Shiver me TBMbers! The Great Comp Showdown Thread!

Patrick the Lama said:
Back From The Grave vol 2 is the one that Tim W expressed regrets about later on, which makes listening to it fun. What exactly is it that isn't up to Grave standards? Because it's still a damn good comp...
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Individually, all those tracks are worthy of BFTG. Maybe it has something to do with the way it fits together, or the fact that there are fewer ultra rare/ultra raw monsters than some other volumes. Also...

When you look at the track list, there are 3 near-novelty frat bashers (Crusher, Scream, Surfside Date), 5 major label releases (Roy Junior, Cry Cry Cry, Crusher, Lyrics, Brigands), 4 re-issued from earlier comps (Cry Cry Cry, They Prefer Blondes, They Can't Hurt Me, All I Really Need Is Love), 3 covers (Snoopy, Summertime Blues, Satisfaction), and only about 4 that I would rate as really hard to find (Banshees, Hatfields, Reasons Why, Ralph Nielsen). Compare that with volume 5, or volume 6 for example.
 
BFTG 2 is really special to me since it's probably the first garage comp I ever bought.
But I agree, it's definitely not the strongest volume, and I could definitely live without the boring Satisfaction cover.
 
Brigands is way outta place on a BFTG. And Ralph Nielsen too (even though it's a killer)
It should've been on one of those Sin Alley comps.
 
Great series! I have the first pressing of vols. 1-5, but I still need 6 & 7.
Volume 8, which is still in print I believe, is a monster - essential!
 
Thanks again Sylvain - this is indeed porn to me.

That Tim Warren - it is mindbendingly irritating how he repackages tracks and throw 'em around on both BFTG and GPU. And he should re-release all liners in some kind of magazine.
 
Listening to GPU Part 1 on CD right now. Incredible line up. Personally, I had the Vol 4 but gave it away to a friend when I bought the 4 LP box. There was some kind of deformation in the grooves on Jezebel, made me go crazy..
 
Thanks Sylvain... I bought the GPU series when it was brand new and was treated to a "Midnight moment" when TW:s mix-up between vol 3 and vol 4 caused JD's suffering minions to send me the wrong disc. Took several weeks to sort that out, but finally I got the vol 4 which I think is the best in the series, and which I still have (i e: first press with paste-on numbers etc). Funny about the reissue series in which Tim comes right out and admits how parts of the later volumes kind of suck! :D In addition to overall quality, the BFTG series obviously differs from GPU in terms of bands being contacted and <cough> reissue arrangements negotiated etc.

Here's my theory: despite being as "late" as 1985, the GPU series was the FIRST to utilize the banner heading "garage" to describe this fine music. Not "first" as in first ever, but the first compilation in the Pebbles tradition to call the music "garage". Prove me wrong!
 
sylvain said:
hum... The Garage Zone series are also from 1985
... and the mysterious GARAGE KINGS project, about which i may gonna post something soon, is listed in the Midnight Book of comps from 1984.
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Though it was about modern bands so not strictly related, let's not forget "Battle of the Garages" 1981
 
Laurent Bigot said:
Though it was about modern bands so not strictly related, let's not forget "Battle of the Garages" 1981
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Yes, exactly -- my point is that the word "garage" was primarily used to describe the neo-garage bands in the beginning (early '80s), and then the semantic cycle was closed when TW combined "garage" with "60s punk" (the common term at the time) into "garage punk" or "60s garage punk"... with the GPU series. Today the "punk" part is less commonly heard.

To avoid another endless tangent on this subject, I'm talking specifically about retro '60s compilations, and when the word "garage" was used on these to designate the music.

Can't swear on it but I think GPU preceded Garage Zone, if only by 6 months or so.
 
And from '84: Winnipeg 1965-66, part of the Rough Diamonds series on Voxx, sub-titled "The History of Garage Band Music"
 
Garage Punk Unknowns was a bootleg series - featuring BFTG comp-worthy 45s. However, people involved with those groups could not be found at that time. BFTG, starting with the represses of 1 & 2 along with the then concurrent new Vol 3 was the points where Tim had contracts drawn up and signed for permission to include songs on the series. Not every song was "legal" on Grave, but none were on GPU. It wasn't until GPU Vol 8 that permissions and grants were submitted.
 
That was a whole crate of new info, thanks Sylvain. Funny that the guy who did Glimpses also did Children Of Nuggets -- that book really ruined the day for me back around 1991 or so, when I was working on Age Of Madness. Mark Prellberg told me about the upcoming Children Of Nuggets and sent along some PR sheet or such, and I could tell that it was almost exactly the same thing I was working on, except it was done in the US and with a wider scope. I still went through with my project but without much commercial hope.

Anywayz, I've always liked the Glimpses series, it's not top of the heap but it has that old '80s "personality"... I actually picked up vol 4 just a couple of years back, since it has some unique tracks. Across the 4 volumes I think Glimpses has a pretty good ratio of "unique" picks. Vol 1 is surprisingly weak, though I dig that Wellington Arrangement hard guitar-psych track... anyone have the orig 45 to spare?

David W occasionally posts in various on-line forums, maybe he's here even.
 
Thanks for the latest chapter in the history of U.S. '60s comps. Don't stop until you've covered them all!

sylvain said:
Glimpses vol.1 is worth having for its great side A ('tho all tracks are more than "classics" those days). Vol.3 and 4 are "worldwide 60s", not focused on US garage.
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That's not really the case, is it. The only non-U.S. act I can think of on vol. 3/4 are Los Shakers.
 
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