Pebbles, Volume 1 is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960’s. It had a limited original release in 1978 under the name Pebbles, Volume One: Artyfacts from the First Punk Era, an obvious riff on Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, a similar, groundbreaking compilation from 1972. (More from Wikipedia)
The first Pebbles album came out in 1978, in a modest release that was apparently distributed mostly among top record collectors. The label name was Mastercharge Records; most of you likely remember that as being the original name for what is now called Master Card, so I suspect that the release was financed by credit card advances. Greg Shaw had big plans for the series, and even this first edition was called “Volume 1” (though the one on BFD Records was not so marked). The album was subtitled “Original Artyfacts from the First Punk Era”, a takeoff on the subtitle of the legendary compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 that had come out six years earlier.
In 2008, on the 30th anniversary of the original Pebbles release, Bomp! Records put out a special reissue on clear vinyl complete with the pink xeroxed sheet with Greg Shaw’s liner notes that had been included with the 1978 album.
(July 2013)
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Mouse and the Traps was one of the first bands that I wrote about; they were featured on the original Nuggets album with their fabulous Bob Dylan soundalike song “A Public Execution” that was released under the name Mouse. The band later backed a singer named Jimmy Rabbitt on a cover of “Psychotic Reaction”, a hit song recorded by Count Five. The song was released under the name Positively 13 O’Clock. Their version of “Psychotic Reaction” was included on the very first Pebbles album.
The only other band to be featured on the original Nuggets album and also on Pebbles, Volume 1 is the Shadows of Knight. The Nuggets song is their cover of a terrific Bo Diddley song, “Oh Yea”; while the Pebbles entry is a novelty song by the band called “Potato Chip” that was issued only on a flexi disc as part of some snack food promotion.
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The Outcasts had an early hit song called “I’m in Pittsburgh (and it’s Raining)” that was included on the Pebbles, Volume 1 LP. A retrospective album by that name, I’m in Pittsburgh (and it’s Raining) was put out on Collectables Records.
(September 2013)
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One of Kim Fowley’s best known songs is “The Trip”, the first single to be released under his own name; it was included in the soundtrack for the 2008 Guy Ritchie film RocknRolla. The song is included on the album that started the garage rock/psychedelic rock revival that began in the 1970’s and continues to this day, Pebbles, Volume 1. In his review of the Pebbles series for Allmusic, Richie Unterberger comments: “Though 1972’s Nuggets compilation reawakened listeners to the sounds of mid-’60s garage rock, it only focused on the tip of the iceberg. Behind those forgotten hits and semi-hits lurked hundreds, if not thousands, of regional hits and flops from the same era, most even rawer and cruder. . . . More than any other factor, these compilations [in the Pebbles series] were responsible for the resurgence of interest in garage rock, which remains high among collectors to this day.”
(January 2015/1)
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