The Boots - Smash..! Boom..! Bang..! (Reissue) (2003)

This single-disc anthology has 28 tracks the Boots recorded between 1965 and 1968, most of them from the singles and debut LP the band released in 1965-1966 with original lead singer Werner Krabbe. In fact, it has most of the material from that LP and those singles, as well as an instrumental demo of one of their more celebrated tracks, the 1966 single "Gaby" (also included in its official 45 version). The few post-1966 tracks are something of an afterthought, but the imbalance is no big loss, as it's the early stuff in which collectors are most interested. It's thus the best compilation of this oddball German band, who put a particularly dour spin on the kind of punky R&B thrashed out British bands like Them and the Pretty Things. What kept them from the top tier of '60s Eurobeat bands was an overreliance on cover material, most of their recorded repertoire coming from British Invasion covers (or the kind of R&B/rock songs British Invasion bands themselves covered). In a way they seem like the darker flipside of another German band that covered a lot of outside material with an idiosyncratic spin, the Lords; whereas the Lords couldn't help interpreting those tunes with an irrepressible wacky cheer, the Boots couldn't seem to avoid doing their covers with a twisted (and heavily accented English) frown. The overall weirdness of their approach does make them worth hearing by serious '60s rock collectors, and they did throw in the occasional interesting original ("Alexander," "Gaby"), as well as the weird "Exodus"-like instrumental "Enchanted Sea" (which strongly recalls the Tornados with its spooky organ and wordless vocals) and a surprisingly accomplished Booker T. & the MG's-inspired take on "Comin' Home." Some of their cover choices, too, are so obscure and off-kilter to merit a listen almost on the steam of the strange idea to choose them in the first place, like the great neglected Zombies flop "Remember When I Loved Her" and a ska-flavored German-language version of Oscar Brown, Jr.'s hipster jazz spiel "But I Was Cool."