The Essential Pebbles Collection, Vol. 2 (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Oldies  »  '60s
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: June 9, 1992
• Label: Archive (USA)
• UPC: 095081106024
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106418145
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #46761 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #639 in Oldies (See Top 100 Oldies Bestsellers)
• #168 in '60s (See Top 100 '60s Bestsellers)

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Recording information: Louisiana; Nashville, TN.

To be cruel, this might have been more appropriately titled "The Inessential Pebbles." True, there are two discs and 55 songs' worth of rare '60s garage cuts here, none by anyone remotely famous even on a cult level (no, Neal Ford & the Fanatics do not count). Aside from a few reprises from the early Pebbles volumes on the first disc, though, it's pretty insubstantial stuff. It sounds worse than it would have in the late '70s, when this genre's existence was barely even acknowledged; by 1998, however, so much of it has been reissued that this collection really sounds second-rate next to, ironically, the original ten-volume Pebbles series. True, much of this has been previously unreissued, but as in any musical style, simple rarity and adherence to basic parameters of the idiom don't necessarily make for memorable music. Or, to put in language a rock fan can grasp, fuzz guitars, snotty vocals, put-down lyrics, and wild-and-craziness do not necessarily classics make. Garage/'60s collectors will already be familiar with the best cuts -- the Wig Wags' ominous "On My Way Down the Road," the Four Fifths' Byrds-like "If You Still Want Me," the Live Wires' bright and raw pop-psych-garage tune "Love," and the Soul Survivors' cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shakin' with Linda" -- from their early Pebbles vinyl volumes, although the addition of the Denims' compelling, minor-key "I'm Your Man" is nice. Other than that, surprisingly, some of the highlights are shopworn covers, like the Why Four's "Not Fade Away," the Night Watch's fuzz-and-organ-driven "Shake," and the Berries' "Baby Won't You Follow Me Down." ~ Richie Unterberger

With 28 volumes in their vinyl version of the series and another 23 volumes in the companion High in the Mid-Sixties series (not to mention its ten-volume Rough Diamonds set), to put it all out on compact disc would have been perhaps a bit much, even for the most perversely dedicated of fuzz fanatics. What Bomp has opted for instead is to cherry-pick the absolutely most-requested tracks from the original volumes, then pad it out with a similar number of super-obscure and ultra-rare bonus tracks. Highlights include the Rogues' "How Many Times," Neal Ford & the Fanatics' "Shame on You," Jaybees' "I'm a Loner," the Baker Street Irregulars doing a great version of the Yardbirds' version of "I'm a Man," the Original Sinners' "You'll Never Know," the Fading Tribesmen's "More Feathers," the Vistas' "Don't Know" and Ye Court Jesters' "But I Still Love Her." If fuzz-toned guitars, Farfisa organs and lots of tambourine is what floats your boat, then this is the compilation you've been waiting all your life for. ~ Cub Koda

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