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Music review: Various artists 'Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era'

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ROCK

In 1972, one of the greatest and most influential compilation albums of all time was released by Elektra Records, and it was called “Nuggets,” subtitled “Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-68.” It contained songs that caused stirs on Top 40 radio for varying lengths of time by groups that were mostly one-hit wonders, but they were tunes that were essential to the playlists of every high school garage band that ever tried to rise from neighborhood noisemakers to international stars.

To celebrate the album's 40^th anniversary, Rhino has just released it as a remastered stand-alone CD and digital download for the first time in the U.S.

There's the bumblebee guitar of the paisley-poppy “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night” by the Electric Prunes, the raunchy twang of the Standells' “Dirty Water,” the galloping sweatiness of the Seeds' “Pushin' Too Hard,” the Farfisa-organ-driven “Liar, Liar” by the Castaways, the Texas-based Thirteenth Floor Elevators' trippy “You're Gonna Miss Me,” the Yardbirds sound-alike, harp-blowing Count Five's “Psychotic Reaction,” a frantically guitar-driven song by the Leaves called “Hey Joe” (which Jimi Hendrix redid so masterfully on his debut album), the wonderfully throbbing, double-time blues-rock of “Baby Please Don't Go” by gun-crazy Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes, and the “Louie Louie”-like “Farmer John,” delivered by the Premiers.

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