Count Five - Réaction Psychotique

If you know this San Jose band, you probably know the essay Lester Bangs wrote literally drooling over this album, which got him so excited that he invented a bunch of other Count Five LPs that didn't exist. The Count Five – who wore Dracula capes à la Bela Lugosi – had a little something of the Zombies, and a similar melodic and rhythmic panache, although with less flexible grooves.

This record is incredibly catchy, with a few Who covers, but more highlights in terms of original songs. Hit title track "Psychotic Reaction" borrows the rave-up tactic from the Yardbirds' "I'm a Man" - a pretty daring plunder - but opener "Double-Decker Bus" is the real troublemaker.

Then again, guitar-wielding American teenagers in 1966 loved British stuff. And the reconceptualization of everyday British imagery could be quite intoxicating in its sordid new American locations. Put on that cape! - Rolling Stone: 10 Wild LPs From Garage Rock’s Greatest Year

It contains the hit single of the same name which reached #5 on the Billboard charts in 1966 and was selected as one of the five hundred most influential songs in Rock n' Roll history by the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and is consistently ranked among the best Garage Rock songs of all time.