The Pop Corporation

Most of us are well aware of the amazing comp/boxset etc ‘Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968′, first out in ’72 and basically (alongside a little help from Lester Bangs’ writing) invented garage punk as a genre. The compilation was put together by Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith’s cohort) and it is rightly considered one of the finest comps ever released.

Well, it’s about to have another day in the sun thanks to the release of a 5xLP box-set for Record Store Day. It’s annoying it’s a RSD release, but we know the drill by now. This package was strong enough for a general release we think, so y’know, whaddayagonnado?

Talking to Uncut mag, Kaye said: “It’s going to be a beautiful thing. The original double-album is remastered from the original tapes. Two discs represent my vision of what Volume 2 would have been in 1973. Then there’s ‘The Also Dug-Its’ – a fifth, mongrel disc of tracks left by the wayside that makes me smile. I’ve done new liner notes and biogs for the new discs. The original notes stay with what I knew in 1972.”

“At the end of Nuggets’ original liner notes I said, ‘Please write to Elektra and let them know if you think the magic’s in the music, or the music’s in you…’ So disc 3 starts with ‘Do You Believe In Magic’ by The Lovin’ Spoonful. I finally got ‘96 Tears’ by ? And The Mysterians in after 50 years, and ‘The Spider And The Fly’ by The Monocles. You really have to hear this one! ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ by The Koobas is just about the only English record on Nuggets – a Cat Stevens song as if Vanilla Fudge did it. And when Nuggets came out, I got letters and 45s from a guy from Long Island called Joe Dokko, who thought his group The Mystic Tide would be perfect for it – and I’m using their cut ‘Frustration’.”

For the uninitiated, many of the cuts are either primitive, bone-headed brilliance from bands who bought fuzz pedals, or early US psychedelic tracks that focused on the dancefloor rather than dreamy, pastoral acid jams. It’s amazing stuff. Without the boxset, you wonder whether we would have ever heard of The Sonics, The Seeds, Count Five and all.

He continues: “The Also Dug-Its starts with the E-Types’ ‘Put The Clock Back On The Wall’ – because that’s what I’m doing. It also includes Luke & the Apostles’ ‘Been Burnt’. I saw them live supporting the Dead at the Cafe au Go Go in 1967 and they were fucking amazing. I don’t think it even came out as a real record. Then there’s, sorry for the self-indulgence, ‘Crazy Like A Fox’ by Link Cromwell. There’s also ‘99th Floor’ by Billy Gibbons’ band The Moving Sidewalks and ‘Going Back to Miami’ by Wayne Cochrane And CC Riders – a blistering record. And I close it out with ‘I’m Five Years Ahead Of My Time’ by The Third Bardo. And of course that’s true, because five years ahead of Nuggets’ release was 1977, when a certain shit hit the fan.”

You can browse the full list of Record Store Day releases here.