Occasional Albums Thing 025 - Various Artists “Get Primitive! The Best Of Pebbles, Volume One: The Originals”

Walking from the car park to the shop I pass the local Oxfam charity shop. They sell records, they put a selection in their window, usually laughably over-priced copies of “Dark Side Of The Moon” (Yes, Floyd nerds, I know it’s “The Dark Side…” but you’re annoyed already ain’t ya :-)…), “Rumours” and other such things that have never intruded upon my musical world. But this particular morning I was instantly grabbed by the bright pink sleeve and Rudi Protrudi (he of Garage Punk revivalists The Fuzztones) artwork of this fine compilation. On reaching my shop I checked it out online to find it was released on pink, yellow, blue, green and orange vinyl. A quick call to the Oxfam shop (once they opened) told me the one they had was green and yes they would save it for me…Garage Rock and coloured vinyl, how could I resist ?

We briefly mentioned the Pebbles compilations when we looked at “Nuggets” (here https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/wrrb/waaaaay-too-much-to-dream) and this is a “Best Of…” from a series of comps that now runs to over 20 volumes. I did at one time own a very fine Pebbles CD Box set, “The Box Of Trash”, but that went in the great CD cull of the early 2000’s. There is some superficial crossover with “Nuggets” but there is plenty here to interest the Garage Rocker in me.

And why do I say superficial crossover ? Well, we have here a version of “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, a song I detailed in the “Nuggets” blog above. But this time the song is by The Spades, who dear reader, were at one time fronted by one Rocky Erickson who, when he left to form the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, took his song with him to record with his new band (as he did with B-side “We Sell Soul”, which the Elevators recorded as “Don’t Fall Down” on their debut album). There is also Jimmy & The Offbeats take on the Garage standard “I Ain’t No Miracle Worker”. Originally recorded by The Brogues (who eventually morphed into Quicksilver Messenger Service and whose version appears on the “Nuggets” expanded CD box set) it went on to be covered by Italian beat group I Corvi, Gene Pierson, The Barracudas, Scott Miller & the Commonwealth and most famously by the mighty Chocolate Watch Band.

“Action Woman” has an interesting history. It was written by, and is best known by, The Litter from Minneapolis. That version was track, one side one of “Pebbles Vol. 1” (taken from and old 7” (like many of the tracks here hence the less than hi-fi sound quality in places) that jumped at one point !) and is rightly now regarded as a Garage Rock masterpiece. On this album it is in a version by The Electras from Ely, Minnesota. Not only did the two bands share a state they also shared a record label, producer Warren Kendrick’s Scotty Records. Because of this The Electras released The Litter’s song first which has led to the claim that they were one and the same band or at least shared some members, they weren’t and they didn’t. The Electras have a great stab at the song but The Litter’s Fuzz Box was wound up a notch further and wins out in the battle of the two.

Over on Side 2 is what has become a Garage classic but one that was at the time disowned by its creator. Randy Alvey & The Green Fuz recorded their lone single for Big Tex Records in what sounds like a church hall but was in fact recorded at The Cross Roads Cafe, a deserted roadside cafe chosen for its acoustics (!). It’s a, shall we say, less than technically perfect recording, it actually sounds like someone just put a portable tape recorder on a chair in the middle of the room and pressed record. The band are sloppy, out of tune and the whole thing sounds terrible by todays standards…BUT…there’s an honesty, an urgency about the whole thing that makes it impossible to dislike, there’s even a mini drum solo in it. The story I heard was that on hearing the record and being shocked by how poor it was, Randy disowned it completely. It was brilliantly covered by The Cramps and these days any fan of Garage Rock will tell you it’s a classic.

Elsewhere we open with the Third Bardo’s eerie “Five Years Ahead Of My Time”. The fabulous “125” by The Haunted is a bluesy groover with some tasty Harmonica wailing and a fuzz guitar solo. It was covered by Rudi Protrudi’s Fuzztones as track 1 side 1 of their album “Lysergic Emanations”. The strangely titled “Blackout Of Gretely” by Gonn is a crazy fuzzed up Punk screamer. The Groupies closing “Primitive” leans heavily on the Blues by lifting a big chunk of the riff from Howlin’ Wolf’s classic “Smokestack Lightinin’”.

Much of what is here owes a great debt to Keith Richards and his riff on “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”. There’s a primitiveness and amateurism to many of these recordings that appeals to me and really does herald the coming of Punk Rock just a few years later.

The Spades “You’re Gonna Miss Me” - https://youtu.be/c9piNUYzhQ0?si=fhoBA2Zyg1jfzHW4