Scrowl Down For Beatles Bootleg Review and Alex Chilton's Set

Truth is The Light, and Light is The Way: The Nuggets Box Set

Back in the year I was born (1972) a big, cheap and wonderful collection of songs was released under the title Nuggets. Basically a compilation of long lost forgotten garage bands playing what could honestly be defined as the "original" punk music, Nuggets opened the floodgates for a string of sequels, and wannabe imitators (such as the Pebbles series). In 1998, the good folks at Rhino Records took it upon themselves to not only re-release that original Nuggets compilation, but also append three more discs of long lost gems, creating a whopping total of 118 songs. Thus Nuggets - Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (1965-1968) was born. This, my friends, is the one box set you need to own.

Consider Nuggets the catalyst for modern Alternative rock. Consider it the springboard and influence for the Angry Young American Punk uprising in the '70s. Consider it to be everything rock and roll ultimately Is. This is what was going on in America in garages and tiny fly by night record labels across America in the mid-'60s as The Beatles and their peers took over the charts. That is not to say that Nuggets contains no hits. Far from it. Such blistering rock anthems as The Standells' "Dirty Water", The Human Beinz' "Nobody But Me", and the still amazing "Time Won't Let Me" by The Outsiders are getting local classic rock radio play to this very day.

But Nuggets is chock full of tunes you may have only heard once or twice on a lonely AM band while twiddling the knobs late at night, as well as a great variety of songs that never got heard outside of their respective hometowns where they were originally released. It's a land where the influences of the British Invasion bands were being felt, but not always directly responsive to. No, this was true American rock and roll. Yet in some cases, these funky little groups were actually bettering their influences. One listen to The Knickerbockers' "Lies", and you'd swear that someone had stolen a great leftover John Lennon outtake from Help!. Likewise, Mouse's "A Public Execution" is one of the best Bob Dylan soundalikes fronting a song that Bob Dylan should have written!

However, my vote for Best Rock And Roll Song of All Time must go to "Don't Look Back" by The Remains. Sounding like The Rolling Stones as if they actually meant it, "Don't Look Back" is a powerfully charged, optimistic number about shaking the woes of the world off one's shoulders. The bridge breaks down into a call and response exercise, and then goes back into the main vein with the uplifiting "I'll light a candle/And I'll pray the Lord will bless you". Pretty wild stuff coming from Garageland, but it works righteously. And the fact that it didn't become a hit is a total disgrace to music fans everywhere. Songs like these aren't recorded every day, as Nuggets proves time and time again.

Then there's the extremely odd numbers that blast forth from the hi-fi. The Elastik Band's "Spazz" has to be heard to be believed. Captain Beefheart even gets recognized for his greasy blues stomper "Diddy Wah Diddy" that was originally released on the A&M label, and actually shows the Captain as far away from Trout Mask Replica as one could imagine. Then there's Kim Fowley's oddball "The Trip" that doesn't try at all to cloak itself from being a song about illicit drug use and all the wackiness that might ensue from such activities. In fact, Fowley comes across as sounding like a fanatic Reverend of LSD to put it mildly. And if that wasn't enough, the always frightening and psychotically-charged Sonics blast through with "Strychnine", one of the scuzziest and darkest sounding singles ever issued. Something about that echo from Hell really made The Sonics what they were.

And then there's more than a handful of actual hits. Apart from the radio favorites I mentioned earlier, Nuggets continues to deliver the toe-tapping goods with such jewels as "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" by The Hombres, "Little Bit O' Soul" by The Music Explosion, "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock, and "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves. Such gems fit along nicely next to more obscure items like "The Little Black Egg" by The Nightcrawlers, "Codine" (sic) by The Lavendar Hill, and "Mindrocker" by Fenwyck, which features some of the grooviest keyboard doodlings ever laid down on wax. And with such rock and roll giants as The Kingsmens' "Louie, Louie" and "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs, it's hard to argue with this monumental collection.

Special mention must go to the inclusion of the super bizarre single "Moulty" by The Barbarians. Moulty was the band's drummer, and sported a hook at the end of his left arm. The Barbarians' producer convinced the drummer to record this goofy reading of his life's problems regarding the loss of his hand and his optimism in the face of adversity. The backing music was actually supplied by The Band (Robbie Roberston, et al)! Moulty never intended the item to be issued as a single, but when it was, he reportedly chased the Barbarians' producer around the offices of Laurie records, smashing copies of the single over his head. It's pieces like these that make Nuggets worthwhile.

Nuggets comes complete with the 4 discs, a terrific 97 page booklet filled with full color pictures, editorials on the original album released back in 1972, and complete track info for all of the cuts. Yes, this set can be a bit steep, with some stores offering it in the fifty dollar range. But if you're a fan of rock and roll recorded in the most spirited way, then this collection is for you. There's just so much music to be rediscovered in this package, that it's impossible to really do the set justice in a simple review online. It must simply be heard to be fully enjoyed. Some of the tunes sound a little funny and dated, but 94% of this music would sound fresh on today's radios. The bands represented on Nuggets are from an era long since gone, from a musical movement that will probably never be repeated again. It's a shame, really, considering all of the truly disposable garbage that gets played 24/7 and sells millions these days. But this is the real deal, kids. Discover Nuggets for yourself and remember what it is to feel alive once more.

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The Beatles: A Doll's House (bootleg)
Label Unknown

Unknown release date/obviously recorded in 1968

Well, it's that time of the decade again. The Beatles have released their Anthology book, and the public is once again "interested" in the Fab Four. I never was one to think that any of the interest died out at all, but all the new hoopla does remind one that we're coming up fast on the group's 40th anniversary of invading the U.S. Forty years ago almost. And the music still sounds fascinating to this day.

Being a Napster fan, I recently embarked upon a large search for Beatles bootlegs I might not have heard. As every good fan knows, the Anthology series hardly tapped every last great unreleased tune the Beatles have stored away in the vaults at EMI. Indeed, I was finding all sorts of things I hadn't heard in all my years as a fan. And then I stumbled across one rather interesting bootleg available in its entirety. Among the various files from The Black Album and numerous discs of The Beatles Mythology, someone was sitting pretty on a boot called A Doll's House. For those of you not in the know, this was the original working title of what would later become The White Album. 23 tracks in all were available, so I downlaoded every last one in a fit of Beatles excitement that I hadn't felt twinge in quite a while.

Upon listening to the bootleg, however, I found that there were only a few real gems in the mix. One of the tracks had been available on a Yellow Dog boot I used to own that contained a lot of the widely-circulated Get Back stuff (Paul's "Junk"). Some tunes were just takes of Lennon applying his lead vocal to the already familiar backing tracks ("Birthday", "Yer Blues", one of three takes of "Sexy Sadie"), while others sounded like they had just been taken straight from stereo pressings of the official LP (George's "Long, Long, Long", and "Savoy Truffle"). Needless to say, the excursion into A Doll's House was less than I had hoped for.

Ah, but there are a few standouts. Most notably, there is a really weird version of "Glass Onion" which fades in as a jam that sounds like it was recorded by some other band. This same "mystery group" also supplies a trippy horn solo in the middle, as well as substitutes the familiar coda with their own take. I hesitate to think the Beatles had anything to do with the extras on this take at all, because it just doesn't sound like them, nor does it sound like it was recorded in 1968. Aside from that, the entire mix was pushed through a phasing effect.

Also worth note is "Revolution #9", clocking in here at a shorter seven and a half minutes. The mix is decidedly different, with some of the sound effects and dialogue being much more prominent. The song ends with Lennon saying the familiar "Take this brother, may it serve you well", with George adding "Thank you." Then there's also Paul doing "Helter Skelter" in the familiar mono mix setting, only this time the "beeping" noises are all but gone, and the backing vocals are very pronounced. Like the mono mix of the tune, the coda doesn't fade back in.

"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and "Honey Pie" are a bit different as well. In the former, Paul is accompanied with only his acoustic guitar, as he and John sing the lines. The choruses and some of the verses were fed through an annoying echo effect, rendering the song quite sloppy in parts. "Honey Pie" sounds like it was recorded off an acetate playing through a stereo via an open mic. The song sounds pretty much the same as the official release, although it is sped up slightly, and there's an odd extra backing vocal during Paul's ad lib in the middle.

There was only one song I had not heard at all previously in the whole batch. That honor went to George's "Circles". I can't say I was too impressed by it. With lines like "Life comes and love goes/And we go round and round in circles", the tune left a lot to be desired. The song features George with spare and somewhat dull organ accompaniment and nothing else.

The rest of the tracks are given over to practice run-throughs ("Blackbird", "Julia"), and early mix-downs ("Back In The U.S.S.R.", "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey", "Good Night", "Cry, Baby, Cry") that don't sound too much different from their official versions, save for some control room talk. So, apart from a handful of tracks, A Doll's House is hardly the great bootleg that it may have been. Still, I have to confess that I wasn't totally surprised by this fact, as I have owned plenty of other Beatles bootlegs that were sub par. Unfortunately, A Doll's House is yet another one you can add to that collection

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How To Remain Obscurely Successful: Alex Chilton's Set

Ever since the breakup of the original Big Star in the early '70s, Alex Chilton has somehow managed to keep a most interesting solo career afloat. Through drug and alcohol addictions, battles with personal demons, owning up to his own larger than life cult status, and the ever changing radio trends, Chilton has always done things His Way. Sometimes, this has paid off nicely, as in the High Priest album. Other times, as in the artistically skewered Like Flies On Sherbert (sic), Chilton has dared his audience to hate him altogether and move on to someone else.

But this is not an easy thing to do. Not with Chilton's catalog. From his early days belting out AM classics such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops through his stint in Big Star and their three seminal albums to his off-beat work in the '80s and such releases as the No Sex and Feudalist Tarts EPs, Chilton has remained an enigma that is ready to jump at any challenge that awaits. If anyone's keeping rock and roll alive, it's Alex. Chilton most often seems at ease and happy whenever he's covering someone else's songs. And in his latest release Set, he does just that.

Taking what made such things as High Priest so enjoyable and stretching them out to their logical conclusions, Set rocks the house in both its understated simplicity and its wide variety of old chestnuts and long forgotten numbers. Chilton's band this time around is a simple trio, with Alex on guitar and vocals, Richard Dworkin on drums, and Ron Easley on bass and vocals. It's as basic as it gets, but no one ever denied Alex his rocker sensibilities. This band sounds just as big in this set up as anything Big Star ever achieved.

Opening with the Stax/Volt classic "Never Found A Girl" written by Booker T. Jones, Eddie Floyd, and Al Isbell, Chilton sallies forth on a jubilant and happy go lucky venture that sinks its deep hooks in straight from the first few seconds. As Alex came out of the same soul stew that other acts such as Booker T. & The MGs did, he has the attitude and groove down perfectly. Growing up in Memphis and recording in the legendary Ardent studios as all those other classic groups certainly put Chilton in touch with the classic soul style that has unfortunately since been eclipsed by what today's radio listeners are often misinformed as being "soul". You know, such trivialities as the songs Boyz II Men decide to crank out or other such cretinous time-wasters. You want the real thing? Here it is.

Both Chilton's guitar and voice are as good as ever. Thankfully, Alex hasn't turned into one of those aging dinosaurs that should have called it quits a decade or so ago. Perhaps that's what living in obscurity grants you. It can't all be a bad thing when both Namoi Neville's "Lipstick Traces" and Johnny Watson's "Hook Me Up" sound as good as they do here. Chilton might not be the greatest singer ever, but the energy and emotion is there, which is what really matters on a collection of songs like these. The tone of his guitar is especially gritty, rocking up each measure just the right amount. Sometimes a few of the notes get sloppy, but who cares? It's fun, and the whole "less is more" ethic of each of these recordings proves that all the producers in the world can't help in the end. The talent has to be there to begin with. And Chilton has plenty.

"Hook Me Up" is irresistibly sexy in both sound and attitude. The way Alex's guitar just slides those chunky chords out and how the notes linger and glisten in the air afterwards is a moment that doesn't often happen in rock music anymore. Perhaps to go forward at times we need to look to the past (not that that excuses the teenybopper tastymeisters' decisions to bring back pop glop to the charts as of late). I mean, honestly. One listen to Alex's take on "Oogum Boogum" will make you believe. Believe what? It doesn't matter what. It just charges, electrifies, and puts the R back in Rock and Roll.

The funny and taboo "You's A Viper" by Leroy Smith sounds like something either Joe Jackson unfortunately looked over when recording his classic Jumpin' Jive LP, or a track Big Bad Voodoo Daddy would have gotten wrong. Thank God Brian Setzer didn't make it to this one, either. Certainly those guys wouldn't have done the gospel-like soul of "I Remember Mama" any justice as well. But here, Alex serves the Caesar-Mathis-Sterling-Sterling-Price and Newton(!) number up perfectly. Just the right amount of soul and swing without making things too preachy and sugary.

The decades' old classic "April In Paris" might seem like a strange choice here, and indeed it does sound a bit odd. But the spirit and energy seize the day and make the cut as engaging as any of the others, even if it does sound a bit lounge-y. But hey, this is by the same guy who took it upon himself to do his own cover of "Volare", so let's not point any fingers too fast. The short and sweet "There Will Never Be Another You" sounds like some lost track from a Woody Allen movie. Perhaps he even did use it at one point. Maybe that's why it sounds so familiar to these ears. Chilton's boyish charm even in his older years still shines through on tracks like these, which is something that has always made his work so much fun.

And from that little ditty we go into Gary Stewart's "Single Again". Is this how country should be done? If so, I'm all for it. The broken heart sentiment, the loser and his lost life, the corny tear jerking drama, it's all here. Both amusing and astonishing all at once, "Single Again" should be earmarked for a future New Duncan Imperials Release. I'm sure their take on this classic would be every bit as interesting as Alex's.

Soul and swing return again for both "You've Got A Booger Bear Under There" and "Shiny Stockings". Prior to this album, I had never heard "Booger Bear", but it's as soulful as anything else here, and lyrically just as slinky as "Hook Me Up". "Shiny Stockings" is another instrumental, like "April In Paris", and another song I am not overly familiar with. It doesn't matter though, as Alex and his band rock it up and make it their own, calling upon the ghosts of times long since past to elevate the tunes into their musical time capsule. Again, it works.

Set closes with "Goodnight My Love". You've heard it a million times. And if you haven't, then let this be a new lesson in a good way to finish off an album of covers. Undeniably cheesy and fun in all the right ways, "Goodnight My Love" goes off with all the sparkle and loose low key wonder that filled the rest of the songs throughout the album. Needless to say, Alex Chilton has returned and can enjoy yet another moment in the sun with this release.

Fans of Big Star might not find it as exciting or neurotic or experimental as that band's output, and it isn't. This is simple rock and roll for people who still remember what rock and roll is. Set proves once again that Alex Chilton is his own boss and whatever he says is good for the people. Kind of like a rock and roll Sinatra minus all the ego and blathering. Set would make a welcome addition to any rock and roll fan's library, be they hardcore Chilton fanatic, or first timers. Either way, it's nice to see Alex back doing what he does best. Here's to many more obscure days that ignite Chilton's true love of pure rock.

Jason Thompson's Column: November, 2000

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