Fizzed-Out Psych and Crude Pennsylvanian Gold
Ten regional American 45s from '66 and '67 — the stuff that never made it out of the county, recorded in basements and small-town studios by bands who had no idea what they were doing and were completely right about all of it.
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01
The Starfyres — "Captain Dueseldorph"
This one just makes me happy every single time. The Starfyres were a bunch of kids from coal country Pennsylvania and "Captain Dueseldorph" sounds like it was recorded inside a submarine — every instrument slightly out of tune, the whole thing wobbling and fizzing and somehow completely perfect. It's chaotic in the best possible way. There's something genuinely magical about a track that sounds this loose and still lands every note exactly where it needs to. The flip side "No Room For Your Love" is a totally different kind of beast — fast and punchy — but "Captain Dueseldorph" is the one I keep coming back to. Put it on and just grin.
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02
The Half Beats — "Should I"
The energy on this thing is just incredible. The singer is so genuinely done with this girl — not sad, not whiny, just completely over it — and that feeling comes through on every single word. The falsetto backing vocals hit at exactly the right moments. It's a perfect little breakup song that somehow sounds angrier than it has any right to be. The Cheater Slicks covered this decades later, which tells you everything about how good the original is. This one circulates as an acetate, which makes it feel like a small miracle that anyone ever heard it at all. Really glad they did.
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03
The Insane — "I Can't Prove It"
The Insane just go for it — pounding drums, wailing guitars, full commitment for three and a half minutes straight. There's a lot of soloing and general tomfoolery and it sounds like an absolute blast to have been in the room for. Connecticut garage rock at its most enthusiastic. I love tracks like this where you can just feel how much fun the band is having. No second-guessing, no overthinking — just a bunch of guys playing as hard as they can and loving every second of it.
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04
The Invictas — "Do It"
Soulful and hard-hitting with a hook that just won't quit. The Invictas put out a handful of 45s between '65 and '67 and this is the one that really delivers. That ending is so good — they knew exactly when to stop, which is a skill a lot of bands never figure out.
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05
The Lost Ones — "I Can't Believe You"
Pennsylvania delivers again. This one is wonderfully raw — the drummer is clearly giving it everything, and somewhere in the background you can hear a guy reacting to the lyrics in real time, which is just the best. ("Oh no." "Awww." "Oh yeah.") The guitar solo is an ace. The label says "I Can't Believe You," the sleeve says something different — we're going with the label. There's so much personality packed into this little record. That's the thing about these regional garage 45s — the people making them weren't trying to sound professional, they were just trying to capture something real, and sometimes they nailed it completely.
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06
The Groupies — "Primitive"
The title is basically the mission statement. This is a real crusher — super raw NYC garage with a beat that sounds exactly as advertised, and the singer barely holding it together in the best possible way. The guitar is a fuzzy sloppy slab of noise and it's completely perfect. ATCO somehow put this out in 1966 and then presumably had no idea what to do with it. One of those tracks where the looseness IS the point. Everything that sounds like it might be a mistake is actually load-bearing.
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07
The Unrelated Segments — "Story of My Life"
Yes, the cartoon people. Hanna-Barbera had a short-lived record label in the late 60s that somehow put out exactly this kind of thing, which is either the most surreal corporate decision in music history or proof that someone in that building had taste. The Unrelated Segments were local support for MC5 and The Who, which tracks — there's a real desperation to this thing, the organ frantic, the vocals ragged at the edges, the whole track just barely holding together until it doesn't.
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08
The Painted Ship — "Frustration"
Mercury somehow signed these guys. The fuzz guitar on this thing is enormous for 1967 — it feels like it's about to swallow the whole record whole. The Painted Ship only put out two 45s and then disappeared, which is genuinely criminal. Both sides of this one are worth your time but "Frustration" is the one that'll lodge itself in your head and stay there. Canadians had something going on in '66-'67 that doesn't get talked about enough.
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09
The Litter — "Action Woman"
Twin Cities fuzz-monster. Ended up on Pebbles Vol 1, which is how a lot of people found it, but hearing it as a standalone 45 it still hits just as hard — maybe harder. The Litter were remarkably tight for a garage band and "Action Woman" is basically a two-minute demolition job. Fast, nasty, done. No wasted motion.
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10
The Sparkles — "No Friend of Mine"
The fuzz on this thing is completely unhinged — sounds like someone accidentally wired a lawnmower engine into the guitar amp and just went with it. What's remarkable is that underneath all that glorious noise there's a genuinely great hook. It shouldn't work as well as it does, and it works perfectly. West Texas, 1967, and these guys had absolutely no idea they were making something this good. Levelland, TX. Population: not many. Records that good: at least one.
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