Chicago was as swept up in the garage phenomenon as any US outpost, but it took visionaries such as record plugger Pete Wright to draw together talent from the Windy City and beyond, and turn it into a kind of palpable presence; which is, thankfully, what this 19-tracker ably demonstrates. Billed as “the rockier sides” of his Quill label, there isn’t much here that slips below frenetic. Here’s a label indebted to The Animals and Kinks and, when The Skunks (who pipped The Turtles to the post with their name, fact fans) take on Jackie Lee’s Do The Duck, it’s almost freakbeat territory. Highlights are many – The Commons, Ltd track which gives this comp its title is a vibrant burst of youth, while the sublime I’m Cryin’ by The Malibu’s (sic) is a grand choice for an opener. The weirdest cut is from The Skunks once more: Don’t Ask Why, which fuses what sounds like an oriental chant faded in and out of the stripe-suited combo’s fuzz.
What better way to end? Pete Wright went on to bigger things behind the New Colony Six, but we should be grateful he found homes for these tunes first.
