Middle-Sized Mind

Although half of what I listen to is from the 60s, it's not something usually apparent here. But today I felt like recommending some albums and reissues that all have something in common, somewhere.

3's a Crowd were sunshine pop / folk-rock group who not only released several topnotch singles, but a whole album. They are included on compilation series like Fading Yellow and Soft Sounds For Gentle People, but their 1968 album Christopher's Movie Matinée is well worth a listen! There are no reissues, but you will be able to find it online, and if you want some background history there is a beefy article on Garage Hangover.

Also shamefully lacking a re-release (Sundazed, what are you doing?) is the magnificent only album by another number group: The Eighth Day. On the Eighth Day was released in the same year and holds eleven great tunes. It is among the best sunshine albums I have heard, right up there with The Inner Dialogue and the best of The Sunshine Company. Like 3's a Crowd, they employ a healthy dose of 12-string picking

The Enfields were a jangly garage group from... Enfield, Delaware. I first heard them on a compilation called What a Way to Day, but recently heard this cd released by Get Hip! in 1993. You might still be able to find a copy, but it also exists online. The group was fronted by Ted Munda who later formed a band called Friends of the Family, who sound a lot like late era Love or even Montage. A Bomp list post calls him a white Arthur Lee, and it's easy to see why. A track by Friends of the Family is on a volume of Fading Yellow but I doubt it is the same band as that song sounds very different.

Cicadelic doesn't have much on Sundazed or Rev-Ola when it comes to reissues, but they've just dropped a great retrospective on The JuJus, known from Pebbles and Teenage Shutdown and many other comps. I love all the songs I have heard this band, so I'm going to pick it up soon as my wallet allows.

While you're checking out Cicadelic it might also be worth taking a look at The Kreeg cd. It's not available from them anymore, but can still be found on mailorders. The title-track is known from Garage Beat '66 and is one of my fave 60s songs, both jangly and forceful. The cd contains both more gentle and folky cuts and fuzzy garage rock stomp, all of it pretty much in a Revolver-era Beatles vein.

I was disappointed to say the least that this cd is no longer available. The Heart Beats is one of those groups on Girls In the Garage that tend to pass you by. But now I think "Cryin' Inside" is a great track! What changed my mind was this amazing performance of "Time Won't Let Me". Those Texas girl look like they are about 14 and must have had a hip manager, seeing as they're obviously sponsored by Vox and are playing a song by The Outsiders! The best song by far I've heard by them though, is their take on "Little Latin Lupe Lu". It's on volume five of Garage Beat '66, but for some reason the download I had of that was lacking this and another track right at the end. It's been amended now, and I will definitely play this somewhere in the near future.