The Druids of Stonehenge

Somewhere between an LP and an EP, this 10" disc has seven tracks that don't appear on the sole album the Druids of Stonehenge managed to release while they were active. Four of the tracks are taken from a previously unreleased November 1965 recording session in New York, with basic, raw versions of "Baby Please Don't Go," "I Put a Spell on You," "Who Do You Love," and "Pretty Thing" that show obvious inspiration from R&B-oriented British Invasion bands like the Rolling Stones, Them, and the Animals. Two cuts -- covers of "Bald Headed Woman" (modeled on the Who's version) and "I (Who Have Nothing)" -- were outtakes from the sessions for their LP, and likewise are faithful interpretations for the most part, though "Bald Headed Woman" gets into some particularly deranged vocal improvisations near its climax. The origin of the final track, "In My Store," isn't specified, but it's a reasonably effective moody garage ballad. Populated as it is almost exclusively by cover versions, this doesn't showcase whatever originality the Druids of Stonehenge possessed as well as their LP does. But it does illustrate their capacity for effectively mimicking the punkiest side of the British Invasion, if without as much innovation as their role models.