The Garage Beat series has been whispered about on these pages, but here we finally have a profile of one entry from the series. First, some overall series thoughts. This is primarily an American "garage" series, and before you say "duh, the title" it should be noted there is some psych material, more prevalent on the later volumes. Also, the series is not a profile of the year 1966, but if you average out the dates, you should end up somewhere in the summer of the year of Revolver and Pet Sounds. Although some tracks appear on other comps, the series appears to consciously avoid any repetition with Nuggets. Finally, in spite of the subtitles, the discs are not themed, so don't prepare yourself for a "sad" compilation in this particular case.
Volume 3 is a solid entry in the series. There is very little psych featured, although they definitely pull a fake-out on the opening track, The Purple Underground's "Count Back", a proto-Blue Cheer type of track. Some band names should sound familiar to Nuggets aficionados: The Brogues and The Music Machine are here with different tracks. Some other highlights include one of the finest renditions of "Who Do You Love" that will have you saying "George Thorough-what?" and gruff bluesy stuff like "Revenge" which channels the best know Chopin riff of all time (hint: funerals). For those who want sad stuff (come on, it's "Feeling Zero" after all), "There She Goes" will leave you with a tear in your eye if you've ever been on the wrong end of a messy breakup.
I haven't been able to officially order the series from best to worst, but this hit somewhere in the upper part of the middle of the pack. If you have to decide on just one, go with the second volume, but this certainly isn't a bad place to start.
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