Playlist 9/17-19/10

A lot of variety this week, including a Beatles set and quite a few songs with unusual release histories.

Artist: SHADOWS OF KNIGHT
Song Title: "Gloria"
Source: LP: NUGGETS VOL. 1-THE HITS (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: GLORIA
Release Year: 1966
The primary prerequisite to being in a garage band was to know the chords to "Gloria". All three of them. If you knew all the words (or could make up titilatingly suggestive alternate lyrics) you were made the lead singer. If you could play the 2-string-3-note sequence at the end of each verse, you were made the lead guitarist. This worked fine until "Somebody To Love" came out.

Artist: JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
Song Title: "Somebody To Love"
Source: CD: SURREALISTIC PILLOW (reissue of original LP)
Release Year: 1967
Over 40 years after the fact, it's hard to imagine just how big an impact this song had on the garage band scene. Whereas before "Somebody To Love" came out you could just dismiss hard-to-cover songs as being "lame" anyway, here was a tune that was undeniably cool, and yet virtually impossible for anyone but the Airplane to play well (and even they were unable to get it to sound quite the same when they performed it live). Although garage bands would continue to exist (and still do), there would never be another "Gloria".

Artist: JOHNNY WINTER
Song Title: "Rollin' and Tumblin'"
Source: LP: PROGRESSIVE HEAVIES (originally released on LP:THE PROGRESSIVE BLUES EXPERIMENT)
Release Year: 1968
By 1968, the blues was making a resurgence in the US, thanks in no small part to the British blues scene that included the Yardbirds, Cream and to a lesser degree, the Animals and the Rolling Stones. From deep in the heart of Texas (Austin, to be exact) came Johnny Winter, a guy who looked like a hippy and played a mean slide guitar.

Artist: SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE
Song Title: "I Want To Take You Higher"
Source: CD: THE BEST OF 60s PSYCHEDELIC ROCK (originally released on LP: STAND!)
Release Year: 1969
Sylvester Stone was already a fixture in the San Francisco Bay area by the time the rest of the nation began to notice what was going on in Haight-Ashbury. A popular local DJ and producer for Autumn Records, the regions top label, he was responsible for producing the first recordings by the Warlocks (who would soon be known as the Grateful Dead) among others. He was thus in a position to recruit the best musicians around for his new band, which he called the Family Stone. Interestingly enough, the generational anthem "I Want To Take You Higher" was originally relegated to being the B side of the song "Stand" when first released in 1969, but following the band's successful set at Woodstock the single was reissued with the sides reversed.

Artist: WHO
Song Title: "The Magic Bus"
Source: LP: MEATY, BEATY, BIG AND BOUNCY (original vinyl)
Release Year: 1968/1971
"The Magic Bus" was originally released as a single in 1968 and ran about three and a half minutes. At the time it was recorded an alternate take was also made that ran almost four and a half minutes. This alternate version was electronically rechanneled for stereo and included on the 1971 album Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy. When the album was reissued on CD in the 1980s it was discovered that there were no unaltered copies left of the longer version, so rather than to put a "fake stereo" version on the CD, the shorter mono single version was used. This is that longer version, never issued on CD.

Artist: STEPPENWOLF
Song Title: "28"
Source: CD: STEPPENWOLF THE SECOND
Release Year: 1968
A common practice in the sixties was for the record's producer to choose what songs an artist would record, especially with newly-signed acts. Somehow, despite Steppenwolf's massive success with "Born To Be Wild", producer Gabriel Mekler managed to get this song onto the band's second album, even to the point of making it the lead track of side two. To be honest, if I wasn't telling you this, you wouldn't even know it was Steppenwolf when you heard it.

Artist: PUBLIC NUISANCE
Song Title: "America"
Source: CD: LOVE IS THE SONG WE SING: SAN FRANCISCO NUGGETS 1965-70 (originally released on LP: GOTTA SURVIVE)
Release Year: 2002 (recorded 1968)
The 80s rap group Public Nuisance can be forgiven for not realizing the name had already been used by this Sacramento band. After all, the band's only album was never issued, at least until Frantic Records put out the Gotta Survive album in 2002.

Artist: COMMON COLD
Song Title: "Come Down"
Source: CD: WHERE THE ACTION IS: L.A. NUGGETS 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
I have a gut feeling that the name of this band was chosen after the song was recorded. In reality, it was not a band at all. Bill Rinehart had established himself on the L.A. scene as lead guitarist for the Leaves (and was one of the first guitarists to use a fuzz-tone in the recording studio with the fast version of "Hey Joe"). After leaving the Leaves he ran into Sonny Bono, who got him a contract with Atco Records. This song, essentially a solo project utilizing studio musicians as backup, was the result.

Artist: MONKEES
Song Title: "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round"
Source: LP: PISCES, AQUARIUS, CAPRICORN AND JONES, LTD. (original vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Once the Monkees had asserted creative control of their recordings and issued the Headquarters album, on which they played nearly all the instruments themselves, the group decided to once again start using studio musicians. Additionally, all the songs on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. were chosen by the band members themselves. This one was co-written by an old friend of Mike Nesmith's, a guy named Michael Martin Murphy, who at the time was using the pen name Travis Lewis, along with Owens Castleman, who was calling himself Boomer Clark. Lewis and Clark. Get it?

Artist: SPENCER DAVIS GROUP
Song Title: "I'm a Man"
Source: 45 RPM VINYL
Release Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring brothers Steve and Muff Winwood on organ/guitar and bass respectively, had a series of hit records in the UK. The last two singles that the Winwoods played on both charted in the US as well. This is the second of those two records.

Artist: REMAINS
Song Title: "Why Do I Cry"
Source: CD: NUGGETS BOX SET (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1965
Predating the "Boss-Town Sound" by two years (and the band Boston by over 10 years), we have this gem from Boston garage band the Remains.

Artist: SEEDS
Song Title: "Pictures and Designs"
Source: LP: A WEB OF SOUND (original vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
Last week I mentioned that there were only a handful of albums rescued from the lost WEOS archives at Hobart and William Smith Colleges last year that made the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era "A" list. Both Seeds albums from 1966 are in that group.

Artist: OTHERS
Song Title: "Revenge"
Source: CD: WHERE THE ACTION IS: L.A. NUGGETS 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
Garage bands were by no means limited to the big cities. In fact, the great majority of them were out in the suburbs like Glendale, Ca., which gave us the "Revenge" of the Others.

Artist: COUNT FIVE
Song Title: "Psychotic Reaction"
Source: LP: NUGGETS, VOL. 1-THE HITS
Release Year: 1966
Although San Jose, Ca. is a rather large city in its own right (the 10th-largest city in the US in fact), it has always had a kind of suburban status, thanks to being within the same media market as San Francisco. Nonetheless, San Jose had its own very active music scene, and Count Five was, for a time, at the top of the heap.

Artist: BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY
Song Title: "Summertime"
Source: LP: CHEAP THRILLS
Release Year: 1968
It only seems appropriate to end the first hour of the last show of the summer with this classic. Janis here sounds like she was born to sing this song. Maybe she was.

Artist: FIVE MAN ELECTRICAL BAND
Song Title: "Signs"
Source: 45 RPM VINYL
Release Year: 1970
Everybody has at least one song they have fond memories of hearing on the radio while riding around in a friend's car on a hot summer evening. This is one of mine.

Artist: PROCOL HARUM
Song Title: "Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)"
Source: CD: SHINE ON BRIGHTLY (reissue of original album)
Release Year: 1968
Most people outside the UK have no idea that there was a British record label called Regal Zonophone or that Procol Harum's earliest releases were on that label. Perhaps that explains why most people see this song title and get a puzzled look on their faces. Then they hear the song and the look is still there. At least there is symmetry in that.

Artist: ELECTRIC FLAG
Song Title: "Soul Searchin'"
Source: LP: BEST OF THE ELECTRIC FLAG (originally released on LP: AN AMERICAN MUSIC BAND)
Release Year: 1968
The Electric Flag only released two albums, both in 1968, before founding guitarist Mike Bloomfield got restless (as was his habit), and moved on to other things. That didn't stop Columbia from releasing a "Best of" album, though. At least there's no doubt what year this song was originally released.

Artist: BYRDS
Song Title: "Triad"
Source: CD: THE NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS (song originally released on LP: NEVER BEFORE)
Release Year: 1987
Recorded in 1967, this tune almost was included on the Notorious Byrd Brothers album, but was vetoed by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, who felt the subject material was too controversial. Instead, they chose to include the Gerry Goffin/Carole King tune "Goin' Back", which angered David Crosby, the writer of "Triad", who felt that there was no need to record a song by Brill building songwriters with three capable composers in the band. McGuinn and Hillman responded by kicking Crosby out of the band. These days "Goin' Back" (played on the show a few weeks ago) is largely forgotten, while "Triad" which was recorded the following year by Jefferson Airplane and included on the Crown of Creation album, is considered a classic.

Artist: FIRST EDITION
Song Title: "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"
Source: LP: NUGGETS, VOL. 9-ACID ROCK
Release Year: 1967
Kenny Rogers still hates this song, which is reason enough to play it.

Artist: LOVE
Song Title: "Keep On Shining"
Source: 45 RPM VINYL
Release Year: 1970
By 1970 the original Love was gone. Arthur Lee, however, continued to use the name. Unfortunately this song just doesn't measure up to anything on the band's first three albums, despite being co-arranged by Jimi Hendrix.

Artist: BLOODROCK
Song Title: "Fatback"
Source: CD: BLOODROCK (reissue of original album)
Release Year: 1970
Bloodrock had the mixed blessing of putting out one of the most notorious songs of the year 1970 when they recorded "D.O.A.". The song was a huge hit, making them a household name overnight, but soon became an albatross after the novelty wore off. This track from their first album shows that Bloodrock was about much more than just one song.

Artist: BEATLES
Song Title: "Drive My Car"
Source: LP: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Release Year: 1966
Capitol Records repeatedly got the ire of the Beatles by omitting, adding and rearranging songs on the US versions of their albums, especially in 1966, when the band was starting to put considerable time and effort into presenting the songs as a coherent package. At the root of the problem were two facts: albums in the UK had longer running times than US albums, and thus more songs, and UK singles stayed in print longer than their US counterparts and were generally not included on albums at all. This resulted in albums like Yesterday and Today that didn't even have a British counterpart. "Drive My Car", for example, was on the UK version of Rubber Soul, but was left off the US version entirely, appearing instead as the opening track of Yesterday and Today.

Artist: BEATLES
Song Title: "Tell Me What You See"
Source: CD: HELP! (reissue of UK album)
Release Year: 1965
This, on the other hand, is a tune that appeared on both British and American versions of the Help! album, although not in the movie itself.

Artist: BEATLES
Song Title: "I'm Only Sleeping"
Source: LP: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Release Year: 1966
One of the oddest things about Yesterday and Today is that it included a handful of songs that had not been released yet in the UK. Making it even stranger is the fact that Capitol did not have stereo masters of any of those songs and ended up creating fake stereo versions of the songs that have never been released anywhere else. "I'm Only Sleeping", which was slated to be on the Revolver album later that year, is one of these.

Artist: BEATLES
Song Title: "Act Naturally"
Source: CD: HELP! (reissue of UK album)
Release Year: 1965
This song, featuring Ringo on lead vocals, was a country hit for Buck Owens. It is also one of the songs left off the US version of the Help! album and included on Yesterday and Today instead.

Artist: BEATLES
Song Title: "And Your Bird Can Sing"
Source: LP: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Release Year: 1965
Another one of the fake stereo versions of a song that would be released on the UK version of Revolver.

Artist: TOMMY BOYCE AND BOBBY HART
Song Title: "Words"
Source: CD: WHERE THE ACTION IS: L.A. NUGGETS 1965-68
Release Year: 2009
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were really hoping to be selected for the new band that Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures was putting together to star in a new weekly TV series. It didn't work out for them, but several of the songs they wrote appeared on the Monkees albums, including this one, heard here in its previously unreleased 1965 demo form.

Artist: RISING SONS
Song Title: "Take A Giant Step"
Source: CD: WHERE THE ACTION IS: L.A. NUGGETS 1965-68
Release Year: 2009
The Rising Sons were blessed with the talents of not one, but two guys that are now among the most respected musicians in America: Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. At the time, however, Columbia Records had no clue how to market an interracial blues-based band. In an effort to sound more commercial they recorded this Goffin-King tune, but Columbia sat on it. The Monkees then released a version that appeared on the B side of "Last Train To Clarksville". Taj Mahal re-recorded the song for his 1969 album Giant Step.

Artist: HARUMI
Song Title: Talk About It!
Source: LP: HARUMI (original vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
I really don't know a lot about this guy, other than the fact that he moved to New York from his native Japan and recorded an album for Verve Forecast. Remember how last week I talked about the largest pile of records from the lost WEOS vinyl archives being kind of marginal? This is one of them.

Artist: DOORS
Song Title: "Strange Days"
Source: CD: STRANGE DAYS (reissue of original album)
Release Year: 1967
At the end of the year I plan on doing a recount of what songs got played the most on the show and feature them in a kind of "best of" show. I wanted to make sure this song made the list.