Original Facebook Posts / Dec 2014 / THE SILENCERS

Previous 

Next 

UNDER APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER 2014:  THE SILENCERS 

The first time we all saw hula dancing was on Elvis Presley movies and other Hollywood productions, and it was typically winsome girls wearing grass skirts and small tops and flowered necklaces who were swaying gently to slow background music of no particular distinction.  I remember hearing that there was more to hula than that, but it wasn’t until I got to appraise Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki Beach (near Honolulu) that I actually saw how strong and athletic the dancing was (and how there were at least as many men dancing as women) and actually heard the drum-driven music that accompanies that dancing. 

It is much the same with surf music; there is no denying the talent and fun of the music by the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean (and earlier UARB the Rip Chords for that matter), but there is more to the surf sound than that. 

*       *       * 

My introduction to the tougher sounds of surf music was on one of the compilation albums of that period, Shut Downs and Hill Climbs that I picked up from Columbia Record Club when I was ordering Jan & Dean records and other such.  There are two Jan & Dean songs, “Hot Stocker” and “Little Deuce Coupe”; both are on one of their better albums, Drag City, with “Little Deuce Coupe” being a previous hit by the Beach Boys (and also the name of one of their albums, Little Deuce Coupe).  There are other cool numbers on the album also, such as “Six Days on the Road” by Dave Dudley, “Seven Little Girls Sittin’ in the Back Seat” by Paul Evans, two instrumentals by the Ventures (more about them later), and a cover of the Rip Chords hit “Hey Little Cobra” by the T-Bones (famous for their 1966 instrumental hit “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)”. 

I think that I ordered Shut Downs and Hill Climbs on the strength of “Hot Rod Lincoln” that a school chum had told me about.  In a sort of giddy deadpan manner, the song relates a race between two souped-up hot rods interspersed with hot guitar licks.  This version, by Johnny Bond, was a hit in 1960; but the song (and car songs in general) dates back a lot further than that. 

*       *       * 

The lyrics in the song are among the densest in popular music; the Charlie Ryan original version of “Hot Rod Lincoln” runs for 13 verses.  There are fun quotes throughout the song:  “Well the fellas ribbed me for being behind / So thought I’d make the Lincoln unwind / Took my foot off the gas and man alive / I shoved it on down into overdrive”; “The fenders clickin’ the guard rail posts / The guy beside me was white as a ghost”; “They said, ‘Slow down, I see spots’ / The lines on the road just looked like dots”; “I knew I could catch him, and hoped that I could pass / But when I did I’d be short on gas”; “I said, ‘hold on I’ve got a license to fly’ / And the Cadillac pulled over and let me go by”; and “Well they arrested me and put me in jail / And called my pop to go my bail / He said, ‘Son, you’re gonna to drive me to drinkin’ / If you don’t stop drivin’ that Hot Rod Lincoln.’”  

To this day, whenever it happens to be 4:11 on the clock, another lyric from that song goes through my head:  “With four eleven gears you can really get lost”. 

*       *       * 

The opening verse in “Hot Rod Lincoln” makes it sound as though there was even more to the story:  “Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race / When Fords and Lincolns was settin’ the pace / That story is true, I’m here to say / I was drivin’ that Model A.”  And actually, there was – “Hot Rod Lincoln” is an answer to a song dating from the year of my birth:  “Hot Rod Race”, a Western swing hit song from 1951 by Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys. 

The original song “Hot Rod Race” is largely forgotten today, but “Hot Rod Lincoln” has shown up in all kinds of places over the years.  The song was written and first recorded in 1955 by Charlie Ryan (who had also recorded a version of “Hot Rod Race”); he actually owned a “hot rod Lincoln” as described in the song:  a shortened 1948 Lincoln chassis with a 12-cylinder engine that had the body of a 1930 Model A Ford.  The Johnny Bond hit that I have talks about 8 cylinders rather than the 12 in the original song. 

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen took “Hot Rod Lincoln” to #9 in 1972 (it was the #69 song for the entire year of 1972 in fact according to Billboard).  Other covers include those by the Western swing revival band Asleep at the Wheel, Pat Travers, the punk rock band ALL, Roger Miller, Les Claypool (for the 2003 album NASCAR: Crank it Up), and Jim Varney (recorded for the soundtrack of the 1993 film The Beverly Hillbillies in which he starred as Jed Clampett).  Varney is best known for his character Ernest P. Worrell and his unseen friend Vern; he made innumerable commercials in the early years of his career for the Raleigh dairy Pine State Creamery. 

According to Wikipedia:  “‘Hot Rod Lincoln’ and ‘Hot Rod Race’ are defining anthems of the hot rod community.”  

*       *       * 

Later I picked up the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP (subtitled “Summer Means Fun”).  There are songs by Lloyd Thaxton, a piano-playing DJ from LA whose show ran on TV in the afternoon when I was growing up; two songs by the immortal Trashmen (the flip side to their big hit “Surfin’ Bird”, “King of the Surf”, plus “New Generation” that features a hydrogen bomb blast); “Masked Grandma” by the California Suns, an answer song to the Jan & Dean hit “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”; “California Sun ’65” by the Rivieras (a remake by this Michigan surf band of their own well-known hit, “California Sun”); “Anywhere the Girls Are” by the Fantastic Baggys (composed of P. F. Sloan, author of “Eve of Destruction” among many other songs, and his frequent songwriting partner Steve Barri); a version of “Hot Rod High” by the Knights; and a paean to the California capital city “Sacramento” by Gary Usher.  The bonus track is a radio jingle for Coca-Cola by Jan & Dean.  

One real treat is an early number by Dave Edmunds (who lives far from California), called “London’s a Lonely Town” (“. . . when you’re the only surfer boy around” that is preceded by the line, “My woodie’s outside . . . covered with snow”). 

There is also a rare surf song on the LP having a female lead, called “Thinkin’ ’Bout You Baby” by Sharon Marie.  Another (from Born Bad, Vol. 6) is “Yum Yum Yamaha” by Carol Connors and the Cycles; Carol Connors co-wrote the hit song by the Rip Chords, “Hey Little Cobra”.  “Little Honda” by the Hondells (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys) honored a different brand of Japanese motorcycle and was a Top Ten hit in 1964.

This album was the first time I had heard of Bruce & Terry, two LA studio whiz kids, Bruce Johnston, now a member of the Beach Boys, and Terry Melcher to be specific.  (The surf scene seemed to have people like that by the carload – others include Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Jan Berry of Jan & Dean).  When I looked up the Rip Chords in Wikipedia before starting my post on the UARB, I was redirected to their entry on Bruce & Terry. 

*       *       * 

The Pebbles, Volume 4 CD has only about half of the songs that are on the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP; even the title song “Summer Means Fun” by Bruce & Terry was omitted, so there is a different subtitle, “Surf ’n’ Tunes”.  In addition to the head-scratcher “School is a Gas” by the Wheel Men, the CD also includes the original “School is a Drag” by the Super Stocks.  Other highlights include “Move Out Little Mustang” by the Rally Packs, a screaming cover of “Shortnin’ Bread” by the Readymen, “Wine, Wine, Wine” by the Bleach Boys (another hot inland surf band, this time from Sioux Falls, SD), and “The Big Surfer” by Brian Lord.  Lord is a San Bernardino DJ who is backed here by Frank Zappa, Ray Collins, Paul Buff, and Dave Aemi; the big surfer is evidently President John Kennedy, and the song sounds like it could have been an outtake from the hit 1962 comedy album The First Family. 

“LSD-25” by the Gamblers is one of several surf instrumentals toward the end of the CD.  This track dates from 1961; the all-star line-up includes Bruce Johnston, Larry Taylor (later in Canned Heat), Elliot Ingber (Fraternity of Man, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, etc.), and famed drummer Sandy Nelson.  According to the CD’s liner notes (by Nigel Strange):  “Actually, surfers were the first subculture to embrace LSD, at a time when it was almost exclusively the plaything of the academics.  With their footloose existence, and a sometimes mystical rapport with the ocean, the early surfers (we’re talking years before the craze, of course) were in many ways the true inheritors of the beatniks’ existential tradition, standing outside normal society and contemplating the void.  In any event, this must surely be the first acid reference to appear on a record by several years.”  

*       *       * 

Among other things, the 1994 film Pulp Fiction served to reintroduce one of the founding fathers of the surf sound, Dick Dale (real name:  Richard Monsour), whose signature instrumental masterpiece, “Misirlou” (released in 1962 and officially by Dick Dale & His Del-Tones) is included on the soundtrack.  The song is of Greek origin with Middle Eastern influences and dates from 1927; phonetically, the title is the same as how the word “Egyptian” sounds in the Turkish language.  I once heard Dick Dale describe his fierce guitar technique as playing the instrument as though it were a set of drums. 

The Allmusic piece on Dick Dale by Steve Huey begins:  “Dick Dale wasn’t nicknamed ‘King of the Surf Guitar’ for nothing:  He pretty much invented the style single-handedly; and no matter who copied or expanded upon his blueprint, he remained the fieriest, most technically gifted musician the genre ever produced.  Dale’s pioneering use of Middle Eastern and Eastern European melodies (learned organically through his familial heritage) was among the first in any genre of American popular music, and predated the teaching of such ‘exotic’ scales in guitar-shredder academies by two decades.  The breakneck speed of his single-note staccato picking technique was unrivalled until it entered the repertoires of metal virtuosos like Eddie Van Halen, and his wild showmanship made an enormous impression on the young Jimi Hendrix.” 

*       *       * 

Instrumental rock music is common in the surf world, but there were instrumental rock bands that predated the surf craze.  One is the past UARB the Piltdown Men.  But the most popular instrumental rock band of all time is unquestionably the Ventures.  Still, surf rock and rock instrumentals are indelibly linked these days.  The website Rate Your Music shows a list of the Top 50 Surf Rock Instrumentals as rated by visitors to their site; they include 4 tracks by the Ventures and 7 by the British band the Shadows. 

Two guitarists from Tacoma, Washington, Bob Bogle and Don Wilson formed a duo in 1958 called the Versatones, later named the Impacts; they began playing dates with a variety of rhythm sections.  Since both band names had already been registered, they changed their name to the Ventures.  After being rejected by a Liberty Records subsidiary called Dolton Records, the two formed their own label, Blue Horizon Records and released a single, “Cookies and Coke”, with Don Wilson on vocals.  Later they added Nokie Edwards (bass guitar) and Skip Moore (drums) and became an instrumental rock band.  

The band heard a track called “Walk, Don’t Run” on an album by country guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins called Hi-Fi in Focus and decided that it would make a great single for the group.  The Ventures released “Walk, Don’t Run” on their Blue Horizon label in 1960; it rose to #2 on the charts, behind only “It’s Now or Never” by Elvis Presley.  With Howie Johnson as the group’s new drummer, the band put together their excellent first album, also called Walk, Don’t Run.  When Mel Taylor joined the Ventures on drums in 1962, Nokie Edwards became the lead guitarist, with Bob Bogle moving to bass guitar. 

John Bush in Allmusic notes:  “The Ventures put their indelible stamp on each style of ’60s music they covered, and they covered many – twist, country, pop, spy music, psychedelic, swamp, garage, TV themes.”  The Ventures hit again in 1969 with the well-known theme “Hawaii Five-O” for the television show Hawaii Five-O.  Allmusic lists an astounding 39 Ventures albums that were released between their albums Walk, Don’t Run and Hawaii Five-O.

Although the Ventures dropped off the US charts after “Hawaii Five-O”, they retained their popularity elsewhere, particularly in Japan where they are touring to this day.  In all, 17 of the Ventures’ albums made the Top 40, with total sales of more than 100 million. 

*       *       * 

While not a surf band (though they have a guitar-driven sound), the Fendermen are a long-time favorite of mine that also hit in 1960.  Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey came from two different towns and had the same birthday; they met when they were teenagers.  The name is taken from the Fender guitars that each man played, both plugged into the same amplifier.  An amped-up version of a song by the country & western foundational musician Jimmie Rodgers (“The Singing Brakeman”, not the Jimmie Rodgers who recorded “Honeycomb”) was their most popular song.  The song is called “Mule Skinner Blues” (originally named “Blue Yodel #8”), and they were convinced to record the song with just the two of them, with no bass guitarist or drummer.  The vocals are little more than a grumble; what really comes through are the gleeful laughs.  Though the song was all rock and roll to me, I used to hear this version of “Mule Skinner Blues” occasionally on country music radio stations also.  Unaccountably, the performance became a hit and made the Top Ten. 

“Mule Skinner Blues” has been recorded by many others over the years, notably by Dolly Parton; when she states flatly mid-song “I want to be a mule skinner”, you can almost believe her. 

*       *       * 

Returning to the surf world, “Pipeline” is another top instrumental rock track that was recorded by a surf rock band called the Chantays.  From Wikipedia:  “Their music combines electronic keyboards and surf guitar, creating a unique ghostly sound.”  

The bandmembers in the Chantays were high school friends in Orange County, California; they were Bob Spickard, Brian Carman, Bob Welch (not the Bob Welch who joined Fleetwood Mac), Warren Waters, and Rob Marshall.  Spickard and Carman co-wrote “Pipeline”, and it made #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1963 and #16 on the UK charts.  

*       *       * 

Except for the manic “ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha Wipe Out!!!” at the beginning, “Wipe Out” is a million-selling surf instrumental dating from 1963.  As performed by the Surfaris, this song made it to #2 on the charts, kept from the top only by “Little” Stevie Wonder’s first hit song “Fingertips”. 

The Surfaris were high school friends from Glendora, California; bandmembers were Ron Wilson (drums, vocals), Jim Fuller (lead guitar), Bob Berryhill (rhythm guitar), and Pat Connolly (bass guitar).  “Wipe Out” was originally the “B” side of their first single; “Surfer Joe” was on the “A” side. 

Wikipedia reports:  “The song [“Wipe Out”] – both the Surfaris’ version as well as cover versions – has been featured in over 20 films and television series since 1964, appearing at least once a decade.  First heard in Kenneth Anger’s short Scorpio Rising [1963], its most recent appearance was in Dominic Sena’s 2009 thriller, Whiteout.”  

*       *       * 

Davie Allan and the Arrows is a lesser known surf rock instrumental band, but unlike most, they are still regularly releasing albums.  Davie Allan grew up in the San Fernando Valley in California and learned his guitar skills while he was a teenager.  He and Mike Curb, who met while in a high school choir in Van Nuys, California, formed an instrumental surf combo.  Curb founded Cude Records in 1963 and released Davie Allan’s first single on that label, “War Path”.  Several other Davie Allan songs were released by the label under names like the Sudells, the Heyburners, and the Zanies. 

Mike Curb became a major recording industry professional that can be dated to his founding of Sidewalk Records in 1964 (a subsidiary of Capitol Records).  Among other achievements, in this period he recorded the very first tracks by Linda Ronstadt, specifically her first band, the Stone Poneys.  Mike Curb was even Lt. Governor of California in 1979-1983 under Governor Jerry Brown – the ageless Brown is also the current Governor of California.  

Mike Curb made a deal to supply soundtracks for the many Roger Corman films that came out in the 1960’s by American International Pictures.  Roger Corman began using Davie Allan music after hearing his work in the 1965 short film, Skaterdater. 

The original line-up of Davie Allan and the Arrows was Davie Allan (lead guitar), Paul Johnson (rhythm guitar), Steve Pugh (bass), and Larry Brown (drums); but there have been a variety of Arrows over the decades since.  Their early sides were conventional rock instrumentals, with a remake of the Shadows hit called “Apache ’65” being a particular success. 

The soundtrack for the Roger Corman film The Wild Angels (1966) was a breakthrough for Davie Allan and the Arrows and yielded their biggest hit song, “Blues’ Theme”.  From Wikipedia:  “The song from the film’s opening, ‘Blues’ Theme’ (sometimes listed as ‘Blue’s Theme’), an aggressive, repetitive and very catchy instrumental showcasing [Davie] Allan’s new fuzzed-out (heavily distorted) guitar sound became their biggest hit (it was also one of the first songs Eddie Van Halen learned to play on brother Alex [Van Halen]’s guitar).  The song stayed on the Billboard charts for 17 weeks (it peaked at #37); the single, backed with ‘Bongo Party’, and the soundtrack album [The Wild Angels] both sold well.  Rumors have stated that the melody in ‘Blues’ Theme’ was stolen from the Monkees’ guitar lick in ‘Last Train to Clarksville’; but ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ was recorded on July 25th, 1966, and The Wild Angels debuted in the theaters on July 20th, 1966.” 

Davie Allan and the Arrows supplied soundtrack music for other teen movies and biker movies that followed, such as Devil’s Angels, Thunder Alley, and Born Losers; they also released studio albums, beginning with the 1965 album Apache ’65. 

*       *       * 

Allmusic lists a total of 29 albums by Davie Allan and the Arrows, many being soundtrack albums.  I have three of them myself, all on the Bomp!-affiliated Total Energy Records label:  Fuzz Fest (1998), The Arrow Dynamic [Aerodynamic] Sounds of Davie Allan & the Arrows (1999), and a live album called Live Run (2000).  The live album includes their hit “Blues’ Theme” as well as “Apache”. 

Fuzz Fest is a reissue of a 1996 album that added two other singles, “Open Throttle” and “Chopper” (plus alternative versions of both songs).  Cub Koda writing for Allmusic says of this album:  “Davie Allan’s playing has scarcely changed over the intervening decades, his work in various low-rent biker film soundtracks showing how he understands the form possibly better than anyone else. . . .  If you’re looking for fuzz and lots of it, you came to the right place.” 

*       *       * 

This month’s Under Appreciated Rock Band, THE SILENCERS come from the same tradition as Davie Allan and the Arrows but are of more recent vintage. having formed in the mid-1990’s.  I had tentatively picked them out as the UARB for November, since I was fresh out of Christian rock bands; but I later found a non-rock replacement, Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters. 

The Silencers are from Michigan, with the members being Dave Leeds (bass), Rob Felenchak (drums), and Eric Toth (guitar).  Richie Unterberger in Allmusic notes that the Silencers have “a darker approach than the average contemporary surf act”.  There are a variety of moods on the album; while frantic guitar is basically omnipresent, not everything sounds alike by a long shot – even more than is true of the veteran Davie Allan and the Arrows.  There are some dialogue excerpts; at the beginning of “13” is a long conversation about “The Man” – probably from Easy Rider (1969) – and there is an occasional mention of the song title on the album, as on “Spaceman” and “Woof Woof” on The Silencers (and “Return of the Son of Woof Woof” on their second album, Cyclerific Sounds). 

*       *       * 

The debut album by the Silencers, The Silencers came out on Total Energy Records at about the same time as several albums by their label-mates Davie Allan and the Arrows.  For the most part, the songs are originals, with the one exception being “Journey to the Stars” that has five songwriters listed on Allmusic:  Bob Bogle, Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor of the Ventures, plus Sun Ra. 

The back cover of The Silencers by the Silencers shows a flame-encircled dragster with the quote:  “Link Wray & the Ventures rolled into one big ball and heaved through Dick Dale’s living room window!!!”  Referring to that quote, Richie Unterberger in Allmusic says:  “It’s not as mind-bending as that description would have you believe, but it’s a very respectable 1990’s surf revival effort, with excellent chops and a good sense of menace.  Of their three cited influences, Dick Dale is definitely the biggest, as Eric Toth’s banzai guitar leads amply demonstrate.” 

*       *       * 

The second album by the Silencers, Cyclerific Sounds came out in 1999; by then the band had a different drummer, Eric Faas.  Guest musician Jim Diamond plays Farfisa Organ on one track, “Big Ragu”. 

I first heard one of the songs on this album, “Mr. Fruity Pants” on the 2-CD compilation album (released for the 25th anniversary of Bomp! Records in 1999), Straight Outta Burbank; there is also a track by Davie Allan and the Arrows on the compilation album called “Open Throttle” (from Fuzz Fest).  “Mr. Fruity Pants” is not actually an instrumental song (unlike everything else they have recorded); this track has distorted, mumbled vocals in the background that I cannot really figure out. 

Richie Unterberger in Allmusic says that the Silencers are trying too hard to set the mood on this second album.  While the music doesn’t feel that way to me, it certainly is true of many of the song titles on this record, which include “Devil’s Angel’s Theme”, “Sonny’s Theme”, and “The Man from F.U.Z.Z.”.  

*       *       * 

I was amused to see that one of the song titles on the Silencers album Cyclerific Sounds is “Abracapocus”, a scramble of “Abracadabra” and “Hocus Pocus” that is taken from a memorable Bugs Bunny cartoon, Transylvania 6-5000.  This 1963 cartoon – which features a vampire named Count Blood Count – is notable as the final Bugs Bunny short made by Chuck Jones in his 30-plus year career at Warner Bros. Studios before leaving to form his own animation company.  (In earlier years, he was credited as Charles M. Jones).  The title is adapted from a Glenn Miller hit, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, and a comedy/horror movie called Transylvania 6-5000 came out in 1985. 

*       *       * 

The producer for both of the albums by the Silencers is Mick Collins, one of the few African-American garage rock musicians.  Collins grew up in Detroit and learned music from his family’s record collection as well as from Detroit-based Motown Records.  As a teenager, he was in two bands called the U-Boats (in 1981) and the Floor Tasters (in 1984-1985). 

In 1986, Mick Collins was a founding member of the seminal garage/punk band the Gories; the group had a female drummer, Peggy O'Neill plus a second guitarist Dan Kroha (all were from metro Detroit).  In other words, the group had two guitarists but no bassist, like the Cramps and Sleater-Kinney.  Of the Gories, Wikipedia notes:  “They were among the first 1980’s garage rock bands to incorporate overt blues influences.”  Alexandra Zorn writing for Allmusic states in the article on the band:  “The emergence of the Gories heralded a new Golden Age of Detroit rock beginning in the late ’80s; a renaissance of noise and rust-belt rock that lasts through to today.” 

After the Gories broke up in 1993, Mick Collins was in what Wikipedia calls a “basic garage rock band” called Blacktop from 1994 to 1996.  His next band, the Dirtbombs was founded in 1995 and is still active; they started out as a more eclectic side project while he was in Blacktop.  Wikipedia says that the Dirtbombs are “notable for blending diverse influences such as punk rock and soul while featuring a dual bass guitar, dual drum, and guitar lineup” – in contrast to the Gories who didn’t have any bass guitarists.  The Dirtbombs have featured a variety of Detroit area musicians over the years; they include Jim Diamond, who played bass guitar for the band and appears as a guest musician on the Silencers album Cyclerific Sounds. 

The second album by the Dirtbombs, Ultraglide in Black came out in 2001 when the Garage Rock Revival was on the rise, led in part by Detroit’s own the White Stripes.  The Dirtbombs were the opening act for the White Stripes in this period, with bandleader Jack White acknowledging his influence by the Gories.   

*       *       * 

FLASHBACK:  The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for December 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES  

At long last, my UARB posts are beginning to come up at high positions on Google searches.  A few days ago, I looked for Schattenfreiheit and their album Nachgedanken – they are not officially a UARB, though I talked about them in the post for past UARB Queen Anne’s Lace – and I was thrilled to see my UARB post show up second in the search.  Of course, there were only 10 results today for that search (and just 4 the other day).  However, just now a Google search for “the Invisible Eyes band” (with no quote marks) generated 17,600,000 results; and my original Facebook post for the band was #2 on that search also.  That is truly thrilling for me; Wikipedia entries come up high on a Google search more or less automatically, so I missed seeing high placement on Google for my work. 

Suzy Shaw has advised me that the Invisible Eyes is actually not the last band signed to Bomp! Records by Greg Shaw before his death, as Allmusic says of this band.  As she remembers it, the band with that distinction is the Coffin Lids, another future UARB.  

There are several videos by the Invisible Eyes on YouTube; only “Monster Beat” though has been viewed much – at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rns3nc0vSs – and evidently I was the first to view “Mother of Mystery”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEVVa8omw8g.  I have difficulty with searches on YouTube, and maybe others do as well.  Additionally, numerous videos (maybe the majority) don’t have any sound on my computer at home for some reason.  I just updated Flash Player, and it helped get ones by Cyrus Erie to play, but not these for the Invisible Eyes.  

*       *       * 

PICTURE GALLERY:  The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for December 2011 – THE MAGICIANS 

Here is the Nuggets album cover where the Magicians’ classic “An Invitation to Cry” appears: 

Here is their compilation album:  

This is a shot of the band:  

And another:  

*       *       * 

STORY OF THE MONTH:  The Bob Dylan bootleg album John Birch Society Blues (from April 2012) 

Not long after I first got to college at North Carolina State University (probably in late 1969), one of the big record stores in Raleigh, the Record Bar (which was within walking distance of the campus) had several tables set up in the middle of the store that were piled high with bootleg albums.  I had never heard of such a thing before, so I snapped up four right away, including two by my man Bob Dylan:  the famous Great White Wonder double-album set, plus John Birch Society Blues (also on the G.W.W. Records label). 

The main reason I got the John Birch Society Blues album – besides the fact that I used to belong to the JBS – is due to the history of Dylan’s second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  Early pressings of the album included “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” and three other wonderful songs that I got to know on bootleg albums as I bought them:  “Gambling Willie’s Dead Man's Hand”, “Rocks and Gravels”, and “Let Me Die in My Footsteps”.  The fact that the latter song is omitted was even mentioned in the album’s liner notes.  When the John Birch Society song became controversial, Columbia Records pulled back the albums and reissued them with the familiar song set that we know today.  Those first few albums with the alternate songs are worth a fortune today:  A 1998 record pricing catalogue that I have called Records values them at $10,000 to $15,000 in mono and $15,000 to $20,000 in stereo (though the catalogue recommends actually playing the album before ponying up that kind of cash). 

*       *       *

The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.

Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn 

Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters 

Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland 

Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I 

Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop 

May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up 

Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica 

Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock 

Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop 

Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota 

Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II 

Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter 

Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave 

Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock 

Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s) 

Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s) 

Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s) 

May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly 

Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians 

Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I 

Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men 

Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas 

Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery 

Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s) 

Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s) 

Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated? 

Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave 

Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music 

Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III 

May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders 

Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I 

Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II 

Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I 

Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History 

Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II 

Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide 

Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV 

Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival 

Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray 

Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs 

Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language 

May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan 

Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I 

Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II 

Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V 

Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock 

Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III 

Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I 

Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II 

Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III 

Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV 

Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V 

Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren 

Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren 

Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones 

May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree 

Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III 

Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music) 

Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan) 

Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles) 

Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV 

Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V 

Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II 

Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley 

Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley 

Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music) 

Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan) 

Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships) 

Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships) 

May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones) 

Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles) 

Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock) 

Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide 

Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands 

Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music 

Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics 

Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop 

Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock 

Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock 

Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands 

Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums 

Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles 

(Year 10 Review)