Can You Dig It?

8 January 2013 | 6:00 am | Samson McDougall

"I’ve heard he likes to do things with the microphone. I think we played after him at one show and I think he may’ve had it down his pants.”

There are a number of reasons the Nuggets compilations have been so important, but it's unlikely anybody could've predicted their success. Looking back – and with the 40th anniversary of Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965–1968 and a couple of new comps to mark the occasion, now is a good time – it's the randomness of the thing that resonates so clearly. Bringing together bands as diverse as The Standells, The Barbarians, The Remains, Mouse and The Amboy Dukes – each of whom would now be unlikely starters on the same bill anywhere – was a risky business. Looking back it was also a touch of genius. What these bands, plus all the others on the original 27-track compilation, had in common is a wildness and willingness to push beyond the constructs of the jazz, blues and early rock'n'roll from whence they'd been spawned. The record was and is a snapshot of a transitional period in music – a revolution, of sorts.

It's easy for the cynical to see through the repackaging, reissuing and essentially the remarketing of artefacts (or in this case 'artyfacts') for the sake of anniversaries. What the Nuggets people have done is tapped into what is happening in Australia right now and attempted to bring the concept of Nuggets to a new generation. The resultant Antipodean Interpolations Of The First Psychedelic Era could have been seen as a flagrant and belated money grab; a shameless last ditch for the franchise to cash in on a musically learned and plugged-in Generation Y. It could've been viewed in this pessimistic light if it weren't so good.

For the Antipodean Interpolations (as the title suggests) current garage bands have been matched to songs from the original 1972 release. The coolest thing about it is that most if not all of the young bands chosen could draw lines directly through time to the original compilation as influences on their sound. There are heavy leanings towards garage rock and psychedelia here right now and these clever Nuggets folk have managed to latch onto this in a fairly organic fashion. It's not a hard sell and it's worked so seamlessly that many of the Australian acts are even carrying their designated covers into their regular live sets.

A product as well loved as Nuggets had to be treated with a high level of respect. The flavour of the brand, however, centres so much on the spontaneity of the assembled motley bunch that the energy could well be diluted through a too-considered approach. Straight Arrows are a band that feature on the Interpolations album and their frontman Owen Penglis also recorded a bunch of the Sydney outfits for the record. “I guess ultimately all the tracks sound like the bands that are playing them. They're not trying to sound like they're from a different time or anything,” he says of the outcome. “The only real discussion I had with the guys who were behind it was like, 'Oh, you know, we're not gonna use too many mics on the drums when we do it, so could you do the same?' And I was like, 'So how many mics were you gonna use?' And they were like, 'We're gonna cut it down to three.' And I'm like, 'Who the fuck uses more than three?'”

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The recording techniques used by Penglis are nothing outside of his usual sphere. The results echo and spit enough to have been of the 1970s. “I guess it was more like room mic'ing rather than like close mic'ing,” continues Penglis of the sessions he recorded. “But also [the overall sound]'s kinda like artefacts from the way I produce stuff and the tape echoes and stuff that I use.”

Another key to getting the Antipodean Interpolations… compilation right was linking the right act to each song. Interestingly the bands interviewed here weren't given a choice. Sydney band The Laurels drew one of the shortest straws with the nothing short of legendary 13th Floor Elevators' You're Gonna Miss Me. “We weren't given much of a choice because we actually found out about it quite late in the process, I'm assuming,” says The Laurels' Luke O'Farrell. “We were actually assigned Moulty [by The Barbarians] originally, which Davey Lane ended up doing – I love his version as well. That would've been pretty hilarious; we could've got our bassist to do the spoken word parts of that song. But I think if we were given the choice, the 13th Floor Elevators is probably the band on that compilation that's resonated with us the most.”

For Newcastle's Gooch Palms the song designation was perhaps most important. As a two-piece they were always going to meet a huge challenge in interpreting the material. “I was familiar with the Michael & The Messengers version of the song,” says Leroy Macqueen of their designated number, (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet. Listening to their version it's an obvious choice for the band, but they were forced to think outside the box. “I was happy with it because I kinda saw that song as more of a blank canvas,” he continues. “A lot of the other ones I would've been quite scared to try and pull apart. Y'know, like songs like the Straight Arrows one [Lies by The Knickerbockers], songs that most people would be quite familiar with. I was kinda glad we didn't get given one like that.

“I think with the fact that, you know, they use a lot of instruments and all that, it was gonna be quite hard for us to approach it in the same way. So we sorta decided to find the basic core to the song and deconstruct it and put it back together.”

Penglis has been listening to Nuggets since he was a teenager and was happy enough the decision was out of his hands. “I don't know how I'd choose a song off of it, there's so many fuckin' cool songs,” he says. “I'm kinda glad we got an easy one in that regard, like we didn't get Electric Prunes [I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), which was assigned to Velociraptor] or something which is heaps of chords.”

There is enough variation in musical approach on the Antipodean Interpolations… record to do the original justice. From the gloomy atmospheres of Pearls to the youthful exuberance of The Frowning Clouds, they've rendered enough light and shade to give the 'album' a semblance of flow. Similar to the 1972 release, many of the bands involved wouldn't sit well on the same bill, but the resultant sounds are disparate enough to enhance the overall listen without being so incompatible as to jar the ears – it captures a similar energy.

The interpretations vary from pretty straight, though often dirtier or more rambunctious, covers (see The Murlocs' Psychotic Reaction and Bloods' Farmer John) to full-blown reconstructs (Baptism Of Uzi's Baby Please Don't Go and Pearls' Dirty Water). With a short lead-in time and relatively complicated song designation, Gooch Palms decided to stick with what they knew... They stripped it back and Gooch Palmed it. “We had a few difficulties trying to find the right way to approach it... mainly the way that we were playing the chords and the timing of the chords,” says Macqueen. “It has quite a '60s jangly vibe to it and we're not a '60s jangly band – we're like power chords only. So it was pretty much timing... I sorta started with the chords and then tried to fit in the phrasing, which Kat [Friend] is really good at, which is lucky 'cause I'm really terrible at it.

“It's one of the hardest songs I've ever had to sing,” he continues. “There's a lot of notes that I only just discovered having to do that song that I can sing! It was actually really awesome and quite challenging, so I feel like it was good for the band to do, to get out of the comfort zone for a little bit.”

The Sydney Festival Nuggets show will lead these bands even further from the comfort of their regular warehouse parties and late-night haunts to the highfalutin Sydney Town Hall. Penglis is excited because his mother may pay a visit – it's pretty unlikely she's ever seen anything like a Gooch Palms show. “I know [Leroy]'s got a fondness for wearing very short shorts,” says O'Farrell, “and I've heard he likes to do things with the microphone. I think we played after him at one show and I think he may've had it down his pants.”

“When I found out I was very excited that I was playing the Town Hall, for sure,” says Macqueen, adding that he never would've expected an invitation. “My parents don't like coming to Gooch Palms shows... My mum always asks me did she raise me wrong? Was she a bad mother? Maybe she was too good of a mother?” So, given the occasion, will he be toning it down? “Nup,” he says, “it's always the same. I can't wait to get naked at Sydney Town Hall.”

NOT JUST A BUNCH OF SONGS

Some other compilations that are important for various reasons...

One of the more widely accessible forms of compilation is the humble motion picture soundtrack. For sake of argument we'll say one of the greatest ever movie soundtracks was that of Oliver Stone's Platoon (it was so). At the very least, the drug-den scene where the good dudes get fucked up to the hysterical cries of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit must rate as one of the more memorable scenes involving popular music in recent history. There's also The Young Rascals' Groovin'; you just can't argue with that shit.

The next category is the greatest hits or best-of compilation, which, y'know, generally only contain songs from one band/artist but... whatever. The greatest hits album serves only two functions: firstly as entry point for casual listeners and secondly, as a desirable object for completists. For the casual listeners, you may as well use the greatest hits compilation as entry point for something outside your usual listening habits. For this reason, everybody on Earth should, at least, own Ramones Mania and Iggy Pop's collection of live bootlegs and rarities, Roadkill Rising. These people invented punk rock. What have you done recently?

Equally, the genre compilation can provide insight into worlds unfamiliar. Local record stores are great for this stuff and have led to a few gems over the years. Of note are the six volumes in the Anthology Of American Folk series; any of the Éthiopiques compilations (of which there are dozens); Wu-Tang Clan's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), while technically more of a showcase, it's a must-have entry point for all not-really hip hop heads; and, given the focus here is psych, The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria compilation(s) will kill you every time.

This mud map, while barely a wart on the butt of the flea on the scrotum of the compilation concept, will lead those paying attention (and not already aware of the above) to some killer comps. They're all wee nuggets on their own terms and there are plenty more out there.

WHO: Gooch Palms, The Laurels, Straight Arrows and more
WHAT: Antipodean Interpolations Of The First Psychedelic Era (Warner)
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 25 January, Sydney Festival, Sydney Town Hall NSW