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"...Everybody
Movin' Tonight..."
I've
found the 'Dore' label to be a weird one. I bought and intensely disliked the
3CD set "The Dore Story: Postcards From Los Angeles 1958-1964" which
Ace issued in January 2013. It looked and sounded the part for sure and Ace had
a well-earned rep for rarely ever putting their reissue foot wrong - but to me
the music was almost all awful despite presentation.
But
then I bought and absolutely adored another Various Artists Ace compilation
called "Dore L.A. Soul 2" on Kent CDKEND 433 that came out in June
2015 - a fabulous collection of Soul Sides, Northern Dancers and other
shape-shifting goodies (see separate review).
So
I approached June 2018's frankly mad as a wine-drinking Euro bureaucrat
"Make Mine Mondo!" with a sense of caution mixed with a liberal dose
of quiet panic/optimism. I needn't have fretted. Across nearly 68-minutes of
wildly adventurous styles and largely unknown names (part genius, part
yes-master nuttiness) – you're lambasted with Fifties and Sixties Pop, Garage, Rockabilly,
Instrumentals, Fuzz Guitar Psych, Doom Girl Groups and much more (1958 to 1969) - nearly all
of which works and entertains like the beautifully presented liner notes
promises it will. "Make Mine Mondo!" indeed says the drunk on the
barroom floor of the cover art. Here are Les Corvets trying to get
satisfacto...
UK
released 29 June 2018 (6 July 2018 in the USA) - "Make Mine Mondo! From
The Eccentric Dore Label" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Records CDTOP 1521
(Barcode 029667088527) is a 28-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out
as follows (67:23 minutes):
1.
Gorilla Hunt - THE ALTECS (September 1962 US 7" single on Dore 649,
A-side)
2.
I'll Blow My Mind - SPENCER'S VAN DYKES [Vocal by Eddie Zarate] (December 1966
US 7" single on Dore 779, A-side)
3.
The Mad Scientist - THE ZANIES (December 1958 US 7" single on Dore 515,
A-side)
4.
Satisfaction - LOS CORVETS (Ecuador Language Rolling Stones cover, 1968 US
7" single on Dore 818, A-side)
5.
Meet The Bongo Man - JOHNNY O (April 1959 US 7" single on Dore 519, B-side
to "Don't Run Johnny O")
6.
Everybody's Movin' - THE DEBONAIRS (June 1964 US 7" single on Dore 712,
A-side)
7.
The Day Is Hard - THE WRENCH (June 1969 US 7" single on Dore 824, B-side
of "You'll Understand")
8.
Grandchus - BOBBY FRY (2018, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
9.
TNT In A T-Shirt - THE REBELS (2018, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
10.
Camel Walk - DAVID ALLAN & ARROWS [Issued as THE ZANIES] (1964 US 7"
single on Dore 705, B-side of "Slinky")
11.
Midnight Star - THE BRENTWOODS [aka The Misfits] (June 1960 US 7" single
on Dore 559, B-side of "As I Live From Day To Day")
12.
Yes, Master! - THE WHIPS (1958 US 7" single on Dore 45-502, A-side)
13.
Shang-Dang-Doo - JOHNNY DURAIN and THE CYTONES (1962 US 7" single on Dore
624, B-side of "My Last Love")
14.
My Baby's Barefoot - THE SYNDICATE (September 1965 US 7" single on Dore
743, A-side - see Track 26 for B-side)
15.
Boogie Woogie Feeling - TONY CASANOVA (December 1959 US 7" single on Dore
535, B-side of "Showdown")
16.
The Blob - THE ZANIES (October 1958 US 7" single on Dore 45-509, A-side)
17.
Rock That Boogie - CHUCK MILES and THE STYLES (2018, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
18.
You'll Understand - THE WRENCH (June 1969 US 7" single on Dore 824,
A-side)
19.
The Thief - MOTION (1967 US 7" single on Dore 781, A-side)
20.
Leave Me Behind - THE SOUTH HAMPTON STORY (1968 US 7" single on Dore 811,
A-side)
21.
Midnight Beach Party - JOHNNY "Z" (April 1963 US 7" single on
Dore 667, A-side)
22.
She Touched My Soul - JOHN WINFIELD JR. (1966 US 7" single on Dore 765,
A-side)
23.
Seventh Son - BOBBY TROUP (1960 US 7" single on Dore 568, A-side)
24.
Rockin' Round The Mountain - THE CAPERS (1960 US 7" single on Dore 587,
A-side)
25.
It's No Use - BASIL and THE BAROQUES (October 1965 US 7" single on Dore
745, B-side of "We'll Meet Again")
26.
Love Will Take Away - THE SYNDICATE (September 1965 US 7" single on Dore
743, B-side of "My Baby's Barefoot" - see Track 14 for A-side)
27.
Haight (In Haight-Ashbury) Street - OPUS FIVE (April 1967 US 7" single on
Dore 787, A-side)
28.
Russian Roulette - THE ZANIES (January 1963 US 7" single on Dore 658,
A-side)
NOTES:
All
Tracks MONO - Tracks 8, 9, and 17 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
The
jam-packed 26-page booklet is the usual glorious affair from Ace - US Dore 45
label repros galore, a 'Certificate of Business' for The Zanies as well as a
Trade Advert for their 'two-sided smash' "Mad Scientist" and
"She's A Winner" (the A-side is Track 3), a repro poster of the Steve
McQueen horror blockbuster "The Blob" which informs us that the said
goo is '...Indescribable! Indestructible! Nothing Can Stop It!' (it looks like
Stevie's got his work cut out for him eh), gorgeous and rare colour EP sleeves
for Los Corvets and Bobby Troup, instrumentalist Bobby Fry looking pleased with
his solid body Fender while the wonderfully named Tony Casanova leans smirking
into shot with his Shakin' Stevens suit, Eddie Cochran geetar and his
open-shirted beady eyes on your teenage daughter (come to Daddy my dearie).
The
superlative ROB FINNIS liner notes do well to illuminate on so many virtual
unknowns - while Ace's trusted Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS delivers on a huge
variety of Mono 7" singles. To the music...
There's
a fantastic Ecuadorian language cover of the Stones "Satisfaction", a
killer Previously Unreleased Rockabilly instrumental in the shape of
"Grandchus" from Bobby Fry that will have dancers flip their wig and
a Beach Boys upbeat warning from the suitably monikered 'Zanies' about avoiding
the slithery slime that is “The Blob” (I'll keep an eye out boys). That's
before we get to the truly superb instrumental "Midnight Beach Party"
by Johnny "Z" – a fabulous mix of fuzzed-up surf guitar and bopping saxophone
that would make the dead reconsider re-joining the land of the living (look out
for it in a Tarantino movie near you right soon). Hell there’s even a song
called (wait for it) “Yes, Master!” by The Whips and its sung by a girl
(yikes). Sounding not unlike Nico in a bad mood on a Monday morning before her
latte - The Wrench are a girl group who deliver the most amazing sound - the
kind of doomy melodrama you would imagine Lee Hazlewood would love and kick
himself for not writing. And on it goes...
I
had thought "Make Mine Mondo!" was going to be a chore and some of it
is too mad and poppy to be truly great - but don't let that put you off.
There's more than enough on here that's fantastically good and period whacky
(like those Rhino LP compilations by Dr. Demento you used to see in Tower
Records, Piccadilly Circus in the 80ts and 90ts) - and isn't that exactly what
California's Dore Records were striving for in the first place.
Subtitled
'Fuzzed Out Garage Bands, Manic Instrumentals and Wayward Rockabillies From The
Eccentric Dore Label' – Ace Records CDTOP 1521 does what it says on a very
mixed-up musical biscuit tin. It’s a whole heap of hip-shaking tequila, barmy
50ts and 60ts moments and genre cool discoveries with the added bonus of three
cuts being new to CD – and not just filler either.
In short - another wee nugget from the worryingly disturbed minds of men who should know better over at Steele Road, London NW10...
In short - another wee nugget from the worryingly disturbed minds of men who should know better over at Steele Road, London NW10...
