The Hush Records Story Nuggets from the Golden State

Founded in 1958, Sunnyvale's Hush Records was the first home of R&B vocalist Joe Simon. By the mid-60s, Hush was devoted to various flavors of rock and found it's greatest commercial success with the Syndicate of Sound's 1966 punk anthem "Little Girl." This volume chronicles Hush's later years (1965-68), while Simon's earlier sides are due on a separate compilation this Spring."Little Girl" is featured in a new stereo mix that, despite being a substantial improvement over the commonly anthologized version, doesn't deliver the punch of the original mono single. No matter, as the disc's treasures include several followup tracks from the Syndicate of Sound, pop gems by Gerry & Leslie and San Jose's Stop Sign, Stones-influenced cuts from Merced's Brogues, and Sonics-influenced grunge by Boise's Wm. Penn & The Quakers.Previously unreleased tracks, alternative takes, extensive liner notes, picture sleeves, concert posters and rare photos complete another stellar package of Bay Area music history.

This is a great collection of the REAL music of the 60s and early 70s. This brought back some memories!

"I like that girl" was a song I originally composed and sang with Leslie Knutson in the mid 1960's .Hello let me introduce myself ,My name is Gerald Ralston. Presently I am in Buffalo New York and it's now 2011 . A lot of things have happened since creation of "I like that girl" by Gerry and Leslie. I was in conversation with Gary Thompson CEO and producer of Hush Records. He told me a very interesting story about "I like that Girl" and why it never got the same airplay as Little Girl. After it was recorded Gary was contacted by Capital Records, with a very interesting offer to release the song recorded by Gerry Ralston ( writer ) and Leslie Knutson. They ( Capital then waited while working on the Mamas and Papas release ,then told Gary Thompson they changed their mind. The delay of that caused the energy of the act and record label to cool down. Finally Gary Thompson released it on Hush Records. Gerry Ralston went on to create another project in the 1970's when He created the massive theme song released on Ghama Records/Scepter Records titled Mariposa/Rock n Mole. Mariposa got good airplay in Canada the home of the annual Mariposa Folk Festival today it is still for sale on Amazon on Recordsbymail mariposa 45 rpm single~ INSTANT RALSTON (Artist)and went on till 1971 -They flipped the record (45) and was voted the best record of the year "Rock n Mole " by Greg Shaw of Cream Magazine .A magazine like Rolling Stone of the 70's eara.Gerald Ralston has stated he will do a re-release unplugged of both songs of Nuggets from the Golden State ,with I like that girl, and a cover of Hush Records biggest hit "Little Girl " see the product link above for information. I hope this was a value to the readers, and I want to thank the past 2 reviews , for uplifting this project. Anyone knowing the where abouts of Leslie Knutson,please have her contact me for a music reunion of Hush artists.

Just like the title says golden nuggets! Songs not available on cd until this compilation. Of course every knows the Syndicate of Sound's "Little Girl" but some of their lesser know songs are great too. However the stand out song on this cd is Gerry (Ralston) and Leslie's (Knutson) "I Like That Girl". Why wasn't this song a bigger hit? This is one of Ralston's true classic compositions. He was one of the great underground legends of the folk rock era. His lovely harmonies along with Knutson makes this song one of my top ten favorites of the 60's!! Let's hope Hush records will go into their vaults and pull out more Ralston and the Syndicate of Sound for a Hush Records Story Volume two.

Another entry in Big Beat's Nuggets From The Golden State series of comps, this presents 24 tracks recorded for San Jose's Hush label between 1964-68. Aside from the obvious - 'Little Girl' (Syndicate Of Sound), 'Don't Shoot Me Down' & 'I Ain't No Miracle Worker (The Brogues) etc all classics I might add, most of this has been previously uncomped in the digital format and in some cases are genuine first time hears. One of these 'Believe Me' (WM Penn & The Quakers)out sonics The Sonics and makes this comp a must. The rest of their contributions aren't quite in the same class, 'Hey Hey...' sounds too much like 'Psycho' and the others, especially the doomy tripe of 'Ghost Of The Monks' frankly don't sound like the same band. I Like That Girl (Gerry & Leslie) is a fairly poppy affair, more girl sound than garage but undeniably catchy and a nice addition. Dear Doctor by The Diminished Fifth, notable for it's paired female/vocals is not quite garage, not quite psych and not quite pop, but you feel it could have gone either way if the production had been stronger . The Syndicate Of Sound weigh in with 9 tracks, 'Little Girl' was the biggest hit they and Hush ever had, however the rest of The Syndicate's output is to my mind mediocre and uninspiring. Far better were The Brogues, 2 of whom joined Quicksilver Messenger Service, and who surpsisingly seems to have recorded only 4 tracks - and though most of you will have 3 already on CD, it's nice to have them collected in one place.

An excellent overview of a great label. Sound is very good. You won't be disappointed.