Nuggets: Mindrocker by Fenwyck

Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years from 1965-1968, and was a major influence on punk rock. Rhino Records reissued an expanded version of the set in 1998, with 118 tracks in total. I’m profiling and rating each of these 118 tracks, working backwards.

Track 111: Mindrocker by Fenwyck
Release Date: 1967
From: Arcadia, California (although singer Jerry Raye came from Rhode Island)
Rating: 8/10

MINDROCKER – Fenwyck [2:57]
(Keith Colley/Linda Colley)
Personnel/JERRY RAYE: vocals * PAT ROBINSON: guitar * PAT MAROSHEK: bass * KEITH KNIGHTER: drums [+ unknown studio musicians]
Producer unknown
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
Challenge single #59369 (7/67); DeVille single #206 (1967)

Rhode Island vocalist Jerry Raye and Californian band Fenwyck had both released singles before teaming up in 1967. As with last week’s entry, they’re one of the more obscure acts on Nuggets, but they did release a full studio album in 1967. The album was titled The Many Sides Of and was credited to Jerry Raye Featuring Fenwyck. ‘Mindrocker’ is featured as the lead-off track on the record.

Neither Jerry Raye nor Fenwyck wrote the song, and it also turned up as the b-side of American Breed’s ‘Bend Me, Shape Me’ in December 1967. As one of the later songs to be recorded from Nuggets, Fenwyck’s take on ‘Mindrocker’ is relatively ambitious – there are folk-rock harmonies in the verses, like The Byrds or The Mamas and the Papas, and psychedelic touches like backwards guitar in the chorus. ‘Mindrocker’ isn’t deep, but it’s a pleasant and overlooked song that neatly encapsulates the 1967 sound.

Fenwyck leader and guitarist Pat Robinson moved on to country, forming Mind Pocket and becoming a writer and producer.

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23 Comments

  1. This is one of those good pop psychedelia ones that they had in the late sixties. I think they do all the Psychedelic sounds on this record really well. Like that sitar sound that they always use on these things. Or whatever it is. Too bad that Nuggets doesn’t have more of these on it like Green Tambourine or Crimson and Clover and some of the other big ones. A lot of them were excellent.

    • I assumed it was backwards guitar but I can’t always tell the difference. I think the charm is profiling lesser-known songs – including Kingsmen ‘Louie Louie’ feels like cheating, even though it’s basically the archetypal garage rock track.

  2. This is some cool light psychedelic pop. I’m getting a Monkee vibe from this also. That is a compliment coming from me. I’ve listened to it over and over. Love the variety coming from this collection. I didn’t expect something this smooth.
    I thought it would be more of a… get in the garage and turn it to 11 type thing.

  3. Thanks for bringing this excellent compilation to my attention. Another good one, this time from a UK perspective, is the Decca/Deram release entitled “The Psychedelic Scene”. It is well worth checking out, as are the other eight in the same series – “The Beat Scene”, “The Freakbeat Scene”, “The Blues Scene”, “The R ‘n’ B Scene”, “The Mod Scene”, “The Northern Soul Scene”, “The Girls Scene” and “The Rock And Roll Scene”.

  4. Love the folk rock / psychedelic mash up or mixing maybe better word. Feel it shows the spirit of the 60s with rock and roll many different styles coming of age.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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