Happy Snaps

Two posters from The Cellar, 1967

Posters.jpg
 
The Black Vs Blue challenge

Here are some of the best (and a few fillers) of all the USA '60 garage bands with names starting with "Black" and "Blue". Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to listen on youtube to all the 45s shown (if you don't know them already), and then give your opinion which is better --- Black or Blue ?? I have already made up my mind...
I did not include the many additional 45s that start with "Blues", as they are a different batch. "Twice Before The Ministry" (or Minister) is by Blue Mist.

METHODOLOGY
If the flipside was rated less than 2 (on the Daniel garage-o-meter*), I discounted it. This was partly due to the flipside not being stated on the 45s with alternate flips, and partly due to my not generally including songs rated under 2 (which is equivalent to 4.6 in TBM) in my database. To even things out, I also discounted obverse sides which rated below 2. The ratings were then summed to give a total.

NOTES
I couldn’t find Blue on youtube, therefore it was not included in the totals. I couldn’t find the Beowoolf version of “I can’t get close”, so I gave it the same rating as the 2nd version.

DISCLAIMER
I haven't updated or consolidated all the ratings in my database, and considering the ratings span a period of over 30 years, the results may not be based on internally consistent ratings.

VERDICT
Blue wins 33.5 to 32

BREAKDOWN
As you can see from the figures below, the raw score doesn't tell the whole story.
Sides counted towards tally: BLACK = 11; BLUE = 14
Number of sides with a rating above 3: BLACK = 4; BLUE = 0
Average rating of sides included: BLACK = 2.9; BLUE = 2.4

* I use a five star system with half stars in-between
 
So that's one vote for black and one vote for blue. They are both really strong sets (except for Black River Circus which is only included because I didn't have a better candidate on hand). I indicated I already made up my mind earlier, and my vote is for BLUE. But it's so close. The clincher for me is the Blue Condition on Tersa. Without that one, it would have been even.
 
I should add that although I voted BLUE, this was purely based on totalling the individual ratings. If you asked me which collection I would rather own (assuming I didn't already have any of the records), I would unhesitatingly choose BLACK (mostly thanks to the Blackstones).
 

Attachments

  • She dutchmen A cropped.jpg
    She dutchmen A cropped.jpg
    67 KB · Views: 21
Tony the Tiger had a beater copy of Just Too Much, or one of his collector pals, found at a record show. I never saw it when I visited the California garage collector sect. It ended up going to a collector in the UK, not shakesomeaction, though. It was posted in a list of acquisitions this collector had in his collection. I remember seeing this from the old garage hideout forum. At the time I only knew of the top condition copy sold by David Shutt in the early 1980s.

I saw/played Shutt's copy when he first turned it up back in the '80s. It was a clean VG which I guess is "top condition" for this rare biscuit.