Pebbles Box

The Pebbles Box was released in the United Kingdom in 1987 by Ubik Records, with a catalogue number of BOXX1. Like AIP Records – which released the later albums in the Pebbles series – Ubik Records is one of the record labels that was started by Bomp! Records.

Nearly all of the tracks in the Pebbles Box are included in the Trash Box, with only two exceptions: On Disc Two of the Trash Box, the second recording by The Inmates is "Fakirs and Thieves" rather than "I Can Make it without You"; and on Disc Five, the song by the Bitter End is "Find Someone to Love" instead of "If You Want Somebody".

While the Pebbles Box is supposed to collect the first five albums in the Pebbles series, the recordings in this box set are actually much different from the original LPs. Specifically, as to the first Pebbles album, 4 of the 8 tracks on Side 1 and 6 of the 8 tracks on Side 2 of the original LP are included on Disc One in the Pebbles Box and in the same order (plus "Rich with Nothin'" is on Disc Two). Some of the omissions are true garage rock classics, like "Spazz" and "I'm in Pittsburgh (and it's Raining)"; the other omitted songs are "Going All the Way" (which is also not included on the CD version of the original Pebbles album), the Canadian monster "1-2-5" (although there is another song by the Haunted on Disc Four), and "You Treat Me Bad". Disc One includes a different rendering of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" from the one that appears on the Pebbles, Volume 11 LP, along with a second Kim Fowley song, "Underground Lady" that is not otherwise available among the various Pebbles records. The other songs on Disc One – "Stop & Listen" and "That Creature" – are beloved garage rock recordings that appear in later volumes in the Pebbles series.

The situation is similar on Pebbles, Volume 2, where just 4 songs from Side 1 and 3 songs from Side 2 are on Disc Two of this set, with "Green Fuz" moved to the other side of Disc Two and the Electric Prunes radio commercial to Disc Three. The lamented deletions include legendary bands like Zakary Thaks and the Moving Sidewalks (where Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top started out), plus the remarkable track called "Makin' Deals" by the Satans that opened that LP, which has the same general theme and even some of the same lyrics as the later Stones classic, "Sympathy for the Devil". Songs by the Litter and The Squires and both cuts by the Dovers are also left off the Pebbles Box, along with the bratty "So What!" and (as already noted) "Wine Wine Wine". However, welcome additions include "My Soap Won't Float", "Weird" and two songs by The Inmates; one of these, "More than I Have" is among the real treats on the last few Pebbles LPs, while "I Can Make it without You" is not represented elsewhere on the Pebbles albums. This is also true of "She's Sorry" and a second song by William Penn Fyve, whose "Swami" is on Pebbles, Volume 3 and Disc Five of the Pebbles Box.

Disc Three includes 11 of the songs on the psychedelic grab-bag that is Pebbles, Volume 3, although the omissions include two of the standout cuts on the album, "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" and "Voices Green and Purple", plus several others that are not so greatly missed: "I'm Allergic to Flowers", "Soggy Cereal", "Dom Kellar os Mods", "Like a Dribbling Fram" and the bonus track. Only one of the additional songs appears elsewhere in the Pebbles series; "The Inner Truth" is on Pebbles, Volume 22, while "The Wall" and "Be Forewarned" are new to Pebbles. "Horror Asparagus Stories" by The Driving Stupid, listed on the cover and label of the original BFD LP but somehow omitted, appears in this volume.

As noted, all of the tracks on Pebbles, Volume 4 have been omitted from the Pebbles Box. Although many songs appear on other Pebbles albums, none of the recordings on Disc Four appear on the first five LPs in the Pebbles series.

Finally, fully half of the recordings on Pebbles, Volume 5 are not included on Disc Five of the Pebbles Box: "Go Away", "You Don't Know Me", "Why", "Universal Vagrant", "I Tell No Lies", "You Need Love", "The Way it Used to Be", "I Need Love", and "The Way I Feel". Of the tracks on Disc Five that are not on the corresponding LP, the most gratifying is "Shadows", probably the best of the three songs by Milan (also known as the Leather Boy) on the Pebbles, Volume 11 LP and the only one that has not yet been otherwise released on the Pebbles CDs. There are four additional songs on Disc Five that are new to Pebbles: a second song by Thursday's Children, "Time Machine", "If You Want Somebody", and "I Want More".