As
lovers of pop and rock music, we probably all have favourite bands or
performers from the Sixties era: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The
Doors, The Who, The Beach Boys etc etc. Wonderful acts all
worthy of our attention. There's a problem....and it's not ubiquity.
In focusing on these bands (and other iconic names), there's so many
great musical acts who we never paid attention to or have completely
forgotten about.
Welcome
to episode 126 of Love That Album podcast.
In
1972, music writer (and future guitarist for Patti Smith Band) Lenny
Kaye created a hugely influential compilation for Elektra Records
called Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic
Era, 1965–1968 (to be referred to from here as just Nuggets). It
contained 27 forgotten-about pop and short form psychedelic songs.
Most of these songs were gems waiting to be rediscovered by music
lovers who had become used to other things: Laurel Canyon
songwriters, prog, hard rock / proto metal. Many of the songs we have
now come to know as "garage rock" were not remembered or
appreciated. Lenny Kaye wanted to change that.
Since
its original release, there have been a large number of similar
compilations, carefully curated from regional one-off hits or great
songs that went nowhere. Some comps are even assembled by fans from
their extensive 45s collection to share with others. In 1998, Nuggets
was expanded to a 4 CD box set containing about 120 songs and a
comprehensive book.
For
this very special episode, I am joined by Eric Reanimator (host of
LTA: The Compilation Edition) to talk about our love of Nuggets. The
first half of the show is devoted to our discovery of this music,
Lenny Kaye's history, and why this collection is so important to the
history of rock and pop. In the second part of the show, we nominate
10 songs from the box set to talk about in detail, their own history
and legacy. The beauty of this collection is its diversity. Sure
there are songs with fuzzed out guitars that may have been created
under the influence of certain substances, but there's glorious
harmony laden pop, swaggering blues rock, and wild wig-outs....all
from bands you may not know, but may be your next favourite listening
experience.
Huge
thanks to Eric for joining me on this episode and for all the
wonderful episodes he's contributed to LTA over the years.
You
can download the show from Spotify, Stitcher or iTunes (search for
“Love That Album podcast”) or from the website
lovethatalbum.podbean.com
Send
the show feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3
voicemail) or join the Facebook group
at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum.
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review we’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast – at a barbecue, over coffee, while hitting a six, on
social media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
If
you enjoy what you hear, please tell a friend or ten to tune in.
Right click to download episode 126 here.
