Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Streetmasse
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxter's
Release Year: 1967
After Bathing At Baxter's is generally considered the most pyschedelic of all the Jefferson Airplane albums. For one thing, the members were reportedly all on LSD through most of the creative process and were involved in entire package, right down to the decision to divide the album up into five suites and press the vinyl in such a way that the spaces in the vinyl normally found between songs were only present between the suites themselves, making it almost impossible to set the needle down at the beginning of the second or third song of a suite (there is a slight overlap between songs as well). I tell you this because my copy of the album is the original pressing and thus each suite counts as a single track, keeping me within the three track per artist limit imposed by Congress for stations that carry the show over the internet. The first suite on After Bathing At Baxter's is called Streetmasse. It consists of three compositions: Paul Kantner's The Ballad of You and Me and Pooniel; A Small Package of Value Will Come To You Shortly (a free-form jazz piece led by drummer Spencer Dryden); and the Paul Kantner/Marty Balin composition Young Girl Sunday Blues.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: It's No Secret (mono single version)
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
Released in March of 1966, It's No Secret was an instant hit on San Francisco Bay area radio stations. This version differs from the album version released six months later in that it has a fade out ending and is thus a few seconds shorter.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Hymn To An Older Generation
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxter's
Release Year: 1967
The first side of After Bathing At Baxter's wraps up with a two-song suite: The Last Wall of the Castle is lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's contribution to the album as a songwriter and lead vocalist, while Grace Slick's Rejoyce is an avant-garde adaptation of the James Joyce poem Ulysses.
Artist: Ten Years After
Song Title: A Sad Song
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Release Year: 1971
TYA's third album, Stonedhenge, is a departure from the straight-ahead blues of the band's first two efforts. Instead, Stonedhenge consists of six songs in a variety of styles, alternating with short individual pieces from each member of the band. A Sad Song is a slow moody piece that shows the influence of the dean of British blues, John Mayall.
Artist: Canned Heat
Song Title: Catfish Blues
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Canned Heat)
Release Year: 1967
In contrast to the Ten Years After track we have a song with a more traditional blues structure. Catfish Blues was first recorded by Robert Petway in 1941, one of only a dozen or so recordings by the legendary delta blues master. Muddy Waters lifted the song almost word for word (and note for note) for his very first recording, Rolling Stone. Canned Heat themselves were blues purists whose first album consisted entirely of cover tunes such as this one.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Song Title: Bald Headed Lena
Source: LP: Daydream
Release Year: 1966
Drummer Zal Yanovsky took his turn on vocals for this not-entirely-serious rendition of the old Piano Red tune Bald Headed Lena. Then again, some songs are meant to be taken lightly anyway. Piano Red, by the way, was the original stage name of William Perryman, who would later be known as Doctor Feelgood.
Artist: Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
Song Title: The Wedge
Source: CD: Best of Dick Dale and His Del-Tones (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1963
It may seem odd hearing surf music on a show called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era, but (as described in more detail elsewhere on this web site) the genre was an important foundation stone to what would become psychedelic rock. And when it comes to surf music, none did it better than the king of the surf guitar, Dick Dale. Dale's stature as a guitarist was such that when Fender Musical Instruments first developed the reverb unit they turned to Dick Dale to field test it.
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Rollin' Machine
Source: LP: A Web of Sound
Release Year: 1966
I probably should have saved this song to play back to back with Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 later in the show. Is there anyone out there that really thinks this is a song about a car? I thought not.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: I Knew I'd Want You
Source: LP: Mr. Tambourine Man
Release Year: 1965
The Byrds did not have many original tunes on their first album, and most of those came from Gene Clark, who would be the first member to leave the band (due to his fear of flying). I Knew I'd Want You is among the most upbeat of Clark's songs.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Turn! Turn! Turn!
Source: CD: Billboard Top Rock and Roll Hits-1965 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: Turn! Turn! Turn!)
Release Year: 1965
After their success covering Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, the band turned to an even more revered songwriter: the legendary Pete Seeger. Turn! Turn! Turn!, with lyrics taken directly from the book of Ecclesiastes, was first recorded by Seeger in the early 60s, nearly three years after he wrote the song.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Chimes of Freedom
Source: Mr. Tambourine Man
Release Year: 1965
Although not released as a single, the Byrds cover of Dylan's Chimes of Freedom was a staple of the band's stage repertoire and was one of three songs captured on film by D.R. Pennebacker for his Monterrey Pop Festival TV special. None of the tracks were actually used on the show, but all have been issued on an outtake disc that comes as part of the expanded DVD edition of Pennebacker's film.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: Hymn 43
Source: CD: Aqualung
Release Year: 1971
Just for something completely different we have Ian Anderson taking on the religious establishment. He had already fired the first shot a couple years before with Christmas Song, but this time he had an entire album side to work with, and he did not pull any punches with his scathing criticism of what he perceived as rampant hypocrisy within the Anglican church.
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Song Title: I Want To Take You Higher
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Stand!)
Release Year: 1969
Sylvester Stone was a major presence on the San Francisco music scene for several years, both as a producer for Autumn Records and as a popular local disc jockey. In 1968 he decided to take it to the next level, using his studio connections to put together a solid lineup of musicians, including bassist Larry Graham. The result was a band that layed the groundwork for 70s funk bands such as Parlaiment-Funkadelic and Graham's own band, Graham Central Station.
Artist: Velvet Illusions
Song Title: Acid Head
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Showing an obvious influence by the Electric Prunes (an L.A. band that was embraced by the Seattle scene as one of their own) the Illusions backtracked the Prunes steps, leaving their native Yakima and steady gigging for the supposedly greener pastures of the City of Angels. After a few months of frustration in which the band seldom found places to practice, let alone perform, they headed back to Seattle to cut this lone single before calling it quits.
Artist: Doors
Song Title: When the Music's Over
Source: CD: Strange Days
Release Year: 1967
In the final analysis, the most successful band to come out of the late 60s L.A. club scene was undoubtably the Doors. Their second album, Strange Days, followed the pattern of the first one, including an extended cut with a Jim Morrison monologue to close out the second side.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Song Title: Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
Source: CD: Electric Music For the Mind and Body
Release Year: 1967
While not as commercially successful as the Airplane or as long-lived as the Dead (there's an oxymoron for ya), Country Joe and the Fish may well be the most accurate musical representation of what the whole Haight-Ashbury scene was about. Of all the tracks on their first album, this one probably got the most airplay.
Artist: Monkees
Song Title: Porpoise Song
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released in altered form on LP: Head)
Release Year: 1968
The entire existence of the Monkees was a struggle for legitimacy amid massive commercial success. In 1968, with their TV show cancelled and each successive album selling fewer copies than the previous one, the band decided to go the experimental route with the movie Head. With a script by Jack Nicholson and an appearance by Frank Zappa, the movie was designed for the underground crowd, who naturally avoided anything associated with the Monkees like the plague. Meanwhile, what was left of the Monkees fan base found Head to be not at all what they expected, and not at all to their tastes. In the long run Michael Nesmith would find success with many of the visual approaches used in the film years later when he pioneered what would come to be known as the music video (subsequently selling the idea, which he called Music Television, or MTV for short, to Warner Communications).
Artist: Who
Song Title: Amazing Journey
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
I realized fairly early on that this week's show seemed to be featuring a lot of bands that appeared at Woodstock and/or Monterey. I figured it was somehow appropriate then to start the last segment with an unreleased track from a band that appeared at both festivals. Amazing Journey was part of the Who's performance of the rock opera Tommy at Woodstock and did not get released until 2009.
Artist: Joe Cocker and the Grease Band
Song Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
It seems a bit odd that, even at the peak of (Joe Cocker's version of) this song's popularity in the late 70s, when John Belushi joined Cocker onstage for a performance of it on Saturday Night Live, this particular recording of the song didn't get released until 2009. I guess it's an indication of just how much music there was at Woodstock that most of us never got to hear.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Song Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Blonde On Blonde)
Release Year: 1966
Some of the best rock and roll songs of 1966 were banned on a number of stations for being about either sex or drugs. Most artists that recorded those songs claimed they were about something else altogether. In the case of Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35's lyrics "stoned" refers to a rather unpleasant form of execution. On the other hand, Dylan himself was reportedly quite stoned while recording the song, having passed a few doobies around before starting the tape rolling. Sometimes I think ambiguities like this are why English has become the dominant language of commerce on the planet.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Final Sequence)
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Release Year: 1967
The original UK pressing of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was not banded. This means that instead of having blank spaces in the vinyl for easy location of songs, the album was one continuous track. This was reportedly done to encourage buyers of the album to listen to it as a complete work as opposed to a collection of unrelated songs. The Beatles took it a step further with the final three tracks on the album, which flow seamlessly from song to song without a break. One result of this was the famous "chicken turning into a guitar" sequence when the sounds of farm animals at the end of Good Morning Good Morning segue into the opening beats of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise). The final track, A Day In the Life, features the seemingly endless final chord that fades slowly away (and I even cut it off with 30 seconds left on the disc!).
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Playlist 10/22-24/10
This week's show covers a lot of musical ground, starting off with a set from 1967.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Song Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: No Way Out)
Release Year: 1967
It took me many years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Unrelated Segments
Song Title: Story of My Life
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Detroit's musical history is so dominated by the Motown story that it's easy to overlook contributions from non-Motown artists over the years. Yet the motor city was the home of several successful and not-so-successful acts over the years, including the Amboy Dukes, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, and even a non-Motown soul band, the Capitols. The Unrelated Segments were from nearby Taylor, Michigan and recorded three singles in 1967 and 1968. The first of these, Story of My Life, got massive airplay in Detroit but had little impact anywhere else.
Artist: Yellow Balloon
Song Title: Yellow Balloon
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: The Yellow Balloon)
Release 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).
Once again we take a romp through the years, this one stretching from 1966 to 1970.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Let Me In
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Release Year: 1966
Marty Balin deserves recognition for his outstanding abilities as a leader. Most people don't even realize he was the founder of the Airplane, yet it was Balin who brought together the diverse talents of what would become San Francisco's most successful band of the 60s and managed to keep the band together through more than its share of controversies. One indication of his leadership abilities is that he encouraged Paul Kantner to sing lead on this track, despite the fact that Balin himself had no other onstage role than to sing lead vocals.
Artist: Who
Song Title: Rael 2
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Release Year: 1967
This odd little piece was apparently intended as a coda to the final track of The Who Sell Out, but was not included on the album (although the label itself reads "Rael 1&2"). It is among the many bonus tracks on both the 90s and 2000s CD versions of the album.
Artist: Traffic
Song Title: (Roamin' Through the Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Release Year: 1968
In its original run, Traffic only released two full albums (and a third that consisted of non-LP singles, studio outtakes and live tracks). The second of these, simply titled Traffic, featured several memorable tunes, including this Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi collaboration.
Artist: Fairport Convention
Song Title: Tam Lin
Source: LP: Fairport Chronicles (originally released on LP: Leige and Leaf)
Release Year: 1969
Fairport Convention was hailed as England's answer to Jefferson Airplane when they first appeared. As this track from 1969 shows, they soon established a sound all their own. Sandy Denny, heard here on lead vocals, is best known to US audiences for her backup vocals on Led Zeppelin's The Battle of Evermore.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Song Title: 4+20
Source: CD: déjà vu
Release Year: 1970
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were always more a collection of individuals than a true group. This tune from the second album is actually a Stephen Stills solo track, illustrating the point.
The second segment of tonight's show is another progression through the years, albeit somewhat shorter than the first one, covering the years 1966-1968.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: CD: 5D
Release Year: 1966
After two albums dominated by cover tunes such as Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn!, the Byrds surprised everyone with an album consisting of almost all original material. Eight Miles High, co-written by Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark, was to be the first hit single composed by group members, but got derailed when Top 40 radio czar Bill Drake branded it a drug song. Despite the song being banned on several key radio stations, it still managed to crack the top 20.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: May This Be Love
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Release Year: 1967
The original UK version of Are You Experienced? featured this song as the opening track of side two of the album. In the US, the UK single The Wind Cries Mary was substituted for it, with May This Be Love buried deep on side one.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Song Title: Gilded Lamp of the Cosmos
Source: LP: Behold and See (mono promo pressing)
Release Year: 1968
By 1968, even the cheap $10 record players used diamond needles and were able to play stereo albums without damaging the grooves (older sapphire needles were another story). Accordingly, most albums were only released in stereo, often with the notation "also playable mono" somewhere on the cover. A significant number of radio stations, however, were still using equipment that was several years old, and the major record labels often made special mono pressings that were only available to broadcasters. This version of the opening track from Behold and See is from one of those pressings, found among the vinyl archives of WEOS-FM. Interestingly enough, WEOS-FM was not actually on the air in 1968, so who this copy was originally distributed to is anyone's guess. My own best guess is that it was originally sent to the campus carrier current station (received by plugging an AM radio into a wall socket) at Hobart and William Smith Colleges that eventually became WEOS.
The great argument among school-aged Americans in the mid-sixties was "Beatles or Stones. Who's better?" Sometimes this argument actually ended in fisticuffs. Ultimately it decided that the Beatles were for the girls while the Stones were more of a guys' band. Obviously whoever decided that never caught the Stones backstage.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Not Fade Away
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1964
Like most British Invasion bands, the Rolling Stones were inspired by the early US rock and roll and rhythm and blues artists of the 1950s and often started their recording careers covering songs from that period. Not Fade Away was one of Buddy Holly's best-known tunes, and the Stones recording of it became their first US hit and the first of their UK singles to hit the top 10 in that country.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: Nowhere Man
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Release Year: 1965
The original UK version of Rubber Soul, released in December 1965, had several songs that were left off the shorter US version. In the case of Nowhere Man, it was because Capitol Records decided to hold back the song for release as a single in early 1966.
By 1968, album rock stations were starting to have an impact on the recording industry, resulting in a much more eclectic mix of material being released, as is evidenced by the following set.
Artist: Pentangle
Song Title: Way Behind the Sun
Source: LP: The Pentangle
Release Year: 1968
Every member of the Pentangle was an established member of the British folk music community, making Pentangle a folk supergroup by definition. Using elements of jazz and rock mixed with traditional folk music, they had a successful run up through the mid 1970s. This track from the first album is an adaptation of Rollin' and Tumblin' with new lyrics and a more sophisticated arrangement than better known versions by Cream and Johnny Winter.
Artist: First Edition
Song Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
The First Edition was led by former New Christy Minstrels members Mickey Newbury (who wrote this tune), and lead vocalist Kenny Rogers. As is usual in the US, the singer went on to become a superstar while the songwriter faded off into obscurity.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Song Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Release Year: 1968
European electronics giant Philips had its own record label in the 1960s. In the US, the label was distributed by Mercury Records, and was known primarily for a long string of hits by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. In 1968 the label surprised everyone by signing the loudest band in San Francisco, Blue Cheer. Their cover of the 50s Eddie Cochrane hit Summertime Blues was all over both the AM and FM airwaves that summer.
And now for something completely different:
Artist: Freddie and the Dreamers
Song Title: Money (That's What I Want)
Source: LP: Freddie and the Dreamers
Release Year: 1965
With hits like I'm Telling You Now and Do The Freddie, Freddie and the Dreamers established themselves as the clown princes of the British Invasion. Their 1965 album for Mercury is mostly covers, including this reworking of the Barrett Strong classic.
Our second 1967 set of the night focuses on album tracks.
Artist: Moby Grape
Song Title: Mr. Blues
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Release Year: 1967
Moby Grape got their name from the punchline of a joke that was circulating around the high schools of the time: What is purple and swims in the ocean? Regardless of that, the band's debut album was one of the strongest ever, but was marred by Columbia Records decision to release 10 of the albums 13 tracks simultaneously as singles, which was perceived as over-the-top hyperbole. Mr. Blues was one of those chosen to be a B side.
Artist: Music Machine
Song Title: Discrepancy
Source: CD: Beyond the Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Release Year: 1967
Sean Bonniwell was a former folk singer who emerged as one of the most talented songwriters on the L.A. club scene. A champion of bands performing their own material, he made sure the Music Machine's onstage sets moved quickly from song to song, in order to keep unwanted requests for cover tunes to a minimum. After a series of clashes with the band's first label, Original Sound Records, Bonniwell moved over to Warner Brothers, recruiting a new Music Machine in the process. Discrepancy is one of the finest album tracks of 1967, but received very little airplay at the time. Getting songs like this one heard is one of the main reasons I do this show.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Song Title: Pow R. Toc H.
Source: CD: Piper At the Gates of Dawn
Release Year: 1967
British psychedelic music was always more avant-garde than its US counterpart, and Pink Floyd was probably the most avant-garde of the British psychedelic bands. This track, written by the entire group, was a hint of things to come.
Here we have another short yearly progression from 1964-1966.
Artist: Beau Brummels
Song Title: Laugh Laugh
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Release Year: 1964
It was difficult for an American band to get a hit record in 1964. Some, such as San Francisco's Beau Brummels, decided the best way was to beat the Brits at their own game. Laugh Laugh, their debut single, was released in December of that year. Ultimately, the decision to emulate British rock worked against the Brummels, as they were never considered part of the blossoming San Francisco music scene.
Artist: Barry McGuire
Song Title: Eve of Destruction
Source: 45 RPM vinyl (reissue)
Release Year: 1965
One of the top folk-rock hits of 1965, Eve of Destruction was actually written by professional songwriter P.F. Sloane, who also wrote tunes for the Turtles, among others.
Artist: Donovan
Song Title: Mellow Yellow
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Release Year: 1966
Although the Mellow Yellow album came out in early 1967, the title track had been released several months earlier as a followup to Donovan's breakthrough US hit Sunshine Superman. Ironically, during Donovan's period of greatest US success none of his recordings were being released in his native UK, due to a contract dispute with Pye Records.
Artist: Them
Song Title: Black Widow Spider
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Release Year: 1968
Usually when a band used outside songwriters it's because their producer forced them into it, and almost always was a sore point with the band members. The liner notes for Them's second album for Tower (and the second without founder Van Morrison) included a thank you note from the band to Tom Lane and Sharon Pulley, who wrote nearly every song on Time Out! Time In! For Them.
This week's final segment begins with a set from 1969.
Artist: Country Weather
Song Title: Fly To New York
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released to radio stations as a single-sided promo album).
Release Year: 1969
Country Weather was a band from Walnut Creek, California that for two years regularly played all the hot spots in San Francisco but never seemed to be able to land a recording contract. Finally in 1969 they decided to take matters into their own hands, self-producing this six-plus minute track and distributing it to local radio stations.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Song Title: Green River
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
For some reason, nobody seems to remember that Creedence played Woodstock. I'm not sure why.
Artist: Zephyr
Song Title: Cross the River
Source: Zephyr
Release Year: 1969
I've been playing a bit of Denver's Sugarloaf lately, so I thought I'd switch over to a band from nearby Boulder that actually predated their neighbors by a few months. Zephyr featured the vocal talents of Candy Givens, who had an octave range that would not be equalled until Mariah Carey hit the scene years later. Also in the band was lead guitarist Tommy Bolin, who would go on to take over lead guitar duties with first the James Gang and then Deep Purple before embarking on a solo career. Unfortunately that career (and Bolin's life) was permanently derailed by a heroin overdose at age 28.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Song Title: A Tribute To Hank Williams
Source: LP: Tim Hardin 2
Release Year: 1967
Tim Hardin was one of the first singer-songwriters to hit the scene. He is best known for his song If I Were a Carpenter, recorded first by Bobby Darin and later by Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Song Title: Suppose They Give a War and No One Comes
Source: LP: Volume 2
Release Year: 1967
This song is either really cool or really pretentious. I've had a copy of it for over 30 years and still haven't figured out which.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Song Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: No Way Out)
Release Year: 1967
It took me many years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of the Chocolate Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album.
Artist: Unrelated Segments
Song Title: Story of My Life
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Detroit's musical history is so dominated by the Motown story that it's easy to overlook contributions from non-Motown artists over the years. Yet the motor city was the home of several successful and not-so-successful acts over the years, including the Amboy Dukes, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, and even a non-Motown soul band, the Capitols. The Unrelated Segments were from nearby Taylor, Michigan and recorded three singles in 1967 and 1968. The first of these, Story of My Life, got massive airplay in Detroit but had little impact anywhere else.
Artist: Yellow Balloon
Song Title: Yellow Balloon
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: The Yellow Balloon)
Release 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).
Once again we take a romp through the years, this one stretching from 1966 to 1970.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Let Me In
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Release Year: 1966
Marty Balin deserves recognition for his outstanding abilities as a leader. Most people don't even realize he was the founder of the Airplane, yet it was Balin who brought together the diverse talents of what would become San Francisco's most successful band of the 60s and managed to keep the band together through more than its share of controversies. One indication of his leadership abilities is that he encouraged Paul Kantner to sing lead on this track, despite the fact that Balin himself had no other onstage role than to sing lead vocals.
Artist: Who
Song Title: Rael 2
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Release Year: 1967
This odd little piece was apparently intended as a coda to the final track of The Who Sell Out, but was not included on the album (although the label itself reads "Rael 1&2"). It is among the many bonus tracks on both the 90s and 2000s CD versions of the album.
Artist: Traffic
Song Title: (Roamin' Through the Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Release Year: 1968
In its original run, Traffic only released two full albums (and a third that consisted of non-LP singles, studio outtakes and live tracks). The second of these, simply titled Traffic, featured several memorable tunes, including this Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi collaboration.
Artist: Fairport Convention
Song Title: Tam Lin
Source: LP: Fairport Chronicles (originally released on LP: Leige and Leaf)
Release Year: 1969
Fairport Convention was hailed as England's answer to Jefferson Airplane when they first appeared. As this track from 1969 shows, they soon established a sound all their own. Sandy Denny, heard here on lead vocals, is best known to US audiences for her backup vocals on Led Zeppelin's The Battle of Evermore.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Song Title: 4+20
Source: CD: déjà vu
Release Year: 1970
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were always more a collection of individuals than a true group. This tune from the second album is actually a Stephen Stills solo track, illustrating the point.
The second segment of tonight's show is another progression through the years, albeit somewhat shorter than the first one, covering the years 1966-1968.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: CD: 5D
Release Year: 1966
After two albums dominated by cover tunes such as Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn!, the Byrds surprised everyone with an album consisting of almost all original material. Eight Miles High, co-written by Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark, was to be the first hit single composed by group members, but got derailed when Top 40 radio czar Bill Drake branded it a drug song. Despite the song being banned on several key radio stations, it still managed to crack the top 20.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: May This Be Love
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Release Year: 1967
The original UK version of Are You Experienced? featured this song as the opening track of side two of the album. In the US, the UK single The Wind Cries Mary was substituted for it, with May This Be Love buried deep on side one.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Song Title: Gilded Lamp of the Cosmos
Source: LP: Behold and See (mono promo pressing)
Release Year: 1968
By 1968, even the cheap $10 record players used diamond needles and were able to play stereo albums without damaging the grooves (older sapphire needles were another story). Accordingly, most albums were only released in stereo, often with the notation "also playable mono" somewhere on the cover. A significant number of radio stations, however, were still using equipment that was several years old, and the major record labels often made special mono pressings that were only available to broadcasters. This version of the opening track from Behold and See is from one of those pressings, found among the vinyl archives of WEOS-FM. Interestingly enough, WEOS-FM was not actually on the air in 1968, so who this copy was originally distributed to is anyone's guess. My own best guess is that it was originally sent to the campus carrier current station (received by plugging an AM radio into a wall socket) at Hobart and William Smith Colleges that eventually became WEOS.
The great argument among school-aged Americans in the mid-sixties was "Beatles or Stones. Who's better?" Sometimes this argument actually ended in fisticuffs. Ultimately it decided that the Beatles were for the girls while the Stones were more of a guys' band. Obviously whoever decided that never caught the Stones backstage.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Not Fade Away
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1964
Like most British Invasion bands, the Rolling Stones were inspired by the early US rock and roll and rhythm and blues artists of the 1950s and often started their recording careers covering songs from that period. Not Fade Away was one of Buddy Holly's best-known tunes, and the Stones recording of it became their first US hit and the first of their UK singles to hit the top 10 in that country.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: Nowhere Man
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Release Year: 1965
The original UK version of Rubber Soul, released in December 1965, had several songs that were left off the shorter US version. In the case of Nowhere Man, it was because Capitol Records decided to hold back the song for release as a single in early 1966.
By 1968, album rock stations were starting to have an impact on the recording industry, resulting in a much more eclectic mix of material being released, as is evidenced by the following set.
Artist: Pentangle
Song Title: Way Behind the Sun
Source: LP: The Pentangle
Release Year: 1968
Every member of the Pentangle was an established member of the British folk music community, making Pentangle a folk supergroup by definition. Using elements of jazz and rock mixed with traditional folk music, they had a successful run up through the mid 1970s. This track from the first album is an adaptation of Rollin' and Tumblin' with new lyrics and a more sophisticated arrangement than better known versions by Cream and Johnny Winter.
Artist: First Edition
Song Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
The First Edition was led by former New Christy Minstrels members Mickey Newbury (who wrote this tune), and lead vocalist Kenny Rogers. As is usual in the US, the singer went on to become a superstar while the songwriter faded off into obscurity.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Song Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Release Year: 1968
European electronics giant Philips had its own record label in the 1960s. In the US, the label was distributed by Mercury Records, and was known primarily for a long string of hits by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. In 1968 the label surprised everyone by signing the loudest band in San Francisco, Blue Cheer. Their cover of the 50s Eddie Cochrane hit Summertime Blues was all over both the AM and FM airwaves that summer.
And now for something completely different:
Artist: Freddie and the Dreamers
Song Title: Money (That's What I Want)
Source: LP: Freddie and the Dreamers
Release Year: 1965
With hits like I'm Telling You Now and Do The Freddie, Freddie and the Dreamers established themselves as the clown princes of the British Invasion. Their 1965 album for Mercury is mostly covers, including this reworking of the Barrett Strong classic.
Our second 1967 set of the night focuses on album tracks.
Artist: Moby Grape
Song Title: Mr. Blues
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Release Year: 1967
Moby Grape got their name from the punchline of a joke that was circulating around the high schools of the time: What is purple and swims in the ocean? Regardless of that, the band's debut album was one of the strongest ever, but was marred by Columbia Records decision to release 10 of the albums 13 tracks simultaneously as singles, which was perceived as over-the-top hyperbole. Mr. Blues was one of those chosen to be a B side.
Artist: Music Machine
Song Title: Discrepancy
Source: CD: Beyond the Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Release Year: 1967
Sean Bonniwell was a former folk singer who emerged as one of the most talented songwriters on the L.A. club scene. A champion of bands performing their own material, he made sure the Music Machine's onstage sets moved quickly from song to song, in order to keep unwanted requests for cover tunes to a minimum. After a series of clashes with the band's first label, Original Sound Records, Bonniwell moved over to Warner Brothers, recruiting a new Music Machine in the process. Discrepancy is one of the finest album tracks of 1967, but received very little airplay at the time. Getting songs like this one heard is one of the main reasons I do this show.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Song Title: Pow R. Toc H.
Source: CD: Piper At the Gates of Dawn
Release Year: 1967
British psychedelic music was always more avant-garde than its US counterpart, and Pink Floyd was probably the most avant-garde of the British psychedelic bands. This track, written by the entire group, was a hint of things to come.
Here we have another short yearly progression from 1964-1966.
Artist: Beau Brummels
Song Title: Laugh Laugh
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Release Year: 1964
It was difficult for an American band to get a hit record in 1964. Some, such as San Francisco's Beau Brummels, decided the best way was to beat the Brits at their own game. Laugh Laugh, their debut single, was released in December of that year. Ultimately, the decision to emulate British rock worked against the Brummels, as they were never considered part of the blossoming San Francisco music scene.
Artist: Barry McGuire
Song Title: Eve of Destruction
Source: 45 RPM vinyl (reissue)
Release Year: 1965
One of the top folk-rock hits of 1965, Eve of Destruction was actually written by professional songwriter P.F. Sloane, who also wrote tunes for the Turtles, among others.
Artist: Donovan
Song Title: Mellow Yellow
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Release Year: 1966
Although the Mellow Yellow album came out in early 1967, the title track had been released several months earlier as a followup to Donovan's breakthrough US hit Sunshine Superman. Ironically, during Donovan's period of greatest US success none of his recordings were being released in his native UK, due to a contract dispute with Pye Records.
Artist: Them
Song Title: Black Widow Spider
Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them
Release Year: 1968
Usually when a band used outside songwriters it's because their producer forced them into it, and almost always was a sore point with the band members. The liner notes for Them's second album for Tower (and the second without founder Van Morrison) included a thank you note from the band to Tom Lane and Sharon Pulley, who wrote nearly every song on Time Out! Time In! For Them.
This week's final segment begins with a set from 1969.
Artist: Country Weather
Song Title: Fly To New York
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released to radio stations as a single-sided promo album).
Release Year: 1969
Country Weather was a band from Walnut Creek, California that for two years regularly played all the hot spots in San Francisco but never seemed to be able to land a recording contract. Finally in 1969 they decided to take matters into their own hands, self-producing this six-plus minute track and distributing it to local radio stations.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Song Title: Green River
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
For some reason, nobody seems to remember that Creedence played Woodstock. I'm not sure why.
Artist: Zephyr
Song Title: Cross the River
Source: Zephyr
Release Year: 1969
I've been playing a bit of Denver's Sugarloaf lately, so I thought I'd switch over to a band from nearby Boulder that actually predated their neighbors by a few months. Zephyr featured the vocal talents of Candy Givens, who had an octave range that would not be equalled until Mariah Carey hit the scene years later. Also in the band was lead guitarist Tommy Bolin, who would go on to take over lead guitar duties with first the James Gang and then Deep Purple before embarking on a solo career. Unfortunately that career (and Bolin's life) was permanently derailed by a heroin overdose at age 28.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Song Title: A Tribute To Hank Williams
Source: LP: Tim Hardin 2
Release Year: 1967
Tim Hardin was one of the first singer-songwriters to hit the scene. He is best known for his song If I Were a Carpenter, recorded first by Bobby Darin and later by Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Song Title: Suppose They Give a War and No One Comes
Source: LP: Volume 2
Release Year: 1967
This song is either really cool or really pretentious. I've had a copy of it for over 30 years and still haven't figured out which.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Playlist 10/15-17/10
This week we pay tribute to the golden age of album rock, with only a handful of tunes that were released as singles. And what better place to start than the year 1970?
Artist: Sugarloaf
Song Title: I Don't Need You Baby
Source: LP: Spaceship Earth
Release Year: 1970
The trend in recent years is for one member of a band to become the front man. Usually this is the lead singer, and for the most part this person is unencumbered by a musical instrument and able to strut around the stage throughout the performance. In the sixties such as setup was far less common. Often bands even had more than one member capable of providing lead vocals. Such was the case with Sugarloaf from Denver, Colorado. Guitarist Robert Yeazel and keyboardist Jerry Corbetta trade off lead vocals on I Don't Need You Baby, with Yeazel starting off each verse and Corbetta finishing.
Artist: Three Dog Night
Song Title: Rock and Roll Widow
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1970
Three Dog Night are generally not remembered for their songwriting abilities. Almost all of their hits were covers of songs that had been previously recorded by the songwriters themselves, such as Randy Newman's Mama Told Me (Not To Come). This song, appearing on the B side of that record, is a rare exception, credited to all seven band members.
Artist: Mountain
Song Title: For Yasgur's Farm
Source: LP: Climbing
Release Year: 1970
Leslie West's first solo album was titled Mountain, and featured several prominent studio musicians, including Felix Pappalardi, who had played keyboards on Cream's Wheels of Fire, among other things. After the album was released, West, Pappaliardi and drummer Corky Laing decided to start a band. Naturally, they decided to call the band Mountain, and after a successful appearance at the Woodstock festival, a second album was released. All three band members share writing credit on this song about the Woodstock experience.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Song Title: Your Saving Grace
Source: LP: Anthology
Release Year: 1969
One of the most highly regarded of the Steve Miller Band's early albums was 1969's Your Saving Grace. A listen to the title track of the album shows why.
Artist: Traffic
Song Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Release Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Song Title: I'm Gonna Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Release Year: 1966
After scoring a huge national hit with their version of Van Morrison's Gloria, the Shadows of Knight were unable to come up with a successful follow-up. I'm Gonna Make You Mine, in retrospect, was probably just a bit too loud and brash for its time. Only in recent years has it gotten recognition as a forerunner to the harder rock that would dominate the early 70s.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Song Title: That's All Folks
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Release Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos showed their sense of humor by including this nine seconds worth of looniness as the final track on Electric Comic Book, their follow-up to the successful Psychedelic Lollipop album.
Following up on the album rock we have a set of tunes from artists with a more acoustic orientation.
Artist: McKendree Spring
Song Title: What Will We Do With the Child
Source: LP: McKendree Spring
Release Year: 1969
From Glens Falls, NY, McKendree Spring was one of the last folk-rock groups to begin their recording career, and (to my knowledge) the only one to use synthesizers. The band kept recording steadily through 1976, and reunited for an album of new material in 2007. This track is from their somewhat rare first album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Triad
Source: LP: Crown of Creation
Release Year: 1968
After David Crosby got fired from the Byrds in mid-1967, he took this tune, which the Byrds had recorded but not released, to his friends in the Jefferson Airplane. The song ended up being one of the most played tracks on the Crown of Creation album.
Artist: Joan Baez
Song Title: Joe Hill
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
This song, written as a poem in the early part of the 20th century and set to music a few years later, was a highlight of Joan Baez's Woodstock performance.
Hour #1 ends with a progression through the years 1965-68.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Release Year: 1965
This song is perhaps recognizable from a relatively recent TV commercial. It was originally the opening track from the 1965 album Kinda Kinks, which, like most British albums of the time, had a different song lineup on its US release than the original UK version. In this case, it also had an entirely different cover, for reasons that are not clear.
Artist: Charlatans
Song Title: Codine
Source: CD: The Amazing Charlatans
Release Year: 1966
The Charlatans did not have much luck in the studio. Getting signed by Kama Sutra Records seemed like a good idea at the time (as the Lovin' Spoonful was the label's only nationally-known act). When it came time to actually release the recordings they had made for the label, however, the problems began. The band wanted to release Buffy Saint-Marie's anti-drug song Codine as their first single, but Kama Sutra refused to issue it, instead choosing the Charlatan's cover of an obscure Coaster tune, The Shadow Knows. The single tanked, and the rest of the recordings remained unissued until Sundazed put them on a CD in the 1990s (erroneously listing this song as being Codine Blues in the process).
Artist: Love
Song Title: She Comes In Colors
Source: CD: De Capo
Release Year: 1967
Arthur Lee was a bit of an enigma. His band, Love, was generally accepted as the top band on the Strip in L.A., yet Lee himself was a bit of a recluse living up on the hill overlooking the scene. With one notable exception, his songs were not hits, yet he was critically acknowledged as a musical genius on a par with his friend Jimi Hendrix. Stylistically, his songs varied from intensely hard rock (Stephanie Knows Who, 7&7 Is), to softer, almost jazzy tunes such as this one from the same album.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Song Title: Mind Flowers
Source: LP: Behold and See
Release Year: 1968
Along with Orpheus and the Beacon Street Union, Ultimate Spinach was part of what M-G-M Records promoted as the "boss-town sound". Unlike Orpheus and the Beacon Street Union, whose music was more of a group effort, Ultimate Spinach was very much the artistic vision of one man: Ian Bruce-Douglas. Mind Flowers, from the second album, certainly qualifies as one of the most psychedelic compositions ever recorded.
Artist: Supremes
Song Title: Reflections
Source: 45 RPM vinyl (Motown Yesteryear re-issue)
Release Year: 1967
The Supremes weren't exactly known as a psychedelic group, nor were their primary songwriters, the Holland/
Dozier/Holland team. Nonetheless, together they produced one of the most psychedelic tunes ever to come out of Motown. Well, it was 1967, after all.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Sky Pilot
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals
Release Year: 1968
After the original Animals lineup disbanded in late 1966, lead vocalist Eric Burdon quickly set out to form a "New Animals" group that would come to be called Eric Burdon and the Animals. Thier biggest hit was 1968's Sky Pilot, that was so long it had to be split across two sides of a 45 RPM record. The full-length version of the song was included on the group's second album, The Twain Shall Meet.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Winds of Change
Source: CD: Winds of Change
Release Year: 1967
The new Animals first album was Winds of Change, an ambitious album that gave writing credit to all five band members for all the tracks on the album (with the exception of a cover of Paint It Black). The opening track is basically Eric Burdon paying tribute to all his musical heroes, and it's quite an impressive list, including jazz and blues greats as well as some of the most important names in the annals of rock and roll.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals
Release Year: 1967
The new Animals made their live debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. By the end of the year they had issued this single celebrating the festival itself.
Artist: Them
Song Title: Truth Machine
Source: LP: Now and Them
Release Year: 1968
A track from the second post-Van Morrison Them album featuring Kenny McDowell on lead vocals.
Artist: Flock
Song Title: Crabfoot
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Release Year: 1970
Chicago is a town known for its horn players, and the Flock had one of the best horn sections ever to come out of the windy city. On top of that they had Jerry Goodman playing a mean electric violin. Nonetheless, they never seemed to be able to connect up with a large audience, and after a couple critically well-received but poor selling albums, the members moved on, with Goodman in particular gaining fame as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Artist: Great Society
Song Title: Where
Source: CD: Born To Be Burned
Release Year: 1965
Our second and longest progression through the years starts with one of the unreleased tracks recorded in late 1965 by the Great Society, led by the Slick brothers and featuring Darby Slick's wife Grace on vocals.
Artist: Standells
Song Title: Dirty Water
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Release Year: 1966
The Standells' biggest hit.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: The Fool On the Hill
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Release Year: 1967
1967 was a schizophrenic year for the fab four, starting off the with immensly successful double A sided single Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, continuing with the landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and finishing with their first major flop, the Magical Mystery Tour telefilm. The soundtrack album from that film came out in very different forms in the UK and the US. The British version was a double EP set featuring the six songs from the film, while the US version was a full-length LP that added the band's five singles from 1967 as the second side of the album. The songs themselves were far better received than the telefilm.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Release Year: 1968
The last album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was a double LP mixture of studio recordings and live jams in the studio with an array of guest musicians. Gypsy Eyes is a good example of Hendrix's prowess at the mixing board as well as on guitar.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Song Title: Sea of Madness
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash for this performance at Woodstock, and would be a full member of the group when their next album, Deja Vu, came out.
Artist: Turtles
Song Title: You Know What I Mean
Source: CD: Happy Together
Release Year: 1967
This 1967 single is included on the French import version of the Happy Together CD. To my knowledge, this is the only copy of the album currently in print.
Artist: Turtles
Song Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Release Year: 1967
Another 1967 single from the future Flo and Eddie, this tune is also included on the above-mentioned French import (in fact there are as many bonus tracks as original album cuts on said CD).
Artist: Sugarloaf
Song Title: I Don't Need You Baby
Source: LP: Spaceship Earth
Release Year: 1970
The trend in recent years is for one member of a band to become the front man. Usually this is the lead singer, and for the most part this person is unencumbered by a musical instrument and able to strut around the stage throughout the performance. In the sixties such as setup was far less common. Often bands even had more than one member capable of providing lead vocals. Such was the case with Sugarloaf from Denver, Colorado. Guitarist Robert Yeazel and keyboardist Jerry Corbetta trade off lead vocals on I Don't Need You Baby, with Yeazel starting off each verse and Corbetta finishing.
Artist: Three Dog Night
Song Title: Rock and Roll Widow
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1970
Three Dog Night are generally not remembered for their songwriting abilities. Almost all of their hits were covers of songs that had been previously recorded by the songwriters themselves, such as Randy Newman's Mama Told Me (Not To Come). This song, appearing on the B side of that record, is a rare exception, credited to all seven band members.
Artist: Mountain
Song Title: For Yasgur's Farm
Source: LP: Climbing
Release Year: 1970
Leslie West's first solo album was titled Mountain, and featured several prominent studio musicians, including Felix Pappalardi, who had played keyboards on Cream's Wheels of Fire, among other things. After the album was released, West, Pappaliardi and drummer Corky Laing decided to start a band. Naturally, they decided to call the band Mountain, and after a successful appearance at the Woodstock festival, a second album was released. All three band members share writing credit on this song about the Woodstock experience.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Song Title: Your Saving Grace
Source: LP: Anthology
Release Year: 1969
One of the most highly regarded of the Steve Miller Band's early albums was 1969's Your Saving Grace. A listen to the title track of the album shows why.
Artist: Traffic
Song Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Release Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Song Title: I'm Gonna Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Release Year: 1966
After scoring a huge national hit with their version of Van Morrison's Gloria, the Shadows of Knight were unable to come up with a successful follow-up. I'm Gonna Make You Mine, in retrospect, was probably just a bit too loud and brash for its time. Only in recent years has it gotten recognition as a forerunner to the harder rock that would dominate the early 70s.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Song Title: That's All Folks
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Release Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos showed their sense of humor by including this nine seconds worth of looniness as the final track on Electric Comic Book, their follow-up to the successful Psychedelic Lollipop album.
Following up on the album rock we have a set of tunes from artists with a more acoustic orientation.
Artist: McKendree Spring
Song Title: What Will We Do With the Child
Source: LP: McKendree Spring
Release Year: 1969
From Glens Falls, NY, McKendree Spring was one of the last folk-rock groups to begin their recording career, and (to my knowledge) the only one to use synthesizers. The band kept recording steadily through 1976, and reunited for an album of new material in 2007. This track is from their somewhat rare first album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Triad
Source: LP: Crown of Creation
Release Year: 1968
After David Crosby got fired from the Byrds in mid-1967, he took this tune, which the Byrds had recorded but not released, to his friends in the Jefferson Airplane. The song ended up being one of the most played tracks on the Crown of Creation album.
Artist: Joan Baez
Song Title: Joe Hill
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
This song, written as a poem in the early part of the 20th century and set to music a few years later, was a highlight of Joan Baez's Woodstock performance.
Hour #1 ends with a progression through the years 1965-68.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Release Year: 1965
This song is perhaps recognizable from a relatively recent TV commercial. It was originally the opening track from the 1965 album Kinda Kinks, which, like most British albums of the time, had a different song lineup on its US release than the original UK version. In this case, it also had an entirely different cover, for reasons that are not clear.
Artist: Charlatans
Song Title: Codine
Source: CD: The Amazing Charlatans
Release Year: 1966
The Charlatans did not have much luck in the studio. Getting signed by Kama Sutra Records seemed like a good idea at the time (as the Lovin' Spoonful was the label's only nationally-known act). When it came time to actually release the recordings they had made for the label, however, the problems began. The band wanted to release Buffy Saint-Marie's anti-drug song Codine as their first single, but Kama Sutra refused to issue it, instead choosing the Charlatan's cover of an obscure Coaster tune, The Shadow Knows. The single tanked, and the rest of the recordings remained unissued until Sundazed put them on a CD in the 1990s (erroneously listing this song as being Codine Blues in the process).
Artist: Love
Song Title: She Comes In Colors
Source: CD: De Capo
Release Year: 1967
Arthur Lee was a bit of an enigma. His band, Love, was generally accepted as the top band on the Strip in L.A., yet Lee himself was a bit of a recluse living up on the hill overlooking the scene. With one notable exception, his songs were not hits, yet he was critically acknowledged as a musical genius on a par with his friend Jimi Hendrix. Stylistically, his songs varied from intensely hard rock (Stephanie Knows Who, 7&7 Is), to softer, almost jazzy tunes such as this one from the same album.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Song Title: Mind Flowers
Source: LP: Behold and See
Release Year: 1968
Along with Orpheus and the Beacon Street Union, Ultimate Spinach was part of what M-G-M Records promoted as the "boss-town sound". Unlike Orpheus and the Beacon Street Union, whose music was more of a group effort, Ultimate Spinach was very much the artistic vision of one man: Ian Bruce-Douglas. Mind Flowers, from the second album, certainly qualifies as one of the most psychedelic compositions ever recorded.
Artist: Supremes
Song Title: Reflections
Source: 45 RPM vinyl (Motown Yesteryear re-issue)
Release Year: 1967
The Supremes weren't exactly known as a psychedelic group, nor were their primary songwriters, the Holland/
Dozier/Holland team. Nonetheless, together they produced one of the most psychedelic tunes ever to come out of Motown. Well, it was 1967, after all.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Sky Pilot
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals
Release Year: 1968
After the original Animals lineup disbanded in late 1966, lead vocalist Eric Burdon quickly set out to form a "New Animals" group that would come to be called Eric Burdon and the Animals. Thier biggest hit was 1968's Sky Pilot, that was so long it had to be split across two sides of a 45 RPM record. The full-length version of the song was included on the group's second album, The Twain Shall Meet.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Winds of Change
Source: CD: Winds of Change
Release Year: 1967
The new Animals first album was Winds of Change, an ambitious album that gave writing credit to all five band members for all the tracks on the album (with the exception of a cover of Paint It Black). The opening track is basically Eric Burdon paying tribute to all his musical heroes, and it's quite an impressive list, including jazz and blues greats as well as some of the most important names in the annals of rock and roll.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Song Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals
Release Year: 1967
The new Animals made their live debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. By the end of the year they had issued this single celebrating the festival itself.
Artist: Them
Song Title: Truth Machine
Source: LP: Now and Them
Release Year: 1968
A track from the second post-Van Morrison Them album featuring Kenny McDowell on lead vocals.
Artist: Flock
Song Title: Crabfoot
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Release Year: 1970
Chicago is a town known for its horn players, and the Flock had one of the best horn sections ever to come out of the windy city. On top of that they had Jerry Goodman playing a mean electric violin. Nonetheless, they never seemed to be able to connect up with a large audience, and after a couple critically well-received but poor selling albums, the members moved on, with Goodman in particular gaining fame as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Artist: Great Society
Song Title: Where
Source: CD: Born To Be Burned
Release Year: 1965
Our second and longest progression through the years starts with one of the unreleased tracks recorded in late 1965 by the Great Society, led by the Slick brothers and featuring Darby Slick's wife Grace on vocals.
Artist: Standells
Song Title: Dirty Water
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Release Year: 1966
The Standells' biggest hit.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: The Fool On the Hill
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Release Year: 1967
1967 was a schizophrenic year for the fab four, starting off the with immensly successful double A sided single Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, continuing with the landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and finishing with their first major flop, the Magical Mystery Tour telefilm. The soundtrack album from that film came out in very different forms in the UK and the US. The British version was a double EP set featuring the six songs from the film, while the US version was a full-length LP that added the band's five singles from 1967 as the second side of the album. The songs themselves were far better received than the telefilm.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Release Year: 1968
The last album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was a double LP mixture of studio recordings and live jams in the studio with an array of guest musicians. Gypsy Eyes is a good example of Hendrix's prowess at the mixing board as well as on guitar.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Song Title: Sea of Madness
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash for this performance at Woodstock, and would be a full member of the group when their next album, Deja Vu, came out.
Artist: Turtles
Song Title: You Know What I Mean
Source: CD: Happy Together
Release Year: 1967
This 1967 single is included on the French import version of the Happy Together CD. To my knowledge, this is the only copy of the album currently in print.
Artist: Turtles
Song Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock
Release Year: 1967
Another 1967 single from the future Flo and Eddie, this tune is also included on the above-mentioned French import (in fact there are as many bonus tracks as original album cuts on said CD).
Friday, October 8, 2010
Playlist 1020
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: How Do You Feel
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Release Year: 1967
We start the week with one of the few Jefferson Airplane songs that were not written by band members. Truth to tell, I don't know a thing about Tom Mastin, who wrote How Do You Feel. I do know that the song was selected to be the B side of their first single from Surrealistic Pillow (the A side was the Skip Spence tune My Best Friend), and that neither tune charted nationally, although they both got airplay on San Francisco area radio stations.
Artist: Bert Sommer
Song Title: Smile
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 2009 (recorded 1969)
Bert Sommer was one of the many singer-songwriters (although the term hadn't really come into vogue at that point) to pitch in and perform on the opening day of Woodstock, when equipment problems prevented the electric rock bands from performing as scheduled. Perhaps because there were so many acoustic acts performing back to back, his part has gone largely unnoticed over the years. Last year Rhino decided to rectify that situation somewhat by including several of his tunes on their 40th anniversary Woodstock collection. Smile is one of those tunes.
Artist: Mountain
Song Title: Blood of the Sun
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 2009 (recorded 1969)
Another track recorded live at Woodstock but unissued for 40 years, Blood of the Sun was featured on the Woodstock 2 album. However, the band was unhappy with the actual recording of their performance and insisted on re-recording it for the 1972 release. One of these days I might just bring in the Woodstock 2 performance just for comparison's sake.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Song Title: I Know
Source: LP: Just Like Us
Release Year: 1965
In 1965 the emphasis was on having a hit single. Albums were mostly either collections of previous hits or of the artist doing cover versions of other artists' hits. The Beatles, in addition to writing the bulk of their own songs, had added a new wrinkle by letting Ringo sing a cover song or two on each album, and would by 1966 abandon cover tunes entirely, instead giving the slots over to songs written by George Harrison. As the producer of the first rock band ever signed to Columbia Records, Terry Melcher tended to follow the lead of the Beatles, and thus we have drummer Mike "Smitty" Smith singing lead on this cover of Barbara George's biggest hit. In keeping with the personalities being established as the house band on Dick Clark's afternoon TV show Where the Action Is, Smitty did not treat his performance entirely seriously, an idea that would be expanded on by Don Kirschner for songs sung by Peter Tork on the first pair of Monkees albums.
Artist: Joe Cocker and the Grease Band
Song Title: Let's Go Get Stoned
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
In an era defined by artists that wrote their own material, Joe Cocker managed to achieve stardom doing cover songs. Here we have him covering the Ray Charles classic Let's Go Get Stoned. Given the nature of the crowd at Woodstock, the song takes on a whole new meaning in this context.
Artist: Mad River
Song Title: Amphetamine Gazelle
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Release Year: 1968
By 1968 acid was no longer the drug of choice on the streets of San Francisco. In its place, crystal meth was beginning to dominate the scene, with a corresponding increase in ripoffs and burns. The local musicians often reflected this change, with some, such as Canned Heat, declaring that Speed Kills and moving south to Laurel Canyon. Others, such as Mad River, attempted to use ridicule to combat the problem, but with no appreciable success (speed freaks not being known for their sense of humor, or any other kind of sense for that matter).
Our artist set of the week focuses on the Seeds, the band that is credited with coining the phrase "flower power". In 1968 Frank Zappa would declare that "flower power sucks", but in 1966 the Seeds were the hip thing in town, despite the fact that none of the band members were actually from L.A (and there were many people who were convinced that band leader Sky Saxon wasn't even from planet Earth). Here we have three tracks from their debut album, including their biggest hit Pushin' Too Hard. Although the album itself was released in the spring of 1966, Pushin' would not hit its peak national chart position until the following year.
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Fallin' In Love
Source: LP: The Seeds
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: The Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Nobody Spoil My Fun
Source: LP: The Seeds
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Sopwith Camel
Song Title: Hello, Hello
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
As early as 1965, the Charlatans had visually nailed the late 1800s image, but musically were much harder to pin down. Sopwith Camel, working with the same producer as the Charlatans, Erik Jacobsen, managed to capture the sound of the period with this 1966 track. Unfortunately for the band, doing so forever branded them as a one-hit novelty act.
Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Song Title: A Public Execution
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s.
Artist: Blues Project
Song Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Projections
Release Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project, as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together.
This week the first hour finishes with an international set from the year 1967. Sounds downright cosmopolitan, doesn't it?
Artist: Beau Brummels
Song Title: Two Days 'Til Tomorrow
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
The Beau Brummels scored two huge hits in 1965: Laugh, Laugh and Just a Little, both of which continue to get strong airplay on various oldies formats. What most people don't realize is that 1) they were one of the first successful bands from San Francisco, and 2) they continued to make records through the end of the decade. This track is a typical example of what they were doing after Warner Brothers acquired their original label, Autumn Records.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Song Title: Pipe Dream
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book and on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Following the success of (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the Blues Magoos released a new single taken from their second album. Unfortunately, both sides of the record were equally strong and stations were split over which side to play. The result is that neither Pipe Dream or There's a Chance We Can Make It did as well as they could have, and the album itself suffered saleswise from not having a major hit on it.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Song Title: I'm A Man
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood on lead vocals, had a series of hit singles in their native UK, but only the last two, Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm a Man, were successful in the US. After I'm a Man, Winwood left to form Traffic, and the band never had another American hit.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Nuggets, Vol 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: 5D and on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
A song so good I had to play it two weeks in a row.
Artist: Opus 1
Song Title: Back Seat '38 Dodge
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
We make a short progression through the years, starting in 1966 with this track from the L.A. suburbs. The title refers to a controversial sculpture that suburbanites were talking about at the time.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Song Title: Don't Need Your Lovin'
Source: CD: One Step Beyond (originally released on LP: Riot On Sunset Strip soundtrack album)
Release Year: 1967
It somehow seems appropriate that the most honest recorded representation of how the Watchband actually sounded did not appear on any of their three albums, instead showing up on the soundtrack of a second-rate teen exploitation flick. Then again, most everything on Tower Records was second-rate, and even the rare first-rate material was tarnished by bad management and exploitative business practices.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Song Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Nuggets, vol. 1-the Hits (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Release Year: 1968
Yes, I know it's not summer anymore, but this song is good enough to play anytime. I might even play it next January.
Artist: Cream
Song Title: As You Said
Source: LP: Wheels of Fire
Release Year: 1968
Starting off a set of tunes from 1968 we have this rather unusual track from Cream's classic double album. Certainly one of the most psychedelic tunes from this British supergroup, written by bassist Jack Bruce and his longtime collaborator Pete Brown.
Artist: Randy Newman
Song Title: Last Night I Had a Dream
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
If I were to play the "betcha can't guess who this is" game, I seriously doubt anyone would have guessed this was Randy Newman. This song is far and away the hardest rocking song I've ever heard him do.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Song Title: The Clown's Overture
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Release Year: 1968
Sounding a bit like Erik Satie (a year before Blood, Sweat & Tears did their Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie), this track is a purely orchestral piece. It was, however, composed and arranged by members of the Beacon Street Union, showing a side of the group missing entirely from their first album.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Song Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Release Year: 1968
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: A Song For Jeffrey
Source: LP: This Was
Release Year: 1968
Our final 1968 entry of the night is this track from the first Jethro Tull album. The Jeffrey in the song title is Jeffrey Hammond, who, according to the liner notes, was "one of us, though he doesn't play anything". The notes go on to say he "makes bombs and stuff". In fact, Hammond would replace bassist Glen Cornick a few albums later and remain with the group for several years.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Song Title: The M.O.I. American Pageant
Source: CD: Absolutely Free
Release Year: 1967
Following up on their debut double-LP Freak Out, the Mothers came up with one of the first concept albums with Absolutely Free, which consisted of two "rock oratorios", each taking up one side of the album. Included in the M.O.I. American Pageant is Brown Shoes Don't Make It, which composer Frank Zappa described as a two-hour musical in condensed form (it runs slightly less than 7 minutes). The entire Pageant runs about 19 minutes.
Artist: White Lightnin'
Song Title: William Tell Overture
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1971
In the summer of '71 a couple of us went to a drive-in movie in the trunk of a friend's car to see what was billed as the "First Electric Western" (and yes, we got out of the trunk before the movie started). The movie was called "Zachariah" and it featured Country Joe and the Fish as a gang of outlaw musicians. Instead of gun battles we saw dueling drum solos, one of which featured jazz great Elvin Jones. The film's opening sequence was a shot of the James Gang rocking out in the middle of the desert (which caused us to start arguing over where they were plugging their amps in), literally bigger than life on the huge drive-in movie screen. What I didn't know at the time was that the screenplay was written by Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman, themselves half of the Firesign Theater, else I probably would have paid closer attention to the film. According to my sources, this track (apparently used in the movie sometime after I had consumed my first six-pack and thus not remembered) is performed by a band called White Lightnin'. The record label, however, gives credit to arranger/conducter Jimmy Haskell, who also composed the bulk of the movie's soundtrack.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: I'll Follow the Sun
Source: CD: Beatles For Sale
Release Year: 1964
Many Americans have a hard time placing the album Beatles For Sale. That's because the album never came out in the US. Instead, several of the songs on the album appeared on something called Beatles '65, which had entirely different cover art and included a pair of tunes that had been only released as a single in the UK. Since the 1980s and the release of the entire Beatle catalog on CD, the British albums have been the only ones in print, except for some limited printings of the US albums made for the collectors' market.
Song Title: How Do You Feel
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Release Year: 1967
We start the week with one of the few Jefferson Airplane songs that were not written by band members. Truth to tell, I don't know a thing about Tom Mastin, who wrote How Do You Feel. I do know that the song was selected to be the B side of their first single from Surrealistic Pillow (the A side was the Skip Spence tune My Best Friend), and that neither tune charted nationally, although they both got airplay on San Francisco area radio stations.
Artist: Bert Sommer
Song Title: Smile
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 2009 (recorded 1969)
Bert Sommer was one of the many singer-songwriters (although the term hadn't really come into vogue at that point) to pitch in and perform on the opening day of Woodstock, when equipment problems prevented the electric rock bands from performing as scheduled. Perhaps because there were so many acoustic acts performing back to back, his part has gone largely unnoticed over the years. Last year Rhino decided to rectify that situation somewhat by including several of his tunes on their 40th anniversary Woodstock collection. Smile is one of those tunes.
Artist: Mountain
Song Title: Blood of the Sun
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 2009 (recorded 1969)
Another track recorded live at Woodstock but unissued for 40 years, Blood of the Sun was featured on the Woodstock 2 album. However, the band was unhappy with the actual recording of their performance and insisted on re-recording it for the 1972 release. One of these days I might just bring in the Woodstock 2 performance just for comparison's sake.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Song Title: I Know
Source: LP: Just Like Us
Release Year: 1965
In 1965 the emphasis was on having a hit single. Albums were mostly either collections of previous hits or of the artist doing cover versions of other artists' hits. The Beatles, in addition to writing the bulk of their own songs, had added a new wrinkle by letting Ringo sing a cover song or two on each album, and would by 1966 abandon cover tunes entirely, instead giving the slots over to songs written by George Harrison. As the producer of the first rock band ever signed to Columbia Records, Terry Melcher tended to follow the lead of the Beatles, and thus we have drummer Mike "Smitty" Smith singing lead on this cover of Barbara George's biggest hit. In keeping with the personalities being established as the house band on Dick Clark's afternoon TV show Where the Action Is, Smitty did not treat his performance entirely seriously, an idea that would be expanded on by Don Kirschner for songs sung by Peter Tork on the first pair of Monkees albums.
Artist: Joe Cocker and the Grease Band
Song Title: Let's Go Get Stoned
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
In an era defined by artists that wrote their own material, Joe Cocker managed to achieve stardom doing cover songs. Here we have him covering the Ray Charles classic Let's Go Get Stoned. Given the nature of the crowd at Woodstock, the song takes on a whole new meaning in this context.
Artist: Mad River
Song Title: Amphetamine Gazelle
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Release Year: 1968
By 1968 acid was no longer the drug of choice on the streets of San Francisco. In its place, crystal meth was beginning to dominate the scene, with a corresponding increase in ripoffs and burns. The local musicians often reflected this change, with some, such as Canned Heat, declaring that Speed Kills and moving south to Laurel Canyon. Others, such as Mad River, attempted to use ridicule to combat the problem, but with no appreciable success (speed freaks not being known for their sense of humor, or any other kind of sense for that matter).
Our artist set of the week focuses on the Seeds, the band that is credited with coining the phrase "flower power". In 1968 Frank Zappa would declare that "flower power sucks", but in 1966 the Seeds were the hip thing in town, despite the fact that none of the band members were actually from L.A (and there were many people who were convinced that band leader Sky Saxon wasn't even from planet Earth). Here we have three tracks from their debut album, including their biggest hit Pushin' Too Hard. Although the album itself was released in the spring of 1966, Pushin' would not hit its peak national chart position until the following year.
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Fallin' In Love
Source: LP: The Seeds
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: The Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Song Title: Nobody Spoil My Fun
Source: LP: The Seeds
Release Year: 1966
Artist: Sopwith Camel
Song Title: Hello, Hello
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
As early as 1965, the Charlatans had visually nailed the late 1800s image, but musically were much harder to pin down. Sopwith Camel, working with the same producer as the Charlatans, Erik Jacobsen, managed to capture the sound of the period with this 1966 track. Unfortunately for the band, doing so forever branded them as a one-hit novelty act.
Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Song Title: A Public Execution
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s.
Artist: Blues Project
Song Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Projections
Release Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project, as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together.
This week the first hour finishes with an international set from the year 1967. Sounds downright cosmopolitan, doesn't it?
Artist: Beau Brummels
Song Title: Two Days 'Til Tomorrow
Source: CD: Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
The Beau Brummels scored two huge hits in 1965: Laugh, Laugh and Just a Little, both of which continue to get strong airplay on various oldies formats. What most people don't realize is that 1) they were one of the first successful bands from San Francisco, and 2) they continued to make records through the end of the decade. This track is a typical example of what they were doing after Warner Brothers acquired their original label, Autumn Records.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Song Title: Pipe Dream
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book and on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Following the success of (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the Blues Magoos released a new single taken from their second album. Unfortunately, both sides of the record were equally strong and stations were split over which side to play. The result is that neither Pipe Dream or There's a Chance We Can Make It did as well as they could have, and the album itself suffered saleswise from not having a major hit on it.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Song Title: I'm A Man
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood on lead vocals, had a series of hit singles in their native UK, but only the last two, Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm a Man, were successful in the US. After I'm a Man, Winwood left to form Traffic, and the band never had another American hit.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Nuggets, Vol 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: 5D and on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
A song so good I had to play it two weeks in a row.
Artist: Opus 1
Song Title: Back Seat '38 Dodge
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
We make a short progression through the years, starting in 1966 with this track from the L.A. suburbs. The title refers to a controversial sculpture that suburbanites were talking about at the time.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Song Title: Don't Need Your Lovin'
Source: CD: One Step Beyond (originally released on LP: Riot On Sunset Strip soundtrack album)
Release Year: 1967
It somehow seems appropriate that the most honest recorded representation of how the Watchband actually sounded did not appear on any of their three albums, instead showing up on the soundtrack of a second-rate teen exploitation flick. Then again, most everything on Tower Records was second-rate, and even the rare first-rate material was tarnished by bad management and exploitative business practices.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Song Title: Summertime Blues
Source: LP: Nuggets, vol. 1-the Hits (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Release Year: 1968
Yes, I know it's not summer anymore, but this song is good enough to play anytime. I might even play it next January.
Artist: Cream
Song Title: As You Said
Source: LP: Wheels of Fire
Release Year: 1968
Starting off a set of tunes from 1968 we have this rather unusual track from Cream's classic double album. Certainly one of the most psychedelic tunes from this British supergroup, written by bassist Jack Bruce and his longtime collaborator Pete Brown.
Artist: Randy Newman
Song Title: Last Night I Had a Dream
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
If I were to play the "betcha can't guess who this is" game, I seriously doubt anyone would have guessed this was Randy Newman. This song is far and away the hardest rocking song I've ever heard him do.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Song Title: The Clown's Overture
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Release Year: 1968
Sounding a bit like Erik Satie (a year before Blood, Sweat & Tears did their Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie), this track is a purely orchestral piece. It was, however, composed and arranged by members of the Beacon Street Union, showing a side of the group missing entirely from their first album.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Song Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Release Year: 1968
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Song Title: A Song For Jeffrey
Source: LP: This Was
Release Year: 1968
Our final 1968 entry of the night is this track from the first Jethro Tull album. The Jeffrey in the song title is Jeffrey Hammond, who, according to the liner notes, was "one of us, though he doesn't play anything". The notes go on to say he "makes bombs and stuff". In fact, Hammond would replace bassist Glen Cornick a few albums later and remain with the group for several years.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Song Title: The M.O.I. American Pageant
Source: CD: Absolutely Free
Release Year: 1967
Following up on their debut double-LP Freak Out, the Mothers came up with one of the first concept albums with Absolutely Free, which consisted of two "rock oratorios", each taking up one side of the album. Included in the M.O.I. American Pageant is Brown Shoes Don't Make It, which composer Frank Zappa described as a two-hour musical in condensed form (it runs slightly less than 7 minutes). The entire Pageant runs about 19 minutes.
Artist: White Lightnin'
Song Title: William Tell Overture
Source: 45 RPM vinyl
Release Year: 1971
In the summer of '71 a couple of us went to a drive-in movie in the trunk of a friend's car to see what was billed as the "First Electric Western" (and yes, we got out of the trunk before the movie started). The movie was called "Zachariah" and it featured Country Joe and the Fish as a gang of outlaw musicians. Instead of gun battles we saw dueling drum solos, one of which featured jazz great Elvin Jones. The film's opening sequence was a shot of the James Gang rocking out in the middle of the desert (which caused us to start arguing over where they were plugging their amps in), literally bigger than life on the huge drive-in movie screen. What I didn't know at the time was that the screenplay was written by Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman, themselves half of the Firesign Theater, else I probably would have paid closer attention to the film. According to my sources, this track (apparently used in the movie sometime after I had consumed my first six-pack and thus not remembered) is performed by a band called White Lightnin'. The record label, however, gives credit to arranger/conducter Jimmy Haskell, who also composed the bulk of the movie's soundtrack.
Artist: Beatles
Song Title: I'll Follow the Sun
Source: CD: Beatles For Sale
Release Year: 1964
Many Americans have a hard time placing the album Beatles For Sale. That's because the album never came out in the US. Instead, several of the songs on the album appeared on something called Beatles '65, which had entirely different cover art and included a pair of tunes that had been only released as a single in the UK. Since the 1980s and the release of the entire Beatle catalog on CD, the British albums have been the only ones in print, except for some limited printings of the US albums made for the collectors' market.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Playlist 10/1-3/10
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Song Title: Volunteers
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
The Airplane were always a bit less polished on stage than in the studio. At the same time, they also tended to rock just a bit harder live than on record. This track shows the band at a point where individual members were already moving in separate directions, yet still able to rock out as a group.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Song Title: The Great Airplane Strike
Source: LP: Spirit of '67
Release Year: 1966
The Raiders were a much better band than they are usually given credit for. The Great Airplane Strike was not their biggest hit record, but is a solid example of who these guys were as musicians. This album mix has a raw edge that was smoothed over somewhat for the single release of the song.
Artist: John B. Sebastian
Song Title: Rainbow All Over Your Blues
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
Max Yasgur's farm did not have a lot of access routes available. This became a problem when it was time for the festival to start and most of the amplifiers for the electric bands were still stuck in traffic. Luckily, there was a community of acoustic musicians available to pitch in and entertain the crowd until the equipment could be flown in by helicopter. Among them was Lovin' Spoonful founder John Sebastian, who was not actually scheduled to perform at the festival. Among the many songs he did perform at Woodstock this was the one chosen for inclusion on the original soundtrack album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Dear Doctor
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Release Year: 1968
The term Anglophile is usually used to describe Americans with a fascination for all things British. Just what is the term for the opposite situation? Whatever it might be, the Stones have always been an example, from their open idolization of Chuck Berry and other Chess Records artists to songs like this one, which sounds more like Appalachian folk music than anything British.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: She's A Rainbow
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Release Year: 1967
The Stones had their own brand of psychedelia, which was showcased on their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. It didn't really connect with either critics or public, and with the following album, Beggar's Banquet, they would return to their roots.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Jigsaw Puzzle
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Release Year: 1968
By 1968 a rift had formed between Brian Jones and the rest of the band. On this track, Jones's only contribution is some soaring mellotron work toward the end of the song.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: On With the Show
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Release Year: 1967
Considering the longevity of the Stones, this song seems positively prophetic now.
Artist: Garden Club
Song Title: Little Girl Lost-and-Found
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Garden Club was in reality Ruthann Friedman on vocals with a bunch of studio musicians. Sounding a bit like Grace Slick in one of her more avant-garde moods, this could well be considered a forerunner of 80s and 90s singer-songwriters such as Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Song Title: Journey To the Center of the Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
When compiling a list of top songs it is often hard to choose just one track from some artists. Not so with the Amboy Dukes, as this song pretty much defines the band.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Song Title: Sometimes In Winter
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Release Year: 1969
Steve Katz was never a superstar. As the rhythm guitarist in Blues Project he was always overshadowed by lead guitarist Danny Kalb and keyboardist Al Kooper. When Kooper formed Blood, Sweat and Tears, nobody seemed to notice that Katz was the only other member of Blues Project in the band. As this track shows, though, he was a decent singer-songwriter in his own right.
Artist: Animals
Song Title: Gin House Blues
Source: LP: Animalization
Release Year: 1966
The Animals, like the Stones, had a healthy respect for American blues and R&B music. Being from Newcastle rather than London, they were not considered part of the British blues scene like the Yardbirds, Moody Blues or even Manfred Mann. Still, of all the British invasion bands, the Animals probably did the best job of covering blues standards such as Gin House Blues, thanks to Eric Burdon's distinctive vocal style.
Artist: Yardbirds
Song Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (Australian import) (song originally released in US on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
By 1967 the Yardbirds had moved far away from the blues roots and were on their fourth lead guitarist, studio whiz Jimmy Page. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor shows signs of Page's innovative guitar style that would help define 70s rock.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Song Title: Since I've Been Loving You
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III
Release Year: 1970
And speaking of Jimmy Page...
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Release Year: 1968
To start off the second hour we have this Hendrix classic.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and on LP: 5D)
Release Year: 1966
By all rights, this song should have been a huge hit. Unfortunately, Bill Drake, the most influential man in the history of Top 40 radio, got it into his head that this was a drug song, despite the band's insistence that it was about a transatlantic plane trip. The band's version actually makes sense, as Gene Clark had just quit the group due to his fear of flying, and the subject was probably a hot topic of discussion among the remaining members.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Song Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk
Release Year: 1966
Dunhill Records was a small indepent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with "Gloria" in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Standells
Song Title: Dirty Water
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
The Standells were not from Boston. Their manager/producer Ed Cobb, who wrote Dirty Water, was. The rest is history.
Artist: Love
Song Title: 7&7 Is
Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: De Capo.
Release Year: 1966
In 1966, L.A.'s hottest club band was Love, who had their biggest national hit with 7&7 Is, one of the hardest-rocking top 40 singles ever.
Artist: Impressions
Song Title: Keep On Pushin'
Source: The Anthology 1961-1977
Release Year: 1964
Just for something different, a vintage Curtis Mayfield tune.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Song Title: That's It For the Other Side
Source: CD: Anthem of the Sun
Release Year: 1968
After completing their first album in three days, the Dead decided to take their time with the 1968 follow-up release. Anthem of the Sun was an attempt at mixing studio and live material into a coherent whole. These two tracks comprise one side of that album.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Song Title: New Potato Caboose
Source: CD: Anthem of the Sun
Release Year: 1968
The other half of side one.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Dandy
Source: CD: Face To Face
Release Year: 1966
Ray Davies was well into his satirical phase when he wrote this tune, which became a hit for Herman's Hermits.
Artist: Leaves
Song Title: Dr. Stone
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Hey Joe)
Release Year: 1966
The Leaves were a solid, if not particularly spectacular, example of a late 60s L.A. club band. They had one big hit (Hey Joe), signed a contract with a major label (Capitol), and even appeared in a Hollywood movie (the Cool Ones). This tune, from their first album for Mira Records, is a folk rock set to a Bo Diddly beat kind of song.
Artist: Harbinger Complex
Song Title: I Think I'm Down
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Release Year: 1966
Most garage/club bands never made it beyond a single or two for a relatively small independent label. L.A.'s Harbinger Complex is a good example, recording for Brent Records.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Mr. Limousine Driver
Source: CD: Heavy Hitters! (originally released on LP: Grand Funk, aka the Red Album)
Release Year: 1969
When Grand Funk Railroad first appeared on the scene they were universally panned by the rock press (much as Kiss would be a few years later). Despite this, they managed to set attendance records across the nation and were instrumental to establishing sports arenas as the venue of choice for 70s rock bands.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Sin's a Good Man's Brother (edit)
Source: single
Release Year: 1970
A rare promo pressing of the opening track from GFR's third album, Closer To Home. This edited version cuts the original running time of 4:35 down to 2:59.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: Heavy Hitters! (originally released on LP: Survival)
Release Year: 1971
The first three GFR albums had a total of one cover song between them (the Animals' Inside Looking Out on Grand Funk). Survival, their fourth studio effort, had two, including this cover of the Dave Mason Traffic song.
Song Title: Volunteers
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
The Airplane were always a bit less polished on stage than in the studio. At the same time, they also tended to rock just a bit harder live than on record. This track shows the band at a point where individual members were already moving in separate directions, yet still able to rock out as a group.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Song Title: The Great Airplane Strike
Source: LP: Spirit of '67
Release Year: 1966
The Raiders were a much better band than they are usually given credit for. The Great Airplane Strike was not their biggest hit record, but is a solid example of who these guys were as musicians. This album mix has a raw edge that was smoothed over somewhat for the single release of the song.
Artist: John B. Sebastian
Song Title: Rainbow All Over Your Blues
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Release Year: 1969
Max Yasgur's farm did not have a lot of access routes available. This became a problem when it was time for the festival to start and most of the amplifiers for the electric bands were still stuck in traffic. Luckily, there was a community of acoustic musicians available to pitch in and entertain the crowd until the equipment could be flown in by helicopter. Among them was Lovin' Spoonful founder John Sebastian, who was not actually scheduled to perform at the festival. Among the many songs he did perform at Woodstock this was the one chosen for inclusion on the original soundtrack album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Dear Doctor
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Release Year: 1968
The term Anglophile is usually used to describe Americans with a fascination for all things British. Just what is the term for the opposite situation? Whatever it might be, the Stones have always been an example, from their open idolization of Chuck Berry and other Chess Records artists to songs like this one, which sounds more like Appalachian folk music than anything British.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: She's A Rainbow
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Release Year: 1967
The Stones had their own brand of psychedelia, which was showcased on their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. It didn't really connect with either critics or public, and with the following album, Beggar's Banquet, they would return to their roots.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: Jigsaw Puzzle
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Release Year: 1968
By 1968 a rift had formed between Brian Jones and the rest of the band. On this track, Jones's only contribution is some soaring mellotron work toward the end of the song.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song Title: On With the Show
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Release Year: 1967
Considering the longevity of the Stones, this song seems positively prophetic now.
Artist: Garden Club
Song Title: Little Girl Lost-and-Found
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
Garden Club was in reality Ruthann Friedman on vocals with a bunch of studio musicians. Sounding a bit like Grace Slick in one of her more avant-garde moods, this could well be considered a forerunner of 80s and 90s singer-songwriters such as Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Song Title: Journey To the Center of the Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1968
When compiling a list of top songs it is often hard to choose just one track from some artists. Not so with the Amboy Dukes, as this song pretty much defines the band.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Song Title: Sometimes In Winter
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Release Year: 1969
Steve Katz was never a superstar. As the rhythm guitarist in Blues Project he was always overshadowed by lead guitarist Danny Kalb and keyboardist Al Kooper. When Kooper formed Blood, Sweat and Tears, nobody seemed to notice that Katz was the only other member of Blues Project in the band. As this track shows, though, he was a decent singer-songwriter in his own right.
Artist: Animals
Song Title: Gin House Blues
Source: LP: Animalization
Release Year: 1966
The Animals, like the Stones, had a healthy respect for American blues and R&B music. Being from Newcastle rather than London, they were not considered part of the British blues scene like the Yardbirds, Moody Blues or even Manfred Mann. Still, of all the British invasion bands, the Animals probably did the best job of covering blues standards such as Gin House Blues, thanks to Eric Burdon's distinctive vocal style.
Artist: Yardbirds
Song Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (Australian import) (song originally released in US on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1967
By 1967 the Yardbirds had moved far away from the blues roots and were on their fourth lead guitarist, studio whiz Jimmy Page. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor shows signs of Page's innovative guitar style that would help define 70s rock.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Song Title: Since I've Been Loving You
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III
Release Year: 1970
And speaking of Jimmy Page...
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Song Title: Gypsy Eyes
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Release Year: 1968
To start off the second hour we have this Hendrix classic.
Artist: Byrds
Song Title: Eight Miles High
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and on LP: 5D)
Release Year: 1966
By all rights, this song should have been a huge hit. Unfortunately, Bill Drake, the most influential man in the history of Top 40 radio, got it into his head that this was a drug song, despite the band's insistence that it was about a transatlantic plane trip. The band's version actually makes sense, as Gene Clark had just quit the group due to his fear of flying, and the subject was probably a hot topic of discussion among the remaining members.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Song Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk
Release Year: 1966
Dunhill Records was a small indepent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with "Gloria" in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Standells
Song Title: Dirty Water
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Release Year: 1966
The Standells were not from Boston. Their manager/producer Ed Cobb, who wrote Dirty Water, was. The rest is history.
Artist: Love
Song Title: 7&7 Is
Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl and included on LP: De Capo.
Release Year: 1966
In 1966, L.A.'s hottest club band was Love, who had their biggest national hit with 7&7 Is, one of the hardest-rocking top 40 singles ever.
Artist: Impressions
Song Title: Keep On Pushin'
Source: The Anthology 1961-1977
Release Year: 1964
Just for something different, a vintage Curtis Mayfield tune.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Song Title: That's It For the Other Side
Source: CD: Anthem of the Sun
Release Year: 1968
After completing their first album in three days, the Dead decided to take their time with the 1968 follow-up release. Anthem of the Sun was an attempt at mixing studio and live material into a coherent whole. These two tracks comprise one side of that album.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Song Title: New Potato Caboose
Source: CD: Anthem of the Sun
Release Year: 1968
The other half of side one.
Artist: Kinks
Song Title: Dandy
Source: CD: Face To Face
Release Year: 1966
Ray Davies was well into his satirical phase when he wrote this tune, which became a hit for Herman's Hermits.
Artist: Leaves
Song Title: Dr. Stone
Source: CD: Where the Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Hey Joe)
Release Year: 1966
The Leaves were a solid, if not particularly spectacular, example of a late 60s L.A. club band. They had one big hit (Hey Joe), signed a contract with a major label (Capitol), and even appeared in a Hollywood movie (the Cool Ones). This tune, from their first album for Mira Records, is a folk rock set to a Bo Diddly beat kind of song.
Artist: Harbinger Complex
Song Title: I Think I'm Down
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Release Year: 1966
Most garage/club bands never made it beyond a single or two for a relatively small independent label. L.A.'s Harbinger Complex is a good example, recording for Brent Records.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Mr. Limousine Driver
Source: CD: Heavy Hitters! (originally released on LP: Grand Funk, aka the Red Album)
Release Year: 1969
When Grand Funk Railroad first appeared on the scene they were universally panned by the rock press (much as Kiss would be a few years later). Despite this, they managed to set attendance records across the nation and were instrumental to establishing sports arenas as the venue of choice for 70s rock bands.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Sin's a Good Man's Brother (edit)
Source: single
Release Year: 1970
A rare promo pressing of the opening track from GFR's third album, Closer To Home. This edited version cuts the original running time of 4:35 down to 2:59.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Song Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: Heavy Hitters! (originally released on LP: Survival)
Release Year: 1971
The first three GFR albums had a total of one cover song between them (the Animals' Inside Looking Out on Grand Funk). Survival, their fourth studio effort, had two, including this cover of the Dave Mason Traffic song.
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