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ALBUM REVIEWS: "Lost In The Grooves" review by Gary "Pig" Gold For Pete’s Sake! |
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Forgotten Brit-psych legend coughs up some gorgeous "lost" studio tracks. Just when you thought every scrap of great music had already been reissued along comes grade-A material by an artist who should have been famous but instead wound up helping many other artists and producers achieve the long-term success he could never attain. Though it's doubtful you have ever heard of Big Boy Pete, it is almost a guarantee you have heard the work of some of the recording studio operators he has trained at his engineering school in California, the Audio Institute of America. While his own career has doubtlessly ended up being very rewarding and influential in a roundabout way, it is a far cry from what this one-time peer of the Beatles (he toured with them in the mid-60's) and psychedelic rock pioneer (he released what is commonly referred to as the first psychedelic rock song Cold Turkey) should have been able to accomplish. Big Boy Pete, nee Peter Miller, has seen all forms of success in music from the front lines and from behind the scenes, and one can only wonder what this talented artist thinks of his own career being shrouded in mystery. After doing plenty of recording in the '60's with his early band Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers and then solo, Miller spent his time in his studio crafting these pop masterpieces for himself, not only to keep his musical chops sharp but also to help himself learn the ins and outs of the recording studio process as he was soon to open his soon-to-be prestigious engineering school. It is the lessons he learned watching legendary British producer Joe Meek when Meek produced the Jaywalkers that Miller mixed with his own pop sensibilites and crafted these songs (and others soon to be released) that have helped a couple of generations of recording engineers begin influential careers of their own and delighted music fans just now enjoying these long-hidden works. For his part, Miller's music is definitely influenced by the Brit-psych he was in the midst of during his tenure as a rock heartthrob in Britain. Not only a peer of the Beatles and Stones, he was also in their circles of friends, and cut his teeth playing to the same hipsters and tastemakers the so-called big boys were playing to. Truth be told, Miller was as respected as anyone at that time and was groomed to become a leading hitmaker. Possessor of a killer guitar-playing style and capable of writing swirling, expansive yet immediate rock songs, Miller was considered to be the future of British rock. That he never did quite break through remains a mystery to anyone lucky enough to hear some of Miller's work though at the tail end of his career there he started to be reluctant to tour, falling in love with the recording studio and even sending other singers out to impersonate him and sing his songs. The resulting confusion over who actually was "Big Boy Pete" no doubt detracted from his career and befuddled his possible fanbase, just one of the reasons this CD has such an apt title. Nevertheless, this collection of "forgotten" tracks from back in the day show Miller's instrumental and compositional talent in spades. Most of Miller's legendary tracks come from a fertile period between '66 and '69, but these tracks are totally unknown, originating from his first few years in the US while he set up his Institute. Beginning from the first track "Demo", which is quite possibly the best track on the album, Pete brings the rock but also manages to infuse it with a wonderful songcraft usually missing from other artists' psychedelic efforts. His music is not just fuzz-tone sturm und drang but melodic, expressive art combined with piercing guitar work with an eye for the greater good - a song with the possibility of achieving immortality. In this album's case, most of these are stripped-down rockers, with little of the layering Miller used in the past. Even so, Miller's genius is evident and these songs sparkle in the light of the new day this album gives them. As more of his work gets discovered (thanks to all the collectors
who have suddenly started digging under every thing not nailed down
for unreleased and rare psyche) and released Pete Miller may yet
claim his crown as the king of British psychedelic rock. |
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"Maelstrom Magazine" review by Avi Shaked Big Boy Pete (real name: Pete Miller) is a British, underground,
psychedelic legend who has earned his degree by delivering some
adventurous songs in the ‘60s, but has been active ever since as
both a performer and a producer. However, little of the hallucinogenic,
layered characteristics that Big Boy Pete is renowned for are present
on this release, The Perennial Enigma. Served with lots of humor
and moderate jams, the mischievous songs that are found here appeal
in their underground nature, as they are basically four- and eight-track
selections culled from Miller’s first U.S. recordings in the early
‘70s; as such they manage to evoke engaging, vintage charm in spite
of being rather basic rock songs that mix power psychedelia with
reggae and early rock and roll ala Elvis. The people at Angel Air
did a wonderful job supplying us these recordings in authentic sound
and with an impressive booklet. (6.5/10) |
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"The Lance Monthly" review by Beverly Paterson Big Boy Pete "The Perennial Enigma" (Angel Air Records) Big Boy Pete (aka Pete Miller) is a living legend. In the early sixties, he handled lead guitar duties for Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, a boss English band that shared turf with the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and countless other movers and shakers. Pete is also the voice and creator behind "Baby I Got News For You" and "Cold Turkey," two singles from the late sixties that have rightfully earned their keep in the psychedelic garage punk hall of fame. Over the past few years, a smattering of Pete's unreleased goodies from the swinging sixties have been issued on various labels, which naturally grants him even more exposure. Sporting a resume longer than the Mississippi River, he has additionally produced dozens upon dozens of artists. Not one to rest on his past laurels, Pete continues to write, record and twiddle knobs. His recent accomplishments include collaborations with Bill Bonney from the Fentones and Squires of the Subterrain that retain his sixties roots, be it guitar instrumentals or flower pop. Comprised of some of the first tracks Pete laid down when he migrated to America in the seventies, "The Perennial Enigma" is a full on home run. A herky-jerky new wave tenor invades "The Demo" and "Get Up And Dance" is a quirky little pop number. As a matter of fact, the majority of songs on this album can be classified as quirky little pop numbers. Accented by choppy melodies, peculiar lyrics and nagging arrangements, these tunes are fun and playful. However, the closing cut on "The Perennial Enigma" swerves in an entirely different direction. An instrumental, "Guitar Centre On A Saturday Afternoon" cleverly blends oddball cocktail jazz doodlings with mock acid-rock noodlings. Brilliant stuff from a fellow who has always stuck to his principals and believes in the music he makes. www.angelair.co.uk |
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BIG BOY PETE: The Perennial Enigma (Angel Air Records) www.angelair.co.uk Armed with little more than his twin-tone green 1961 Gretsch six-string ‚Henry,“ the enigma-and-a-half highly known to those in the know as Big Boy Pete (Miller) has spent the last half century spreading the rock AND the roll all the way from swinging mid-Sixties road tours with the Kinks and Stones to the jungles of war-wracked Vietnam to the Bay Area punkabilly scenes of The Avengers, Roy Loney, and of course Johnny and the Potato Chips. Although only tipping the Big Boy’s musical iceberg, Angel Air Records (‚Where the Artist Has a Voice“) have at long last gone and gathered a dozen of the best of the man’s Seventies-era productions and packaged them lovingly alongside a bulging twenty-four page full-colour booklet. Together, this all presents the undeniably most ear-bending, mind-warping, yet perennially entertaining musical anti-history lesson you’ll hear in 2006 or any year you care to inhabit. - Gary Pig Gold - January 2007 |
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"Le Cri Du Coyote" Magazine. |
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| "Oldie-Markt" Magazine As a living musician, a "legend to be“ could mean that he was never very successful. This title has been stamped on this veteran rock ‘n roller from England, who was produced of Joe Meek. His music has always been off-the-wall, and consequently he has never had any big hits. This compilation of tracks, are taken from the 70’s and were recorded in his own studio in San Francisco. They are not bad songs, but they are somewhat normal and a little boring. Only the rock n ' roll comes over well. |
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That is, apart from the opening number "The Demo“ which sounds
as if it should have come out during the power pop/punk era when
it could have done very well for itself. It tells the story of everything
that goes wrong during a recording, and is musically very catchy
as well as being great fun. The rest of the album just doesn’t quite
live up that promise. www.angelair.co.uk |
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Although only tipping the Big Boy’s musical iceberg, Angel Air Records (“Where the Artist Has a Voice”) have at long last gone and gathered a dozen of the best of the man’s Seventies-era productions and packaged them lovingly alongside a bulging twenty-four page full-colour booklet. Together, this all presents the undeniably most ear-bending, mind-warping, yet perennially entertaining musical anti-history lesson you’ll hear in 2006 or any year you care to inhabit. |
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| Biography
| Concrete Music | Discography
| © copyright 1999 Pete Miller |
