Nuggets - Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era

What's that? You say you're a fan of sixties rock but you're tired of the same old, same old? Feel the need to branch off from the usual crowd: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Mamas and The Papas, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, et. al.? I have just the thing for you: Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era put out by Rhino Records. A four-CD set, it focuses on songs from the middle of the sixties. There are a handful of songs you may recognize, such as Incense and Peppermints by The Strawberry Alarm Clock and Journey To The Center Of The Mind by The Amboy Dukes (featuring little Teddy Nugent on lead guitar) but most of the songs I have never heard of, by bands I have never heard of. Included are such, um, nuggets as Put The Clock Back On The Wall by The E-Types, Live by The Merry-Go-Round (anybody know what swingin' eighties group covered this?), and the best Beatles knock-off of all time, Lies by The Knickerbockers. There is a Nuggets II that focuses on British bands from this same period but I think the first box is the better of the two. I wouldn't call all the music psychedelic. In fact, much of it sounds garage-y, so with low-fi bands currently in vogue this music might even be hip again (or whatever the current word is).