn't use this time, I plan on doing a similar post to this one with some of those aforementioned bands, especially if these are well-recieved.......please remember though....alot of these were "one hit wonders".....and often times there is a reason for this. In other words, expect no really great "albums" per se here, but hopefully you will run across a track or two that you find of interest.

OK, let us start out with the Castaways, of course the creators of one of the greatest of "Nuggets" singles, "Liar Liar" (always remember the first time I heard it as a kid, thought it was great and creepy as hell).....we have here "Liar Liar: The Best of the Castaways"......well, I'll tell ya, not a lot of great stuff here, to be honest. Like so many of the bands of this era, they jumped around from garage-punk to Beatlesque pop to psuedo-psych, all in search of that elusive second hit. They never found it.
From Minneapolis, Minnesota (wonder if they were Vikings fans growing up?), they consisted of James Donna on keyboards, Robert Folschow and Dick Roby on guitar, Roy Hensley on bass and Dennis Craswell on drums.....Folschow, according to Wikipedia contributed the freakish falsetto vocal which makes "Liar Liar" the slab of greatness that it is. They never released an album, evidently, having to their credit a handful of singles which I'm sure must ALL be here.....for laffs, there is a remake of "Liar Liar" done in 2000, evidently James Donna still performs using the "Castaways" name, sure as hell beats having to work for a livng.

Next up are the legendary Count Five from San Jose California.....of course you know "Psychotic Reaction", their wondersome Yardbirds rip, but unlike the Castaways, these guys actually did get to release an album.....and it really isn't bad, nothing one tenth as great as "Psychotic Reaction", but really, what IS? "Double Decker Bus", "Pretty Big Mouth", and "Out in the Street" are respectable/listenable stuff. Have you ever read Lester Bangs' "Psychotic Reactions and Carbeurator Dung" in which he created a fictitious career for the band? If not I recommend you get it and read it TONIGHT, it's wonderful. Might as well credit the lads individually here, as well, John "Mouse" Michalski played lead guitar, Roy Chaney was on bass, Sean Byrne handed rhythm guitar and vocals, Craig Atkinson played the drums, and  Kenn Ellner playing tambourine, harmonica, and lending a hand on vocals.

Bubble Puppy, from San Antonio, also released an album or two, although they are known basically for "Hot Smoke and Sasafrass", which is from the album featured here, "A Gathering of Promises". Pretty fair Texas-styled psych, quite a listenable disc. Bubble Puppy were Rod Prince and Todd Potter as twin lead guitarists, Roy Cox on bass, and David Fore on drums.....they released a second LP, 1971's "Demian" which I have never heard......just a feeling I have, but I wonder if it is maybe a decent listen, at least for psych fans?

The Standells, while best known of course for the amazing "Dirty Water", were a bit more of a legit big time act. The set I have here is an odd one, not only does it NOT contain "Dirty Water", it is actually a TWO DISC rarites etc set.....now, that might be a bit much, but beleive it or not it is really quite a decent listening experience......two discs may be a bit much, but it is, what it is it is as they say....I also have a couple of live Standells albums on the shelf that pretty much sound like they were recorded from the next building......this set is MOST interesting, if you like the Standells of course....you'd think they'd have found an alternate take of "Dirty Water", but hey.....this is worth your time. Fun fact: the lyric in "Dirty Water" referring to "Frustrated women, they have to be n by twelve o'clock" refers to a curfew instituted by Boston College, at least that is what I've always heard.

Chocolate Watchband released a number of fab singles, "Let's Talk About Girls" and "Are You Gonna Be There" being the most notable, and both are included on "No Way Out", their 1967 LP....the rest of the album? Uhh, well.....file under "not great", but we can certainly forgive a LOT for "Are You Gonna Be There", right? The band was more or less a revolving collection of studio musicians, trying to name them all would be difficult, but they certainly did give us a few incredible singles did they not?

Let's wrap it up for today with a compilation of some good stuff from the Zakary Thaks, "Face to Face"......best as I can they never really released aoper "album", but they did of course have a zillion singles, most of them classics......lots of good stuff here, "Bad Girl", "Face to Face", "Mirror of Yesterday".......this is a good one.

So, we have a few "comps", also a few "album releases" as we normally think of them, and even one extensive two-disc rarities collection.....so it goes for these bands....and, as I mentioned earlier I have  a bunch more of this kind of stuff (REALLY wanted to include The Peanut Butter Conspiracy on this one but couldn't find the disc, I know it's back there somewhere.

Any other bands of this vintage you'd like a full "album" or two from? Let me know....any interest in the live Standells (you'd REALLY have to be a Standells fanatic)? Can't really think of everything I have off the top of my head, I know I have comps from the Monkees, Strawberry Alarm Clock, God knows who all.....but I need your input. Who do you want to see next time I do a post of this nature?

Hope your Saturday is going well!

LIAR LIAR BEST OF THE CASTAWAYS-01 A Man's Gotta Be a Man/02 Everytime/03 Goodbye Baby/04 Lead Me On/05 Liar Liar/06 Sam/07 She's a Girl In Love/08 Why Should This Happen To Me/09 Watching Time Go By/10 Work Song/11 (I) Feel So Fine/12 Hit the Road Jack/13 Walking In Different Circles/14 Just as High/15 Lavander Popcorn/16 What Kind of Face/17 Words On Fire/18 Bad Hair Day/19 Lucille/20 That Was Then This Is Now/21 The Music That I'm Making/22 Liar Liar 2000

PSYCHOTIC REACTION-01 Double Decker Bus/02 Pretty Big Mouth/03 World/04 My Generation/05 She's Fine/06 Psychotic Reaction/07 Peace of Mind/08 They're Gonna Get You/09 Morning After/10 Can't Get Your Lovin'/11 Out in the Street/12 Contrast

A GATHERING OF PROMISES-01 Hot Smoke and Sasafrass/02 Todd's Tune/03 I've Got To Reach You/04 Lonely/05 Gathering of Promises/06 Hurry Sundown/07 Elizabeth/08 It's Safe to Say/09 Ro St. Stephen's/10 Beginning

BAD GUYS DON'T WEAR BLACK DISC 1-01 Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White/02 Ten O'Clock Scholar/03 Animal Girl/04 Can't You Diggin/05 Poor Man Prison/06 Sol Drippin/07 Don't Say Goodbye/08 Take a Ride/09 When I Was a Cowboy/10 Get Away From Here/11 Love Me/12 Batman/13 Our Candidate/14 The Boy Who Is Lost/15 It's All In Your Mind

BAD GUYS DON'T WEAR BLACK DISC 2-01 School Girl/02 I Hate to Leave You/03 Lookin at Tomorrow/04 Don't Say Nothin at All/05 Try It (Alternate Vocal)/06 Rari (Extended Version)/07 Misty Lane/08 You Were the One/09 Standells Love Theme/10 Medication (Instrumental)/11 Don't Tell Me What to Do/12 The Shake/13 Someday You'll Cry/14 Peppermint Beatle

NO WAY OUT-01 Let's Talk About Girls/02 Midnight Hour/03 Come On/04 Dark Side of the Mushroom/05 Hot Dusty Road/06 Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In)/07 Gone and Passes By/08 No Way Out/09 Expo 2000/10 Gossamer Wings

FACE TO FACE-01 Mirror of Yesterday/02 Please/03 Face To Face/04 Bad Girl/05 I Need You/06 Won't Come Back/07 Weekdays Blues/08 Can't You Hear Your Daddy's Footsteps/09 Green Crystal Ties/10 My Door/11 Outprint/12 Everybody Wants to Be Somebody/13 Footsteps Jam/14 The Mirror's Reflection

Links in a little while.....please leave comments, I NEED you guy's input so we can continue this as the world's greatest music blog (or at least in the top 65,327 or so).