Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From First Psychedelic

Before he was the guitarist for the Patti Smith group, Lenny Kaye was a rock critic. More a rock enthusiast, really, with an ear for forgotten and overlooked classics. Record label Elektra invited Kaye to compile an album of sixties gems outside the mainstream of chart hits and Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era was his submission. It is a double album crammed with glorious garage gems and scintillating psychedelic sides all recorded between 1964 and 1968. 

Rarely has there been a compilation that could be accurately described as “Essential”. Nuggets is such a collection. Bursting with energy and attitude, it will pick you up if you’re flat and make you smile when sad. It will make your legs jiggle and your fists pump. It is, in short, one of the best examples of the compiler’s art in the history of rock. So consistently good it is a challenge to single out particular songs, I’ll nevertheless draw your attention to “Lies” by The Knickerbockers (later well covered by Linda Ronstadt), The Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction”, and “Open My Eyes” by Todd Rundgren’s early group, The Nazz. But it’s all excellent. 

Someone once asked my ‘Why bother with Various Artists album?’. This is the answer. Get it while you can.

 

Bruce Jenkins, Discrepancy Blog