Search - Various Artists :: The Essential Pebbles Collection, Vol. 2

Not as essential as you would think

Casey Scott | 06/11/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The "music fan from CA" is right: most of this music is obscure for a reason. It's simply not very good. After the incredible ESSENTIAL PEBBLES VOL. 1, where every single track was a surefire winner culled from the first 10 CD volumes of the PEBBLES series, I was really looking forward to popping this into my CD player. Unfortunately this was a major let-down; selecting songs from the PEBBLES LP's that haven't seen CD release yet, if these are the best of those, I'm not looking forward to those LP's seeing the light of the digital age.The few good songs include: The Rogues' "How Many Times", Neal Ford and the Fanatics' "Shame on You", The Jelly Bean Bandits' "Generation", Sonny Flaherty and the Mark V's "Hey Conductor", The Live Wires' "Love", The Inmates' "More Than I Have", The Kama Del Sutras' "She Taught Me Love", and The Sweet Acids' "That Creature". That's 8 out of 26 songs that you'll find yourself glad you listened to. The rest are disposable.If it's possible, the CD starts out at a good pace and each song progressively gets worse as the running time gets longer. Do yourself a favor and wear out your ESSENTIAL PEBBLES VOL. 1 CD rather than even consider the idea of purchasing this one. For hardcore completists only, who I expect will probably only give it a listen and toss it onto their shelf to collect dust.Disc 2 holds some minor interest to collectors, as all 29 songs have never been reissued anywhere. Tracks actually worth hearing are: The Purple Haze's "Shades of Blue", The Dawn 5's instrumental "Mike's Bag", Denny Noie and the Catalinas' "It Ain't a Big Thing", The Fading Tribesmen's "More Feathers", and The Spires of Oxford's "But You're Gone". However, none of these songs are even all that memorable. Again, like CD 1, each song gets progressively worse as the disc goes on.All in all, this is a supremely disappointing package that only hardcore completists will want to add to their collection. "Essential" is the one word that will NOT pop into your mind while listening to this misfire collection."

Amazing

Sean M. Kelly | Portland, Oregon United States | 09/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Picking up where volume 1 leaves off, "Pebbles Vol. 2" continues to dig deep into the bowels of garage rock to find the tastiest leftovers from those bands with no names, and what a collection it is!Very few Beatles clone bands made it like the Knickerbockers, the Beau Brummels, or small bands like the Gants, did, but what the collection showcases is that whether in NYC or LA or a town of 50 people, the music was infectious, and the results are pure magic. Their names may be lost to history, but the music lives on, and its MAGIC to listen to!Brian Eno once said that very few people listened to the Velvet Underground, but they all went out and formed a band because of them.. who knows, perhaps these tasty nuggets of Anglophiled Americana will cause the next great wave in music, as well..and it couldn't happen soon enough!!Mange and bon appetit!!"

More Raves From Daddy Rollin' Stone!

Dirk Gently | MI USA | 11/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While the Beatles and the Byrds were hitting the main stage; meanwhile Back in garage land the long, shaggy-haired, pre-Mansonite hipsters were trying to impress Mary Jane with the cave stomping send -ups in their best Kieth Relfian manner! Ahhh, sit back, drop a tab and relax!"