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Green Crystal Ties, Vol. 5: Gems from Garage Band Vaults
Reviews
An above-average garage collection, Volume 5 is made much more valuable by the appearance of two acoustic Val Stecklein demos in excellent sound quality. These two songs have appeared on other Bluethings compilations in inferior fidelity. The demos sounded scratchy on "Story Vol. 2" with pops and clicks, and the "Blow Your Mind" version of "Waiting For Changes" was sonically cleaned up but missing essential backing vocals in the chorus. It's anyone's guess as to why this compilation (nearly ten years older than "Blow Your Mind") has a better mix and sound quality for that track. To my knowledge, this CD is the only one to hear a cleaned up "Waiting For Changes" with the backing vocals.
No other group here is on the level of the Bluethings (one of the finest overlooked 60's groups of all), but nothing here is bad. Actually, this is one of the more consistent collections from the Green Crystal Ties series. There's more of a folk-rock influence to much of the material by the Outer Limits, North Atlantic Invasion Force, The Tempos, Marcus and the Morning Dew. The Outer Limits sound like a very raw and basic Beau Brummels on "Walkin' Away," while the Marcus cuts are in the mold of Barry McGuire with their rebellious but overwrought heavy-metal-singer-does-folk/rock vocals. The Nickle Bag's "The Woods" is perhaps the best cut besides the Bluethings tracks - a pounding rocker with a neat echoed organ effect.
Average Rating: 
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