Garage Band

To most folks, the phrase Detroit rock & roll either means the high-energy overdrive of MC5, the Stooges, and the Amboy Dukes, or the no-nonsense working-class rock of Bob Seger and Mitch Ryder. But before those acts established themselves in the public eye, the Motor City already had a thriving garage rock scene in the early to mid-'60s, and one of the real movers and shakers in pre-psychedelic Detroit rock was Dave Leone, who ran The Hideout, Detroit's leading teen dance club, and later branched out with his own record label, Hideout Records. Friday at the Hideout collects 21 highlights (18 on LP) from the Hideout catalog, and while legal problems prevented the inclusion of any of the six sides a young Bob Seger cut for Leone (among them the anti-draft-dodging classic The Ballad of the... Less

Form the Habit features each of the Zakary Thaks' frenzifying singles -- spanning the Texas crude of their stomping Bad Girl to the elevated psychedelia of Green Crystal Ties -- plus outtakes/backing tracks, a meaty interview with lead singer Chris Gerniottis and previously unpublished photos!

It took over 30 years to shake loose The Moses Lake Recordings, yet another Curt Boettcher-Keith Olsen production, from the befuddled chaos of 1960s rock. The album is obscure even by the producers' normal standards. It is also atypical of almost everything else for which the pair was responsible. The main reason for the anomaly is, of course, the Bards, a band not only drastically different from any other combo out of the Pacific Northwest but staggeringly unique in the genre. Boettcher and Olsen, in turn, responded with an equally idiosyncratic production, experimenting with buoyant horn charts and early synthesizer washes. Their characteristic touch is most evident in the harmony arrangements, but the music is considerably more aggressive than any of their other work. That is partly... Less

Dirtnap Records is proud to present the latest in a long line of classic Pacific Northwest punk/power pop action this time from Sadhole idols THE GIRLS. This all male five-piece combines elements of The Briefs The Cars T-Rex & Stiv Bators' solo records. Think geeky twitchy colorful glam rock with a whole lot of their own unique personality stamped on to each & every song.

Ivory may be the finest Jefferson Airplane album not by Jefferson Airplane themselves. It is not quite a masterpiece on a par with Surrealistic Pillow, but it easily holds its own with many of the second-tier albums from the band's prime era. Ivory -- and producers Les Brown Jr. and Al Schmitt -- definitely knew how to get the most out of their relatively minimalistic setup. It would be difficult to over-praise the abilities of Kenny Thomure and Mike McCauley, who exhibit a near-telepathic partnership on their instruments, while Chris Christman's full-bodied vocals are room-filling powerful -- all that plus a really first-rate studio drummer. Lyrically Ivory mostly dispensed with topics of amorousness, instead concentrating on far-out, cosmic concerns ranging from the stars to such... Less

New England garage revivalism from 1978 to 1992, much originally released on various out-of-the-way indie 45s and compilations, often featuring Arf! Arf! head Erik Lindgren on keyboards or vocals. It's energic, good-hearted, and largely faithful to the fuzz, Farfisa, and raunchy vocal formula. Everyone sounds like they're having a lot of fun, but it's not terribly imaginative stuff. Garage devotees, though, may want to note the presence of a couple reasonably strong cuts by a reunited Rising Storm (who cut a legendary album in 1967 during the original garage era), tracks by Thee Liars (with Jeff Conolly, lead singer of top garage revivalists the Lyres), and a couple of efforts from Willie Alexander, the local Boston legend who refuses to go away. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

Release Date: 1990-10-25, Audio CD, Polygram Records

Release Date: 2010-09-14, Vinyl, Alive Records