Anyway, here’s the story. In order to get timing issues worked out (the pre-recorded version has to be recorded in segments that have to add up to 59 minutes per hour), I did a sample show the other day and saved it on the WEOS hard drive. Since that show will probably never actually air[1], I got to thinking that I could at least use it as a kind of audition for stations that might be considering adding Stuck in the Psychedelic Era to their schedule. Carrying that line of thinking a step further, it occurred to me that seeing the playlist posted might serve a similar purpose. Anyway, here’s hour #1. The asterisk (*) designates the first song in a playset. As you can see, set length varies a bit. In the second hour, in fact, there are two separate “sets” that each contain only one song. Hey, it’s my show and I can do that if I want to!
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Rolling Stones: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?; Single (A side) 1966
Amboy Dukes: Journey to the Center of the Mind; Single (A side) 1968
Uriah Heep: What Should Be Done; Look At Yourself 1971
*Paul Revere & the Raiders: In My Community; Spirit of ‘67 1966
Standells: Try It; Single (A side) 1967
Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’; Single (A side) 1967
Five Americans: I See the Light; Single (A side) 1966
Monkees: Star Collector; Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. 1967
*Otis Redding: Old Man Trouble; Single (B side) 1965
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Little Wing; Axis: Bold as Love 1967
*West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: In the Arena; Volume II 1967
Blues Magoos: Let’s Get Together; Electric Comic Book 1967
Traffic: Medicated Goo; Single (A side) 1968
*Joe Cocker: With a Little Help From My Friends; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
Of course, seeing the playlist posted is not quite the same as hearing the show itself. I tend to throw in little bits of trivia about the artists and/or the music as I go. For example, in the above hour I noted that Uriah Heep’s third album, Look At Yourself, was the last one released before their breakout hit album Demon’s and Wizards. I also pointed out that the Paul Revere and the Raiders cut was unusual in that regular lead vocalist Mark Lindsay stepped aside to let bassist Phil “Fang” Volker sing his own composition “In My Community.” Other bits of info include the fact that “Star Collector” is one of the first instances of a Moog synthesizer being used in a mainstream recording, “Let’s Get Together” is an old Jimmy Reed tune that was in vogue among garage bands in 1966, and that “Medicated Goo” was included on the post-breakup Traffic album Last Exit. I also threw in a rambling bit about how both Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix spent much of the early 60s playing the “Chitlin Circuit[3]”, paying their dues yet following separate paths that would eventually lead them both to the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967.
One thing I do on a fairly regular basis is to play an entire set from one particular artist or group. For the second hour of this sample I chose the popular Southern California club band Love. Most critics agree that Love would have been a much bigger success if they had not made the decision to forego touring in favor of staying close to where, in their opinion, the real action was: the L.A. strip, where they had replaced the Byrds as the house band at the famous Whiskey-a-Go-Go. For this set, I chose to alternate between Love’s second and third albums, with a non-album B side as a finisher. Also included in the second hour: an early recording from Hudson Valley band McEndree Spring, a set of songs from three Megalopolis bands[4], and a set of songs from the year 1966.
Artist: Song; Album/Year
*Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Sea of Madness; Woodstock Soundtrack 1969
*McEndree Spring: For What Was Gained; Second Thoughts 1970
*Love: Live & Let Live; Forever Changes 1967
Love: The Castle; Da Capo 1966
Love: Alone Again Or…; Forever Changes 1967
Love: She Comes in Colors; Da Capo 1966
Love: No. 14; Single (B side) 1966
*Moby Grape: The Lake; Grape Jam 1968
*Barbarians: Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl; Single (A side) 1965
Beacon Street Union: Speed Kills; The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union 1967
Circus Maximus: Bright Light Lovers; Circus Maximus 1967
*Jefferson Airplane: Tobacco Road; Takes Off 1966
Beatles: Drive My Car; Yesterday…and Today[5] 1966
Count Five: Psychotic Reaction; Single (A side) 1966
I did not include any of the original compositions that I use for theme music and instrumental beds in the playlist, as they are part of the backbone of the show and are not meant to be highlighted.
So there it is. Obviously it isn't the same as actually hearing the show (currently running from 1-3 AM GMT on Sunday mornings on weos.org), but it at least gives you some idea of what being Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is all about.
[1] For one thing I ended up 30 seconds short for each hour. I told you there were timing issues to work out.
[2] There is no #2.
[3] Small clubs, mostly in the South, that catered to an almost exclusively black audience.
[4] Specifically from, in order: Cape Cod, Boston and New York’s Greenwich Village.
[5] “Drive My Car” was originally issued in Britain on the Rubber Soul album on the Parlophone label, but due to lack of space (and a Capitol Records policy of limiting albums to 12 songs, compared to Parlophone’s 14), was not included in the US release. Instead the LP Yesterday…and Today, available only in the US and including songs from the British release of Help as well as some non-LP singles was issued later the same year.
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