Vinyl-a-Day 27: *GUEST ENTRY* The Lollipop Shoppe ‎– Just Colour (UNI, 1968)

With origins tracing to 1964 Las Vegas, singer Fred Cole and co. released their first single at the age of around sixteen with a short lived band called the Lords. The music was a fervent display of western American angst new to the world. Shortly after, a single was released with a band titled The Weeds who produced a single 7” ‘It’s Your Time b/w Little Girl” (one of the most sought after 60’s garage singles).

This single was released on the legendary first ‘all teen group’ Vegas label Teenbeat Club. In an attempt to relocate to Canada due to being of age for the Vietnam War draft, the members got into a van and headed north where they ran out of gas in Cole’s native Pacific North West and set up shop in Portland, OR.

Already accomplished in the garage rock circuit they formed the band The Lollipop Shoppe. In 1968 they released their magnum opus Just Color: a dazzling foreshadowing of punk to come and a blast of chaotic energy that would not be seen again for another decade. The single “You Must Be a Witch” predated almost everything save for The Sonics in the line of PNW punk.

Cole would go on to shape the PNW punk scene for decades forming Dead Moon with his wife Toody in 1987. He preformed on and off with his wife, mostly around the OR/WA area under the banner of Pierced Arrows until his death in 2017 at the age of 69. Few have ever had this level of musicianship permeate their lives from high school to death, and few have ever defined the sound of a scene and a generation(s?). This is one of my most prized records, a true 1968 first press, rough cover albeit, but she plays like a dream!