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.
Read More
23 Comments
Leave a Reply
About
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Another pretty decent tune from that collection. I like the harmony singing and agree with your comparisons with the Byrds and The Mamas And The Papas.
I liked it – nothing earth-shattering, but nicely done.
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.
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.
Yeah, this one sounds like it was recorded in a studio, not a garage! But diversity is good for the collection – good if it’s not a whole lot of stuff that sounds like Them and early Rolling Stones.
It is good quality and yes I do like the variety.
Sometimes those are the songs I gravitate to the most, not necessarily profound, but they capture the spirit of the times all the same
This one sounds like a hit-to-order in sone ways but I like all the little production touches.
Love it! Of course, I love this whole set…
I’m assuming I’ll hate something somewhere among the 118 songs.
Hm, hate is a strong word. Dislike ought to be the line! 🙂
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”.
I’ve never seen those – are they LP era, and not re-released on CD? There’s also a Nuggets II that covers Britain and British Empire from the 1960s.
They are all available on CD or to download. They are streamable on Deezer but I’m not sure about other services.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychedelic-Scene-Various-Artists/dp/B000023Z3G/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+psychedelic+scene&qid=1609235244&s=music&sr=1-1
Above is the link to the CD on Amazon.co.uk.
Sorry, the link just brought up the picture. Not sure why.
Very trippy.
Just the way I like it!
Neat bit of psych, and that video is effing brilliant!
I like the psych tracks of Nuggets – they stand out as so far it’s mostly been more garage rock stuff.
You hoked me into following this series. This one sounds “Nicer” than the previous. West Coast /East Coast? There’s a question for ya.
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.
Yup, just about sums up 1967 with those things colliding, like The Byrds’ Younger than Yesterday.