The San Francisco box set has some kind of copy protection. I tried to make cd r but some of the songs came out bad, it makes a distortion sound.
I once showed a friend of mine the Yardbirds's "Ultimate" compilation. He said, "This stuff is awesome! I especially like the solo songs by 'Keith....Relf...". Says it all.
Yes, but then there's this, which the late, lamented (and demented) Lester Bangs so memorably described as 'lobotomized Yardbirds':
And the better teen guitarists of the era idolized Beck (and Clapton) and got very good at mimicking this style...especially in "guitar-friendly" states like Texas. Randy Holden of The Sons Of Adam was even contacted by The Yardbirds organization for an audition when Jeff Beck left the band unexpectedly (?) in 1966.
I think an American teen singer probably felt he could ape Relf as well... Van would be far too intimidating for a budding vocalist!
Maybe a stupid question, but I'm still new around here. But has this forum ever done a year by year sixties poll? And then I'm not referring to people voting for songs from the top 25 of the Billboard chart from 1965 or something, but users submitting their own lists of favorite albums and songs.
So far I have the first NUGGETS 4 CD box, and then CHILDREN OF NUGGETS (NUGGETS II is in the mail). Probably sacrilege to many here, but I am actually enjoying CHILDREN even more than NUGGETS. Of course these are artists who were heavily influenced by those on the NUGGETS box, but still, they did a damn fine job of maintaining the original spirit of this type of music while often (IMHO) surpassing their influences musically. Whichever side of the fence you might come down on where preferences are concerned (and lest I be unclear, I love BOTH boxes), what is undeniable is the remarkable continuity between these sets. Blindfolded and unfamiliar with the music, for many tracks I'd defy most listeners to pick up whether they are from the 1965-8 span of the first box or from the 1976-1995 span of the CHILDREN box. Very eagerly awaiting the delivery of my NUGGETS II box!!!
Most of the first Nuggets box is what I listened to on local radio during my h.s. years. However, growing up in a small town (1200 pop.) I couldn't easily access (purchase) many of the 45s as they came out. But I am forever grateful that I was in range of a few radio stations that played all of this incredible music. A friend still carries (in his wallet) a tightly folded 1966 top 40 list. Nearly every tune is now considered "classic."
Nuggets II has so many gems on it. Most of these tracks did not chart in the US at the time (except some of the Canadian ones) so for American listeners, unless they were UK freakbeat experts beforehand, this box was > 80% unheard material. ESSENTIAL.
Children Of Nuggets was a missed opportunity. There's a lot of power pop and other stuff, that while good songs, don't really belong. There's lots of latter day 80s+ garage that was missed. Naming a few - New York's Cheapskates ("Run Better Run" was a song I loved in high school), The Mosquitos (who would write "That Was Then This Is Now" for The Monkees - they also played by high school in 1984)..........and it's missing a lot of Detroit stuff. How could a Children Of Nuggets box set not have anything from Mick Collins on it? The Gories and/or The Dirtbombs. No Gore Gore Girls or Detroit Cobras either. I know I'm missing a lot of other groups. It's my least favorite of the 5 Rhino box sets. That said, I do like it, and have a lot of the songs on my Ipod.
I am not that into trying to finely parse genres. All I really care is that it is a ripping good listen! And to me there is clear continuity between this music and the bands on the earlier comps. I can appreciate YMMV though.
There's a nice single CD of Australian Nuggets I can recommend! I even have at least a quarter of the tracks elsewhere but still happy with it...
Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but the first cd in the 1998 Nuggets box is the original 2-lp Lenny Kaye-compiled set. Same sequence. I spent years hoping to stumble upon the Kaye records (pre-internet). Fortunately a St. Paul radio DJ (where I was working at the time) dubbed his set onto cassette for me in 1977. I found a used copy of the lps circa-1995 in Fargo, a few years before the cd box came out. I never did purchase any other of the Nuggets box sets. Seems like 2nd box is generally lauded amongst this thread.
