CD Review: Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965 (2026)

When Elektra Records released the Lenny Kaye-curated Nuggets album in 1972, little did they know that they were not only scratching an itch experienced by hundreds of thousands of rock ‘n’ roll fans ill-served by the hard rock and prog of the time, but that they were kick-starting a “garage rock” cottage industry that continues unabated to this day. Aside from the numerous, varied Nuggets-related albums released over the past 50 years, you have a heaping handful of prolific Nuggets-adjacent series like Pebbles, Killed By Death, Back From the Grave and, most recently, Brown Acid that have explored the depths of garage, psych, and proto-metal rock.  

Into the fray jumps Cherry Red Records in the U.K. The archival label has released some mighty fine compilation box sets of late – last year’s Motor City Is Burning offers the most complete overview of Detroit’s rock ‘n’ soul history as you’ll find on three discs while the previous year’s Pushin’ Too Hard: American Garage Punk 1964-1967, as I wrote at the time, “really shines is by presenting and preserving more obscure garage rock nuggets by not only those marquee artists but odds ‘n’ sods ‘n’ true rarities that all but the most rabid collector may not have heard.” Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965 is this year’s edition, Cherry Red’s Strawberry Records imprint doing yeoman’s work in compiling another high-quality, 94-track, three-disc box set.

Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965

Mitch Ryder

Steppin’ Out isn’t necessarily a “garage rock” compilation but is ostensibly a look back at a lot of the artists and music that inspired the shambolic late ‘60s garage rock revolution. As such, you have a bit of this and a soupçon of that, with early rock ‘n’ roll and radio-friendly pop to psychedelic rock and surf music all represented here. Like any compilation of this sort, there are bands that are readily familiar (The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Mitch Ryder, Paul Revere & the Raiders); bands that are vaguely familiar (Sir Douglas Quintet, the Sonics, the Misunderstood, Link Wray); and those that are largely obscure except to record-hoarding fanatics (Sir Frog & the Toads, Merrell & the Exiles, Ognir & the Nite People).

The most impressive aspect of Steppin’ Out, aside from the collection’s sheer quantity of music, is the nearly-seamless flow of songs and styles that compliment each other. So, you get the Chantells’ classic instrumental “Pipeline” segueing into the Dartells’ soulful dance tune “Hot Pastrami.” Jan & Dean’s teen melodrama “Dead Man’s Curve” rolls right into the rowdy, garage-adjacent party tune “Farmer John” which, itself, is a sort of spiritual cousin of the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” (which is included here as well). The Trashmen’s manic classic “Surfin’ Bird” leads into the Astronauts’ esoteric, otherworldly instrumental “Baja,” and so on…

The Puddin’ Heads, The Beefeaters & The Sonics

The Sonics

Rather than bore you, the gentle reader, with the familiar – we all know that the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around,” the Byrds’ “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better,” the McCoys’ “Hang On Sloopy,” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice” are great songs – I’ll instead cover the hidden gems and truly obscure tracks found on Steppin’ Out that make it worth the outlay of cash to buy the set. Disc One, for instance, includes the frenetic, punkish, British-flavored “Now You Say We’re Through” by the Puddin’ Heads, the B-side to the American band’s lone single rattling and shaking like a runaway train. The Beefeaters, as any ‘60s rock fan can tell you, were the pre-Byrds band with Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Gene Clark. Their lovely, poppish “Please Let Me Love You” displays some of the same magic their latter band would capture.

The previously-unreleased 1965 track “Get Away From Me” by Philadelphia garage rockers the Angels (not the girl group that released “My Boyfriend’s Back”) features a pair of female vocalists with attitude who clearly aren’t playing around, their fiery vocals complimented by a smooth instrumental groove. The Sonics are cult favorites, not widely known outside of their Pacific Northwest territory, but the influence of tunes like the young, loud, and snotty “The Witch” extended around the globe, the band’s punkish delivery and bludgeoning instrumentation creating an instant rock ‘n’ roll classic. Even more obscure are Merrell & the Exiles, genius bandleader Merrell Fankhauser a fascinating cat that dabbled in all sorts of rock ‘n’ roll styles under a number of band names. “Let Me Go” is a lo-fi rave up from 1964 or ’65, with jangly guitar and clamorous backing instrumentation adding to the excited performance.

Sir Douglas Quintet, The Wailers & Sir Frog

Sir Douglas Quintet

Second disc openers the Sir Douglas Quintet don’t get nearly enough acclaim for their groundbreaking Tex-Mex sound; the band’s “She’s About A Mover” masterfully blends British Invasion rock with Doug Sahm’s Texas roots to create a mesmerizing slab o’ proto-garage rock circa 1965. The Avengers (not the San Fran punks but rather SoCal high school kids) strike a Beatle-esque pose with their 1965 single “When It’s Over,” which is raw, primal, and gutsy while still retaining a monster sense of melody. The Surfaris – best known for their classic instrumental romp “Wipe Out” – were twangmasters of the highest order, the previously-unreleased “Storm Surf” slapping some high-energy Link Wray licks onto a trembling rocker. Hailing from Detroit, the Human Beings’ 1965 single “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” presages the high-octane Motor City scene of a few years hence, the song’s bluesy sound and shards of livewire guitar punctuating a tale of unrequited love.

Like the Sonics, the Wailers were Sasquatch-weaned wildmen from the Pacific Northwest, and their 1965 tune “Hang Up” is grungy, loud, and recklessly rocking, threatening to blow out your speakers with every note. The Gentry’s “Keep On Dancing” appears on every compilation of this sort and should need no introduction, but the Memphis band’s foot-shuffling keyboards ‘n’ drums dancefloor rhythms are always worth revisiting. The Bobby Fuller Four are forever remembered for “I Fought the Law,” but this 1965 single, “Never To Be Forgotten,” is an equally-infectious slice of Buddy Holly-styled pop while Sir Frog & the Toads (so named by their label owner for whatever reason) attempted to kick-start a dance craze with the R&B infused “The Frog.” The fact that we’ve never heard of them since is no reason not to enjoy the song’s wiry guitarplay and liver-quivering rhythms. 

Johnny Winter, Ognir & the Nite People, The Spades & The Groupies

Johnny Winter

Texas bluesman Johnny Winter pioneered a rootsy blues-rock sound in the ‘70s, but this unreleased 1965 recording showcases the guitar wizard as a blues-eyed soulster with an emotionally-impactful heartbreak tune. Disc three opens with the psych-tinged, British Invasion-styled Brogues and their frenetic “Don’t Shoot Me Down,” which manages to hit all the right spots with raging guitars and keyboards. The Rationals, from Detroit, are one of my Motor City faves and their “Look What You’re Doin’ (To Me Baby)” showcases frontman Scott Morgan’s soulful vocals and the band’s rowdy, guitar-driven R&B sound. The oddly-named Pennsylvania quintet Ognir & the Nite People (‘Ognir’ being ‘Ringo,’ as in ‘Starr,’ spelled backwards). The band’s young, loud, and snotty take on the Stones resulted in the pulse-pounding “I Found A New Love” while the Sonics reappear with the rattletrap rave-up “Cinderella,” a 1965 single that will shake the furniture at the right volume.

The all-sisters band the Girls deliver an engaging 7-incher with the moody “My Love” while Roky Erickson’s pre-Elevators band the Spades and their 1965 single “We Sell Soul” offer a curious glimpse of pre-LSD era Roky and his underrated vocal and songwriting skills. The Misunderstood have a cult following that continues to grow to this day, and for good reason. The unreleased (at the time) song “Bury My Body” showcases a band taking their British Invasion influences to the gym and pumping iron until they became something entirely fresh and exciting. Indiana band the Jokers only made one single, “What’cha Gonna Do,” but it’s a winner, a bluesy garage-romp with soaring vocals and harmonica play that veers across Dylan’s turf. NYC rockers the Groupies mustered up this lone single, “Primitive” a bluesy gutbucket caveman stomp that was later be covered by the Cramps, thus provided a cherished place in the punk-blues canon.       
      

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

    
Too much of the third CD of Steppin’ Out is comprised of well-worn songs by Nuggets-certified bands like the Standells (“Dirty Water”), the Leaves (“Hey Joe,” 1965 version), the Knickerbockers (“Lies”), the Strangeloves (“Night Time”), and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators (“You’re Gonna Miss Me”), which seems like a bit of a gyp. As great as all these songs may be, they’ve been anthologized to death on previous compilations and their inclusion here seems like lazy curation. 

You could easily cut a dozen of these songs from Steppin’ Out and still have a three-disc, 80-song too-cool-for-school compilation that would kick plenty of ass. Still, this is a minor cavil, at best, and Steppin’ Out delivers plenty o’ bang for your bucks, the box – along with Cherry Red’s Pushin’ Too Hard – providing perfect bookends to the original Nuggets album, song overlap be damned. After all, you can’t have too much garage rock in your collection! (Strawberry Records/Cherry Red, released January 23rd, 2026)  

Buy the CD box from Amazon: Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965

Archive Review: Sir Douglas Quintet’s The Mono Singles ‘68-’72 (2011)

Although long respected by critics, hipsters, and historians for their important place in rock ‘n’ roll history, only belatedly has the Sir Douglas Quintet begun to receive its props for expanding the 1960s-era garage-rock vocabulary beyond retro-Elvis crooning and faux Fab Four harmonies. While the band was originally put together by Houston producer Huey P. Meaux as a Cajun facsimile of an amalgam of British Invasion bands, left in the hands of the capable Doug Sahm and friends, the Sir Douglas Quintet became something else entirely.

The original Sir Douglas Quintet recorded a handful of songs with Meaux, scoring a Top Twenty hit in 1965 with the Tex-Mex flavored classic “She’s About A Mover.” Fleeting fame would follow, met by a string of good, but not particularly successful singles released by various Meaux-owned labels, culminating in The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet album, a collection of the aforementioned flotsam and jetsam. When the band was arrested for marijuana possession after returning home to Texas from a 1966 European tour, Sahm got out of jail, broke up the band, and took off to San Francisco, followed shortly by the Quintet’s saxophonist Frank Morin.

Sir Douglas Quintet’s The Mono Singles ‘68-’72

In California, Sahm saw the light and formed a new version of the Sir Douglas Quintet with friend Morin and a bunch of guys who subsequently came and went. Playing regularly around Frisco, the band signed with a Mercury Records subsidiary, and recorded a true debut album in 1968’s Sir Douglas Quintet + 2 = Honkey Blues. It’s at this point that our tale takes off and the era documented by Sundazed’s The Mono Singles ‘68-’72 begins, the album collecting all 22 songs – 11 singles total, with B-sides – released by Mercury and its subsidiary labels during the stated period.

While these songs have been compiled before – most notably as part of the 2006 box set The Complete Mercury Recordings, this single-disc set places them firmly in the spotlight all by their lonesome selves. Whether you prefer the mono or the stereo versions of these songs is a matter of personal taste, really – I find myself on the fence, liking the mono versions of some songs better, the fleshier stereo mixes of others – the groundbreaking nature and entertainment value of the songs is beyond argument. As a rabid Doug Sahm and Sir Douglas Quintet fan, I’m happier than an armadillo in the sun to have multiple versions of all of these classic tunes.

The Mono Singles ‘68-’72 begins with an atypical pair of 1968 singles, “Are Inlaws Really Outlaws” and “Sell A Song.” The former is a muted, Stax Records/Southern soul jam with bleating horns and conversational vocals, while the latter is similar to what Delaney & Bonnie would be doing later in the 1960s, Sahm’s R&B torch vocals supported by Wayne Talbert’s gospel-tinged piano and scraps of guitar until the song devolves into an improvised instrumental work-out with jazzy horns. Both songs are interesting in a curious, prurient, historical context but neither is indicative of the sound that the Sir Douglas Quintet would later innovate.

Mendocino

By late ‘68, Sahm would have a reconstituted Quintet in place with his old friend Augie Meyers on keyboards, where he belonged, and then the band really started cooking. “Mendocino” was the result of the new band line-up, the song’s Tex-Mex flavor enhanced by Meyers’ buoyant keys, Sahm’s understated vocals, and a melodic hook large enough to hang your hat on. The song cracked the U.S. Top 30, blew up even bigger in Europe, and put the Quintet back on the international stage. The B-side was the wistful “I Wanna Be Your Mama Again,” a mid-tempo slice of Texas soul with Sahm’s lonesome vocals, some inspired piano-play by Meyers, and just a touch of psychedelic swirl creeping in around the bluesy edges of the song.

“Mendocino,” the hit single, would subsequently spawn Mendocino the album, which in turn would yield a couple more minor hits. The first was the yearning “It Didn’t Even Bring Me Down,” a great example of the emotionalism Sahm could bring to a song with both words and vocals, the music a mix of horn-driven R&B led by Morin’s tasteful tenor saxophone and Texas-flavored blues-rock. The flip side was the jaunty “Lawd, I’m Just A Country Boy In This Great Big Freaky City,” another homesick ode about life in bad old San Francisco that is as alt-country in sound and texture as anything to follow by the Byrds and/or Gram Parsons.

Sahm missed Texas something awful during his stay in the Bay area, and it made for some great songs. The other single from Mendocino was the wonderfully wry blues-gospel-rock hybrid “At the Crossroads,” a slow-paced ballad with chiming organ and as mournful a vocal performance as you’ll ever hear. Sahm’s verse “you can teach me life’s lesson, you can bring a lot of gold, but you just can’t live in Texas, if you don’t have a lot of soul,” is pitch-perfect in its yearning, the sentiment punctuated by an elegant score of descending piano notes. Turn the single over and you have the equally delightful “Texas Me,” a fiddle-driven country tale of Sahm’s move to Frisco, a mid-tempo rocker with plenty of twang and an undeniable yen for life back in Austin.

Together After Five

Somewhere during all of this, Mercury released the non-album single “Dynamite Woman,” a swinging little number with gobs of Cajun fiddle, Meyers’ steady Farfisa work, Sahm’s vocals almost lost in the mix beneath the spry instrumentation. “Too Many Docile Minds” picks up, musically, where “Dynamite Woman” left off, adding a bit more melody to the arrangement but otherwise sounding very similar. Why they were left off the album is anybody’s guess, ‘cause both are fine performances.

Reunited with producer Meaux, the Sir Douglas Quintet would release Together After Five in 1970. The album’s lead-off single was the mid-tempo Tex-Mex rave-up “Nuevo Laredo,” an ode to the Texas border town that features a recurring keyboard riff, joyous blasts of Mexican-influenced horns, and more than a little mariachi flavor. “I Don’t Want To Go Home” is a contemporary 1960s-styled country ballad that would have been at home in either Texas or Tennessee. It’s right about here that Sahm veers off course, The Mono Singles ‘68-’72 offering a pair of Nashville-born singles that Mercury released under the “Wayne Douglas” name in an attempt to crack the country charts.

Although both “Be Real” and the Music City remake of “I Don’t Want To Go Home” are fine examples of old-school country featuring some of the city’s best session players – folks like pedal-steel maestro Pete Drake and honky-tonk pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins – both were a little too raw and, well, dated to appeal to then-contemporary country radio’s sophisticated “countrypolitan” audience that placed a premium on slick production and slicker appearance. Sahm returned to the Sir Douglas Quintet for 1970’s 1+1+1=4 album, from which were released a couple of singles, “What About Tomorrow” a relatively-unremarkable country-rocker and “(I Found Love) A Nice Song” a bluesy ballad with jangly piano-pounding and a dynamic vocal performance by Sahm, with just a little nuanced guitar thrown in for good measure.

The Return of Doug Saldana

To be honest, Sahm’s return from Nashville to San Francisco seemed to only prolong the inevitable homeward journey, and the subsequent handful of single releases seemed to be a catch-as-catch-can mixed bag of styles. “Catch the Man On the Rise” is a bluesy rocker that walks a path that Joe Cocker would sprint down couple of years hence, while the psychedelic tropes of “Pretty Flower” seems an unnatural fit for the Lone Star State transplant. Sahm finally gave in and went back home to Texas in time for 1971’s The Return of Doug Saldana, a welcome return to form after the middlin’ country-rock of 1+1+1=4.  Tex-Mex ruled the soundtrack to the autobiographical “Me and My Destiny,” a great folk-rock song with deep roots in the multi-cultural Texas music tradition that Sahm cherished and, indeed, helped popularize.

The B-side of “Me and My Destiny” was a heartfelt cover of Freddy Fender’s 1959 regional hit “Wasted Days, Wasted Nights” which, perchance, would launch Fender’s country music stardom during the ensuing decade. Delivered straight, as a 1950s-styled soul burner, Sahm’s version is very cool with emotional vocals, a swinging horn line, and piano flourishes all around. With The Return of Doug Saldana achieving mixed commercial results, the Sir Douglas Quintet would call it a day.

Sahm appeared as a drug dealer in the 1972 film Cisco Pike starring Kris Kristofferson, offering up the pro-drug song “Michoacan” for the movie’s soundtrack. Released by Mercury as the last Quintet single, the jaunty Mexican-flavored number is a mid-tempo polka featuring Meyers’ familiar Farfisa and Sahm’s playful vocals. The B-side, “Westside Blues Again,” is a bluesy, smoldering R&B tune that features a great, growling Sahm vocal and scorching fretwork complimented by Rocky Morales’ 1950s-styled tenor sax riffs.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Doug Sahm would launch his solo career with 1973’s acclaimed Doug Sahm and Band, recorded with what remained of the Sir Douglas Quintet, including Meyers and future Texas Tornados bandmate Flaco Jimenez. It was a testament to the esteem that his fellow artists held Sahm that he was able to enlist talents like Bob Dylan, Dr. John, and David Bromberg to appear on his solo debut. Sahm would continue to create and record essential and creative music throughout the 1980s and 1990s, both as a solo artist and with the more commercially-successful Texas Tornados. Although Sahm would later resurrect the Sir Douglas Quintet name on occasion, he’d never break as much ground as he did with these 22 songs recorded over four years. (Sundazed Records, released ‎ January 23th, 2011)    

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2011

Real Gone serves up Doug Sahm and Band on vinyl!

By the time he released his solo debut album in 1972, roots-rock pioneer Doug Sahm had already made a name for himself with his acclaimed 1960s-era band the Sir Douglas Quintet. Sahm could count legends like Bob Dylan among his fans, and roots ‘n’ blues artists like Dave Alvin, Steve Earle, and Delbert McClinton, among many others have cited Sahm’s influence on his own music. As such, when Sahm signed with Atlantic Records to record his debut album for the label, the studio was crowded with luminaries like Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg, and Flaco Jiménez along with his longtime bandmates Augie Meyers (keyboards) and Jack Barber (bass).

On February 5th, 2016 the good folks at Real Gone Music will reissue Doug Sahm and Band on glorious vinyl in a limited edition of 1,000 gold wax copies of this bona fide classic of American music. Produced by Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin, the album offers a dozen songs featuring Sahm’s visionary musical blend of rock ‘n’ roll, blues, country, and Tejano influences. Sahm only wrote three of the dozen songs on Doug Sahm and Band, but his choice in cover tunes is impeccable, and whether he’s singing Dylan (who contributed a new song, “Wallflower,” for the album), Willie Nelson (“Me and Paul”), T-Bone Walker (“Papa Aint’ Salty”), or country gems like Dave Kirby’s classic “(Is Anybody Going To) San Antone,” Sahm grabs each performance and makes it entirely his own.      

In spite of the talented guest musicians and the overall hype surrounding the album, Doug Sahm and Band would rise to only #125 on the Billboard magazine chart, representing the highest chart position in Sahm’s lengthy solo career (even higher than his band the Texas Tornadoes 1990s-era country hits). Although Sahm’s debut enjoyed lukewarm critical response upon release, it has since grown in critical estimation and is today considered a legit and influential Americana classic...and it sounds great on vinyl!