A '60s guitar hero who never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, Randy Holden has attracted a small but intense cult following for his work with various California groups in the '60s. After a couple of surf singles with the Fender IV that featured his inventive reverbed fretting, Holden joined the Sons of Adam, a Los Angeles band that cut three decent garage-psychedelic singles. Holden's characteristic Jeff Beck-like sustain can already be heard on these, the best known of which is "Feathered Fish," which was penned by Arthur Lee of Love (although Love never recorded it). When the Sons of Adam broke up, drummer Michael Stuart, in fact, joined Love, while Holden joined the underrated punky San Francisco psychedelic band the Other Half. His searing, suspended leads are the highlights of their sole album (they also recorded a few single-only songs). Holden is actually best known for his short stint in San Francisco's Blue Cheer, which bridged psychedelia and heavy metal. Holden replaced Leigh Stephens, but left during the recording of the third Blue Cheer album, New! Improved! (he appears on side two only). Holden then recorded an extremely hard-to-find hard rock album as a solo artist, Population II, for the small Hobbit label in 1970 before drifting out of the music business. Most of his work, however, has been reissued sporadically by small labels in the '80s and '90s.
A nifty compilation of most of the rare mid-'60s singles that Holden played on before joining the Other Half. The two 1966 singles by Sons of Adam are solid psych-pop-punk, particularly the scorching "Saturday's Son." Those four tracks are joined by three previously unreleased Sons of Adam cuts that show an unexpected Zombies/Beau Brummels influence. The remaining six selections are by the Fender IV, including both of their Imperial singles and a couple of previously unreleased items. It's solid surf music, highlighted by Holden's stellar wall-of-staccato reverb on "Mar Gaya" (also available on Rhino's Legends of Guitar: Surf, Vol. 1) and the propulsive (vocal) surf-Merseybeat hybrid "You Better Tell Me Now." If only it had the third and last Sons of Adam single ("Feathered Fish"/"Baby Show the World"), this would be a complete retrospective of Holden's pre-Other Half output. [AMG]One half Garage one half Surf . Dig!!!
