Dec 14

Rough Diamonds Series

Under Appreciated

ROUGH DIAMONDS SERIES
 
 
The first album featuring music by Phil and the Frantics came out in 1980 on the Bomp! Records label Voxx Records as Rough Diamonds, Volume 3 in their Rough Diamonds Series that consisted of entire albums by 1960’s garage rock bands that have more than one or two singles to their credit.  
 
(August 2012)
 
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Another great Canadian band (from Montreal), the Haunted had a fairly big hit that has the title “1-2-5”.  Their recorded output was prolific enough that Greg Shaw released two Haunted albums in the Rough Diamonds Series on Voxx Records. 

 

(April 2013)

 

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I have collected most or all of the albums in several of the various series of garage rock and psychedelic rock compilation albums that Greg Shaw has released in the past few decades, including Pebbles, Rough Diamonds, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, English Freakbeat, and Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks.  Pebbles in particular is often cited as one of the chief inspirations behind the punk rock movement of the mid-1970’s – even more so than the better-known Nuggets album.  Thus, even Greg Shaw’s historical albums have helped direct the future of rock music. 

 

(May 2013)

 

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I had also acquired a retrospective album by GONN that was identified as Rough Diamonds, Volume 9; Rough Diamonds is a series of albums that Greg Shaw put out on Voxx Records by garage rock bands who had recorded more than just a few singles.  

 
(September 2013)
 
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Anyway, once Kill City broke the ice, Bomp! Records and their affiliated labels like BFD Records, Voxx Records, AIP Records, Mohawk Records, and others began pressing LP’s by the truckload almost immediately.  The label’s first compilation album, The Best of Bomp, Volume One was originally released in 1978.  The Pebbles Series of 1960’s garage rock and psychedelic rock songs that number nearly 100 albums in all began shipping in 1978; besides Pebbles, the various series (both LP’s and CD’s) include the Highs in the Mid-Sixties Series, The Continent Lashes Back, Best of Pebbles, Great Pebbles, etc.  Their other reissues of 1960’s music include the English Freakbeat Series, the Rough Diamonds Series, and the Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks Series. 
 
(December 2017)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021