This was another album I saved while going through the Sundazed Records catalogue, and I’m pretty stoked to check it out. The Groupies were a psychedelic blues garage rock band hailing from New York City in the mid 1960s. There’s not a whole bunch of other information I can find at a quick glance, as they’ve sort of caught the eyes of garage rock and psychedelic rock enthusiasts in recent years with rereleases of their work on compilations. With that said, I’m going to go ahead and jump on into the music.
“Primitive” starts out with a great bluesy twangy tremelo’d guitar. Oh wow, the bass drum and guitar have an absolutely enchanting element about them – nearly shamanic in nature. I can’t help but turn this tune up a little bit. Oh wow, this one is super raw in sound, and absolutely enchanting at the same time. It seems to get experimental in a really groovy way, bringing a massive sound to the underbelly of the song. This is one super tasty tune with primal psychedelia mixed with a certain bluesy garage rock tune – I’m quite excited for the rest of the album.
“Hog (I’m a Hog for You Baby)” has a super unpolished yet seemingly expertly applied use of a garage rock setting to this classic bluesy rock and roll tune originally by The Coasters. The guitar seems to melt in and out of the distorted soundscape with an infectious energy driving the song forward from both the vocals and drums. Really awesome tune.
“Kim Fowley Intro” is a neat little segment to introduce the band for the live portion of the album.
“Little Baby” starts out right away with a super infectious energy that takes the form of some raw and rollickin’ bluesy garage rock. Holy smokes, this tune is tasty.
“It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” starts out really tasty with some bluesy garage sound mixed with a hefty layer of distortion that seems to wash over the whole soundscape. The style of the soundscape reminds me a bit of Grateful Dead circa 1968. There’s some really great energy from the vocals in this one too. Great little tune.
“Down in the Bottom” has some really chaotic energy bluesy garage rock energy that seems to take a psychedelic twist at the beginning of this tune. Wow, this is really groovy. It almost sounds like some strange blend of The Doors and Quicksilver Messenger Service. There’s a really groovy twang to some of that guitar in this tune. Really groovy tune.
“It’s Too Late” sounds like it gets really down in there with some deep blues rock with a bit of twang in a somewhat garage rock style. The guitar work really gets a-howlin’ at times while the drums and bass keeps the soundscape nearly gliding forward at times. The vocal performance sounds like nearly every ounce of breath is used to get some of the lyrics out. Great tune.
“I’m a Man” is that classic blues riff that just about anyone could recognize. The Groupies don’t shy away from doing this in their own sort of garage rock style with little embellishments here and there and what seems to be a layer of distortion washing over the whole tune, really swirling the layers of instrumentation together really nicely. Oh wow, the outro to this one is super tasty, holy smokes. That harmonica really lays into this jam super nicely, bringing out the bluesiness in the tune even more than it already was. Great tune.
“You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover” starts out with some super groovy twangy guitar to bring this tune into its little psychedelic swing. This Bo Diddley cover is super tasty – admittedly the only other version of this song I’ve heard was played by the Grateful Dead. I really dig those psychedelic chops from the electric guitar while the bass line really keeps this tune slowly rollin’ along. Those drums are super tasty too, and really serve the song very well in giving an outline of where the bass and guitar are headed next. Really groovy tune.
“You’ll Be Mine” is a super tasty electric blues tune in a sort of garage rock and psychedelic rock style. The electric guitar really seems to weave between different chords very well as the tune rolls along. The vocals have a great energy and honestly remind me a bit of the singer from the Dead Kennedys. Great tune.
“Gloria” is a super slow, churning version of the hit tune by Them – I’m super digging it. The slow pace has me on the edge of my seat waiting for some sort of resolution of tension being built up, but the band seems to be gently letting the tension go through passionate vocals and epic sounding connections between movements in the tune. This build up of tension at the end of the song seems to get relieved a bit as the band pulls this one into the station in a super chaotic manner. Great cover of a great tune.
“You Changed Again” has a super groovy blues rock sound that the band really feels like they jam nicely and have a lot of fun with. Things seem to be winding down a little bit with the band nearly playing a little looser in this one, or so it would seem. Really nice tune.
“Goin’ Down Slow” has a super tasty sound with an almost cowboy-like guitar part in the intro that even reminds me a little bit of early Jerry Garcia. Wow, this band really lays into this one with a massive amount of bluesy psychedelic rock flavor. There’s almost a thunderous rumbling from the background in this one – as if a storm is slowly approaching. Holy smokes, the guitar in this one is delicious with twangy psychedelic blues. The band gets going into a gallop as the song nears the end, with the bass and drums holding things steady and taking this tune in for a smooth landing. Really awesome tune, especially to end the album/live show section with.
Wow, this is one groovy album. There’s a really interesting and healthy mixture of blues rock, garage rock, and psychedelic rock, which all combine with a sort of proto-punk rock energy for a super sweet array of sounds. If you dig garage rock or psychedelic garage rock at all, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this one a listen, I do sincerely hope that you enjoy the experience at least as much as I did.
-A