Nuggets: At the River’s Edge by New Colony Six

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 1965 to 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 61/118: At the River’s Edge by New Colony Six
From: Chicago, Illinois
Aphoristic Rating: 6/10

AT THE RIVER’S EDGE – New Colony Six [2:38]
(Walter Kemp)
Personnel/RAY GRAFFIA: vocals * GERRY VanKOLLENBURG: guitar * CRAIG KEMP: organ * WALLY KEMP: bass * CHIC JAMES: drums * PAT McBRIDE: harmonica, vocals
A SENTAUR RECORDS Production
Recorded in Chicago, IL
Centaur/Sentaur single #1202 (2/66)

Based on their outfits, it’s easy to draw parallels between New Colony Six and the better-known Paul Revere & the Raiders. Like the Raiders, New Colony Six wore colonial outfits onstage. The links between the two outfits don’t end there – they competed with Paul Revere’s outfit for the position of house band for the TV show Where the Action Is. When they lost out, a band member’s father paid for their first recording session.

‘At The River’s Edge’ is the b-side to the band’s second single, 1965’s ‘I Lie Awake’. It’s a bluesy song, in the style of The Yardbirds. The song was written by Wally Kemp, whose bass is surprisingly dominant in the mix. The first verse lyrics are amazingly generic, although it quickly takes a sinister turn into a suicide note.

Walking in the rain
Heart full of pain
Black clouds overhead
How I wish I was dead

New Colony Six became more successful later in the 1960s, as they transitioned to a middle-of-the-road sound. 1968’s ‘Things I’d Like to Say’ made the Billboard top 20, but its smoothly orchestrated and harmonised sound is worlds away from Nuggets. As of 2022 the band are still touring, with two original members still in the lineup.

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16 Comments

  1. I think they sounded like Them except without Van singing. I like the excitement of At The River’s Edge…also a great name for a song.

  2. I forgot who was that other band that I said should have done a double bill with Paul Revere so they could do Revolutionary War reenactments in their show. But this is really the band that should have done it. They have the red British uniforms. But I think sometimes Paul Revere had red ones and not just blue ones, but that was wrong because it was the British who wore red, that’s why they called them the Redcoats. The Americans only wore blue. If they wore red they would have been shot by their own men who mistook them for the British, right? LMAO!!! But anyway, this song sucks. I wish they would take all this kind of song off of Nuggets. But I love the video because I like seeing what the audience looks like in those days and what kind of haircuts they had and what they were wearing and what the club looked like.. And this video had tons of pictures of the whole place. Wasn’t it interesting? I think it was.

    • I don’t really like bluesy stuff that much at the best of times – probably should have gone with a lower rating.

  3. The second video was even better cuz it wasn’t just still photos of the audience but it was on film so you can watch them dancing and see their groovy’60s clothes and haircuts better. Haha. To tell you the truth, I also like the song better than the first one.

  4. “At the River’s Edge” has some good elements. I agree there’s a Yardbirds vibe. I also think Max is right about a Them influence. That said, I feel there’s something missing, which makes it a tune that’s not particularly memorable. The second song sounds much more polished and definitely very different from “At the River’s Edge”.

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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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