scum stats: I’d guess 500 of these pressed

In a sea of THOUSANDS of teenaged Sixties garage bands, one named “The Warlocks” and covering “Hey Jo” (why’d they drop the “E”?) does far from standing out. Even being on one of my favorite Michigan label groups in the Prophonics/Coconut Groove/Washington Square family still barely causes this to stand out from the dross.

BUT…I don’t think there’s any other versions of “Hey Joe” that include actual gun shots recorded in the studio.

That’s it. That’s enough for me. I’m easy.

Produced by Cecil Washington, better known as a soul singer/producer in his own right, I just love the borderless, genre-hopping limitlessness that independent, 7-inch focused artists clicked on to back in the mid-Sixties. I wish we had some sort of modern equivalent.

This arrived recently and I’m whittling away the stray Michigan garage singles that have slipped past me in the last twenty years. Not too many I’m still in search of. Tiny victories.