The Amazing Charlatans is a compilation album

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...

 by the American 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...

 band The Charlatans that was released in 1996 by Big Beat Records

Big Beat Records (Ace subsidiary)

Big Beat Records is a British record label and import distributor owned by Ace Records, specialising in garage rock.-Roster:Releases include:*Big Star*Dean Carter*The Chocolate Watchband*Count Five*The Cramps*The Flaming Stars*Frumious Bandersnatch...

. The album is a collection of demos

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

, tracks that appeared on singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, and previously unreleased sessions

Studio recording

The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...

 that the band recorded between August 1965 and early 1968, at a variety of different San Francisco studios.

All but three of the tracks featured on the album were previously unreleased, although a number of them had appeared on unofficial or bootleg

Bootleg recording

A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

 albums over the years. The tracks on the album that had been officially released before were "The Shadow Knows" and "32–20", which had both been released on a 1966 single, and "Codine", which had first appeared on the 1985 Rhino Records' compilation, Nuggets, Vol. 7: Early San Francisco.

The tracks on the album originate from four recording dates: an August 1965 demo session for Autumn Records

Autumn Records

Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Its most prominent contract was considered The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"....

, a recording session for Kama Sutra Records

Kama Sutra Records

Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The word "Kama Sutra" is a Sanskrit terminology....

 in early 1966, a July 1967 demo session, and an early 1968 studio session. The final track on the album is a radio commercial for Groom N' Clean hair preparation, recorded in November 1966. It features the band playing their signature song, "Alabama Bound

I'm Alabama Bound

"I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman "respectfully" dedicated it to one M. T. Scarlata. The cover of its first edition advertises the music as "Also Known As The Alabama Blues" which has led some to suspect it of being one of the first blues songs...

", with alternate lyrics outlining the merits of Groom N' Clean.

Track listing

1. "Codine" (Buffy Sainte-Marie
   Buffy Sainte-Marie
   Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC is a Canadian Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire includes...
   
   ) – 2:22
2. "Alabama Bound
   I'm Alabama Bound
   "I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman "respectfully" dedicated it to one M. T. Scarlata. The cover of its first edition advertises the music as "Also Known As The Alabama Blues" which has led some to suspect it of being one of the first blues songs...
   
   " (traditional
   Traditional music
   Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
   
   , arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks
   Dan Hicks (singer)
   Dan Hicks , is an American singer-songwriter working at the intersection of cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music...
   
   , George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 6:24
3. "I Always Wanted a Girl Like You" (George Hunter, Richard Olsen) – 1:31
4. "I Saw Her" (traditional, arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 2:06
5. "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" (Dan Hicks) – 2:22
6. "32–20" (Robert Johnson) – 2:27
7. "We're Not on the Same Trip" (Dan Hicks) – 3:12
8. "Walkin'" (George Hunter, Richard Olsen) – 3:08
9. "Sweet Sue, Just You" (Will Harris, Victor Young
   Victor Young
   Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
   
   ) – 3:40
10. "East Virginia" (traditional, arranged Patrick Gogerty, Dan Hicks, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm, Terry Wilson) – 1:40
11. "The Shadow Knows" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
    Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
    Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
    
    ) – 2:14
12. "I Got Mine" (Dan Hicks) – 2:27
13. "Steppin' in Society" (Alex Gerber, Harry Akst
    Harry Akst
    Harry Akst was an American songwriter, who started out his career as a pianist in vaudeville accompanying singers such as Nora Bayes, Frank Fay and Al Jolson.-Life and career:Akst was born in New York, United States....
    
    ) – 1:14
14. "Devil Got My Man" (Skip James
    Skip James
    Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
    
    ) – 2:46
15. "By Hook or by Crook" (Dan Hicks) – 2:24
16. "'Long Come a Viper" (Dan Hicks) – 2:41
17. "Sidetrack" (traditional, arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks, Lynne Hughes, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 2:26
18. "Alabama Bound" (traditional, arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 2:45
19. "Number One" (Mike Wilhelm) – 4:15
20. "Baby Won't You Tell Me" (John Hammond
    John P. Hammond
    John Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:...
    
    ) – 3:41
21. "Jack of Diamonds
    Jack of Diamonds (song)
    Jack of Diamonds is a traditional folk song. It is a Texas gambling song that was popularized by Blind Lemon Jefferson. It was sung by railroad men who had lost money playing Coon can. At least twelve white artists recorded the tune before World War II...
    
    " (traditional, arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 4:49
22. "The Blues Ain't Nothin'" (Mike Wilhelm) – 4:58
23. "Groom N' Clean Ad" (traditional, arranged Mike Ferguson, Dan Hicks, George Hunter, Richard Olsen, Mike Wilhelm) – 0:40