The Return of the Young Pennsylvanians

The Shaynes of Lancaster

Uh oh. It struck me that in the mid-80's when I was into the neo-garage scene, those original 60s punk bands that I thought were so ancient at the time were really less than 20 years out. Now we're another 25 years further along, and I feel old.

Rick Noll started Bona Fide Records in the living room of his York, PA apartment and has been putting out obscurities from the PA/MD/NJ area since 1983. He's a true, homegrown, sporadic, one-man record company and a big supporter of local bands as long as they were true to certain basic tenets of rock.  On albums like The Train to Disaster and The Deadly Spawn he brought us quite a few new bands in the garage punk arena that had a big impact on me.  My favorites, like The Left, The Velvet Monkeys, The Skeptics, and The Stump Wizards, took a pill from the garage, surf, and psychedelia of two decades past without subscribing to the full blown retro dogma.  I was at Rick's place in 1985 listening to a test-pressing and pried one of the last copies of The Return of the Young Pennsylvanians from him.  This was among the earliest of the 60s garage reissue comps that inspired a whole new crop of Prince Valiant haircuts.

The Return was the second of two similar albums released in 1982 and 1983. I don't know anything about Pennsylvania Unknowns, but I present to you a battle of the Penna 60s punk band compilations:

Flowerz-I Need Love Now (Reading) The Scholars-I Need Your Lovin' (Reading) The Hides-Don't Be Difficult (Pittsburgh) Pat Farrell and the Believers-Bad Woman (Reading) The Bends-If It's All the Same To You Joe Frank and the Knights-Can't Find a Way The Combenashuns-What'cha Gonna Do (Bethlehem) The Loose Enz-A World Outside (York) The Starlites-I Can't See You (Reading) The Shandells-Chimes (Harrisburg) The Centurys-Endless Search (Lebanon) King's Ransom-Shadows of Dawn (Allentown) The Bentleys-Now It's Gone (Allentown) The Colors of Night-C-O-L-O-R-S (Philadelphia) The Loose Enz-The Black Door The Loose Enz-Easy Rider Fred-A Love Song (Harrisburg)

The Shaynes-You Tell Me Girl (Lancaster) The Loose Enz-A Better Man Than I (York) The Down Children-I Can Tell (Philadelphia) The Centurys-Hard Times (Lebanon) The Centurys-I Can Tell The Dogs-Don't Try To Help Me (Philadelphia) Flowerz-Flyte (Reading) Flowerz-Talken About Love The Shaynes-From My Window The Bounty Hunters-The Sun Went Away (Philadelphia) The Bounty Hunters-Somewhere The Bucaneers-I'm a Fool (Philadelphia) Bright Image-People In the Town (Philadelphia) Kindred Spirit-Blue Avenue (Johnstown)

Both compilations are available at Paradise of Garage Comps.
Check out the garage band known as The Young Pennsylvanians, from Japan!