Back From The Grave Series

The Back From The Grave Series is a collection of 60s Garage Rock compilation albums released by Crypt Records. The series originally consisted of eight LP records released between 1983 and 1992. Volumes seven and eight were double albums. Starting in 1994, the series was reissued on compact disc. Due to the longer playing times offered by CDs, the first seven volumes were contained on four discs, save for a few tracks that were omitted. In addition, the eighth volume of the series was released on CD in 1994, with four tracks omitted from the vinyl version. As such, it is the only CD reissue from the series that closely corresponds to its vinyl counterpart.

Nature Of The Music

Unlike many garage rock compilations, the Back From The Grave series focuses exclusively on the rawer and more aggressive side of the genre. Psychedelic rock is categorically excluded. The series also includes very few pop or folk oriented songs. As a result, the albums are primarily populated by louder songs that are characterized by fuzztone guitars, rough vocals, and are clearly influenced by groups such as Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, the early Kinks, and the Pretty Things. The lyrics and performances tended to focus on anger, lust, and cheating girlfriends, matching the often chaotic music. According to the liner notes, the songs were recorded by American groups, between 1964 and 1967.

Packaging

The series tends to follow the packaging format established by the Nuggets album and the Pebbles series: Each volume includes detailed liner notes that include basic information about each song and group, such as origin and recording date. However, the Back From The Grave series' liner notes are very distinct. The information that they present suggests especially thorough research, often including humorous anecdotes about the artists included, information about the circumstances of the recordings, and brief biological sketches of the groups, in addition to more basic information. The liners are also notable for their unique style – they tend to be highly enthusiastic, full of intentional spelling errors and slang, humorous asides and tangents. They are noticeably opinionated, and often include tongue-in-cheek insults directed at psychedelic, art-rock, and commercially oriented music. As a result, the notes convey a conversational tone. The albums also include photographs of the included groups, and the covers tend to elaborately drawn cartoons that feature zombies (intended to personify the music found on each volume) emerging from graves and "attacking" various manifestations of the pop-and-progressive oriented world that had come to musical prominence by the end of the 60s.

As a moderating note on the above, it was common knowledge (whether that knowledge be right or wrong) that the author of the liner notes would invent information to make up for the gaps in what he knew. It is also debatable whether all spelling errors were intentional; for example the liner notes frequently include mistranscribed label information. Still, the work accomplished must be considered quite essential in the absence of more competent discographers and sound engineers rising to the task.

References

* [http://www.cryptrecords.com The Crypt Records Website]
* [http://www.ugly-things.com The Ugly Things garage compilation database]