This 4-disc box is an anthology expanded from the multi-volume Rhino NUGGETS series--originally produced by Lenny Kaye as a 2-LP collection in 1972--that traces the roots of regional American garage-punk/psychedelic bands like the Seeds, the Electric Prunes and the Standells. The accompanying booklet includes an introduction by Lenny Kaye and a track-by-track guide by Mike Stax, editor of the garage-punk fanzine Ugly Things.

Compilation producers: Lenny Kaye, Gary Stewart.

Includes liner notes by Bill Inglot, Lenny Kaye, Greg Shaw, Alec Palao and Mike Stax.

Digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch (DigiPrep, Hollywood, California).

If a single compilation can be attributed to beginning the oldies revolution, it is easily the original 1972 double LP Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968. Compiled by Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman with assistance and input from guitarist and music historian Lenny Kaye, this deceptively haphazard 27-track aggregate became the cornerstone of both the serious appreciation of '60s underground music as well as a rather off-scale model for a plethora of reissue-based record labels such as Rhino, Sundazed, and See for Miles. A glance at the way the tunes stack up on the original two-disc vinyl collection reveals that Holzman was indeed looking beyond. Rather than re-treading the same tired "golden oldies" packages -- which were being hocked on TV and in print adverts by mail order throughout North America in the early '70s -- he and Kaye began to gather the secondary and even tertiary layers of rock music. These tunes likewise had a stated influence on a new breed of rocker. Musicians such as Patti Smith -- for whom Kaye happened to play lead guitar -- the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and R.E.M. were more than simply enthusiasts. As their new wave of pop music would reflect, they were actually students and disciples. One important factor that unifies and likewise levels the playing field for all 27 sides chosen for the first run of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 is that they were all issued as singles. There are both Top 20 charting pop hits -- "Dirty Water" (Standells), "Liar, Liar" (Castaways), and at number five the highest-charting 45 of the bunch, "Psychotic Reaction" (Count Five) -- as well as several sides that never made the Top 200. These include the equally inspired "Let's Talk About Girls" (Chocolate Watchband), "Don't Look Back" (Remains), and "An Invitation to Cry" (Magicians). Each track is also given a brief bio which was researched and penned by Kaye. His comments go beyond the facts and figures of the typical discography, relating to the music as the personal experience that it was. This further unifies the subtle assertion that a new generation of pop/rock music fans were listening beneath the charts and the formats that began to dictate the contents of the airwaves as well as record store shelves. In 1998 Rhino Records reissued this set in an expanded edition containing 91 additional garage and psychedelic stacks of wax. As a paean to the two-LP set that started it all, the first CD in the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 box replicates the running order and artwork of this fundamental rock & roll anthology. ~ Lindsay Planer

Compiled by rock critic and future Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye, 1972's Nuggets was the anthology responsible for reviving interest in mid-'60s American garage rock. After the proliferation of specialized volumes with the Nuggets title by reissue label Rhino, this four-CD box set is intended as the ideal summation/expansion of the Nuggets concept. The first CD reproduces, track-by-track, the original 27-song Nuggets, while the other three CDs add what may be considered 91 bonus tracks, from the biggest-selling garage hits ("Louie Louie," "Wooly Bully") to some cuts that only devout '60s specialists will know. All important permutations of the mid-'60s garage style are present: primitive fuzz, folk-rock, horn rock, psychedelic dementia, protest rock, etc. Major heroes the Music Machine, the Seeds, the Shadows of Knight, the Electric Prunes, the Standells, the Sonics, the Chocolate Watch Band, and many others are all represented, often by more than one song. If it's possible to give a five-star rating with reservations, it's tempting to do so here. No one could have possibly satisfied all rabid garage collectors with a mere 118 songs, but that's not really the point here; the object was to provide a wide-ranging box set of '60s garage rock that would entertain, represent the considerable span of garage styles, and be massive -- yet affordable -- for the committed rock fan who nonetheless doesn't want everything. Rhino has succeeded, while also presenting the songs in the best possible quality (in mono), whether from the master tapes or best existing copies. With a 100-page booklet of new liner notes (Kaye's original annotation is also included), it is the best investment possible for those who thirst for more '60s garage rock than is available on the best single-volume compilations, with a track selection geared toward cream-of-the-crop quality and variety rather than narrow collector prejudices. ~ Richie Unterberger

A compilation that actually defined a genre, this sent out musical ripples that influenced innumerable bands, from the Damned to R.E.M. Compiler Lenny Kaye even gave the genre a name: punk. Although the music was later better known as "garage," Kaye--himself about to pioneer 70s punk as Patti Smith's guitarist--was onto something when he asserted that America's aggressive teen bands of the mid-60s were the original punks. To prove that this was not an isolated, parochial movement, Kaye included not only Top 40 hits such as the Castaways' "Liar, Liar" and the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction," but also buried treasures like the Remains' classic "Don't Look Back" and the Chocolate Watch Band's "Let's Talk About Girls."

Rolling Stone (10/15/98, p.130) - 5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a truly glorious beast....captures the hellbent-for-joy aesthetic that gripped teen-combo land after the British invasion....recalls a time when rock & roll...was truly local....many of the best entries are regional smashes and neighborhood hits..."

Spin (1/99, p.92) - Ranked #1 in Spin's list of the "Ten Best Reissues Of 1998."

Spin (11/98, pp.146-147) - 9 (out of 10) - "...Punk to funk, garage bands to computer-in-the-bedroom junglists, you can trace a continuum of teenagers hopped up on illegal stimulants (...or pretending to be) and literally electrified by the latest noise-toys....NUGGETS...[is] an endlessly renewable refresher course in how to live like you're on fire..."

Spin (p.116) - "Everything here is garage gold..."

Q (p.128) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[Nuggets] shone like a beacon to the emerging punk generation. This is the first time it's been released on a single CD."

Q (8/99) - Included in Q's" Best Psychedelic Albums of All Time."

Q (8/99, p.139) - "...the granddaddy of mind-bending collections. It's the sound of mid-'60s white, male, suburban America trying to break down the doors..."