The Music Machine — (Turn On) The Music Machine

The Music Machine appeared in my collection long before I bought this record, represented twice by “Talk Talk.” The first time was on the legendary Nuggets anthology, a garage rock collection that I couldn’t afford back in the day – copies were pricey. But at some point I got it digitally. The same song also appeared on a Cascade records collection from 1984 called “20 Great Hits of the ’60s” that features some excellent garage rock like The Milkshakes and The Count Bishops, and also provided a Music Machine cover of “96 Tears.”

So I ran across this 1966 release three or even four years back, in the earliest days of the Forever Changes popup, when I was still deep in a garage rock mood. That’s since been supplanted by a funk mood, but there’s always room in my lineup for a turn or two of garage rock. And this is . . . fine. It’s not the most inspired garage band ever – “Talk Talk” is great, their cover of “Cherry Cherry” is questionable, their cover of “See See Rider” is essentially The Animals’ version. There’s a nice but unnecessary variation on “Hey Joe,” a better cover of “Taxman” that makes the understandable but regrettable decision to Americanize the references, and one or two songs that are just plain bad.

Sometimes you take a chance on a record and aren’t particularly rewarded. It happens. If you want to read about some garage rock that has been with me for decades, look back at the Back From The Grave collections.

Also, must say: the back cover tries too hard to be clever.