Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2604 (starts 1/19/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/604061

    We haven't had a battle of the bands on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era in a while, and we don't have one on this week's show either. What we do have, however, is a battle of the song, presenting three different versions of Hey Joe. And no, none of them are either the US hit single by the Leaves or the slower UK hit single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. We do, however, have a mono mix of a 1967 Hendrix tune that was quickly phased out after being released in the US in early 1968 along with no less than four artists who have never appeared on the show before this week.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Tomorrow Never Knows
Source:    Mono CD: Revolver
Writer:    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1966
    A few years ago I started to compile an (admittedly subjective) list of the top psychedelic songs ever recorded. Although I never finished ranking the songs, one of the top contenders for the number one spot was the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows, from the Revolver album. The recording is one of the first to use studio techniques such as backwards masking on the lead guitar track and various tape loops throughout, and has been hailed as a studio masterpiece. The original mono mix differs from the stereo version in the placement and frequency of tape loops throughout the track.

Artist:     Chocolate Watchband
Title:     Sweet Young Thing
Source:     Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ed Cobb
Label:     Rhino (original label: Uptown)
Year:     1967
     There is actually very little on vinyl that captures the flavor of how the Chocolate Watchband actually sounded when left to their own devices, as most of their recorded work was heavily influenced by producer Ed Cobb. One of the few recordings that does accurately represent the Watchband sound (despite being written by Cobb) is Sweet Young Thing, the first single released under the band's real name (Blues Theme, an instrumental Watchband recording credited to the Hoggs, had been released in 1966 by Hanna-Barbera records).

Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    Ain't It Hard
Source:    Mono CD: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Tillison/Tillison
Label:    Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1966
    The Electric Prunes got their big break in 1966 when a real estate saleswoman heard them playing in a garage in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley and told her friend Dave Hassinger about them. Hassinger was a successful studio engineer (having just finished the Rolling Stones' Aftermath album) who was looking to become a record producer. The Prunes were his first clients, and Hassinger's production style is evident on their debut single. Ain't It Hard had already been recorded by the Gypsy Trips, and the Electric Prunes would move into more psychedelic territory with their next release, the iconic I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).

Artist:    Don Fardon
Title:    Sunshine Woman
Source:    LP: The Lament Of The Cherokee-Indian Reservation
Writer(s):    Dallon/Ritchie/Spence
Label:    GNP Crescendo
Year:    1968
    The Sorrows were one of the more hard-driving Mod bands of mid-60s London, playing a style of music now known as freakbeat. Sometime around 1966 lead vocalist Don Fardon left the group for a solo career. His biggest success was his 1968 version of J.D. Loudermilk's Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian), a song that originally been released in 1959 under the title The Pale Faced Indian by Marvin Rainwater. Fardon's version of the song became an international hit, prompting an album of the same name. Oddly enough, the LP, featuring songs like Sunshine Woman, was not issued in Fardon's native England.

Artist:    Bubble Puppy
Title:    Hot Smoke And Sassafras
Source:    CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: A Gathering Or Promises)
Writer(s):    Prince/Cox/Potter/Fore
Label:    Priority (original label: International Artists)
Year:    1968
    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 in early 1969 with Hot Smoke and Sassafras, a song that was originally released the previous year as a B side. Not long after the release of their first LP, A Gathering Of Promises, the band 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:    Canned Heat
Title:    One Kind Favor
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    L T Tatman III
Label:    Liberty
Year:    1968
    Canned Heat's best known song is Going Up The Country, a single from the band's third LP, Living The Blues. The B side of that single, One Kind Favor, was also from the same album. One Kind Favor is one of two tracks on Living The Blues (the other being Boogie Music) credited to L.T. Tatman III, a name sometimes thought to be a pseudonym for one or more of the band members. Musically the song bears a strong resemblance to an earlier Canned Heat single, On The Road Again, which appeared on the band's second LP, Boogie With Canned Heat. Lyrically, it borrows heavily from Blind Lemon Jefferson's 1927 classic See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.

Artist:    Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Title:    Fanfare-Fire Poem/Fire
Source:    Mono British import CD: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Writer(s):    Brown/Crane/Finesilver/Ker
Label:    Polydor (mono version not released in US)
Year:    1968
    When the master tapes for the debut album of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown were sent over to the US, the people at Atlantic Records were understandably blown away by the creativity and sheer bizarreness of what they were hearing. On the other hand, they were not happy with the overall sound of the record, and, working with Brown, made extensive changes to side one of the album, including the addition of strings and the deletion of short audio bits between tracks. The band's drummer, Drachen Theaker, was especially upset with the changes, as he felt his drums were buried in the new mix. According to Brown, when the band first heard an acetate copy of the new mix, Theaker jumped over a table, took the record off the turntable and smashed it on the wall. Nonetheless, the remixed album was a commercial success that Brown was never able to equal, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of the tune Fire, which is still one of the most recognizable songs of the late 1960s.

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Valleri
Source:    CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: The Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees)
Writer(s):    Boyce/Hart
Label:    Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year:    1968
    The last Monkees top 10 single was also Michael Nesmith's least favorite Monkees song. Valleri was a Tommy Boyce/Bobby Hart composition that the group had first recorded for the first season of their TV show in 1966. Apparently nobody was happy with the recording, however, and the song was never issed on vinyl. Two years later the song was re-recorded for the album The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees and subsequently released as a single. The flamenco-style guitar on the intro (and repeated throughout the song) was played by studio guitarist Louie Shelton, after Nesmith refused to participate in the recording.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Little Miss Lover
Source:    Mono LP: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    The second of two songs to use the wah-wah effect extensively on the album Axis: Bold As Love, Little Miss Lover is an example of Jimi Hendrix's funky side, a side not often heard on the three original Jimi Hendrix Experience albums. 

Artist:    Flower Children
Title:    Mini-Skirt Blues
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Volume 3: L.A. '67 Mondo Hollywood A Go-Go (originally released as 45 PM single A side)
Writer(s):    Beldon/Stoke/Starr
Label:    AIP (original label: Allied)
Year:    1967
    There seems to be some confusion surrounding this band that only released one single, Mini-Skirt Blues, in 1967. The only thing that is known for sure is that the band featured Simon Stokes on lead vocals. In fact, it is entirely possible that there was no actual band called the Flower Children. Stokes would go on become a staff writer for Elektra Records before releasing his debut LP, Incredible Simon Stokes & the Black Whip Thrill Band, which featured what was reportedly the first album cover ever to be banned in the US. After disappearing for over 20 years Stokes resurfaced in 1996 with a collaboration with Timothy Leary called Right To Fly. And you thought Captain Beefheart was bizarre!

Artist:     Left Banke
Title:     Pretty Ballerina
Source:     Stereo 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer:     Michael Brown
Label:     Smash
Year:     1967
     The Left Banke, taking advantage of bandleader Michael Brown's industry connections (his father ran a New York recording studio), ushered in what was considered to be the "next big thing" in popular music in early 1967: Baroque Pop. After their debut single, Walk Away Renee, became a huge bestseller, the band followed it up with Pretty Ballerina, which easily made the top 20 as well. Subsequent releases were sabotaged by a series of bad decisions by Brown and the other band members that left radio stations leery of playing any record with the words "Left Banke" on the label.

Artist:      Turtles
Title:     Wanderin' Kind
Source:      Mono LP: It Ain't Me Babe
Writer(s):    Howard Kaylan
Label:    White Whale
Year:     1966
     White Whale Records, being a typical L.A. label, insisted on using professional songwriters for all the Turtles' A sides. The band was allowed to write its own material for the B sides, however. One of the earliest was Wanderin' Kind, which had already been released as the opening track on the Turtles' 1965 debut LP, It Ain't Me Babe. The song was written by lead vocalist Howard Kaylan, who was then still in his teens. Kaylan would end up co-writing many more Turtles tracks, as well as most of Flo & Eddie's material a few years later. 

Artist:    Lovin' spoonful
Title:    Let The Boy Rock And Roll
Source:    LP: Daydream
Writer(s):    Sebastian/Butler
Label:    Kama Sutra
Year:    1966
    Although they were generally known to the public as a sunshine pop band, the Lovin's Spoonful had its roots in the underground folk/blues scene in New York's Greenwich Village, where they performed regularly at the Night Owl Cafe before hitting the big time in 1965. Their sense of humor can be heard on album tracks such as Let The Boy Rock And Roll, a song about a parental disagreement from the 1966 LP Daydream. 

Artist:    Cyrkle
Title:    The Visit (She Was Here)
Source:    CD: Red Rubber Ball (a collection)
Writer(s):    Chandler/McKendry
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1967
    If you were to look up the term "diminishing returns" in a pop music encyclopedia, you might see a picture of the Cyrkle. Their first single, Red Rubber Ball, was a huge hit in 1966, going all the way to the #2 spot, with the album of the same name peaking at #47. The follow-up single, Turn Down Day, was also a top 20 hit, but it would be their last. Each consecutive single, in fact, would top out just a little bit lower than the one before it. Their first single of 1967 only managed to peak at #70. The B side of that single was the soft-rock tune The Visit (She Was Here), which was taken from the Cyrkle's second LP, Neon (which only managed to make it to #164 on the album charts). The group disbanded later that same year.

Artist:    ? And The Mysterians
Title:    I 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, in the absence of any promotion from the label, 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:    Cream
Title:    We're Going Wrong
Source:    British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Disraeli Gears)
Writer:    Jack Bruce
Label:    Polydor (original US label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    On Fresh Cream the slowest-paced tracks were bluesy numbers like Sleepy Time Time. For the group's second LP, 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:     Dead End Street
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Year:     1967
     The last major Kinks hit of the 1960s in the US was Sunny Afternoon in the summer of 1966. The November follow-up, Deadend Street, was in much the same style and made the top 5 in the UK, but did not achieve the same kind of success in the US, thanks in large part to a performance ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians. Although the Kinks would get some minor airplay for subsequent singles such as Victoria, the would not have another major US hit until Lola was released in 1970.

Artist:    4 Of Us
Title:    I Feel A Whole Lot Better
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Volume 6: Michigan Part 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Gene Clark
Label:    AIP (original label: Hideout)
Year:    1966
    The only certain thing about the Michigan band The 4 Of Us is that there were four of them and that they were still in high school when they recorded their cover of the Byrds' I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better. Hopefully the band knew the song's correct title and it was whoever did the typesetting that messed it up on the label itself. Regardless, the single was a big enough hit in the Detroit area to score them a regular slot on the local televised teen dance show, Swingin' Time, no doubt lip-synching to songs by artists who were unable to appear in person.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Mr. Spaceman
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Jim McGuinn
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    Both Jim (now Roger) McGuinn and David Crosby were science fiction fans, which became evident with the release of the Byrds' third album, Fifth Dimension. The third single released from that album, Mr. Spaceman, was in fact, a deliberate attempt to contact extra-terrestrials through the medium of AM radio. It was McGuinn's hope that ETs monitoring Earth's airwaves would hear the song and in some way respond to it, perhaps even contacting the band members themselves. Of course McGuinn didn't realize at the time that AM radio waves tend to disperse as they travel away from the Earth, making it unlikely that the signals would be picked up at all. Now if someone wants to beam this week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era out into the universe...

Artist:    Bee Gees
Title:    Please Read Me
Source:    CD: Bee Gees' 1st
Writer(s):    Barry and Robin Gibb
Label:    Reprise (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    Although they already had two albums released in Australia and New Zealand by the time they relocated to the UK in late 1966, the Bee Gees chose to call their next album Bee Gees' 1st. It was, after all, the group's first LP to be released in the northern hemisphere. More importantly, however, it was the first album to feature the Bee Gees as an actual band, thanks to the addition of lead guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen, both native Australians. The album itself is arguably the most psychedelic in the band's repertoire, as can be heard on Please Read Me, the only song on the LP to feature all three of the Gibb brothers sharing lead vocals.

Artist:    Love
Title:    Hey Joe
Source:    Mono LP: Love
Writer(s):    Billy Roberts
Label:    Elektra
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 (reportedly using misremembered lyrics acquired from Love's Johnny Echols) 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 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). Yet another variation on the slow version of Hey Joe was released by Cher in early 1967, which seems to have finally killed the song, as I don't know of any major subsequent recordings of the tune (unless you count the Mothers Of Invention's parody of the song, Flower Punk, which appeared on the album We're Only In It For The Money in 1968). 

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Hey Joe
Source:    CD: Turn On The Music Machine
Writer(s):    Billy Roberts
Label:    Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year:    1966
    There were actually three slow versions of Hey Joe released in 1966. The first was a summer single by folk singer Tim Rose, who reportedly brainstormed the idea of slowing down the popular garage-rock tune with his friend Sean Bonniwell, leader of the Music Machine. Although Rose's version was the first released, it did not appear on an LP until 1967. The first stereo version of the song was on the Music Machine's first LP, released in the fall. In December a third slow version of Hey Joe was released, but only in the UK and Europe. That version was by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Like Rose's single, the Hendrix version of Hey Joe was originally released only in a mono version, which was remixed in stereo by engineers at Reprise Records for inclusion on the US version of the debut Hendrix LP in 1967.

Artist:    Pied Pipers
Title:    Hey Joe
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Volume 9: Ohio (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Billy Roberts
Label:    AIP (original label: Wam)
Year:    1967
    Youngstown, Ohio's Pied Pipers only released two singles. One of those was the only record ever released on the Hamlin Town label, which sure sounds like it was owned by the band itself. The other one appeared on the Wam label, which existed, albeit sporadically, from 1961 to 1982. Both singles featured songs written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, suggesting that the Pied Pipers were basically a cover band that played a lot of Memphis soul. For the A side of their Wam single, the Pipers became about the millionth band to record Hey Joe. The most unique thing about the Pied Pipers Hey Joe single is that songwriting credit was given to Chester Powers, which was the birth name of Dino Valenti, whose name appears on various other recordings of the song. The actual writer, of course, was Billy Roberts. At least they didn't credit Tim Rose for writing it like some people did.

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    For Your Love
Source:    Mono CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Graham Gouldman
Label:    K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year:    1965
    The last Yardbirds song to feature guitarist Eric Clapton, For Your Love was the group's first US hit, peaking in 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). 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:    Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title:    The Great Airplane Strike (originally released on LP: Spirit Of '67 and as 45 RPM single)
Source:    CD: Greatest Hits
Writer:    Revere/Melcher/Lindsay
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
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 in 1966 was The Great Airplane Strike from the Spirit Of '67 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:    Kaleidoscope (UK)
Title:    Flight From Ashiya
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Daltry/Pumer
Label:    Rhino (original label: Fontana)
Year:    1967
    Although they did not have any hit singles, London's Kaleidoscope had enough staying power to record two album's worth of material for the Fontana label before disbanding. The group's first release was Flight From Ashiya, a single released in September of 1967. Describing a bad plane trip with a stoned pilot, the song is filled with chaotic images, making the song's story a bit hard to follow. Still, it's certainly worth a listen.

Artist:    Donovan
Title:    There Is A Mountain
Source:    CD: Donovan's Greatest Hits (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    Epic/Legacy 
Year:    1967
    1967 was a year that saw Donovan continue to shed the "folk singer" image, forcing the media to look for a new term to describe someone like him. As you may have already guessed, that term was "singer-songwriter." On There Is A Mountain, a hit single from 1967, Donovan applies Eastern philosophy and tonality to pop music, with the result being one of those songs that sticks in your head for days.
    
Artist:     Donovan
Title:     Sand And Foam
Source:     45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Mellow Yellow)
Writer:     Donovan Leitch
Label:     Epic
Year:     1967
     When Donovan Leitch, a young singer from Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland, first came to prominence, he was hailed as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan. By 1966 he was recognized as the most popular folk singer in the UK. But Donovan was already starting to stretch beyond the boundaries of folk music, and in the fall of that year he released his first major US hit, Sunshine Superman. From that point on he was no longer Donovan the folk singer; he was now Donovan the singer-songwriter. Donovan continued to expand his musical horizons in 1967 with the release of the Mellow Yellow album and singles such as There Is A Mountain. The B side of There Is A Mountain was Sand And Foam, an acoustic number from the Mellow Yellow album.
    
Artist:     Donovan
Title:     Epistle To Dippy
Source:    CD: Donovan's Greatest Hits (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    Epic/Legacy 
Year:     1967
     Following up on his successful Mellow Yellow album, Donovan released Epistle To Dippy in the spring of 1967. The song, utilizing the same kind of instrumentation as Mellow Yellow, was further proof that the Scottish singer was continuing to move beyond the restrictions of the "folk singer" label and was quickly becoming the model for what would come to be called "singer/songwriters" in the following decade.

Artist:    Traffic
Title:    The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Source:    CD: Smiling Phases (originally released on LP: The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys)
Writer(s):    Winwood/Capaldi
Label:    Island
Year:    1971
    Traffic was formed in 1967 by guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Steve Winwood, drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi, flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Mason. Winwood, at 18 the youngest member of the band, was already an established star as lead vocalist of the Spencer Davis Group, and it was in part his desire for more creative freedom that led to Traffic's formation. From the beginning there was creative tension within the band, and less than two years later the group broke up when Winwood left to join Blind Faith. In early 1970, following the demise of Blind Faith, Winwood began working on a solo album that ended up being a new Traffic album, John Barleycorn Must Die, instead. This was followed in 1971 by the band's most successful album, The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys. The long title track (eleven and a half minutes' worth) shows a more relaxed sounding band, with Wood, Capaldi, new bassist Rich Grech and percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah creating a moody backdrop for Winwood's interpretation of Capaldi's somewhat cynical lyrics. Despite its length, The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys became a staple of FM rock stations for many years.

Artist:    Eric Burdon And War
Title:    Spill The Wine
Source:    LP: Eric Burdon Declares War
Writer(s):    Burdon/Miller/Scott/Dickerson/Jordan/Brown/Allen/Oskar
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1970
    After the second version of the Animals disbanded in late 1969, vocalist Eric Burdon, who was by then living in California, decided to pursue his interest in American soul music by hooking up with an L.A. band called War. He released his first album with the group, Eric Burdon Declares War, in 1970. The album included Spill The Wine, which would be the first of several hits for War in the 1970s. The song was inspired by keyboardist Lonnie Jordan's accidentally spilling wine on a mixing board, although the lyrics are far more fanciful, with Burdon referring to himself as an "overfed long-haired gnome" in the song's opening monologue. The song turned out to be a major hit, going into the top 5 in both the US and Canada. 

Artist:    Mephistopheles
Title:    Take A Jet
Source:    LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Takett/Siller/Simone/Mosher
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1969
    In 1969 Warner Brothers Records instituted their long-running series of Loss Leaders albums. These were collections sold at a discount via mail order only that served to introduce listeners to music they may not have otherwise been exposed to. Each track on the albums had, in addition to artist and song title info, a paragraph or more about the artist and/or song itself. With one exception. The second Loss Leaders album, The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show, included a song called Take A Jet by a band called Mephistopheles. The liner notes give only the artist and title, with nothing but blank space after that. Considering the name of the band itself, I find that kind of creepy.

Artist:    Deep Purple
Title:    Prelude: Happiness/I'm So Glad
Source:    LP: Shades Of Deep Purple
Writer(s):    Evans/Lord/Paice/Blackmore/Simper/James
Label:    Tetragrammaton
Year:    1968
    Deep Purple was originally the brainchild of vocalist Chris Curtis, whose idea was to have a band called Roundabout that utilized a rotating cast of musicians onstage, with only Curtis himself being up there for the entire gig. The first two musicians recruited were organist Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, both of whom came aboard in late 1967. Curtis soon lost interest in the project, and Lord and Blackmore decided to stay together and form what would become Deep Purple. After a few false starts the lineup stabilized with the addition of bassist Nicky Simper, drummer Ian Paice and vocalist Rod Evans. The group worked up a songlist and used their various connections to get a record deal with a new American record label, Tetragrammaton, which was partially owned by actor/comedian Bill Cosby. This in turn led to a deal to release the band's recordings in England on EMI's Parlophone label as well, although Tetragrammaton had first rights to all the band's material, including the classically-influenced Prelude: Happiness, which leads directly into a cover of the Skip James classic I'm So Glad. The band's first LP, Shades Of Deep Purple, was released in the US in July of 1968 and in the UK in September of the same year. The album was a major success in the US, where the single Hush made it into the top five. In the UK, however, it was panned by the rock press and failed to make the charts. This would prove to be the pattern the band would follow throughout its early years; it was only after Evans and Simper were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover that the band would find success in their native land. Both editions of Deep Purple can be heard regularly on our companion show, Rockin' in the Days of Confusion.

 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2604 (starts 1/19/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/604060 

    We're in free-form mode this week, with a mixture of well-known tunes by people like Jethro Tull and the Rolling Stones mixed with lesser-known album tracks from people like Mott The Hoople and Jeff Beck. And as promised a few weeks ago, we have the original 1968 live version of The Motorcyle Song from Arlo Guthrie.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Sympathy For The Devil
Source:    CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released on LP: Beggars Banquet)
Writer(s):    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 the bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio, and occupies the #32 spot on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. Allen Klein, who had taken control of the band's 60s catalog, issued Sympathy For The Devil (all six and a half minutes of it) as a B side in 1976.

Artist:    Jeff Beck
Title:    Blue Wind
Source:    LP: Wired
Writer(s):    Jan Hammer
Label:    Epic
Year:    1976
    After dissolving the power trio Beck, Bogert and Appice, guitarist Jeff Beck participated in several studio projects before returning to the spotlight as a purely instrumental front man. His second solo album, Wired, featured his strongest supporting band yet, including Max Middleton (from the second Jeff Beck Group) on clavinet and Fender Rhodes electric piano, Jan Hammer on synthesizer, Wilbur Bascomb on bass and Narada Michael Walden on drums. Probably the song that got the most airplay, however, was Blue Wind, which featured only Beck and Hammer (who wrote and produced the track) on all instruments.

Artist:    Santana
Title:    Hope You're Feeling Better
Source:    CD: Abraxas
Writer(s):    Gregg Rolie
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1970
    Gregg Rolie's Hope You're Feeling Better was the third single to be taken from Santana's Abraxas album. Although not as successful as either Black Magic Woman or Oye Como Va, the song nonetheless received considerable airplay on progressive FM rock stations and has appeared on several compilation anthems since its initial release.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Locomotive Breath (single version)
Source:    45 RPM single (original version from LP: Aqualung)
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1971
    I occasionally get asked why I don't do commercial radio anymore. Here's a clue. In 1989 I was working for a station serving the Elmira, NY market. The station had recently undergone a change of ownership, and was slowly transitioning from a kind of hybrid adult contemporary format developed by Johnny, the original owner, to an album rock format favored by Dom, the music and program director. Dom, in addition to his management duties, hosted the midday shift and one day, while on the air, got a call from Guy, the new owner, telling him "get that song off the air right now and don't ever play it on my station again!" So Dom had to cut the song off midway, because Guy objected to the line "got him by the balls". The song in question, of course, was Jethro Tull's Locomotive Breath, from the Aqualung album, which was, at that point in time, eighteen years old, and had been getting played on rock radio pretty steadily for most of those eighteen years, even being released in edited form as a single in 1976. Seriously, who needs that kind of grief?

Artist:     Spirit
Title:     Mr. Skin 
Source:     CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer(s):    Jay Ferguson
Label:    Epic/Legacy
Year:     1970
     Mr. Skin, an R&B-oriented tune originally released on the 1970 album The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus and later issued as a single, shows just how far Spirit had moved away from the jazz influences heard on their first LP in the space of only a couple of years.

Artist:    Uriah Heep
Title:    Sweet Freedom
Source:    LP: Sweet Freedom
Writer(s):    Ken Hensley
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1973
    Uriah Heep hit their Apex in 1972 with the back-to-back LPs Demons And Wizards and The Magician's Birthday. They followed those up with a double-LP live album (pretty much a standard thing for rock bands at the time) and, in 1973, released the album Sweet Freedom. Sweet Freedom saw the band moving beyond their own fantasy-based image, both lyrically and musically, with mixed success. The title track, which closed the album, was probably the most stylistically similar song on the album to their earlier material, and with a six and a half minute running time is the longest track on the album itself.

Artist:    Arlo Guthrie
Title:    The Motorcycle Song 
Source:    LP: Arlo
Writer(s):    Arlo Guthrie
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1968
    Arlo Guthrie originally recorded the Motorcycle Song as a straightforward three minute long folk song for his 1967 debut album, Alice's Restaurant. He then opened his 1968 live album Arlo with a nearly eight-minute long rendition of the song that included his somewhat fanciful explanation of how the song came to be. But when it came time for his label to release a compilation album of his best-known tunes in 1977, an entirely different live version in which he stated that he had been doing the song for twelve years was used. Although there has never been any official explanation of the substitution (or for that matter any information about where the later version even came from ), I believe it has to do with the part of the story about landing on a police car. The 1968 version includes the words "and he died", while the later one says "and it died" and goes on to tell a revised version of the rest of the story in which he is confronted by a rather short, but very much alive, police officer. 

Artist:    Elton John
Title:    Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun
Source:    LP: Tumbleweed Connection
Writer(s):    John/Taupin
Label:    Uni
Year:    1970
    The Wikipedia entry for Elton John's third album, Tumbleweed Connection, calls it a "concept album based on country and western and Americana themes." Well, I guess two out of three ain't bad. It certainly contains both Americana and Western themes, having been heavily influenced by Marty Robbins's El Paso, but I have to take issue with the use of the term "country and western". The fact is, that, until the 1950s the two were separate musical genres, with country music based in the music of Appalachia and the South, while western music was more sophisticated, drawing elements from other genres. The aforemention El Paso, for instance, incorporated elements of Ranchero music, something that never would have occured to someone like Jimmie Rodgers or Hank Williams. Of course, more than anything else, Tumbleweed Connection sounds like an Elton John album, as can be plainly heard on songs like Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun.

Artist:    David Bowie
Title:    It Ain't Easy
Source:    CD: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Writer(s):    Ron Davies
Label:    Ryko (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1972
    David Bowie had little need to record cover songs. He was, after all, one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. But when he did record the occasional cover tune, you can bet it was a good one. Take It Ain't Easy, for instance. The song was already well known as the title track of two different albums, one by Three Dog Night and one by Long John Baldry, when Bowie recorded it, yet he still managed to make the song his own. The song itself was written by Nashville songwriter Ron Davies, whose younger sister Gail is notable as the first female producer in country music. 

Artist:    Mott The Hoople
Title:    Soft Ground
Source:    LP: All The Young Dudes
Writer(s):    Verden Allen
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1972
    Although he was a founding member of Mott The Hoople, keyboardist Verden Allen only sang lead vocals on one song on any of their albums. The tune, which he wrote, was called Soft Ground and it appeared on the band's breakthrough album All The Young Dudes. Allen would leave the group not long after that album was released, not reuniting with his former bandmates until 2013.

Artist:    Deep Purple
Title:    Mary Long
Source:    Japanese import CD: Who Do We Think We Are
Writer(s):    Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1973
    Deep Purple took satirical aim at holier-than-thou moral crusaders on the song Mary Long, from their 1973 LP Who Do We Think We Are. The title character was an amalgamation of two well-known figures in British society, Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford. According to vocalist Ian Gillan, the song was about "the standards of the older generation, the whole moral framework, intellectual vandalism – all of the things that exist throughout the generations… Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford became one person, fusing together to represent the hypocrisy that I saw at the time."

Artist:    Steely Dan
Title:    Show Biz Kids
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Becker/Fagen
Label:    ABC
Year:    1973
    Steely Dan's second LP, 1973's Countdown To Ecstasy, did not sell as well as their 1972 debut LP. The reason usually cited for this dropoff in sales is the lack of a hit single, although at least two singles were released from the album. The second of these was Show Biz Kids, a song that sums up the Los Angeles lifestyle, a theme that songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would continue to explore for the rest of the decade. 

 
 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2603 (starts 1/12/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/603038

    Pretty much everyone acknowledges Jimi Hendrix's abilities as a guitarist, with his roots solidly planted in the blues. Often overlooked, however, is the fact that he was also an extremely creative individual who was always looking for unexplored musical territory to explore. This week we present a set of tracks that showcase both sides of Jimi Hendrix, along with the usual mix of singles, B sides and album tracks (which literally describes our first three songs, as a matter of fact) from the most creative period in rock history.

Artist:    Standells
Title:    Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source:    Mono CD: The Best Of The Standells (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    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:    Procol Harum
Title:    Lime Street Blues 
Source:    45 RPM single B side (reissue)
Writer(s):    Brooker/Reid
Label:    A&M (original label: Deram)
Year:    1967
    Anyone expecting more of the same when flipping over their new copy of A Whiter Shade Of Pale in 1967 got a big surprise when they heard Lime Street Blues. The song, reminiscent of an early Ray Charles track, was strong enough to be included on their first greatest hits collection, no mean feat for a B side.

Artist:    Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Title:    Spontaneous Apple Creation
Source:    British import CD: Acid Daze (originally released on LP: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown)
Writer(s):    Brown/Crane
Label:    Uncut (original US label: Atlantic)
Year:    1968
    One of the most revered examples of British psychedelia is the 1968 album The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. While side one was done as a concept album about Hell, side two was a mixture of original tunes and the most popular cover songs from the band's live repertoire. Among the originals on side two is Spontaneous Apple Creation, possibly the most avant-garde piece on the album. Once you hear it, you'll know exactly what I mean by that.

Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    Whole Lotta Love
Source:    German import LP: Led Zeppelin II
Writer(s):    Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones/Dixon
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1969
    If any one song can be considered the bridge between psychedelic rock and heavy metal, it would have to be Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Released in 1969 as the lead track to their second LP, the song became their biggest hit single. Whole Lotta Love was originally credited to the four band members. In recent years, however, co-credit has been given to Willie Dixon, whose lyrics to the 1962 tune You Need Love (recorded by Muddy Waters) are almost identical to Robert Plant's.

Artist:    Simon and Garfunkel
Title:    I Am A Rock
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    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. This was actually the second time I Am A Rock had been issued as a single. An earlier version, from the Paul Simon Songbook, had been released in 1965. Both the single and the LP were only available for a short time and only in the UK, and were deleted at Simon's request.

Artist:    Yellow Balloon
Title:    Yellow Balloon
Source:    Mono LP: Also Dug-Its(originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: The Yellow Balloon)
Writer(s):    Zeckley/St. John/Lee
Label:    Elektra (original label: Canterbury)
Year:    1967
    After Jan Berry's near-fatal car wreck in April of 1966, partner Dean Torrance turned to songwriter Gary Zeckley for material for a new album. Zeckley responded by writing the song Yellow Balloon, but was unhappy with Jan and Dean's recording of the song and decided to cut his own version. The resulting recording, utilizing studio musicians for the instrumental tracks, was released in May of 1967 on the Canterbury label and was a moderately successful hit, peaking at #25 (Jan and Dean's version stalled out at #111).

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    Point Me At The Sky
Source:    Mono CD: Cre/Ation-The Early Years 1967-1972 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Waters/Gilmour
Label:    Pink Floyd Records (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1968
    During their early years Pink Floyd, like other English groups, released several songs on 7" 45 RPM singles that were not included on their LPs. Once those singles went out of print many of them were next to impossible to find. Some of them were included in the Relics compilation album, released in 1971, but most of them did not become available again until 1992, when they were included on a CD called The Early Singles. Unfortunately for the budget collector, The Early Singles was only available as a bonus disc in the Shine On box set. Perhaps the rarest of all these recordings was Point Me At The Sky. Released in 1968, it would be the last single released by the band in their native UK for almost 10 years. Adding to the song's obscurity is the fact that soon after the record was released, the few disc jockeys that were aware of it soon started flipping it over and playing its B side, a tune called Careful With That Axe, Eugene. Point Me At The Sky's first appearance in the US was a fake stereo version included on a promotional album called A Harvest Sampler that was, to my knowledge, only sent out to radio stations in 1978. The song was included in yet another box set in 2016, this one a massive seven volume, 33 disc collection called The Early Years 1965-1972. Luckily for those of us whose name doesn't rhyme with mates or husk the track, in its original mono mix, was included on a two-disc sampler taken from the larger set called Cre/Ation-The Early Years 1967-1972. The song itself, a rare collaboration between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, features Gilmour on lead vocals, with Waters joining him on the bridge.

Artist:     Flock
Title:     Tired Of Waiting For You
Source:     German import LP: Underground '70 (originally released on LP: The Flock)
Writer:     Ray Davies
Label:     CBS (original label: Columbia)
Year:     1969
     The Flock was one of those bands that made an impression on those who heard them perform but somehow were never able to turn that into massive record sales. Still, they left a pair of excellent LPs for posterity. The most notable track from the first album was their cover of the 1965 Kinks hit Tired Of Waiting For You, featuring solos at the beginning and end of the song from violinist Jerry Goodwin, who would go on to become a charter member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra a couple years later. 

Artist:    Mamas And The Papas
Title:    California Dreamin'
Source:    LP: If You Believe Your Eyes And Ears (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    John and Michelle Phillips
Label:    Dunhill
Year:    1965
    California Dreamin' was written in 1963 by John and Michelle Phillips, who were living in New York City at the time. The two of them were members of a folk group called the New Journeymen that would eventually become The Mamas And The Papas. Phillips initially gave the song to his friend Barry McGuire to record, but McGuire's version failed to chart. Not long after that McGuire introduced Philips to Lou Adler, president of Dunhill Records who quickly signed The Mamas And The Papas to a recording contract. Using the same instrumental backing track (provided by various Los Angeles studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew), The Mamas And The Papas recorded new vocals for California Dreamin', releasing it as a single in late 1965. The song took a while to catch on, but eventually peaked in the top five nationally. 

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    Shapes Of Things
Source:    Mono CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty
Label:    Priority (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 making it to the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.

Artist:    Amboy Dukes
Title:    Baby Please Don't Go
Source:    CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Amboy Dukes)
Writer(s):    Joe Williams
Label:    Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year:    1967
            The Amboy Dukes were a garage supergroup formed by guitarist Ted Nugent, a Chicago native who had heard that Bob Shad, head of jazz-oriented Mainstream Records, was looking for rock bands to sign to the label. Nugent relocated to Detroit in 1967, where he recruited vocalist John Drake, guitarist Steve Farmer, organist Rick Lober, bassist Bill White and drummer Dave Palmer, all of whom had been members of various local bands. The Dukes' self-titled debut LP was released in November of 1967. In addition to seven original pieces, the album included a handful of cover songs, the best of which was their rocked out version of the old Joe Williams tune Baby Please Don't Go. The song was released as a single in January of 1968, where it got a decent amount of airplay in the Detroit area, and was ultimately chosen by Lenny Kaye for inclusion on the original Nuggets compilation album, although, unlike with the rest of the tracks on that first Nuggets collection, Kaye chose to use the longer album version of Baby Please Don't Go.

Artist:    Lollipop Shoppe
Title:    You Don't Give Me No More
Source:    CD: The Weeds aka The Lollipop Shoppe (originally released on LP: Angels From Hell soundtrack)
Writer(s):    Cole/Atkins
Label:    Way Back (original label: Tower)
Year:    1968
    When it comes to long strange trips, the Grateful Dead have nothing on Fred Cole, the legendary indy rock pioneer. Like many baby boomers, he got into his first band at age 14. From there the story gets a bit more unique. At age 15 he played bass in a band called the Lords that became the backup band for Frank Sinatra, Jr. That may have been success enough for an average 15-year-old, but for Cole it was only the beginning. After one unsuccessful single the Lords split up and Cole found himself being groomed as the "white Stevie Wonder" by Mike Tell, the owner of the record label that had issued the Lords' single, working with a group of studio musicians led by Larry Williams (of Dizzy Miss Lizzy fame). The group cut a pair of songs using the name Deep Soul Cole (with Cole on lead vocals and bass) and a few copies were made of a possible single, but the record failed to get the attention of top 40 radio and Cole found himself forming a new band, the Weeds, in early 1966. After recording a single for Teenbeat Records, the group got what it thought was its big break when their manager told them they were booked as an opening act for the Yardbirds at the Fillmore in San Francisco. On arrival, however, they soon discovered that nobody, from Bill Graham on down, had any idea who they were. Thus, nearly broke and without a gig, the Weeds decided to do what any band with members of draftable age in 1966 would do: move to Canada. Unfortunately for the band, they only had enough gas to get to Portland, Oregon. Still, being young and resilient, they soon got a steady gig as the house band at a local coffeehouse, with Cole meeting his soon-to-be wife Toody in the process. The Weeds soon became an important part of the Portland music scene, with a series of appearances at the Crystal Ballroom supplementing their regular gig at The Folk Singer throughout 1967. Late in the year the band decided to move on, first to Sausalito, California (for about six months, playing all over the Bay area), then to Los Angeles, where they brazenly showed up unannounced at Lord Tim Productions in Los Angeles with a demo tape. Lord Tim, then the manager of the Seeds and claiming to be the guy who coined the term "flower power", signed them on the spot. Soon, a new 45 RPM record appeared on MCA's Uni label: You Must Be A Witch. It came as a shock to the band, however, to see the name Lollipop Shoppe on the label rather than The Weeds. Apparently Lord Tim wanted to avoid any name confusion between the Seeds and the Weeds and arbitrarily decided to rename the band without consulting them first. Before long an entire album by the Lollipop Shoppe hit the shelves, featuring all original compositions by Cole and various other band members such as You Don't Give Me No More. Later in 1968 the band was invited to appear in the cheapie biker film Angels From Hell, although to avoid having to pay Cole for having a speaking (singing) role they only filmed him from the neck down. Two songs from the band, including Mr. Madison Avenue, appeared on the soundtrack album, released on the Tower label (big surprise there). After severing ties with Uni (and Lord Tim) in 1969, the band continued under various names for a few more years before finally giving way to one of the first, and most long-lived indy rock bands, Dead Moon, which was co-led by Fred and Toody Cole for over 20 years. Dead Moon eventually gave way to Pierced Arrows, which was active until 2015. Cole died from liver disease in 2017. Toody Cole And Her Band was most recently seen on tour in Australia and New Zealand. 
 
Artist:    Waters
Title:    Mother Samwell
Source:    CD: A Deadly Dose Of Wild Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Barrickman/Burgard
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original labels: Delcrest & Hip)
Year:    1969
    Formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1967, the Waters released two singles on three labels before disbanding in 1969. The second of these, the Hendrix-inspired Mother Samwell, was first released on the Delcrest label in January of 1969 and then re-released by Hip in April of the same year. 

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Chauffeur Blues
Source:    LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s):    Lester Melrose (disputed, likely to actually have been written by Lizzie Douglas, aka Memphis Minnie)
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1966
    The Jefferson Airplane's original female vocalist was Signe Toly Anderson. Unlike Grace Slick, who basically shared lead vocals with founder Marty Balin, Anderson mostly functioned as a backup singer. The only Airplane recording to feature Anderson as a lead vocalist was Chauffeur Blues, a cover of an old Memphis Minnie tune that was included on the 1966 LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The song was credited on the album's label to Lester Melrose, who produced the original Memphis Minnie version of the song. However, the original 1941 78 RPM label gives the songwriting credit to "Lawler", which is thought to be a misspelled reference to Minnie's husband, Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars. It is now believed that Memphis Minnie, whose given name was Lizzie Douglas, was the actual writer of Chaffeur Blues, but that it was easier to get the song published under her husband's name. 

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Goin' Down
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Hilderbrand/Tork/Nesmith/Dolenz/Jones
Label:    Colgems
Year:    1967
    The Monkees released two singles in 1967 that were not included on any albums released that year. The second of these, Daydream Believer, became one of the biggest hits of the year, and was subsequently included on the 1968 LP The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees. The B side of that single was a mostly improvisational number called Goin' Down, with Mickey Dolenz singing the story of a foolish young man who decided to jump into a rushing river without knowing how to swim.

Artist:    Them
Title:    Market Place
Source:    LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Writer(s):    Lane/Pulley
Label:    Tower
Year:    1968
    I've often mentioned the lost WEOS vinyl archives that were found in a storage room on the Hobart & William Smith College campus a few years ago. Of the thousands of albums we found I ended up keeping about 200. Of those nearly half were unusable, mostly due to their condition. The remainder I divided into three piles. The largest of these piles were the marginal albums that may have one or two songs that might be worked into the show once in a while. The next pile was mostly duplicates of albums I already had on CD, although there were a few cases of stereo albums I had mono copies of, or vice versa. Only a handful of albums made the third pile, but these were the real gems of the bunch: genuine relics of the psychedelic era in playable condition that I didn't already have. Of these, two of the most valuable finds (for my purposes at any rate) were the two post-Van Morrison Them albums released by Tower Records in 1968 that feature new vocalist Kenny McDowell. Market Place is from the second of these, Time Out! Time In! For Them.

Artist:    Shadows Of Knight
Title:    Let It Rock
Source:    CD: Gloria
Writer(s):    Chuck Berry
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Dunwich)
Year:    1966
    Most garage bands based their sound on British bands like the Rolling Stones and the Kinks. The Shadows Of Knight, however, had influences a lot closer to home. Based in the Chicago suburbs, the Shadows looked to recordings originally issued on the Chess label, such as Chuck Berry's Let It Rock, which they included their own version of on their 1966 debut LP, Gloria.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Red House
Source:    Mono CD: Blues (originally released in UK on LP: Are You Experienced)
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Legacy (original UK label: Track)
Year:    1967
    One of the first songs recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Red House was omitted from the US version of Are You Experienced because, in the words of one recording company executive: "America does not like blues". At the time the song was recorded, Noel Redding was not yet comfortable using a bass guitar, and would work out his bass parts on a slightly-detuned hollow body six-string guitar with the tone controls on their muddiest setting (I learned to play bass the same way myself). The original recording of Red House that was included on the UK version of Are You Experienced features Redding doing exactly that. A second take of the song, with overdubs, was included on the 1969 Smash Hits album, but the original mono version heard here was not available in the US until the release of the Blues CD in 1994. 

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source:    CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer:    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original 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:    Jimi Hendrix Experience (mk II)
Title:    Jam 292
Source:    CD: Blues
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Legacy
Year:    1969
    Jam 292 is basically a blues jam recorded at the Record Plant in New York in May of 1969. If you listen real close you can hear, in addition to Jimi Hendrix on guitar, Billy Cox on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums, the occasional tinkling of piano keys played by Sharon Layne. Really, though, this one's all about the guitar solos. 

Artist:    Janis Joplin
Title:    Dear Landlord
Source:    LP: I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama
Writer(s):    Dylan/Joplin
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    As well as writing her own material, Janis Joplin excelled at interpreting songs by others and making them her own. In fact, when she recorded her own version of Bob Dylan's Hey Landlord, she actually added new lyrics of her own. Not many people had the guts to do something like that, but that's who Janis was. Unfortunately, the song was left off the album she was working on at the time (I personally would have preferred it to Little Girl Blue or To Love Somebody), possibly because messing with a Bob Dylan tune made her producer, Gabriel Mekler, nervous. Regardless, the song finally did appear in 1993 on the Janis box set and is now available as a bonus track on her first solo LP, I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    One For John Gee
Source:    CD: This Was (bonus track)
Writer(s):    Mick Abrahams
Label:    Chrysalis/Capitol
Year:    1968
    Ian Anderson, in his liner notes to the remastered version of Jethro Tull's 1968 debut album, This Was, credits BBC disc jockey John Peel and Marquee Club manager John Gee for their help in gaining an audience for the band in their early days. While making This Was the band recorded a tribute track, One For John Gee, that was not included on the original LP but is now available as a CD bonus track. The short instrumental was written by the band's original guitarist, Mick Abrahams, who left the group shortly after the release of This Was to form his own band, Blodwyn Pig.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Strange Days
Source:    CD: Strange Days
Writer(s):    The Doors
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1967
    One of the first rock albums to not picture the band members on the front cover was the Doors' second LP, Strange Days. Instead, the cover featured several circus performers doing various tricks on a city street, with the band's logo appearing on a poster on the wall of a building. The album itself contains some of the Doors' most memorable tracks, including the title song, which also appears on their greatest hits album despite never being released as a single.

Artist:    Love
Title:    She Comes In Colors
Source:    Mono CD: Love Story (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Arthur Lee
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1966
    Love's third single, Stephanie Knows Who, was in its own way every bit as intense as the band's previous singles (My Little Red Book and 7&7 Is), but for some reason Elektra quickly withdrew the release and replaced it with the much mellower She Comes In Colors around the same time the band's second LP, Da Capo was released in November of 1966. Perhaps they were influenced by one reviewer's comparison of Arthur Lee's voice to that of Johnny Mathis and decided to showcase the band's more melodic side. 

Artist:    Donovan
Title:    Colours
Source:    Simulated stereo LP: Golden Days Of British Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    Sire (original US label: Hickory)
Year:    1965
    On the heels of the success of his 1965 debut single, Catch The Wind (#4 UK, #23 US), Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch followed it up with the similarly styled Colours. Although not a hit in the US, Colours matched the success of Catch The Wind in the UK. Both songs were included on an EP, also called Colours, that was issued in Europe and the UK in December of 1965. 

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    My Back Pages
Source:    Mono CD: Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1964
    Bob Dylan's fourth LP, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, saw the singer/songwriter moving away from protest songs toward a more introspective approach to songwriting, a move that did not sit well with some of his early fans, such as Sing Out editor Irwin Silber, who complained that Dylan had "somehow lost touch with people" and was caught up in "the paraphernalia of fame". Dylan's musical style, remained the same as it had on his previous albums. Dylan sang and played guitar and harmonica, with no other accompaniment (making it kind of pointless to spend the extra dollar on a stereo copy of the LP) on songs like My Back Pages, a tune that addresses the very issues people like Silber were complaining about and expresses Dylan's growing awareness of his own hubris.

Artist:     Barry McGuire
Title:     Eve of Destruction
Source:     LP: 93 KHJ Boss Goldies  (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:     P.F. Sloan
Label:     Original Sound (original label: Dunhill)
Year:     1965
     P.F. Sloan had already established a reputation for writing songs that captured the anger of youth by the time he wrote Eve Of Destruction, which Barry McGuire took into the top 10 in 1965. It would be McGuire's only major hit, and represented folk-rock at the peak of its popularity. Sloan himself would soon be teaming up with Steve Barri to write and produce pop-oriented tunes for their own manufactured band, the Grass Roots.

Artist:      Rolling Stones
Title:     The Last Time
Source:      Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label:     Abkco (original label: London)
Year:     1965
     Released in late winter of 1965, The Last Time was the first single to hit the top 10 in both the US and the UK (being their third consecutive #1 hit in England) and the first one written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Despite that, it would be overshadowed by their next release: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which went to the top of the charts everywhere and ended up being the most-played song of 1965.

Artist:     Beatles
Title:     In My Life
Source:     CD: Rubber Soul
Writer:     Lennon/McCartney
Label:     Parlophone
Year:     1965
    Rubber Soul was the first Beatles album to be made up entirely of songs written by the band members themselves, with most of them penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Lennon's contributions in particular were starting to move away from the typical "young love" songs the band had become famous for. One of the best examples is In My Life, which is a nostalgic look back at Lennon's own past (although put in such a way that it could be universally applied). Despite never being released as a single, In My Life remains one of the most popular songs in the Beatles catalog.
 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2603 (starts 1/12/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/603037 

    We're keeping it simple this week. First we rock out, then it gets mellow. When all is said and done it really is an Amazing Journey, even if it does start with a bit of Madness.

Artist:    James Gang
Title:    Madness/Kick Back Man
Source:    LP: Straight Shooter
Writer(s):    Troiano/Kenner
Label:    ABC
Year:    1972
    With the departure of Joe Walsh in 1971 the remaining members of the James Gang, drummer Jim Fox and bassist Dale Peters, were in a bit of a bind. Walsh had been the band's primary songwriter and vocalist, as well as lead guitarist, and the James Gang still had a record contract to fulfill. Meanwhile, in Toronto, a band called Bush (that had evolved from an earlier band called Mandala), found itself falling apart after releasing one album in 1970. As the two groups were kind of label mates (James Gang on ABC and Bush on ABC/Dunhill) it made sense for the primary songwriters of Bush, vocalist Roy Kenner and guitarist Dominic Troiano, to join Peters and Fox, keeping the better-known James Gang name. The first album released by the quartet was Straight Shooter, which came out in 1972. The LP opened with two songs that ran together as a single piece, Madness and Kick Back Man, both by Kenner and Troiano. This incarnation of the James Gang would release one more LP before Troiano left the group, eventually ending up back in Canada as a member of the Guess Who. The James Gang then recruited Tommy Bolin (formerly of Zephyr) as lead guitarist for their next two albums, with Kenner still on lead vocals for most of the songs. After even more personnel changes, the James Gang disbanded in 1977.

Artist:    Gun
Title:    Race With The Devil
Source:    European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Gun)
Writer(s):    Adrian Gurvitz
Label:    Repertoire (original UK label: Columbia)
Year:    1968
    One of the most popular songs on the jukebox at the teen club on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany in 1969 was a song called Race With The Devil by a band called Gun. The song was so popular, in fact, that at least two local bands covered it (including the one I was in). Nobody seemed to know much about Gun at the time, but it turns out that the group was fronted by the Gurvitz brothers, Adrian and Paul (who at the time were using the last name Curtis); the two would later be members of the Baker-Gurvitz Army with drummer Ginger Baker. I've also learned recently that Gun spent much of its time touring in Europe, particularly in Germany, where Race With The Devil hit its peak in January of 1969 (it had made the top 10 in the UK in 1968, the year it was released).

Artist:    Johnny Winter
Title:    Highway 61 Revisited
Source:    LP: Second Winter
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    As good as the original Bob Dylan version of Highway 61 Revisited is, most would agree that Johnny Winter has managed to do it even better, to the point of making it his own signature song. His first recorded version of the song was on his 1969 album Second Winter, which was actually his third LP, but his second for Columbia. About a third of the tracks on the three-sided album were cover tunes, but Highway 61 Revisited blows the rest of them out of the water.

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 original guitarist of the band known as the Empty Vessels had to leave auditions were held, but the two remaining members, bassist Martin Turner and drummer Steve Upton, couldn't decide 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 styles of guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner meshed.

Artist:    Zephyr
Title:    Going Back To Colorado
Source:    LP: Going Back To Colorado
Writer(s):    Bolin/Tesar/Givens
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1971
    Zephyr's second album, Going Back To Colorado, was different in several ways from their debut LP. The most obvious change was that the band was no longer on the ABC/Probe label, which had been shut down in 1970, and was now signed to Warner Brothers Records. Gone was original drummer Robbie Chamberlin, replaced by Bobby Berge. Additionally, a change from Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles to Electric Lady Studios in New York gave the band the opportunity to work with engineer Eddie Kramer, but unfortunately for the band, Kramer was still in shock over the death of studio founder Jimi Hendrix at the time and was not at his best. Still, the album had its good points, such as the title track, but was a commercial disappointment. Guitarist Tommy Bolin left Zephyr shortly after the released of Going Back To Colorado, and the band went though several personnel changes of the next dozen years or so, finally disbanding following the death of lead vocalist Candy Givens in 1984.

Artist:    Steely Dan
Title:    Reeling In The Years
Source:    45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer(s):    Becker/Fagen
Label:    MCA (original label: ABC)
Year:    1972
    My first radio gig (sort of), was volunteering at the Voice Of Holloman, a closed-circuit station that served a handful of locations on Holloman AFB, about 10 miles from Alamogordo, NM. I had been taking broadcasting courses through a community college program that was taught by Sgt. Tim Daniels, who was the NCO in charge of the base Information Office. As such he ran the station, as well as a free weekly newspaper that was distributed on base. After completing the classes, Tim gave me the opportunity to do a daily two-hour show on the VOH, using records that had been sent to the station by various record labels. We got excellent singles service from some labels (Warner Brothers and Capitol in particular), but virtually nothing from others, such as ABC. This was unfortunate, as one of the best songs out at the time was Steely Dan's Reeling In The Years, from their 1972 Can't Buy A Thrill album. Tim, whose previous gig was with the Armed Forces Vietnam Network, was a big rock fan, however, and went out and bought his own copy of the album, making a copy of Reeling In The Years on reel to reel tape, which we then played extensively until the song had run its course on the charts. Thus the Voice Of Holloman, with its audience consisting mostly of guys working out at the base gym, was playing the longer album version of a song that was also getting airplay on Alamogordo's daytime-only top 40 AM station, KINN, in its edited single form. It was just about the nearest the Voice Of Holloman ever got to being an underground rock station (although I did manage to sneak in some Procol Harum, Little Feat and once even Deep Purple from the aformentioned Warner Brothers singles).

Artist:     Grand Funk
Title:     We're An American Band
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer:     Don Brewer
Label:     Capitol
Year:     1973
     In 1972 I was the bass player/vocalist in a power trio that played a lot of Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath and the like. Shortly after that band split up I started taking broadcasting classes from Tim Daniels, an Air Force Sergeant who had previously worked for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (the same station that Adrian Cronauer worked at, although at that time nobody outside the military had ever heard of him). That led to my first regular airshift on the "Voice of Holloman", a closed-circuit station that was piped into the gym and bowling alley and some of the barracks at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico for about four hours a day. One of the hot new records that the station got promo copies of was We're An American Band, pressed on bright yellow translucent vinyl with the stereo version on one side and the mono mix on the other. I snagged one of the extra copies Capitol sent and have somehow managed to hang onto it over the years. 

Artist:    Frank Zappa
Title:    Don't Eat Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast/Father Oblivion
Source:    CD: Apostrophe (')
Writer(s):    Frank Zappa
Label:    Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year:    1974
    Despite being one of the most prolific composer/performers of the 20th century, Frank Zappa only put three songs on the top 100 charts in his career. The first of these was an abbreviated version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow, the opening track on his 1974 LP Apostrophe ('). On the album itself the song segues directly into the next three tracks, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast and the instrumental Father Oblivion to form the suite heard here. 

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Little Wing
Source:    LP: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    Although it didn't have any hit singles on it, Axis: Bold As Love, the second album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was full of memorable tunes, including one of Hendrix's most covered songs, Little Wing. The album itself is a showcase for Hendrix's rapidly developing skills, both as a songwriter and in the studio. The actual production of the album was a true collaborative effort, combining Hendrix's creativity, engineer Eddie Kramer's expertise and producer Chas Chandler's strong sense of how a record should sound, acquired through years of recording experience as a member of the Animals. The result was nothing short of a masterpiece.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Serenade To A Cuckoo
Source:    CD: This Was
Writer(s):    Roland Kirk
Label:    Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    Jethro Tull did not, as a general rule, record cover tunes. The most notable exception is Roland Kirk's classic jazz piece Serenade To A Cuckoo, which was included on their first LP, This Was. For years, the Kirk version was out of print, making Jethro Tull's cover the only available version of this classic tune throughout the 1970s.

Artist:    Who
Title:    Amazing Journey
Source:    British Import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Tommy)
Writer(s):    Pete Townshend
Label:    Polydor UK (original US label: Decca)
Year:    1969
    After achieving major success in their native England with a series of hit singles in 1965-67, the Who began to concentrate more on their albums from 1968 on. The first of these concept albums was The Who Sell Out, released in December of 1967. The Who Sell Out was a collection of songs connected by faux radio spots and actual jingles from England's most popular pirate radio station, Radio London. After releasing a few more singles in 1968, the Who began work on their most ambitious project yet: the world's first rock opera. Tommy, released in 1969, was a double LP telling the story of a boy who, after being tramautized into becoming a blind deaf-mute, eventually emerges as a kind of messiah, only to have his followers ultimately abandon him. One of the early tracks on the album is Amazing Journey, describing Tommy's voyage into the recesses of his own mind in response to the traumatic event that results in his "deaf, dumb and blind" condition.



 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2602 (starts 1/5/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/602033 

    This week we go Up In Her Room with the Seeds, and find a set of Byrds (none of which were written by Bob Dylan), along with an even longer set from Big Brother And The Holding Company. Also on the bill: our first taste of Art, and Rod Stewart sings an original blues tune, with Jeff Beck on guitar and Ronnie Wood on bass (move over Led Zeppelin). Oh yes, we have a Led Zeppelin song that's never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era thrown in as well. Plus lots of other goodies, starting with a Big Hit Single from the Monkees.

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
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 from the album 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/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:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Foxy Lady (live in studio)
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Legacy
Year:    Recorded 1967, released 2018
    In November of 1967 the Jimi Hendrix Experience was still very much an underground phenomenon in the US. Their June appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival had introduced the band to an audience that numbered in the thousands, and their records were being played heavily on college radio, but for the most part mainstream America was still unaware of them. In Europe, however, it was an entirely different story. Jimi Hendrix was the hottest thing on the London scene by the time 1967 started; it wasn't long before the word spread to the continent about the outrageously talented guitarist with an equally outrageous stage presence. Most of that year was spent touring Europe, including stops at various TV and radio studios in several countries. One of these was in the Netherlands, where the Experience performed Foxy Lady live in the studio in November of 1967. The recording of this performance has surfaced as the non-album B side of the Lover Man single released (in limited quantity) for Record Store Day 2018. 

Artist:    Art
Title:    I Think I'm Going Weird
Source:    Mono British import CD: Think I'm Going Weird (box set) (originally released on LP: Supernatural Fairy Tales)
Writer(s):    Ridley/Grosvenor/Harrison/Kellie
Label:    Grapefruit (original label: Island)
Year:    1967
    The V.I.P.'s were a popular British R&B band that, like many of their contemporaries, spent some time as the house band at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Upon their return to England in fall of 1966 they participated in a jam session that also included a newly-arrived American guitarist named Jimi Hendrix. It wasn't until the following spring, however that, precipitated by the departure of their keyboardist Keith Emerson to form the Nice, the remaining members of the V.I.P.s decided to change musical direction and embrace psychedelia, changing their name to Art in the process. The band, consisting of Mike Harrison, Greg Ridley, Luther Grosvenor and Mike Kellie, recorded one album in 1967 called Supernatural Fairy Tales before disbanding. Although the only single from that album was a cover of Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth (retitled What's That Sound), the opening track, I Think I'm Going Weird, is probably more representative of Art's sound. Later that year the four members of Art would form Spooky Tooth with American keyboardist/vocalist Gary Wright.

Artist:    Mike Stuart Span
Title:    Second Production
Source:    Mono British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution 
Writer(s):    Murphy/Bennett
Label:    Grapefruit
Year:    Recorded 1967, released 2013
    Like many British psychedelic bands, the Mike Stuart Span started off as part of the Mod scene, cutting a couple of British R&B flavored singles before changing directions in 1967. In October of that year, they recorded a demo of a tune called Second Production for the British Decca label, but the song went unreleased until the next century, when it was included on a CD collection called Love, Poetry And Revolution. The group ended up releasing a couple more singles before changing their name to Leviathan.

Artist:    Fun & Games Commission
Title:    Someone Must Have Lied (To You)
Source:    Mono British import CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    DJ Greer
Label:    Big Beat (original label: Mainstream)
Year:    1967
    Apparently more than one person got the idea to call a band the Sixpence. In California there was one known as Thee Sixpence before changing their name to Strawberry Alarm Clock. The band I want to talk about, however, was from Houston, and originally called themselves the Six Pents, changing it to the Sixpentz in late 1966. When they discovered the existence of Thee Sixpence they made a name change of their own, to the Fun & Games Commission. They only released two singles before shortening their name to the Fun And Games; the first was a somewhat obscure record for a local Houston label, while the second was released on the larger Mainstream label in 1968. Someone Must Have Lied (To You) was the B side of the final Fun & Games Commission single. As Fun & Games they signed with the even larger Uni label in 1968 and had a somewhat unremarkable career as a bubble gum group.

Artist:    Count Five
Title:    Psychotic Reaction
Source:    Simulated stereo LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label:    Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year:    1965
    San Jose, California, had a vibrant teen music scene in the late 60s, despite the fact that the relatively small (at the time) city was overshadowed by San Francisco at the other end of the bay (both cities were then, as now, considered part of the same metropolitan market). One of the more popular bands in town was Count Five, a group of five individuals who chose to dress up like Bela Lugosi's Dracula, capes and all. Musically, they idolized the Yardbirds (Jeff Beck era), and for slightly more than three minutes managed to sound more like their idols than the Yardbirds themselves (who by then had replaced Beck with Jimmy Page and had shifted musical gears).

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    I Am The Walrus
Source:    CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple/Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year:    1967
    I once ranked over 5000 recordings from the 1920s through the 1990s based on how many times I could listen to each track without getting sick of hearing it. My original intention was to continue the project until I had ranked every recording in my collection, but after about ten years of near-continuous listening to 90-minute cassette tapes that I would update weekly I finally decided that I needed a break, and never went back to it. As a result, many of my favorite recordings (especially album tracks) never got ranked. Of those that did, every song on the top 10 was from the years 1966-69, with the top five all being from 1967. Although I never returned to the project itself, the results I did get convinced me that I was indeed stuck in the psychedelic era, and within five years I had created a radio show inspired by the project. Not surprisingly, the number one recording on my list was I Am The Walrus, a track from the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour that is often considered the apex of British psychedelia.

Artist:    Traffic
Title:    40,000 Headmen
Source:    LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released as 45 RPM B side and on LP: Traffic)
Writer(s):    Capaldi/Winwood
Label:    United Artists
Year:    1968
    The second Traffic album saw the band taking in a broader set of influences, including traditional English folk music. 40,000 Headmen, originally released in the UK as the B side to No Face, No Name, No Number, combines those influences with the Steve Winwood brand of soulful singing to create a timeless classic.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Eight Miles High
Source:    European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Fifth Dimension)
Writer(s):    Clark/McGuinn/Crosby
Label:    Sony Music (original 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 influential Gavin Report advising stations not to play this "drug song", Eight Miles High 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, especially long intercontinental trips, that in part led to his leaving the Byrds.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Mind Gardens
Source:    European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: 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:    Byrds
Title:    Have You Seen Her Face
Source:    CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s):    Chris Hillman
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1967
    Perhaps the greatest surprise on the fourth Byrds album, Younger Than Yesterday, was the emergence of bassist Chris Hillman as a top-tier songwriter, already on a par with David Crosby and the recently departed Gene Clark, and even exceeding Roger McGuinn as a solo writer (most of McGuinn's contributions being as a collaborator rather than a solo songwriter). Although Hillman would eventually find his greatest success as a country artist (with the Desert Rose Band) it was the hard-rocking Have You Seen Her Face that was chosen to become his first track to be released as a single.

Artist:    Animals
Title:    Cheating
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Burdon/Chandler
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1966
    As a general rule, the original Animals wrote very little of their own material, preferring to record covers of their favorite blues songs to supplement the songs from professional songwriters that producer Mickie Most picked for single release. One notable exception is Cheating, a strong effort from vocalist Eric Burdon and bassist Chas Chandler that appeared on the Animalization album. The hard-driving song was also chosen for release as a B side in 1966.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    Rock And Roll Woman
Source:    LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    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) while they were together. 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 50 years after it was recorded.

Artist:    Jeff Beck
Title:    Blues De Luxe
Source:    LP: Truth
Writer(s):    Beck/Stewart
Label:    Epic
Year:    1968
    Although credited to guitarist Jeff Beck and vocalist Rod Stewart, B.B. King fans will recognize Blues De Luxe as a reworking of King's best-known tunes, Rock Me Baby, which had originally been released in 1966. After recording the song, which also features Ronnie Wood on bass and Micky Waller on drums, Beck overdubbed applause and other audience sounds from a sound effects disc. He later said it had been a bad decision. Nonetheless, when the first Led Zeppelin album came out the following year, at least one British critic was heard to say that the two slow blues tunes on that album paled by comparison to tracks like Blues De Luxe.

Artist:    Rainy Daze
Title:    Fe Fi Fo Fum (also issued as Blood Of Oblivion)
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Sixties Volume 18- Colorado (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Gilbert/Carter
Label:    AIP (original label: Uni)
Year:    1967
    Formed in Denver, Colorado in 1965, the Rainy Daze are best known for two things: the first was a single called  That Acapulco Gold that stalled out at the #70 spot on the Hot 100 when certain influential people realized it was a pro-marijuana song; the second is for being the origin of the songwriting team of Tim Gilbert and John Carter, who co-wrote all but one of the band's original compositions (although Carter was not a member of the band itself) and then went on to write for other bands such as the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Fe Fi Fo Fum was sent out to radio stations as a promo in July of 1967 and almost immediately withdrawn and retitled Blood Of Oblivion, retaining the same catalog number. Nobody seems to know why this was done.

Artist:     Led Zeppelin
Title:     Bron Y-Aur Stomp
Source:     German import LP: Led Zeppelin III
Writer:     Page/Plant/Jones
Label:     Atlantic
Year:     1970
     Although often regarded as the fathers of Heavy Metal, Led Zeppelin was actually capable of playing in a variety of styles. Evolving out of the standard-bearing band of the London blues scene (the Yardbirds), Led Zeppelin soon moved into uncharted territory, recording music that incorporated elements of both American and British folk music as well as rock. Much of the group's third LP (Bron Y-Aur Stomp in particular) sounds like it could have been written and performed in the heart of Appalachia.

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:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Mother's Little Helper
Source:    Mono CD: Flowers 
Writer:    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1966
    By 1966 the Rolling Stones had already had a few brushes with the law over their use of illegal drugs. Mother's Little Helper, released in Spring of '66, is a scathing criticism of the abuse of legal prescription drugs by the parents of the Stones' fans. Perhaps more than any other song of the time, Mother's Little Helper illustrates the increasingly hostile generation gap that had sprung up between the young baby boomers and the previous generation.

Artist:    Small Faces
Title:    My Mind's Eye
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Marriott/Lane
Label:    Rhino (original label: Decca)
Year:    1965
    One of the biggest British hits of 1965 was All Or Nothing, a tune by the Small Faces that topped the charts that fall. In an effort to keep the band's chart momentum going in time for the Christmas rush, the shirts at Decca decided to release a rough demo of a Steve Marriott/Ronnie Lane composition called My Mind's Eye as a follow up. It turns out the band's manager, Don Arden, had given the label to go-ahead to release the song without the band's knowledge or permission, leading to the band's decision to leave both Arden and the Decca label early in 1966 to sign with Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham's new Immediate label. 

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Come On In
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Original Sound
Year:    1966
    It only cost a total of $150 for the Music Machine to record both sides of their debut single at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, thanks to the band having been performing the songs live for several months. The band then took the tapes to Original Sound, who issued Talk Talk and Come On In on their own label. It may seem odd now, but original promo copies of the record show Come On In, a song that in many ways anticipated bands like the Doors and Iron Butterfly, as the "plug side" of the record, rather than Talk Talk, which of course went on to become the Music Machine's only major hit. 

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    I Need A Man To Love
Source:    LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s):    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 the way they did when performing live. When the band signed to Columbia the following year it was decided that the best way to record the band was onstage. Unfortunately, none of the live recordings the band made were considered good enough to be released, so they ended up making studio versions of most of the songs, including I Need A Man To Love, and then added ambient audience noise to them to make them sound like live recordings. Apparently it worked, as the resulting album, Cheap Thrills, ended up being the most successful album of 1968.

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Coo Coo
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Peter Albin
Label:    Mainstream
Year:    1968
    Like most of the bands in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s, Big Brother And The Holding Company had members who had already been part of the local folk music scene when they decided to go electric. Peter Albin, in particular, had established himself as a solo artist before joining the band, and, naturally, brought some of his repertoire with him. Perhaps the most popular of these tunes was a song called Coo Coo (aka The Cuckoo), an old British folk tune that had also been in circulation under the title Jack Of Diamonds. Although there are existing recordings of the song prior to the Big Brother version, Albin took full credit for the tune, possibly due to his providing almost all new lyrics for the track. Coo Coo, recorded in Chicago in 1966, was not included on the group's first LP for Mainstream, instead being issued as a single in early 1968, around the same time Columbia Records was negotiating a buyout of Big Brother's contract with Mainstream. A reworked version of the tune with yet another set of new lyrics and a new musical bridge appeared later the same year on the band's Columbia debut LP, Cheap Thrills,  under the title Oh, Sweet Mary. Coo Coo itself was later included on Columbia's reissue of the band's Mainstream LP.

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Ball And Chain
Source:    LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s):    Willie Mae Thornton
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968
    Big Brother And The Holding Company electrified the crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 with their performance of Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball And Chain. The rest of the world, however, would have to wait until the following year to hear Janis Joplin's version of the old blues tune, when a live performance recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium was included on the LP Cheap Thrills.

Artist:    Country Joe And The Fish
Title:    Colors For Susan
Source:    LP: I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die
Writer:    Joe McDonald
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    The second Country Joe And The Fish album, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die, was, like the band's debut LP, made up of equal parts acid-rock, jug band and what would come to be known as "rock and soul" music. The most acid-rock sounding track on the album is the instrumental Colors For Susan, which is kind of like Bass Strings minus the lyrics. Like many of McDonald's songs from that period, Colors For Susan was inspired by someone he knew personally, in this case flautist Susan Graubard of Pat Kilroy's group The New Age.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Let Me In (original uncensored version)
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Balin/Kantner
Label:    RCA/BMG Heritage
Year:    1966
    Not long after the first copies of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off hit the streets of San Francisco, the Shirts at RCA Victor told the band to go back to the studio and change the lyrics on two of the album's songs. The biggest changes were made to Let Me In, the first song that featured Paul Kantner rather than Marty Balin on lead vocals. Arguing that the original lyrics were too sexually suggestive for a teen-oriented audience, Balin and Kantner changed the line " I gotta get in, you know where" to "You shut your door, now it ain't fair". In addition, the line "Don't tell me you want money" was changed to  "Don't tell me it's so funny" because, according to the Shirts, the original version could be interpreted as a reference to prostitution. As an aside, I did a search for both sets of lyrics on the internet, but the only ones that showed up were billed as the "original uncensored" lyrics, yet in every case were actually the revised ones. Explain that one to me!