At the rate I'm burning through the volumes here, Garage Beat '66 will be completely covered by the end of the year. Not bad for a 7-volume affair. It was impressive enough that they released the first five volumes, encompassing 100 songs, in rapid fire fashion, so I was surprised to see that a couple years later Sundazed threw for two more volumes.
The main problem with the last three or so volumes is that the pool of top-quality of music was largely exhausted by the first four volumes. While never content to limit themselves to 1966, the compilers started drifting away from the gritter "true" garage end of the music spectrum. Here in volume 6, the set list is dominated by ham-fisted psych like "Psychedelic Siren" and "Lights" (both of which shout color names) or the weaker parts of the repertoire of better-known acts, stuff like "Advise and Consent" by the Music Machine and a super-weird title track number from Things to Come. But, hey, the Vejtables are back for two tracks, so things aren't all that bad!
So even though the comp overall is drowning in second-rate psych (it even manages to overlap with it's polar-opposite series, Psychedelic Experience,for one track), it hasn't lost its sense of fun. I mean it's sincerely funny to see how many renditions of "Who Do You Love" you can stick together and the Druids of Stonehenge kill it on the Kinks quasi-original "Bald Headed Woman". All in all, Garage Beat '66 is seven volumes well worth your time (but get volume 2 first).
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