Customer Reviews

The Essential Pebbles Collection, Vol. 1

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It goes without saying, with a collection title like ESSENTIAL PEBBLES, each song should be a winner. Disc 1 collects the creme de la creme of the first 10 CD volumes of the PEBBLES garage/punk series, and not one of these songs is bad! From The Preachers' "Who Do You Love" to Teddy and Patches' "Suzy Creamcheese" to The Trolls' "Every Day and Every Night" to The Uncalled For's "Do Like Me" to Keith Kessler's "Don't Crowd Me", all 29 tracks are a superb primer for the newcomer to the garage scene and will have you scrambling to get every volume of the PEBBLES collection (buyer beware: not all of them are this great). The last three songs, The Mile Ends' "Bottle Up and Go", Bohemian Vendetta's "Enough", and "Don't Crowd Me", are from the EAR PIERCING PUNK CD, an offshoot volume of the PEBBLES run.

Disc 2 is where the collection starts to wane. Containing 26 rare 45's and acetates from around the U.S., including some groups whose names are unknown (!), this is the real reason that even those who have every PEBBLES CD will be in heaven with this set. Not every song on this disc is a classic; as a matter of fact, you might say some of them deserve to be left in the dusty vaults they came from. But the highlights include: The Motifs' "Someday", The Shays' "Brainwashed" (which is bleeped for profanity!), The Sinners' French-language "Sinnerisme", The Mixed Emotions' "Can't You Stop It Now", The Thunderbolts' "Heart So Cold", Peter and the Wolves' "Hey Mama" and "Only Everything" (a cover of Them's "I Can Only Give You Everything"), The Shades' "Down the Road Apiece", The Dynamic Nutones' "Sick and Tired", The Hustlers' "The Sky is Black", The Thorns' "I'm in Love", and an unknown group's "Fed Up". Unfortunately a lot of the songs tend to sound identical to one another, but the fact that they probably weren't heard outside of their particular region makes them a real treat to finally be able to experience!

If you purchased the Rhino box set, "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era", and liked what you heard, you will want to make this CD your next purchase. Unlike the Rhino box, which included both top 40 successes and obscure cuts, this CD is filled with songs you've probably never heard before. But don't let that stop you from buying it. As this CD well demonstrates, not every great record was a commercial success. And only one of the 55 cuts on this CD is a duplicate of the ones on the Rhino box. All are from roughly the same year: 1966, probably the last year that the 45 single was still king in the record business before the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper changed everything to album-oriented rock. But crank this CD up, step back almost 35 years, and enjoy Keith Kessler's "Don't Crowd Me", The Grains of Sand's "Going Away Baby", The Roosters' "You Gotta Run", and the other great songs you'll find here. The only down side is that the sound quality of some of the cuts (especially on the second CD, which has the rarer tracks) is grim. Many are not from the original tapes but from 45s that may have seen more use as frisbees.

What a surprise to discover that a song I recorded when I was 15 years old, in 1965, is selling on a compilation in 2005!!! I played the farfisa organ on "Searching" by the "Omens". We recorded this in a cramped, second floor apartment in Hammond, Indiana on a reel to reel tape. It was a wild time, playing teen clubs and sock hops, and paying WLTH DJ Ron Borden every $ we made to play the record on his radio show. This collection captures the vibrant energy of the 60's and showcases the raw talent that was rampant at the time.

Every track on this double cd set is an honest attempt at creating music. Most are obvious attempts at creating a hit single. There is no filler here. I think only one group has two tracks, all the rest are done by different groups. This all sounds like the best off the top of their heads, spontaneous, give it their best at creating a hit single. This is where most groups should stop. If you liked ? and the Mysterians , The Beau Brummels, The Syndicate of sound, Count Five, fuzzy guitars, cheezy organs, and guitars that actually sounded like guitars and real songs with tunes then, this is for you. Sure, some of the sound quality is poor as in snap crackle and pop, but nothing is ever perfect. My favorite song is The Sky is Black by the Hustlers. It is a beautiful ballad with an amateurish voice over slowly strummed guitar chords with a cheap organ in the background and drums and base. It has static snaps crackles and pops and sounds like I just can't tune in that Chicago station as I approach Camp Lejuene North Carolina. Sound quality like this is best heard on a boom box where everything sounds the same and you just listen to the music. Also, if you like this cd then check out "The sounds of Young Sacramento".

Enjoy!!!

I was getting my oil changed at the local walmart the other day when I saw a lead article in USA today about how kids are starting to listen to the same music their parents did. Most of the kids quoted complained about a lack of quality with todays rockers. This is true. The problem is that no kids are learning to make it anymore.
The essential pebbles collection has none of this. All of the songs here were made by kids who were emulating everyone else they could see. 1966 was the most prolific musical year in history. And there are no bad songs on disc one. Even disc two is historically interesting. By the way, there are no master tapes to make the cd from. The singles are all that survives now. Some of what is on disc two has only one copy known worldwide. It saddens me to think what likely has been lost over the years.
This is the disc that made me get off my rear end and break out the old bass guitar, at age 42. If you know a kid who listens to Queen or the Rolling Stones, get them this and the nuggets box. We need new blood very badly.

Incredible, unbelievably entertaining rock-and-roll from an era where it was all about FUN. Rock and roll's in a sad sad state nowadays with all these bloated egos and "artists" who think they have something IMPORTANT to say. This 2-CD set is the antidote. Just a bunch of nobodies cranking out vicious, righteous, REAL r&r simply for the pure pleasure of it. If you can't rock out to songs like "It's A Cryin' Shame" or "Down The Road Apiece," check your pulse -- you may be dead!

Along with Nuggets and the Back from the Grave CDs, the first volume of the Essential Pebbles series is one of the greatest purchases that a garage rock fan can make. The two discs that make up this set are crammed full of brainbending mid-60s classics of the highest order. The songs are raw, crude, murderously energetic, and more fun than a roller coaster- in other words, everything that rock 'n' roll is supposed to be.

The first disc of the set is particularly impressive. It cobbles together 29 of the best tracks from the first ten CDs of the long-running Pebbles series, as well as three cuts from Ear-Piercing Punk, an offshoot of the series. These songs are simply astounding. The Preachers' cover of "Who Do You Love" opens the album with a menacing burst of drums, some filthy guitars, and an absurdly thuggish, greasy, mean-as-hell vocal. The Grains of Sand keep the party going with the hyperactive "Going Away Baby," which features an ultra-hip vocal and an organ solo that practically bounces off the walls of the recording studio. The Jujus' "You Treat Me Bad" is as absurd as it is catchy, thanks to its oddly appealing impish vocals and shimmering guitar line. The Haunted's "1-2-5" is a churning, greasy punk rocker with a nasty guitar line and a strutting rhythm section. The Wild Knights' "Beaver Patrol" is pure macho-posturing frat-rock, with a hilariously stupid vocal performance and a grinding R&B sensibility. The Lyrics' "So What" is a furious snarling stomper with some truly mean harmonicas. The Green Fuz's "Green Fuz" may very well be the greatest garage rock song of all time- it's inarticulate, deranged, played without an ounce of professionalism, and catchier than anything you've ever experienced. Crank it up. Teddy & The Patches "Suzy Creamchease" is a hilarious Frank Zappa ripoff with a brutal fuzz guitar onslaught, while T.C. Atlantic's "Faces" is a grooving acid storm with some truly trippy lyrics. William Penn V's "Swami" is a gut-bustingly funny piece of acid-rock-garage with some buzzing guitars and an addictive rhythm. The Tree's "No Good Woman" is a raving three-chord pounder with furious vocals, and the Plague's "Go Away" expands on the wildest aspects of the Kinks' early singles. The Gentlemans' "It's A Crying Shame" is a roaring stomper that begs you to sing along with it, and the Omens' "Searching" is a firestorm of swirling organs and roaring guitars. The Foggy Notions' "Need a Little Loving" is a (relatively) slow burning tune with some awesome, sensual vocals. Dean Carter's "Rebel Woman" is a classic piece of salivating desire, and the Lost Agency's "One Girl Man" is a sneering stomper of the highest order. The Trolls' "Every Night & Every Day" is a catchy three-chorder with some surprisingly funny lyrics. The Starfires' "I Never Loved Her" is quiter than some of the other songs here, but it burns with its own fiery intensity. The Beckett Quintet's "No Correspondance" is a merseybeat popper with a shimmering guitar lick. The Dovers' "She's Not Just Anybody" is just plain astounding, a bewitching slice of Beatles-influenced folk rock with a delicate cascade of guitars and a wistful, haunting vocal. The Hysterics' "Everything's There" has what may be the single filthiest vocal performances in history, and the broken-glass guitar line is icing on the cake. The Good Feelings' "Shattered" is a spacey swirl of keyboards and crunching guitars, while the Breakers' "I Ain't Dead Yet" is a defiant rocker with a rumbling melody. The Uncalled For's "Do Like Me" is one of the catchiest songs ever, a strutting popper that steadily builds in intensity. The Gonn's "Doin' Me In" is another one of those incredble garage rock epiphanies- it's a two chord punk apocalaypse with what can only be described as a gloriously desperate vocal. The Mile Ends' "Bottle Up and Go" is a sneering, dissafected raver, and the Bohemian Vendetta's "Enough" pounds along with a smokey organ riff. Keith Kessler closes out the disc with the surging "Don't Crowd Me." So, yep, every single song on disc 1 is awesome.

Disc 2, meanwhile, brings together a bunch of incredibly rare garage rock tunes that've never been reisuued before. They're not all winners, but there are enough good 'uns (such as the Motifs' "Someday" and the Shays' brilliant "Brainwashed") to make it an excellent listen for both newbies and diehard garage fans alike.

This is one of Garage rock's very finest compilations, a testiment to the power of the music at its best. Nobody who's even remotely interestred in garage shoudl be without this.

Long before there were Ramones. In the age of the Rollin' Stones. There were teenage, pimple-faced, boys trying to copy the latest Them, Rolling Stones, and Yardbirds tracks. The Beatles were for the girls, but the boys went back to the garage and became cavemen in spirit and in song. The Pebbles colection does a "deep dive" where Nuggest could only scrtach the surface. A must for anyone who has the guts to hear rock primortal.

Simply put, the Pebbles collection, as the name implies, have less known, but equally as tasty,( and in many cases, more creatively tasty) morsals from the mid to late 60's, and with the Boulders collections, perfectly picks up where the award winning Nuggets box set leaves off.

Let's face it: all of us that started playing rock and roll played like the bands who made these tunes- frenzied, trying to show off that one lick, even poorly, in some cases, but we didn't CARE! It was making music for the love of doing it!

This collection, as well as its 2nd volume, perfectly showcases that renegade spirit, and that's why I smile every time I listen to the Woolie's famous "Who Do You Love" being covered by everyone from George Thorogood to the most novice of garage bands!

These songs may sound amateurish, and in many cases, they do, but its the SPIRIT they embody that lifts them to the heights they reach.

Great stuff!

Rock the way it should be playd by the ones who should play it