Count Five - "Cartesian Jetstream"

Just a quickie this week.

A few weeks back I created a "new" album for the Count Five, Carburetor Dung. The title came from an essay by writer Lester Bangs in which he fantasized that instead of breaking up after only one album, the band had gone on to record five more, each one better than the last.

In that same spirit, I give you Cartesian Jetstream, an EP with all the remaining Count Five tracks that weren't on the band's debut or my imagined Carburetor Dung.

SIDE A
1. So Much
2. Enchanted Flowers
3. Coconuts

SIDE B
1. Mailman
2. God Alone (Above)
Bonus Track: Psychotic Reaction [alternative version]

For a cover, I Googled "Cartesian Jetstream," and this diagram came up. So I took that and added the band's name and album title.

Alas, there are no other recorded songs that I know of to create Ancient Lace and Wrought-Iron Railings or Snowflakes Falling on the International Dateline, the other two Count Five albums from Bangs' essay.

Next week's entry will be significantly longer.

The Count Five's "Carburetor Dung"

The Count Five only released one album, Psychotic Reaction in 1966. The band did release a few singles afterward, but broke up in 1969. Unfortunately for the band, none of their subsequent singles came anywhere close to matching the success of "Psychotic Reaction." Later compilation albums have brought together all the band's album tracks, singles and outtakes. Using the later singles and outtakes, there's more than enough for a second album.

Rock critic Lester Bangs wrote an essay in 1972 with a fictional history of the band and listed four follow-up albums by the Count Five that never actually existed. The first of these follow-ups he titled Carburetor Dung. Now, it's doubtful the band (or the record company for that matter) would have called an album Carburetor Dung, but in a salute to Bangs, that's what we'll call this.

SIDE A

1. People Hear What I Say

2. Move It Up

3. Contrast

4. Declaration of Independence

5. You Must Believe

SIDE B

1. Hold Me Closer

2. You Can't Get Me

3. Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper

4. Merry-Go-Round

5. Revelation in Slow Motion

The album opens with the noisy garage rocker "People Hear What I Say." Six of the songs, "You Must Believe," Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper," "Merry Go Round," "Contrast," "Revelation in Slow Motion" and "Declaration of Independence" were all released as A or B sides of singles in 1967 and 1968. "Hold Me Closer" opens the second side and is a nice, and kind of surprising, cover of an Equals song.

The album cover is my creation, using existing outer space artwork. I added a picture of a carburetor as sort of a spaceship or space junk. I added titles using a Star Trek font, which seemed appropriate as the show was popular at the time. In the future, I'll also post a last EP for The Count Five: Cartesian Jetstream.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

NOTE: Thanks to the reminder from Curtis in the comments section, I've worked up an alternative cover as described by Lester Bangs.