Psychotic Reaction: The Very Best of Count Five (CD - 1999)

Liner Note Author: Jud Cost.

Photographer: Bernard Yeszin.

PSYCHOTIC REACTION: THE VERY BEST OF COUNT FIVE contains all 11 songs from the San Jose, California, garage rockers' sole album, plus six tracks from rare post-LP singles. (Sorry, Lester Bangs fans: all the later Count Five albums in his famous essay "Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung" are fictional.) It is not entirely comprehensive--Big Beat's 23-track PSYCHOTIC REVELATION has the lot--but it's as much Count Five as all but the most obsessive garage rock historian will ever need, attractively packaged and with more than adequate sound.

Re-release of the earlier Count Five compilation from Performance, with new packaging and notes. There's a considerable range of material here, all of it pretty punk oriented, though very little as rewarding as the title track, a number five hit nationally that managed to incorporate the best elements of the Yardbirds' and Bo Diddley's music. The other highlights include "Pretty Big Mouth" and a very animated cover of the Who's "My Generation." The sound is ridiculously good as well, and the biographical notes are highly informative. ~ Bruce Eder minimize