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- “Whoo” … “whoohoo” … “Wha .. wha?” Is that Bob Seger? Well holy SHEEYAT …
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- Various Artists – “Michigan Nuggets” – Belvedere Records
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- The back cover; mine is #511 of 1,000 copies, also 2nd edition.
[[[ SINCE IT'S A BOOTLEG IN THE FIRST PLACE, DOWNLOAD MICHIGAN BRAND NUGGETS FREE HERE, PART 1 and HERE, PART 2 (then pay way too much for it on eBay!) ... ]]]
If you’re looking for a prime example of MC5 overcoming the legend and delivering the DYNAMITE rock we’ve always credited them with …
If you’re looking for a 30-pack of tunes from groups like The Woolies, Shy Guys, Rationals, Amboy Dukes, Underdogs, Wanted, Tim Tam & The Turn-Ons, Ormandy, ? & The Mysterians, Southbound Freeway, Tidal Waves, Human Beings (sic) …
If you’re looking for … PRE-FAME BOB SEGER PSYCH-OUT FLASHES? Holy god …
Nevertheless, that’s what Michigan Brand Nuggets can do for you if you tap one of its smokes from its large, pretty gatefold 2XLP sleeve. I can’t decide what’s most surprising about this compilation: Its overall quality, its deep probing of the Seger canon or its fascinating back stories/tales (which includes one yarn about Binky Diamond, singer from Tidal Waves, dying during a performance ) …
Oh god, but I just gotta break into the music ASAP. Here are some highlights:
- Terry Knight & The Pack sound so much like The Lovin’ Spoonful(whom I’ve also been MAJORly into lately; this started with my dad listening to “Nashville Cats” in the car, likely) I think I just believed in magic. But this is Herman’s Hermits SPLATTERED on the windshield of a yellow submarine … that and John Sebastian/Zal Yanovsky goodness that drips from the speakers like love-honey …
- Bob Seger and The Last Heard singing “East Side Story” … you can hear the gristle-y grit in his voice already, like a rock, as strong/cock-slappin’ as it can be! Grow a beard, plow a field, punch a minority, skull-fuck yr inferiors, that kinda conservative shit …
- Unrelated Segments gettin’ all ferocious on that ass, jinglin’ and a-janglin’ and dealing in Kinks krunch while dipping into Yardbirds’ “yeeeeeaaaaahhh! Rock ‘n’ Rolllllll!” trough with a plunge and a loud “PLOP” …
- Shy Guys dialing into the pop side of the spectrum and half-delivering with their semi-close harmonies and kinda-katchy, somewhat clunky Grease-to-be songwriting …
- Another close-but-no-cigar/snatch from Underdogs, soundin’ like Fine Young Cannibals 20 years too early an’ shit …
And THAT’S JUST SIDE 1 … there are THREE MORE SIDES to go, one of them containing a ? & The Mysterians track I’ve probably never heard (it’s actually a rather half-boner reading of “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby”). Can you say BINGO BONUS?
Albums like this make it tough for me to go to bed at night. Side 2 might be even more of a lightnin’ bug than S-1, breakin’ out karate chops from Human Beings (sic), a sick, stuttering assault from MC5 in “Borderline,” Intelligence-foreshadowing period pop-rock from Tidal Waves, whom assert, “I’m in love with your daughter,” then go on to talk about the way “she wiggles,” the way “she walks” …
Trust me, that’s not going to score any points with the in-laws.
I could detail every single crack-nugget-pouch on this collector’s cocktease and not break a sweat but I can only tag and categorize so much psychedelic slop-heaven before I start to see stars and burning cinders in the air.
Seek this out (or follow the link above; you could just, you know, do that) and, when this record takes over your mind-throat and starts talking for you, throw me a comment that masturbates me for the great, wish-granting gorilla I am.
SHITBALLS!!! (One more quickie: Southbound Freeway‘s “Psychedelic Used Car Lot Blues” is like one toke over the line at the railway station after too much time truck-truck-truckin’ with Casey Jones, with a big bindle of coke in a briefcase and a barf bag covering yr butthole …)
Many thanks for this. East Side Story is one of the greatest all time rockers.
Thanks so much, I only wish I had time to write about all 30 songs on this fuckin’ thing …
I’m pissed that I got to go offsite to try and download this damn thing. What’s the password for your winrar? I grew up in Detroit about all this shit happened time. Lookin’ for “Persecution Smith” by Segar and the Herd. Rock on.
hmmm. i don’t provide downloads here and only link them when the record is out of print. if the link doesn’t work anymore i don’t know how to get it, sorry!
I bought #427, 26 yrs ago before leaving Brighton, MI for Fl. I paid 3bucks for it at Wazoo in Ann Arbor. it brings back the days when WRIF was a real radio station and not this clear Channel crap. They used to have “Motor City Music Madness Day” every Labor Day. Anyhow, it’s good to have a digital copy now as I plastic bagged my lp version. I did however, see a copy for sale on Ebay a few months back….the guy wanted $100 for t.
that’s the thing about vinyl, isn’t it? the value grows and grows, at least for the Good Stuff (which “Michigan Brand Nuggets” definitely is) … one thing’s for sure, I just can’t pay $100 for a record, unless it’s “Animal Crack Box”; that was unavoidable.
thanks for the comment! i almost confused “Wazoo” for “Yazoo” (the label that releases the Robert Crumb-curated collections, among other things) … so is Wazoo in Ann Arbor still going strong or has it gone the way of the record-store buffalo?
As far as I know and from talking to friends that still live in that area, yes it is. I think the founder died a few years back, but his business partner of many years still runs it and the annex store. The stores were located near the intersection of Liberty and State st/ U of M campus,which was the site of some of the largest anti war protests of the Viet Nam era,including the ones sparked by ‘Trans-Love Energies/MC5/John Sinclair.
came across your site by accident ,and MI.nuggets,being from Detroit; but a little to young (54) I never got to hear a few of these, but luvin it all. Will check the site out some more see what else I can find. Thanks much
this is certainly better than a good share of similar compilations, thanks for dropping a line!
Hi, I had a first pressing of MB Nuggets till about 12 years ago I sold it for $250. Yeah, I know I should have held on to it, but at the time I needed the money to get my record selling website going, and selling records was what I put it for. I had #634 or something real close to that. My neighbor bought a second issue a year later but lost it when his house got torched while he was away on vacation. Lost about 5,000 great collectible records.
i just read an article about a guy in britain that lost tens of thousands of records in the same sort of situation. what can you do? i would probably quit collecting, take it as a sign.