Biography
The tangled release saga attached to 'Twas Brillig remains both bewildering and, on reflection, pointlessly damaging. The act was in fact the Electras, a capable Minnesota garage combo whose gritty approach recalled a rawer Paul Revere & the Raiders while absorbing touches from the Yardbirds and Zombies. Before any name change, the band had already issued four singles, among them the Minneapolis favorite "Dirty Ol' Man." For reasons that stay murky—cited as "legal reasons" by producer Warren Kendrick in the liner notes to The Scotty Story—the group was rebranded under the far weaker name 'Twas Brillig. In 1966 alone, three singles appeared on two separate labels, each pairing "Dirty Ol' Man" with a different B-side. Three of the four tracks on those singles had already surfaced on earlier Electras releases. Adding to the disorder, the one Electras master leased to a major outlet—the CBS subsidiary Date—surfaced not under the Electras name but as 'Twas Brillig. The band later dropped the 'Twas Brillig tag and restored the Electras credit for its final pair of singles in 1967. Lingering confusion spread further when the liner notes to the compilation Rare Tracks, presented as a collection of rarities by fellow Minnesota garage band the Litter, credited a handful of Electras recordings to Litter musicians cutting obscure sides as 'Twas Brilling [sic] for Warren Kendrick—an account that proves inaccurate. The needless and ill-considered switch not only blunted the group’s prospects but left garage collectors puzzling over identities for years afterward.