new comp out

[MopTopMike]

MAX WEISS was very late filing the info.

i don't think Max Weiss submitted the info, I will find out who did when I go to DC next Monday. I'll also see who took credit for the publishing for the Sincerely San Jose tune. I should've xeroxed the certificate when I logged the data back in 1999....

 

[sylvain]

:) seems like every time a new release of that kind shows up, the reactions are quite tiedous, to say the least !
It's actually always the same debate between pro and against comps, and the "value" of such releases. It's been recently discussed here a couple of months ago, no need to get back to it again. I'll just mention that as far I'm concerned, I consider comps of that kind as an art form in their own right. I do love comps. I'd even say that if 10 comps would show up with the same titles, I'd probably get them all, just to compare the sequencing and admire the packaging. Comps are more than the sum of what's featured on their wax. Comps are unique "per se", they display the taste and soul of who's behind them, and they are also part of the "garage history" IMHO. I'll stop there with my own conception as I know most of you here are mostly against that kind of release, unless they feature some tracks you'd never heard about before. Anyway.
Guess what, I know the guys who did that one; they're not from Italy. But I'm happy such a thing shows up. Yes, it was done in a "legal" way, 'tho I understand Mike's remarks about that point. Ugly ? I really don't think so, but once again it's just a question of taste. I know that their aim was to do something DIY, far from the usual "Sundazed-like" concepts, more in a Everywhere Chainsaw way ! Funny that you mention that "Flashbacks" was better looking ! Anyway, just a matter of taste, no need to be discussed further.
To sum up things, as a comp maniac and garage addict, I'm happy to have the chance to spin that one... the track listing is excellent and that's all what counts. Less than 200 copies pressed, that gonna be sold probably mostly confidentially, I hence truely don't think that they represent a risk for an upcoming Wildwood Cd release or any other professionnaly done release of the Frantic quality! Absolutly not the same kind of releases, not the same "market", not the same customers. This comp is adressed to the comp lovers market, probably the completists in the domain, but also to those who dig their garage sounds housed in a primitive DIY packaging
s.

 

[depravedskippy66]

I happen to be a compilation fiend myself. However, at some point you just have to draw the line, and I imagine that a lot of people that would have snatched this one up will be turned off by the price. With all due respect, I have to call the compiler's motives into question here.

 

[sylvain]

the price question is simple: comp done outta the $ and euro countries. And $ and EUR are currently so LOW that the final result is that prices fetching high prices when converted into those 2 currencies.

 

[axel]

:) I consider comps of that kind as an art form in their own right. I do love comps. I'd even say that if 10 comps would show up with the same titles, I'd probably get them all, just to compare the sequencing and admire the packaging.

I love that. But, as you actually know these guys, how bout the sound quality? What are the sources? Did they use the original 45s or did they just rip the Punk Classics EPs? I think that is the major question here. Because how would they be able to make them sound better? Filters, EQing etc. only make things worse in such cases.
I agree with your point concerning the DIY approach. "Hand-sprayed cover", I dig stuff like that. The overall design is not that bad. It actually does have some originality and new approach to 60s Garage Punk design. I've seen MUCH worse.
And the photo with the metal-coloured scooter is pretty awesome. A new style? "Heavy Mod-al"?

 

[Laurent Bigot]

just another JOHNNY-CUM-LATELY bootleg:confused: Who gave them the rights to include WILDWOOD??? WILLIAM PENN??? I'm releasing a 2 cd WILDWOOD set soon. No one contacted me or the band. WHATEVER!!!

I understand your point of view, but on the other end, if no Wildwood tune had ever been on a comp, you would probably sell less CDs, wouldn't you?

 

[bosshoss]

Mark - Might the person you are thinking of be Nicola from Italy? He did those "Let's Dig 'Em Up" comps

Yes, that might be the person I'm thinking about. If you look at the people who are following the blog, you will see that the cavemoron is one of them.

 

[pfft]

My name is pfft, and I'm a compaholic.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought the deluxe copy as soon as I heard about it.
It's expensive yes, but if you were to buy the Punk Classics EPs separately I guess you'd have to pay at least 10-15 dollars per volume, so all in all it's not that bad when you think about it (I only have vol. 1).

I kinda like the DIY artwork, although I would go for something other than silver.

As for the improved sound quality, well that remains to be heard.

I'm not too bothered with the "100% legal" BS. Of course it's not legal, but that hasn't prevented me from buying records in the past, so why should I start now?

 

[axel]

As for the improved sound quality, well that remains to be heard.

Please let us know, when you heard it.

 

[sylvain]

Please let us know, when you heard it.

Can't tell you much about the origin of the tracks comped, but when compared to my old PUNK CLASSICS 7''s, they sound fine, if not better... despite they lack the dynamic of a 7'' format. Some of the tracks sound better than others, some probably MP3 sourced... BUT the most interesting aspect is that tracks prematurely faded on PUNK CLASSICS vol.3 are featured here in all their splendor :)
All in all, a comp goood enough for my garage appetite...
silver artwork: note that it's actually not silver, but 2 layers of paint, a white layer under a glow in the dark one. The idea was a discrete tribute to the first 66 day glow sleeve copies of Back from the Grave 1.
Will try to know more about the sound origin.

 

[depravedskippy66]

the price question is simple: comp done outta the $ and euro countries. And $ and EUR are currently so LOW that the final result is that prices fetching high prices when converted into those 2 currencies.

That might indeed be the case but, for me, the stench of greed is just too strong to convince me otherwise. Granted, I understand that airmail from Europe to the US is insanely high these days but considering the high price of the LP sans postage, let the compilers suck up a bit of the postage costs. Maybe it's just me, but there's no way to justify such a high price for an LP that, let's be perfectly honest here, really does not offer anything to make it worth the while. Fact is, when compared against the total cost of this LP, the more expensive Euro vinyl reissues from labels like Shadoks, RD and World In Sound come off as a bargain.

Will this become a trend in the future, as other garage collectors decide to pull a dozen plus tracks out of their collections, slap them onto two sides of vinyl, type up an insert with the barest minimum of information and then slap it in some crappy sleeve and attach a high price tag to it?

 

[axel]

Will this become a trend in the future, as other garage collectors decide to pull a dozen plus tracks out of their collections, slap them onto two sides of vinyl, type up an insert with the barest minimum of information and then slap it in some crappy sleeve

Some of the best early comps were pretty much done that way, so that is not really the problem. The problem is rather the price. When a comp is done in such a rough manner one should think that it's because it shouldn't cause too many expenses. So the price should be reasonable. But this is not the case here. The shipping costs in Europe are way too high as well. Why?
And, of course, the early comps were pretty much the brainchild of some collector. This here is a re-issue in a new packaging. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[MopTopMike]

In this day and age, there is no excuse to just slap something together "in the spirit of DIY". The 80s are over. Time to pay some respect to the music we all dig. Informative liners, pics, and a higher quality of sound. I don't care if it's only available on a CD - I'd rather have that than MP3s or high quality downloads.

Vinyl releases, unless done completely analog, from 45 to tape to pressing stage, are a wasted effort, for both sonic output and cost effectiveness. Better off with CDs if the chain from start to finish contains a digital process.

People who argue that the comps of yore have some sort of intrinsic value (this ridiculous "I hear the spirit of the compiler when I play this comp" BS) are just twisting the argument to fit their biased perspective.
Comps in the 80s were just the medium to present the music to a growing underground audience. Proclaiming "Off The Wall" as anything more than just a vinyl compilation (albeit a high quality comp of excellent material) is laughable. Jim Atwood wasn't sitting down like Brian Wilson, trying to come up with a Pet Sounds on a level of 60s bootleg comps.

 

[depravedskippy66]

Some of the best early comps were pretty much done that way, so that is not really the problem. The problem is rather the price. When a comp is done in such a rough manner one should think that it's because it shouldn't cause too many expenses. So the price should be reasonable. But this is not the case here. The shipping costs in Europe are way too high as well. Why?
And, of course, the early comps were pretty much the brainchild of some collector. This here is a re-issue in a new packaging. Nothing more, nothing less.

Maybe so, but those early comps were not selling for extortionate prices. They certainly do so now, when they turn up on the 'bay.

 

[beccabear67]

With this one it looks like the motivation is a bit more about making money than 'this stuff needs to be heard by the people'. The pitch rubs a bunch of people the wrong way to say the least.

 

[Frantic]

In this day and age, there is no excuse to just slap something together "in the spirit of DIY". The 80s are over. Time to pay some respect to the music we all dig. Informative liners, pics, and a higher quality of sound. I don't care if it's only available on a CD - I'd rather have that than MP3s or high quality downloads.

Vinyl releases, unless done completely analog, from 45 to tape to pressing stage, are a wasted effort, for both sonic output and cost effectiveness. Better off with CDs if the chain from start to finish contains a digital process.

People who argue that the comps of yore have some sort of intrinsic value (this ridiculous "I hear the spirit of the compiler when I play this comp" BS) are just twisting the argument to fit their biased perspective.
Comps in the 80s were just the medium to present the music to a growing underground audience. Proclaiming "Off The Wall" as anything more than just a vinyl compilation (albeit a high quality comp of excellent material) is laughable. Jim Atwood wasn't sitting down like Brian Wilson, trying to come up with a Pet Sounds on a level of 60s bootleg comps.

How does Mikey always say what I'm thinking?

 

[sylvain]

People who argue that the comps of yore have some sort of intrinsic value (this ridiculous "I hear the spirit of the compiler when I play this comp" BS) are just twisting the argument to fit their biased perspective. Comps in the 80s were just the medium to present the music to a growing underground audience. Proclaiming "Off The Wall" as anything more than just a vinyl compilation (albeit a high quality comp of excellent material) is laughable. Jim Atwood wasn't sitting down like Brian Wilson, trying to come up with a Pet Sounds on a level of 60s bootleg comps.

I hearfully disagree with this. If it'd been the case, Warren himself wouldn't have released at least 3 or 4 different pressings of BFTG 1 with alternate track listings of the very same songs: he was probably unsatisfied with the first trials and was after the perfect flow. The "flow" is something more than important with the Lp format, to get something you can actually LISTEN to. And this coherence is what makes the best comps. Some comp makers actually DID try to come up with a Pet Sounds like release, I'm pretty sure this was in the mind of the guys behind GOOD ROOTS, SCUM OF THE EARTH, or OPEN UP YOUR DOOR. And this is why those comps are still much in demand those days... same reason why 60s REBELLION are never mentioned as "must have", because they were assembled the way you see comps, i.e a piles of "rare" 7''s gathered on 2 sides of a LP, without looking for the "magic touch".

 

[axel]

I agree.
Listening to comps is a culture of its own. Good garage comps feature a certain style and taste. I wonder how this can be questioned. "Psychedelic Disaster Whirl" a hotchpotch of records that some collector randomly picked out from his shelve? I'm not inclined to believe that.
But I can understand that collectors like Mike, if they own a lot (or most) of this stuff on original 45s the perspective on comps changes drastically. You hear it on a song-by-song basis. I wouldn't mind to enjoy 60s garage that way. Not to speak of the sound quality. But as things are I can't afford it and even if I could it's obviously close to impossible to get hold of a lot of those records nowadays.
So I go back to my raggedy little comps and treat them like diamonds...

 

[sylvain]

But I can understand that collectors like Mike, if they own a lot (or most) of this stuff on original 45s the perspective on comps changes drastically. You hear it on a song-by-song basis. I wouldn't mind to enjoy 60s garage that way. Not to speak of the sound quality. But as things are I can't afford it and even if I could it's obviously close to impossible to get hold of a lot of those records nowadays.
So I go back to my raggedy little comps and treat them like diamonds...

I couldn't agree more, you've perfectly summarized the situation.

 

[M.T. Wallet]

But I can understand that collectors like Mike, if they own a lot (or most) of this stuff on original 45s the perspective on comps changes drastically. You hear it on a song-by-song basis. I wouldn't mind to enjoy 60s garage that way. Not to speak of the sound quality. But as things are I can't afford it and even if I could it's obviously close to impossible to get hold of a lot of those records nowadays.

same for me... I would even say that I love those -still cheap- italian Lp comps as long as they feature great songs... and no matter how poor the sound quality is (I've always considered that aspect as inherent of that kinda music and I've always thought that a true great song would still be great being converted to a mp3 or to any other crappy format)
nevertheless, I really enjoyed buying that high-quality Fenton Story lp box for $20 when amazon had mistaken the price, ha!

 

[depravedskippy66]

Sorry, but I cannot help but feel this particular comp could very well set an unpleasant precedent for similar ventures in the future. Also, am I the only one who noticed Sylvain's statement along the lines that some of the tracks were "probably MP3 sourced?" This has been a growing trend of late with some of the vinyl comps coming over from Europe and there's absolutely no excuse for it.

Consider the following hypothetical: Let's just say that, despite the outrageous asking price, this compilation does indeed sell out, and quickly. Those responsible for it may very well crow about its "success' and feel sufficiently emboldened to assemble a follow up somewhere down the road, to which they will affix the same high price tag, knowing that people bought the first one.

And Axel, listening to comps is really a culture all its own? Sorry, but I side with Mike on this. While I do believe that the very best compilations were designed for cohesiveness and flow, and have consequently taken on a life of their own, it's rather laughable to view them as personal statements on the part of the compiler. There was certainly no attempt at doing a Sgt. Pepper here.