 
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Fort Worth Teen Scene (Vols 1-3) (Norton)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Garage music collectors know they're going to get a mixed bag just about any time they buy a disc loaded with long forgotten bands from the 60s who never made it out of their hometowns. It's the hunt for the gems that a lot of us enjoy as much as the music itself. The three volumes of music in the Fort Worth Teen Scene (Norton Records) is definitely a mixed bag, and I have to admit the hair on the back of my neck stood up a few times, and I mean in a none too pleasant way, when this band or that came back from the dead for a few minutes to once again demonstrate a complete inability to come within a step and a half of one another on vocal harmonies. Yep, there's no doubt about it, there are some gawd awful bands sprinkled around these sets, but then there are the gems. Discovering The Trycerz, who have two tracks on disc three, has sent me out to the collectors' sites looking for more, and while I've been out there I've been sniffing around for anything by The Jades, because I need all the Animals-influenced garage bands I can get, and this is one of the better ones I've heard. Bands like The Wyld had all cylinders firing; they were excellent players, they had a sound that should have snared them a recording contract and they oozed the spirit of rhythm and blues. Just as there are great bands and bands committing crimes against music, there is a similar spectrum of sound quality, but hey, you're a garage freak, right? We can glean the good sound in a 30 year old cassette recording found in a litter box, and at its worst, FWTS never scrapes that barrel. Yeah, if you're a garage fan, and I have to assume you are at this point, I recommend this set highly. It's from Norton, which is generally enough for me to buy something without recommendation or a sneak preview. (For comps of unknown 60s garage bands, I trust Norton and Arf! Arf! above and beyond all others.) The liner notes are actually an article that appeared in Kicks Magazine in 1985. Leave it to Norton to come up with a soundtrack to a fantastic old article. One that won't be forgotten now.
© 2004 - DJ Johnson