Pebbles Compilations

[Neville Chamberlain]

Anyone know anything about these compilations of obscure 60s psychedelic / punk / garage tracks? I was listening to Vol. 1 yesterday, which I picked up cheaply in a 2nd hand record shop ages ago only to completely forget that I had it. Anyway, it's really cool stuff, particularly the more weird psychedelic/trippy tracks rather than the straight-ahead rock 'n' rollers. Is there some sort of box set or definitive compilation I can get? I've had a bit of a google around too, but I thought this place would be as good a resource as any what with all you knowledgable types around...

[fanny splendid]

They have Volume 3 for download at suprnova.org. If you search for pebbles, it should appear. Also, the guy who submitted the album, a guy called ChrisGoes, has submitted loads of Acid, Prog, Psyche, Blues et c. from the 60's and 70's. If you put his name in the search field, then choose 'submitter names' from the drop down menu, you can see some of what is available.

[fEDORA]

The Pebbles stuff is great, far wilder than the similar Nuggets series. If you can get the vinyl do it does add nd edge to the music that mp3s sadly trim and the sleeves are great

[Ambient Sheep]

If they're the ones I'm thinking of, they were originally mail-order only, one of my ex-g/fs used to be signed up to their mail-order department.  Good stuff indeed.

But I could well be wrong.

[Auntie Ovipositor]

They started the series in 1979, as fans of the original Nuggets double album. There are hundreds of Pebbles albums now, of varying degrees of greatness. It's also a disorganized mess that you've got to just sorta dive into - not unlike the Fall's catalog in a sense. There are a bunch of different series organized variously, by country, by US state, by year, by style, by whatever else they could come up with. These sub-groups are all numbered differently, and sometimes unlabelled as anything other than "Pebbles Volume x". And to top it all off, different countries and record labels licensed the series from its creators and numbered the catalog differently, sometimes combining bits from other Pebbles releases, sometimes picking tracks from a dozen albums, sometimes entirely new. And all numbered differently.

There2 vol.3's that I have and like a lot: one is called the Acid Gallery and is on AIP (based in the US), the other is on BFD (based in Australia) and is just called vol.3. Acid Gallery has a range of angry and garagey tracks ("5 Years Ahead of my Time" by The Third Bardo, "Voices Green and Purple" by Bees,  and the absolutely amazing "Dom Kellar os Mods" by the Lea Riders Group), mixed with very psychadelic stuff ("Oshun" by Rattle of Life) and then what can only be called psychadelic novelty tunes ("I'm Allergic to Flowers" by the Jefferson Handkerchief, "Like a Dribbling Fram" by Race Marbles). A stellar album. The other one has the singer from Rifle Sport on the cover and features a lot of really solid rockers.

I believe that maybe 8 years ago, before the Nuggets box came out, there was a 2-disc sampler sold as "The best of Pebbles Volume 1". It pulled tracks from all across the series, but somehow didn't seem to be that great of a sampler.

Great stuff, though. There's some really incredible music that came out on no-name/independant labels in the sixties, and it's worth giving a listen to.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Hmmm, thanks for that Auntie Ovipositor. Helpful indeed,  in that you've confirmed that the Pebbles series is a big gigantic mess. Mind you, I've found my way round the Fall back catalogue so there's no reason why I can't negotiate the Pebbles series.

I'll keep my eyes and ears open and not worry too much about the sequence in which the compilations came out. The Vol. 1 I've got is different from the one I found on Amazon anyway...

[Auntie Ovipositor]

From the fine people at Bomp!:
http://bomp.com/AIP.html
It almost makes it seem sensible and orderly.

The volume 3 in the Pebbles section is the one with the psychadelic novelties on it and is entirely worth it. The other volume 3 that I have apparently isn't from BFD - must have been another country/license. Still good, though. 1 in the AIP series is a wash, 2 is pretty damn good, 4 blows, the Chicago collections could've been 1 disc for me (but if you like the whiteboy blues it's got some pretty inventive stuff on there), So Cal I've never heard, and Vol 10 ("Miscellaneous") I haven't heard in this version but believe me, you NEED a copy of "Leather Boy" by the Leather Boys. Sorta erases the need for exploitation movies of the 60s/70s by virtue of being far more lurid, inscrutable, and low-budget than any easy-rider copycat could ever be.

Essencial Pebbles was the comp series I was thinking of, and the first one still looks to be a bust - you probably have "Green Fuzz" somewhere else and don't need to hear "Travel Agent Man", as promising as that sounds. 2 looks potentially good, 3 could be as well. There's a lot of stuff on there I haven't seen - which may or may not make it worthwhile, but probably worth a shot.

G'luck.

[TJ]

As a big fan of the "Nuggets" compilations (and indeed "Rubble", the UK psych compilations that never really get commented on), I have to say that I've always felt a little underwhelmed by "Pebbles". Yes, there are some belters on various volumes (The William Penn Five's 'Swami', for example), but they always leave me with the impression that the obscurity value is considered more important than the quality of the music. There's a lot of dross and filler on most volumes, and a fair few of them remind me of those dreary lower-rent Northern Soul "ultimate rarity" compilations where it soon becomes obvious that there's a good reason that this stuff is obscure.

[Neville Chamberlain]

...but they always leave me with the impression that the obscurity value is considered more important than the quality of the music.

This is what I'm worried about really. I'm no great fan of the major 60s bands let alone the minor ones that nobody's heard of. Anyway, I'm only really looking for acid-drenched garage-punk stuff (Why do I like this sort of stuff? I don't touch drugs or anything...) like the track by The Gonn on the Vol. 1 version I've got, plus a couple of others. Really good stuff, but I can skip the more straight-ahead rock 'n' rollers.

Anyway, I shall keep looking around. Thanks for the link too, Mr. Ovipositor!