Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1205 (starts 2/2/12)
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Omaha
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
As an ill-advised promotional gimmick, Columbia Records released five separate singles concurrently with the first Moby Grape album. Of the five singles, only one, Omaha, actually charted, and it only got to the #86 spot. Meanwhile, the heavy promotion by the label (with the blessing of Moby Grape manager Matthew Katz no doubt) led to Moby Grape getting the reputation of being over-hyped, much to the detriment of the band's career.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Comin' Back To Me
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Uncredited guest guitarist Jerry Garcia adds a simple, but memorable recurring fill riff to this Marty Balin tune. Balin, in his 2003 liner notes to the remastered release of Surrealistic Pillow, claims that Comin' Back To Me was written in one sitting under the influence of some primo stuff given to him by Paul Butterfield. Other players on the recording include Balin and Paul Kantner on guitars, Jack Casady on bass and Grace Slick on recorder.
Artist: Doors
Title: I Can't See Your Face In My Mind
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was essentially a continuation of the band's first album stylistically, even down to closing the LP with a long extended jam track featuring a Jim Morrison monologue (or poem, if you prefer). Reportedly there were several songs on the album that had already been written by the time the Doors signed a recording contract with Elektra, but had to be left off the first LP due to space limitations. Although the entire band shared songwriting credit on all Doors songs on their first few albums, it's likely that I Can't See Your Face In My Mind, with its highly personal lyrics, was mostly a Morrison composition.
Artist: Who
Title: Man With The Money
Source: CD: A Quick One
Writer: Don and Phil Everly
Label: MCA
Year: 1966
The few cover songs released by the Who were all by R&B artists such as James Brown and Sonny Boy Williamson. One song that would have been an exception was Man With The Money, which was originally an Everly Brothers B side. The Who version of the song, however, was not released until 1993, when it was included as a bonus track on the CD version of A Quick One.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: Nobody To Love
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Stacy Sutherland
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
The release of The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators in 1966 is considered by some to be the beginning of the psychedelic era. The band soon left their native Texas to spend four months touring in California, playing to packed houses and influencing countless other musicians. Their label, however, wanted them back in Texas and recording new material, and went as far as to threaten to release older, substandard, recordings of the Elevators if the boys didn't return home immediately. Once the band got back to Texas, however, the label made several missteps, such as forcing the band to play inappropriate venues. Also, due to the band members' notorious drug use, the label was reluctant to promote them heavily. By mid-1967 a rift had developed within the band itself, with two of the five members leaving the group to move to San Francisco. The remaining members, with a new bass player and drummer, went into the studio to record a true piece of acid-rock: the album that would come to be known as Easter Everywhere. Although the bulk of the LP would be written by guitarist/vocalist Roky Erickson and electric jug player Tommy Hall, Nobody To Love was written by the band's lead guitarist, Stacy Sutherland.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Among the many ways that Jimi Hendrix was an innovator was in his approach to studio recordings. Whereas previous artists had concentrated on their mono mixes, with the stereo versions often done almost as an afterthought, Hendrix instead saw stereo mixing as fertile ground for creative experimentation. By the time of Electric Ladyland he was doing only stereo mixes; the mono mix heard here is a simple recombining of the two channels rather than a seperate dedicated mix.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Reasons For Waiting
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Strictly speaking, Reasons For Waiting is not a Jethro Tull piece. Rather, it is an Ian Anderson solo work with orchestration. This was quite a departure from the first Tull album, which was (like most debut albums) made up of songs already in the group's live performance repertoire (the exception being Mick Abrahams's Move On Along, which in addition to having Abrahams on lead vocals, added a horn section).
Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title: Cowgirl In The Sand
Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes you wish you could be that sick sometime.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Dust My Broom
Source: LP: Underground Gold (originally released on LP: Canned Heat)
Writer: Johnson/James
Label: Liberty
Year: 1967
The first Canned Heat album was released shortly after the band's appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and consisted mainly of covers of blues classics. As could be expected of a band made up of record collectors, the songs on the album were as true to the original versions as the members of Canned Heat could make them. Of more interest is the song Dust My Broom itself, which was originally recorded in the 1930s by Robert Johnson, then electrified on Elmore James's 1951 recording. The James version, however, did not give Johnson any songwriting credit, a practice that was fairly common among blues artists at the time. Originally Canned Heat's version, which was based on James's recording, only gave James as the song's writer. Later releases, however, correctly give the credit to both Johnson and James.
Artist: Bob Mosely
Title: Let The Music Play
Source: LP: Bob Mosley
Writer: Bob Mosley
Label: Reprise
Year: 1972
The story of bassist Bob Mosely reflects the dark side of rock as much as it does the limelight. After becoming the only Californian member of Jerry Miller's band, the Frantics, Mosely stuck around to become a founding member of Moby Grape, achieving a lot of fame (not all of it positive) in a relatively short amount of time. Mosely, however, had ongoing mental health issues, made worse by the ready availability of several varieties of illegal substances. Following the release of the album Moby Grape '69 Mosely abruptly left the band to join the Marines, and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic during basic training. He returned to music the following year, rejoining his former bandmates for the 1971 album 21 Granite Creek before embarking on a solo career in 1972. His debut album as a solo artist included the song Let The Music Play, which features a horn section in addition to the usual rock instrumentation. By the early 1990s Mosely had returned to his native San Diego and was reportedly living on the streets when three of the other members of Moby Grape located him and reformed the band, in part to help Mosely get back on his feet. In Mosely's words: "In 1996, Peter Lewis picked me up along the side of a San Diego freeway where I was living, to tell me a ruling by San Francisco Judge Garcia gave Moby Grape their name back. I was ready to go to work again." Most recently, Mosely released a solo album called True Blue in 2005.
Artist: Barbarians
Title: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ron and Doug Morris
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1965
From Boston we have the Barbarians, best known for having a one-handed drummer named Moulty who wore a hook on his other arm (and was probably the inspiration for the hook-handed bass player in the cult film Wild In The Streets a few years later). In addition to Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, which was their biggest hit, the group recorded an inspirational tune (inspirational in the 80s self-help sense, not the religious one) called Moulty that got some airplay in 1966.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Dr. Stone
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Hey Joe)
Writer: Beck/Pons
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The Leaves were a solid, if not particularly spectacular, example of a late 60s L.A. club band. They had one big hit (Hey Joe), signed a contract with a major label (Capitol), and even appeared in a Hollywood movie (the Cool Ones). This tune, from their first album for Mira Records, is best described as folk-rock with a Bo Diddly beat.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Pamela
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Trying to take in the entire first Ultimate Spinach album can be a bit overwhelming. Taken individually, however, songs like Pamela, which closes the album, are actually quite listenable.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Twain Shall Meet)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
One of the first appearances of the New Animals on stage was at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The experience (pun intended) so impressed the group that they wrote a song about it. The song was issued both as a single and on the LP: The Twain Shall Meet. The single used a mono mix; the LP version, while in stereo, was overlapped at both the beginning and end by adjoining tracks, and was missing the first few seconds of the single version. The version used here was created by splicing the mono intro onto the stereo main portion of the song, fading it a bit early to avoid the overlap from the LP. This process (called making a "cut down") was first done by a company called Drake-Chenault, which supplied tapes to radio stations using the most pristine stereo versions of songs available. Whether Polydor used the Drake-Chenault version or did the cut down itself, the version is the same.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Standells
Title: Dirty Water
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
Dirty Water has long since been adopted by the city of Boston, getting played at virtually every sporting event, yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes in the early 60s. Lead vocalist Dickie Dodd, incidently, was a cast member on the original Micky Mouse Club TV show.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
1966 was the year that Ray Davies's songwriting began to take a sardonic turn. Sunny Afternoon, using a first person perspective, manages to lampoon the idle rich through mock sympathy. Good stuff.
Artist: Donovan
Title: The Trip
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released as 45 RPM B side and on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Donovan had already established a reputation in his native Scotland as the UK's answer to Bob Dylan, but had not had much success in the US, where his records were being released on the low-distribution Hickory label. That all changed in 1966, however, when he began to move beyond his folk roots and embrace a more electric sound. Unlike Dylan, who basically kept the same style as his acoustic songs, simply adding electic instruments, Donovan took a more holistic approach. The result was a body of music with a much broader range of sounds. The first of these new electric tunes was Sunshine Superman, sometimes cited as the first top 10 psychedelic hit. The B side of Sunshine Superman was a song called The Trip, which managed to be even more psychedelic than it's A side. Both songs soon appeared on Donovan's major US label debut, an album that was not even released in the UK due to a contractual dispute between the singer/songwriter and Pye Records.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Paint It Black
Source: CD: Aftermath
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1966
One of the truly great Rolling Stones songs. 'Nuff said.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito/Thielhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably (of course the fact that they were on Mercury Records, one of the "big six" labels of the time, didn't hurt). Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider)
Source: CD: Fifth Dimension (CD bonus track)
Writer: arr. McGuinn/Clark/Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
Throughout their existence the Byrds recorded more material than they actually released. This has proven a boon to the folks at BMG/Sony, who have been able to include several bonus tracks on every remastered Byrds CD on their Legacy label. This week we have a classic Byrds reworking of an old folk tune, I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider), recorded in 1966, around the same time as their sessions for the Fifth Dimension album.
Artist: Cher
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Cher's Golden Greats (originally released on LP: With Love, Cher and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Imperial
Year: 1967
Considering that Cher's first major hit as a solo artist was Bang Bang, a song about shooting one's lover, it was probably inevitable that she would record her own version of the venerable Hey Joe, which deals with the same subject. Also, given Cher's established style with Bang Bang, it is no surprise that she chose to go with the slowed-down arrangement first used by Tim Rose and popularized in England by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. What may come as a surprise, however, is that Cher's 1967 version of Hey Joe actually did better on the US charts than any other version except the Leaves' fast-tempo hit from 1966.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When Rhino decided to revive the Nuggets concept in the 80s with a series of LPs, they really didn't do much documentation on stuff like what album the song was from or what year the song came out. Normally that's not a problem. This song, however, was included on two consecutive albums, one on a small indy label in 1966 and the other on Reprise in 1967, with a slightly longer running time. Since the running time of this track seems closer to the Reprise version, I'm assuming that's what it's from.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound; stereo version: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
One of the Original Sound singles that also appeared on the Warner Brothers LP Bonniwell Music Machine, Double Yellow Line features lyrics that were literally written by Bonniwell on the way to the recording studio. In fact, his inability to stay in his lane while driving with one hand and writing with the other resulted in a traffic ticket. The ever resourceful Bonniwell wrote the rest of the lyrics on the back of the ticket and even invited the officer in to watch the recording session. The officer declined.
Artist: Sons Of Champlain
Title: Fat City
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bob Moitoza
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
One of the most popular cover bands in Marin County California in the early 60s was Mill Valley's The Opposite Six. In 1967 the group decided to switch to original material, changing their name to the Sons Of Champlain in the process. Although never one of the top selling San Francisco bands, the Sons nonetheless recorded some decent tracks, the earliest of which was a single called Fat City, released on the Verve label.
Artist: Red Crayola
Title: The Parable Of Arable Land (part one)
Source: LP: The Parable Of Arable Land
Writer: Thompson/Cunningham/Barthelme
Label: International Artists
Year: 1967
New York had the Velvet Underground. L.A. had the United States of America. San Francisco had 50 Foot Hose. And Texas had the Red Crayola. Formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas (Texas) in 1966, the band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme (brother of novelist Donald Barthelme) and Steve Cunningham. The band was almost universally panned by the rock press but has since achieved cult status as a pioneer of avant-garde psychedelic punk and is considered a forerunner of "lo-fi" rock. The band's debut album, The Parable Of Arable Land, released in 1967, was reportedly recorded in one continuous session and utilizes the services of "The Familiar Ugly", a group of about 50 friends of the band, each of which was invited to play whatever they pleased on whatever sound-producing device they chose to (such as blowing into a soda bottle), filling time between the actual songs on the album. Roky Erickson,leader of the Red Crayola's International Artists labelmates 13th Floor Elevators, can be heard playing organ as part of the cacaphony.
Title: Omaha
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
As an ill-advised promotional gimmick, Columbia Records released five separate singles concurrently with the first Moby Grape album. Of the five singles, only one, Omaha, actually charted, and it only got to the #86 spot. Meanwhile, the heavy promotion by the label (with the blessing of Moby Grape manager Matthew Katz no doubt) led to Moby Grape getting the reputation of being over-hyped, much to the detriment of the band's career.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Comin' Back To Me
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Uncredited guest guitarist Jerry Garcia adds a simple, but memorable recurring fill riff to this Marty Balin tune. Balin, in his 2003 liner notes to the remastered release of Surrealistic Pillow, claims that Comin' Back To Me was written in one sitting under the influence of some primo stuff given to him by Paul Butterfield. Other players on the recording include Balin and Paul Kantner on guitars, Jack Casady on bass and Grace Slick on recorder.
Artist: Doors
Title: I Can't See Your Face In My Mind
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was essentially a continuation of the band's first album stylistically, even down to closing the LP with a long extended jam track featuring a Jim Morrison monologue (or poem, if you prefer). Reportedly there were several songs on the album that had already been written by the time the Doors signed a recording contract with Elektra, but had to be left off the first LP due to space limitations. Although the entire band shared songwriting credit on all Doors songs on their first few albums, it's likely that I Can't See Your Face In My Mind, with its highly personal lyrics, was mostly a Morrison composition.
Artist: Who
Title: Man With The Money
Source: CD: A Quick One
Writer: Don and Phil Everly
Label: MCA
Year: 1966
The few cover songs released by the Who were all by R&B artists such as James Brown and Sonny Boy Williamson. One song that would have been an exception was Man With The Money, which was originally an Everly Brothers B side. The Who version of the song, however, was not released until 1993, when it was included as a bonus track on the CD version of A Quick One.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: Nobody To Love
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Stacy Sutherland
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
The release of The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators in 1966 is considered by some to be the beginning of the psychedelic era. The band soon left their native Texas to spend four months touring in California, playing to packed houses and influencing countless other musicians. Their label, however, wanted them back in Texas and recording new material, and went as far as to threaten to release older, substandard, recordings of the Elevators if the boys didn't return home immediately. Once the band got back to Texas, however, the label made several missteps, such as forcing the band to play inappropriate venues. Also, due to the band members' notorious drug use, the label was reluctant to promote them heavily. By mid-1967 a rift had developed within the band itself, with two of the five members leaving the group to move to San Francisco. The remaining members, with a new bass player and drummer, went into the studio to record a true piece of acid-rock: the album that would come to be known as Easter Everywhere. Although the bulk of the LP would be written by guitarist/vocalist Roky Erickson and electric jug player Tommy Hall, Nobody To Love was written by the band's lead guitarist, Stacy Sutherland.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Among the many ways that Jimi Hendrix was an innovator was in his approach to studio recordings. Whereas previous artists had concentrated on their mono mixes, with the stereo versions often done almost as an afterthought, Hendrix instead saw stereo mixing as fertile ground for creative experimentation. By the time of Electric Ladyland he was doing only stereo mixes; the mono mix heard here is a simple recombining of the two channels rather than a seperate dedicated mix.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Reasons For Waiting
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Strictly speaking, Reasons For Waiting is not a Jethro Tull piece. Rather, it is an Ian Anderson solo work with orchestration. This was quite a departure from the first Tull album, which was (like most debut albums) made up of songs already in the group's live performance repertoire (the exception being Mick Abrahams's Move On Along, which in addition to having Abrahams on lead vocals, added a horn section).
Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title: Cowgirl In The Sand
Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes you wish you could be that sick sometime.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Dust My Broom
Source: LP: Underground Gold (originally released on LP: Canned Heat)
Writer: Johnson/James
Label: Liberty
Year: 1967
The first Canned Heat album was released shortly after the band's appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and consisted mainly of covers of blues classics. As could be expected of a band made up of record collectors, the songs on the album were as true to the original versions as the members of Canned Heat could make them. Of more interest is the song Dust My Broom itself, which was originally recorded in the 1930s by Robert Johnson, then electrified on Elmore James's 1951 recording. The James version, however, did not give Johnson any songwriting credit, a practice that was fairly common among blues artists at the time. Originally Canned Heat's version, which was based on James's recording, only gave James as the song's writer. Later releases, however, correctly give the credit to both Johnson and James.
Artist: Bob Mosely
Title: Let The Music Play
Source: LP: Bob Mosley
Writer: Bob Mosley
Label: Reprise
Year: 1972
The story of bassist Bob Mosely reflects the dark side of rock as much as it does the limelight. After becoming the only Californian member of Jerry Miller's band, the Frantics, Mosely stuck around to become a founding member of Moby Grape, achieving a lot of fame (not all of it positive) in a relatively short amount of time. Mosely, however, had ongoing mental health issues, made worse by the ready availability of several varieties of illegal substances. Following the release of the album Moby Grape '69 Mosely abruptly left the band to join the Marines, and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic during basic training. He returned to music the following year, rejoining his former bandmates for the 1971 album 21 Granite Creek before embarking on a solo career in 1972. His debut album as a solo artist included the song Let The Music Play, which features a horn section in addition to the usual rock instrumentation. By the early 1990s Mosely had returned to his native San Diego and was reportedly living on the streets when three of the other members of Moby Grape located him and reformed the band, in part to help Mosely get back on his feet. In Mosely's words: "In 1996, Peter Lewis picked me up along the side of a San Diego freeway where I was living, to tell me a ruling by San Francisco Judge Garcia gave Moby Grape their name back. I was ready to go to work again." Most recently, Mosely released a solo album called True Blue in 2005.
Artist: Barbarians
Title: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ron and Doug Morris
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1965
From Boston we have the Barbarians, best known for having a one-handed drummer named Moulty who wore a hook on his other arm (and was probably the inspiration for the hook-handed bass player in the cult film Wild In The Streets a few years later). In addition to Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, which was their biggest hit, the group recorded an inspirational tune (inspirational in the 80s self-help sense, not the religious one) called Moulty that got some airplay in 1966.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Dr. Stone
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Hey Joe)
Writer: Beck/Pons
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The Leaves were a solid, if not particularly spectacular, example of a late 60s L.A. club band. They had one big hit (Hey Joe), signed a contract with a major label (Capitol), and even appeared in a Hollywood movie (the Cool Ones). This tune, from their first album for Mira Records, is best described as folk-rock with a Bo Diddly beat.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Pamela
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Trying to take in the entire first Ultimate Spinach album can be a bit overwhelming. Taken individually, however, songs like Pamela, which closes the album, are actually quite listenable.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Twain Shall Meet)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
One of the first appearances of the New Animals on stage was at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The experience (pun intended) so impressed the group that they wrote a song about it. The song was issued both as a single and on the LP: The Twain Shall Meet. The single used a mono mix; the LP version, while in stereo, was overlapped at both the beginning and end by adjoining tracks, and was missing the first few seconds of the single version. The version used here was created by splicing the mono intro onto the stereo main portion of the song, fading it a bit early to avoid the overlap from the LP. This process (called making a "cut down") was first done by a company called Drake-Chenault, which supplied tapes to radio stations using the most pristine stereo versions of songs available. Whether Polydor used the Drake-Chenault version or did the cut down itself, the version is the same.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Standells
Title: Dirty Water
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
Dirty Water has long since been adopted by the city of Boston, getting played at virtually every sporting event, yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes in the early 60s. Lead vocalist Dickie Dodd, incidently, was a cast member on the original Micky Mouse Club TV show.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
1966 was the year that Ray Davies's songwriting began to take a sardonic turn. Sunny Afternoon, using a first person perspective, manages to lampoon the idle rich through mock sympathy. Good stuff.
Artist: Donovan
Title: The Trip
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released as 45 RPM B side and on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Donovan had already established a reputation in his native Scotland as the UK's answer to Bob Dylan, but had not had much success in the US, where his records were being released on the low-distribution Hickory label. That all changed in 1966, however, when he began to move beyond his folk roots and embrace a more electric sound. Unlike Dylan, who basically kept the same style as his acoustic songs, simply adding electic instruments, Donovan took a more holistic approach. The result was a body of music with a much broader range of sounds. The first of these new electric tunes was Sunshine Superman, sometimes cited as the first top 10 psychedelic hit. The B side of Sunshine Superman was a song called The Trip, which managed to be even more psychedelic than it's A side. Both songs soon appeared on Donovan's major US label debut, an album that was not even released in the UK due to a contractual dispute between the singer/songwriter and Pye Records.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Paint It Black
Source: CD: Aftermath
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1966
One of the truly great Rolling Stones songs. 'Nuff said.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito/Thielhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably (of course the fact that they were on Mercury Records, one of the "big six" labels of the time, didn't hurt). Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider)
Source: CD: Fifth Dimension (CD bonus track)
Writer: arr. McGuinn/Clark/Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
Throughout their existence the Byrds recorded more material than they actually released. This has proven a boon to the folks at BMG/Sony, who have been able to include several bonus tracks on every remastered Byrds CD on their Legacy label. This week we have a classic Byrds reworking of an old folk tune, I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider), recorded in 1966, around the same time as their sessions for the Fifth Dimension album.
Artist: Cher
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Cher's Golden Greats (originally released on LP: With Love, Cher and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Imperial
Year: 1967
Considering that Cher's first major hit as a solo artist was Bang Bang, a song about shooting one's lover, it was probably inevitable that she would record her own version of the venerable Hey Joe, which deals with the same subject. Also, given Cher's established style with Bang Bang, it is no surprise that she chose to go with the slowed-down arrangement first used by Tim Rose and popularized in England by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. What may come as a surprise, however, is that Cher's 1967 version of Hey Joe actually did better on the US charts than any other version except the Leaves' fast-tempo hit from 1966.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When Rhino decided to revive the Nuggets concept in the 80s with a series of LPs, they really didn't do much documentation on stuff like what album the song was from or what year the song came out. Normally that's not a problem. This song, however, was included on two consecutive albums, one on a small indy label in 1966 and the other on Reprise in 1967, with a slightly longer running time. Since the running time of this track seems closer to the Reprise version, I'm assuming that's what it's from.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound; stereo version: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
One of the Original Sound singles that also appeared on the Warner Brothers LP Bonniwell Music Machine, Double Yellow Line features lyrics that were literally written by Bonniwell on the way to the recording studio. In fact, his inability to stay in his lane while driving with one hand and writing with the other resulted in a traffic ticket. The ever resourceful Bonniwell wrote the rest of the lyrics on the back of the ticket and even invited the officer in to watch the recording session. The officer declined.
Artist: Sons Of Champlain
Title: Fat City
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bob Moitoza
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
One of the most popular cover bands in Marin County California in the early 60s was Mill Valley's The Opposite Six. In 1967 the group decided to switch to original material, changing their name to the Sons Of Champlain in the process. Although never one of the top selling San Francisco bands, the Sons nonetheless recorded some decent tracks, the earliest of which was a single called Fat City, released on the Verve label.
Artist: Red Crayola
Title: The Parable Of Arable Land (part one)
Source: LP: The Parable Of Arable Land
Writer: Thompson/Cunningham/Barthelme
Label: International Artists
Year: 1967
New York had the Velvet Underground. L.A. had the United States of America. San Francisco had 50 Foot Hose. And Texas had the Red Crayola. Formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas (Texas) in 1966, the band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme (brother of novelist Donald Barthelme) and Steve Cunningham. The band was almost universally panned by the rock press but has since achieved cult status as a pioneer of avant-garde psychedelic punk and is considered a forerunner of "lo-fi" rock. The band's debut album, The Parable Of Arable Land, released in 1967, was reportedly recorded in one continuous session and utilizes the services of "The Familiar Ugly", a group of about 50 friends of the band, each of which was invited to play whatever they pleased on whatever sound-producing device they chose to (such as blowing into a soda bottle), filling time between the actual songs on the album. Roky Erickson,leader of the Red Crayola's International Artists labelmates 13th Floor Elevators, can be heard playing organ as part of the cacaphony.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1204 (starts 1/26/12)
Artist: Frantics
Title: Human Monkey
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Rhino (original label: Action)
Year: 1966
The Frantics were a popular cover band in Tacoma, Washington in the early 60s. Guitarist Jerry Miller, however, had greater ambitions and eventually relocated to San Francisco, taking the band's name and two of its members, keyboardist Chuck "Steaks" Schoning and drummer Don Stevenson, with him. After recruiting bassist Bob Mosely the Frantics cut their only single, a Motown-style dance number called the Human Monkey, in 1966. The group would soon shed Schoning and pick up two new members, changing their name to Moby Grape in the process.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints (originally released as 45 RPM single B side; re-released as A side)
Source: CD: Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Priority (original label: All-American; reissued nationally on Uni Records)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints started off as an instrumental, mostly because the band simply couldn't come up with any lyrics. Their producer decided to bring in professional songwriters to finish the song, and ended up giving them full credit for it. This did not sit well with the band members. In fact, they hated the lyrics so much that their regular vocalist refused to sing on the record. Undaunted, the producer brought in the lead vocalist from another local L.A. band to sing the song, which was then put on the B side of The Birdman Of Alcatrash. Somewhere along the line a local DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense An Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: Feelings
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Writer: Coonce/Entner/Fukomoto
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
The Grass Roots had their origins as the San Francisco band the Bedoins, but by 1968 had lost all but one of the original members and had become pretty much a vehicle for the songwriting team of Jeff Barri and P.F. Sloan. They released three singles in 1968, the third of which was Midnight Confessions, the group's only certified gold record. The song immediately preceeding it was Feelings which failed to chart (possibly because it was not written by Sloan and Barri). Of course that means I play Feelings fairly regularly. Midnight Confessions? Not at all.
Artist: Penny Arkade
Title: Swim
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Craig Vincent Smith
Label: Rhino
Year: recorded: 1967, released 2009
In 1967 Michael Nesmith, realizing that the Monkees had a limited shelf life, decided to produce a local L.A. band, Penny Arkade, led by singer/songwriter Craig Vincent Smith. Nesmith already had several production credits to his name with the Monkees, including a recording of Smith's Salesman on their 4th LP. Swim, like Salesman, has a touch of country about it; indeed, Nesmith himself was one of the earliest proponents of what would come to be called country-rock. In 1967, however, country-rock was still at least a year away and Nesmith was unable to find a label willing to release the record.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Run For Your Life
Source: LP: Rubber Soul
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Capitol
Year: 1965
Compared to some of John Lennon's later songs, Run For Your Life comes across as a sexist, even violent expression of jealous posessiveness. However, in 1965 such a viewpoint was quite common; in fact it was pretty much the acceptable norm for the times. Scary, huh? Somehow I just can't imagine Yoko Ono approving of this song.
Artist: James Taylor
Title: Oh, Susanna
Source: LP: Sweet Baby James
Writer: Stephen Foster
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
The early 70s saw the rise of the singer/songwriter to prominence on the pop charts, and none was more successful than James Taylor. In addition to his own tunes like Fire And Rain, Taylor would have hits with songs written by his friend Carole King and even remakes of pre-Beatle era pop songs. The oldest song he ever recorded, however, has to be Oh, Susannah, written in the 1800s by the great American songwriter, Stephen Foster, and included on his second LP, Sweet Baby James.
Artist: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Title: Child Of My Kingdom
Source: CD: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Writer: Brown/Crane
Label: Polydor (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1968
One of the most unique performers on the British rock scene was Arthur Brown, who was known for his theatrical stage show, including flashing lights, smoke bombs, and band members wearing outrageous costumes.The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, produced by Kit Lambert and the Who's Peter Townshend, was one of the most popular psychedelic albums ever released, hitting the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. The longest track on that album was the seven-minute Child Of My Kingdom, which closes out side two.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Sharon Pulley and Tom Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Moody Blues
Title: In Search Of The Lost Chord (part two)
Source: CD: In Search Of The Lost Chord
Writer: Hayward/Pinder/Thomas/Edge
Label: Deram
Year: 1968
After using the London Symphony Orchestra extensively on their second LP, Days Of Future Passed, the Moody Blues played every instrument themselves on the next album, In Search Of The Lost Chord. There were reportedly 33 (or possibly more) different instruments played on the album. Among those was something called a mellotron, which used tape loops of recorded instruments played on a keyboard. Each side was one continuous piece of music, making In Search Of The Lost Chord, released in 1968, one of the first rock concept albums.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: LP: Vol. III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Yeazel/Guy
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who in turn based it on a song by blues legend Buddy Guy. Yeazel would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: (I Know I'm) Losing You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Grant/Holland/Whitfield
Label: Rare Earth
Year: 1970
Although Rare Earth was not the first white act signed to Motown, it was the first successful one. When the band was signed in 1969 it was decided to retool (and rename) one of Motown's existing labels and put Rare Earth on that label. During discussions about what to rename the label one of the band members joking suggested Rare Earth Records. Oddly enough, Motown went with that suggestion, and the band soon scored two consecutive top 10 singles with remakes of previous Motown hits. The first, Get Ready, used virtually the same arrangement as the Temptations original and actually did better on the charts. The follow-up, (I Know I'm) Losing You, was more adventurous, and showed that the group was more than just one hit wonders.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Dark Side
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Dunwich
Year: 1966
Dark Side, written by guitarist Warren Rogers and singer Jim Sohns, is probably the quintessential Shadows of Knight song. It has all the classic elements of a garage rock song: three chords, a blues beat and lots of attitude. Oh, and the lyrics "I love you baby more than birds love the sky". What more can you ask for?
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol.2-Punk (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Codine
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Revolution soundtrack)
Writer: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
Buffy St. Marie's Codine was a popular favorite among the club crowd in mid-60s California. In 1967, L.A. band The Leaves included it on their second LP. Around the same time, up the coast in San Francisco, the Charlatans selected it to be their debut single. The suits at Kama-Sutra Records, however, balked at the choice, and instead released a cover of the Coasters' The Shadow Knows. The novelty-flavored Shadow bombed so bad that the label decided not to release any more Charlatans tracks, thus leaving their version of Codine gathering dust in the vaults until the mid 1990s, when the entire Kama-Sutra sessions were released on CD. Meanwhile, back in 1968, Quicksilver Messenger Service were still without a record contract, despite pulling decent crowds at various Bay Area venues, including a credible appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. Despite this, the producers of the quasi-documentary film Revolution decided to include footage of the band playing Codine, and commissioned this studio recording of the song for the soundtrack album.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice (alternate version 2)
Source: CD: Born To Be Burned
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1966
This alternate take of Free Advice shows the Great! Society for what they were: a talented garage band with a lot of rough edges that they never got the opportunity to smooth things out.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Ain't That So
Source: CD: Winds Of Change (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
Originally released in the UK as the B side to the 1967 single Good Times (which was itself a B side in the US), Ain't That So made its US debut in 1968, as the B side to the song Monterey (which was a US-only single). Like all the originals released by Eric Burdon and the Animals, writing credits on Ain't That So were shared by the entire band.
Artist: Nazz
Title: Open Your Eyes
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Todd Rundgren
Label: Rhino (original label: SGC)
Year: 1968
The Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, among others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts (a new solo version would become Rundgren's first major hit five years later).
Artist: James Gang
Title: Fred
Source: CD: Yer' Album
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: Bluesway)
Year: 1969
The only rock record to ever be released on the Bluesway label was Yer' Album, the debut LP by Cleveland's James Gang. Featuring Joe Walsh on Guitar (and overdubbed keyboards), Tom Criss (who would leave the band after this album) on bass and Dale Peters on drums, the group was one of the first "power trios" of the 70s. Unlike the group's later efforts, Yer' Album included cover tunes written by such diverse composers as Stephen Stills, Jerry Ragavoy and Jeff Beck, as well as a smattering of original compositions. One of those originals was Fred, a Walsh song that was described in the liner notes as "and it's straaaaaaaange."
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Teacher
Source: CD: Benefit
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1970
LPs released by British Groups often had different song lineups in the US and the UK. One of the reasons for this is that British labels generally did not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. In the US, however, running times were 5-10 minutes shorter per LP, and songs that had been included on British LPs would end up being dropped in favor of the latest hit single by the same artist. Jethro Tull, however, was generally an exception to this practice. Both of their first two LPs had exactly the same song lineup on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, the only notable exception was the song Teacher, which was released as a single before the UK version of the group's third LP, Benefit. The US version of Benefit has Teacher on it, replacing Just Trying To Be, which would not be issued in the US until the Living In The Past album.
Artist: Who
Title: A Legal Matter
Source: CD: Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original US label: Decca)
Year: 1965
In early 1966 the Who parted company with their original UK record label, Brunswick, to hook up with the newly formed Reaction Records. This did not sit well with the people at Brunswick, who did their best to sabotage the band's Reaction releases. They did this by releasing single versions of songs from the band's only Brunswick album, My Generation, within days of each new Who single on Reaction. The first of these was The Kids Are Alright/A Legal Matter, which was released right after the first Who single on Reaction, Substitute. The strategy was for the most part unsuccessful, and all these songs ended up on the Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy album, released a couple years later.
Artist: Who
Title: Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hands
Source: LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1967
There are at least three versions of Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hands. A faster, electric version of the song was released only in the US as the B side to I Can See For Miles, while this semi-latin flavored acoustic version was included on The Who Sell Out. Yet another version is featured as a bonus track on the 1993 CD release of Sell Out.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was the Who's biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. I Can See For Miles was also used as the closing track of side one of The Who Sell Out, released in December of 1967. Some of the commercials and jingles heard at the beginning of the track were recorded by the band itself. Others were lifted (without permission) from Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the English coast.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: LP: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
One of Simon And Garfunkel's most popular songs, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) originally appeared on their 1966 LP Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme. The recording was never, however, released as a single by the duo (although it did appear as a 1967 B side). When Columbia released a greatest hits compilation album (after the duo had split up), a live acoustic version of the song was included on the album. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) did make the top 40 in 1967, when it was recorded by Harper's Bizarre, a group featuring future Doobie Brothers and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman on lead vocals.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Love Or Confusion
Source: LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
A little-known fact is that the original European version of Are You Experienced, in addition to having a different song lineup, consisted entirely of mono recordings. When Reprise got the rights to release the album in North America, its own engineers created new stereo mixes from the 4-track master tapes. As most of the instrumental tracks had already been mixed down to single tracks, the engineers found themselves doing things like putting the vocals all the way on one side of the mix, with reverb effects and guitar solos occupying the other side and all the instruments dead center. Such is the case with Love Or Confusion, with some really bizarre stereo panning thrown in at the end of the track. It's actually kind of fun to listen to with headphones on, as I did when I bought my first copy of the album on reel-to-reel tape (the tape deck was in the same room as the TV). On the downside, the vocals on the stereo mix sound far away when played back through a single speaker.
Artist: Love
Title: Alone Again Or (alternate mix)
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer: Bryan MacLean
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Finishing out this week's show we have an alternate mix of the opening track for Love's Forever Changes album, generally considered to be their best studio work and a surprisingly popular album in England, despite Love never having played there. Bryan McLean once said that he was unhappy with the released mix of Alone Again Or, due to the producer's decision to give Arthur Lee's harmony line a greater prominence in the mix than McLean's lead vocal. This was probably done for consistency's sake, as Lee was the lead vocalist on an overwhelming majority of Love's recordings. This mono alternate mix uses a different balance of vocals, although McLean's part is still not as prominent as McLean would have preferred. McLean himself re-recorded the song on an early 70s solo album, but reportedly was still not satisfied with the way the song sounded.
Title: Human Monkey
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Rhino (original label: Action)
Year: 1966
The Frantics were a popular cover band in Tacoma, Washington in the early 60s. Guitarist Jerry Miller, however, had greater ambitions and eventually relocated to San Francisco, taking the band's name and two of its members, keyboardist Chuck "Steaks" Schoning and drummer Don Stevenson, with him. After recruiting bassist Bob Mosely the Frantics cut their only single, a Motown-style dance number called the Human Monkey, in 1966. The group would soon shed Schoning and pick up two new members, changing their name to Moby Grape in the process.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints (originally released as 45 RPM single B side; re-released as A side)
Source: CD: Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Priority (original label: All-American; reissued nationally on Uni Records)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints started off as an instrumental, mostly because the band simply couldn't come up with any lyrics. Their producer decided to bring in professional songwriters to finish the song, and ended up giving them full credit for it. This did not sit well with the band members. In fact, they hated the lyrics so much that their regular vocalist refused to sing on the record. Undaunted, the producer brought in the lead vocalist from another local L.A. band to sing the song, which was then put on the B side of The Birdman Of Alcatrash. Somewhere along the line a local DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense An Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: Feelings
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Writer: Coonce/Entner/Fukomoto
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
The Grass Roots had their origins as the San Francisco band the Bedoins, but by 1968 had lost all but one of the original members and had become pretty much a vehicle for the songwriting team of Jeff Barri and P.F. Sloan. They released three singles in 1968, the third of which was Midnight Confessions, the group's only certified gold record. The song immediately preceeding it was Feelings which failed to chart (possibly because it was not written by Sloan and Barri). Of course that means I play Feelings fairly regularly. Midnight Confessions? Not at all.
Artist: Penny Arkade
Title: Swim
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Craig Vincent Smith
Label: Rhino
Year: recorded: 1967, released 2009
In 1967 Michael Nesmith, realizing that the Monkees had a limited shelf life, decided to produce a local L.A. band, Penny Arkade, led by singer/songwriter Craig Vincent Smith. Nesmith already had several production credits to his name with the Monkees, including a recording of Smith's Salesman on their 4th LP. Swim, like Salesman, has a touch of country about it; indeed, Nesmith himself was one of the earliest proponents of what would come to be called country-rock. In 1967, however, country-rock was still at least a year away and Nesmith was unable to find a label willing to release the record.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Run For Your Life
Source: LP: Rubber Soul
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Capitol
Year: 1965
Compared to some of John Lennon's later songs, Run For Your Life comes across as a sexist, even violent expression of jealous posessiveness. However, in 1965 such a viewpoint was quite common; in fact it was pretty much the acceptable norm for the times. Scary, huh? Somehow I just can't imagine Yoko Ono approving of this song.
Artist: James Taylor
Title: Oh, Susanna
Source: LP: Sweet Baby James
Writer: Stephen Foster
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
The early 70s saw the rise of the singer/songwriter to prominence on the pop charts, and none was more successful than James Taylor. In addition to his own tunes like Fire And Rain, Taylor would have hits with songs written by his friend Carole King and even remakes of pre-Beatle era pop songs. The oldest song he ever recorded, however, has to be Oh, Susannah, written in the 1800s by the great American songwriter, Stephen Foster, and included on his second LP, Sweet Baby James.
Artist: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Title: Child Of My Kingdom
Source: CD: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Writer: Brown/Crane
Label: Polydor (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1968
One of the most unique performers on the British rock scene was Arthur Brown, who was known for his theatrical stage show, including flashing lights, smoke bombs, and band members wearing outrageous costumes.The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, produced by Kit Lambert and the Who's Peter Townshend, was one of the most popular psychedelic albums ever released, hitting the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. The longest track on that album was the seven-minute Child Of My Kingdom, which closes out side two.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Sharon Pulley and Tom Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Moody Blues
Title: In Search Of The Lost Chord (part two)
Source: CD: In Search Of The Lost Chord
Writer: Hayward/Pinder/Thomas/Edge
Label: Deram
Year: 1968
After using the London Symphony Orchestra extensively on their second LP, Days Of Future Passed, the Moody Blues played every instrument themselves on the next album, In Search Of The Lost Chord. There were reportedly 33 (or possibly more) different instruments played on the album. Among those was something called a mellotron, which used tape loops of recorded instruments played on a keyboard. Each side was one continuous piece of music, making In Search Of The Lost Chord, released in 1968, one of the first rock concept albums.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: LP: Vol. III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Yeazel/Guy
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who in turn based it on a song by blues legend Buddy Guy. Yeazel would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: (I Know I'm) Losing You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Grant/Holland/Whitfield
Label: Rare Earth
Year: 1970
Although Rare Earth was not the first white act signed to Motown, it was the first successful one. When the band was signed in 1969 it was decided to retool (and rename) one of Motown's existing labels and put Rare Earth on that label. During discussions about what to rename the label one of the band members joking suggested Rare Earth Records. Oddly enough, Motown went with that suggestion, and the band soon scored two consecutive top 10 singles with remakes of previous Motown hits. The first, Get Ready, used virtually the same arrangement as the Temptations original and actually did better on the charts. The follow-up, (I Know I'm) Losing You, was more adventurous, and showed that the group was more than just one hit wonders.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Dark Side
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Dunwich
Year: 1966
Dark Side, written by guitarist Warren Rogers and singer Jim Sohns, is probably the quintessential Shadows of Knight song. It has all the classic elements of a garage rock song: three chords, a blues beat and lots of attitude. Oh, and the lyrics "I love you baby more than birds love the sky". What more can you ask for?
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol.2-Punk (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Codine
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Revolution soundtrack)
Writer: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
Buffy St. Marie's Codine was a popular favorite among the club crowd in mid-60s California. In 1967, L.A. band The Leaves included it on their second LP. Around the same time, up the coast in San Francisco, the Charlatans selected it to be their debut single. The suits at Kama-Sutra Records, however, balked at the choice, and instead released a cover of the Coasters' The Shadow Knows. The novelty-flavored Shadow bombed so bad that the label decided not to release any more Charlatans tracks, thus leaving their version of Codine gathering dust in the vaults until the mid 1990s, when the entire Kama-Sutra sessions were released on CD. Meanwhile, back in 1968, Quicksilver Messenger Service were still without a record contract, despite pulling decent crowds at various Bay Area venues, including a credible appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. Despite this, the producers of the quasi-documentary film Revolution decided to include footage of the band playing Codine, and commissioned this studio recording of the song for the soundtrack album.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice (alternate version 2)
Source: CD: Born To Be Burned
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1966
This alternate take of Free Advice shows the Great! Society for what they were: a talented garage band with a lot of rough edges that they never got the opportunity to smooth things out.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Ain't That So
Source: CD: Winds Of Change (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
Originally released in the UK as the B side to the 1967 single Good Times (which was itself a B side in the US), Ain't That So made its US debut in 1968, as the B side to the song Monterey (which was a US-only single). Like all the originals released by Eric Burdon and the Animals, writing credits on Ain't That So were shared by the entire band.
Artist: Nazz
Title: Open Your Eyes
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Todd Rundgren
Label: Rhino (original label: SGC)
Year: 1968
The Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, among others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts (a new solo version would become Rundgren's first major hit five years later).
Artist: James Gang
Title: Fred
Source: CD: Yer' Album
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: Bluesway)
Year: 1969
The only rock record to ever be released on the Bluesway label was Yer' Album, the debut LP by Cleveland's James Gang. Featuring Joe Walsh on Guitar (and overdubbed keyboards), Tom Criss (who would leave the band after this album) on bass and Dale Peters on drums, the group was one of the first "power trios" of the 70s. Unlike the group's later efforts, Yer' Album included cover tunes written by such diverse composers as Stephen Stills, Jerry Ragavoy and Jeff Beck, as well as a smattering of original compositions. One of those originals was Fred, a Walsh song that was described in the liner notes as "and it's straaaaaaaange."
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Teacher
Source: CD: Benefit
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1970
LPs released by British Groups often had different song lineups in the US and the UK. One of the reasons for this is that British labels generally did not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. In the US, however, running times were 5-10 minutes shorter per LP, and songs that had been included on British LPs would end up being dropped in favor of the latest hit single by the same artist. Jethro Tull, however, was generally an exception to this practice. Both of their first two LPs had exactly the same song lineup on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, the only notable exception was the song Teacher, which was released as a single before the UK version of the group's third LP, Benefit. The US version of Benefit has Teacher on it, replacing Just Trying To Be, which would not be issued in the US until the Living In The Past album.
Artist: Who
Title: A Legal Matter
Source: CD: Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original US label: Decca)
Year: 1965
In early 1966 the Who parted company with their original UK record label, Brunswick, to hook up with the newly formed Reaction Records. This did not sit well with the people at Brunswick, who did their best to sabotage the band's Reaction releases. They did this by releasing single versions of songs from the band's only Brunswick album, My Generation, within days of each new Who single on Reaction. The first of these was The Kids Are Alright/A Legal Matter, which was released right after the first Who single on Reaction, Substitute. The strategy was for the most part unsuccessful, and all these songs ended up on the Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy album, released a couple years later.
Artist: Who
Title: Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hands
Source: LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1967
There are at least three versions of Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hands. A faster, electric version of the song was released only in the US as the B side to I Can See For Miles, while this semi-latin flavored acoustic version was included on The Who Sell Out. Yet another version is featured as a bonus track on the 1993 CD release of Sell Out.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was the Who's biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. I Can See For Miles was also used as the closing track of side one of The Who Sell Out, released in December of 1967. Some of the commercials and jingles heard at the beginning of the track were recorded by the band itself. Others were lifted (without permission) from Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the English coast.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: LP: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
One of Simon And Garfunkel's most popular songs, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) originally appeared on their 1966 LP Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme. The recording was never, however, released as a single by the duo (although it did appear as a 1967 B side). When Columbia released a greatest hits compilation album (after the duo had split up), a live acoustic version of the song was included on the album. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) did make the top 40 in 1967, when it was recorded by Harper's Bizarre, a group featuring future Doobie Brothers and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman on lead vocals.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Love Or Confusion
Source: LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
A little-known fact is that the original European version of Are You Experienced, in addition to having a different song lineup, consisted entirely of mono recordings. When Reprise got the rights to release the album in North America, its own engineers created new stereo mixes from the 4-track master tapes. As most of the instrumental tracks had already been mixed down to single tracks, the engineers found themselves doing things like putting the vocals all the way on one side of the mix, with reverb effects and guitar solos occupying the other side and all the instruments dead center. Such is the case with Love Or Confusion, with some really bizarre stereo panning thrown in at the end of the track. It's actually kind of fun to listen to with headphones on, as I did when I bought my first copy of the album on reel-to-reel tape (the tape deck was in the same room as the TV). On the downside, the vocals on the stereo mix sound far away when played back through a single speaker.
Artist: Love
Title: Alone Again Or (alternate mix)
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer: Bryan MacLean
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Finishing out this week's show we have an alternate mix of the opening track for Love's Forever Changes album, generally considered to be their best studio work and a surprisingly popular album in England, despite Love never having played there. Bryan McLean once said that he was unhappy with the released mix of Alone Again Or, due to the producer's decision to give Arthur Lee's harmony line a greater prominence in the mix than McLean's lead vocal. This was probably done for consistency's sake, as Lee was the lead vocalist on an overwhelming majority of Love's recordings. This mono alternate mix uses a different balance of vocals, although McLean's part is still not as prominent as McLean would have preferred. McLean himself re-recorded the song on an early 70s solo album, but reportedly was still not satisfied with the way the song sounded.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1203 (starts 1/19/12)
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: CD: Highway 61 Revisited
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well. Personnel on this historic recording included guitarist Michael Bloomfield, pianist Paul Griffin, drummer Bobby Gregg, bassist Joe Madho, guitarist Charlie McCoy and tambourinist Bruce Langhorne. In addition, guitarist Al Kooper, who was on the scene as a guest of producer Tom Wilson, sat in on organ, ad-libbing a part that so impressed Dylan that he insisted it be given a prominent place in the final mixdown. This in turn led to Kooper permanently switching over to keyboards for the remainder of his career.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: You Didn't Have To Be So Nice
Source: LP: The John Sebastian Songbook
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1965
The second single released by the Lovin' Spoonful proved to be just as popular as their first one and helped establish the band as one of the premier acts of the folk-rock movement. Unlike the West Coast folk rock artists such as the Byrds and Barry McGuire, who focused on the socio-political issues of the day, John Sebastian tended to write happy songs with catchy melodies such as You Didn't Have To Be So Nice. As a result, the Lovin' Spoonful for a while rivaled the Beatles in popularity while still managing to maintain some street credit due mainly to their Greenwich Village roots.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: Hear My Train A Comin'
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy
Year: 1967
Sometime in 1967 somebody gave Jimi Hendrix an acoustic 12-string guitar to play around with. As Hendrix generally had a tape recorder running when he was in the studio (just in case he came up with something on the spur of the moment he might want to return to later), he managed to capture this performance of a tune he was working on that wouldn't become an official song until a few years later. The presence of numerous tape dropouts suggests that this recording was simply a practice tape that luckily never got erased and reused.
Artist: John Fahey
Title: Dance Of Death
Source: LP: Zabriskie Point soundtrack
Writer: John Fahey
Label: 4 Men With Beards (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1970
Although the movie Zabriskie Point has a reputation for being one of the worst films ever made, the soundtrack is another story altogether. Most of the attention has been paid to the Pink Floyd tracks on the album, however there are other gems as well, such as this instrumental piece by acoustic guitarist John Fahey. As far as I can tell Dance Of Death does not appear on any of Fahey's own LPs.
Artist: Kinks
Title: See My Friends
Source: LP: Kinkdom
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Possibly the most psychedelic recording ever made by the Kinks, See My Friends was originally released as a single in the UK in 1965, making the top 10. Ray Davies has been heard to say the song is about the death of his older sister Rene, who had given him his first guitar for his 13th birthday shortly before her death from an undiagnosed hole in her heart. Like many of the Kinks' UK singles, See My Friends was not released as a single in the US, appearing instead on the US-only LP Kinkdom.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: Anything
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on LP: Winds Of Change)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
The first album by the "new" Eric Burdon And The Animals, Winds Of Change, included three songs that were released as singles, however only one of the three got airplay in both the US and the UK. The US-only single was a song that Eric Burdon has since said was the one he was most proud of writing, a love generation song called Anything. In fact Burdon liked the song well enough to re-record it for a solo album in 1995.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: A Christmas Camel
Source: CD: Procol Harum (US album title: A Whiter Shade Of Pale)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: Salvo (original label: Deram)
Year: 1967
In 1966 Gary Brooker, former member of British cover band the Paramounts, formed a songwriting partnership with lyricist Keith Reid. By spring of 1967 the two had at least an album's worth of songs written but no band to play them. They solved the dilemma by placing an ad in Melody Maker and soon formed a group called the Pinewoods. Their very first record was A Whiter Shade Of Pale, which soon became the number one song on the British charts (after the Pinewoods changed their name to Procol Harum). The problem was that the group didn't know any other songs, a problem that was solved by firing the drummer and guitarist and replacing them with two of Brooker's former bandmates, B.J. Wilson and Robin Trower. This second version of the group soon recorded an LP, which included several strong tracks such as A Christmas Camel, making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: St. Stephen/The Eleven
Source: LP: Live Dead
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
In 1969, after going way over budget on the LP Aoxomoxoa, the Grateful Dead decided to release a double-LP live album, essentially giving Warner Brothers three albums for the price of one. Unlike the studio LP, which attempted to combine live material with studio overdubs, Live Dead was a documentation of two nights' worth of recent performances at the Fillmore West. At the time the band pretty much stuck to the same setlist for each performance and the songs were generally played as one continuous piece in concert. For the album, the best performance of each song was chosen and then arranged in the same order that they had been performed. Side two picks up the first nights' performance of St. Stephen (which had also appeared on Aoxomoxoa) and continues into the second night's version of The Eleven, a performance that rock critic Robert Christian called at the time "the finest rock improvisation ever recorded." Within a couple years St. Stephen would be dropped from the band's setlist and a performance of the piece in the band's later decades was considered by fans to be a special treat.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Birthday/Yer Blues
Source: CD: The Beatles
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1968
One of the great ironies of rock history was that the album entitled simply The Beatles was the one that had the fewest songs with all four of the band members playing on them. By 1968 the Beatles were experiencing internal conflicts, and nearly all of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's songs were played by just the two of them, while George Harrison's songs (and Ringo Starr's single contribution as a songwriter) featured an array of some of the UK's top musicians (including guitarist Eric Clapton). The opening tracks of side three of the album are typical of this approach, as Birthday is essentially a McCartney solo piece. Yer Blues, on the other hand, has Lennon singing and playing guitar, with probably McCartney on bass and drums. The first performance of Yer Blues in front of a live audience was in December of 1968 as part of the Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus. It was not the Beatles however, that performed the tune. Instead, Yer Blues was played by the Dirty Mac, a jam band consisting of Lennon, Clapton, drummer Mitch Mitchell (of the Jimi Hendrix Experience), and the Stones' Keith Richards on bass. That performance was never seen, other than by the studio audience, until the entire Circus was released on DVD a few years ago (Mick Jagger reportedly had the entire project shelved due to his dissatisfaction with the Stones' performance).
Artist: Cream
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Chester Burnett
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Throughout their existence British blues supergroup Cream recorded covers of blues classics. One of the best of these is Sitting On Top Of The World from the album Wheels Of Fire, which in its earliest form was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon and recorded by the Mississippi Shieks in 1930. Cream's cover uses the lyrics from the 1957 rewrite of the song by Chester Burnett, better know as Howlin' Wolf.
Artist: Monks
Title: Complication
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burger/Spangler/Havlicek/Johnston/Shaw
Label: Rhino (original label: Polydor)
Year: 1966
In 1964 a group of American GIs stationed in Germany decided to get together and form a rock band. After their respective tours of duty ended they decided to stay in the country and in 1966 recorded this single for Polydor. Knowing that a large segment of their audience had a rudimentary grasp of English at best, they deliberately crafted a tune that would be easy to comprehend with clear, almost chanted lyrics. To take the chanting concept a step further they all had square patches shaved off the top of their heads and dressed in brown robes. After thinking about it for a couple days I think I've finally figured out who these guys remind me of: early AC/DC, especially Von Scott's vocals. Compare this to Jailbreak. You'll hear what I mean.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Discrepancy
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
Last week I did a tribute to Sean Bonniwell of the Music Machine, who died from lung cancer on December 20th, 2011. I inadvertantly left out one song I really wanted to play, however. That song is Discrepancy, one of Bonniwell's most sophisticated efforts. The song actually features two simultaneous vocal lines. The main one, sung by Bonniwell (in the left channel) as a single melody line, tells the story of a deteriorating relationship. In the opposite channel we hear a breathy multi-part vocal line that tells the same story from the perspective of the subconscious. The two come together lyrically from time to time to express key concepts such as the line "now I know I'm losing you", only to once again diverge onto their separate tracks. The bridge serves to further unite the two divergent lines with the repeating plea to "tell me what to do". Discrepancy is one of the few tracks recorded by the original Music Machine lineup that was never released on Original Sound Records, either as an LP track or on a 45 RPM single. Instead, the song was included on the LP Bonniwell Music Machine, released by Warner Brothers in 1967.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Uni)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints is one of the iconic songs of the psychedelic era, yet when it was originally released to Los Angeles area radio stations it was intended to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash. Somewhere along the line a DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense And Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Comin' Back To Me
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
Uncredited guest guitarist Jerry Garcia adds a simple, but memorable recurring fill riff to this Marty Balin tune. Balin, in his 2003 liner notes to the remastered release of Surrealistic Pillow, claims that Comin' Back To Me was written in one sitting under the influence of some primo stuff given to him by Paul Butterfield. Other players on the recording include Balin and Paul Kantner on guitars, Jack Casady on bass and Grace Slick on recorder.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (originally released in US only as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Jim McCarty
Label: Raven (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
By 1967 the Yardbirds had moved far away from the blues roots and were on their fourth lead guitarist, studio whiz Jimmy Page. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor shows signs of Page's innovative guitar style (such as using a violin bow) that would help define 70s rock with his next band, Led Zeppelin.
Artist: Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart
Title: Words
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Rhino
Year: 1965
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were really hoping to be selected for the new band that Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures was putting together to star in a new weekly TV series. It didn't work out for them, but several of the songs they wrote appeared on the Monkees albums, including Words, heard here in its previously unreleased 1965 demo form.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
With two tracks (Can't Seem To Make You Mine and Pushin' Too Hard) from their first album getting decent airplay on L.A. radio stations in 1966 the Seeds headed back to the studio to record a second LP, A Web Of Sound. The first single released from the album was Mr. Farmer, a song that once again did well locally. The only national hit for the Seeds came when Pushin' Too Hard was re-released in December of 1966, hitting its national peak the following spring. Wait a sec...didn't I just say this last week?
Artist: Byrds
Title: It Happens Every Day
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
The Byrds had a unique problem in early 1967: they were writing and recording more quality material than they could fit on an album. As a result some truly worthy songs like It Happens Every Day got left off Younger Than Yesterday. It's possible that the song would have been included on the next Byrds album, but with David Crosby no longer a member of the band by the time The Notorious Byrd Brothers came out, it was probably deemed inappropriate to include it there. Ironically, it was revealed years later that an uncredited Crosby did play on several tracks on the Notorious Byrd Brothers, despite having left the band before its release.
Artist: King Crimson
Title: The Court Of The Crimson King
Source: LP: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer: MacDonald/Sinfield
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
Perhaps the most influential progressive rock album of all time was King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band, in its original incarnation, included Robert Fripp on guitar, Ian MacDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, David Giles on drums and Peter Sinfield as a dedicated lyricist. The title track, which takes up the second half of side two of the LP, features music composed by MacDonald, who would leave the group after their second album, later resurfacing as a founding member of Foreigner. The album's distinctive cover art (posted on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) came from a painting by computer programmer Barry Godber, who died of a heart attack less than a year after the album was released. According to Fripp, the artwork on the inside is a portrait of the Crimson King, whose manic smile is in direct contrast to his sad eyes. The album, song and artwork were the inspiration for Stephen King's own Crimson King, the insane antagonist of his Dark Tower saga who is out to destroy all of reality, including our own.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: CD: Best Of Spirit (originally released on LP: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus)
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left the band. The single mix is a bit different from the album version, particularly at the end of the song, which originally ended with a tympani roll by drummer Ed Cassidy. The single version ends with the chord immediately preceding that roll.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Elijah
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer: John Locke
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Since the mid-1960s many bands have had one long piece that they play in concert that is specifically designed to allow individual band members to strut their stuff. In a few cases, such as Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida or Lynnard Skynnard's Freebird, it becomes their best-known song. In most cases, though, a studio version of the piece gets put on an early album and never gets heard on the radio. Such is the case with Spirit's show-stopper Elijah, which was reportedly never played the same way twice. Elijah, written by keyboardist John Locke, starts with a hard-rockin' main theme that is followed by a jazzier second theme that showcases one of the lead instruments (guitar, keyboards). The piece then comes to a dead stop while one of the members has a solo section of their own devising. This is followed by the main theme, repeating several times until every member has had their own solo section. The piece ends with a return to the main theme followed by a classic power rock ending.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Animal Zoo
Source: CD: Best Of Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
The last album by the original lineup of Spirit was The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, released in 1970. The album was originally going to be produced by Neil Young, but due to other commitments Young had to bow out, recommending David Briggs, who had already produced Young's first album with Crazy Horse, as a replacement. The first song to be released as a single was Animal Zoo, but the tune barely cracked the top 100 charts. The album itself did better on progressive FM stations and has since come to be regarded as a classic. Shortly after the release of Twelve Dreams, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes left Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne.
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: CD: Highway 61 Revisited
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well. Personnel on this historic recording included guitarist Michael Bloomfield, pianist Paul Griffin, drummer Bobby Gregg, bassist Joe Madho, guitarist Charlie McCoy and tambourinist Bruce Langhorne. In addition, guitarist Al Kooper, who was on the scene as a guest of producer Tom Wilson, sat in on organ, ad-libbing a part that so impressed Dylan that he insisted it be given a prominent place in the final mixdown. This in turn led to Kooper permanently switching over to keyboards for the remainder of his career.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: You Didn't Have To Be So Nice
Source: LP: The John Sebastian Songbook
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1965
The second single released by the Lovin' Spoonful proved to be just as popular as their first one and helped establish the band as one of the premier acts of the folk-rock movement. Unlike the West Coast folk rock artists such as the Byrds and Barry McGuire, who focused on the socio-political issues of the day, John Sebastian tended to write happy songs with catchy melodies such as You Didn't Have To Be So Nice. As a result, the Lovin' Spoonful for a while rivaled the Beatles in popularity while still managing to maintain some street credit due mainly to their Greenwich Village roots.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: Hear My Train A Comin'
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy
Year: 1967
Sometime in 1967 somebody gave Jimi Hendrix an acoustic 12-string guitar to play around with. As Hendrix generally had a tape recorder running when he was in the studio (just in case he came up with something on the spur of the moment he might want to return to later), he managed to capture this performance of a tune he was working on that wouldn't become an official song until a few years later. The presence of numerous tape dropouts suggests that this recording was simply a practice tape that luckily never got erased and reused.
Artist: John Fahey
Title: Dance Of Death
Source: LP: Zabriskie Point soundtrack
Writer: John Fahey
Label: 4 Men With Beards (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1970
Although the movie Zabriskie Point has a reputation for being one of the worst films ever made, the soundtrack is another story altogether. Most of the attention has been paid to the Pink Floyd tracks on the album, however there are other gems as well, such as this instrumental piece by acoustic guitarist John Fahey. As far as I can tell Dance Of Death does not appear on any of Fahey's own LPs.
Artist: Kinks
Title: See My Friends
Source: LP: Kinkdom
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Possibly the most psychedelic recording ever made by the Kinks, See My Friends was originally released as a single in the UK in 1965, making the top 10. Ray Davies has been heard to say the song is about the death of his older sister Rene, who had given him his first guitar for his 13th birthday shortly before her death from an undiagnosed hole in her heart. Like many of the Kinks' UK singles, See My Friends was not released as a single in the US, appearing instead on the US-only LP Kinkdom.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: Anything
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on LP: Winds Of Change)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
The first album by the "new" Eric Burdon And The Animals, Winds Of Change, included three songs that were released as singles, however only one of the three got airplay in both the US and the UK. The US-only single was a song that Eric Burdon has since said was the one he was most proud of writing, a love generation song called Anything. In fact Burdon liked the song well enough to re-record it for a solo album in 1995.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: A Christmas Camel
Source: CD: Procol Harum (US album title: A Whiter Shade Of Pale)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: Salvo (original label: Deram)
Year: 1967
In 1966 Gary Brooker, former member of British cover band the Paramounts, formed a songwriting partnership with lyricist Keith Reid. By spring of 1967 the two had at least an album's worth of songs written but no band to play them. They solved the dilemma by placing an ad in Melody Maker and soon formed a group called the Pinewoods. Their very first record was A Whiter Shade Of Pale, which soon became the number one song on the British charts (after the Pinewoods changed their name to Procol Harum). The problem was that the group didn't know any other songs, a problem that was solved by firing the drummer and guitarist and replacing them with two of Brooker's former bandmates, B.J. Wilson and Robin Trower. This second version of the group soon recorded an LP, which included several strong tracks such as A Christmas Camel, making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: St. Stephen/The Eleven
Source: LP: Live Dead
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
In 1969, after going way over budget on the LP Aoxomoxoa, the Grateful Dead decided to release a double-LP live album, essentially giving Warner Brothers three albums for the price of one. Unlike the studio LP, which attempted to combine live material with studio overdubs, Live Dead was a documentation of two nights' worth of recent performances at the Fillmore West. At the time the band pretty much stuck to the same setlist for each performance and the songs were generally played as one continuous piece in concert. For the album, the best performance of each song was chosen and then arranged in the same order that they had been performed. Side two picks up the first nights' performance of St. Stephen (which had also appeared on Aoxomoxoa) and continues into the second night's version of The Eleven, a performance that rock critic Robert Christian called at the time "the finest rock improvisation ever recorded." Within a couple years St. Stephen would be dropped from the band's setlist and a performance of the piece in the band's later decades was considered by fans to be a special treat.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Birthday/Yer Blues
Source: CD: The Beatles
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1968
One of the great ironies of rock history was that the album entitled simply The Beatles was the one that had the fewest songs with all four of the band members playing on them. By 1968 the Beatles were experiencing internal conflicts, and nearly all of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's songs were played by just the two of them, while George Harrison's songs (and Ringo Starr's single contribution as a songwriter) featured an array of some of the UK's top musicians (including guitarist Eric Clapton). The opening tracks of side three of the album are typical of this approach, as Birthday is essentially a McCartney solo piece. Yer Blues, on the other hand, has Lennon singing and playing guitar, with probably McCartney on bass and drums. The first performance of Yer Blues in front of a live audience was in December of 1968 as part of the Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus. It was not the Beatles however, that performed the tune. Instead, Yer Blues was played by the Dirty Mac, a jam band consisting of Lennon, Clapton, drummer Mitch Mitchell (of the Jimi Hendrix Experience), and the Stones' Keith Richards on bass. That performance was never seen, other than by the studio audience, until the entire Circus was released on DVD a few years ago (Mick Jagger reportedly had the entire project shelved due to his dissatisfaction with the Stones' performance).
Artist: Cream
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Chester Burnett
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Throughout their existence British blues supergroup Cream recorded covers of blues classics. One of the best of these is Sitting On Top Of The World from the album Wheels Of Fire, which in its earliest form was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon and recorded by the Mississippi Shieks in 1930. Cream's cover uses the lyrics from the 1957 rewrite of the song by Chester Burnett, better know as Howlin' Wolf.
Artist: Monks
Title: Complication
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burger/Spangler/Havlicek/Johnston/Shaw
Label: Rhino (original label: Polydor)
Year: 1966
In 1964 a group of American GIs stationed in Germany decided to get together and form a rock band. After their respective tours of duty ended they decided to stay in the country and in 1966 recorded this single for Polydor. Knowing that a large segment of their audience had a rudimentary grasp of English at best, they deliberately crafted a tune that would be easy to comprehend with clear, almost chanted lyrics. To take the chanting concept a step further they all had square patches shaved off the top of their heads and dressed in brown robes. After thinking about it for a couple days I think I've finally figured out who these guys remind me of: early AC/DC, especially Von Scott's vocals. Compare this to Jailbreak. You'll hear what I mean.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Discrepancy
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
Last week I did a tribute to Sean Bonniwell of the Music Machine, who died from lung cancer on December 20th, 2011. I inadvertantly left out one song I really wanted to play, however. That song is Discrepancy, one of Bonniwell's most sophisticated efforts. The song actually features two simultaneous vocal lines. The main one, sung by Bonniwell (in the left channel) as a single melody line, tells the story of a deteriorating relationship. In the opposite channel we hear a breathy multi-part vocal line that tells the same story from the perspective of the subconscious. The two come together lyrically from time to time to express key concepts such as the line "now I know I'm losing you", only to once again diverge onto their separate tracks. The bridge serves to further unite the two divergent lines with the repeating plea to "tell me what to do". Discrepancy is one of the few tracks recorded by the original Music Machine lineup that was never released on Original Sound Records, either as an LP track or on a 45 RPM single. Instead, the song was included on the LP Bonniwell Music Machine, released by Warner Brothers in 1967.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Uni)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints is one of the iconic songs of the psychedelic era, yet when it was originally released to Los Angeles area radio stations it was intended to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash. Somewhere along the line a DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense And Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Comin' Back To Me
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
Uncredited guest guitarist Jerry Garcia adds a simple, but memorable recurring fill riff to this Marty Balin tune. Balin, in his 2003 liner notes to the remastered release of Surrealistic Pillow, claims that Comin' Back To Me was written in one sitting under the influence of some primo stuff given to him by Paul Butterfield. Other players on the recording include Balin and Paul Kantner on guitars, Jack Casady on bass and Grace Slick on recorder.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (originally released in US only as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Jim McCarty
Label: Raven (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
By 1967 the Yardbirds had moved far away from the blues roots and were on their fourth lead guitarist, studio whiz Jimmy Page. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor shows signs of Page's innovative guitar style (such as using a violin bow) that would help define 70s rock with his next band, Led Zeppelin.
Artist: Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart
Title: Words
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Rhino
Year: 1965
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were really hoping to be selected for the new band that Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures was putting together to star in a new weekly TV series. It didn't work out for them, but several of the songs they wrote appeared on the Monkees albums, including Words, heard here in its previously unreleased 1965 demo form.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
With two tracks (Can't Seem To Make You Mine and Pushin' Too Hard) from their first album getting decent airplay on L.A. radio stations in 1966 the Seeds headed back to the studio to record a second LP, A Web Of Sound. The first single released from the album was Mr. Farmer, a song that once again did well locally. The only national hit for the Seeds came when Pushin' Too Hard was re-released in December of 1966, hitting its national peak the following spring. Wait a sec...didn't I just say this last week?
Artist: Byrds
Title: It Happens Every Day
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
The Byrds had a unique problem in early 1967: they were writing and recording more quality material than they could fit on an album. As a result some truly worthy songs like It Happens Every Day got left off Younger Than Yesterday. It's possible that the song would have been included on the next Byrds album, but with David Crosby no longer a member of the band by the time The Notorious Byrd Brothers came out, it was probably deemed inappropriate to include it there. Ironically, it was revealed years later that an uncredited Crosby did play on several tracks on the Notorious Byrd Brothers, despite having left the band before its release.
Artist: King Crimson
Title: The Court Of The Crimson King
Source: LP: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer: MacDonald/Sinfield
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
Perhaps the most influential progressive rock album of all time was King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band, in its original incarnation, included Robert Fripp on guitar, Ian MacDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, David Giles on drums and Peter Sinfield as a dedicated lyricist. The title track, which takes up the second half of side two of the LP, features music composed by MacDonald, who would leave the group after their second album, later resurfacing as a founding member of Foreigner. The album's distinctive cover art (posted on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) came from a painting by computer programmer Barry Godber, who died of a heart attack less than a year after the album was released. According to Fripp, the artwork on the inside is a portrait of the Crimson King, whose manic smile is in direct contrast to his sad eyes. The album, song and artwork were the inspiration for Stephen King's own Crimson King, the insane antagonist of his Dark Tower saga who is out to destroy all of reality, including our own.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: CD: Best Of Spirit (originally released on LP: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus)
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left the band. The single mix is a bit different from the album version, particularly at the end of the song, which originally ended with a tympani roll by drummer Ed Cassidy. The single version ends with the chord immediately preceding that roll.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Elijah
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer: John Locke
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Since the mid-1960s many bands have had one long piece that they play in concert that is specifically designed to allow individual band members to strut their stuff. In a few cases, such as Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida or Lynnard Skynnard's Freebird, it becomes their best-known song. In most cases, though, a studio version of the piece gets put on an early album and never gets heard on the radio. Such is the case with Spirit's show-stopper Elijah, which was reportedly never played the same way twice. Elijah, written by keyboardist John Locke, starts with a hard-rockin' main theme that is followed by a jazzier second theme that showcases one of the lead instruments (guitar, keyboards). The piece then comes to a dead stop while one of the members has a solo section of their own devising. This is followed by the main theme, repeating several times until every member has had their own solo section. The piece ends with a return to the main theme followed by a classic power rock ending.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Animal Zoo
Source: CD: Best Of Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
The last album by the original lineup of Spirit was The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, released in 1970. The album was originally going to be produced by Neil Young, but due to other commitments Young had to bow out, recommending David Briggs, who had already produced Young's first album with Crazy Horse, as a replacement. The first song to be released as a single was Animal Zoo, but the tune barely cracked the top 100 charts. The album itself did better on progressive FM stations and has since come to be regarded as a classic. Shortly after the release of Twelve Dreams, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes left Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1202 (starts 1/12/12)
This week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is dedicated to Sean Bonniwell, who passed away on Dec. 20th 2011 of lung cancer. I thought about doing a tribute set in the second hour, but then hit upon an idea that I think Bonniwell himself would have appreciated: a Music Machine track in every song set. The result is a show with no less than eleven tracks from Bonniwell's Music Machine, one of the most underrated garage-psych bands of the late 1960s. Bonniwell was one of the first rock musicians to take a holistic approach to his musical presentation. The Artist: of the band itself reflected Bonniwell's idea to segue directly from song to song for an entire set, never pausing long enough to let members of the audience call out requests that Bonniwell had no desire to play. Visually, the Music Machine had a look all their own, with all the members dressing entirely in black (including dying their hair) and wearing one glove on stage, years before Michael Jackson did his first moonwalk. The songs themselves showed a sophistication seldom, if ever, heard among their contemporaries. Elements of Bonniwell's music can be heard in later bands such as the Doors (Ray Manzarek's keyboard work has much in common with that of organist Doug Rhodes) and Iron Butterfly (in particular Doug Ingle's vocal style). In addition to the Music Machine tracks we have nearly two dozen more tunes by the usual variety of artists, including one or two you probably never heard of as well as some old favorites like Jimi Hendrix, the Standells and even the Grateful Dead. See the songlist below for details.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Some Other Drum
Source: CD: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables
Year: 1966
The Music Machine is best known for its high energy arrangements and snarling vocals, as typified by their greatest hit Talk Talk. Some Other Drum, from the Music Machine's debut LP, shows a different side of Sean Bonniwell's songwriting. Sounding a bit like the Lovin' Spoonful, Some Other Drum emphasizes the more traditional elements of pop songwriting such as a catchy melody and layered harmonies and shows that Bonniwell, if he wanted to, could probably have been quite successful if he had chosen to go that route.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Words Of Love
Source: CD: Beatles For Sale (released in US on LP: Beatles VI)
Writer: Buddy Holly
Label: Parlophone (US label: Capitol)
Year: 1964 (US release: 1965)
By 1964 John Lennon and Paul McCartney were already well on their way to becoming one of the most successful songwriting teams in history. Despite this, the Beatles continued to record cover tunes such as Words Of Love, which had been one of Buddy Holly's biggest hits (and one of the few without a co-writing credit for producer Norm Petty). It wasn't until 1965, with the release of Rubber Soul, that the Beatles would write 100% of the material that they recorded.
Artist: Love
Title: My Little Red Book
Source: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Love)
Writer: Bacharach/David
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
My Little Red Book was a song originally composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the soundtrack of the movie What's New Pussycat and performed by Manfred Mann. I think it's safe to say that Bacharach and David did not intend the song to sound anything like this recording by Love, the first rock record ever released on the Elektra label.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Absolutely Positively
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
I'm going to use Sean Bonniwell's own words to describe Absolutely Positively: "Demanding that you get what you don't have without knowing what you want is the same as wanting what you haven't got, then not wanting it after you get it." Heady stuff that describes a very American attitude that has only become even more prevalent in the years since the song was written.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Mind Gardens
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Mind Gardens is a perfect example of what songwriter David Crosby refers to as "one of those weird David Crosby songs". The song is a deliberate attempt at abandoning Western concepts such as chord progressions in favor of a more modal approach favored in Eastern composing. Roger McGuinn's guitar perfectly compliments Crosby's esoteric lyrics and melody on this track from the Younger Than Yesterday album, the last LP to be completed with Crosby as a full member of the Byrds.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When I was a junior in high school I used to fall asleep on the living room couch with the headphones on, usually listening to pre-recorded tapes of either the Beatles' Revolver album or one of the first two album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. One song in particular from the second Hendrix album, Axis: Bold As Love, always gave me a chill when I heard it: Castles Made Of Sand. The song serves as a warning not to put too much faith in your dreams, and stands in direct contrast to the usual goal-oriented American attitude.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
After the success of Talk Talk, the Music Machine issued a series of unsuccessful singles on the Original Sound label. Band leader Sean Bonniwell attributed this lack of success to mismanagement by record company people and the band's own manager. Eventually those singles would be re-issued on Warner Brothers on an album called Bonniwell Music Machine, along with a handful of new songs. One of the best of these singles was Double Yellow Line, which Bonniwell said he wrote while driving to a gig. This seems to be a good place to mention the rest of the original Music Machine lineup, which consisted of Mark Landon on lead guitar. Ron Edgar on drums, Doug Rhodes on organ and Keith Olsen on bass. This lineup would dissolve before the release of the Bonniwell Music Machine album but was featured on the majority of tracks on the LP nonetheless.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Bringing Home The Bacon
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1973
After the departure of original lead guitarist Robin Trower, the remaining members of Procol Harum continued to record quality albums such as Grand Hotel, although their airplay was limited to sporadic plays on progressive FM stations. One song that probably should have gotten more attention than it did was Bringing Home The Bacon, from the aforementioned Grand Hotel album. The group would experience a brief return to top 40 radio the following year with the release of their live version of Conquistador, a track that originally appeared on the band's 1967 debut LP.
Artist: Leslie West
Title: Blood Of The Sun
Source: 45 RPM single B side (single taken from LP: Mountain)
Writer: West/Pappaliardi/Collins
Label: Windfall
Year: 1969
After the Vagrants disbanded guitarist Leslie Weinstein changed his last name to West and recorded a solo album called Mountain. Helping him with the project was producer Felix Pappaliardi, who had previously worked with Cream on their Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire albums. The two meshed so well that they decided to form a band with drummer Corky Laing, using the name Mountain. One of the first gigs by the new band was the Woodstock festival, where they played Blood Of The Sun to an enthusiastic crowd. This week, making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut, we have the original studio version of the tune.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The People In Me
Source: CD: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
After Talk Talk soared into the upper reaches of the US charts the Music Machine's management made a tactical error. Instead of promoting the follow-up single, The People In Me, to the largest possible audience, the band's manager gave exclusive air rights to a new station at the far end of the Los Angeles AM radio dial. As local bands like the Music Machine depended on airplay in L.A. as a necessary step to getting national exposure, the move proved disastrous. Without any airplay on influential stations such as KFI, The People In Me was unable to get any higher than the # 66 spot on the national charts. Even worse for the band, the big stations remembered the slight when subsequent singles by the Music Machine were released, and by mid-1967 the original lineup had disbanded.
Artist: Doors
Title: Unhappy Girl
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
After the success of their first album and the single Light My Fire in early 1967, the Doors quickly returned to the studio, releasing a second LP, Strange Days, later the same year. The first single released from the new album was People Are Strange. The B side of that single was Unhappy Girl, from the same album. Both sides got played on the jukebox at a place called the Woog in the village of Meisenbach near Ramstein Air Force Base (which is where I was spending most of my evenings that autumn).
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Overdrive
Source: LP: Sailor
Writer: Boz Scaggs
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
The Steve Miller Band, in its early years, was in a sense an American version of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, serving as a launching pad for the careers of Ben Sidran and Boz Scaggs, among others. This early Scaggs tune shows a harder-edged side to the Boz than most of his later solo hits.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Doin' That Rag
Source: CD: Aoxomoxoa
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
After spending six months on their second LP, Anthem Of The Sun (and going way overbudget in the process), the Grateful Dead reeled things in a bit (but not all that much) for their third effort, Aoxomoxoa. Like Anthem Of The Sun, Aoxomoxoa still combined live recordings with studio overdubs, but the individual songs were shorter and more distinct than on the previous effort. One good example is Doin' That Rag, a song that inexplicably disappeared from the band's live repertoire relatively quickly.
Artist: Standells
Title: Riot On Sunset Strip
Source: CD: Best Of The Standells (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on movie soundtrack LP: Riot On Sunset Strip)
Writer: Valentino/Fleck
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Anyone who doubts just how much influence bands like the Standells had on the punk-rock movement of the late 1970s need only listen to this 1967 track from the movie Riot On Sunset Strip. The track sounds like it could have been an early Ramones recording. The song itself (and the movie) were based on a real life event. Local L.A. business owners had been complaining about the unruliness and rampant drug usage among the teens hanging out in front of the various underage clubs that had been springing up on Sunset Strip in the wake of the success of the Whisky-A-Go-Go, and in late 1966 the Los Angeles Police Department was called in to do something about the problem. What followed was a full-blown riot which ultimately led to local laws being passed that put many of the clubs out of business and severely curtailed the ability of the rest to make a profit. By 1968 the entire scene was a thing of the past, with the few remaining clubs converting to a more traditional over-21 approach.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Astrologically Incompatible
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
Astrologically Incompatible, in addition to being one of the first known rock songs to make references to the signs of the zodiac (which would become fashionable in the following decade), marks a transition point in the history of the Music Machine. One of the last tracks recorded by the original lineup, it was also the B side of the first single released under the name Bonniwell Music Machine on Warner Brothers. The horn overdubs were played by Bonniwell himself and organist Doug Rhodes, using then state-of-the-art 8-track technology.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Uni)
Year: 1967
Starting off this week's show is one of the iconic songs of the summer of love. Interestingly enough, this was supposed to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash, but somehow ended up getting all the airplay. I haven't bothered to actually count, but I wouldn't be surprised to find I have more copies of this particular song than any other. It appears on just about every collection of psychedelic music ever assembled, it seems. I do have a copy of the original 45, but when I bring that in I generally play...you guessed it, The Birdman of Alkatrash.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Trouble
Source: LP: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
Sean Bonniwell had definite plans for the Music Machine's first album. His primary goal was to have all original material (with the exception of a slowed-down version of Billy Roberts' Hey Joe that he and fellow songwriter Tim Rose had been working on; before you ask, both Rose and the Music Machine recorded it before Jimi Hendrix did). Unfortunately, the shirts at Original Sound Records did not take their own company name seriously and inserted four cover songs that the band had recorded for a local TV show. The best way to listen to Turn On The Music Machine, then, is to program your CD player to skip all the extra cover songs. Listened to that way, the album becomes an 8-song EP and this track becomes the second song on the disc, following the classic Talk Talk.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and Hey Joe. David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but California-based folk singer Billy Roberts had copyrighted the song in 1962 and had reportedly been heard playing the tune as early as 1958.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Oh Yeah
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elias McDaniel
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The original British blues bands like the Yardbirds made no secret of the fact that they had created their own version of a music that had come from Chicago. The Shadows Of Knight, on the other hand, were a Chicago band that created their own version of the British blues, bringing the whole thing full circle. After taking their version of Van Morrison's Gloria into the top 10 early in 1966, the Shadows (which had added "of Knight" to their name just prior to releasing Gloria) decided to follow it up with an updated version of Bo Diddley's Oh Yeah. Although the song did not have a lot of national top 40 success, it did help establish the Shadows' reputation as one of the premier garage-punk bands.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Day Today
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released
Writer: Bonniwell/Olsen
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
For some unknown reason, every person who wrote a song in the late 1960s wrote a song like The Day Today; a slow, somewhat sappy tune with a kind of hokey spoken section in place of an instrumental break. (I even wrote one myself called Leaves. I cringe every time I think of it.) The odd thing about The Day Today is that it is a rare instance of Sean Bonniwell collaborating with another songwriter (in this case Music Machine bassist Keith Olsen, who himself was about to embark on a career as a record producer). What possessed people to write things like this is beyond me, but just in case you are one of the few that can appreciate this sort of song, here it is. The rest of us can take comfort in the fact that the track is less than three minutes long.
Artist: Turtles
Title: To See The Sun
Source: The Turtles-1968
Writer: The Turtles
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
In 1968 the Turtles, feeling restricted by the dictates of producers and record company people, decided to rent studio time to produce some tracks of their own. The result was four songs, three of which were rejected outright by their label, White Whale. (The fourth track, Surfer Joe, made it onto their Battle of the Bands album). Several years later a new local L.A. record label, Rhino Records, was looking to move beyond the niche it had carved out for itself as a novelty label. The chance to make previously unreleased material such as To See The Sun from a band as well-known as the Turtles was just what the label was looking for, and, along with re-releasing long out-of-print Turtles albums, got the label moving in a whole new direction that they continue to excel at.
Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Source: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
After the demise of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills headed for New York, where he worked with Al Kooper on the Super Session album and recorded several demo tapes of his own, including a new song called Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (reportedly written for his then-girlfriend Judy Collins). After his stint in New York he returned to California, where he started hanging out in the Laurel Canyon home of David Crosby, who had been fired from the Byrds in 1967. Crosby's house at that time was generally filled with a variety of people coming and going, and Crosby and Stills soon found themselves doing improvised harmonies on each other's material in front of a friendly, if somewhat stoned, audience. It was not long before they invited Graham Nash, whom they heard had been having problems of his own with his bandmates in the Hollies, to come join them in Laurel Canyon. The three soon began recording together, and in 1969 released the album Crosby, Stills and Nash. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was chosen as the opening track for the new album and was later released (in edited form) as a single.
Artist: Front Line
Title: Got Love
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lanigan/Philipet
Label: Rhino (original label: York)
Year: 1965
The Front Line was a band from San Rafael, California whose story in many ways was typical of their time. Marin County, being a fairly upscale place, had its share of clubs catering to the sons and daughters of its affluent residents. Of course, these teens wanted to hear live performances of their favorite top 40 tunes and bands like the Front Line made a decent enough living catering to their preferences. Like most bands of the time, the Front Line had one song that was of their own creation, albeit one that was somewhat derivative of the kinds of tunes they usually performed so as not to scare off their audience. That song was Got Love, which was released on the York label in 1965.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: Turn On (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The Music Machine's big hit.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Come On In
Source: CD: Turn On (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The B side of the Music Machine's big hit.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: A Web Of Sound)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
With two tracks (Can't Seem To Make You Mine and Pushin' Too Hard) from their first album getting decent airplay on L.A. radio stations in 1966 the Seeds headed back to the studio to record a second LP, A Web Of Sound. The first single released from the album was Mr. Farmer, a song that once again did well locally. The only national hit for the Seeds came when Pushin' Too Hard was re-released in December of 1966, hitting its national peak the following spring.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on LP: Winds of Change and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Me, Myself And I
Source: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1968
With the members of the original Music Machine gone their separate ways, Sean Bonniwell recruited a whole new lineup to record and perform as the Bonniwell Music Machine. The new lineup included Guile Wisdom on lead guitar, Jerry Harris on drums, Harry Garfield on organ and Eddie Jones on bass. The new lineup provided a handful of tracks for the LP Bonniwell Music Machine in 1967 and released three singles on Warner Brothers, none of which made any headway on the charts, despite being among Bonniwell's best songs. The first of the singles was Me, Myself And I, a song that Bonniwell himself described as "punk pop" and one that presaged the "me first" attitude that would characterize the disco era in the late 70s.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Bad Moon Rising
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: John Fogerty
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
It's a mystery to me why the Woodstock movie completely ignores the presence of Creedence Clearwater Revival, especially considering that they were at their commercial peak at the time of the performance. Bad Moon Rising was one of a series of consecutive hits for the band that each made it just short of the top of the charts, stalling out at # 2.
Artist: Johnny Winter
Title: Rollin' And Tumblin'
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: The Progressive Blues Experiment)
Writer: McKinley Morganfield
Label: United Artists (original label: Sonobeat)
Year: 1968
Johnny Winter's first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, was originally released in 1968 on the Texas-based Sonobeat label. The album featured a mix of Winter originals and blues cover tunes such as the Muddy Waters classic Rollin' And Tumblin'. A ctitical success, the album was picked up and reissued on the Imperial label a year later.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: I Need A Man To Love
Source: LP:Cheap Thrills
Writer: Joplin/Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Big Brother and the Holding Company recorded their first album at the Chicago studios of Mainstream records in 1967. Mainstream, however, was a jazz label and their engineers had no idea how to make a band like Big Brother sound good. When the band signed to Columbia the following year it was decided that the best way to record the band was onstage at the Fillmore West. As a result, when Cheap Thrills was released, four of the seven tracks were live recordings, including the Janis Joplin/Peter Albin collaboration I Need A Man To Love.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Soul Love
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1968
The B side of the first single released by the second version of the Bonniwell Music Machine was a wild R&B/punk piece called Soul Love, which features an instrumental section that seemingly goes on forever but in fact lasts barely more than a minute. Compared to the usual Bonniwell song, which generally managed to pack in as much substance in less than two and a half minutes than most modern songs have in twice that amount of time, Soul Love is practically a jam session.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Some Other Drum
Source: CD: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables
Year: 1966
The Music Machine is best known for its high energy arrangements and snarling vocals, as typified by their greatest hit Talk Talk. Some Other Drum, from the Music Machine's debut LP, shows a different side of Sean Bonniwell's songwriting. Sounding a bit like the Lovin' Spoonful, Some Other Drum emphasizes the more traditional elements of pop songwriting such as a catchy melody and layered harmonies and shows that Bonniwell, if he wanted to, could probably have been quite successful if he had chosen to go that route.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Words Of Love
Source: CD: Beatles For Sale (released in US on LP: Beatles VI)
Writer: Buddy Holly
Label: Parlophone (US label: Capitol)
Year: 1964 (US release: 1965)
By 1964 John Lennon and Paul McCartney were already well on their way to becoming one of the most successful songwriting teams in history. Despite this, the Beatles continued to record cover tunes such as Words Of Love, which had been one of Buddy Holly's biggest hits (and one of the few without a co-writing credit for producer Norm Petty). It wasn't until 1965, with the release of Rubber Soul, that the Beatles would write 100% of the material that they recorded.
Artist: Love
Title: My Little Red Book
Source: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Love)
Writer: Bacharach/David
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
My Little Red Book was a song originally composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the soundtrack of the movie What's New Pussycat and performed by Manfred Mann. I think it's safe to say that Bacharach and David did not intend the song to sound anything like this recording by Love, the first rock record ever released on the Elektra label.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Absolutely Positively
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
I'm going to use Sean Bonniwell's own words to describe Absolutely Positively: "Demanding that you get what you don't have without knowing what you want is the same as wanting what you haven't got, then not wanting it after you get it." Heady stuff that describes a very American attitude that has only become even more prevalent in the years since the song was written.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Mind Gardens
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Mind Gardens is a perfect example of what songwriter David Crosby refers to as "one of those weird David Crosby songs". The song is a deliberate attempt at abandoning Western concepts such as chord progressions in favor of a more modal approach favored in Eastern composing. Roger McGuinn's guitar perfectly compliments Crosby's esoteric lyrics and melody on this track from the Younger Than Yesterday album, the last LP to be completed with Crosby as a full member of the Byrds.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When I was a junior in high school I used to fall asleep on the living room couch with the headphones on, usually listening to pre-recorded tapes of either the Beatles' Revolver album or one of the first two album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. One song in particular from the second Hendrix album, Axis: Bold As Love, always gave me a chill when I heard it: Castles Made Of Sand. The song serves as a warning not to put too much faith in your dreams, and stands in direct contrast to the usual goal-oriented American attitude.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
After the success of Talk Talk, the Music Machine issued a series of unsuccessful singles on the Original Sound label. Band leader Sean Bonniwell attributed this lack of success to mismanagement by record company people and the band's own manager. Eventually those singles would be re-issued on Warner Brothers on an album called Bonniwell Music Machine, along with a handful of new songs. One of the best of these singles was Double Yellow Line, which Bonniwell said he wrote while driving to a gig. This seems to be a good place to mention the rest of the original Music Machine lineup, which consisted of Mark Landon on lead guitar. Ron Edgar on drums, Doug Rhodes on organ and Keith Olsen on bass. This lineup would dissolve before the release of the Bonniwell Music Machine album but was featured on the majority of tracks on the LP nonetheless.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Bringing Home The Bacon
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1973
After the departure of original lead guitarist Robin Trower, the remaining members of Procol Harum continued to record quality albums such as Grand Hotel, although their airplay was limited to sporadic plays on progressive FM stations. One song that probably should have gotten more attention than it did was Bringing Home The Bacon, from the aforementioned Grand Hotel album. The group would experience a brief return to top 40 radio the following year with the release of their live version of Conquistador, a track that originally appeared on the band's 1967 debut LP.
Artist: Leslie West
Title: Blood Of The Sun
Source: 45 RPM single B side (single taken from LP: Mountain)
Writer: West/Pappaliardi/Collins
Label: Windfall
Year: 1969
After the Vagrants disbanded guitarist Leslie Weinstein changed his last name to West and recorded a solo album called Mountain. Helping him with the project was producer Felix Pappaliardi, who had previously worked with Cream on their Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire albums. The two meshed so well that they decided to form a band with drummer Corky Laing, using the name Mountain. One of the first gigs by the new band was the Woodstock festival, where they played Blood Of The Sun to an enthusiastic crowd. This week, making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut, we have the original studio version of the tune.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The People In Me
Source: CD: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
After Talk Talk soared into the upper reaches of the US charts the Music Machine's management made a tactical error. Instead of promoting the follow-up single, The People In Me, to the largest possible audience, the band's manager gave exclusive air rights to a new station at the far end of the Los Angeles AM radio dial. As local bands like the Music Machine depended on airplay in L.A. as a necessary step to getting national exposure, the move proved disastrous. Without any airplay on influential stations such as KFI, The People In Me was unable to get any higher than the # 66 spot on the national charts. Even worse for the band, the big stations remembered the slight when subsequent singles by the Music Machine were released, and by mid-1967 the original lineup had disbanded.
Artist: Doors
Title: Unhappy Girl
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
After the success of their first album and the single Light My Fire in early 1967, the Doors quickly returned to the studio, releasing a second LP, Strange Days, later the same year. The first single released from the new album was People Are Strange. The B side of that single was Unhappy Girl, from the same album. Both sides got played on the jukebox at a place called the Woog in the village of Meisenbach near Ramstein Air Force Base (which is where I was spending most of my evenings that autumn).
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Overdrive
Source: LP: Sailor
Writer: Boz Scaggs
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
The Steve Miller Band, in its early years, was in a sense an American version of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, serving as a launching pad for the careers of Ben Sidran and Boz Scaggs, among others. This early Scaggs tune shows a harder-edged side to the Boz than most of his later solo hits.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Doin' That Rag
Source: CD: Aoxomoxoa
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
After spending six months on their second LP, Anthem Of The Sun (and going way overbudget in the process), the Grateful Dead reeled things in a bit (but not all that much) for their third effort, Aoxomoxoa. Like Anthem Of The Sun, Aoxomoxoa still combined live recordings with studio overdubs, but the individual songs were shorter and more distinct than on the previous effort. One good example is Doin' That Rag, a song that inexplicably disappeared from the band's live repertoire relatively quickly.
Artist: Standells
Title: Riot On Sunset Strip
Source: CD: Best Of The Standells (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on movie soundtrack LP: Riot On Sunset Strip)
Writer: Valentino/Fleck
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Anyone who doubts just how much influence bands like the Standells had on the punk-rock movement of the late 1970s need only listen to this 1967 track from the movie Riot On Sunset Strip. The track sounds like it could have been an early Ramones recording. The song itself (and the movie) were based on a real life event. Local L.A. business owners had been complaining about the unruliness and rampant drug usage among the teens hanging out in front of the various underage clubs that had been springing up on Sunset Strip in the wake of the success of the Whisky-A-Go-Go, and in late 1966 the Los Angeles Police Department was called in to do something about the problem. What followed was a full-blown riot which ultimately led to local laws being passed that put many of the clubs out of business and severely curtailed the ability of the rest to make a profit. By 1968 the entire scene was a thing of the past, with the few remaining clubs converting to a more traditional over-21 approach.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Astrologically Incompatible
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
Astrologically Incompatible, in addition to being one of the first known rock songs to make references to the signs of the zodiac (which would become fashionable in the following decade), marks a transition point in the history of the Music Machine. One of the last tracks recorded by the original lineup, it was also the B side of the first single released under the name Bonniwell Music Machine on Warner Brothers. The horn overdubs were played by Bonniwell himself and organist Doug Rhodes, using then state-of-the-art 8-track technology.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Uni)
Year: 1967
Starting off this week's show is one of the iconic songs of the summer of love. Interestingly enough, this was supposed to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash, but somehow ended up getting all the airplay. I haven't bothered to actually count, but I wouldn't be surprised to find I have more copies of this particular song than any other. It appears on just about every collection of psychedelic music ever assembled, it seems. I do have a copy of the original 45, but when I bring that in I generally play...you guessed it, The Birdman of Alkatrash.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Trouble
Source: LP: Turn On
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
Sean Bonniwell had definite plans for the Music Machine's first album. His primary goal was to have all original material (with the exception of a slowed-down version of Billy Roberts' Hey Joe that he and fellow songwriter Tim Rose had been working on; before you ask, both Rose and the Music Machine recorded it before Jimi Hendrix did). Unfortunately, the shirts at Original Sound Records did not take their own company name seriously and inserted four cover songs that the band had recorded for a local TV show. The best way to listen to Turn On The Music Machine, then, is to program your CD player to skip all the extra cover songs. Listened to that way, the album becomes an 8-song EP and this track becomes the second song on the disc, following the classic Talk Talk.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and Hey Joe. David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but California-based folk singer Billy Roberts had copyrighted the song in 1962 and had reportedly been heard playing the tune as early as 1958.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Oh Yeah
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elias McDaniel
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The original British blues bands like the Yardbirds made no secret of the fact that they had created their own version of a music that had come from Chicago. The Shadows Of Knight, on the other hand, were a Chicago band that created their own version of the British blues, bringing the whole thing full circle. After taking their version of Van Morrison's Gloria into the top 10 early in 1966, the Shadows (which had added "of Knight" to their name just prior to releasing Gloria) decided to follow it up with an updated version of Bo Diddley's Oh Yeah. Although the song did not have a lot of national top 40 success, it did help establish the Shadows' reputation as one of the premier garage-punk bands.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Day Today
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released
Writer: Bonniwell/Olsen
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
For some unknown reason, every person who wrote a song in the late 1960s wrote a song like The Day Today; a slow, somewhat sappy tune with a kind of hokey spoken section in place of an instrumental break. (I even wrote one myself called Leaves. I cringe every time I think of it.) The odd thing about The Day Today is that it is a rare instance of Sean Bonniwell collaborating with another songwriter (in this case Music Machine bassist Keith Olsen, who himself was about to embark on a career as a record producer). What possessed people to write things like this is beyond me, but just in case you are one of the few that can appreciate this sort of song, here it is. The rest of us can take comfort in the fact that the track is less than three minutes long.
Artist: Turtles
Title: To See The Sun
Source: The Turtles-1968
Writer: The Turtles
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
In 1968 the Turtles, feeling restricted by the dictates of producers and record company people, decided to rent studio time to produce some tracks of their own. The result was four songs, three of which were rejected outright by their label, White Whale. (The fourth track, Surfer Joe, made it onto their Battle of the Bands album). Several years later a new local L.A. record label, Rhino Records, was looking to move beyond the niche it had carved out for itself as a novelty label. The chance to make previously unreleased material such as To See The Sun from a band as well-known as the Turtles was just what the label was looking for, and, along with re-releasing long out-of-print Turtles albums, got the label moving in a whole new direction that they continue to excel at.
Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Source: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
After the demise of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills headed for New York, where he worked with Al Kooper on the Super Session album and recorded several demo tapes of his own, including a new song called Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (reportedly written for his then-girlfriend Judy Collins). After his stint in New York he returned to California, where he started hanging out in the Laurel Canyon home of David Crosby, who had been fired from the Byrds in 1967. Crosby's house at that time was generally filled with a variety of people coming and going, and Crosby and Stills soon found themselves doing improvised harmonies on each other's material in front of a friendly, if somewhat stoned, audience. It was not long before they invited Graham Nash, whom they heard had been having problems of his own with his bandmates in the Hollies, to come join them in Laurel Canyon. The three soon began recording together, and in 1969 released the album Crosby, Stills and Nash. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was chosen as the opening track for the new album and was later released (in edited form) as a single.
Artist: Front Line
Title: Got Love
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lanigan/Philipet
Label: Rhino (original label: York)
Year: 1965
The Front Line was a band from San Rafael, California whose story in many ways was typical of their time. Marin County, being a fairly upscale place, had its share of clubs catering to the sons and daughters of its affluent residents. Of course, these teens wanted to hear live performances of their favorite top 40 tunes and bands like the Front Line made a decent enough living catering to their preferences. Like most bands of the time, the Front Line had one song that was of their own creation, albeit one that was somewhat derivative of the kinds of tunes they usually performed so as not to scare off their audience. That song was Got Love, which was released on the York label in 1965.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: Turn On (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The Music Machine's big hit.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Come On In
Source: CD: Turn On (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The B side of the Music Machine's big hit.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: A Web Of Sound)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
With two tracks (Can't Seem To Make You Mine and Pushin' Too Hard) from their first album getting decent airplay on L.A. radio stations in 1966 the Seeds headed back to the studio to record a second LP, A Web Of Sound. The first single released from the album was Mr. Farmer, a song that once again did well locally. The only national hit for the Seeds came when Pushin' Too Hard was re-released in December of 1966, hitting its national peak the following spring.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on LP: Winds of Change and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Me, Myself And I
Source: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1968
With the members of the original Music Machine gone their separate ways, Sean Bonniwell recruited a whole new lineup to record and perform as the Bonniwell Music Machine. The new lineup included Guile Wisdom on lead guitar, Jerry Harris on drums, Harry Garfield on organ and Eddie Jones on bass. The new lineup provided a handful of tracks for the LP Bonniwell Music Machine in 1967 and released three singles on Warner Brothers, none of which made any headway on the charts, despite being among Bonniwell's best songs. The first of the singles was Me, Myself And I, a song that Bonniwell himself described as "punk pop" and one that presaged the "me first" attitude that would characterize the disco era in the late 70s.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Bad Moon Rising
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: John Fogerty
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
It's a mystery to me why the Woodstock movie completely ignores the presence of Creedence Clearwater Revival, especially considering that they were at their commercial peak at the time of the performance. Bad Moon Rising was one of a series of consecutive hits for the band that each made it just short of the top of the charts, stalling out at # 2.
Artist: Johnny Winter
Title: Rollin' And Tumblin'
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: The Progressive Blues Experiment)
Writer: McKinley Morganfield
Label: United Artists (original label: Sonobeat)
Year: 1968
Johnny Winter's first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, was originally released in 1968 on the Texas-based Sonobeat label. The album featured a mix of Winter originals and blues cover tunes such as the Muddy Waters classic Rollin' And Tumblin'. A ctitical success, the album was picked up and reissued on the Imperial label a year later.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: I Need A Man To Love
Source: LP:Cheap Thrills
Writer: Joplin/Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Big Brother and the Holding Company recorded their first album at the Chicago studios of Mainstream records in 1967. Mainstream, however, was a jazz label and their engineers had no idea how to make a band like Big Brother sound good. When the band signed to Columbia the following year it was decided that the best way to record the band was onstage at the Fillmore West. As a result, when Cheap Thrills was released, four of the seven tracks were live recordings, including the Janis Joplin/Peter Albin collaboration I Need A Man To Love.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Soul Love
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1968
The B side of the first single released by the second version of the Bonniwell Music Machine was a wild R&B/punk piece called Soul Love, which features an instrumental section that seemingly goes on forever but in fact lasts barely more than a minute. Compared to the usual Bonniwell song, which generally managed to pack in as much substance in less than two and a half minutes than most modern songs have in twice that amount of time, Soul Love is practically a jam session.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1201 (starts 1/5/11)
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well.
Artist: Byrds
Title: She Don't Care About Time
Source: CD: Turn! Turn! Turn! (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
The Byrds scored two # 1 hits in 1965, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!. Both songs came from outside sources (Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger), despite the fact that they Byrds had a wealth of songwriting talent of their own. Gene Clark in particular was writing quality originals such as She Don't Care About Time, which was issued as the B side to Turn! Turn! Turn! but was inexplicably left off the LP. More recently the song has been included as a bonus track on the remastered CD version of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Thunk
Source: LP: Bark
Writer: Joey Covington
Label: Grunt
Year: 1971
The classic Jefferson Airplane lineup of Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casidy and Spencer Dryden made their debut on the second Airplane LP, Surrealistic Pillow, and remained intact for the next three albums. In 1970, however, the oldest band member, drummer Dryden, left the Airplane and Joey Covington was brought in as his replacement. Covington's contribution as a songwriter was the offbeat a cappela tune Thunk, a song that is up there with some of Slick's more avant garde material on the weirdness scale.
Artist: Crawling Walls
Title: Inner Limits
Source: LP: Inner Limits
Writer: Bob Fountain
Label: Voxx
Year: 1985
The Crawling Walls have the distinction of being the only band from the 1980s to get played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (besides the various theme music used on the show). I promised to reveal the story behind that on this blog, so here it is: The Crawling Walls were one of the first neo-psychedelic bands, and to my knowledge the only one in New Mexico. Led by keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Bob Fountain (who used a vintage Vox organ exclusively) the band also featured guitarist Larry Otis, who had previously recorded with the Philisteens, an early 80s alternative band (think R.E.M. or the Police). I had known Larry in high school in Germany (I hung out with his younger brother Jeff), and even then he had a reputation as a talented guitarist. The Crawling Walls recorded at Bottom Line Studios, a homemade studio in the basement of a rented house on San Rafael Avenue, just a few blocks south of Albuquerque International Airport and directly under the path of the backup runway. Generally this was not a problem unless the wind was coming from the south, in which case all studio activity would have to stop as a 737 or something flew over. Engineer Mark Shipman (whom I knew as a fellow volunteer at radio station KUNM) did a remarkable job on both the Philisteens and Crawling Walls albums, considering the conditions he was working under. Other artists recording at Bottom Line included guitarists Steve LaRue and Kenny Hume and experimental rocker Craig Ellis, along with a variety of bands including Civilian Joe, the Pheremones, the Soft Corps and the Mumphries. Bottom Line was dismantled in 1989 when the house was sold and the tenants (including most of the members of the Mumphries) were evicted. At that time I had only recently gained controlling interesting in Bottom Line Studios and ended up selling all the equipment to Kenny Hume and leaving Albuquerque in disgust. All of the music beds heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era were recorded at Bottom Line in the late 1980s.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Fugue U/Parchman Farm/Wrath Of Daisey
Source: LP: Open
Writer: Allison/Blues Image
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
Despite drawing crowds in south Florida and getting rave reviews from the rock press, Blues Image was never able to sell a lot of albums. This is a shame, as almost all of their material was as good or better than anything else being recorded in 1969-70. A classic example is the medley of Fugue U (emulating J.S. Bach), a jazz-rock arrangement of Mose Allison's Parchman Farm and the latin-rock instrumental Wrath Of Daisey). Guitarist Mike Pinera went on to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly the following year.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Your Head Is Reeling
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Ultimate Spinach was one of a group of bands signed by M-G-M in 1967 and marketed as being representative of the "Boss-town sound". Unfortunately for all involved, there really was no such thing as a "Boss-town sound" (for that matter there was no such thing as a "San Francisco sound" either, but that's another story). All the hype aside, Ultimate Spinach itself was the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Ian Bruce-Palmer, who wrote and arranged all the band's material. The opening track of side two of the band's debut album is a piece called Your Head Is Reeling, which is as good or better than any other raga styled song of the time.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: You'll Love Me Again
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
The day after recording this week's show I got word of the passing of Sean Bonniwell, leader of the Music Machine, on December 29th from cancer. Next week's show will feature an extended tribute to the musical genius whose influence went far beyond his commercial success. For now we have a song by the second incarnation of the Machine, recorded in 1967 and issued as a B side on Warner Brothers that year.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: I Don't Live Today
Source: LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
I remember a black light poster that choked me up the first time I saw it. It was a shot of Jimi Hendrix playing his guitar with the caption I Don't Live Today. I don't believe Hendrix was being deliberately prophetic when he wrote and recorded this classic track for the Are You Experienced album, but it still spooks me a bit to hear it, even now.
Artist: Merrell And The Exiles
Title: Tomorrow's Girl
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Fapadokly)
Writer: Merrell Fankhauser
Label: Rhino (original label: Glenn)
Year: 1967
Merrell Fankhauser was a fixture on the L.A. music scene, fronting several bands throughout the 60s ranging in styles from surf to psychedelic, depending on what was in vogue at the time. For most of 1966 and 67 he led a group called Merrell and the Exiles (or Xiles), while holding down a somewhat more mundane day job between gigs. The last single by the Exiles was Tomorrow's Girl, originally released in 1967 on the tiny Glenn label and included on Fankhauser's Fapadokly album on UIP records later that same year.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: Ball And Chain
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Willie Mae Thornton
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
In June of 1967 Big Brother And The Holding Company, fronted by Janis Joplin, electrified the crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival with their rendition of Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball And Chain. Over the years Joplin, both with and without Big Brother continued to perform the song. One of the finest performances of Ball And Chain was recorded live at the Fillmore in 1968 and included on the band's major label debut, Cheap Thrills. In retrospect the recording marks the peak of both Big Brother and of Joplin, who went their separate ways after the album was released.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Your Saving Grace
Source: LP: Anthology (originally released on LP: Your Saving Grace)
Writer: Tim Davis
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
One of the most highly regarded of the Steve Miller Band's early albums was 1969's Your Saving Grace. A listen to the title track of the album shows why. As often as not, spoken sections in the middle of a song come off as silly or pretentious, but here Miller manages to make it work, enhancing what is already a fine recording.
Artist: Doors
Title: Roadhouse Blues
Source: CD: Best Of The Doors (originally released on LP: Morrison Hotel)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1970
Yet another classic rock radio standard makes its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut this week. This difference, of course, is that classic rock radio generally uses the live version of this track from the 1970 LP Morrison Hotel.
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 2-3 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Interstellar Overdrive/The Gnome
Source: CD: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Syd Barrett was still very much at the helm for Pink Floyd's first LP, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, released in 1967. The group had already released a pair of Barrett-penned singles, Arnold Layne (which was banned by the BBC) and See Emily Play. Piper, though, was the first full album for the group, and some tracks, notably the nine-minute psychedelic masterpiece Interstellar Overdrive, were entirely group efforts. On the original UK version of the LP Overdrive tracks directly into a Barrett piece, the Gnome. The US version, issued on Tower records, truncated Overdrive and re-arranged the song order. The only CD version of Piper currently available, heard here, follows the original UK ordering of the tracks.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: There's A Chance We Can Make It
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Following up on their biggest hit, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the Blues Magoos released There's A Chance We Can Make It, backed with Pipe Dream for their next single. Unfortunately for both songs, some stations elected to play There's A Chance We Can Make It while others preferred Pipe Dream. The result was that neither song charted as high as it could have had it been released with a weaker B side. This had the ripple effect of causing Electric Comic Book (the album both songs appeared on) to not chart as well as its predecessor Psychedelic Lollipop had. This in turn caused Mercury Records to lose faith in the Blues Magoos and not give them the kind of promotion that could have kept the band in the public eye beyond its 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate result was that for many years, there were an excessive number of busboys and cab drivers claiming to have once been members of the Blues Magoos and not many ways to disprove their claims, at least until the internet made information about the group's actual membership more accessible.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield Again
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Leaf And Stream
Source: LP: Argus
Writer: Wishbone Ash
Label: Decca
Year: 1972
One of the first bands ever to feature two lead guitarists was Wishbone Ash. The story goes that following the departure of their original guitarist bassist Martin Turner and drummer Steve Upton auditioned several lead guitarists and got it down to two finalists, Andy Powell and Ted Turner (no relation to Martin), but could not decide between the two. At that point they decided just to keep both of them, and a heavy metal tradition was born. Whether the story is true or not, the two definitely traded off leads for the next three years and five albums, even on relatively quiet songs such as Leaf And Stream from their third LP, Argus.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to mankind. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany, in 1967. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach (and even the teacher's name), but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher was on to something.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Tired Of Waiting For You
Source: CD: Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Priority (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1965
After a series of hard-rocking hits such as You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, the Kinks surprised everyone with the highly melodic Tired Of Waiting For You in 1965. As it turns out the song was just one of many steps in the continually maturing songwriting of Ray Davies.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Too Many People
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Pons/Rinehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that the members were all native L.A.ins. Founded by bassist Jim Pons and some of his fraternity brothers at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. Like many bands of the time, they were given a song to record as a single by their producer (Love Minus Zero) and allowed to write their own B side. In this case that B side was Too Many People, written by Pons and guitarist Bill Rinehart. The song ended up getting more airplay on local radio stations than Love Minus Zero, making it their first regional hit. The Leaves had their only national hit the following year with their third attempt at recording the fast version of Hey Joe. Eventually Pons would leave the Leaves, hooking up first with the Turtles, then Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Artist: Standells
Title: Dirty Water
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
This song has long since been adopted by the city of Boston, yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes in the early 60s. Lead vocalist/drummer Dickie Dodd, incidently, was a former Mouseketeer who had played on the surf-rock hit Mr. Moto as a member of the Bel-Airs.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it). Here we have a slightly different mono mix of the tune, with the synthesizer a bit more prominent than on the stereo LP.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dear Doctor
Source: LP: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1968
The term Anglophile is usually used to describe Americans with a fascination for all things British. Just what is the term for the opposite situation? Whatever it might be, the Stones have always been an example, from their open idolization of Chuck Berry and other Chess Records artists to songs like this one, which sounds more like Appalachian folk music than anything British.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Another rock band influenced by folk music, Jethro Tull incorporated traditional Indian instruments on Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square, one of a pair of tunes named for future bassist Jeffery Hammond.
Artist: Jan And Dean
Title: The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Source: LP: The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Writer: Atfeld/Christian
Label: Liberty
Year: 1964
Just for something completely different we have this famous Jan And Dean hit from 1964. The song was inspired by a popular TV ad campaign for Southern California Dodge dealers that was a parody of the cliche about the used car that was only driven by a "little old lady from Pasadena to go to church on Sundays". Kathryn "Put a Dodge in your garage, honey" Minner, the chracter actress who had starred in the commercials, appeared with Jan And Dean on the album cover.
Artist: Who
Title: Someone's Coming
Source: CD: Magic Bus-The Who On Tour
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
Some songs just get no respect. First released in 1967 in the UK as the B side of I Can See For Miles, John Alec Entwistle's Someone's Coming got left off the US release entirely. It wasn't until the release of the Magic Bus single (and subsequent LP) in 1968 that the tune appeared on US vinyl, and then, once again as a B side. The Magic Bus album, however, was never issued on CD in the US, although it has been available as a Canadian import (heard here) for several years. Finally, in 1995 the song found a home on a US CD as a bonus track on The Who Sell Out.
Artist: Them
Title: Baby Please Don't Go
Source: LP: Backtrackin' (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Joe Williams
Label: London (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1965
Belfast, Northern Ireland was home to one of the first bands that could be legitimately described as punk rock. Led by Van Morrison, the band quickly got a reputation for being rude and obnoxious, particularly to members of the English press (although it was actually a fellow Irishman who labeled them as "boorish"). Their first single was what has come to be considered the definitive version of the 1923 Joe Williams tune Baby, Please Don't Go. Despite its UK success, the single was a flop in the US. Oddly enough, the song's B side ended up being the song most people associate with Them: the classic Gloria, which was released as Them's US debut single in 1965 but promptly found itself banned on most US radio stations (except in Southern Florida) due to suggestive lyrics.
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well.
Artist: Byrds
Title: She Don't Care About Time
Source: CD: Turn! Turn! Turn! (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
The Byrds scored two # 1 hits in 1965, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!. Both songs came from outside sources (Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger), despite the fact that they Byrds had a wealth of songwriting talent of their own. Gene Clark in particular was writing quality originals such as She Don't Care About Time, which was issued as the B side to Turn! Turn! Turn! but was inexplicably left off the LP. More recently the song has been included as a bonus track on the remastered CD version of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Thunk
Source: LP: Bark
Writer: Joey Covington
Label: Grunt
Year: 1971
The classic Jefferson Airplane lineup of Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casidy and Spencer Dryden made their debut on the second Airplane LP, Surrealistic Pillow, and remained intact for the next three albums. In 1970, however, the oldest band member, drummer Dryden, left the Airplane and Joey Covington was brought in as his replacement. Covington's contribution as a songwriter was the offbeat a cappela tune Thunk, a song that is up there with some of Slick's more avant garde material on the weirdness scale.
Artist: Crawling Walls
Title: Inner Limits
Source: LP: Inner Limits
Writer: Bob Fountain
Label: Voxx
Year: 1985
The Crawling Walls have the distinction of being the only band from the 1980s to get played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (besides the various theme music used on the show). I promised to reveal the story behind that on this blog, so here it is: The Crawling Walls were one of the first neo-psychedelic bands, and to my knowledge the only one in New Mexico. Led by keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Bob Fountain (who used a vintage Vox organ exclusively) the band also featured guitarist Larry Otis, who had previously recorded with the Philisteens, an early 80s alternative band (think R.E.M. or the Police). I had known Larry in high school in Germany (I hung out with his younger brother Jeff), and even then he had a reputation as a talented guitarist. The Crawling Walls recorded at Bottom Line Studios, a homemade studio in the basement of a rented house on San Rafael Avenue, just a few blocks south of Albuquerque International Airport and directly under the path of the backup runway. Generally this was not a problem unless the wind was coming from the south, in which case all studio activity would have to stop as a 737 or something flew over. Engineer Mark Shipman (whom I knew as a fellow volunteer at radio station KUNM) did a remarkable job on both the Philisteens and Crawling Walls albums, considering the conditions he was working under. Other artists recording at Bottom Line included guitarists Steve LaRue and Kenny Hume and experimental rocker Craig Ellis, along with a variety of bands including Civilian Joe, the Pheremones, the Soft Corps and the Mumphries. Bottom Line was dismantled in 1989 when the house was sold and the tenants (including most of the members of the Mumphries) were evicted. At that time I had only recently gained controlling interesting in Bottom Line Studios and ended up selling all the equipment to Kenny Hume and leaving Albuquerque in disgust. All of the music beds heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era were recorded at Bottom Line in the late 1980s.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Fugue U/Parchman Farm/Wrath Of Daisey
Source: LP: Open
Writer: Allison/Blues Image
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
Despite drawing crowds in south Florida and getting rave reviews from the rock press, Blues Image was never able to sell a lot of albums. This is a shame, as almost all of their material was as good or better than anything else being recorded in 1969-70. A classic example is the medley of Fugue U (emulating J.S. Bach), a jazz-rock arrangement of Mose Allison's Parchman Farm and the latin-rock instrumental Wrath Of Daisey). Guitarist Mike Pinera went on to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly the following year.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Your Head Is Reeling
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Ultimate Spinach was one of a group of bands signed by M-G-M in 1967 and marketed as being representative of the "Boss-town sound". Unfortunately for all involved, there really was no such thing as a "Boss-town sound" (for that matter there was no such thing as a "San Francisco sound" either, but that's another story). All the hype aside, Ultimate Spinach itself was the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Ian Bruce-Palmer, who wrote and arranged all the band's material. The opening track of side two of the band's debut album is a piece called Your Head Is Reeling, which is as good or better than any other raga styled song of the time.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: You'll Love Me Again
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
The day after recording this week's show I got word of the passing of Sean Bonniwell, leader of the Music Machine, on December 29th from cancer. Next week's show will feature an extended tribute to the musical genius whose influence went far beyond his commercial success. For now we have a song by the second incarnation of the Machine, recorded in 1967 and issued as a B side on Warner Brothers that year.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: I Don't Live Today
Source: LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
I remember a black light poster that choked me up the first time I saw it. It was a shot of Jimi Hendrix playing his guitar with the caption I Don't Live Today. I don't believe Hendrix was being deliberately prophetic when he wrote and recorded this classic track for the Are You Experienced album, but it still spooks me a bit to hear it, even now.
Artist: Merrell And The Exiles
Title: Tomorrow's Girl
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Fapadokly)
Writer: Merrell Fankhauser
Label: Rhino (original label: Glenn)
Year: 1967
Merrell Fankhauser was a fixture on the L.A. music scene, fronting several bands throughout the 60s ranging in styles from surf to psychedelic, depending on what was in vogue at the time. For most of 1966 and 67 he led a group called Merrell and the Exiles (or Xiles), while holding down a somewhat more mundane day job between gigs. The last single by the Exiles was Tomorrow's Girl, originally released in 1967 on the tiny Glenn label and included on Fankhauser's Fapadokly album on UIP records later that same year.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: Ball And Chain
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Willie Mae Thornton
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
In June of 1967 Big Brother And The Holding Company, fronted by Janis Joplin, electrified the crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival with their rendition of Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball And Chain. Over the years Joplin, both with and without Big Brother continued to perform the song. One of the finest performances of Ball And Chain was recorded live at the Fillmore in 1968 and included on the band's major label debut, Cheap Thrills. In retrospect the recording marks the peak of both Big Brother and of Joplin, who went their separate ways after the album was released.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Your Saving Grace
Source: LP: Anthology (originally released on LP: Your Saving Grace)
Writer: Tim Davis
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
One of the most highly regarded of the Steve Miller Band's early albums was 1969's Your Saving Grace. A listen to the title track of the album shows why. As often as not, spoken sections in the middle of a song come off as silly or pretentious, but here Miller manages to make it work, enhancing what is already a fine recording.
Artist: Doors
Title: Roadhouse Blues
Source: CD: Best Of The Doors (originally released on LP: Morrison Hotel)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1970
Yet another classic rock radio standard makes its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut this week. This difference, of course, is that classic rock radio generally uses the live version of this track from the 1970 LP Morrison Hotel.
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 2-3 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Interstellar Overdrive/The Gnome
Source: CD: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Syd Barrett was still very much at the helm for Pink Floyd's first LP, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, released in 1967. The group had already released a pair of Barrett-penned singles, Arnold Layne (which was banned by the BBC) and See Emily Play. Piper, though, was the first full album for the group, and some tracks, notably the nine-minute psychedelic masterpiece Interstellar Overdrive, were entirely group efforts. On the original UK version of the LP Overdrive tracks directly into a Barrett piece, the Gnome. The US version, issued on Tower records, truncated Overdrive and re-arranged the song order. The only CD version of Piper currently available, heard here, follows the original UK ordering of the tracks.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: There's A Chance We Can Make It
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Following up on their biggest hit, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the Blues Magoos released There's A Chance We Can Make It, backed with Pipe Dream for their next single. Unfortunately for both songs, some stations elected to play There's A Chance We Can Make It while others preferred Pipe Dream. The result was that neither song charted as high as it could have had it been released with a weaker B side. This had the ripple effect of causing Electric Comic Book (the album both songs appeared on) to not chart as well as its predecessor Psychedelic Lollipop had. This in turn caused Mercury Records to lose faith in the Blues Magoos and not give them the kind of promotion that could have kept the band in the public eye beyond its 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate result was that for many years, there were an excessive number of busboys and cab drivers claiming to have once been members of the Blues Magoos and not many ways to disprove their claims, at least until the internet made information about the group's actual membership more accessible.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield Again
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Leaf And Stream
Source: LP: Argus
Writer: Wishbone Ash
Label: Decca
Year: 1972
One of the first bands ever to feature two lead guitarists was Wishbone Ash. The story goes that following the departure of their original guitarist bassist Martin Turner and drummer Steve Upton auditioned several lead guitarists and got it down to two finalists, Andy Powell and Ted Turner (no relation to Martin), but could not decide between the two. At that point they decided just to keep both of them, and a heavy metal tradition was born. Whether the story is true or not, the two definitely traded off leads for the next three years and five albums, even on relatively quiet songs such as Leaf And Stream from their third LP, Argus.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to mankind. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany, in 1967. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach (and even the teacher's name), but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher was on to something.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Tired Of Waiting For You
Source: CD: Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Priority (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1965
After a series of hard-rocking hits such as You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, the Kinks surprised everyone with the highly melodic Tired Of Waiting For You in 1965. As it turns out the song was just one of many steps in the continually maturing songwriting of Ray Davies.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Too Many People
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Pons/Rinehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that the members were all native L.A.ins. Founded by bassist Jim Pons and some of his fraternity brothers at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. Like many bands of the time, they were given a song to record as a single by their producer (Love Minus Zero) and allowed to write their own B side. In this case that B side was Too Many People, written by Pons and guitarist Bill Rinehart. The song ended up getting more airplay on local radio stations than Love Minus Zero, making it their first regional hit. The Leaves had their only national hit the following year with their third attempt at recording the fast version of Hey Joe. Eventually Pons would leave the Leaves, hooking up first with the Turtles, then Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Artist: Standells
Title: Dirty Water
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
This song has long since been adopted by the city of Boston, yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes in the early 60s. Lead vocalist/drummer Dickie Dodd, incidently, was a former Mouseketeer who had played on the surf-rock hit Mr. Moto as a member of the Bel-Airs.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it). Here we have a slightly different mono mix of the tune, with the synthesizer a bit more prominent than on the stereo LP.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dear Doctor
Source: LP: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1968
The term Anglophile is usually used to describe Americans with a fascination for all things British. Just what is the term for the opposite situation? Whatever it might be, the Stones have always been an example, from their open idolization of Chuck Berry and other Chess Records artists to songs like this one, which sounds more like Appalachian folk music than anything British.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Another rock band influenced by folk music, Jethro Tull incorporated traditional Indian instruments on Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square, one of a pair of tunes named for future bassist Jeffery Hammond.
Artist: Jan And Dean
Title: The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Source: LP: The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Writer: Atfeld/Christian
Label: Liberty
Year: 1964
Just for something completely different we have this famous Jan And Dean hit from 1964. The song was inspired by a popular TV ad campaign for Southern California Dodge dealers that was a parody of the cliche about the used car that was only driven by a "little old lady from Pasadena to go to church on Sundays". Kathryn "Put a Dodge in your garage, honey" Minner, the chracter actress who had starred in the commercials, appeared with Jan And Dean on the album cover.
Artist: Who
Title: Someone's Coming
Source: CD: Magic Bus-The Who On Tour
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
Some songs just get no respect. First released in 1967 in the UK as the B side of I Can See For Miles, John Alec Entwistle's Someone's Coming got left off the US release entirely. It wasn't until the release of the Magic Bus single (and subsequent LP) in 1968 that the tune appeared on US vinyl, and then, once again as a B side. The Magic Bus album, however, was never issued on CD in the US, although it has been available as a Canadian import (heard here) for several years. Finally, in 1995 the song found a home on a US CD as a bonus track on The Who Sell Out.
Artist: Them
Title: Baby Please Don't Go
Source: LP: Backtrackin' (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Joe Williams
Label: London (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1965
Belfast, Northern Ireland was home to one of the first bands that could be legitimately described as punk rock. Led by Van Morrison, the band quickly got a reputation for being rude and obnoxious, particularly to members of the English press (although it was actually a fellow Irishman who labeled them as "boorish"). Their first single was what has come to be considered the definitive version of the 1923 Joe Williams tune Baby, Please Don't Go. Despite its UK success, the single was a flop in the US. Oddly enough, the song's B side ended up being the song most people associate with Them: the classic Gloria, which was released as Them's US debut single in 1965 but promptly found itself banned on most US radio stations (except in Southern Florida) due to suggestive lyrics.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1152 (starts 12/29/11)
Once again it's the end of the year, and this week we honor an old radio tradition in substance, although not in form. That tradition is the countdown of the year's top songs. But, you say, all the songs you play are 40 years old or more. How can you do a countdown of top songs for the year? Glad you asked. What we have here are the top 25 songs ranked by how much they got played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era, and how many times they were commented on or requested by you listener types. Additionally we have tracks from the four artists that got played the most on the show the past year. Why four? Well, there was a tie for fifth, actually, so I cut it off at four. Besides, that works out to one top artist per segment, starting with number four on the list: the Beatles.
Artist: Beatles
Title: If I Needed Someone
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Writer: George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
So how exactly does the most commercially successful rock group of all time end up at only the number four slot this year? Because they are the most commercially successful rock group in history, of course. The fact is, like all but one of this year's tops Stuck in the Psychedelic Era artists, the Beatles recorded so many playable songs that no one track got played more than once or twice all year. Also, since several Beatles songs are still in rotation on all kinds of commercial radio stations, I felt it was important to give more exposure to other artists, including the three that finished higher than the Beatles this year. As to why I chose this particular song, a look through past playlists will show that If I Needed Someone is one of the many Beatle tunes that have yet to be heard on Stuck In the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication a couple of year back). I figured the appearance was overdue. Now, on to the top 25!
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
In the # 25 spot we have a band with one of the most bizarre stories in the history of rock. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was formed when aging hipster Bob Markley hosted a party at his home in the Hollywood hills. Markley had left a moderately successful career as a TV personality in his native Oklahoma to try his luck in the city of Angels in the early 60s. Although he did not have a lot of success in either movies or TV on the coast, he did manage to make the acquaintance of Kim Fowley, the embodiment of the classic 60s Hollywood hustler. It was Fowley that managed to book the Yardbirds at Markley's 1965 party, a party that was also attended by Shaun and Danny Harris, sons of composer Roy Harris, and guitarist Michael Lloyd, who had just formed a new band called the Laughing Wind. Markley was impressed with the crowds of young girls flocking around the Yardbirds, and after being introduced to Lloyd and the Harris brothers offered to finance the new band if he could join up with them. As Markley was the adopted heir to an oil fortune and getting a monthly stipend, the rest of the guys readily agreed to the deal and the
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (a name Markley came up with) was born. The group recorded an album of mostly cover songs called Volume 1 in a studio they built themselves before signing a deal with Reprise records. The first album for Reprise was called Part One and, unlike their earlier effort, featured mostly songs written by band members. Among the tracks on Part One was I Won't Hurt You, a tune that is written around a simulated heartbeat.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
Our # 24 song comes from the Seeds, a Los Angeles band made up of members that had migrated westward to California from nearby states (although some critics believed they actually came from another planet) and are generally credited with creating the term "flower power". Their first single was Can't Seem To Make You Mine, which got considerable airplay on area radio stations in 1965.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: No Way Out)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
In the # 23 spot we have the Chocolate Watchband, a band formed in 1965 by students at Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills, California. These days Los Altos Hills is in the heart of silicon valley, but in 1966 it was a sleepy town a few miles northwest of San Jose, which was itself a medium-sized US city at the time (today it's one of the top 10 US cities in population). After going through a series of personnel changes, the Watchband solidified around vocalist Dave Aguilar. Aguilar's vocals, like those of many other garage bands of the time, were heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger. The Watchband became the top band on the San Jose scene, with a repertoire consisting mostly of covers of songs by British invasion bands such as the Kinks and of course the Rolling Stones, interspersed with songs from popular soul artists such as Wilson Pickett. It wasn't long before they came to the attention of Ed Cobb, who has been called the Ed Wood of 60s garage-rock. Wood was already getting known for managing and producing the Standells out of L.A., and he soon had signed the Watchband to a contract with Tower records, the low-budget Capitol records subsidiary. For reasons of his own, Wood did not play the the strengths of the Watchband (their raw energetic performances). Instead, he attempted to fit them into a psychedelic mold of his own design. Many of the tracks on the group's debut LP for Tower, No Way Out, were actually recorded by studio musicians with no input whatsoever from the Watchband itself. These tracks were by and large instrumentals, mostly written by professional songwriters Richie Podolor and Jerry Ragovich. Additionally, a couple of songs that were played by the Watchband appeared on the album with vocals by studio singer Don Bennett. Ironically, one of the few songs that did feature Aguilar on vocals, Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In), was co-written by Bennett. The song was eventually released as a single after being used on the soundtrack for the cheapie teensploitation flick The Love-In.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Our # 22 song is a true classic that has become somewhat of a signature song for vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Steve Winwood. By 1967 18-year-old Winwood had already established a reputation with the Spencer Davis Group when he left that band to form Traffic with guitarist Dave Mason, flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood and drummer Jim Capaldi. Dear Mr. Fantasy, written by Winwood, Wood and Capaldi, was originally released on Traffic's debut LP. The album was released in the UK as Mr. Fantasy, while in the US it was called Heaven Is In Your Mind. In addition to a slightly different track lineup the US version had entirely different cover art than the UK album. After the first printing the name of the US album was changed to Mr. Fantasy, although the cover art remained. Most recently, both versions of the album have been released on CD in the US. Mr. Fantasy is entirely in mono and uses the UK track lineup and cover art and includes singles and B sides that were not included on the original UK version. Heaven Is In Your Mind is a stereo CD that uses the US track lineup and cover art and includes (as bonus tracks) stereo mixes of the songs that were previously only available on the original UK album.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The song occupying this year's # 21 spot is from one of the most influential bands to come out of the Los Angeles under-21 club scene. The Music Machine was the brainchild of Sean Bonniwell, who had previously recorded several albums for RCA as a member of the light-folk group the Limelighters. By 1966 Bonniwell was looking to do something with more of an edge to it, and formed the Music Machine as an outlet for his musical creativity. Unusual for bands of the time, the Music Machine had a tight stage show and a unique visual image. Band members dressed entirely in black, including dyed hair, and wore one black glove each. After a performance, Bonniwell was heard to say, one glove came off and the other one went on. Each set was a virtually continuous series of well-rehearsed Bonniwell originals, with no time between songs for the audience to yell out requests. The group got its big break with the release of the single Talk Talk, which made the national top 40 charts and led to an album, Turn On The Music Machine. With that album, however, problems with the band's management and record label began to manifest. The Music Machine had recorded a set of cover songs to lip synch to on a local TV show. Without the band's knowledge or approval, Original Sound records included those songs on the LP, weakening the creative impact of the album. The problems got worse when the band's manager gave the newest (and lowest-rated) local top 40 station exclusive rights to the Music Machine's second single, The People In Me. The move killed any momentum the band may have still had and a series of successive singles failed to chart as well. Among those were some truly outstanding songs such as The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly. By mid-1967 most of the original members had left the group for other projects. Undaunted, Bonniwell signed a deal with Warner Brothers, releasing one album (Bonniwell Music Machine) that included all of the Original Sound singles and B sides that were not on the debut album, as well as several new tracks featuring a new Music Machine lineup.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Bass Strings
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
The # 20 spot this year is held by Bass Strings, an album track that was originally recorded for an EP (extended play) record included in an early arts-oriented underground newspaper published by Joe McDonald, leader and primary songwriter for Country Joe and the Fish. The paper was called Rag Baby and it was meant to be a kind of Berkeley version of New York's Village Voice. The issue of Rag Baby that included Bass Strings was actually McDonald's second issue of the paper to include an EP in it (the first Rag Baby EP included the original version of McDonald's I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag). Bass Strings, a literal example of acid-rock, was re-recorded in stereo for the group's first LP for Vanguard, Electric Music For The Mind And Body, released in 1967.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Blonde On Blonde)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Sometimes things just work out the way they should. Such is the case with Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 coming in at the # 19 spot, immediately following Bass Strings on this week's show (listen closely to the lyrics to hear what I mean). By 1966 even Dylan's most hardcore fans had resigned themselves to his using rock instrumentation, after booing him profoundly at the Newport Jazz Festival the previous year. It was hard to argue with the success, both artistically and commercially, of his Highway 61 Revisited album, and so when Blonde On Blonde came out it was no surprise to hear a song like Rainy Day Women opening the LP. The album was, in its own way, just as daring as Highway 61; after all, no rock or folk artist had released a double LP before. Blonde On Blonde was reportedly recorded under the influence of pot and alcohol, with most of the musicians, including Dylan himself, partaking between the takes. It's pretty obvious, listening to Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, that Dylan was having the time of his life making the album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: 2,000 Light Years From Home
Source: LP: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
We take a break from the song countdown to hear from our third most heard artist of 2011. The Rolling Stones have been called the world's greatest rock band, and they certainly have outlasted most of their contemporaries. There was a time, however, when the band's relevance was in serious doubt. There had always been a friendly rivalry between the Stones and the Beatles (even more so among the fans of the two groups), but in 1967 the Beatles took a clear lead. The Fab Four had retired from live performing after their 1966 US tour, and shifted their focus to the recording studio. The result was a double-sided single, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, followed by the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The Stones, meanwhile, released an album that by comparison sounded very 1966: Between The Buttons. Finding themselves trying to play catch up, the Stones worked furiously on a new LP that was by far the most psychedelic album they would ever record: Their Satanic Majesties Request. Unfortunately by the time Majesties was released their brand of psychedelia was already sounding dated, and the album was savaged by the critics, despite hitting the top 5 in the LP charts. In retrospect, Their Satanic Majesties Request was a much better album than it was perceived to be at the time it was released. For this week's show I have chosen 2,000 Light Years From Home, a song that was also released in the US as the B side of She's A Rainbow. The song had its greatest popularity in Germany, where it was released as a single, making the top 10 there.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
We resume our countdown with our first repeat artist of the week holding down the # 18 spot. The Seeds hit their peak of popularity in early 1967, when Pushin' Too Hard, which had already been a hit in the Los Angeles area, was re-released nationally, making the top 20 in several markets. 1967 was a year of constant change, however, and by the time Pushin' Too Hard had run its course the Seeds themselves were starting to sound like an anachronism. The corporate pop song machine that had lost control of top 40 radio with the arrival of the Beatles in 1964 was beginning to reassert itself, squeezing out indy bands like the Seeds, who were still too singles-oriented for the new progressive FM stations that were beginning to pop up across the nation. Against this backdrop the Seeds released what was possibly their finest single: The Wind Blows Her Hair.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Mickey Newbury
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Our # 17 song is from a group that was formed by members of another group. The New Christy Minstrels were one of the many homogenized folk groups that had sprung up in the sixties, getting most of their exposure through play on what was then called MOR (middle of the road) radio, mostly older stations that had gradually converted to a music format as TV took over the comedy, drama and variety shows that had established radio as the medium of choice in the 30s and 40s. These stations targeted a much older demographic than top 40 radio, and were more in line with TV variety shows such as those hosted by Perry Como, Dinah Shore, and Dean Martin (in fact the New Christy Minstrels were frequent guests on these types of shows). In late 1967 some of the members decided to do something a bit more hip and broke away from the Minstrels to form the First Edition. Led by songwriter Mickey Newbury and vocalist Kenny Rogers, the group hit a home run on their first attempt with Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), released in 1968. Rogers, however, was not comfortable with the psychedelic sound of Just Dropped In, and the First Edition soon shifted to a more country sound, establishing Rogers as an artist who would come to dominate the country charts by the early 1980s.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
The Buffalo Springfield was formed when Stephen Stills, who had been unsuccessfully trying to form a new band after having been rejected as an applicant for the Monkees, was stuck in traffic in L.A and suddenly saw a hearse driven by his friend Neil Young, whom he had not seen since leaving Toronto several months earlier. Stills had already assembled a group of talented musicians, including Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin, but Young was the missing element that made the new group come together. Taking the name Buffalo Springfield, the new group managed to get a gig replacing the Byrds as the house band at Ciro's, but were not able to attract a large audience (possibly due to the popularity of Love, who were the house band at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, across the street from Ciro's). Undaunted, the group pressed on and got a contract with Atco records. At first it looked their first album, released in 1966, would flop, but then Stills wrote a new tune, For What It's Worth, that Atco released as a single in early 1967. The song became a major national hit and the album was re-cut with For What It's Worth added as the opening track. The group soon recorded a second LP, Buffalo Springfield Again. The album had several songs that were worthy of being released as singles. Possibly the best of these was Rock And Roll Woman, another Stills tune. Although it didn't get much beyond the lower reaches of the charts when it was released, it comes in at the # 16 slot on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era top 25 list for 2011. That's gotta be worth something, right?
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released on LP: The Time Has Come; edited for single release)
Writer: Joe and Willie Chambers
Label: Rhino (originally label: Columbia)
Year: 1967 (single edit released in 1968)
In the # 15 slot this year we have a song that has actually been released in four different versions. Time Has Come Today was first recorded in 1966 in a form that is vastly different from the version heard here. That version was released as a single, but did not go anywhere and was soon deleted from the Columbia catalog. The following year the Chambers Brothers cut a new version for their album The Time Has Come. This new version ran over 10 minutes, and featured a long extended psychedelic section that featured several innovative studio effects. The track started getting extensive airplay on progressive FM radio stations, prompting Columbia to create and release a single version in 1968. Columbia, being still a somewhat conservative label, edited the track down to about three and a quarter minutes (the rule of thumb was that top 40 radio would not play anything over three and a half minutes). The problem was that the edited version completely exorcised the track of everything that got it played on FM in the first place: the extended psychedelic section with all the innovative studio effects. When even top 40 stations started demanding a version of the song that was more like what FM was playing, Columbia engineers went back and created a fourth version of Time Has Come Today, which, although edited, kept a portion of the middle section of the track. It is this version that finally got played on AM radio and has become the version usually heard on classic rock radio as well. Personally I prefer the album version, but due to time considerations I'm going with that four and three-quarter minute edit instead.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as an underground newspaper supplement EP flexi-disc)
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Rhino (original label: Rag Baby)
Year: 1966
Our # 14 song of the year is the second of two tracks originally released in 1966 as an EP that was included with Joe McDonald's Rag Baby arts-oriented underground newspaper. After Section 43 started getting airplay on local San Francisco radio stations, Vanguard records took notice and signed Country Joe And The Fish to a contract. Both Section 43 and Bass Strings (see entry for the # 20 slot) were re-recorded in stereo for the band's Vanguard debut, but for tonight's show I am using the original mono version from the EP, which is about a minute shorter than the LP version. At six and three-quarter minutes, however, this version of Section 43 is still the longest track on tonight's show.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
Starting off the second hour we have the second song tonight from the Music Machine. Talk Talk is possibly the most intense two minute song ever to get played on top 40 radio, and it comes in this year in the lucky 13 spot. For more on the Music Machine see the # 21 song above.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Our # 12 song, Feelin' Alright, has the distinction of being one of only two songs played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era this past year by three different artists. In addition to the original Traffic version heard here, we've heard Joe Cocker performing the song live at Woodstock and Grand Funk Railroad re-working the song for their Survival LP. If Dear Mr. Fantasy (# 22 this year) is Steve Winwood's signature song, then Feelin' Alright certainly has to be considered bandmate Dave Mason's, perhaps even more so. Mason had already left Traffic by the time their first LP, Mr. Fantasy, was released, but had rejoined the group in time to record their second album, entitled simply Traffic. Mason would soon leave the group again, joining up with the others one final time for the Welcome To The Canteen live album before permanently parting ways with Traffic in 1971.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
The Standells are a bit of an enigma. Although they come across as the quintessential garage-punk band, the members of the group all had squeaky clean backgrounds (lead vocalist Dickie Dodd, in fact, was one of the original Mousketeers). The band was first spotted by Cobb while playing cover songs in an upscale L.A. club. He was impressed enough with their musical proficiency that he got them a contract with Tower records and had them record Dirty Water. When the song did decently on the charts, an album followed, and then a second single, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, which barely misses this year's top 10 list, coming in at # 11.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
While the Standells have the reputation for being the quintessential garage-punk band, it's the Shadows of Knight that were, by all accounts, the real deal. Formed in the Chicago suburbs, the band originally known as the Shadows tore up the local teen scene, often to the chagrin of the adults in the area. In fact, lead vocalist Jim Sohns was actually banned from at least one school campus in order to protect the virtue of the female students. Such was the band's popularity that they easily landed a deal with local Chicago label Dunwich, which had a national distribution deal with Atlantic records. The first record that the band recorded was a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria, which had stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts the previous year when most US radio stations banned the song due to suggestive lyrics. The Shadows, who had added "of Knight" to their name just in case there were other Shadows making records somewhere, got around the ban by changing "up to her room" to "around here". The record immediately made the playlist of the local Chicago radio stations, including 50,000 watt WLS, which could be heard nearly from coast to coast at night. With listeners hearing the song at night and demanding to hear it on their local station the next day, Gloria, # 10 on this year's Stuck in the Psychedelic Era most played list, became a hit overnight for the Shadows, who of course followed it up with an album named (what else?) Gloria. After some personnel adjustments, the band recorded a second album, Back Door Men, which included a handful of blues cover songs in addition to garage-rock standards such as Hey Joe. Both LPs were released in 1966, which proved to be the only truly successful year for the Shadows of Knight, who continued to make personnel changes until by the end of 1967 the only original member left was Sohns.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: The Seeds and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
The only band to get three slots in the top 25 is the Seeds, whose top song is the # 9 Pushin' Too Hard. The song was included on the first Seeds album, released in early 1966, and was soon made available as a single to local L.A. radio stations. The continued popularity of Pushin' Too Hard led to two significant developments. First, the band recorded a second LP and released it before the end of the year. Second, and perhaps more significant, Pushin' Too Hard was re-released nationally and became the Seeds' only top 20 hit.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
One year ago I made all of you a promise that I would play more Hendrix in 2011. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, I actually managed to keep this one, resulting in Hendrix being the artist with the second most airplay on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year. Most of the Hendrix that was heard on the show was from the three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums. Oddly enough, One well-known Hendrix track did not get played at all in 2011. The song Hey Joe, however, did get played. In fact, it got played by three different artists: Love, the Leaves and Tim Rose, who with the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell came up with the idea of slowing the tempo down. This week we finally get around to hearing the best known version of the venerable song, which was the first record ever released by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
Returning to our countdown we have the eighth most played track on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year (at least in part because it was played on three consecutive shows this summer). By 1968 Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues had become a rock standard. San Francisco's Blue Cheer turned up the feedback with this arrangement that has often been cited as the first heavy metal hit. Bassist Dick Peterson provides the vocals, while guitarist Leigh Stephens cranks up his amp to 11.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito/Theilhelm
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
In 1966 the Blues Magoos were THE east coast psychedelic band. Based in New York, the Magoos got as much attention for their visual presentation, including smoke bombs and electric suits, as for their music, which was nonetheless some of the best of the psychedelic era. Their first single, Tobacco Road, with it's extended psychedelic jam in the middle of the song, was one of the first tracks to get more airplay on college radio than on top 40 stations (although the song did make the charts). This year's # 7 song, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, did much better on AM radio, peaking at in February of 1967 and becoming the tune the Blues Magoos are best remembered for.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
White Rabbit was not originally intended for single release. It was not until progressive FM radio stations began playing White Rabbit as an alternative to Somebody To Love (which was being played to death on top 40 radio) in early 1967 that RCA Victor decided to release the song as a follow-up to Somebody To Love. White Rabbit ended up being the Jefferson Airplane's second consecutive (and final) top 10 single, and is the # 6 song on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era most-played list of 2011.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
Taking a break from the top 25 list we have last year's # 1 song, the Amboy Dukes classic Journey To The Center Of The Mind. The song introduced the world to guitarist Ted Nugent, whose career continues to careen out of control even to this day.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Boogie Music (originally released on LP: Living The Blues)
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: L.T. Tatman III
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Canned Heat was by far the most successful blues-rock band to come from the San Francisco Bay area. The band was formed when a group of blues record collectors decided to start making their own records. After a successful appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival the group signed a contract with Liberty and recorded an album of blues cover tunes. They followed it up in 1968 with an album of mostly original material called Boogie With Canned Heat. A second album that same year, Living The Blues, was a double-LP that included a long jam that took up two of the album sides, as well as a suite called Parthenogenesis that took up a third side. The rest of the album was made up of standard-length tracks such as Going Up The Country, which was released as a single and became the group's biggest hit. The B side of Going Up The Country was an edited version of Boogie Music, another track from Living The Blues and our # 5 song of the year.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
This year we had essentially a four-way tie for most popular song of the year on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. All four got played the exact same number of times, so we went with a tie-breaker system based on listener feedback. All four songs got comments, but when all was said and done we did end up with a definite ranking for the four songs. At # 4 is Psychotic Reaction from San Jose, California's Count Five. The band had a gimmick that immediately made them stand out from other bands: they all dressed like Bela Lugosi's version of Count Dracula (thus the five-member band's moniker). Psychotic Reaction emulates the 1965 Yardbirds (think I'm A Man), with a fast-paced guitar-driven break midsong that could have come from Jeff Beck himself. A listen to the B side of the record, by the way, reveals a true garage-punk sound that ranks right up there with the Standells and Shadows Of Knight in terms of attitude and raw energy. It is not known what happened to the members of Count Five after Psychotic Reaction had run its course in the autumn of 1966.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
At # 3 we have a song that is so intimately tied to the psychedelic era that Lenny Kaye himself chose it as the opening track for his original Nuggets compilation, released in 1972. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) had its brief chart run in early 1967, a year of such volatility that by the end of the year nearly every song from the previous winter sounded hopelessly out of date. Kaye's compilation album, celebrating the wave of rock bands such as the Electric Prunes that had come from the garages of America in the late 60s, created the term psychedelic era, and has been cited as an influence by dozens of musicians in the 40 years since it was first released. The story of the Electric Prunes is in some ways the story of the psychedelic era itself. Coming from California's Encino Valley, the group came to the attention of producer/engineer Dave Hassinger, who proceeded to con the band out of the rights to their own name while getting them a contract with a major record label. After two LPs and a series of singles with diminishing commercial returns, Hassinger took direct control of the Electric Prunes, releasing a rock mass written by David Axelrod called Mass In F Minor. Axelrod's arrangements proved to be too challenging for the band itself, and studio musicians were brought in to finish the project. Within a few months an entirely different group was recording under the name Electric Prunes, with no more commercial success than the original group. Eventually Hassinger abandoned the name, and in recent years many of the original members have begun performing (and recording) together as the Electric Prunes.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Triad
Source: CD: Crown Of Creation
Writer: David Crosby
Label: RCA
Year: 1968
Our final aside before revealing the top two songs of the year is to acknowledge the band that got the most airplay on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this past year. For the second straight year that band is Jefferson Airplane. The reason the Airplane gets heard on the show so much is that a) they put out five albums from 1966-69 b) every track on those five albums is appropriate for a show called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Compare this to the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Cream or even the Grateful Dead, each of which released only three albums over the same period. The Beatles also released five albums from 1966-69, but much of what they released was geared toward a more mainstream audience, and thus does not get played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era as often as tracks from the Airplane do. Tonight we have an Airplane song that was originally recorded, but not released, by the Byrds. In fact, the song Triad was quite possibly the catalyst that led to David Crosby being fired from the Byrds by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. The Jefferson Airplane version of Triad, featuring one of Grace Slick's best vocal performances of her career, appears on Crown Of Creation, the band's fourth album (and the only one released in 1968).
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
The Turtles began as an L.A. surf band known as the Crossfires. When they signed a contract with White Whale, however, the label (rightly) felt that surf music had run its course and encouraged the group to move into the then booming folk-rock arena. The band, now calling itself the Turtles, took a cue from fellow L.A. band the Byrds and released a cover of a Bob Dylan song as their first single. While the Byrds, with their folk background, emphasized soaring harmonies and Jim McGuinn's 12-string guitar, the Turtles, being an L.A. club band, emphasized Howard Kaylan's strong lead vocals and tight rock and roll arrangements. It Ain't Me Babe was a major hit in the L.A. market and did well enough on the national charts to prompt a series of follow-ups in the same vein, mostly written by P.F. Sloan, who had written Eve of Destruction for Barry McGuire. By 1966, however, the hits were getting scarce for the band, and a change of direction was called for. In early 1967 the Turtles released Happy Together, written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, who had recently migrated to the West Coast to try their hand at professional songwriting after having some minor success with their own band, the Magicians, in New York and New England. Happy Together went all the way to the top of the charts. It was no surprise, then, when later that year the Turtles released another Bonner/Gordon song. She's My Girl, a personal favorite of the band members themselves and a masterpiece of 4-track recording, was, for a good portion of 2011, the most played and most positively received song on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. However, on the last day before I had to compile the final top 25 list, a vote came in for the next song, pushing it ahead of She's My Girl.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: De Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In 1966 Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman had just opened a West Coast office headed by his friend Paul Rothchild, and the label was looking for local talent to sign. Up to that point Elektra had been exclusively a folk and blues label, with the Butterfield Blues Band being the closest thing to a rock band on the roster. Rothchild, however, felt it was time for the label to move into new territory, and started checking out the bands playing the clubs on Sunset Strip. The most famous of these clubs was the Whisky-A-Go-Go, which had gotten national attention when Johnny Rivers recorded a highly successful live album there a couple of years before. The house band at the Whisky was a group called Love, and they were, by all accounts, the undisputed kings of the Sunset Strip. Formed in 1965 by multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Bryan McLean, Love became the first rock band ever signed to Elektra. The signing of Love was so important to the label, in fact, that a whole new numbering series started with the band's debut LP. The featured track on that first album was a punked-out version of a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song, My Little Red Book, which was also released as a single. The song had been originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the What's New Pussycat soundtrack, but Love's version, with its choppy guitar track, driving bass line and Lee's unique vocals, was a complete makeover of what had started out as a light pop tune. Later in the year Love released their second, and most successful single, 7&7 Is, one of the most intense records ever to get top 40 airplay. The stereo version of 7&7 Is was included on the band's second LP, De Capo, released in early 1967. For this week's show we go back to the original 1966 mono mix of the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1 song of 2011: Love's 7&7 Is.
And that wraps up another show and another year of being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Next week it's back to the usual unpredictable mix of familiar favorites, obscure B sides and album tracks from the most creative and heartfelt period in the history of recorded music: the psychedelic era.
Artist: Beatles
Title: If I Needed Someone
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Writer: George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
So how exactly does the most commercially successful rock group of all time end up at only the number four slot this year? Because they are the most commercially successful rock group in history, of course. The fact is, like all but one of this year's tops Stuck in the Psychedelic Era artists, the Beatles recorded so many playable songs that no one track got played more than once or twice all year. Also, since several Beatles songs are still in rotation on all kinds of commercial radio stations, I felt it was important to give more exposure to other artists, including the three that finished higher than the Beatles this year. As to why I chose this particular song, a look through past playlists will show that If I Needed Someone is one of the many Beatle tunes that have yet to be heard on Stuck In the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication a couple of year back). I figured the appearance was overdue. Now, on to the top 25!
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
In the # 25 spot we have a band with one of the most bizarre stories in the history of rock. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was formed when aging hipster Bob Markley hosted a party at his home in the Hollywood hills. Markley had left a moderately successful career as a TV personality in his native Oklahoma to try his luck in the city of Angels in the early 60s. Although he did not have a lot of success in either movies or TV on the coast, he did manage to make the acquaintance of Kim Fowley, the embodiment of the classic 60s Hollywood hustler. It was Fowley that managed to book the Yardbirds at Markley's 1965 party, a party that was also attended by Shaun and Danny Harris, sons of composer Roy Harris, and guitarist Michael Lloyd, who had just formed a new band called the Laughing Wind. Markley was impressed with the crowds of young girls flocking around the Yardbirds, and after being introduced to Lloyd and the Harris brothers offered to finance the new band if he could join up with them. As Markley was the adopted heir to an oil fortune and getting a monthly stipend, the rest of the guys readily agreed to the deal and the
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (a name Markley came up with) was born. The group recorded an album of mostly cover songs called Volume 1 in a studio they built themselves before signing a deal with Reprise records. The first album for Reprise was called Part One and, unlike their earlier effort, featured mostly songs written by band members. Among the tracks on Part One was I Won't Hurt You, a tune that is written around a simulated heartbeat.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
Our # 24 song comes from the Seeds, a Los Angeles band made up of members that had migrated westward to California from nearby states (although some critics believed they actually came from another planet) and are generally credited with creating the term "flower power". Their first single was Can't Seem To Make You Mine, which got considerable airplay on area radio stations in 1965.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: No Way Out)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
In the # 23 spot we have the Chocolate Watchband, a band formed in 1965 by students at Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills, California. These days Los Altos Hills is in the heart of silicon valley, but in 1966 it was a sleepy town a few miles northwest of San Jose, which was itself a medium-sized US city at the time (today it's one of the top 10 US cities in population). After going through a series of personnel changes, the Watchband solidified around vocalist Dave Aguilar. Aguilar's vocals, like those of many other garage bands of the time, were heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger. The Watchband became the top band on the San Jose scene, with a repertoire consisting mostly of covers of songs by British invasion bands such as the Kinks and of course the Rolling Stones, interspersed with songs from popular soul artists such as Wilson Pickett. It wasn't long before they came to the attention of Ed Cobb, who has been called the Ed Wood of 60s garage-rock. Wood was already getting known for managing and producing the Standells out of L.A., and he soon had signed the Watchband to a contract with Tower records, the low-budget Capitol records subsidiary. For reasons of his own, Wood did not play the the strengths of the Watchband (their raw energetic performances). Instead, he attempted to fit them into a psychedelic mold of his own design. Many of the tracks on the group's debut LP for Tower, No Way Out, were actually recorded by studio musicians with no input whatsoever from the Watchband itself. These tracks were by and large instrumentals, mostly written by professional songwriters Richie Podolor and Jerry Ragovich. Additionally, a couple of songs that were played by the Watchband appeared on the album with vocals by studio singer Don Bennett. Ironically, one of the few songs that did feature Aguilar on vocals, Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In), was co-written by Bennett. The song was eventually released as a single after being used on the soundtrack for the cheapie teensploitation flick The Love-In.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Our # 22 song is a true classic that has become somewhat of a signature song for vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Steve Winwood. By 1967 18-year-old Winwood had already established a reputation with the Spencer Davis Group when he left that band to form Traffic with guitarist Dave Mason, flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood and drummer Jim Capaldi. Dear Mr. Fantasy, written by Winwood, Wood and Capaldi, was originally released on Traffic's debut LP. The album was released in the UK as Mr. Fantasy, while in the US it was called Heaven Is In Your Mind. In addition to a slightly different track lineup the US version had entirely different cover art than the UK album. After the first printing the name of the US album was changed to Mr. Fantasy, although the cover art remained. Most recently, both versions of the album have been released on CD in the US. Mr. Fantasy is entirely in mono and uses the UK track lineup and cover art and includes singles and B sides that were not included on the original UK version. Heaven Is In Your Mind is a stereo CD that uses the US track lineup and cover art and includes (as bonus tracks) stereo mixes of the songs that were previously only available on the original UK album.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The song occupying this year's # 21 spot is from one of the most influential bands to come out of the Los Angeles under-21 club scene. The Music Machine was the brainchild of Sean Bonniwell, who had previously recorded several albums for RCA as a member of the light-folk group the Limelighters. By 1966 Bonniwell was looking to do something with more of an edge to it, and formed the Music Machine as an outlet for his musical creativity. Unusual for bands of the time, the Music Machine had a tight stage show and a unique visual image. Band members dressed entirely in black, including dyed hair, and wore one black glove each. After a performance, Bonniwell was heard to say, one glove came off and the other one went on. Each set was a virtually continuous series of well-rehearsed Bonniwell originals, with no time between songs for the audience to yell out requests. The group got its big break with the release of the single Talk Talk, which made the national top 40 charts and led to an album, Turn On The Music Machine. With that album, however, problems with the band's management and record label began to manifest. The Music Machine had recorded a set of cover songs to lip synch to on a local TV show. Without the band's knowledge or approval, Original Sound records included those songs on the LP, weakening the creative impact of the album. The problems got worse when the band's manager gave the newest (and lowest-rated) local top 40 station exclusive rights to the Music Machine's second single, The People In Me. The move killed any momentum the band may have still had and a series of successive singles failed to chart as well. Among those were some truly outstanding songs such as The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly. By mid-1967 most of the original members had left the group for other projects. Undaunted, Bonniwell signed a deal with Warner Brothers, releasing one album (Bonniwell Music Machine) that included all of the Original Sound singles and B sides that were not on the debut album, as well as several new tracks featuring a new Music Machine lineup.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Bass Strings
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
The # 20 spot this year is held by Bass Strings, an album track that was originally recorded for an EP (extended play) record included in an early arts-oriented underground newspaper published by Joe McDonald, leader and primary songwriter for Country Joe and the Fish. The paper was called Rag Baby and it was meant to be a kind of Berkeley version of New York's Village Voice. The issue of Rag Baby that included Bass Strings was actually McDonald's second issue of the paper to include an EP in it (the first Rag Baby EP included the original version of McDonald's I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag). Bass Strings, a literal example of acid-rock, was re-recorded in stereo for the group's first LP for Vanguard, Electric Music For The Mind And Body, released in 1967.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Blonde On Blonde)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Sometimes things just work out the way they should. Such is the case with Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 coming in at the # 19 spot, immediately following Bass Strings on this week's show (listen closely to the lyrics to hear what I mean). By 1966 even Dylan's most hardcore fans had resigned themselves to his using rock instrumentation, after booing him profoundly at the Newport Jazz Festival the previous year. It was hard to argue with the success, both artistically and commercially, of his Highway 61 Revisited album, and so when Blonde On Blonde came out it was no surprise to hear a song like Rainy Day Women opening the LP. The album was, in its own way, just as daring as Highway 61; after all, no rock or folk artist had released a double LP before. Blonde On Blonde was reportedly recorded under the influence of pot and alcohol, with most of the musicians, including Dylan himself, partaking between the takes. It's pretty obvious, listening to Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, that Dylan was having the time of his life making the album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: 2,000 Light Years From Home
Source: LP: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
We take a break from the song countdown to hear from our third most heard artist of 2011. The Rolling Stones have been called the world's greatest rock band, and they certainly have outlasted most of their contemporaries. There was a time, however, when the band's relevance was in serious doubt. There had always been a friendly rivalry between the Stones and the Beatles (even more so among the fans of the two groups), but in 1967 the Beatles took a clear lead. The Fab Four had retired from live performing after their 1966 US tour, and shifted their focus to the recording studio. The result was a double-sided single, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, followed by the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The Stones, meanwhile, released an album that by comparison sounded very 1966: Between The Buttons. Finding themselves trying to play catch up, the Stones worked furiously on a new LP that was by far the most psychedelic album they would ever record: Their Satanic Majesties Request. Unfortunately by the time Majesties was released their brand of psychedelia was already sounding dated, and the album was savaged by the critics, despite hitting the top 5 in the LP charts. In retrospect, Their Satanic Majesties Request was a much better album than it was perceived to be at the time it was released. For this week's show I have chosen 2,000 Light Years From Home, a song that was also released in the US as the B side of She's A Rainbow. The song had its greatest popularity in Germany, where it was released as a single, making the top 10 there.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
We resume our countdown with our first repeat artist of the week holding down the # 18 spot. The Seeds hit their peak of popularity in early 1967, when Pushin' Too Hard, which had already been a hit in the Los Angeles area, was re-released nationally, making the top 20 in several markets. 1967 was a year of constant change, however, and by the time Pushin' Too Hard had run its course the Seeds themselves were starting to sound like an anachronism. The corporate pop song machine that had lost control of top 40 radio with the arrival of the Beatles in 1964 was beginning to reassert itself, squeezing out indy bands like the Seeds, who were still too singles-oriented for the new progressive FM stations that were beginning to pop up across the nation. Against this backdrop the Seeds released what was possibly their finest single: The Wind Blows Her Hair.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Mickey Newbury
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Our # 17 song is from a group that was formed by members of another group. The New Christy Minstrels were one of the many homogenized folk groups that had sprung up in the sixties, getting most of their exposure through play on what was then called MOR (middle of the road) radio, mostly older stations that had gradually converted to a music format as TV took over the comedy, drama and variety shows that had established radio as the medium of choice in the 30s and 40s. These stations targeted a much older demographic than top 40 radio, and were more in line with TV variety shows such as those hosted by Perry Como, Dinah Shore, and Dean Martin (in fact the New Christy Minstrels were frequent guests on these types of shows). In late 1967 some of the members decided to do something a bit more hip and broke away from the Minstrels to form the First Edition. Led by songwriter Mickey Newbury and vocalist Kenny Rogers, the group hit a home run on their first attempt with Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), released in 1968. Rogers, however, was not comfortable with the psychedelic sound of Just Dropped In, and the First Edition soon shifted to a more country sound, establishing Rogers as an artist who would come to dominate the country charts by the early 1980s.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
The Buffalo Springfield was formed when Stephen Stills, who had been unsuccessfully trying to form a new band after having been rejected as an applicant for the Monkees, was stuck in traffic in L.A and suddenly saw a hearse driven by his friend Neil Young, whom he had not seen since leaving Toronto several months earlier. Stills had already assembled a group of talented musicians, including Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin, but Young was the missing element that made the new group come together. Taking the name Buffalo Springfield, the new group managed to get a gig replacing the Byrds as the house band at Ciro's, but were not able to attract a large audience (possibly due to the popularity of Love, who were the house band at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, across the street from Ciro's). Undaunted, the group pressed on and got a contract with Atco records. At first it looked their first album, released in 1966, would flop, but then Stills wrote a new tune, For What It's Worth, that Atco released as a single in early 1967. The song became a major national hit and the album was re-cut with For What It's Worth added as the opening track. The group soon recorded a second LP, Buffalo Springfield Again. The album had several songs that were worthy of being released as singles. Possibly the best of these was Rock And Roll Woman, another Stills tune. Although it didn't get much beyond the lower reaches of the charts when it was released, it comes in at the # 16 slot on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era top 25 list for 2011. That's gotta be worth something, right?
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released on LP: The Time Has Come; edited for single release)
Writer: Joe and Willie Chambers
Label: Rhino (originally label: Columbia)
Year: 1967 (single edit released in 1968)
In the # 15 slot this year we have a song that has actually been released in four different versions. Time Has Come Today was first recorded in 1966 in a form that is vastly different from the version heard here. That version was released as a single, but did not go anywhere and was soon deleted from the Columbia catalog. The following year the Chambers Brothers cut a new version for their album The Time Has Come. This new version ran over 10 minutes, and featured a long extended psychedelic section that featured several innovative studio effects. The track started getting extensive airplay on progressive FM radio stations, prompting Columbia to create and release a single version in 1968. Columbia, being still a somewhat conservative label, edited the track down to about three and a quarter minutes (the rule of thumb was that top 40 radio would not play anything over three and a half minutes). The problem was that the edited version completely exorcised the track of everything that got it played on FM in the first place: the extended psychedelic section with all the innovative studio effects. When even top 40 stations started demanding a version of the song that was more like what FM was playing, Columbia engineers went back and created a fourth version of Time Has Come Today, which, although edited, kept a portion of the middle section of the track. It is this version that finally got played on AM radio and has become the version usually heard on classic rock radio as well. Personally I prefer the album version, but due to time considerations I'm going with that four and three-quarter minute edit instead.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as an underground newspaper supplement EP flexi-disc)
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Rhino (original label: Rag Baby)
Year: 1966
Our # 14 song of the year is the second of two tracks originally released in 1966 as an EP that was included with Joe McDonald's Rag Baby arts-oriented underground newspaper. After Section 43 started getting airplay on local San Francisco radio stations, Vanguard records took notice and signed Country Joe And The Fish to a contract. Both Section 43 and Bass Strings (see entry for the # 20 slot) were re-recorded in stereo for the band's Vanguard debut, but for tonight's show I am using the original mono version from the EP, which is about a minute shorter than the LP version. At six and three-quarter minutes, however, this version of Section 43 is still the longest track on tonight's show.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
Starting off the second hour we have the second song tonight from the Music Machine. Talk Talk is possibly the most intense two minute song ever to get played on top 40 radio, and it comes in this year in the lucky 13 spot. For more on the Music Machine see the # 21 song above.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Our # 12 song, Feelin' Alright, has the distinction of being one of only two songs played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era this past year by three different artists. In addition to the original Traffic version heard here, we've heard Joe Cocker performing the song live at Woodstock and Grand Funk Railroad re-working the song for their Survival LP. If Dear Mr. Fantasy (# 22 this year) is Steve Winwood's signature song, then Feelin' Alright certainly has to be considered bandmate Dave Mason's, perhaps even more so. Mason had already left Traffic by the time their first LP, Mr. Fantasy, was released, but had rejoined the group in time to record their second album, entitled simply Traffic. Mason would soon leave the group again, joining up with the others one final time for the Welcome To The Canteen live album before permanently parting ways with Traffic in 1971.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
The Standells are a bit of an enigma. Although they come across as the quintessential garage-punk band, the members of the group all had squeaky clean backgrounds (lead vocalist Dickie Dodd, in fact, was one of the original Mousketeers). The band was first spotted by Cobb while playing cover songs in an upscale L.A. club. He was impressed enough with their musical proficiency that he got them a contract with Tower records and had them record Dirty Water. When the song did decently on the charts, an album followed, and then a second single, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, which barely misses this year's top 10 list, coming in at # 11.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
While the Standells have the reputation for being the quintessential garage-punk band, it's the Shadows of Knight that were, by all accounts, the real deal. Formed in the Chicago suburbs, the band originally known as the Shadows tore up the local teen scene, often to the chagrin of the adults in the area. In fact, lead vocalist Jim Sohns was actually banned from at least one school campus in order to protect the virtue of the female students. Such was the band's popularity that they easily landed a deal with local Chicago label Dunwich, which had a national distribution deal with Atlantic records. The first record that the band recorded was a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria, which had stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts the previous year when most US radio stations banned the song due to suggestive lyrics. The Shadows, who had added "of Knight" to their name just in case there were other Shadows making records somewhere, got around the ban by changing "up to her room" to "around here". The record immediately made the playlist of the local Chicago radio stations, including 50,000 watt WLS, which could be heard nearly from coast to coast at night. With listeners hearing the song at night and demanding to hear it on their local station the next day, Gloria, # 10 on this year's Stuck in the Psychedelic Era most played list, became a hit overnight for the Shadows, who of course followed it up with an album named (what else?) Gloria. After some personnel adjustments, the band recorded a second album, Back Door Men, which included a handful of blues cover songs in addition to garage-rock standards such as Hey Joe. Both LPs were released in 1966, which proved to be the only truly successful year for the Shadows of Knight, who continued to make personnel changes until by the end of 1967 the only original member left was Sohns.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: The Seeds and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
The only band to get three slots in the top 25 is the Seeds, whose top song is the # 9 Pushin' Too Hard. The song was included on the first Seeds album, released in early 1966, and was soon made available as a single to local L.A. radio stations. The continued popularity of Pushin' Too Hard led to two significant developments. First, the band recorded a second LP and released it before the end of the year. Second, and perhaps more significant, Pushin' Too Hard was re-released nationally and became the Seeds' only top 20 hit.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
One year ago I made all of you a promise that I would play more Hendrix in 2011. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, I actually managed to keep this one, resulting in Hendrix being the artist with the second most airplay on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year. Most of the Hendrix that was heard on the show was from the three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums. Oddly enough, One well-known Hendrix track did not get played at all in 2011. The song Hey Joe, however, did get played. In fact, it got played by three different artists: Love, the Leaves and Tim Rose, who with the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell came up with the idea of slowing the tempo down. This week we finally get around to hearing the best known version of the venerable song, which was the first record ever released by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
Returning to our countdown we have the eighth most played track on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year (at least in part because it was played on three consecutive shows this summer). By 1968 Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues had become a rock standard. San Francisco's Blue Cheer turned up the feedback with this arrangement that has often been cited as the first heavy metal hit. Bassist Dick Peterson provides the vocals, while guitarist Leigh Stephens cranks up his amp to 11.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito/Theilhelm
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
In 1966 the Blues Magoos were THE east coast psychedelic band. Based in New York, the Magoos got as much attention for their visual presentation, including smoke bombs and electric suits, as for their music, which was nonetheless some of the best of the psychedelic era. Their first single, Tobacco Road, with it's extended psychedelic jam in the middle of the song, was one of the first tracks to get more airplay on college radio than on top 40 stations (although the song did make the charts). This year's # 7 song, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, did much better on AM radio, peaking at in February of 1967 and becoming the tune the Blues Magoos are best remembered for.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
White Rabbit was not originally intended for single release. It was not until progressive FM radio stations began playing White Rabbit as an alternative to Somebody To Love (which was being played to death on top 40 radio) in early 1967 that RCA Victor decided to release the song as a follow-up to Somebody To Love. White Rabbit ended up being the Jefferson Airplane's second consecutive (and final) top 10 single, and is the # 6 song on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era most-played list of 2011.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
Taking a break from the top 25 list we have last year's # 1 song, the Amboy Dukes classic Journey To The Center Of The Mind. The song introduced the world to guitarist Ted Nugent, whose career continues to careen out of control even to this day.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Boogie Music (originally released on LP: Living The Blues)
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: L.T. Tatman III
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Canned Heat was by far the most successful blues-rock band to come from the San Francisco Bay area. The band was formed when a group of blues record collectors decided to start making their own records. After a successful appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival the group signed a contract with Liberty and recorded an album of blues cover tunes. They followed it up in 1968 with an album of mostly original material called Boogie With Canned Heat. A second album that same year, Living The Blues, was a double-LP that included a long jam that took up two of the album sides, as well as a suite called Parthenogenesis that took up a third side. The rest of the album was made up of standard-length tracks such as Going Up The Country, which was released as a single and became the group's biggest hit. The B side of Going Up The Country was an edited version of Boogie Music, another track from Living The Blues and our # 5 song of the year.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
This year we had essentially a four-way tie for most popular song of the year on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. All four got played the exact same number of times, so we went with a tie-breaker system based on listener feedback. All four songs got comments, but when all was said and done we did end up with a definite ranking for the four songs. At # 4 is Psychotic Reaction from San Jose, California's Count Five. The band had a gimmick that immediately made them stand out from other bands: they all dressed like Bela Lugosi's version of Count Dracula (thus the five-member band's moniker). Psychotic Reaction emulates the 1965 Yardbirds (think I'm A Man), with a fast-paced guitar-driven break midsong that could have come from Jeff Beck himself. A listen to the B side of the record, by the way, reveals a true garage-punk sound that ranks right up there with the Standells and Shadows Of Knight in terms of attitude and raw energy. It is not known what happened to the members of Count Five after Psychotic Reaction had run its course in the autumn of 1966.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
At # 3 we have a song that is so intimately tied to the psychedelic era that Lenny Kaye himself chose it as the opening track for his original Nuggets compilation, released in 1972. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) had its brief chart run in early 1967, a year of such volatility that by the end of the year nearly every song from the previous winter sounded hopelessly out of date. Kaye's compilation album, celebrating the wave of rock bands such as the Electric Prunes that had come from the garages of America in the late 60s, created the term psychedelic era, and has been cited as an influence by dozens of musicians in the 40 years since it was first released. The story of the Electric Prunes is in some ways the story of the psychedelic era itself. Coming from California's Encino Valley, the group came to the attention of producer/engineer Dave Hassinger, who proceeded to con the band out of the rights to their own name while getting them a contract with a major record label. After two LPs and a series of singles with diminishing commercial returns, Hassinger took direct control of the Electric Prunes, releasing a rock mass written by David Axelrod called Mass In F Minor. Axelrod's arrangements proved to be too challenging for the band itself, and studio musicians were brought in to finish the project. Within a few months an entirely different group was recording under the name Electric Prunes, with no more commercial success than the original group. Eventually Hassinger abandoned the name, and in recent years many of the original members have begun performing (and recording) together as the Electric Prunes.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Triad
Source: CD: Crown Of Creation
Writer: David Crosby
Label: RCA
Year: 1968
Our final aside before revealing the top two songs of the year is to acknowledge the band that got the most airplay on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this past year. For the second straight year that band is Jefferson Airplane. The reason the Airplane gets heard on the show so much is that a) they put out five albums from 1966-69 b) every track on those five albums is appropriate for a show called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Compare this to the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Cream or even the Grateful Dead, each of which released only three albums over the same period. The Beatles also released five albums from 1966-69, but much of what they released was geared toward a more mainstream audience, and thus does not get played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era as often as tracks from the Airplane do. Tonight we have an Airplane song that was originally recorded, but not released, by the Byrds. In fact, the song Triad was quite possibly the catalyst that led to David Crosby being fired from the Byrds by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. The Jefferson Airplane version of Triad, featuring one of Grace Slick's best vocal performances of her career, appears on Crown Of Creation, the band's fourth album (and the only one released in 1968).
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
The Turtles began as an L.A. surf band known as the Crossfires. When they signed a contract with White Whale, however, the label (rightly) felt that surf music had run its course and encouraged the group to move into the then booming folk-rock arena. The band, now calling itself the Turtles, took a cue from fellow L.A. band the Byrds and released a cover of a Bob Dylan song as their first single. While the Byrds, with their folk background, emphasized soaring harmonies and Jim McGuinn's 12-string guitar, the Turtles, being an L.A. club band, emphasized Howard Kaylan's strong lead vocals and tight rock and roll arrangements. It Ain't Me Babe was a major hit in the L.A. market and did well enough on the national charts to prompt a series of follow-ups in the same vein, mostly written by P.F. Sloan, who had written Eve of Destruction for Barry McGuire. By 1966, however, the hits were getting scarce for the band, and a change of direction was called for. In early 1967 the Turtles released Happy Together, written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, who had recently migrated to the West Coast to try their hand at professional songwriting after having some minor success with their own band, the Magicians, in New York and New England. Happy Together went all the way to the top of the charts. It was no surprise, then, when later that year the Turtles released another Bonner/Gordon song. She's My Girl, a personal favorite of the band members themselves and a masterpiece of 4-track recording, was, for a good portion of 2011, the most played and most positively received song on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. However, on the last day before I had to compile the final top 25 list, a vote came in for the next song, pushing it ahead of She's My Girl.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: De Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In 1966 Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman had just opened a West Coast office headed by his friend Paul Rothchild, and the label was looking for local talent to sign. Up to that point Elektra had been exclusively a folk and blues label, with the Butterfield Blues Band being the closest thing to a rock band on the roster. Rothchild, however, felt it was time for the label to move into new territory, and started checking out the bands playing the clubs on Sunset Strip. The most famous of these clubs was the Whisky-A-Go-Go, which had gotten national attention when Johnny Rivers recorded a highly successful live album there a couple of years before. The house band at the Whisky was a group called Love, and they were, by all accounts, the undisputed kings of the Sunset Strip. Formed in 1965 by multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Bryan McLean, Love became the first rock band ever signed to Elektra. The signing of Love was so important to the label, in fact, that a whole new numbering series started with the band's debut LP. The featured track on that first album was a punked-out version of a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song, My Little Red Book, which was also released as a single. The song had been originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the What's New Pussycat soundtrack, but Love's version, with its choppy guitar track, driving bass line and Lee's unique vocals, was a complete makeover of what had started out as a light pop tune. Later in the year Love released their second, and most successful single, 7&7 Is, one of the most intense records ever to get top 40 airplay. The stereo version of 7&7 Is was included on the band's second LP, De Capo, released in early 1967. For this week's show we go back to the original 1966 mono mix of the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1 song of 2011: Love's 7&7 Is.
And that wraps up another show and another year of being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Next week it's back to the usual unpredictable mix of familiar favorites, obscure B sides and album tracks from the most creative and heartfelt period in the history of recorded music: the psychedelic era.
Untitled
In case you're looking for a playlist for 12/29+, I'm holding it back so as not to spoil the top 25 songs of the year. Yeah, I know Stuck in the Psychedelic Era doesn't play new stuff, but we still have a top 25 list. I'll post it next week, after the show has run.
Stuck With The Hermit At Yuletide (starts 12/22/11)
Just about every weekly radio show does a Christmas special this time of year, and for several years now Stuck In the Psychedelic Era has been no exception. There is a problem, though, and that is the unavoidable fact that for the most part the artists I generally feature on the show never got around to recording any Christmas songs. There are exceptions, of course, and this week you'll hear some of those by Jethro Tull, the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, and others. But, unless I wanted to spend over half the show on Beach Boys Christmas songs (and there are nearly enough of those for an entire show), I knew I would have to take an entirely different approach to selecting the songs. After a couple of years of experimenting around with various approaches I finally decided to just pick out the coolest holiday tracks I could find, regardless of genre or year they were recorded, and have been doing it that way ever since. As a result, on this year's show we'll be hearing tunes that span from 1948 through 1983. One unintended consequence of doing it this way is that nearly every track used on the show tonight is from a CD.
So prepare to be Stuck with the Hermit at Yuletide without any scratchy records this year.
Artist: Mannheim Steamroller
Song Title: Hark! The Herald Trumpets Sing
Source: CD: A Fresh Aire Christmas
Release Year: 1988
I was looking for something that was both pompous and cool at the same time to start the show. Mannheim Steamroller seemed to fit the bill. Besides, Chip Davis wrote it to be an introduction, so I figured why not?
Artist: George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Song Title: Rock and Roll Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1983
George Thorogood has always said that his group was at heart a bar band. As a bar band is just a step away from being a garage band, this seemed like as good a place as any to get into the actual meat of the show.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
Source: CD single: Free As a Bird
Release Year: 1967/1997
Every year the Beatles would record a special Christmas message to go out to members of their fan club, and mail it out on what was then known as a floppy disc. This was not the same as a computer floppy disc, however. In fact, the medium the Beatles used eventually came to be known as a flexi-disc, just to keep things from getting any more confusing. Regardless of what you called it, the things tended to wear out after just a few plays and I doubt there are many playable copies of these discs left in the universe. Luckily for us, George Martin had the foresight to hang on to everything the Beatles ever recorded, including this tune, which was chopped up and used for the 1967 Christmas Greeting. When the Beatles Anthology was released in 1997, the piece was included on the Free As a Bird CD single, and we got to hear the song in its uninterrupted entirety for the first time.
Artist: John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Song Title: Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1972
Largely overlooked when first released, this song has since acquired classic status.
Artist: Dennis Wilson
Song Title: Morning Christmas
Source: CD: Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas
Release Year: 1977
Dennis Wilson was not hanging around with the rest of the clan in 1977, but did want to make a contribution to their new Christmas album that year, so he sent in this recording. The album ended up not being released, but the track finally did see the light of day on the Ultimate Christmas collection issued four or five years ago.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Song Title: Silent Night/7 O'Clock News
Source: CD: Complete Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)
Release Year: 1966
This track is unique for several reasons. The most obvious is that it uses two unrelated recordings to make an ironically chilling point. The first is a rendition of Franz Gruber's Silent Night, with vocals in the center channel and piano only coming from one speaker. As the song progresses a newscast in the other channel slowly gets louder. Eventually the song ends and there is only the news. What's also unusual is that this well-known Christmas carol is not featured on a Christmas album at all; instead it appears as the final track on a side of a regular album.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Song Title: A Hazy Shade of Winter
Source: CD: Complete Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Release Year: 1966
I wish I could take credit for putting this and the previous track together. The truth is I don't know who came up with the idea; my best guess is someone from Westwood One radio, as I first heard it done on one of their syndicated programs. Still, it's not a bad idea, and I happened to have a copy of the Westwood One version of the tracks, so there it is.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: Ring Out Solstice Bells
Source: LP: Songs From the Wood
Release Year: 1976
Until the late 1940s the predominate form of recorded music was the 78 RPM (revolutions per minute) record, which was either 10 or 12 inches in diameter and made of a brittle material called shellac. The 10 inch version was the standard for popular music, with a running time of about 3 to 4 minutes. RCA Victor developed a direct replacement for the 78 that was 7 inches in diameter and ran at 45 RPM. Meanwhile, RCA's top rival, Columbia Records, developed a slower long-playing record that used something called microgroove technology that allowed up to half an hour's worth of recorded material per side. Somewhere along the way somebody decided to try the microgroove approach to the 45 and the Extended Play (EP) record was born. In the US, EPs were somewhat popular in the 1950s, but pretty much died out by the time of the Beatles, except for specialized formats such as children's records and low-budget cover labels that would hire anonymous studio musicians to re-create popular hits. In the UK, on the other hand, the format remained viable up through the mid-70s. Jethro Tull took advantage of the EP format to release a Christmas record in December of 1976. Ring Out Solstice Bells was the featured song on the EP, and would not be released in the US until the following spring, when it was included on the album Songs From the Wood.
Artist: Ed "Cookie" Byrnes
Song Title: Yulesville
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1959
The ABC TV network was a perennial also-ran that was just starting to find a winning formula in the late 50s with shows targeted toward a younger audience. The most popular of these was 77 Sunset Strip, starring Ed "Cookie" Byrnes. He and co-star Connie Stevens, staying in character, cut a hit novelty record called "Cookie, Cookie," which played on Cookie's propensity for combing his hair. Byrnes, again in character, followed it up with this hip retelling of the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Artist: Bobby "Boris" Pickett
Song Title: Monster's Holiday
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1962
Bobby Picket scored big with his Halloween hit Monster Mash in 1962, and quickly followed it up with this sequel set around the Christmas holidays. Legendary producer Gary Paxton was responsible for both recordings making it onto vinyl and on the air.
Artist: Johnny Preston
Song Title: (I Want a) Rock and Roll Guitar
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1960
Johnny Preston recorded his signature song in 1960, the classic Running Bear, penned by J.P. Richardson, the Big Bopper. The pair teamed up again for this Christmas song later the same year. Interesting enough, by the middle of the decade, a guitar was exactly what many kids were indeed asking for. I should know; I got my first guitar (and amp) as a Christmas present after badgering my parents mercilessly for months. I think between the two they might have run about $100, which made it the most expensive Christmas I ever had.
Artist: Foghat
Song Title: All I Want For Christmas Is You
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1981
Foghat was formed when all the members of Savoy Brown except leader Kim Edmunds decided to form their own band in the early 70s. After a moderately successful run, founding member "Lonesome" Dave Peverett was all set to call it quits in 1981, but not until after he wrote and recorded this holiday tune.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Father Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1977
There are not many socially-conscious Christmas songs, especially slightly twisted ones like this Kinks classic from 1977. I guess by then getting a guitar was kind of passe anyway.
Artist: Charles Brown
Song Title: Please Come Home For Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present)
Release Year: 1961
By now just about everyone is familiar with the Eagles version of this tune. Not everyone, however, knows the song was written by blues great Charles Brown. Even fewer have actually heard Brown's 1961 original, which is a shame, as it blows the Eagles version clean out of the water.
Artist: James Brown
Song Title: Santa Claus, Santa Claus
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1968
Few people would ever accuse James Brown of being a blues artist, but this recording from 1968 shows what it would have sounded like if he was.
Artist: Clarence Carter
Song Title: Back Door Santa
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1969
Clarence Carter is an icon of the beach music (for you non-Carolinians, beach music has nothing to do with surf music) crowd. For everyone else, he is a moderately successful soul artist known mostly for his mid-70s hit Slip Away. Regardless of where you might know him from, this song will surprise you with its get down and get funky energy.
Artist: Jimmy McCracklin
Song Title: Christmas Time
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1961 (?)
Jimmy McCracklin recorded one of the catchiest, yet underplayed, tunes of the 50s when he did The Walk. This song from a few years later actually sounds like beach music. Go figure.
Artist: Chuck Berry
Song Title: Run Rudolph Run
Source: CD: Chuck Berry Chess Box
Release Year: 1958
Chuck Berry established a reputation in the 60s for reworking his old songs from the 50s, giving them new lyrics and sometimes new guitar rifts. Probably the best-known example of this was No Particular Place To Go, which is a reworked version of School Day. His first reworking of a previously-recorded song was 1958's Run Rudoph Run, which was virtually identical to Little Queenie, released earlier the same year. To me it sounds like he actually used the Little Queenie instrumental tracks rather than to re-record the song. This kind of cost-cutting measure would be consistent with his later practice of using pick-up bands rather than incurring the travel expenses of having his own band on the road.
Artist: Jack Scott
Song Title: There's Trouble Brewin'
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1963
Canadian born Jack Scott was one of the great rockabilly performers of the late 50s, scoring several top 10 hits, including My True Love and Burning Bridges. This 1963 recording shows him at the peak of his vocal powers.
Artist: Cheech and Chong
Song Title: Santa Claus and His Old Lady
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1971
I heard this on the radio the year it was released and managed to find a copy of the 45 only to have it disappear on me a few years later. Luckily, the folks at Rhino somehow knew of my dilemma and included it on their Rock and Roll Christmas CD. Well, I can dream, can't I? Incidentally, the B side of that old 45 was Dave's Not Here from Cheech and Chong's first album.
Artist: Ray Stevens
Song Title: Santa Claus Is Watching You
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1962
I've mentioned something called the Grab Bag before. Basically, it was a sealed paper bag (sometimes with a clear plastic front) containing four 45 RPM records, generally "cut-outs" that were no longer in print. The one my family bought for Christmas of 1964 had a Sing Along With Mitch Christmas EP in the front. This song was on one of the other three records, although I seem to remember it being slightly different that the version heard here. One thing that both versions had in common was the presence of Clyde the Camel from Stevens's first hit Ahab the Arab.
Artist: Spike Jones and His City Slickers
Song Title: All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1935-1954
Release Year: 1948
Spike Jones and His City Slickers were a highly talented bunch who made music out of sound effects, toy instruments, and whatever else it occurred to them to use. Their forte was the novelty record, and no one did it better. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) was written by Middleton, NY schoolteacher Donald Yetter Gardner, who was inspired to write the song when he asked his second grade class what they wanted for Christmas and was struck by how many of them were lisping due to missing front teeth.
Artist: Chipmunks
Song Title: The Chipmunk Song
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1955-Present
Release Year: 1958
In 1958 pop-jazz composer/bandleader Ross Bagdasarian decided to play around with a variable-speed tape recorder and came up with the novelty hit Witch Doctor. He followed it up by using multiple tape machines to create a trio of sped up voices that he called the Chipmunks, and released this smash hit in time for the Christmas season. The success of this record led to a Saturday morning cartoon series and a series of albums for the Liberty label. His son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. has revived the concept in recent years, although not with the same level of success.
Artist: Beach Boys
Song Title: Little Saint Nick (stereo single version)
Source: CD: Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas
Release Year: 1963
When the Beach Boys first recorded Little Saint Nick they were the hottest surf music band in the country. A year later Beatlemania had set in, and a new version of Little Saint Nick was recorded for the Beach Boys Christmas Album. The new version put a greater emphasis on the vocals, and much of the original instrumentation was deleted from the arrangement. That is the version that usually gets heard on commercial radio every year. In the mid-70s, Carl Wilson, who by then had stepped into the leader's role formerly held by older brother Brian, pulled out the original 1963 tapes and created a new stereo mix of the song heard here. The instruments have greater prominence in this version and include the distinctive sound of sleighbells that were completely exorcised from the 1964 version.
Artist: Ventures
Song Title: Sleigh Ride
Source: CD: The Ventures Christmas Album
Release Year: 1965
The Ventures are by far the most successful instrumental rock group in history, with over 100 albums released over several decades. One of the most successful of these was their 1965 Christmas album, which featured this surfinated version of Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, a piece usually associated with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Artist: Sonics
Song Title: Santa Claus
Source: CD: Cool Yule (originally released on LP:
Release Year: 1966
The Pacific Northwest was home to several bands that can only be described as proto-punk (think Louie Louie). One of the top bands on the scene up there was the Sonics, who recorded raw hard-driving songs with titles like Psycho, the Witch and Strychnine. Santa Claus is very much in the same vein, making it the punkiest Christmas song of the sixties, if not all time.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: Christmas Song
Source: CD: This Was (bonus track originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
I wanted to play one set made up entirely of songs from the psychedelic era performed by artists that I feature on the show on a fairly regular basis. One of these artists is the band Jethro Tull, led by flautist/acoustic guitarist/vocalist Ian Anderson. This track, originally recorded in 1968, did not appear in the US until 1973's Living In the Past album.
Artist: Canned Heat
Song Title: Christmas Blues
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1968
Although Steve Miller originally hailed from Chicago, it was Canned Head that emerged as the San Francisco Bay area's electric blues band of choice. With Robert "Big Bear" Hite fronting the band on blues harp and vocals, they recorded this Christmas treat in time for the 1968 Yule season.
Artist: Chuck Berry
Song Title: Merry Christmas, Baby
Source: CD: Chuck Berry Chess Box
Release Year: 1958
Chuck Berry did not record too many cover tunes, as he was a prolific songwriter himself. However, for the B side to Run Rudolph Run, he cut this tasty version of Charles Brown's "other" Christmas song.
Artist: Solomon Burke
Song Title: Presents For Christmas
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1966
Solomon Burke was a staple artist for the Atlantic label at a time when Atlantic itself was being overshadowed by the Stax/Volt labels that it distributed. Nonetheless, Burke had several R&B hits throughout the sixties and was highly respected by his fellow artists. Presents For Christmas captures Burke at his peak in 1966.
Artist: Eartha Kitt
Song Title: Santa Baby
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1935-1954
Release Year: 1953
Eartha Kitt has one of the most unique voices in the history of jazz, and put it to good use on the original 1953 version of a tune that has in recent years become associated with Madonna. Nearly 60 years later, Kitt is still performing with nearly as much energy as she had in the 50s.
Artist: Rufus Thomas
Song Title: I'll Be Your Santa Baby
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: unknown
Rufus Thomas had a long and storied career, first with his "dog" hits in the early 60s (Walking the Dog being the most famous) and then later as a member of the Stax/Volt stable of artists. This song, recorded for Stax, was released sometimes in the late 60s around the same time that his daughter Carla was making a name for herself with hits like B-A-B-Y and (with Otis Redding) Tramp.
Artist: Cadillacs
Song Title: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1956
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been recorded by a lot of different artists over the years, but this version by the Cadillacs stands out for its pure sense of fun. Doo-wop was at its peak of popularity in 1956 and the Cadillacs were among the best of the doo-wop groups.
Artist: Drifters
Song Title: White Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present)
Release Year: 1955
The Drifters were a kind of early R&B doowop supergroup made up of ex-members of other R&B groups such as Billy Ward's Dominoes. The most distinctive voice of the original Drifters was high tenor Clyde McPhatter, for whom Ray Stevens's famous camel was named. Over the years the lineup changed many times and led to several former members forming competing groups, all using the Drifters name. Over time, members of these offshoots would in turn form their own Drifters, despite having virtually no connection to the original group. This is why it sometimes seems that half the doowop singers in the world claim to be former members of the Drifters.
Artist: Marquees
Song Title: Christmas In the Congo
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1958
You have to hear this one to believe it. 'Nuff said.
Artist: King Curtis
Song Title: The Christmas Song
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1966
King Curtis was one of the most in-demand saxophone players of the first wave of rock and roll. His best known work was on the song Yakety Yak by the Coasters in 1958. In the sixties he became the music director for the Atlantic Records group, appearing on a variety of recordings by artists such as Solomon Burke and occassionally released material on the Atco label under his own name. Tragically, his life was cut short when he was the victim of a stabbing when he attempted to stop junkies from shooting up on his front steps in New York.
So there it is: the Hermit's own take on Yuletime. I hope you enjoy the show. Next week we take a look back at the songs and artists that got the most airtime on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this past year.
So prepare to be Stuck with the Hermit at Yuletide without any scratchy records this year.
Artist: Mannheim Steamroller
Song Title: Hark! The Herald Trumpets Sing
Source: CD: A Fresh Aire Christmas
Release Year: 1988
I was looking for something that was both pompous and cool at the same time to start the show. Mannheim Steamroller seemed to fit the bill. Besides, Chip Davis wrote it to be an introduction, so I figured why not?
Artist: George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Song Title: Rock and Roll Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1983
George Thorogood has always said that his group was at heart a bar band. As a bar band is just a step away from being a garage band, this seemed like as good a place as any to get into the actual meat of the show.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
Source: CD single: Free As a Bird
Release Year: 1967/1997
Every year the Beatles would record a special Christmas message to go out to members of their fan club, and mail it out on what was then known as a floppy disc. This was not the same as a computer floppy disc, however. In fact, the medium the Beatles used eventually came to be known as a flexi-disc, just to keep things from getting any more confusing. Regardless of what you called it, the things tended to wear out after just a few plays and I doubt there are many playable copies of these discs left in the universe. Luckily for us, George Martin had the foresight to hang on to everything the Beatles ever recorded, including this tune, which was chopped up and used for the 1967 Christmas Greeting. When the Beatles Anthology was released in 1997, the piece was included on the Free As a Bird CD single, and we got to hear the song in its uninterrupted entirety for the first time.
Artist: John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Song Title: Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1972
Largely overlooked when first released, this song has since acquired classic status.
Artist: Dennis Wilson
Song Title: Morning Christmas
Source: CD: Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas
Release Year: 1977
Dennis Wilson was not hanging around with the rest of the clan in 1977, but did want to make a contribution to their new Christmas album that year, so he sent in this recording. The album ended up not being released, but the track finally did see the light of day on the Ultimate Christmas collection issued four or five years ago.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Song Title: Silent Night/7 O'Clock News
Source: CD: Complete Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)
Release Year: 1966
This track is unique for several reasons. The most obvious is that it uses two unrelated recordings to make an ironically chilling point. The first is a rendition of Franz Gruber's Silent Night, with vocals in the center channel and piano only coming from one speaker. As the song progresses a newscast in the other channel slowly gets louder. Eventually the song ends and there is only the news. What's also unusual is that this well-known Christmas carol is not featured on a Christmas album at all; instead it appears as the final track on a side of a regular album.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Song Title: A Hazy Shade of Winter
Source: CD: Complete Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Release Year: 1966
I wish I could take credit for putting this and the previous track together. The truth is I don't know who came up with the idea; my best guess is someone from Westwood One radio, as I first heard it done on one of their syndicated programs. Still, it's not a bad idea, and I happened to have a copy of the Westwood One version of the tracks, so there it is.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: Ring Out Solstice Bells
Source: LP: Songs From the Wood
Release Year: 1976
Until the late 1940s the predominate form of recorded music was the 78 RPM (revolutions per minute) record, which was either 10 or 12 inches in diameter and made of a brittle material called shellac. The 10 inch version was the standard for popular music, with a running time of about 3 to 4 minutes. RCA Victor developed a direct replacement for the 78 that was 7 inches in diameter and ran at 45 RPM. Meanwhile, RCA's top rival, Columbia Records, developed a slower long-playing record that used something called microgroove technology that allowed up to half an hour's worth of recorded material per side. Somewhere along the way somebody decided to try the microgroove approach to the 45 and the Extended Play (EP) record was born. In the US, EPs were somewhat popular in the 1950s, but pretty much died out by the time of the Beatles, except for specialized formats such as children's records and low-budget cover labels that would hire anonymous studio musicians to re-create popular hits. In the UK, on the other hand, the format remained viable up through the mid-70s. Jethro Tull took advantage of the EP format to release a Christmas record in December of 1976. Ring Out Solstice Bells was the featured song on the EP, and would not be released in the US until the following spring, when it was included on the album Songs From the Wood.
Artist: Ed "Cookie" Byrnes
Song Title: Yulesville
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1959
The ABC TV network was a perennial also-ran that was just starting to find a winning formula in the late 50s with shows targeted toward a younger audience. The most popular of these was 77 Sunset Strip, starring Ed "Cookie" Byrnes. He and co-star Connie Stevens, staying in character, cut a hit novelty record called "Cookie, Cookie," which played on Cookie's propensity for combing his hair. Byrnes, again in character, followed it up with this hip retelling of the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Artist: Bobby "Boris" Pickett
Song Title: Monster's Holiday
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1962
Bobby Picket scored big with his Halloween hit Monster Mash in 1962, and quickly followed it up with this sequel set around the Christmas holidays. Legendary producer Gary Paxton was responsible for both recordings making it onto vinyl and on the air.
Artist: Johnny Preston
Song Title: (I Want a) Rock and Roll Guitar
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1960
Johnny Preston recorded his signature song in 1960, the classic Running Bear, penned by J.P. Richardson, the Big Bopper. The pair teamed up again for this Christmas song later the same year. Interesting enough, by the middle of the decade, a guitar was exactly what many kids were indeed asking for. I should know; I got my first guitar (and amp) as a Christmas present after badgering my parents mercilessly for months. I think between the two they might have run about $100, which made it the most expensive Christmas I ever had.
Artist: Foghat
Song Title: All I Want For Christmas Is You
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1981
Foghat was formed when all the members of Savoy Brown except leader Kim Edmunds decided to form their own band in the early 70s. After a moderately successful run, founding member "Lonesome" Dave Peverett was all set to call it quits in 1981, but not until after he wrote and recorded this holiday tune.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Father Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1977
There are not many socially-conscious Christmas songs, especially slightly twisted ones like this Kinks classic from 1977. I guess by then getting a guitar was kind of passe anyway.
Artist: Charles Brown
Song Title: Please Come Home For Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present)
Release Year: 1961
By now just about everyone is familiar with the Eagles version of this tune. Not everyone, however, knows the song was written by blues great Charles Brown. Even fewer have actually heard Brown's 1961 original, which is a shame, as it blows the Eagles version clean out of the water.
Artist: James Brown
Song Title: Santa Claus, Santa Claus
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1968
Few people would ever accuse James Brown of being a blues artist, but this recording from 1968 shows what it would have sounded like if he was.
Artist: Clarence Carter
Song Title: Back Door Santa
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1969
Clarence Carter is an icon of the beach music (for you non-Carolinians, beach music has nothing to do with surf music) crowd. For everyone else, he is a moderately successful soul artist known mostly for his mid-70s hit Slip Away. Regardless of where you might know him from, this song will surprise you with its get down and get funky energy.
Artist: Jimmy McCracklin
Song Title: Christmas Time
Source: CD: New Gold on CD
Release Year: 1961 (?)
Jimmy McCracklin recorded one of the catchiest, yet underplayed, tunes of the 50s when he did The Walk. This song from a few years later actually sounds like beach music. Go figure.
Artist: Chuck Berry
Song Title: Run Rudolph Run
Source: CD: Chuck Berry Chess Box
Release Year: 1958
Chuck Berry established a reputation in the 60s for reworking his old songs from the 50s, giving them new lyrics and sometimes new guitar rifts. Probably the best-known example of this was No Particular Place To Go, which is a reworked version of School Day. His first reworking of a previously-recorded song was 1958's Run Rudoph Run, which was virtually identical to Little Queenie, released earlier the same year. To me it sounds like he actually used the Little Queenie instrumental tracks rather than to re-record the song. This kind of cost-cutting measure would be consistent with his later practice of using pick-up bands rather than incurring the travel expenses of having his own band on the road.
Artist: Jack Scott
Song Title: There's Trouble Brewin'
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1963
Canadian born Jack Scott was one of the great rockabilly performers of the late 50s, scoring several top 10 hits, including My True Love and Burning Bridges. This 1963 recording shows him at the peak of his vocal powers.
Artist: Cheech and Chong
Song Title: Santa Claus and His Old Lady
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1971
I heard this on the radio the year it was released and managed to find a copy of the 45 only to have it disappear on me a few years later. Luckily, the folks at Rhino somehow knew of my dilemma and included it on their Rock and Roll Christmas CD. Well, I can dream, can't I? Incidentally, the B side of that old 45 was Dave's Not Here from Cheech and Chong's first album.
Artist: Ray Stevens
Song Title: Santa Claus Is Watching You
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1962
I've mentioned something called the Grab Bag before. Basically, it was a sealed paper bag (sometimes with a clear plastic front) containing four 45 RPM records, generally "cut-outs" that were no longer in print. The one my family bought for Christmas of 1964 had a Sing Along With Mitch Christmas EP in the front. This song was on one of the other three records, although I seem to remember it being slightly different that the version heard here. One thing that both versions had in common was the presence of Clyde the Camel from Stevens's first hit Ahab the Arab.
Artist: Spike Jones and His City Slickers
Song Title: All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1935-1954
Release Year: 1948
Spike Jones and His City Slickers were a highly talented bunch who made music out of sound effects, toy instruments, and whatever else it occurred to them to use. Their forte was the novelty record, and no one did it better. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) was written by Middleton, NY schoolteacher Donald Yetter Gardner, who was inspired to write the song when he asked his second grade class what they wanted for Christmas and was struck by how many of them were lisping due to missing front teeth.
Artist: Chipmunks
Song Title: The Chipmunk Song
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1955-Present
Release Year: 1958
In 1958 pop-jazz composer/bandleader Ross Bagdasarian decided to play around with a variable-speed tape recorder and came up with the novelty hit Witch Doctor. He followed it up by using multiple tape machines to create a trio of sped up voices that he called the Chipmunks, and released this smash hit in time for the Christmas season. The success of this record led to a Saturday morning cartoon series and a series of albums for the Liberty label. His son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. has revived the concept in recent years, although not with the same level of success.
Artist: Beach Boys
Song Title: Little Saint Nick (stereo single version)
Source: CD: Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas
Release Year: 1963
When the Beach Boys first recorded Little Saint Nick they were the hottest surf music band in the country. A year later Beatlemania had set in, and a new version of Little Saint Nick was recorded for the Beach Boys Christmas Album. The new version put a greater emphasis on the vocals, and much of the original instrumentation was deleted from the arrangement. That is the version that usually gets heard on commercial radio every year. In the mid-70s, Carl Wilson, who by then had stepped into the leader's role formerly held by older brother Brian, pulled out the original 1963 tapes and created a new stereo mix of the song heard here. The instruments have greater prominence in this version and include the distinctive sound of sleighbells that were completely exorcised from the 1964 version.
Artist: Ventures
Song Title: Sleigh Ride
Source: CD: The Ventures Christmas Album
Release Year: 1965
The Ventures are by far the most successful instrumental rock group in history, with over 100 albums released over several decades. One of the most successful of these was their 1965 Christmas album, which featured this surfinated version of Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, a piece usually associated with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Artist: Sonics
Song Title: Santa Claus
Source: CD: Cool Yule (originally released on LP:
Release Year: 1966
The Pacific Northwest was home to several bands that can only be described as proto-punk (think Louie Louie). One of the top bands on the scene up there was the Sonics, who recorded raw hard-driving songs with titles like Psycho, the Witch and Strychnine. Santa Claus is very much in the same vein, making it the punkiest Christmas song of the sixties, if not all time.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: Christmas Song
Source: CD: This Was (bonus track originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
I wanted to play one set made up entirely of songs from the psychedelic era performed by artists that I feature on the show on a fairly regular basis. One of these artists is the band Jethro Tull, led by flautist/acoustic guitarist/vocalist Ian Anderson. This track, originally recorded in 1968, did not appear in the US until 1973's Living In the Past album.
Artist: Canned Heat
Song Title: Christmas Blues
Source: CD: Billboard Rock and Roll Christmas
Release Year: 1968
Although Steve Miller originally hailed from Chicago, it was Canned Head that emerged as the San Francisco Bay area's electric blues band of choice. With Robert "Big Bear" Hite fronting the band on blues harp and vocals, they recorded this Christmas treat in time for the 1968 Yule season.
Artist: Chuck Berry
Song Title: Merry Christmas, Baby
Source: CD: Chuck Berry Chess Box
Release Year: 1958
Chuck Berry did not record too many cover tunes, as he was a prolific songwriter himself. However, for the B side to Run Rudolph Run, he cut this tasty version of Charles Brown's "other" Christmas song.
Artist: Solomon Burke
Song Title: Presents For Christmas
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1966
Solomon Burke was a staple artist for the Atlantic label at a time when Atlantic itself was being overshadowed by the Stax/Volt labels that it distributed. Nonetheless, Burke had several R&B hits throughout the sixties and was highly respected by his fellow artists. Presents For Christmas captures Burke at his peak in 1966.
Artist: Eartha Kitt
Song Title: Santa Baby
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits 1935-1954
Release Year: 1953
Eartha Kitt has one of the most unique voices in the history of jazz, and put it to good use on the original 1953 version of a tune that has in recent years become associated with Madonna. Nearly 60 years later, Kitt is still performing with nearly as much energy as she had in the 50s.
Artist: Rufus Thomas
Song Title: I'll Be Your Santa Baby
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: unknown
Rufus Thomas had a long and storied career, first with his "dog" hits in the early 60s (Walking the Dog being the most famous) and then later as a member of the Stax/Volt stable of artists. This song, recorded for Stax, was released sometimes in the late 60s around the same time that his daughter Carla was making a name for herself with hits like B-A-B-Y and (with Otis Redding) Tramp.
Artist: Cadillacs
Song Title: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Source: CD: New Gold on CD (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1956
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been recorded by a lot of different artists over the years, but this version by the Cadillacs stands out for its pure sense of fun. Doo-wop was at its peak of popularity in 1956 and the Cadillacs were among the best of the doo-wop groups.
Artist: Drifters
Song Title: White Christmas
Source: CD: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present)
Release Year: 1955
The Drifters were a kind of early R&B doowop supergroup made up of ex-members of other R&B groups such as Billy Ward's Dominoes. The most distinctive voice of the original Drifters was high tenor Clyde McPhatter, for whom Ray Stevens's famous camel was named. Over the years the lineup changed many times and led to several former members forming competing groups, all using the Drifters name. Over time, members of these offshoots would in turn form their own Drifters, despite having virtually no connection to the original group. This is why it sometimes seems that half the doowop singers in the world claim to be former members of the Drifters.
Artist: Marquees
Song Title: Christmas In the Congo
Source: CD: Cool Yule
Release Year: 1958
You have to hear this one to believe it. 'Nuff said.
Artist: King Curtis
Song Title: The Christmas Song
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1966
King Curtis was one of the most in-demand saxophone players of the first wave of rock and roll. His best known work was on the song Yakety Yak by the Coasters in 1958. In the sixties he became the music director for the Atlantic Records group, appearing on a variety of recordings by artists such as Solomon Burke and occassionally released material on the Atco label under his own name. Tragically, his life was cut short when he was the victim of a stabbing when he attempted to stop junkies from shooting up on his front steps in New York.
So there it is: the Hermit's own take on Yuletime. I hope you enjoy the show. Next week we take a look back at the songs and artists that got the most airtime on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this past year.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1150 (starts 12/15/11)
This week (after two weeks of mostly album tracks and B sides) we focus on songs that were originally released on 45 RPM vinyl. Most of these songs got heard on the radio when they were new, although in many cases that airplay was limited to a particular region of the country, such as the San Francisco Bay area. Others were heard all across the nation, but only in cities large enough to have a progressive FM radio station (or a student-run college station). Of course there are always exceptions, and we do have a few album tracks on the show this week, although not as many as on an average week.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Neil Young, Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Stephen Stills. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: So Tired
Source: CD: The Time Has Come
Writer: Chambers Brothers/Goodwin
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
The Chambers Brothers were an eclectic band with a gospel music background that dated back to the mid-50s, when oldest brother George finished his tour of duty with the US Army and settled down in the L.A. area. His three brothers soon followed him out to the coast from their native Mississippi, and began playing the Southern California gospel circuit before going after a more secular audience in the early 60s. So Tired, from the group's most successful album, The Time Has Come, demonstrates that despite their eclecticism the Chambers Brothers were very much in touch with their gospel roots.
Title: Goin' Down
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Nesmith/Tork/Dolenz/Jones/Hilderbrandt
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
The Monkees followed up on their fourth consecutive number one LP, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD with their biggest hit single, Daydream Believer, in late 1967. The song was recorded at the same time as the Pisces sessions, but was not included on the LP. The flip side of the single, Goin' Down, was essentially a studio jam on a theme provided by songwriter Diane Hilberbrandt, with Mickey Dolenz providing appropriately manic vocals.
Artist: Tim Rose
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Tim Rose (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966 (stereo version: 1967)
The folk music revival of the late 50s and early 60s is generally thought of as an East Coast phenomena, centered in the coffee houses of cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia. California, though, had its share of folk music artists, especially in the San Francisco area, where the beatniks espoused a Bohemian lifestyle that would pave the way for the Hippy movement centered in the city's Haight-Ashbury district. Among the California folkies were Billy Roberts, who copyrighted the song Hey Joe in 1962, and Tim Rose, who (along with the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell) came up with a slower version of the song. Rose's version, released as a single in mid-1966, got considerable airplay on San Francisco radio stations and was the inspiration for the more famous Jimi Hendrix version of the song that made the British top 10 toward the end of the year. Rose's version was not widely available until 1967, when his debut LP for Columbia was released. By then, however, the Hendrix version was all over the progressive FM airwaves in the US, and the Rose version (now in stereo) remained largely unheard.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Purple Haze
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Are You Experienced?)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Following up on the success of their first UK single, Hey Joe, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released Purple Haze in early 1967. The popularity of the two singles (released only in Europe) led to a deal with Reprise Records to start releasing the band's material in the US. By then, however, the Experience had already released Are You Experienced without either of the two hit singles on it. Reprise, hedging their bets, included both singles (but not their B sides), as well as a third UK single, The Wind Cries Mary, deleting several tracks from the original version of Are You Experienced to make room for them.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Sookie Sookie
Source: Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Covay/Cropper
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
For years I was under the impression that the follow-up single to Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild was Magic Carpet Ride, from the album Steppenwolf The Second. I was wrong. In fact, Born To Be Wild was not even the first single released from the band's first LP. That honor goes to A Girl I Knew, which was released in 1967, several months before the first Steppenwolf album hit the record racks. The third single from that debut LP was Sookie Sookie, the opening track of the album. The song, co-written by Steve Cropper, had been a minor R&B hit for Don Covay before coming to the attention of Steppenwolf, who cranked up the volume for their version of the tune.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike (originally released on LP: Midnight Ride and as 45 RPM single)
Source: LP: Greatest Hits
Writer: Revere/Melcher/Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
In 1966 Paul Revere and the Raiders were at the peak of their popularity, scoring major hits that year with Hungry and Kicks. The last single the band released that year was The Great Airplane Strike from the Midnight Ride album. Written by band members Revere and Mark Lindsay, along with producer Terry Melcher, The Great Airplane Strike stands out as a classic example of Pacific Northwest rock, a style which would eventually culminate in the grunge movement of the 1990s.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Bringing Me Down
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
One of several singles released mainly to San Francisco Bay area radio stations and record stores, Bringing Me Down is an early collaboration between vocalist Marty Balin and guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner. Balin had invited Kantner into the band without having heard him play a single note. It turned out to be one of many right-on-the-money decisions by the young bandleader.
Artist: Beatles
Title: I'm Only Sleeping
Source: CD: Revolver (original released in US on LP: Yesterday...And Today)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1966
US record buyers were able to hear I'm Only Sleeping several weeks before their British counterparts thanks to Capitol Records including the song on the US-only Yesterday...And Today LP. There was a catch, however. Producer George Martin had not yet made a stereo mix of the song, and Capitol used their "Duophonic" system to create a fake stereo mix for the album. That mix continued to be used on subsequent pressings of the LP (and various tape formats), even after a stereo mix was created and included on the UK version of the Revolver album. It wasn't until EMI released the entire run of UK albums on CD in both the US and UK markets that American record buyers had access to the true stereo version of the song heard here.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio through decent speakers for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off). Unfortunately, Denver's first FM rock station was still a few months off, so the decent speakers were handicapped by being fed an AM radio signal.
Artist: Cyrkle
Title: Red Rubber Ball (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Red Rubber Ball)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Simon/Woodley
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1966
Paul Simon moved to London in early 1965, after his latest album with Art Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning 3 AM, had been deleted from the Columbia Records catalog after just a few weeks due to poor sales. While in the UK Simon found himself performing on the same bill as the Seekers, an Australian band that had achieved some international success with folky pop songs like A World Of Our Own. Needing cash, Simon wrote (with Seekers guitarist/vocalist Bruce Woodley) Red Rubber Ball, selling the song to the group for about 100 pounds. After returning to the US and reuniting with Garfunkel, Simon offered the song to the Cyrkle, who took the song all the way to the #4 spot on the charts.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: De Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. In fact, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.
And it does it all in less than two and a half minutes.
Artist: Cream
Title: N.S.U.
Source: LP: Fresh Cream (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
Like most bands in the 60s, Cream released their first single, Wrapping Paper, before the LP Fresh Cream hit the racks. Unlike most bands in the 60s, however, the band sold more copies of the album than of the single (which was not on the album itself). For a follow up single, the band recorded a new tune, I Feel Free, using the LP's opening track, N.S.U., as a B side. The single did well enough to prompt Atco Records to add it to the US version of the album, deleting the studio version of Spoonful to make room for it.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar, Mark Loomis and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Young Girl Blues
Source: CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
In 1966 Donovan got into a prolonged contract dispute with his British record label, Pye Records. As a result, his two most successful albums, Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow, were only released in the US. Eventually the dispute was settled and Pye released a British version of Mellow Yellow that was actually a pastiche of the two US releases. During the dispute, however, Donovan acquired a somewhat jaded view of not only the British music scene, but of British youth culture in general. Young Girl Blues reflects this sort of youthful cynicism.
Artist: Spooky Tooth
Title: Love Really Changed Me
Source: LP: Spooky Tooth
Writer: Miller/Grosvenor/Wright
Label: Bell
Year: 1968
When the name Spooky Tooth comes up, it is usually associated with 70s rock. However, the group's first LP actually came out in 1968. In the UK the album was titled It's All About Spooky Tooth, while in the US it was released as simply Spooky Tooth, at least when it originally came out on the Bell label. The album was re-released on a different label in 1971, at which time it was retitled Tobacco Road (thanks to the group's remake of the John D. Loudermilk classic getting airplay on US radio).
Artist: Temptations
Title: Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1972
One of the longest songs ever to get played on top 40 radio, Papa Was A Rolling Stone was in many ways a climactic recording. It was the last big Temptations hit, and one of the last songs produced by the team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the so-called "psychedelic soul" producers, before Whitfield left Motown to form his own production company. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it was the last major hit to feature the Funk Brothers, the (mostly uncredited) instrumentalists who had played on virtually every Motown record in the 60s but had been largely supplanted by studio musicians working out of Los Angeles, where the label had relocated its corporate headquarters to, in the early 70s. And on Papa Was A Rolling Stone the Funk Brothers finally got to shine as soloists, with an intro on the LP version that lasted more than four minutes and a long extended instrumental section in the middle of the piece as well. Papa Was A Rolling Stone has been called the last great Motown record. I tend to agree with that assessment.
This week we turn the spotlight on the first Traffic album, Mr. Fantasy, released in 1967. The album features several tunes by Dave Mason, who quit the band before the album was even released (he later rejoined). In the US the album was briefly known as Heaven Is In Your Mind, but soon changed to match the original UK title. The US cover art, however, was completely different than the UK album, even after the name change. These days both versions of the album are available on CD; the UK version carries the Mr. Fantasy name with the original artwork and uses all mono mixes. The US version is in stereo, and has been once again retitled Heaven Is In Your Mind (and uses the US track lineup).
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hole In My Shoe
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: Island (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Since the 1970s Traffic has been known as Steve Winwood's (and to a lesser degree, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood's) band, but in the early days the group's most popular songs were written and sung by co-founder Dave Mason. Hole In My Shoe was a single that received considerable airplay in the UK. As was common practice in the UK at the time, the song was not included on the band's debut album. In the US, however, both Hole In My Shoe and the other then-current Traffic single, Paper Sun, were added to the album, replacing (ironically) a couple of Mason's other tunes.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's the title track of the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Berkshire Poppies
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
Mr. Fantasy was far more psychedelic than any subsequent Traffic album, and in a way is also the most experimental. It's certainly hard to imagine a song as novel as Berkshire Poppies showing up on an album like Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory.
Artist: Them
Title: Young Woman
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Writer: Lane/Pulley
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
Time Out! Time In! For Them is an overlooked classic of the psychedelic era. Featuring songs by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane, the album showcases the vocal talents of Kenny McDowell, who had the unenviable task of replacing Van Morrison.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with lyrics for a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote the lyrics for My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record as well.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Kentucky Woman
Source: LP: Purple Passages (originally released on LP: The Book Of Taleisyn)
Writer: Neil Diamond
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Tetragramatton)
Year: 1968
The original Deep Purple hit the scene in 1968 with their monster hit version of Joe South's Hush, which had been an international hit for Billy Joe Royal the previous year. Later the same year they tried to make lightning strike twice with a similarly styled cover of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman. Although not as successful as Hush, the song still did reasonably well on the charts and showed that the band had staying power. After releasing a third LP that was handicapped by the band's US label folding within days of the record's release, the band lost its original lead vocalist Rod Evans, who would soon resurface with a new band called Captain Beyond. Meanwhile, Deep Purple achieved iconic status after recruiting vocalist Ian Gillam (the voice of Jesus on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album) to replace Evans.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Garcia/Hunter
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever.
Artist: Fever Tree
Title: San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Fever Tree)
Writer: S. Holtzman/V. Holtzman
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Uni)
Year: 1968
A minor trend in 1968 was for producer/songwriters to find a band to record their material exclusively. A prime example is Houston's Fever Tree, which featured the music of husband and wife team Scott and Vivian Holtzman. San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native) was the single from that album, peaking in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 charts.
Artist: Doors
Title: The Unknown Soldier
Source: CD: Waiting For The Sun (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1968
One of the oddest recordings to get played on top 40 radio was the Door's 1968 release, The Unknown Soldier. The song is notable for having it's own promotional film made by keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who had been a film major at UCLA when the Doors were formed. It's not known whether the song was written with the film in mind (or vice versa), but the two have a much greater synergy than your average music video.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: You Never Had It Better
Source: CD: Underground (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Snagster/Schwartz/Poncher
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Following the lack of a hit single from their second album, Underground, the Electric Prunes took one last shot at top 40 airplay with a song called Everybody Knows Your Not In Love. The band might have had better luck if they had pushed the flip side of the record, You Never Had It Better, which is a much stronger song. As it is, the record stiffed, and producer David Hassinger reacted by stripping the band of any creative freedom they might have had and made an album called Mass in F Minor using mostly studio musicians. The band, having signed away the rights to the name Electric Prunes to Hassinger when they first started working with him, could do nothing but watch helplessly as Hassinger created an album that had little in common with the original band other than their name. Because of this, the original members soon left, and Hassinger brought in a whole new group for two more albums before retiring the Prunes name for good. In recent years several members of the original band have reformed the Electric Prunes. Whether they had to get permission to use the name is unknown.
Artist: Animals
Title: It's My Life
Source: CD: Best Of The Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Atkins/D'Errico
Label: Abkco (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1965
The Animals had a string of solid hits throughout the mid-60s, many of which were written by professional songwriters working out of Don Kirschner's Brill Building. Although vocalist Eric Burdon expressed disdain for most of these songs at the time (preferring to perform the blues/R&B covers that the group had built up its following with), he now sings every one of them, including It's My Life, on the oldies circuit.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project, as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together.
Artist: Peter Fonda
Title: November Night
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gram Parsons
Label: Rhino (original label: Chisa)
Year: 1967
Before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda tried to be a singer. November Night, a single released on the local L.A. label Chisa, is the result. Luckily they didn't use the song on the Easy Rider soundtrack.
And that wraps up another year of being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Next week it's your chance to check out some cool yule tunes as you get Stuck With the Hermit At Yuletide. The following week we take a look back at the songs and artists that got the most airplay on the show this year. At this writing there is a four-way tie for the top spot between the following songs:
7&7 Is, by Love
I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), by the Electric Prunes.
Psychotic Reaction, by Count Five
She's My Girl, by the Turtles.
I'm going to leave it up to you to decide which one of these gets the top spot. Just click the comments button and let me know which one you think deserves it the most.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Neil Young, Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Stephen Stills. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: So Tired
Source: CD: The Time Has Come
Writer: Chambers Brothers/Goodwin
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
The Chambers Brothers were an eclectic band with a gospel music background that dated back to the mid-50s, when oldest brother George finished his tour of duty with the US Army and settled down in the L.A. area. His three brothers soon followed him out to the coast from their native Mississippi, and began playing the Southern California gospel circuit before going after a more secular audience in the early 60s. So Tired, from the group's most successful album, The Time Has Come, demonstrates that despite their eclecticism the Chambers Brothers were very much in touch with their gospel roots.
Title: Goin' Down
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Nesmith/Tork/Dolenz/Jones/Hilderbrandt
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
The Monkees followed up on their fourth consecutive number one LP, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD with their biggest hit single, Daydream Believer, in late 1967. The song was recorded at the same time as the Pisces sessions, but was not included on the LP. The flip side of the single, Goin' Down, was essentially a studio jam on a theme provided by songwriter Diane Hilberbrandt, with Mickey Dolenz providing appropriately manic vocals.
Artist: Tim Rose
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Tim Rose (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966 (stereo version: 1967)
The folk music revival of the late 50s and early 60s is generally thought of as an East Coast phenomena, centered in the coffee houses of cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia. California, though, had its share of folk music artists, especially in the San Francisco area, where the beatniks espoused a Bohemian lifestyle that would pave the way for the Hippy movement centered in the city's Haight-Ashbury district. Among the California folkies were Billy Roberts, who copyrighted the song Hey Joe in 1962, and Tim Rose, who (along with the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell) came up with a slower version of the song. Rose's version, released as a single in mid-1966, got considerable airplay on San Francisco radio stations and was the inspiration for the more famous Jimi Hendrix version of the song that made the British top 10 toward the end of the year. Rose's version was not widely available until 1967, when his debut LP for Columbia was released. By then, however, the Hendrix version was all over the progressive FM airwaves in the US, and the Rose version (now in stereo) remained largely unheard.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Purple Haze
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Are You Experienced?)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Following up on the success of their first UK single, Hey Joe, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released Purple Haze in early 1967. The popularity of the two singles (released only in Europe) led to a deal with Reprise Records to start releasing the band's material in the US. By then, however, the Experience had already released Are You Experienced without either of the two hit singles on it. Reprise, hedging their bets, included both singles (but not their B sides), as well as a third UK single, The Wind Cries Mary, deleting several tracks from the original version of Are You Experienced to make room for them.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Sookie Sookie
Source: Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Covay/Cropper
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
For years I was under the impression that the follow-up single to Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild was Magic Carpet Ride, from the album Steppenwolf The Second. I was wrong. In fact, Born To Be Wild was not even the first single released from the band's first LP. That honor goes to A Girl I Knew, which was released in 1967, several months before the first Steppenwolf album hit the record racks. The third single from that debut LP was Sookie Sookie, the opening track of the album. The song, co-written by Steve Cropper, had been a minor R&B hit for Don Covay before coming to the attention of Steppenwolf, who cranked up the volume for their version of the tune.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike (originally released on LP: Midnight Ride and as 45 RPM single)
Source: LP: Greatest Hits
Writer: Revere/Melcher/Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
In 1966 Paul Revere and the Raiders were at the peak of their popularity, scoring major hits that year with Hungry and Kicks. The last single the band released that year was The Great Airplane Strike from the Midnight Ride album. Written by band members Revere and Mark Lindsay, along with producer Terry Melcher, The Great Airplane Strike stands out as a classic example of Pacific Northwest rock, a style which would eventually culminate in the grunge movement of the 1990s.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Bringing Me Down
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
One of several singles released mainly to San Francisco Bay area radio stations and record stores, Bringing Me Down is an early collaboration between vocalist Marty Balin and guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner. Balin had invited Kantner into the band without having heard him play a single note. It turned out to be one of many right-on-the-money decisions by the young bandleader.
Artist: Beatles
Title: I'm Only Sleeping
Source: CD: Revolver (original released in US on LP: Yesterday...And Today)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1966
US record buyers were able to hear I'm Only Sleeping several weeks before their British counterparts thanks to Capitol Records including the song on the US-only Yesterday...And Today LP. There was a catch, however. Producer George Martin had not yet made a stereo mix of the song, and Capitol used their "Duophonic" system to create a fake stereo mix for the album. That mix continued to be used on subsequent pressings of the LP (and various tape formats), even after a stereo mix was created and included on the UK version of the Revolver album. It wasn't until EMI released the entire run of UK albums on CD in both the US and UK markets that American record buyers had access to the true stereo version of the song heard here.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio through decent speakers for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off). Unfortunately, Denver's first FM rock station was still a few months off, so the decent speakers were handicapped by being fed an AM radio signal.
Artist: Cyrkle
Title: Red Rubber Ball (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Red Rubber Ball)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Simon/Woodley
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1966
Paul Simon moved to London in early 1965, after his latest album with Art Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning 3 AM, had been deleted from the Columbia Records catalog after just a few weeks due to poor sales. While in the UK Simon found himself performing on the same bill as the Seekers, an Australian band that had achieved some international success with folky pop songs like A World Of Our Own. Needing cash, Simon wrote (with Seekers guitarist/vocalist Bruce Woodley) Red Rubber Ball, selling the song to the group for about 100 pounds. After returning to the US and reuniting with Garfunkel, Simon offered the song to the Cyrkle, who took the song all the way to the #4 spot on the charts.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: De Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. In fact, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.
And it does it all in less than two and a half minutes.
Artist: Cream
Title: N.S.U.
Source: LP: Fresh Cream (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
Like most bands in the 60s, Cream released their first single, Wrapping Paper, before the LP Fresh Cream hit the racks. Unlike most bands in the 60s, however, the band sold more copies of the album than of the single (which was not on the album itself). For a follow up single, the band recorded a new tune, I Feel Free, using the LP's opening track, N.S.U., as a B side. The single did well enough to prompt Atco Records to add it to the US version of the album, deleting the studio version of Spoonful to make room for it.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar, Mark Loomis and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Young Girl Blues
Source: CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
In 1966 Donovan got into a prolonged contract dispute with his British record label, Pye Records. As a result, his two most successful albums, Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow, were only released in the US. Eventually the dispute was settled and Pye released a British version of Mellow Yellow that was actually a pastiche of the two US releases. During the dispute, however, Donovan acquired a somewhat jaded view of not only the British music scene, but of British youth culture in general. Young Girl Blues reflects this sort of youthful cynicism.
Artist: Spooky Tooth
Title: Love Really Changed Me
Source: LP: Spooky Tooth
Writer: Miller/Grosvenor/Wright
Label: Bell
Year: 1968
When the name Spooky Tooth comes up, it is usually associated with 70s rock. However, the group's first LP actually came out in 1968. In the UK the album was titled It's All About Spooky Tooth, while in the US it was released as simply Spooky Tooth, at least when it originally came out on the Bell label. The album was re-released on a different label in 1971, at which time it was retitled Tobacco Road (thanks to the group's remake of the John D. Loudermilk classic getting airplay on US radio).
Artist: Temptations
Title: Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1972
One of the longest songs ever to get played on top 40 radio, Papa Was A Rolling Stone was in many ways a climactic recording. It was the last big Temptations hit, and one of the last songs produced by the team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the so-called "psychedelic soul" producers, before Whitfield left Motown to form his own production company. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it was the last major hit to feature the Funk Brothers, the (mostly uncredited) instrumentalists who had played on virtually every Motown record in the 60s but had been largely supplanted by studio musicians working out of Los Angeles, where the label had relocated its corporate headquarters to, in the early 70s. And on Papa Was A Rolling Stone the Funk Brothers finally got to shine as soloists, with an intro on the LP version that lasted more than four minutes and a long extended instrumental section in the middle of the piece as well. Papa Was A Rolling Stone has been called the last great Motown record. I tend to agree with that assessment.
This week we turn the spotlight on the first Traffic album, Mr. Fantasy, released in 1967. The album features several tunes by Dave Mason, who quit the band before the album was even released (he later rejoined). In the US the album was briefly known as Heaven Is In Your Mind, but soon changed to match the original UK title. The US cover art, however, was completely different than the UK album, even after the name change. These days both versions of the album are available on CD; the UK version carries the Mr. Fantasy name with the original artwork and uses all mono mixes. The US version is in stereo, and has been once again retitled Heaven Is In Your Mind (and uses the US track lineup).
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hole In My Shoe
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: Island (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Since the 1970s Traffic has been known as Steve Winwood's (and to a lesser degree, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood's) band, but in the early days the group's most popular songs were written and sung by co-founder Dave Mason. Hole In My Shoe was a single that received considerable airplay in the UK. As was common practice in the UK at the time, the song was not included on the band's debut album. In the US, however, both Hole In My Shoe and the other then-current Traffic single, Paper Sun, were added to the album, replacing (ironically) a couple of Mason's other tunes.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's the title track of the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Berkshire Poppies
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
Mr. Fantasy was far more psychedelic than any subsequent Traffic album, and in a way is also the most experimental. It's certainly hard to imagine a song as novel as Berkshire Poppies showing up on an album like Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory.
Artist: Them
Title: Young Woman
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Writer: Lane/Pulley
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
Time Out! Time In! For Them is an overlooked classic of the psychedelic era. Featuring songs by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane, the album showcases the vocal talents of Kenny McDowell, who had the unenviable task of replacing Van Morrison.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with lyrics for a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote the lyrics for My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record as well.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Kentucky Woman
Source: LP: Purple Passages (originally released on LP: The Book Of Taleisyn)
Writer: Neil Diamond
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Tetragramatton)
Year: 1968
The original Deep Purple hit the scene in 1968 with their monster hit version of Joe South's Hush, which had been an international hit for Billy Joe Royal the previous year. Later the same year they tried to make lightning strike twice with a similarly styled cover of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman. Although not as successful as Hush, the song still did reasonably well on the charts and showed that the band had staying power. After releasing a third LP that was handicapped by the band's US label folding within days of the record's release, the band lost its original lead vocalist Rod Evans, who would soon resurface with a new band called Captain Beyond. Meanwhile, Deep Purple achieved iconic status after recruiting vocalist Ian Gillam (the voice of Jesus on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album) to replace Evans.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Garcia/Hunter
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever.
Artist: Fever Tree
Title: San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Fever Tree)
Writer: S. Holtzman/V. Holtzman
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Uni)
Year: 1968
A minor trend in 1968 was for producer/songwriters to find a band to record their material exclusively. A prime example is Houston's Fever Tree, which featured the music of husband and wife team Scott and Vivian Holtzman. San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native) was the single from that album, peaking in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 charts.
Artist: Doors
Title: The Unknown Soldier
Source: CD: Waiting For The Sun (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1968
One of the oddest recordings to get played on top 40 radio was the Door's 1968 release, The Unknown Soldier. The song is notable for having it's own promotional film made by keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who had been a film major at UCLA when the Doors were formed. It's not known whether the song was written with the film in mind (or vice versa), but the two have a much greater synergy than your average music video.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: You Never Had It Better
Source: CD: Underground (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Snagster/Schwartz/Poncher
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Following the lack of a hit single from their second album, Underground, the Electric Prunes took one last shot at top 40 airplay with a song called Everybody Knows Your Not In Love. The band might have had better luck if they had pushed the flip side of the record, You Never Had It Better, which is a much stronger song. As it is, the record stiffed, and producer David Hassinger reacted by stripping the band of any creative freedom they might have had and made an album called Mass in F Minor using mostly studio musicians. The band, having signed away the rights to the name Electric Prunes to Hassinger when they first started working with him, could do nothing but watch helplessly as Hassinger created an album that had little in common with the original band other than their name. Because of this, the original members soon left, and Hassinger brought in a whole new group for two more albums before retiring the Prunes name for good. In recent years several members of the original band have reformed the Electric Prunes. Whether they had to get permission to use the name is unknown.
Artist: Animals
Title: It's My Life
Source: CD: Best Of The Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Atkins/D'Errico
Label: Abkco (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1965
The Animals had a string of solid hits throughout the mid-60s, many of which were written by professional songwriters working out of Don Kirschner's Brill Building. Although vocalist Eric Burdon expressed disdain for most of these songs at the time (preferring to perform the blues/R&B covers that the group had built up its following with), he now sings every one of them, including It's My Life, on the oldies circuit.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project, as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together.
Artist: Peter Fonda
Title: November Night
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gram Parsons
Label: Rhino (original label: Chisa)
Year: 1967
Before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda tried to be a singer. November Night, a single released on the local L.A. label Chisa, is the result. Luckily they didn't use the song on the Easy Rider soundtrack.
And that wraps up another year of being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. Next week it's your chance to check out some cool yule tunes as you get Stuck With the Hermit At Yuletide. The following week we take a look back at the songs and artists that got the most airplay on the show this year. At this writing there is a four-way tie for the top spot between the following songs:
7&7 Is, by Love
I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), by the Electric Prunes.
Psychotic Reaction, by Count Five
She's My Girl, by the Turtles.
I'm going to leave it up to you to decide which one of these gets the top spot. Just click the comments button and let me know which one you think deserves it the most.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1149 (starts 12/8/11)
This week we continue to go deep, with the emphasis on album tracks, especially in the first and last segments of the show.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: She Smiled Sweetly
Source: LP: Between The Buttons
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
The first Rolling Stones album of 1967, Between The Buttons, found the group moving away from their Rhythm and Blues roots and into a more psychedelic vein. The band had always recorded its share of slower tunes, such as Play With Fire and As Tears Go By, and continued to do so with tunes like She Smiled Sweetly. Although the song did not receive a lot of airplay, it was an indication of the maturation of the songwriting skills of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Summertime/Shantung Cabbage
Source: LP: Undead
Writer: Gershwin/R. Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1968
Although Ten Years After is not often compared to the Grateful Dead, the two groups actually have a lot in common. Both bands had a debut album that failed to capture the essence of their live performances, and both decided to try to rectify the situation with their sophomore effort. Whereas the Dead chose to create a hybrid album that integrated studio overdubs with live recordings (Anthem Of The Sun), Ten Years After took a more direct approach. The album Undead was made up of unedited live tracks recorded at a small London jazz club called Klooks Kleek. One of these tracks starts off as a Wes Montgomery styled approach to George Gershwin's Summertime, but quickly turns into a drum solo by Ric Lee called, for no obvious reason, Shantung Cabbage.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Leaving My Troubles Behind
Source: LP: Blues Image
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
Miami's Blues Image was highly regarded by critics and musicians alike. Unfortunately, they were never able to translate that acclaim into album sales, despite recording a pair of fine albums for Atco. Following the release of the band's second LP guitarist Mike Pinera left Blues Image to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after one more unsuccessful album the group disbanded.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Fallin' In Love
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
The first Seeds album is made up mostly of tracks that sound like variations on their biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard. One notable exception is the bluesy Fallin' In Love, which actually sounds like an early Doors song. The Doors, however, were still in their embryonic stage when the debut Seeds LP hit the stands in the spring of 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: How Suite It Is
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Kantner/Cassidy/Dryden/Kaukonen
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
After the phenominal success of Jefferson Airplane's second LP, Surrealistic Pillow, the group went into the studio with a deliberate disregard for commercial concerns. The result was After Bathing At Baxter's, an album that left a lot of people scratching their heads when it was released, but has since come to be regarded as one of the creative high points of the psychedelic era. The album is divided into a group of five suites, each containing two or three songs. How Suite It Is, which opens side two of the LP, consists of two pieces. The first, Watch Her Ride, is a Paul Kantner song that was considered strong enough to be released as the second single from the album. Watch Her Ride segues into Spare Chaynge, a nine-minute studio jam by guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer Spencer Dryden and bassist Jack Cassidy. It's Cassidy's bass solo that is the real highlight of the piece, a testament to the then-21-year-old's prowess and creativity on an instrument that had previously been relegated to a purely support role.
Artist: Gants
Title: I Wonder
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sid Herring
Label: Rhino (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1967
The Gants hailed from Greenwood, Mississippi, and had a string of regional hits that led to their signing with Liberty Records in 1965. The group, however, was handicapped by having half the members still in high school and the other half in college (and unwilling to drop out due to their being of draftable age during the height of the Viet Nam war). The band's most successful single for the label was I Wonder, which, like all of the Gants' recordings, shows a strong Beatle influence.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Long Beach, California was home to a band known as Things To Come, which featured drummer Russ Ward, who, as Russ Kunkel, would go on to become one of L.A.'s hottest studio drummers. Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock written by Ward/Kunkel.
Artist: Bubble Puppy
Title: Hot Smoke and Sassafras
Source: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bubble Puppy
Label: Priority (original label: International Artists
Year: 1969
Bubble Puppy was a band from San Antonio, Texas that relocated to nearby Austin and signed a contract with International Artists, a label already known as the home of legendary Texas psychedelic bands 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola. The group hit the national top 20 with Hot Smoke and Sassafras in 1969 but soon relocated to California and changed their name to Demian, at least in part to disassociate themselves with the then-popular "bubble gum" style (but also because of problems with International Artists).
Artist: Santana
Title: Waiting
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Santana
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
Possibly the most successful (in the long term) of the musicians to emerge from late 60s San Francisco was Carlos Santana, a Mexican-born guitarist who still plays to sellout crowds worldwide. Santana's band originally got lukewarm reviews from the rock press, but after their legendary performance at Woodstock found themselves among rock's royalty. Waiting, from the group's first LP, is an instrumental that was also released as the B side of the band's first single, Evil Ways.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Ian Anderson has often said that he disagreed with record company executives who characterized Jethro Tull as a blues band when the band's first LP, This Was, was released. Yet one of the most traditional sounding blues tunes on that LP was written by Anderson himself. Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You sounds like it could easily have come from the pen of Jimmy Reed. Speaking of record labels, This Was, like all the early Tull albums, was originally released in the US on the Reprise label. Reprise had a policy (instituted by its founder and original owner, Frank Sinatra) of allowing its artists to retain ownership of the recordings released on the label, which is why most of the material released on Reprise in the late 60s has been reissued on other labels.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: LP: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler (more on him in a minute), moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967.
Artist: Cream
Title: White Room
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire; edited version originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: United Artists (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
In order to get songs played on top 40 radio, record companies made it a practice to shorten album cuts by cutting out extended instrumental breaks and extra verses. This version of White Room, clocking in at just over three minutes, is a typical example.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Octopus's Garden
Source: CD: Abbey Road
Writer: Richard Starkey
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1969
In the Beatles's early years, guitarist George Harrison was generally allotted one song per album as a songwriter. Around 1966 this began to change, as Harrison's songwriting began to be featured more prominently. In 1968 drummer Ringo Starr stepped into the role of one song per album songwriter, with his first recorded song, Don't Pass Me By, being included on the so-called White Album. The band's finally LP, Abbey Road, included another Starr song, Octopus's Garden, which, unlike the former tune, actually got occassional airplay on both AM and FM stations.
Artist: Impressions
Title: We're A Winner
Source: CD: Curtis Mayfield And The Impressions-The Anthology 1961-1977 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Curtis Mayfield
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1968
When Jerry Butler left the Impressions in the early 1960s, it would have been easy to assume that the group would not last very long without its dynamic lead vocalist. That is not what happened, however. Instead, guitarist Curtis Mayfield stepped up to the microphone, becoming the group's sole songwriter in the process. Although the Impressions had a few crossover hits on the mainstream charts, such as It's All Right and People Get Ready, their real stronghold was the R&B charts, where they scored hit after hit over a period of nearly ten years. Most of these hits were on the ABC Paramount label, which shortened its name to ABC Records in 1966. One of the last hits on ABC was We're A Winner, released in 1968. In 1969 Mayfield formed his own label, Curtom, and the Impressions were the first group to record for the new label. Mayfield would have his greatest success as a solo artist in the early 70s with a pair of singles from the soundtrack of the movie Superfly, including the title cut and the song Freddy's Dead.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: 2+2=?
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
Bob Seger had a series of regional hits in his native Detroit in the mid-1960s, leading to a deal with Capitol Records in 1968. The first single for Capitol was 2+2=?, a powerful anti-Vietnam War tune that was later included on his first LP for the label. The mono single version of the song heard here has a guitar chord near the end of the track that was not on the original recording (on which the song simply stops cold for a second). It was inserted because, according to Seger, radio stations were "afraid of dead air".
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: In Held Twas I
Source: LP: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Fisher/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Although the idea of grouping songs together as "suites" was first tried by Jefferson Airplane on their 1967 album After Bathing At Baxter's, Procol Harum's 17-minute long In Held Twas I, from their 1968 album Shine On Brightly, is usually cited as the first progressive rock suite. The title comes from the first word of each section of the piece that contains vocals (several sections are purely instrumental). The work contains some of the best early work from guitarist Robin Trower, who would leave the group a few years later for a solo career. Shine On Brightly was the last Procol Harum album to include organist Matthew Fisher, who came up with the famous opening riff for the group's first hit, A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino
Year: 1964
At first glance this may look like a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the Youngbloods shortened the title to Get Together, that the song became a major hit.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: The Times They Are A-Changin'
Source: CD: The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings (originally released on LP: The Times They Are A-Changin')
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1964
I vaguely remember seeing a movie back in the 80s (I think it may have been called The Wanderers) about a late-50s gang from an Italian-American neighborhood somewhere in New York City. I really don't remember much about the plot of the film, but I do remember a bit near the end, where the main character walks down a street in Greenwich Village and hears the sound of Bob Dylan coming from a coffee house singing The Times They Are A-Changin'. I've often thought of that scene and how it symbolized the shift from the conformist culture of the late 50s (represented by the peer pressure-driven gang life) giving way to the turbulence that would characterize the 1960s.
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Hazy Shade Of Winter
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Originally released as a single in 1966, A Hazy Shade Of Winter was one of several songs written for the film The Graduate. The only one of these actually used in the film was Mrs. Robinson. The remaining songs eventually made up side two of the 1968 album Bookends, although several of them were also released as singles throughout 1967. A Hazy Shade Of Winter, being the first of these singles (and the only one released in 1966), was also the highest charting, peaking at # 13 just as the weather was turning cold. This is the only song this week that will also be included on our cool yule show, "Stuck With The Hermit At Yuletide", coming up in just a couple of weeks.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Time Machine
Source: CD: Heavy Hitters (originally released on LP: On Time)
Writer: Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
Universally panned by the rock press, the first Grand Funk Railroad album, On Time, was at best a moderate success when it was first released. Thanks to the band's extensive touring, however, GFR had built up a sizable following by the time their self-titled follow up LP (aka the Red Album) was released in 1970. That year, Grand Funk Railroad became the first rock band to chalk up four gold albums in the same year, with Closer To Home and their double-LP live album joining the first two studio albums. One of the most popular tracks from On Time was Time Machine, which captures the essence of the band's early years.
Artist: James Gang
Title: Tend My Garden/Garden Gate
Source: James Gang Rides Again
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1970
Cleveland, Ohio's James Gang spent so much time on the road promoting their first album, Takes Off, that they didn't have much material ready when it came time to record a follow-up LP. The group found itself actually writing songs in the studio and recording them practically as they were being written. Guitarist/lead vocalist Joe Walsh, meanwhile, had some acoustic songs he had been working on, and it was decided that the new album would have one side of electric hard rock songs while the other would be an acoustic side. The opening tracks for the second side of the album were Tend My Garden, which features Walsh on both organ and guitar, followed by Garden Gate, a Walsh solo piece.
Artist: Mother Earth
Title: Tonight The Sky's About To Cry
Source: LP: Bring Me Home
Writer: Kaz/Andreolli
Label: Reprise
Year: 1971
Mother Earth was one of those bands that was highly respected among the musicians' community, but was never able to achieve major commercial success. The band was formed by Tracy Nelson, who had migrated to the San Francisco area from her native Wisconson in the early 1960s and had moderate success locally as an acoustic artist. Although Mother Earth disbanded in the early 70s, Nelson has continued to record over the years for various labels and has appeared on such TV shows as Austin City Limits. Although Nelson wrote the bulk of Mother Earth's material, the band occassionally recorded songs from outside songwriters such as Tonight The Sky's About To Cry from the album Bring Me Home, the band's only LP on the Reprise label.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: She Smiled Sweetly
Source: LP: Between The Buttons
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
The first Rolling Stones album of 1967, Between The Buttons, found the group moving away from their Rhythm and Blues roots and into a more psychedelic vein. The band had always recorded its share of slower tunes, such as Play With Fire and As Tears Go By, and continued to do so with tunes like She Smiled Sweetly. Although the song did not receive a lot of airplay, it was an indication of the maturation of the songwriting skills of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Summertime/Shantung Cabbage
Source: LP: Undead
Writer: Gershwin/R. Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1968
Although Ten Years After is not often compared to the Grateful Dead, the two groups actually have a lot in common. Both bands had a debut album that failed to capture the essence of their live performances, and both decided to try to rectify the situation with their sophomore effort. Whereas the Dead chose to create a hybrid album that integrated studio overdubs with live recordings (Anthem Of The Sun), Ten Years After took a more direct approach. The album Undead was made up of unedited live tracks recorded at a small London jazz club called Klooks Kleek. One of these tracks starts off as a Wes Montgomery styled approach to George Gershwin's Summertime, but quickly turns into a drum solo by Ric Lee called, for no obvious reason, Shantung Cabbage.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Leaving My Troubles Behind
Source: LP: Blues Image
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
Miami's Blues Image was highly regarded by critics and musicians alike. Unfortunately, they were never able to translate that acclaim into album sales, despite recording a pair of fine albums for Atco. Following the release of the band's second LP guitarist Mike Pinera left Blues Image to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after one more unsuccessful album the group disbanded.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Fallin' In Love
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
The first Seeds album is made up mostly of tracks that sound like variations on their biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard. One notable exception is the bluesy Fallin' In Love, which actually sounds like an early Doors song. The Doors, however, were still in their embryonic stage when the debut Seeds LP hit the stands in the spring of 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: How Suite It Is
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Kantner/Cassidy/Dryden/Kaukonen
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
After the phenominal success of Jefferson Airplane's second LP, Surrealistic Pillow, the group went into the studio with a deliberate disregard for commercial concerns. The result was After Bathing At Baxter's, an album that left a lot of people scratching their heads when it was released, but has since come to be regarded as one of the creative high points of the psychedelic era. The album is divided into a group of five suites, each containing two or three songs. How Suite It Is, which opens side two of the LP, consists of two pieces. The first, Watch Her Ride, is a Paul Kantner song that was considered strong enough to be released as the second single from the album. Watch Her Ride segues into Spare Chaynge, a nine-minute studio jam by guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer Spencer Dryden and bassist Jack Cassidy. It's Cassidy's bass solo that is the real highlight of the piece, a testament to the then-21-year-old's prowess and creativity on an instrument that had previously been relegated to a purely support role.
Artist: Gants
Title: I Wonder
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sid Herring
Label: Rhino (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1967
The Gants hailed from Greenwood, Mississippi, and had a string of regional hits that led to their signing with Liberty Records in 1965. The group, however, was handicapped by having half the members still in high school and the other half in college (and unwilling to drop out due to their being of draftable age during the height of the Viet Nam war). The band's most successful single for the label was I Wonder, which, like all of the Gants' recordings, shows a strong Beatle influence.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Long Beach, California was home to a band known as Things To Come, which featured drummer Russ Ward, who, as Russ Kunkel, would go on to become one of L.A.'s hottest studio drummers. Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock written by Ward/Kunkel.
Artist: Bubble Puppy
Title: Hot Smoke and Sassafras
Source: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bubble Puppy
Label: Priority (original label: International Artists
Year: 1969
Bubble Puppy was a band from San Antonio, Texas that relocated to nearby Austin and signed a contract with International Artists, a label already known as the home of legendary Texas psychedelic bands 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola. The group hit the national top 20 with Hot Smoke and Sassafras in 1969 but soon relocated to California and changed their name to Demian, at least in part to disassociate themselves with the then-popular "bubble gum" style (but also because of problems with International Artists).
Artist: Santana
Title: Waiting
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Santana
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
Possibly the most successful (in the long term) of the musicians to emerge from late 60s San Francisco was Carlos Santana, a Mexican-born guitarist who still plays to sellout crowds worldwide. Santana's band originally got lukewarm reviews from the rock press, but after their legendary performance at Woodstock found themselves among rock's royalty. Waiting, from the group's first LP, is an instrumental that was also released as the B side of the band's first single, Evil Ways.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Ian Anderson has often said that he disagreed with record company executives who characterized Jethro Tull as a blues band when the band's first LP, This Was, was released. Yet one of the most traditional sounding blues tunes on that LP was written by Anderson himself. Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You sounds like it could easily have come from the pen of Jimmy Reed. Speaking of record labels, This Was, like all the early Tull albums, was originally released in the US on the Reprise label. Reprise had a policy (instituted by its founder and original owner, Frank Sinatra) of allowing its artists to retain ownership of the recordings released on the label, which is why most of the material released on Reprise in the late 60s has been reissued on other labels.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: LP: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler (more on him in a minute), moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967.
Artist: Cream
Title: White Room
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire; edited version originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: United Artists (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
In order to get songs played on top 40 radio, record companies made it a practice to shorten album cuts by cutting out extended instrumental breaks and extra verses. This version of White Room, clocking in at just over three minutes, is a typical example.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Octopus's Garden
Source: CD: Abbey Road
Writer: Richard Starkey
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1969
In the Beatles's early years, guitarist George Harrison was generally allotted one song per album as a songwriter. Around 1966 this began to change, as Harrison's songwriting began to be featured more prominently. In 1968 drummer Ringo Starr stepped into the role of one song per album songwriter, with his first recorded song, Don't Pass Me By, being included on the so-called White Album. The band's finally LP, Abbey Road, included another Starr song, Octopus's Garden, which, unlike the former tune, actually got occassional airplay on both AM and FM stations.
Artist: Impressions
Title: We're A Winner
Source: CD: Curtis Mayfield And The Impressions-The Anthology 1961-1977 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Curtis Mayfield
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1968
When Jerry Butler left the Impressions in the early 1960s, it would have been easy to assume that the group would not last very long without its dynamic lead vocalist. That is not what happened, however. Instead, guitarist Curtis Mayfield stepped up to the microphone, becoming the group's sole songwriter in the process. Although the Impressions had a few crossover hits on the mainstream charts, such as It's All Right and People Get Ready, their real stronghold was the R&B charts, where they scored hit after hit over a period of nearly ten years. Most of these hits were on the ABC Paramount label, which shortened its name to ABC Records in 1966. One of the last hits on ABC was We're A Winner, released in 1968. In 1969 Mayfield formed his own label, Curtom, and the Impressions were the first group to record for the new label. Mayfield would have his greatest success as a solo artist in the early 70s with a pair of singles from the soundtrack of the movie Superfly, including the title cut and the song Freddy's Dead.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: 2+2=?
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
Bob Seger had a series of regional hits in his native Detroit in the mid-1960s, leading to a deal with Capitol Records in 1968. The first single for Capitol was 2+2=?, a powerful anti-Vietnam War tune that was later included on his first LP for the label. The mono single version of the song heard here has a guitar chord near the end of the track that was not on the original recording (on which the song simply stops cold for a second). It was inserted because, according to Seger, radio stations were "afraid of dead air".
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: In Held Twas I
Source: LP: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Fisher/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Although the idea of grouping songs together as "suites" was first tried by Jefferson Airplane on their 1967 album After Bathing At Baxter's, Procol Harum's 17-minute long In Held Twas I, from their 1968 album Shine On Brightly, is usually cited as the first progressive rock suite. The title comes from the first word of each section of the piece that contains vocals (several sections are purely instrumental). The work contains some of the best early work from guitarist Robin Trower, who would leave the group a few years later for a solo career. Shine On Brightly was the last Procol Harum album to include organist Matthew Fisher, who came up with the famous opening riff for the group's first hit, A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino
Year: 1964
At first glance this may look like a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the Youngbloods shortened the title to Get Together, that the song became a major hit.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: The Times They Are A-Changin'
Source: CD: The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings (originally released on LP: The Times They Are A-Changin')
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1964
I vaguely remember seeing a movie back in the 80s (I think it may have been called The Wanderers) about a late-50s gang from an Italian-American neighborhood somewhere in New York City. I really don't remember much about the plot of the film, but I do remember a bit near the end, where the main character walks down a street in Greenwich Village and hears the sound of Bob Dylan coming from a coffee house singing The Times They Are A-Changin'. I've often thought of that scene and how it symbolized the shift from the conformist culture of the late 50s (represented by the peer pressure-driven gang life) giving way to the turbulence that would characterize the 1960s.
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Hazy Shade Of Winter
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Originally released as a single in 1966, A Hazy Shade Of Winter was one of several songs written for the film The Graduate. The only one of these actually used in the film was Mrs. Robinson. The remaining songs eventually made up side two of the 1968 album Bookends, although several of them were also released as singles throughout 1967. A Hazy Shade Of Winter, being the first of these singles (and the only one released in 1966), was also the highest charting, peaking at # 13 just as the weather was turning cold. This is the only song this week that will also be included on our cool yule show, "Stuck With The Hermit At Yuletide", coming up in just a couple of weeks.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Time Machine
Source: CD: Heavy Hitters (originally released on LP: On Time)
Writer: Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
Universally panned by the rock press, the first Grand Funk Railroad album, On Time, was at best a moderate success when it was first released. Thanks to the band's extensive touring, however, GFR had built up a sizable following by the time their self-titled follow up LP (aka the Red Album) was released in 1970. That year, Grand Funk Railroad became the first rock band to chalk up four gold albums in the same year, with Closer To Home and their double-LP live album joining the first two studio albums. One of the most popular tracks from On Time was Time Machine, which captures the essence of the band's early years.
Artist: James Gang
Title: Tend My Garden/Garden Gate
Source: James Gang Rides Again
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1970
Cleveland, Ohio's James Gang spent so much time on the road promoting their first album, Takes Off, that they didn't have much material ready when it came time to record a follow-up LP. The group found itself actually writing songs in the studio and recording them practically as they were being written. Guitarist/lead vocalist Joe Walsh, meanwhile, had some acoustic songs he had been working on, and it was decided that the new album would have one side of electric hard rock songs while the other would be an acoustic side. The opening tracks for the second side of the album were Tend My Garden, which features Walsh on both organ and guitar, followed by Garden Gate, a Walsh solo piece.
Artist: Mother Earth
Title: Tonight The Sky's About To Cry
Source: LP: Bring Me Home
Writer: Kaz/Andreolli
Label: Reprise
Year: 1971
Mother Earth was one of those bands that was highly respected among the musicians' community, but was never able to achieve major commercial success. The band was formed by Tracy Nelson, who had migrated to the San Francisco area from her native Wisconson in the early 1960s and had moderate success locally as an acoustic artist. Although Mother Earth disbanded in the early 70s, Nelson has continued to record over the years for various labels and has appeared on such TV shows as Austin City Limits. Although Nelson wrote the bulk of Mother Earth's material, the band occassionally recorded songs from outside songwriters such as Tonight The Sky's About To Cry from the album Bring Me Home, the band's only LP on the Reprise label.
Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1148 (starts 12/1/11)
This week Stuck in the Psychedelic Era goes deep, with a lot of album tracks and forgotten singles. Fewer than half a dozen tunes on this week's show would qualify as familiar even to a regular listener of the show. The final half hour, in fact, is dominated by an entire album side (by request) from the San Francisco band It's A Beautiful Day (and it's not the side with White Bird on it either).
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: All I Really Need Is You
Source: LP: Midnight Ride
Writer: Lindsay/Revere
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Paul Revere And The Raiders have gotten a bad rap over the years, mostly for dressing funny. During the mid-60s, however, with the British Invasion in full swing, an American band needed every gimmick it could think of, and the Raiders simply took advantage of their band leader's birth name and did the obvious. What's often overlooked, however, is the fact that Paul Revere And The Raiders, co-led by Revere and vocalist/saxophonist Mark Lindsay, were one of the best bands of their time, and the first band from the Pacific Northwest to achieve continuous national chart success. The band members were prolific songwriters as well. In fact, of the twelve songs on their 1966 album Midnight Ride, ten were originals, including All I Really Need Is You, which leads off side two of the LP.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The first rock band signed to Elektra Records was Love, a popular L.A. club band that boasted two talented songwriters, Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean. On the heels of their first album, which included the single My Little Red Book and one of the first recordings of the fast version of Hey Joe (heard on last week's show), came Love's most successful single, 7&7 Is, released in July of 1966. This stereo mix is taken from Love's second album, Da Capo, released in 1967.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Come Up The Years
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
One of the most overused motifs in pop music is the "You're too young for me" song. This probably reflects, to a certain degree, a lifestyle that goes back to the beginnings of rock and roll (Chuck Berry did jail time for transporting a minor across state lines, Jerry Lee Lewis saw his career get derailed by his marraige to his 13-year-old cousin, etc.). The Marty Balin/Paul Kantner tune Come Up The Years takes a more sophisticated look at the subject, although it still comes to the same conclusion (I can't do this because you're jailbait). In fact, the only rock songwriter I know of that came to any other conclusion on the matter was Bob Markley, and that's what ultimately got him in trouble with the law.
Artist: Golliwogs
Title: Fight Fire
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: J. Fogerty/T. Fogerty
Label: Rhino (original label: Scorpio)
Year: 1966
A quick look at the songwriting credits provides a clue to who these guys were. In fact, the Golliwogs, with their pink cotton candy colored wigs, boasted the exact same lineup as one of the most popular bands in rock history. The primary difference is that the Golliwogs were led by Tom Fogerty; by 1968 the band had changed its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival and younger brother John was clearly in charge.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The primary prerequisite to being in a garage band was to know the chords to Gloria. All three of them. If you knew all the words (or could make up titilatingly suggestive alternate lyrics) you got to be the lead singer. If you could play the 2-string-3-note sequence at the end of each verse, you became the lead guitarist. This worked fine until Somebody To Love came out.
Artist: Immediate Family
Title: Rubiyat
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on CD: What A Way To Come Down)
Writer: Kovacs/Khayyam
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967; released 1997
The members of the Immediate Family hailed from the city of Concord, a conservative suburb east of San Francisco bay. They didn't actually make music in their hometown, however. Instead they practiced at the home of organist Kriss Kovacs's mother Judy Davis (the vocal coach to the stars who numbered such diverse talents as Grace Slick, Barbra Streisand and even Frank Sinatra among her pupils). The band was able to get the backing to lay down some tracks at Golden State Recorders (the top studio in the area at the time), but reportedly lost their record deal due to emotional instability on the part of Kovacs. The song Rubiyat is an adaptation of the Rubiyat Of Omar Khayyam. Ambitious to be sure, but done well enough to make one wonder what it could have led to.
Artist: Kaleidoscope
Title: Pulsating Dream
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Side Trips)
Writer: Chris Darrow
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
From Los Angeles we have the Kaleidoscope, a band that had more in common with the folk-rock bands up in San Francisco than its contemporaries on the L.A. club scene. Pulsating Dream is a somewhat typical example of what the group sounded like on its only album for Epic, Side Trips, released in 1967.
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Title: Drifting
Source: LP: The Original Fleetwood Mac
Writer: Peter Green
Label: Sire
Year: 1967
Fleetwood Mac must hold some kind of record for going through the most drastic changes over the years. In its most popular incarnation, the group fronted by Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham and Christine McVie was known for its smooth sound; indeed, that version of Fleetwood Mac pretty much defined the sound of 80s album rock radio. Originally, though, Fleetwood Mac was an offshoot of one of the UKs most respected bands: John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Following the departure of Eric Clapton in 1966 (to form Cream), Mayall recruited Peter Green to take over lead guitar duties for the band. By 1967 the group included both Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass. Mayall gave Green some free studio time, which Green used to record several tracks with his current bandmates, along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Those recordings got so much positive feedback that Green decided to form his own band with Fleetwood and Spencer. At first McVie was reluctant to leave Mayall's band, which was gigging steadily at the time. As a ploy to get McVie to change his mind, Green named his new band Fleetwood Mac. With a temporary bass player the new band began to play live gigs to rave reviews and sellout crowds, which led to McVie joining the band soon after. It was around this time that the band, then consisting of Green, Spencer, Fleetwood and McVie, went back into the studio and recorded an album's worth of tracks, including the instrumental Drifting. Those tracks did not get released until 1977, on an album called The Original Fleetwood Mac.
Artist: Cyrkle
Title: We Had A Good Thing Goin'
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Sedaka/Greenfield
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
The Cyrkle released ten singles from 1966 to 1968. With one exception (the song Camaro, which was released exclusively to Chevrolet dealerships), each of those singles did worse than the one before it. Their debut single, Red Rubber Ball, made the top 5. The follow-up, Turn Down Day, peaked within the top 20. We Had A Good Thing Goin', released in early 1967, only managed to make it to the # 51 spot, despite being written by Neil Sedaka and Ellie Greenfield.
Artist: Tiny Tim
Title: Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips With Me
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Dubin/Burke
Label: Reprise
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I think I'll just mention that we have a set from the Rolling Stones next.
Year: 1968
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sympathy For The Devil
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
Beggar's Banquet was a turning point for the Rolling Stones. They had just ended their association with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their mid-60s records, and instead were working with Jimmy Miller, who was known for his association with Steve Winwood, both in his current band Traffic and the earlier Spencer Davis Group. Right from the opening bongo beats of Sympathy For The Devil, it was evident that this was the beginning of a new era for bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Citadel
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
One of the most underrated songs in the Rolling Stones catalog, Citadel is the second track on Their Satanic Majesties Request, an album often dismissed as being an ill-fated attempt to keep up with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. As the song is preceeded on the album by the overture-like Sing This All Together with no break between the two, Citadel was almost impossible to play as a separate track from the original vinyl. It's a little easier to play from the CD, but due to sloppiness on the part of whoever mastered the 80s Abkco discs, the start of the song does not quite match up with the start of the CD track. Maybe one of these days I'll get a copy of the remastered version that came out more recently and see if they did a better job with it. In the meantime sit back and enjoy this hard-rockin' piece of psychedelia.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dear Doctor
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco
Year: 1968
In late 1968 four new albums by four different bands were competing for space on the record racks: The Beatles (white album), Cream's Wheels Of Fire, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland and the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet. I can't imagine four albums that influential (or even that good) ever being released at the same time again. Just to further illustrate the point we have the song Dear Doctor. Compared to most of the songs on these four albums, the country-styled Dear Doctor is, at best, a novelty number. Yet taken on its own merits the song compares favorably with probably 90% of what's been recorded by any rock band (and a lot of country artists as well) in the years since.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (originally released on LP: A Saucerful Of Secrets)
Source: CD: Works
Writer: Roger Waters
Label: Capitol (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
With mental illness pretty much taking Sid Barrett out of the Pink Floyd equation by 1968, other members stepped up their own songwriting for the band's second LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, a Roger Waters composition, is the only Pink Floyd recording to have both Barrett and his replacement, David Gilmour, playing guitar parts and was considered strong enough to be included on the Works compilation album in the early 80s. A Saucerful Of Secrets is the only Pink Floyd album that failed to chart in the US, due in part to it being released on Capitol's Tower subsidiary, which was generally regarded as a second-rate label.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Sell
Source: 45 RPM single (taken from LP: Just Good Rock And Roll)
Writer: M. Herron/J. Herron
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
After 1968's Mass In F Minor, which saw the members of the Electric Prunes being replaced by studio musicians, the group decided to call it quits. Producer David Hassinger, who had the legal rights to the band's name, had different ideas and put together a "new improved" Electric Prunes lineup to record the 1969 album Just Good Rock And Roll. Ron Morgan, lead guitarist for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, was part of this new lineup. The album had even less success than the three previous Prunes albums, and Hassinger finally retired the name. Various former members of the band reunited in the 21st century, making concert appearances and recording new material. None of the members of the "new improved" lineup, however, have performed with the current group.
Artist: Bloodrock
Title: Gimme Your Head
Source: CD: Bloodrock
Writer: Bloodrock
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1970
Bloodrock was a hard rock band out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that is best known for recording the song D.O.A., a minor (but memorable) hit in 1971. The group was discovered by Grand Funk Railroad producer Terry Knight, who got the band a contract with Capitol Records and produced their eponymous first album, released in 1970. Additionally, Knight booked Bloodrock as Grand Funk's opening act for their 1970 national tour, assuring the album plenty of promotion. Lead vocalist Jim Rutledge played drums on the album, which featured tunes like Gimme Your Head, but did not yield a hit single.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Do You Believe In Magic
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Buddah (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year: 1965
Do You Believe In Magic, the debut single by the Lovin' Spoonful, was instrumental in establishing not only the band itself, but the Kama Sutra label as well. Within the next five years, the Spoonful (and later John Sebastian as a solo artist) would crank out a string of hits. Not to be outdone, Kama Sutra would itself morph into a company called Buddah Records and come to dominate the "bubble gum" genre of top 40 music throughout 1968 and well into 1969.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: For Your Love
Source: LP: Great Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Graham Gouldman
Label: Epic
Year: 1965
The last Yardbirds song to feature guitarist Eric Clapton, For Your Love was the group's fist US hit, peaking at the # 6 slot. The song did even better in the UK, peaking at # 3. Following its release, Clapton left the Yardbirds, citing the band's move toward a more commercial sound and this song in particular as reasons for his departure. (Ironic when you consider songs like his mid-90s hit Change the World or his slowed down lounge lizard version of Layla). Incidentally, For Your Love was written by Graham Gouldman, who would end up as a member of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders and later 10cc with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: L. Colley/K. Colley
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers (originally from Bergenfield, New Jersey) went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Doors
Title: Take It As It Comes
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
L.A.'s Whisky-A-Go-Go was the place to be in 1966. Not only were some of the city's hottest bands playing there, but for a while the house band was none other than the Doors, playing songs like Take It As It Comes. One evening Jack Holtzman of Elektra Records was among those attending the club, having been invited there to hear the Doors by Arthur Lee (who with his band Love was already recording for Elektra). After hearing two sets Holtzman signed the group to a contract with the label, making the Doors only the second rock band on the Elektra label (although the Butterfield Blues Band is considered by some to be the first, predating Love by several months).
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Doctor Please
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer: Dick Peterson
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
With it's raw feedback-drenched guitar and bass and heavily distorted drums, Blue Cheer is often cited as the first heavy metal band. If any one song most demonstrates their right to the title it's Doctor Please from the Vincebus Eruptum album. Written by bassist Dick Peterson, the song is exactly what your parents meant by "that noise". Contrary to the rumor going around in 1970, guitarist Leigh Stephens did not go deaf after recording two albums with Blue Cheer. In fact, he went to England and recorded the critically-acclaimed (but seldom heard) Red Weather album with some of the UK's top studio musicians.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: It Must Be Love
Source: LP: Ball
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
Although it did not contain anything like the monster hit In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, the third Iron Butterfly LP, Ball, was probably a better album overall. The first single released from the album was In The Time Of Our Lives, backed with It Must Be Love, a tune that features some nice guitar work from Eric Brann, who would soon be leaving the band for an unsuccessful solo career.
Artist: Johnny Winter
Title: Bad Luck And Trouble
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: The Progressive Blues Experiment)
Writer: Johnny Winter
Label: United Artists (original label: Sonobeat/Imperial)
Year: 1968
Although Johnny Winter had been around since the early 60s, recording in a variety of genres for various regional Texas labels, he really only started getting national attention when he started focusing on the blues exclusively. His first blues album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, originally appeared on the Sonobeat label and was subsequently reissued nationally on Imperial. Unlike his brother Edgar, who gravitated to rock music, Johnny has remained primarily a blues musician throughout his career.
Artist: It's A Beautiful Day
Title: Bombay Calling/Bulgaria/Time Is
Source: CD: It's A Beautiful Day
Writer: LaFlamme/Wallace
Label: San Francisco Sound (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
The story of It's A Beautiful Day shows a dark side of late 60s San Francisco. In mid 1967 It's A Beautiful Day, formed by former Utah Symphony violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, keyboardist Linda LaFlamme, caught the attention of Matthew Katz, who was managing both Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. The LaFlammes were not aware of the fact that both of the other bands were trying desperately to get out of their contracts with Katz, and were more than happy to sign a contract with him. Katz immediately shipped It's A Beautiful Day off to Seattle, where they became the house band at a club called the San Francisco Sound that was owned by Katz himself. The band lived upstairs from the club and had no transportation; their only money was a meager food allowance provided by Katz. It was in this environment, during the rainy Seattle winter, that the band composed the music that would become their first LP. Side one was highlighted by the songs White Bird and Hot Summer Day, while the second side was a continuous piece of music that was banded as three separate tracks (probably to increase royalties). This week, by request, we are hearing the second side of It's A Beautiful Day.
Artist: Monkees
Title: P.O. Box 9847
Source: LP: The Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
After four consecutive number one albums, the Monkees streak was broken in 1968 with the Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees, which still managed to peak in the number three spot. The album included two hit singles, Daydream Believer and Valleri, as well as several tracks that had appeared on the Monkees TV show, which had ceased production (at the request of the Monkees themselves) at the end of its second season. One of the tunes on that album came from the same writing team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart that had provided the bulk of the group's material for their first two albums, including their first hit, Last Train To Clarksville (in fact, as originally conceived, the Monkees would have Boyce and Hart as its Lennon and McCartney analogs). As it turns out, P.O. Box 9847 is one of the Monkee's most psychedelic songs.
Artist: Who
Title: Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1968
The Who were blessed with not one, but two top-notch songwriters: Pete Townshend and John Entwhistle. Whereas Townsend's songs ranged from tight pop songs to more serious works such as Tommy, Entwistle's tunes had a slightly twisted outlook, dealing with such topics as crawly critters (Boris the Spider), imaginary friends (Whiskey Man) and even outright perversion (Fiddle About). Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde was originally released in the US as the B side to Call Me Lightning. Both songs were included on the Magic Bus album.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Roll With It
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Children Of The Future)
Writer: Steve Miller
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Right from the beginning, the Steve Miller band stood out stylistically from other San Francisco area bands. This was in part because Miller was only recently arrived from Chicago, which had a music tradition of its own. But a lot of the credit has to go to Miller himself, who had the sense to give his bandmates (such as his college buddy Boz Scaggs) the freedom to provide songs for the band in addition to his own material. One example of the latter is Roll With It from the group's 1968 debut LP, Children Of The Future.
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: All I Really Need Is You
Source: LP: Midnight Ride
Writer: Lindsay/Revere
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Paul Revere And The Raiders have gotten a bad rap over the years, mostly for dressing funny. During the mid-60s, however, with the British Invasion in full swing, an American band needed every gimmick it could think of, and the Raiders simply took advantage of their band leader's birth name and did the obvious. What's often overlooked, however, is the fact that Paul Revere And The Raiders, co-led by Revere and vocalist/saxophonist Mark Lindsay, were one of the best bands of their time, and the first band from the Pacific Northwest to achieve continuous national chart success. The band members were prolific songwriters as well. In fact, of the twelve songs on their 1966 album Midnight Ride, ten were originals, including All I Really Need Is You, which leads off side two of the LP.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The first rock band signed to Elektra Records was Love, a popular L.A. club band that boasted two talented songwriters, Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean. On the heels of their first album, which included the single My Little Red Book and one of the first recordings of the fast version of Hey Joe (heard on last week's show), came Love's most successful single, 7&7 Is, released in July of 1966. This stereo mix is taken from Love's second album, Da Capo, released in 1967.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Come Up The Years
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
One of the most overused motifs in pop music is the "You're too young for me" song. This probably reflects, to a certain degree, a lifestyle that goes back to the beginnings of rock and roll (Chuck Berry did jail time for transporting a minor across state lines, Jerry Lee Lewis saw his career get derailed by his marraige to his 13-year-old cousin, etc.). The Marty Balin/Paul Kantner tune Come Up The Years takes a more sophisticated look at the subject, although it still comes to the same conclusion (I can't do this because you're jailbait). In fact, the only rock songwriter I know of that came to any other conclusion on the matter was Bob Markley, and that's what ultimately got him in trouble with the law.
Artist: Golliwogs
Title: Fight Fire
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: J. Fogerty/T. Fogerty
Label: Rhino (original label: Scorpio)
Year: 1966
A quick look at the songwriting credits provides a clue to who these guys were. In fact, the Golliwogs, with their pink cotton candy colored wigs, boasted the exact same lineup as one of the most popular bands in rock history. The primary difference is that the Golliwogs were led by Tom Fogerty; by 1968 the band had changed its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival and younger brother John was clearly in charge.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The primary prerequisite to being in a garage band was to know the chords to Gloria. All three of them. If you knew all the words (or could make up titilatingly suggestive alternate lyrics) you got to be the lead singer. If you could play the 2-string-3-note sequence at the end of each verse, you became the lead guitarist. This worked fine until Somebody To Love came out.
Artist: Immediate Family
Title: Rubiyat
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on CD: What A Way To Come Down)
Writer: Kovacs/Khayyam
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967; released 1997
The members of the Immediate Family hailed from the city of Concord, a conservative suburb east of San Francisco bay. They didn't actually make music in their hometown, however. Instead they practiced at the home of organist Kriss Kovacs's mother Judy Davis (the vocal coach to the stars who numbered such diverse talents as Grace Slick, Barbra Streisand and even Frank Sinatra among her pupils). The band was able to get the backing to lay down some tracks at Golden State Recorders (the top studio in the area at the time), but reportedly lost their record deal due to emotional instability on the part of Kovacs. The song Rubiyat is an adaptation of the Rubiyat Of Omar Khayyam. Ambitious to be sure, but done well enough to make one wonder what it could have led to.
Artist: Kaleidoscope
Title: Pulsating Dream
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Side Trips)
Writer: Chris Darrow
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
From Los Angeles we have the Kaleidoscope, a band that had more in common with the folk-rock bands up in San Francisco than its contemporaries on the L.A. club scene. Pulsating Dream is a somewhat typical example of what the group sounded like on its only album for Epic, Side Trips, released in 1967.
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Title: Drifting
Source: LP: The Original Fleetwood Mac
Writer: Peter Green
Label: Sire
Year: 1967
Fleetwood Mac must hold some kind of record for going through the most drastic changes over the years. In its most popular incarnation, the group fronted by Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham and Christine McVie was known for its smooth sound; indeed, that version of Fleetwood Mac pretty much defined the sound of 80s album rock radio. Originally, though, Fleetwood Mac was an offshoot of one of the UKs most respected bands: John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Following the departure of Eric Clapton in 1966 (to form Cream), Mayall recruited Peter Green to take over lead guitar duties for the band. By 1967 the group included both Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass. Mayall gave Green some free studio time, which Green used to record several tracks with his current bandmates, along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Those recordings got so much positive feedback that Green decided to form his own band with Fleetwood and Spencer. At first McVie was reluctant to leave Mayall's band, which was gigging steadily at the time. As a ploy to get McVie to change his mind, Green named his new band Fleetwood Mac. With a temporary bass player the new band began to play live gigs to rave reviews and sellout crowds, which led to McVie joining the band soon after. It was around this time that the band, then consisting of Green, Spencer, Fleetwood and McVie, went back into the studio and recorded an album's worth of tracks, including the instrumental Drifting. Those tracks did not get released until 1977, on an album called The Original Fleetwood Mac.
Artist: Cyrkle
Title: We Had A Good Thing Goin'
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Sedaka/Greenfield
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
The Cyrkle released ten singles from 1966 to 1968. With one exception (the song Camaro, which was released exclusively to Chevrolet dealerships), each of those singles did worse than the one before it. Their debut single, Red Rubber Ball, made the top 5. The follow-up, Turn Down Day, peaked within the top 20. We Had A Good Thing Goin', released in early 1967, only managed to make it to the # 51 spot, despite being written by Neil Sedaka and Ellie Greenfield.
Artist: Tiny Tim
Title: Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips With Me
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Dubin/Burke
Label: Reprise
I don't even know where to begin with this one. I think I'll just mention that we have a set from the Rolling Stones next.
Year: 1968
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sympathy For The Devil
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
Beggar's Banquet was a turning point for the Rolling Stones. They had just ended their association with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their mid-60s records, and instead were working with Jimmy Miller, who was known for his association with Steve Winwood, both in his current band Traffic and the earlier Spencer Davis Group. Right from the opening bongo beats of Sympathy For The Devil, it was evident that this was the beginning of a new era for bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Citadel
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
One of the most underrated songs in the Rolling Stones catalog, Citadel is the second track on Their Satanic Majesties Request, an album often dismissed as being an ill-fated attempt to keep up with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. As the song is preceeded on the album by the overture-like Sing This All Together with no break between the two, Citadel was almost impossible to play as a separate track from the original vinyl. It's a little easier to play from the CD, but due to sloppiness on the part of whoever mastered the 80s Abkco discs, the start of the song does not quite match up with the start of the CD track. Maybe one of these days I'll get a copy of the remastered version that came out more recently and see if they did a better job with it. In the meantime sit back and enjoy this hard-rockin' piece of psychedelia.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dear Doctor
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco
Year: 1968
In late 1968 four new albums by four different bands were competing for space on the record racks: The Beatles (white album), Cream's Wheels Of Fire, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland and the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet. I can't imagine four albums that influential (or even that good) ever being released at the same time again. Just to further illustrate the point we have the song Dear Doctor. Compared to most of the songs on these four albums, the country-styled Dear Doctor is, at best, a novelty number. Yet taken on its own merits the song compares favorably with probably 90% of what's been recorded by any rock band (and a lot of country artists as well) in the years since.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (originally released on LP: A Saucerful Of Secrets)
Source: CD: Works
Writer: Roger Waters
Label: Capitol (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
With mental illness pretty much taking Sid Barrett out of the Pink Floyd equation by 1968, other members stepped up their own songwriting for the band's second LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, a Roger Waters composition, is the only Pink Floyd recording to have both Barrett and his replacement, David Gilmour, playing guitar parts and was considered strong enough to be included on the Works compilation album in the early 80s. A Saucerful Of Secrets is the only Pink Floyd album that failed to chart in the US, due in part to it being released on Capitol's Tower subsidiary, which was generally regarded as a second-rate label.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Sell
Source: 45 RPM single (taken from LP: Just Good Rock And Roll)
Writer: M. Herron/J. Herron
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
After 1968's Mass In F Minor, which saw the members of the Electric Prunes being replaced by studio musicians, the group decided to call it quits. Producer David Hassinger, who had the legal rights to the band's name, had different ideas and put together a "new improved" Electric Prunes lineup to record the 1969 album Just Good Rock And Roll. Ron Morgan, lead guitarist for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, was part of this new lineup. The album had even less success than the three previous Prunes albums, and Hassinger finally retired the name. Various former members of the band reunited in the 21st century, making concert appearances and recording new material. None of the members of the "new improved" lineup, however, have performed with the current group.
Artist: Bloodrock
Title: Gimme Your Head
Source: CD: Bloodrock
Writer: Bloodrock
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1970
Bloodrock was a hard rock band out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that is best known for recording the song D.O.A., a minor (but memorable) hit in 1971. The group was discovered by Grand Funk Railroad producer Terry Knight, who got the band a contract with Capitol Records and produced their eponymous first album, released in 1970. Additionally, Knight booked Bloodrock as Grand Funk's opening act for their 1970 national tour, assuring the album plenty of promotion. Lead vocalist Jim Rutledge played drums on the album, which featured tunes like Gimme Your Head, but did not yield a hit single.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Do You Believe In Magic
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Buddah (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year: 1965
Do You Believe In Magic, the debut single by the Lovin' Spoonful, was instrumental in establishing not only the band itself, but the Kama Sutra label as well. Within the next five years, the Spoonful (and later John Sebastian as a solo artist) would crank out a string of hits. Not to be outdone, Kama Sutra would itself morph into a company called Buddah Records and come to dominate the "bubble gum" genre of top 40 music throughout 1968 and well into 1969.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: For Your Love
Source: LP: Great Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Graham Gouldman
Label: Epic
Year: 1965
The last Yardbirds song to feature guitarist Eric Clapton, For Your Love was the group's fist US hit, peaking at the # 6 slot. The song did even better in the UK, peaking at # 3. Following its release, Clapton left the Yardbirds, citing the band's move toward a more commercial sound and this song in particular as reasons for his departure. (Ironic when you consider songs like his mid-90s hit Change the World or his slowed down lounge lizard version of Layla). Incidentally, For Your Love was written by Graham Gouldman, who would end up as a member of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders and later 10cc with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: L. Colley/K. Colley
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers (originally from Bergenfield, New Jersey) went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Doors
Title: Take It As It Comes
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
L.A.'s Whisky-A-Go-Go was the place to be in 1966. Not only were some of the city's hottest bands playing there, but for a while the house band was none other than the Doors, playing songs like Take It As It Comes. One evening Jack Holtzman of Elektra Records was among those attending the club, having been invited there to hear the Doors by Arthur Lee (who with his band Love was already recording for Elektra). After hearing two sets Holtzman signed the group to a contract with the label, making the Doors only the second rock band on the Elektra label (although the Butterfield Blues Band is considered by some to be the first, predating Love by several months).
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Doctor Please
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer: Dick Peterson
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
With it's raw feedback-drenched guitar and bass and heavily distorted drums, Blue Cheer is often cited as the first heavy metal band. If any one song most demonstrates their right to the title it's Doctor Please from the Vincebus Eruptum album. Written by bassist Dick Peterson, the song is exactly what your parents meant by "that noise". Contrary to the rumor going around in 1970, guitarist Leigh Stephens did not go deaf after recording two albums with Blue Cheer. In fact, he went to England and recorded the critically-acclaimed (but seldom heard) Red Weather album with some of the UK's top studio musicians.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: It Must Be Love
Source: LP: Ball
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
Although it did not contain anything like the monster hit In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, the third Iron Butterfly LP, Ball, was probably a better album overall. The first single released from the album was In The Time Of Our Lives, backed with It Must Be Love, a tune that features some nice guitar work from Eric Brann, who would soon be leaving the band for an unsuccessful solo career.
Artist: Johnny Winter
Title: Bad Luck And Trouble
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: The Progressive Blues Experiment)
Writer: Johnny Winter
Label: United Artists (original label: Sonobeat/Imperial)
Year: 1968
Although Johnny Winter had been around since the early 60s, recording in a variety of genres for various regional Texas labels, he really only started getting national attention when he started focusing on the blues exclusively. His first blues album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, originally appeared on the Sonobeat label and was subsequently reissued nationally on Imperial. Unlike his brother Edgar, who gravitated to rock music, Johnny has remained primarily a blues musician throughout his career.
Artist: It's A Beautiful Day
Title: Bombay Calling/Bulgaria/Time Is
Source: CD: It's A Beautiful Day
Writer: LaFlamme/Wallace
Label: San Francisco Sound (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
The story of It's A Beautiful Day shows a dark side of late 60s San Francisco. In mid 1967 It's A Beautiful Day, formed by former Utah Symphony violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, keyboardist Linda LaFlamme, caught the attention of Matthew Katz, who was managing both Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. The LaFlammes were not aware of the fact that both of the other bands were trying desperately to get out of their contracts with Katz, and were more than happy to sign a contract with him. Katz immediately shipped It's A Beautiful Day off to Seattle, where they became the house band at a club called the San Francisco Sound that was owned by Katz himself. The band lived upstairs from the club and had no transportation; their only money was a meager food allowance provided by Katz. It was in this environment, during the rainy Seattle winter, that the band composed the music that would become their first LP. Side one was highlighted by the songs White Bird and Hot Summer Day, while the second side was a continuous piece of music that was banded as three separate tracks (probably to increase royalties). This week, by request, we are hearing the second side of It's A Beautiful Day.
Artist: Monkees
Title: P.O. Box 9847
Source: LP: The Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
After four consecutive number one albums, the Monkees streak was broken in 1968 with the Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees, which still managed to peak in the number three spot. The album included two hit singles, Daydream Believer and Valleri, as well as several tracks that had appeared on the Monkees TV show, which had ceased production (at the request of the Monkees themselves) at the end of its second season. One of the tunes on that album came from the same writing team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart that had provided the bulk of the group's material for their first two albums, including their first hit, Last Train To Clarksville (in fact, as originally conceived, the Monkees would have Boyce and Hart as its Lennon and McCartney analogs). As it turns out, P.O. Box 9847 is one of the Monkee's most psychedelic songs.
Artist: Who
Title: Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1968
The Who were blessed with not one, but two top-notch songwriters: Pete Townshend and John Entwhistle. Whereas Townsend's songs ranged from tight pop songs to more serious works such as Tommy, Entwistle's tunes had a slightly twisted outlook, dealing with such topics as crawly critters (Boris the Spider), imaginary friends (Whiskey Man) and even outright perversion (Fiddle About). Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde was originally released in the US as the B side to Call Me Lightning. Both songs were included on the Magic Bus album.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Roll With It
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Children Of The Future)
Writer: Steve Miller
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Right from the beginning, the Steve Miller band stood out stylistically from other San Francisco area bands. This was in part because Miller was only recently arrived from Chicago, which had a music tradition of its own. But a lot of the credit has to go to Miller himself, who had the sense to give his bandmates (such as his college buddy Boz Scaggs) the freedom to provide songs for the band in addition to his own material. One example of the latter is Roll With It from the group's 1968 debut LP, Children Of The Future.
SITPE # 1147 (Starts 11/24/11)
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: Respect
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Volt
Year: 1965
Released well over a year before Aretha Franklin's version, Otis Redding's Respect was a hit on the R&B charts and managed to crack the lower reaches of the mainstream charts as well. Although not as well known as Franklin's version, the Redding track has its own unique energy and is a classic in its own right. The track, like most of Redding's recordings, features the Memphis Group rhythm section and the Bar-Kays on horns.
Artist: Butterfield Blues Band
Title: Work Song
Source: CD: East-West
Writer: Adderly/Brown
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
Although technically not a rock album, the Butterfield Blues Band's East-West was nonetheless a major influence on many up and coming rock musicians that desired to transcend the boundaries of top 40 radio. Both the title track and the band's reworking of Nat Adderly's Work Song feature extended solos from all the band members, with Work Song in particular showing Butterfield's prowess on harmonica, as well as helping cement Michael Bloomfield's reputation as the nation's number one guitarist (before the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, at any rate).
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Bass Strings
Source: LP: The Life And Times Of Country Joe And The Fish (originally released on Rag Baby EP #2)
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1966
One of the more original ways to get one's music heard is to publish an underground arts-oriented newspaper and include a pullout flexi-disc in it. Country Joe and the Fish did just that; not once, but twice. The first one was split with another band and featured the original recording of the I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag. The second Rag Baby EP, released in 1966, was all Fish, and featured two tracks that would be re-recorded for their debut LP the following year. In addition to the instrumental Section 43, the EP included a four-minute version of Bass Strings, with decidedly psychedelic lyrics.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Days
Source: CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Polygram (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
As the sixties wound down, the Kinks were busy proving that if a band could weather the bad times they would eventually re-emerge even stronger than before. The worst of those times for the band was 1968, when they had trouble scoring hits even on the UK charts where they had always had their greatest success. One of the singles released was Days, which shows a band still transitioning from the straight ahead rock of their early years to the sometimes biting satire that would characterize their later work.
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes. This particular copy is from the US-only electronically rechanneled stereo version of the album.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Clean Love
Source: CD: Open
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
The story of the Blues Image is tied closely with the legendary south Florida nightclub Thee Image. They were the house band (and had helped set up the club itself) and were already well known and respected in musicians' circles by the time they released their first LP in 1969. Although the LP sold moderately, it failed to generate any airplay on either top 40 or progressive FM radio. The group came up with a genuine hit single, Ride Captain Ride, in 1970, but their second LP, Open, charted even lower than their first one, despite having some outstanding tracks, including Ride Captain Ride and one of the best blues-rock tracks ever recorded, the eight-minute long Clean Love. Frustrated by the lack of success, guitarist Mike Pinera left the band to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after an even less successful third LP the Blues Image called it quits.
Artist: Tommy Flanders
Title: Friday Night City
Source: CD: Blues Project Anthology (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tommy Flanders
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year: 1967
When the Blues Project was first signed to M-G-M Records, the label saw them as America's answer to the Rolling Stones. They had pretty good reasons for seeing things that way too. The band had one of Greenwich Village's rising stars, Danny Kalb, on guitar, the already well-known Al Kooper, who had played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisted album on organ, and the charismatic Tommy Flanders on lead vocals. The label was so high on the band, in fact, that they flew them out to L.A. and set them up in the Hilton for a big release party. It was then that things got weird. Flanders's girlfriend, who had accompanied the band to the West Coast, got it in her head that Flanders was the star of the band and was as such deserved special treatment. This did not sit well with the rest of the band members, and an argument ensued, culminating in the girlfriend announcing that her Tommy didn't need any of those guys and would stay in Hollywood to become a star in his own right. The Blues Project continued without Flanders and went on to become one of the most influential bands in rock history (albeit without a lot of commercial success). Flanders, on the other hand, recorded an album's worth of material (produced by Wilson), but only Friday Night City was actually released, and even then it was held back until 1967, by which time audience tastes had changed signficantly and the song went nowhere. Flanders did have a short solo career in the early 1970s, but never achieved the level of success his girlfriend had imagined for him (or even the level of success the rest of the Blues Project had without him, for that matter).
Artist: Gary Lee Yoder
Title: When Love Comes In
Source: CD: Kak-Ola
Writer: Gary Lee Yoder
Label: Big Beat
Year: Recorded:1967; released:1999
After the breakup of Gary Lee Yoder's original band, the Oxford Circle, the singer/songwriter/guitarist cut some demos before forming a new band, Kak. Originally those songs were intended for the new band, but it soon became obvious that Kak was moving in an entirely different direction, and the demos sat on the shelf until being released in the UK in 1999. One of those demos was When Love Comes In. Besides Yoder himself, it is not known who else played on the recording.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Hymn 43
Source: LP: Living In The Past (originally released on LP: Aqualung)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
This week we have a 1971 set from Jethro tull, and to start it off we have Ian Anderson taking on the religious establishment. He had already fired the first shot a couple years before with Christmas Song, but this time he had an entire album side (side two of Aqualung) to work with, and he did not pull any punches with his scathing criticism of what he perceived as rampant hypocrisy within the Anglican church.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Cross-Eyed Mary
Source: CD: Aqualung
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
The fortunes of Jethro Tull improved drastically with the release of the Aqualung album in 1971. The group had done well in their native UK but were still considered a second-tier band in the US. Aqualung, however, propelled the group to star status, with several tracks, such as Cross-Eyed Mary, getting heavy airplay on progressive rock radio.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Life Is A Long Song
Source: LP: Living In The Past (originally released in the UK as an EP track)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
By 1971 Jethro Tull had already released four albums, as well as several non-album singles and EP tracks that were only released in the UK. One of those EP tracks was Life Is A Long Song, which did not get released in the US until the 1973 anthology album Living In The Past.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Foxy Lady
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The US and UK versions of the Are You Experienced differed considerably. For one thing, three songs that had been previously released as singles in the UK (where single tracks and albums were mutually exclusive) were added to the US version of the album, replacing UK album tracks. Another rather significant difference is that the UK version of the album was issued only in mono. When the 4-track master tapes arrived in the US, engineers at Reprise Records created new stereo mixes of all the songs, including Foxy Lady, which had led off the UK version of Are You Experience but had been moved to a spot near the end of side two on the US album. The original mono single mix of Foxy Lady, meanwhile, was issued as a single in the US, despite the song being only available as an album track in the UK.
Artist: Zephyr
Title: Cross The River
Source: CD: Zephyr
Writer: C. Givens/D. Givens
Label: One Way (original label: ABC Probe)
Year: 1969
The Boulder, Colorado band Zephyr featured the vocal talents of Candy Givens, who had an octave range that would not be equalled until Mariah Carey hit the scene years later. Also in the band was lead guitarist Tommy Bolin, who would go on to take over lead guitar duties with first the James Gang and then Deep Purple before embarking on a solo career. Unfortunately that career (and Bolin's life) was permanently derailed by a heroin overdose at age 28. The rest of this talented band consisted of Robbie Chamerlin on drums, John Faris on keyboards and David Givens (who co-wrote Cross The River with his wife Candy) on bass.
Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
After the demise of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills headed for New York, where he worked with Al Kooper on the Super Session album and recorded several demo tapes of his own, including a new song called Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (reportedly written for his then-girlfriend Judy Collins). After his stint in New York he returned to California, where he started hanging out in the Laurel Canyon home of David Crosby, who had been fired from the Byrds in 1967. Crosby's house at that time was generally filled with a variety of people coming and going, and Crosby and Stills soon found themselves doing improvised harmonies on each other's material in front of a friendly, if somewhat stoned, audience. It was not long before they invited Graham Nash, whom they heard had been having problems of his own with his bandmates in the Hollies, to come join them in Laurel Canyon. The three soon began recording together, and in 1969 released the album Crosby, Stills and Nash. They had yet to actually perform the new songs onstage, however, and by the time of the Woodstock Performing Arts Festival had only logged one gig in front of a live audience. Nonetheless, the trio (joined for their electric set by Neil Young), made quite an impression at Woodstock, and soon found themselves among the most popular groups in the world.
Artist: Beach Boys
Title: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
Source: CD: Pet Sounds
Writer: Wilson/Asher
Label: Capitol
Year: 1966
Brian Wilson's songwriting reached its full maturity with the Pet Sounds album, released in 1966. In addition to the hits Wouldn't It Be Nice, Sloop John B and God Only Knows, the album featured several album tracks that redefined where a pop song could go. One such tune is Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder), a slow, moody song with a chord structure that goes in unexpected directions and soaring vocals by Wilson.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Masculine Intuition
Source: CD: Turn On The Music Machine
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
If you take out the cover songs that Original Sound Records insisted be added to the album, Turn On The Music Machine has to be considered one of the best LPs of 1966. Not that the covers were badly done, but they were intended to be used for lip synching on a local TV show and were included without the knowledge or approval of the band, and that's never a good thing. Every one of the Sean Bonniwell originals on the album is worthy of airplay, which in part might explain how Masculine Intuition is only now making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut.
Artist: Who
Title: Whiskey Man
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1966
Although the Who had previously issued a pair of singles in the US, the first one to make any kind of waves was Happy Jack, released in late 1966 and hitting its peak the following year. The B side of that record was the song Whiskey Man. Like all the Who songs penned by bassist John Entwhistle, this one has an unusual subject; in this case, psychotic alcohol-induced hallucinations.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michalski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, was home to one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the late 60s, despite its relatively low pre-silicon valley population. One of the most popular bands on that scene was Count Five, a group of five guys who dressed like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and sounded like the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Fortunately for Count Five, Jeff Beck had just left the Yardbirds when Psychotic Reaction came out, leaving a hole that the boys from the South Bay were more than happy to fill.
Artist: We The People
Title: Mirror Of Your Mind
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Thomas Talton
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
We The People were formed when an Orlando, Florida newspaper reporter talked members of two local bands to combine into a garage/punk supergroup. The result was one of the most successful regional bands in Florida history. After their first recording got airplay on a local station, they were signed to record in Nashville for Challenge Records (a label actually based in Los Angeles) and cranked out several regional hits over the next few years. The first of these was Mirror Of Your Mind. Written by lead vocalist Tom Talton, the song is an in-your-face rocker that got played on a number of local stations and has been covered by several bands since.
Artist: Magic Mushrooms
Title: It's-A-Happening
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Casella/Rice
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1966
It's not known whether or not the Magic Mushrooms heard any of the tracks from the Mothers Of Invention album Freak Out when they recorded It's-A-Happening. Still, it's hard to imagine this bit of inspired weirdness being created in a vacuum. Besides this one single, nobody seems to have any knowledge whatsoever of the group known as the Magic Mushrooms, other than the fact that they hailed from Philadelphia, Pa.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Alice's Restaurant Massacre
Source: LP: Alice's Restaurant
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
Beginning this year we are reviving a tradition that was a mainstay of progressive rock radio stations for many years: the airing, in its entirety, of the original Alice's Restaurant Massacre, recorded in 1967. The record tells the true story of Guthrie's 1965 Thanksgiving adventures in a small town in Massachusetts, and of his subsequent adventures with the draft board a few months later. The story became the basis for a movie and over the years Guthrie has performed the piece hundreds of times, never the same way twice (some performances have reportedly lasted nearly an hour).
Artist: Edwin Starr
Title: War
Source: CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits-1970 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Rhino (original label: Gordy)
Year: 1970
I was trying to figure out a way to work this song in when it occurred to me that the last half of Alice's Restaurant Massacre is about Arlo Guthries misadventures with the draft board and that Edwin Starr's War was really a perfect coda to the piece. After all, it is the highest charting antiwar song in history, as well as Starr's biggest hit, going all the way to the top of both the top 40 and R&B charts in 1970. It is also a solid example of Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong productions, which, although part of Motown, was a semi-autonomous entity (as was Holland-Dozier-Holland productions, which had brought Motown its greatest commercial success in the 60s, cranking out hit after hit by the Supremes and other acts). In fact, when Motown first signed the Jackson 5ive, the company took steps to avoid yet another independent company-within-a-company by forming a collective called The Corporation to write and produce all the new group's records.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Ups And Downs (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: Greatest Hits
Writer: Lindsay/Melcher
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
At the beginning of 1967 Paul Revere and the Raiders were still flying high, with singles that consistently hit the upper reaches of the charts and a solid promotional platform in the daily afternoon TV show Action. Their first hit of the year was Ups And Downs, a collaboration between lead vocalist Mark Lindsay and producer Terry Melcher. Things would soon turn sour for the band, however, as a volatile market soon turned against the group. In part it was because their revolutionary war costumes were becoming a bit camp. Also, Action left the airwaves in 1967, and its Saturday Morning replacement, Happening, was seen as more of a kid's show than a legitimate rock and roll venue. Most importantly, however, Melcher and the Raiders parted company, and the band realized too late just how important a role Melcher had played in the group's success.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation. The song is also currently in a three-way tie for most played song on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year.
Title: Respect
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Volt
Year: 1965
Released well over a year before Aretha Franklin's version, Otis Redding's Respect was a hit on the R&B charts and managed to crack the lower reaches of the mainstream charts as well. Although not as well known as Franklin's version, the Redding track has its own unique energy and is a classic in its own right. The track, like most of Redding's recordings, features the Memphis Group rhythm section and the Bar-Kays on horns.
Artist: Butterfield Blues Band
Title: Work Song
Source: CD: East-West
Writer: Adderly/Brown
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
Although technically not a rock album, the Butterfield Blues Band's East-West was nonetheless a major influence on many up and coming rock musicians that desired to transcend the boundaries of top 40 radio. Both the title track and the band's reworking of Nat Adderly's Work Song feature extended solos from all the band members, with Work Song in particular showing Butterfield's prowess on harmonica, as well as helping cement Michael Bloomfield's reputation as the nation's number one guitarist (before the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, at any rate).
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Bass Strings
Source: LP: The Life And Times Of Country Joe And The Fish (originally released on Rag Baby EP #2)
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1966
One of the more original ways to get one's music heard is to publish an underground arts-oriented newspaper and include a pullout flexi-disc in it. Country Joe and the Fish did just that; not once, but twice. The first one was split with another band and featured the original recording of the I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag. The second Rag Baby EP, released in 1966, was all Fish, and featured two tracks that would be re-recorded for their debut LP the following year. In addition to the instrumental Section 43, the EP included a four-minute version of Bass Strings, with decidedly psychedelic lyrics.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Days
Source: CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Polygram (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
As the sixties wound down, the Kinks were busy proving that if a band could weather the bad times they would eventually re-emerge even stronger than before. The worst of those times for the band was 1968, when they had trouble scoring hits even on the UK charts where they had always had their greatest success. One of the singles released was Days, which shows a band still transitioning from the straight ahead rock of their early years to the sometimes biting satire that would characterize their later work.
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes. This particular copy is from the US-only electronically rechanneled stereo version of the album.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Clean Love
Source: CD: Open
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
The story of the Blues Image is tied closely with the legendary south Florida nightclub Thee Image. They were the house band (and had helped set up the club itself) and were already well known and respected in musicians' circles by the time they released their first LP in 1969. Although the LP sold moderately, it failed to generate any airplay on either top 40 or progressive FM radio. The group came up with a genuine hit single, Ride Captain Ride, in 1970, but their second LP, Open, charted even lower than their first one, despite having some outstanding tracks, including Ride Captain Ride and one of the best blues-rock tracks ever recorded, the eight-minute long Clean Love. Frustrated by the lack of success, guitarist Mike Pinera left the band to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after an even less successful third LP the Blues Image called it quits.
Artist: Tommy Flanders
Title: Friday Night City
Source: CD: Blues Project Anthology (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tommy Flanders
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year: 1967
When the Blues Project was first signed to M-G-M Records, the label saw them as America's answer to the Rolling Stones. They had pretty good reasons for seeing things that way too. The band had one of Greenwich Village's rising stars, Danny Kalb, on guitar, the already well-known Al Kooper, who had played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisted album on organ, and the charismatic Tommy Flanders on lead vocals. The label was so high on the band, in fact, that they flew them out to L.A. and set them up in the Hilton for a big release party. It was then that things got weird. Flanders's girlfriend, who had accompanied the band to the West Coast, got it in her head that Flanders was the star of the band and was as such deserved special treatment. This did not sit well with the rest of the band members, and an argument ensued, culminating in the girlfriend announcing that her Tommy didn't need any of those guys and would stay in Hollywood to become a star in his own right. The Blues Project continued without Flanders and went on to become one of the most influential bands in rock history (albeit without a lot of commercial success). Flanders, on the other hand, recorded an album's worth of material (produced by Wilson), but only Friday Night City was actually released, and even then it was held back until 1967, by which time audience tastes had changed signficantly and the song went nowhere. Flanders did have a short solo career in the early 1970s, but never achieved the level of success his girlfriend had imagined for him (or even the level of success the rest of the Blues Project had without him, for that matter).
Artist: Gary Lee Yoder
Title: When Love Comes In
Source: CD: Kak-Ola
Writer: Gary Lee Yoder
Label: Big Beat
Year: Recorded:1967; released:1999
After the breakup of Gary Lee Yoder's original band, the Oxford Circle, the singer/songwriter/guitarist cut some demos before forming a new band, Kak. Originally those songs were intended for the new band, but it soon became obvious that Kak was moving in an entirely different direction, and the demos sat on the shelf until being released in the UK in 1999. One of those demos was When Love Comes In. Besides Yoder himself, it is not known who else played on the recording.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Hymn 43
Source: LP: Living In The Past (originally released on LP: Aqualung)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
This week we have a 1971 set from Jethro tull, and to start it off we have Ian Anderson taking on the religious establishment. He had already fired the first shot a couple years before with Christmas Song, but this time he had an entire album side (side two of Aqualung) to work with, and he did not pull any punches with his scathing criticism of what he perceived as rampant hypocrisy within the Anglican church.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Cross-Eyed Mary
Source: CD: Aqualung
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
The fortunes of Jethro Tull improved drastically with the release of the Aqualung album in 1971. The group had done well in their native UK but were still considered a second-tier band in the US. Aqualung, however, propelled the group to star status, with several tracks, such as Cross-Eyed Mary, getting heavy airplay on progressive rock radio.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Life Is A Long Song
Source: LP: Living In The Past (originally released in the UK as an EP track)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1971
By 1971 Jethro Tull had already released four albums, as well as several non-album singles and EP tracks that were only released in the UK. One of those EP tracks was Life Is A Long Song, which did not get released in the US until the 1973 anthology album Living In The Past.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Foxy Lady
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The US and UK versions of the Are You Experienced differed considerably. For one thing, three songs that had been previously released as singles in the UK (where single tracks and albums were mutually exclusive) were added to the US version of the album, replacing UK album tracks. Another rather significant difference is that the UK version of the album was issued only in mono. When the 4-track master tapes arrived in the US, engineers at Reprise Records created new stereo mixes of all the songs, including Foxy Lady, which had led off the UK version of Are You Experience but had been moved to a spot near the end of side two on the US album. The original mono single mix of Foxy Lady, meanwhile, was issued as a single in the US, despite the song being only available as an album track in the UK.
Artist: Zephyr
Title: Cross The River
Source: CD: Zephyr
Writer: C. Givens/D. Givens
Label: One Way (original label: ABC Probe)
Year: 1969
The Boulder, Colorado band Zephyr featured the vocal talents of Candy Givens, who had an octave range that would not be equalled until Mariah Carey hit the scene years later. Also in the band was lead guitarist Tommy Bolin, who would go on to take over lead guitar duties with first the James Gang and then Deep Purple before embarking on a solo career. Unfortunately that career (and Bolin's life) was permanently derailed by a heroin overdose at age 28. The rest of this talented band consisted of Robbie Chamerlin on drums, John Faris on keyboards and David Givens (who co-wrote Cross The River with his wife Candy) on bass.
Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
After the demise of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills headed for New York, where he worked with Al Kooper on the Super Session album and recorded several demo tapes of his own, including a new song called Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (reportedly written for his then-girlfriend Judy Collins). After his stint in New York he returned to California, where he started hanging out in the Laurel Canyon home of David Crosby, who had been fired from the Byrds in 1967. Crosby's house at that time was generally filled with a variety of people coming and going, and Crosby and Stills soon found themselves doing improvised harmonies on each other's material in front of a friendly, if somewhat stoned, audience. It was not long before they invited Graham Nash, whom they heard had been having problems of his own with his bandmates in the Hollies, to come join them in Laurel Canyon. The three soon began recording together, and in 1969 released the album Crosby, Stills and Nash. They had yet to actually perform the new songs onstage, however, and by the time of the Woodstock Performing Arts Festival had only logged one gig in front of a live audience. Nonetheless, the trio (joined for their electric set by Neil Young), made quite an impression at Woodstock, and soon found themselves among the most popular groups in the world.
Artist: Beach Boys
Title: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
Source: CD: Pet Sounds
Writer: Wilson/Asher
Label: Capitol
Year: 1966
Brian Wilson's songwriting reached its full maturity with the Pet Sounds album, released in 1966. In addition to the hits Wouldn't It Be Nice, Sloop John B and God Only Knows, the album featured several album tracks that redefined where a pop song could go. One such tune is Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder), a slow, moody song with a chord structure that goes in unexpected directions and soaring vocals by Wilson.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Masculine Intuition
Source: CD: Turn On The Music Machine
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
If you take out the cover songs that Original Sound Records insisted be added to the album, Turn On The Music Machine has to be considered one of the best LPs of 1966. Not that the covers were badly done, but they were intended to be used for lip synching on a local TV show and were included without the knowledge or approval of the band, and that's never a good thing. Every one of the Sean Bonniwell originals on the album is worthy of airplay, which in part might explain how Masculine Intuition is only now making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut.
Artist: Who
Title: Whiskey Man
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1966
Although the Who had previously issued a pair of singles in the US, the first one to make any kind of waves was Happy Jack, released in late 1966 and hitting its peak the following year. The B side of that record was the song Whiskey Man. Like all the Who songs penned by bassist John Entwhistle, this one has an unusual subject; in this case, psychotic alcohol-induced hallucinations.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michalski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, was home to one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the late 60s, despite its relatively low pre-silicon valley population. One of the most popular bands on that scene was Count Five, a group of five guys who dressed like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and sounded like the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Fortunately for Count Five, Jeff Beck had just left the Yardbirds when Psychotic Reaction came out, leaving a hole that the boys from the South Bay were more than happy to fill.
Artist: We The People
Title: Mirror Of Your Mind
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Thomas Talton
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
We The People were formed when an Orlando, Florida newspaper reporter talked members of two local bands to combine into a garage/punk supergroup. The result was one of the most successful regional bands in Florida history. After their first recording got airplay on a local station, they were signed to record in Nashville for Challenge Records (a label actually based in Los Angeles) and cranked out several regional hits over the next few years. The first of these was Mirror Of Your Mind. Written by lead vocalist Tom Talton, the song is an in-your-face rocker that got played on a number of local stations and has been covered by several bands since.
Artist: Magic Mushrooms
Title: It's-A-Happening
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Casella/Rice
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1966
It's not known whether or not the Magic Mushrooms heard any of the tracks from the Mothers Of Invention album Freak Out when they recorded It's-A-Happening. Still, it's hard to imagine this bit of inspired weirdness being created in a vacuum. Besides this one single, nobody seems to have any knowledge whatsoever of the group known as the Magic Mushrooms, other than the fact that they hailed from Philadelphia, Pa.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Alice's Restaurant Massacre
Source: LP: Alice's Restaurant
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
Beginning this year we are reviving a tradition that was a mainstay of progressive rock radio stations for many years: the airing, in its entirety, of the original Alice's Restaurant Massacre, recorded in 1967. The record tells the true story of Guthrie's 1965 Thanksgiving adventures in a small town in Massachusetts, and of his subsequent adventures with the draft board a few months later. The story became the basis for a movie and over the years Guthrie has performed the piece hundreds of times, never the same way twice (some performances have reportedly lasted nearly an hour).
Artist: Edwin Starr
Title: War
Source: CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits-1970 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Rhino (original label: Gordy)
Year: 1970
I was trying to figure out a way to work this song in when it occurred to me that the last half of Alice's Restaurant Massacre is about Arlo Guthries misadventures with the draft board and that Edwin Starr's War was really a perfect coda to the piece. After all, it is the highest charting antiwar song in history, as well as Starr's biggest hit, going all the way to the top of both the top 40 and R&B charts in 1970. It is also a solid example of Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong productions, which, although part of Motown, was a semi-autonomous entity (as was Holland-Dozier-Holland productions, which had brought Motown its greatest commercial success in the 60s, cranking out hit after hit by the Supremes and other acts). In fact, when Motown first signed the Jackson 5ive, the company took steps to avoid yet another independent company-within-a-company by forming a collective called The Corporation to write and produce all the new group's records.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Ups And Downs (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: Greatest Hits
Writer: Lindsay/Melcher
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
At the beginning of 1967 Paul Revere and the Raiders were still flying high, with singles that consistently hit the upper reaches of the charts and a solid promotional platform in the daily afternoon TV show Action. Their first hit of the year was Ups And Downs, a collaboration between lead vocalist Mark Lindsay and producer Terry Melcher. Things would soon turn sour for the band, however, as a volatile market soon turned against the group. In part it was because their revolutionary war costumes were becoming a bit camp. Also, Action left the airwaves in 1967, and its Saturday Morning replacement, Happening, was seen as more of a kid's show than a legitimate rock and roll venue. Most importantly, however, Melcher and the Raiders parted company, and the band realized too late just how important a role Melcher had played in the group's success.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation. The song is also currently in a three-way tie for most played song on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year.
SITPE # 1146 (Starts 11/17/11)
Artist: Love
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: Comes In Colours
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Raven
Year: 1966
There are contradictory stories of the origins of the song Hey Joe. Some say it's a traditional folk song, while others have attributed it to various songwriters, including Tim Rose and Dino Valenti (under his birth name Chet Powers). As near as I've been able to determine the song was actually written by an obscure California folk singer named Billy Roberts, who reportedly was performing the song as early as 1958. The song circulated among West Coast musicians over the years and eventually caught the attention of the Byrds' David Crosby. Crosby was unable to convince his bandmates to record the song, although they did include it in their live sets at Ciro's on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. One of the Byrds' roadies, Bryan Maclean, joined up with Arthur Lee's new band, Love, and brought Crosby's version of the song (which had slightly different lyrics than other, more popular versions) with him. In 1966 Love included Hey Joe on their debut album, with Maclean doing the vocals. Meanwhile another L.A. band, the Leaves, recorded their own version of Hey Joe in 1965, but had little success with it. In 1966 they recorded a new version of the song, adding screaming fuzz-drenched lead guitar parts by Bobby Arlin, and Hey Joe finally became a national hit. With two other L.A. bands (and Chicago's Shadows Of Knight) having recorded a song that David Crosby had come to regard as his own, the Byrds finally committed their own version of Hey Joe to vinyl in late 1966 on the Fifth Dimension album, but even Crosby eventually admitted that recording the song was a mistake. Up to this point the song had always been recorded at a fast tempo, but two L.A. songwriters, Sean Bonniwell (of the Music Machine) and folk singer Tim Rose, came up with the idea of slowing the song down. Both the Music Machine and Tim Rose versions of the songs were released on albums in 1966. Jimi Hendrix heard the Rose recording and used it as the basis for his own embellished version of the song, which was released as a single in the UK in late 1966 (although it did not come out in the US until the release of the Are You Experienced album in 1967).
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when he was approached by Marty Balin about joining a new band that Balin was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like what Hot Tuna would sound like but with Balin's vocals instead of Kaukonen's.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: She's Coming Home
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Atkins/Miller
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
Generally speaking, cheatin' songs in 1966 were considered the province of country music. The few exceptions, such as Paul Revere and the Raiders' Steppin' Out, were all told from the victim's point of view. The Blues Magoos, however, turned the entire thing upside down with She's Coming Home, a song about having to break up with one's new girlfriend in the face of the old one returning from...(prison, military duty? The lyrics never make that clear). The unusual nature of the song is in keeping with the cutting edge image of a band that was among the first to use the word psychedelic in an album title and had to have been the first to wear electric suits onstage.
Artist: Cream
Title: Dance The Night Away
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The album Fresh Cream was perhaps the first LP from a rock supergroup, although at the time a more accurate description would have been British blues supergroup. Much of the album was reworking of blues standards by the trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, all of whom had established their credentials with various British blues bands. With Disraeli Gears, however, Cream showed a psychedelic side as well as their original blues orientation. Most of the more psychedelic material, such as Dance the Night Away, was from the songwriting team of Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown.
Artist: Doors
Title: End Of The Night
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Many professional-grade reel-to-reel tape decks featured a variable speed control. Most of these only varied the speed by a small percentage; for instance a tape normally running at 15 inches per second could be played back (or recorded) anywhere between 14.5 ips and 15.5 ips simply by twisting a knob. This feature was usually used to correct small variances that would creep up between equipment made by different manufacturers. Sometimes, though, a knob would get turned for some reason or another and then completely forgotten. This was likely what happened with the original stereo master tapes of the Doors first album. A comparison between the stereo and mono versions of the LP shows that the stereo version is pitched about 3.5% lower than the mono version; in musical terms about a half step. As the mono version of the LP was discontinued soon after release, the lower-pitched versions of the songs are all that the public has been hearing for the past 44 years (except for the edited mono version of Light My Fire used by most AM radio stations), despite the fact that the mono version is the actual speed at which the songs were recorded. Recently I came into possession of a slightly scratchy copy of the original mono LP, so we can finally hear End Of The Night as it was originally intended to sound.
Artist: Doors
Title: Horse Lattitudes/Moonlight Ride
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes, which leads into Moonlight Ride, was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.
Artist: Doors
Title: Soul Kitchen
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Soul Kitchen was one of the more popular tracks from the Doors' first LP and has been included on at least one Greatest Hits collection. The Greatest Hits version, however, is the slightly slowed down stereo mix, which was the only version in print for nearly 40 years. This week we have the original mono mix, played at the actual speed at which it was recorded.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Travelin' Around
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village in 1967 by lead guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Bob Bruno (who wrote most of the band's material) and guitarist/vocalist Jerry Jeff Walker, who went on to much greater success as a songwriter after he left the group for a solo career (he wrote the classic Mr. Bojangles, among other things). The lead vocals on the first Circus Maximus LP were split between the two, with one exception: guitarist Peter Troutner shares lead vocal duties with Bruno on the album's opening track, the high-energy Travelin' Around.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
After the less than stellar chart performance of the LP Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones decided to pull out all the stops with a double 'A' sided single. We Love You was their most expensive production ever (as well as the last Rolling Stones record produced by Andrew Loog Oldham), and included a promotional film that is considered a forerunner of the modern music video. We Love You did well in the UK, reaching the # 8 spot on the charts, but it was the other side of the record, Dandelion, that ended up being a hit in the US.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Alabama Bound
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: trad., arr. The Charlatans
Label: Rhino (original label: Ace/Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967, released 1996
Despite being one of the most important bands on the San Francisco scene, the Charlatans did not have much luck in the recording studio. Their first sessions were aborted, the planned LP for Kama Sutra was shelved by the label itself, and the band was overruled in their choice of songs to be released on their first (and only) single issued from the Kama Sutra sessions. In 1967, however, they did manage to get some decent tracks recorded. Unfortunately, those tracks were not released until 1996, and then only in the UK. The centerpiece of the 1967 sessions was this six-and-a-half minute recording of a traditional tune that is considered by many to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: Lies
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randall/Charles
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1965
A lot of people thought this was the Beatles recording under a pseudonym when it came out. It wasn't, and I can't help but wonder why anyone would have thought the Beatles had any need to record under a different name and release a song on a second-rate label in the first place. Is it a Richard Bachman kind of thing?
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The Music Machine was one of the most sophisticated bands to appear on the L.A. club scene in 1966, yet their only major hit, Talk Talk, was deceptively simple and straightforward punk-rock, and still holds up as two of the most intense minutes of rock music ever to crack the top 40 charts.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Luvin'
Source: CD: I Had Too Much Too Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Lowe/Tulin
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Perhaps as a bit of overcompensation for his lack of control over the Grateful Dead, producer David Hassinger kept a tight rein on L.A.'s Electric Prunes, providing them with most of the material they recorded (from professional songwriters). A rare exception is Luvin', from the first Prunes LP, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: October Country)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Although Traffic is generally known as an early staple of progressive FM radio, the band had its share of hit singles in its native England as well. Many of these early hits were written by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mason, who would leave the band in 1968, only to return for the live Welcome To The Canteen album before leaving again, this time for good. One of Mason's most memorable songs was Feelin' Alright, from Traffic's self-titled second LP. The song very quickly became a rock standard when Joe Cocker sped it up and made it his own signature song. Grand Funk Railroad slowed it back down and scored a hit with their version in 1971, and Mason himself got some airplay with a new solo recording of the song later in the decade. Even comedian John Belushi got into the act with his dead-on cover of Cocker's version of the song on the Saturday Night Live TV show.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Redding/Cropper
Label: Volt
Year: 1968
One of the great tragedies in the history of American music was the plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding and most of the Bar-Kays in early 1968. In the months following the crash, several "new" Otis Redding singles were released, including The Happy Song (Dum-Dum), co-written by guitarist Steve Cropper.
Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Title: A Public Execution
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Henderson/Weiss
Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)
Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s. A Public Execution is unique in that the artist on the label was listed simply as Mouse.
Artist: ? And The Mysterians
Title: Can't Get Enough Of You Baby
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Randle/Linzer
Label: Abkco (original label: Cameo)
Year: 1967
? And The Mysterians' 1966 hit 96 Tears was the last song on the legendary Cameo label to hit the top 10 before the label went bankrupt in 1967 (and was bought by Allan Klein, who still reissues old Cameo-Parkway recordings on his Abkco label). Shortly before that bankruptcy was declared, however, the group released Can't Get Enough Of You Baby, which stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts. The song itself, however, finally achieved massive popularity at the end of the century, when a new version of the tune by Smash Mouth went to the top of the charts.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles' members themselves, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Fool On The Hill
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
Once again we have a pretty well known Beatle song that has never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. I could probably do this every week for a year and still have songs left over. Fool On The Hill was never issued as a single, but a cover version by Sergio Mendez and Brasil '67 got airplay on what was then called "middle of the road" radio (e.g. the station your parents listened to in the car when you had to go along with them because you had done something that made them not want to leave you home alone and being in trouble already you knew you didn't have a chance of getting them to change stations).
Artist: Blues Project
Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Special Disc Jockey Record
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project (as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together).
Artist: Deepest Blue
Title: Pretty Little Thing
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Shackelford/Johnson
Label: Rhino (original label: Blue Fin)
Year: 1966
Los Angeles, California has long been known for its urban sprawl, and in the mid-1960s it seemed like every one of its dozens of suburbs had at least one semi-professional garage band playing at various parties, bowling alleys, teen clubs and of course, high school gymnasiums. One such band was Deepest Blue, from Pomona, a suburb on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County best known for its race car track. Led by vocalist Earl Shackleford and guitarist Russell Johnson, the group performed locally as the Doves, but for reasons now forgotten recorded first under the name Egyptian Candy and then as Deepest Blue. Both records were released on labels that are considered obscure even by garage-rock standards, and by the end of the decade, the Doves/Egyptian Candy/Deepest Blue were naught but a footnote in L.A. music history.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: No Way Out)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
This week we feature a set of early tracks from a Canadian band that got its fifteen minutes of fame in the early 70s with a pair of top 40 singles, One Fine Morning and Sunny Days. Lighthouse was formed in Toronto in 1968 by vocalist/drummer Skip Prokop (formerly of the Paupers) and keyboardist/arranger Paul Hoffert. The idea was to combine a rock rhythm section with R&B-style horns and classical-style strings. The first move they made was to recruit guitarist Ralph Cole, whom the Paupers had shared a bill with in New York. The three of them then went about recruiting an assortment of friends, studio musicians and members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, making a demo tape and submitting it to M-G-M records, who immediately offered Lighthouse a contract. The band's manager, however, was able to get a better contract from RCA, and the group set about recording their first album, making their stage debut in Toronto in May of 1969. Among the original 13 members of the band were lead vocalist Vic "Pinky" Davin and saxophonist Howard Shore (who would become the leader of the house band for NBC's Saturday Night Live when that TV show made its debut in 1975). The group managed to record two albums that year, their eponymous debut album and the follow-up Suite Feeling. Both albums were recorded at Toronto's Eastern Sound Studio and released on the RCA Victor label in 1969. Although the group scored a couple of minor hits in their native Canada, they were not able to achieve commercial success in the US, and, after a third LP for RCA, changed labels to GRT, where (after several personnel changes, including lead vocals) they managed to chart two top 40 singles in 1971 and 1972. Tonight we have a set of tunes from the two 1969 Lighthouse albums, featuring the group's original lineup.
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Follow The Stars
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: Skip Prokop
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Could You Be Concerned
Source: LP: Suite Feeling
Writer: Prokop/Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: P. Hoffert/B. Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
The BX (base exchange) at Ramstein AFB in Germany used to feature an "album of the month." These were, by and large, LPs by top artists (usually rock bands), that were priced at $1.50, a dollar less than the normal $2.50 album price. As they were generally good albums by bands I had heard of (the Rolling Stones Beggar's Banquet and Through The Past Darkly, for instance), I bought a lot of albums that way. In late 1969 I decided to take a chance on one by a band I had never heard of. Maybe it was the cover art: England's mysterious Stonehenge monument done up in dark red hues. Whatever the reason, I took a chance and plunked down my buck and a half for my first taste of Ten Years After. It was an investment I never regretted. As it turns out, Stonedhenge (note the odd spelling) was actually the band's third LP for Deram, and was somewhat experimental in that it included four short solo tracks, one by each of the band members, placed between songs by the entire group. Guitarist/vocalist/bandleader Alvin Lee's contribution was a short bit of doo-wop played on the guitar with skat vocals in unison with the guitar part. It was appropriately titled Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: You Shook Me/Dazed And Confused
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin
Writer: Dixon/Page
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
I've heard it said that Willie Dixon sued Zeppelin over the use of You Shook Me, which is puzzling to me since Dixon is clearly credited as the songwriter on the label. Still, I don't know enough about copyright laws to say for sure whether this could have happened or not. Dazed & Confused, on the other hand, is a Jimmy Page composition that was performed by the Yardbirds (with different lyrics) as early as 1966.
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: Comes In Colours
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Raven
Year: 1966
There are contradictory stories of the origins of the song Hey Joe. Some say it's a traditional folk song, while others have attributed it to various songwriters, including Tim Rose and Dino Valenti (under his birth name Chet Powers). As near as I've been able to determine the song was actually written by an obscure California folk singer named Billy Roberts, who reportedly was performing the song as early as 1958. The song circulated among West Coast musicians over the years and eventually caught the attention of the Byrds' David Crosby. Crosby was unable to convince his bandmates to record the song, although they did include it in their live sets at Ciro's on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. One of the Byrds' roadies, Bryan Maclean, joined up with Arthur Lee's new band, Love, and brought Crosby's version of the song (which had slightly different lyrics than other, more popular versions) with him. In 1966 Love included Hey Joe on their debut album, with Maclean doing the vocals. Meanwhile another L.A. band, the Leaves, recorded their own version of Hey Joe in 1965, but had little success with it. In 1966 they recorded a new version of the song, adding screaming fuzz-drenched lead guitar parts by Bobby Arlin, and Hey Joe finally became a national hit. With two other L.A. bands (and Chicago's Shadows Of Knight) having recorded a song that David Crosby had come to regard as his own, the Byrds finally committed their own version of Hey Joe to vinyl in late 1966 on the Fifth Dimension album, but even Crosby eventually admitted that recording the song was a mistake. Up to this point the song had always been recorded at a fast tempo, but two L.A. songwriters, Sean Bonniwell (of the Music Machine) and folk singer Tim Rose, came up with the idea of slowing the song down. Both the Music Machine and Tim Rose versions of the songs were released on albums in 1966. Jimi Hendrix heard the Rose recording and used it as the basis for his own embellished version of the song, which was released as a single in the UK in late 1966 (although it did not come out in the US until the release of the Are You Experienced album in 1967).
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when he was approached by Marty Balin about joining a new band that Balin was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like what Hot Tuna would sound like but with Balin's vocals instead of Kaukonen's.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: She's Coming Home
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Atkins/Miller
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
Generally speaking, cheatin' songs in 1966 were considered the province of country music. The few exceptions, such as Paul Revere and the Raiders' Steppin' Out, were all told from the victim's point of view. The Blues Magoos, however, turned the entire thing upside down with She's Coming Home, a song about having to break up with one's new girlfriend in the face of the old one returning from...(prison, military duty? The lyrics never make that clear). The unusual nature of the song is in keeping with the cutting edge image of a band that was among the first to use the word psychedelic in an album title and had to have been the first to wear electric suits onstage.
Artist: Cream
Title: Dance The Night Away
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The album Fresh Cream was perhaps the first LP from a rock supergroup, although at the time a more accurate description would have been British blues supergroup. Much of the album was reworking of blues standards by the trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, all of whom had established their credentials with various British blues bands. With Disraeli Gears, however, Cream showed a psychedelic side as well as their original blues orientation. Most of the more psychedelic material, such as Dance the Night Away, was from the songwriting team of Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown.
Artist: Doors
Title: End Of The Night
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Many professional-grade reel-to-reel tape decks featured a variable speed control. Most of these only varied the speed by a small percentage; for instance a tape normally running at 15 inches per second could be played back (or recorded) anywhere between 14.5 ips and 15.5 ips simply by twisting a knob. This feature was usually used to correct small variances that would creep up between equipment made by different manufacturers. Sometimes, though, a knob would get turned for some reason or another and then completely forgotten. This was likely what happened with the original stereo master tapes of the Doors first album. A comparison between the stereo and mono versions of the LP shows that the stereo version is pitched about 3.5% lower than the mono version; in musical terms about a half step. As the mono version of the LP was discontinued soon after release, the lower-pitched versions of the songs are all that the public has been hearing for the past 44 years (except for the edited mono version of Light My Fire used by most AM radio stations), despite the fact that the mono version is the actual speed at which the songs were recorded. Recently I came into possession of a slightly scratchy copy of the original mono LP, so we can finally hear End Of The Night as it was originally intended to sound.
Artist: Doors
Title: Horse Lattitudes/Moonlight Ride
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes, which leads into Moonlight Ride, was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.
Artist: Doors
Title: Soul Kitchen
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Soul Kitchen was one of the more popular tracks from the Doors' first LP and has been included on at least one Greatest Hits collection. The Greatest Hits version, however, is the slightly slowed down stereo mix, which was the only version in print for nearly 40 years. This week we have the original mono mix, played at the actual speed at which it was recorded.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Travelin' Around
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village in 1967 by lead guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Bob Bruno (who wrote most of the band's material) and guitarist/vocalist Jerry Jeff Walker, who went on to much greater success as a songwriter after he left the group for a solo career (he wrote the classic Mr. Bojangles, among other things). The lead vocals on the first Circus Maximus LP were split between the two, with one exception: guitarist Peter Troutner shares lead vocal duties with Bruno on the album's opening track, the high-energy Travelin' Around.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
After the less than stellar chart performance of the LP Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones decided to pull out all the stops with a double 'A' sided single. We Love You was their most expensive production ever (as well as the last Rolling Stones record produced by Andrew Loog Oldham), and included a promotional film that is considered a forerunner of the modern music video. We Love You did well in the UK, reaching the # 8 spot on the charts, but it was the other side of the record, Dandelion, that ended up being a hit in the US.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Alabama Bound
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: trad., arr. The Charlatans
Label: Rhino (original label: Ace/Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967, released 1996
Despite being one of the most important bands on the San Francisco scene, the Charlatans did not have much luck in the recording studio. Their first sessions were aborted, the planned LP for Kama Sutra was shelved by the label itself, and the band was overruled in their choice of songs to be released on their first (and only) single issued from the Kama Sutra sessions. In 1967, however, they did manage to get some decent tracks recorded. Unfortunately, those tracks were not released until 1996, and then only in the UK. The centerpiece of the 1967 sessions was this six-and-a-half minute recording of a traditional tune that is considered by many to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: Lies
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randall/Charles
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1965
A lot of people thought this was the Beatles recording under a pseudonym when it came out. It wasn't, and I can't help but wonder why anyone would have thought the Beatles had any need to record under a different name and release a song on a second-rate label in the first place. Is it a Richard Bachman kind of thing?
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The Music Machine was one of the most sophisticated bands to appear on the L.A. club scene in 1966, yet their only major hit, Talk Talk, was deceptively simple and straightforward punk-rock, and still holds up as two of the most intense minutes of rock music ever to crack the top 40 charts.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Luvin'
Source: CD: I Had Too Much Too Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Lowe/Tulin
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Perhaps as a bit of overcompensation for his lack of control over the Grateful Dead, producer David Hassinger kept a tight rein on L.A.'s Electric Prunes, providing them with most of the material they recorded (from professional songwriters). A rare exception is Luvin', from the first Prunes LP, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: October Country)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Although Traffic is generally known as an early staple of progressive FM radio, the band had its share of hit singles in its native England as well. Many of these early hits were written by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mason, who would leave the band in 1968, only to return for the live Welcome To The Canteen album before leaving again, this time for good. One of Mason's most memorable songs was Feelin' Alright, from Traffic's self-titled second LP. The song very quickly became a rock standard when Joe Cocker sped it up and made it his own signature song. Grand Funk Railroad slowed it back down and scored a hit with their version in 1971, and Mason himself got some airplay with a new solo recording of the song later in the decade. Even comedian John Belushi got into the act with his dead-on cover of Cocker's version of the song on the Saturday Night Live TV show.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Redding/Cropper
Label: Volt
Year: 1968
One of the great tragedies in the history of American music was the plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding and most of the Bar-Kays in early 1968. In the months following the crash, several "new" Otis Redding singles were released, including The Happy Song (Dum-Dum), co-written by guitarist Steve Cropper.
Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Title: A Public Execution
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Henderson/Weiss
Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)
Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s. A Public Execution is unique in that the artist on the label was listed simply as Mouse.
Artist: ? And The Mysterians
Title: Can't Get Enough Of You Baby
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Randle/Linzer
Label: Abkco (original label: Cameo)
Year: 1967
? And The Mysterians' 1966 hit 96 Tears was the last song on the legendary Cameo label to hit the top 10 before the label went bankrupt in 1967 (and was bought by Allan Klein, who still reissues old Cameo-Parkway recordings on his Abkco label). Shortly before that bankruptcy was declared, however, the group released Can't Get Enough Of You Baby, which stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts. The song itself, however, finally achieved massive popularity at the end of the century, when a new version of the tune by Smash Mouth went to the top of the charts.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles' members themselves, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Fool On The Hill
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
Once again we have a pretty well known Beatle song that has never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. I could probably do this every week for a year and still have songs left over. Fool On The Hill was never issued as a single, but a cover version by Sergio Mendez and Brasil '67 got airplay on what was then called "middle of the road" radio (e.g. the station your parents listened to in the car when you had to go along with them because you had done something that made them not want to leave you home alone and being in trouble already you knew you didn't have a chance of getting them to change stations).
Artist: Blues Project
Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Special Disc Jockey Record
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project (as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together).
Artist: Deepest Blue
Title: Pretty Little Thing
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Shackelford/Johnson
Label: Rhino (original label: Blue Fin)
Year: 1966
Los Angeles, California has long been known for its urban sprawl, and in the mid-1960s it seemed like every one of its dozens of suburbs had at least one semi-professional garage band playing at various parties, bowling alleys, teen clubs and of course, high school gymnasiums. One such band was Deepest Blue, from Pomona, a suburb on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County best known for its race car track. Led by vocalist Earl Shackleford and guitarist Russell Johnson, the group performed locally as the Doves, but for reasons now forgotten recorded first under the name Egyptian Candy and then as Deepest Blue. Both records were released on labels that are considered obscure even by garage-rock standards, and by the end of the decade, the Doves/Egyptian Candy/Deepest Blue were naught but a footnote in L.A. music history.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: No Way Out)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
This week we feature a set of early tracks from a Canadian band that got its fifteen minutes of fame in the early 70s with a pair of top 40 singles, One Fine Morning and Sunny Days. Lighthouse was formed in Toronto in 1968 by vocalist/drummer Skip Prokop (formerly of the Paupers) and keyboardist/arranger Paul Hoffert. The idea was to combine a rock rhythm section with R&B-style horns and classical-style strings. The first move they made was to recruit guitarist Ralph Cole, whom the Paupers had shared a bill with in New York. The three of them then went about recruiting an assortment of friends, studio musicians and members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, making a demo tape and submitting it to M-G-M records, who immediately offered Lighthouse a contract. The band's manager, however, was able to get a better contract from RCA, and the group set about recording their first album, making their stage debut in Toronto in May of 1969. Among the original 13 members of the band were lead vocalist Vic "Pinky" Davin and saxophonist Howard Shore (who would become the leader of the house band for NBC's Saturday Night Live when that TV show made its debut in 1975). The group managed to record two albums that year, their eponymous debut album and the follow-up Suite Feeling. Both albums were recorded at Toronto's Eastern Sound Studio and released on the RCA Victor label in 1969. Although the group scored a couple of minor hits in their native Canada, they were not able to achieve commercial success in the US, and, after a third LP for RCA, changed labels to GRT, where (after several personnel changes, including lead vocals) they managed to chart two top 40 singles in 1971 and 1972. Tonight we have a set of tunes from the two 1969 Lighthouse albums, featuring the group's original lineup.
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Follow The Stars
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: Skip Prokop
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Could You Be Concerned
Source: LP: Suite Feeling
Writer: Prokop/Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: P. Hoffert/B. Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
The BX (base exchange) at Ramstein AFB in Germany used to feature an "album of the month." These were, by and large, LPs by top artists (usually rock bands), that were priced at $1.50, a dollar less than the normal $2.50 album price. As they were generally good albums by bands I had heard of (the Rolling Stones Beggar's Banquet and Through The Past Darkly, for instance), I bought a lot of albums that way. In late 1969 I decided to take a chance on one by a band I had never heard of. Maybe it was the cover art: England's mysterious Stonehenge monument done up in dark red hues. Whatever the reason, I took a chance and plunked down my buck and a half for my first taste of Ten Years After. It was an investment I never regretted. As it turns out, Stonedhenge (note the odd spelling) was actually the band's third LP for Deram, and was somewhat experimental in that it included four short solo tracks, one by each of the band members, placed between songs by the entire group. Guitarist/vocalist/bandleader Alvin Lee's contribution was a short bit of doo-wop played on the guitar with skat vocals in unison with the guitar part. It was appropriately titled Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: You Shook Me/Dazed And Confused
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin
Writer: Dixon/Page
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
I've heard it said that Willie Dixon sued Zeppelin over the use of You Shook Me, which is puzzling to me since Dixon is clearly credited as the songwriter on the label. Still, I don't know enough about copyright laws to say for sure whether this could have happened or not. Dazed & Confused, on the other hand, is a Jimmy Page composition that was performed by the Yardbirds (with different lyrics) as early as 1966.
SITPE # 1145 (starts 11/10/11)
Artist: Kinks
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Merry-Go-Round
Title: You're A Very Lovely Woman (originally released on Emitt Rhodes LP: The American Dream)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Emmit Rhodes
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1967
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of Rhodes solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album. One of the best tracks on The American Dream was You're A Very Lovely Woman, a Merry-Go-Round recording from 1967.
Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Larry Murray
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Hearts and Flowers (featuring a pre-Eagles Bernie Leadon on lead guitar) is known as one of the pioneering country-rock bands, but in 1968 they recorded what could well be regarded as a lost psychedelic masterpiece. Producer Steve Venet reportedly had Sgt. Pepper in mind as he crafted out Larry Murray's Tin Angel over a period of weeks, paying attention to the minutest details of the recording process. The result speaks for itself.
Artist: Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
Title: One Grain Of Sand
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Crewe/Brown/Bloodworth
Label: Dyna Voice
Year: 1967
Like most Detroit rock bands, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels was known for it's high-energy rock and roll, cranking out hits like Devil With A Blue Dress On and Sock It To Me! Baby. The band recorded for Bob Crewe's Dyna Voice label. A hard-rockin' band like Ryder's was a bit of a departure for Crewe, who was best known for his work with the Four Seasons and his own instrumental hit Music To Watch Girls By. One Grain Of Sand, released as the B side of Too Many Fish In The Sea, is more in line with the type of song usually associated with Crewe (who co-wrote the tune).
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
A few years back I picked up the DVD of the Ed Pennebacker telefilm documenting the Monterey International Pop Festival, held in June of 1967. One of the highlights of this early concert film was the Country Joe And The Fish performance of Section 43, an instrumental that they had originally recorded for a 1966 EP and had just re-recorded in stereo for their debut LP, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. The film (like Pennebacker's later film Woodstock), does not follow the actual performance sequence, instead using Section 43 as a backdrop for footage of various people who had slept on the festival grounds going about their morning business.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The problem with the Beatles is that they made so many outstanding recordings it's easy to overlook one or two. Such is the case with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, finally making its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Grim Reaper Of Love
Source: CD: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Portz/Nichol
Label: Magic (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1966
The Turtles had some early success in 1965 as a folk-rock band, recording the hit version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and PF Sloan's Let Me Be. By 1966, however, it was getting harder and harder for the group to get a hit record. One attempt was Grim Reaper Of Love, co-written by Turtles lead guitarist Al Nichol. Personally I think it's a pretty cool tune, but was probably a bit too weird to appeal to the average top 40 radio listener in 1966. Grim Reaper Of Love did manage to make it to the # 81 spot on the charts, unlike the band's next two singles that failed to chart at all. It wasn't until the following year, when the Turtles recorded Happy Together, that the band would make it back onto the charts.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was their biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. The song is preceeded by a series of jingles produced for Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the coast with offices in London. One of those (Roto Sound Strings) was actually performed by the Who. The others were made by the same Texas company (now known as TM) that supplied jingles to most US top 40 stations.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Still Raining, Still Dreaming, from the third Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland, is the second half of a live studio recording featuring guest drummer Buddy Miles, who would later join Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox to form Band Of Gypsys. The recording also features Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas, as well as Experience member Noel Redding on bass.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Honky Tonk Women
Source: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1969
After revitalizing their career with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man in 1968, the Stones delivered the coup-de-grace with one of the biggest hits by anyone ever: the classic Honky Tonk Women. The song was the first single without Brian Jones, who had been found dead in his swimming pool shortly after being kicked out of the band. Jones's replacement, Mick Taylor (fresh from a stint with blues legend John Mayall), plays slide guitar on the track.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: July Morning
Source: LP: Look At Yourself
Writer: Hensley/Byron
Label: Mercury
Year: 1971
Fans of the British rock group Uriah Heep have an ongoing argument over which is the best Heep album; Demons And Wizards, which we heard the Wizard from a couple weeks ago, or its immediate predecessor, Look At Yourself, which features the 10+ minute July Morning. Both albums feature strong vocals by David Byron and songwriting by keyboardist Ken Hensley, as well as tasty guitar licks from Mick Box.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Trampoline (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: LP:Gimme Some Lovin'
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1966
The Spencer Davis Group had a series of R&B flavored hit singles in the UK during the mid-1960s, but did not break in the US until 1967, the year that both keyboardist Steve Winwood and his brother, bassist Muff Winwood, left the band. Most of the band's first US LP, Gimme Some Lovin' was made up of those British singles, including Trampoline, which was originally issued as a B side in 1966.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
The standard practice in the UK during the 60s was to not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. This left several songs, such as the 1967 B side Smiling Phases, only available on 45 RPM vinyl until the group's first greatist hits anthology was released. The song has since come to be recognized as one of Traffic's most iconic tunes, and has been covered by such bands as Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever (two minutes and 41 seconds long).
Artist: Spirit
Title: Ice
Source: Clear
Writer: John Locke
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
The third Spirit album found other members of the band writing a greater share of the songs than on the first two LPs, which were written primarily by vocalist Jay Ferguson. One example of this is the instrumental Ice, which opens side two of Clear. The song was written by keyboardist John Locke.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: North Beach)
Year: 1966
One of the most legendary of San Francisco bands was the Great! Society, which featured a young model named Grace Slick on backup vocals. The group was never really much more than a garage band, and after recording an album's worth of material disbanded when Grace Slick left to replace Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane. Although the album was not issued until long after the band had split up (and even then was regarded more for its historical significance than for any musical value it might have), a pair of the recordings were issued as a single in 1966. Free Advice, a song written by Grace Slick's brother-in-law Darby (who also wrote the iconic Somebody To Love), was the A side of that single.
Artist: Move
Title: Flowers In The Rain
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1967
The Move was one of Britain's most popular acts in the mid to late 1960s. That popularity, however, did not extend to North America, where the band failed to chart even a single hit. The closest they came was Flowers In The Rain, a song that made it to the # 2 spot in England and was the very first record played on BBC Radio One (the first legal top 40 station in the UK). Eventually Roy Wood would depart to form his own band, Roy Wood's Wizzard, and the remaining members would evolve into the Electric Light Orchestra.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: A Not Very August Afternoon
Source: CD: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tartachny/Weisberg/Rhodes
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
Although Ultimate Spinach is the usually the band most cited as being part of the infamous "Boss-Town Sound" promoted heavily by M-G-M Records, the Beacon Street Union were the actual architects of the style itself. Already well-established in Boston, the band had actually relocated to New York when they became the first psychedelic band to sign with M-G-M. It was their signing which led to Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus and Earth Opera also getting contracts with one of the stodgiest of the major labels of the era. A Not Very August Afternoon, from the band's second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, shows the band already moving beyond their original psychedelic style.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 4-Pop (part two) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: unknown
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: I Am A Rock
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The success of I Am A Rock, when released as a single in 1966, showed that the first Simon And Garfunkel hit, The Sound Of Silence, was no fluke. The two songs served as bookends to a very successful LP, Sounds Of Silence, and would lead to several more hit records before the two singers went their separate ways in 1970.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: D.C.B.A.-25
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
One of the first songs written by Paul Kantner without a collaborator was this highly listenable tune from Surrealistic Pillow. Kantner says the title simply refers to the basic chord structure of the song, which is built on a two chord verse (D and C) and a two chord bridge (B and A). That actually fits, but what about the 25 part? [insert enigmatic smile here]
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: The Truth Is Not Real
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Present Tense)
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
After the success of the first Sagittarius single, My World Fell Down, Gary Usher enlisted the aid of Curt Boettcher, who had been working on a studio project of his own called the Ballroom for another production company. Using many of the same studio musicians they created a follow-up single, The Truth Is Not Real. It's interesting to compare Usher's lyrics with those of In My Room, a Brian Wilson tune that Usher had provided lyrics for in 1965.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
If ever a song could be considered a garage-punk anthem, it's Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, the follow-up single to the classic Dirty Water. Both songs were written by Standells' manager/producer Ed Cobb, the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: All The Good That's Happening
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
Despite never having been a major hit, Jimmy Reed's Let's Get Together (not to be confused with the Youngbloods song) was covered by several garage/psychedelic bands, including the Blue Magoos, the Shadows of Knight, and L.A. band the Leaves, appearing on their second LP (their only one for major label Capitol Records).
Artist: Cream
Title: Crossroads
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Priority (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
Robert Johnson's Crossroads has come to be regarded as a signature song for Eric Clapton, who's live version (recorded at the Fillmore East) was first released on the Cream album Wheels Of Fire.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sunny South Kensington
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan followed up his 1966 hit single Sunshine Superman with an album of the same name. He then repeated himself with the song and album Mellow Yellow. Although there were no other singles released from either album, the song Sunny South Kensington, which was done in much the same style as Superman, was a highlight of the Mellow Yellow album.
Due to a contractual dispute in the UK between Donovan and Pye Records, neither LP was issued in its original form in Britain.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
One of our top contenders for most-played song of 2011 is the Electric Prunes classic I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). Lenny Kaye also rated the song high on his list, as he used it as the opening track on his original Nuggets compilation in 1972.
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Merry-Go-Round
Title: You're A Very Lovely Woman (originally released on Emitt Rhodes LP: The American Dream)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Emmit Rhodes
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1967
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of Rhodes solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album. One of the best tracks on The American Dream was You're A Very Lovely Woman, a Merry-Go-Round recording from 1967.
Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Larry Murray
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Hearts and Flowers (featuring a pre-Eagles Bernie Leadon on lead guitar) is known as one of the pioneering country-rock bands, but in 1968 they recorded what could well be regarded as a lost psychedelic masterpiece. Producer Steve Venet reportedly had Sgt. Pepper in mind as he crafted out Larry Murray's Tin Angel over a period of weeks, paying attention to the minutest details of the recording process. The result speaks for itself.
Artist: Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
Title: One Grain Of Sand
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Crewe/Brown/Bloodworth
Label: Dyna Voice
Year: 1967
Like most Detroit rock bands, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels was known for it's high-energy rock and roll, cranking out hits like Devil With A Blue Dress On and Sock It To Me! Baby. The band recorded for Bob Crewe's Dyna Voice label. A hard-rockin' band like Ryder's was a bit of a departure for Crewe, who was best known for his work with the Four Seasons and his own instrumental hit Music To Watch Girls By. One Grain Of Sand, released as the B side of Too Many Fish In The Sea, is more in line with the type of song usually associated with Crewe (who co-wrote the tune).
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
A few years back I picked up the DVD of the Ed Pennebacker telefilm documenting the Monterey International Pop Festival, held in June of 1967. One of the highlights of this early concert film was the Country Joe And The Fish performance of Section 43, an instrumental that they had originally recorded for a 1966 EP and had just re-recorded in stereo for their debut LP, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. The film (like Pennebacker's later film Woodstock), does not follow the actual performance sequence, instead using Section 43 as a backdrop for footage of various people who had slept on the festival grounds going about their morning business.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The problem with the Beatles is that they made so many outstanding recordings it's easy to overlook one or two. Such is the case with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, finally making its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Grim Reaper Of Love
Source: CD: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Portz/Nichol
Label: Magic (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1966
The Turtles had some early success in 1965 as a folk-rock band, recording the hit version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and PF Sloan's Let Me Be. By 1966, however, it was getting harder and harder for the group to get a hit record. One attempt was Grim Reaper Of Love, co-written by Turtles lead guitarist Al Nichol. Personally I think it's a pretty cool tune, but was probably a bit too weird to appeal to the average top 40 radio listener in 1966. Grim Reaper Of Love did manage to make it to the # 81 spot on the charts, unlike the band's next two singles that failed to chart at all. It wasn't until the following year, when the Turtles recorded Happy Together, that the band would make it back onto the charts.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was their biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. The song is preceeded by a series of jingles produced for Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the coast with offices in London. One of those (Roto Sound Strings) was actually performed by the Who. The others were made by the same Texas company (now known as TM) that supplied jingles to most US top 40 stations.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Still Raining, Still Dreaming, from the third Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland, is the second half of a live studio recording featuring guest drummer Buddy Miles, who would later join Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox to form Band Of Gypsys. The recording also features Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas, as well as Experience member Noel Redding on bass.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Honky Tonk Women
Source: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1969
After revitalizing their career with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man in 1968, the Stones delivered the coup-de-grace with one of the biggest hits by anyone ever: the classic Honky Tonk Women. The song was the first single without Brian Jones, who had been found dead in his swimming pool shortly after being kicked out of the band. Jones's replacement, Mick Taylor (fresh from a stint with blues legend John Mayall), plays slide guitar on the track.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: July Morning
Source: LP: Look At Yourself
Writer: Hensley/Byron
Label: Mercury
Year: 1971
Fans of the British rock group Uriah Heep have an ongoing argument over which is the best Heep album; Demons And Wizards, which we heard the Wizard from a couple weeks ago, or its immediate predecessor, Look At Yourself, which features the 10+ minute July Morning. Both albums feature strong vocals by David Byron and songwriting by keyboardist Ken Hensley, as well as tasty guitar licks from Mick Box.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Trampoline (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: LP:Gimme Some Lovin'
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1966
The Spencer Davis Group had a series of R&B flavored hit singles in the UK during the mid-1960s, but did not break in the US until 1967, the year that both keyboardist Steve Winwood and his brother, bassist Muff Winwood, left the band. Most of the band's first US LP, Gimme Some Lovin' was made up of those British singles, including Trampoline, which was originally issued as a B side in 1966.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
The standard practice in the UK during the 60s was to not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. This left several songs, such as the 1967 B side Smiling Phases, only available on 45 RPM vinyl until the group's first greatist hits anthology was released. The song has since come to be recognized as one of Traffic's most iconic tunes, and has been covered by such bands as Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever (two minutes and 41 seconds long).
Artist: Spirit
Title: Ice
Source: Clear
Writer: John Locke
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
The third Spirit album found other members of the band writing a greater share of the songs than on the first two LPs, which were written primarily by vocalist Jay Ferguson. One example of this is the instrumental Ice, which opens side two of Clear. The song was written by keyboardist John Locke.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: North Beach)
Year: 1966
One of the most legendary of San Francisco bands was the Great! Society, which featured a young model named Grace Slick on backup vocals. The group was never really much more than a garage band, and after recording an album's worth of material disbanded when Grace Slick left to replace Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane. Although the album was not issued until long after the band had split up (and even then was regarded more for its historical significance than for any musical value it might have), a pair of the recordings were issued as a single in 1966. Free Advice, a song written by Grace Slick's brother-in-law Darby (who also wrote the iconic Somebody To Love), was the A side of that single.
Artist: Move
Title: Flowers In The Rain
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1967
The Move was one of Britain's most popular acts in the mid to late 1960s. That popularity, however, did not extend to North America, where the band failed to chart even a single hit. The closest they came was Flowers In The Rain, a song that made it to the # 2 spot in England and was the very first record played on BBC Radio One (the first legal top 40 station in the UK). Eventually Roy Wood would depart to form his own band, Roy Wood's Wizzard, and the remaining members would evolve into the Electric Light Orchestra.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: A Not Very August Afternoon
Source: CD: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tartachny/Weisberg/Rhodes
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
Although Ultimate Spinach is the usually the band most cited as being part of the infamous "Boss-Town Sound" promoted heavily by M-G-M Records, the Beacon Street Union were the actual architects of the style itself. Already well-established in Boston, the band had actually relocated to New York when they became the first psychedelic band to sign with M-G-M. It was their signing which led to Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus and Earth Opera also getting contracts with one of the stodgiest of the major labels of the era. A Not Very August Afternoon, from the band's second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, shows the band already moving beyond their original psychedelic style.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 4-Pop (part two) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: unknown
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: I Am A Rock
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The success of I Am A Rock, when released as a single in 1966, showed that the first Simon And Garfunkel hit, The Sound Of Silence, was no fluke. The two songs served as bookends to a very successful LP, Sounds Of Silence, and would lead to several more hit records before the two singers went their separate ways in 1970.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: D.C.B.A.-25
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
One of the first songs written by Paul Kantner without a collaborator was this highly listenable tune from Surrealistic Pillow. Kantner says the title simply refers to the basic chord structure of the song, which is built on a two chord verse (D and C) and a two chord bridge (B and A). That actually fits, but what about the 25 part? [insert enigmatic smile here]
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: The Truth Is Not Real
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Present Tense)
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
After the success of the first Sagittarius single, My World Fell Down, Gary Usher enlisted the aid of Curt Boettcher, who had been working on a studio project of his own called the Ballroom for another production company. Using many of the same studio musicians they created a follow-up single, The Truth Is Not Real. It's interesting to compare Usher's lyrics with those of In My Room, a Brian Wilson tune that Usher had provided lyrics for in 1965.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
If ever a song could be considered a garage-punk anthem, it's Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, the follow-up single to the classic Dirty Water. Both songs were written by Standells' manager/producer Ed Cobb, the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: All The Good That's Happening
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
Despite never having been a major hit, Jimmy Reed's Let's Get Together (not to be confused with the Youngbloods song) was covered by several garage/psychedelic bands, including the Blue Magoos, the Shadows of Knight, and L.A. band the Leaves, appearing on their second LP (their only one for major label Capitol Records).
Artist: Cream
Title: Crossroads
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Priority (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
Robert Johnson's Crossroads has come to be regarded as a signature song for Eric Clapton, who's live version (recorded at the Fillmore East) was first released on the Cream album Wheels Of Fire.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sunny South Kensington
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan followed up his 1966 hit single Sunshine Superman with an album of the same name. He then repeated himself with the song and album Mellow Yellow. Although there were no other singles released from either album, the song Sunny South Kensington, which was done in much the same style as Superman, was a highlight of the Mellow Yellow album.
Due to a contractual dispute in the UK between Donovan and Pye Records, neither LP was issued in its original form in Britain.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
One of our top contenders for most-played song of 2011 is the Electric Prunes classic I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). Lenny Kaye also rated the song high on his list, as he used it as the opening track on his original Nuggets compilation in 1972.
SITPE # 1144 Playlist (starts 11/3/11)
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were operating out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: You're Gonna Miss Me
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Roky Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
If anyplace outside of California has a legitimate claim to being the birthplace of the psychedelic era, it's Austin, Texas. That's mainly due to the presence of the 13th Floor Elevators, a local band led by Roky Erickson that had the audacity to use an electric jug onstage. Their debut album was the first to actually use the word psychedelic (predating the Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop by mere weeks). Musically, their leanings were more toward garage-rock than acid-rock, at least on their first album (they got more adventurous with their follow-up album, Easter Everywhere).
Artist: Love
Title: Stephanie Knows Who
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Following up on a strong, if not spectacular debut LP followed by a national hit record (7&7 Is), Love went into the studio with two new members to record their second album, Da Capo. By this point the band had established themselves as the most popular band on the Sunset Strip, and the music on Da Capo is a fair representation of what the group was doing onstage (including the 17 minute Revelation, which takes up the entire second side of the LP). The opening track, Stephanie Knows Who, is hard proto-punk, showcasing the band's tightness with abrupt changes in tempo throughout the song. The tune also features the harpsichord playing of "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who switched over from drums to keyboards for the LP.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Ice Cream Phoenix
Source: LP: Crown Of Creation
Writer: Kaukonen/Cockery
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
By 1968, the various songwriting members of Jefferson Airplane were developing divergent styles, although still keeping their songs within the band's established sound. This is evident throughout the band's fourth LP, Crown Of Creation, with songs like Jorma Kaukonen's Ice Cream Phoenix. Parts of the song, such as the opening verse, almost sound like they could be on a Hot Tuna album, yet others, such as the bridge section, are pure Airplane.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Priority (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
After recording just one album with his new band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Al Kooper quit to concentrate on his work as staff producer at Columbia Records and to work on solo projects. This left B,S & T looking for a new lead vocalist. They found one of the best: David Clayton Thomas, who helped propel the group to major star status. The first album with Thomas produced no fewer than three top 10 hits: Spinning Wheel, And When I Die, and You Made Me So Very Happy. Additionally, the LP had several outstanding album tracks, such as this cover of Traffic's Smiling Phases.
Artist: Jose Feliciano
Title: You're Takin' Hold Of Me
Source: LP: A Bag Full Of Soul
Writer: Chip Taylor
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jose Feliciano appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 1969 with his latin-tinged acoustic cover version of the Doors' Light My Fire. The truth is that Feliciano had been recording for RCA since 1965. His success in the early days, however, was mostly with the latino population in Southern California. I recently ran across this copy of Feliciano's second LP for RCA, A Bag Full Of Soul. A friend of mine that grew up in 60s L.A. remembers this album as being in her mother's collection. You're Takin' Hold Of Me, the second track on the album, was written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote the classic Wild Thing.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: In The Midnight Hour
Source: CD: Time Peace-The Rascals' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Young Rascals)
Writer: Pickett/Cropper
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
The Rascals were the premier blue-eyed soul band of the 1960s (in fact, the term blue-eyed soul was coined specifically to describe the Rascals). Originally from New Jersey, the group changed its name to the Young Rascals at the behest of Atlantic Records for reasons that are lost to history before releasing their debut LP. In addition to the hit single Good Lovin', the album boasted several R&B cover songs. The best-known of these was Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour, which was popular enough to be included on the Rascal's Greatest Hits album.
Artist: Corporation
Title: India
Source: CD: The Corporation
Writer: John Coltrane
Label: Repertoire (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a listener who works at WITT-FM near Indianapolis, which runs Stuck In The Psychedelic Era on Friday nights. He mentioned a band he had heard on midwestern progressive radio stations in the late 60s called the Corporation, adding that he had recently found a copy of their only album for Capitol on CD. He offered to make me a copy, but, as I am somewhat of a stickler for using legitimate sources for everything I play (i.e. no MP3s or burned copies), I decided to get my local music store (yes, such things do still exist) to order me a copy of the CD instead. The track he mentioned in particular was called India, notable for taking up an entire side of the album. I've since learned that they track was also quite popular in discoteques, particularly those in Germany. The song itself was written by jazz legend John Coltrane, and as far as I know has never been attempted by any other rock band.
Artist: Temptations
Title: Psychedelic Shack
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1970
Starting in 1969 the songwriting/production team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong began to carve out their own company within a company at Motown, producing a series of recordings with a far more psychedelic feel than anything else coming out of the Motor City's biggest label. The most blatantly obvious example of this is the Temptations tune Psychedelic Shack, which graced the charts in 1970. Whitfield would eventually form his own company, taking another Motown act, the Undisputed Truth, with him, but would not be able to equal the success of the songs he and Strong produced for the Temptations, such as 1972's Papa Was A Rolling Stone.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: My Little Black Egg
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stone/Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Lee; re-released by Kapp in 1966)
Year: 1965
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
In 1966 Country Joe and the Fish released their original mono version of an instrumental called Section 43. The song was issued on something called a flexi-disc; a thin sheet of flexible plastic that was inserted in an underground newspaper called Rag Baby. In 1967 the group recorded an expanded stereo version of Section 43 and included it on their debut LP for Vanguard Records, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. It was this arrangement of the piece that the group performed live at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June. While working on this week's playlist I was somewhat surprised to realize that this is the first time I've played the longer stereo version of Section 43 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. airwaves was the Seeds' debut single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, released in 1965. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album the following year. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the song that first defined the "flower power" sound, predating the Seeds' biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard, by almost a year.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
The Wind Blows Her Hair is actually one of the Seeds' better tracks. Unfortunately, by the time it was released the whole concept of Flower Power (which the Seeds were intimately tied to) had become yesterday's news and the single went nowhere.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although the song was originally released in 1966, it wasn't until spring of 1967 that the Seeds' best-known song, Pushin' Too Hard, took off nationally. The timing was perfect for me, as the new FM station I was listening to jumped right on it. Pushin' Too Hard is included on practically every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Flock
Title: Hornschmeyer's Island
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Writer: The Flock
Label: BGO (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
The second Flock album was a bit too experimental to be commercially successful, as Hornschmeyer's Island (with it's sped up vocal chorus and abrupt changes) demonstrates. One interesting feature of the album was its packaging. Instead of the standard 12" X 12" cover artwork, Dinosaur Swamps featured a gatefold cover that was two feet high and one foot wide, with large pterodactyls dominating the upper (front) portion and tiny figures representing the band members standing on a beach at the bottom. In addition, every song title on the album referenced something visual appearing on either the cover itself or in the center spread, which was an interior of a ship captain's cabin, with a map spread out on a table. Hornschmeyer's Island is one of the locations shown on that map.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: …And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
At the beginning of the year you may remember I made a resolution to play more Hendrix. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, this one was actually pretty easy to keep. In fact, I have so far kept the resolution so well that Hendrix is in the running for most played artist of 2011 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (and is virtually guaranteed to make the top 5 list on the New Year's show). This week Hendrix gets three more points with an artist set taken entirely from the Electric Ladyland album, released in 1968. Although listed as separate tracks on the cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually run together without a break on the album itself (in fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl). Like many of the songs on Electric Ladyland, Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) features Hendrix playing the bass parts himself, a move that did not go over well with Experience bassist Noel Redding.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
During the height of their popularity, reel to reel tapes could be formatted in one of two ways: half-track or quarter-track (well, technically there was also full-track, but that format was pretty much abandoned with the advent of stereo recording in the 1950s). The quarter-track format was used for most home systems, as a stereo recording would use two of the tracks, allowing the tape to be recorded in the opposite direction on the remaining two tracks. Editing was virtually impossible with quarter-track recordings, as any physical manipulation of the tape would have an adverse effect on whatever was recorded on the other side of the the tape. All professional uses of reel-to-reel tape, on the other hand, used the half-track format. Not only was the sound quality better (due to wider tracks), but the single-directional nature of the tape made editing a simple matter of cutting and splicing sections of tape together. In the mid-70s I did just that to two tracks on Electric Ladyland to recreate the original live studio performance of Rainy Day Dream Away/Still Raining, Still Dreaming. Unfortunately I have no idea where that tape is now, and even if I did I doubt that I can find a working half-track machine to play it on anyway (although I suppose I could do the same thing on a computer if I was so inclined). Instead, we have the second part of the divided performance, which includes several guest musicians, including Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas. Although Noel Redding plays bass on the track, drummer Mitch Mitchell is not heard on the recording. Instead, Buddy Miles, who would join up with Hendrix for his Band of Gypsys the following year, plays drums on the track. (Oh, and you should hear the Beatles' Revolution 9 played backwards on half-track tape).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) from the Electric Ladyland album is the longest work created purely in the studio by Jimi Hendrix, with a running time of over 16 minutes. The piece starts with tape effects that lead into the song's main guitar rift. The vocals and drums join in to tell a science fiction story set in a future world where the human race has had to move underwater in order to survive some unspecified catastrophe. After a couple verses, the piece goes into a long unstructured section made up mostly of guitar effects before returning to the main theme and closing out with more effects that combine volume control and stereo panning to create a circular effect. As is the case with several tracks on Electric Ladyland, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) features Hendrix on both guitar and bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and special guest Chris Wood (from Traffic) on flute.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were operating out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: You're Gonna Miss Me
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Roky Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
If anyplace outside of California has a legitimate claim to being the birthplace of the psychedelic era, it's Austin, Texas. That's mainly due to the presence of the 13th Floor Elevators, a local band led by Roky Erickson that had the audacity to use an electric jug onstage. Their debut album was the first to actually use the word psychedelic (predating the Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop by mere weeks). Musically, their leanings were more toward garage-rock than acid-rock, at least on their first album (they got more adventurous with their follow-up album, Easter Everywhere).
Artist: Love
Title: Stephanie Knows Who
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Following up on a strong, if not spectacular debut LP followed by a national hit record (7&7 Is), Love went into the studio with two new members to record their second album, Da Capo. By this point the band had established themselves as the most popular band on the Sunset Strip, and the music on Da Capo is a fair representation of what the group was doing onstage (including the 17 minute Revelation, which takes up the entire second side of the LP). The opening track, Stephanie Knows Who, is hard proto-punk, showcasing the band's tightness with abrupt changes in tempo throughout the song. The tune also features the harpsichord playing of "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who switched over from drums to keyboards for the LP.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Ice Cream Phoenix
Source: LP: Crown Of Creation
Writer: Kaukonen/Cockery
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
By 1968, the various songwriting members of Jefferson Airplane were developing divergent styles, although still keeping their songs within the band's established sound. This is evident throughout the band's fourth LP, Crown Of Creation, with songs like Jorma Kaukonen's Ice Cream Phoenix. Parts of the song, such as the opening verse, almost sound like they could be on a Hot Tuna album, yet others, such as the bridge section, are pure Airplane.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Priority (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
After recording just one album with his new band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Al Kooper quit to concentrate on his work as staff producer at Columbia Records and to work on solo projects. This left B,S & T looking for a new lead vocalist. They found one of the best: David Clayton Thomas, who helped propel the group to major star status. The first album with Thomas produced no fewer than three top 10 hits: Spinning Wheel, And When I Die, and You Made Me So Very Happy. Additionally, the LP had several outstanding album tracks, such as this cover of Traffic's Smiling Phases.
Artist: Jose Feliciano
Title: You're Takin' Hold Of Me
Source: LP: A Bag Full Of Soul
Writer: Chip Taylor
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jose Feliciano appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 1969 with his latin-tinged acoustic cover version of the Doors' Light My Fire. The truth is that Feliciano had been recording for RCA since 1965. His success in the early days, however, was mostly with the latino population in Southern California. I recently ran across this copy of Feliciano's second LP for RCA, A Bag Full Of Soul. A friend of mine that grew up in 60s L.A. remembers this album as being in her mother's collection. You're Takin' Hold Of Me, the second track on the album, was written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote the classic Wild Thing.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: In The Midnight Hour
Source: CD: Time Peace-The Rascals' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Young Rascals)
Writer: Pickett/Cropper
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
The Rascals were the premier blue-eyed soul band of the 1960s (in fact, the term blue-eyed soul was coined specifically to describe the Rascals). Originally from New Jersey, the group changed its name to the Young Rascals at the behest of Atlantic Records for reasons that are lost to history before releasing their debut LP. In addition to the hit single Good Lovin', the album boasted several R&B cover songs. The best-known of these was Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour, which was popular enough to be included on the Rascal's Greatest Hits album.
Artist: Corporation
Title: India
Source: CD: The Corporation
Writer: John Coltrane
Label: Repertoire (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a listener who works at WITT-FM near Indianapolis, which runs Stuck In The Psychedelic Era on Friday nights. He mentioned a band he had heard on midwestern progressive radio stations in the late 60s called the Corporation, adding that he had recently found a copy of their only album for Capitol on CD. He offered to make me a copy, but, as I am somewhat of a stickler for using legitimate sources for everything I play (i.e. no MP3s or burned copies), I decided to get my local music store (yes, such things do still exist) to order me a copy of the CD instead. The track he mentioned in particular was called India, notable for taking up an entire side of the album. I've since learned that they track was also quite popular in discoteques, particularly those in Germany. The song itself was written by jazz legend John Coltrane, and as far as I know has never been attempted by any other rock band.
Artist: Temptations
Title: Psychedelic Shack
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1970
Starting in 1969 the songwriting/production team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong began to carve out their own company within a company at Motown, producing a series of recordings with a far more psychedelic feel than anything else coming out of the Motor City's biggest label. The most blatantly obvious example of this is the Temptations tune Psychedelic Shack, which graced the charts in 1970. Whitfield would eventually form his own company, taking another Motown act, the Undisputed Truth, with him, but would not be able to equal the success of the songs he and Strong produced for the Temptations, such as 1972's Papa Was A Rolling Stone.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: My Little Black Egg
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stone/Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Lee; re-released by Kapp in 1966)
Year: 1965
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
In 1966 Country Joe and the Fish released their original mono version of an instrumental called Section 43. The song was issued on something called a flexi-disc; a thin sheet of flexible plastic that was inserted in an underground newspaper called Rag Baby. In 1967 the group recorded an expanded stereo version of Section 43 and included it on their debut LP for Vanguard Records, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. It was this arrangement of the piece that the group performed live at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June. While working on this week's playlist I was somewhat surprised to realize that this is the first time I've played the longer stereo version of Section 43 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. airwaves was the Seeds' debut single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, released in 1965. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album the following year. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the song that first defined the "flower power" sound, predating the Seeds' biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard, by almost a year.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
The Wind Blows Her Hair is actually one of the Seeds' better tracks. Unfortunately, by the time it was released the whole concept of Flower Power (which the Seeds were intimately tied to) had become yesterday's news and the single went nowhere.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although the song was originally released in 1966, it wasn't until spring of 1967 that the Seeds' best-known song, Pushin' Too Hard, took off nationally. The timing was perfect for me, as the new FM station I was listening to jumped right on it. Pushin' Too Hard is included on practically every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Flock
Title: Hornschmeyer's Island
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Writer: The Flock
Label: BGO (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
The second Flock album was a bit too experimental to be commercially successful, as Hornschmeyer's Island (with it's sped up vocal chorus and abrupt changes) demonstrates. One interesting feature of the album was its packaging. Instead of the standard 12" X 12" cover artwork, Dinosaur Swamps featured a gatefold cover that was two feet high and one foot wide, with large pterodactyls dominating the upper (front) portion and tiny figures representing the band members standing on a beach at the bottom. In addition, every song title on the album referenced something visual appearing on either the cover itself or in the center spread, which was an interior of a ship captain's cabin, with a map spread out on a table. Hornschmeyer's Island is one of the locations shown on that map.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: …And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
At the beginning of the year you may remember I made a resolution to play more Hendrix. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, this one was actually pretty easy to keep. In fact, I have so far kept the resolution so well that Hendrix is in the running for most played artist of 2011 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (and is virtually guaranteed to make the top 5 list on the New Year's show). This week Hendrix gets three more points with an artist set taken entirely from the Electric Ladyland album, released in 1968. Although listed as separate tracks on the cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually run together without a break on the album itself (in fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl). Like many of the songs on Electric Ladyland, Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) features Hendrix playing the bass parts himself, a move that did not go over well with Experience bassist Noel Redding.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
During the height of their popularity, reel to reel tapes could be formatted in one of two ways: half-track or quarter-track (well, technically there was also full-track, but that format was pretty much abandoned with the advent of stereo recording in the 1950s). The quarter-track format was used for most home systems, as a stereo recording would use two of the tracks, allowing the tape to be recorded in the opposite direction on the remaining two tracks. Editing was virtually impossible with quarter-track recordings, as any physical manipulation of the tape would have an adverse effect on whatever was recorded on the other side of the the tape. All professional uses of reel-to-reel tape, on the other hand, used the half-track format. Not only was the sound quality better (due to wider tracks), but the single-directional nature of the tape made editing a simple matter of cutting and splicing sections of tape together. In the mid-70s I did just that to two tracks on Electric Ladyland to recreate the original live studio performance of Rainy Day Dream Away/Still Raining, Still Dreaming. Unfortunately I have no idea where that tape is now, and even if I did I doubt that I can find a working half-track machine to play it on anyway (although I suppose I could do the same thing on a computer if I was so inclined). Instead, we have the second part of the divided performance, which includes several guest musicians, including Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas. Although Noel Redding plays bass on the track, drummer Mitch Mitchell is not heard on the recording. Instead, Buddy Miles, who would join up with Hendrix for his Band of Gypsys the following year, plays drums on the track. (Oh, and you should hear the Beatles' Revolution 9 played backwards on half-track tape).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) from the Electric Ladyland album is the longest work created purely in the studio by Jimi Hendrix, with a running time of over 16 minutes. The piece starts with tape effects that lead into the song's main guitar rift. The vocals and drums join in to tell a science fiction story set in a future world where the human race has had to move underwater in order to survive some unspecified catastrophe. After a couple verses, the piece goes into a long unstructured section made up mostly of guitar effects before returning to the main theme and closing out with more effects that combine volume control and stereo panning to create a circular effect. As is the case with several tracks on Electric Ladyland, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) features Hendrix on both guitar and bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and special guest Chris Wood (from Traffic) on flute.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
SITPE # 1143 Playlist (starts 10/27/11)
It's Halloween weekend, and in the second hour we have quite a few songs for the occassion. The first hour, on the other hand, is made up almost entirely of tracks that have haven't played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era since the show started being syndicated (the exceptions being the Byrds' Thoughts And Words and the first of the two songs that make up the Jefferson Airplane suite The War Is Over).
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Help, I'm A Rock/It Can't Happen Here
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Help, I'm A Rock and its follow up track It Can't Happen Here are among the best-known Frank Zappa compositions on the first Mothers Of Invention album, Freak Out. The phrase Help I'm A Rock itself comes across as a kind of mantra, with various verbal bits (including Zappa's own take on the Sunset Strip riot) going on around a repeating bass/drum/guitar riff. The song eventually leads into It Can't Happen Here, an avant-garde piece composed almost entirely of vocal tracks. The title is a play on a popular misconception in many American cities that the various kinds of civil unrest (and occasional violence) going on could only happen in someone else's town.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: CD: Volume 3-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Flock
Title: Clown
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: The Flock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock's 1969 debut album featured liner notes by British blues guru John Mayall, who called them the best band in America. Despite this stellar recommendation, the Flock (one of two bands with horn sections from the city of Chicago making their recording debut on Columbia Records in 1969) was unable to attract a large audience and disbanded after only two LPs. Violinist Jerry Goodman would go on to be a founding member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Morning Will Come (alternate mono mix)
Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1970
When Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was released, the band members told Rolling Stone magazine that if the album did sell significantly better than their previous couple of LPs, the group would probably disband. As it turned out, the album did reasonably well. Despite this vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes left the band soon after to help form Jo Jo Gunne. In the years since, Twelve Dreams has come to be regarded as a landmark album, bridging the gap between the psychedelic era and the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s. Several tracks were considered for single release, including Morning Will Come. This alternate mono mix of the song puts a greater emphasis on the horns and vocals than the album version.
Artist: Hollies
Title: Look Through Any Window
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Gouldman/Silverman
Label: Imperial
Year: 1965
Although the Hollies were far more popular in their native England than in the US, they did have their fair share of North American hits. The first Hollies tune to crack the US top 40 was Look Through Any Window, released in December of 1965 and peaking at #33 in early 1966. The song did even better in Canada, going all the way to the #3 spot.
Artist: Association
Title: Along Comes Mary
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Almer
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1966
The Association are best known for a series of love ballads and light pop songs such as Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Many of these records were a product of the L.A. studio scene and featured several members of the Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians who played on dozens of records in the late 60s and early 70s. The first major Association hit, however, featured the band members playing all the instruments themselves. Produced by Curt Boettcher, who would soon join Gary Usher's studio project Sagittarius, Along Comes Mary shows that the Association was quite capable of recording a classic without any help from studio musicians.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: Sit Down, I Think I Love You
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Mojo Men started off in Rochester, NY in the early 60s. After a stint in south Florida playing mostly frat houses, the band moved to San Francisco, where they scored a contract with Reprise Records and recorded the garage-rock classic She's My Baby. Around late 1966-early 1967 the Mojo Men picked up a new drummer. Jan Errico, formerly of the Vejtables, brought with her a softer, more folky kind of sound, as well as the high vocal harmonies that are evident in this recording of the Buffalo Springfield tune Sit Down I Think I Love You, a minor hit during the summer of love.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Derek and the Dominos
Title: Layla
Source: CD: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer: Clapton/Gordon
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
After the breakup of Blind Faith after one album, Eric Clapton set about forming a new band that would be more of a group effort than a collection of stars working together. To this end he found musicians that, although quite talented, were not particularly well-known outside of the British blues community. At first the group deliberately downplayed Clapton's presence in the band in order to stay focused on making music as a collective, although even in the beginning it was clear that Clapton would be the group's lead vocalist. The new group had trouble coming up with a name, however, and (half-jokingly) told one stage MC that their name was Del and the Dynamos. The MC misheard the name and introduced the new band as Derek and the Dominos. The name stuck. Meanwhile, Clapton had recently discovered a new band out of Atlanta, Georgia, calling itself the Allman Brothers band and was so impressed by guitarist Duane Allman that he asked him to join the Dominos. Allman, however, declined Clapton's offer, choosing to stick with the band he had co-founded with brother Gregg. Duane Allman did, however, sit in with Derek and the Dominos in the studio for several tracks on their upcoming double LP. One of the tracks where Allman's distinctive slide guitar stands out is the album's title song, Layla.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: The War Is Over
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
The songs on the third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, are grouped into suites of two or three songs apiece. Most of the suites mix songs by different songwriters; the sole exception is The War Is Over, which is made up of two Paul Kantner tunes, Martha and Wild Thyme. The War Is Over is also the shortest of the five suites on After Bathing At Baxter's, clocking in at about six and a half minutes.
Our second hour this week starts off with a set built around an All Hallow's Eve theme. Since this show is being heard just a few days before Halloween, I figured it would be an appropriate thing to do. Although the initial set is loosely based on a traditional druidic theme, we do get into some of the more Americanized concept of Halloween later in the hour, with songs like Disguises, Cauldron and of course, Frankenstein. In between we have sets made up mostly of old favorites from 1966 and 1967. First, though, let the witchery begin!
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: The Wizard
Source: LP: Demons And Wizards
Writer: Hensley/Clarke
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Although Uriah Heep had been around since 1969, they didn't get much attention in the US until their Demons And Wizards album in 1972, which included their biggest hit, Easy Livin'. The Wizard, which opens the album, was the first of two singles released from the album. The song itself is a semi-acoustic tune about a wizard whose name is never given, but is thought to be either Merlin or Gandalf.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Season Of The Witch
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
From 1966 we have an album track from Donovan's Sunshine Superman album. Due to a contract dispute with Pye Records, the album was not released in the UK until 1967, and then only as an LP combining tracks from both the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. Season of the Witch has since been covered by an impressive array of artists, including Al Kooper and Stephen Stills (on the Super Session album) and Vanilla Fudge.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: The Wizard
Source: CD: Black Sabbath
Writer: Osborne/Iommi/Butler/Ward
Label: Creative Sounds (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1970
Often cited as the first true heavy metal album, Black Sabbath's debut LP features one of my all-time favorite album covers (check out the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) as well as several outstanding tracks. One of the best of these is The Wizard, which was reportedly inspired by the Gandalf character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Who
Title: Disguises
Source: LP: Magic Bus (originally released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
After a successful appearance on the British TV show Ready Steady Go (the UK's answer to American Bandstand), the Who released an EP featuring mostly cover songs such as Bucket T and the Batman theme. Two tracks on the record, however, were Who originals: a new version of Circles (a song that originally appeared on the My Generation album) and Disguises, which made its debut as the lead track of the EP. The song did not appear in the US until the Magic Bus album, released in 1968. When MCA issued a remastered version of A Quick One in the 1990s, the entire contents of the EP (except Circles) were included as bonus tracks on the CD.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In the fall of 1966 my parents took by brother and me to a drive-in movie on the outskirts of Aurora, Colorado to see The Russians Are Coming and The 10th Victim (don't ask me why I remember that). In an effort to extend their season past the summer months, that particular drive-in was pioneering a new technology that used a low-power radio transmitter (on a locally-unused frequency) to broadcast the audio portion of the films so that people could keep their car windows rolled all the way up (and presumably stay warm) instead of having to roll the window partway down to accomodate the hanging speakers that were attached to posts next to where each car was parked. Before the first movie and between films music was pumped through the speakers (and over the transmitter). Of course, being fascinated by all things radio, I insisted that my dad use the car radio as soon as we got settled in. I was immediately blown away by a song that I had not heard on either of Denver's two top 40 radio stations. That song was Love's 7&7 Is, and it was my first inkling that there were some great songs on the charts that were being ignored by local stations. I finally heard the song again the following spring, when a local FM station that had been previously used to simulcast a full-service AM station began running a "top 100" format a few hours a day.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: I'm A Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Winwood/Miller
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve and Muff Winwood, was one of the UK's most successful white R&B bands of the sixties, cranking out a steady stream of hit singles. Two of them, the iconic Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man, were also major hits in the US, the latter being the last song to feature the Winwood brothers. Muff Winwood became a successful record producer. The group itself continued on for several years, but were never able to duplicate their earlier successes. As for Steve Winwood, he quickly faded off into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Except as the leader of Traffic. And a member of Blind Faith. And Traffic again. And some critically-acclaimed collaborations in the early 1980s with Asian musicians. Oh yeah, and a few major solo hits like Higher Love and Roll With It in the late 80s. Other than that, nothing.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Waterloo Sunset
Source: CD: Something Else
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
One of the most beautiful tunes ever recorded by the Kinks is Waterloo Sunset, a song that was a hit single in the UK, but was totally ignored by US radio stations. The reason for this neglect of such a stong song is a mystery, however it may have been due to the fear that American audiences would not be able to relate to all the references to places in and around London in the song's lyrics.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
When the 13th Floor Elevators left their native Texas to do a series of gigs on the West Coast, the local media's reaction was basically "good riddance". After the band's successful California appearances (and a hit record with You're Gonna Miss Me), they returned to a hero's welcome by that same media that had derided the Elevators as a bunch of degenerate drug addicts just weeks before. Buoyed by this new celebrity, the band set out to record its masterpiece, Easter Everywhere. Although much of the album featured original material, there were a couple of cover tunes. Most notable was the inclusion of (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue, a Bob Dylan tune that had been recently recorded by San Jose's Chocolate Watchband.
Artist: E-Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Speaking of San Jose bands, we have the "E" types, originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell by travelers along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to nearby San Jose as often as possible, the "E" Types became regulars on the local scene, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watch Band. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Goffin/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
After making it a point to play their own instruments on their third LP, Headquarters, the Monkees decided to once again use studio musicians for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. The difference was that this time the studio musicians would be recording under the supervision of the Monkees themselves rather than Don Kirschner and the array of producers he had lined up for the first two Monkees LPs. The result was an album that many critics consider the group's best effort. The only single released was Pleasant Valley Sunday, a song penned by the husband and wife team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and backed by the band's remake of the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart song Words, which had been recorded the previous year by the Leaves. Although both songs ended up making the charts, it was Pleasant Valley Sunday that got the most airplay and is considered by many to be Monkees' greatest achievement.
Artist: Edgar Winter Group
Title: Frankenstein (edited version)
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released on LP: They Only Come Out At Night. Edited version released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Edgar Winter
Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year: 1973
A real monster hit.
Artist: Fifty Foot Hose
Title: Cauldron
Source: LP: Cauldron
Writer: BlossoM/Marcheschi/Kimsey
Label: Limelight
Year: 1968
Although New York is generally considered the epicenter for avant-garde rock, there were things happening out on the West Coast as well, including the United States Of America (led by an expatriot Manhattanite) in Los Angeles and Fifty Foot Hose in San Francisco. Fifty Foot Hose featured Cork Marcheschi's homemade electronic instruments and the unique vocal style of Nancy Blossom. This week's show closes with the title track of Fifty Foot Hose's only LP, Cauldron. The group disbanded when all of the members except Marcheschi left to join the cast of the musical Hair. Nancy Blossom herself played the female lead, Sheila, in the San Francisco production of the rock musical.
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Help, I'm A Rock/It Can't Happen Here
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Help, I'm A Rock and its follow up track It Can't Happen Here are among the best-known Frank Zappa compositions on the first Mothers Of Invention album, Freak Out. The phrase Help I'm A Rock itself comes across as a kind of mantra, with various verbal bits (including Zappa's own take on the Sunset Strip riot) going on around a repeating bass/drum/guitar riff. The song eventually leads into It Can't Happen Here, an avant-garde piece composed almost entirely of vocal tracks. The title is a play on a popular misconception in many American cities that the various kinds of civil unrest (and occasional violence) going on could only happen in someone else's town.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: CD: Volume 3-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Flock
Title: Clown
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: The Flock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock's 1969 debut album featured liner notes by British blues guru John Mayall, who called them the best band in America. Despite this stellar recommendation, the Flock (one of two bands with horn sections from the city of Chicago making their recording debut on Columbia Records in 1969) was unable to attract a large audience and disbanded after only two LPs. Violinist Jerry Goodman would go on to be a founding member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Morning Will Come (alternate mono mix)
Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1970
When Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was released, the band members told Rolling Stone magazine that if the album did sell significantly better than their previous couple of LPs, the group would probably disband. As it turned out, the album did reasonably well. Despite this vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes left the band soon after to help form Jo Jo Gunne. In the years since, Twelve Dreams has come to be regarded as a landmark album, bridging the gap between the psychedelic era and the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s. Several tracks were considered for single release, including Morning Will Come. This alternate mono mix of the song puts a greater emphasis on the horns and vocals than the album version.
Artist: Hollies
Title: Look Through Any Window
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Gouldman/Silverman
Label: Imperial
Year: 1965
Although the Hollies were far more popular in their native England than in the US, they did have their fair share of North American hits. The first Hollies tune to crack the US top 40 was Look Through Any Window, released in December of 1965 and peaking at #33 in early 1966. The song did even better in Canada, going all the way to the #3 spot.
Artist: Association
Title: Along Comes Mary
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Almer
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1966
The Association are best known for a series of love ballads and light pop songs such as Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Many of these records were a product of the L.A. studio scene and featured several members of the Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians who played on dozens of records in the late 60s and early 70s. The first major Association hit, however, featured the band members playing all the instruments themselves. Produced by Curt Boettcher, who would soon join Gary Usher's studio project Sagittarius, Along Comes Mary shows that the Association was quite capable of recording a classic without any help from studio musicians.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: Sit Down, I Think I Love You
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Mojo Men started off in Rochester, NY in the early 60s. After a stint in south Florida playing mostly frat houses, the band moved to San Francisco, where they scored a contract with Reprise Records and recorded the garage-rock classic She's My Baby. Around late 1966-early 1967 the Mojo Men picked up a new drummer. Jan Errico, formerly of the Vejtables, brought with her a softer, more folky kind of sound, as well as the high vocal harmonies that are evident in this recording of the Buffalo Springfield tune Sit Down I Think I Love You, a minor hit during the summer of love.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Derek and the Dominos
Title: Layla
Source: CD: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer: Clapton/Gordon
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
After the breakup of Blind Faith after one album, Eric Clapton set about forming a new band that would be more of a group effort than a collection of stars working together. To this end he found musicians that, although quite talented, were not particularly well-known outside of the British blues community. At first the group deliberately downplayed Clapton's presence in the band in order to stay focused on making music as a collective, although even in the beginning it was clear that Clapton would be the group's lead vocalist. The new group had trouble coming up with a name, however, and (half-jokingly) told one stage MC that their name was Del and the Dynamos. The MC misheard the name and introduced the new band as Derek and the Dominos. The name stuck. Meanwhile, Clapton had recently discovered a new band out of Atlanta, Georgia, calling itself the Allman Brothers band and was so impressed by guitarist Duane Allman that he asked him to join the Dominos. Allman, however, declined Clapton's offer, choosing to stick with the band he had co-founded with brother Gregg. Duane Allman did, however, sit in with Derek and the Dominos in the studio for several tracks on their upcoming double LP. One of the tracks where Allman's distinctive slide guitar stands out is the album's title song, Layla.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: The War Is Over
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
The songs on the third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, are grouped into suites of two or three songs apiece. Most of the suites mix songs by different songwriters; the sole exception is The War Is Over, which is made up of two Paul Kantner tunes, Martha and Wild Thyme. The War Is Over is also the shortest of the five suites on After Bathing At Baxter's, clocking in at about six and a half minutes.
Our second hour this week starts off with a set built around an All Hallow's Eve theme. Since this show is being heard just a few days before Halloween, I figured it would be an appropriate thing to do. Although the initial set is loosely based on a traditional druidic theme, we do get into some of the more Americanized concept of Halloween later in the hour, with songs like Disguises, Cauldron and of course, Frankenstein. In between we have sets made up mostly of old favorites from 1966 and 1967. First, though, let the witchery begin!
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: The Wizard
Source: LP: Demons And Wizards
Writer: Hensley/Clarke
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Although Uriah Heep had been around since 1969, they didn't get much attention in the US until their Demons And Wizards album in 1972, which included their biggest hit, Easy Livin'. The Wizard, which opens the album, was the first of two singles released from the album. The song itself is a semi-acoustic tune about a wizard whose name is never given, but is thought to be either Merlin or Gandalf.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Season Of The Witch
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
From 1966 we have an album track from Donovan's Sunshine Superman album. Due to a contract dispute with Pye Records, the album was not released in the UK until 1967, and then only as an LP combining tracks from both the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. Season of the Witch has since been covered by an impressive array of artists, including Al Kooper and Stephen Stills (on the Super Session album) and Vanilla Fudge.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: The Wizard
Source: CD: Black Sabbath
Writer: Osborne/Iommi/Butler/Ward
Label: Creative Sounds (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1970
Often cited as the first true heavy metal album, Black Sabbath's debut LP features one of my all-time favorite album covers (check out the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) as well as several outstanding tracks. One of the best of these is The Wizard, which was reportedly inspired by the Gandalf character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Who
Title: Disguises
Source: LP: Magic Bus (originally released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
After a successful appearance on the British TV show Ready Steady Go (the UK's answer to American Bandstand), the Who released an EP featuring mostly cover songs such as Bucket T and the Batman theme. Two tracks on the record, however, were Who originals: a new version of Circles (a song that originally appeared on the My Generation album) and Disguises, which made its debut as the lead track of the EP. The song did not appear in the US until the Magic Bus album, released in 1968. When MCA issued a remastered version of A Quick One in the 1990s, the entire contents of the EP (except Circles) were included as bonus tracks on the CD.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In the fall of 1966 my parents took by brother and me to a drive-in movie on the outskirts of Aurora, Colorado to see The Russians Are Coming and The 10th Victim (don't ask me why I remember that). In an effort to extend their season past the summer months, that particular drive-in was pioneering a new technology that used a low-power radio transmitter (on a locally-unused frequency) to broadcast the audio portion of the films so that people could keep their car windows rolled all the way up (and presumably stay warm) instead of having to roll the window partway down to accomodate the hanging speakers that were attached to posts next to where each car was parked. Before the first movie and between films music was pumped through the speakers (and over the transmitter). Of course, being fascinated by all things radio, I insisted that my dad use the car radio as soon as we got settled in. I was immediately blown away by a song that I had not heard on either of Denver's two top 40 radio stations. That song was Love's 7&7 Is, and it was my first inkling that there were some great songs on the charts that were being ignored by local stations. I finally heard the song again the following spring, when a local FM station that had been previously used to simulcast a full-service AM station began running a "top 100" format a few hours a day.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: I'm A Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Winwood/Miller
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve and Muff Winwood, was one of the UK's most successful white R&B bands of the sixties, cranking out a steady stream of hit singles. Two of them, the iconic Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man, were also major hits in the US, the latter being the last song to feature the Winwood brothers. Muff Winwood became a successful record producer. The group itself continued on for several years, but were never able to duplicate their earlier successes. As for Steve Winwood, he quickly faded off into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Except as the leader of Traffic. And a member of Blind Faith. And Traffic again. And some critically-acclaimed collaborations in the early 1980s with Asian musicians. Oh yeah, and a few major solo hits like Higher Love and Roll With It in the late 80s. Other than that, nothing.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Waterloo Sunset
Source: CD: Something Else
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
One of the most beautiful tunes ever recorded by the Kinks is Waterloo Sunset, a song that was a hit single in the UK, but was totally ignored by US radio stations. The reason for this neglect of such a stong song is a mystery, however it may have been due to the fear that American audiences would not be able to relate to all the references to places in and around London in the song's lyrics.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
When the 13th Floor Elevators left their native Texas to do a series of gigs on the West Coast, the local media's reaction was basically "good riddance". After the band's successful California appearances (and a hit record with You're Gonna Miss Me), they returned to a hero's welcome by that same media that had derided the Elevators as a bunch of degenerate drug addicts just weeks before. Buoyed by this new celebrity, the band set out to record its masterpiece, Easter Everywhere. Although much of the album featured original material, there were a couple of cover tunes. Most notable was the inclusion of (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue, a Bob Dylan tune that had been recently recorded by San Jose's Chocolate Watchband.
Artist: E-Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Speaking of San Jose bands, we have the "E" types, originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell by travelers along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to nearby San Jose as often as possible, the "E" Types became regulars on the local scene, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watch Band. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Goffin/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
After making it a point to play their own instruments on their third LP, Headquarters, the Monkees decided to once again use studio musicians for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. The difference was that this time the studio musicians would be recording under the supervision of the Monkees themselves rather than Don Kirschner and the array of producers he had lined up for the first two Monkees LPs. The result was an album that many critics consider the group's best effort. The only single released was Pleasant Valley Sunday, a song penned by the husband and wife team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and backed by the band's remake of the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart song Words, which had been recorded the previous year by the Leaves. Although both songs ended up making the charts, it was Pleasant Valley Sunday that got the most airplay and is considered by many to be Monkees' greatest achievement.
Artist: Edgar Winter Group
Title: Frankenstein (edited version)
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released on LP: They Only Come Out At Night. Edited version released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Edgar Winter
Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year: 1973
A real monster hit.
Artist: Fifty Foot Hose
Title: Cauldron
Source: LP: Cauldron
Writer: BlossoM/Marcheschi/Kimsey
Label: Limelight
Year: 1968
Although New York is generally considered the epicenter for avant-garde rock, there were things happening out on the West Coast as well, including the United States Of America (led by an expatriot Manhattanite) in Los Angeles and Fifty Foot Hose in San Francisco. Fifty Foot Hose featured Cork Marcheschi's homemade electronic instruments and the unique vocal style of Nancy Blossom. This week's show closes with the title track of Fifty Foot Hose's only LP, Cauldron. The group disbanded when all of the members except Marcheschi left to join the cast of the musical Hair. Nancy Blossom herself played the female lead, Sheila, in the San Francisco production of the rock musical.
SITPE # 1142 Playlist (Starts 10/20/11)
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Alligator/Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/McKernan/Hunter/Garcia/Kreutzmann/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After a debut album that took about a week to record (and that the band was unanimously unhappy with) the Grateful Dead took their time on their second effort, Anthem Of The Sun. After spending a considerable amount of time in three different studios on two coasts and not getting the sound they wanted (and shedding their original producer along the way) the Dead came to the conclusion that the only way to make an album that sounded anywhere near what the band sounded like onstage was to use actual recordings of their performances and combine them with the studio tracks they had been working on. Side two of the album, which includes the classic Alligator and the more experimental Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), is basically an enhanced live performance, with new vocal tracks added in the studio. Alligator itself is notable as the first Grateful Dead composition to feature the lyrics of Robert Hunter, who would become Jerry Garcia's main collaborator for many many years.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
I once knew someone from San Jose who had an original copy of the single version of The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), the opening track from the first Dead album. It was totally worn out from being played a few hundred times, though.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: That's It For The Other One
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir/Constanten
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
The second Grateful Dead album, Anthem Of The Sun, opens with a suite called That's It For The Other One. Although it plays as one continuous piece of music, the suite was banded on the LP into separate tracks in order to increase songwriting royalties. Unlike the better-known Alligator, which is a live performance with studio overdubs, That's It For The Other One is a studio creation supplemented by live recordings. The final section of the piece was provided by future member Tom Constanten, whose contributions to the Dead were always more prominent in the studio than onstage. Anthem Of The Sun itself was the first Grateful Dead album to feature drummer Mickey Hart, who would be an off-and-on member of the band throughout their existence.
Artist: Taos
Title: Putting My Faith In You
Source: LP: Taos
Writer: Taos
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
When going through the WEOS vinyl archives a couple years ago I ran across an album called simply Taos. After doing a considerable amount of research I learned that the album came out in 1969. That's all I found out. Like many albums of the time, the LP was packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Unlike most LPs of the time, there were no songwriting credits given, either on the album cover or the label itself. In fact, other than the names of the songs themselves, there is no text at all. Instead, we are treated to several pictures of (presumably) the band members taken mostly at Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. As there was a commune in the area that had been established by disgruntled hippys that had fled the fast-deteriorating Haight-Ashbury scene the previous year, it's a good possibility that the band was from that commune, although I have no documentation to that end. Musically, Taos certainly sounds like an extension of the San Francisco sound, as Putting My Faith In You demonstrates. If anyone has any information about this band, feel free to drop me a line, either through the comments button at www.hermitradio.com or on the Stuck In The Psychedelic Era Facebook page wall.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Queen Of Torture
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Wishbone Ash)
Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When the band's original guitarist had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members couldn't come to a consensus between the two finalists so they kept both of them, or so the story goes. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The origins of the song Hey Joe are surrounded in mystery. Various writers have been given credit for the tune, including Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, who wrote Get Together, but David Crosby claimed the song was actually an old folk tune dating back to the 19th century that he himself had popularized as a member of the Byrds before the Leaves got ahold of it. Regardless of where the song came from, the Leaves version was the first to be released as a single and is generally considered the definitive fast version of the song. In Britain it was the slower version favored by the Jimi Hendrix Experience that became a hit, using an arrangement pioneered by songwriter Tim Rose and the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Harry Nilsson
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: LP: Nilsson Schmilsson
Writer: Lee
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1971
By 1971, Harry Nilsson (usually known only by his last name) had established himself as both a singer (Everybody's Talkin', for the film Midnight Cowboy), and a songwriter (the Monkee's Cuddly Toy and Daddy's Song, among others). One of his most successful solo albums was Nilsson Schmilsson, which included the hits Without You and the psychedelic Jump Into The Fire. Despite his growing reputation as a singer/songwriter, Nilsson continued to record an occassion cover song, such as the 50s Shirley and Lee hit Let The Good Times Roll. It may have been this love of 50s music that led to him becoming close friends and drinking buddies with John Lennon, who recorded an entire album of 50s cover tunes in the early 70s.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
Although Conquistador was originally recorded for the first Procol Harum album in 1967, it was the 1972 live version with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra that became one of the band's biggest hits, second only to A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
Artist: Pheremones
Title: N.G.R.I.
Source: unreleased
Writer: Ed Carlson
Label: n/a
Year: 1987
I usually don't say anything here about the instrumental tracks I use at the end of each hour, but I thought I'd make an exception, since this is only the second time I've used Ed Carlson's N.G.R.I. (which stands for No Good Rotten Instrumental). Ed was lead guitarist for the Pheremones, a band I sat in with on bass for a few months before starting on the Electric Dream Project (which is where most of the instrumentals I use on the show come from).
Artist: James Brown
Title: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: James Brown
Label: Ripete
Year: 1965
Although he had been recording since the late 1950s, it wasn't until the release of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag in 1965 that James Brown achieved stardom. The song was recorded in less than an hour in a Charlotte, NC studio on the way to a performance. On the master tape Brown can be heard saying that they had a hit record on their hands. The record itself is actually a half-step higher in pitch than the master tape, which was deliberately sped up to give the song a bit of extra punch when the record was mastered.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Glory Of Love
Source: LP: The Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Hill
Label: Volt
Year: Original single release: 1967; LP release: 1968
Otis Redding's dream was to fill the gap left by the untimely death of Sam Cooke in 1964. By the summer of 1967 it looked like that dream was about to become a reality. Following a landmark performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June, Redding released his new version of a song that had originally been recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936 and had been redone numerous times over the years, including a version by the Five Keys that had spent eight weeks in the number one spot on the R&B charts in 1951. Sadly, Redding's life would be cut short the following winter when the plane carrying the singer, along with several members of the Bar-Kays, went down in a snowstorm, killing all aboard. After Redding's death, several tracks that had not yet appeared on an album were collected on an LP called The Dock Of The Bay, released on the Volt label (part of the Stax Records group) in 1968.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: Priority (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia, recorded at the end of 1967, before the advent of the bubble gum era (although the song is sometimes cited as the first bubble gum hit).
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 4-6 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: My Best Friend
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Although drummer Skip Spence had left Jefferson Airplane after the group's first LP, he did leave a song behind. My Best Friend was actually released as a single before Somebody To Love, making it the first single released from the Surrealistic Pillow album. Spence, meanwhile, was about to make a big splash as a founding member of Moby Grape.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: As Kind As Summer
Source: LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Markley/Harris/Bryant
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
The first time I heard this I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock, written by drummer Russ Ward, who would go on to become one of L.A.'s most sought after studio drummers using the name Russ Kunkel.
Artist: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title: The Endless Enigma (part one)
Source: CD: Trilogy
Writer: Emerson/Lake
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1972
Just for something completely different we have a track from the third Emerson, Lake and Palmer album, Trilogy.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to man. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach, but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher (whose name I have forgotten) was on to something.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Lady Jane
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
One of the best early Rolling Stones albums is 1966's Aftermath, which included such classics as Under My Thumb, Stupid Girl and the eleven-minute Goin' Home. Both the US and UK versions of the LP included the song Lady Jane, which was also released as the B side to Mother's Little Helper (which had been left off the US version of Aftermath to make room for Paint It, Black). The policy at the time was for B sides that got a significant amount of airplay to be rated seperately from the A side of the single, and Lady Jane managed to climb to the # 24 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (Mother's Little Helper peaked at # 8).
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: CD: Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame-Volume VII (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McCarty/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Legacy (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dennis Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Dunwich Records was a small independent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with Gloria in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: When I Was Young
Source: CD: The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor
Year: 1967
After the Animals disbanded in 1966, Eric Burdon set out to form a new band that would be far more psychedelic than the original group. The first release from these "New Animals" was When I Was Young. The song was credited to the entire band, a practice that would continue throughout the entire existence of the group that came to be called Eric Burdon And The Animals.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Femme Fatale
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The debut Velvet Underground LP, released in 1967, was not a huge commercial success, despite the striking album cover designed by Andy Warhol, who also produced the album. In the years since it has come to be regarded as a true classic of both the psychedelic and punk genres. Despite all that the album has some serious flaws, not the least of which is the relative lack of talent of Nico, who sings lead on Lou Reed's Femme Fatale.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. market in late 1965 was Can't Seem To Make You Mine. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album, released in 1966. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the song that first defined the "flower power" sound, predating the Seeds' biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard, by several months. After the national success of Pushin' Too Hard, Can't Seem To Make You Mine was re-released nationally, but did not make a huge impression.
Title: Alligator/Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/McKernan/Hunter/Garcia/Kreutzmann/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After a debut album that took about a week to record (and that the band was unanimously unhappy with) the Grateful Dead took their time on their second effort, Anthem Of The Sun. After spending a considerable amount of time in three different studios on two coasts and not getting the sound they wanted (and shedding their original producer along the way) the Dead came to the conclusion that the only way to make an album that sounded anywhere near what the band sounded like onstage was to use actual recordings of their performances and combine them with the studio tracks they had been working on. Side two of the album, which includes the classic Alligator and the more experimental Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), is basically an enhanced live performance, with new vocal tracks added in the studio. Alligator itself is notable as the first Grateful Dead composition to feature the lyrics of Robert Hunter, who would become Jerry Garcia's main collaborator for many many years.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
I once knew someone from San Jose who had an original copy of the single version of The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), the opening track from the first Dead album. It was totally worn out from being played a few hundred times, though.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: That's It For The Other One
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir/Constanten
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
The second Grateful Dead album, Anthem Of The Sun, opens with a suite called That's It For The Other One. Although it plays as one continuous piece of music, the suite was banded on the LP into separate tracks in order to increase songwriting royalties. Unlike the better-known Alligator, which is a live performance with studio overdubs, That's It For The Other One is a studio creation supplemented by live recordings. The final section of the piece was provided by future member Tom Constanten, whose contributions to the Dead were always more prominent in the studio than onstage. Anthem Of The Sun itself was the first Grateful Dead album to feature drummer Mickey Hart, who would be an off-and-on member of the band throughout their existence.
Artist: Taos
Title: Putting My Faith In You
Source: LP: Taos
Writer: Taos
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
When going through the WEOS vinyl archives a couple years ago I ran across an album called simply Taos. After doing a considerable amount of research I learned that the album came out in 1969. That's all I found out. Like many albums of the time, the LP was packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Unlike most LPs of the time, there were no songwriting credits given, either on the album cover or the label itself. In fact, other than the names of the songs themselves, there is no text at all. Instead, we are treated to several pictures of (presumably) the band members taken mostly at Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. As there was a commune in the area that had been established by disgruntled hippys that had fled the fast-deteriorating Haight-Ashbury scene the previous year, it's a good possibility that the band was from that commune, although I have no documentation to that end. Musically, Taos certainly sounds like an extension of the San Francisco sound, as Putting My Faith In You demonstrates. If anyone has any information about this band, feel free to drop me a line, either through the comments button at www.hermitradio.com or on the Stuck In The Psychedelic Era Facebook page wall.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Queen Of Torture
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Wishbone Ash)
Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When the band's original guitarist had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members couldn't come to a consensus between the two finalists so they kept both of them, or so the story goes. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The origins of the song Hey Joe are surrounded in mystery. Various writers have been given credit for the tune, including Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, who wrote Get Together, but David Crosby claimed the song was actually an old folk tune dating back to the 19th century that he himself had popularized as a member of the Byrds before the Leaves got ahold of it. Regardless of where the song came from, the Leaves version was the first to be released as a single and is generally considered the definitive fast version of the song. In Britain it was the slower version favored by the Jimi Hendrix Experience that became a hit, using an arrangement pioneered by songwriter Tim Rose and the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Harry Nilsson
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: LP: Nilsson Schmilsson
Writer: Lee
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1971
By 1971, Harry Nilsson (usually known only by his last name) had established himself as both a singer (Everybody's Talkin', for the film Midnight Cowboy), and a songwriter (the Monkee's Cuddly Toy and Daddy's Song, among others). One of his most successful solo albums was Nilsson Schmilsson, which included the hits Without You and the psychedelic Jump Into The Fire. Despite his growing reputation as a singer/songwriter, Nilsson continued to record an occassion cover song, such as the 50s Shirley and Lee hit Let The Good Times Roll. It may have been this love of 50s music that led to him becoming close friends and drinking buddies with John Lennon, who recorded an entire album of 50s cover tunes in the early 70s.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
Although Conquistador was originally recorded for the first Procol Harum album in 1967, it was the 1972 live version with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra that became one of the band's biggest hits, second only to A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
Artist: Pheremones
Title: N.G.R.I.
Source: unreleased
Writer: Ed Carlson
Label: n/a
Year: 1987
I usually don't say anything here about the instrumental tracks I use at the end of each hour, but I thought I'd make an exception, since this is only the second time I've used Ed Carlson's N.G.R.I. (which stands for No Good Rotten Instrumental). Ed was lead guitarist for the Pheremones, a band I sat in with on bass for a few months before starting on the Electric Dream Project (which is where most of the instrumentals I use on the show come from).
Artist: James Brown
Title: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: James Brown
Label: Ripete
Year: 1965
Although he had been recording since the late 1950s, it wasn't until the release of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag in 1965 that James Brown achieved stardom. The song was recorded in less than an hour in a Charlotte, NC studio on the way to a performance. On the master tape Brown can be heard saying that they had a hit record on their hands. The record itself is actually a half-step higher in pitch than the master tape, which was deliberately sped up to give the song a bit of extra punch when the record was mastered.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Glory Of Love
Source: LP: The Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Hill
Label: Volt
Year: Original single release: 1967; LP release: 1968
Otis Redding's dream was to fill the gap left by the untimely death of Sam Cooke in 1964. By the summer of 1967 it looked like that dream was about to become a reality. Following a landmark performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June, Redding released his new version of a song that had originally been recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936 and had been redone numerous times over the years, including a version by the Five Keys that had spent eight weeks in the number one spot on the R&B charts in 1951. Sadly, Redding's life would be cut short the following winter when the plane carrying the singer, along with several members of the Bar-Kays, went down in a snowstorm, killing all aboard. After Redding's death, several tracks that had not yet appeared on an album were collected on an LP called The Dock Of The Bay, released on the Volt label (part of the Stax Records group) in 1968.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: Priority (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia, recorded at the end of 1967, before the advent of the bubble gum era (although the song is sometimes cited as the first bubble gum hit).
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 4-6 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: My Best Friend
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Although drummer Skip Spence had left Jefferson Airplane after the group's first LP, he did leave a song behind. My Best Friend was actually released as a single before Somebody To Love, making it the first single released from the Surrealistic Pillow album. Spence, meanwhile, was about to make a big splash as a founding member of Moby Grape.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: As Kind As Summer
Source: LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Markley/Harris/Bryant
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
The first time I heard this I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock, written by drummer Russ Ward, who would go on to become one of L.A.'s most sought after studio drummers using the name Russ Kunkel.
Artist: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title: The Endless Enigma (part one)
Source: CD: Trilogy
Writer: Emerson/Lake
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1972
Just for something completely different we have a track from the third Emerson, Lake and Palmer album, Trilogy.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to man. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach, but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher (whose name I have forgotten) was on to something.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Lady Jane
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
One of the best early Rolling Stones albums is 1966's Aftermath, which included such classics as Under My Thumb, Stupid Girl and the eleven-minute Goin' Home. Both the US and UK versions of the LP included the song Lady Jane, which was also released as the B side to Mother's Little Helper (which had been left off the US version of Aftermath to make room for Paint It, Black). The policy at the time was for B sides that got a significant amount of airplay to be rated seperately from the A side of the single, and Lady Jane managed to climb to the # 24 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (Mother's Little Helper peaked at # 8).
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: CD: Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame-Volume VII (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McCarty/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Legacy (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dennis Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Dunwich Records was a small independent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with Gloria in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: When I Was Young
Source: CD: The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor
Year: 1967
After the Animals disbanded in 1966, Eric Burdon set out to form a new band that would be far more psychedelic than the original group. The first release from these "New Animals" was When I Was Young. The song was credited to the entire band, a practice that would continue throughout the entire existence of the group that came to be called Eric Burdon And The Animals.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Femme Fatale
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The debut Velvet Underground LP, released in 1967, was not a huge commercial success, despite the striking album cover designed by Andy Warhol, who also produced the album. In the years since it has come to be regarded as a true classic of both the psychedelic and punk genres. Despite all that the album has some serious flaws, not the least of which is the relative lack of talent of Nico, who sings lead on Lou Reed's Femme Fatale.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. market in late 1965 was Can't Seem To Make You Mine. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album, released in 1966. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the song that first defined the "flower power" sound, predating the Seeds' biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard, by several months. After the national success of Pushin' Too Hard, Can't Seem To Make You Mine was re-released nationally, but did not make a huge impression.
SITPE # 1141 Playlist (Starts 10/13/11)
Out of the 25 tracks featured on this week's show, only seven have been heard on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era before this week. Even stranger, the first and last songs this week are among those seven repeats. Ironically, one of the remaining five is currently tied for the most-played song of 2011. One other notable fact is that, with one exception, every song in the first hour was written by a single songwriter who also performed the song.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Highway 61 Revisited)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Most Expensive Residence For Sale
Source: LP: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
By 1966, Ray Davies' songwriting had matured considerably from his power chord driven love songs You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night. Like many of the songs on the Kinks' 1966 and 1967 LPs, Most Exclusive Residence For Sale tells a story; in this case the story of a man who achieved great success, bought an expensive house and then found himself forced to sell it when his fortunes took a downward turn.
Artist: Love
Title: A House Is Not A Motel
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Arthur Lee was a bit of a recluse, despite leading the most popular band on Sunset Strip in 1966-67. When the band was not playing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go Lee was most likely to be found at his home up in the Hollywood Hills, often in the company of fellow band member Bryan McLean. The other members of the band, however, were known to hang out in the most popular clubs, chasing women and doing all kinds of substances. Sometimes they would show up at Lee's house unbidden. Sometimes they would crash there. Sometimes Lee would get annoyed, and probably used the phrase which became the title of the second track on Love's classic Forever Changes album, A House Is Not A Motel.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Love Story
Source: CD: This Was (bonus track-originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Living In The Past)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original UK label: Island; original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1968 (US: 1973)
Love Story was the last studio recording by the original Jethro Tull lineup of Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornish. The song was released as a single following the band's debut LP, This Was. Shortly after it's release Abrahams left the group, citing differences with Anderson over the band's musical direction. The song spent eight weeks on the UK singles chart, reaching the #29 spot. In the U.S., "Love Story" was released in March 1969, with A Song for Jeffrey (an album track from This Was) on the B-side, but did not chart. Like most songs released as singles in the UK, Love Story did not appear on an album until several years later; in this case on the 1973 anthology album Living In The Past.
Artist: Michael Nesmith and the Second National Band
Title: You Are My One
Source: LP: Tantamount To Treason
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1972
Michael Nesmith has always been something of a renaissance man. Originally making his mark as a songwriter (his song Mary Mary was recorded by the Butterfield Blues Band), Nesmith gained international prominence in 1966 as a member of the Monkees. After leaving the group he formed the First National Band, which was one of the first country-rock bands. This was followed by the Second National Band, which utilized some of the state of the art production techniques that Nesmith would apply to some of his later projects such as Elephant Parts (a 60-minute production combining music videos with comedy bits). Nesmith would go on to become a movie producer (Repo Man, Time Rider) and is credited with conceiving the idea of a cable channel dedicated to playing music videos. He sold the idea to Warner Brothers, who decided to call it MTV.
Title: Prison Song
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1973
Graham Nash's Prison Song is one of those songs that by all rights should have been a huge hit. It was by a name artist. It had a catchy opening harmonica riff and a haunting melody. I can only surmise that once again Bill Drake (the man who controlled top 40 radio in the 60s and early 70s) decided that the lyrics were too controversial for AM radio and had the song blacklisted, much as he had done with the Byrds Eight Miles High a few years earlier. Those lyrics center on a subject that most Americans would rather pretend didn't exist: the utter absurdity of drug laws and the unequal sentences for violation of those laws in the US and its various states.
Artist: Mamas and the Papas
Title: Somebody Groovy (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: John Phillips
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1965
The Mamas and the Papas were blessed with strong vocals and even stronger songwriting. Their debut single, California Dreamin', written by John Phillips, is one of the iconic songs of the sixties. The B side of that single, released in 1965, was another Phillips tune, Somebody Groovy.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Up In Her Room
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
One of the first extended jams released on a rock album, Up In Her Room, from the Seeds' second LP, A Web Of Sound, is a sort of sequel to Van Morrison's Gloria (but only the original Them version; the secret of the Shadows Of Knight's success with the song was to replace the line "she comes up to my room" with "she comes around here").
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: I'm Not Satisfied
Source: LP: Absolutely Free
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Frank Zappa, in his original liner notes for the Freak Out album, describes I'm Not Satisfied as "safe and harmless and designed that way on purpose". That is, until you realize that the lyrics are from the point of view of someone who has decided that life sucks and is contemplating suicide.
Artist: Joan Baez
Title: Joe Hill
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Robinson/Hayes
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
Joe Hill, written as a poem in the early part of the 20th century and set to music a few years later, was a highlight of Joan Baez's Woodstock performance. The song was inspired by the struggles of one of the martyrs of the labor movement of the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
Artist: Blind Faith
Title: Can't Find My Way Home
Source: LP: Blind Faith
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: Polydor
Year: 1969
Although an electric version of Can't Find My Way Home was recorded (and is now available on CD), it was Steve Winwood's acoustic version that was chosen for inclusion on Blind Faith's only LP.
Artist: Beau Brummels
Title: Just A Little
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elliott/Durand
Label: Rhino (original label: Autumn)
Year: 1965
Often dismissed as an American imitation of British Invasion bands such as the Beatles, the Beau Brummels actually played a pivotal role in rock music history. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the Brummels were led by Ron Elliott, who co-wrote most of the band's material, including their two top 10 singles in 1965. The second of these, Just A Little, is often cited as the first folk-rock hit, as it was released a week before the Byrds' recording of Mr. Tambourine Man. According to Elliott, the band was not trying to invent folk-rock, however. Rather, it was their own limitations as musicians that forced them to work with what they had: solid vocal harmonies and a mixture of electric and acoustic guitars. Elliott also credits the contributions of producer Sly Stone for the song's success. Conversely, Just A Little was Stone's greatest success as a producer prior to forming his own band, the Family Stone, in 1967.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dealer
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind (also released as LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
The first Traffic LP was released in the UK under the title Mr. Fantasy. In the US the album was initially released under the name Heaven Is In Your Mind to coincide with the single of the same name. The singled failed to chart and subsequent pressings of the LP bore the name Mr. Fantasy. More recently the album has been released under both names. Mr. Fantasy features the original mono mixes of the songs, while Heaven Is In Your Mind has the stereo versions.
Artist: Traffic
Title: (Roamin' Through The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
The second Traffic album saw the band taking in a broader set of influences, including traditional English folk music. (Roamin' Through The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen combines those influences with the Steve Winwood brand of British R&B.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hole In My Shoe
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind (also released as LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Since the 1970s Traffic has been known as Steve Winwood's (and to a lesser degree, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood's) band, but in the early days the group's most popular songs were written and sung by co-founder Dave Mason. Hole In My Shoe received considerable airplay in the UK, although, like all Traffic's 60s records, it failed to make an impression in the US.
Artist: New Colony Six
Title: At The River's Edge
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Walter Kemp
Label: Rhino (original label: Centaur)
Year: 1966
The New Colony Six are best known for their soft pop-rock song Things I Like To Say, released on the Mercury label in 1969. In their earlier years, however, the Six were a prime example of the blues-tinged garage rock coming out of the Chicago area in the mid-1960s. At The River's Edge, released in 1966 on the band's own Centaur (later Sentar) label, is a classic example of the Six's early sound.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles co-leaders Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: The Sky Cried/When I Was A Boy
Source: LP: Renaissance
Writer: Stein/Bogert
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The first Vanilla Fudge, released in 1967, was filled with psychedelicized versions of established hits such as Cher's Bang Bang, the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby and of course, the Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On. For their second LP the group went with a concept album built around Sonny and Cher's The Beat Goes On. The group's third LP, Renaissance, finally revealed the band members' abilities as songwriters (although there were still a pair of cover songs on the album). The opening track on the album, The Sky Cried/When I Was A Boy, was written by bassist Tim Bogert and organist/vocalist Mark Stein.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Uncle Morris
Source: CD: One Step Beyond
Writer: Andrijasevich/Loomis
Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year: 1969
San Jose, California's Chocolate Watchband has one of the most confusing stories in the history of rock. Part of this can be attributed to the actions of producer Ed Cobb, who used studio musicians extensively, often to the total exclusion of the band members themselves (even the vocals in some cases). Also adding to the confusion was the fact that one of the founding members, Gary Andrijasevich, had already left the band by the time they got their first recording contract, but returned as co-leader of an almost entirely new lineup for the band's third and final LP, One Step Beyond. Unlike the first two albums, there were no studio musicians used on One Step Beyond (although Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller makes a guest appearance). The new lineup, however, did not sound anything like the Watchband of old, and in fact had more in common musically with the folk-rock bands from San Francisco than the garage-rock the south end of the bay was known for.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Flaming
Source: CD: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Despite his legendary status there is actually very little recorded material that bears the mark of Pink Floyd's original leader, Syd Barrett. Most of that material is on the first Floyd album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, and on a handful of singles released by the group at a time when single releases in the UK seldom appeared on albums. Unlike Barrett's singles, which managed to be commercial without sacrificing their psychedelic qualities, album tracks such as Flaming (from Piper) show a willingness to go off into unexplored musical territory. It was these types of explorations that would set the direction the band would take once Barrett became unable to continue with the group.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Dandruff/Daddy's Song
Source: LP: Head soundtrack
Writer: Harry Nilsson
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
After their TV show was cancelled in the spring of 1968, the Monkees set out to make a feature-length film. The movie, written by a young Jack Nicholson, was called Head, and was nothing like the TV show. The soundtrack album was nothing like any previous Monkees album either. For one thing, there were no songs written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. More importantly, there were clips from the movie itself, including Dandruff, which leads into the Harry Nillson tune Daddy's Song.
Artist: Richie Havens
Title: Handsome Johnny
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Gossett/Gossett/Havens
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
When it became obvious that the amplifiers needed by the various rock bands that were scheduled to perform on the opening Friday afternoon at Woodstock would not be ready in time, singer/songwriter Richie Havens came to the rescue, performing for several hours as the new opening act. Havens reportedly opened with Handsome Johnny, a song that he had co-written with Lou Gossett and Lou Gossett, Jr.
Artist: Frijid Pink
Title: End Of The Line
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Thompson/Beaudry
Label: Parrot
Year: 1970
Frijid Pink was extremely popular in their native Detroit. So popular, in fact, that in 1969 Led Zeppelin was their warm-up act. Unfortunately for the band, their first single to become a national hit, a feedback-drenched version of House Of The Rising Sun, became a bit too popular on top 40 radio, causing the new progressive FM stations to avoid them like the plague. The band was never able to get airplay for their later records such as End Of The Line, the B side of their follow-up single Sing A Song Of Freedom.
Artist: Flower Travelin' Band
Title: Satori (part two)
Source: CD: Satori
Writer: Flower Travelin' Band
Label: Phoenix
Year: 1971
Possibly the first Japanese heavy metal band and almost certainly the first Japanese psychedelic group, the Flower Travelin' Band recorded their first LP in 1969. The album was made up entirely of covers of bands like Cream and Led Zeppelin. It wasn't until 1971 that they recorded their first LP made up entirely of original material. The album was called Satori, as were all five tracks on the album. It was worth the wait.
Artist: Janis Joplin
Title: Mercedes Benz
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Pearl)
Writer: Janis Joplin
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
To put it bluntly, Janis recorded this song, then went home and ODed on herion. End of story (and of Janis).
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Highway 61 Revisited)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Most Expensive Residence For Sale
Source: LP: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
By 1966, Ray Davies' songwriting had matured considerably from his power chord driven love songs You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night. Like many of the songs on the Kinks' 1966 and 1967 LPs, Most Exclusive Residence For Sale tells a story; in this case the story of a man who achieved great success, bought an expensive house and then found himself forced to sell it when his fortunes took a downward turn.
Artist: Love
Title: A House Is Not A Motel
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Arthur Lee was a bit of a recluse, despite leading the most popular band on Sunset Strip in 1966-67. When the band was not playing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go Lee was most likely to be found at his home up in the Hollywood Hills, often in the company of fellow band member Bryan McLean. The other members of the band, however, were known to hang out in the most popular clubs, chasing women and doing all kinds of substances. Sometimes they would show up at Lee's house unbidden. Sometimes they would crash there. Sometimes Lee would get annoyed, and probably used the phrase which became the title of the second track on Love's classic Forever Changes album, A House Is Not A Motel.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Love Story
Source: CD: This Was (bonus track-originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Living In The Past)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original UK label: Island; original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1968 (US: 1973)
Love Story was the last studio recording by the original Jethro Tull lineup of Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornish. The song was released as a single following the band's debut LP, This Was. Shortly after it's release Abrahams left the group, citing differences with Anderson over the band's musical direction. The song spent eight weeks on the UK singles chart, reaching the #29 spot. In the U.S., "Love Story" was released in March 1969, with A Song for Jeffrey (an album track from This Was) on the B-side, but did not chart. Like most songs released as singles in the UK, Love Story did not appear on an album until several years later; in this case on the 1973 anthology album Living In The Past.
Artist: Michael Nesmith and the Second National Band
Title: You Are My One
Source: LP: Tantamount To Treason
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1972
Michael Nesmith has always been something of a renaissance man. Originally making his mark as a songwriter (his song Mary Mary was recorded by the Butterfield Blues Band), Nesmith gained international prominence in 1966 as a member of the Monkees. After leaving the group he formed the First National Band, which was one of the first country-rock bands. This was followed by the Second National Band, which utilized some of the state of the art production techniques that Nesmith would apply to some of his later projects such as Elephant Parts (a 60-minute production combining music videos with comedy bits). Nesmith would go on to become a movie producer (Repo Man, Time Rider) and is credited with conceiving the idea of a cable channel dedicated to playing music videos. He sold the idea to Warner Brothers, who decided to call it MTV.
Title: Prison Song
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1973
Graham Nash's Prison Song is one of those songs that by all rights should have been a huge hit. It was by a name artist. It had a catchy opening harmonica riff and a haunting melody. I can only surmise that once again Bill Drake (the man who controlled top 40 radio in the 60s and early 70s) decided that the lyrics were too controversial for AM radio and had the song blacklisted, much as he had done with the Byrds Eight Miles High a few years earlier. Those lyrics center on a subject that most Americans would rather pretend didn't exist: the utter absurdity of drug laws and the unequal sentences for violation of those laws in the US and its various states.
Artist: Mamas and the Papas
Title: Somebody Groovy (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: John Phillips
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1965
The Mamas and the Papas were blessed with strong vocals and even stronger songwriting. Their debut single, California Dreamin', written by John Phillips, is one of the iconic songs of the sixties. The B side of that single, released in 1965, was another Phillips tune, Somebody Groovy.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Up In Her Room
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
One of the first extended jams released on a rock album, Up In Her Room, from the Seeds' second LP, A Web Of Sound, is a sort of sequel to Van Morrison's Gloria (but only the original Them version; the secret of the Shadows Of Knight's success with the song was to replace the line "she comes up to my room" with "she comes around here").
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: I'm Not Satisfied
Source: LP: Absolutely Free
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Frank Zappa, in his original liner notes for the Freak Out album, describes I'm Not Satisfied as "safe and harmless and designed that way on purpose". That is, until you realize that the lyrics are from the point of view of someone who has decided that life sucks and is contemplating suicide.
Artist: Joan Baez
Title: Joe Hill
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Robinson/Hayes
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
Joe Hill, written as a poem in the early part of the 20th century and set to music a few years later, was a highlight of Joan Baez's Woodstock performance. The song was inspired by the struggles of one of the martyrs of the labor movement of the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
Artist: Blind Faith
Title: Can't Find My Way Home
Source: LP: Blind Faith
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: Polydor
Year: 1969
Although an electric version of Can't Find My Way Home was recorded (and is now available on CD), it was Steve Winwood's acoustic version that was chosen for inclusion on Blind Faith's only LP.
Artist: Beau Brummels
Title: Just A Little
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elliott/Durand
Label: Rhino (original label: Autumn)
Year: 1965
Often dismissed as an American imitation of British Invasion bands such as the Beatles, the Beau Brummels actually played a pivotal role in rock music history. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the Brummels were led by Ron Elliott, who co-wrote most of the band's material, including their two top 10 singles in 1965. The second of these, Just A Little, is often cited as the first folk-rock hit, as it was released a week before the Byrds' recording of Mr. Tambourine Man. According to Elliott, the band was not trying to invent folk-rock, however. Rather, it was their own limitations as musicians that forced them to work with what they had: solid vocal harmonies and a mixture of electric and acoustic guitars. Elliott also credits the contributions of producer Sly Stone for the song's success. Conversely, Just A Little was Stone's greatest success as a producer prior to forming his own band, the Family Stone, in 1967.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dealer
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind (also released as LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
The first Traffic LP was released in the UK under the title Mr. Fantasy. In the US the album was initially released under the name Heaven Is In Your Mind to coincide with the single of the same name. The singled failed to chart and subsequent pressings of the LP bore the name Mr. Fantasy. More recently the album has been released under both names. Mr. Fantasy features the original mono mixes of the songs, while Heaven Is In Your Mind has the stereo versions.
Artist: Traffic
Title: (Roamin' Through The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
The second Traffic album saw the band taking in a broader set of influences, including traditional English folk music. (Roamin' Through The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen combines those influences with the Steve Winwood brand of British R&B.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hole In My Shoe
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind (also released as LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Since the 1970s Traffic has been known as Steve Winwood's (and to a lesser degree, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood's) band, but in the early days the group's most popular songs were written and sung by co-founder Dave Mason. Hole In My Shoe received considerable airplay in the UK, although, like all Traffic's 60s records, it failed to make an impression in the US.
Artist: New Colony Six
Title: At The River's Edge
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Walter Kemp
Label: Rhino (original label: Centaur)
Year: 1966
The New Colony Six are best known for their soft pop-rock song Things I Like To Say, released on the Mercury label in 1969. In their earlier years, however, the Six were a prime example of the blues-tinged garage rock coming out of the Chicago area in the mid-1960s. At The River's Edge, released in 1966 on the band's own Centaur (later Sentar) label, is a classic example of the Six's early sound.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles co-leaders Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: The Sky Cried/When I Was A Boy
Source: LP: Renaissance
Writer: Stein/Bogert
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The first Vanilla Fudge, released in 1967, was filled with psychedelicized versions of established hits such as Cher's Bang Bang, the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby and of course, the Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On. For their second LP the group went with a concept album built around Sonny and Cher's The Beat Goes On. The group's third LP, Renaissance, finally revealed the band members' abilities as songwriters (although there were still a pair of cover songs on the album). The opening track on the album, The Sky Cried/When I Was A Boy, was written by bassist Tim Bogert and organist/vocalist Mark Stein.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Uncle Morris
Source: CD: One Step Beyond
Writer: Andrijasevich/Loomis
Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year: 1969
San Jose, California's Chocolate Watchband has one of the most confusing stories in the history of rock. Part of this can be attributed to the actions of producer Ed Cobb, who used studio musicians extensively, often to the total exclusion of the band members themselves (even the vocals in some cases). Also adding to the confusion was the fact that one of the founding members, Gary Andrijasevich, had already left the band by the time they got their first recording contract, but returned as co-leader of an almost entirely new lineup for the band's third and final LP, One Step Beyond. Unlike the first two albums, there were no studio musicians used on One Step Beyond (although Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller makes a guest appearance). The new lineup, however, did not sound anything like the Watchband of old, and in fact had more in common musically with the folk-rock bands from San Francisco than the garage-rock the south end of the bay was known for.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Flaming
Source: CD: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Despite his legendary status there is actually very little recorded material that bears the mark of Pink Floyd's original leader, Syd Barrett. Most of that material is on the first Floyd album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, and on a handful of singles released by the group at a time when single releases in the UK seldom appeared on albums. Unlike Barrett's singles, which managed to be commercial without sacrificing their psychedelic qualities, album tracks such as Flaming (from Piper) show a willingness to go off into unexplored musical territory. It was these types of explorations that would set the direction the band would take once Barrett became unable to continue with the group.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Dandruff/Daddy's Song
Source: LP: Head soundtrack
Writer: Harry Nilsson
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
After their TV show was cancelled in the spring of 1968, the Monkees set out to make a feature-length film. The movie, written by a young Jack Nicholson, was called Head, and was nothing like the TV show. The soundtrack album was nothing like any previous Monkees album either. For one thing, there were no songs written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. More importantly, there were clips from the movie itself, including Dandruff, which leads into the Harry Nillson tune Daddy's Song.
Artist: Richie Havens
Title: Handsome Johnny
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Gossett/Gossett/Havens
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
When it became obvious that the amplifiers needed by the various rock bands that were scheduled to perform on the opening Friday afternoon at Woodstock would not be ready in time, singer/songwriter Richie Havens came to the rescue, performing for several hours as the new opening act. Havens reportedly opened with Handsome Johnny, a song that he had co-written with Lou Gossett and Lou Gossett, Jr.
Artist: Frijid Pink
Title: End Of The Line
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Thompson/Beaudry
Label: Parrot
Year: 1970
Frijid Pink was extremely popular in their native Detroit. So popular, in fact, that in 1969 Led Zeppelin was their warm-up act. Unfortunately for the band, their first single to become a national hit, a feedback-drenched version of House Of The Rising Sun, became a bit too popular on top 40 radio, causing the new progressive FM stations to avoid them like the plague. The band was never able to get airplay for their later records such as End Of The Line, the B side of their follow-up single Sing A Song Of Freedom.
Artist: Flower Travelin' Band
Title: Satori (part two)
Source: CD: Satori
Writer: Flower Travelin' Band
Label: Phoenix
Year: 1971
Possibly the first Japanese heavy metal band and almost certainly the first Japanese psychedelic group, the Flower Travelin' Band recorded their first LP in 1969. The album was made up entirely of covers of bands like Cream and Led Zeppelin. It wasn't until 1971 that they recorded their first LP made up entirely of original material. The album was called Satori, as were all five tracks on the album. It was worth the wait.
Artist: Janis Joplin
Title: Mercedes Benz
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Pearl)
Writer: Janis Joplin
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
To put it bluntly, Janis recorded this song, then went home and ODed on herion. End of story (and of Janis).
SITPE # 1140 Playlist (starts 10/6/11)
Artist: Third Rail
Title: Run Run Run
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Resnick/Resnick/Levine
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
Run Run Run is actually a studio creation issied in 1967 from husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick collaborating with Joey Levine, who sings lead vocals on the track. They only performed the song live once (in Cincinatti, of all places) as the Third Rail. All three would find a home as part of the Kasenetz-Katz bubble gum machine that would make Buddah Records a major player in 1968, with Levine himself singing lead for one of the label's most successful groups, the Ohio Express.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: 2,000 Light Years From Home
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (Big Hits And Fazed Cookies) (originally released on LP: Their Satanic Majesties Request)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
Nowhere was the ripple effect of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band more noticable than on the Rolling Stones fall 1967 release Their Satanic Majesties Request. The cover featured the band members in various sorcerous regalia in a seven-inch picture on the kind of holographic paper used for "magic rings" found in bubble-gum machines and pasted over regular album-cover stock, which was a simple pattern of faded white circles on a blue background (it kind of looked like dark wallpaper). Musically it was the most psychedelic Stones album ever released. Interesting enough, different songs were released as singles in different countries. In the US the single was She's A Rainbow, while in Germany 2,000 Light Years From Home (the US B side of She's A Rainbow) got significant airplay.
Artist: Who
Title: Odorono
Source: LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1967
In early January of 1968 a bunch of us went over to our friend Bob's house to hang out and see what he got for Christmas. Bob's parents had a big Grundig console stereo that opened from the top. When we got there Bob's older brother was on the scene and told us to check out this new radio station that was coming in with some truly amazing sound quality. Sure enough, we heard all sorts of jingles and ads, along with some really tasty tunes none of us had heard before. One of those tunes was about a girl who blew an audition because she didn't use the right deodorant. It was called Odorono, and it wasn't until we heard I Can See For Miles a few minutes later that we realized it was all a put-on. The reality was that everything we had just heard was the new Who album that had been released around Christmastime, including the jingles and ads. As it turned out there really was a Radio London (who threatened the Who with a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of its jingles), but there was no way we could pick up it in Mainz, Germany, let alone sounding as good as it did on that Grundig.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Big Leg Emma
Source: CD: Absolutely Free (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
Sometime during the creation of the second Mothers Of Invention album, Absolutely Free, the band recorded a pair of stand alone tunes that were released as a 45 RPM single. The B side of that record was Big Leg Emma, a song that was written by Frank Zappa in 1962 and would eventually be added to his live show in the late 1970s.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
When it came time for Sean Bonniwell's band, the Music Machine, to go into the studio, the group decided to go for the best sound possible. This meant signing with tiny Original Sound Records, despite having offers from bigger labels, due to Original Sound having their own state-of-the-art eight-track studios. Unfortunately for the band, they soon discovered that having great equipment did not mean Original Sound made great decisions. One of the first, in fact, was to include a handful of cover songs on the Music Machine's first LP that were recorded for use on a local TV show. Bonniwell was livid when he found out, as he had envisioned an album made up entirely of his own compositions (although he reportedly did plan to use a slowed-down version of Hey Joe that he and Tim Rose had worked up together). From that point on it was only a matter of time until the Music Machine and Original Sound parted company, but not until after they scored a big national hit with Talk Talk in 1966.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: Northbeach)
Year: 1966
It's not much of a stretch to characterize San Francisco's Great! Society as a garage band, despite the obvious talents of vocalist Grace Slick. Grace's role in the band was mostly as a backup/fill vocalist. Her strengths as a lead vocalist would not be evident until she hooked up with Jefferson Airplane in late 1966.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Gloria)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The original Them version of Van Morrison's Gloria found itself banned on the majority of US radio stations due to controversial lyrics. By changing one line (substituting "around here" for "up to my room") the suburban Chicago punk-blues band Shadows of Knight turned it into a huge hit and a garage band standard.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Funky-Tunk
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Spence/Miller
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
After nearly universal acclaim from the rock press for their 1967 debut album, Moby Grape decided to take their time in the studio for the follow, 1968's Wow. Unfortunately, the album itself ended up sounding over-produced as a result. Funky-Tunk, for instance, starts off sounding like a decent enough country rock tune but takes a bizarre turn on the second verse when the lead vocals are done in Chipmunk style.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Marmalade
Source: LP: Grape Jam
Writer: Bloomfield/Miller/Stevenson/Mosely
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
When Moby Grape's Wow album first hit the racks it included a second, free, disk with it's own cover entitled Grape Jam. Recorded between sessions in New York and featuring guest keyboardists Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield, Grape Jam actually predates (and probably inspired) Kooper's own Super Session album by a few months. Marmalade, the longest track on the album, features Bloomfield, normally known for his guitar work, switching over to piano, while Jerry Miller shows why he has earned the reputation of being "the guitarist's guitarist" over the past 44 years.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Motorcycle Irene
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Another tune that would have benefited from less production was Skip Spence's Motorcycle Irene.
Artist: Santana
Title: Singing Winds, Crying Beasts/Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen/Oye Como Va
Source: CD: Abraxas
Writer: Carabello/Green/Szabo/Puente
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
To finish out the first hour we have one of the greatest opening sequences in the history of rock: the first fifteen minutes of Santana's second LP, Abraxas, presented uncut in its entirety.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Baby, What You Want Me To Do
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
The Rising Sons and Love were the first interracial rock bands to play the clubs on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. Unlike Love, which performed a hybrid of garage and folk rock, the Rising Sons were firmly rooted in traditional blues. Although the Sons scored a contract with Columbia Records, it was clear from the start that the label had no idea what to do with them. After recording an album's worth of material, the label shelved the entire project. After the band's demise three of the members, vocalist Taj Mahal, slide guitarist Ry Cooder and guitarist/vocalist Jessie Kinkaid, went on to have successful solo careers, prompting Columbia to finally release the recordings in 1992.
Artist: Vagrants
Title: Respect
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Didn't I just play this song last week? Feel free to check out last week's post to see.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: No Way Out
Source: CD: No Way Out
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the south bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy, producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). One example is the title track from their first LP, No Way Out. Although the song is credited to Cobb, there is an earlier recording of a jam credited to the band that is nearly identical to the tune's instrumental track.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Love Or Confusion
Source: LP: Are You Experienced
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
A little-known fact is that the original European version of Are You Experienced, in addition to having a different song lineup, consisted entirely of mono recordings. When Reprise got the rights to release the album in North America, its own engineers created new stereo mixes from the 4-track master tapes. As most of the instrumental tracks had already been mixed down to single tracks, the engineers found themselves doing things like putting the vocals all the way on one side of the mix, with reverb effects and guitar solos occupying the other side and all the instruments dead center. Such is the case with Love Or Confusion, with some really bizarre stereo panning thrown in at the end of the track. It's actually kind of fun to listen to with headphones on, as I did when I bought my first copy of the album on reel-to-reel tape (the tape deck was in the same room as the TV).
Artist: Monkees
Title: The Door Into Summer
Source: CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.
Writer: Douglas/Martin
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
Another one that I played last week. This time around, though, it's an alternate take, mixed in mono. Feel free to scroll down to last week's playlist for more info.
Artist: Cat Stevens
Title: Matthew And Son
Source: CD: The Very Best Of Cat Stevens (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Matthew And Son)
Writer: Cat Stevens
Label: A&M (original label: Deram)
Year: 1967
Although best known as one of the top singer-songwriters of the early to mid-1970s, Cat Stevens actually began recording in 1967, and charted several hits in the UK before achieving international fame. One of the earliest was the title track to his first LP, Matthew And Son. Although the song was released in the US on the Deram label, it failed to chart.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Termination
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Brann/Dorman
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Although most Iron Butterfly songs were written by keyboardist/vocalist Doug Ingle, there were a few exceptions. One of those is Termination, from the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, which was written by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman.
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Title: I Don't Know Why I Love You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Hunter/Hardaway/Wonder/Reiser
Label: Tamla
Year: 1969
The Rolling Stones had a minor but notable hit with their cover of Stevie Wonder's I Don't Know Why I Love You in the early 1970s. I thought I'd pull out a copy of the original version, which was intended as an A side but was eclipsed in popularity by the B side of the record, a tune called My Cherie Amour.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left the band. The single mix is a bit different from the album version, particularly at the end of the song, which originally ended with a tympani roll by drummer Ed Cassidy. The single version ends with the chord immediately preceding that roll.
Artist: Limey and the Yanks
Title: Guaranteed Love
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Paxton/Reed
Label: Rhino (original label: Star-Burst)
Year: 1966
Limey and the Yanks were an Orange County, California band that boasted an honest-to-dog British lead vocalist. Despite being kind of Zelig-like on the L.A. scene, they only recorded two singles. The first one, Guaranteed Love, was co-written by Gary Paxton, best known for his involvement in various novelty records, including the Hollywood Argyles' Alley Oop, which he co-wrote with Kim Fowley, and Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash, which was released on Paxton's own Garpax label.
Artist: Tradewinds
Title: Mind Excursion
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Excursions)
Writer: Anders/Poncia
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Kama-Sutra)
Year: 1966
The Trade Winds were a semi-studio band from New York that first scored in 1965 with the song "New York is a Lonely Town (When You're the Only Surfer Boy Around). A year later, they had their second and last hit, "Mind Excursion," which holds up as one of the best examples of "flower power" pop ever recorded.
Artist: Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Title: Eventually
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Alan Brackett
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1966 (unreleased until 2005)
The PBC was one of the more psychedelic of the local L.A. bands playing the various clubs along L.A.'s Sunset Strip during its golden years of 1965-68. As was the case with so many bands of that time and place, they never really got the opportunity to strut their stuff, although they did leave some decent tapes behind, such as Eventually, recorded (but not released) in 1966.
Artist: New Breed
Title: Want Ad Reader
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Floegel/Hullin/Phillips/Schmidt
Label: Rhino (original label: World United)
Year: 1966
The New Breed was Sacramento's most popular local band in the mid-1960s. Although they did not score any national hits they did launch the career of Timothy B. Schmidt, who later went on to replace Randy Meisner in Poco (and even later replaced Meisner in the Eagles). The rest of the New Breed didn't do too badly, either. After changing their name to Glad and recording an album for Dunhill (with Schmidt still a member), the group eventually became known as Redwing, recording five country-rock albums in the 70s.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Buddha
Source: LP: Volume II
Writer: Markley/Harris
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
Although Bob Markley's lyrics will never win any literary achievement awards, they are memorable in a campy sort of way. A perfect example is Buddha, which comes across as a childlike impression of a statue of a Buddha, with some adolescent innuendo thrown in.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
A while back a co-worker was asking me about what kind of music I played on the show. When I told him the show was called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era he immediately said "Oh, I bet you play White Rabbit a lot, huh?" As a matter of fact, I do, although not as much as some songs (see the post from show # 1032, in which I run down the list of which songs got played the most in 2010).
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: Fakin' It
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Fakin' It, originally released as a single in 1967, was a bit of a departure for Simon And Garfunkel, sounding more like British psychedelic music than American folk-rock. The track starts with an intro that is similar to the false ending to the Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever; midway through the record the tempo changes drastically for a short spoken word section that is reminiscent of the bridge in Traffic's Hole In My Shoe. The song was later included on the 1968 LP Bookends.
Artist: McKendree Spring
Title: For What Was Gained
Source: LP: Second Thoughts
Writer: Eric Andersen
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
McKendree Spring, from New York's Hudson Valley, was one of those groups that defied easy classification. Were they a folk-rock band? Sort of. A country band? Well, kinda. Using a mix of traditional acoustic instruments and electronic synthesizers, McKendree Spring was successful enough to issue several albums throughout the 1970s. I remember seeing them live in the early 1970s (on a bill with Jo Jo Gunne and Billy Preston) and performing an instrumental called How Can I Tell You I Love You When You're Sitting On My Face.
Title: Run Run Run
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Resnick/Resnick/Levine
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
Run Run Run is actually a studio creation issied in 1967 from husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick collaborating with Joey Levine, who sings lead vocals on the track. They only performed the song live once (in Cincinatti, of all places) as the Third Rail. All three would find a home as part of the Kasenetz-Katz bubble gum machine that would make Buddah Records a major player in 1968, with Levine himself singing lead for one of the label's most successful groups, the Ohio Express.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: 2,000 Light Years From Home
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (Big Hits And Fazed Cookies) (originally released on LP: Their Satanic Majesties Request)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
Nowhere was the ripple effect of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band more noticable than on the Rolling Stones fall 1967 release Their Satanic Majesties Request. The cover featured the band members in various sorcerous regalia in a seven-inch picture on the kind of holographic paper used for "magic rings" found in bubble-gum machines and pasted over regular album-cover stock, which was a simple pattern of faded white circles on a blue background (it kind of looked like dark wallpaper). Musically it was the most psychedelic Stones album ever released. Interesting enough, different songs were released as singles in different countries. In the US the single was She's A Rainbow, while in Germany 2,000 Light Years From Home (the US B side of She's A Rainbow) got significant airplay.
Artist: Who
Title: Odorono
Source: LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1967
In early January of 1968 a bunch of us went over to our friend Bob's house to hang out and see what he got for Christmas. Bob's parents had a big Grundig console stereo that opened from the top. When we got there Bob's older brother was on the scene and told us to check out this new radio station that was coming in with some truly amazing sound quality. Sure enough, we heard all sorts of jingles and ads, along with some really tasty tunes none of us had heard before. One of those tunes was about a girl who blew an audition because she didn't use the right deodorant. It was called Odorono, and it wasn't until we heard I Can See For Miles a few minutes later that we realized it was all a put-on. The reality was that everything we had just heard was the new Who album that had been released around Christmastime, including the jingles and ads. As it turned out there really was a Radio London (who threatened the Who with a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of its jingles), but there was no way we could pick up it in Mainz, Germany, let alone sounding as good as it did on that Grundig.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Big Leg Emma
Source: CD: Absolutely Free (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
Sometime during the creation of the second Mothers Of Invention album, Absolutely Free, the band recorded a pair of stand alone tunes that were released as a 45 RPM single. The B side of that record was Big Leg Emma, a song that was written by Frank Zappa in 1962 and would eventually be added to his live show in the late 1970s.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
When it came time for Sean Bonniwell's band, the Music Machine, to go into the studio, the group decided to go for the best sound possible. This meant signing with tiny Original Sound Records, despite having offers from bigger labels, due to Original Sound having their own state-of-the-art eight-track studios. Unfortunately for the band, they soon discovered that having great equipment did not mean Original Sound made great decisions. One of the first, in fact, was to include a handful of cover songs on the Music Machine's first LP that were recorded for use on a local TV show. Bonniwell was livid when he found out, as he had envisioned an album made up entirely of his own compositions (although he reportedly did plan to use a slowed-down version of Hey Joe that he and Tim Rose had worked up together). From that point on it was only a matter of time until the Music Machine and Original Sound parted company, but not until after they scored a big national hit with Talk Talk in 1966.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: Northbeach)
Year: 1966
It's not much of a stretch to characterize San Francisco's Great! Society as a garage band, despite the obvious talents of vocalist Grace Slick. Grace's role in the band was mostly as a backup/fill vocalist. Her strengths as a lead vocalist would not be evident until she hooked up with Jefferson Airplane in late 1966.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Gloria)
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The original Them version of Van Morrison's Gloria found itself banned on the majority of US radio stations due to controversial lyrics. By changing one line (substituting "around here" for "up to my room") the suburban Chicago punk-blues band Shadows of Knight turned it into a huge hit and a garage band standard.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Funky-Tunk
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Spence/Miller
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
After nearly universal acclaim from the rock press for their 1967 debut album, Moby Grape decided to take their time in the studio for the follow, 1968's Wow. Unfortunately, the album itself ended up sounding over-produced as a result. Funky-Tunk, for instance, starts off sounding like a decent enough country rock tune but takes a bizarre turn on the second verse when the lead vocals are done in Chipmunk style.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Marmalade
Source: LP: Grape Jam
Writer: Bloomfield/Miller/Stevenson/Mosely
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
When Moby Grape's Wow album first hit the racks it included a second, free, disk with it's own cover entitled Grape Jam. Recorded between sessions in New York and featuring guest keyboardists Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield, Grape Jam actually predates (and probably inspired) Kooper's own Super Session album by a few months. Marmalade, the longest track on the album, features Bloomfield, normally known for his guitar work, switching over to piano, while Jerry Miller shows why he has earned the reputation of being "the guitarist's guitarist" over the past 44 years.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Motorcycle Irene
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Another tune that would have benefited from less production was Skip Spence's Motorcycle Irene.
Artist: Santana
Title: Singing Winds, Crying Beasts/Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen/Oye Como Va
Source: CD: Abraxas
Writer: Carabello/Green/Szabo/Puente
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
To finish out the first hour we have one of the greatest opening sequences in the history of rock: the first fifteen minutes of Santana's second LP, Abraxas, presented uncut in its entirety.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Baby, What You Want Me To Do
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
The Rising Sons and Love were the first interracial rock bands to play the clubs on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. Unlike Love, which performed a hybrid of garage and folk rock, the Rising Sons were firmly rooted in traditional blues. Although the Sons scored a contract with Columbia Records, it was clear from the start that the label had no idea what to do with them. After recording an album's worth of material, the label shelved the entire project. After the band's demise three of the members, vocalist Taj Mahal, slide guitarist Ry Cooder and guitarist/vocalist Jessie Kinkaid, went on to have successful solo careers, prompting Columbia to finally release the recordings in 1992.
Artist: Vagrants
Title: Respect
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Didn't I just play this song last week? Feel free to check out last week's post to see.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: No Way Out
Source: CD: No Way Out
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the south bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy, producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). One example is the title track from their first LP, No Way Out. Although the song is credited to Cobb, there is an earlier recording of a jam credited to the band that is nearly identical to the tune's instrumental track.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Love Or Confusion
Source: LP: Are You Experienced
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
A little-known fact is that the original European version of Are You Experienced, in addition to having a different song lineup, consisted entirely of mono recordings. When Reprise got the rights to release the album in North America, its own engineers created new stereo mixes from the 4-track master tapes. As most of the instrumental tracks had already been mixed down to single tracks, the engineers found themselves doing things like putting the vocals all the way on one side of the mix, with reverb effects and guitar solos occupying the other side and all the instruments dead center. Such is the case with Love Or Confusion, with some really bizarre stereo panning thrown in at the end of the track. It's actually kind of fun to listen to with headphones on, as I did when I bought my first copy of the album on reel-to-reel tape (the tape deck was in the same room as the TV).
Artist: Monkees
Title: The Door Into Summer
Source: CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.
Writer: Douglas/Martin
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
Another one that I played last week. This time around, though, it's an alternate take, mixed in mono. Feel free to scroll down to last week's playlist for more info.
Artist: Cat Stevens
Title: Matthew And Son
Source: CD: The Very Best Of Cat Stevens (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Matthew And Son)
Writer: Cat Stevens
Label: A&M (original label: Deram)
Year: 1967
Although best known as one of the top singer-songwriters of the early to mid-1970s, Cat Stevens actually began recording in 1967, and charted several hits in the UK before achieving international fame. One of the earliest was the title track to his first LP, Matthew And Son. Although the song was released in the US on the Deram label, it failed to chart.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Termination
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Brann/Dorman
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Although most Iron Butterfly songs were written by keyboardist/vocalist Doug Ingle, there were a few exceptions. One of those is Termination, from the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, which was written by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman.
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Title: I Don't Know Why I Love You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Hunter/Hardaway/Wonder/Reiser
Label: Tamla
Year: 1969
The Rolling Stones had a minor but notable hit with their cover of Stevie Wonder's I Don't Know Why I Love You in the early 1970s. I thought I'd pull out a copy of the original version, which was intended as an A side but was eclipsed in popularity by the B side of the record, a tune called My Cherie Amour.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left the band. The single mix is a bit different from the album version, particularly at the end of the song, which originally ended with a tympani roll by drummer Ed Cassidy. The single version ends with the chord immediately preceding that roll.
Artist: Limey and the Yanks
Title: Guaranteed Love
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Paxton/Reed
Label: Rhino (original label: Star-Burst)
Year: 1966
Limey and the Yanks were an Orange County, California band that boasted an honest-to-dog British lead vocalist. Despite being kind of Zelig-like on the L.A. scene, they only recorded two singles. The first one, Guaranteed Love, was co-written by Gary Paxton, best known for his involvement in various novelty records, including the Hollywood Argyles' Alley Oop, which he co-wrote with Kim Fowley, and Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash, which was released on Paxton's own Garpax label.
Artist: Tradewinds
Title: Mind Excursion
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Excursions)
Writer: Anders/Poncia
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Kama-Sutra)
Year: 1966
The Trade Winds were a semi-studio band from New York that first scored in 1965 with the song "New York is a Lonely Town (When You're the Only Surfer Boy Around). A year later, they had their second and last hit, "Mind Excursion," which holds up as one of the best examples of "flower power" pop ever recorded.
Artist: Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Title: Eventually
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Alan Brackett
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1966 (unreleased until 2005)
The PBC was one of the more psychedelic of the local L.A. bands playing the various clubs along L.A.'s Sunset Strip during its golden years of 1965-68. As was the case with so many bands of that time and place, they never really got the opportunity to strut their stuff, although they did leave some decent tapes behind, such as Eventually, recorded (but not released) in 1966.
Artist: New Breed
Title: Want Ad Reader
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Floegel/Hullin/Phillips/Schmidt
Label: Rhino (original label: World United)
Year: 1966
The New Breed was Sacramento's most popular local band in the mid-1960s. Although they did not score any national hits they did launch the career of Timothy B. Schmidt, who later went on to replace Randy Meisner in Poco (and even later replaced Meisner in the Eagles). The rest of the New Breed didn't do too badly, either. After changing their name to Glad and recording an album for Dunhill (with Schmidt still a member), the group eventually became known as Redwing, recording five country-rock albums in the 70s.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Buddha
Source: LP: Volume II
Writer: Markley/Harris
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
Although Bob Markley's lyrics will never win any literary achievement awards, they are memorable in a campy sort of way. A perfect example is Buddha, which comes across as a childlike impression of a statue of a Buddha, with some adolescent innuendo thrown in.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
A while back a co-worker was asking me about what kind of music I played on the show. When I told him the show was called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era he immediately said "Oh, I bet you play White Rabbit a lot, huh?" As a matter of fact, I do, although not as much as some songs (see the post from show # 1032, in which I run down the list of which songs got played the most in 2010).
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: Fakin' It
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Fakin' It, originally released as a single in 1967, was a bit of a departure for Simon And Garfunkel, sounding more like British psychedelic music than American folk-rock. The track starts with an intro that is similar to the false ending to the Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever; midway through the record the tempo changes drastically for a short spoken word section that is reminiscent of the bridge in Traffic's Hole In My Shoe. The song was later included on the 1968 LP Bookends.
Artist: McKendree Spring
Title: For What Was Gained
Source: LP: Second Thoughts
Writer: Eric Andersen
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
McKendree Spring, from New York's Hudson Valley, was one of those groups that defied easy classification. Were they a folk-rock band? Sort of. A country band? Well, kinda. Using a mix of traditional acoustic instruments and electronic synthesizers, McKendree Spring was successful enough to issue several albums throughout the 1970s. I remember seeing them live in the early 1970s (on a bill with Jo Jo Gunne and Billy Preston) and performing an instrumental called How Can I Tell You I Love You When You're Sitting On My Face.
SITPE # 1139 Playlist (starts 9/29/11)
This week we have a lot of tracks from 1967 and a good number from 1968 as well, as proven by this first set. Yes, I know I started the show with the same track just three weeks ago, but some good things bear repeating. As I am running a bit late with these notes I'm doing a little copy/paste job for this track as well. Unfortunately (for these notes) there are a lot of tracks that I've never played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before this week, which explains why the notes weren't finished until Saturday.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Combination Of The 2
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Sam Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Everything about Big Brother And The Holding Company can be summed up by the title of the opening track for their Cheap Thrills album (and their usual show opener as well): Combination Of The 2. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Big Brother, with Janis Joplin on lead vocals, had an energy that neither Joplin or the band itself was able to duplicate once they parted company. On the song itself, the actual lead vocals for the verses are the work of Combination Of The 2's writer, bassist Sam Houston Andrew III, but those vocals are eclipsed by the layered non-verbal chorus that starts with Joplin then repeats itself with Houston providing a harmony line which leads to Joplin's promise to "rock you, sock you, gonna give it to you now". It was a promise that the group seldom failed to deliver on.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Don't Take It So Hard
Source: CD: The Legend Of Paul Revere (originally released on LP: Something Happening)
Writer: Mark Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Paul Revere and the Raiders had one of the most successful runs in rock history, starting with regional hit "Like Long Hair" in 1964 and a string of national top 40 hits from 1965-67. By 1968, however, the band's fortunes were changing. The revolutionary war outfits that had caught the public fancy on the Dick Clark-produced afternoon TV show Where The Action Is were now considered a bit childish, a perception that was not helped by the fact that the band was now appearing as the stars of a new Clark show called It's Happening, which ran on Saturday morning in a time slot traditionally considered kids territory. On the musical front there were problems as well. The band had ended its relationship with producer Terry Melcher, who had guided the group since they had signed with Columbia in 1964, co-writing much of the band's material. They found themselves in a position of being too old to jump on the bubble gum bandwagon that was dominating AM radio in 1968 and too pop-oriented for the new progressive rock radio stations popping up on the FM dial. Additionally, the band had come to rely more and more on studio musicians on their recordings, which did nothing to help their credibility with the rock press. A perfect example of what the band was sounding like in 1968 was Don't Take It So Hard, one of the first songs written by lead vocalist Mark Lindsay without input from Melcher. The song was released as a single and was the featured track on their Something Happening album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Born To Be Wild
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Mars Bonfire
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1968
Born To Be Wild's status as a counter-cultural anthem was cemented when it was chosen for the soundtrack of the movie Easy Rider. The popularity of both the song and the movie resulted in Steppenwolf becoming the all-time favorite band of bikers all over the world.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Straight Arrow
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Spirit was born when high school students and garage rockers Randy California, Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and John Locke started jamming with California's stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy. The result was one of the earliest examples of jazz-rock, although the jazz element would be toned down for later albums. Unlike the later fusion bands, Spirit's early songs tended to be sectional, with a main section that was straight rock often leading into a more late bop styled instrumental section reminiscent of Wes Montgomery's recordings. Vocalist Jay Ferguson wrote most of the band's early material, such as Straight Arrow from their 1968 debut album.
Artist: McCoys
Title: I Can't Explain It
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Feldman/Goldstein/Gottherer
Label: Bang
Year: 1965
The McCoys, led by guitarist Rick Derringer, got their big break when they were booked as the opening act for the Strangeloves, a group of New York songwriters that were passing themselves off as sons of an Australian sheepherder. The Strangeloves had already cut instrumental tracks for a future single and B side, but had held off on finishing and releasing the record so as not to undermine the chart action of their current hit, I Want Candy. The Strangeloves were so impressed with the McCoys, and Derringer in particular, that they used their influence with Bang Records to get the new band a contract. Derringer was flown out to New York to add vocals and guitar tracks to the unfinished Strangeloves recordings and the single, featuring I Can't Explain It on the B side was released under the McCoys name. The A side of that record was a song called Hang On Sloopy. Derringer went on to have a career that outlasted not only his bandmates, but the Strangeloves as well.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Take My Love
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos were one of the most visible bands to wear the label "psychedelic". In fact, much of what they are remembered for was what they wore onstage: electric suits. They were also one of the first bands to use the term "psychedelic" on a record, (their 1966 debut album was called Psychedelic Lollipop). Unlike some of their wilder jams such as Tobacco Road and a six-minute version of Gloria, Take My Love, from the band's sophomore effort Electric Comic Book, is essentially garage rock done in the Blues Magoos style. That style was defined by the combination of Farfisa organ and electric guitar, the latter depending heavily on reverb and vibrato bar to create an effect of notes soaring off into space.
Artist: Kak
Title: Lemonade Kid
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Kak)
Writer: Gary Lee Yoder
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1969
Kak was a group from Davis, California that was only around long enough to record one LP for Epic. That self-titled album did not make much of an impression commercially, and was soon out of print. Long after the band had split up, critics began to notice the album, and copies of the original LP are now highly-prized by collectors. Songs like the Lemonade Kid show that Kak had a sound that holds up better today than many of the other artists of the time. In fact, after listening to this track a couple times I went out and ordered a copy of the import CD reissue of the Kak album (which, being on back order, may take a while to come in).
Artist: Vagrants
Title: Respect
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Year: 1967
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Sounding a lot like the Rascals, the Vagrants were a popular Long Island band best remembered for being the group that had guitarist Leslie Weinstein in it. Weinstein would change his last name to West and record a solo album called Mountain before forming the band of the same name. This version of Respect is fairly faithful to the original Otis Redding version. Unfortunately for the Vagrants, Aretha Franklin would release her rearranged version of the song just a few weeks after the Vagrants, relegating their version of the tune (and the Vagrants themselves) to footnote status.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Let's Spend The Night Together
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
I seem to recall some TV show (Ed Sullivan, maybe?) making Mick Jagger change the words to "Let's Spend Some Time Together". I can't imagine anyone doing that to the Stones now.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: One Rainy Wish
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
In the summer of 1967 my dad (who was a Sergeant in the Air Force), got transferred to Lindsay Air Station in Weisbaden, Germany. The housing situation there being what it was, it was several weeks before the rest of us could join him, and during that time he went out and bought an Akai X-355 reel to reel tape recorder that a fellow GI had picked up in Japan. The Akai had small speakers built into it, but the best way to listen to it was through headphones. It would be another year before he would pick up a turntable, so I started buying pre-recorded reel to reel tapes. Two of the first three tapes I bought were Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love, both by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. As I was forced to share a bedroom with my little brother I made it a habit to sleep on the couch instead, usually with the headphones on listening to Axis: Bold As Love. I was blown away by the stereo effects on the album, which I attributed (somewhat correctly) to Hendrix, although I would find out years later that much of the credit belongs to engineer Eddie Kramer as well. One Rainy Wish, for example, starts off with all the instruments in the center channel (essentially a mono mix). After a few seconds of slow spacy intro the song gets into gear with vocals isolated all the way over to the left, with a guitar overdub on the opposite side to balance it out. As the song continues, things move back and forth from side to side, fading in and out at the same time. It was a hell of a way to drift off to sleep every night.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (this version released as 45 RPM single in 1968)
Writer: Joe and Willie Chambers
Label: Priority (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
One of the quintessential songs of the psychedelic era is the Chambers Brothers' classic Time Has Come Today. The song was originally recorded and issued as a single in 1966. The more familiar version heard here, however, was recorded in 1967 for the album The Time Has Come. The LP version of the song runs about eleven minutes, way too long for a 45 RPM record, so before releasing the song as a single for the second time, engineers at Columbia cut the song down to around 3 minutes. The edits proved so jarring that the record was recalled and a re-edited version, clocking in at 4:55 became the third and final single version of the song, hitting the charts in 1968.
Artist: Doors
Title: Horse Latitudes/Moonlight Ride
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Three-Four
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Bob Mosley
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
After a debut album that is usually ranked among the best records to come out of San Francisco during the psychedelic era, Moby Grape's second album, Wow, was generally considered a disappointment by the rock press. Part of the problem was that each member of the band was developing in a different direction, resulting in a less cohesive sound than the band's first album. Another problems was that at least in some cases it simply felt like the band was running out of ideas. Take the title of the Bob Mosely song on the album written in 3/4 time (generally known as waltz tempo). The rather unoriginal title of the song was three-four. This wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that other than it's time signature, (an unusual one for a rock song), there is really nothing memorable about the song itself.
Artist: Focus
Title: Hocus Pocus
Source: CD: Electric Seventies (originally released as 45 RPM single. Longer version on LP: Moving Waves)
Writer: Akkerman/Van Leer
Label: JCI/Warner Special Products (original label: Sire)
Year: 1973
The first hour finishes out with a track that is just pure fun. Hocus Pocus by Dutch band Focus is a couple years newer that most of the songs heard on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era, yet it has the type of simple structure coupled with high energy that was characteristic of many of the garage bands of the mid to late 60s. Both bandleader and keyboardist/vocalist/flautist Thijs Van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman have gone on to have successful careers, with Van Leer continuing to use to Focus name as late as 2006.
Artist: Johnny Rivers
Title: Secret Agent Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Imperial
Year: 1966
The sixties were a decade of fads and trends in the US, many of them imported from England. One of the most popular was the spy craze. Inspired by cold war politics and the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, TV producers began cranking out shows like I-Spy and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. One of the earliest of these shows was a British production called Danger Man, aired in the US under the name Secret Agent. The show starred Darrin McGavin as a (surprise) secret agent for a fictional version of MI6, the British intelligence agency, and enjoyed a successful run on both sides of the Atlantic. After a few seasons McGavin got tired of doing the show and Danger Man/Secret Agent was cancelled. Before that happened, however, Johnny Rivers scored a huge hit with the theme song written by Steve Barri and PF Sloan especially for the US airings of the show. McGavin would make another series called the Prisoner about a former secret agent that had been "retired" to a closed village in order to protect the secret knowledge he had accumulated over the years. Although it was never explicitly stated, it was assumed that his character was the same one he had played in the earlier show.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion on Reprise Records, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer: Capaldi/Wood/Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album, which was originally released in the US as Heaven Is In Your Mind.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Absolutely Positively
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
It's somewhat ironic that the song that best sums up what it means to be an American never made the US pop charts. Part of this may be that people are somewhat uncomfortable with the truth when it's in their faces; such was the case with the Music Machine's Absolutely Positively, with its refrain of "I want what I want when I want it." Of course the fact that the Music Machine's own manager made some bad promotional decisions that led to the band's songs being ignored on the most popular radio station in Los Angeles at a crucial time in their career probably had something to do with it as well.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Markley/Harris/Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When Rhino decided to revive the Nuggets concept in the 80s with a series of LPs, they really didn't do much documentation on stuff like what album the song was from or what year the song came out. Normally that's not a problem. This song, however, was included on two consecutive albums, one on a small indy label in 1966 and the other on Reprise in 1967, with a slightly longer running time. Since the running time of this track seems closer to the Reprise version, I'm assuming that's what it's from.
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: Mass #586
Source: CD: Present Tense
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Sundazed (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
In late 1966 Columbia Records staff producer Gary Usher started a project on his own time that would come to be known as Sagittarius. Usher had successfully made the transition from surf music to more progressive groups as the Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel and the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and was making a lot of money, but was feeling creatively stifled. During the surf era he had been as much a creator as producer, working with people like Terry Melcher on projects like the Hondells' recording of Little Honda. With the newer groups, however, he felt that the artists had plenty of creativity of their own, and that his function was to make sure the records got made on time and under budget. The final event that triggered the Sagittarius project was when he tried to get Chad And Jeremy to record a song called My World Fell Down. After the duo made it clear that they had no interesting in recording the tune, Usher brought in several friends to help him record the song himself. Those friends included vocalists Melcher, Bruce Johnston (who had just begun to perform with the Beach Boys as Brian Wilson's onstage replacement) and lead vocalist Glen Campbell, who had also performed with the Beach Boys. For the instrumental tracks Usher called in another group a friends, a group of studio musicians known collectively as the Wrecking Crew. Now there was never a band officially named the Wrecking Crew, yet it is estimated that they played on more hit records recorded in L.A. during the 60s than everyone else combined (bassist Carol Kaye, for instance, reportedly has over 10,000 recordings to her credit). Shortly after finishing My World Fell Down Usher began collaborating with Curt Boettcher, who had just finished producing his own band, the Ballroom. Working together, the two (along with arranger Keith Olsen, formerly of the Music Machine) turned what had been a spare time project into an eleven-song album. Present Tense, released in July of 1968, included several tracks that Boettcher had already been working on, in addition to an edited version of My World Fell Down. Additionally, several other tracks were recorded, but not released by the same lineup. One of these was Mass #586, recorded in November of 1967.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: (Ballad of the) Hip Death Goddess
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Ultimate Spinach was the brainchild of Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote and arranged all the band's material. Although the group had no hit singles, some tracks, such as (Ballad of the) Hip Death Goddess received a significant amount of airplay on progressive "underground" FM stations. The recording has in more recent years been used by movie producers looking to invoke a late 60s atmosphere.
Artist: Loading Zone
Title: The Bells
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: The Loading Zone)
Writer: Marks/Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1968
By 1968, with many of the bands that had characterized the San Francisco scene the previous year now touring nationally, a new type of band was starting to pack the various ballrooms and auditoriums throughout the Bay Area. These new bands were multi-ethnic, and often featured horn sections. One of the first of these new bands was the Loading Zone, featuring vocalist Linda Tillery. Like her more psychedelic predecessors, Tillery was not content to just sing the songs; she embellished them with screams and cackles, making for a truly unique sound. One example of this is the Loading Zone's somewhat psychotic remake of the early fifties Billy Ward and the Dominoes' classic the Bells. The blues never sounded quite like this before or since.
Artist: Cream
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Vinson/Chatmon (original) Chester Burnett (modern version)
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Throughout their existence British blues supergroup Cream recorded covers of blues classics. One of the best of these is Sitting On Top Of The World from the album Wheels Of Fire, which in its earliest form was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon and recorded by the Mississippi Shieks in 1930. Cream's cover uses the lyrics from the 1957 rewrite of the song by Chester Burnett, better know as Howlin' Wolf.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Since I've Been Loving You
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III
Writer: Page/Plant/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
The Yardbirds were Britain's premier electric blues band, featuring the guitar work of first Eric Clapton, then Jeff Beck and finally Jimmy Page (who had already established himself as an in-demand studio guitarist by the time he joined the band). As the 60s came to a close, the band began shedding members until Page found himself the only member left. With new vocalist Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John-Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, the group continued for a short while as the New Yardbirds before settling on a new name: Led Zeppelin. The group's repertoire was a mixture of original tunes and blues covers arranged to showcase the individual members' strengths as musicians. This mixture served as the template for the band's first two albums. By the third Led Zeppelin album the group was moving away from cover songs and from the blues in general. One notable exeception was Since I've Been Loving You, a slow original that is now considered one of the best electric blues songs ever written.
Artist: Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh
Title: Really
Source: CD: Super Session
Writer: Bloomfield/Kooper
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
Shortly after landing a position as staff producer for Columbia Records in New York, Al Kooper contacted some of his old friends about making a record made up entirely of studio jams. Among those contacted were guitarist Michael Bloomfield, who had just left the Electric Flag, bassist Harvey Brooks, who had worked with Bloomfield in the Butterfield Blues Band, and ace studio drummer "fast" Eddie Hoh. The result was the classic Super Session album, released in 1968. Bloomfield was unable to finish the project (Stephen Stills was called in to record side two of the LP), but before he left he laid down some of his best licks ever, such as those heard on Really.
Artist: Bill Withers
Title: Harlem
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Bill Withers
Label: Sussex
Year: 1971
Sometimes you come across a really cool tune that doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the show. In such cases I try to put the song either at the beginning or end of the second hour of the show. One such song is Harlem, a 1971 B side by Bill Withers that does reflect a type of social consciousness that was a hallmark of the late 1960s. Enjoy!
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Combination Of The 2
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Sam Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Everything about Big Brother And The Holding Company can be summed up by the title of the opening track for their Cheap Thrills album (and their usual show opener as well): Combination Of The 2. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Big Brother, with Janis Joplin on lead vocals, had an energy that neither Joplin or the band itself was able to duplicate once they parted company. On the song itself, the actual lead vocals for the verses are the work of Combination Of The 2's writer, bassist Sam Houston Andrew III, but those vocals are eclipsed by the layered non-verbal chorus that starts with Joplin then repeats itself with Houston providing a harmony line which leads to Joplin's promise to "rock you, sock you, gonna give it to you now". It was a promise that the group seldom failed to deliver on.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Don't Take It So Hard
Source: CD: The Legend Of Paul Revere (originally released on LP: Something Happening)
Writer: Mark Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Paul Revere and the Raiders had one of the most successful runs in rock history, starting with regional hit "Like Long Hair" in 1964 and a string of national top 40 hits from 1965-67. By 1968, however, the band's fortunes were changing. The revolutionary war outfits that had caught the public fancy on the Dick Clark-produced afternoon TV show Where The Action Is were now considered a bit childish, a perception that was not helped by the fact that the band was now appearing as the stars of a new Clark show called It's Happening, which ran on Saturday morning in a time slot traditionally considered kids territory. On the musical front there were problems as well. The band had ended its relationship with producer Terry Melcher, who had guided the group since they had signed with Columbia in 1964, co-writing much of the band's material. They found themselves in a position of being too old to jump on the bubble gum bandwagon that was dominating AM radio in 1968 and too pop-oriented for the new progressive rock radio stations popping up on the FM dial. Additionally, the band had come to rely more and more on studio musicians on their recordings, which did nothing to help their credibility with the rock press. A perfect example of what the band was sounding like in 1968 was Don't Take It So Hard, one of the first songs written by lead vocalist Mark Lindsay without input from Melcher. The song was released as a single and was the featured track on their Something Happening album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Born To Be Wild
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Mars Bonfire
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1968
Born To Be Wild's status as a counter-cultural anthem was cemented when it was chosen for the soundtrack of the movie Easy Rider. The popularity of both the song and the movie resulted in Steppenwolf becoming the all-time favorite band of bikers all over the world.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Straight Arrow
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Spirit was born when high school students and garage rockers Randy California, Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and John Locke started jamming with California's stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy. The result was one of the earliest examples of jazz-rock, although the jazz element would be toned down for later albums. Unlike the later fusion bands, Spirit's early songs tended to be sectional, with a main section that was straight rock often leading into a more late bop styled instrumental section reminiscent of Wes Montgomery's recordings. Vocalist Jay Ferguson wrote most of the band's early material, such as Straight Arrow from their 1968 debut album.
Artist: McCoys
Title: I Can't Explain It
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Feldman/Goldstein/Gottherer
Label: Bang
Year: 1965
The McCoys, led by guitarist Rick Derringer, got their big break when they were booked as the opening act for the Strangeloves, a group of New York songwriters that were passing themselves off as sons of an Australian sheepherder. The Strangeloves had already cut instrumental tracks for a future single and B side, but had held off on finishing and releasing the record so as not to undermine the chart action of their current hit, I Want Candy. The Strangeloves were so impressed with the McCoys, and Derringer in particular, that they used their influence with Bang Records to get the new band a contract. Derringer was flown out to New York to add vocals and guitar tracks to the unfinished Strangeloves recordings and the single, featuring I Can't Explain It on the B side was released under the McCoys name. The A side of that record was a song called Hang On Sloopy. Derringer went on to have a career that outlasted not only his bandmates, but the Strangeloves as well.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Take My Love
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos were one of the most visible bands to wear the label "psychedelic". In fact, much of what they are remembered for was what they wore onstage: electric suits. They were also one of the first bands to use the term "psychedelic" on a record, (their 1966 debut album was called Psychedelic Lollipop). Unlike some of their wilder jams such as Tobacco Road and a six-minute version of Gloria, Take My Love, from the band's sophomore effort Electric Comic Book, is essentially garage rock done in the Blues Magoos style. That style was defined by the combination of Farfisa organ and electric guitar, the latter depending heavily on reverb and vibrato bar to create an effect of notes soaring off into space.
Artist: Kak
Title: Lemonade Kid
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Kak)
Writer: Gary Lee Yoder
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1969
Kak was a group from Davis, California that was only around long enough to record one LP for Epic. That self-titled album did not make much of an impression commercially, and was soon out of print. Long after the band had split up, critics began to notice the album, and copies of the original LP are now highly-prized by collectors. Songs like the Lemonade Kid show that Kak had a sound that holds up better today than many of the other artists of the time. In fact, after listening to this track a couple times I went out and ordered a copy of the import CD reissue of the Kak album (which, being on back order, may take a while to come in).
Artist: Vagrants
Title: Respect
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Year: 1967
Writer: Otis Redding
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Sounding a lot like the Rascals, the Vagrants were a popular Long Island band best remembered for being the group that had guitarist Leslie Weinstein in it. Weinstein would change his last name to West and record a solo album called Mountain before forming the band of the same name. This version of Respect is fairly faithful to the original Otis Redding version. Unfortunately for the Vagrants, Aretha Franklin would release her rearranged version of the song just a few weeks after the Vagrants, relegating their version of the tune (and the Vagrants themselves) to footnote status.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Let's Spend The Night Together
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
I seem to recall some TV show (Ed Sullivan, maybe?) making Mick Jagger change the words to "Let's Spend Some Time Together". I can't imagine anyone doing that to the Stones now.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: One Rainy Wish
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
In the summer of 1967 my dad (who was a Sergeant in the Air Force), got transferred to Lindsay Air Station in Weisbaden, Germany. The housing situation there being what it was, it was several weeks before the rest of us could join him, and during that time he went out and bought an Akai X-355 reel to reel tape recorder that a fellow GI had picked up in Japan. The Akai had small speakers built into it, but the best way to listen to it was through headphones. It would be another year before he would pick up a turntable, so I started buying pre-recorded reel to reel tapes. Two of the first three tapes I bought were Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love, both by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. As I was forced to share a bedroom with my little brother I made it a habit to sleep on the couch instead, usually with the headphones on listening to Axis: Bold As Love. I was blown away by the stereo effects on the album, which I attributed (somewhat correctly) to Hendrix, although I would find out years later that much of the credit belongs to engineer Eddie Kramer as well. One Rainy Wish, for example, starts off with all the instruments in the center channel (essentially a mono mix). After a few seconds of slow spacy intro the song gets into gear with vocals isolated all the way over to the left, with a guitar overdub on the opposite side to balance it out. As the song continues, things move back and forth from side to side, fading in and out at the same time. It was a hell of a way to drift off to sleep every night.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (this version released as 45 RPM single in 1968)
Writer: Joe and Willie Chambers
Label: Priority (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
One of the quintessential songs of the psychedelic era is the Chambers Brothers' classic Time Has Come Today. The song was originally recorded and issued as a single in 1966. The more familiar version heard here, however, was recorded in 1967 for the album The Time Has Come. The LP version of the song runs about eleven minutes, way too long for a 45 RPM record, so before releasing the song as a single for the second time, engineers at Columbia cut the song down to around 3 minutes. The edits proved so jarring that the record was recalled and a re-edited version, clocking in at 4:55 became the third and final single version of the song, hitting the charts in 1968.
Artist: Doors
Title: Horse Latitudes/Moonlight Ride
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Three-Four
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Bob Mosley
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
After a debut album that is usually ranked among the best records to come out of San Francisco during the psychedelic era, Moby Grape's second album, Wow, was generally considered a disappointment by the rock press. Part of the problem was that each member of the band was developing in a different direction, resulting in a less cohesive sound than the band's first album. Another problems was that at least in some cases it simply felt like the band was running out of ideas. Take the title of the Bob Mosely song on the album written in 3/4 time (generally known as waltz tempo). The rather unoriginal title of the song was three-four. This wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that other than it's time signature, (an unusual one for a rock song), there is really nothing memorable about the song itself.
Artist: Focus
Title: Hocus Pocus
Source: CD: Electric Seventies (originally released as 45 RPM single. Longer version on LP: Moving Waves)
Writer: Akkerman/Van Leer
Label: JCI/Warner Special Products (original label: Sire)
Year: 1973
The first hour finishes out with a track that is just pure fun. Hocus Pocus by Dutch band Focus is a couple years newer that most of the songs heard on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era, yet it has the type of simple structure coupled with high energy that was characteristic of many of the garage bands of the mid to late 60s. Both bandleader and keyboardist/vocalist/flautist Thijs Van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman have gone on to have successful careers, with Van Leer continuing to use to Focus name as late as 2006.
Artist: Johnny Rivers
Title: Secret Agent Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Imperial
Year: 1966
The sixties were a decade of fads and trends in the US, many of them imported from England. One of the most popular was the spy craze. Inspired by cold war politics and the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, TV producers began cranking out shows like I-Spy and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. One of the earliest of these shows was a British production called Danger Man, aired in the US under the name Secret Agent. The show starred Darrin McGavin as a (surprise) secret agent for a fictional version of MI6, the British intelligence agency, and enjoyed a successful run on both sides of the Atlantic. After a few seasons McGavin got tired of doing the show and Danger Man/Secret Agent was cancelled. Before that happened, however, Johnny Rivers scored a huge hit with the theme song written by Steve Barri and PF Sloan especially for the US airings of the show. McGavin would make another series called the Prisoner about a former secret agent that had been "retired" to a closed village in order to protect the secret knowledge he had accumulated over the years. Although it was never explicitly stated, it was assumed that his character was the same one he had played in the earlier show.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion on Reprise Records, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer: Capaldi/Wood/Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album, which was originally released in the US as Heaven Is In Your Mind.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Absolutely Positively
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
It's somewhat ironic that the song that best sums up what it means to be an American never made the US pop charts. Part of this may be that people are somewhat uncomfortable with the truth when it's in their faces; such was the case with the Music Machine's Absolutely Positively, with its refrain of "I want what I want when I want it." Of course the fact that the Music Machine's own manager made some bad promotional decisions that led to the band's songs being ignored on the most popular radio station in Los Angeles at a crucial time in their career probably had something to do with it as well.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Markley/Harris/Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
When Rhino decided to revive the Nuggets concept in the 80s with a series of LPs, they really didn't do much documentation on stuff like what album the song was from or what year the song came out. Normally that's not a problem. This song, however, was included on two consecutive albums, one on a small indy label in 1966 and the other on Reprise in 1967, with a slightly longer running time. Since the running time of this track seems closer to the Reprise version, I'm assuming that's what it's from.
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: Mass #586
Source: CD: Present Tense
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Sundazed (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
In late 1966 Columbia Records staff producer Gary Usher started a project on his own time that would come to be known as Sagittarius. Usher had successfully made the transition from surf music to more progressive groups as the Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel and the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and was making a lot of money, but was feeling creatively stifled. During the surf era he had been as much a creator as producer, working with people like Terry Melcher on projects like the Hondells' recording of Little Honda. With the newer groups, however, he felt that the artists had plenty of creativity of their own, and that his function was to make sure the records got made on time and under budget. The final event that triggered the Sagittarius project was when he tried to get Chad And Jeremy to record a song called My World Fell Down. After the duo made it clear that they had no interesting in recording the tune, Usher brought in several friends to help him record the song himself. Those friends included vocalists Melcher, Bruce Johnston (who had just begun to perform with the Beach Boys as Brian Wilson's onstage replacement) and lead vocalist Glen Campbell, who had also performed with the Beach Boys. For the instrumental tracks Usher called in another group a friends, a group of studio musicians known collectively as the Wrecking Crew. Now there was never a band officially named the Wrecking Crew, yet it is estimated that they played on more hit records recorded in L.A. during the 60s than everyone else combined (bassist Carol Kaye, for instance, reportedly has over 10,000 recordings to her credit). Shortly after finishing My World Fell Down Usher began collaborating with Curt Boettcher, who had just finished producing his own band, the Ballroom. Working together, the two (along with arranger Keith Olsen, formerly of the Music Machine) turned what had been a spare time project into an eleven-song album. Present Tense, released in July of 1968, included several tracks that Boettcher had already been working on, in addition to an edited version of My World Fell Down. Additionally, several other tracks were recorded, but not released by the same lineup. One of these was Mass #586, recorded in November of 1967.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: (Ballad of the) Hip Death Goddess
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Ultimate Spinach was the brainchild of Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote and arranged all the band's material. Although the group had no hit singles, some tracks, such as (Ballad of the) Hip Death Goddess received a significant amount of airplay on progressive "underground" FM stations. The recording has in more recent years been used by movie producers looking to invoke a late 60s atmosphere.
Artist: Loading Zone
Title: The Bells
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: The Loading Zone)
Writer: Marks/Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1968
By 1968, with many of the bands that had characterized the San Francisco scene the previous year now touring nationally, a new type of band was starting to pack the various ballrooms and auditoriums throughout the Bay Area. These new bands were multi-ethnic, and often featured horn sections. One of the first of these new bands was the Loading Zone, featuring vocalist Linda Tillery. Like her more psychedelic predecessors, Tillery was not content to just sing the songs; she embellished them with screams and cackles, making for a truly unique sound. One example of this is the Loading Zone's somewhat psychotic remake of the early fifties Billy Ward and the Dominoes' classic the Bells. The blues never sounded quite like this before or since.
Artist: Cream
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Vinson/Chatmon (original) Chester Burnett (modern version)
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Throughout their existence British blues supergroup Cream recorded covers of blues classics. One of the best of these is Sitting On Top Of The World from the album Wheels Of Fire, which in its earliest form was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon and recorded by the Mississippi Shieks in 1930. Cream's cover uses the lyrics from the 1957 rewrite of the song by Chester Burnett, better know as Howlin' Wolf.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Since I've Been Loving You
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III
Writer: Page/Plant/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
The Yardbirds were Britain's premier electric blues band, featuring the guitar work of first Eric Clapton, then Jeff Beck and finally Jimmy Page (who had already established himself as an in-demand studio guitarist by the time he joined the band). As the 60s came to a close, the band began shedding members until Page found himself the only member left. With new vocalist Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John-Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, the group continued for a short while as the New Yardbirds before settling on a new name: Led Zeppelin. The group's repertoire was a mixture of original tunes and blues covers arranged to showcase the individual members' strengths as musicians. This mixture served as the template for the band's first two albums. By the third Led Zeppelin album the group was moving away from cover songs and from the blues in general. One notable exeception was Since I've Been Loving You, a slow original that is now considered one of the best electric blues songs ever written.
Artist: Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh
Title: Really
Source: CD: Super Session
Writer: Bloomfield/Kooper
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
Shortly after landing a position as staff producer for Columbia Records in New York, Al Kooper contacted some of his old friends about making a record made up entirely of studio jams. Among those contacted were guitarist Michael Bloomfield, who had just left the Electric Flag, bassist Harvey Brooks, who had worked with Bloomfield in the Butterfield Blues Band, and ace studio drummer "fast" Eddie Hoh. The result was the classic Super Session album, released in 1968. Bloomfield was unable to finish the project (Stephen Stills was called in to record side two of the LP), but before he left he laid down some of his best licks ever, such as those heard on Really.
Artist: Bill Withers
Title: Harlem
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Bill Withers
Label: Sussex
Year: 1971
Sometimes you come across a really cool tune that doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the show. In such cases I try to put the song either at the beginning or end of the second hour of the show. One such song is Harlem, a 1971 B side by Bill Withers that does reflect a type of social consciousness that was a hallmark of the late 1960s. Enjoy!
SITPE # 1138 Playlist (starts 9/22/11)
This week's first set is a progression through the years 1965-67 that starts in Liverpool and ends up in L.A., with a stop off in the Chicago suburbs.
Artist: Beatles
Title: I've Just Seen A Face
Source: CD: Help! (orginally released in US on LP: Rubber Soul)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
Saying that I've Just Seen A Face was originally released as the opening track of Rubber Soul is a sort of half-truth. The song was indeed the first track on side one of that album, but only in the US. I've Just Seen A Face had actually been one of several songs that were on side two of the British version of the album Help! None of the songs on that side of the LP were from the movie itself, and Dave Dexter, Jr., who was in charge of the Beatles' Capitol Records releases, decided to hold back the song and include it on their next album, Rubber Soul (replacing Drive My Car, which would not be released on a US LP until mid-1966, when Yesterday...and Today came out).
Artist: Shadows Of Knight
Title: It Always Happens That Way
Source: CD: Dark Sides (originally released on LP: Gloria)
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The Shadows of Knight were the epitomy of what being a garage band was all about. Inspired by the Beatles and Rolling Stones, but also heavily influenced by the legendary blues artists in nearby Chicago, this group of suburban white kids were musically as raw as any of their contemporaries, and had a local reputation as bad boys (singer Jim Sohns being banned from several area high school campuses). The band originally called themselves the Shadows, but after signing with local label Dunwich they added the Knights part (after their high school sports teams' name) just in case there was another band of Shadows already recording. They scored a huge national hit when they recorded a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria (with the line "she comes up to my room" replaced with "she calls out my name") and got airplay on radio stations that were afraid to play the Them original. The Shadows of Knight recorded a pair of LPs in 1966, the first named for the hit Gloria, the second called Back Door Men (an obvious Chicago blues reference). Both albums had a generous dose of blues covers done up in a raunchy garage style, as well as a smattering of original tunes. It Always Happens That Way, from the Gloria album, is an example of the latter, written by Sohns and guitarist turned bassist Warren Rogers.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it). The Moog itself had been programmed by Paul Beaver especially for this recording.
Our second set features bands from the San Francisco Bay area.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: 8:05
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Moby Grape was formed out of the ashes of a band called the Frantics, which featured the songwriting team of guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson. The two continued to write songs together in the new band. One of those was 8:05, one of five songs on the first Moby Grape album to be released simultaneously as singles.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Superbird
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Country Joe and the Fish, from Berkeley, California, were one of the first rock bands to incorporate political satire into their music. Their I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag is one of the most famous protest songs ever written. Superbird is even heavier on the satire than the Rag. The song, from the band's debut LP, puts president Lyndon Johnson, whose wife was known as "Ladybird", in the role of a comic book superhero.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Quicksilver Girl
Source: CD: Sailor
Writer: Steve Miller
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
Steve Miller moved to San Francisco from Chicago and was reportedly struck by what he saw as a much lower standard of musicianship in the bay area than in the windy city. Miller's response was to form a band that would conform to Chicago standards. The result was the Steve Miller Band, one of the most successful of the San Francisco bands, although much of that success would not come until the mid-1970s, after several personnel changes. One feature of the Miller band is that it featured multiple lead vocalists, depending on who wrote the song. Miller himself wrote and sings on Quicksilver Girl, from the band's second LP, Sailor.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: No Way Out
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as a 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (originally released on Tower)
Year: 1967
The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the south bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy, producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). The title track of No Way Out is credited to Cobb, but in reality is a fleshing out of a jam the band had previously recorded, but never released.
Ton finish out the first segment we have a pair of songs with attitude.
Artist: Astronauts
Title: Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Boyce/Venet
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1965
The Astronauts were formed in the early 60s in Boulder, Colorado, and were one of the few surf bands to come from a landrocked state. They had a minor hit with an instrumental called Baja during the height of surf's popularity, but were never able to duplicate that success. By 1965 they had started to move away from surf music, adding vocals and taking on more of a garage-punk sound. What caught my attention when I first ran across this promo single in a commercial radio station throwaway pile was the song's title. Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day, written by Tommy Boyce and producer Steve Venet, was featured on the Monkees TV show and was included on their 1966 debut album. This 1965 Astronauts version of the tune has a lot more attitude than the Monkees version. Surprisingly the song didn't go anywhere, despite being on the biggest record label in the world (at that time), RCA Victor.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: CD: Best of the Original Mono Recordings
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
After upsetting folk purists (and gaining mainstream success in the process) by adding rock instrumentation to his music in 1965, Dylan pretty much had a license to do whatever he wanted in 1966. It was a good thing, too; otherwise this track would have suffered the same fate as the Byrds' Eight Miles High released later that year. Since he was Bob Dylan, however, even Bill Drake (the most powerful man in top 40 radio), could not get this one banned for being a drug song.
Our first artist set of the week features the Byrds, the most successful of the so-called folk-rock bands.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I See You
Source: LP: Fifth Dimension
Writer: McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The Byrds third LP, Fifth Dimension, was the first without founding member Gene Clark. As Clark was the group's primary songwriter, this left a gap that was soon filled by both David Crosby and Jim (Roger) McGuinn, who collaborated on songs like I See You.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
Source: LP: Mr. Tambourine Man
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
A solid example of Gene Clark's songwriting, I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better was the first Byrds song not written by Bob Dylan to get any airplay.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Fifth Dimension
Writer: Clark/McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Gene Clark's final contribution to the Byrds was his collaboration with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, Eight Miles High. Despite a newsletter from the most powerful man in top 40 radio, Bill Drake, advising stations not to play this "drug song", the song managed to hit the top 20 in 1966. The band members themselves claimed that Eight Miles High was not a drug song at all, but was instead referring to the experience of travelling by air. In fact, it was Gene Clark's fear of flying that led to his leaving the Byrds.
Next up, a pair of 1967 tunes released on the Reprise label, which had been recently sold to Warner Brothers by founder Frank Sinatra.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less)
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
For a follow-up to the hit single I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), producer Dave Hassinger chose another Annette Tucker song (co-written by Jill Jones) called Get Me To The World On Time. This was probably the best choice from the album tracks available, but Hassinger may have made a mistake by choosing Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less) as the B side. That song, written by the same Tucker/Mantz team that wrote I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) could quite possibly been a hit single in its own right if it had been issued as an A side. I guess we'll never know for sure.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: The Wind Cries Mary
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The US version of Are You Experienced was significantly different than its UK counterpart. For one thing, the original UK album was only available in mono. For the US version, engineers at Reprise Records, working from the original multi-track masters, created all new stereo mixes of about two-thirds of the album, along with all three of the singles that the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released in the UK. The third of these singles was The Wind Cries Mary, which had hit the British charts in February of 1967.
I guess you would call this next set an even progression, as runs from 1964 to 1968, skipping the odd-numbered years.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby)
Source: LP: Here They Come!
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Columbia
Year: 1964
The first rock band signed to Columbia Records was Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had been discovered by none other than Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame. Clark, in fact, was so impressed with the group that he signed them up as house band for his new afternoon TV show, Where The Action Is. Meanwhile Columbia, having no experience in how to market a rock band, turned to producer Terry Melcher, who soon established a symbiotic relationship with the group, co-writing several of their songs with vocalist/saxophonist Mark Lindsay. Melcher, who was well-connected in L.A., also brought in songs from outside writers, such as the songwriting team of Steve Barri and PF Sloan, who would go on to become the driving force behind the Grass Roots. One early Sloan/Barri work was These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby), which appeared on the group's first LP, Here They Come!
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: Somewhere They Can't Find Me
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Simon and Garfunkel's success as a folk-rock duo was actually due to the unauthorized actions of producer John Simon, who, after working on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album, got Dylan's band to add new tracks to the song Sound of Silence. The song had been recorded as an acoustic number for the album Wednesday Morning 3AM, which had, by 1966, been deleted from the Columbia catalog. The new version of the song was sent out to select radio stations, and got such positive response that it was released as a single, eventually making the top 10. Meanwhile, Paul Simon, who had since moved to London and recorded an album called the Paul Simon Songbook, found himself returning to the US and reuniting with Art Garfunkel. Armed with an array of quality studio musicians they set about making their first electric album, Sounds of Silence. The song Somewhere They Can't Find Me was one of the new songs recorded for that album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
Since I played this as part of a Steppenwolf set last week, I'm just going to paste my comments from last week's blog. Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the late 60s.
The first segment of hour #2 this week is dominated by a set from the Amboy Dukes, a band that's never had a set played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. First, though, we have a well-known hit from the Lone Star state (sort of).
Artist: Five Americans
Title: Western Union
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Rabon/Ezell/Durrell
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1967
One of the biggest hits of 1967 came from a band formed at Southeastern State College in Durant Oklahoma, although they had their greatest success working out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Having already scored a minor hit with I See The Light the previous year, the Five Americans hit the #5 spot on the national charts with Western Union, featuring a distinctive opening organ riff designed to evoke the sound of a telegraph receiver picking up Morse code.
When it comes to music, the city of Detroit is synonymous with Motown Records. There were, however, several other successful artists to come from the Motor City, including the Capitols, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, the Bob Seger System, and the subject of this week's second artist set, the Amboy Dukes. The Dukes first started getting attention with their recording of Baby Please Don't Go (which was featured on Lenny Kaye's original Nuggets compilation), and had their greatest commercial success in 1968 with the psychedelic anthem Journey To The Center Of The Mind. By 1970, they were being billed as the Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent, and were dominated by both Nugent's songwriting and his flashy guitar work. Both tracks from the Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom album this week feature guitar solos by Nugent. In between the two we have the aforementioned Journey To The Center Of The Mind, which, although it is more of a group effort, still features strong guitar work from Nugent.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Children Of The Woods
Source: LP: Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom
Writer: Ted Nugent
Label: Polydor
Year: 1970
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Non-Conformist Wildebeast Man/Today's Lesson
Source: LP: Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom
Writer: Ted Nugent
Label: Polydor
Year: 1970
To finish out the segment we have a pair of tracks from British bands.
Artist: Cream
Title: We're Going Wrong
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Jack Bruce
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
On Fresh Cream the slowest-paced tracks were bluesy numbers like Sleepy Time Time. For the group's second LP, Disreali Gears, bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce came up with We're Going Wrong, a song with a haunting melody supplemented by some of Eric Clapton's best guitar fills. Ginger Baker put away his drumsticks in favor of mallets, giving the song an otherworldly feel.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Dancing In The Streets
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Writer: Stevenson/Gaye
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Unlike later Kinks albums, the band's early LPs featured several cover songs, including this version of the Marvin Gaye-penned Dancing In The Streets, which was a hit for Martha and the Vandellas.
Our final segment this week features a progression though the years and a set from 1966, along with a short Beacon Street Union track to finish out the show.
Artist: Them
Title: The Moth
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Writer: Lane/Pulley
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a career as a solo artist, his old band decided to head back to Ireland and recruit Kenny McDowell for lead vocals. Them then moved out to California and hooked up with Tower Records, which was already getting known for psychedelic garage bands such as the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband, as well as for soundtrack albums for cheapie teen exploitation flicks such as Riot on Sunset Strip and Wild in the Streets. The 1968 LP Time Out! Time In! For Them was the second of two psychedelic albums the group cut for Tower before moving into harder rock and another label.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: When I Go Sailin' By
Source: CD: The Charlatans
Writer: Richard Olsen
Label: One Way (original label: Philips)
Year: 1969
Despite being one of the original San Francisco "Hippy" bands, the Charlatans were not able to score a record contract until 1969. By then the group had gone through several personnel changes, losing much of their songwriting talent, and were no longer considered relevant by their former admirers. One of the remaining original members was Richard Olsen, who penned the song When I Go Sailin' By.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: Tongue In Cheek
Source: LP: Spaceship Earth
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Liberty
Year: 1970
Sugarloaf was a band from Denver, Colorado, that took its name from nearby Sugarloaf mountain. The band scored a big hit in early 1970 with Green-Eyed Lady. Their second LP, Spaceship Earth, had a new guitarist, Robert Yeazel, who wrote their next single, Tongue In Cheek. Unfortunately, the single version of the song cut out the best parts, and achieved only minor chart success. The LP version of Tongue In Cheek, heard here, is highlighted by what is quite possibly the best rock organ solo ever recorded. The guitar solos from Yeazel and co-founder Bob Webber aren't too shabby, either. I strongly suggest turning up the volume when the solos start. If you've never heard this track before you're in for a treat.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: It's No Secret
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The first Jefferson Airplane song to get played on the radio was not Somebody To Love. Rather, it was It's No Secret, from the first Airplane album, that got extensive airplay, albeit only in the San Francisco Bay area. Still, the song was featured on a 1966 Bell Telephone Hour special on Haight Ashbury that introduced a national TV audience to what was happening out on the coast and may have just touched off the exodus to San Francisco the following year.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Go And Say Goodbye
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield and as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1966
After failing his audition for the Monkees, Stephen Stills met up with his former bandmate Neil Young, and, along with Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin formed the Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Their first single was a Young tune, Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, sung by Furay. The B side of that record, Stills's Go And Say Goodbye, is one of the first modern country-rock songs ever recorded.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Good Bye, My Love
Source: CD: Hey Joe
Writer: unknown
Label: One Way (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that the members were all native L.A.ins. Formed by members of a fraternity at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. After a series of moderately successful regional singles, the group hit it big with their fuzz-tone highlighted fast version of Hey Joe. The success of Hey Joe led to their first LP, which showed a band that seemed unsure whether it was garage-rock or folk-rock. Good Bye, My Love, is an example of the latter.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Speed Kills
Source: CD: The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union
Writer: Ulaky/Wright
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
Boston's Beacon Street Union had an interesting mix of tunes on their debut LP. Despite the title, Speed Kills is not an anti-drug song. Rather, the song addresses the frenetic pace of life the band members had encountered since relocating to New York City shortly before recording The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union.
Artist: Beatles
Title: I've Just Seen A Face
Source: CD: Help! (orginally released in US on LP: Rubber Soul)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
Saying that I've Just Seen A Face was originally released as the opening track of Rubber Soul is a sort of half-truth. The song was indeed the first track on side one of that album, but only in the US. I've Just Seen A Face had actually been one of several songs that were on side two of the British version of the album Help! None of the songs on that side of the LP were from the movie itself, and Dave Dexter, Jr., who was in charge of the Beatles' Capitol Records releases, decided to hold back the song and include it on their next album, Rubber Soul (replacing Drive My Car, which would not be released on a US LP until mid-1966, when Yesterday...and Today came out).
Artist: Shadows Of Knight
Title: It Always Happens That Way
Source: CD: Dark Sides (originally released on LP: Gloria)
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The Shadows of Knight were the epitomy of what being a garage band was all about. Inspired by the Beatles and Rolling Stones, but also heavily influenced by the legendary blues artists in nearby Chicago, this group of suburban white kids were musically as raw as any of their contemporaries, and had a local reputation as bad boys (singer Jim Sohns being banned from several area high school campuses). The band originally called themselves the Shadows, but after signing with local label Dunwich they added the Knights part (after their high school sports teams' name) just in case there was another band of Shadows already recording. They scored a huge national hit when they recorded a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria (with the line "she comes up to my room" replaced with "she calls out my name") and got airplay on radio stations that were afraid to play the Them original. The Shadows of Knight recorded a pair of LPs in 1966, the first named for the hit Gloria, the second called Back Door Men (an obvious Chicago blues reference). Both albums had a generous dose of blues covers done up in a raunchy garage style, as well as a smattering of original tunes. It Always Happens That Way, from the Gloria album, is an example of the latter, written by Sohns and guitarist turned bassist Warren Rogers.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it). The Moog itself had been programmed by Paul Beaver especially for this recording.
Our second set features bands from the San Francisco Bay area.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: 8:05
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Moby Grape was formed out of the ashes of a band called the Frantics, which featured the songwriting team of guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson. The two continued to write songs together in the new band. One of those was 8:05, one of five songs on the first Moby Grape album to be released simultaneously as singles.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Superbird
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Country Joe and the Fish, from Berkeley, California, were one of the first rock bands to incorporate political satire into their music. Their I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag is one of the most famous protest songs ever written. Superbird is even heavier on the satire than the Rag. The song, from the band's debut LP, puts president Lyndon Johnson, whose wife was known as "Ladybird", in the role of a comic book superhero.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Quicksilver Girl
Source: CD: Sailor
Writer: Steve Miller
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
Steve Miller moved to San Francisco from Chicago and was reportedly struck by what he saw as a much lower standard of musicianship in the bay area than in the windy city. Miller's response was to form a band that would conform to Chicago standards. The result was the Steve Miller Band, one of the most successful of the San Francisco bands, although much of that success would not come until the mid-1970s, after several personnel changes. One feature of the Miller band is that it featured multiple lead vocalists, depending on who wrote the song. Miller himself wrote and sings on Quicksilver Girl, from the band's second LP, Sailor.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: No Way Out
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as a 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (originally released on Tower)
Year: 1967
The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the south bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy, producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). The title track of No Way Out is credited to Cobb, but in reality is a fleshing out of a jam the band had previously recorded, but never released.
Ton finish out the first segment we have a pair of songs with attitude.
Artist: Astronauts
Title: Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Boyce/Venet
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1965
The Astronauts were formed in the early 60s in Boulder, Colorado, and were one of the few surf bands to come from a landrocked state. They had a minor hit with an instrumental called Baja during the height of surf's popularity, but were never able to duplicate that success. By 1965 they had started to move away from surf music, adding vocals and taking on more of a garage-punk sound. What caught my attention when I first ran across this promo single in a commercial radio station throwaway pile was the song's title. Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day, written by Tommy Boyce and producer Steve Venet, was featured on the Monkees TV show and was included on their 1966 debut album. This 1965 Astronauts version of the tune has a lot more attitude than the Monkees version. Surprisingly the song didn't go anywhere, despite being on the biggest record label in the world (at that time), RCA Victor.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: CD: Best of the Original Mono Recordings
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
After upsetting folk purists (and gaining mainstream success in the process) by adding rock instrumentation to his music in 1965, Dylan pretty much had a license to do whatever he wanted in 1966. It was a good thing, too; otherwise this track would have suffered the same fate as the Byrds' Eight Miles High released later that year. Since he was Bob Dylan, however, even Bill Drake (the most powerful man in top 40 radio), could not get this one banned for being a drug song.
Our first artist set of the week features the Byrds, the most successful of the so-called folk-rock bands.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I See You
Source: LP: Fifth Dimension
Writer: McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The Byrds third LP, Fifth Dimension, was the first without founding member Gene Clark. As Clark was the group's primary songwriter, this left a gap that was soon filled by both David Crosby and Jim (Roger) McGuinn, who collaborated on songs like I See You.
Artist: Byrds
Title: I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
Source: LP: Mr. Tambourine Man
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
A solid example of Gene Clark's songwriting, I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better was the first Byrds song not written by Bob Dylan to get any airplay.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Fifth Dimension
Writer: Clark/McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Gene Clark's final contribution to the Byrds was his collaboration with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, Eight Miles High. Despite a newsletter from the most powerful man in top 40 radio, Bill Drake, advising stations not to play this "drug song", the song managed to hit the top 20 in 1966. The band members themselves claimed that Eight Miles High was not a drug song at all, but was instead referring to the experience of travelling by air. In fact, it was Gene Clark's fear of flying that led to his leaving the Byrds.
Next up, a pair of 1967 tunes released on the Reprise label, which had been recently sold to Warner Brothers by founder Frank Sinatra.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less)
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
For a follow-up to the hit single I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), producer Dave Hassinger chose another Annette Tucker song (co-written by Jill Jones) called Get Me To The World On Time. This was probably the best choice from the album tracks available, but Hassinger may have made a mistake by choosing Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less) as the B side. That song, written by the same Tucker/Mantz team that wrote I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) could quite possibly been a hit single in its own right if it had been issued as an A side. I guess we'll never know for sure.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: The Wind Cries Mary
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The US version of Are You Experienced was significantly different than its UK counterpart. For one thing, the original UK album was only available in mono. For the US version, engineers at Reprise Records, working from the original multi-track masters, created all new stereo mixes of about two-thirds of the album, along with all three of the singles that the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released in the UK. The third of these singles was The Wind Cries Mary, which had hit the British charts in February of 1967.
I guess you would call this next set an even progression, as runs from 1964 to 1968, skipping the odd-numbered years.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby)
Source: LP: Here They Come!
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Columbia
Year: 1964
The first rock band signed to Columbia Records was Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had been discovered by none other than Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame. Clark, in fact, was so impressed with the group that he signed them up as house band for his new afternoon TV show, Where The Action Is. Meanwhile Columbia, having no experience in how to market a rock band, turned to producer Terry Melcher, who soon established a symbiotic relationship with the group, co-writing several of their songs with vocalist/saxophonist Mark Lindsay. Melcher, who was well-connected in L.A., also brought in songs from outside writers, such as the songwriting team of Steve Barri and PF Sloan, who would go on to become the driving force behind the Grass Roots. One early Sloan/Barri work was These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby), which appeared on the group's first LP, Here They Come!
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: Somewhere They Can't Find Me
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Simon and Garfunkel's success as a folk-rock duo was actually due to the unauthorized actions of producer John Simon, who, after working on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album, got Dylan's band to add new tracks to the song Sound of Silence. The song had been recorded as an acoustic number for the album Wednesday Morning 3AM, which had, by 1966, been deleted from the Columbia catalog. The new version of the song was sent out to select radio stations, and got such positive response that it was released as a single, eventually making the top 10. Meanwhile, Paul Simon, who had since moved to London and recorded an album called the Paul Simon Songbook, found himself returning to the US and reuniting with Art Garfunkel. Armed with an array of quality studio musicians they set about making their first electric album, Sounds of Silence. The song Somewhere They Can't Find Me was one of the new songs recorded for that album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
Since I played this as part of a Steppenwolf set last week, I'm just going to paste my comments from last week's blog. Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the late 60s.
The first segment of hour #2 this week is dominated by a set from the Amboy Dukes, a band that's never had a set played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. First, though, we have a well-known hit from the Lone Star state (sort of).
Artist: Five Americans
Title: Western Union
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Rabon/Ezell/Durrell
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1967
One of the biggest hits of 1967 came from a band formed at Southeastern State College in Durant Oklahoma, although they had their greatest success working out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Having already scored a minor hit with I See The Light the previous year, the Five Americans hit the #5 spot on the national charts with Western Union, featuring a distinctive opening organ riff designed to evoke the sound of a telegraph receiver picking up Morse code.
When it comes to music, the city of Detroit is synonymous with Motown Records. There were, however, several other successful artists to come from the Motor City, including the Capitols, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, the Bob Seger System, and the subject of this week's second artist set, the Amboy Dukes. The Dukes first started getting attention with their recording of Baby Please Don't Go (which was featured on Lenny Kaye's original Nuggets compilation), and had their greatest commercial success in 1968 with the psychedelic anthem Journey To The Center Of The Mind. By 1970, they were being billed as the Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent, and were dominated by both Nugent's songwriting and his flashy guitar work. Both tracks from the Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom album this week feature guitar solos by Nugent. In between the two we have the aforementioned Journey To The Center Of The Mind, which, although it is more of a group effort, still features strong guitar work from Nugent.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Children Of The Woods
Source: LP: Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom
Writer: Ted Nugent
Label: Polydor
Year: 1970
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Non-Conformist Wildebeast Man/Today's Lesson
Source: LP: Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom
Writer: Ted Nugent
Label: Polydor
Year: 1970
To finish out the segment we have a pair of tracks from British bands.
Artist: Cream
Title: We're Going Wrong
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Jack Bruce
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
On Fresh Cream the slowest-paced tracks were bluesy numbers like Sleepy Time Time. For the group's second LP, Disreali Gears, bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce came up with We're Going Wrong, a song with a haunting melody supplemented by some of Eric Clapton's best guitar fills. Ginger Baker put away his drumsticks in favor of mallets, giving the song an otherworldly feel.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Dancing In The Streets
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Writer: Stevenson/Gaye
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Unlike later Kinks albums, the band's early LPs featured several cover songs, including this version of the Marvin Gaye-penned Dancing In The Streets, which was a hit for Martha and the Vandellas.
Our final segment this week features a progression though the years and a set from 1966, along with a short Beacon Street Union track to finish out the show.
Artist: Them
Title: The Moth
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Writer: Lane/Pulley
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a career as a solo artist, his old band decided to head back to Ireland and recruit Kenny McDowell for lead vocals. Them then moved out to California and hooked up with Tower Records, which was already getting known for psychedelic garage bands such as the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband, as well as for soundtrack albums for cheapie teen exploitation flicks such as Riot on Sunset Strip and Wild in the Streets. The 1968 LP Time Out! Time In! For Them was the second of two psychedelic albums the group cut for Tower before moving into harder rock and another label.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: When I Go Sailin' By
Source: CD: The Charlatans
Writer: Richard Olsen
Label: One Way (original label: Philips)
Year: 1969
Despite being one of the original San Francisco "Hippy" bands, the Charlatans were not able to score a record contract until 1969. By then the group had gone through several personnel changes, losing much of their songwriting talent, and were no longer considered relevant by their former admirers. One of the remaining original members was Richard Olsen, who penned the song When I Go Sailin' By.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: Tongue In Cheek
Source: LP: Spaceship Earth
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Liberty
Year: 1970
Sugarloaf was a band from Denver, Colorado, that took its name from nearby Sugarloaf mountain. The band scored a big hit in early 1970 with Green-Eyed Lady. Their second LP, Spaceship Earth, had a new guitarist, Robert Yeazel, who wrote their next single, Tongue In Cheek. Unfortunately, the single version of the song cut out the best parts, and achieved only minor chart success. The LP version of Tongue In Cheek, heard here, is highlighted by what is quite possibly the best rock organ solo ever recorded. The guitar solos from Yeazel and co-founder Bob Webber aren't too shabby, either. I strongly suggest turning up the volume when the solos start. If you've never heard this track before you're in for a treat.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: It's No Secret
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The first Jefferson Airplane song to get played on the radio was not Somebody To Love. Rather, it was It's No Secret, from the first Airplane album, that got extensive airplay, albeit only in the San Francisco Bay area. Still, the song was featured on a 1966 Bell Telephone Hour special on Haight Ashbury that introduced a national TV audience to what was happening out on the coast and may have just touched off the exodus to San Francisco the following year.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Go And Say Goodbye
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield and as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1966
After failing his audition for the Monkees, Stephen Stills met up with his former bandmate Neil Young, and, along with Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin formed the Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Their first single was a Young tune, Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, sung by Furay. The B side of that record, Stills's Go And Say Goodbye, is one of the first modern country-rock songs ever recorded.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Good Bye, My Love
Source: CD: Hey Joe
Writer: unknown
Label: One Way (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that the members were all native L.A.ins. Formed by members of a fraternity at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. After a series of moderately successful regional singles, the group hit it big with their fuzz-tone highlighted fast version of Hey Joe. The success of Hey Joe led to their first LP, which showed a band that seemed unsure whether it was garage-rock or folk-rock. Good Bye, My Love, is an example of the latter.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Speed Kills
Source: CD: The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union
Writer: Ulaky/Wright
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
Boston's Beacon Street Union had an interesting mix of tunes on their debut LP. Despite the title, Speed Kills is not an anti-drug song. Rather, the song addresses the frenetic pace of life the band members had encountered since relocating to New York City shortly before recording The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union.
SITPE # 1137 Playlist
Artist: James Gang
Title: Walk Away
Source: LP: Thirds
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: ABC
Year: 1971
The third James Gang album was the last for Joe Walsh, who left the band to pursue a solo career for a few years before hooking up with the Eagles. One of his best known songs, Walk Away, leads off the album. The recording uses multi-tracking extensively toward the end of the song, with multiple guitar parts cascading into what Walsh himself called a "train wreck".
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Omaha
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Moby Grape)
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
As an ill-advised promotional gimmick, Columbia Records released five separate singles concurrently with the first Moby Grape album. Of the five singles, only one, Omaha, actually charted, and it only got to the #86 spot. Meanwhile, the heavy promotion by the label led to Moby Grape getting the reputation of being over-hyped, much to the detriment of the band's career.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original labeel: Tower)
Year: 1966
The Standells follow-up hit to Dirty Water is a 60s punk rock anthem, with the singer defiantly voicing his disdain for the upper class types (known at the time as "Socials") that had dominated high school and college culture in the early part of the decade. This was more than just a gender-reversed Patches or Rag Doll; this was the street kid asserting his right to be himself. The fact that it was all a put-on (singer Dicky Dodd being a somewhat priveledged type himself) didn't really matter. The song speaks for itself.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Dave Mason left Traffic after the band's first album, Mr. Fantasy, but returned in time to contribute several songs to the band's eponymous second album. Among those was his most memorable song, Feelin' Alright, which would become one of the most covered songs in rock history.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Julia Dream
Source: CD: Relics (reissue of original album) (song orginally released in UK on 45 RPM vinyl)
Writer: Roger Waters
Label: Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1968
With Sid Barrett becoming increasingly unreliable, the other members of Pink Floyd decided to invite guitarist David Gilmour into the band. One of the earliest recordings with Gilmour was this B side released in 1968 and included a few years later when the album Relics came out.
Artist: Donovan
Title: House Of Jansch
Source: CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
One of the top names in British folk music in the 60s was Bert Jansch. This song was Donovan's way of acknowledging Jansch's influence on his own music. Personally, I would have expected an instrumental.
Artist: Jerry Garcia
Title: Sugaree
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Garcia/Hunter/Kreutzmann
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
In 1972 Warner Brothers gave the individual members of the Grateful Dead to record solo albums. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and drummer Micket Hart took them up on the offer. Garcia's effort was unique in that he played virtually all the instruments on the album himself (except for the drum parts, which were played by Bill Kreutzmann). One of the best known songs from that album is Sugaree, which was soon added pretty much permanently to the Dead's concert repertoire.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Cheryl's Going Home
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Bob Lind
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
It's kind of odd to hear a cover of a Bob Lind B side on an album by a band known for its progressive approach to the blues, but that's exactly what "Cheryl's Going Home" is. They did a pretty nice job with it, too.
Artist: Love
Title: Alone Again Or
Source: 45 RPM single (originally released on LP: Forever Changes)
Writer: Bryan McLean
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The only song Love ever released as a single that was not written by Arthur Lee was Alone Again Or, issued in 1970. The song had originally appeared as the opening track from the Forever Changes album three years earlier. Bryan McLean would later say that he was not happy with the recording due to his own vocal being buried beneath that of Lee, since Lee's part was meant to be a harmony line to McLean's melody. McLean would later re-record the song for a solo album, but reportedly was not satisfied with that version.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Draft Morning
Source: The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Writer: Crosby/Hillman/McGuinn
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
Draft Morning is one of the most controversial recordings in the Byrds catalog. The song was originally composed by David Crosby, who was kicked out of the band shortly after they had recorded the instrumental tracks for the tune. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman then proceded to write new lyrics for the song, and included it on The Notorious Byrd Brothers, released on Jan 3, 1968. This version of the song was recorded in 1967 and has a different ending (although the same lyrics) as the LP version.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Axis: Bold As Love)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler, moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967. The first time I ever heard this song it gave me chills.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Two Heads
Source: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
The third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, saw the group moving in increasingly experimental directions, as Grace Slick's two contributions to the LP attest. The more accessible of the two was Two Heads, which was the first part of the fifth "suite" on the album.
This week we shine a spotlight on the second LP by the Canadian turned L.A.-in band Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf the Second actually charted higher than the band's first album, despite the presence of the anthemic Born To Be Wild on the debut LP. The original cover of the album (which can be viewed on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page this week) was originally printed on a shiny foil background. Later copies used standard paper, as does the CD cover.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Spiritual Fantasy
Source: CD: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Spiritual Fantasy is a departure from the hard-driving rock that Steppenwolf in known for. The song foregoes the usual rock instrumentation in favor of acoustic guitar and string quartet. Lyrically, Spiritual Fantasy is about as introspective a song as the group's leader and primary songwriter, German-born Joachim Krauledat (better known as John Kay), ever wrote.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf the Second)
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the late 60s.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Tighten Up Your Wig
Source: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
It was a tradition among early blues artists to lift rifts, melody lines and even lyrics from each other's songs, then record and copyright them under their own names. Steppenwolf, who had evolved out of Canadian blues band called Sparrow, kept the tradition alive in 1968 with Tighten Up Your Wig, which has a melody and chord structure nearly identical to the 1960 Junior Wells tune Messin' With The Kid.
Artist: Daily Flash
Title: Jack Of Diamonds
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lalor/McAllister/Kelieher/Hasting
Label: Rhino (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1966
The practice of writing new lyrics to an old tune got turned around for the Seattle-based Daily Flash's feedback-drenched recording of Jack Of Diamonds, which pretty much preserves the lyrics to the old folk song, but is musically pure garage-rock.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Big City
Source: Underground
Writer: J. Walsh/D. Walsh
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes were given more creative freedom on their second LP, Underground, than any of their other albums. Nonetheless, Underground did contain a few cover songs, one of which was the song Big City, which emphasizes the vocals more than most Prunes tunes.
Artist: People
Title: I Love You (mono mix)
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: People)
Writer: Chris White
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the major labels had signed just about every San Francisco band with any perceived potential. Capitol, having had some success with the Chocolate Watchband from San Jose on its Tower subsidiary, decided to sign another south bay band, People, to the parent label. The result was this one-hit wonder from the summer of '68, the third top 20 single to come from a San Jose band in less than two years. An interesting feature of the actual 45 RPM pressing was a small space (like the ones normally found between songs on an LP) between the long intro and the first playing of the signature guitar rift. This was done so that AM radio DJs could easily skip the intro and get right to the meat of the song.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Heartbreaker
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin II
Writer: Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
For years album (now called classic) rock radio stations have been playing Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and letting the album play through to the next song, Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman). Back when Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was a local show being played live I occassionally made it a point to play Hearbreaker and follow it with something else entirely. This week I bring that tradition to the syndicated version of the show.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Share The Land
Source: LP: Best of the Guess Who (originally released on LP: Share The Land)
Writer: Burton Cummings
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1970
The first album released by the Guess Who after the departure of guitarist Randy Bachman was Share The Land. The album produced several hit singles for the band; enough, in fact, to fill up an entire album side, which is precisely what RCA did when they released the first Guess Who anthology hits album in 1971. One of those hits was the title track to Share The Land, which makes its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Jo Jo Gunne
Title: 99 Days
Source: LP: Jo Jo Gunne
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Asylum
Year: 1972
After the commercial disappointment of The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus in 1971, vocalist Jay Ferguson and bass player Mark Andes left Spirit to form a new band, Jo Jo Gunne. Lead guitarist Matt Andes provided a much heavier rock sound than Spirit's Randy California, who had strong jazz roots. The result was a band that sometimes sounded like a heavier version of Spirit, which was natural, since Ferguson had served as Spirit's primary songwriter throughout his tenure with the band. 99 Days, which opens side two of Jo Jo Gunne's first album, was selected as a follow up single to Run Run Run. Both songs got a decent amount of airplay on FM rock radio, which at the time had a more or less free-form format and did not report their playlists (which varied from station to station and even from DJ to DJ) to the national charts.
Artist: Who
Title: Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1968
The Who were blessed with not one, but two top-notch songwriters: Pete Townshend and John Entwhistle. Whereas Townsend's songs ranged from tight pop songs to more serious works such as Tommy, Entwistle's tunes had a slightly twisted outlook, dealing with such topics as crawly critters (Boris the Spider), imaginary friends (Whiskey Man) and even outright perversion (Fiddle About). Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde was originally released in the US as the B side to Call Me Lightning. Both songs were included on the Magic Bus album.
Artist: Archie Bell and the Drells
Title: Tighten Up
Source: CD: Atlantic Rhythm And Blues-vol. 6 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bell/Butler
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1968
Texas was still feeling the effects of being the locale for the assassination of John F. Kennedy five years after the killing itself. Archie Bell and the Drells, a Houston-based soul band, wanted to present a more positive image of their state to the rest of the world. Thus, they made a point to mention where they were from right at the beginning of a song that they had recorded specifically to promote a new dance called (of course) the Tighten Up. The dance never really caught on (the creation of new dance crazes was an early to mid sixties phenomena that had pretty much run its course by 1968), but the song became a huge international hit, despite the fact that Drell himself was serving in the military by the time Tighten Up was released. Even more ironic was the fact that Drell was laid up in a military hospital with a leg injury when the song was at the peak of its popularity and couldn't have danced the Tighten Up if he wanted to.
Artist: Syndicate Of Sound
Title: Little Girl
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gonzalez/Baskin
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
San Jose California, despite being a relatively small city in the pre-silicon valley days, was home to a thriving music scene in the mid 60s that produced more than its share of hit records from 1966-68. One of the earliest and biggest of these hits was the Syndicate Of Sound hit Little Girl, which has come to be recognized as one of the best garage-rock songs of all time.
Artist: Cream
Title: N.S.U.
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Jack Bruce
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
The first Cream album starts off the with powerful one-two punch of I Feel Free and N.S.U. Although I Feel Free was a purely studio creation that never got performed live, N.S.U. became a staple of the band's concert performances, and was even performed by various other bands that bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce was a member of over the years.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
Source: LP: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Most people outside the UK have no idea that there was a British record label called Regal Zonophone or that Procol Harum's earliest releases were on that label. Perhaps that explains why most people see this song title and get a puzzled look on their faces. Then they hear the song and the look is still there. At least there is symmetry in that.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: No Expectations
Source: LP: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco
Year: 1968
After the heavy dose of studio effects on Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones took a back-to-basics approach for their next album, Beggar's Banquet, the first to be produced by Jimmy Miller (who had previously worked with Steve Winwood in Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group). No Expectations, the second track on the album, uses minimal instrumentation and places a greater emphasis on Mick Jagger's vocals and Brian Jones's slide guitar work. Sadly, it was to be Jones's last album as a member of the Rolling Stones, as heavy drug use was already taking its toll (and would soon take his life as well).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Evil Hoodoo
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Saxon/Hooper
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
With a title like Evil Hoodoo, one might expect a rather spooky track. Indeed, the song does start off that way, but soon moves into standard Seeds territory (as does most everything on the band's debut album). Luckily, Sky Saxon and company would turn out to be a bit more adventurous on their second LP.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Rats
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Dave Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1971
After several years of being banned from performing in the US (due to some sort of dispute involving the musician's union), the Kinks finally got the ban lifted in time to promote their 1971, LP Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneyground Part One with a US tour. As a result, the band managed to get two consecutive singles onto the US charts: the smash hit Lola and its follow-up Apeman. The B side of Apeman was Rats, a tune written by Dave Davies, who by then had fallen into a George Harrison type role of being the lead guitarist who got to write one or two songs for each album.
Artist: Michaelangelo
Title: Take It Bach/Michaelangelo
Source: LP: One Voice Many
Writer: Angel
Label: Columbia
Year: 1971
After owning a copy of this album for many years I was finally able to determine that it was released in 1971. Unfortunately that's about all I know about the band Michaelangelo, which was led by the autoharp playing lead vocalist Angel, who, besides being an Aquarius, wrote all the songs of the band's only LP, One Voice Many. There are several instrumentals on One Voice Many, and those are generally the most listenable songs on the album. Take It Bach/Michaelangelo is based on an unidentified piece by J.S Bach and was obviously designed to showcase the members' instrumental prowess, particularly Angel's autoharp playing, which is really quite good.
Title: Walk Away
Source: LP: Thirds
Writer: Joe Walsh
Label: ABC
Year: 1971
The third James Gang album was the last for Joe Walsh, who left the band to pursue a solo career for a few years before hooking up with the Eagles. One of his best known songs, Walk Away, leads off the album. The recording uses multi-tracking extensively toward the end of the song, with multiple guitar parts cascading into what Walsh himself called a "train wreck".
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Omaha
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Moby Grape)
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
As an ill-advised promotional gimmick, Columbia Records released five separate singles concurrently with the first Moby Grape album. Of the five singles, only one, Omaha, actually charted, and it only got to the #86 spot. Meanwhile, the heavy promotion by the label led to Moby Grape getting the reputation of being over-hyped, much to the detriment of the band's career.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original labeel: Tower)
Year: 1966
The Standells follow-up hit to Dirty Water is a 60s punk rock anthem, with the singer defiantly voicing his disdain for the upper class types (known at the time as "Socials") that had dominated high school and college culture in the early part of the decade. This was more than just a gender-reversed Patches or Rag Doll; this was the street kid asserting his right to be himself. The fact that it was all a put-on (singer Dicky Dodd being a somewhat priveledged type himself) didn't really matter. The song speaks for itself.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Dave Mason left Traffic after the band's first album, Mr. Fantasy, but returned in time to contribute several songs to the band's eponymous second album. Among those was his most memorable song, Feelin' Alright, which would become one of the most covered songs in rock history.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Julia Dream
Source: CD: Relics (reissue of original album) (song orginally released in UK on 45 RPM vinyl)
Writer: Roger Waters
Label: Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1968
With Sid Barrett becoming increasingly unreliable, the other members of Pink Floyd decided to invite guitarist David Gilmour into the band. One of the earliest recordings with Gilmour was this B side released in 1968 and included a few years later when the album Relics came out.
Artist: Donovan
Title: House Of Jansch
Source: CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
One of the top names in British folk music in the 60s was Bert Jansch. This song was Donovan's way of acknowledging Jansch's influence on his own music. Personally, I would have expected an instrumental.
Artist: Jerry Garcia
Title: Sugaree
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Garcia/Hunter/Kreutzmann
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
In 1972 Warner Brothers gave the individual members of the Grateful Dead to record solo albums. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and drummer Micket Hart took them up on the offer. Garcia's effort was unique in that he played virtually all the instruments on the album himself (except for the drum parts, which were played by Bill Kreutzmann). One of the best known songs from that album is Sugaree, which was soon added pretty much permanently to the Dead's concert repertoire.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Cheryl's Going Home
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Bob Lind
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
It's kind of odd to hear a cover of a Bob Lind B side on an album by a band known for its progressive approach to the blues, but that's exactly what "Cheryl's Going Home" is. They did a pretty nice job with it, too.
Artist: Love
Title: Alone Again Or
Source: 45 RPM single (originally released on LP: Forever Changes)
Writer: Bryan McLean
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The only song Love ever released as a single that was not written by Arthur Lee was Alone Again Or, issued in 1970. The song had originally appeared as the opening track from the Forever Changes album three years earlier. Bryan McLean would later say that he was not happy with the recording due to his own vocal being buried beneath that of Lee, since Lee's part was meant to be a harmony line to McLean's melody. McLean would later re-record the song for a solo album, but reportedly was not satisfied with that version.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Draft Morning
Source: The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Writer: Crosby/Hillman/McGuinn
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
Draft Morning is one of the most controversial recordings in the Byrds catalog. The song was originally composed by David Crosby, who was kicked out of the band shortly after they had recorded the instrumental tracks for the tune. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman then proceded to write new lyrics for the song, and included it on The Notorious Byrd Brothers, released on Jan 3, 1968. This version of the song was recorded in 1967 and has a different ending (although the same lyrics) as the LP version.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Axis: Bold As Love)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler, moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967. The first time I ever heard this song it gave me chills.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Two Heads
Source: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
The third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, saw the group moving in increasingly experimental directions, as Grace Slick's two contributions to the LP attest. The more accessible of the two was Two Heads, which was the first part of the fifth "suite" on the album.
This week we shine a spotlight on the second LP by the Canadian turned L.A.-in band Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf the Second actually charted higher than the band's first album, despite the presence of the anthemic Born To Be Wild on the debut LP. The original cover of the album (which can be viewed on the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page this week) was originally printed on a shiny foil background. Later copies used standard paper, as does the CD cover.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Spiritual Fantasy
Source: CD: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Spiritual Fantasy is a departure from the hard-driving rock that Steppenwolf in known for. The song foregoes the usual rock instrumentation in favor of acoustic guitar and string quartet. Lyrically, Spiritual Fantasy is about as introspective a song as the group's leader and primary songwriter, German-born Joachim Krauledat (better known as John Kay), ever wrote.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf the Second)
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the late 60s.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Tighten Up Your Wig
Source: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
It was a tradition among early blues artists to lift rifts, melody lines and even lyrics from each other's songs, then record and copyright them under their own names. Steppenwolf, who had evolved out of Canadian blues band called Sparrow, kept the tradition alive in 1968 with Tighten Up Your Wig, which has a melody and chord structure nearly identical to the 1960 Junior Wells tune Messin' With The Kid.
Artist: Daily Flash
Title: Jack Of Diamonds
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lalor/McAllister/Kelieher/Hasting
Label: Rhino (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1966
The practice of writing new lyrics to an old tune got turned around for the Seattle-based Daily Flash's feedback-drenched recording of Jack Of Diamonds, which pretty much preserves the lyrics to the old folk song, but is musically pure garage-rock.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Big City
Source: Underground
Writer: J. Walsh/D. Walsh
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes were given more creative freedom on their second LP, Underground, than any of their other albums. Nonetheless, Underground did contain a few cover songs, one of which was the song Big City, which emphasizes the vocals more than most Prunes tunes.
Artist: People
Title: I Love You (mono mix)
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: People)
Writer: Chris White
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the major labels had signed just about every San Francisco band with any perceived potential. Capitol, having had some success with the Chocolate Watchband from San Jose on its Tower subsidiary, decided to sign another south bay band, People, to the parent label. The result was this one-hit wonder from the summer of '68, the third top 20 single to come from a San Jose band in less than two years. An interesting feature of the actual 45 RPM pressing was a small space (like the ones normally found between songs on an LP) between the long intro and the first playing of the signature guitar rift. This was done so that AM radio DJs could easily skip the intro and get right to the meat of the song.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Heartbreaker
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin II
Writer: Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
For years album (now called classic) rock radio stations have been playing Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and letting the album play through to the next song, Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman). Back when Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was a local show being played live I occassionally made it a point to play Hearbreaker and follow it with something else entirely. This week I bring that tradition to the syndicated version of the show.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Share The Land
Source: LP: Best of the Guess Who (originally released on LP: Share The Land)
Writer: Burton Cummings
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1970
The first album released by the Guess Who after the departure of guitarist Randy Bachman was Share The Land. The album produced several hit singles for the band; enough, in fact, to fill up an entire album side, which is precisely what RCA did when they released the first Guess Who anthology hits album in 1971. One of those hits was the title track to Share The Land, which makes its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Jo Jo Gunne
Title: 99 Days
Source: LP: Jo Jo Gunne
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Asylum
Year: 1972
After the commercial disappointment of The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus in 1971, vocalist Jay Ferguson and bass player Mark Andes left Spirit to form a new band, Jo Jo Gunne. Lead guitarist Matt Andes provided a much heavier rock sound than Spirit's Randy California, who had strong jazz roots. The result was a band that sometimes sounded like a heavier version of Spirit, which was natural, since Ferguson had served as Spirit's primary songwriter throughout his tenure with the band. 99 Days, which opens side two of Jo Jo Gunne's first album, was selected as a follow up single to Run Run Run. Both songs got a decent amount of airplay on FM rock radio, which at the time had a more or less free-form format and did not report their playlists (which varied from station to station and even from DJ to DJ) to the national charts.
Artist: Who
Title: Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: Decca
Year: 1968
The Who were blessed with not one, but two top-notch songwriters: Pete Townshend and John Entwhistle. Whereas Townsend's songs ranged from tight pop songs to more serious works such as Tommy, Entwistle's tunes had a slightly twisted outlook, dealing with such topics as crawly critters (Boris the Spider), imaginary friends (Whiskey Man) and even outright perversion (Fiddle About). Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde was originally released in the US as the B side to Call Me Lightning. Both songs were included on the Magic Bus album.
Artist: Archie Bell and the Drells
Title: Tighten Up
Source: CD: Atlantic Rhythm And Blues-vol. 6 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bell/Butler
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1968
Texas was still feeling the effects of being the locale for the assassination of John F. Kennedy five years after the killing itself. Archie Bell and the Drells, a Houston-based soul band, wanted to present a more positive image of their state to the rest of the world. Thus, they made a point to mention where they were from right at the beginning of a song that they had recorded specifically to promote a new dance called (of course) the Tighten Up. The dance never really caught on (the creation of new dance crazes was an early to mid sixties phenomena that had pretty much run its course by 1968), but the song became a huge international hit, despite the fact that Drell himself was serving in the military by the time Tighten Up was released. Even more ironic was the fact that Drell was laid up in a military hospital with a leg injury when the song was at the peak of its popularity and couldn't have danced the Tighten Up if he wanted to.
Artist: Syndicate Of Sound
Title: Little Girl
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gonzalez/Baskin
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
San Jose California, despite being a relatively small city in the pre-silicon valley days, was home to a thriving music scene in the mid 60s that produced more than its share of hit records from 1966-68. One of the earliest and biggest of these hits was the Syndicate Of Sound hit Little Girl, which has come to be recognized as one of the best garage-rock songs of all time.
Artist: Cream
Title: N.S.U.
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Jack Bruce
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
The first Cream album starts off the with powerful one-two punch of I Feel Free and N.S.U. Although I Feel Free was a purely studio creation that never got performed live, N.S.U. became a staple of the band's concert performances, and was even performed by various other bands that bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce was a member of over the years.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
Source: LP: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Most people outside the UK have no idea that there was a British record label called Regal Zonophone or that Procol Harum's earliest releases were on that label. Perhaps that explains why most people see this song title and get a puzzled look on their faces. Then they hear the song and the look is still there. At least there is symmetry in that.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: No Expectations
Source: LP: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco
Year: 1968
After the heavy dose of studio effects on Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones took a back-to-basics approach for their next album, Beggar's Banquet, the first to be produced by Jimmy Miller (who had previously worked with Steve Winwood in Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group). No Expectations, the second track on the album, uses minimal instrumentation and places a greater emphasis on Mick Jagger's vocals and Brian Jones's slide guitar work. Sadly, it was to be Jones's last album as a member of the Rolling Stones, as heavy drug use was already taking its toll (and would soon take his life as well).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Evil Hoodoo
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Saxon/Hooper
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
With a title like Evil Hoodoo, one might expect a rather spooky track. Indeed, the song does start off that way, but soon moves into standard Seeds territory (as does most everything on the band's debut album). Luckily, Sky Saxon and company would turn out to be a bit more adventurous on their second LP.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Rats
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Dave Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1971
After several years of being banned from performing in the US (due to some sort of dispute involving the musician's union), the Kinks finally got the ban lifted in time to promote their 1971, LP Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneyground Part One with a US tour. As a result, the band managed to get two consecutive singles onto the US charts: the smash hit Lola and its follow-up Apeman. The B side of Apeman was Rats, a tune written by Dave Davies, who by then had fallen into a George Harrison type role of being the lead guitarist who got to write one or two songs for each album.
Artist: Michaelangelo
Title: Take It Bach/Michaelangelo
Source: LP: One Voice Many
Writer: Angel
Label: Columbia
Year: 1971
After owning a copy of this album for many years I was finally able to determine that it was released in 1971. Unfortunately that's about all I know about the band Michaelangelo, which was led by the autoharp playing lead vocalist Angel, who, besides being an Aquarius, wrote all the songs of the band's only LP, One Voice Many. There are several instrumentals on One Voice Many, and those are generally the most listenable songs on the album. Take It Bach/Michaelangelo is based on an unidentified piece by J.S Bach and was obviously designed to showcase the members' instrumental prowess, particularly Angel's autoharp playing, which is really quite good.
SITPE # 1136 Playlist
This week we needed to use the garage for parking the car. The garage bands will be back next week, however.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Combination Of The 2
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Sam Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Everything about Big Brother And The Holding Company can be summed up by the title of the opening track for their Cheap Thrills album (and their usual show opener as well): Combination Of The 2. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Big Brother, with Janis Joplin on lead vocals, had an energy that neither Joplin or the band itself was able to duplicate once they parted company. On the song itself, the actual lead vocals for the verses are the work of Combination Of The 2's writer, bassist Sam Houston Andrew III, but those vocals are eclipsed by the layered non-verbal chorus that starts with Joplin then repeats itself with Houston providing a harmony line which leads to Joplin's promise to "knock ya, rock ya, gonna sock it to you now". It was a promise that the group seldom failed to deliver on.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Gonna Have A Good Time
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Vanda/Young
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year 1968
The Easybeats were Australia's most popular band in the sixties. Formed in 1964 at a migrant hostel in Sidney (all the members came from immigrant families), the band's earliest hits were written by rhythm guitarist George Young (older brother of AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young) and lead vocalist "Little" Stevie Wright. By 1966, however, lead guitarist Harry Vanda (originally from the Netherlands) had become fluent in English and with the song Friday On My Mind replaced Wright as Young's writing partner (although Wright stayed on as the band's frontman). One of the Easybeats' biggest hits in Australia was Good Times from the album Vigil. I can't verify whether Gonna Have A Good Time is actually Good Times or not, but what little information I have (such as the fact that Good Times was covered by INXS for the film The Lost Boys and my own memory of hearing a remake of this song sometime in the late 80s) leads me to believe that the two are one and the same. Young and Vanda later recorded a series of records under the name Flash and the Pan that were very successful in Australia and Europe. Stevie Wright went on to become Australia's first international pop star.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Lather
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1968
One of Grace Slick's most memorable tunes was Lather, with its eerie instrumental bridge played on a tissue-paper covered comb (at least that's what I think it was). The song was reportedly about drummer Spencer Dryden, the band's oldest member, who had just turned 30. A popular phrase of the time was "don't trust anyone over 30", making it a particularly bad time to have that particular birthday.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Steeled Blues
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jeff Beck
Label: Epic
Year: 1965
The Yardbirds were not known for their original material. They did, however, come up with a few tunes of their own, such as Steeled Blues, an instrumental penned by guitarist Jeff Beck. The title pretty much describes the song itself, as it is essentially a blues jam with Beck playing slide guitar with steel strings.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Priority (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Pushin' Too Hard was originally released in spring of 1966 as the closing track on side one of the first Seeds album. After being released to the L.A. market as a single the song did well enough to go national in early 1967, hitting its peak in February of that year.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: For What It's Worth
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on second edition of LP: Buffalo Springfield)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Most people associate the name Buffalo Springfield with the song For What It's Worth. And for good reason. The song is one of the greatest protest songs ever recorded, and to this day is in regular rotation on both oldies and classic rock radio stations (which partially explains why I haven't played it on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era before now). The song was written and recorded in November of 1966 and released in January of 1967. By then the first Buffalo Springfield LP was on the racks, but, until that point had not sold particularly well. When it became clear that For What It's Worth was turning into a major hit, Atco Records quickly recalled the album and added the song to it (as the opening track). All subsequent pressings of the LP (and later the CD) contain For What It's Worth, making earlier copies of the album somewhat of a rarity and quite collectable.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Mr. Soul
Source: LP: Again
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Executives at Atco Records originally considered Neil Young's voice "too weird" to be recorded. As a result many of Young's early tunes (including the band's debut single Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing), were sung by Richie Furay. By the time the band's second album, Buffalo Springfield Again, was released, the band had enough clout to make sure Young was allowed to sing his own songs. In fact, the album starts with a Young vocal on the classic Mr. Soul.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Bluebird
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
When it comes right down to it Buffalo Springfield has one of the highest ratios of songs recorded to songs played on the radio of any band in history, especially if you only count the two albums worth of material that was released while the band was still active. This is probably because Buffalo Springfield had more raw songwriting talent than just about any two other bands. Although Neil Young was just starting to hit his stride as a songwriter, bandmate Stephen Stills was already at an early peak, as songs like Bluebird clearly demonstrate.
Artist: Miles Davis
Title: Pharaoh's Dance
Source: LP: Bitches Brew
Writer: Joe Zawinul
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
This week we venture into territory seldom covered on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era. By 1970 Miles Davis had already virtually invented at least one jazz subgenre (cool jazz), and with the Bitches Brew album he did it again, this time inventing both jazz-rock fusion and acid jazz at the same time. Bitches Brew is also notable as the first jazz album to use recording technology extensively, to the point of actually altering the performances. This followed in the footsteps of Jimi Hendrix, who was also known for using the studio as a creative tool. Side one of Bitches Brew, the twenty-minute Pharaoh's Dance, contains nineteen separate edits, some of them only a second long. The instrumentation on Bitches Brew was a departure from traditional jazz as well, with electric instruments being used extensively. The list of musicians who played on the album read like a who's who of fusion, including John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul (who wrote Pharaoh's Dance), among others.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Mickey Newbury
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Kenny Rogers has, on more than one occassion, tried to put as much distance between himself and the 1968 First Edition hit Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) as possible. I feel it's my civic duty to remind everyone that he was the lead vocalist on the recording, and that this song was the one that launched his career. So there.
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Dance To The Music
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Dance To The Music)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Epic
Year: 1968
After Sly and the Family Stone's 1967 debut album failed to make a major showing on the charts, the executives at Epic Records asked Sylvester "Sly" Stewart if he could come up something a bit more commercial for his second album. No stranger to the record business (Stewart had successfully produced many early San Francisco bands for Autumn Records, including the Beau Brummels), Stewart responded with the smash hit Dance To The Music. The group went on to record a series of successful singles and was one of the best-received acts at the Woodstock Performing Arts festival in 1969.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Someday
Source: LP: Great Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson/Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Moby Grape was a talented band that unfortunately was the victim of their own hype (or more accurately, that of Columbia Records, who issued five singles from their first album simultaneously). They were never able, however, to live up to that hype, despite some fine tunes like Someday, which was included on their first LP.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: Tales Of Lucy Blue (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Source: LP: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
For many years the only Bob Seger record I owned was the single Ramblin' Gamblin' Man that I bought new in 1969 at the Base Exchange at Ramstein Air Force Base Germany for about 50 cents. The B side was the song Tales of Lucy Blue. After that single disappeared from my collection I never bought another Bob Seger record (although I did score a promo copy of Turn The Page from a radio station I was working at in the mid 90s). More recently I was allowed to pillage the WEOS vinyl archives (found on the Hobart and William Smith campus in a storage area in one of the dorms) and found this copy of the Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album. The cover features a young blond woman dressed in blue satin against a blue background. It turns out that the album (Seger's first) was originally going to be titled Tales of Lucy Blue but was changed at the last minute by the shirts at Capitol in order to capitalize on the popularity of the single that I had bought a copy of. Luckily they didn't change the cover art as well.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: Stepping Stone
Source: CD: First Rays of the New Rising Sun (originally released on LP: War Heroes)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
The last single released by Jimi Hendrix (as Hendrix Band Of Gypsys) during his lifetime was Stepping Stone, recorded in February of 1970 and released two months later. In June, Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell re-recorded their instrumental parts for inclusion on Hendrix's new double LP, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Hendrix's death on Sept 16, 1970 sidetracked the double LP until it was finally finished by Mitchell and engineer Eddie Kramer in 1997 and released on CD. Meanwhile the re-recorded song was included on 1972's War Heroes LP, as well as other collections.
Artist: John Mayall
Title: Man Of Stone
Source: LP: Crusade
Writer: Eddie Kirkland
Label: London
Year: 1967
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers had a fluid lineup of some of the best musicians the British blues scene had to offer. The 1967 album Crusade (so named because Mayall considered his work to be a crusade of sorts, dedicated to preserving and popularizing the blues) features future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and future Fleetwood Mac founder John McVie, among others.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: I Woke Up This Morning
Source: LP: Ssssh
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
Latecomers to the British blues scene, Ten Years After were in fact the original retro-rockers, taking their cues from the classic rock and roll artists of the 50s as much as from the rhythm and blues artists of the era. Alvin Lee's songwriting, especially in the band's early days, reflected both these influences, with slow bluesy numbers like I Woke Up This Morning co-existing with high-energy rockers like I'm Going Home.
Artist: Doors
Title: Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Also known as Whiskey Bar, this track was a favorite among hip underground DJs who needed a fairly short song that could be easily faded out to lead up to news time without offending anybody.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Cat's Squirrel
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: trad. Arr. Abrahams
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1968
Probably the Jethro Tull recording with the least Ian Anderson influence, Cat's Squirrel was recorded at the insistence of record company people, who felt the song was most representative of the band's live sound. The traditional tune was arranged by guitarist Mick Abrahams, who left the band due to creative differences with Anderson shortly thereafter. Cat's Squirrel became a live staple of Abrahams's next band, Blodwyn Pig.
Artist: Janis Joplin with the Kozmic Blues Band
Title: Ball And Chain
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Willie Mae Thornton
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
From Woodstock we have Janis Joplin performing her show stopper, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball and Chain. The Kozmic Blues Band was Joplin's only group to feature a horn section, and, despite its members having a higher degree of technical proficiency than Big Brother, is generally considered to be lacking in the type of raw energy that helped propel Joplin to stardom.
Artist: Allman Brothers Band
Title: In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
Source: CD: Beginnings (originally released on LP: Idlewild South)
Writer: Dicky Betts
Label: Polydor (original label: Capricorn)
Year: 1970
The second Allman Brothers Band LP, Idlewild South, was notable for the emergence of guitarist Dicky Betts as the band's second songwriter (joining Gregg Allman, who wrote all of the band's original material on their debut album). One of Betts's most enduring compositions is the instrumental In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, which soon became a concert staple for the group, and is one of two tracks on their Live At The Fillmore East album to get extensive airplay (the other being Whipping Post).
Artist: Who
Title: Behind Blue Eyes
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1971
One of the most iconic Who songs ever, Behind Blue Eyes continues to get played on commercial FM stations, both in its original form and the more recent cover version by Limp Bizkit.
Artist: Who
Title: Pictures Of Lily
Source: CD: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
Pictures of Lily was the first single released by the Who in 1967. It hit the #4 spot on the British charts, but only made it to #51 in the US. This was nothing new for the Who, as several of their early singles, including Substitute, I Can't Explain and even My Generation hit the British top 10 without getting any US airplay (or chart action) at all.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Combination Of The 2
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Sam Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Everything about Big Brother And The Holding Company can be summed up by the title of the opening track for their Cheap Thrills album (and their usual show opener as well): Combination Of The 2. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Big Brother, with Janis Joplin on lead vocals, had an energy that neither Joplin or the band itself was able to duplicate once they parted company. On the song itself, the actual lead vocals for the verses are the work of Combination Of The 2's writer, bassist Sam Houston Andrew III, but those vocals are eclipsed by the layered non-verbal chorus that starts with Joplin then repeats itself with Houston providing a harmony line which leads to Joplin's promise to "knock ya, rock ya, gonna sock it to you now". It was a promise that the group seldom failed to deliver on.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Gonna Have A Good Time
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Vanda/Young
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year 1968
The Easybeats were Australia's most popular band in the sixties. Formed in 1964 at a migrant hostel in Sidney (all the members came from immigrant families), the band's earliest hits were written by rhythm guitarist George Young (older brother of AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young) and lead vocalist "Little" Stevie Wright. By 1966, however, lead guitarist Harry Vanda (originally from the Netherlands) had become fluent in English and with the song Friday On My Mind replaced Wright as Young's writing partner (although Wright stayed on as the band's frontman). One of the Easybeats' biggest hits in Australia was Good Times from the album Vigil. I can't verify whether Gonna Have A Good Time is actually Good Times or not, but what little information I have (such as the fact that Good Times was covered by INXS for the film The Lost Boys and my own memory of hearing a remake of this song sometime in the late 80s) leads me to believe that the two are one and the same. Young and Vanda later recorded a series of records under the name Flash and the Pan that were very successful in Australia and Europe. Stevie Wright went on to become Australia's first international pop star.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Lather
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA
Year: 1968
One of Grace Slick's most memorable tunes was Lather, with its eerie instrumental bridge played on a tissue-paper covered comb (at least that's what I think it was). The song was reportedly about drummer Spencer Dryden, the band's oldest member, who had just turned 30. A popular phrase of the time was "don't trust anyone over 30", making it a particularly bad time to have that particular birthday.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Steeled Blues
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jeff Beck
Label: Epic
Year: 1965
The Yardbirds were not known for their original material. They did, however, come up with a few tunes of their own, such as Steeled Blues, an instrumental penned by guitarist Jeff Beck. The title pretty much describes the song itself, as it is essentially a blues jam with Beck playing slide guitar with steel strings.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Priority (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Pushin' Too Hard was originally released in spring of 1966 as the closing track on side one of the first Seeds album. After being released to the L.A. market as a single the song did well enough to go national in early 1967, hitting its peak in February of that year.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: For What It's Worth
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on second edition of LP: Buffalo Springfield)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Most people associate the name Buffalo Springfield with the song For What It's Worth. And for good reason. The song is one of the greatest protest songs ever recorded, and to this day is in regular rotation on both oldies and classic rock radio stations (which partially explains why I haven't played it on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era before now). The song was written and recorded in November of 1966 and released in January of 1967. By then the first Buffalo Springfield LP was on the racks, but, until that point had not sold particularly well. When it became clear that For What It's Worth was turning into a major hit, Atco Records quickly recalled the album and added the song to it (as the opening track). All subsequent pressings of the LP (and later the CD) contain For What It's Worth, making earlier copies of the album somewhat of a rarity and quite collectable.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Mr. Soul
Source: LP: Again
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Executives at Atco Records originally considered Neil Young's voice "too weird" to be recorded. As a result many of Young's early tunes (including the band's debut single Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing), were sung by Richie Furay. By the time the band's second album, Buffalo Springfield Again, was released, the band had enough clout to make sure Young was allowed to sing his own songs. In fact, the album starts with a Young vocal on the classic Mr. Soul.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Bluebird
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
When it comes right down to it Buffalo Springfield has one of the highest ratios of songs recorded to songs played on the radio of any band in history, especially if you only count the two albums worth of material that was released while the band was still active. This is probably because Buffalo Springfield had more raw songwriting talent than just about any two other bands. Although Neil Young was just starting to hit his stride as a songwriter, bandmate Stephen Stills was already at an early peak, as songs like Bluebird clearly demonstrate.
Artist: Miles Davis
Title: Pharaoh's Dance
Source: LP: Bitches Brew
Writer: Joe Zawinul
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
This week we venture into territory seldom covered on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era. By 1970 Miles Davis had already virtually invented at least one jazz subgenre (cool jazz), and with the Bitches Brew album he did it again, this time inventing both jazz-rock fusion and acid jazz at the same time. Bitches Brew is also notable as the first jazz album to use recording technology extensively, to the point of actually altering the performances. This followed in the footsteps of Jimi Hendrix, who was also known for using the studio as a creative tool. Side one of Bitches Brew, the twenty-minute Pharaoh's Dance, contains nineteen separate edits, some of them only a second long. The instrumentation on Bitches Brew was a departure from traditional jazz as well, with electric instruments being used extensively. The list of musicians who played on the album read like a who's who of fusion, including John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul (who wrote Pharaoh's Dance), among others.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Mickey Newbury
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Kenny Rogers has, on more than one occassion, tried to put as much distance between himself and the 1968 First Edition hit Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) as possible. I feel it's my civic duty to remind everyone that he was the lead vocalist on the recording, and that this song was the one that launched his career. So there.
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Dance To The Music
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Dance To The Music)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Epic
Year: 1968
After Sly and the Family Stone's 1967 debut album failed to make a major showing on the charts, the executives at Epic Records asked Sylvester "Sly" Stewart if he could come up something a bit more commercial for his second album. No stranger to the record business (Stewart had successfully produced many early San Francisco bands for Autumn Records, including the Beau Brummels), Stewart responded with the smash hit Dance To The Music. The group went on to record a series of successful singles and was one of the best-received acts at the Woodstock Performing Arts festival in 1969.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Someday
Source: LP: Great Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson/Spence
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Moby Grape was a talented band that unfortunately was the victim of their own hype (or more accurately, that of Columbia Records, who issued five singles from their first album simultaneously). They were never able, however, to live up to that hype, despite some fine tunes like Someday, which was included on their first LP.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: Tales Of Lucy Blue (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Source: LP: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
For many years the only Bob Seger record I owned was the single Ramblin' Gamblin' Man that I bought new in 1969 at the Base Exchange at Ramstein Air Force Base Germany for about 50 cents. The B side was the song Tales of Lucy Blue. After that single disappeared from my collection I never bought another Bob Seger record (although I did score a promo copy of Turn The Page from a radio station I was working at in the mid 90s). More recently I was allowed to pillage the WEOS vinyl archives (found on the Hobart and William Smith campus in a storage area in one of the dorms) and found this copy of the Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album. The cover features a young blond woman dressed in blue satin against a blue background. It turns out that the album (Seger's first) was originally going to be titled Tales of Lucy Blue but was changed at the last minute by the shirts at Capitol in order to capitalize on the popularity of the single that I had bought a copy of. Luckily they didn't change the cover art as well.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: Stepping Stone
Source: CD: First Rays of the New Rising Sun (originally released on LP: War Heroes)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
The last single released by Jimi Hendrix (as Hendrix Band Of Gypsys) during his lifetime was Stepping Stone, recorded in February of 1970 and released two months later. In June, Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell re-recorded their instrumental parts for inclusion on Hendrix's new double LP, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Hendrix's death on Sept 16, 1970 sidetracked the double LP until it was finally finished by Mitchell and engineer Eddie Kramer in 1997 and released on CD. Meanwhile the re-recorded song was included on 1972's War Heroes LP, as well as other collections.
Artist: John Mayall
Title: Man Of Stone
Source: LP: Crusade
Writer: Eddie Kirkland
Label: London
Year: 1967
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers had a fluid lineup of some of the best musicians the British blues scene had to offer. The 1967 album Crusade (so named because Mayall considered his work to be a crusade of sorts, dedicated to preserving and popularizing the blues) features future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and future Fleetwood Mac founder John McVie, among others.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: I Woke Up This Morning
Source: LP: Ssssh
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
Latecomers to the British blues scene, Ten Years After were in fact the original retro-rockers, taking their cues from the classic rock and roll artists of the 50s as much as from the rhythm and blues artists of the era. Alvin Lee's songwriting, especially in the band's early days, reflected both these influences, with slow bluesy numbers like I Woke Up This Morning co-existing with high-energy rockers like I'm Going Home.
Artist: Doors
Title: Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Also known as Whiskey Bar, this track was a favorite among hip underground DJs who needed a fairly short song that could be easily faded out to lead up to news time without offending anybody.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Cat's Squirrel
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: trad. Arr. Abrahams
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1968
Probably the Jethro Tull recording with the least Ian Anderson influence, Cat's Squirrel was recorded at the insistence of record company people, who felt the song was most representative of the band's live sound. The traditional tune was arranged by guitarist Mick Abrahams, who left the band due to creative differences with Anderson shortly thereafter. Cat's Squirrel became a live staple of Abrahams's next band, Blodwyn Pig.
Artist: Janis Joplin with the Kozmic Blues Band
Title: Ball And Chain
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Willie Mae Thornton
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
From Woodstock we have Janis Joplin performing her show stopper, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball and Chain. The Kozmic Blues Band was Joplin's only group to feature a horn section, and, despite its members having a higher degree of technical proficiency than Big Brother, is generally considered to be lacking in the type of raw energy that helped propel Joplin to stardom.
Artist: Allman Brothers Band
Title: In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
Source: CD: Beginnings (originally released on LP: Idlewild South)
Writer: Dicky Betts
Label: Polydor (original label: Capricorn)
Year: 1970
The second Allman Brothers Band LP, Idlewild South, was notable for the emergence of guitarist Dicky Betts as the band's second songwriter (joining Gregg Allman, who wrote all of the band's original material on their debut album). One of Betts's most enduring compositions is the instrumental In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, which soon became a concert staple for the group, and is one of two tracks on their Live At The Fillmore East album to get extensive airplay (the other being Whipping Post).
Artist: Who
Title: Behind Blue Eyes
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1971
One of the most iconic Who songs ever, Behind Blue Eyes continues to get played on commercial FM stations, both in its original form and the more recent cover version by Limp Bizkit.
Artist: Who
Title: Pictures Of Lily
Source: CD: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
Pictures of Lily was the first single released by the Who in 1967. It hit the #4 spot on the British charts, but only made it to #51 in the US. This was nothing new for the Who, as several of their early singles, including Substitute, I Can't Explain and even My Generation hit the British top 10 without getting any US airplay (or chart action) at all.
SITPE # 1135 Playlist
This week it's mostly odds and ends, although we do have sets from 1967 and 1968 in the first hour. The second hour, on the other hand, is pure chaos (although I did manage to sneak in a British Rock set).
Artist: 13th Power
Title: I Want To Be Your Man
Source: LP: Wild In The Streets soundtrack
Writer: Mann/Weil
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
Critics and audiences alike were divided on how to interpret the movie Wild In The Streets. Was it speculative fiction about a distopian future or simply a teen exploitation flick? The film certainly had enough big Hollywood names in it (Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook and Shelley Winters, among others) to be taken seriously, yet the basic premise, that teens, led by a popular rock band, would rise up and take power, putting anyone over 30 into concentration camps, was a bit over-the-top. Regardless of the creators' intentions, Wild In The Streets is now viewed as a cult film that helped launch the career of Richard Pryor (who played bassist Stanley X), and had some decent tunes written by the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (writers of the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit Hungry). The hit single from the movie, Shape Of Things To Come, was attributed on the label to Max Frost and the Troopers, the fictional band that led the revolution, but on the soundtrack album the song was credited to the 13th Power. The reality was that all the songs on the album were the work of studio musicians, although they were credited to a variety of groups such as the Gurus and the Senators. The songs credited to the 13th Power, such as I Want To Be Your Man, were possibly the work of Davie Allen and the Arrows, with lead vocals by Paul Wibier, although that has never been substantiated. It is even possible that Jones himself sang on the soundtrack album.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Source: LP: Homer soundtrack
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: A Certain Girl
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Naomi Neville
Label: Raven (original label: Epic)
Year: 1964
Despite being one of the most respected bands on the British Blues scene, the Yardbirds were never known for their original material. In fact, most of their recordings were either re-interpretations of blues/R&B classics or songs that were given to the band by professional songwriters such as Graham Gouldman. A Certain Girl, released as the B side of I Wish You Would, is a good example of the former, coming from the pen of Allen Toussaint (using the pseudonym Naomi Neville) and originally recorded by Ernie K-Doe (Mother-In-Law).
Artist: Beau Brummels
Title: Just A Little
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elliott/Durand
Label: Rhino (original label: Autumn)
Year: 1965
Often dismissed as an American imitation of British Invasion bands such as the Beatles, the Beau Brummels actually played a pivotal role in rock music history. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the Brummels were led by Ron Elliott, who co-wrote most of the band's material, including their two top 10 singles in 1965. The second of these, Just A Little, is often cited as the first folk-rock hit, as it was released a week before the Byrds' recording of Mr. Tambourine Man. According to Elliott, the band was not trying to invent folk-rock, however. Rather, it was their own limitations as musicians that forced them to work with what they had: solid vocal harmonies and a mixture of electric and acoustic guitars. Elliott also credits the contributions of producer Sly Stone for the song's success. Conversely, Just A Little was Stone's greatest success as a producer prior to forming his own band, the Family Stone, in 1967.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
After a moderate amount of success in 1965 with a series of singles starting with a cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, the Turtles found themselves running out of steam by the end of 1966. Rather than throw in the towel, they enlisted the services of the Bonner/Gordon songwriting team and recorded their most successful single, Happy Together, in 1967. They dipped into the same well for She's My Girl later the same year.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Why
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
The closing track for the Byrds' fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday, was originally recorded in late 1965 at RCA studios and was released as the B side of Eight Miles High in 1966. The Younger Than Yesterday version of Why is actually a re-recording of the song.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
It's been a few weeks since I played this classic. I figured it was about time to play it again.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: J. Chambers/W. Chambers
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
One of the quintessential songs of the psychedelic era is the Chambers Brothers' classic Time Has Come Today. The song was originally recorded and issued as a single in 1966. The more familiar version heard here, however, was recorded in 1967 for the album The Time Has Come. The LP version of the song runs about eleven minutes, way too long for a 45 RPM record, so before releasing the song as a single for the second time, engineers at Columbia cut the song down to around 3 minutes. The edits proved so jarring that the record was recalled and a re-edited version, clocking in at 4:55 became the third and final single version of the song, hitting the charts in 1968.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: My Days Are Numbered
Source: LP: Child Is Father To The Man
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
The first artist spotlight I ever did on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (back in 2002, long before the show went into syndication) was on Al Kooper. At the time I didn't realize just how important a figure he was in rock history. I knew that he had first appeared on the scene as the replacement for the original guitarist of the Royal Teens, but not that he had become friends with producer Tom Wilson as a result of that. It was as a guest of Wilson that Kooper was in attendance at the historic sessions that produced the classic Bob Dylan track Like A Rolling Stone and the subsequent Highway 61 Revisited album. I knew that Kooper had been the organist for those sessions, but not that he had intended to play guitar that day (when he saw that Michael Bloomfield was already there, he changed his mind) and only played the organ because nobody else was sitting at it. This led to other studio work from producers hoping to cash in on the "Dylan organ" sound. Kooper soon realized that he was being typecast and began looking for ways to expand and hone his abilities, not only as an organist, but on piano and other, more experimental keyboard instruments that were just hitting the market at the time. It was at yet another studio session as a guest of Tom Wilson that Kooper met the members of a new band called the Blues Project, who were (unsuccessfully) auditioning for Columbia Records at their New York studios. Kooper and the band members hit it off and Kooper soon became the band's regular keyboardist, playing on two LPs with the band (and appearing on a third that was released after his departure). In 1968 Kooper hooked up with his friend Michael Bloomfield (among others) to record the historic Super Session album. Feeling that some of the tracks were lacking something, Kooper arranged for horns to be overdubbed, which led to him forming a new band that featured a horn section as an integral part of the band. Calling the new group Blood, Sweat and Tears, he released one album, Child Is Father To The Man, with them before moving on to other things. The majority of songs on Child were written by Kooper, including My Days Are Numbered.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: I Need A Man To Love
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Joplin/Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Big Brother and the Holding Company's most successful album, Cheap Thrills, was a mixture of live and studio tracks. I Need A Man To Love, written by band members Janis Joplin and Sam Houston Andrew III, was recorded at the Fillmore West. Somehow I don't think they actually faded out at the end of the song when they played it, though.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Now I Taste The Tears
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Clifford
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
The second LP from the Beacon Street Union, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, was a departure from the sound of the band's first album. If anything, it featured an even more eclectic mix of songs than The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, including the humorous King of the Jungle and the spacy spoken word piece Can I Light Your Cigarette. The band took an R&B turn with Now I Taste The Tears, which features a horn section that was probably brought in at the insistence of producer Wes Farrell, who would go on to produce the Partridge Family a couple years later.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Kyrie Eleison/Mardi Gras
Source: Easy Rider soundtrack
Writer: David Axelrod
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
After the commercial disappointment of the Electric Prunes second LP, Underground, the powers that be at Reprise Records decided to use the band in an experiment. David Axelrod had written a rock-mass and was looking for a band to record it. It soon became apparent, however, that Axelrod's arrangements were beyond the technical skills of the Prunes, and studio musicians were brought in to complete the project. The result was Mass In F Minor, which with its royal purple cover stood out on the record racks but did not sell any better than the previous Prunes LP. Before fading off into obscurity the album was immortalized by having its opening track, Kyrie Eleison, featured in the film Easy Rider and subsequent soundtrack album.
Artist: Warlocks
Title: Can't Come Down
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1965
In 1965 Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters were travelling around conducting the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, basically an excuse to turn on people to LSD. Part of Kesey's entourage was a group of young musicians calling themselves the Warlocks. Toward the end of the year, producer Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone) brought the Warlocks into the studio to cut some songs. The songs themselves did not get released until 1999, when the Warlocks (now calling themselves the Grateful Dead) decided to include them on an anthology album. The lead vocals are by guitarist Jerry Garcia, although they don't sound much like his later Grateful Dead recordings.
Artist: PF Sloan
Title: Halloween Mary
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: PF Sloan
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1966
Since I just played this song last week I'm going to refer you to the previous post (SITPE # 1134 Playlist).
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The Music Machine was by far the most sophisticated of all the bands playing on L.A.'s Sunset Strip in 1966-67. Not only did they feature tight sets (so that audience members wouldn't get the chance to call out requests between songs), they also had their own visual look that set them apart from other bands. Dressed entirely in black (including dyed hair), and with leader Sean Bonniwell wearing one black glove, the Machine projected an image that would influence such diverse artists as the Ramones and Michael Jackson in later years. Musically, Bonniwell's songwriting showed a sophistication that was on a par with the best L.A. had to offer, demonstrated by a series of fine singles such as The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly. Unfortunately, problems on the business end prevented the Music Machine from achieving the success it deserved and Bonniwell eventually quit the music business altogether in disgust.
Artist: Who
Title: Boris The Spider
Source: LP: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: MCA
Year: 1966
For many years, "Boris the Spider" was bassist John Entwhistle's signature song. Eventually Entwhistle got sick of singing it and wrote anoth
Artist: 13th Power
Title: I Want To Be Your Man
Source: LP: Wild In The Streets soundtrack
Writer: Mann/Weil
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
Critics and audiences alike were divided on how to interpret the movie Wild In The Streets. Was it speculative fiction about a distopian future or simply a teen exploitation flick? The film certainly had enough big Hollywood names in it (Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook and Shelley Winters, among others) to be taken seriously, yet the basic premise, that teens, led by a popular rock band, would rise up and take power, putting anyone over 30 into concentration camps, was a bit over-the-top. Regardless of the creators' intentions, Wild In The Streets is now viewed as a cult film that helped launch the career of Richard Pryor (who played bassist Stanley X), and had some decent tunes written by the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (writers of the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit Hungry). The hit single from the movie, Shape Of Things To Come, was attributed on the label to Max Frost and the Troopers, the fictional band that led the revolution, but on the soundtrack album the song was credited to the 13th Power. The reality was that all the songs on the album were the work of studio musicians, although they were credited to a variety of groups such as the Gurus and the Senators. The songs credited to the 13th Power, such as I Want To Be Your Man, were possibly the work of Davie Allen and the Arrows, with lead vocals by Paul Wibier, although that has never been substantiated. It is even possible that Jones himself sang on the soundtrack album.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Source: LP: Homer soundtrack
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: A Certain Girl
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Naomi Neville
Label: Raven (original label: Epic)
Year: 1964
Despite being one of the most respected bands on the British Blues scene, the Yardbirds were never known for their original material. In fact, most of their recordings were either re-interpretations of blues/R&B classics or songs that were given to the band by professional songwriters such as Graham Gouldman. A Certain Girl, released as the B side of I Wish You Would, is a good example of the former, coming from the pen of Allen Toussaint (using the pseudonym Naomi Neville) and originally recorded by Ernie K-Doe (Mother-In-Law).
Artist: Beau Brummels
Title: Just A Little
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Elliott/Durand
Label: Rhino (original label: Autumn)
Year: 1965
Often dismissed as an American imitation of British Invasion bands such as the Beatles, the Beau Brummels actually played a pivotal role in rock music history. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the Brummels were led by Ron Elliott, who co-wrote most of the band's material, including their two top 10 singles in 1965. The second of these, Just A Little, is often cited as the first folk-rock hit, as it was released a week before the Byrds' recording of Mr. Tambourine Man. According to Elliott, the band was not trying to invent folk-rock, however. Rather, it was their own limitations as musicians that forced them to work with what they had: solid vocal harmonies and a mixture of electric and acoustic guitars. Elliott also credits the contributions of producer Sly Stone for the song's success. Conversely, Just A Little was Stone's greatest success as a producer prior to forming his own band, the Family Stone, in 1967.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
After a moderate amount of success in 1965 with a series of singles starting with a cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, the Turtles found themselves running out of steam by the end of 1966. Rather than throw in the towel, they enlisted the services of the Bonner/Gordon songwriting team and recorded their most successful single, Happy Together, in 1967. They dipped into the same well for She's My Girl later the same year.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Why
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
The closing track for the Byrds' fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday, was originally recorded in late 1965 at RCA studios and was released as the B side of Eight Miles High in 1966. The Younger Than Yesterday version of Why is actually a re-recording of the song.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
It's been a few weeks since I played this classic. I figured it was about time to play it again.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: J. Chambers/W. Chambers
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
One of the quintessential songs of the psychedelic era is the Chambers Brothers' classic Time Has Come Today. The song was originally recorded and issued as a single in 1966. The more familiar version heard here, however, was recorded in 1967 for the album The Time Has Come. The LP version of the song runs about eleven minutes, way too long for a 45 RPM record, so before releasing the song as a single for the second time, engineers at Columbia cut the song down to around 3 minutes. The edits proved so jarring that the record was recalled and a re-edited version, clocking in at 4:55 became the third and final single version of the song, hitting the charts in 1968.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: My Days Are Numbered
Source: LP: Child Is Father To The Man
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
The first artist spotlight I ever did on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (back in 2002, long before the show went into syndication) was on Al Kooper. At the time I didn't realize just how important a figure he was in rock history. I knew that he had first appeared on the scene as the replacement for the original guitarist of the Royal Teens, but not that he had become friends with producer Tom Wilson as a result of that. It was as a guest of Wilson that Kooper was in attendance at the historic sessions that produced the classic Bob Dylan track Like A Rolling Stone and the subsequent Highway 61 Revisited album. I knew that Kooper had been the organist for those sessions, but not that he had intended to play guitar that day (when he saw that Michael Bloomfield was already there, he changed his mind) and only played the organ because nobody else was sitting at it. This led to other studio work from producers hoping to cash in on the "Dylan organ" sound. Kooper soon realized that he was being typecast and began looking for ways to expand and hone his abilities, not only as an organist, but on piano and other, more experimental keyboard instruments that were just hitting the market at the time. It was at yet another studio session as a guest of Tom Wilson that Kooper met the members of a new band called the Blues Project, who were (unsuccessfully) auditioning for Columbia Records at their New York studios. Kooper and the band members hit it off and Kooper soon became the band's regular keyboardist, playing on two LPs with the band (and appearing on a third that was released after his departure). In 1968 Kooper hooked up with his friend Michael Bloomfield (among others) to record the historic Super Session album. Feeling that some of the tracks were lacking something, Kooper arranged for horns to be overdubbed, which led to him forming a new band that featured a horn section as an integral part of the band. Calling the new group Blood, Sweat and Tears, he released one album, Child Is Father To The Man, with them before moving on to other things. The majority of songs on Child were written by Kooper, including My Days Are Numbered.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: I Need A Man To Love
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Joplin/Andrew
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Big Brother and the Holding Company's most successful album, Cheap Thrills, was a mixture of live and studio tracks. I Need A Man To Love, written by band members Janis Joplin and Sam Houston Andrew III, was recorded at the Fillmore West. Somehow I don't think they actually faded out at the end of the song when they played it, though.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Now I Taste The Tears
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Clifford
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
The second LP from the Beacon Street Union, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, was a departure from the sound of the band's first album. If anything, it featured an even more eclectic mix of songs than The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, including the humorous King of the Jungle and the spacy spoken word piece Can I Light Your Cigarette. The band took an R&B turn with Now I Taste The Tears, which features a horn section that was probably brought in at the insistence of producer Wes Farrell, who would go on to produce the Partridge Family a couple years later.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Kyrie Eleison/Mardi Gras
Source: Easy Rider soundtrack
Writer: David Axelrod
Label: MCA
Year: 1968
After the commercial disappointment of the Electric Prunes second LP, Underground, the powers that be at Reprise Records decided to use the band in an experiment. David Axelrod had written a rock-mass and was looking for a band to record it. It soon became apparent, however, that Axelrod's arrangements were beyond the technical skills of the Prunes, and studio musicians were brought in to complete the project. The result was Mass In F Minor, which with its royal purple cover stood out on the record racks but did not sell any better than the previous Prunes LP. Before fading off into obscurity the album was immortalized by having its opening track, Kyrie Eleison, featured in the film Easy Rider and subsequent soundtrack album.
Artist: Warlocks
Title: Can't Come Down
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1965
In 1965 Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters were travelling around conducting the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, basically an excuse to turn on people to LSD. Part of Kesey's entourage was a group of young musicians calling themselves the Warlocks. Toward the end of the year, producer Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone) brought the Warlocks into the studio to cut some songs. The songs themselves did not get released until 1999, when the Warlocks (now calling themselves the Grateful Dead) decided to include them on an anthology album. The lead vocals are by guitarist Jerry Garcia, although they don't sound much like his later Grateful Dead recordings.
Artist: PF Sloan
Title: Halloween Mary
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: PF Sloan
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1966
Since I just played this song last week I'm going to refer you to the previous post (SITPE # 1134 Playlist).
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The Music Machine was by far the most sophisticated of all the bands playing on L.A.'s Sunset Strip in 1966-67. Not only did they feature tight sets (so that audience members wouldn't get the chance to call out requests between songs), they also had their own visual look that set them apart from other bands. Dressed entirely in black (including dyed hair), and with leader Sean Bonniwell wearing one black glove, the Machine projected an image that would influence such diverse artists as the Ramones and Michael Jackson in later years. Musically, Bonniwell's songwriting showed a sophistication that was on a par with the best L.A. had to offer, demonstrated by a series of fine singles such as The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly. Unfortunately, problems on the business end prevented the Music Machine from achieving the success it deserved and Bonniwell eventually quit the music business altogether in disgust.
Artist: Who
Title: Boris The Spider
Source: LP: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: MCA
Year: 1966
For many years, "Boris the Spider" was bassist John Entwhistle's signature song. Eventually Entwhistle got sick of singing it and wrote anoth