T. Swift & the Electric Bag
Band members Related acts
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line-up 1 (1968) - Jerald Kolbrak (aka Billy Baker, Billy Boyd, Don Daily, Jerry Cole) (RIP 2008) -- guitar
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- 101 Strings (Jerry Cole) - Mike Adams and the Red Jackets (Jerry Cole) - The Animated Egg (Jerry Cole and Don Dexter) - BIlly Baker (Jerry Cole) - The Bandits (Jerry Cole) - Bebe Bardon and 101 Strings (Jerry Cole) - The Black Diamonds (Jerry Cole) - The Blasters (Jerry Cole) - BIlly Boyd (Jerry Cole) - California Earthquake (Don Dexter) - The Champs (Jerry Cole) - Jerry Cole (solo efforts) - Jerry Cole and the Country Boys (Jerry Cole) - Jerry Cole and the Robert Evans Chorus (Jerry Cole) - Jerry Cole & the Stingers (Jerry Cole) - Jerry Cole and His Spacemen (Jerry Cole) - The Detours (Jerry Cole) - Mr. Gasser & the Weirdos (Jerry Cole) - The Cee-Gees (Jerry Cole) - Don and Eddie (Jerry Cole) - The Deuce Coups (Jerry Cole) - The Haircuts and the Impossibles (Jerry Cole) - The Hornets (Jerry Cole) - The Hot Rodders (Jerry Cole) - The Id (Jerry Cole and Don Dexter) - The Kickstands (Jerry Cole) - The Knights (Jerry Cole) - Jerry Kole and the Strokers (Jerry Cole) - The Mustang (Jerry Cole) - The Projection Company (Jerry Cole and Don Dexter) - Johnny Rivers and Jerry Cole - The Scramblers (Jerry Cole) - The Stone Canyon Rock Group (Jerry Cole and Don Dexter) - The Super Stocks (Jerry Cole) - T. Swift and the Electric Bag (Jerry Cole and Don Dexter) - Them (Jerry Cole) - Billy J. Tyler and Palomino Boys (Jerry Cole) - The Underground Electrics (Jerry Cole) - Eddie Wayne (Jerry Cole) - The Winners (Jerry Cole)
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Genre: psych Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: Are You Experienced Company: Custom Catalog: CS 1115 Year: 1968 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: still in shrink wrap (opened) Available: 1 Catalog ID: not yet listed Price: $80.00
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As you can probably tell from poking around the BadCatRecords site, I'll readily admit that I have a thing for exploito psych. There's something fascinating in many of these quickie collections that were simply meant to part consumers from their hard earned dollar. Music as a commodity rather than art ...
Speculation on my
part, but give it was released on the small L.A. based Custom label (which
released a string of budget albums), I'm guessing it was one of the albums
in the late Jerry Kolbrak's long
running and eclectic musical career. Better known as Jerry Cole, even though
I own quite a bit of his work, the guy's largely a mystery to me. His
discography is like some sort of virus, seemingly extending into every dark
corner of the music industry. By my incomplete count, he released
material under at least forty different names and bands - the vast majority
on fly-by-night budget labels like Crown and Custom. In many cases
Cole doesn't even seem to have known some of his work had been sold and
released without his concurrence. Trying to fully document everything
he's touched would be a nightmare for anyone brave enough to give it a
shot. Anyhow, assuming it is a Jerry Cole release, this was the sole album
under the T. Swift nameplate. In typical exploito fashion, 1968's "Are
You Experienced" contained no writing credits, no
performance credits and no production credits (although the back panel
carried a ton of technical data on the way the record was cut). That said,
the result was a surprisingly enjoyable slice of period psychedelia ... Clearly a
throwaway collection, the set offered up a mixture of
impressive originals and popular covers such as the Hendrix title track
and a cover of the The Box Tops' "The Letter" (re-titled as
"A Jet"). Elsewhere
the musicians lock, stock and barrel appropriated The Classic IV's
"Spooky", re-titling it "Take It Easy Baby". My favorite performances
were the most psych oriented numbers - the title track, the raga-flavored
"Free
Forming"
and the album's most experimental number "Expo In Sound".
Nah, it won't appeal to everyone, but
for those of you into this weird subgenre, it'\is one of the genre's best
set ! Fun album to listen to. (side
1) I'm
certainly most folks have heard far worse versions of this Hendrix
classic. And while this one doesn't stray far from the original
arrangement, the performance was energetic; particularly when the lead
guitarist gets going and the vocals quite acid soaked. Imagine a
stripped-down, lo-fi version of the Hendrix classic. My first choice would
still be listening to the Hendrix original, but this wasn't a half-bad
second choice. Couple of beers and it gets better and better. "As
I Grow Into a Man" was a surprisingly sweet and commercial pop tune. The
track was slessed with a talented lead singer who would have sounded good
fronting a country-rock band. This one also benefited from kind of a mid-'60s Neil Diamond heartache vibe. It
would have made a nice AM single. The
slashing Telecaster sound that powered the bouncy instrumental "Red
Eyes"
has always reminded me of a mash-up of CCR's "Keep On Chogglin"
and a early Roy Buchanan performance. I'm a big fan of CCR and Buchanan so that was a good thing in my book. I
guess to avoid paying the royalty fees the instrumental cover of The Box
Tops' "The Letter" was simply re-titled 'A Jet'. The album's
first disappointment, the performance wasn't bad, given sort of a surf band
vibe, but why not just listen to
Alex Chilton and company's classic version? It didn't take a lot of effort to figure out this was simply The Classic IV's "Spooky" fitted with a new set of lyrics (not nearly as good as the originals). Again, just go listen to the original song.
(side
2) The
jangle-rock instrumental "What's Your Bag" has always reminded me of
something The T-Bones might have recorded - there was kind of a "What Matter
What Shape Your Stomach's In" flavor to it. Always loved the Farfisa
organ sounds on this one. Anyhow, since I like The T-Bones, this was
another performance I enjoyed. Plus you could hear the amphetamines
kicking in as the song progressed. Was that a theremin I heard towards
the end of the song? With
a distinctive raga flavor the instrumental
"Free Forming" was one of the album's more psychedelic offerings. Loved the
big, thudding bass line on this one. Wish this one had been longer.
Perhaps just coincidence but Jerry Cole recorded a couple of surf-rock flavored albums that were credited to The Stingers (1964's "Guitars a-Go Go" Crown catalog number CST 476) and Jerry Cole and the Stingers (1966's "Guitars a-Go Go Vol. 2" Crown catalog number CST 553). This one could easily have fit on one of those mid-'60s releases - plenty of stinging Telecaster which just served to show what an under-rated guitarist Cole was.
A
bluesy vamp, "The Strut" wasn't much to get excited about.
It's always reminded me of a Stax jam sessions with Booker T. on Hammond B-3
and the late Steve Cropper on guitar. "Expo In Sound" was a fascinating tune that stood as the album's most experimental performance. The opening sounded like an oscillator on it's last moments and from their the band moved into slinky discoteque territory. The song featured another Theremin solo. Tres chic !!!
Weird story related to Jerry Cole. Around 2000 I was flying back from a business trip to San Diego and had just landed at National Airport. We were taxing to the terminal and the crew had just told us we could use our phones when mine rang. It was someone who identifies themselves as Jerry Cole. He'd read one of my reviews on BadCatRecords and was interested in talking to me. Obviously it wasn't a great time for me to talk so I told him I'd get back to him. One of my great regrets - I never did. Cole died of a heart attack in May 2008.
© Scott R. Blackerby January 2026
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