The Shillings - The Album the Lehigh Valley Never Heard (2017)

Also known as the English Shillings, this Oakland, CA-based quintet affected something of a British Invasion style initially, but despite that pretension, was good enough to rate a single release from Fantasy Records in early 1965 on the label's Scorpio Records imprint. Alas, "Not the Least Bit True" b/w "It Was My Mistake" never went anywhere, and neither did the group with Fantasy. A small body of unissued demos, dating from the spring of 1966, reveal them as a less affected and rather charismatic outfit, capable of playing attractive, very energetic garage punk, with good playing by guitarists Greg Cahill and David Guilder. Not to be confused with similarly named bands from Allentown, PA, and Dayton, OH. ~ Bruce Eder