The
Arf! Arf! line focuses mostly on 1960s (and occasionally 1970s)
garage bands that are obscure even by the standards of this over-anthologized genre. It also takes in weird amateurish cult records and experimental, idiosyncratic
rock (sometimes in projects including label head
Erik Lindgren himself). Released in commemoration of its 20th anniversary, this might at first glance look like the kind of label sampler-cum-advertisement that few would seriously consider buying. You'd be wrong, however, because in a refreshing exception to custom, none of these 50 tracks were previously available on CD, and many were previously unreleased in any form. This in turn isn't necessarily as exciting as it sounds, since a good deal of these unreleased items are demos or alternate takes/mixes of cuts by artists that don't exactly have devoted followings, even cult ones.
Garage band aficionados will probably have heard of
the Lost,
the Litter,
the Flat Earth Society, and
the Lazy Smoke;
indie rock collectors might know about
Space Negros and
Lindgren; and "incredibly strange music" followers will have probably at least heard about
Lucia Pamela and
Jack Mudarian (the latter of whom is actually represented by a radio story on his ability to sing snippets of old
pop tunes for 45 minutes at a time). Otherwise you might feel a little lost. Yet as for the
garage stuff, which takes up well over half the set, there are some good selections:
the Lost's moody
"Everybody Knows" (an alternate version),
the Litter's classic
"Action Woman" (with alternate vocal),
Steve Ellis' & the Starfires' uncanny
Byrds imitation
"Pride of a Man," and
Morgen's
"Of Dreams," a quite good heavy psych tune with helium whispery female vocals and inventive fuzz and wah-wah flutters. Although the average merit of the
garage cuts is just okay, there's so much variety, from
frat rock and instrumentals to
glam and
power pop, that it actually ends up being a much more enjoyable listening experience than the ordinary
Arf! Arf! single-artist or single-label compilation. It's not quite certain whether the typical fan of such sounds will enjoy the wacky ineptitude of
Lucia Pamela, or the post-'70s tracks like the creepy
synth pop of
the Space Negros. These don't mesh comfortably with everything else, though they do complete a representative portrait of the
Arf! Arf! catalog. ~ Richie Unterberger
