Album Review
You Got Yours! East Bay Garage 1965-67 [coll] – [Big Beat Records]
Daryl Licht 11/14/2007 A Library, CD
In this reissue crazy era, there is an almost endless stream of 60’s garage/punk/psych collections being released, most of which are pretty marginal, at best. Each year, however, there are a handful of real winners, like”Scream Loud!!! The Fenton Story” triple LP set (issued earlier this year by Way Back) and, now, this CD, the latest installment in Big Beat’s Nuggets From The Golden State series “You Got Yours!: East Bay Garage 1965-67”.
This collection focuses on the mid-60s garage scene in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay, which contains cities and towns in the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, like Berkeley, Castro Valley, Hayward, Oakland, and San Leandro. Its 24 tracks contain a nice mix of tracks from rare singles and previously unissued material, ranging from blue-eyed soul rave-ups (such as the Donnybrookes and the Spyders) to post-British invasion power pop pleasers (like the Baytovens and the Shillings) and, of course, tough garage punk. Personal favorites included “Her Heart Said No” by The Blue Lite Conspiracy,”I’m Feeling Good” from The Bristol Boxkite, The Gants’ “Look At The Sun”, “Humpty Dumpty” from The Epics and “Get Out Of My Eye” by The Soul Vendors.
My only slight criticism might be that this collection could have even been more representative of the overall scene during those years if it had tracks by groups such as the Crystal Garden, Misanthropes, and the Remaining Few (all of whom had either singles or, at least, recorded material with the legendary Leo de Gar Kulka at Golden State Recorders!), rather than multiple tracks from groups like the Baytovens and the Harbinger Complex (who were certainly one of the premier bands of the era, but whose tracks here pale in comparison to their other material) or, even worse, recycled tracks that Big Beat has already used on previous collections in the Nuggets From The Golden State series. That all being stated, “You Got Yours!: East Bay Garage 1965-67” is still a pretty solid and welcome overview of a previously overlooked and underappreciated scene. DL
As recently heard on KFJC:
- 16 months ago, Good Karma played Look At The Sun
- 4 years ago, Hawkeye Joe played Sometimes I Wonder
- 5 years ago, Justin Outlier played Get Out of My Eye
- 11 years ago, Zero Gravity played It's Up to You
- 12 years ago, Zero Gravity played It's Up to You
12345 S. El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, California 94022
Public Inspection File
comments
Kyle Green says
The Misanthropes did not record, according to the band members. The other bands mentioned did not fit into the time frame of the compilation.
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Fred says
You Got Yours!: needs to be on iTunes... yes?
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