"Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968" by VARIOUS (June 2006 UK Rhino/Elektra Reissue - 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Psychotic Reaction..."

Whenever we bought in a decent vinyl collection in Reckless (and usually from a guy of a certain age), we would get misty-eyed leering down at this fabulous American-based double-album released in 1972. Even two decades ago it regularly went for over £50 (when that was pricey) and had an almost semi-mythical reputation – often only lasting minutes on our swinging-dick display wall.

Not surprising then that reissue kings Rhino have singled out "Nuggets..." as worthy of its own Mini LP Repro Artwork and Remaster. Let's get psyched...

UK released June 2006 - "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Rhino/Elektra 5101-12419-2 (Barcode 5051011241925) is a reissue/remaster of a 27-Track 1972 double album originally on Elektra Records (USA and Germany) that plays out as follows (76:29 minutes):

1. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) - THE ELECTRIC PRUNES (November 1966 US 7" single on Reprise 0532, A-side)

2. Dirty Water - THE STANDELLS (November 1965 US 7" single on Tower 185, A-side)

3. Night Time - THE STRANGELOVES (January 1966 US 7" single on Bang Records B-514, A-side)

4. Lies - THE KNICKERBOCKERS (November 1965 US 7" single on Challenge 59321, A-side)

5. Respect - THE VAGRANTS (Mono) (March 1967 US 7" single on Atco 45-6473, B-side of "I Love, Love You (Yes I Do)"

6. A Public Execution - MOUSE (Mono) (February 1966 US 7" single on Fraternity F-956, A-side)

7. No Time Like The Right Time - THE BLUES PROJECT (February 1967 US 7" single on Verve Forecast KF 5040, A-side - written by Al Kooper)

8. Oh Yeah! - THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT (May 1966 US 7" single on Dunwich DX 122, A-side)

9. Pushin' Too Hard - THE SEEDS featuring Sky Saxon (July 1966 US 7" single on G.N.P. Crescendo GNP 372, A-side)

10. Moulty - THE BARBARIANS (Mono) (January 1966 US 7" single on Laurie LR 3326, A-side)

11. Don't Look Back - THE REMAINS (Mono) (August 1966 US 7" single on Epic 5-10060, A-side)

12. An Invitation To Cry - THE MAGICIANS (Mono) (November 1965 US 7" single on Columbia 4-43435, A-side)

13. Liar, Liar - THE CASTAWAYS (June 1965 US 7" single on Soma 1433, A-side)

14. You're Gonna Miss Me - THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR ELEVATORS (Mono) (May 1966 US 7" single on International Artists IA-107, A-side)

15. Psychotic Reaction - COUNT FIVE (July 1966 US 7" single on Double Shot 104, A-side)

16. Hey Joe - THE LEAVES (Mono) (April 1966 US 7" single on Mira 222, A-side)

17. Romeo And Juliet - MICHAEL & THE MESSENGERS (Mono) (June 1967 US 7" single on U.S.A. Records 874, A-side)

18. Sugar And Spice - THE CRYAN SHAMES (Mono) (June 1966 US 7" single on Destination 624, A-side)

19. Baby Please Don't Go - THE AMBOY DUKES (January 1968 US 7" single on Mainstream 676, A-side)

20. Tobacco Road - BLUES MAGOOS (June 1966 US 7" single on Mercury 72590, A-side)

21. Let's Talk About Girls - THE CHOCOLATE WATCH BAND (from the 1967 LP "No Way Out" on Tower Records ST-5096 in Stereo)

22. Sit Down, I Think I Love You - THE MOJO MEN (Mono) (December 1966 US 7" single on Reprise 0539, A-side - Buffalo Springfield cover, song written by Stephen Stills)

23. Run, Run, Run - THE THIRD RAIL (Mono) (June 1967 US 7" single on Epic 5-10191, A-side)

24. My World Fell Down - SAGITTARIUS (Mono) (May 1967 US 7" single on Columbia 4-44163, A-side)

25. Open My Eyes - NAZZ (July 1968 US 7" single on SGC Records 45-001, A-side)

26. Farmer John - THE PREMIERS (May 1964 US 7" single on Warner Brothers 5443, A-side)

27. It's-A-Happening - THE MAGIC MUSHROOMS (Mono) (September 1966 US 7" single on A&M Records 815, A-side)

Tracks 1 to 27 are the double-album "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968" - released December 1972 in the USA on Elektra Records 7E-2006 (no UK release).

Tracks 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 27 in MONO

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 26 in STEREO

There is also a remastered 2LP VINYL issue from 2006 on Rhino/Elektra 5101-12419-1 (Barcode 5051011241918)

The gatefold card sleeve apes the original gatefold vinyl double-album - wisely taking compiler Lenny Kaye's band-by-band liner notes off the unreadable inner sleeve and making them very readable in the chockers 24-page booklet. There are label repros of those of rare American sevens (pictures sleeves for The Magicians, The Strangeloves and The Electric Prunes) whilst the occasional British LP and UK 45 show up too. It's a beautifully in-depth affair and the ALAN SILVERMAN Remasters deliver too - punchy and full of grunge attitude (2LPs remastered in full onto 1CD). And Rhino have even reproduced the 'Something Out Of The Ordinary' Elektra Records inner bag that came with late 1972 originals (to house the CD on side of the gatefold) – nice attention to detail and respect to Kaye and his rather brill little double-bubble of 60ts trouble. To the happening music...

The fabulous "An Invitation to Cry" by The Magicians is a gem - the band containing Allan Jacobs who would become Bunky and later Jake & The Family Jewels. I've raved about their melodic brilliance and reviewed a superb Sundazed CD compilation named after their song here which also contains "I'll Tell the World About You" - covered beautifully by Joe Walsh on his 1972 debt solo album "Barnstorm" - a Magicians ballad. Texan Rocky Ericson headed up The Thirteen Floor Elevators and penned the cool inclusion here of "You're Gonna Miss Me". The legendary first album on International Artists has been bootlegged so many times because originals are so scarce and valuable - Rhino reproducing the yeah-man "...look closely at the cube of sugar I have clutched in my hand..." liner notes to that LP on Page 14 of the packed booklet. But surely everyone's crave has to be the snot-nosed groovy brilliance of "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five who boasted future editor Greg Shaw of "Who Put The Bomp" and whose classic raver even got a release on Pye International in Blighty (7N.25393 being a £75+ 45 rpm rarity).

Dino Valenti's "Hey Joe" gets probably the best 60ts version from The Leaves (Bobby Arlin would go on to be in Hook while Jim Pons would join The Turtles and later the Mothers). Michael & The Messengers took a cover of The Reflections song "(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet" (a 1964 hit for the Detroit group on Golden World Records GW 9), dropping the bracketed beginning, and made a fair fist of it too. The cool-but-gimmick named Chicago group The Cryan Shames took an old English toast and marmalade Searchers pop-hit "Sugar And Spice" and gave it some US razzle - first issued on the independent Destination Records label only to see the mighty Columbia thereafter take the Shames baton. And no doubt that Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes were listening to Van Morrison's THEM for "Baby Please Don't Go" rather than the Joe Williams original - a right raver in 1967.

John Loudermilk gave Blues Magoos another Greenwich Village cafe yeah-yeah moment in their cover of his famous rocker "Tobacco Road" - very cool stuff on Mercury Records in June 1966. Artie Resnick co-wrote "Good Lovin'" with Rudy Clark and gifted a monster hit to The Young Rascals - for his own band The Third Rail he came up with "Run, Run, Run" - co-penned with his wife and that bubblegum pop purveyor Joey Levine. And while it feels more Sunshine Pop than Psych, I'd argue its a cool inclusion - rounded off at the end of the compilation by Todd Rundgren's Nazz doing the brill "Open My Eyes" and Gary Usher's Sagittarius - another with-it yeah-baby band that was getting all Zodiac and Horse-Man with a bow-and-arrow on us in the summer of 1967.

Very cool and even in 2019, very cheap too – often at less than a fiver of your pre-Brexit remainer pounds. Get your Original Artyfacts here folks and remember people (as The Thirteenth Floor Elevators liner notes wisely inform us) - "...take on the superficial aspects of the quest..."

I do man, I do...