[.ca] Nuggets II:Bristish Empire

From Amazon.com:
All those who enjoy music richer in energy and daring than intelligence and maturity should add Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond (1964-1969) to their music collection--where it should sit right next to the series' first volume. The lyrics to songs such as "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" and "14 Hour Technicolour Dream" won't unlock life's mysteries, but the reckless abandon with which these songs were written and played will remind anyone how it feels to be young and angst-ridden. A few of the selections, including "Pictures of Matchstick Men," achieved some commercial success upon release; some were covered by bands more recent or lasting than the mostly one-hit wonders who performed the originals; others are so simple they sound like a lot of rock songs; and a number include a distinctive sound or effect other rockers felt compelled to steal. Plenty of songs, though, will be new to all but the most dedicated collectors, and the fact that the best of these didn't make the charts when they were originally released confirms that timing is indeed everything. A final note: While the music in this collection is certainly worth the price, the beautiful liner notes--all 100 pages worth--offer a treasure-trove of information, great graphics, and lots of yuks. --Steve Halloran

Too much filler:
I agree with Mr. Scott, this is a letdown from the previous box. There are enough great tunes in here to fill out a super-solid 2-disc set. Fortunately, I got my box at a discount (traded in a pile of used cds and got about 40 bucks whacked off the list price so it didnt hurt too much but still). Disc 1 is the most consistent of the four, the others are more patchy but have some good tunes. Some of my favortie bands are represented (Move, Easybeats, Small Faces) and some surprises (The Mickey Finn track is AWESOME, couldnt stop playing the darn thing). And the tracks by Kaliedoscope are intriguing, though they sound a little too much like early Pink Floyd (and pale in comparison to the American band of the same name). But the track that really knocked me out (even more than the Mickey Finn track) was Timebox's "Gone Is The Sad Man", an absoultey amazing song. As a whole though, this box is nowhere near as consistent as the first one, which goes to show that when it comes to great garage rock you just cant beat the good 'ol USA.

Nuggets are real Gems:
One of my fondest memories is my 1st hearing of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Love To You" during the summer of 1966. At that first hearing, I know that music, and to an even larger extent myself, had changed forever. From there, I eagerly awaited the full flowering of British Psychedelia. For the past two years I've had an insatiable appetite for British pop / rock from 1966 - 1970. I've purchased discs by The Pretty Things, The Move, Kaliedescope, Family, The Smoke, Fire (as well as replaced LPs by the Moody Blues, Traffic, Procol Harum, and Cream). I've pretty much run out of classic British Psych. albums to purchase which brings me to the Nuggets 2 set. This amazing set brings together an excellant array of even more obscure British Psych. classics, B tunes, etc and all wonderfully remastered. There's a real sence of discovery with each listening. Sure, there is some filler and I wish the producers / compliers weren't so militantly "no hit" oriented. I too would have liked a few more songs by The Creation, John's Children, The Action, etc. but by in large, this is the perfect compliment to classic albums such as "Pepper", "Piper", "S. F. Sorrows", "Ogden Nut", etc. Great stuff and all in one collection. A must have! Oh, and to the person who wrote that it was "too British", if you don't like the genre, why critique the album?

It's not rock'n'roll:
I LOVE Nuggets I. The only reason there is a Nuggets II is because the record company is getting greedy. Nuggets I is a compilation of vinyls and has been a classic for a long time... And people love it because the music is so great. Nuggets II is just another way for them to earn another buck. If you are really interested in garage music, forget about Nuggets II - it's all non-american music (and I'm not american either) but they just don't get it.

A very disappointing sequel:
I loved the first Nuggets box, but this one blows chunks. These songs were forgotten for a reason. There are maybe a handful of catchy tunes, and the rest are boring as all heck. The type of music is fundamentally different from the first Nuggets, which was mostly hard-rocking garage; I guess you'd describe Nuggets II as psychedelic. Regardless, there's nothing on here remotely comparable to, say, "Psychotic Reaction" or "I Had Too Much to Dream" from the first box. Just dull, inspired, tuneless, obscure dreck.

A major step down from the original, but still essential:
The follow-up to the NUGGETS boxed set sort of had it in for itself from the get-go. How can you bottle lightning twice? You simply can't, but Rhino tried really hard with this set. The thick book packed with essays, band histories, and track-by-track histories makes up for the less-than-interesting songs it describes, but there are just too many duds to count in this set. Disc 1 is the best of the box, with classics like The Creation's "Making Time" (UK), The Smoke's "My Friend Jack" (UK), Q65's "The Life I Live" (Sweden), The Haunted's "1-2-5" (Canada), The Thoughts' "All Night Stand" (UK), and even better tunes you've probably never heard of (We All Together's "It's a Sin to Go Away" \oPeru\c, The Tages' "I Read You Like an Open Book" \oSweden\c, The Mockingbirds' "You Stole My Love" \oUK\c, The Motions' "Everything" \oSweden\c, The La De Das' "How Is the Air Up There?" \oNew Zealand\c, The Marmalade's "I See the Rain" \oUK\c, The Mickey Finn's "Garden of My Mind" \oUK\c, The Easybeats' "Sorry" \oAustralia\c). Disc 2 is great, too, but the awesome songs are fewer and farther between. Highlights: The Misunderstood's "Children of the Sun" (UK), Wimple Winch's "Save My Soul" (UK), Them's "I Can Only Give You Everything" (Ireland), The Birds' "Say Those Magic Words" (UK), Golden Earrings' "Daddy Buy Me a Girl" (Holland), Timebox's "Gone is the Sad Man" (UK), Rupert's Peoples' "Reflections of Charles Brown" (UK, and a direct copy of Procol Harum's "White Shade of Pale), Love Sculpture's "In the Land of the Few" (UK), The Boots' "Gaby" (Germany), and The Creation's "Biff! Bang! Pow!" (UK). Disc 3 and Disc 4 could have easily been shorn down into one disc; the fourth disc has two or three really good songs, but the third is fine. Highlights of Disc 3: Cuby and the Blizzards' "Your Body Not Your Soul", The Twilights' "Cathy Come Home", The Matadors' "Get Down from the Tree" (Czechoslovakia), Q65's "Cry in the Night" (Sweden), Los Chijuas' "Changing the Colors of Life" (Mexico), The Bluestars' "Social End Product" (New Zealand), The Guess Who's "It's My Pride" (Canada), The Open Mind's "Magic Potion" (UK), Episode Six' "Love Hate Revenge" (UK), The Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (UK), and The Downliners Sect's "Glendora" (UK). On disc 4, the sole redeeming gems are Tintern Abbey's "Vacuum Cleaner", The Wheels' "Bad Little Woman", Winston's Fumbs' "Real Crazy Apartment", The Zipps' "Kicks and Chicks", and The Small Faces' "Here Comes the Nice", those out of 28 songs! The major problem with NUGGETS II is the inclusion of too many bands from the United Kingdom. Mainland Europe's garage/psychedelic bands had a lot more adversity to battle and usually came up with better R & B and head-thumpin' rock than their British counterparts. Perhaps Rhino should have released an all-UK box and then an all-international box? Regardless, it's a collection you'll definitely want to add to your shelf, just not one worth revisiting that often.

• Making Time - The Creation
• Father's Name Was Dad - Fire
• I Can Hear The Grass Grow - The Move
• My Friend Jack - The Smoke
• My White Bicycle - Tomorrow
• I'll Keep Holding On - The Action
• When The Night Falls - The Eyes
• Sorry - The Easybeats
• Imposters Of Life's Magazine - The Idle Race
• How Is The Air Up There? - The La De Das
• Mud In Your Eye - Les Fleur De Lys
• Everything (That's Mine) - The Motions
• Garden Of My Mind - The Mickey Finn
• Take A Heart - The Sorrows
• The Life I Live - Q'65
• Midnight To Six Man - The Pretty Things
• I See The Rain - The Marmalade
• The First Cut Is The Deepest - The Koobas
• You Stole My Love - The Mockingbirds
• 125 (album version) - The Haunted
• My Mind's Eye - The Small Faces
• Going Nowhere - Los Bravos
• All Night Stand - The Thoughts
• War Or Hands Of Time - The Masters Apprentices
• It's A Sin To Go Away - We All Together
• A Dream For Julie - Kaleidoscope
• I Read You Like An Open Book - The Tages
• Children Of The Sun - The Misunderstood
• Save My Soul - Wimple Winch
• Desdemona - John's Children
• I Can Only Give You Everything - Van Morrison
• Lost Girl - The Troggs
• I Must Be Mad - The Craig
• Say Those Magic Words - The Birds
• Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad - Caleb
• Daddy Buy Me A Girl - Golden Earrings
• Exit Stage Right - Ronnie Burns
• Gone Is The Sad Man - Timebox
• I'm Rowed Out - The Eyes
• You've Got A Habit Of Leaving - Davy Jones
• Reflections Of Charles Brown - Rupert's People
• Words Enough To Tell You - The Mascots
• That's The Way It's Got To Be - The Poets
• 14 Hour Technicolour Dream - The Syn
• Walking Through My Dreams - The Pretty Things
• You Said - The Primitives
• This Life Of Mine - The Lost Souls
• Shadows & Reflections - The Action
• Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats
• In The Land Of The Few - Love Sculpture
• For Another Man - The Motions
• Fire Brigade - The Move
• Gaby - The Boots
• Biff! Bang! Pow! - The Creation
• Your Body Not Your Soul - Cuby & The Blizzards
• Cathy, Come Home - The Twilights
• Circles - Les Fleur De Lys
• Get Down From The Tree (album version) - The Matadors
• Cry In The Night - Q'65
• Changing The Colors Of Life - Los Chijuas
• Social End Product - The Bluestars
• Crawdaddy Simone - The Syndicats
• Don't You Remember? - The Sound Magics
• It's My Pride - The Guess Who
• Magic Potion - The Open Mind
• You're Driving Me Insane - The Missing Links
• Who Dat? - The Jury
• A Midsummer's Night Scene - John's Children
• Listen To The Sky - Sands
• How To Find A Lover - The Mockingbirds
• Days Of The Broken Arrows - The Idle Race
• By My Side - The Elois
• Path Through The Forest - The Factory
• Love Hate Revenge - Episode Six
• Pictures Of Matchstick Men - The Status Quo
• The Train To Disaster - The Voice
• Sad - The (Australian) Playboys
• Slaves Time - The Slaves
• You Can Be My Baby (single version) - The Red Squares
• I Wish I Was Five - Scrugg
• Glendora - The Downliners Sect
• Rosalyn - The Pretty Things
• Come On - The Atlantics
• The Madman Running Through The Fields - Dantalion's Chariot
• How Does It Feel To Feel (U.S. single version) - The Creation
• I'm Just A Mops - The Mops
• Why Don't You Smile Now - The Downliners Sect
• Nothin' - The Ugly Ducklings
• Break It All (U.S. single version) - Los Shakers
• The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane - Timon
• Touch - The Outsiders
• Vacuum Cleaner - Tintern Abbey
• My Life - Thor's Hammer
• Bad Little Woman - The Wheels
• No Presents For Me - Pandamonium
• Bat Macumba - Os Mutantes
• Real Crazy Apartment - Winston's Fumbs
• No More Now - The Smoke (Nz)
• No Good Without You - The Birds
• Kicks & Chicks - The Zipps
• Dance Around The Maypole - The Acid Gallery
• Get Yourself Home - The Fairies
• I'm Your Witchdoctor - The Chants R & B
• But You'll Never Do It Babe - The Boots
• One Third - The Majority
• Flight From Ashiya - Kaleidoscope
• Here Come The Nice - The Small Faces
• It's My Fault - The Rattles
• When The Alarm Clock Rings - Blossom Toes