Customer Reviews

Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't get where some of the last few critics are coming from. Yes, sadly some of the members of the bands featured on this album ossified into prog-rockers come the '70's -- just like some some punk generation musicians ossified into lounge singers, fake rockabillies, world-music twerps or pop acts. So what? It doesn't take an iota of energy away from the music they and their cohorts played when they were young. The great songs here are too many to list, but include the incredibly catchy and riffy "Sorry" by the Easybeats; a maximum R'n'B "I'll Keep Holding On" by the well-named Action; the incredibly produced and jubilantly trippy "My White Bicycle" by Tomorrow; the aggressive "Making Time" by the Creation; the too-wonderful-for-words "My Friend Jack" by the Smoke (just check out that opening guitar!); "How is the Air Up There?" by the La De Da's, who out-Stone the Stones; and "Social End Product" by the Bluestars - proto-punk if I've ever heard it. And these are just the English-speaking groups: "Your Body Not Your Soul", "I'm Just a Mops", "Break it All" and "Get Down from the Tree" are performed by groups from the Netherlands, Japan, Ecuador and Spain, if I'm not mistaken - not countries generally known for rock - until now, maybe. Most of the songs on here remind me of punk - generally, everything is fast, loud, furious and clearly made by kids looking for rules to break, and you can just about picture these bands sweating out their songs in garages. Its great, essential music - I got it two months ago, and I'm still absorbing it, like a great book or complex movie. Its not a perfect collection - for example, I don't like a good chunk of disk 2 - and the pricetag is high, no doubt. Nevertheless, you're not going to find most of this stuff anywhere else, and this colletion is worth the price because there are a lot of new sounds to enjoy here, even if the music is more than thirty years old. Highly, highly recommended.

Once again, as they did with the first Nuggets Box and the first Doo Wop Box, the good folks at Rhino Records have produced a collection that is simply the finest of its type. In every way -- sound quality, liner notes, packaging, song selection, and sheer volume -- this box, like those others, shows evidence of great care and leaves most other similar collections in the dust.

The selection here is more wide-ranging than on the first Nuggets box, both geographically and in terms of style. The first box had a lot of fairly-well known songs; here we get just a handful of favorites and classics ("My White Bicycle", "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", "Friday on My Mind", "Pictures of Matchstick Men") along with a lot of great recordings that even dedicated listeners may not be familiar with. (I've been listening to music of this ilk for years, and I had heard less than half of these songs.)

I was particularly delighted with the inclusion of "Reflections of Charles Brown" (a song I had been wanting to hear for years -- and also, incidentally, proof that not everything here is fast and loud); "No Presents for Me" (a personal favorite); and Love Sculpture's "In the Land of the Few" (an excellent song, a true lost gem, here presented in an extended version from the one I'd heard before -- what a treat!). Plus, I've made lots of new favorites, and gained a greater appreciation of some songs I knew before after hearing them in this context and with this quality.

Folks expecting this to sound like the first Nuggets box set might be a bit disappointed: while some of the non-British groups do have an American-garage-band-type sound (like the La De Das from New Zealand and Los Chijuas from Mexico), and we do get some of the hard-edged British R&B that helped inspire American garage bands ("I Can Only Give You Everything", "Rosalyn"), a lot of the songs here show more evidence of self-conscious craft and studio experimentation.

This collection mostly leaves out Merseybeat (unless it comes from Uruguay -- Go Shakers!!), the more "twee" side of British psychedelia, and the tamer side of British R&B, in favor of edgier freakbeat and more experimental, psychedelic stuff, along with straight-ahead British pop-rock (the Mockingbirds' excellent "You Stole My Love") and lots of great examples of the rock scenes from outside the U.S. and U.K. (my favorites include the aforementioned Shakers, Japan's Mops, Holland's Q65, and "You Can Be My Baby" by Denmark's Red Squares).

I must single out the liner notes for particular praise -- they are absolutely excellent. Alec Palao's introductory essay is insightful and incisive, Mike Stax's track-by-track notes are full of great info, and the whole booklet makes for great reading.

Of course a few of my personal favorites didn't make the cut, like Rupert's People's "Dream in My Mind", the Curiosity Shoppe's "Baby I Need You", "Things She Says" by the In Crowd, and "Grey" by the Hush -- and I wish they had included the Mockingbirds' anti-conformity anthem "One By One" instead of the lesser "How to Find a Lover". There are about six misses here, in my opinion (for instance, I'm sorry, but I just don't like John's Children much). That's a couple more than the first Nuggets box had, I think -- but that still leaves over 100 excellent choices. Overall, I think any fan of '60s British rock, or anyone interested in non-U.S., non-U.K. '60s rock who picks this up will consider it money very well spent.

I'm hoping for at least one more Nuggets box (please?). If the folks at Rhino are concerned about "scraping the bottom of the barrel", perhaps they could make it half U.S. and half the rest of the world, to spread around the (very minimal) risk.

(One more note, to '60s anthology compilers: I have maybe 18 collections along the lines of this one, and "Circles" by Les Fleur De Lys is on no less than six of them. Yes, it's good, and it definitely belongs here -- but now, enough, already!)

This second compilation box of rare garage/freakbeat/psych from the 60s is certainly worth the price. I had heard 28 of the 109 tracks on here before I bought it, and had been looking for most of the other bands for quite some time now. Thank you, Rhino, for making these obscure groups and songs available, as you did for the first set. An important missing piece of rock history is being filled by "Nuggets II", for one gets to see that rock music extended as far as Iceland and Peru, where groups tried their best to mimic The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Yardbirds--and didn't do too bad a job, either. The majority of the set, however, is taken up by the glorious UK acts, where one can see R&B raveups turn into mod-influenced freakbeat and then flower into psychedelia all within a three-to-four year timespan. The sound quality and extensive liner notes are top-notch, as usual. However, in spite of being a huge fan of this music, about a quarter of the songs have a certain mediocre/generic/Spinal Tap-ish quality to them (the same thing slightly marred the first Nuggets box), which can't be helped in such an overview of ultra-obscure acts: some will be surprisingly great, while others probably deserved their fate. Also, hearing the set all in one lump (as I did) will cause some listener fatigue, as the songs do tend to run into each other in spite of the compiler's best attempts at diversity (you will find no ballads on here, for one--it's all full-blast "beat music from hell" from start to finish). The classic tracks include "Making Time", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" (the lyric *does* unlock life's mysteries, I swear!), "My Friend Jack", "A Midsummer Night's Scene", "Midnight To Six Man", "Mud In Your Eye", "Save Your Soul", "My White Bicycle", "Listen To The Sky", "Children Of The Sun", "Crawdaddy Simone", "Here Come The Nice", and "I Must Be Mad". So, in spite of the quibbles--which, again, almost can't be helped in a set whose purpose is partly archival--"Nuggets II" contains essential listening on some of the coolest genres of the mid-to-late 60s, by bands the casual listener (and even the avid collector) will probably have never heard. What more can you ask for? Well, maybe a "Nuggets III"...

My name is ..., and I grew up in London in the 1960's. My boyfriend was a member of a band called Get Rich Quick. They only made one little record, but when I played this box set, it brought back wonderful memories. I would go every week to see the bands that played in and around London, and my favorites were the Birds and Small Faces. The records are great, but you couldn't believe how great they were to see live! Anyhow, this is spose to be a review not my life story, so on with my opinions. It is my opinion the music represented by this box set to be the best music ever made by any one at any time. Only an idiot wouldn't like this music. These big, fat sloppy hippy bands ruined everything for cool groups like the Birds and Creation. Why on earth do people like boring music like James Taylor and Jim Croce...and the worst, Don McClean. Do you know how much I wanted to vomit when Madona did a remake of American Pie? Well, if your feelings are hurt by these opinions, you dont deserve this box set. You are some loser square witha shape like a pear with some bloke like a bear sitting by your chair you silly beanie babie. I guess the best stuff besides the Birds and Small Faces are Thor's Hammer. These guys remind me of my boyfriends group. They really are over the top. But get this records and tell them Swingin little ... a groovy mod girl told ya it was ducky. Toodles!

One of my fondest memories is my 1st hearing of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Love To You" during the summer of 1966. At that first hearing, I know that music, and to an even larger extent myself, had changed forever. From there, I eagerly awaited the full flowering of British Psychedelia.
For the past two years I've had an insatiable appetite for British pop / rock from 1966 - 1970. I've purchased discs by The Pretty Things, The Move, Kaliedescope, Family, The Smoke, Fire (as well as replaced LPs by the Moody Blues, Traffic, Procol Harum, and Cream).
I've pretty much run out of classic British Psych. albums to purchase which brings me to the Nuggets 2 set.
This amazing set brings together an excellant array of even more obscure British Psych. classics, B tunes, etc and all wonderfully remastered. There's a real sence of discovery with each listening. Sure, there is some filler and I wish the producers / compliers weren't so militantly "no hit" oriented. I too would have liked a few more songs by The Creation, John's Children, The Action, etc. but by in large, this is the perfect compliment to classic albums such as "Pepper", "Piper", "S. F. Sorrows", "Ogden Nut", etc. Great stuff and all in one collection. A must have! Oh, and to the person who wrote that it was "too British", if you don't like the genre, why critique the album?

I just finished listening to this set for the second time today. Just like you can't put a good book down, I can't stop listening to this set. Every song is a winner, even more so than the first Nuggets box. Having been born in August, 1965, I kick myself often that I could not experience that era first hand. I could never have imagined the variety of rock that was around then. I am by no means an expert on 60's rock but I was familiar with the Small Faces, Pretty Things, the Creation, Love Sculpture, the Move, the Easybeats, Status Quo and David Jones (Bowie). But I never imagined that my favorite songs from this box would be by the Mops from Japan(!), the Poets from the U.K. and Os Mutantes from Brazil!! Or how about that gem by Los Shakers from Uruguay doing the best Beatles knockoff since the Knickerbockers. Rhino has yet to disappoint me. They really are saviors of the art of making an album. I guess I do things backwards but it's time to start finding some of these bands' original records on the internet.

Somehow the folks at Rhino (with a nice assist from ex-Sneetch and writer Alec Palao, Greg "Mr. Bomp" Shaw, and Mike "Ugly Things" Stax) topped the American garage pop/punk box from a few years previous with this one.

What really sticks out for me on this set is not only the incredible diversity of music, but also the quality of the tracks that are offered. It's one thing to be reminded of the genius of The Action on the sixth track in--quite another to find that deep into disc four the music is no less golden, and quite often by bands you may have heard of, but never actually heard. This definitely separates from the first Nuggets Box in more stylistic ways as well. Listening to many of the wonderful songs in the first box, a bit of "sameness" begins to take hold about the seventh time you hear the riff from "I'm A Man" kick in. Don't get me wrong--I love the American Punk Rock of the first set, but listening for more than an hour or so at a time induces a pretty heavy dose of listener fatigue. Not so with the more varied tunes chosen for this version.

Finally, I've seen some get-a-life types on various chat lists moaning about the inclusion of so many "hits" in this box, and I don't get it. OK--"Friday On My Mind" and "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" were both top 20 hits. "Making Time" finally got some exposure thanks to the RUSHMORE soundtrack. Fans of the time and setting will recognize some of the offerings by The Move, The Pretty Things, and a few others. So, figuring that if 2 songs were hits and you've heard six to ten other songs on other comps...that still leaves 90-100 songs or so to discover, which doesn't exactly make this NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC VOL. XX.

'not sure why "A music fan from Austin, Texas" despises "I'm Just A Mops" by The Mops so much. I would easily place it in the Top 20 best songs on this impeccable collection (circa #17). It is FAR from being the worst song in the collection. That honor goes to "Love Hate Revenge" by Episode Six. Luckily for Ian Gillan and Roger Glover (and music fans), they went on to create better material with Deep Purple, Gillan, Rainbow and Black Sabbath.

Compared to the [stuff]that passes for "music" today (Creed, Linkin Park, any Rap/Hip-Hopper de jour with a "Z" in his name, etc.) this disc is pure magic. I would put "Love Hate Revenge" on a 24-hour loop before I would listen to a single "note" (?) of Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit.

BTW, do you know why Slipknot never remove their masks? Because we would all discover that they are actually Creed and Limp Bizkit working together to "create" even [worse] "music".

Let me start by saying that I truly loved the first Nuggets boxed set, but this one is even better. I was already familiar with most of the tracks on this collection from collecting the 45's and compilations albums like Perfumed Garden, Rubbles, Ugly Things, etc. in the early to mid '80s when this stuff was more readily available (and not as ridiculously expensive!), but having them in CD format now means that the endless search for styluses for my record player is over. This compilation takes the best of the best and packages it in a gorgeous box with AMAZING liner notes by Mike Stax (the only person capable of taking on the task of writing about all the bands included). The killer tracks for me are "Crawdaddy Simone", "My Friend Jack", "Kicks & Chicks" - truly perfect music. Rhino has done a fantastic job compiling all these tracks and putting out what can only be described as the ultimate collection of freaked out '60s music that everyone should be forced to listen to.

Absolutely the best single collection of '60s garage, psych, freakbeat and mod music from around the world ever produced. Nuggets II takes off where Nuggets I started by leaving American shores and exploring the rock phenomenon of the sixties from a world viewpoint. The result is stunning collection of music from Europe, Asia, South America, New Zealand and Australia that is a must have for any sixties rock enthusiast. Nuggets II is proof positive of the world wide reach of rock on sixties youth culture. For example not only do you get a great dose of English rock from bands such as the Move, John's Children or The Pretty Things, you get excellent bands from around the world such as the Netherlands Q65, Australia's The Easybeats (containing the older brother of AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young) and Japan's The Mops. One of the odder songs is Bat Macumba from Brazil's Os Mutantes which is a take on psychedelica Brazilian style. There's some really cool stuff in here folks. As an added bonus you get an excellent booklet that has a bio and pictures of each and every band as well as several essays on sixties rock and collecting. What I found to be especially amusing is seeing some later stars such as Andy Summers of the Police, Deep Purple's Ian Gillan, The Stones' Ron Wood or Yes' Steve Howe, among many others, in their earlier, oftimes first bands dressing in the heighth of hip sixties fashion. If you like sixties rock you owe it to yourself to pick up this collection of oftimes obscure and forgotten gems, you won't be disappointed.