Shiver me TBMbers! The Great Comp Showdown Thread!

I finally got to read the Acid Dreams story. Thanks for posting! Amazing! But... er... now was it the real Claus you talked to or not?! Strange that he quit the conversation after probably having been contacted by Malcolm who claimed that he was a fraud...

I don't know if it's common knowledge or if it's of any interest here, but the graphic on Acid Dreams is a copy of a painting by Bridget Riley. It's hanging in the MOMA in New York.
It's from 1964.

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bridget-riley.jpg
 
Those last two Garage Zone volumes must be very rare, I actually doubted they even existed for a long time. 20 years down the line I apologize for my useless, mechanical reviews of the later Boulders and Garage Zones, seems I was getting fed up with the trip at that point. Would be fun to pull out a Garage Zone today and see what it delivers.
 
My heart gets all warm when I see those Boulders covers. Shame Ya Gotta Have Moxie did little in setting any records straight when it come to the audio compartment.
 
Where has the almighty SHUTDOWN 66 comp come??? seriously, I think it's one of the all time best, Billy Moen who comped it is one of the coolest guys I've ever spoken too.
 
sylvain said:
Well, I'm not an audiophile guy and I actually don't care much of the audio quality, as long as a comp offers a wonderfull selection. I'm among the ones who dig comps like Psychedelic Voyage, Psychedelia, Justafixation, etc etc and their muddy sound quality, and Boulders series are still pretty fine with me, apart vol.2, which is indeed barely listenable. And there's also something incredible with Boulders: their DIY sleeve art. Nowadays, all comps are done the same way, ie. with a photo of the band on front, and label shots around or on the back, with more or less liners. That's perfect with references such as TS, but well, I regret the time when sleeves were done without Illustrator and with a more personal approach.
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UGGH!!! I'm in a bad mood today so I won't respond to this now. But I will when I'm in a better mood.:%:
 
I have to stand with Joey on the Boulders series. UGGH!!! sums it up.
Crap, throwaway art with no imagination, not representing the genre, awful sound, poor pressings, no research, no effort or talent at all in fact. Song selections done randomly or alphabetically. How can that add up to a legendary artifact? Just because the Boulders compiler was first to profit from ripping off the selected bands?

An elephant with a paintbrush could create better cover artwork than the Boulders series. On the other hand, I also hate psychedigital Illustrator cookie-cutter comp art. It's probably worse than the Boulders crapart.

Both suck.

However, I am greatly enjoying seeing Sylain's incredible collection, including some really cool artwork and interesting stories.
 
I always like the Hipsville comp with the rocking side and the ballad side.... which one is that??? I can't be bothered to find it.

I can hear raindrops and class of 66 - no fuzz are personal favourites of mine, due mainly in part to the downbeat nature of both.

ROOT 66 comp is pretty killer, those liner notes are a work of GENIUS... put a pic up of those liners Sylvain, please!!!

Boulders are alrite, nothing spectacular about the music or the sleeves IMO.


WHERE THE HECK though did the whole thing with Nuggets, Pebbles, Boulders, Gravel come from??? it just seems stupid.... even more dumb then the 80s and some contemporary garage bands which wear bones around their necks?
 
Bridget Riley is a goddess of Op-art her work was ripped off copied for textiles, posters... the mods would have been lost with out her work as an inspiration for fashion... blah blah.

I worked in an art gallery that held an retrospective exhibition of her works. I sat in that gallery for 3 months with her black and white prints vibrating down one side of the gallery. Her colour stuff though interesting did not have the same visual movement, but cleverly used equal numbers of colours used in stripes arranged in different combinations that gave each painting a different mood due to where each colour was placed. She is also in fact the first artist to get her works copy righted in the US I believe....

Riley install3.jpg
Riley exhibition at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum.

THis thread making me sad for the comps I lost / sold in my move from the uk to the usa.

...and Messis is still touting Shutdown 66 as thee best. The kid is crazy, he got it from me and that was an easy one to lose as My Brother the Man - We the People was the only track I remember liking

sylvain said:
While doing some searches with Bridget Riley, I noticed that the central label used for THE RETURN OF ACID DREAMS and GATHERING OF THE TRIBES was also based on one of a work of hers:

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Plently more other great Bridget's op-art works at

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/bridgetriley/interesting/
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Never having a vinyl copy of Psychotic Moose and the Soul Searchers on vinyl, I picked up the Past and Present CD reissue a few years back and it is extremely lo-fi. I take it this was the case with the original LP as well?
 
These useless sounding comps, especially Boulders and most of Pebbles/HITMS, made me wanna go out and buy the original 45s to hear the music how it was meant to be heard.....quality control didn't appear to exist much back then.
 
Hicksville Hogwash said:
Bridget Riley is a goddess of Op-art her work was ripped off copied for textiles, posters... the mods would have been lost with out her work as an inspiration for fashion... blah blah.

I worked in an art gallery that held an retrospective exhibition of her works. I sat in that gallery for 3 months with her black and white prints vibrating down one side of the gallery. Her colour stuff though interesting did not have the same visual movement, but cleverly used equal numbers of colours used in stripes arranged in different combinations that gave each painting a different mood due to where each colour was placed. She is also in fact the first artist to get her works copy righted in the US I believe....

View attachment 591
Riley exhibition at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum.

THis thread making me sad for the comps I lost / sold in my move from the uk to the usa.

...and Messis is still touting Shutdown 66 as thee best. The kid is crazy, he got it from me and that was an easy one to lose as My Brother the Man - We the People was the only track I remember liking
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Gavin... I didn't get Shutdown 66 from you... you never sold me that comp, I brought it in London.

I think 'My Brother The Man' was on a garage punk unknowns, which I didn't get from you either, you must have sold the Garage Punk Unknowns to someone else.


Paul
 
I have lost my mind! In my mind Paul you took everything worth while... well no I think my Glimpses went elsewhere too and my lovely Boulders, yeah I liked them still have No 1 though.

Which of these would I have loved? It does contain a We The People song though.

Killer of Men seems likely but there is one real bruiser monster in here.

1 The Crucibles - You Know I Do​
2 The Barons - Tomorrow Never Ends​
3 The Uncivilized - Back Again​
4 Royale Coachmen - Killer Of Men​
5 The Boards - Please Tell Me Why​
6 The Half Beats - Should I​
7 The Possums - King In His World​
8 The Avantes - Baby Go​
9 The Bryds - Why Did You Break My Heart​

Side 2​
1 The Hearts Of Stone - Too Hard To Please You​
2 Les Rockers - There's A Pain​
3 Jerry Waugh & The Skeptics - For My Own​
4 The Playgue - Baby No More​
5 Bo & The Weevils - My Time​
6 The Conquests - Is It Right?​
7 We The People - Girl Of My Dreams​
8 The Shan Dels - Please Stay​
9 Pete Morticelli - Lost​
 
Man... The Crucibles is a KILLER.... The Barons is Majetsic .... I give up each song is GENIUS.

Gavin, you need to listen to all the songs on youtube, to refresh your mind.... it's the best outsider comp of all time... anyone who really get's this genre of music, anyone who get's what this is all about, relates to this compilation.... GAVIN go and listen on Yotube and then go on ebay and re-buy the comp.

I didn't get The Glimpses... but got like 2 or 3 of the Boulders.


Paul
 
I spent most of the 80s and some of the 90s buying garage comps. I still have most of them..

But I got increasingly unsatisfied at the poor pressings and awful sound....It came to a head I suppose when I dipped my fingers into collecting Boulders. I tried Volume 1 and wasn't very impressed by the sound. Way too many songs on each side. Far too crammed.

I tried another one. It's the one with a cartoon of The Byrds on the cover. Wow, what the hell is going on with the sound on that?? I quickly sold that on.

Then I bought Psychedelic Visions and that sounded even worse...

I just think by the mid 90s I was a bit worn out by the compilation scene and needed an excuse to start buying original 45s. I actually put off buying Teenage Shutdowns because I thought they were just another 'knock-off' series. I remember trying one out about 12 years ago and was suitably impressed to buy them all.

I still buy 60s garage comps but only if they're on Big Beat or Sundazed or other top grade re-issue label. I'm not fussed if they're on CD or not. I actually dig CDs. Not so much the small writing in the booklets though.

By the way when I buy vintage 45s I only acquire copies in at least EX condition.
I'm not bothered about beat up discs full of scratches etc.
 
Sylvain,

I was like you years ago and I guess Expo too. Loved those comps, even Boulders, it was thee early 80's I had a wad'o'cash from a lucrative Vespa accident which brought me in 5,000 pounds U.K. for my busted leg, a year in plaster, a bone graft, some nice scars. So, with my compensation I got me a little vintage car a '58 Ford Prefect (The Black Barracuda) and went to London every month and blew cash on many of these Comps. The more tracks squeezed in the better, for me it was these mysterious unknown songs, not the quality.

I eventually succumbed to the call of the original later. Eventually asking the salesman if they had real USA Garage 45's they would hand over a tiny box of US released stuff. The first 45 I brought was The Triumphs - The Walk / People Try My Mind on Genuine. OK not a monster but People Try My Mind is still a moody favourite. Those original 45 boxes were full of common discs and kind of expensive could have got me 2 comps for the cost of say one Balloon Farm.

I know now how monetarily stupid I was getting the comps over original vinyl but the amount of great songs and bands I heard on "bad comps" gave another thrill. Somehow I started getting lists from a lady called Ivy in NY of original vinyl late 80's I guess, an advert in A fanzine maybe or NME ??? I dunno!! But these lists came every 3 months, descriptions of the songs, graded I read every line drooling, carefully assessing which combination I could get most bangs for my bucks. Then when I did fling for a comped favourite and those boxes of 45's started falling in the door my comping mostly ceased, The Sound was amazing, Loud, clear and on 7 inches of wonder. I never had the best sound system but it was damned noticeable even to my tuned out ears. ...these were VG copies mostly.

If you are going to start in BFTG artists it's gonna be less of a impact of quality difference as they were well copied.

Sylvian you have those Spanish bands and Euro beat releases lying around there, the trick is to find them, trade them and buy the US stuff out of your profits.

Good Luck with your up-coming addiction because once you dip your ears into thee original releases you are hooked. Just look at the junkies here and beware.:D
 
Sylvain.... I would seriously NOT recommend selling your comps..... just ask Hicksville, he sold me a great deal of comps before he moved to America, the only compensation for him probably is knowing these comps went to good hands i.e. me.... I was probably about 20 when Gavin gave me his comps, seven years later, I still have them and cherish them and they've been a great help for me, as a musician, but also emotionally too.

the comps are my early to mid twenties set to music, then from my mid-twenties to now, I've been fortunate that I've been able to release my own music, which honours these groups.

I started collecting 45s myself about 5 years ago, but only in the last two years have I really gone nuts, almost weekly I buy a garage 45 in some form or another.... also what I found happened to me too, is I now only really invest my money in 60s garage, I occasionally buy doo-wop, r&b or 70s and 80s punk 7" singles, but my own collecting is just 1965 - 67 for the most part.

in short... don't sell the comps, just start buying easier to find 45s first.... i.e. the Seeds, Beau Brummels, Turtles, easier to find Elevators stuff, Castaways etc etc.... then progress to the next level and so on and so forth.... a 45 is basically worth how much it is to you and how much you feel it's worth to you.

eg.... I just won a copy of The Cobra's - Goodbye, spent about 60 bucks (incl postage)... I know I could've got this cheaper, i've seen it go a few times way cheaper... but I dig this song so much, so didn't care that I spend more on it.


Paul
 
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