BACK FROM THE GRAVE VOL 1- 10 (2024)

So where to begin, I know very little about this series I basically stumbled across the recently released Vol 9 & 10 of this series whilst looking for other stuff on a new albums download website on the cover of the album it had the tagline "RAW BLASTING MID 60's PUNK" on the cover and my curiosity was piqued and i thought why the hell not. I am a fan of 60's Garage and Rock 'N' Roll type stuff when it's done well. So whilst i waited on my download i discovered that "Back From The Grave" is a project of Crypt Records home of the greatest Garage Rock that exists and responsible for unleashing such titans as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Oblivians on the world so my hopes were high!(look for BIG posts on both these bands soon as I had completely forgotten how great JSBX & Oblivians are)I also discovered that Vol 9 & 10 were a sort of re-launch of the series the last release had been Vol 8 having been released back in 1992. So download completed let's see what it was all about I hit play and was i disappointed? HELL NO! Whilst the tag line of "RAW BLASTING MID 60's PUNK" may have been a bit overblown it has to be said there are some utterly great tunes of 60's Garage Rock 'N' Roll on there.

So before I say anymore let me tell you a bit about what I've posted here.... So Obviously when I discovered i really liked these Vol 9 & 10 comps I decided to do a bit of research into Vol's 1 - 8 so from what i can gather it was a vinyl series started by Crypt in 1984 however in 1994 they decided to reissue Vol's 1 -8 on CD but due to their being more space on CD than a 12" vinyl they mixed the comps together some tracks were omitted etc and to me it sounded like an unholy mess!!! But after i looked them up and went looking for downloads I found that the absolutely brilliant Surfadelic blog (Check them outHEREthis guy knows his stuff and definitely lives for this music! he has presented a veritable library of lost & rare 60's surf and garage music tell them Dave at Under The Surface sent you) and he had posted Vol's 1 - 8 ripped from original vinyls! JOYYYYY!!!! So i downloaded those and I then had the whole set however much as i am/was grateful for that post after extracting them i discovered that 1 : they were at 128 kbps 2: they were completely untagged other than the file itself having the name of the band and track that was it!!!! So i had 8 albums 2 of which were doubles 164 tracks with no tags, titles,numbers nothing!! so i spent the best part of 6 HOURS(!!!!) ordering, Tagging , finding covers etc etc and now I present them to you here....

So I can't claim to know anything about any of the bands on here I have no idea who they are where the music was sourced from or anything all i know is there are some great band names and some great music on here I was going to try and describe it to you but I'm at a loss for descriptive terms or reference points here but I described it to a friend thus...

"y'know how there's some great 60's bands that have those 1 or 2 rocking gems in their back catalogue? well imagine if there was a whole series of albums where EVERY song is one of those gems"

there's some great fuzzed out guitars snotty vocals crazy subject matter and some bands are as fuzzily heavy as some of the "Rock" that would come along at the tail end of the 60's/Early 70's however without the macho posturing and histrionics. Best reference i can give you is if you have heard the awesome "Nuggets" compilation well take that as a reference point and dig deeper for the rawer, sloppier garage end of things and there you have it the "Back From The Grave" series here's an excerpt from wikipedia...

"Unlike many garage rock compilations, the Back From The Grave series focuses exclusively on the rawer and more aggressive side of the genre. Psychedelic rock is categorically excluded. The series also includes very few pop or folk oriented songs. As a result, the albums are primarily populated by louder songs that are characterized by fuzztone guitars, rough vocals, and are clearly influenced by groups such as Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, the early Kinks, and the Pretty Things. The lyrics and performances tended to focus on anger, lust, and cheating girlfriends, matching the often chaotic music. According to the liner notes, the songs were recorded by American groups, between 1964 and 1967"

However do not expect all of these bands to tear out of the gate like The Stooges on steroids, whilst some of them do a lot of this is fairly melodic 60's rock and a product of the more known bands of the time influencing them. I heard multiple "rip offs" of more famous 60's standards in among the more original pieces So there you go if you are a sucker for that 60's recording and instrument sound that many bands try to emulate and fail to and you just can't get enough of it then sh*t here is just shy of 200 tracks of primo garage rock that is just completely addictive as it is completely great!

So as I said Vol's 1 - 8 are taken from vinyl whilst the crackle and pop of the vinyl is not really audible whilst listening on a stereo i did notice it just slightly more when listening to it on my mp3 player however considering these are literally unheard of 60's bands and i have no idea how they were found/sourced i personally think it adds to the charm of these great songs also do NOT be put off that Vol 1 - 8 are from vinyl and are only 128 kbps because believe me they are terrific quality as if they had been trashy in any way i would not have posted them. Vol 1 - 6 are single albums Vol 7 & 8 are double albums. Vol 9 & 10 are single albums and are taken from CD at a tasty 320kbps.

Before I go i cannot stress enough how great it is that Crypt Records managed to unearth such a vast library of unheard gems as there are very few repeats of bands through the series so where they found this stuff or even that they knew it existed is a testament to the conviction of music fans who just really wanted to share music they love with the world,that being the primary reason I do this blog. So that being said and in that spirit here I am sharing it with you just utterly BRILLIANT stuff, thoroughly enjoyable and just great FUN! Enjoy....

Vol 1 -Mediafire

BACK FROM THE GRAVE VOL 1- 10 (2024)

References