The Stooges (1969-1973) – 2 Fan Albums

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

The Stooges are one of the all time great rock bands. Personally, that’s mainly off the strength of their middle effort, Fun House. Still, it was clear there was more to love. There are a lot of live recordings and stray tracks, so it’d be fun to see what can be done, especially because many have given a shot at what could be called the “fourth” Stooges album. My love is mainly with the classic lineup of singer Iggy Pop, bassist Dave Alexander, guitarist Ron Asheton, and drummer Scott Asheton, so I wanted to see what we could cook from them mainly.

On top of their two studio albums, I found eight stray tracks. Two live 1970 tracks are “Going to Ungano’s” and “Have Some Fun”/“My Dream Is Dead”. They suffer from poor sound quality and the first not being a song. However they’re still fun listens, so I’ve linked to them in their natural environment, Live at Ungano’s, August 17, 1970. Two tracks I hear are from 1968 are actually from 1971, “Ron’s Jam” and “What’s You Gonna Do”. Apparently two members of the Stooges, including famous singer Iggy Pop, were absent from these, so they’re getting tossed. The remaining four make for a surprisingly lengthy album of thirty-four minutes. It will be listed below with the surrounding albums. While noticeably less cohesive, it’s still a fine listen.

The Stooges (1969) – YouTube, Spotify

Freaks (1970) (Recorded 1969-1970) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Asthma Attack” (2019 Remaster)
2. “Lost in the Future” (Take 1)
3. “Slide (Slidin’ the Blues)” (Take 1)

SIDE B

1. “Freak” (Take 1)

PERSONNEL

• Iggy Pop – vocals
• Ron Asheton – guitar
• Dave Alexander – bass
• Scott Asheton – drums
• Steve Mackay – saxophone

Fun House (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

Alexander was later replaced. Nothing came of this period between him leaving and the first breakup other than some live recordings that weren’t released for a long time. I am not very fond of these due to low quality. There might be unreleased material with or without Alexander I don’t know about. I’m highlighting the following releases as they contain songs not featured elsewhere.

Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano’s (2010) (Recorded 1970) – YouTube, Spotify

You Don’t Want My Name… You Want My Action (2009) (Recorded 1971) – YouTube, Spotify

The band then famously reunited with James Williamson on guitar, Ron moved to bass, and the gang retitled “Iggy and the Stooges”. I was able to get one album’s worth of high quality strays for the follow-up to Raw Power that would’ve made a slightly lesser, but still solid installment. In parentheses are the compilations these are sourced from or some other identifier.

Raw Power (1973) (Highlighting the superior Iggy mix) – YouTube, Spotify

Jesus Loves The Stooges (1974) (Recorded 1972-1973) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “I Got a Right” (Born in a Trailer)
2. “I’m Sick of You” (Born in a Trailer)
3. “Louie Louie” (More Power)
4. “Scene of the Crime” (More Power)
5. “Gimme Some Skin” (More Power)
6. “Open Up And Bleed” (More Power)

SIDE B

1. “Money” (More Power)
2. “Cock In My Pocket” (2022 Mix)
3. “Jesus Loves The Stooges” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
4. “Heavy Liquid” (Live at Richards, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1973)
5. “Born in a Trailer” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)

PERSONNEL

• Iggy Pop – vocals
• James Williamson – guitar
• Ron Asheton – bass
• Scott Asheton – drums

Now what of other tracks recorded around this time, sometimes of high fidelity? Well, I either found those other ones really poor songs or more often poor quality. I also didn’t want to bother sifting through the countless releases compiling various live tracks and other oddities, but just know they’re there if you like fuzzy guitar riffs and yelling. My current game is collecting stray tracks, so I thought of an idea.

Let’s say Iggy and the gang breakup, as happened in real life, then the record company asked for another album. Having no desire or ability to make a sixth studio album, and to embrace the punk rock spirit, Iggy took those low quality strays and made a giant and unlistenable compilation. Worried this would damage his career, he credited it as “Twiggy and the Tooges”. He also did himself a favor and got to work on the Kill City album. This album is two and three-quarters hours long. If it was released, it probably would have taken up about four LPs. Note that there’s no rhyme or reason to what versions of songs are picked. (I also don’t count this as a “fan album”. No way I’m relistening to these to make sure they’re sequenced well.)

The Shit Box (1975) (Recorded 1972-1974) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Instrumental” (Heavy Liquid)
2. “I’m Hungry” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
3. “Hey, Peter” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
4. “Doojiman” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
5. “Johanna” (Heavy Liquid)

SIDE B

1. “Rubber Legs” (Heavy Liquid)
2. “Pinpoint Eyes/Cry For Me” (Heavy Liquid)
3. “Tight Pants” (Heavy Liquid)
4. “Head On” (Rehearsal) (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))

SIDE C

1. “I Need Somebody/Sweet Child/I Like The Way You Walk” (Morgan Sound Studios, Ypsilanti Michigan March 1973)
2. “Can’t Turn You Loose” (Morgan Sound Studios, Ypsilanti Michigan March 1973)

SIDE D

1. “Hey Baby” (Detroit Rehearsals Spring 1973)
2. “Wild Love” (Heavy Liquid)
3. “Till The End Of The Night” (Heavy Liquid)
4. “Head On Curve” (Heavy Liquid)

SIDE E

1. “I Come From Nowhere” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
2. “Old King Live Forever” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
3. “Look So Sweet” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
4. “Mellow Down Easy” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
5. “Move Ass Baby” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)

SIDE F

1. “My Girl Hates My Heroin” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
2. “She Creatures of the Hollywood Hills” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
3. “I’m a Man” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
4. “Ballad of Hollis Brown” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)

SIDE G

1. “Purple Haze” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
2. “I’m So Glad” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
3. “New Orleans” (Live, The Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, 16 September 1973)
4. “Rich Bitch” (Live, The Academy Of Music, New York City, 31 December 1973)

SIDE H

1. “Wet My Bed” (Bimbos 365 Club S.F Jan 1974)
2. “Delta Blues Shuffle” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
3. “Fire Engine” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
4. “I Got Nothin’” (Bimbos 365 Club S.F Jan 1974)

Of course there would later be a well regarded live album:

Metallic K.O. (1976) (Recorded 1973-1974) – YouTube, Spotify

Kill City (1977) (Recorded 1975) – YouTube, Spotify

Kill City is not a Stooges album. It’s a collaboration between the two main minds of the latter day Stooges. It’s also a forgotten oddity, so for my money worthy of being featured. It, like all the other material, showcases Iggy and his gang as not perfect Gods of rock, but those that experimented and at times failed. Still, just because some of this is not perfect doesn’t mean it’s not sharp and helps to define five great musicians from Motor City. You could call them the Motor City Five. Attached below is my friend, Ken’s, concept for a follow-up to Raw Power. I had no part in this.

Head On (1974) – Spotify

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

Syd Barrett 1971-1974 Stray Tracks Review

Syd Barrett with Stars in 1972

February 16th, 1971 Show for Sounds of the Seventies

The spacious guitar and vocals are beautiful. The “pleases” sound pleading. An announcer says Syd was writing lots of new songs. That appears to be false, so it’s curious where he got that information from. “Love Song” doesn’t get a chance to really take off as this version is shortened for some reason.

“Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band (‘Cambridge’ – January 27th, 1972)”

It’s hard not to love an audience clapping for Syd as he goes on stage. Musically, all you get is a little noodling, probably not even by Syd. Still, this doesn’t hurt to have.

Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band ‎- Six Hour Technicolour Dream Cambridge Show (Only the tracks with Syd) (January 27th. 1972)

Starting “Drinkin’ That Wine” with the singer saying it’s the sort of track you listen to while going to church and getting drunk is a pretty amusing way to start this, perfectly capturing its tone of a bluesy hippie band. “Number Nine” has a great instrumental section. The singer is very soulful, most notably on “Gotta Be A Reason”. Near the end of Reason, the guitar sounds similar to the playing on “Interstellar Overdrive”.

Steve Peregrin Took Tracks, “Molecular Lucky Charm” and “Syd’s Wine”

Syd’s presence is not confirmed. The sound quality is not great, especially for the vocals. The guitar playing and noises create a really solid atmosphere and seem like something Syd would come up with. The entrancing guitar is reminiscent of “Terrapin”. Syd used a lot of tap percussion, like bongos, which Wine has. I think it’s pretty likely Syd is on these. Regardless of the vaSydity, these are interesting psychedelic folk tracks that also feel like T. Rex for obvious reasons.

The 1974 guitar recordings

The 1974 recordings do feature Syd’s proficiency and unique style. While they are obviously incomplete, they do satisfy an itch for those willing to scratch the bottom of the Syd barrel. These prove that Syd still had guitar talent in 1974. These aren’t nearly as directionless as people say. You can detect some care in the playing. These would work as guitar lines of a full song. I wonder who the bassist is. “Boogie #2” has some cool psychedelic guitar playing in the beginning. “If You Go, Don’t Be Slow #1” has particularly warm sounds, though overall there’s sadly too little going on. Most of the tracks could benefit from more to make them last the time they do, but they’re still nice to listen to and not a bad way to spend twenty minutes.

“Boogie #2 (Fragment – Bernard White ‘94 Mix)”

This is too fragmented to get much out of. It’s certainly far less listenable than the original version of this song. The mix doesn’t even sound very different.

“Was That Okay”

This is just Syd saying he thinks something was okay. No music! Of course this is the best track of the lot!

The 1974 recordings with bass and drums added by Richard Hall

A fan version by a Richard Hall adds bass, drums, and minor effects, which brings this to another level, medleying many songs and amplifying the impact they need. Here you get the softer side of Syd’s playing, the jam side, the meaner side. If this album was finished and released at the time, with Syd then retiring, it might be considered a solid and appropriate send off, with him touching on his various eras, while still being extremely solid all the way through.

OVERVIEW

One of the more elusive Syd projects is Stars, a band with bassist Jack Monck and drummer John “Twink” Alder that was only around briefly in 1972. While some of their shows were recorded, none have surfaced. While I wouldn’t turn down any Syd content, these don’t interest me compared to most of his canon because they were playing songs Syd already recorded in studio with Pink Floyd or for his solo work. That is unless there were really some new songs or new sections for old songs. However, we kind of get some Stars material in the above recordings. While the 1971 stuff’s bassist is usually credited to David Gilmour, Monck has also sometimes been. It’s not impossible it really was Monck. The Took recordings probably have Twink on drums (It’s not for certain as Duncan Sanderson is also credited on drums on the compilation album which features them). The closest we get to Stars is the Boogie Band, which has a concert recording where Monck and Twink are on every track, and Syd is on some.

While these later recordings aren’t as approachable as earlier ones, they still are solid, especially in their guitar playing and offer a fascinating final musical chapter for this otherworldly person. For those interested in more artistic expression from Barrett can go to his painting and sculpting. Every bit of Syd is well worth at least a single listen/experience.

Pink Floyd 1971-1977 Stray Tracks Review

Pink Floyd 1973

Pink Floyd released the equivalent of one album a year in the years 1967, 1968, and 1970. They did the equivalent of three in 1969. They were managing similar amounts of material in the first three mentioned years as 1969, but just not releasing a lot of it, or at least not on their main albums. This changed in 1971. For starters, they started putting more time in developing what got on their albums and the albums became more acclaimed and culturally significant. Thus, you’d think that the strays would be at least very solid, especially considering how few there were. Note that a few times I had so little to say that I wrote on more than one track at once.

“Pink Blues” aka “Blues”

This is one of the more concentrated pieces, having very good interplaying. The power and energy causes “Blues” to continuously build momentum.

“Corrosion in the Pink Room”

Has some pleasant atmosphere, but is very unfocused. It features some of the band’s trademarks, creepy keyboard, stuttering cymbals designed to create a large backing, and Roger’s vocalizing. These tropes are a little too stale for the track’s good. The keys aren’t too bad, though.

“Mortality Sequence” & ““La Vallee” – Instrumental”

These are amusing enough experiments, but do feel like a joke. There’s a lot of nonsense sounds, like AI generated Pink Floyd. The section without the vocalizing on Mortality isn’t too bad.

“The Hard Way”

A pleasant and extremely incomplete experiment. “The Hard Way” has a nice groove and diversity in sound, but doesn’t go anywhere. Wouldn’t be bad on a noise album, but not so much on a Floyd one, except for one problem. Despite being so short, it’s pretty repetitive.

“On The Run (outtake)” & “The Travel Sequence”

These are fun, but once again directionless and feeling like no one knows what’s going on. They have an infectious sense of fun and rhythm, so they’re worth listening to, but were rightfully not put on an album.

“pink floyd unreleased track 1973” (4:14) aka “Flanger”

This sounds like a test. “Hey Nick, play a little so we can see if the recorder is working.” Still, a little drumming isn’t the worst thing in the world. This is like the Pink Floyd version of the Beach Boys track, “Denny’s Drums”.

“Mexico 70”

Can’t believe how many of these tracks have random noises in them. There’s some nice guitar noodling, but it goes on forever doing the same thing. It’s easy to imagine this could’ve been worked on more and included on an album. Maybe on Wish You Were Here to demonstrate Syd going mad? Faneditors, get on that.

“Wine Glasses”

This is pretty, but inessential on its own. Of course, it would be used to great effect on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” in a better form.

“You’ve Got To Be Crazy”

Roger’s vocal is really flat, sounding like a demo. Of course that can be forgiven due to this obviously being a work-in-progress not intended for release. The playing isn’t too bad, though falters in some ways. That’s something that could be fixed with more rehearsing. Lyrics like “Sometimes it seems as if I’m just being used” are way too heavy handed. The released version on Animals is very solid.

“Raving and Drooling”

This one starts with what sounds like the Doctor Who theme. This track is especially fun due to the punk-esque nature of its riffs and intensity.

“Message From The Sheep (Field Recording)”

Just some sheep baaing.

“Drift Away Blues”

This takes a little from “Pink Blues”. David gets to show off a little with his guitar playing, with a little bit of fun moments for Rick and Nick, but as previously stated it’s something that should’ve been incorporated in a more rehearsed and fleshed out album if at all. The aforementioned “Pink Blues” is better due to being short and sweet.

OVERVIEW

Despite being known for their innovation, Pink Floyd often got stuck in formulas. Fortunately, that stuff generally got unreleased around the start of the early 70s, with much better material properly getting on the albums. A super fan should listen to these tracks just for the sake of it, but a casual fan can live without what amounts to mostly live fiddling. Still, there are a few gems.

Pink Floyd – Meddle (1971) Review

“The Ear Album”

Meddle is a monumental Pink Floyd album and their first that at least mostly lands on its feet after the departure of Syd Barrett. Still, it’s not completely consistent, but its low points aren’t particularly bad. After the first two albums took extreme cues from Barrett’s song-by-song styling, the third and fourth were more experimental, making a lot more sense as a whole. They also seemed like attempts to replicate Syd’s presence. In 1971, they let go of Syd, but went back to the song-by-song formula. What we get is a fluid and stand out album that shows the group not getting too caught up with themselves, while also showing technical proficiency.

Meddle’s a-side is casual and light, playing with blues, psychedelia, folk, and other genres, all masterfully handled by the vocals and guitar. The vocal and guitar textures really make this album, mostly handled by David Gilmour. The more space rock the group was post-Syd, the more desperate they seemed to justify keeping the band name after losing the person who was so adept at space rock and by extension their sound. David does his own thing finally. The others follow suit, backing this newer idea. In the past, the group had prominent bass, keyboard, and drums. A criticism you could levy here is that they take a backseat. Despite that, they’re extremely solid.

“One of These Days” is a great mix of building atmosphere, rocking out, and driving guitars. The track is constantly throwing appropriate new sounds into the mix. It could theoretically be criticized for going for that older, jam-based angle, especially as the opener, but it makes such a strong impression and is so enjoyable that it really works. It is a little jarring compared to the next four tracks, which are comparatively so light. Driving drums and the keyboard are nice nods to the older style and rock in general, making for a fusion style that doesn’t let you forget you’re listening to a rock record.

“Echoes” was apparently culled from a lot of different musical ideas over the years and it does sound like it. It comes off as incoherent at points, with awkward pacing and jumps to different sections of the piece. Some of the more ambient-inspired portions seem like they’re being played too slow or with pressure to suggest it’s supposed to be big and epic. The descending riff is an example of the latter. The volume is too low, with the instruments at times feeling muddled and indistinguishable. It’s easy to imagine it was forced to be as long as possible for the purpose of being a grand finale. It also doesn’t tonally fit with the lighter, earlier tracks, but that’s admittedly a minor complaint. The great Syd-era instrumentals generally said, “What can we do with this particular musical idea?” and explored it in different ways. This track feels like an attempt to replicate that, with the aforementioned multi-sourced elements failing that.

Despite the criticism of “tone”, it’s possible that the side-a style would not have been as consistently high quality for an entire album. It would’ve been better to try something different, like using some of the highlights from the next record, Obscured by Clouds.

OVERVIEW

While I praised this album for being more “original”, it is not entirely. Syd Barrett had been dabbling quite a bit in psychedelic folk, which paints “A Pillow of Winds” and many others. It’s hard to say for sure what makes this album work so much better than previous, but it seems it’s likely that the guitars are not Syd-like. They’re David Gilmour and Roger Waters-like. This 1971 effort will prove to be an oddity. The band will soon return to their original goal of “blowing you out”, which they tried from 1968-1970. The difference is that they’ll succeed. Whether or not Meddle played any part of that is up for debate. You can hardly shake it on its own merits, though.

The Rolling Stones – Aftermath (1966) UK Album Review – The Rolling Stones On Their Own

Could You Walk On The Water?

The Rolling Stones’ first album of original material has become a rock monolith of sorts. It’s an iconic piece of music that has stood the test of time, even at its length of 52-minutes. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards certainly had great ability and style in their songwriting, but couldn’t keep a consistent quality control. Someone had the right idea, as there are plenty of outtakes. There’s in fact five, six if you include “Paint It Black”. In an alternate universe, those six were included and released as an early double album, but that isn’t the case here. All the better for it, as the album as-is loses steam too fast. The tracks trend from best to worst.

“Mother’s Little Helper”, “Stupid Girl”, and “Under My Thumb” are among the best 60s Stones songs. All capture an aggressive British wit about a man who has it all figured out in his own head, all featuring lyrics that have a negative view towards women. The guitar work, especially on tracks like Mother’s, feel like it’s on the verge of a mental breakdown; the drumming sounding like a mix of a heartbeat and an oncoming train; and the bass your psyche about to give up entirely. There’s a surreal and frightening aura to it all. Its spirit is proto-punk and dreamlike. “Lady Jane” is a poorly placed ballad. Its preceding track, “Stupid Girl”, asks to be continued by something with more trouble and bizarreness and the album stops to include this instead. It’s a nice enough track, though not as exceptional. “Flight 505” continues the cursed charm of the other three. It celebrates its own dark comedy, being upbeat despite some dark lyrics.

Most of the material here feels like interesting enough experiments that’d make nice bonus tracks, though a few are great. Their diversity gives the record an identity crisis, like it doesn’t know what it’s trying to make you feel. “Out Of Time” is a psychedelic plea, as if the singer is losing control of their emotions. “Take It Or Leave It” is folk-esque, as are “Doncha Bother Me” and “High And Dry”. The latter two benefit from distancing themselves more from that, as the Stones can’t capture the right “folk feeling”. They’re too much of a rock group. Doncha is reminiscent of Link Wray and is among the more novel Stones works. The last three cuts, Take It, “Think”, and “What To Do”, feel like demos. The vocals are a little flatter, in addition to a lack of feeling to the backing band. The songs somewhat devolve into “just say the name of the song over and over”. The album was recorded in two short periods. These come off as the last thing they recorded, once they were burned out. Imagine Take It with some muscle in the guitar playing. It’d be much better. “What To Do” is the last track. It needed either to not be the last or have some finality. It’s just a bit of fluff. All the “experiments” on the album are wildly inconsistent, which makes sense. Some are great and all feel like the Stones are trying to make their statement.

Every track on the album can’t be called bad as the playful innocence of this rebel gang of youngsters gives enough charm to stop strong negative feelings. That doesn’t stop problems from being prevalent, but that makes them more forgivable. Representative of the whole album is the last track of side-a, “Goin’ Home”. It starts with a bluesy little song that goes at a nice pace before the track degrades into an improvisational jam. Conceptually, it’s not bad, but the track simply loses steam. It feels like no one knew what to do, especially Mick Jagger. He just says little things throughout. This song is a more dramatic show-stopper, as it goes on for eleven and a half minutes, at the cost of the pacing. This demonstrates the lyrical theme of “we’re too brave to not do what we want”. No one thought to cut this bad boy down, which is a shame.

OVERVIEW

Someone wanting to listen to Aftermath should listen to it as is, so as to get the artistically-intended experience. One way to basically respect that and also give a better ending is to include “Paint It Black” after “What To Do”, as if it was the last track. It’s a much better closer than what we got. It was also included as the opener to the American version of the album. That American version is a little better for cutting some of the filler. “Goin’ Home” is its final track and that makes more sense than the UK’s ending. The shorter tracks can maintain tension and then it all seeps out at the end. It’s still not a great song, but it fits more at the end of side b than side a. For fun, I included a version of the album I constructed, cutting out the tracks best left off.

1. “Mother’s Little Helper”
2. “Stupid Girl”
3. “Under My Thumb”
4. “Doncha Bother Me”
5. “Flight 505”
6. “High And Dry”
7. “Out Of Time”
8. “It’s Not Easy”
9. “Goin’ Home” (Start fading at 3:15)
10. “Paint It Black”

The Sonics – Nine Fan Albums

Dedicated to two friends I’ll identify as “K” and “G”. They’re alive and well, I am just especially looking forward to their thoughts on this project.

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

I was and still am amazed by The Sonics’ debut album, Here Are The Sonics. It’s truly one of the greatest rock albums of all time, famous for its raw energy and powerful playing. I was under the belief that more of their material was hard rocking than in actuality. Their next new recording, “Keep A-Knockin’”, maintained that sound (I wonder if it was an outtake), but then they softened a little for their Christmas recordings. Their second LP has some tracks that are similarly as raucous and some more laid-back, and their third has some good “more laid back tracks” with some that are too meandering. In addition to doing the normal, grabbing all the tracks I can, including those the proper albums missed, I will also do something a little different; arrange all the studio material from most-hard rocking to least. Incrementally, the albums become softer and softer. There’s also been so many Sonics line-ups that it can be hard to keep track of everything. I will explain and simplify things, so everyone understands what’s what.

Early Live Tracks

Two official compilation albums cover all the material that predates The Sonics’ debut album. For those that want to hear the band become The Sonics known and loved, these albums will be for you. One compilation, The Savage Young Sonics, isn’t really The Sonics. The band was formed by Andy (bass) and Larry Parypa (guitar), originally having no other classic members. Eventually, the three other classic members; Gerry Roslie (vocals, keys), Rob Lind (saxophone), and Bob Bennett (drums), joined. This release mostly focuses on the earlier line-ups, which cover pretty standard, but not bad surf rock. The material is a fun novelty/exploration, but isn’t necessary for those who aren’t really into surf or especially The Sonics. Both have far better material.

The last four tracks on Savage and the second compilation, Busy Body!!!, feature the classic line-up. This results in about 40 minutes of pre-classic music and 40 minutes of classic, pre debut music. Albums of the time leaned more to the 20s than 40s minutes-wise, so I made this material four 20 minute albums of live or demo music. Seeing as the first two’s only classic members are the Parypa brothers, the band name is called “The Parypas” by me. The tracks are all in the same order as on the official versions, so if one listened to the Parypa and then early-Sonics albums in order and another listened to Savage and Busy, they’d hear the exact same recordings in the same order.

For those that would rather listen to these tracks in the compilations officially released, links to them will be below.

The Golden Era

In early 1965, Here Are The Sonics was released. It set the bar so high that few could beat it, even The Sonics themselves. While their official second album, Boom, is usually listed as being just as energetic and powerful by reviewers, I strongly disagree. Some of the tracks are basically as hard-hitting as Here, though half the album fails that. One track from the group’s third album and one single also “hit as hard”; thus the group only has eight recordings that match their most recognizable set, in my opinion. A decent amount of material would be perfectly serviceable in complementing those eight tracks, so we can have a full-length album. What better than what they did in-between Here and Boom? Three of their four Christmas tracks and their other single-only track, “The Hustler”, flow very well with the other eight. These tracks can produce the best possible follow-up album. I have decided to title this bunch, Gunpowder.

Conveniently, there’s enough remaining good material for exactly one album; twelve standard tracks and one about a minute. These will serve as the basis for the third studio album. While the recordings are not punk-ish, there is a feeling and soul to them and in the end are pretty solid. Unable to think of a title, I named it “Break Song” after the one minute track. Here, Gunpowder, and Break make a nice little trilogy. I could imagine them and one of two albums soon to be discussed being re-released in the CD-age as two two-fers.

The Sonics Fall Apart

Some people boil down The Sonics to their first two albums being good and their third being bad. While #3, Introducing The Sonics, is quite a bit worse; it doesn’t deserve as much or all the flack. Not wanting to exclude any tracks from this project, it seemed sensible to make an album of the weakest material, which I’d probably skip on a casual relisten, but slog through when it feels right to be a completionist. Conveniently, there are twelve tracks exactly. When listening to this fan album, I wondered if some of these tracks, which I had only heard about once, would be so bad. The answer is yes. All the tracks are either ballads which the band seem inept at doing or really limp rockers. The latter sounds like the band didn’t care and just tried to get the songs done. Not holding any love for this material, I’ve christened them “The Sonics Sell Out”.

Most of the tracks on Sell Out come from the infamous “Jerden Years”, but there are exceptions. The group did a very soupy ballad on Boom called “Since I Fell For You”. It sticks out like a sore thumb. There’s also a cover of “On Broadway” (re-titled and re-lyriced “It’s Christmas”). I’m not going to swear against the band being unable to do a good cover of “On Broadway”, but this one has no edge. It’s fine for a band like the Beach Boys to do a slow run-through of this number, but it sounds wrong from The Sonics doing the same thing.

At this point, Gerry Roslie left and was replaced with a Jim Brady. Not long after, every member left the group. Jim did some recordings as “The Sonics”. They’re so un-Sonicy that they won’t be discussed here, but instead here. The real Sonics reunited in 1972. For those inclined to listen to the live recordings basically in recording order with the albums, three 1966 live tracks come from an album called Live / Fanz Only. They should be placed in between Gunpowder and Break Song. The other three tracks are the 1972 material. While the material has somewhat rough audio and aren’t as good as the three studio albums, they are enjoyable and a fitting send-off to the band. While I’m not sure, the live tracks coming from this 1972 performance are perhaps the last recordings of all five classic members.

Post-Script

The band members did their own thing for a while. Two albums came from this period of The Sonics being broken up, both from the 80s. Gerry Roslie recorded an album called “Sinderella”. This was under the The Sonics name, but seeing as he’s the only Sonics member, it seems better categorized as a solo album. The Parypas joined a band called Charlie and The Tunas. They recorded an album, though more than one guitarist and bassist are credited. I’m not sure if the Parypas played on every song. That album was released on Spotify as a Sonics album, though it wasn’t originally released as one (my pet peeves!) In 2007, Gerry, Larry, and Rob reunited. Andy and Bob have occasionally participated.

On YouTube there are many live recordings of the band. Some feature the first three members and one of the other two. I’m not sure if any feature all five. Due to a lack of interest, I won’t compile the modern live tracks into albums. There’s a lot of material there. The official releases with Gerry, Larry, and Rob are as followed: 8 (2011). This one features four studio tracks and four live, though a CD release adds two more live tracks. This one is interesting for featuring Andy, though only on the studio tracks. This is the closest we’ve gotten to a studio classic line-up reunion. While these tracks might’ve been solid if done by the band in the 60s, here their age hinders them. Next is their first LP since Introducing or Sinderella; This Is The Sonics (2015). Age is once again an issue.

Comically, as if to demonstrate that history is repeating itself, Gerry and Larry left the group. Apparently they only stopped ‘touring’, so a future studio or live album with them is not out of the question. With Rob Lind as the only classic member, there was the 2016 release, Live At Easy Street. There are many more recordings of this line-up on YouTube, if interested. For the sake of noting, a 2012 album called Unreleased (not to be confused with the 1980 Sonics compilation of the same name) features 1967 studio recordings and modern-sounding live tracks. I’m not sure when these are from or who the singer is.

I prefer The Sonics being this weird, underground thing that ended after the ‘72 performance. Keep them mythical. It’s better to have the impression that they never got old and disappeared when things started to stop working. Even if someone is to ignore everything recorded after 1972, they know about that material’s existence.

Researching

I couldn’t find much information about the two instrumentals on Break Song, “Break Song” and “Good Hard Rock”. I can’t cross my heart and say they feature the classic line-up, due to nothing confirming or denying that. Both are on compilations with material from 1967 and onward. One comp features tracks from the classic-line-up and Jim Brady-era. The other is the 2012 Unreleased album. Those two tracks seem to fit well enough for classic line-up albums. It’s a shame how unorganized the band’s material is. Releases can be very eclectic and poorly documented.

Conclusion

My journey with The Sonics is strange. Upon listening to Here, I fell in love with how wild it is. According to “G”, there was plenty of other material that was great and if I were wise I’d listen. Now that I have, I’m in a few minds. No release other than Here has a full set of punk-ish tracks. That being said, there’s enough studio tracks for two more great albums and a little live material that’s nice and enjoyable, but inconsequencial. It’s a journey that’s had many moments of satisfaction and intrigue, though there’s a certain joy and magic to only knowing that first album; that one album so perfect that I can’t touch it and make it better. I am glad to have some of the later stuff, but miss that mythicism.

The most well known and best era of the band represents a small amount of material. That period was virtually the only released for a while. Now we have songs which show the Sonics develop, more golden era songs, more tracks of the band being ‘bad’ before breaking up, and the reunion era. It’s a fun ride to see the ups and downs and experimenting, even as someone who says that it’d be possibly better for only the ‘golden era’ to exist, making the group more mysterious and never bad.

Given that all this material exists and has existed, it’s a shame the material isn’t presented in a better way. Imagine two-fer releases of Here and Gun, then Break and either Sell Out or Fanz Only. Keep the band as distinguished as possible. While we didn’t have these succinct albums before, we do now; so go listen, psychos!

Tracklists

THE PARYPAS – THE SAVAGE YOUNG PARYPAS

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “A-Rab”
2. “Rumble”
3. “Shanghied”
4. “Sonic Blues”

SIDE B

1. “Mashed Potato Time”
2. “Wailin’”
3. “High Wall”

THE PARYPAS – SONIC BLAST!

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Lucille / Slippin’ And Slidin’”
2. “Swing Shift”
3. “Louie Louie”

SIDE B

1. “Sac O’ Woe”
2. “Hey Mrs. Jones”
3. “In The Open”
4. “Bony Moronie”
5. “Just Pickin’”

THE SONICS – SONIC SOUNDS

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Sonics Dance Ad”
2. “Wailers House Party”
3. “Keep A-Knockin’”
4. “Think”
5. “Hold It”

SIDE B

1. “Introduction”
2. “In the Open”
3. “Tall Cool One”
4. “Goin’ Back to Granny’s”
5. “Busy Body”
6. “Night Train”
7. “Number X”

THE SONICS – RADIOSONIC WORKSHOP

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Introduction”
2. “Tough Walk”
3. “Have Love, Will Travel”
4. “Oo Poo Pah Doo”

SIDE B

1. “Hitch Hike”
2. “Busy Body”
3. “The Witch”
4. “KTNT Radio Spot”

THE SONICS – GUNPOWDER

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Cinderella”
2. “Jenny Jenny”
3. “Hitch Hike”
4. “He’s Waitin’”
5. “Louie Louie”
6. “Shot Down”

SIDE B

1. “Bama Lama Bama Loo”
2. “Santa Claus”
3. “Don’t Believe In Christmas”
4. “The Village Idiot”
5. “The Hustler”
6. “Keep A-Knockin’”

THE SONICS – DEAD OR ALIVE

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Please, Please, Please”

SIDE B

1. “Pushin’ Too Hard”
2. “I’m a Man”

THE SONICS – BREAK SONG

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “I’m A Man”
2. “On The Road Again”
3. “I’m Going Home”
4. “Maintaining My Cool”
5. “Dirty Old Man”
6. “Break Song”
7. “Diddy Wah Diddy”

SIDE B

1. “Skinny Minny”
2. “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark”
3. “Don’t You Just Know It”
4. “It’s Allright”
5. “Good Hard Rock”
6. “Let The Good Times Roll”

THE SONICS – SELL OUT

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Anyway The Wind Blows” (Version B)
2. “I’ll Always Love Her”
3. “You Got Your Head On Backwards”
4. “Leave My Kitten Alone”
5. “Lost Love”
6. “Hanky Panky”

SIDE B

1. “Like No Other Man”
2. “High Times”
3. “Love Lights”
4. “Since I Fell For You”
5. “I’m A Rolling Stone”
6. “It’s Christmas”

THE SONICS – THIS WAS THE SONICS

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Lucille”

SIDE B

1. “Psycho”
2. “The Witch”

The Music

With more, shorter live albums

1. The Parypas – The Savage Young Parypas (1962) – Spotify – YouTube
2. The Parypas – Sonic Blast! (1963) – Spotify – YouTube
3. The Sonics – Sonic Sounds (1964) – Spotify – YouTube
4. The Sonics – Radiosonic Workshop (1964) – Spotify – YouTube
5. RECOMMENDED STARTING POINT The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics (1965) – Spotify – YouTube
6. The Sonics – Gunpowder (1966) – YouTube
7. The Sonics – Dead or ALIVE (1966) – YouTube
8. The Sonics – Break Song (1967) – Spotify – YouTube
9. The Sonics – Sell Out (1967) – YouTube
10. The Sonics – This Was The Sonics (1972) – YouTube
11. Gerry Roslie – Sinderella (1980) – Archive.org
12. The Parypas/Charlie and the Tunas – Rock & Roll (1986) – Spotify – YouTube
13. Gerry, Larry, Rob, sometimes Andy – 8 (2010) – Spotify – YouTube
14. Gerry, Larry, Rob – This Is The Sonics (2015) – Spotify – YouTube
15. Rob Lind – Live At Easy Street (2016) – Spotify – YouTube
16. An Unorganized Group Of 2007-present Live Tracks – YouTube
17. Who knows? – Unreleased (2012) – Spotify – YouTube

With the official versions of live material

1. The Parypas/The Sonics – The Savage Young Sonics (1962-1964) – Spotify – YouTube
2. The Sonics – Busy Body!!! (1964) – Spotify – YouTube
3. RECOMMENDED STARTING POINT The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics (1965) – Spotify – YouTube
4. The Sonics – Gunpowder (1966) – YouTube
5. The Sonics – Break Song (1967) – Spotify – YouTube
6. The Sonics – Sell Out (1967) – YouTube
7. The Sonics – Live / Fanz Only (1966, 1972) – YouTube
8. Gerry Roslie – Sinderella (1980) – Archive.org
9. The Parypas/Charlie and the Tunas – Rock & Roll (1986) – Spotify – YouTube
10. Gerry, Larry, Rob, sometimes Andy – 8 (2010) – Spotify – YouTube
11. Gerry, Larry, Rob – This Is The Sonics (2015) – Spotify – YouTube
12. Rob Lind – Live At Easy Street (2016) – Spotify – YouTube
13. An Unorganized Group Of 2007-present Live Tracks – YouTube
14. Who knows? – Unreleased (2012) – Spotify – YouTube

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

The Second (1968) by Steppenwolf Review

The album’s cover

This is an effective 60s psych rock record. There’s stingy guitars and keyboard licks a-plenty. Anyone that likes that type of music will surely enjoy it. In terms of complicated production or impressive playing, this album lacks that. There’s a sense of sameness that’s present in a lot of late 60s hard rock. What is something about The Second by Steppenwolf that I can only get from The Second by Steppenwolf? Take the audience beyond serviceable to exceptional. The most memorable aspects are the weakest aspects; unenthusiastic lines played or sung. The vocalist’s rough voice doesn’t compliment the band’s brighter and more upbeat sound. He comes off as disinterested on some tracks, like when he sings “Faster” on “Faster Than The Speed Of Life”.

“None Of Your Doing” is a warm power ballad which takes advantage of the sultry voice of John Kay. It’s more engaging than the straight rockers. One can imagine the band preferred doing ballad-esque songs. “Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam” is the type of earworm that gets stuck in your head. The keyboard riff has all the qualities of an earworm. The catchiness is to a fault as it would likely get very old, very fast. The single, “Magic Carpet Ride” also has the ability to infect your skull. It glides through as expected. Kitschy guitar, key, and basslines construct the whole track.

The album picks up with a medley of four full length songs and one 44 second song. The tracks blend together well and give some lovely blues rock. “Disappointment Number (Unknown)” features a nice keyboard number and laid back bluesy feeling. “Hodge, Podge, Strained Through A Leslie” is particularly groovy, filled with quick lines all over the place and no vocal. The weak link of the medley is the last full song, “Resurrection”. The vocals try to match up with the instrumentation awkwardly and it makes the whole track sound like a poor rehearsal.

OVERVIEW

It’s impossible to hate The Second, but the lack of originality makes it hard to remember or engage, unless you’re remembering a catchy part, in which case you’re remembering for the wrong reasons.

The highlights are: “None Of Your Doing”, “Disappointment Number (Unknown)”, and “Hodge, Podge, Strained Through A Leslie”

The lowlights are: “Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam”, “28”, “Resurrection”