Just listed this Australian Garage killer record for sale. Check it out at my Gemm site:

http://sloopjbrecords.gemm.com/

Records For Sale

I'm selling a bunch of my records on GEMM!

60's Soul, Beat, Freakbeat, Mod, UK, Dutch, Swedish, Australian, New Zealand. Lots of good stuff for good prices. I'll be listing more and more stuff as the days go by. Thanks for looking at this blog. I'll also take offers on any of the records listed here. Thanks again!

A sample of records for sale:

Sorrows - Take A Heart - Dutch Picture Sleeve
Billy Joe Royal - Mama didn't raise no fools - Rare 60's Soul
Last Straws - Woman of Gradual Decline - Rare OZ Beat
Outsiders - Strange Things Are Happening - Rare Dutch Beat
Formyula - Nature - Rare NZ Pop-Psych
Changin' Times - How Is The Air Up There - US Garage

And much more!

Here's the link:

http://sloopjbrecords.gemm.com/

Jay-Jays

The Jay-Jays started out as an instrumental band in the Hague (Holland) in 1960 and were then called the Jumping Jewels. They changed their name in late 1965 and started releasing some great Beat-Punk-R&B singles. They were know as the Kinks of Holland. The 45 I bring you today has them moving toward a more Mod-Psych sound (check out the weird flute intelude about 3/4 way through). It contains what Beat-Garage collectors for years dreaded, horns. As the Pebbles Vol. 23 liner notes for the Jay-Jays put it, "Later singles contained an awful horn section." I think there are so many interesting, inventive, overlooked GREAT records because of this avoidance of anything containing horns and this is one of them. And check out that fantastic picture sleeve. Listen to the B-Side below.

Jay-Jays - 'Cause You're Mine, Babe

They release 7 singles an one amazing LP. More to come from these guys.

Herman's Hermits

That's right, Herman's Hermits! These guys had some fantastic releases in their later years. This one is from 1967 and I'm featuring the B-Side. This was actually the B-Side to their last US top 20 hit "Don't Go Out Into the Rain (You're Going to Melt)" and was not released as a 45 in the UK. The above picture sleeve is a dutch release. Moonshine Man has a great Beatlesque Taxmanish sound. Museum is also good and was written by Donovan.

Listen to both sides here:

HERMAN'S HERMITS - MOONSHINE MAN
HERMAN'S HERMITS - MUSEUM

Mystrys

For the next halloweenish track we hop over from New Zealand to Australia.



The Mystrys were from Melbourne and released this insane recording in May of 1966.

The band, I kid you not, claimed to be from another planet. Ziggy Zapata, the lead guitarist, describes on his web page what he calls "A Stupid Gimmick" as follows:

"Michael Kopp decided that this Aussie supergroup had to be different, so in a flash of utter stupidity, he devised probably the silliest gimmick of them all. The band members would claim to come from another planet, have preposterous sounding alien names and their identities would literally remain a complete mystery. With his usual flair for the dramatic, Kopp predictably named the band The Mystrys.

Ziggy, whose contrived alien name was Kuff (don't say it backwards) and the boys wore outrageous futuristic outfits and even worse, green velvet hoods with only eye and mouth holes."

You can read the rest of the outrageous story HERE.

Listen to it here:

MYSTRYS - WITCH GIRL

Larry's Rebels

Larry's Rebels from Auckland, New Zealand released a bunch of 45's from 1964 through to 1969. They recorded this 45 "Halloween / Everybody's Girl" on a trip to Melbourne, Australia in 1968. Everybody's Girl reached #6 in the New Zealand Charts.

The track included here was the intended A-Side, but didn't reach the charts in Australia or New Zealand. But it's a great song dedicated to the spookiest day of the year coming up soon.

Here comes Halloween...

LARRY'S REBELS - HALLOWEEN

You can read much more about the band HERE.

Salas Brothers with the Jaguars

Obviously a follow up to the great "Farmer John" by the Premiers. These young kids from Easy LA later played with El Chicano and morphed into Tierra. Listen to it below.

SALAS BROTHERS WITH THE JAGUARS - THE RETURN OF FARMER JOHN

Phantoms

A history of the band (in Dutch), but with great photos and record scans is HERE.

Also, from the liner notes for Beat Express #1 (The great 10 inch series from Op-Art Records):
Band members were lead guitarist Ad v.d. Ven; bass player Wally Soute, founder of the Phantoms Ronald v.d.Horst (guit), drummer Fred Grundlach and Marty van Rooy (voc). The band achieved national fame with “I’ll Go Crazy,” which got to number 11 on the hit parade, followed by “Tormented,” which only got to 25. They even managed to release a true LP that, like the singles, appeared on Omega Records.The Phantoms were regularly seen on TV (Tienerama) and even performed in Belgium for the program “Tienerklanken.”

Listen to the nice melodic dutch beat of Tormented below.

PHANTOMS - TORMENTED

Beautiful Daze

This is one of my favorite Garage-Psych records ever! I'm not sure which compilation I first heard it on, but it was instantly a mind blower for me.

I'm not sure if there has been much dug up on this band, but if there has been please let me know. The J. Greek listed as one of the songwriters is thought to be the former member of Seattle's Wailers. Also, I believe this 45 is from 1967. Anyway, the important thing is the music, and how amazing it is! Listen to it below.

BEAUTIFUL DAZE - CITY JUNGLE

Troggs

I assume most of you know the Troggs, so I'm not going to go into their history. Plenty of info on the internet.

This is a pretty obscure Troggs track. Released as the B-side to their Hip Hip Horay 45 and included on the "Mixed Bag" LP from 1968. It's a great song with all of the attitude of some of their earlier tracks that seemed to be lacking during this time. It has a great freakbeat sound and has that brilliant simplicity that made the Troggs great. Listen to it below.

TROGGS - SAY DARLIN'!

Chanceliers

French Canadian band that released at least 8 singles from 1966 to 1968. They also released an LP in 1967. Michel Pagliaro, the vocalist went on to have a successful pop career in Canada. This is a great tough track sung in French. Fantastic Guitar, bass and drums! I love the slow down and stops then the drums crashing back in. The other side is a pretty boring version of "I'm your puppet" sung in French as well. Listen to the killer side below.

CHANCELIERS - LA GENERATION D'AUJOURD'HUI

Twilights

One of my favorite Australian bands, the Twilights were one of the top bands of the sixties in the land down under. You can read all about their history at the great Milesago website HERE.

If you love sitar, you'll love the track "Time and Motion Study Man", which was actually the B-Side. The A-Side "Younger Girl", written by the drummer, Laurie Pryor, was a huge hit for the band. The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and the Milesago site explains, "melancholy and evocative, with Terry's innovative use of the variable volume pedal (as employed previously on The Beatles' "Yes It Is"). It's a measure of The Twilights' pre-eminence on the Aussie rock scene by this time that it became the group's biggest hit to date."

Sorry, even though the record looks perfect, it sounds a little scratchy. Listen to both sides below.

TWILIGHTS - TIME AND MOTION STUDY MAN
TWILIGHTS - YOUNG GIRL

Note: Sorry for the huge break in posts. I plan to post regularly from now on.

Short '66

Great Beat-Mod band from Amsterdam. They had at least 8 singles during their career. Heavily influenced by the Mod and Psych bands from the UK. They started in 1966 (hence the name) and I think only lasted until 1960 or 1970. The song featured here is a pure Mod/PopArt/Freakbeat effort.

Here's a great promo card:



Lots of good stuff by these guys! This is one of my favorites.

Listen here:
SHORT '66 - GOOD WEEKEND

Hedgehoppers Anonymous

A beat band from the UK who were originally called The Trendsetters then The Hedgehoppers in 1963/4. They added the Anonymous in 1965 when Jonathan King became their producer. Their first release (Good News Week) became a big hit in the UK. In my opinion that first 45 and their next 2 releases were mediocre beat/folk efforts. Then in August of 1966 they released this monster (which criminally went nowhere in the charts). Great full Mod/Freakbeat sound on this one. Give it a listen below.

HEDGEHOPPERS ANONYMOUS - DAYTIME

Terry Dean and the Nitebeats

Here's a nice beat record from New Zealand. This was the bands first release from early in 1964. The song featured here was written by the UK songwriting team of John Carter and Ken Lewis (who also had the band Carter-Lewis and the Southerners). The song was also recorded by The Cicadas from Australia and I believe was originally done by the Marauders in the UK.

There's a great history of the band with some fantastic pictures HERE.

Listen here:
TERRY DEAN AND THE NITEBEATS - ALWAYS ON MY MIND

Mark Four

Here's a surf influenced garage record from a band called the Mark Four. They were probably from Los Angeles and had an earlier release (Pacific Challenger 1002) with a nice surf style vocal tune called Swingin' Hangout. This one is more in the Garage vein and I believe was released in 1966. Pretty inept. Just listen to that bad start by the drummer. I love the guitar sound though.

Listen here:
MARK FOUR - FORGET IT BABY

Jets

Great melodic driving Dutch beat!

Not much info on the internet (at least in English). Here's what Pebbles Vol. 23 had to say about them:

"This 5-piece combo was from Utrecht and had a hit with the Changin' Times/Crispian St. Peter song 'Pied Piper', which stayed in the Dutch Top 40 for 15 weeks. 'I Was So Glad' is the B-side. 'Worker In The Night' is another great one by them. The Jets were one of the best live bands, there were wild happenings at their shows. And they even had records released in Japan!"

There's also some great pics HERE.

Listen here:
JETS - WORKER IN THE NIGHT

Big Three

Legendary early UK Beat group. In my opinion, still very underrated today, their records are great and really reflect the time. Their "Big Three at the Cavern" EP is fantastic and really captures the sound from those Cavern days. Although many say their studio recordings don't really capture their wild sound, I believe the track I've included here is an exception. "Cavern Stomp" sounds pretty wild to my ears and I think all you Mod DJ's out there should give it a spin at your next club night.

Here's a few more tidbits about The Big Three:
1. They were managed by Brian Epstein, but were allegedly dropped from his management because of their wild antics.
2. Their drummer, Johnny Hutchinson, drummed for The Beatles for a brief period between Pete Best and Ringo in 1962.
3. The original lineup lasted only until November 1963 and the band was completely disbanded by early 1964!

Check out "Cavern Stomp" here:
BIG THREE - CAVERN STOMP

Brincos

Los Brincos were one of the top bands in Spain in the 1960's. They released several 45's and LP's throughout the 60's and a brilliant Psych-Progressive LP in 1970 (Mvndo Demonio Carne). This 45 is from 1967 and has a very "Who" feel to it. I've included the track "The Train" (sung in English) below.

LOS BRINCOS - THE TRAIN

Romancers

Here's one of the Romancers, from East LA, singles from 1966. This one, as far as East LA bands goes is a bit different in that it's pure 60's jangly rock. Most of the East LA Chicano bands tended toward Doo-wop, soul and funk, including the Romancers, but in 1966 Max Uballez was writing some amazing garage and 60's pop. Both sides are great, but "She Gives Me Love", I think could and should have been a hit.

The Romancers were one of the earliest of the 60's East LA Chicano bands and again I defer to Mark Guerrero's page for an excellent history of the band HERE.

ROMANCERS - SHE GIVES ME LOVE
ROMANCERS - TAKE MY HEART