The Tages - In My Dreams: The Complete Recordings, Vol.2, 1966 (1994 EMI Svenska) Flac & mp3@320

The second of EMI's three-volume series covering the whole of Tages' 1960s recording output jams in 76 minutes of music, the 29 tracks almost all hailing from 1966 recording sessions, though a few rarities from 1965 and 1969 are tacked on at the end. This very active year saw Tages trying on a variety of hats, some of them with spectacular success, and some of them to little positive effect. Unfortunately, it's not too often that Tages hit the bull's-eye here, but when they do, they play British mod-style rock with as much pizzazz as all but the very best U.K. bands of the era. In particular, "Guess Who" isn't far off, um, the mid-'60s Who in its mixture of riff-driven guitar pop and a freaky feedback instrumental break.

"Miss McBaren" is a lovely harmony pop number; "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" is an astonishing off-the-wall double-time flamenco-meets-Bo Diddley cover of an obscure American song (perhaps learned via the Swinging Blue Jeans' version) with a berserk organ break; and "Leaving Here" is a tough Motown interpretation that sounds rather like the way the Who would do U.S. R&B tunes in their early days. Elsewhere, the territory is so cryptically varied and the quality so inconsistent that one gets the sense Tages were floundering for direction, even as their talent ensured some whopping cuts when they were firing on all cylinders. There are some pretty mediocre soul covers; a pointless take on the Easybeats' classic "Friday on My Mind," considering how indelible the original hit rendition was; and some quite erratic and mediocre attempts to write soul-flavored rock of their own. And while their cover of Johnny Kidd's 1963 Merseybeatish hit "Jealous Girl" is quite good (and arguably better than the original), that's a pretty strange thing to be digging out of the bag in mid-1966.

A few other originals show them edging toward psychedelic territory in a baroque British way and, while not great, these aren't bad; the odd moody rocker "Those Rumours" and the morose folkish ballad "Go" are worth a listen, if not among their best efforts. As with Tages' recordings as a whole, isolate the very best of these cuts and they could just about pass as a great lost British Invasion band; hear the whole thing in one swoop, and it's more for specialists, though not without its share of fine triumphs.

Note that while for the most part this is a chronologically sequenced overview of the middle part of their discography, it also includes a couple stray 1965 recordings (the somewhat anemic original R&B-rocker "Hey Mama" and a cover of "Tutti Frutti") and live versions of James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (from 1966) and Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma" (from 1969).(Richie Unterberger, allmusic)

Vol.2 of the three disc ''Complete Recordings'' present the recordings from 1966 with a few exceptions. All three volumes are real fine with a lot great songs and to me the Tages wasn't a band who was nearly as good as the british bands, they was as good as a lot of the british bands. They had all what a good band should have. And the band had the skills to write strong melody lines and also they shaped their songs versatile.

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               Frank               Flac part1 &  Flac part2  & Flac part3    -  mp3@320