DC Share Revival: Review: Various Artists - Neurotic Reactions 2: 16 Obscure Mod Smashers, 1965-1970 (2011)

Rating: 90/100 - Genre: Northern Soul, Mod, Garage-Psych.

Neurotic Reactions Vol. 2: 16 Obscure Mod Smashers, 1965–1970 was issued in 2011 on the small Spanish imprint Crazy Apple Boutique (listed as CRAP1050LP), a purpose-made pressing aimed at collectors and crate-diggers. The set, assembled under the aesthetic hand of Eze (credited in collector circles as Eze DJ), presents itself as a follow-up within the Neurotic Reactions series and reads as a concentrated dossier of short, high-energy 45s and EP tracks selected for immediate dancefloor utility and collector interest.

From the first grooves it is clear that the compilers were after variety inside a tightly focused program: the records come from the UK, the United States, Spain, France, Mexico, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Australia and cover mod-aligned soul, garage, freak-beat and continental Ye-Ye variants, each cut trimmed to spare running times that favor hooks, riffs and percussive drive. The set was professionally remastered and include promise of substantial liner notes for each artist.

Physical distribution for the pressing was directed largely at niche markets: import listings show the title appearing with European specialist shops and Japanese outlets rather than mainstream chains, and that pattern helps explain why the initial pressings circulated principally through collector channels and import dealers. That commercial positioning is echoed in the compilation’s sequence and editorial choices: the selection privileges concise two- to three-minute forms, quick hooks and rhythmic clarity so that a DJ or radio programmer can slot each cut directly into a set without losing momentum. The sequencing itself is pragmatic; stomps and fuzz-driven items are interleaved with groove-oriented soul pieces to sustain pace.

The musical breadth of the LP becomes apparent when the listener moves past the opener: Barry Window arrives with End of Our Road, a compact pop/soul nugget whose short form and hook-first construction have allowed it to reappear in other compilations. Combinations supply Bump Ball, a rhythm-forward number whose propulsion marks it as a straightforward dance cut culled from US 45 archives, while Jack Treese’s Je suis un éléphant lands as a French-language Ye-Ye oddity with a playful, slightly psychedelic guise rather than a straight soul outing. Virgil Murray’s Tomorrow’s Yesterday contributes I Still Care, a horn-tinged blue-eyed-soul piece with a small-club combustion that reads as one of the set’s authentic soul inflections. The Goodies offer Such a Good Time, an Australian 1966 single that leans melodic and Beatles-tinged in its phrasing, and Los Tiburones present Me Has Cazado, a Spanish renditional take on the raw power-chord groove familiar from the Kinks which is traceable in Spanish 45 discographies and earlier EP issues. In the roster the gritty, R&B-weighted The Sting Rays’ I’m Gonna Surprise You stands as a rawer garage cut, while Sweden’s Celest delivers Sweet Wine, a melodic B-side with a soft psychedelic afterglow.

Across the flip the compilation preserves the small-label provenance that defines its appeal: Don & Jerry with The Fugitives’ In the Cover of Night originates from a mid-1965 Fabor single and typifies the loose, economy-minded attack of regional US garage 45s rescued by compilers; Norma’s Quiero Amor appears in Polydor Mexico EP listings from the late 1960s and shows how Latin-American acts adapted freak-beat and Mod sensibilities for Spanish-language audiences; The Measles’ Bye Birdie Fly is a clipped UK beat single with punchy phrasing; the Dutch Sparklings add fuzz-dominated energy with Seven Jump; The Dave Peace Union’s Seventh Son is one of the later entries with a 1970 dating that leans toward a late-period mod stomp; The Peddlers bring a more polished organ-anchored mod-soul moment in Delicious Lady, where the documented interplay between Roy Phillips’ voice and organ work gives the track a measured groove among otherwise rawer cuts; Katty Line supplies a French-language semi-psychedelic Ye-Ye entry in Un petit peu d’amour and John O’Brien Docker’s Get Wise, Girl functions as the German contribution, surviving in collector circles and sometimes linked to soundtrack material, which accounts for its slightly theatrical delivery.

Most tracks favor a central riff or call-and-response chorus, compressed arrangements and tight instrumental punches so that they work as smashers in a DJ set. This is not an academic restoration project that foregrounds exhaustive session files; it is a pragmatic rescue operation that reissues danceable regional rarities for enthusiasts who want short, high-impact moments. The presence of better-known UK mod-soul material such as The Peddlers alongside unheralded continental and Latin American rarities demonstrates a conscious balance—placing a polished organ groove next to a fuzz-driven Spanish take on a Kinks riff amplifies contrasts and shows how local scenes adapted Anglo-American templates into floor-ready regional forms.

You might also the the article I wrote about "Subculture UK: The First Wave of Mods in the Sixties".

Monday, September 1, 2025

Review: Various Artists - Neurotic Reactions 2: 16 Obscure Mod Smashers, 1965-1970 (2011)

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