Sunday, May 3, 2026

My Soul Has Been Psychedelicized: A '60s Garage Rock Compilation - Volumes 4 and 5

As I was putting this compilation together, I had an ongoing internal dialogue with myself about two particular issues.  First, I wasn't sure if I should focus exclusively on songs that were never hits to give more attention to the deserving, obscure stuff.  I'm still not sure if I made the right "decision, but I do love the songs that close Volumes 4 and 5, and they just flow so well, too.

 

Secondly, I kept debating what to call this compilation - i.e., was it "garage rock" or "nuggets?"  And in the case of the latter, what precisely defines a 60s song as a nugget?   I kind of went with the decision to make it a nugget compilation, even though I still can't really define a nugget that well, and the title says it's garage rock.  After, I put it all together, I looked at the Wikipedia page for the boxset, "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era" and was heartened to see this quote from Lenny Kaye, the set's compiler/producer,  "I would've made it more 'garage rock' as opposed to these kind of weirder things, like Sagittarius or even the Blues Project. A lot of it falls outside the parameters of what we've come to define as garage rock." I guess it's best to just give those contradictions a big hug and then listen to the music. :)



        Volume 4


The Times To Come

London Phogg

Air Conditioned Man

Thursday's Children

Pushin' Too Hard

The Seeds

Vete Ya

Los Speakers

Baby What's Wrong

The Henchmen

She Sleeps Alone

The Parade

You Were on My Mind

We Five

La Carta

Los Mustang

You Ain't Tuff

The Uniques

No Matter What You Do

The SW4

The Way

July

This Life Of Mine

The Lost Souls

Un Train

Benjamin

Eternal Prison

The Humane Society

Diddy Wah Diddy

Captain Beefheart

Psychotic Reaction

Positively 13 O'Clock

Fiesta en laguna

Los Ampex

Let Her Dance

The Bobby Fuller Four

     Volume 5

Boys

Os Demónios Negros

Never Knew I Had It So Bad

Thee Midniters

Mona

Teddy Boys

Too Much Monkey Business

Satins [Portugal]

I'm Not Talking

The Galaxies

Bailemos

Termits

Can't Come Down

The Warlocks

Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White

The Standells

Graveyard

Phantom Five

Steppin' Stone

W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band

Esta Bota Son Para Caminar

Gloria Benevides

All Night Long

The Palace Guard

Bad Woman

Fallen Angels

Ain't It Hard?

Electric Prunes

Who Do You Love

The Woolies

Sweet Young Thing

The Chocolate Watch Band

I'm Coming Home

The Ministry Of Sound

Friday On My Mind

The Easybeats

 


Saturday, March 28, 2026

My Soul Has Been Psychedelicized: A '60s Garage Rock Compilation - Volume 3

    I was going to write a little bit about the great Los Nuggetz set that I mentioned last month, but this site does a much better job than I could.  I am still curious how "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" becomes "Yo Crei" since Yo Crei translates to "I believed" or "I thought". (I don't speak Spanish, so I'm trusting Google on the translation.)  I still probably prefer the Four Tops version, especially Levi Stubbs' vocal performance, but you could not ask for a better garage rock cover of the song.

  Download

Murder

The Blobs

Little Bit O'Soul

The Music Explosion

You I'll Be Following

Love

Journey To Tyme

Kenny And The Kasuals

Buried and Dead

Masters Apprentices

Get Your Baby

Mark & The Escorts

Tentacao

Os Concha

Rosalyn

The Pretty Things

Go Go Gorilla

Shandells

I'm A Lover Not A Fighter

The Athenians

Everything [That's Mine]

Motions

Don't Talk to Strangers

The Beau Brummels

Nighttime Girl

M. F. Q.

I Won't Be There

The Equals

You Said

The Primitives

When the Night Falls

The Eyes

She Said Yeah

Tracers

Yo Crei

Los 4 Crickets


Sunday, March 1, 2026

My Soul Has Been Psychedelicized: A '60s Garage Rock Compilation



      I know that there are a lot of '60s garage rock compilations already out in the world.  Like, was every twenty-year-old on the planet in the late 1960s in a garage band that released a single at some point for a regional label? I can't definitively remember what the impetus was creating yet another one, but I think it might have been finding the Brazilian Nuggets series. as well as rediscovering the Los Nuggetz series.  And then at some point, I just kept burrowing down into the giant rabbit hole of obscure '60s garage rock, only clawing my way out recently. I've posted the first two volumes of what will ultimately be a six-volume set.  Hope folks find some stuff they like that they have not heard before.

Download

                                           Volume 1

Action Woman

The Litter

Bad Girl

Zakary Thaks

Go Go en Patines

Los Vikingos

Tried To Hide

The 13th Floor Elevators

It's A Cry'n Shame

Gentlemen

I Want More

Tropics

Mrs. Robinson

Francis Morello

Psychotic Reaction

Count Five

Walking Down Lonesome Road

The Merrymen

What'd I Say

Fernando Conde e os Electrónicos

Hide Yourself

The Vejtables

Jack the Ripper

Link Wray & The Wraymen

No Money No Honey

The Invaders

Chiya Chiya

Conjunto Nueva Galaxia

I'm in Pittsburgh (and it's Raining)

The Outcasts

It's My Fault

The Rattles

Con Su Soledad

The Flippers

Tartária

OS TARTAROS

                                          Volume 2

At the River's Edge

The New Colony Six

Mirror Of Your Mind

We The People

Comete

Les Fanatic's

One Track Mind

The Knickerbockers

Edge of Nowhere

The Sunday Group

No Next Time

Bobby & Laurie

She's About a Mover

Sir Douglas Quintet

I'm Going Home

The Choir

Mr. Train Hurry Up

Shelly y Nueva Generación

It's Love

The Misty Wizards

Voices Green and Purple

The Bees

You're Doin' Me Wrong

Billy McKnight & the Plus 4

Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice

Mouse And The Traps

Bye, Bye Chiquilla

Los Brincos

Shish kebab yéyé

Ali Baba & ses 4 voleurs

Searching

The Entertainers

Strolling After Dark

Shades

Time Has Come Today

The Chambers Brothers

                                           

Sunday, February 1, 2026

When I am Revealing My Heart: A Clem Snide/Eef Barzelay Compilation

     I bought Clem Snide’s Ghost of Fashion when it was released in 2001.  I think I gave it a couple of cursory listens, and then ignored it for about 15 years.  When I listened to it again, several of the songs really resonated, and it made me a lot more receptive to the truly sublime Forever Just Beyond, maybe my favorite album from 2020.  But it was only in 2025 that I truly went down the rabbit hole.  In particular, the lead singer and main songwriter of Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay, has an enormous repertoire of covers available on Bandcamp. So even though there are thirty songs here, there’s a lot more Clem/Eef to enjoy.  In addition to Forever Just Beyond, I particularly recommend Fan Chosen Covers 5, We Leave Only Ashes, and You Were a Diamond.  And if Clem/Eef grows on you like they grew on me, Eef does play house concerts. 


           Volume 1
I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire
All Green
The Ballad Of Ice Cube Boy And Snowflake Girl
Denise
Song For Bob Crane
Me No
Love The Unknown
Let's Explode
The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. One
Those Spanish Ladies of the Night
Now The Moment's Gone
Escape Artist Blues
Avalanche
Flake
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

         Volume 2
From The Morning
Sea Legs
Sam Spirals
Jews for Jesus Blues
Teenage Existentialist
The Open Road
Free
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Lost On The River
Don't Bring No Ladder
Free
Grace
My Drug Buddy
Saturday Sun
Find Love

Monday, January 5, 2026

On the Right Side of 2025

Even though I'm at an age where the years are supposed to get (i.e. seem) shorter, I swear 2025
felt like a decade.  Sigh....... But at least there was a lot of good music.  I'm not sure if artists were just making great downbeat music or I gravitated more (than usual) to downbeat music.  Maybe it's both.

In particular, I would recommend the 2025 releases by Folk Bitch Trio, the Sinners soundtrack, Antibalas, De La Soul, Neko CaseKen Pomeroy, Sessa, and Tobacco City

Once again, I only included artists that were not on the 2023 or 2024 best of volumes.  Also, all of the previous year-end compilations are available (200920102011201220132014201520162017, 201820192020202120222023, 2024).

Wishing everyone a much less gruesome 2026!


                    Disc 1

Morning on K Road

Steve Gunn

Wake

SYML

Bright Yellow Sun

West Texas Exiles

Leads Me Home

The War And Treaty

Last Hard Bible

Sunny Sweeney

The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)

Car Seat Headrest

Sweet Danger

Obongjayar

Dearest Darling

Thee Headcoats

Summer Of Love

Throwing Muses

Nowhere Now

Eve Adams

Praga

Tim Bernardes

Fallen Leaves

Mekons

Afterlife

Sharon Van Etten

Lo Life

Antibalas

Into Nothing

Lera Lynn

That There's a Strategy

Shrunken Elvis

Town Lights Fade

Chris Eckman

Into My Arms

Lykke Li

                    Disc 2

Cathode Ray

Folk Bitch Trio

Estou Pensando Em Você (feat. Johanna)

Nyron Higor

Nearsight [SID]

Miguel

Cabin In The Sky

De La Soul

The Third Door

Vanishing Twin

Bienvenue à la maison

Amadou & Mariam

Wang Dang Doodle

Cedric Burnside, Shardé Thomas, & Tierinii Jackson 

NOIRE

Sudan Archives

Winchester Mansion of Sound

Neko Case

Better Deal Blues

Daniel Donato

Workin' Man Blues

Willie Nelson

Hush

Jessie Baylin

Lifetime

Erika de Casier

Flannel Cowboy

Ken Pomeroy

Coronation Street

CMAT

God Knows

Tunde Adebimpe

Heart of Gold

Fiona Apple

Love Me Like You Used To Do

Margo Price

                    Disc 3

Everybody Hurts

Lucius

Snow Camping

Laura Veirs and the Choir Who Couldn't Say

Survival Mode

Lilliana Villines

El Techno

Geckøs

My Get Back

Holly Golightly

Glencoe

Paul Burch

Dead Or Gone To Dallas

Steve Earle & Reckless Kelly

Time Ain't Nothin'

GARRETT T. CAPPS

I Don't Care

Kelly Willis

Let Me Dream

Julianna Riolino

Dodói

Sessa

Here Comes The Sun

anaiis

Pale, Through the Window

Ruston Kelly

Big Deal

Lucy Dacus

Don't Miss Your Bus Lorraine

The Delines

Colorado

Tobacco City

Bullfighter

Joleen Brown

The Mouth

Anna von Hausswolff