I love it when a label has such a visionary at the helm that you can safely buy any release within a certain period and know it's going to be something special. Eleckra in the sixties and early seventies, when founder Jac Holzman was calling the shots is a perfect example... if you see that classic 'butterfly' logo you know you're going to hear the best of the era.
So, here are my top picks from the mighty Elektra records, restricting myself to a single release for each group:
Various
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968
7E 2006 stereo, 1972
Hearing this for the first time was a total mind fry. It was so exciting, the rush of these rough and raw garage bands made me wanna get high and play guitar like Keith Richards, and any album that makes me feel that way is golden baby! Lenny Kaye's comp also triggered my collector scum gene, but I'm lucky that I only have it in it's most mild form... the thought of actually trying to get all these singles is frightening, especially now we have ebay and someone in New Zealand actually could track them down. This comp continues to launch a thousand bands a year, along with a hundred 'lost garage classic' comps... it's a beautiful thing!
The Lollipop Shoppe - You Must Be A Witch
MC5
Kick Out The Jams
EKS 74042 stereo, 1969
Detroit r'n'r revolutionary renegades the MC5 are one of my favourite bands and this, their debut fights it out daily in my head with High Time, their final LP (recorded for Atlantic Records). The sounds of (angry white political) young America circa 1969.
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams (full album)
The Stooges
Funhouse
EKS 74071 stereo, 1970
What can you say? Fuckin' classic... top marks to Rhino for the release of the Complete Funhouse Sessions, 142 tracks over 7 CDs, it's stuff like that that'll force me to get off my butt and get a job!
The Stooges - Live
Love
Forever Changes
EKL 4013 mono, 1968
Mind blowing baroque pop from Arthur Lee and Love. It's such a tragedy that Love remain so unknown as their early albums easily surpass label/scene mates The Doors. This is Arthur's pinnacle, an album that is as near perfect as any mortal could hope. They do the rock/folk fusion thing well, managing to retain the aggression and menace of their garage rock roots, something too many Californian bands lost as they stopped and sniffed the 'flowers' all around. The intensity of Forever Changes is something else... I often can't listen all the way through in one sitting, Arthur Lee's trip is way too heavy for me, way too heavy for anyone, and when you read about his life it's clear it was also way way too heavy for him. MASTERPIECE!
Love - Forever Changes (Full Album)
The Doors
Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine
8E 6001 stereo, 1972
I know it's cheating to put a 'best of' in a fave records, but this is what got me hooked on the Doors.
The Doors - Riders On The Storm
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
Accept No Substitute: The Original Delaney & Bonnie
EKS 74039 stereo, 1969
A recent discovery for me. While record shopping a guy hipped me to them as a 'Southern funky country/soul meets The Band type thing', and when he mentioned who the "friends" were... look 'em up, you'll shit!
Television
Marquee Moon
7E-1098 stereo, 1977
um... what to say... it's fuckin' perfect. Here's Nick Kent's classic review (originally run over two issues of NME).
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