Sundazed's Garage Beat '66 series of mid-'60s garage rock takes much the same approach as hundreds, if not thousands, of such compilations that have been issued since the late '70s.
Each volume has an assortment of tracks from all over North America, many of them rare, none of them national hits, and most of the acts known only within their region, if at all.
The emphasis is on raw, fuzzy outrage, often inspired by (but not as polished as) the more R&B-aligned end of the British Invasion.
It's not as good as the Nuggets box set (in part because it's lacking in pop hooks as strong as those that made many of the Nuggets selections actual hits), and not as good as the best of the many sub-Nuggets comps of '60s garage.
It's better than the average '60s garage rock anthology, though, in part because unlike virtually all other such animals, the tracks are mastered from the original sources, and the liner notes include copious commentary on each selection by garage rock authorities.
So if you're the kind of fan likely to collect such stuff, although you may well already have items like 006's "Like What, Me Worry," the Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2's "I Wanna Come Back (From the World of LSD)," and the Sparkles' "Hipsville 29 B.C. (I Need Help)" elsewhere, you may well not have them in as good fidelity as they boast here.
While the songs do tend toward basic bluesy teen rants, there's room for some eclecticism, particularly in the inclusion of John Hammond's cover of Billy Boy Arnold's "I Wish You Would" from a 1966 single (with Bill Wyman on bass and Robbie Robertson on guitar, and a different version than the one that appears on his album So Many Roads); Matthew Moore Plus Four's garage-folk-rock cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Codyne (She's Real)"; and Words of Luv's version of an obscure P.F. Sloan folk-rocker, "I'd Have to Be Outta My Mind."
The no-holds-barred absurdity of the aforementioned "I Wanna Come Back (From the World of LSD)" and the crunching soul-rock-pop of the Sparkles' "No Friend of Mine" stick out as the highlights, however (by Richie Unterberger).
Track List:
01.Like What, Me Worry - 006
02.Saturday Night - The Country Gentlemen
03.I Can Beat Your Drum - Fever Tree
04.Hipsville 29 B.C.(I Need Help) - The Sparkles
05.Hard Times - The Centurys
06.Impressin’ - The Kreeg
07.Just Give Me Time - The "In"
08.Bye Bye - The Ban
09.I Want The Rain - The Executioners
10.Little Girl, Little Boy - The Odyssey
11.Codyne (She’s Real) - Matthew Moore Plus Four
12.I'd Have To Be Outta My Mind - Words Of Luv
13.Hey You - The Five Of Us
14.I Wish You Would - John Hammond
15.Eyes - Just Two Guys
16.Beeker Street - The Olivers
17.Shame On You - Neal Ford & The Fanatics
18.Look What You've Done - Smokestack Lightnin'
19.No Friend Of Mine - The Sparkles
20.I Wanna Come Back (From The World Of LSD) - The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2
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