Robbk

WOW!!! "I Couldn't Nobody Pray" was a Gospel song, and The Womack Brothers decided to take it secular, for their secular singing group (same group members (or different?), The Valentinos. So, they took the same exact tune, and just changed the words to "Lookin' For A Love", and got a several regions hit!

Detroit's Ravins were a Garage group. I imagine that one or two of their songs might have been played on The Northern Soul scene, just as Motown's Underdogs and Headliners may have been, as well. There were a LOT of Garage bands in Detroit during The 1960s, whose recordings have a touch of Detroit Soul sound in them, because they used some of the same background musicians, arrangers, recording engineers, and some even had Pop producers who also produced Soul music productions. I haven't been following what's being played on The Northern Scene since our Airwave Records closed down in 1985, and I started working as a cartoonist. So, I can't help with this thread, other than pointing out what is " '60s Garage Music, and what is not (e.g. "Blue-Eyed Soul" and "Pop", "Punk" and "Hard Rock").

Listen to the guitar solo in the break on this Garage classic! Here's the most famous Garage song - they really butchered Richard Berry's great song:

Now you've got it! This is "Garage". It even has a "Guitar Solo" in the break, albeit a VERY, VERY short one.

Here's are rare one:

Here's a Surf-influenced "Garage Band" song:

Yes, it's a pure Soul cut . Sounds like East Coast (New York or DC/Baltimore?) 1964 or '65. Nothing at all to do with "Garage Music".

THIS is "Garage". Most of you seem to think "Blue-Eyed Soul" is "Garage" but it is not. - almost NOTHING like it. The vocals of classic Garage are screaming like Punk style. Just guitars drums, maybe organ. -no fancy mixes with lots of different instruments. These were teenage boys playing guitars in their fathers' garages. I just looked up "classic rare, little-known Garage Bands" to find these rare gems. I don't like this kind of "Music" at all. To me it's just a LOT of noise.

THIS is "Garage", with a bit of Pop mixed in.

Again, this is "Blue-eyed Soul". I like it much. I don't like almost any "Garage Music. This is absolutely NOTHING like "Garage Music". Listen to "The Witch" by The Sonics.

The Sonics are a classic "Garage Band". "The Witch" is a classic "Garage" song. Great guitar solo break, lots of screaming, some fuzz tone, prominent guitars, simple instrumental. This is not to say I like this in the slightest. I just knew it existed. My best friend dragged me to a Sonics concert in Seedro Wooley Washington State High School Gymnasium in 1965, while on our way to Vancouver, B.C. on a Trans Canada/Trans USA record buying trip. It was bloody awful.A bunch of noice. Garbage speakers. I probably lost 1/3 of my hearing, permanently.

The Underdogs were a "Garage Band". Their "Love's Gone Bad" was "Garage". Chris Clark's version was "Soul/Motown Sound".

This is NOT a pure '60s "Garage" song. It's like a hybrid Blue-eyed Soul song with a semi-Garage/Punk vocal. No guitar can even be heard through that heavy bass and organ. Again, I say, '60s "Garage Band" music has, by FAR, most emphasis on lead guitar and a big solo, plus 2nd and 3rd guitars, with drums and organ, or keyboard in the background. Simple tunes, simple mixes. Often screaming, rebel-style vocals.

True. It's definitely NOT "Garage". It's Blue-Eyed Soul/Pop crossover. It's a very nice tune that would sound a lot better if the lead singer were more prominent in the mix, and he had a stronger voice with more range. A well-written song.

Sounds to me like a mixture of The East L.A. Chicano Soul Sound, with some straight Pop, and straight "60s Rock", mixed in. Too much production, too many instruments, not enough emphasis on guitars.

This doesn't sound tome like what I remember as early-to-mid '60s "Garage Band Music". It sounds more like a cross between "Punk" and some of late 60s "Rock Music". The "Garage" music I remember came out of Surf guitar instrumentals and C&W/Rock-A-Billy guitar instrumentals, and was very simple, with just heavy guitar, drums and organ or piano/keyboard in the background, and had a long break in the middle with a raucous guitar solo. I repeat that almost ALL these songs are not THAT. Garage Bands were mainly young men and late teens practising their guitars and drums in their Dads' garages. For example, Bob Segar's earliest records were Garage. Detroit had several of those bands, who appeared at some of the R&B Soul clubs. Many of them didn't even sing. They were instrumental bands. Texas had a bunch. The later bands who were termed "Garage" should have been deemed to be from a different genre with a name noit using "Garage", to avoid confusion.

This is basically "Pop", too.

THIS IS '60s "Garage Band" style! Heavy emphasis on Guitar and organ, and only also drums. No horns or strings. Long break in middle featuring both organ and guitar. Screaming vocal. Not sweet like much of the "Blue-Eyed Soul". More of an "Angry Young Rebels" style. Blue-Eyed Soul is a lot closer to standard Soul than it is to "Garage". I don't know about 1990s "Garage". That may be totally different from '60s "Garage". IF so, they should have thought of a different name for it.

This is absolutely NOTHING like 1960s "Garage" music. No guitar solo. It has horns. It's plain "Pop", to me, with an extremely light touch of "Blue-Eyed Soul", in a couple very short spots. Guitar isn't prominent enough. Too much production.

Thanks for informing us that it had to have come out in 1972 or later. Do you know who CHUCK Johnson was? - and IF related to Clarence?

THIS is "Garage"! Simple, Guitar, drums, keyboard/organ, screaming, raucous guitar solo break! (unsweet). I don't know why so many people call this a "Soul song". It's a Garage song with an extremely small Soul tint in a couple short few second spots. I haven't listened to all these songs; but those 10-12 I've listened to, or heard before, are mostly"Blue-Eyed Soul".

This is not much more "Garagey" than "My Girl" by The Temptations. It's a Soul song (other than a couple seconds of minor key organ chords).

Most of these songs on this thread are NOT pure "Garage". Most are "Blue-Eyed Soul", some are Blue-Eyed Soul/Garage hybrids, one or two are Blue-eyed Soul/Funk hybrids. As I remember, Garage Rock songs virtually always have a very energetic (usually raucous) guitar solo break near the middle, and don't have the horns that many or most of these songs do. They are mostly guitars, drums and keyboards/organ. Most of these are too studio sophisticated, made by complex productions.