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The Mono Singles '68-'72
Studio album by Sir Douglas Quintet

Released March 22, 2011
Recorded 1968-1972
Genre Rock/C&W/R&B
Length 72:16
Label Sundazed
Compiled Bill Levenson

Professional ratings

allmusic 4.5/5 stars

Texas-bred singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Doug Sahm was one of the most important musicians ever to emerge from the Lone Star state, and an inspiration to multiple generations of roots-conscious rock 'n' rollers. Sahm did much of his most beloved work as leader of the seminal Sir Douglas Quintet, the audaciously eclectic band that first burst onto the national scene in 1965. With trusty sidekick Augie Meyers providing distinctive support on the Vox organ, the Quintet delivered an infectious, eclectic mix that encompassed Tex-Mex border pop, raw garage-rock, hipster honky-tonk, horn-driven R&B and more.
The Sir Douglas Quintet's most productive and influential period was its late-'60s/early-'70s stint with Mercury Records and its sister labels Smash and Philips. That period saw the SDQ relocate from Texas to San Francisco and record some of their most enduring and adventurous music. And that music never sounded better than on the mono mixes that graced the singles that the band released during that period, which are collected on this deluxe set.

The Mono Singles' 22 songs include the band's 1969 signature smash "Mendocino," along with such Sahm standards as "At the Crossroads," "Dynamite Woman," "Nuevo Laredo," "Texas Me," "And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down," "Michoacan" and his heartfelt rendition of Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights," plus a selection of rare non-album B-sides. The collection also features Sahm's historic Nashville recording "Be Real," which he released under the pseudonym "Wayne Douglas" in an attempt to break into the conservative mainstream country market.

This unique collection has been sourced from the original analog mono masters. The high-definition vinyl 2-LP set and compact disc both come with extensive liner notes and lavish artwork. With these classic tracks on both compact disc and vinyl, Doug Sahm's rootsy rock 'n' roll spirit shines brighter than ever!

Sir Douglas Quintet was a rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite their British sounding name, they came out of San Antonio, Texas. Their career was established when they began working with Texas record-producer Huey P. Meaux, after which the band relocated to the West Coast. Overall, the Quintet were exponents of good-times music.

Review by Richie Unterberger of allmusic:

Both sides of 11 singles the Sir Douglas Quintet issued between 1968 and 1972 (one of which, the 1970 45 "Be Real"/"I Don't Want to Go Home," was issued under the name Wayne Douglas) are gathered together on this compilation, in mono. The rather specialized format, as well as a selection process that omits any LP-only tracks from consideration, might prevent this from being a best-of survey of the band during this period. But it really does function as something close to it, and certainly as a representative slice of the remarkably wide stylistic territory Doug Sahm and the group covered. Blues, cajun, country, Texas border music, bubblegum, brassy soul, rock & roll, even bits of jazz and psychedelia, they're all present, in separate and combined forces, the unifying ingredient being Sahm's remarkable voice, one of the best in roots rock. He's at his peak here, even if just a few of the songs -- the infectiously bouncy hit "Mendocino," the ace melancholy ballad "At the Crossroads" (perhaps Sahm's finest moment as a songwriter), and the cover of Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights" might be familiar to the average listener. Sahm wrote most of the rest of the material, and his eclectic, quirky warmth rarely falters. An arch sense of humor pokes through on songs like "Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City," but Sahm was as seriously introspective as anyone on "I Don't Want to Go Home," another highlight (included in both the Sir Douglas Quintet and "Wayne Douglas" versions). There's a lot of fine and still-overlooked music here, and if it wasn't often the stuff of which hit singles are made, it's still a little surprising that the most accessible cuts (especially the tasty soul-pop 1969 single "It Didn't Even Bring Me Down") didn't reach more ears.

amazon.com Review:

The Sir Douglas Quintet [SDQ] did not consist of equal parts .This group was Doug Sahm (composer, vocal, lead guitar) with some very talented musicians, e.g., Augie Myers, Johnny Perez, Harvey Kagen, etc., helping him achieve his musical vision.

The Mono Singles '68-72 could easily be defined as Doug Sahm's early musical journey. These recordings are not a SDQ greatest hits package. Although "Mendocino", a national hit, and some regional best sellers, are included. The bulk of these 22 tracks (18 written or co-written by Doug Sahm) represent a band at a musical crossroads. Attempting at times to recreate the 1965 commercial success of "She About a Mover " and at the same time trying to expand its creative horizon.

When the bulk of these recordings were conducted, Doug Sahm and company had relocated from Texas to San Francisco. Their big hit "She's about a Mover" was two years past and the band desperately needed a follow up single to stay alive. This was achieved by the 1969 release of "Mendocino". However, it's evident listening to these tracks that the next artistic steps remained undefined. Some of the numbers were an attempt to musically recreate the previous hits. Lyrics, tempo and arrangements were tweaked or altered but the frame remained the same. This was a fairly common studio practice when main stream commercial success was based on the single rather then the album release.

The key appeal of this album is listening to Doug Sahm, as he writes, records and continues to search for his musical direction. We discover an artist with very eclectic tastes, country, R&B, rock, roots, Tex/Mex, etc. All these influences would influence and enrich his 40 year contribution to modern American music.

Some of the tracks are complimented with a horn section arrangement. The producer, I suspect, was reaching for a STAX/VOLT southern soul feel. The vocals on some of these arrangements also echo a Joe Tex, Freddie King, Fenton Robinson influence. Other tracks such as "Dynamite Woman" and "Nuevo Laredo" nail the Tex/Mex influence which dominated Doug Sahm music in the later decades. Other compositions such as "Be Real "and "I Don't Want To Go Home" demonstrate Doug Sahm's maturity as a country artist. There's also some intriguing one-off experiments.

Examples include "West Side Blues Again" which has a Johnny Winters-influenced vocal and guitar licks. "Texas Me" is also interesting, with more then a few bars lifted from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen"; the tempo is slowed, a strong fiddle lead and some organ/keyboard parts added and now you have a Sir Douglas Quintet number. "Still a Song" has a tasty blues edge and also includes some nice instrumental stretches. Doug Sahm even takes a crack at Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights". His version proves a very worthy successor to Freddy Fender's original release. There are also several tracks which should have fit the three minute single format and gone on to be commercial hits but for one reason or another never received the national exposure the songs deserved. Whether it's the blues, rock, county, experiments or the "shoulda been" polished hits, it all proves a very rewarding listening experience.

Following these recordings, Doug Sahm returned to Texas and spent the remainder of the seventies and two more decades creating and playing some of the best music to ever originate from Texas. Given the Texas music legacy, that's saying a lot. He went on to perform solo as well as co-found super groups like The Texas Tornados & Los Super Seven.

His influence can be appreciated in many of today's popular bands and his music can be heard on any given night in one club or another in Austin, Texas.

Doug Sahm passed suddenly in 1999 but he left an enduring legacy and a wealth of recorded material and memories to last a hundred lifetimes. This album represents one of those gifts.

Best-Known Musical Tracks

The Sir Douglas Quintet is perhaps best known for the 1965 hit single written by Doug Sahm, the 12-bar blues "She's About a Mover" named the number one 'Texas' song by Texas Monthly. With a Vox Continental organ riff provided by Augie Meyers and soulful vocals from lead singer and guitarist Doug Sahm, the track features a Tex-Mex sound.

In addition to "She's About a Mover," (1965) the band is known for its songs "Mendocino" (1968), "Can You Dig My Vibrations?" (1968) and "Dynamite Woman" (1969). "Mendocino" was released in December 1968, and reached #27 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 by early 1969, spending 15 weeks in the chart. It was more successful in Europe selling over three million copies there. The Sir Douglas Quintet once shared the same European bill as the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones.

Group's Origins

Douglas Sahm - a veteran of the professional music scene, who first sang on the radio at the age of five - formed the Sir Douglas Quintet (first called simply Sir Douglas) in 1964 with longtime friend Augie Meyers and the other original members, Jack Barber, Frank Morin and Johnny Perez. Their initial success on the airwaves and sales charts was achieved when they made records in conjunction with Houston music producer Huey Meaux.

The Texas-local R&B music vein the musicians were familiar with initially went through a period of influence by the British pop bands of the early and mid-1960s.

Style

The Sir Douglas Quintet played varied styles with an instrumental line-up that was typical of blues bands: one guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, and drummer, and a member who could play either trumpet or saxophone. Despite the blues band line-up and a musical influence from the blues, the Sir Douglas Quintet's live sets didn't over-emphasize misery or tension in the lyrical content or musical feeling of the songs. Downhearted songs and actual blues were represented as a part of the spectrum, because they reflected a facet of life. But most of the songs in the repertoire were upbeat or "liberated" in feeling.

Also, with most songs there was no "star instrumentalist" aspect, and players just contributed to the larger whole of the song performance.

The Sir Douglas Quintet is considered a pioneering influence in the history of rock and roll for incorporating Tex-Mex and Cajun styles into rock music. However, early influences on the band's emerging Texas style were of course broader than this, and included ethnic and pop music from the 1950s and 1960s, such as doo-wop, electric blues, soul music, and British Invasion. The Sir Douglas Quintet brought the older styles into a contemporary context, for instance by adapting the doo-wop feel, beat, and chord progressions. Perhaps even more off-beat for a late 1960s rock band than some inclusion of doo-wop type songs was that the band also played in styles like Western swing and polka (a Country & Western form and rhythmic style, from the Texas Hill Country, rather than a straight European style).
In the mid 1960s, the band relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and absorbed features of the San Francisco Sound, including the loud and lush electric bass tone and freer percussion and guitar stylings. Band members also explored musical elements specific to modern jazz at that time. For studio recordings, they sometimes added an extra session musician or two, often to flesh out the brass dimension of a track's sound. Good examples of what they achieved when they absorbed the new jazz and psychedelic elements into their music can be found on the album Sir Douglas Quintet + 2.

In live performances, blues, often with swing or shuffle beats, was usually a substantial component of the set. Besides doing their own original material, the Sir Douglas Quintet revived several classics such as Jimmie Rodgers' "In the Jailhouse Now" and Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" to be found on the albums Son of San Antonio and Texas Fever, respectively.

In 2005 they were among the new class of musicians chosen for the nominating ballot to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Members

In addition to Sahm and Meyers, original Sir Douglas Quintet members included Jack Barber on bass, Frank Morin on saxophone, trumpet and keyboards and Johnny Perez, Ernie Durawa or T.J. Ritterbach on drums. In 1969 Harvey Kagan joined the Quintet on bass, forming their most familiar line up - Kagan, Morin, Perez, Sahm, and Meyers. Bassist Jim Stallings also contributed to several albums during this period of shifting personnel which included, among others, guitarist Tom Nay of Sarasota, Florida (who played with the group for about a year), and John York, who later replaced Chris Hillman in The Byrds. Sahm and Meyers were later also members of the Texas Tornados (with Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez) in the early 1990s.

In 1972 the group split up when Sahm contracted to produce a solo album. Meyers, Perez, Morin, and Stallings briefly regrouped as The Quintet, with Farlow taking Sahm's place. In 1973 several Sir Douglas Quintet outtakes were released in their final album from the group's classic era, Rough Edges.

Sahm and Meyers continued to work together throughout the late 1970s and rejoined with Perez in 1980 for a reunion tour and album.

Founder Doug Sahm died of a heart attack in his sleep in a motel room in Taos, New Mexico on November 18, 1999, at the age of 58. Augie Meyers continues to tour, and record on his own independent record labels, based out of Bulverde, Texas. Harvey Kagan nowadays performs with a San Antonio area wedding/event band, The Oh So Good! Band, best known for discovering American Idol contestant Haley Scarnato. Frank Morin remains active in music, with teaching, production and film soundtracks work.

LP track listing
All songs written by Doug Sahm unless otherwise indicated.

Side One

1. "Are Inlaws Really Outlaws" - 3:19
2. "Sell A Song" - 5:29
3. "Mendocino" - 2:45
4. "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again" - 3:00
5. "It Didn't Even Bring Me Down" - 2:30

Side Two

6. "Lawd, I'm Just A Country Boy In This Great Big Freaky City" - 2:46
7. "Dynamite Woman" - 3:44
8. "Too Many Dociled Minds" - 2:28
9. "At The Crossroads" - 3:35
10. "Texas Me" - 2:40
11. "Neuvo Laredo" - 2:41

Side Three

12. "I Don't Want To Go Home" - 3:08
13. "Be Real" - 2:38
14. "I Don't Want To Go Home" - 2:47
15. "What About Tomorrow" - 2:32
16. "(I Found Love) A Nice Song" - 2:56
17. "Catch The Man On The Rise" (Elizabeth Sheppard) - 2:23

Side Four

18. "Pretty Flower" (Huddie Ledbetter) - 4:13
19. "Me And My Destiny" - 3:20
20. "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights" (Freddy Fender) - 3:42
21. "Michoacan" (Kim Fowley, Atwood Allen) - 3:23
22. "Westside Blues Again" - 6:17

Personnel

Side 1, tracks 1 and 2
* Doug Sahm - guitar, fiddle, vocals
* Wayne Talbert - piano
* Whitney "Hershey" Freeman - bass
* George Raines - drums
* Frank Morin, Martin Fierro, Terry Henry - tenor sax
* Mel Martin - baritone sax
* Bill Atwood - trumpet

Side 1, tracks 3-5; Side 2; Side 3, tracks 1, 4 and 5
* Doug Sahm - guitar, fiddle, vocals
* Augie Meyers - keyboards
* Harvey Kagan - bass
* John Perez - drums
* Jim Jenkins - drums (Side 3, track 4)
* Frank Morin - tenor sax
* Martin Fierro - tenor sax (Side 3, track 5)

Side 3, tracks 2 and 3
* Doug Sahm (Wayne Douglas) - vocals
* Chip Young, Ray Edenton - guitar
* Bob Moore - bass
* Hargus "Pig" Robbins - piano
* Kenneth Buttrey - drums
* Pete Drake - pedal steel guitar
* Buddy Spicher, Tommy Jackson - fiddle

Side 3, track 6
* Doug Sahm - guitar, vocals
* Sonny Farlow, Hewlett Crist - guitar
* Wayne Talbert - piano
* Jance Garfat - bass
* Jim Jenkins - drums

Side 4, track 1
* Doug Sahm - guitar, vocals
* Dr. John Harris - piano
* Wayne Talbert - organ
* Whitney "Hershey" Freeman - bass
* George Raines - drums
* Martin Fierro, Frank Morin - tenor sax
* Mel Martin - baritone sax
* Bill Atwood - trumpet
* Gordon Mussick - trombone

Side 4, tracks 2 and 3
* Doug Sahm - guitar, fiddle, vocals
* Augie Meyers - keyboards
* Jack Barber - bass ("Me and My Destiny")
* Jim Stallings - bass ("Wasted Days, Wasted Nights")
* John Perez - drums
* Rocky Morales - tenor sax
* Leonidas Baety - percussion
* Atwood Allen - harmony singing

Side 4, tracks 4 and 5
* Doug Sahm - guitar, bajo sexto, vocals
* Augie Meyers - keyboards
* Jack Barber - bass
* Ernie Durwawa - drums
* Rocky Morales - tenor sax