English Freakbeat series
Encyclopedia
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s that were issued by AIP Records
AIP Records
AIP Records is a record label that was started by Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records, being launched in 1983 to continue the Pebbles series. The abbreviation AIP stands for "Archive International Productions". The first 10 volumes in the Pebbles series had been released by BFD Records of Kookaburra,...
featuring recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
bands in the early punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, proto-punk, R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, mod, and beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
genres. The series served as a follow-up to the Pebbles, Volume 6
Pebbles, Volume 6 (LP)
Pebbles, Volume 6 is a compilation album among the LP's in the Pebbles series. Subtitled The Roots of Mod, Volume 6 is the only album in the Pebbles series that features primarily British music...
LP (which was originally released much earlier, in 1980); subtitled The Roots of Mod, this is the only album in the Pebbles series
Pebbles series
Pebbles is an extensive series of compilation albums in both LP and CD formats that have been issued on several record labels, though mostly by AIP...
that is devoted to English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
music. When the English Freakbeat series was reissued as CDs in the 1990s, this LP was included as English Freakbeat, Volume 6.
Nature of the Music
The AIP RecordsAIP Records
AIP Records is a record label that was started by Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records, being launched in 1983 to continue the Pebbles series. The abbreviation AIP stands for "Archive International Productions". The first 10 volumes in the Pebbles series had been released by BFD Records of Kookaburra,...
website describes the albums in the English Freakbeat series as being "[d]evoted to some of the more raw & rockin' UK nuggets that have been overlooked by England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's more pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-obsessed compilers
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, [having an] emphasis on punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
but with some volumes leaning toward mod-beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
and art
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
." Though disparaged as "failed mod singles" by some on-line reviewers, these recordings are important in many respects, not least because many of the musicians enjoyed considerably more success and prominence in later years.
This music was created and released somewhat earlier than the time period of the garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
era in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and elsewhere – 1961-1965 generally (although some of the music was released as late as 1967) – but there are many similarities between these musical styles. Additionally, psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
music was prevalent on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. However, English recording artists continued to be influenced by the American blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
musicians that helped give rise to the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
in the first place; whereas, in the U.S., the music was in more of a rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
direction. As an example, the English Freakbeat albums include several covers of songs by American blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
legends like Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
and John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
; such covers are virtually unknown among American garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
bands.
Some of the bands featured on these albums may not be British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and at least one (the Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
band Bill & Will, on English Freakbeat, Volume 6) definitely is not. Additionally, several of the recordings that were made by English artists were apparently never released there; many were released only in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, while others are taken from singles or albums that were issued in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, etc.
One early review of the first volume in this series raved about "gems from groups like the Sheffields, the Loot, the Chasers, the Primitives and the Beat Merchants – basically, the kind of sounds that are liable to make me lose my marbles at any given moment! . . . This is one of the best compilations I've heard in ages, and given the choice between this and a yard
Yard
A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...
high stack of U.S. `60s punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
comps
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, I'd take English Freakbeat every time."
LPs
- English Freakbeat, Volume 1English Freakbeat, Volume 1English Freakbeat, Volume 1 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1988 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1992 ....
; #AIP-10039 - English Freakbeat, Volume 2English Freakbeat, Volume 2English Freakbeat, Volume 2 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1996 ....
; #AIP-10047 - English Freakbeat, Volume 3English Freakbeat, Volume 3English Freakbeat, Volume 3 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1997 ....
; #AIP-10048 - English Freakbeat, Volume 4English Freakbeat, Volume 4English Freakbeat, Volume 4 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1997 ....
; #AIP-10051 - English Freakbeat, Volume 5English Freakbeat, Volume 5English Freakbeat, Volume 5 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:...
; #AIP-10049 - Pebbles, Volume 6Pebbles, Volume 6 (LP)Pebbles, Volume 6 is a compilation album among the LP's in the Pebbles series. Subtitled The Roots of Mod, Volume 6 is the only album in the Pebbles series that features primarily British music...
; #BFD-5023
CDs
- English Freakbeat, Volume 1English Freakbeat, Volume 1English Freakbeat, Volume 1 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1988 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1992 ....
; #AIP-CD-1039 - English Freakbeat, Volume 2English Freakbeat, Volume 2English Freakbeat, Volume 2 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1996 ....
; #AIP-CD-1047 - English Freakbeat, Volume 3English Freakbeat, Volume 3English Freakbeat, Volume 3 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1997 ....
; #AIP-CD-1048 - English Freakbeat, Volume 4English Freakbeat, Volume 4English Freakbeat, Volume 4 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:The album was released as an LP in 1989 by AIP Records and as a CD in 1997 ....
; #AIP-CD-1051 - English Freakbeat, Volume 5English Freakbeat, Volume 5English Freakbeat, Volume 5 is a compilation album in the English Freakbeat series that has been issued in both LP and CD format.-Release Data:...
; #AIP-CD-1049 - English Freakbeat, Volume 6; #AIP-CD-1055