Popular club DJ Keb Darge – who knows dusty garages and rare records – turns up some cool cuts on this intro to 60s teen punk.
Here's the scoop...
After the success of Keb Darge’s 2023 Ace Rockabilly compilation (CHD 1637) the legend returns with another collection of music close to his heart.
On “Keb Darge Presents The Best Of Ace Sixties Garage Punk” the smooth-headed maestro pulls open his curtains to reveal a selection of US garage stompers from the 60s. “Though there are a couple of “never before on vinyl” tunes here for serious collectors, this compilation is aimed at those folk who are just getting into it,” states Keb “I have picked a selection of my favourites from the nice cheap and easy to find stuff up to the four figure and bloody hard to find stuff.” Artists like the Hooterville Trolley, the Litter, the Music Machine, the Venturie 5, The Lyrics and the Nightcrawers reflect back light towards British invasion bands like the Who, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones, home-grown garage flowers and the dark end of the psychedelic street. Laced with fuzzed guitar, enthusiasm, a driving beat and an attitude that was proto-punk this music remains fresh and is already being embraced by a new generation.
With liner notes from Keb and housed in a sleeve by Robin Banks −who also did the artwork for Keb’s Rockabilly compilation − this is an essential purchase. Get a copy directly from Ace UK right here here. Check out a few tracks below.
The deluxe double-LP reissue of The Seeds' 1966 garage rock classic in mono will be out November 24th.
Here's the scoop...
The 60s punk anthems ‘Can’t Seem To Make You Mine’ and ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ pack as resonant a punch today as they did when first heard as the first two singles by a strangely attired, off-beat sounding Los Angeles outfit known as the Seeds. The group stands prominent amongst the handful of mid-60s garage bands whose influence is palpable in rock to this day. Led by charismatic frontman Sky Saxon, their unique and exciting brand of minimalist rock’n’roll has remained forever contemporary.
Both of these classics were included upon the Seeds’ eponymous debut long-player, which was the apotheosis of the band’s achievement. Like the first Ramones album, it is one of rock’s great debuts; a record where a signature style was sharply defined.
Never mind that, at the time of its release in July 1966, “The Seeds” was one of the very few albums by an unknown group that contained completely original material; it was also one of the few albums from a group of their kind, full stop. Saxon’s insistence upon a stark and eye-catching front cover, depicting the combo in all their hirsute glory, guaranteed curiosity at the very least. But it was what the record contained that counts, and it is mandatory listening for any true fan of rock’n’roll in its purest, most elemental form. With cuts such as ‘No Escape’, ‘Girl I Want You’ and ‘Nobody Spoil My Fun’, “The Seeds” still represents the band at their edgiest and most focused.
Richard Marsh had arrived in late 1950s Hollywood from his native Salt Lake City hungry for stardom, but it was only after a half-dozen schlock singles that he turned what might have seem a distinct disadvantage – a thin, whining voice, less than movie star looks, and only a modicum of musical prowess – into the charismatic persona of Sky Saxon.
Those familiar with Saxon’s often diffuse and rambling post-Seeds work may hardly recognize the incredible focus and power he brought to the band’s first two years of existence. Saxon would not and could not have achieved his eventual breakthrough without the express assistance of his fellow Seeds – who were never, ever his “sidemen,” no matter how the media (or on occasion, the band’s management) viewed them. Daryl Hooper, Jan Savage and Rick Andridge were, like Saxon, all refugees from middle America, subsisting on cheap Hollywood gigs in the vague but resilient hope that success might come their way. The quartet span their own relentless web of sound, tinged with a haunting patina that is uniquely Seeds.
With the generous co-operation of original label GNP Crescendo, no stone has been left unturned in order to present “The Seeds” in the best possible quality. Our deluxe reissue boasts the superlative, punchy mono mix, heretofore unavailable on CD, along with ten bonus tracks – seven of which are previously unissued – thereby doubling the length of the original album.
These include the full length, unedited take of ‘Evil Hoodoo’, the unreleased song ‘Dreaming Of Your Love’ and early versions of their classic B-sides ‘Daisy Mae’ and ‘Out Of The Question’, spiced with some priceless studio chat. The 36-page booklet examines the Seeds’ early career in unprecedented detail, based on fresh research and interviews with the surviving participants. Keyboard player Daryl Hooper – the true architect of the Seeds sound – opened his files to share a swathe of incredible, rarely seen illustrations. Big Beat’s expanded and definitive edition of this cornerstone garage rock opus is the first salvo in our campaign to reinstate the Seeds’ catalogue to its rightful glory – watch this space. By Alec Palao
Pre-order a copy of The Seeds Deluxe LP right here. Check out a TV appearance by The Seeds performing "Pushin' Too Hard" as The Warts following the track list below.
The Seeds - The Seeds: Deluxe Edition LP
Side 1
01 Can't Seem To Make You Mine
02 No Escape
03 Lose Your Mind
04 Evil Hoodoo
05 Girl I Want You
06 Pushin' Too Hard
Side 2
01 Try To Understand
02 Nobody Spoil My Fun
03 It's A Hard Life
04 You Can't Be Trusted
05 Excuse, Excuse
06 Fallin' In Love
Side 3
01 Out Of the Question (version 1, master)
02 Excuse Excuse
03 Dreaming Of Your Love
04 Pushin' Too Hard (take 1)
05 The Other Place (take 2)
06 It's A Hard Life (take 3)
07 Nobody Spoil My Fun (alternate overdub, take 3A)
Side 4
01 You Can't Be Trusted (take 3)
02 Evil Hoodoo (unedited take and intercut section)
Can I Be A Witness boasts previously unreleased tracks by The Soul Children, Little Milton, Nightingales & Sweet Inspirations.
Here's the scoop...
A brand-new collection gathered from the Stax catalogue of southern-flavoured dancers, from soul to funk and in between, Can I Be A Witness: Stax Southern Groove (due September 24) features 11 previously unreleased tracks from such illustrious names as The Soul Children, Little Milton, The Emotions, The Sweet Inspirations, The Nightingales and Frederick Knight, amongst others.
The other nine tracks from artists such as Eddie Floyd, R.B. Hudmon, Rance Allen Group and Eric Mercury delve deep into the archive, bringing you B-sides, obscure album cuts, dancefloor favourites and originally unissued tracks.
The booklet is well illustrated and comes with an in-depth essay from compiler Dean Rudland.
Check out a few of the tunes following the track listing below.
Various Artists – Can I Be A Witness: Stax Southern Groove (Kent/Ace)
1. BAD WATER - LITTLE MILTON Previously unissued (2021) 3.02
2. CAN WE TALK THIS OVER - EDDIE FLOYD Originally unissued. Stax CDSXD 116 (1998) 3.02
3. HOW CAN I BE A WITNESS - RB HUDMON Truth 3230 (1975) 3.03
4. LOVE IS TAKING OVER - ERIC MERCURY Enterprise 9080 (1973) 3.48
5. BURNING ON BOTH ENDS - THE NIGHTINGALES Previously unissued (2021) 3.13
6. FOREVER AND A DAY - MEL & TIM Stax 0224 / Stax LP STS 5501 (1973) 4.39
7. I WANNA MAKE UP (BEFORE WE BREAK UP) - MAJOR LANCE Volt 4079 (1972) 3.59*
8. YOU AIN’T PLAYING WITH NO TOY - THE SOUL CHILDREN Previously unissued (2021) 3.24
9. I GOT TO BE MYSELF - THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP Gospel Truth 1208 / Gospel Truth LP GTS-3502 (1973) 2.50
10. PASSING THRU/WORLD KEEPS TURNING - FREDERICK KNIGHT Previously unissued extended version of Truth 3202 (2021) 10.54
Blues great John Lee Hooker's fabulous early recordings for Bernard Besman's Sensation label have finally been gathered in one place by the Ace label.
Ace's latest John Lee Hooker archival release, Documenting The Sensation Recordings 1948-1952 –slated for release May 29th – brings together for the first time the blues legend’s recordings for Bernard Besman’s Sensation label with superior sound and sessionography.
Ace acquired a lot of John Lee Hooker sides when we purchased the Sensation label from Bernard Besman. Bernie had also sold some sides to United Artists and to Greene Bottle before then. However, no-one has carried out a forensic investigation into exactly what we had bought, until now.
These three CDs contain all of the Besman John Lee Hooker sides gathered in one place for the first time. Also included is the Little Eddie Kirkland RPM single with John Lee Hooker on second guitar and vocal. There has been meticulous tape research for best sources, so the mastering far exceeds anything presented before, as anyone who has the ‘Boogie Chillen’’/‘Boogie Chillen’ #2’ 10-inch 78 we recently issued can attest. 19 different, previously unreleased versions of songs appeared in the research for the project, including extended takes and alternative versions.
The 71-track collection comes as a 3CD digipak box set. The accompanying booklet features an introductory note from Peter Guralnick, a comprehensive overview of the music from Dr. Wayne Goins, Director of Jazz Studies at Kansas State University, and a sessionography covering all the tracks on the CDs.
These early Hooker recordings are akin to jazz as much as the blues, with an improvisatory feel, harking back to the pre-war era, but with a very distinct approach and a unique sound presaging the blues that was to come. You can pre-order a copy of the 3CD set right here.
Check out the preview clip and listen to "Hoogie Boogie" and "Boogie Chillen' #2" followed by the complete track listing below.
John Lee Hooker – Documenting The Sensation Recordings 1948-1952 Disc 1
01 Sally Mae (alt take)
02 War Is Over (Goodbye California] (extended take)
03 War Is Over (Goodbye California) (alt take)
04 War Is Over (Goodbye California) (extended take)
05 Boogie Chillen'
06 Henry's Swing Club
07 Drifting From Door To Door
08 Hobo Blues (alt take)
09 Numbers Blues (aka She Ain't Good For Nothin' - alt take)
10 Alberta
11 Alberta (alt take)
12 Howlin' Wolf (aka I'm A Howling Wolf)
13 Crawlin' King Snake
14 Hoogie Boogie (instrumental)
15 Hastings Street Boogie (extended take)
16 Build Myself A Cave (aka The World Is In A Tangle - take 1)
17 Build Myself A Cave (aka The World Is In A Tangle - take 2)
18 Build Myself A Cave (aka The World Is In A Tangle - take 3)
19 Build Myself A Cave (aka The World Is In A Tangle - intercut of takes 2 & 3)
20 Graveyard Blues
21 Momma Poppa Boogie
22 Burnin' Hell
23 Sailing Blues (aka Drifting Blues)
24 Black Cat Blues
Disc 2
01 Weeping Willow Boogie (aka Weeping Willow)
02 Miss Sadie Mae
03 Sail On Little Girl
04 Alberta Part 2
05 Wednesday Evening (aka She Left Me On Bended Knee)
06 Canal Street Blues
07 Huckle Up Baby
08 Let Your Daddy Ride
09 Goin' On Highway #51
10 My Baby's Got Somethin'
11 Boogie Chillen' #2 (take 1)
12 Boogie Chillen' #2 (take 2)
13 Boogie Chillen' #2 (aka Jump Chillun - extended take 4)
14 Boogie Chillen' #2 (aka I Gotta Be comin' Back - extended take)
15 Boogie Chillen' #2 (aka 21 Boogie - alt extended take)
16 Roll 'n' Roll (alt take)
17 Rollin' Blues
18 Three Long Years Today
19 Strike Blues (extended take)
20 Do My Baby Think Of Me?
21 Give Me Your Phone Number (alt take)
22 The Story Of A Married Woman (alt take)
23 Moon Is Rising (alt take)
Disc 3
01 John L's House Rent Boogie (aka House Rent Boogie - alt take)
02 John L's House Rent Boogie (alt take I/T)
03 Queen Bee
04 Grinder Man
05 Walkin' This Highway
06 Women In My Life (aka Goin' Away Baby)
07 Tease Me Baby (aka Tease Your Daddy)
08 I Need Lovin' aka Tease Me Over Baby (aka Tease Me Over Baby - alt take)
09 How Can You Do It
10 I'm In The Mood
11 I'm In The Mood (humming overdub)
12 I'm In The Mood (harmonica overdub)
13 I'm In The Mood (alt take - aka "original one voice")
14 Turn Over A New Leaf
15 It Hurts Me So
16 It Hurts Me So (alt take)
17 I Got Eyes For You
18 I Got Eyes For You (alt take 2 or 5)
19 Key To The Highway
20 I Got The Key (alt take - Key To The Highway)
21 Bluebird Blues
22 That's All Right
23 It's Time For Lovin' To Be Done
24 That's All Right Boogie (underdub)
Along with being an outstanding session guitarist, Eddie Hinton was also a fine songwriter as Cover Me demonstrates.
Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook
Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler said he was going to be “the next big thing” more than 40 years ago. Sadly, life dealt Eddie Hinton several poor hands in his 51 years on Earth, from an early 70s drug bust that led to a premature departure from his home in Muscle Shoals to the release of a fantastic debut album Very Extremely Dangerous in 1977 that got buried when his record label, Capricorn, went bankrupt weeks afterwards, to a fatal heart attack in the 90s, just when he was finally beginning to achieve a long-deserved level of international recognition. No wonder he once wrote and recorded a song called ‘Hard Luck Guy’. If anyone ever earned such a soubriquet, it was Eddie Hinton.
This month Ace pays tribute to Eddie’s compositional skills by making him the latest exceptional talent in the label's acclaimed Songbook series. The songs on Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook span the first 10 years of his career. Between 1967 and 1977 he was writing with Muscle Shoals notables such as Marlin Greene, Donnie Fritts and Dan Penn, as well as playing guitar on almost every session held at Quinvy and Muscle Shoals Sound studios between 1967 and 1972. Eddie and his collaborators wrote great songs together, and many of the best can be heard here. In many cases he also cut the original versions of his songs, and if you are at all familiar with any of the three volumes of his demos that Zane Records released in the early 2000s you will be able to hear how closely many of the artists here followed the template of his incredibly soulful voice.
Eddie’s most famous song is probably ‘Breakfast In Bed’ but it is by no means the only great one in his catalogue. Apart from Dusty Springfield, his compositions have been recorded by Cher, Lulu, Alex Chilton, the Drive By Truckers, Percy Sledge and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few discerning souls who recognised their abundant qualities. If that isn’t an indication of how great a songwriter he was, then nothing is.
Many of the recordings included on the 24-track Cover Me collection are making their first appearance on CD. Some have never been reissued in any format. All offer a permanent testament to the talent of a man who was loved by his peers and is now recognised as a pivotal figure in the evolution of Muscle Shoals music. – TONY ROUNCE
Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook
01 Breakfast In Bed - Dusty Springfield
02 Down In Texas - Oscar Toney Jr.
03 Cover Me - Jackie Moore
04 A Little Bit Salty - Bobby Womack
05 Sure As Sin - Candi Staton
06 300 Pounds Of Hongry - Tony Joe White
07 Masquerade - Don Varner
08 Always David - The Sweet Inspirations
09 Poor Mary Has Drowned - Brick Wall
10 It's All Wrong But It's Alright - Eddie Hinton
11 Help Me Make It (Power Of A Woman's Love) - Mink Deville
12 Save The Children - Cher
13 Every Natural Thing - Aretha Franklin
14 If I Had Let You In - The Box Tops
15 Satisfaction Guaranteed - Judy White
16 Standing On The Mountain - Percy Sledge
17 I Got The Feeling - The Amazing Rhythm Aces
18 Home For The Summer - The Hour Glass featuring Gregg & Duane Allman
19 Lay It On Me - Gwen McCrae
20 People In Love - Lou Johnson
21 Where You Come From - Bonnie Bramlett
22 Seventeen Year Old Girl - Mickey Buckins & The New Breed
23 Love Waits For No Man - Al Johnson
24 Where's Eddie - Lulu
