Biography

A Bronx-based quintet, the Blues Magoos were formed in 1964 and were originally known as the Trenchcoats before changing their name to the Bloos Magoos and then subsequently adopting the more conventional spelling as they became fixtures on the Greenwich Village club scene. The band released singles for the Ganim and Verve Forecast imprints before signing with Mercury Records in 1966, and after an intense makeover and a marketing blitz, they emerged as a sort of East Coast answer to the then-emerging San Francisco flower power psychedelic scene with a big single, “(We Ain’t Got) Nothing Yet,” that same year, and attracted further attention with the album Psychedelic Lollipop, which also charted. Really more a blues-rock band with a garage band’s approach and intentions than they were a Summer of Love band, the Blues Magoos nonetheless continued with psychedelic trappings for the album Electric Comic Book, which appeared in 1967, and the similarly constructed Basic Blues Magoos a year later in 1968. At this point the group restructured its membership and approach, signed with ABC Records, and returned to its blues roots for 1969’s Never Goin' Back to Georgia and 1970’s Gulf Coast Bound, which added some Latin touches to the blues and featured mostly session players. By 1972 the Blues Magoos name was retired, although the group reunited for live shows in the late 2000s. In 2011, the well-respected reissue label Sundazed Records delivered new editions of Psychedelic Lollipop and Electric Comic Book on CD and LP, while the label brought out The Mercury Singles 1966-1968 in 2016. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi