Various Artists: Essential Pebbles Volume One

Today, bands are self-aware to the point where they can pick and choose which rock clichés to embrace and which to discard. Sure, they may use the clichés, but not without a knowing wink so we know it's a put-on. The artists on Essential Pebbles Volume One didn't know them as clichés; they embraced them as gospel. The Pebbles series collects tracks from little-known (not one-hit-wonder little-known, but 500-copies-of-an-album-pressed little-known) '60s artists whose lack of fame, production values, and sometimes talent was rendered irrelevant by an abundance of energy and vitality. Volume One is a two-disc set which gathers the best tracks from the first 10 Pebbles volumes, as well as a plethora of unreleased super-rarities. It's clear that many of the artists were trying to hit the mark set by stars of the time (like The Kinks, The 13th Floor Elevators, The Beatles, etc.), but some of these songs are true originals, including the over-the-top psychedelic mish-mash of "Swami Swami," or the gutter crawl of "Green Fuz," performed here by Green Fuz but later made famous by The Cramps. The series is a celebration of the spirit of rock 'n' roll, proving that for every & The Mysterians or Syndicate Of Sound that had a hit, there were at least 10 other garage bands with just as much talent and raw energy that didn't.