Original 'Nuggets' get reissued

It’s a nugget if you dug it! That small phrase captures the spirit driving one of the most influential rock anthologies ever released, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-68.

The 1972 double-LP on Elektra Records, celebrated more than two dozen gems that blazed brightly for a few weeks before fading from the charts.

To mark the 40-year anniversary of Nuggets, Rhino has remastered the collection from the original analog album master and will release it as a standalone CD for the first time ever in the U.S. Nuggets will be available Nov. 27 from Rhino and other retail outlets on CD and digitally. The album will also be available as a 180-gram double-LP on Nov. 13.

The original concept came from Jac Holzman, the founder of Elektra Records. He explains: “AM radio despised ‘long’ tracks, loosely defined as anything that exceeded three minutes, and this was true throughout the ’50s and ’60s. Even our Doors single, ‘Light My Fire,’ had to chop Robby’s incendiary guitar solo to fit the rigid AM formula. It’s what made me think about the snappy, short rock and roll singles that had jump-started AM rock radio, at its beginnings.”

To excavate these hidden gems, Holzman recruited guitarist Lenny Kaye. Looking back on this seminal collection, Kaye writes in the newly penned liner notes: “It’s the songs in the end that make Nuggets so memorable, the lightning strikes of brilliance that move a record past genre into the realm of classic…Given the reins, I just played disc jockey, telling my ear-witness tale of inspiration derived, of desire and belief. Or daring to believe.”

Filled with fuzztone and Farfisa, the album pulses with an eclectic mix of songs by The Electric Prunes, The Standells, The Seeds, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, The Nazz, Count Five, The Remains, The Amboy Dukes, Magic Mushrooms, and Chocolate Watch Band. Along with the music, this new edition also recreates the original artwork, which was done by Elektra Art Director William S. Harvey and graphic artist Abe Gurvin.

NUGGETS: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS FROM THE FIRST PSYCHEDELIC ERA, 1965-1968
 
Track Listing
1. “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)” - The Electric Prunes
2. “Dirty Water” - The Standells
3. “Night Time” - The Strangeloves
4. “Lies” - The Knickerbockers
5. “Respect” - The Vagrants
6. “A Public Execution” - Mouse
7. “No Time Like The Right Time” - The Blues Project
8. “Oh Yeah” - The Shadows Of Knight
9. “Pushin’ Too Hard” - The Seeds
10. “Moulty” - The Barbarians
11. “Don’t Look Back” - The Remains
12. “An Invitation To Cry” - The Magicians
13. “Liar, Liar” - The Castaways
14. “You’re Gonna Miss Me” - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators
15. “Psychotic Reaction” - Count Five
16. “Hey Joe” - The Leaves
17. “Romeo & Juliet” - Michael & The Messengers
18. “Sugar And Spice” - The Cryan Shames
19. “Baby Please Don’t Go” - The Amboy Dukes
20. “Tobacco Road” - Blues Magoos
21. “Let’s Talk About Girls” - Chocolate Watch Band
22. “Sit Down, I Think I Love You” - The Mojo Men
23. “Run, Run, Run” - The Third Rail
24. “My World Fell Down” - Sagittarius
25. “Open My Eyes” - Nazz
26. “Farmer John” - The Premiers
27. “It’s-A-Happening” - The Magic Mushrooms