Various ArtistsNuggets II Believe it or not, Rhino's new box set Nuggets II makes a very strong case that perfection can actually be improved upon. That statement will surely sound like heresy to all those fans who erected household shrines to the original Nuggets box, but this new collection of psychedelic pop and garage music from the mid-to-late '60s is, incredibly enough, an even more exciting and ambitious affair. The nostalgia factor takes a back seat this time to the pure thrill of discovery, in that the vast majority of the 109 cuts on this beautifully packaged, four-CD set don't qualify as hits, and generally fly well below the pop culture radar. Outside of a few cuts like the Easybeats' anthemic "Friday on My Mind," Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and Creation's "Making Time" (recently made semi-famous thanks largely to the Rushmore soundtrack) it's unlikely that anyone but the most rabid '60s musicologist has actually heard much of the music here.
Don't think for a minute, though, that means that any of this material is less than absolutely choice. There's not a single song on Nuggets II that won't lodge almost instantly in your brain, from the evocative psychedelia of Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" or Marmalade's "I See the Rain" (reportedly Jimi Hendrix's favorite song of 1967) to the "Paperback Writer" meets Smile-era Brian Wilson perfection of Timebox's "Gone is the Sand Man" or "Exit Stage Right" (an early stab at songwriting by the Brothers Gibb).
The Beatles are enormous influences here, of course, but so is the mutated R&B of the early Stones and bands like The Pretty Things, with numerous tracks that capture a unique brand of jagged primitivism as anarchistic as it is defiant. To wit: The Missing Links' "You're Driving Me Insane," the Bluestars' "Social End Product" and the Syndicats' legendary, demented rave-up "Crawdaddy Simone".
There's not a single American band featured on the new Nuggets box, with most of the tracks hailing from the UK, and quite a few coming from spots as far flung and unexpected as Holland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Japan and — gasp! — even Canada. One of the very finest moments on the entire set, in fact, is "Going Nowhere," a sublime cut from Spain's Los Bravos (whose "Black is Black" is sadly MIA here), in which Tom Jones bravado meets Trini Lopez jauntiness over Farfisa organs and fuzz guitars.
Other moments of brilliance include the proto-metal stunner "Garden of My Mind" by the Mickey Finn, the reverb-soaked blue-eyed soul of Winston's Fumbs' "Real Crazy Apartment," The Voice's "Train to Disaster" (apoca-rock from supposed cult members) and the Creation's magnificently idiotic "How Does It Feel to Feel," as fine a slab of feedback-driven sludge as ever was.
The list goes on and on, but you get the picture: This is great stuff. As with the first Nuggets box, the songs are skillfully sequenced to achieve maximum flow without too much repetition (no small task with so many two- and three-chord wonders aboard). Also included is an extremely cool 100-page booklet, crammed with great liner notes, incisive essays and tons of groovy color photos. Pounce. (Rhino)
—Lance Goldenberg
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2001.