Children Of Nuggets
(The Way I Wish It Was)
In 2005 Rhino records released the third box set in the Nuggets series, Children Of Nuggets. Unlike the material covered in the first two Nuggets compilations, I was around for the "second psychedelic era," a consumer of fanzines, records, and live shows. It was hoped the Rhino release would reveal plenty of prime material that I'd missed during that era. Unfortunately, the released Children Of Nuggets box didn't seem to jibe with the Sixties revival scene of which I'd been such a big follower. The compilation was assembled in the proper spirit of Lenny Kaye's original Nuggets double album and the songs were good, people loved it, but it didn't work for me at all. To be honest, I hated it. It seemed overly eclectic, overly inclusive, lacking in direction.
I wanted the artyfact-free Sixties Revival box that the compilers consciously avoided making.
What follows is a list of the type of tunes that would have made a real boss Children Of Nuggets box set. There are plenty of songs covered from Pebbles LPs (the illegitimate offspring of the Nuggets compilation) and a few of the major players on the scene dominate the track listing. That's how things were back in the day. This set merges my record collection with a few Voxx label collections. Pretty sure Rhino could have done better than this assortment, but this is simply meant to be the type of thing I was hoping for in 2005. To my mind, the following songs create a good representation of the Sixties garage revival which initially flowered during the mid-Eighties. There hasn't been a scene nearly as good since.
I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) - Stiv Bators
Return To The Psychedelic - United States Of Existence
I'm Here I'm Gone - The Pandoras
Left In The Dark - The Vertebrats
Never Alone - The Vipers
RPM - Deniz Tek
Crawling Back To Me - The Tell-Tale Hearts
In The Dark - The Dark Side
She Told Me Lies - The Chesterfield Kings
The Reason Why - The Wombats
Don't Give It Up Now - The Lyres
You're Gonna Need My Love Someday - The Crawdaddys
It Don't Take Much - The Morlocks
Lost Trails - The Unclaimed
That's Your Way Out - The Pandoras
Are You Gonna Be There? - The Chesterfield Kings
Waiting - The Miracle Workers
I'm In Pittsburgh And It's Raining - The Cynics
Come See Me - The Crawdaddys
I'm Glad For You - The Gruesomes
Nothing's From Today - The Vipers
By My Side - The Morlocks
He's Not Far - The Pandoras
Why Don't You Love Me - The Time Beings
Cheated And Lied - The Vipers
One-Way Ticket - The Morlocks
The Trip - Naz Nomad And The Nightmares
Help You Ann - The Lyres
I Never Loved Her - The Gruesomes
Exit 9 - The Chesterfield Kings
So Easy Baby - The Fezmen
No Surprises - The Tell-Tale Hearts
Come To Where It's At - The Prime Movers
Theme From "The Vindicators" - The Fleshtones
Enough Of What I Need - The Mystic Eyes
It Just Ain't True - The Pandoras
Stick Like Glue - The Trip
Hate - The Gravedigger V
I'll Make You Sorry - The Odds
Do Like Me - Hysteric Narcotics
Some People - Yard Trama
Surprise, Surprise - The Vipers
It's a Mistery - The Sick Rose
Green Slime - The Fuzztones
One Girl - The Tell-Tale Hearts
Intro '66 - The Zebra Stripes
Stop - The Chesterfield Kings
Yeah - Thee Fourgiven
My Kind - The Unclaimed
No Reason To Complain - The Lyres
Spooky - The Gravedigger V
It's The Same All Over The World - The Wylde Mammoths
I Try - The Untold Fables
Born Loser - The Morlocks
She's Not Mine - The Mystery Machine
I Sympathize - Thee Fourgiven
Melvin - The Pandoras
I've Gotta Way With Girls - The Chesterfield Kings
Summer Of Love - The Hidden Peace
Promise - The Tell-Tale Hearts
Stormy - The Lyres
Tearing Up My Heart - The Young Lords
Knock On My Door - The Brood
No Matter What - SS-20
I Want Him - The Pandoras
Good Times - The Cannibals
It's Just A Matter Of Time - The Tell-Tale Hearts
(Had Enough Of) Your Lies - The Tryfles
I'm Going Home - The Chesterfield Kings
Bad Little Girl - The Surfadelics
No Good Woman - The Gravedigger V
Bad News Travels Fast - The Fuzztones
She'll Always Be Mine - The Klepstones
24 Hours Everyday - The Morlocks
Gone Away - The Wylde Mammoths
99th Floor - The Chesterfield Kings
Everynight - The Last Drive
It's A Drag - Unites States of Existence
Want Love - The Sick Rose
Want, Need Love - The Pandoras
Thinkin' Bout Today - The Green Telescope
I Can't Stand This Love, Goodbye - Naz Nomad And The Nightmares
Enough Of Your Love - The Wylde Mammoths
Tears (Only Dry) - The Vipers
Free Again - Les Coronados
It's Not Me - The Tell-Tale Hearts
Let It Shine - The Flamingos
Cry On My Own - The Pandoras
There She Goes Again - The Crawdaddys
Get Away Girl - The Cynics
I'm Not There - The Plan 9
Gotta Get Some - The Fuzztones
One Step Closer To You - The Miracle Workers
Bye Bye Baby - The Tell-Tale Hearts
Not Looking Back - The Lyres
The Big Sound Goes Down - The Sick Rose
I'll Make You Sorry - The Odds
Hey Little Bird - The Chesterfield Kings
Dr. Syn - The Stomach Mouths
I'll Come Again - The Brood
1-2-5 - The Fuzztones
Fun In The Summer - The Surf Trio
She Pays The Rent - The Lyres
Keep On Trying - The Tell-Tale Hearts
It's About Time - The Pandoras
Judgement Day - The Morlocks
I'm Not Trying To Hurt You - The Sick Rose
Shelby GT 356 - The Chesterfield Kings
Things In The Past (Yeah O'yeah) - The Unclaimed
Hot Generation - The Pandoras
110 songs total. Almost 5 hours of fuzz!!
Thanks go to the late Tim Gassen for his terrific book on this style of music: The Knights of Fuzz.
"'...in 2005 Rhino released a 4-CD set they titled "Children of Nuggets," supposedly representing the neo-garage movement to that date. It is a shoddy misrepresentation of the garage-psych revival of the 1980s and 1990s, and is not reccomended for a variety of head-shaking reasons."' - Timothy Gassen.
Books:
The Knights of Fuzz
Getting Nowhere Fast
Articles:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-18-ca-897-story.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sixties-fashion-the-look-of-love-51206/
Videos:
The two Battle Of The Garages CD comps as well as this collection make up roughly half of the above song lineup:
Bill Tobelman
william.tobelman@snet.net