Zakary Thaks (1966-1969) – 3 Fan Albums

Zakary Thaks has turned out to be one of my favorite obscure bands I’ve discovered lately. They seem to be really well regarded by fans of garage and psych music, so it’s a shame there was not the chance for them to record albums. They started recording music in July 1966, so if they had recorded one album a year, we’d have probably four proper albums and a handful of strays that might add on an album or two. As such, some of these songs come from slightly odd sources and don’t have as much cohesion as I’d like. The first is basically a greatest hits, mostly being singles and b-sides. It is the main reason I love this band, due to the fiery playing with little studio touches. There are some unreleased cuts and interestingly three members of Thaks backing someone else. That singer, Mike Taylor, worked with the band a lot and I think these tracks fit close enough to be considered Thaks songs, especially based on something that will come up later. While my Face to Face album is very close to passing as a proper studio album, it mostly being singles makes it not feel like albums of the time. It does help everything was recorded in just over half a year.

Zakary Thaks – Face to Face (1967) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Bad Girl”
2. “I Need You”
3. “She’s Got You”
4. “It’s the End
5. “People Sec. VI”
6. “Passage to India”

SIDE B

1. “Won’t Come Back”
2. “Weekday Blues
3. “I’d Only Laugh”
4. “Please”
5. “Face to Face”

PERSONNEL

• Chris Gerniottis – lead vocals (tracks 1-4, 6-8, 10-11)
• John Lopez – lead guitar (tracks 1-11) (Possibly not on tracks 5, 9)
• Pete Stinson – rhythm guitar (tracks 1-4, 6-8, 10-11)
• Rex Gregory – bass (tracks 1-11)
• Stan Moore – drums (tracks 1-11)
• Mike Taylor – lead vocals (tracks 5, 9)

The second album comes from a video the band recorded of covers. The recordings were not intended for proper release and thus the quality is a bit poor, but it’s a nice oddity to have. If Thaks was able to do one or two albums a year, this would probably not have been released, though there are some official live albums of the time with poor sound quality. The Summer of Love doesn’t have the excuse of capturing the band playing off a live audience of screaming fans, as this is basically just a rehearsal tape.

Zakary Thaks – The Summer of Love (1967) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “I’ve Got Levitation”
2. “Sock It To Me Baby”
3. “Love Is A Beautiful Thing”
4. “Mustang Sally”
5. “3/5 Of A Mile”

SIDE B

1. “I’m A Man”
2. “My Little Red Book”
3. “Shake”
4. “My Back Pages”
5. “Tell Her No”

PERSONNEL

• Chris Gerniottis – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
• John Lopez – lead guitar (tracks 1-10)
• Pete Stinson – rhythm guitar (tracks 1-10)
• Rex Gregory – bass (tracks 1-10)
• Stan Moore – drums (tracks 1-10)

Not only is this last album very short, but it spans two years! This draws from a period where the band was changing and not making much music. The earliest tracks are the rest of what was recorded with Mike Taylor singing, though I’m unsure if two of them feature Thaks. I have them here as one unverified source says so and none say otherwise directly. After the final single with the classic lineup, Chris and Rex were both fired, then the band almost immediately broke up. You’d think Rex would be embittered, but it seems not as the two members that wanted him gone most got him back in the fold and they formed a power trio. That trio of Rex, Stan, and John recorded, amusingly having been the three members to also be on the Mike songs. That means the Mike recordings have all of an official version of the band. Chris would rejoin near the end. Note that if you took the “Footsteps” and “Mirror” tracks and moved them to the first album, then erased the Mike songs, you’d have all the studio recordings of the classic lineup. I didn’t end up doing that because I wanted everything in order and for this last studio album to not be so extremely dominated by Mike. That does mean that sadly this great band in its best configuration only managed eleven studio tracks! That’s similar numbers to the Big Three.

Zakary Thaks – Everybody Wants to Be Somebody (1969) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Can You Hear Your Daddy’s Footsteps”
2. “Mirror to Yesterday”
3. “Gotta Make My Heart Turn Away”
4. “I’m Nobody’s Man”

SIDE B

1. “My Door”
2. “Green Crystal Ties”
3. “My Last Day”
4. “Outprint”
5. “Everybody Wants to Be Somebody”

PERSONNEL

• Chris Gerniottis – lead vocals (tracks 1-2, 8-9)
• John Lopez – lead guitar (tracks 1-9), lead vocals (tracks 5-6) (Possibly not on tracks 3-4, 7)
• Pete Stinson – rhythm guitar (tracks 1-2)
• Rex Gregory – bass (tracks 1-9), lead vocals (tracks 5-6) (Possibly not on tracks 4, 7)
• Stan Moore – drums (tracks 1-9), lead vocals (tracks 5-6) (Possibly not on tracks 4, 7)
• Mike Taylor – lead vocals (tracks 3-4, 7)

Death/The 4th Movement (1973-1979) – 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.

Death is a classy early punk band that packed politically charged lyrics with aggressive and funky playing. They’re great players, which shows in a lot of my favorite songs of theirs being instrumentals. Still, “Politicians In My Eyes” is an iconic track. Their catalog is a bit confusing. It consists of the occasional non-album single and three LPs recorded with the classic lineup, one of which was not released for decades; then they reformed without their deceased guitarist David Hackney and are still actively recording. On top of all this, the bundle has gone through many name changes. I’ve defined the band as whatever includes its two constant members, Bobby Hackney on bass and vocals and Dannis Hackney on drums. Another amusing discovery is that before David died, the other two members formed a new band called “Lambs Bread” and released several obscure albums. If you consider that even in the music labeled “Death” the guitarist changed, then there’s no reason not to consider Lambs Bread more of Death. The cherry on top is that the guitarist of reformed Death, Bobbie Duncan, had played in Lambs Bread. It is worth noting that much of Lambs Bread is so obscure that I couldn’t find it online. I will still list the info I found.

Another frustrating fact is that while a lot of 70s classic lineup demo material has been released, some doesn’t come with a recording date. The release with this problem is listed as being cut vaguely from 1974 to 1976. It’s also said to mostly predate the band’s 1975 studio recordings. How I’ve ordered things, any song without a known recording year I’ll assume is 1976, which leaves one album’s worth of material with confirmed dates of some 1973 or 1975 and a follow up. However, I suspect that if I did have all the dates the first album would be the 1973 tracks and a ton of demos, then the second would be the studio sessions and what came after. Fortunately, the sequences I’ve made are still strong regardless.

Death – A Tribe Called Death (1975) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Introduction By David” (Recorded 1975)
2. “People Save the World” (Recorded 1973)
3. “RockFire Funk Express” (Recorded 1973)
4. “Free” (Recorded 1975)
5. “Bobby Bassing It” (Recorded 1975)
6. “First Snowball In Detroit” (Recorded 1975)
7. “Keep on Knocking” (Recorded 1975)

SIDE B

1. “Rock-N-Roll Victim” (Recorded 1975)
2. “Let the World Turn” (Recorded 1975)
3. “You’re a Prisoner” (Recorded 1975)
4. “Freakin Out” (Recorded 1975)
5. “Where Do We Go from Here???” (Recorded 1975)
6. “Politicians in My Eyes” (Recorded 1975)

Alternate ideas for this album title were the group’s early name RockFire Funk Express, their first album’s name …For the Whole World to See, or my Spotify playlist Introduction By David. I picked the one I did as it’s been a little joke that’s run through my mind for a while. This album is a bit longer than I’d have liked, but some of the band’s completed albums are similarly lengthy. Also note that for the World album, originally Death were to record twelve tracks, but only got to do seven. This resulted in a little under thirty minutes. Thus, you can imagine that those twelve songs may have totaled around forty-five minutes if completed. Another concern is that the album is front loaded with too many instrumentals, but I wanted to preserve the actual sequencing for World within this one. Otherwise, I might have moved one of the instrus to around the middle of side b.

Death – Can You Give Me A Thrill??? (1979) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Can You Give Me A Thrill???” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
2. “People Look Away” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
3. “The Storm Within” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
4. “David’s Dream (Flying)” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
5. “We Are Only People” (Recorded 1976)

SIDE B

1. “North Street” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
2. “Restlessness” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
3. “Open Road” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
4. “Dannis On The Motor City Drums” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
5. “Views” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
6. “The Masks” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
7. “The Change” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
8. “World Of Tomorrow” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)

The 4th Movement (1980) – YouTube, Spotify

The 4th Movement – Totally (1982) – YouTube

Anything I couldn’t find by Lambs Bread is simply not linked. However, you can find some of their material for purchase on their website: https://www.lambsbreadband.com/

Lambs Bread – Truth Of It Is… (1986) – YouTube

Lambs Bread – International Love (1988)

Credited to “The Hackneys” (1992)

1. “Our Story”
2. “Under Siege”

Lambs Bread – Sign of the Times (unsure)

1993

1. “Let’s Go Flying (Musical Dub)”

Lambs Bread – Reggae Mood (1993)

1995

1. “Fire Up De Ganja (Revisited)”

Lambs Bread – The Hotter, The Better (1995)

Then to Now’s unreleased tracks (unsure of recording date)

1. “African Princess”
2. “Dread At The Lambsbread Controls”
3. “You’re A Big Girl Now”
4. “Sharing and Caring”

Lambs Bread – Brown Bag Special (unsure)

Lambs Bread – One Sweet Day (2011) – YouTube, Spotify

Death – N.E.W. (2015) – YouTube, Spotify

Finally, here’s every stray track after 1980 I could find, plus one oddity – YouTube

1. “Politicians in My Eyes” (Early 1974 demo)
2. “Yes He’s Coming” (1992 (Featuring Death’s classic lineup))
3. “We’re Gonna Make It” (1992 (Featuring Death’s classic lineup))
4. “The Masks” (2011)
5. “Keep On Knocking” (2011)
6. “Cease Fire” (2017)
7. “Give It Back” (2018)
8. “World In Disguise” (2023)

There are modern-era live recordings and a documentary for those interested. Considering how there are no released demos of the studio material of the 70s and 80s other than just once, I bet there are some that were recorded, but not released. Hopefully they will be in due time. More new music, such as LPs, would also be nice.

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 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!

The Monks – Three 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 Monks are generally known and defined by their one and only LP, as if nothing else was ever made. While that’s not far from the truth, there is a little more they did. That material is consistently less hard hitting than the famous album. The group are still surprisingly strong at infusing psychedelia and pop, with the drumming a particular highlight. That being said, these aren’t must-listen recordings by any means. While The Sonics managed to get almost a second full length worth of hard edged tracks, and all the way to a third of very quality work, these stray Monks would almost best be described as a different band. If you like the famous Black Monk Time and want more of it, you should go to other bands with a proto-punk style, as Black is all you’ll get from the Monk pot. If you want decent rock tunes and interesting alternate versions of songs, then here you go, what is essentially another group.

These two album names were apparently considered to be the names of potential follow-up albums. I don’t think they’re great titles, especially because of the change in sound for one and the same songs of the other, but I thought it was cute to do. If albums of new material had come out under those names, it probably wouldn’t have been like what’s below, with album-only tracks that were never recorded.

The three “fan albums” are Silver Monk Time, which details demos and live cuts of what’s on Black and also… Gold Monk Time, which features no overlapping songs with Black. The third are stray “modern” recordings by members of the band. Just for fun, also included is the live reunion album and more solo projects, as well as a list of what exists, but I couldn’t find.

THE MONKS – SILVER MONK TIME

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Boys Are Boys (1964)”
2. “Monk Time”
3. “Love Came Tumblin’ Down”
4. “Space Age”
5. “We Do Wie Du”
6. “Boys Are Boys (1965)”
7. “Pretty Suzanne”
8. “Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy”

SIDE B

1. “Oh, How To Do Now (1965)”
2. “I Hate You”
3. “Boys Are Boys (1966)”
4. “Oh, How To Do Now (1966)”
5. “Complication”
6. “I Can’t Get Over You”
7. “Cuckoo”

THE MONKS – GOLD MONK TIME

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Monk Chant”
2. “I Can’t Get Over You”
3. “Cuckoo”
4. “Love Can Tame the Wild”
5. “He Went Down to the Sea”
6. “Pretty Suzanne”

SIDE B

1. “Hushie Pushie”
2. “There She Walks”
3. “Julia”
4. “P.O. Box 3291”
5. “I Need U Shatzi”
6. “Yellow Grass”
7. “I’m Watching You”

GARY BURGER & DAVE DAY – IT IS CHARLES TIME

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. The Spectors – “Oh, How To Do Now” (1993)
2. Alec Empire & Gary Burger – “Monk Time” (2006)
3. The Fall & Gary Burger – “Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy” (2006)
4. The Havletones & Dave Day – “That’s My Girl” (2006)

SIDE B

1. Charles Paul Wilp & The Monks – “It Is Charles Time” (2006)
2. Faust & Gary Burger – “Beware (The Transatlantic Feedback)” (2006)
3. Gary Burger – “I Feel Fine” (2013)

LINKS

1. The Monks – Black Monk Time (1966) – Spotify, YouTube
2. The Monks – Silver Monk Time (1966) – YouTube, Spotify (Incomplete)
3. The Monks – Gold Monk Time (1967) – Spotify, YouTube
4. Minnesoda, Featuring Eddie Shaw – Minnesoda (1972) – YouTube
5. Lightning, Featuring Eddie Shaw – “William Tell Overture (The Lone Ranger Theme)” (1975) – Spotify, YouTube
6. The Monks – Let’s Start a Beat – Live from Cavestomp (2000) – Spotify, YouTube
7. Gary Burger & Dave Day – It Is Charles Time (2013) – Spotify, YouTube
8. Eddie Shaw & The Hydraulic Pigeons – Jass In Six Pieces (2013) – Spotify, YouTube
9. Gary Burger – BurgerMONK 2010 (2016) – Spotify, YouTube

MISSING RECORDINGS

1. Dave Day – “I Want The Right To Be Free” (1979)
2. Dave Day – “G.I. Blues” (1979)
3. Dave Day – “Application For Your Love” (1985)
4. Dave Day – “Stars Shining In The Night” (1985)
5. Gary Burger – What’s Your Limit (1992)
6. Dave Day – Having A Party With Dave Havlicek (1994)
7. Dave Day – “I Want The Right To Be Free” (1997)
8. Dave Day – “Don’t Ha Ha” (1997)

THE MONKS ARE

• Gary Burger – lead guitar, lead vocals, tambourine
• Larry Clark – organ, backing vocals, piano, tambourine
• Dave Day – banjo, rhythm guitar, banjo guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
• Roger Johnston – drums, backing vocals
• Eddie Shaw – bass guitar, backing vocals, trumpet, brass instruments

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 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!

Bunker Hill – Friday Night Dance Party (1963) Album Edit

I’m very proud to present the fan album for Bunker Hill! It might make more sense to call this a fan EP as he apparently only ever had seven recordings. Bunker Hill is so obscure that there could be more recordings out there that are unknown, but I doubt it. David Walker was a gospel singer who took the opportunity to sing some songs with the famous Link Wray and the Raymen backing him. He adopted the pseudonym “Bunker Hill” as if it was discovered that he was doing this, he’d be kicked out of his gospel group. One of the songs here, “Hide and Go Seek”, became a hit in the US. Hill was discovered to have sung these songs and had to leave his gospel group. Apparently he infrequently sang with them, but a lack of info leaves that and other aspects of his life a question mark. We sadly won’t likely get answers due to the age and obscurity of these songs. Still, Hill made quite an influence. Some have compared these songs, mainly “Friday Night Dance Party” and “The Girl Can’t Dance”, to punk rock. Not bad for a gospel singer. The official genre for this would be, “proto-punk”. It’s music that’s like punk, but not there yet.

Sequencing this was pretty easy. I knew I wanted my two favorites on this album, “Friday Night Dance Party” and its b-side “The Girl Can’t Dance”, to start and close the album. No other song challenged those slots very hard. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 1” and “Red Ridin’ Hood And The Wolf” feature some talking so they fit as the opener of side-b and second-last song, with Red Ridin’ transitioning into Can’t Dance well.

This EP follows the album-structure that I usually use. Side-a consists of a strong rocker that feels like it could start an album, a ballad that flows nicely from it, and a rocking ending with some finality, but not a ton. Side-b has the more abstract songs. It gets more intense until the end. The cover for this album is the cover of the “Friday Night Dance Party”/”The Girl Can’t Dance” single. I’m really into posters/covers which feature exactly two people on opposite ends of the cover making an interesting face and/or body expression. ”The Girl Can’t Dance” is removed from the cover and “Friday Night Dance Party” is stretched to fill the space. Link Wray’s name was above Hill’s, but I reversed them as it’s more Bunker’s thing than Link’s.

“Nobody Knows” doesn’t appear to be on American Spotify. It is on Canadian Spotify, so I guess Spotify thinks that song’s too good for us! Due to the missing song, there’s no Spotify link for this EP. Thanks a lot, Spotify! Do thank my Canadian friend for showing me these gems so I can make them a little more accessible.

BUNKER HILL – FRIDAY NIGHT DANCE PARTY

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Friday Night Dance Party” (Link Wray)
2. “You Can’t Make Me Doubt My Baby” (Bunker Hill)
3. “Nobody Knows” (Bunker Hill)

SIDE B

1. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 1” (Bunker Hill)
2. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 2” (Bunker Hill)
3. “Red Ridin’ Hood And The Wolf” (Bunker Hill)
4. “The Girl Can’t Dance” (Bunker Hill)

PERSONNEL

• Bunker Hill – lead vocals
• Link Wray – guitar, vocals
• Shorty Horton – bass guitar
• Doug Wray – drums
• Ray Vernon – producer

Friday Night Dance Party (1963) – YouTube, Archive.org