VA: AIN’T IT HARD – Garage & Psych from Viva Records LP

Description

The short-lived Viva Records label was one wildly eclectic outfit. Helmed by hitmaker Snuff Garrett, this Los Angeles-based imprint targeted the teen marketplace with a series of extraordinary garage / psych / pop singles. The label’s command of popular styles prevailed across these Top 40 hopefuls, ranging from the stomping beat of the Shindogs to the psych-fuzz nirvana of the Sound Sandwich. And there’s Class of ’66 garage-grunge from the Wailers and the Second Helping (yes, that’s a teenage Kenny Loggins howling at the moon on the positively snarling “Let Me In,” among other selections). With a supporting cast led by Leon Russell and J.J. Cale and bolstered with choice Snuff Garrett Productions like Gypsy Trips and Sunday Servants, Ain’t It Hard! stands as an essential anthology of Sunset Strip sixties sounds!

Includes: Apothecary Dream – The Sound Sandwich • Let Me In – The Second Helping • Psychotic Reaction – The Leathercoated Minds • I Don’t Want To Follow You – The Wailers • Ain’t It Hard – Gypsy Trips • Hard Times – The Second Helping • Eight Miles High – The Leathercoated Minds • On Friday – The Second Helping • Tow Away – The Sound Sandwich • Who Do You Think You Are – The Shindogs • Floating Downstream On An Inflatable Rubber Raft – The Second Helping • Zig Zag News – The Sound Sandwich • Non-Stop – The Leathercoated Minds • I’m Puttin’ You On – Sunday Servants • Nobody’s Lover – Roger Tillison