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BOOK REVIEW! THEY COULDN'T TAME US---THE WISCONSIN 60'S ROCK DISCOGRAPHY BY TOM W. TOURVILLE (Midwest Publications, 1992)

Discographies usually don't gel with my own sense of rockist pursuits, they bein' too collect-y 'n all without the passion and energy that the records being mentioned were most capable of splattering all over your brain. Something for the kinda guy who just must have that rare Japanese picture sleeved Jan and Dean single and is willing to mortgage the house (and maybe even the wife!) to get it. But this effort, which comes off more like an overstuffed issue of my own crudzine only looking way more professional, is quite different.

Now a discography of Wisconsin rock from the late-fifties until the mid-seventies might not settle well with some of you rabid rocksters. I mean, like in every other burgh inna world there was lotsa bad karmik hippie stuff comin' out during the latter portion of those years, so if yer the kind of fanabla that would have a natural aversion to something along the lines of "The Purple People Show" you can bet you'll be spending a whole lotta time emptying your breakfast into the porcelain poop pond after givin' a gander to some of the acts who pop up in this book. But thankfully those kinda acts are few and far between, because THEY COULDN'T TAME US concentrates on the music of the fifties and sixties before the idea of rock 'n roll became "rock music" which then devolved into a form of sound that has become quite undecipherable as of these past few eons.

I'm sure you reg'lar reader types are interested in just finding out what kinda sixties garage bands and early instrumental efforts came outta Wisconsin, so naturally this is the book to get. Nice pix and historical backgrounds are easily enough found, and not only that but there are some boffo articles accompanying the entire mess including an interview with local producer Duke Wright and a pretty nice article on the Fendermen, the Milwaukee group that pretty much got the whole local instro-garage band movement rollin' with their still fondly remembered version of "Muleskinner Blues".  Kinda makes me wanna end this writeup off with "bring the book-book-booklet here" but since that's so cornballus even for this blog I won't.