Wow…did I really go dark for, like, ten days? So, Record Store Day morphed into Record Store Week and I simply, as a friend of mine used to say, got “covered up.” Yeah, that’s southern for busy. And I still am. So, I’m going to take a, ahem, relaxed approach to re-entry and post a series of sealed Nuggets compilations that Rhino was releasing in the late 70’s/early 80’s. All have saw-cuts, but again, all are sealed.
First up, the mighty Northwest, led off by, of course, the Kingsmen’s classic take on “Louie, Louie”. Punk rock was never simpler. Or better, really. But it was The Wailers, straight out of Tacoma, that initially drug that track into – and out of – the garage. And it’s likely that every Pacific Northwest band at the time had it included in the setlist. But the Kingsmen version upped the ante on the stomp and the fuzz.
The big three – The Sonics, The Kingsmen and The Wailers – are all represented here with a pair of tracks each, as is Idaho’s Paul Revere & The Raiders. Also weighing in with two songs, despite never having cut an actual album, are pysch-folkies The Daily Flash. The band’s most memorable track (of the mere four they cut) was actually a B-Side, the band’s take on the folk standard “Jack Of Diamonds”, indelible primarily due to the boss guitar work of Doug Hastings, who went on to play guitar for Rhinoceros as well as a short stint in Buffalo Springfield.
Beyond that, there’s a few one-offs, including a track from Portland’s The Weeds entitled “It’s Your Time.” The Weeds was the first of several bands to feature now local pysch-punk legend Fred Coles, who went on to play in a long line of Portland-based bands, including Lollipop Shoppe, The Rats, Western Front and Dead Moon. And a bunch more.
Side One…Kingsmen – Louie Louie, Sonics – Boss Hoss, Paul Revere & The Raiders – Over You, Wailers – Hang Up, Initial Shock – Mind Disaster, Daily Flash, Jack Of Diamonds and The Weeds – It’s Your Time.
Side Two…Paul Revere & The Raiders – Just Like Me, Wailers – You Weren’t Using Your Head, Sonics – He’s Waitin’, Daily Flash – Violets Of Dawn, Kingsmen – I Guess I Was Dreaming and Floating Bridge – Don’t Mean A Thing.
Superb and detailed notes from Northwest Music Archive main man Peter Blecha.
Not sure why I only have these listed on Discogs at the moment, but…I do. Sealed old-school punk rock goodness for $35.
graypunk 