AA.VV.
Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the Second Psychedelic Era

I dedicate this review to all those for whom the terms "Garage-Punk", "Paisley Underground", "Power Pop", and "Aussie Rock" mean absolutely nothing. To the other wise guys, I at least hope you won't be bored reading this and invite you to share your thoughts if, as almost certainly, I make some inaccuracies (I'm covering my ass a bit here!). 

In 1972, a certain Lanny Kaye, who later became the guitarist of the Patti Smith Group, had the brilliant idea of compiling onto a record a series of forgotten 45s from the 60s, primarily from obscure American groups, now unattainable. The collection, Nuggets, is of incredible importance. The rock crowd, semi-asleep from soporific West-Coast lullabies in the USA and equally catatonic symphonic/progressive rock across the ocean, discovered a music still fresh and untainted, light-years away from the redundancies and solos dominating those years. The Sixties Punk, as it was defined, rekindled in people, and especially in future punk heroes, a dormant interest in this wild and primal music: COUNT FIVE, SEEDS, STANDELLS, ELECTRIC PRUNES being the main actors who had proposed, between 1965 and 1968, a mix of primordial rock and roll and proto-psychedelic flavors, riding the wave of moods emanating from Britain by the likes of BEATLES, ROLLING STONES, and KINKS. The double album became the Bible for dangerous teenagers who would later be called RAMONES, DEAD BOYS, SEX PISTOLS, CLASH, TELEVISION, and invent what is still known as Punk. Rhino Records re-released the work in 1998, adding, just for fun, three more CDs with groups undeservedly left out of the original edition, more nuggets: MUSIC MACHINE, LITTER, SONICS. Clearly, the initiative was successful if, to date, three more Nuggets series have been produced: one on extra-American psychedelic freak-beat groups, one on the golden age of San Francisco's flower-power, and this one: the children of Nuggets, offering a series of '80s gems somehow akin to the magical period of historical garage rock.

This box set (four CDs for a total of 100 songs!) is perhaps the most controversial of the series because, in my opinion, it includes groups and sounds that have little to do with the original sixties sound; for example, the SCREAMING TREES of "Even If And Especially When" seem closer to Grunge, or the DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR, XTC in disguise, do psychedelia but with decidedly British hues. But let's proceed in order.

With total, morbid identification with the original sound, we find the UNCLAIMED of the unusual Shelley Ganz, a character who has stopped his calendar at 1967; his life's goal is to make the perfect sixties-punk song (according to him, "Little Girl" by the SYNDICATE OF SOUND is the model to follow). He doesn't succeed, but he comes close: "No Apology", included in this collection, seems - is - an outtake from MUSIC MACHINE. Far less stoic but still within the Garage domain, there are - in my opinion, the best - the LYRES from former DMZ Jeff Conolly, the BANGLES pre-global success with "Manic Monday", the more incisive PANDORAS, and the CRAWDADDYS from San Diego, a city that has churned out an incredible number of neo-garage bands (the legendary GRAVEDIGGER FIVE, later MORLOCKS, and the TELL TALE HEARTS). Then there are the Beatles-oriented VIPERS and the CHESTERFIELD KINGS of the other '67 fanatic Greg Prevost, with their first non-cover 45 - "She Told Me Lies". Another important group is the fantastic MIRACLE WORKERS, logically captured before their stooges-like turn in "Overdose". Then there are the DROOGS, active for quite some time but who only in '82, during the sixties revival, had the opportunity to be heard. Other songs, not strictly Garage because already infused with pop influences, come from THREE O'CLOCK (with Michael Quercio's overly sweet, at times cloying voice, oh! a person of Italian descent), the champions of classic Power-Pop INMATES, PLIMSOULS, and DB's. The New York scene is well represented by bands already active in the '70s with memorable concerts at CBGB's: CRAMPS and FLESHTONES.

Not only neo-garage in the collection and not only America. In Australia, in the mid-1970s, a small scene emerged that - apparently - had no connection to what was happening in the opposite hemisphere. Seminal bands like RADIO BIRDMAN and SAINTS offered an angry and direct sound, unaware of Ramones & Co. From these seeds sprouted the gems of LIPSTICK KILLERS, LIME SPIDERS, the less rough STEMS and HOODOO GURUS, and the more complex and psychedelic DIED PRETTY. All excellent Australian bands; not plagued by existential angst typical of highly industrialized societies, they produce simple and direct rock'n'roll without too much fuss, possibly inspired by the blood-red sky colors in the vastness of the desert. A special mention for the immense CHURCH, softly sixties, who have had a creative journey placing them among the greats of rock.

Let's return to America. In the mid-1980s, a scene emerged - defined as Paisley Underground - which brought together bands aiming for a return to the origins, to the roots of American rock from BYRDS and NEIL YOUNG. These bands, with their floral shirts (Paisley, indeed), were initially united by a strong desire to reinterpret the classic American sound "from within", modernizing it in light of what punk had taught, not distorting it but renewing it with psychedelic infusions like the DREAM SYNDICATE, with harder turns like GREEN ON RED or more country like LONG RYDERS. Along with the soft RAIN PARADE and TRUE WEST, these bands had a golden age and perhaps represented the first form of cross-over (classic rock/new wave) ever.

Allow me to also mention the surprising CHILLS, a New Zealand band that particularly struck me with the piece "Pink Frost", a soft song imbued with Joy Division-like psychedelic shades. And since we're at it, the perfect SUN DIAL with "Plains of Nazca", which appears on their first historic LP, more psychedelic than psychedelia itself. Undoubtedly, this is a beautiful collection, mainly aimed at those unfamiliar with this kind of music, who can then get a vague idea of what happened below decks.