NUGGETS: ORIGINGAL ARTYFACTS 

FROM THE FIRST PSYCHEDELIC ERA

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American psychedelic and garage rock singles that were released during the mid-to-late 1960s. 

Nuggets was originally released in October 1972, but if it wasn’t for a record store clerk/rock writer named Lenny Kaye, it’s possible that the 27 songs and their associated groups would have been forgotten.

Lenny Kaye, who found fame as Patti Smith’s guitarist, was hired by the president of Elektra Records, Jac Holzman to compile a list of killer songs for two compilation albums. Lenny recalled, “I was working at the end of 1970 at Elektra as a kind of freelance talent scout. And so, not much that I brought to them they liked, but for this project I submitted a list of maybe 50 or 60 songs that I thought would be, you know, cool, and were the kind of songs that were rapidly vanishing under the radar or an album track that had been overlooked. It was a lark; just putting a bunch of my favorite records together.” Lenny wanted to call the compilation Rockin’ and Reelin’ USA but Jac overruled him for the Nuggets name, which Kaye later laughingly admitted was “a wise move.”

Sadly, upon its initial release, Kaye’s search for diamonds within rough mixes did not hit much paydirt. Lenny said, “It never sold a lot. I got an advance of $750 and after some years they sent me a note saying this is never going to generate any royalties so we’re going to stop sending statements.”

The albums finally got well-deserved attention in 1977 when Sire Records reissued the albums.  Kaye realized their impact when he toured in Europe with Patti Smith: “We were having a press conference in Denmark. The usual discussions, and then some journalist asked me, ‘Well, when is the next Nuggets coming out?’ And I thought, ‘Huh. You’ve heard of it here in Copenhagen?’”

Kaye wound up being a rock ‘n’ roll reanimator, giving life to dead-in-the-water bands like the Seeds. Their punchy and powerful 1965 hit, Pushin’ Too Hard, included on Nuggets, gave the group an unexpected career boost. Keyboardist Daryl Hooper, who still does an occasional show as a Seed, noted of his defunct band, “I thought it was done.  [Seed leader Sky] Saxon had gone bananas. You couldn’t work with him. The record company was letting us sit on the shelf. It wasn’t a good time. I thought the music was going to be forgotten.”

Lenny Kaye was unsure whether Elektra Records would put out the album, so he threw his favorite songs together and made them fit into a concept. Elektra hired lawyer Michael Kapp to track down the original artists and secure licensing. 

Speaking in 2017, Kaye reflected “I would've made it more garage rock as opposed to these kind of weirder things, like Sagittarius or even the Blues Project. A lot of it falls outside the parameters of what we've come to define as garage rock.”

Kaye wound up being a rock ‘n’ roll reanimator, giving life to dead-in-the-water bands like the Seeds. Their punchy and powerful 1965 hit, Pushin’ Too Hard, included on Nuggets, gave the group an unexpected career boost. Keyboardist Daryl Hooper, who still does an occasional show as a Seed, noted of his defunct band, “I thought it was done.  [Seed leader Sky] Saxon had gone bananas. You couldn’t work with him. The record company was letting us sit on the shelf. It wasn’t a good time. I thought the music was going to be forgotten.”

Though there were plans for a second Nuggets volume, Elektra did not choose the option. According to Kaye, he supplied the label with a list of potential songs, but they were not able to obtain licensing for most and the project was cancelled.

In 1998 Rhino Records brought the original LP to CD, reproducing the original song sequence and liner notes. However, rather than releasing a single-disc release of the original LP, Rhino put the original disc in a box set with three other discs, an extra 91 songs in total that were not on the original LP. 

Contrary to popular belief, many of the songs were American Top 40 hits: more than a third of the original Nuggets would fall into that category, while Rhino's expanded set featured such smash hits as Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock (#1), Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen (#2), Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (#2) Little Bit o' Soul by the Music Explosion (#2), and Time Won't Let Me by the Outsiders (#5).

Little Bit of Soul - The Music Explosion

Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders

Louie, Louie - The Kingsmen

Laugh, Laugh - Beau Brummels

In Europe in 2006 Rhino released a remastered version of the album featuring the original 1972 track list on a single compact disc in a miniaturized replica of the original gatefold sleeve. However, unlike the original album the tracks were presented using their mono mixes. 

In 2012 the album was again remastered, this time directly from the same tapes as the original 1972 release, featuring mono and stereo mixes. Available in double LP and digital formats, this version included updated release notes from Lenny Kaye and Jac Holzman.

It was voted number 479 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2003, the album was ranked number 196 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.

Nuggets Original Artyfacts

TRACK LIST

The Standells: "Dirty Water" (Ed Cobb) – 2:50 (1966, #11) (Tower)

The Strangeloves: "Night Time" (Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer) – 2:35 (1966, #30) (Bang)

The Knickerbockers: "Lies" (Beau Charles, Buddy Randell) – 2:46 (1965, #20) (Challenge)

The Vagrants: "Respect" (Otis Redding) – 2:17 (1967, Uncharted) (ATCO)

Mouse: "A Public Execution" (Knox Henderson, Ronnie Weiss) – 3:02 (1966, #121) (Fraternity)

The Blues Project: "No Time Like the Right Time" (Al Kooper) – 2:49 (1967, #96) (Verve Folkways)

The Shadows of Knight: "Oh Yeah" (Ellas McDaniel) – 2:51 (1966, #39) (Dunwich)

The Seeds: "Pushin' Too Hard" (Richard Marsh) – 2:39 (1966, #36) (GNP Crescendo)

The Barbarians: "Moulty" (Barbara Baer, Douglas Morris, Eliot Greenberg, Robert Schwartz) – 2:37 (1966, #90) (Laurie)

The Remains: "Don't Look Back" (William McCord) – 2:45 (1966, Uncharted) (Epic)

The Magicians: "An Invitation to Cry" (Alan Gordon, James Woods) – 2:59 (1965, Uncharted) (Columbia)

The Castaways: "Liar, Liar" (Dennis Craswell, Jim Donna) – 1:56 (1965, #12) (Soma)

The 13th Floor Elevators: "You're Gonna Miss Me" (Roky Erickson) – 2:31 (1966, #55) (International Artists)

Michael and the Messengers: "Romeo & Juliet" (Bob Hamilton, Fred Gorman) – 2:02 (1967, #129) (USA)

The Cryan' Shames: "Sugar and Spice" (Fred Nightingale) – 2:33 (1966, #49) (Destination)

The Amboy Dukes: "Baby Please Don't Go" (Big Joe Williams) – 5:41 (1968, #106) (Mainstream)

Blues Magoos: "Tobacco Road" (John D. Loudermilk) – 4:44 (1966, Uncharted) (Mercury)

The Chocolate Watchband: "Let's Talk About Girls" (Manny Freiser) – 2:45 (1967, Uncharted) (Tower)

The Mojo Men: "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" (Stephen Stills) – 2:25 (1967, #36) (Reprise)

The Third Rail: "Run, Run, Run" (Arthur Resnick, Joey Levine, Kris Resnick) – 1:57 (1967, #53) (Epic)

Sagittarius: "My World Fell Down" (Geoff Stephens, John Shakespeare) – 3:52 (1967, #70) (Columbia)

Nazz: "Open My Eyes" (Todd Rundgren) – 2:47 (1968, #112) (SGC)

The Premiers: "Farmer John" (Dewey Terry, Don Harris) – 2:29 (1964, #19) (Warner Bros.)

The Magic Mushrooms: "It's-a-Happening" (David Rice, Sonny Casella) – 2:47 (1966, #93) (A&M)

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