Pebbles Vol. 1 came out 40 years ago (1978)

[Don Julio]

40 years is a long time.

What's changed in perceptions of this music from then until now? Anything? It's never really seeped into the mainstream, has it? People today are still putting out 500-copy vinyl compilations just like 1978. The sound quality has improved. We now have photos of bands. There's videos on the Internet. But it's still an underground thing.

Why 1978?

Where were these sold? How long did it take to sell out the initial 500 pressing?

Was this more, or less, significant than Nuggets in 1972? It could be argued as more significant since it became a continuing series.

Most surprising thing about Pebbles Vol. 1? I'm surprised that so many rarities and major records had already been found by 1978-79, when you take in this plus the next few volumes, plus Flashbacks, Acid Dreams and whatever else was out there in '79 and '80.

The tracklisting is as good as you could expect for 1978. Personally, I would have excluded any cover material, the Elastik Band, and "Potato Chip." The Floyd Dakil Combo is also a little out of place here, as Bobby Fuller would be on Vol. 2.

I didn't find this album (the later pressing) until well after other comps had comp out in the '80s, so I can't assess the impact it had in 1978.



Side 1:

1. The Litter: "Action Woman", 2:30 — rel. 1967
2. The Preachers: "Who Do You Love" (Ellas McDaniel), 2:11 — rel. 1965
3. The Floyd Dakil Combo: "Dance Franny Dance", 2:10 — rel. 1964
4. The Outcasts: "I'm in Pittsburgh (and it's Raining)", 1:56 — rel. 1966
5. The Squires: "Going All the Way", 2:18, — rel. 1966
6. The Grains of Sand: "Going Away Baby", 2:10 — rel. 1966
7. The JuJus: "You Treat Me Bad", 2:18 — rel. 1966
8. The Haunted: "1-2-5", 2:46 — rel. 1966

Side 2:

1. The Soup Greens: "Like a Rolling Stone" (Bob Dylan), 2:40 — rel. 1965
2. The Wig: "Crackin' Up" (Rusty Wier), 2:18 — rel. 1966, vinyl-only track *
3. Positively 13 O'Clock: "Psychotic Reaction", 2:00 — rel. 1966
4. Kim Fowley: "The Trip" (Kim Fowley), 2:00 — rel. 1965
5. The Elastik Band: "Spazz", 2:45 — rel. 1967
6. The Split Ends: "Rich with Nothin'" (Knox/Ellassen), 2:15 — rel. 1966
7. The Shadows of Knight: "Potato Chip", 3:23 — rel. 1967
8. The Wilde Knights: "Beaver Patrol", 2:16 — rel. 1965

 

[MopTopMike]

The Wig and the Split Ends 45s were released in 1967.
There was no way to gauge rarity of these 45s at the time Pebbles was issued.

 

[Michael W]

Where were these sold?

quite a few got sold in Sydney through import record shops like Phantom

Was this more, or less, significant than Nuggets in 1972? It could be argued as more significant since it became a continuing series.

I think more significant as it overlapped the punk movement. I remember hearing it played at a punk party in Sydney in 1979. Also, it was less mainstream and pop than Nuggets. Just like BFTG a few years later it defined a certain style of 60s garage. I agree there are a few tracks that could have been dumped, but I definitely remember that comp blowing my mind back then.

 

[Ned]

I bought mine from Bomp mailorder - white label, white jacket, one page insert. Still have it.

This made Nuggets seems mainstream by comparison. It had that handmade feel, unlike the somewhat corporate feel of Nuggets. I was working for Music Sales from Boston at the time & we were soon to buy the more "readily available" Pebbles from Rounder Records wholesale.
Pebbles had that certain appeal the current UK "punk" stuff would never be able to match - not that I think they were trying. Just two terms, misunderstood at that on both ends, that got lumped together.

The reissue scene may be 40 years old & the bulk of the originals 50 years old - but to these old ears they still sound fresh !

Ned

 

[Perkeo]

I remember seeing the first two volumes of Pebbles (2nd pressing i think, never saw the hand made ones) at a Musicland store at a mall in Minnesota around 79 and thinking how alien and exotic they seemed...punk was all ready pretty jarring, but the notion of sixties punk seemed completely off the deep end. Little did I know at the time that right in my hometown, collectors like Greg Frey and Terry Post all ready had some of the best collections in the world of this stuff and were feverishly still tracking down and discovering things that would fill out compilations for years to come. That notion that there's still more out there that we don't know about was very attractive, the whole buried treasure angle, and it still keeps me going to this day!

 

[Perkeo]

Especially when things like this gnarly acetate keep popping up
http://www.ecommerceplayer.com/MediaPlayer.aspx?id=31d8f762-2514-4cf4-98bc-ab8da3976716

 

[bosshoss]

White Light (in Sydney) imported about 25 copies of the original pressing in 1978, and sold them all. Greg Shaw had included 2 copies in our previous order, which must have been pre-release copies because they just showed up, with no warning. Greg used to do that all the time, he would send us stuff that we never ordered (which was great!). Half of every shipment would be surprises that he would include. Like the Creme Soda LP, Suicide, the Magic Cube comp (whatever it was called), the Psychedelic Unknowns ep's, the Stooges "I Got A Right" 45...
The first two Pebbles Vol. 1 copies caused quite a stir, as everyone wanted them. At White Light we had no "back room" for sorting stuff. All the import shipments were opened up on the floor of the shop, in the middle of a scramble of rabid customers. It was wild! The feeling at the time was that Pebbles was picking up the few pieces that Nuggets had missed. At the time, very, very few people (in Australia anyway) had any idea of the depth of '60s garage. One exception would be Peter Bliek. I clearly remember thinking - wow, a whole entire LP of stuff that Nuggets missed!

 

[tymespan]

Bomp had a great mail order list, I would just buy stuff on their recommendations. so when I saw the Pebbles LP I immediately bought it.
I was already dabbling in collecting, looking for rarities by bands like the Left Banke, Raspberries, Emitt Rhodes/Merry Go Round but hearing that first Pebbles LP made me a full fledged collector.
To hear "Going All the Way" for the first time and finding out there were unknown songs like that out there waiting to be found was a revelation.
I don't think it ever really dawned on me how many thousands of records were released that never became hits.

 

[gregk25]

White Light (in Sydney) imported about 25 copies of the original pressing in 1978, and sold them all.

It was nice to see the White Light store being favorably mentioned in the Robert Forster biography. Maybe it was good that all copies of Pebbles were gone when he entered or the Go Betweens would have become an entirely different band.

 

[Dave Baldwin]

Got an original (plain white cover with a pink 'paste-on' slick) from Bomp mailorder
in 1978. I had not heard a single song on it at the time, and had only heard "of" The
Litter and The Haunted (probably read about them in Who Put The Bomp magazine).
Much like Nuggets before it and Back From The Grave much later, it changed the 60s
garage paradigm for me. Thank you Lenny/Greg/Tim. Y'all created a monster.

 

[Derf66]

Especially when things like this gnarly acetate keep popping up
http://www.ecommerceplayer.com/MediaPlayer.aspx?id=31d8f762-2514-4cf4-98bc-ab8da3976716

WOW that is killer! What is it?

 

[Michael W]

WOW that is killer! What is it?

details here

 

[soundog III]

OK, here's my personal timeline re: Pebbles

Post an itinerant late teenage era walkabout of sorts that took me away from the New York area for a few prime years ( 1978 - 1981) I finally got back to civilization and landed a job in NYC that afforded me the opportunity to prowl with focused abandon the plethora of shops / distributors / hole in the wall emporiums and sundry such that were scattered about Manhattan at the time. As a born & bred New Yorker I was fairly well acquainted with the East / West Village stores and plenty of other outlets outside of the well travelled circuit of shops around St. Marks Place / Eighth Street / Bleecker / 2nd Avenue / Times Square etc... 70's punk / DIY was my primary concern at the time, with 99 / Freebeing / Pantasia & Bleecker Bobs sufficing to drain my wallet on the glorious occasions that a few spare $$ were available to squander in hopes of recapturing the glories of the recent 76 - 79 golden era of feral punk tempest.

Occasionally I would transit down to the City Hall area in lower Manhattan where there was an extraordinarily diverse retail spot called J&R Music World. Low LOW LOWEST prices on a very credible range of product including amazingly obscure & mildly expensive Japanese import (reissue) LP's, current punk / new wave imports / cutouts / bargain bin treasures and such. Scouring through the racks one fine day I noticed a curious couple of LP's with goofy sleeves proposing well, something along the lines of "rare garage punk" or somesuch with a pic of some nitwit with darning needles sticking out of his head. Having by this point in time become somewhat versed in the vagaries of numerous nefarious nocturnal venues & dens of intemperate or less repute I figured this would be some anthology of useless no hopers channeling the then au courant hardcore / No Wave nonsense unfortunately ascendant at this time (1981or thereabouts such as DNA / Stimulators / Contortions etc...)

Further investigation of the well reasoned or at a minimum amusing liner notes revealed that the sleeves were, at best, a misguided reflection of the actual content contained within. An employee, if that, viewed with the benefit of hindsight was not a TOO grandiose characterization of the particular individual about to be referenced, merrily queried whether I had any questions as I perused the liners. This individual was somewhat haphazardly perched on the top of a bin of disco cutouts, effectively in a mode of sublime recline , bemusedly oblivious to the tumult of the thriving enterprise being realized in the retailing of sundry Gloria Gaynor remixes and other asst. electro funk diabolicals coruscating about the arena sized sales floor.

"Yeah, what's up with this, looks kinda weird & interesting" I responded. Immediately the individual in question lit up with a near messianic gleam and entered into a multi - minute exposition of the merits of the LP's to hand, if not yet committed to. "This is KILLER punk, you don't need any f*ckin' (lower case) english trash ( stream of less politically correct characterizations of disco / new wave / radio friendly product ensuing for a breath or several). This is the Real Rock that the ( afore noted) english phonies stole & destroyed ! You GOTTA hear this, It's the MOST BEASTLY TERROR ever unleashed on wax!!!

Well, with only a few minutes left before I needed to jump on the 3 train to reclaim my perch in the cube farm I acceded to the salespersons obvious commitment to the content to hand, made my way to the counter and forked over the lordly tariff of $5.99 per and retreated with Pebbles 1 & 2 clasped firmly in my anticipatory mitts.

Cut forward a couple of weeks and upon returning to J&R I advised Tim that he steered me straight. The repercussions of this engagement have oft been considered by me to be a fair candidate worthy of further reflection...

 

[Ned]

Soundog -

Ever walk into Bob's with a Phantasia bag ? Man, would he lash out at you ! Bob was the man, if you were on his good side you were golden.

Ned

 

[soundog III]

Likely not as I would have been tapped out after rummaging their racks. Plus an east side foray would have entailed bypassing the west side, as I'd work my way up to 3rd & 23rd to Musical Maze. Funny thing was going to Bob's w/ a 99 bag, he'd sort of glower but, in my experience at any rate, accept as a fait accompli that I likely would have bought something that he didn't have. I distinctly remember him querying me on why the hell was I wasting my $$ on a Legendary Tenfoot 45 when he had the new Menace 45 or some such garbage RIGHT THERE IN THE BIN!!! But we always got along, Mrs. Soundog even invited him to our wedding, where of course he comported himself with grace & good humor. Well, being Bob, for the most part at any rate; a few snide asides were undoubtedly directed at whomever his target du jour may have been at any fleeting moment during the festivities...

 

[Ned]

There was only one Bob. Some loved him, some hated him ! I had the pleasure of visiting him @ home several times - thousands upon thousands of 45s & a degree from Columbia on the wall. A great guy once you knew him, never to be another quite like him.

Ned

 

[soundog III]

Yes, Hudson & Jane as memory serves. How about the racks & racks of framed movie posters? Mrs. Soundog knew him well, as she recounted to me the aforementioned, though I'll spare the lurkers details of other Bobantics as this would likely overburden the cloud...

 

[chas_kit]

I'd like to hear more about Bob. I bought very little there from high school days til it closed (though I was away many of those years).

$5.99 was not a throwaway sum of money in the early '80s. My first job paid $3.25 / hour.