Don Kriss of Cleveland, Ohio made three 45s on his own Carrot Records imprint, hung out with the Baloney Heads, and co-wrote "Go Joe Charbeneau," the tribute to the Cleveland Indians' famous flameout. And that's just the stuff we know about.

Still in that revo-psych mode today, so allow us to present Germany's Broken Jug. You may have accidentally passed over the Jug's William LP, from whence "Promised Land;" it has a hideous and unreadable jacket that makes it look like a Coil record or something. Fairly covers-heavy (Outcasts, Unrelated Segments, etc.) but worth it, if just for this track alone. This mix is allegedly unique to the 45, but the differences are subtle indeed.

Putting together a mix tape for a friend has us fondly recalling some of our favorite garage revival outfits (and we do mean outfits). The Vipers, if memory serves, were oft-maligned back in the day, and this is an absolute mystery to Mr. Cat, who sez their debut LP Outta the Nest! is as good as some of the LPs by the bands at the very tip-top of the genre. (Shamrock J. says the top three are the Lyres, the Chesterfield Kings, and the Cynics.) Reissued on CD a couple of years back by Cavestomp.

In 1987 a number of my friends, alerted by a review in The Bob, became smitten by Died Pretty's excellent Free Dirt LP (What Goes On Records). Besides having an elaborate gatefold jacket, a luxury virtually non-existent to most indie labels at the time, it had a little bit of everything that was considered cool at that moment: Great pop songs like "Blue Sky Day," revo-garage moves like "Stoneage Cinderella," and one of my favorite feedback moan 'n' whine noise solos of all time on "Just Skin." (Brett Myers remains one of the most underrated rock guitarists in the world in my book.) Naturally, I started snapping up all of the singles including the 12" of "Mirror Blues" which I'd initially thought to put up here, but while it is devastatingly cool, it is 12 minutes long, and I wasn't sure that was a good idea. "Winterland" was the first single from the second LP, Lost, another excellent record. I can vouch for the third album, Every Brilliant Eye, as well, but after that I sort of lost track. I'd be glad to be enlightened...

The boys like this record because singer Ron Peno appears to be coughing up a hairball just before the song begins. "That's so cool..." says Mickey with wide-eyed awe.

From the gap between the power pop bust and the indie pop boom comes this charming little 45 that Steve Mitchell has likened to the brilliant Suede Crocodiles 45. Steve's usually right about these things.

The Able Tasmans are my favorite rock band of the 90s. They chalked up three excellent LPs and a fine EP ("The Shape Of Dolls") during that decade; the best is perhaps 1991's Hey Spinner, which somehow blends the psychedelic ambition of Love's Forever Changes with the frenzied strumming drone of the Feelies' The Good Earth.

On the assumption that some of you are using this site as a buyer's guide I feel it's only fair to mention that occasionally the Tasmans sound a little like the Moody Blues. But only the good parts of the Moody Blues e.g. melodic and harmonic elements. (Just admit it, the chorus of "Nights In White Satin" is pretty friggin' great). No hippie sentimentality, no sophomoric philosophizing, and the orchestrations are intricate and tasteful rather than bombastic. Also, they have a sense of humor, which never burdened Justin Hayward and Co.

An excellent overview is provided by the Songs From the Departure Lounge retrospective, which visits the stereo very frequently in our house. It also has some warm and quite hilarious liner notes. The version of "Buffalos" heard here is from that CD, and is different from the 7" version.

Another meeting place for fans of powerpop and punk courtesy of Indiana's Jetsons. Shamrock J. Cat yawns in approval, Casey assumes that the Jetsons must be singing about dogs, and Mickey wonders why there aren't more punk rock songs about cats.