NUGGETS Box: Disc 1, Song 2

If forced to choose thee ultimate mid-'60s garage rock tune, one might bloody well settle on this track, "Dirty Water" by The Standells. (I'd probably go with "Talk Talk" by The Music Machine--but, "Dirty Water" is right there.) The guitar hook is impossibly catchy, and the vocals are snarling. What more could you want? Check this out from the boxed set's booklet [Note: "Valentino" refers to the band's guitarist, Tony Valentino, and "Dodd" refers to vocalist and drummer, Dick Dodd]:

..."Dirty Water" boasts a killer guitar hook (apparently the invention of Valentino), an aggressive backbeat (boosted by a double-tracked kick drum), and Dodd's lead vocal, which radiates pure attitude as he tosses out lines like "Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves -- ah, but they're cool people!" The song gradually became a regional breakout during the early months of 1966 and went on to become national hit.

In fact, it topped out at #11 on the Billboard charts on June 11, 1966.

Last time around, we learned about the rumor that The Electric Prunes were from Seattle, when they were, in fact, from L.A. Well, here we have a band singing "Boston, you're my home" when they were, in fact, from L.A. Odd, isn't it? Apparently, it's not a problem, as I've read that the song still is played after every home victory of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins.

Click here to read more about The Standells.

NUGGETS Box: Disc 1, Song 1

I am loving the Nuggets boxed set I bought the other day. I mean LOVING it!!! In fact, from now on, when I'm struggling to come up with a new post, I'll just move on to the next song from Nuggets. [NOTE: Based on recent history, you can expect a LOT of Nuggets-related posts.]

The lead-off batter for the entire line-up is "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" by The Electric Prunes. This is fuzzy-guitar psychedelia at its most classic. It topped out at #11 on the U.S. singles charts in January 1967. Lenny Kaye's liner notes in the original Nuggets double-LP, released in 1972, begin with "Originally from Seattle, the Prunes..." This is quite interesting, as they were not from Seattle, but rather Los Angeles. The liner notes from the new boxed set are as follows:

From its magnificent, oscillating intro to its final crashing, shuddering fade, "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" is a vivid celebration of the exciting changes pop music was undergoing in 1966-67. The song's startling effects, overwhelming vibrato guitar, and booming production herald the seemingly endless possibilities of the new psychedelia, while sacrificing none of the pounding aggression of the mid-'60s, Stones-derived garage punk. While experimental in design, "I Had Too Much To Dream," penned by the writing team of Annette Tucker & Nancie Matz (also responsible for "I Ain't No Miracle Worker"), is also a great pop song.
Formed in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley in 1965, The Electric Prunes had misfired with their debut, "Ain't It Hard," but "I Had Too Much To Dream" established them nationally -- for a while, at least.







Click here for more on The Electric Prunes.




Their album of the same title was named one of "The 40 Greatest Guitar Albums of 1967" by Guitar Player magazine. Here's some fairly technical, guitar-geeky stuff they had to say:

With a stunning leadoff title track, Electric Prunes’ guitarist Ken Williams kicked off what would become the quintessential psych-punk masterpiece. “For that tune, and most of the record, I used a 1960 Bigsby-equipped Gibson Les Paul that I had just purchased at Ernie Ball’s guitar shop in Canoga Park,” says Williams of the haunting buzzed-out helicopter intro. Williams, together with co-guitarist James “Weasel” Spagnola, make Too Much to Dream a cornucopia of fly-buzzing fuzz and trembling tremolo. “James and I would time the tremolo pulse to each track, being very careful to let things ride on that pulsing pillow of sound,” explains Williams, who would manually adjust the Speed control on his Fender Concert 4x10, while Spagnola plugged his Fender Telecaster and Jaguar into a Magnatone combo. “We would also crank up various small tube amps and lay the headstock of the guitar on the amp to get sustained feedback,” continues Williams, who also plugged into a Fender tape echo, a Maestro Fuzz-Tone, an Arbiter Fuzz Face, and a homemade buzz box.

A Couple Of Updates

OH, shit. "My bad" (in the parlance of our times). First, the baby boy's name is Zachary. Or, Zach. Or, Z-Man. Or, Little Z, etc. (which is not to say that "Peter Buck" wouldn't have been a great idea, too).

Second, there was a happy ending regarding The Doors boxed set urge. I didn't order it for $136. Instead, I checked my email, and saw a 1-day only 40% off coupon for Borders for today (June 15). It was in-store only, so I headed there. They had a Nuggets boxed set from Rhino, which is 4 CDs of mid-'60s garage band classics, complete with 100-page booklet. It lists for $59.99, so was $36 with my coupon. This not only seemed reasonable for more than 100 incredible songs by such wonderful bands as Count Five, The Standells, Music Machine, and soooo many more, but was also $100 LESS than I would've spent on that Doors thing. Fucking sweet. MUCH more on the Nuggets box to come, I'm quite certain.