Various Artists - The Children Of Nuggets:Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996
4 CD Set Rhino Records USA

Bill Luther takes a look at Rhino Records brand spanking new 4 CD box set of 60’s influenced acts from the 70’s-90’s.

Certain to cause debate in the Uppers “comments” section and already sparking debates in a hundred chat rooms and Internet 60’s/music groups (which began the day the track selection was announced well over a year ago), “The Children Of Nuggets” is Alec Palao and Gary Stewart’s tribute to the bands that ignored convention and looked back to the 60’s for inspiration.

I came up on the East Coast in the 80’s on the mod/60’s scene. The bands I saw and remembered were a potpourri of people my age and older folks (many were clearly survivors of the "blank generation CBGB’s/Max’s scene" from ten years prior) who were, as I described them in a fanzine ten years ago “full of thrift store charm and ten seconds away from jumping to the next big thing: dirty greasy long hair, chain wallets and the MC 5/Stooges aping were waiting in the wings”. Everybody was scrambling for stripy trousers and vintage instruments at thrift stores and flea markets. Some of us were sincere, others merely riding the wave till the next trend. There were tribes of “us” everywhere in Englishtown,NJ to Harrisburg,PA to Suffern,NY etc. Most of us were all dogmatic, suspicious, defensive and adventurous with one thing in common: a love for 60’s music. Clearly things were the same on the West Coast too as they're here in full force (compare The Tell Tale Hearts stylish ‘65-66 image to the downright hideous streetwalker meets L.A. metal look of the Pandoras or those eventually dreadful gals The Bangles (Molly Ringwald meets The Go Gos ?!?)). The at times new-wavey “Paisley Underground” is represented here as well (a tad too much some say). But image isn’t everything, The Smithereens (a band who’s guitarist owned a record shop my friends and I would cut school to go to), The Fleshtones and The Spongetones are three bands of normal, regular looking Joe’s who didn’t need paisley shirts or a vintage Vox bass to make good music. And I'm happy to see them all here with two cuts a piece. Clearly 60’s influenced music is not all about looking right if you’ve got that “sound”. And if you didn’t well then can somebody please explain why the likes of The La’s, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Screaming Trees (ack! ptah! Go back to Seattle grunge garbage) and The Wondermints are on here and why The Television Personalities , Holland’s The Otherside or The Mystreated aren’t? That said it’s all good. REALLY. I’m certain I can rail on all day about what’s missing and even on what some of these bands were doing here (and I have). But it’s varied, but it works pretty well if you skip a few cuts.

Let’s start with the praise first because this isn’t going to be a negative review. Any CD set that includes The Nashville Ramblers “The Trains” (which see it’s first official re-release since it’s appearance on an obscure UK mod compilation in the 80’s) I'm gonna own without a doubt. It’s perfect, clear, moody mid 60’s feel is hard to describe. It’s just good. In fact it’s the best damn thing that EVER came out of the 80’s. And it doesn't end there readers. Along for the good time are my UK faves: the pre- “mod makeover” Prisoners (with two cuts nonetheless: “Far Away” and the original version of “Whenever I’m Gone”), their Medway “neighbors” The Dentists with “Strawberries Are Growing”, The Times kitsch “I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape”, Creation Records founder Alan McGees unsung Biff Bang Pow with the angst ridden kitchen sink drama pop perfection of “There Must be A Better Life”, freakbeat purveyors The Aaardvarks “You’re My Loving Way”, XTC in psychedelic regalia as The Dukes of Stratosphere (who made better records than ANY of the “REAL” 80’s psychedelic bands) with “Vanishing Girl” and “25 O’Clock” and The Barracudas to name but more than a few! 80’s mod faves The Creeps from Almhult, Sweden with “Down At the Night Club” and Edinburgh, Scotland’s amazing Green Telescope "Farfisa on the fritz" glory of “Make Me Stay” (right up there with "The Trains" as an 80's fave in this man's mind) are also on board. The 60's inspired Downunder scene is also documented here, and none done as well as those Antipodean cave dwellers The Lime Spiders with their lo-fi classic “Slave Girl”, which sounds as gritty as it did the first time I heard the glam rock guys behind the counter in NYC’s Venus records blasting it at full volume down the steps onto 8th Street 20 years back. There’s a lot of nostalgia here for me, coming up on the East Coast of the U.S. in the mid-80’s. My side of the USA is fairly and adequately represented by the likes of The Lyres “Help You Ann” and “Don’t Give It Up Now, The Optic Nerve’s bold 45 rpm brilliance of “Ain’t That A Man”, and two cuts by The Vipers. While Little Steven was still playing arena's w/ Springsteen these five fellas packed 'em in for nearly two years at The Dive on East 29th Street in the Big Apple with their monthly apprearances called "The Cave Stomp". Minneapolis, Minnesota’s underappreciated boys The Funseekers swansong seven inch “Welcome to My Love” is a breath of beat music air alongside their more lo-fi Medway,UK cousins (there must be something good in the water in that town, must be…) The Milkshakes featuring Billy Childish . Billy, in my opinion never never bettered this band who played 60's beat music ala Hamburg '62 crossed with Kinks/Troggs four chord savagery the same way The Funseekers were in the mid west embracing The Sorrows and The Big Three. Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s psychedelic godfather’s Plasticland make an appearance with “Mink Dress” as do 60’s revisitation champions (I say “revisitation” because I despise “revival” or “retro”) DMZ, The Chesterfield Kings and The Crawdaddys (who were the first ones to get it right in my book… no flares or John Travolta suits or punk rock pretensions on this lot).

Lovingly thrown together with a nice ninety five page full color booklet with all the facts on all the tracks by Kieron Tyler .

POSTSCRIPT
I've continued digesting this box set and with some hesitation I've realized I was perhaps a bit too optimistic and positive in my review. Maybe it's because I came/up grew up around 60's music being played by people who wanted to sound like they were playing 60's music as opposed to "contemporary" people playing 60's "influenced" music. But this set contains way too much stuff that in essence sounds like 80's new wave flotsam and jetsam. 80's new wave isn't all bad, I like XTC, Ultravox, Klark Kent and The Undertones 80's output (to name a few)but there are a great deal of bands here who resemble the MTV brand of new wave with poofy hair, clothes like Prince and disturbing 80's guitar effects and production. Indeed it's no surprise that a few of cuts on this box also feature on Rhino's fairly recent "Left Of The Dial:80's Dispatches From the Underground" box set (which also includes other tracks by at least a dozen of the "new wave" type bands contained here). There's just too much commercial sounding stuff on here that doesn't sit well with me after repeated playings, ie. The Godfathers, That Petrol Emotion, and all the bands I mentioned earlier. Case in point, listen to Sun Dial and their offering "Plains Of Nazca", they have a nice trippy slow dreamy feel going that's joltingly marred by a guitar with effects exactly like those on early U2 records! It's a wonder the Mood Six weren't on here. They dressed like The Move and used phrases like "groovy" and "freak out" on their gig flyers, but you know what, at the end of the day their records sounded like Talk Talk. Give me The Tell Tale Hearts they looked like The Pretty Things and made records that sounded like The Syndicats, not U2 or Echo & The Bunnymen.

About the author

Bill Luther was born in 1966. A veteran of Desert Storm and numerous "scene" wars he is a lifelong New Jerseyite who drives a British car, has a Portuguese wife and at the moment loves 60's Scandinavian music. He lists his passions as brown ale, defending the first Bowie Lp and collecting/firing WW2 rifles. Try as he may he cannot escape the modernist lifestyle he has lived these past 25+ years.

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The Children Of Nuggets

Comments:
mr bubble	okt 15 2006 5:42PM
right-o LORD JOHN and THE MOD FUN *should* both be on here for sure !!!!
Greg Ogarrio	nov 4 2005 12:48AM
http://www.rapiers.net
Ouch! Bill's too harsh on The Pandoras. Guess he's recalling their later, dull headbanging incarnation rather their awesome "It's About Time" and "Stop Pretending" eras. Plus the late Paula Pierce really was an independent firecracker.
Barney Rubble	okt 18 2005 5:13PM
The Fuzztones are included...for what it's worth.
paddymillwall	okt 16 2005 3:20PM
http://www.audiostreet.net/texylvania
What about those awesomely ghoulish pussy posse called The Fuzztones? they were a huge part of exquisite fuzzed out psychedelia from the smoky borrough of the Lower East side of NYC back in the 80s as well. You must listen to them thoroughly to see for yourselves how they are quite the unsung cavedwelling fuzzghouls who did it right. For a good fuzzed out start, go get "Creatures That Time Forgot." You have been warned.... paddymillwall
John Manion	okt 12 2005 11:58PM
http://www.MODchicago.com
Of ALL the bands represented the only midwest nod seems to be going toward the fully deserving Funseekers, however Chicago's own Green should have made the cut, along with St.Louis' own The Royal Nonesuch. I would have also added Boston's Prime Movers. and ...There was no excuse for the missing Gravedigger 5! for shame ! oh well... complaining that a favorite band is/was under appreciated is nothing new to any of us. All in all a pretty good selection of the 80's best, which, at its worst, is still better than most of what is played on the radio from that era. Respectfully John Manion
Twinkle McWinkle	okt 12 2005 1:59PM
Please tell me there are no "king of all things 80s sounding" Mod Fun songs on here!
angelo babbo	okt 12 2005 12:43AM
I'd like to second a shout out about my hometown, Chicago's Green -- Jeff Lescher's Prince falsetto and Ray Davies songwriting and that stripped-down revolving lineup of garage fetishists playing behind him! Sigh. They shoulda been way more famous. (And shoulda been included on this).
Stu Shea	okt 10 2005 10:52PM
http://stuartshea.blogspot.com
I was hoping The Things (Voxx band) and Green would be on it...oh well.
Paisley Peter Pumpkinhead	okt 9 2005 9:02PM
If you were doing a rockabilly revival boxset, would you include Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"? or some of that ridiculous "psychobilly" crap? No, I think not....because it is more parody than homage.
jumpy	okt 9 2005 6:22PM
http://www.myspace.com/myjumpy
I like Teenage Fanclub & the Posies but wish they weren't on this. Why not all the bands we used to see at the Dive instead? Sometimes you can't get the rights and comps have to have heavy name recognition "drawing" power. Nice work, Bill. Jumpy
Quick Parkly	okt 7 2005 9:48PM
What?!! No Lord John?!!!
Prince Valiant McSquare	okt 7 2005 8:20PM
Gravedigger V? Morlocks? Primates? I could've done without a few of the more "indie" bands in order to include these guys. At least the cringe-inducing Marshmallow Overcoat isn't included!!!
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