Now playing at Garage, Rhino's great new 4-cd set:
In Los Angeles during the mid-'60s, music was everywhere - from the garages of Orange County, to the dingbat apartments of the San Fernando Valley, to the bungalows of Laurel Canyon. But without a doubt, the epicenter of the music scene was the Sunset Strip, where “freaks” filled the rock clubs lining the famed Hollywood thoroughfare. Rhino continues the storied Nuggets tradition with a four-disc boxed set that mines the city's rich musical history for unsung gems...
Andrew Sandoval, one of the collection's producers, explains the set's concept in its liner notes: “...the Nuggets series is something of the alternative musical history of the 1960's. Not so much a survey of what happened, but more what could have happened had music charted on merit alone.”
WHERE THE ACTION IS! compiles 101 tracks that mix many of the city's brightest stars (The Byrds, Love, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Captain Beefheart, The Mama & The Papas, Lowell George, Iron Butterfly, The Monkees) with talented artists whose stellar songcraft sadly flew under the radar (The Seeds, Jameson, The Electric Prunes, Modern Folk Quintet, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Spirit, The Everpresent Fullness, Kaleidoscope, The Standells, The Bobby Fuller Four).
WHERE THE ACTION IS! encompasses four discs arranged thematically to cover different aspects of the pop, rock, club and Top 40 sounds of the era. The first covers some of the most notable bands that performed in the clubs of Hollywood's Sunset Strip. Disc two features a sampling of the musicians who began life in South L.A., East L.A. and such far-flung suburbs as Riverside and Bakersfield. The third delves into the artistry of L.A.'s producers, arrangers and Wrecking Crew of studio players. The final disc takes us from the nascent seeds of folk rock to the first blooms of canyon rock, country rock and full-blown psychedelia in the region. It also shows how rock pioneers such as Del Shannon and Rick Nelson took their own stabs at fitting in with “the kids.”
Among the many highlights are: an alternate take of The Beach Boys' “Heroes And Villains,” Warren Zevon and producer Bones Howe performing “(You Used To) Ride So High” as The Motorcycle Abeline, “Take A Giant Step” by The Rising Sons, “Acid Head” by The Velvet Illusions,” local scenester Kim Fowley's “Underground Lady,” Jan & Dean's “Fan Tan,” The Monkees' “Daily Nightly,” Jesse Lee Kincaid's “She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune,” “Come To The Sunshine” by Van Dyke Parks, “Sister Marie” by Nilsson and “Hippy Elevator Operator” by The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band.
The set also offers a trio of previously unreleased tracks: a recently discovered demo version of “Sit Down I Think I Love You” recorded by Stephen Stills and Richie Furay shortly before they formed Buffalo Springfield; a demo of “Words” by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, one of the West Coast's most successful songwriting teams; and “Once Upon A Time” a collaboration between Tim Buckley and lyricist Larry Beckett.
