I'm back with more spins..Woo-LA!

Latest news on the TeenBeat Mayhem book status: The cabinet members have started voting on our final ratings session. I'm still waiting for more submissions, which will be added to the existing ballot. This has pushed back my Sept planned finish...This project is the big "job", the reason for the delay in completion - nearly 18,000 songs in the end, once it is done things will roll along FAST.

With our USA holiday weekend, I found a bit of time to rush out a cool mix 'o' spins for the blog. Thanks to all for the comments, keep them coming. I'm not here to compete with existing blogs, etc. and I do not have the time to post full-on interviews (I have a LOT)...once I'm done with the book, I'll have more time for improvements.

Finally, I am a patient person, but I've ZERO patience for this crummy layout template, where I can't fine tune the way the text flows around the label scan. seems blogspot defaults have the stupid "frame" effect when I don't want one at all! So excuse the lame visual. When the book is finished we'll be moving outta this dump to our own spot that won't rely on fixed styles.

First stop: Atlanta, Georgia, for the 4-man crew who billed themselves as FAMEN. I dig these guys! Yeah! Four killer singles in the span of 12 months! Just what does Famen mean? When I finally found lead vocalist /frontman and organist Wayne White way back in the late 80s, he told me that Famen meant Fame+Money. Somethin' that was not in the cards, tho they did work hard while together. With a tight combo backing him up, Wayne booked the group all over the south. He had an amazing vocal range, in the sense that he could switch between musical styles.
The 1st 45 is a perfect example. The noted A side is one of those country & western weepers: tinkling piano a la Floyd Cramer, Jordinaires sounding backup chorus, and Wayne doin' his best Big O meets the King. I'm no a country die-hard, but I do kinda-like this (howzabout U, Westex? Don Julio Blanco?) The B side is the one for garage fanatics - a funky strut, with James Burton inspired chicken-pickin' gee-tar fills and leads a-plenty. A real tuff mover and hard 45 to find.

"Again, I Want To (Be Your Fool)"

"If You Want Me"

"Crackin' Up" is my fave of the bunch: a complete overhall of the Bo Diddley classic, a great groove that doesn't let up. B-side, not featured, is also good, a
group penned track, "Time Is Slippin' Away", later recorded in a version by Gaylen Adams on the World-Wide label (re-released on the Bullet label).
"Crackin' Up"

The three Famen 45s were released in 1966..."Don't Want Nobody" has the coolest minor-key organ/guitar groove; nice rocker shakes things up on the flip

"Don't Want Nobody"

"Sixteen Wheels"

The last 45 paired a tuff pounder, replete with superheavy fuzz bass. "Hurry" was typo'd on the label as 'Faman', from '67. The B-side recycles the
version of "Crackin' Up" on Expose. That was it for the singles, tho Wayne kept busy on other fronts, engineering recording sessions, and doing a solo r&b bit
as 'Shack Jones' The man had so much energy he admitted that "I just burned out..." when I called him way back when. One of the coolest guys I've had the fortune of speaking with."Hurry"

One of my all-time fave garage ballads is next, recorded by Dayton, Ohio's Pictorian Skiffuls. You can find all the info on 'em at my long-tyme pal George's
website: www.buckeyebeat.com - a wealth of info unequalled anywhere else on the net. And it's ACCURATE!! "You've Done Me Wrong" is the low-key B-side to the better known "In Awhile", from '65. It's a Beatles meets Byrds jangle, chilling harmonies, man, I rated this a perfect "10" in our voting sessions (tho the rest of the cabinet didn't think so!). Not many ballads are THIS good! Note - the record was pressed from a poor quality lacquer (somebody probably played it when they got it before sending it out for pressing!) So excuse the sound - the record is basically mint!"You've Done Me Wrong"

Next up, two versions of the same song, penned by Ken Johnson. He was the songwriting guy behind his son's group, Ken and the Fourth Dimension, also on
the Starburst label, as are the all-gal group, the Rev-Lons. "Love Can't Be A One Way Deal" - nice sublime girl group pop, deadwax notes a pressing by Monarch from 1963.

Three years later, a southern CA combo called "Menn" went the jangle-beat route, and shortened the title to "A One Way Deal", with a neat, spy-movie styled instro on the backside, "Ian Fleming Theme. A 2nd 45 on the Mod label,"Things To Come" is good as well.
"Love Can't Be A One Way Deal"

"A One Way Deal"

This tune or group won't be listed in TeenBeat Mayhem. Still, it's a fantastic breezy pop number with subtle harmonies. Yeah, it ain't garage, but I don't care!
The Innocence expand on the musical theme for a Bufferin TV commercial. I can't really recall the commercial, but I totally dig this song, my fave of theirs.
Earlier tunes have an almost childish, ricky-tick sound ("Mairzy-Doats" anyone?) and their lone Top 40 hit is OK, "There's Got To Be A Word" from late '66. This was one of their last efforts, from October '67. The Innocence recorded previously as the Vacels, with three singles, including two on Kama Sutra that are cool garagey pop-beat sides."The Day Turns Me On (The Bufferin Song)"

OK, back to TeenBeat Mayhem sounds...this is our "Mystery Combo" this go 'round. The Chimes Of Freedom, and their moody go-go groove peppered with tasty fuzz: "Pretend"..pretty hep off-color lyric, including the snide line: 'Cause the chick you need won't ball you, she's no friend..'Not sure where this group was based, possibly the Chicago / northern IL- southern WI region. Maybe someone can fill us in who was there!
"Pretend"

Here's another style I dig: pre-teen garage!! A seven year old kid warbling away, with attitude to spare. It's the last release on the Julian label, I think from
1970, believe it or not! A pal who has disappeared purchased the Julian tapes from owner Don Brenier in the 90s, he also has the session logs.
"Get Away Girl"

"My Dream" is a cool, airy psych-beat tune, great sinewy fuzz lead, I like it even better than the more famous side "Lost Innocence", an old Pebbles comp
fave. The 45 came out in September, 1967, from Bakersfield, CA. Gary Paxton had invlovement with this disc, I contacted his company to see if there were any old
files, etc, on this mystery group, they had nothing (surprised?)
"My Dream"

A couple of 'heavy' garage sounds to close out this go-round: Let's take a bite of the Lemon Sandwich..I know zilch about the group, but "Give Me Love"
drips with a fuzzadelic moody vibe. You'd swear it's Clapton on vocal, egad! Still, it's a great track if you dig things on the heavier side. The flip is the exact
tune released on a single by Eddie T. Burke, "I Must Be Dreaming", a pop-beat tune. Both 45s were issued in 1969. "Give Me Love" appears again, recycled as the B side to Tommy Burke's garage disc from 1970, I Don't Wanna Be Your Keeper". Why producer Carl Edelson kept throwing 'old' songs on flip-sides of his releases won't be known, as he has long since passed on..."Give Me Love"

This last disc might only appeal to a slect few..but I dig it muchly! The Revells, from Jackson, Tennessee, a tuff garage-rock sound, waaay late in the game...can't date the disc for certain, but likely from the '71-'73 era. "I Feel Lonely" Sounds like a later era hard-rockin' Mark Lindsay with the Raiders. The flip is a cool crude remake of the Beatles' "Taxman". I know of another garagey / heavy sound on the Spectrum label, by the Hardtimes, tho I don't think it's quite as good as the Revells.
"I Feel Lonely"

MopTop Spins TeenBeat Mayhem Plus!

OK!! I finally alloted some time to roundup a selection of 60s sounds I dig, harvested from the 45rpm collection for audio and visual perusal...

Some of you might remember my weekly web feature I called MopTop Spins from 2003/4. A bunch of obscure garage 45 soundclips were uploaded to the web each week, a lot of fun, but I disbanded that effort due to my super-heavy workload on the book. So, this blog will allow me to resume the feature, albeit not just focused 'garage' sounds. ,
If someone involved with a tune in some proprietary manner does not wish the track to be web-blogged, contact me and we'll take care of things like pronto. The purpose of this blog is to present deserving obscurites to fellow fanatics and interested, non-mainstream music types. The sound quality is decent enough but hardly what I'd want myself for an 'archival' or permanent file copy.
I'll add 45s as time permits so feel free to check back, or send a me friend request (to MopTop Mike on myspace), where the bulletin will go out to announce each future updates to the teenbeat mayhem blog. I'm not sure how long I'll keep the clips up as well, due to space limitations.

The 2nd Laymen 45 is hands-down the best version of that old folk ballad I've heard. Based on the Blues Magoos version, heavy on the farfisa, trebly guitar, and the crude production add up to a winner. From August '67, flipside is the instrumental track without the vocals, leading someone to mark vocal/instrumental on each side of the disc..."Sometimes I Think About"

Another Pensacola, FL combo called the Dickens recorded two singles, both are top-shelf Left Banke dopplegangers. The '67 debut is a remake of "I've Got Something On My Mind", a damn scarce 45 that I've been sleuthing out for ages, and is even better than the Left Banke original, I kid you not! The 2nd 45 from May '68 pairs two originals featured here. Simply astounding garagey-pop on both sides, the best song
the Left Banke never wrote on top, while the flip suffers from the odd, unnecessary brassy intrusions, but still enjoyable....
"One Of A Kind Woman"
"Inside-Outside"

I dunno 'bout you folks, but I never want to hear Little Peggy March wail "I Will Follow Him" ever again - one of my most despised chart hit tunes.
But if you're surfin' around the net for interesting 60s sounds, you already understand that most 'one-hit wonder' artists had more releases on 45rpm, many far superior to the over-played hit single. "He Couldn't Care Less" has to be the most rockin' single for Peggy March, from the fall of '65. Written by the two wunderkind teenaged brothers who also recorded great sides as members of Somebody's Children / The Chyldren (varied spellings of monikers notwithstanding...flip side is a nice midtempo ballad dancer, "Heaven For Lovers"....
"He Couldn't Care Less"

Here's a MopTopMike 'ol bargain bin purchase rescued from a dealer's box marked "worthless junk!" Bo Shilo belts out a thumpin' garage meets soul workout from '66, sounding as if it was performed inside a closet. Waxed up on the label best-known for the cool Stones-y garage-punk rant "Thinkin About You" by the Checkmates International....
"You Gonna Lose"

I absolutely love dreamy-floaty soul harmony ballads, prime years '68 thru '74 or so. Extra kudos to the southwestern brown-eyed groups, like Sunny & The Sunliners flawless "Should I Take You Home"...truly armhair 'n' neckhair raising stuff indeed! The Living Us seem to be from somewhere near Big Spring, TX, with this dreamy plaintive fave, the flip is a frantic chuggin' funk mover, "Steal Away". No deadwax info to extract for determination of a release date....
"Understand"

Back to TeenBeat Mayhem garage for the Nite Raiders "So Wrong". November, 1966, once an unknown obscure combo, but their story can be
found via Mike Dugo's 60sgaragebands.com site. In the interview, the 45 is mentioned, however the titles were not correct. Flipside is a remake
of "You Can't Sit Down" a rather unexciting instrumental version, however. The topside is the group credited original. Still un-comp'd, I think, 'tho the speed things get booted nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised otherwise!
"So Wrong"

Final representative this spin session: a true garage effort - crude, plaintive, and haunting all rolled in one. Discovered tucked away in a forgotten corner of a former record shop, the 10 inch acetate is, well, beat-to-hell condition-wise. So excuse the loud, roaring surface noise, plus a couple skips have not been 'digitally fixed' (I have ZERO time for that stuff), and the more rockin flipside suffers from numerous jumps to the stylus. Absolutely no info on the well worn label - there is no title, no artist/group name, no credits, nuthin! Just the footprint of Rondina Studio typeset in red, with the Campbell Ave, West Haven, Connecticut address. The former owner of the studio also had his own label, Ron-Cris, with a slew of singles on that green label banner, but he had no recollection, or preserved documentation to yield any clues to solve this mystery disc.
"Untitled"

The Laymen

I'll kick things off with a cool 2-sider by a combo from Pensacola, FL. Released in the summer of 1966, this 45 was the last one on the blue font & Minaret logo label, before record empressario and producer Shelby Singleton bought their wares (he then redesigned the logo , plain black text on a golden mustard yellow label starting with #124, then a pink label with a flowery / trendy logo in '68).
But enough about ol' Shelby - this is probably my most wanted garage single...a cool jangly folk rock lament on the pictured side, with a moody organ swinger lurking on the flip. Alas, I don't have decent quality sound clips archived to post here on my debut blog entry...but I can pull out the second and last Laymen 45; scan and clip, will-do-so soon enough.
Interesting note: the Laymen have been 'found' by the sleuths out there, like me, and no, copies just are not lying dormant, waiting to be excavated! We've also uncovered a couple of cool pix (the Laymen featured a boss-looking long haired blonde babe on farfisa!) and they also backed the gal trio from Pensacola, the Sandpipers during performances.
To read about the gal trio, scribed by my long-time pal, and check out the pic of the Laymen backing the girls at a packed teen club in the hot summer of 1966, follow the link!