Style: psych
Country: us
Audio: mp3 256k
Size: 194 mb incl. covers
Issue: 2cd (recorded in '60s)
Fuzz Acid & Flowes:
An amazing late sixties rock band from Sacramento, California. The core band originally formed in 1964 as The Jaguars and played concerts using this moniker but did not record. During 1965, the line-up fixed and they made their first recordings as Moss and The Rocks. One of the two 45s by this band was made at Ikon Studios in Sacramento, which at the time was home to engineer Eirik Wangberg. Readers of this book will recognise at least two of the projects that Wangberg handled at Ikon, the 45 by The Oxford Circle and the album by Glad. The relationship between Moss and The Rocks and Wangberg continued for over three years, during which time Wangberg relocated to Southern California and helped the group record two remarkable albums of British-influenced rock that have to be ranked amongst the finest ever produced in the State. Their release is the basis for the band's inclusion here.
During 1966, Moss and The Rockers adopted what are now considered quintessential "punk" pretensions; the more aggressive music and the unorthodox fashion sense. As they moved their local campaign into high gear, they changed name to the more appropriate Public Nuisance, which surely must have cost them some concert opportunities in the relatively staid community of Sacramento! The band spent a great deal of time and energy on visual propaganda during this period, staging photo sets and producing rather provocative handbills and holiday greeting cards for fans on their mailing list. In time, the band was invited to record a demo for Fantasy Records. Sessions took place at Fantasy's studiod in San Francisco during 1967 that resulted in a finished master. Sadly, a recent search of the company's archives proved fruitless, and the demo appears to be lost. It was eventually apparent to the group that the label wasn't interested in pursuing a contractual agreement, however.
In 1968, Public Nuisance recorded a new demo on a four-track machine operated by Eirik Wangberg at his new center of operations, Sound Recorders in Hollywood. This is an LP-length recording, produced by the band, that makes up disc-two of the Gotta Survive double set. In even a cursory review of this music, it is apparent that Fantasy made an enormous blunder in letting this band get away! Punishing fuzz guitars, pummeling drums - it's like someone commanded The Savage Resurrection to record a follow-up to The Who Sell Out! Aside from a cover of The Beatles' I'm Only Sleeping, the material is all original and is not to be missed by any and all fans of late-sixties rock. Time Can't Wait sounds like a '66 punk 45 side with better production; Pencraft Transcender has thick fuzz reminiscent of the Canadian Plastic Cloud album; Darlin' and Katie Shiner have a distinctly British underground feel that readers will associate with the Chocolate Soup For Diabetics UK compilation series. For a self-produced demo tape, it's a phenomenal achievement. Wangberg thought so, too - and in the course of playing it for visitors to the studio, brought it to the attention of producer Terry Melcher (Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Byrds) who envisioned Public Nuisance as (indeed) an American-made British rock band. He had the group back to Sound Recorders and under the watchful eye of Wangberg in 1969, with a simple prime directive: make a British rock album. This new recording (disc one of the double set) is every bit as powerful as the 1968 demo. Love Is A Feeling and Small Faces are violent freakbeat a la Creation/Who/Pretty Things, while Evolution Revolution could fit on Tomorrow's album. Strawberry Man is pleasant power pop until the last minute, when it explodes into a maelstrom of druggy pyrotechnics. The only noticeable difference between the two sessions is a hint of a British accent on the vocals on this later recording. None of the material from the 1968 demo repeats here - this is a completely original album-length master that, due to Melcher's self-imposed exile following the Manson incident in August, was shelved and forgotten. Not long after, the band split.
Dave Houston opened a recording studio in the seventies, producing a number of albums that fall outside the scope of this book. One band that readers may be familar with, The Twinkeyz, did all their records with Houston. Ron McMaster works for Capitol Records and is responsible for remastering albums by Badfinger, The Beace Boys and the Blue Note jazz catalogue amongst others. Eirik Wangberg turned knobs on a number of projects that readers will be familiar with (Paul McCartney's Ram album, John Mayall, Peacepipe, Joan Baez) before returning to his native Norway and (presumably) abandoning music-orientated pursuits. ~ (Clark Faville w/thanks to Joey D.)
DAVID HOUSTON vcls, gtr, keyb'ds, hrmnca, theremin
JIM MATTHEWS gtr
RON McMASTER drms, perc, vcls
PAT MINTER bs, vcls
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