Artist: VA
Title: The Big Hits of Mid-America - The Soma Records Story 1963-1967
Year Of Release: 1998
Label: Plum Records
Genre: Beat, Garage Rock, Pop Rock
Quality: Mp3 320 / Flac (tracks)
Total Time: 54:32 + 59:46
Total Size: 297/432 Mb
Tracklist:1. Foot Stompin' - The Underbeats
2. Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
3. The Grind - Gregory Dee And The Avanties
4. Run, Run, Run - The Gestures
5. Little Latin Lupe Lu - The Chancellors
6. The Noplace Special - The Titans
7. Let The Good Times Roll - The Del Counts
8. (Turn On Your) Love Light - The High Spirits
9. Why - The Accents
10. You Don't Want Me - The Corvets
11. Liar, Liar - The Castaways
12. Bird Dance Beat - The Trashmen
13. Olds-Mo-William - Gregory Dee And The Avanties
14. Yo! Yo! - The Chancellors
15. Gary's Tune - Lou Riegert And The Troops
16. Don't Mess Around - The Gestures
17. A-Bone - The Trashmen
18. Summer Place - The Titans
19. Cold 45 - The Four Wheels
20. Howlin' For My Baby - The Accents
21. Bird Dog - The Del Counts
22. Tossin' And Turnin' - The High Spirits
23. Sam - The Castaways
1. I Believe - The High Spirits
2. Goodbye Babe - The Castaways
3. Candlelight - The Gestures
4. I've Seen You Around - The Messengers
5. So Fine - The Chancellors
6. Book Of Love - The Underbeats
7. Fat Girl - The Embermen
8. Why Be Proud - The Boys Next Door
9. Summer's Here - The Shades
10. Ridin' High - The Gamins
11. Central High Playmate - The Four Wheels
12. I'll Be Gone - The Rumbles
13. My Baby - The Messengers
14. Ride On - The Torres
15. Heat Wave - The Half Dozen
16. What Is The Reason - The Del Counts
17. Bright Lights, Big City - The High Spirits
18. Empty Heart - The Deacons
19. Gloria - Jimmy Kaye And The Coachmen
20. Keep Her Satisfied - The Unbelievable Uglies
21. I Can't Stand It - The Underbeats
22. With Another Guy - The Del Counts
23. U.F.O. - Dudley And The Doo-Rytes
24. We're Gonna Love - Sir Winston & The Commons
25. It Was A Very Good Year - The Sounds Like Us
The Soma Records Story is the vision of one man, Amos (Soma spelled backward) Heilicher, who owned the biggest distributorship in the Twin Cities. Tied in to the area's Kay Bank Studios and the pressing plant that went in with it, Heilicher was smart enough to start recording rock & roll bands by the carload, offering 1,000 copy pressings of any group that wanted to buy some studio time and make a record. No Sam Phillips when it came to assessing the value of the new music, Heilicher just locally test-marketed the small pressings, and if anything smelled like a hit, he got it out there in quantity and started working it, occasionally snaring a national biggie in the bargain. This two-disc, 48-track deluxe collection brings together most of the shining moments in Soma teen rock history. Though curiously the label's first hit, 1959's "Mule Skinner Blues" by the Fendermen, is noticeably absent, everything else noteworthy seems to be aboard, from top drawer Minnesota combos like the Trashmen (the obligatory "Surfin' Bird," "Bird Dance Beat," "A-Bone") Gregory Dee & the Avantis ("The Grind," "Olds-Mo-Williams") , the Underbeats ("Foot Stompin'," "Book of Love," "I Can't Stand It"), the Castaways ( "Liar, Liar," "Sam," "Goodbye Babe"), and the High Spirits ("Turn on Your Lovelight," "Tossin' and Turnin'," "Bright Lights, Big City," and "I Believe"). Equally as powerful are sides from the Accents (fine versions of Howlin' Wolf's "Howling for My Darling" and Lonnie Mack's "Why"), the Four Wheels (great Beach Boys cops on "Central High Playmate" and "Cold 45"), and the Del Counts ( "Bird Dog," "What Is the Reason"), and lesser lights like the Rumbles, the Embermen, Jimmy Kaye & the Coachmen (nice, un-Shadows of Knight version of "Gloria"), the Half Dozen, the Boys Next Door, the Corvets, Dudley & the Doo-Rytes, and Sir Winston & the Commons, making this one of the most power-packed collections of local mid-'60s garage rock ever assembled. With a bound booklet loaded with label shots, great photos, and the stories of 48 chunks of great wax, this is an indispensable piece of rock & roll history, Midwest style.
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