Question Mark and the Mysterians - The Best of Cameo Parkway 1966-1967 (2005 ABKCO)

Landmark upper Midwest garage rock soul.

The Cameo Parkway box set ("Cameo Parkway 1957-1967") released earlier this year included the Mysterians' garage rock standard, "96 Tears," along with their debut album's leadoff, "I Need Somebody." Having been sequestered in Allen Klein's vaults (along with the rest of the Cameo Parkway catalog) for nearly forty years, the freshness of the master tapes blew away the cobwebs grown over countless gray-market remastered-from-vinyl reissues. This follow-up volume, one in a set of eight to drill down on specific Cameo Parkway artists, fleshes out the rest of the Mysterians' seminal mid-60s recordings.

Though the band couldn't be expected to wax another side as fully realized and potent as "96 Tears," the rest of their catalog is no slouch. There's a Stax-like funkiness underpinning the band's garage rock, making these tunes danceable in a more seductive manner than their coastal contemporaries. The band wrote most of their own material, and picked up a few purpose-built tunes (like the super-fine "96 Tears" knock-off -- and Smash Mouth cover hit -- "Can't Get Enough of You Baby") and covers that include bluesy readings of "Stormy Monday" and The Isley Brothers' "Shout." The slower (and stereo) unreleased take of "96 Tears" is a nice addition, if only for how well it shows the supercharged power of mono mixing on the original.

This CD includes the whole of the Mysterians' two Cameo albums ("96 Tears" and "Action"), both sides of their last Cameo single ("Do Something to Me" b/w "Love Me Baby (Cherry July)"), and a pair of unreleased stereo alternates from 1966 ("Midnight Hour" and "96 Tears"). The only side that seems to be missing is the A-side of their single as The Semi-Colons, "Beachcomber." Ironically, the B-side ("Set Aside") is present, as it was on the debut album. All tracks are true stereo, except for mono on #1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 21, 22, 24, and 25.[hyperbolium-com]

I think the band is well known here in the community but i want recommend it to the people who are not familiar with the band sound. They played a kind of garage rock with influences of soul.And they've done a good job :-) .(Frank)

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