Early Music from The Buckinghams featured in Time Out Chicago Magazine

Various Artists
By Brent DiCrescenzo

2131 South Michigan Avenue: 60’s Garage & Psychedelia from U.S.A. and Destination Records (Sundazed)

At 2120 South Michigan Avenue, a monument and museum honor the home of Chess Records. Across the street sprout fresh cement foundations for urban condos. But four decades back, another modest music studio and label sat on that block.

Paul Glass started U.S.A. Records as an extension of his distribution biz and hired music promoter and part-time law student Jim Golden to sniff out hip teen acts to cash in on Beatlemania. With an ear for a radio hit, Golden successfully scoured suburban garages and farmland sock hops for the hottest garage rock on the Lake Michigan plain. Well, the ones that weren’t already big enough for Chicago’s larger rock imprint, Dunwich.

2131 South Michigan Avenue beautifully collects forgotten beat bands that probably ruled as pop gods in their corn towns... As with most any good collection of dusty grooves, the anecdotes and ephemera inside are half the fun.

The biggest name here is the Buckinghams, whose two cuts perfectly embody the Kinks-aping and searing bubblegum-blues rampant in ’60s pop...Other highlights include the insanely funky rhythm breaks on the Boyz’s slinky surf-pop nugget “Hard Time All Over” and the all-girl Daughters of Eve, who sound tough enough to shoot back at Phil Spector.

The crisp, blaring remastering work stuns. Bass positively bulges behind searing guitar. One of the best reissues of its ilk, this stuff tears apart the umpteen R&B revival bands of today. So what: No historic plaque marks U.S.A.’s old home. This package is memorial enough. We want to salute the American flag cover.

Buy it from Amazon.com

Time Out Chicago / Issue 227 : Jul 2–8, 2009
Full story link is: http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/music/76037/various-artists-2131-south-michigan-avenue-60s-garage-psychedelia-from-usa-and-destination-records-music-review

An additional story from Time Out Chicago from their Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2008 issue:

Music
The Chicagography
As TOC honors its cultural heroes, we salute the 15 greatest Chicago albums…ever!
By Music staff

The Buckinghams
Kind of a Drag (1967)
They moved a million records; the only American band to outsell them in ’67 was the Monkees. ...

—Brent DiCrescenzo
Full story link at http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/music/62981/15-greatest-chicago-albums

Time Out Chicago / Issue 187 : Sep 25–Oct 1, 2008

Comments

Remembering Frank Tesinsky, Beloved Chicago Musician, Key to The Buckinghams' Characteristic Sound

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Baby Boomers across Chicago and anyone who listened to rock n’ roll radio around the country in the past 50 years likely knows the name Dick Biondi, aka “The Wild Itralian.” Biondi remains a beloved DJ who made friends and loyal listeners wherever the radio waves would broadcast, from Los Angeles to his native New York, and anywhere 50,000 watts reached in between. Word is making its way around the music community that the beloved icon passed away on June 26, at the age of 90. If ever there was one among a leader board of favorite Chicago DJs whose personality shined across the nighttime, it was Biondi. Credited as the very first American DJ to debut a Beatles record on air, and best known by Chicago music icons as the “man who gave us our first big breaks” with local airplay” when they were first beginning, Dick Biondi was the teenage musician’s friend. Carl Giammarese, lead singer of The Buckinghams, said today, “Dick gave so many of us our first big breaks on r

What Celebrating 50 Years Since Reaching #1 on Billboard Means in the World of The Buckinghams

Everyone who is a fan of the band The Buckinghams can easily name all the songs that were Top 10 hits, Top 20 hits, and Billboard Top 100 chartmakers. You have several songs that have personal, special meaning for you. But the song that took the native Chicagoans out of the basements of the band members' homes was the one USA Records released last, almost as an afterthought. "Kind of a Drag" has the distinction of being the song that took this band to the national level. Many wonderful bands are part of Chicago history, and they are as beloved today as they were in their time. But this one song, "Kind of a Drag" took flight and went to #1 on Billboard 50 years ago today, February 18, 1967. Imagine what it was like for five young men to hold a copy of "Billboard" in their hands. For a few years, Carl and Jon-Jon had gone to the newsstand each week, buying a single copy of "Billboard" and reading it cover to cover. These days you hear about

The Buckinghams in Concert

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