* Psychedelic Unknowns *

"Mr. Pharmacist, can you help me out today, in your usual lovely way?…"

'Mr. Pharmacist', covered quite well by The Fall, was originally recorded by The Other Half (1966). After spinning both versions the other day I just had to play this other 60s-garage/psychedelic-song, 'Apothecary Dream' (guess why) by a group called The Sound Sandwich. I first found it long time ago on 'Psychedelic Unknowns volume 1', a double-7inch-EP compiled by Billy Synth, a record collector from Pennsylvania. It was released on Calico Records in 1978; volume 2 followed the next year. 

Back then, there weren't that many similar compilations. The legendary Nuggets-2lp (programmed by Lenny Kaye, soon to be famous as guitar player with Patti Smith) came out in 1972, way ahead of its time. In 1979 the Pebbles-series started digging a little deeper for unpolished rock, and came up with more clumps of gold. Together with the first three Pebbles-LP's, these 7"-records by Billy Synth were the next best thing when I first heard them (and have been firm favorites ever since).

There also was a Psychedelic Unknowns-LP, containing all but two songs of the first two EP-volumes. 
The songs came without any info about the bands, most of them being really obscure. Some were more straight-forward garagerock, like The Split Ends with 'Rich with Nothing' or The Jury's 'Who Dat', some close to perfect pop (The Squires-'Going All The Way'). But many were truly psychedelic, as you could tell from the band names (The Cosmic Rock Show) or song titles ('I Dig Your Mind').

                                                           Psychedelic Unknowns-LP

side A, all 10 tracks from Psychedelic Unknowns vol.1:
01 The Calico Wall-'I'm A Living Sickness'
02 The Sound Sandwich-'Apothecary Dream'
03 The Daybreakers-'Psychedelic Siren'
04 The Split Ends-'Rich With Nothin'
05 The Nervous Breakdowns-'I Dig Your Mind'
06 The Evil I-'Love Conquers All'
07 The Cosmic Rock Show-'Rising Sun' (yep, reconstructed 'House of the Rising Sun') 
08 Thee Sixpence-'My Flash On You' (written by Arthur Lee; on the first album of his band Love)
09 The Iron Gate-'Feelin' Bad'
10 The Ides-'Psychedelic Ride'

side B, 10 out of 12 from vol.2 (but missing 'To Be Or Not To Be' by Yesterday's Children,
                                                  and 'The Diamond Mine' by Dave Diamond and the Higher Elevation):
01 The Starfires-'I Never Loved Her'
02 The King's Ransom-'Shame'
03 The Caretakers of Deception-'X + Y = 13'
04 The Jury-'Who Dat?'
05 First Crow To The Moon-'Spend Your Life'
06 We The People-'In The Past'
07 The Painted Ship-'Frustration' (adopted by Finnish band 22-Pistepirkko for their 'Frustration' in '98)
08 The Squires-'Going All The Way'
09 The Front Line-'Got Love'
10 The Nobles-'Something Else'

                                                    LP with same tracks, different cover

Most bands above made two, three worthwhile singles at best, sometimes just one. Notable exception: We The People (honored by the Sundazed-label with a 40track-2cd, including 'Mirror of Your Mind', 'You Burn Me Up And Down' and 'When I Arrive'). Also worth checking out: The Squires, whose B-side 'Go Ahead' was equally great Pop. But they also delivered 'The Original', with unexpected outrage. Crypt collected their stuff on an LP, that was just recently reissued in an expanded 16-track edition.

* Stud Cole *

"Elvis singing with the '66 Yardbirds"? Not quite, but close. It's Stud Cole! Born as Patrick Tirone, he recorded first as Patrick Tyrone ('It Ain't Right', 1963), then as Virgil Trucks and the Noblemen ('The Witch', 1964) and as Virgil Trux ('I Don't Want To Go' and 'I'm Glad', 1966). But his best work was an eleven-track LP that he recorded as Stud Cole, with all songs credited to P.A. Tirone. The album, released on his own Pacific Atlantic Tribune-label (P.A.T.) in 1968, was sent to radio stations but nothing happened. Wrong time? Could be. Anyhow, Stud Cole left the music business, disillusioned.

Fortunately, in 2002 Norton Records released the CD 'Burn Baby Burn', including the complete album plus five earlier Tirone-tracks. After about eighteen seconds it's perfectly clear why 1968 wasn't ready for Stud Cole. Best intro to a rock'n roll record ever? Not quite, but close! The intro to the song 'Burn Baby Burn' hits you BLAM! in your face (or ears, or stomach, or whatever), but just when you're ready for the next level of excitement Stud Cole prefers to slow things down, sinister and creepy, getting under your skin. Second best: 'Hard Luck Games'. Almost as good: 'Always & Always' and 'Black Sun'.

* The Staple Singers *

You don't have to believe in God to enjoy songs that praise the Lord. I feel sorry for those who think they can do without religious music. Listen to Washington Phillips! Blind Willie Johnson! Soul Stirrers! Or start with The Staple Singers, whose LP 'Pray On' converted me to gospel, almost 30 years ago.

Roebuck "Pops" Staples and his children made their biggest hits singing soulsongs-with-a-message for Stax (1970-74). They even hit No.1 in the USA-popcharts in 1972 with 'I'll Take You There' (with its intro nicked from the 1969-reggae-instrumental 'The Liquidator' by the Harry J. Allstars). 
In 1975 the Staples family would top the US-charts once more with the title song of the Sidney Poitier/ Bill Cosby-movie 'Let's Do It Again', written and produced by Curtis Mayfield for his Curtom-label.

                                                            The Staple Singers circa 1951
                               
Way before that they recorded pure gospel for the Vee Jay-label (1955-61), then switched to Riverside (1962-64). Below there's six reasons why you should listen to those early Staple Singers, ranging from the powerful 'Don't Drive Me Away' (Mavis at her best) to the subtle grooving 'I Can't Help From Cryin' Sometime' (organ by Maceo Wood; Al Duncan on drums). And check their version of the traditional that influenced 'The Last Time' by the Rolling Stones. The Staple Singers recorded the song first in 1954 for United. That take (with unknown pianist) was sold to Savoy, who eventually released it in 1960 on their sub-label Sharp. I prefer the Staples-recut (no piano) for Vee Jay. The story goes that the latter version inspired Keith Richards, while trying to learn the guitar part, to write the first Stones-'original'. Plus...

Vee Jay: '(This May Be) The Last Time' (?), 'Pray On' (1959), 'Don't Drive Me Away' (1960);
Riverside: 'I Can't Help From Cryin' Sometime' (1962), 'Wish I Had Answered' (1963), 
                 'Masters of War' (1964, Bob Dylan-cover);
Stax: 'Respect Yourself' (1971), 'I'll Take You There' (1972)*
bonus: 'Slippery People' (Talking Heads-cover, 1984 Soul Train-TV performance+interview)

Pops wrote most songs and played guitar, accompanying his son Pervis (1935) and daughters Cleotha (1934) and lead vocalist Mavis (1939). Another daughter, Yvonne (1938), replaced Pervis in 1958 when he joined the army for 2 years, and she stepped in again when he finally left the group in 1970.

                                                         1971 LP 'The Staple Swingers'
Further reading:
Far better story + 1992 Pops-interview: http://jasobrecht.com/pops-staples-interview-playing-for-peace/

Further listening:
   lp Pray On (rec.’55-61 Vee Jay/1986 Charly-New Cross Gospel Series GNC 1002) -16tr
2cd Glory! It's The.. Staple Singers ('55-61 Vee Jay/2000 Snapper-Recall SMDCD431) -32tr
  cd Great Day (rec.'62-64 Riverside/1991 Milestone MCD-47028-2) -27tr
  cd Respect Yourself-the best of ('70-74 Stax/1987 Ace-Stax CDSX 006) -20tr
2cd The Ultimate..: a Family Affair 1955-1984 (most '60-78/2004 Kent CDKEN2 240/Ace) -44tr

*PS: David Hood played bass and Roger Hawkins played drums on I'll Take You There on the original studio version from '72. Hood and Hawkins were the famed "muscle shoals" rhythm section that appeared on many Rock/Pop/R&B records throughout the '70s, most notable on Traffic recordings with Steve Winwood

* Akron, Ohio *

UK-label Soul Jazz Records has been releasing lots of interesting stuff in recent years, ranging from Jamaican reggae to Deutsche Elektronische Musik, and from New Orleans Funk to the Punk 45-series.

The latter started in 2013, with a first volume called 'Kill the Hippies! Kill Yourself! - underground punk in the USA 1973-80'. 2014 brought vol.2 'There is no such thing as society - UK punk 1977-81' and vol.3 'Sick On You! One Way Spit! - proto-punk 1970-77'.

Early 2015 a fourth and fifth volume were released simultaneously. Each one covering the music scene of a mid west US-city in the 70s. 'Extermination Nights in the Sixth City' is about Cleveland Ohio, home of Pere Ubu, Rocket from the Toombs, Pagans, Electric Eels, Mirrors and Human Switchboard.

'Burn Rubber City, Burn!' contains music from Akron, Ohio. Finally there is a CD-companion to the 1978 LP 'The Akron compilation' (released by Stiff in London), with bands from "the rubber capital of the world" (since Akron was home of the major tire and rubber companies Goodyear and Firestone).

Stiff, famous for clever marketing, released the LP in a nice gimmick-sleeve. "Scratch 'n' sniff the tire on the front cover to experience the delightful fragrance of Akron" it said on the inner sleeve. Yes, one fingernail-scratch across the top right corner was enough, and still is after 37 years, to smell rubber!

The LP itself offered 14 tracks by 10 acts. The Waitresses, the band that had a minor US-hit in 1982 with 'I Know What Boys Like', contributed three tracks. Jane Aire & the Belvederes and Rachel Sweet sang two each. Tin Huey, Chi Pig,  Bizarros, Rubber City Rebels, Sniper (?), Idiots Convention (?) and Terraplane (?) all had one track. Missing, unfortunately, were Akron's most famous sons, Devo.

Soul Jazz did include Devo on their Akron-CD (also available as 2LP), but not with any of their signature-songs, like 'Mongoloid' or 'Jocko Homo', nor their classic re-working of 'Satisfaction' (clip!). Instead, 'Burn Rubber City' has two a-typical Devo-tracks from 1978 that previously appeared on the fake-bootleg-EP 'Mechanical Man'.

Six bands of the Stiff-LP are on the Soul Jazz-comp as well. The Bizarros (3x, including 'Nova', on YT in early version), Tin Huey (2x), Rubber City Rebels (2x, alas neglecting this energetic self titled tune), Jane Aire & the Belvederes ('When I Was Young'; great song, but not on YouTube; a link to her non-album Stiff-single 'Yankee Wheels' is all we have to offer here),  Chi Pig and The Waitresses. Last band is listed with 'The Comb', and Chi Pig with two songs, of which 'Apu Api (Help Me)' is supposed to be track 13. Only after the CD was pressed Soul Jazz discovered they'd made a mistake and included an unlisted song instead: The Waitresses with 'Clones', previously known as the mystery track on the Stiff-LP. Future Soul Jazz-editions will have 'Apu Api' for 'Clones'.

If you've tried some of the links above, you must have noticed that most Akron-bands on the Punk 45-album are not exactly PUNK at all, and there is no Akron-sound either. Whatever, I like 'em for various reasons. And I was glad to discover some songs I hadn't heard before, most notably those by Denis DeFrange and Ralph Carney. They led me to another compilation-LP from Akron, that I've completely missed back then: 'Bowling Balls from Hell', released in 1980 by Clone Records, the label of Chris Butler, mainman of The Waitresses. Soul Jazz cherry picked three songs from that LP, including 'The Manikin Shuffle' by DeFrange, but sadly left out his 'Bowling Ball Theme' and Carney's 'Hose Anna'.

PS: Rachel Sweet wasn't even remotely punk, in sound nor attitude. So it's not surprising she didn't make it unto the Punk 45-volume. But she was on the Stiff-LP with the cool song 'Truckstop Queen' (released when she was just 16), hence included here. For Stiff she recorded a few more 45s and two albums. In 1990 she could be heard on the soundtrack of the John Waters-film Cry-Baby, doing a great version of Wynona Carr's 'Please Mr. Jailer' (lip-sync: actress Amy Locane).

http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Akron-Compilation/release/1102077
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Bowling-Balls-From-Hell/release/1093949

* Sitting on a Corn Flake *

"Sitting On A Cornflake" has got to be one of the weirdest opening lines of a popsong that I know. That's what I told a friend a few years ago. To my surprise he replied that his favourite Liverpudlian band had used that line too. No kidding! John Lennon seems to have had a big laugh about it. Imagine all the people trying to figure out what he meant when he wrote 'I Am The Walrus'.

                                                   corn flake art by Sarah Rosado, NYC             

But the song that yours truly mentioned first is by Swamp Dogg, alias of Jerry Williams Jr. Three years after The Beatles he used that same line for the title-track of his legendary album 'Total Destruction To Your Mind'. "File under soul" it says on the back of my copy, but be prepared: the material, ranging from hard-driving funky stuff to Joe South-covers and deep southern soul, is undoubtedly fueled by chemicals. Hence the title of this mind-blowing trip.

further reading:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/32042/corn-flakes-were-invented-part-anti-masturbation-crusade