Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop (1967)

Personnel:
GEOFF DAKING drms A
MIKE ESPOSITO gtr A
RON GILBERT bs A
RALPH SCALA vcls, organ A
EMIL THIELHIEM vcls, gtr A B C
RICHIE DICKON perc B
ROGER EATON bs, vcls B
ERIC KAZ hrmnca, vcls, keyb'ds B C
JOHN LIELLO vibes, perc B C
COOKER LO PRESTI bs C
JOEY STEC gtr, vcls

ALBUMS:
1(A) PSYCHEDELIC LOLLIPOP (Mercury SR 61096) 1966 21
2(A) ELECTRIC COMIC BOOK (Mercury MG 21104) 1967 74
3(A) BASIC BLUES MAGOOS (Mercury ST 61167) 1968 -
4(B) NEVER GOIN' BACK TO GEORGIA (ABC S697) 1969
5(C) GULF COAST BOUND (ABC S710) 1970
NB: (1) has been reissued on CD.

45s:
1 So I'm Wrong And You Are Right/People Had No Faces (Verve Folkways 5006) 1966
2 Tobacco Road/Some Times I Think About You (Mercury 72590) 1966 -
3 (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet/Gotta Get Away (Mercury 72622) 1966 5
4 Let Your Love Ride/Who Do You Love? (Ganim 100) 1967 -
5 Let Your Love Ride/Love Seems Doomed (Ganim 100) 1967 -
6 Pipe Dream/There's A Chance We Can Make It (Mercury 72660) 1967 60/81
7 One By One/Dante's Inferno (Mercury 72692) 1967 71
8 I Wanna Be There/Summer Is The Man (Mercury 72707) 1967 133
9 Life Is Just Cher O'Bowlies/There She Goes (Mercury 72729) 1967 -
10 Jingle Bells/Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Mercury 72762) 1967
11 I Can Hear The Grass Grow/Yellow Rose (Mercury 72838) 1968 -
12 Heartbreak Hotel/I Can Feel It (Feelin' Time) (ABC 11226) 1969 -
13 Never Goin' Back To Georgia/Feelin' Time (I Can Feel It) (ABC 11250) 1969 113
14 Gulf Coast Bound/Sea Breeze Express (ABC 11 283) 1970 -
NB: (1) also reissued by Verve Folkways in l967. There's also: a rare French EP with PS: (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet/I'll Go Crazy/Love Seems Doomed/Tobacco Road (Mercury 126221) 1967; and a rare promo only EP from Brazil (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet/Love Seems Doomed/One By One/Dante's Inferno (Mercury DC 68.000) 1968.

This group came from New York's Bronx area, were originally known as Bloos Magoos and gigged regularly around Greenwich Village before Mercury offered them a recording contract in 1966. Their title is misleading, for they specialised in quasi-psychedelic electrical music rather than the blues.
Their best moments are on their early albums and (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet from their first album was a U.S. No. 5 in 1966. It also contained a fine version of J. D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road.
The second album contained a thin comic book full of all sorts of offers to turn you on whilst you played the album. Musically it was their magnum opus. The opening cut, Pipe Dream, had a good garage organ sound; There's A Chance We Can Make It featured some fine psychedelic guitar work; Life Is Just A Cher O'Bowlies had a gorgeous beginning followed by more guitar mayhem and Side One also contained a discordant, extended cover of Van Morrison's Gloria. Side two was more restrained, although Take My Love was an uptempo song with catchy organ work and the penultimate track, Rush Hour, included a storming electric guitar extravaganza.
On stage they appeared in Vidal Sassoon hairstyles and specially designed 'electric' suits. The fifth album, made with a changed personnel, marked a downward turn however, which was not arrested by subsequent studio efforts. In their final days, however, Joey Stec from The Millenium joined the band which coincided with a resurgence as a live attraction.
When the group disbanded, Eric Kaz went solo and recorded two lame seventies pop rock albums. In 1976, he also formed American Flyer, a country pop group produced by George Martin, with Craig Fuller (ex-J.D. Blackfoot and Pure Prairie League), Steve Katz (ex-Blues Project and Blood, Sweat and Tears) and Doug Yule (ex-Velvet Underground). He kept on working with Fuller in Fuller/Kaz (CBS, 1978). Cooker Lo Presti went on to play with Ringo Starr.
In 1967 (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet was covered by England's Spectres who soon became Status Quo.
Compilation appearances have so far included: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet on Nuggets, Vol. 1 - The Hits (LP); Excerpts From Nuggets (CD); More Nuggets (CD); Nuggets From Nuggets (CD); Battle Of The Bands (CD); Tobacco Road on Nuggets - Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (Dble LP) and Nuggets Box (4-CD); I Can Hear The Grass Grow on Nuggets, Vol. 11 (LP); Dante's Inferno on Songs We Taught The Fuzztones (LP & CD); Jingle Bells on Turds On A Bum Ride, Vol. 1 (Dble LP); Who Do You Love on Turds On A Bum Ride, Vol. 2 (Dble LP); Jingle Bells and Who Do You Love on Turds On A Bum Ride Vol. 1 & 2 (CD); Let Your Love Ride on Turds On A Bum Ride Vol. 4 (CD); There She Goes and Rush Houron Electric Food (LP); and Dante's Inferno, Jingle Bells, Let Your Love Ride, People Had No Faces, So I'm Wrong, Who Do You Love on Filling The Gap (4-LP); The band also recorded a commercial for Great Shakes which was based around the riff of We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet. It has resurfaced on Psychotic Reactions and Great Shakes Shake-Out (EP).
(Vernon Joynson/Max Waller/Joe Foster/Stephane Rebeschini/Marcelo Lilienheim)


Tracks
"(We Ain’t Got) Nothing Yet" (Esposito, Gilbert, Scala) – 2:10
"Love Seems Doomed" (Esposito, Gilbert, Scala) – 3:02
"Tobacco Road" (John D. Loudermilk) – 4:30
"Queen of My Nights" (Blue) – 2:52
"I’ll Go Crazy" (James Brown) – 1:58
"Gotta Get Away" (Adams, Gordon) – 2:35
"Sometimes I Think About" (Esposito, Gilbert, Scala) – 3:35
"One by One" (Gilbert, Theilhelm) – 2:45
"Worried Life Blues" (Marriweather) – 3:45
"She’s Coming Home" (Atkins, Miller) – 2:36

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