I recently acquired my first boxed set. That’s no malarkey, I’ve never owned one, and my consumption of music has been dense at times, not to mention the music turnover that moves through my apartment (and past apartments). Never owned one. Last week, a fair amount of credit at a local record store put Rhino’s Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976 – 1996 in my permanent care. Why this one? Good question. Grazing the track listing first left me lukewarm, listening to the set straight through got things moving in many directions. Some of this I already owned. Some I would have never owned. The vexing thing about this set is the gray claim at encompassing a movement…the “Second Psychedelic Era.” Actually, many movements are touched on. College rock, 80’s American indie, British jangle pop, British pre-Madchester baggy pop, New Zealand Flying Nun pop, Australian garage pop, first/second/third wave power pop, garage revivalism, the Paisley Underground, and light shoegaze. There is much overlap with previous Rhino projects, specifically the D.I.Y. series, and an obvious amount of the inclusions are not psychedelic at all. An excuse to assemble a boxed set? Using the wild popularity of the first Nuggets boxes as fuel, I’d say that’s a good wager. I’m off on a negative foot, but I admittedly adore many of these songs, with some of the adoration dating back to high school, and enjoy having them collected in an easily consumable package, though for my purposes, it could have been 1.5 CD’s worth. Never personally had a split second to waste on the garage revival of the 80’s; hokey mediocre nonsense that was just as bad as its 85% of its 90’s successor (in movements). The Fleshtones, The Untamed Youth, and The Chesterfield Kings, for instance, were embarrassing retro action figure jokes, and there’s far too much of that garbage included here. Below is my personal 1.5 CD’s worth (with occasional notes). Please rip and burn my personal best.

1. Lyres “Help You Ann” (1983) – Blue-blooded retro goofs that weren’t grating on the nerves. Amazing guitar sound. Roots in one of the most overrated “sought after” or “influential” bands of all time: DMZ.
2. Bangles “The Real World” (1982) – Golden, pre-hit garage pop. So, so, so, so, catchy.
3. The Nashville Ramblers “The Trains” (1986) – I don’t remember why I chose this song. It must be good.
4. The Stems “She’s Fine” (1986) – Nothing’s coming to me.
5. Salvation Army “She Turns To Flowers” (1982) – Forced by the real Salvation Army to change names, and that apparently caused a change into a weaker band, The Three O’ Clock.
6. The Last “She Don’t Know Why I’m Here” (1977) – Messy, faster single version of the only reason to check out this band’s 1979 Bomp album, L.A. Explosion.
7. Posies “I May Hate You Sometimes” (1988) – One of the reasons that people go bonkers over this band.
8. Dream Syndicate “Tell Me When It’s Over” (1982) – Best song on a one of the only A to B great Paisley Underground LP’s (their Days of Wine and Roses). L.A.’s belated Television.
9. The La’s “There She Goes” (1988) – Beats me. A good song that I could go the remainder of my days without.
10. Posies “Apology” (1990) – See above.
11. Bevis Frond “Lights Are Changing” (1988) – Live, this was one of the limpest noodlers I’ve ever cringed through. On record, he can be worth it.
12. Church “The Unguarded Moment” (1981) – Best-known example of how solid they were early on. Nothing from 1977 – 1984 is as good as “they” say it is, but I say this is good. And it’s good. First three to four albums (1981 – 1984) are, oh, I really hate writing about music.
13. Flaming Groovies “I’ll Cry Alone” (1976) – Good one.
14. Chills “Pink Frost” (1984) – Good one.
15. Plimsouls “Hypnotized” (1980) – Good one.
16. Teenage Fan Club “God Knows It’s True” (1990) – Good one.
17. The Cynics “Baby, What’s Wrong?” (1989) – Good one.
18. Sun Dial “Plains Of Nazca” (1991) – Good one.
19. Screaming Trees “Transfiguration” (1987) – Good one. Check out this (yawn) band’s early albums.
20. The Dentists “Strawberry’s Are Growing In My Garden” (1985) – Good one.
21. The Prisoners “Far Away” (1983) – Good one.