I love box sets. If I had a lot of money, that's the first thing I'd blow it on: one enormous niche collection after the next.

There are five box sets that I cherish above all, and together they make a loose history of the musical underground of the past 40-plus years: Nuggets: 1965-1968 Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond, Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996, No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion and Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground. This makes, all told, 20 discs, the dubs of which I keep in my car in a little visor holder, and which I periodically play all the way through, which takes a couple weeks, at least.

I am in the middle of one of those periods. Funny how these moods creep up when you just want to hear a vast mix of the corny ("Moulty," by the Barbarians), the strange ("Spazz", the Elastik Band) the weird ("The Little Black Egg," the Nightcrawlers) the utterly insane ("Blackout of Gretely," Gonn) , the direct, the emotional, the funny, and the blissful (I am convinced I cannot go two weeks without hearing "Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo or "Dance Round the Maypole" by the Acid Gallery.)

Here's a mix from the first three Nuggets sets, with only one cheat: "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies, which should have been on Children of Nuggets but unaccountably was not.

"Wooly Bully" -- Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs

"Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In)"-- The Chocolate Watchband

"Liar, Liar" -- The Castaways

"Follow Me" -- Lyme & Cebelle

"You're Gonna Miss Me" -- The Thirteenth Floor Elevators

"Moulty" -- The Barbarians

"The Little Black Egg" -- The Nightcrawlers

"7 and 7 Is" -- Love

"Voices Green And Purple" -- The Bees

"The Witch" -- The Sonics

"Blackout of Gretely" -- Gonn

"1-2-5" -- The Haunted

"Going Nowhere" -- Los Bravos

"The Madman Running Through The Fields" -- Dantalion's Chariot

"I Wish I Was Five" -- Scrugg

"Walking Through My Dreams" == The Pretty Things

"Father's Name Was Dad" == Fire

"Pictures Of Matchstick Men" -- Status Quo

"Dance Around The Maypole" -- The Acid Gallery

"Shake Some Action" -- The Flamin' Groovies

"We’re Living in Violent Times" -- The Barracudas

"Maryann" -- The Spongetones

"Slave Girl" -- Lime Spiders

"The Unguarded Moment" -- The Church

"With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend" -- The Three O‘Clock

"Lights Are Changing" -- Bevis Frond

"Everyday Things" -- The Plimsouls