BACK FROM THE GRAVE VOL.1
Tim Warren :
« Graves were just me and (early on) my wife Caroline helping out. i borrowed $800 from Chandler to help press Grave 2 i think, that's it.
i had to fund the first 5 volumes by borrowing $ from friends, Bruce Planty, my mom, etc and i'd pay a ridiculous $500 interest in thanks for the loans.
The Grave 1 was created cos i was sick of all the shitty "groovy 60s" comps coming out with bubblegum & psych & major-label "studio group" imitations all mixed together with garage punk cuts, and i just wanted to portray the TEEN band side of things. »
Billy Miller :
« I had gotten Tim into buying small label 45s and he got heavily into it right away. When he and Caroline went on their honeymoon (1982 or 83), he planned on driving around to the midwest and see what records he could find. Miriam and I gave him a few contacts and he got more elsewhere. I told him to call me whenever he found something. He called almost every day with amazing stuff - the Alarm Clocks, One Way Streets - and when he returned he was a professional. For the next few years, he was the best at tracking bands and maintaining quality when he put them out again. »
Erik Lindgren :
« I remember the day mastering BFTG #1 and was totally blown away at hearing the Swamp Rats "Psycho" which I had never heard before. That day, I swapped Tim my copy of the Sonic Inc. "Diddy Wah Diddy" (which I found in a junk store in Iowa back in the mid '70s) and we were both happy with the deal. Turns out he got the much rarer single (which I think is Taylor's #1 garage rarity on his G45 list) but I still think the Rats' cover of "Psycho" blows it away musically and is one of the wildest garage punk tracks ever recorded.
I don't have the glow in the dark lettering on my two first edition copies (one is sealed) which Tim gave to me back then. Had no idea he did that--how cool!!! Tim is one of my favorite people on the planet and totally off the charts wacko--my hero!
Speaking of the bonus track ... we tossed that on as a joke on the first pressing of 1000 discs. That was actually a version that I produced in '78 that included Jeff Connolly (DMZ/Lyres) on vocals, Roger Miller (later of Mission of Burma) on bass and lead guitar, Boby Bear on drums (he played with Roger, Clint Conley and me in the pre-MOB Boston art punk band Moving Parts), and myself on guitar and piano. Don't think many people know about the cut nor the personnel involved. We got a good chuckle out of including that mystery track... »
Here are the various editions I could come accross, and the sequence of their outcome, as I figure it. I’ve questioned TW about this but he has no real recollections ... If you own a version not featured below, please lemme know.
This list is frightening, but it's not just a dumb "stamp-collection" kind of thing: I usually don't care much of reissues for garage comps, but those variations are just some I happened to find when I was on the hunt for 60s garage comps, and I found it funny to follow TW in his quest onto what would be, in his own mind, the definitive, final version of this seminal piece of garage history. Looks like the 1986 edition was finally THEE one, as I didn't notice any new ones, ...but maybe am I wrong.
I have no clues of how many copies were released for each edition (apart for the 1st), and how many times each edition was repressed.
I've been trying to retrieve some old messages from Tim regarding the glowing edition, once posted in the old garage punk forum, but they seem lost forever. There was also the funny story of Tim and Caroline packing all their BFTG stock in their old car heading to Germany... I didn't manage to retrieve it neither.
I'll be back later-on about that all, with a focus on the strange BFTG-related "GARAGE KINGS" project and release
First edition : 1983
500 copies,
66 copies w/ hand-painted lettering, glow-in-the-dark white paint (mail order only), rumoured as a tribute to the early Cramps 7’’s
Hidden bonus track end of side 2 (« The Witch »)
CRYPT RR-66
Subtitle : 17 Rockin’ 1966 Punkers !
Track listing :
Side 1
1. The One Way Street - We All Love Peanut Butter
2. The Alarm Clocks - Yeah
3. The Alarm Clocks - No Reason To Complain
4. The Fabs - That's The Bag I'm In
5. The JuJus - Do You Understand Me
6. The Malibu's - Cry
7. The Legends - I'll Come Again
8. The Bel-Aires - Ya Ha Be Be
Side 2
1. Larry & The Blue Notes - Night Of The Phantom
2. The Rats - The Rats Revenge (Part 1)
3. The Rats - The Rats Revenge (Part 2)
4. The One Way Street - Jack The Ripper
5. The Swamp Rats - Psycho
6. The Cords - Ghost Power
7. The Elite - My Confusion
8. Thee Liars - The Witch (hidden track)
My "glowing" signed copy
"Normal" non-glow first ed.
Second edition :
No date of release (but 1983 or 1984)
French pressing on the Voxygrave label (Crypt Rds, 6 Rue Saint Benoît, 75006 Paris)
CR 6601, laminated sleeve
Subtitle : Rockin’ 1966 Punkers !
No bonus track
Track listing
Side 1
1. The Elite - My Confusion
2. The JuJus - Do You Understand Me
3. The Alarm Clocks - Yeah
4. The Alarm Clocks - No Reason To Complain
5. The Fabs - That's The Bag I'm In
6. The Malibu's - Cry
7. The Bel-Aires - Ya Ha Be Be
8. The Legends - I'll Come Again
Side 2
1. The Rats - The Rats Revenge (Part 1)
2. The Rats - The Rats Revenge (Part 2)
3. The One Way Street - We All Love Peanut Butter
4. Larry & The Blue Notes - Night Of The Phantom
5. The One Way Street - Jack The Ripper
6. The Swamp Rats - Psycho
7. The Cords - Ghost Power
Third edition :
1984
US pressing (Crypt Rds, Box 9151, Morristown, NJ 07960)
CRYPT 001
Subtitle : Rockin’ 1966 Punkers !
Track listing : idem 2nd press
Fourth edition :
1985
US pressing (Crypt Rds, Box 9151, Morristown, NJ 07960)
CRYPT 001
Subtitle : Rockin’ 60’s Punkers !
No more liners on back sleeve, insert
Track listing : idem 2nd pressing, but changes « The One Way Street » into « One Way Streets »
Fifth edition :
No date (but 1985 or 1986)
From now on, sleeves display some blue color, and a bar-code on back sleeve
CR 001
Subtitle : Rockin’ 1966 Punkers !
Insert (unfortunatly missing in my copy, but mentioned on the back sleeve)
Track listing : idem 3rd pressing