I really did not expect to have this week's playlist ready for publishing until Saturday at the earliest, but somehow I managed to get it done in time for the WITT (Zionsville-Indianapolis) Friday night broadcast. That's still a day late for gulchradio.com though. Sorry about that. Anyway, here it is.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Pay My Dues
Source: LP: Open
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
Originally from Tampa, Florida, the Blue Project migrated south to Miami and quickly established themselves as the house band at the legendary club Thee Image. Their first LP, Blues Image, was a critical success, although commercially it stalled out in the lower half of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The band's second album, Open, actually charted even lower, despite (or possibly because of) the inclusion of the hit single Ride Captain Ride. The B side of Ride was Pay My Dues, also from Open, which the band I was in at the time immediately learned.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as an EP in issue # 2 of Rag Baby)
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Rhino (original label: Rag Baby)
Year: 1966
A live performance of Section 43 was one of the longest tracks featured on the D.R. Pennebaker telefilm documenting the Monterey International Pop Festival. That version was pretty much the same arrangement that was included on the first Country Joe and the Fish LP, Electric Music For The Mind and Body, released in 1967. The original version, however, was this recording issued the previous year on Rag Baby EP # 2.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: For Ladies Only
Source: LP: For Ladies Only
Writer: Edmonton/Henry/Kay/McJohn
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1971
One of the more controversial of Steppenwolf's albums was For Ladies Only from 1971. The songs themselves dealt mainly with feminist issues, yet the inside cover of the album was a photograph of the band with what can only be called a "weinermobile", a rather unusual automobile shaped and colored to look like a male sex organ. The nine-plus minute title track opens the album.
Artist: Derek and the Dominos
Title: Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
Source: CD: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer: Clapton/Whitlock
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
Legend has it that this band featuring Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon was supposed to be called Eric and the Dynamos, but that a stage announcer mispronounced the name and his version stuck. As for the album itself, it initially did poorly on the charts, despite drawing rave reviews from the rock press. It wasn't until 1972, when the song Layla starting getting extensive FM airplay, that the album finally started to catch on, eventually going on to become one of Clapton's best selling LPs ever. Contrary to popular belief, Duane Allman was never an official member of Derek and the Dominos, although his presence as a guest guitarist on the album certainly helped to boost sales.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the band members themselves, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
This week's featured artist is the Music Machine, one of the most sophisticated and innovative bands on the 1966 L.A club scene. The band was led by Sean Bonniwell. Originally from San Jose, California, Bonniwell hooked up with a folk group called the Wayfarers who recorded three albums for RCA in the early 60s. The Wayfarers, in addition to being a performing group, also owned and operated a folk club in Charleston, South Carolina called 300 King Street. One of the groups that played there were called the Goldbriars. By the mid-60s, tiring of the restrictions of singing in a folk quartet, Bonniwell decided to form his own band, recruiting Goldbriars' drummer Ron Edgar when that band split up. Adding bass player Keith Olsen, the three began to rehearse in Bonniwell's San Pedro garage. Calling themselves the Ragamuffins, they got their first gig playing in a huge mausoleum of a place in Hermosa Beach known as the Insomniac. After adding keyboardist Doug Rhodes from the Association (he played the distinctive harpsichord on Along Comes Mary) and guitarist Mark Landon, the group changed its name to the Music Machine, playing its first gig at an L.A. bowling alley in the summer of '66. Unlike most bands of the time, the Music Machine played continuous one-hour sets, with musical bridges written by Bonniwell filling the space between songs. According to Bonniwell, this was done to prevent club managers from bothering the band with requests. Bonniwell dominated the group in other ways as well. All members were required to dress in black, even to the point of dying their hair black as well. In this sense they may well have been the first goth rock group. One final touch came when they booked their first national TV appearance (on Dick Clark's black and white daily show Where The Action Is). As the band was going to be lip-synching anyway, Bonniwell thought it would be cool to order black leather gloves to wear on the show. Guitarist Landon suggested that instead of wearing both gloves, the members would each wear just one (making it look a bit more like they were actually able to play their instruments). When the switchboard lit up immediately following the band's appearance on the show, Bonniwell decided to make the single glove look a regular thing. His rule was that the members, upon leaving the stage, would take off the glove and put the other one on.
In the fall of 1966 the single Talk Talk, recorded at the 10-track Original Sound studios (other L.A. studios of the time were 4-track), was released and immediately hit the US top 20 charts. Things were looking good for the band until their first LP, Turn On The Music Machine, came out. The band had recorded a set of cover tunes for exclusive use on local TV shows that would require bands to lip-synch everything rather than to perform live. Without the group's knowledge or consent, the Original Sound people added these songs to the LP, blunting the impact of Bonniwell's original material. Things only got worse from there, as the group's manager gave L.A.'s newest (and lowest rated) radio station exclusive rights to the follow-up single, The People In Me. This may not seem like such a big deal at first; at least not until you consider that at that time the majority of top 40 radio stations in the US were being programmed by the disciples of Bill Drake, whose base of operations was one of the L.A. stations that were being denied access to The People In Me. Without the support of Drake, the song bombed nationally, and the two subsequent singles on Original Sound (both included in tonight's set) fared little better. Meanwhile, the band toured extensively over the next two years, undergoing a complete change in personnel and record label before finally disbanding in 1968. Bonniwell himself ended up quitting the music business entirely in disgust within a few years, which is a shame, as his talent, even now, is not getting the recognition it deserves.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Me Down
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1966
We start the set with Talk Me Down, one of four songs recorded on a demo at Original Sound when the band still called itself the Ragamuffins. According to Bonniwell this is quite possibly the first punk rock song ever conceived, although his CD liner notes are unclear on whether this version is one of those four original tracks or a later re-recording of the song.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
One of the Original Sound singles that also appeared on the Warner Brothers LP Bonniwell Music Machine, Double Yellow Line features lyrics that were literally written by Bonniwell on the way to the recording studio. In fact, his inability to stay in his lane while driving with one hand and writing with the other resulted in a traffic ticket. The ever resourceful Bonniwell wrote the rest of the lyrics on the back of the ticket and even invited the officer in to watch the recording session. He declined.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Astrologically Incompatible
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
While touring extensively in 1967 the Music Machine continued to take every possible opportunity to record new material in the studio, while at the same time working to change record labels. The first single to be issued on the Warner Brothers label was Bottom Of The Soul, released in late 1967. The B side of that record was Astrologically Incompatible, one of the first rock songs to deal with astrological themes, albeit in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The last single to be released on Original Sound was one of a pair of politically-oriented songs included on the Bonniwell Music Machine LP. It's basic message of the imbalance of power is even more true since the fall of the USSR, leaving the world with only one superpower.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Me, Myself and I
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
By 1968 all the original members of the Music Machine (except Bonniwell) had gone their separate ways. The new group, consisting of Guile Wilson on guitar, Jerry Harris on drums, Harry Garfield on organ and Eddie Jones on bass continued the general direction established by the original group, cutting three singles for Warner Brothers before finally disbanding. The first of these was Me, Myself and I, a song that manages to capture the essence of the disco generation half a decade before disco itself was invented (I just can't bring myself to use the word "created" when it comes to disco).
Artist: Byrds
Title: Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe
Source: LP: Mr. Tambourine Man
Writer: Jackie DeShannon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
One of the Byrds' first champions was Jackie DeShannon, the L.A-based singer/songwriter who scored a huge hit in 1965 with Put A Little Love In Your Heart. After using the Byrds as a backup band for an unsuccessful single, she gave them this tune to record on their first LP, Mr. Tambourine Man.
Artist: Chocolate Watch Band (recording as the Hoggs)
Title: Loose Lips Sync Ship
Source: CD: One Step Beyond (bonus track) (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Aguilar/Loomis
Label: Sundazed (original label: Hanna-Barbera)
Year: 1966
It's not entirely clear why the first Chocolate Watch Band single was credited to the fictional Hoggs. The song itself starts off sounding like a generic instrumental, but soon gets weird in a way that resembles both Frank Zappa and the Firesign Theatre.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Fixing A Hole
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The first Beatle album to appear with the same tracks in the same order on both US and UK versions was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The only differences between the two were a lack of spaces in the vinyl (called "banding") on the UK version and a bit of gobbledygook heard at the end of the record (but only if you did not have a turntable that automatically lifted the needle out of the groove after the last track). Said gobbledygook is included after A Day In The Life on the CD as a hidden track if you really want to hear what it sounds like.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Shine On Brightly
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Wrapping up our four song progression through the years we have the title cut from Procol Harum's Shine On Brightly album. It's a great song that should have been a hit.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Peter Perceival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky/Pleasant Valley Sunday
Source: CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.
Writer: Tork/Goffin/King
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
The album version of Pleasant Valley Sunday differs from the single version in two ways. First, the mix is different, with the background vocals more prominent on the stereo album mix. Second, on the original LP Peter Tork's spoken piece Peter Perceival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky precedes the song on the album and is considered part of the same track (although the CD version assigns the two different track numbers). In honor of the original album I'm playing the entire combo. Besides, Tork's piece is fun to listen to and it only lasts 27 seconds.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: I Wanna Be Your Man
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: London
Year: 1963
This week's second hour starts off with a song written for the Stones by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was their first song to hit the UK top 20 (peaking at # 12), and was included as the B side of their first US hit, Not Fade Away.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: Need Love
Source: LP: Rock and Roll
Writer: Stein/Bogart/Martell/Appice
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
Our 1969 set starts off with the opening track from the last original Vanilla Fudge album, Rock and Roll. By this point the band was doing more of their own material, although the album itself does have a couple covers on it. This is possibly the hardest rocking song the band ever recorded.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Going Up The Country
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm (originally released on LP: Woodstock)
Writer: Alan Wilson
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
Although the movie Woodstock uses the studio version of Going Up The Country, the soundtrack LP included the band's actual performance of their most popular song.
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: The Gallery
Source: LP: Clouds
Writer: Joni Mitchell
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
Wrapping up our 1969 set we have an acoustic number from Joni Mitchell's second LP, Clouds. Back when Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was a live show running only on WEOS I got a phone call from a listener asking if I had a copy of this album. At the time I was still sorting through all the records I had rescued from the WEOS vinyl archives and wasn't sure if this was among them or not. Turns out it was.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Hall/Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
The album generally acknowledged to be the first to use the word psychedelic in its title was not from California or even the East Coast. It was The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, released in 1966 by International Artists Records, a label based in Texas. Austin, Texas, has had a strong local music scene for a long time and the Elevators are an important part of that scene's history. Splash 1 (Now I'm Home) is an unusual track for the band, as it has a slower tempo than most of their other material. It also is notable for the lack of the electric jug used on most of their recordings.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Ain't No Use
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Continuing yet another progression through the years we have a short country song from Moby Grape, a band not generally known for country songs.
Jerry Miller, often cited as being one of the top guitarists in the world, co-wrote the tune with drummer Don Stevenson.
Artist: Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh
Title: Blues For Nothing
Source: CD: Super Session (bonus track)
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
From 1968 we have a song left off the original Super Session LP, presumably due to lack of space. Basically it's a blues instrumental played by four outstanding musicians.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: A New Day Yesterday
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1969
Taking us to 1969 we have the opening track from the second Jethro Tull album, Stand Up. Although founding member Mick Abrahams (a guitarist with strong ties to the British blues scene) had just left the band, this track still shows a blues influence in it's tempo and basic riff. Even then, though, bandleader and composer Ian Anderson was not content to stick to the conventional blues progression. Over the years Tull would continue to move further away from its beginnings as a British blues band.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Turtle Blues
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Janis Joplin
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
I say it on the air and I'm repeating it here: sometimes I do play favorites. This is certainly one of them. Besides vocalist Janis Joplin, the only other band member heard on the track is guitarist Peter Albin. Legendary producer John Simon provides the piano playing.
Artist: Soul Survivors
Title: (Why Don't You) Go Out Walking
Source: LP: Take Another Look
Writer: Charles and Richard Ingui
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
We only have one band this week that has never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. The Soul Survivors first came to fame in 1967 with their hit Expressway To Your Heart. The song did well on both top 40 and R&B charts, at least until word got out that the Ingui brothers were white. Their first album for Atco was a mix of songs produced by the Gamble and Huff team that would be at the heart of the Philadelphia soul sound in the 1970s and tracks recorded independently of Gamble/Huff at the legendary Fame recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Aretha Franklin had recorded several of her best-known songs.
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
You know, the Amboy Dukes actually did record more than just Journey To The Center Of The Mind, and sometime in the next few weeks I'm goona prove it. In the meantime, here is the song that got the most airplay of any song heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era last year.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Schizoforest Love Suite
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Slick/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
This week's show wraps up with a set from 1967, starting with the final half of the second side of the third Jefferson Airplane LP, After Bathing At Baxter's. Schizoforest Love Suite actually consists of two songs: Grace Slick's Two Heads and Paul Kantner's Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon. Both are among the strongest tunes on what is generally considered to be the Airplane's most psychedelic album.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Bangles
Source: CD: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Producer Dave Hassinger gave the Prunes a lot of songs to record by the songwriting team of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, especially on their first LP,I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). This was probably to be expected, given the success of the Tucker/Mantz title track as a single. Bangles is notable for it's rather abrupt time changes and fuzz guitar opening.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Manic Depression
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Again I play a favorite to finish out the show. My dad bought an Akai X-355D reel to reel tape deck when we moved to Ramstein, Germany in early 1968. It was pretty much the state of the art in home audio technology at the time. The problem was that we did not have a stereo system to hook it into, so he bought a set of Koss headphones to go with it. One of my first purchases was a pre-recorded reel to reel tape of Are You Experienced. The Akai had an auto-reverse system and I would lie on the couch with the headphones on to go to sleep every night listening to songs like Manic Depression. Is it any wonder I turned out like I did?
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
A preview of this week's show
I have not yet finished writing notes on this week's show, but I did finish my introduction to the five-song Music Machine set, so I thought I'd post it here as a sort of "sneak preview".
This week's featured artist is the Music Machine, one of the most sophisticated and innovative bands on the 1966 L.A club scene. The band was led by Sean Bonniwell. Originally from San Jose, California, Bonniwell hooked up with a folk group called the Wayfarers who recorded three albums for RCA in the early 60s. The Wayfarers, in addition to being a performing group, also owned and operated a folk club in Charleston, South Carolina called 300 King Street. One of the groups that played there were called the Goldbriars. By the mid-60s, tiring of the restrictions of singing in a folk quartet, Bonniwell decided to form his own band, recruiting Goldbriars' drummer Ron Edgar when that band split up. Adding bass player Keith Olsen, the three began to rehearse in Bonniwell's San Pedro garage. Calling themselves the Ragamuffins, they got their first gig playing in a huge mausoleum of a place in Hermosa Beach known as the Insomniac. After adding keyboardist Doug Rhodes from the Association (he played the distinctive harpsichord on Along Comes Mary) and guitarist Mark Landon, the group changed its name to the Music Machine, playing its first gig at an L.A. bowling alley in the summer of '66. Unlike most bands of the time, the Music Machine played continuous one-hour sets, with musical bridges written by Bonniwell filling the space between songs. According to Bonniwell, this was done to prevent club managers from bothering the band with requests. Bonniwell dominated the group in other ways as well. All members were required to dress in black, even to the point of dying their hair black as well. In this sense they may well have been the first goth rock group. One final touch came when they booked their first national TV appearance (on Dick Clark's black and white daily show Where The Action Is). As the band was going to be lip-synching anyway, Bonniwell thought it would be cool to order black leather gloves to wear on the show. Guitarist Landon suggested that instead of wearing both gloves, the members would each wear just one (making it look a bit more like they were actually able to play their instruments). When the switchboard lit up immediately following the band's appearance on the show, Bonniwell decided to make the single glove look a regular thing. His rule was that the members, upon leaving the stage, would take off the glove and put the other one on.
In the fall of 1966 the single Talk Talk, recorded at the 10-track Original Sound studios (other L.A. studios of the time were 4-track), was released and immediately hit the US top 20 charts. Things were looking good for the band until their first LP, Turn On The Music Machine, came out. The band had recorded a set of cover tunes for exclusive use on local TV shows that would require bands to lip-synch everything rather than to perform live. Without the group's knowledge or consent, the Original Sound people added these songs to the LP, blunting the impact of Bonniwell's original material. Things only got worse from there, as the group's manager gave L.A.'s newest (and lowest rated) radio station exclusive rights to the follow-up single, The People In Me. This may not seem like such a big deal at first; at least not until you consider that at that time the majority of top 40 radio stations in the US were being programmed by the disciples of Bill Drake, whose base of operations was one of the L.A. stations that were being denied access to The People In Me. Without the support of Drake, the song bombed nationally, and the two subsequent singles on Original Sound (both included in tonight's set) fared little better. Meanwhile, the band toured extensively over the next two years, undergoing a complete change in personnel and record label before finally disbanding in 1968. Bonniwell himself ended up quitting the music business entirely in disgust within a few years, which is a shame, as his talent, even now, is not getting the recognition it deserves.
This week's featured artist is the Music Machine, one of the most sophisticated and innovative bands on the 1966 L.A club scene. The band was led by Sean Bonniwell. Originally from San Jose, California, Bonniwell hooked up with a folk group called the Wayfarers who recorded three albums for RCA in the early 60s. The Wayfarers, in addition to being a performing group, also owned and operated a folk club in Charleston, South Carolina called 300 King Street. One of the groups that played there were called the Goldbriars. By the mid-60s, tiring of the restrictions of singing in a folk quartet, Bonniwell decided to form his own band, recruiting Goldbriars' drummer Ron Edgar when that band split up. Adding bass player Keith Olsen, the three began to rehearse in Bonniwell's San Pedro garage. Calling themselves the Ragamuffins, they got their first gig playing in a huge mausoleum of a place in Hermosa Beach known as the Insomniac. After adding keyboardist Doug Rhodes from the Association (he played the distinctive harpsichord on Along Comes Mary) and guitarist Mark Landon, the group changed its name to the Music Machine, playing its first gig at an L.A. bowling alley in the summer of '66. Unlike most bands of the time, the Music Machine played continuous one-hour sets, with musical bridges written by Bonniwell filling the space between songs. According to Bonniwell, this was done to prevent club managers from bothering the band with requests. Bonniwell dominated the group in other ways as well. All members were required to dress in black, even to the point of dying their hair black as well. In this sense they may well have been the first goth rock group. One final touch came when they booked their first national TV appearance (on Dick Clark's black and white daily show Where The Action Is). As the band was going to be lip-synching anyway, Bonniwell thought it would be cool to order black leather gloves to wear on the show. Guitarist Landon suggested that instead of wearing both gloves, the members would each wear just one (making it look a bit more like they were actually able to play their instruments). When the switchboard lit up immediately following the band's appearance on the show, Bonniwell decided to make the single glove look a regular thing. His rule was that the members, upon leaving the stage, would take off the glove and put the other one on.
In the fall of 1966 the single Talk Talk, recorded at the 10-track Original Sound studios (other L.A. studios of the time were 4-track), was released and immediately hit the US top 20 charts. Things were looking good for the band until their first LP, Turn On The Music Machine, came out. The band had recorded a set of cover tunes for exclusive use on local TV shows that would require bands to lip-synch everything rather than to perform live. Without the group's knowledge or consent, the Original Sound people added these songs to the LP, blunting the impact of Bonniwell's original material. Things only got worse from there, as the group's manager gave L.A.'s newest (and lowest rated) radio station exclusive rights to the follow-up single, The People In Me. This may not seem like such a big deal at first; at least not until you consider that at that time the majority of top 40 radio stations in the US were being programmed by the disciples of Bill Drake, whose base of operations was one of the L.A. stations that were being denied access to The People In Me. Without the support of Drake, the song bombed nationally, and the two subsequent singles on Original Sound (both included in tonight's set) fared little better. Meanwhile, the band toured extensively over the next two years, undergoing a complete change in personnel and record label before finally disbanding in 1968. Bonniwell himself ended up quitting the music business entirely in disgust within a few years, which is a shame, as his talent, even now, is not getting the recognition it deserves.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Show # 1116 Playlist (week of 4/21/11)
I'm posting this on Wednesday this week for two reasons. One, I had time to get it written by Wednesday, and two I wanted to get it up before the show aired Thursday night on gulchradio.com. Unfortunately, it looks like next week's playlist will be way late, like Saturday or even Sunday, due to me having a pretty hectic schedule. We'll see how it goes.
This week our entire first hour, as well as the last half hour, is made up of tracks that haven't been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year. In fact, most of them have never been played on the show at all. Considering Stuck in the Psychedelic Era has been around for nigh onto ten years now (as a live show before going into syndication last year), that takes a bit of doing. Just to take it one final step further, the entire first set consists of tracks that remained unreleased for many years.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Statesboro Blues
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Willie McTell
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
I played another tune by the Rising Sons a couple week's ago, and got an e-mail asking if I also had their version of Statesboro Blues. As it turns out, Statesboro Blues is actually the opening track on this album, released in 1992 after sitting on the shelf for over 25 years. The song features both Taj Mahal's vocals and Ry Cooder's guitar prominently.
Artist: Roger Nichols Trio
Title: Montage Mirror
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Nichols/Roberds
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
The Parade was an L.A. studio group made up of actors and studio musicians that had a top 20 hit with Sunshine Girl in early 1967. This track, recorded later the same year is pretty much the same group but credited to the Roger Nichols Trio instead. An attempt to subvert an unpleasant contract with another label perhaps? I guess we'll never know, as the song sat on the shelf for 41(!) years before being included on a Parade anthology.
Artist: Chocolate Watch Band
Title: Psychedelic Trip
Source: CD: No Way Out (bonus track)
Writer: Loomis/Flores/Tolby/Aguilar/Andrijasevich
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
Psychedelic Trip is essentially an early instrumental version of what would eventually become the title track for the No Way Out album. Although Psychedelic Trip is credited to the entire band, producer/manager Ed Cobb (the Ed Wood of psychedelic music) took sole credit for the song No Way Out.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Undun
Source: LP: Best of the Guess Who (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randy Bachman
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Following the release of the Wheatfield Soul album (and the hit single These Eyes), RCA tied the Guess Who down to a long-term contract. One of the stipulations of that contract was that the band would make subsequent recordings at RCA's own studios. After recording the tracks for their follow-up album, Canned Wheat, the band members felt that the sound at RCA was inferior to that of A&R studios, where they had recorded Wheatfield Soul, and secretly re-recorded a pair of tunes at A&R and submitted dubs of the tapes to RCA. The tunes, Laughing and Undun, were issued as a double-sided single in 1969, with both sides getting a decent amount of airplay. Once word got out that the songs had been recorded in a non-RCA studio, the label realized the error of their ways and relaxed the exclusivity policy, although not in time for the band to re-record the rest of the album.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Motorcycle Song
Source: CD: Best of Arlo Guthrie
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1977
To be honest, I am not sure when this particular recording was made. Arlo Guthrie originally recorded the Motorcycle Song for his 1967 debut album, Alice's Restaurant. The first live recording of the song was released the following year on the LP Arlo. However, his reference to having been performing the song for twelve years makes me think this is a mid-seventies performance. It's even possible that the greatest hits album, issued in 1977, was the first time this particular performance was released.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Coming Into Los Angeles
Source: CD: Best of Arlo Guthrie (originally released on LP: Running Down The Road)
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Rising Son)
Year: 1969
Completing our double dose of Arlo Guthrie we have a song that he played live at Woodstock. The original Woodstock album, however, subsituted this studio version for the live performance. This was probably done at Guthrie's request, as several of the performers expressed dissatisfaction with the recordings made at the festival, either due to problems with the sound system or, in some cases, the performances themselves. This is understandable given the adverse conditions many of them had to deal with (rain, audio problems, lack of sleep, etc.).
Artist: Ohio Express
Title: Winter Skies
Source: LP: The Ohio Express
Writer: K. Laguna/S. Laguna
Label: Buddah
Year: 1968
The story of the Ohio Express is a classic case of exploitation of musicians by a production company, in this case one Super K productions. The company itself was formed in 1966, and started off looking fairly legitimate, releasing the hit Little Bit of Soul by the Music Explosion on Laurie Records. By 1967, however, Super K began to show its true colors by signing the legendary Chicago garage band Shadows of Knight. The problem was that the Shadows of Knight had pretty much given it up by then, with vocalist Jim Sohns having the rights to the name mainly through attrition. This did not deter Super K, however. They recorded a new song, Shake, using Sohns and a bunch of New York studio musicians and issued it as a new Shadows of Knight single on Buddah, the idea being that if the song took off Sohns would be able to form a new Shadows to perform it. Around that same time Super K remixed a recording by a New York band called the Rare Breed that had tanked on the Cameo-Parkway label and released it on Buddah as being by the Ohio Express. At that point there was no band called the Ohio Express, and when Beg, Borrow and Steal started getting airplay across the US and Canada, Super K hired a Mansfield, Ohio band called Sir Timothy and the Royals and re-named them the Ohio Express to play live gigs. This band, however, did not sing or play on any of the Ohio Express singles. From the song Yummy Yummy Yummy on all the Ohio Express hits were played by anonymous studio musicians and sung by Joey Levine, who himself ended up parting ways with Super K in 1969 over financial issues. The stage band did get to record a handful of album tracks, however, although I can't verify whether Winter Skies is one of them or not.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Termination
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Brann/Dorman
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The first of two artist sets this week starts off with a track from the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album. Termination is unusual in that it was not written by Doug Ingle, the band's primary songwriter from this album until the group's demise. Instead it was composed by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman. After one more album (Ball) Brann would depart the band for a mostly-unsuccessful solo career. Dorman stayed around for another year, but would eventually leave (along with Brann's replacement, El Rhino) to join Deep Purple's Rod Evans and drummer Bobby Caldwell to form Captain Beyond.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Gentle As It Seems
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Heavy)
Writer: DeLoach/Weis
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Personnel changes were pretty much a regular occurrence with Iron Butterfly. After the first album, Heavy, everyone except keyboardist Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy, left the band. This was accompanied by a drastic change in style as well, as Ingle took over lead vocals from Darryl DeLoach and became the group's primary songwriter. Gentle As It Seems, written by DeLoach and lead guitarist Danny Weis, is a good example of the band's original sound, back when they were scrounging for gigs in a rapidly shrinking L.A. all-ages club scene.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Iron Butterfly's signature song, of course, is the seventeen-minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, heard here in its (requested) entirety. Doug Ingle claims the title comes from mispronouncing In The Garden Of Eden while drunk. I believe it.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Venus In Furs
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
Although Andy Warhol was credited as sole producer of the first Velvet Underground album, it is widely believed that all the real production work was done by none other than Tom Wilson. After all, Warhol really didn't know a thing about the recording business, while Wilson had previously worked with Bob Dylan (producing Like A Rolling Stone, among others), the Blues Project (Projections), the Mothers of Invention (Freak Out) and several East Coast acts signed to the Verve label, where Wilson had become a staff producer after leaving Columbia in 1966 (after having turned the careers of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel around by adding electric instruments to The Sound Of Silence). One of these days I may just do an all Tom Wilson set, but for now let's enjoy this classic Lou Reed song in its original incarnation to finish out the first hour of this week's show.
Artist: Marketts
Title: Out Of Limits
Source: CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1963
It's disputed whether the Marketts were a real band or just an assortment of studio musicians at the beck and call of producer Joe Saraceno. A listen to their catalog leaves one with the impression of hearing an anthology by several different bands rather than one single musical entity. Probably the best-known song to bear the Marketts name on the label was this quasi-surf instrumental that hit the charts in late 1963. The title is taken from the TV show The Outer Limits, which had made its debut that fall, although the recurring guitar riff sounds more like vintage Twilight Zone.
Artist: Van Dyke Parks
Title: Come To The Sunshine
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Dyke Parks
Label: Rhino (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1966
Van Dyke Parks is probably best known for being Brian Wilson's collaborator of choice for the legendary (but unreleased) Smile album. Parks, however, did have an identity of his own, as this recording of Come To The Sunshine shows. The song became a minor hit for WB labelmates Harper's Bizarre, although it did not have nearly the success of their first effort, a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: The Seeds and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GRP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Now we get to the part of the show where several of our regulars make their appearance in a set from 1966. Pushin' Too Hard is generally included on every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The first and biggest single from Sean Bonniwell's Music Machine is probably the most intense one minute and fifty-five seconds ever to make the top 40. I'm thinking that we're about due for a Music Machine set in the near future. Stay tuned.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Bringing Me Down
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The only song in this 1966 set from outside the L.A. area is Bringing Me Down from the first Jefferson Airplane LP, Takes Off. How I managed to come by this 45 RPM record that was (to my knowledge) only released in the San Francisco Bay area is beyond me.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
Following the success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the summer of '67, the Stones decided to do an "answer" album of their own. Their Satanic Majesties Request had a similar cover photo to the Beatle album, but with significant differences. The most obvious was that the cover actually consisted of a 7X7" holographic photo of the band in costumes. However, where the Beatles had used a double-breasted semi-military look, the Stones went with more mystical imagery, particular Mick Jagger, who appears in full sorcerer regalia. The remainder of the cover was a blue bubble pattern, which was also incorporated into the hologram (minus the blue color). Of the tracks on the album itself, the most experimental is the eight and a half minute Sing This All Together (See What Happens), which closes out the first side of the album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Mother's Little Helper
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
By 1966 the Rolling Stones had already had a few brushes with the law over their use of illegal drugs. Mother's Little Helper, released in Spring of '66, is a scathing criticism of the abuse of prescription drugs by the parents of the Stones' fans. Perhaps more than any other song of the time, Mother's Little Helper illustrates the increasingly hostile generation gap that had sprung up between the young baby boomers and the previous generation.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: She's A Rainbow
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
The only song from Satanic Majesties Request to get significant airplay in the US was She's A Rainbow, released as a single in the fall of '67. Another song from the album, In Another Land, was released only in the UK and touted as the first Bill Wyman solo song (although still a Rolling Stones record). 2,000 Light Years From Home, the B side to She's A Rainbow, did get some international airplay as well.
Artist: Geronimo Black
Title: Low Ridin' Man
Source: Geronimo Black
Writer: Cantrelli/Black
Label: Uni
Year: 1972
Returning to our theme of tracks never played before on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era we have a group that, until now, has not been played on the show either. Geronimo Black was made up of L.A. musicians that had, for the most part, already spent time in the studio as members of other bands. Most notable was drummer Jimmy Carl Black, who, along with horn player Bunk Gardner and guitarist Denny Walley, had been members of various incarnations of the Mothers of Invention. The remainder of the lineup consisted of keyboardist Andy Cahan (Dr. John's band), sax player Tjay Cantrelli (Love), horn player Buzz Gardner (brother of Bunk) and bassist Tom Leavey. After only one album for MCA's Uni label, the group found themselves banned from the MCA lot for excessive debauchery and general rowdiness.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Absolutely Free (1st In a Series of Underground Oratorios)
Source: Absolutely Free
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
I've played the second side of the Absolutely Free album (The M.O.I. American Pageant) before, but, as far as I can remember this is the first time I've played side one. Enjoy!
This week our entire first hour, as well as the last half hour, is made up of tracks that haven't been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this year. In fact, most of them have never been played on the show at all. Considering Stuck in the Psychedelic Era has been around for nigh onto ten years now (as a live show before going into syndication last year), that takes a bit of doing. Just to take it one final step further, the entire first set consists of tracks that remained unreleased for many years.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Statesboro Blues
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Willie McTell
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
I played another tune by the Rising Sons a couple week's ago, and got an e-mail asking if I also had their version of Statesboro Blues. As it turns out, Statesboro Blues is actually the opening track on this album, released in 1992 after sitting on the shelf for over 25 years. The song features both Taj Mahal's vocals and Ry Cooder's guitar prominently.
Artist: Roger Nichols Trio
Title: Montage Mirror
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Nichols/Roberds
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
The Parade was an L.A. studio group made up of actors and studio musicians that had a top 20 hit with Sunshine Girl in early 1967. This track, recorded later the same year is pretty much the same group but credited to the Roger Nichols Trio instead. An attempt to subvert an unpleasant contract with another label perhaps? I guess we'll never know, as the song sat on the shelf for 41(!) years before being included on a Parade anthology.
Artist: Chocolate Watch Band
Title: Psychedelic Trip
Source: CD: No Way Out (bonus track)
Writer: Loomis/Flores/Tolby/Aguilar/Andrijasevich
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1967
Psychedelic Trip is essentially an early instrumental version of what would eventually become the title track for the No Way Out album. Although Psychedelic Trip is credited to the entire band, producer/manager Ed Cobb (the Ed Wood of psychedelic music) took sole credit for the song No Way Out.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Undun
Source: LP: Best of the Guess Who (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randy Bachman
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Following the release of the Wheatfield Soul album (and the hit single These Eyes), RCA tied the Guess Who down to a long-term contract. One of the stipulations of that contract was that the band would make subsequent recordings at RCA's own studios. After recording the tracks for their follow-up album, Canned Wheat, the band members felt that the sound at RCA was inferior to that of A&R studios, where they had recorded Wheatfield Soul, and secretly re-recorded a pair of tunes at A&R and submitted dubs of the tapes to RCA. The tunes, Laughing and Undun, were issued as a double-sided single in 1969, with both sides getting a decent amount of airplay. Once word got out that the songs had been recorded in a non-RCA studio, the label realized the error of their ways and relaxed the exclusivity policy, although not in time for the band to re-record the rest of the album.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Motorcycle Song
Source: CD: Best of Arlo Guthrie
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1977
To be honest, I am not sure when this particular recording was made. Arlo Guthrie originally recorded the Motorcycle Song for his 1967 debut album, Alice's Restaurant. The first live recording of the song was released the following year on the LP Arlo. However, his reference to having been performing the song for twelve years makes me think this is a mid-seventies performance. It's even possible that the greatest hits album, issued in 1977, was the first time this particular performance was released.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Coming Into Los Angeles
Source: CD: Best of Arlo Guthrie (originally released on LP: Running Down The Road)
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Rising Son)
Year: 1969
Completing our double dose of Arlo Guthrie we have a song that he played live at Woodstock. The original Woodstock album, however, subsituted this studio version for the live performance. This was probably done at Guthrie's request, as several of the performers expressed dissatisfaction with the recordings made at the festival, either due to problems with the sound system or, in some cases, the performances themselves. This is understandable given the adverse conditions many of them had to deal with (rain, audio problems, lack of sleep, etc.).
Artist: Ohio Express
Title: Winter Skies
Source: LP: The Ohio Express
Writer: K. Laguna/S. Laguna
Label: Buddah
Year: 1968
The story of the Ohio Express is a classic case of exploitation of musicians by a production company, in this case one Super K productions. The company itself was formed in 1966, and started off looking fairly legitimate, releasing the hit Little Bit of Soul by the Music Explosion on Laurie Records. By 1967, however, Super K began to show its true colors by signing the legendary Chicago garage band Shadows of Knight. The problem was that the Shadows of Knight had pretty much given it up by then, with vocalist Jim Sohns having the rights to the name mainly through attrition. This did not deter Super K, however. They recorded a new song, Shake, using Sohns and a bunch of New York studio musicians and issued it as a new Shadows of Knight single on Buddah, the idea being that if the song took off Sohns would be able to form a new Shadows to perform it. Around that same time Super K remixed a recording by a New York band called the Rare Breed that had tanked on the Cameo-Parkway label and released it on Buddah as being by the Ohio Express. At that point there was no band called the Ohio Express, and when Beg, Borrow and Steal started getting airplay across the US and Canada, Super K hired a Mansfield, Ohio band called Sir Timothy and the Royals and re-named them the Ohio Express to play live gigs. This band, however, did not sing or play on any of the Ohio Express singles. From the song Yummy Yummy Yummy on all the Ohio Express hits were played by anonymous studio musicians and sung by Joey Levine, who himself ended up parting ways with Super K in 1969 over financial issues. The stage band did get to record a handful of album tracks, however, although I can't verify whether Winter Skies is one of them or not.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Termination
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Brann/Dorman
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The first of two artist sets this week starts off with a track from the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album. Termination is unusual in that it was not written by Doug Ingle, the band's primary songwriter from this album until the group's demise. Instead it was composed by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman. After one more album (Ball) Brann would depart the band for a mostly-unsuccessful solo career. Dorman stayed around for another year, but would eventually leave (along with Brann's replacement, El Rhino) to join Deep Purple's Rod Evans and drummer Bobby Caldwell to form Captain Beyond.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Gentle As It Seems
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Heavy)
Writer: DeLoach/Weis
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Personnel changes were pretty much a regular occurrence with Iron Butterfly. After the first album, Heavy, everyone except keyboardist Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy, left the band. This was accompanied by a drastic change in style as well, as Ingle took over lead vocals from Darryl DeLoach and became the group's primary songwriter. Gentle As It Seems, written by DeLoach and lead guitarist Danny Weis, is a good example of the band's original sound, back when they were scrounging for gigs in a rapidly shrinking L.A. all-ages club scene.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Iron Butterfly's signature song, of course, is the seventeen-minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, heard here in its (requested) entirety. Doug Ingle claims the title comes from mispronouncing In The Garden Of Eden while drunk. I believe it.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Venus In Furs
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
Although Andy Warhol was credited as sole producer of the first Velvet Underground album, it is widely believed that all the real production work was done by none other than Tom Wilson. After all, Warhol really didn't know a thing about the recording business, while Wilson had previously worked with Bob Dylan (producing Like A Rolling Stone, among others), the Blues Project (Projections), the Mothers of Invention (Freak Out) and several East Coast acts signed to the Verve label, where Wilson had become a staff producer after leaving Columbia in 1966 (after having turned the careers of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel around by adding electric instruments to The Sound Of Silence). One of these days I may just do an all Tom Wilson set, but for now let's enjoy this classic Lou Reed song in its original incarnation to finish out the first hour of this week's show.
Artist: Marketts
Title: Out Of Limits
Source: CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1963
It's disputed whether the Marketts were a real band or just an assortment of studio musicians at the beck and call of producer Joe Saraceno. A listen to their catalog leaves one with the impression of hearing an anthology by several different bands rather than one single musical entity. Probably the best-known song to bear the Marketts name on the label was this quasi-surf instrumental that hit the charts in late 1963. The title is taken from the TV show The Outer Limits, which had made its debut that fall, although the recurring guitar riff sounds more like vintage Twilight Zone.
Artist: Van Dyke Parks
Title: Come To The Sunshine
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Van Dyke Parks
Label: Rhino (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1966
Van Dyke Parks is probably best known for being Brian Wilson's collaborator of choice for the legendary (but unreleased) Smile album. Parks, however, did have an identity of his own, as this recording of Come To The Sunshine shows. The song became a minor hit for WB labelmates Harper's Bizarre, although it did not have nearly the success of their first effort, a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: The Seeds and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GRP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Now we get to the part of the show where several of our regulars make their appearance in a set from 1966. Pushin' Too Hard is generally included on every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The first and biggest single from Sean Bonniwell's Music Machine is probably the most intense one minute and fifty-five seconds ever to make the top 40. I'm thinking that we're about due for a Music Machine set in the near future. Stay tuned.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Bringing Me Down
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The only song in this 1966 set from outside the L.A. area is Bringing Me Down from the first Jefferson Airplane LP, Takes Off. How I managed to come by this 45 RPM record that was (to my knowledge) only released in the San Francisco Bay area is beyond me.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
Following the success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the summer of '67, the Stones decided to do an "answer" album of their own. Their Satanic Majesties Request had a similar cover photo to the Beatle album, but with significant differences. The most obvious was that the cover actually consisted of a 7X7" holographic photo of the band in costumes. However, where the Beatles had used a double-breasted semi-military look, the Stones went with more mystical imagery, particular Mick Jagger, who appears in full sorcerer regalia. The remainder of the cover was a blue bubble pattern, which was also incorporated into the hologram (minus the blue color). Of the tracks on the album itself, the most experimental is the eight and a half minute Sing This All Together (See What Happens), which closes out the first side of the album.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Mother's Little Helper
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
By 1966 the Rolling Stones had already had a few brushes with the law over their use of illegal drugs. Mother's Little Helper, released in Spring of '66, is a scathing criticism of the abuse of prescription drugs by the parents of the Stones' fans. Perhaps more than any other song of the time, Mother's Little Helper illustrates the increasingly hostile generation gap that had sprung up between the young baby boomers and the previous generation.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: She's A Rainbow
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
The only song from Satanic Majesties Request to get significant airplay in the US was She's A Rainbow, released as a single in the fall of '67. Another song from the album, In Another Land, was released only in the UK and touted as the first Bill Wyman solo song (although still a Rolling Stones record). 2,000 Light Years From Home, the B side to She's A Rainbow, did get some international airplay as well.
Artist: Geronimo Black
Title: Low Ridin' Man
Source: Geronimo Black
Writer: Cantrelli/Black
Label: Uni
Year: 1972
Returning to our theme of tracks never played before on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era we have a group that, until now, has not been played on the show either. Geronimo Black was made up of L.A. musicians that had, for the most part, already spent time in the studio as members of other bands. Most notable was drummer Jimmy Carl Black, who, along with horn player Bunk Gardner and guitarist Denny Walley, had been members of various incarnations of the Mothers of Invention. The remainder of the lineup consisted of keyboardist Andy Cahan (Dr. John's band), sax player Tjay Cantrelli (Love), horn player Buzz Gardner (brother of Bunk) and bassist Tom Leavey. After only one album for MCA's Uni label, the group found themselves banned from the MCA lot for excessive debauchery and general rowdiness.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Absolutely Free (1st In a Series of Underground Oratorios)
Source: Absolutely Free
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
I've played the second side of the Absolutely Free album (The M.O.I. American Pageant) before, but, as far as I can remember this is the first time I've played side one. Enjoy!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Show # 1115 playlist (week of 4/14/11)
Artist: Amboy Dukes
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
At the end of 2010 I did a little collating to find out which songs got played the most on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era that year. I then used that list as the basis for my New Year's special. As it turns out it, the song at the top of the list was this classic from Ted Nugent's first band, the Amboy Dukes. Oddly enough, this is the first time I've played this track since the New Year's show.
Artist: John Barry
Title: James Bond Theme
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Monty Norman
Label: United Artists
Year: 1962
From the soundtrack of the film Dr. No we have the original James Bond theme. A few years after this record was made John Barry, who conducted the orchestra for the movie score, filed a lawsuit claiming that he actually co-wrote the theme music. At this point Monty Norman is still considered the sole composer in the eyes of the law.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Dharma For One
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: Anderson/Bunker
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1968
Back in the 60s there were several rules that Top 40 DJs were expected to follow when programming their shows (yes, many of them actually did get to do that). One of those rules was that you should never play two instrumentals back-to-back. On the other hand, the progressive FM jocks made it a point to break as many of the old rules as possible. Guess which school I subscibe to.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Never Too Far
Source: LP: Tim Hardin 1
Writer: Tim Hardin
Label: Verve Folkways
Year: 1966
Tim Hardin was a folk singer whose songs are far better known than he is. Two of the most famous are If I Were A Carpenter (covered first by Bobby Darin and later by Johnny Cash and June Carter), and Reason To Believe (Rod Stewart, among others). The song immediately following Reason To Believe on Hardin's debut album was Never Too Far, a song that is somewhat typical of Hardin's vocal style.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Who Are The Brain Police
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1966
In 1966, Los Angeles, with its variety of all-ages clubs along Sunset Strip, had one of the most active underground music scenes in rock history. One of the most underground of these bands was the Mothers of Invention, led by musical genius Frank Zappa. In 1966 Tom Wilson, who was already well known for producing Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Blues Project, brought the Mothers into the studio to record the landmark Freak Out album. To his credit he allowed the band total artistic freedom, jeopardizing his own job in the process (the album cost somewhere between $20,000-30,000 to produce). The second song the band recorded was Who Are The Brain Police, which reportedly prompted Wilson to get on the phone to M-G-M headquarters in New York, presumably to ask for more money.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike (remix)
Source: CD: Legend of Paul Revere (originally released on LP: Spirit of '67 and as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lindsay/Revere/Melcher
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
This is actually the third mix of this 1966 recording. The first version was in stereo and was included on the LP Spirit of '67. This was followed by a mono single mix of the song which replaced the original fade out ending with an effect created by gradually slowing the tape down. This version is a mid-90s stereo remix of the mono single version. The song itself is a good example of just how good a band Paul Revere and the Raiders were once you got past the cheesy revolutionary war costumes they wore.
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Woodstock Boogie
Source: CD: Woodstock 2
Writer: Canned Heat
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
I'm fairly certain that Woodstock Boogie is not the actual title of this tune. In fact, I would say it's basically yet another version of Canned Heat's concert standard Refried Boogie. Still, I have to go with what the people at Cotillion put on the label.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: Tales Of Lucy Blue (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Source: LP: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
For many years the only Bob Seger record I owned was the single Ramblin' Gamblin' Man that I bought new in 1969 at the Base Exchange at Ramstein Air Force Base Germany for about 50 cents. The B side was the song Tales of Lucy Blue. After that single disappeared from my collection I never bought another Bob Seger record (although I did score a promo copy of Turn The Page from a radio station I was working at in the mid 90s). More recently I was allowed to pillage the WEOS vinyl archives (found on the Hobart and William Smith campus in a storage area in one of the dorms) and found this copy of the Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album. The cover features a young blond woman dressed in blue satin against a blue background. It turns out that the album (Seger's first) was originally going to be titled Tales of Lucy Blue but was changed at the last minute by the shirts at Capitol in order to capitalize on the popularity of the single that I had bought a copy of. Luckily they didn't change the cover art as well.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Unfree Child
Source: LP: Volume 2
Writer: Markley/Harris
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
For those who are not familiar with reel-to-reel tape technology, here's a quick primer. As with all tape tech, a recording is created by a magnetic head imprinting patterns onto magnetic tape. This tape travels across the head at a predetermined speed. There were actually several speeds used over the years, all of which were standardized by measuring the length of tape travelling across the head in one second. In addition, each standard speed was exactly one half of the one above it, with the fastest having the highest quality. The fastest known speed was 30 inches per second (only used by computers, as far as I know), with 15 ips being the standard speed for studio recordings. Radio stations generally had machines that ran at either 15 or 7 1/2 ips, while home units ran at either 7 1/2 or 3 3/4. Dictating machines, which were virtually useless for recording music, used 1 7/8 or even 15/16 (which had so much tape hiss you could barely hear the recording itself). The advantage of halving the speed is that the original key of the music is the same, albeit an octave lower. This made it possible to deliberately record something at the wrong speed, then play that recording back at the regular speed in the same key (but at half or double tempo).
As the technology developed it became possible to put multiple tracks onto the same strip of tape, with first two, then three, four, eight and even sixteen tracks running parallel along the tape. This is what made it possible to record overdubs (by putting the original recording on one track and play it back while recording more stuff on another one), and to record in stereo.
Unfree Child, which starts off a set of 1967 tracks from L.A. bands, has an intro that was actually recorded at a higher speed then played back at the next one down, giving it a deep growling sound. This type of effect, combined with backwards masking (created by playing the tape back to front and recording something on one of the unused tracks) is what got some heavy metal bands into trouble for putting hidden "Satanic" messages on their records.
Artist: Doors
Title: People Are Strange
Source: LP: Strange Days (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The first single from the second Doors album was People Are Strange. The song quickly dispelled any notion that the Doors might be one-hit wonders and helped establish the band as an international act as opposed to just another band from L.A. The album itself, Strange Days, was a turning point for Elektra Records as well, as it shifted the label's promotional efforts away from their original rock band, Love, to the Doors, who ironically had been recommended to the label by Love's leader, Arthur Lee.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Renaissance Fair
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Crosby/McGuinn
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
By the time the fourth Byrds album, Younger Than Yesterday, was released the Byrds had long since stopped playing gigs on Sunset Strip and had lost one of their founding members, Gene Clark. Clark had been the band's primary songwriter in the early days and the gap was first filled by Jim (Roger) McGuinn and David Crosby working together on songs. One of the last and best of these collaborations was Renaissance Fair, written before the two decided they didn't much like each other. Before the release of the Byrds' next album Crosby would find himself fired by McGuinn.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: The Last Time
Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1965
To finish out the hour we have one of a long string of number one singles in the UK for the Rolling Stones. The Last Time was included on Out Of Our Heads, the same album that featured their biggest hit (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.
Artist: Len Barry
Title: Bullseye
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: White/Borisoff/Huff
Label: Decca
Year: 1965
Len Barry (real name Borisoff) first gained fame as lead vocalist for the New Jersey band the Dartells doing tunes like You Can't Sit Down and at least two songs with the words "Hully Gully" in the title. In 1965 Barry had a monster hit called 1-2-3 that ended up among the top 10 R&B singles of the year and got extensive top 40 airplay as well. The B side of 1-2-3 was Bullseye, co-written by Leon Huff, who would be a major architect of the "Philly Soul" sound in the 1970s.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Out Of Focus
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer: Dickie Peterson
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
With the possible exception of the Grateful Dead (when they were using the Owsley-designed sound system), the loudest band to come out of San Francisco was Blue Cheer. The album Vincebus Eruptum, highlighted by the band's feedback-drenched version of Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues, is considered by some to be the first heavy metal album ever recorded. Out Of Focus, which opens side 2 of the LP, was issued as the B side of Summertime Blues and got some airplay on progressive FM radio.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Cheryl's Going Home
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Bob Lind
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the more unlikely songs to appear on an album by one of rock's first jam bands, Cheryl's Going Home was a hit for its writer, Bob Lind, the same year the Blues Project recorded it. It's possible that the band recorded it as a possible single of their own but decided against it when Lind's version hit the charts. Only the band members and producer Tom Wilson know for sure.
Artist: Seatrain
Title: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Lady
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Sea Train)
Writer: Gregory/Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1969
After the Blues Project split up two of the band members, drummer Roy Blumenfeld and flautist/bassist Andy Kulberg, relocated to San Francisco and hooked up with John Gregory (formerly of the Mystery Trend), Richard Greene (Jim Kweskin Jug Band), saxophonist Don Kretmar and a dedicated lyricist, Jim Roberts, to form a new band, Seatrain. Still under contract to Verve Records the new group released one album as the Blues Project (Planned Obsolescence) in 1968, following it up with the album Sea Train in 1969. Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Lady is from that second album. After a series of membership changes that left only Kulberg and Greene from the original lineup, Seatrain had their only top 40 hit, 13 Questions, in 1970.
Artist: Brogues
Title: I Ain't No Miracle Worker
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1965
Almost two years before the Electric Prunes recorded I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), the songwriting team of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz got this song recorded by the Merced, California band the Brogues, achieving some regional success.Vocalist/guitarist Gary Grubb (using the name Gary Duncan) and drummer Greg Elmore would resurface a few months later in San Francisco as founding members of Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Artist: Butterfield Blues Band
Title: Walkin' Blues
Source: CD: East-West
Writer: Johnson
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
Unlike The Blues Project, which mixed original material with improvisational arrangements of blues classics, the Butterfield Blues Band took pride in presenting an authentic Chicago blues sound. The opening track for their most famous album, East-West, was Robert Johnson's Walkin' Blues.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Broken Arrow
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield Again
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
This week's progression through the years 1965-68 continues with the most experimental track ever to appear on a Buffalo Springfield album. Basically a Neil Young solo piece arranged and co-produced by Jack Nitzsche, the track uses extensive editing and studio effects to highlight Young's highly-personal lyrics.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
The last 16 months (more or less) I lived in Germany my family was given use of a basement room in the apartment building we lived in on Ramstein Air force Base. Such rooms were known as "maid's rooms," and ours became my bedroom, giving me a degree of privacy and freedom unknown to most 16-year-olds. I had one of those record players that would shut itself off when it got to the end of the record and I would always put an album on, turn off the light and let the music lull me into dreamland. My favorite album at that time was Procol Harum's Shine On Brightly, and I would usually put on side two of the LP, which opens with Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone). At the time I didn't realize that the song title was a reference to the British record label Procol Harum recorded for, Regal Zonophone, since my copy was released in Germany on the Polydor label. I still have that copy, although it is far too thrashed to play over the radio.
This week's only artist set is from the band that coined the term Flower Power, the Seeds. Led by the charismatic Sky Saxon and prominently featuring Daryl Hooper on Farfisa organ, the group was filled out by guitarist Jan Savage and drummer Rick Andridge. Although Saxon was officially listed as bass player, he never actually played the instrument, either in the studio (where the parts were played by studio musicians) or onstage (where Hooper would play them on a separate bass keyboard, a practice that inspired Ray Manzarek of the Doors to do the same). Although the band's self-titled 1966 debut album contains their best known song, Pushin' Too Hard, it is the second album, A Web of Sound (also released in '66) that best showcases the band's musical range. All three tracks featured in this set were originally released on that album.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Just Let Go
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Saxon/Hooper/Savage
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: A Web Of Sound)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Title: Rolling Machine
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Time Out (For a Daydream)
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
Recorded late at night after a gig, Time Out (For a Daydream) is a hard song to classify. In some ways it resembles a John Sebastian Lovin' Spoonful type of song, but also somehow manages to evoke a kind of New Orleans feel about it as well. I truly believe that someday singer/songwriter/bandleader Sean Bonniwell will finally be recognized as the musical genius he is.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
It's been a few weeks since I played this classic. I figured it was about time to play it again.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (this version originally released on 45 RPM vinyl, edited down from version on LP: The Time Has Come)
Writer: J. Chambers/W. Chambers
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
Time Has Come Today has one of the most complex histories of any song of the psychedelic era. First recorded in 1966 and released as a two-and-a-half minute single the song flopped. The following year an entirely new eleven minute version of the song was recorded for the album The Time Has Come, featuring an extended pyschedelic section filled with various studio effects. In late 1967 a three minute edited version of the song was released that left out virtually the entire psychedelic section of the recording. Soon after that, the single was pulled from the shelf and replaced by a longer edited version that included part of the psychedelic section. That version became a hit record in 1968, peaking just outside the top 10. This is actually a stereo recreation of that mono second edited version.
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Underdog
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: A Whole New Thing)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
I just played this track a couple weeks ago, so I'm just going to cut and paste my comments from then. Sly and the Family Stone were a showstopper at the Woodstock festival in 1969, but their story starts years before that historic performance. Sylvester Stewart was a popular DJ (KSOL "K-Soul") and record producer (Autumn Records) in mid-60s San Francisco, responsible for the first recordings of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and the Great! Society (featuring vocalist Grace Slick), among others. During that time he became acquainted with a wealth of talent, including bassist Larry Graham. In 1967, with Autumn Records having been sold to and closed down by Warner Brothers, he decided to form his own band. Anchored by Graham, Sly and the Family Stone's first LP, A Whole New Thing, is considered to be a forerunner of 70s funk.
Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nugent/Farmer
Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
At the end of 2010 I did a little collating to find out which songs got played the most on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era that year. I then used that list as the basis for my New Year's special. As it turns out it, the song at the top of the list was this classic from Ted Nugent's first band, the Amboy Dukes. Oddly enough, this is the first time I've played this track since the New Year's show.
Artist: John Barry
Title: James Bond Theme
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Monty Norman
Label: United Artists
Year: 1962
From the soundtrack of the film Dr. No we have the original James Bond theme. A few years after this record was made John Barry, who conducted the orchestra for the movie score, filed a lawsuit claiming that he actually co-wrote the theme music. At this point Monty Norman is still considered the sole composer in the eyes of the law.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Dharma For One
Source: LP: This Was
Writer: Anderson/Bunker
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1968
Back in the 60s there were several rules that Top 40 DJs were expected to follow when programming their shows (yes, many of them actually did get to do that). One of those rules was that you should never play two instrumentals back-to-back. On the other hand, the progressive FM jocks made it a point to break as many of the old rules as possible. Guess which school I subscibe to.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Never Too Far
Source: LP: Tim Hardin 1
Writer: Tim Hardin
Label: Verve Folkways
Year: 1966
Tim Hardin was a folk singer whose songs are far better known than he is. Two of the most famous are If I Were A Carpenter (covered first by Bobby Darin and later by Johnny Cash and June Carter), and Reason To Believe (Rod Stewart, among others). The song immediately following Reason To Believe on Hardin's debut album was Never Too Far, a song that is somewhat typical of Hardin's vocal style.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Who Are The Brain Police
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1966
In 1966, Los Angeles, with its variety of all-ages clubs along Sunset Strip, had one of the most active underground music scenes in rock history. One of the most underground of these bands was the Mothers of Invention, led by musical genius Frank Zappa. In 1966 Tom Wilson, who was already well known for producing Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Blues Project, brought the Mothers into the studio to record the landmark Freak Out album. To his credit he allowed the band total artistic freedom, jeopardizing his own job in the process (the album cost somewhere between $20,000-30,000 to produce). The second song the band recorded was Who Are The Brain Police, which reportedly prompted Wilson to get on the phone to M-G-M headquarters in New York, presumably to ask for more money.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike (remix)
Source: CD: Legend of Paul Revere (originally released on LP: Spirit of '67 and as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lindsay/Revere/Melcher
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
This is actually the third mix of this 1966 recording. The first version was in stereo and was included on the LP Spirit of '67. This was followed by a mono single mix of the song which replaced the original fade out ending with an effect created by gradually slowing the tape down. This version is a mid-90s stereo remix of the mono single version. The song itself is a good example of just how good a band Paul Revere and the Raiders were once you got past the cheesy revolutionary war costumes they wore.
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Woodstock Boogie
Source: CD: Woodstock 2
Writer: Canned Heat
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
I'm fairly certain that Woodstock Boogie is not the actual title of this tune. In fact, I would say it's basically yet another version of Canned Heat's concert standard Refried Boogie. Still, I have to go with what the people at Cotillion put on the label.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: Tales Of Lucy Blue (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Source: LP: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
For many years the only Bob Seger record I owned was the single Ramblin' Gamblin' Man that I bought new in 1969 at the Base Exchange at Ramstein Air Force Base Germany for about 50 cents. The B side was the song Tales of Lucy Blue. After that single disappeared from my collection I never bought another Bob Seger record (although I did score a promo copy of Turn The Page from a radio station I was working at in the mid 90s). More recently I was allowed to pillage the WEOS vinyl archives (found on the Hobart and William Smith campus in a storage area in one of the dorms) and found this copy of the Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album. The cover features a young blond woman dressed in blue satin against a blue background. It turns out that the album (Seger's first) was originally going to be titled Tales of Lucy Blue but was changed at the last minute by the shirts at Capitol in order to capitalize on the popularity of the single that I had bought a copy of. Luckily they didn't change the cover art as well.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Unfree Child
Source: LP: Volume 2
Writer: Markley/Harris
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
For those who are not familiar with reel-to-reel tape technology, here's a quick primer. As with all tape tech, a recording is created by a magnetic head imprinting patterns onto magnetic tape. This tape travels across the head at a predetermined speed. There were actually several speeds used over the years, all of which were standardized by measuring the length of tape travelling across the head in one second. In addition, each standard speed was exactly one half of the one above it, with the fastest having the highest quality. The fastest known speed was 30 inches per second (only used by computers, as far as I know), with 15 ips being the standard speed for studio recordings. Radio stations generally had machines that ran at either 15 or 7 1/2 ips, while home units ran at either 7 1/2 or 3 3/4. Dictating machines, which were virtually useless for recording music, used 1 7/8 or even 15/16 (which had so much tape hiss you could barely hear the recording itself). The advantage of halving the speed is that the original key of the music is the same, albeit an octave lower. This made it possible to deliberately record something at the wrong speed, then play that recording back at the regular speed in the same key (but at half or double tempo).
As the technology developed it became possible to put multiple tracks onto the same strip of tape, with first two, then three, four, eight and even sixteen tracks running parallel along the tape. This is what made it possible to record overdubs (by putting the original recording on one track and play it back while recording more stuff on another one), and to record in stereo.
Unfree Child, which starts off a set of 1967 tracks from L.A. bands, has an intro that was actually recorded at a higher speed then played back at the next one down, giving it a deep growling sound. This type of effect, combined with backwards masking (created by playing the tape back to front and recording something on one of the unused tracks) is what got some heavy metal bands into trouble for putting hidden "Satanic" messages on their records.
Artist: Doors
Title: People Are Strange
Source: LP: Strange Days (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The first single from the second Doors album was People Are Strange. The song quickly dispelled any notion that the Doors might be one-hit wonders and helped establish the band as an international act as opposed to just another band from L.A. The album itself, Strange Days, was a turning point for Elektra Records as well, as it shifted the label's promotional efforts away from their original rock band, Love, to the Doors, who ironically had been recommended to the label by Love's leader, Arthur Lee.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Renaissance Fair
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Crosby/McGuinn
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
By the time the fourth Byrds album, Younger Than Yesterday, was released the Byrds had long since stopped playing gigs on Sunset Strip and had lost one of their founding members, Gene Clark. Clark had been the band's primary songwriter in the early days and the gap was first filled by Jim (Roger) McGuinn and David Crosby working together on songs. One of the last and best of these collaborations was Renaissance Fair, written before the two decided they didn't much like each other. Before the release of the Byrds' next album Crosby would find himself fired by McGuinn.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: The Last Time
Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1965
To finish out the hour we have one of a long string of number one singles in the UK for the Rolling Stones. The Last Time was included on Out Of Our Heads, the same album that featured their biggest hit (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.
Artist: Len Barry
Title: Bullseye
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: White/Borisoff/Huff
Label: Decca
Year: 1965
Len Barry (real name Borisoff) first gained fame as lead vocalist for the New Jersey band the Dartells doing tunes like You Can't Sit Down and at least two songs with the words "Hully Gully" in the title. In 1965 Barry had a monster hit called 1-2-3 that ended up among the top 10 R&B singles of the year and got extensive top 40 airplay as well. The B side of 1-2-3 was Bullseye, co-written by Leon Huff, who would be a major architect of the "Philly Soul" sound in the 1970s.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Out Of Focus
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer: Dickie Peterson
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
With the possible exception of the Grateful Dead (when they were using the Owsley-designed sound system), the loudest band to come out of San Francisco was Blue Cheer. The album Vincebus Eruptum, highlighted by the band's feedback-drenched version of Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues, is considered by some to be the first heavy metal album ever recorded. Out Of Focus, which opens side 2 of the LP, was issued as the B side of Summertime Blues and got some airplay on progressive FM radio.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Cheryl's Going Home
Source: LP: Projections
Writer: Bob Lind
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the more unlikely songs to appear on an album by one of rock's first jam bands, Cheryl's Going Home was a hit for its writer, Bob Lind, the same year the Blues Project recorded it. It's possible that the band recorded it as a possible single of their own but decided against it when Lind's version hit the charts. Only the band members and producer Tom Wilson know for sure.
Artist: Seatrain
Title: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Lady
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Sea Train)
Writer: Gregory/Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1969
After the Blues Project split up two of the band members, drummer Roy Blumenfeld and flautist/bassist Andy Kulberg, relocated to San Francisco and hooked up with John Gregory (formerly of the Mystery Trend), Richard Greene (Jim Kweskin Jug Band), saxophonist Don Kretmar and a dedicated lyricist, Jim Roberts, to form a new band, Seatrain. Still under contract to Verve Records the new group released one album as the Blues Project (Planned Obsolescence) in 1968, following it up with the album Sea Train in 1969. Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Lady is from that second album. After a series of membership changes that left only Kulberg and Greene from the original lineup, Seatrain had their only top 40 hit, 13 Questions, in 1970.
Artist: Brogues
Title: I Ain't No Miracle Worker
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1965
Almost two years before the Electric Prunes recorded I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), the songwriting team of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz got this song recorded by the Merced, California band the Brogues, achieving some regional success.Vocalist/guitarist Gary Grubb (using the name Gary Duncan) and drummer Greg Elmore would resurface a few months later in San Francisco as founding members of Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Artist: Butterfield Blues Band
Title: Walkin' Blues
Source: CD: East-West
Writer: Johnson
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
Unlike The Blues Project, which mixed original material with improvisational arrangements of blues classics, the Butterfield Blues Band took pride in presenting an authentic Chicago blues sound. The opening track for their most famous album, East-West, was Robert Johnson's Walkin' Blues.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Broken Arrow
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield Again
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
This week's progression through the years 1965-68 continues with the most experimental track ever to appear on a Buffalo Springfield album. Basically a Neil Young solo piece arranged and co-produced by Jack Nitzsche, the track uses extensive editing and studio effects to highlight Young's highly-personal lyrics.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
The last 16 months (more or less) I lived in Germany my family was given use of a basement room in the apartment building we lived in on Ramstein Air force Base. Such rooms were known as "maid's rooms," and ours became my bedroom, giving me a degree of privacy and freedom unknown to most 16-year-olds. I had one of those record players that would shut itself off when it got to the end of the record and I would always put an album on, turn off the light and let the music lull me into dreamland. My favorite album at that time was Procol Harum's Shine On Brightly, and I would usually put on side two of the LP, which opens with Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone). At the time I didn't realize that the song title was a reference to the British record label Procol Harum recorded for, Regal Zonophone, since my copy was released in Germany on the Polydor label. I still have that copy, although it is far too thrashed to play over the radio.
This week's only artist set is from the band that coined the term Flower Power, the Seeds. Led by the charismatic Sky Saxon and prominently featuring Daryl Hooper on Farfisa organ, the group was filled out by guitarist Jan Savage and drummer Rick Andridge. Although Saxon was officially listed as bass player, he never actually played the instrument, either in the studio (where the parts were played by studio musicians) or onstage (where Hooper would play them on a separate bass keyboard, a practice that inspired Ray Manzarek of the Doors to do the same). Although the band's self-titled 1966 debut album contains their best known song, Pushin' Too Hard, it is the second album, A Web of Sound (also released in '66) that best showcases the band's musical range. All three tracks featured in this set were originally released on that album.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Just Let Go
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Saxon/Hooper/Savage
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Title: Mr. Farmer
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: A Web Of Sound)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Artist: Seeds
Title: Rolling Machine
Source: LP: A Web Of Sound
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Time Out (For a Daydream)
Source: CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
Recorded late at night after a gig, Time Out (For a Daydream) is a hard song to classify. In some ways it resembles a John Sebastian Lovin' Spoonful type of song, but also somehow manages to evoke a kind of New Orleans feel about it as well. I truly believe that someday singer/songwriter/bandleader Sean Bonniwell will finally be recognized as the musical genius he is.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
It's been a few weeks since I played this classic. I figured it was about time to play it again.
Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: Time Has Come Today
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (this version originally released on 45 RPM vinyl, edited down from version on LP: The Time Has Come)
Writer: J. Chambers/W. Chambers
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
Time Has Come Today has one of the most complex histories of any song of the psychedelic era. First recorded in 1966 and released as a two-and-a-half minute single the song flopped. The following year an entirely new eleven minute version of the song was recorded for the album The Time Has Come, featuring an extended pyschedelic section filled with various studio effects. In late 1967 a three minute edited version of the song was released that left out virtually the entire psychedelic section of the recording. Soon after that, the single was pulled from the shelf and replaced by a longer edited version that included part of the psychedelic section. That version became a hit record in 1968, peaking just outside the top 10. This is actually a stereo recreation of that mono second edited version.
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Underdog
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: A Whole New Thing)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
I just played this track a couple weeks ago, so I'm just going to cut and paste my comments from then. Sly and the Family Stone were a showstopper at the Woodstock festival in 1969, but their story starts years before that historic performance. Sylvester Stewart was a popular DJ (KSOL "K-Soul") and record producer (Autumn Records) in mid-60s San Francisco, responsible for the first recordings of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and the Great! Society (featuring vocalist Grace Slick), among others. During that time he became acquainted with a wealth of talent, including bassist Larry Graham. In 1967, with Autumn Records having been sold to and closed down by Warner Brothers, he decided to form his own band. Anchored by Graham, Sly and the Family Stone's first LP, A Whole New Thing, is considered to be a forerunner of 70s funk.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Show # 1114 Playlist (week of 4/8/11)
All kinds of set themes this week, and a lot of tracks played from their original vinyl sources (including the entire last segment of the show). Let's get to it.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Little Miss Strange
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Noel Redding
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
When Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to England in 1966 he introduced him to several local musicians, including drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Noel Redding. Hendrix talked Redding into switching to bass, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born. Redding, however, still had aspirations of being a front man and wrote this tune in 1968. As it turned out, Little Miss Strange would be the only Redding tune the band would record. After the Experience split up Redding formed Fat Mattress, but that band had little success.
Artist: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Title: Man Of Constant Sorrow
Source: LP: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Writer: Denny Laine
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
After Cream split up, drummer Ginger Baker formed what could be best described as an all-star performance band. Ginger Baker's Air Force was never known for their studio recordings or original material. What made the Air Force notable was the variety of big name talent that would show up for gigs. Among those was the original lead vocalist for the Moody Blues, Denny Laine. After leaving the Moodys, Laine embarked on a short solo career before hooking up with Paul McCartney to become a founding (and core) member of Wings.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Don't Ever Change
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Some songs hold up pretty well over the years. Others, not so much. The basic concept of this song (you're perfect as you are, so don't change) may have been acceptable in 1965, but by today's standards sounds more like something a stalker would say. More than a bit creepy.
Artist: Doors
Title: Take It As It Comes
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: The Doors
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1967
Starting off a pair of tunes from 1967 we have a rare mono mix of a song from the first Doors album. Elektra got into rock music around the same time as stereo was becoming more than just a rich man's toy and thus put most of its energy into stereo versions of its releases. Take It As It Comes is somewhat typical of how the Doors sounded when they were still playing clubs on the Sunset Strip.
Artist: Traffic
Title: No Face, No Name, No Number
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
When the first Best of Traffic album was issued in 1969 (after the group first disbanded) it included No Face, No Name, No Number, a non-hit album track. Later Traffic anthologies tended to focus on the group's post-reformation material and the song was out of print for many years until the first Traffic album was reissued on CD. The song itself is a good example of Winwood's softer material.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: I'm Her Man
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Bob Hite
Label: Liberty
Year: 1970
As I mentioned on the show, a flooded garage a few years back resulted in several of my old 45s getting soaked. Unfortunately I didn't discover this until a couple years after the damage was done, and by then mold had set in. I was able to clean up the records themselves, but some of the ink on the labels had smeared or become stuck to adjacent labels in the box, damaging both in the process of separating them. The worst case was this 1971 Canned Heat single, due to the predominately black label smearing out all the silver print. I knew just from listening to the record that the A side was Let's Work Together but could not read the label for the B side at all. Luckily we have the internet these days and I was able to determine the identity (and original source) of the song. Singer Bob Hite did not write many songs, and I'm Her Man originally was credited to a fictional pseudonym, first appearing on the 1970 album Hallelujah.
Artist: Santana
Title: Mother's Daughter
Source: CD: Abraxas
Writer: Gregg Rolie
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
Carlos Santana once said that his original lineup was the best of the many bands named Santana. With talented songwriters such as keyboardist Gregg Rolie in the band, it's hard to argue with that assessment. Rolie, of course, would go on to co-found Journey.
Artist: Seeds
Title: You Can't Be Trusted
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
After a pair of tracks from 1967 and a pair from 1970 we have three garage/punk classics from 1966. Our first one is from the L.A. band that virtually invented the term Flower Power. Like many of Sky Saxon's songs, this one displays a somewhat cynical view of relationships.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The Del-Vetts were from Chicago's affluent North Shore. Their gimmick was to show up at a high school dance by driving their matching corvettes onto the gymnasium dance floor. Musically, like most garage/punk bands, they were heavily influenced by the British invasion bands. Unlike most garage/punk bands, who favored the Rolling Stones, the Del-Vetts were more into the Jeff Beck era Yardbirds. They had a few regional hits from 1965-67, the biggest being this single issued on the Dunwich label, home of fellow Chicago suburbanites the Shadows of Knight. This may well be the very first death rock song.
Artist: We The People
Title: Mirror Of Your Mind (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Tom Talton
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
We The People were formed when an Orlando, Florida newspaper reporter talked members of two local bands to combine into a garage/punk supergroup. The result was one of the most successful regional bands in Florida history. After their first recording got airplay on a local station, they were signed to Nashville label Challenge Records and cranked out several regional hits over the next few years. The first of these was Mirror Of Your Mind. Written by lead vocalist Tom Talton, the song is an in-your-face rocker that got played on a number of local stations and has been covered by several bands since.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Yellow Rose
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Basic Blues Magoos)
Writer: Gilbert/Theilhelm
Label: Mercury
Year: 1968
Our group spotlight tonight shines on the Blues Magoos, probably the most successful East Coast psychedelic band. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much, as most successful psychedelic bands came from either California or Texas in the US, or from the UK. Still, the Magoos had a fair share of decent recordings. The band had their greatest artistic freedom with the album Basic Blues Magoos, much of which was recorded at their own home studios. As a result, Yellow Rose does not sound anything like the other two tracks in the set, both of which come from the band's period of greatest commercial success.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
Speaking of commercial success, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet is, of course, the song the Blues Magoos are best known for. Although the album Psychedelic Lollipop was released in 1966, I always associate it with a radio station I heard on my old Sony transistor radio in early summer of 1967 while sitting in the terminal overnight at MacGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey with my mother and brother, waiting for a flight in a Military Air Transport plane (essentially a cargo plane fitted with uncomfortable bus seats and having no windows to speak of) to Germany. The brand new AM station was still in testing phase, using special experimental call letters, and was on all night playing commercial-free rock. I sometimes wonder how things worked out for that station.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Life Is Just A Cher O'Bowlies
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Theilhelm
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Wrapping up the set we have a track from the Blues Magoos' second album, Electric Comic Book. Life Is Just A Cher O'Bowlies is a good example of the band's tendency not to take itself too seriously, a good thing for a group of guys who would occassionally show up at a gig wearing electric suits and setting off smoke bombs onstage (check out their performance of Tobacco Road on the Bob Hope show on youtube sometime).
Artist: Status Quo
Title: Pictures Of Matchstick Men
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Francis Rossi
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah
Year: 1968
The band with the most charted singles in the UK is not the Beatles or even the Rolling Stones. It is, in fact, Status Quo, quite possibly the nearest thing to a real life version of Spinal Tap. Except for Pictures of Matchstick Men, the group has never had a hit in the US. On the other hand, they remain popular in Scandanavia, playing to sellout crowds on a regular basis (yes, they are still together).
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Steppenwolf the Second)
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Priority (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Occassionally I play something so well-known that I find myself with nothing to say about it. Such is the case with Magic Carpet Ride, the second best known song from the most successful L.A. band ever to come from Canada.
Artist: Grand Funk
Title: We're An American Band
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Don Brewer
Label: Capitol
Year: 1973
I thought it might be fun to finish out the hour with something completely unexpected. In 1972 I was the bass player/vocalist in a power trio that played a lot of Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath and the like. Shortly after that band split up I started taking broadcasting classes from Tim Daniels, an Air Force Sergeant who had previously worked for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (the same station that Adrian Cronauer worked at, although at that time nobody outside the military had ever heard of him). That led to my first regular airshift on the "Voice of Holloman" a closed-circuit station that was piped into the gym and bowling alley and some of the barracks at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. One of the hot new records that the station got promo copies of was We're An American Band, pressed on bright yellow translucent vinyl with the stereo version on one side and the mono mix on the other. I snagged one of the extra copies Capitol sent and have somehow managed to hang onto it over the years.
Artist: Gentrys
Title: Don't Send Me No Flowers
Source: LP: special disc jockey record (originally released on LP: Keep On Dancin')
Writer: Weiss
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1965
The Gentrys were a Memphis band that are best known for their 1965 hit Keep On Dancin'. A pair of LPs followed, but the Gentrys were not able to duplicate the success of that first major hit (although a couple of singles did hit the lower regions of the charts).
Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (first released on CD: Someone To Love-The Early San Francisco Sounds)
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1964, first released 1996 (UK only)
At first glance this may look like a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene, making this an appropriate track to start off a San Francisco set. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the Youngbloods shortened the title to Get Together, that the song became a major hit.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: It's No Secret
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The first Jefferson Airplane song to get played on the radio was not Somebody To Love. Rather, it was It's No Secret, from the first Airplane album, that got extensive airplay, albeit only in the San Francisco Bay area. Still, the song was featured on a 1966 Bell Telephone Hour special on Haight Ashbury that introduced a national TV audience to what was happening out on the coast and may have just touched off the exodus to San Francisco the following year.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Piece Of My Heart
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Ragovoy/Burns
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
By 1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company, with their charismatic vocalist from Texas, Janis Joplin, had become as popular as fellow San Francisco bands Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Somehow, though, they were still without a major label record deal. That all changed with the release of Cheap Thrills, with cover art by the legendary underground comix artist R. Crumb. The album itself was a curious mixture of live performances and studio tracks, the latter being led by the band's powerful cover of the 1966 Barbara Lynn tune Piece Of My Heart. The song propelled the band, and Joplin, to stardom. That stardom would be short-lived for most of the band members, however, as well-meaning but ultimately wrong-headed advice-givers convinced Joplin that Big Brother was holding her back. The reality was that the band was uniquely suited to support her better than anyone she would ever work with again.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Goodman/Lee
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: Recorded 1966, released 1996
Columbia Records did not have a clue what to do with the Rising Sons. Part of the problem was that they were playing the same clubs on Sunset Strip as bands like Love, the Leaves, and the Seeds, yet did not play anywhere near the same type of music as those psychedelic underground garage/punk flower power type bands. Instead, the Rising Sons were big fans of the blues and of 50s R&B artists such as Bobby Blue Bland and Shirley and Lee, with many of the songs in their repertoire being originally recorded by those artists. One example of this is Let The Good Times Roll. The Rising Sons version of the tune follows Shirley and Lee's version closely. Another thing that ultimately led to Columbia's decision not to release the Rising Sons recordings is that fact that the band itself was multi-racial (featuring future stars Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder), and in 1966 nobody but Jan Holtzman's Elektra Records had any idea how to market a multi-racial band (Elektra had both the Butterfield Blues Band and Love on the label). Rather than ask a competitor how to do something (especially an upstart label like Elektra), the decidedly old-school Columbia executives decided to shelve the whole thing until a new generation of executives came along to release the recordings 30 years later.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Unlike the other two bands in this L.A. set, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was not a Sunset Strip club band. In fact, the WCPAEB really didn't play that many live performances in their career, although those they did play tended to be at high profile venues such as the Hollywood Bowl. The band was formed when the Harris brothers, sons of an accomplished classical musician, decided to record their own album and release it on a small local label. Only a few copies of that album, Volume One, were made and finding one now is next to impossible. That might have been the end of the story except for the fact that they were acquaintances of Kim Fowley, record producer and all-around Hollywood hustler. Fowley invited them to a party where the Yardbirds were playing; a party also attended by one Bob Markley. Markley, who was nearly ten years older than the Harris brothers, was a former TV show host from the midwest who had moved out to the coast to try his luck. Impressed by the flock of young girls surrounding the Yardbirds, Markley expressed to Fowley his desire to be a rock and roll star and have the girls flock around him, too. Fowley, ever the deal-maker, responded by introducing Markley to the Harris Brothers and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was born. With the addition of guitarist Michael Lloyd and the influence of Markley's not-inconsiderable family money, the group soon landed a contract with Reprise Records, where they proceeded to record the album Part One, which was essentially a re-recording of the album Volume One with most of the songs updated to include input from Markley and Harris. I Won't Hurt You is unusual in that it uses an actual recording of a human heart as its rhythmic backbone.
Artist: Love
Title: Revelation (conclusion)
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Lee/MacLean/Echols/Forsi
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The undisputed kings of the Sunset Strip were Love. Led by Arthur Lee, the band held down the position of house band at the Strip's most famous club, the Whiskey A-Go-Go, throughout 1966 and much of 1967, even as the club scene itself was starting to die off. Love liked being the top dog in L.A., so much so that they decided to forego touring to promote their records in favor of maintaining their presence at the Whiskey. In the long run this cost them, as many of their contemporaries (including one band that Love itself had discovered and introduced to Elektra producer Paul Rothchild: the Doors) went on to greater fame while Love remained a cult band throughout their existence. One of the highlights of their stage performances was a 19-minute jam called Revelation, a piece originally called John Hooker that served to give each band member a chance to show off with a solo. Although the band had been playing Revelation throughout 1966 (inspiring the Rolling Stones to do a similar number on one of their own albums), they did not get around to recording a studio version of Revelation until 1967. By that point they had added two new members, Tjay Cantrelli (sax) and Michael Stuart (drums), whose solos take up the last six minutes or so of the recorded version of the tune. The Harpsichord solo at the end of Revelation is played by "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who had switched from drums to keyboards when Stuart joined the group.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Wind
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Tonight's final half hour is played entirely from vinyl sources. It starts off with a set of requests that also serves as this week's only progression through the years. We start this progression in New York City, circa 1967. Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village by Bob Bruno, who played lead guitar and keyboards, and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker. Both co-founders wrote songs for the band. While Walker's material tended to have a folk-rock sound, Bruno's had more of a psychedelic jazz flavor. The song that got the most airplay was the eight-minute Wind, featuring Bruno on lead vocals.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: House In The Country
Source: LP: Child Is Father To The Man
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Our second request also comes from New York City. Al Kooper was, by 1968, one of the most respected musicians in the city, having played organ on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album and then becoming a member of the seminal jam band the Blues Project. After being offered a job as staff producer for Columbia Records New York division he came up with the surprise hit album of 1968: the classic Super Session album with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. On the Super Session album he had overdubbed horns over the basic jams and later that same year he decided to form a new group with a horn section as an integral part of the band. The band, which also featured former Blues Project member Steve Katz on guitar, was called Blood, Sweat and Tears. Kooper left after only one album, but that album, Child Is Father To The Man, remains one of the classics of its time.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Source: LP: Ssssh.
Writer: Sonny Boy Williamson
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
Our final request of the set was for "something from Ten Years After". One of the band's best-known pre-woodstock tracks was their rocked out version of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl from the album Ssssh. The first power trio I played bass in (as a Junior in high school) covered this tune. Dave the guitarist always looked right at his girlfriend Jeannie as he sang the line " I wanna baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal you" over and over. Ah, the memories of youth.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Ripple
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Garcia/Hunter
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1971
Our final set of the night starts off with an edited mono single version of the Grateful Dead tune Ripple from the American Beauty album. Usually, B sides were presented in their full-length album versions, leading me to think that maybe the band intended this, rather than Truckin' (heard on last week's show), as the side to get airplay on AM radio.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: King Of The Jungle
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tarachney/Weisberg
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
The Beacon Street Union's second album was quite a bit different from their first one, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union. Whereas Eyes consisted of all-original material, Clown included a pair of cover tunes (Blue Suede Shoes and a 17-minute version of Baby, Please Don't Go), an orchestral piece (The Clown's Overture), and this bit of strangeness. All this leads me to believe that the band itself gave up on the project halfway through, leaving producer Wes Farrell (he of Partridge Family fame) to scrounge through the outtakes and rejected tracks to fill out the album. Just my opinion, of course.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
"Everybody must get stoned." 'Nuff said.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Little Miss Strange
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Noel Redding
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
When Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to England in 1966 he introduced him to several local musicians, including drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Noel Redding. Hendrix talked Redding into switching to bass, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born. Redding, however, still had aspirations of being a front man and wrote this tune in 1968. As it turned out, Little Miss Strange would be the only Redding tune the band would record. After the Experience split up Redding formed Fat Mattress, but that band had little success.
Artist: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Title: Man Of Constant Sorrow
Source: LP: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Writer: Denny Laine
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
After Cream split up, drummer Ginger Baker formed what could be best described as an all-star performance band. Ginger Baker's Air Force was never known for their studio recordings or original material. What made the Air Force notable was the variety of big name talent that would show up for gigs. Among those was the original lead vocalist for the Moody Blues, Denny Laine. After leaving the Moodys, Laine embarked on a short solo career before hooking up with Paul McCartney to become a founding (and core) member of Wings.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Don't Ever Change
Source: LP: Kinda Kinks
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
Some songs hold up pretty well over the years. Others, not so much. The basic concept of this song (you're perfect as you are, so don't change) may have been acceptable in 1965, but by today's standards sounds more like something a stalker would say. More than a bit creepy.
Artist: Doors
Title: Take It As It Comes
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: The Doors
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1967
Starting off a pair of tunes from 1967 we have a rare mono mix of a song from the first Doors album. Elektra got into rock music around the same time as stereo was becoming more than just a rich man's toy and thus put most of its energy into stereo versions of its releases. Take It As It Comes is somewhat typical of how the Doors sounded when they were still playing clubs on the Sunset Strip.
Artist: Traffic
Title: No Face, No Name, No Number
Source: CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
When the first Best of Traffic album was issued in 1969 (after the group first disbanded) it included No Face, No Name, No Number, a non-hit album track. Later Traffic anthologies tended to focus on the group's post-reformation material and the song was out of print for many years until the first Traffic album was reissued on CD. The song itself is a good example of Winwood's softer material.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: I'm Her Man
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Bob Hite
Label: Liberty
Year: 1970
As I mentioned on the show, a flooded garage a few years back resulted in several of my old 45s getting soaked. Unfortunately I didn't discover this until a couple years after the damage was done, and by then mold had set in. I was able to clean up the records themselves, but some of the ink on the labels had smeared or become stuck to adjacent labels in the box, damaging both in the process of separating them. The worst case was this 1971 Canned Heat single, due to the predominately black label smearing out all the silver print. I knew just from listening to the record that the A side was Let's Work Together but could not read the label for the B side at all. Luckily we have the internet these days and I was able to determine the identity (and original source) of the song. Singer Bob Hite did not write many songs, and I'm Her Man originally was credited to a fictional pseudonym, first appearing on the 1970 album Hallelujah.
Artist: Santana
Title: Mother's Daughter
Source: CD: Abraxas
Writer: Gregg Rolie
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
Carlos Santana once said that his original lineup was the best of the many bands named Santana. With talented songwriters such as keyboardist Gregg Rolie in the band, it's hard to argue with that assessment. Rolie, of course, would go on to co-found Journey.
Artist: Seeds
Title: You Can't Be Trusted
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
After a pair of tracks from 1967 and a pair from 1970 we have three garage/punk classics from 1966. Our first one is from the L.A. band that virtually invented the term Flower Power. Like many of Sky Saxon's songs, this one displays a somewhat cynical view of relationships.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The Del-Vetts were from Chicago's affluent North Shore. Their gimmick was to show up at a high school dance by driving their matching corvettes onto the gymnasium dance floor. Musically, like most garage/punk bands, they were heavily influenced by the British invasion bands. Unlike most garage/punk bands, who favored the Rolling Stones, the Del-Vetts were more into the Jeff Beck era Yardbirds. They had a few regional hits from 1965-67, the biggest being this single issued on the Dunwich label, home of fellow Chicago suburbanites the Shadows of Knight. This may well be the very first death rock song.
Artist: We The People
Title: Mirror Of Your Mind (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Tom Talton
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
We The People were formed when an Orlando, Florida newspaper reporter talked members of two local bands to combine into a garage/punk supergroup. The result was one of the most successful regional bands in Florida history. After their first recording got airplay on a local station, they were signed to Nashville label Challenge Records and cranked out several regional hits over the next few years. The first of these was Mirror Of Your Mind. Written by lead vocalist Tom Talton, the song is an in-your-face rocker that got played on a number of local stations and has been covered by several bands since.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Yellow Rose
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Basic Blues Magoos)
Writer: Gilbert/Theilhelm
Label: Mercury
Year: 1968
Our group spotlight tonight shines on the Blues Magoos, probably the most successful East Coast psychedelic band. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much, as most successful psychedelic bands came from either California or Texas in the US, or from the UK. Still, the Magoos had a fair share of decent recordings. The band had their greatest artistic freedom with the album Basic Blues Magoos, much of which was recorded at their own home studios. As a result, Yellow Rose does not sound anything like the other two tracks in the set, both of which come from the band's period of greatest commercial success.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
Speaking of commercial success, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet is, of course, the song the Blues Magoos are best known for. Although the album Psychedelic Lollipop was released in 1966, I always associate it with a radio station I heard on my old Sony transistor radio in early summer of 1967 while sitting in the terminal overnight at MacGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey with my mother and brother, waiting for a flight in a Military Air Transport plane (essentially a cargo plane fitted with uncomfortable bus seats and having no windows to speak of) to Germany. The brand new AM station was still in testing phase, using special experimental call letters, and was on all night playing commercial-free rock. I sometimes wonder how things worked out for that station.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Life Is Just A Cher O'Bowlies
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Electric Comic Book)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Theilhelm
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Wrapping up the set we have a track from the Blues Magoos' second album, Electric Comic Book. Life Is Just A Cher O'Bowlies is a good example of the band's tendency not to take itself too seriously, a good thing for a group of guys who would occassionally show up at a gig wearing electric suits and setting off smoke bombs onstage (check out their performance of Tobacco Road on the Bob Hope show on youtube sometime).
Artist: Status Quo
Title: Pictures Of Matchstick Men
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Francis Rossi
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah
Year: 1968
The band with the most charted singles in the UK is not the Beatles or even the Rolling Stones. It is, in fact, Status Quo, quite possibly the nearest thing to a real life version of Spinal Tap. Except for Pictures of Matchstick Men, the group has never had a hit in the US. On the other hand, they remain popular in Scandanavia, playing to sellout crowds on a regular basis (yes, they are still together).
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Steppenwolf the Second)
Writer: Kay/Moreve
Label: Priority (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Occassionally I play something so well-known that I find myself with nothing to say about it. Such is the case with Magic Carpet Ride, the second best known song from the most successful L.A. band ever to come from Canada.
Artist: Grand Funk
Title: We're An American Band
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Don Brewer
Label: Capitol
Year: 1973
I thought it might be fun to finish out the hour with something completely unexpected. In 1972 I was the bass player/vocalist in a power trio that played a lot of Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath and the like. Shortly after that band split up I started taking broadcasting classes from Tim Daniels, an Air Force Sergeant who had previously worked for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (the same station that Adrian Cronauer worked at, although at that time nobody outside the military had ever heard of him). That led to my first regular airshift on the "Voice of Holloman" a closed-circuit station that was piped into the gym and bowling alley and some of the barracks at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. One of the hot new records that the station got promo copies of was We're An American Band, pressed on bright yellow translucent vinyl with the stereo version on one side and the mono mix on the other. I snagged one of the extra copies Capitol sent and have somehow managed to hang onto it over the years.
Artist: Gentrys
Title: Don't Send Me No Flowers
Source: LP: special disc jockey record (originally released on LP: Keep On Dancin')
Writer: Weiss
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1965
The Gentrys were a Memphis band that are best known for their 1965 hit Keep On Dancin'. A pair of LPs followed, but the Gentrys were not able to duplicate the success of that first major hit (although a couple of singles did hit the lower regions of the charts).
Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (first released on CD: Someone To Love-The Early San Francisco Sounds)
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1964, first released 1996 (UK only)
At first glance this may look like a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene, making this an appropriate track to start off a San Francisco set. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the Youngbloods shortened the title to Get Together, that the song became a major hit.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: It's No Secret
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The first Jefferson Airplane song to get played on the radio was not Somebody To Love. Rather, it was It's No Secret, from the first Airplane album, that got extensive airplay, albeit only in the San Francisco Bay area. Still, the song was featured on a 1966 Bell Telephone Hour special on Haight Ashbury that introduced a national TV audience to what was happening out on the coast and may have just touched off the exodus to San Francisco the following year.
Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: Piece Of My Heart
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Ragovoy/Burns
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
By 1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company, with their charismatic vocalist from Texas, Janis Joplin, had become as popular as fellow San Francisco bands Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Somehow, though, they were still without a major label record deal. That all changed with the release of Cheap Thrills, with cover art by the legendary underground comix artist R. Crumb. The album itself was a curious mixture of live performances and studio tracks, the latter being led by the band's powerful cover of the 1966 Barbara Lynn tune Piece Of My Heart. The song propelled the band, and Joplin, to stardom. That stardom would be short-lived for most of the band members, however, as well-meaning but ultimately wrong-headed advice-givers convinced Joplin that Big Brother was holding her back. The reality was that the band was uniquely suited to support her better than anyone she would ever work with again.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: CD: The Rising Sons
Writer: Goodman/Lee
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: Recorded 1966, released 1996
Columbia Records did not have a clue what to do with the Rising Sons. Part of the problem was that they were playing the same clubs on Sunset Strip as bands like Love, the Leaves, and the Seeds, yet did not play anywhere near the same type of music as those psychedelic underground garage/punk flower power type bands. Instead, the Rising Sons were big fans of the blues and of 50s R&B artists such as Bobby Blue Bland and Shirley and Lee, with many of the songs in their repertoire being originally recorded by those artists. One example of this is Let The Good Times Roll. The Rising Sons version of the tune follows Shirley and Lee's version closely. Another thing that ultimately led to Columbia's decision not to release the Rising Sons recordings is that fact that the band itself was multi-racial (featuring future stars Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder), and in 1966 nobody but Jan Holtzman's Elektra Records had any idea how to market a multi-racial band (Elektra had both the Butterfield Blues Band and Love on the label). Rather than ask a competitor how to do something (especially an upstart label like Elektra), the decidedly old-school Columbia executives decided to shelve the whole thing until a new generation of executives came along to release the recordings 30 years later.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Unlike the other two bands in this L.A. set, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was not a Sunset Strip club band. In fact, the WCPAEB really didn't play that many live performances in their career, although those they did play tended to be at high profile venues such as the Hollywood Bowl. The band was formed when the Harris brothers, sons of an accomplished classical musician, decided to record their own album and release it on a small local label. Only a few copies of that album, Volume One, were made and finding one now is next to impossible. That might have been the end of the story except for the fact that they were acquaintances of Kim Fowley, record producer and all-around Hollywood hustler. Fowley invited them to a party where the Yardbirds were playing; a party also attended by one Bob Markley. Markley, who was nearly ten years older than the Harris brothers, was a former TV show host from the midwest who had moved out to the coast to try his luck. Impressed by the flock of young girls surrounding the Yardbirds, Markley expressed to Fowley his desire to be a rock and roll star and have the girls flock around him, too. Fowley, ever the deal-maker, responded by introducing Markley to the Harris Brothers and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was born. With the addition of guitarist Michael Lloyd and the influence of Markley's not-inconsiderable family money, the group soon landed a contract with Reprise Records, where they proceeded to record the album Part One, which was essentially a re-recording of the album Volume One with most of the songs updated to include input from Markley and Harris. I Won't Hurt You is unusual in that it uses an actual recording of a human heart as its rhythmic backbone.
Artist: Love
Title: Revelation (conclusion)
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Lee/MacLean/Echols/Forsi
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The undisputed kings of the Sunset Strip were Love. Led by Arthur Lee, the band held down the position of house band at the Strip's most famous club, the Whiskey A-Go-Go, throughout 1966 and much of 1967, even as the club scene itself was starting to die off. Love liked being the top dog in L.A., so much so that they decided to forego touring to promote their records in favor of maintaining their presence at the Whiskey. In the long run this cost them, as many of their contemporaries (including one band that Love itself had discovered and introduced to Elektra producer Paul Rothchild: the Doors) went on to greater fame while Love remained a cult band throughout their existence. One of the highlights of their stage performances was a 19-minute jam called Revelation, a piece originally called John Hooker that served to give each band member a chance to show off with a solo. Although the band had been playing Revelation throughout 1966 (inspiring the Rolling Stones to do a similar number on one of their own albums), they did not get around to recording a studio version of Revelation until 1967. By that point they had added two new members, Tjay Cantrelli (sax) and Michael Stuart (drums), whose solos take up the last six minutes or so of the recorded version of the tune. The Harpsichord solo at the end of Revelation is played by "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who had switched from drums to keyboards when Stuart joined the group.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Wind
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Tonight's final half hour is played entirely from vinyl sources. It starts off with a set of requests that also serves as this week's only progression through the years. We start this progression in New York City, circa 1967. Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village by Bob Bruno, who played lead guitar and keyboards, and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker. Both co-founders wrote songs for the band. While Walker's material tended to have a folk-rock sound, Bruno's had more of a psychedelic jazz flavor. The song that got the most airplay was the eight-minute Wind, featuring Bruno on lead vocals.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: House In The Country
Source: LP: Child Is Father To The Man
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Our second request also comes from New York City. Al Kooper was, by 1968, one of the most respected musicians in the city, having played organ on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album and then becoming a member of the seminal jam band the Blues Project. After being offered a job as staff producer for Columbia Records New York division he came up with the surprise hit album of 1968: the classic Super Session album with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. On the Super Session album he had overdubbed horns over the basic jams and later that same year he decided to form a new group with a horn section as an integral part of the band. The band, which also featured former Blues Project member Steve Katz on guitar, was called Blood, Sweat and Tears. Kooper left after only one album, but that album, Child Is Father To The Man, remains one of the classics of its time.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Source: LP: Ssssh.
Writer: Sonny Boy Williamson
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
Our final request of the set was for "something from Ten Years After". One of the band's best-known pre-woodstock tracks was their rocked out version of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl from the album Ssssh. The first power trio I played bass in (as a Junior in high school) covered this tune. Dave the guitarist always looked right at his girlfriend Jeannie as he sang the line " I wanna baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal you" over and over. Ah, the memories of youth.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Ripple
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Garcia/Hunter
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1971
Our final set of the night starts off with an edited mono single version of the Grateful Dead tune Ripple from the American Beauty album. Usually, B sides were presented in their full-length album versions, leading me to think that maybe the band intended this, rather than Truckin' (heard on last week's show), as the side to get airplay on AM radio.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: King Of The Jungle
Source: LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tarachney/Weisberg
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
The Beacon Street Union's second album was quite a bit different from their first one, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union. Whereas Eyes consisted of all-original material, Clown included a pair of cover tunes (Blue Suede Shoes and a 17-minute version of Baby, Please Don't Go), an orchestral piece (The Clown's Overture), and this bit of strangeness. All this leads me to believe that the band itself gave up on the project halfway through, leaving producer Wes Farrell (he of Partridge Family fame) to scrounge through the outtakes and rejected tracks to fill out the album. Just my opinion, of course.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
"Everybody must get stoned." 'Nuff said.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Show # 1113 Playlist (4/2+/11)
I was recently looking over playlists from the past 3-4 months and noticed something odd. Whereas I used to do a lot of sets of a particular artist, I really hadn't done much of that lately. Anyway, I decided that Stuck in the Psychedelic Era would benefit from more artist sets, so this week we have three of them. Let me know if you think this is the right direction to go or whether I should try to fit in as many different artists each week as possible instead.
Artist: Who
Title: Happy Jack
Source: LP: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (originally released as 45 RPM single and on US LP Happy Jack)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
Happy Jack was originally released as a single in the UK in late 1966. It did not hit the US airwaves, however, until the early months of 1967. (I heard it for the first time on KLZ-FM, a Denver station whose format was a forerunner of progressive rock. KLZ-FM didn't call themselves a rock station. They instead marketed themselves as playing the top 100, as opposed to the top 60 played on KIMN, the dominant AM station in the city.) Although the song was not intended to be on an album, Decca Records quickly rearranged the track order of the Who's second album, A Quick One, to make room for the song, changing the name of the album itself to Happy Jack in the process. This rechanneled stereo mix of the song (using a much more realistic process than Capitol used with the Beach Boys' records) came out on the LP Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy in the early 1970s, but when the album was reissued on CD the original mono master was used instead.
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: Strange Days
Writer: CD: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Get Me To The World On Time
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Tucker/Jones
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Probably the most psychedelic song with a Bo Diddly beat ever recorded, Get Me To The World On Time was the second single released from the I Had To Much To Dream album. Both were co-written by Annette Tucker, although for World her partner was Jill Jones rather than Nancie Mantz. This is another one of those songs that was on the KLZ-FM top 100 that didn't get any local AM airplay.
Artist: Love
Title: Softly To Me
Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released on LP: Love)
Writer: Bryan McLean
Label: Raven (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Bryan McLean's role as a songwriter in Love was similar to George Harrison's as a Beatle. He didn't have many songs on any particular album, but those songs were universally among the best tracks on the album. The first of these was Softly To Me from the band's debut LP. Before the signing of Love in 1966, Elektra was a folk and ethnic music label whose closest thing to a rock band was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which was at that time very much into creating as authentic Chicago blues sound as possible for a band from New York. Love, on the other hand, was a bona-fide rock band that was packing the clubs on the Sunset Strip nightly. To underscore the significance of the signing, Elektra started a whole new numbering series for Love's debut album.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: You Keep Me Hangin' On
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Holland/Dozier/Holland
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The Vanilla Fudge version of You Keep Me Hangin' On was originally recorded and released in 1967, not too long after the Supremes version of the song finished its own run on the charts. It wasn't until the following year, however, the the Vanilla Fudge recording caught on with radio listeners, turning it into the band's only top 40 hit.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Are You Happy
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Speaking of catching on slowly, the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album seemed like a bottom feeder for the first year of its existence until progressive FM stations began playing the 17 minute title track. Sales of the album skyrocketed, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida ended up being to top selling LP of 1969. Of the remaining songs on the album Are You Happy probably got the most airplay, but not nearly as much as In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: The Dangling Conversation
Source: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The first Simon and Garfunkel album, Wednesday Morning 3AM, originally tanked on the charts, causing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to temporarily pursue solo careers. Simon went to England, where he wrote and recorded an album's worth of material. Meanwhile, producer Tom Wilson, fresh from producing Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, went into the studio with the original recording of the song Sound of Silence and added electric instruments to it. The result was a surprise hit that led Paul Simon to return to the US without issuing his solo album, reuniting with Art Garfunkel and re-recording several of the tunes he had recorded as a solo artist for a new album, Sounds of Silence. The success of that album prompted Columbia to re-release Wednesday Morning, 3AM, which in turn became a bestseller. Meanwhile, Simon and Garfunkel returned to the studio to record an album of all new material. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was yet another success that spawned several hit songs, including The Dangling Conversation, released as a single in fall of 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (mono mix)
Writer: Balin/Kaukonen
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when approached by Marty Balin to join a new band he was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like what Hot Tuna would sound like but with Balin's vocals instead of Kaukonen's.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy/Experience Hendrix
Year: 1968
Our first artist set of the night is by someone I promised myself I would play more of this year: Jimi Hendrix. In this particular case, all three tracks are from the third and final Experience album, Electric Ladyland. Although listed as seperate tracks on the album cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually ran together without a break on the album itself. In fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Source: CD: Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
The fourth non-album single released in the UK was Burning of the Midnight Lamp, which came out while the band was working on their second album, Axis: Bold As Love. The three previous singles (but not their B sides) had all been included on the US version of the band's first LP, Are You Experienced? By mid-1967, however, the practice of releasing US albums with a different song lineup than their British counterparts was on the way out, as the artists themselves were becoming more involved in the process. As a result, Axis: Bold As Love had exactly the same song lineup on both sides of the Atlantic, leaving Burning of the Midnight Lamp unreleased in the US until Hendrix decided to do a stereo remix and include it on Electric Ladyland.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Come On (Pt. 1)
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Earl King
Label: Legacy
Year: 1968
Despite being rated by many as the number one rock guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix's roots were in the blues. One of his most performed songs was Red House (a track that was left off the US release of Are You Experienced?), and the Experience's debut US performance at Monterey featured a amped-up version of the B.B. King classic Rock Me Baby. For the Electric Ladyland album Hendrix chose a relatively obscure tune from Earl King, originally recorded in 1962. Come On (Pt. 1) was one of only two cover songs on Electric Ladyland (the other being Dylan's All Along the Watchtower).
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Underdog
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: A Whole New Thing)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
Sly and the Family Stone were a showstopper at the Woodstock festival in 1969, but their story starts years before that historic performance. Sylvester Stewart was a popular DJ and record producer in mid-60s San Francisco, responsible for the first recordings of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and the Great! Society, among others. During that time he became acquainted with a wealth of talent, including bassist Larry Graham. In 1967, with Autumn Records having been sold to and closed down by Warner Brothers, he decided to form his own band. Anchored by Graham, Sly and the Family Stone's first LP, A Whole New Thing, was possibly the first funk album.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Pipe Dream
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Pipe Dream, the Blues Magoos strong follow-up single to (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was handicapped by having an equally strong track, There's A Chance We Can Make It, on the other side of the record. As it was not Mercury's policy to push one side of a single over the other, stations were confused about which song to play. The result was that each tune got about an equal amount of airplay. With each song getting airplay on only half the available stations, neither tune was able to make a strong showing in the charts. This had the ripple effect of slowing down album sales of Electric Comic Book, which in turn hurt the careers of the members of the Blues Magoos.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Desiree
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Brown/Feher
Label: Rhino (original label: Smash)
Year: 1967
For a while it looked as if the Left Banke would emerge as one of the most important bands of the late 60s. They certainly got off to a good start, with back-to-back top 10 singles Walk Away Renee and Pretty Ballerina. But then bandleader Michael Brown and Smash Records made a serious misstep, issuing a Brown solo effort called utilizing studio musicians and trying to pass it off as a Left Banke record. The other band members refused to go along with the charade and sent out letters to their fan club membership denouncing the single. The outraged fans, in turn, threatened to boycott any radio stations that played the single. Brown and the rest of the band, meanwhile, managed to patch things up enough to record a new single, Desiree, and released the song in late 1967. By then, however, radio stations were leary of playing anything with the words Left Banke on the label, and the song failed to chart, despite being an outstanding single. Brown left the Left Banke soon after.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Truckin'
Source: single (reissue)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1971
The nearest thing the Grateful Dead had to a hit single before 1986 was Truckin', a feelgood tune sung by Bob Weir from the Workingman's Dead album. I actually have a video clip on DVD of the band doing the song live on some TV show.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Daydream
Source: single (reissue)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Buddah (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year: 1966
One of the most popular songs of 1966 was Daydream by the Lovin' Spoonful. Like many of the songs on the Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful album, Daydream is a departure from the style of the band's early singles such as Do You Believe In Magic. It's also one of the few songs with whistling in it to hit the number one spot on the charts.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Round
Source: CD: This Was
Writer: Anderson/Abrahams/Cornish/Bunker
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1968
Fishing out the first hour we have a one-minute piece from the first Jethro Tull album. It was probably just a short warm-up jam (or possibly a break song) that the band decided to include at the end of the album.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
In 1967 the talk of the town in L.A. was the hip new record label, Buddah, which had evolved from Kama Sutra records, home of the Lovin' Spoonful. The label had issued the first LPs by Captain Beefheart and the Jimi Hendrix produced Eire Apparent, among others, giving it tremendous street credibility. Within a year, however, that street cred had been replaced with derision, as Buddah had become known as the "bubble gum" label. The first step in that incredible journey was the issuance of Green Tambourine, a single by an Ohio band, the Lemon Pipers, in late 1967. The song became Buddah's first number one hit and paved the way for other bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express, both of which had several bubble gum hits (with titles like Chewy Chewy and Indian Giver and 1,2,3 Red Light) for the label in 1968.
Artist: Animals
Title: Hey Gyp
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on US-only LP: Animalism)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1966
Shortly before the original Animals disbanded in 1966, M-G-M Records collected several songs that had yet to be issued in the US and put out an album called Animalism (not to be confused with Animalisms, a UK album from earlier that year). One of the more outstanding tracks on that album was this cover of a Donovan tune that almost seems like it was written with Eric Burdon's voice in mind.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Hotel Hell
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
The first album by the New Animals (generally known as Eric Burdon and the Animals) was Winds of Change, issued in mid-1967. Although the album was not particularly well-received at the time, it has, in more recent years, come to be regarded as a classic. Hotel Hell is a moody piece that showcases Eric Burdon's darker side.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
One of the first appearances of the New Animals on stage was at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The experience (pun intended) so impressed the group that they wrote a song about it. The song was issued both as a single and on the LP: The Twain Shall Meet. The single used a mono mix; the LP version, while in stereo, was overlapped at both the beginning and end by adjoining tracks, and was missing the first few seconds of the single version. The version used here was created by splicing the mono intro onto the stereo main portion of the song, fading it a bit early to avoid the overlap from the LP. This process (called making a "cut down") was first done by a company called Drake-Chenault, which supplied tapes to radio stations using the most pristine stereo versions of songs available. Whether Polydor used the Drake-Chenault version or did the cut down itself, the version is the same.
Artist: Rascals
Title: My World
Source: LP: Once Upon A Dream
Writer: Cavaliere/Brigati
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1968
The Rascals are pretty much universally acknowledged as the most popular blue-eyed soul band ever. To avoid lawsuits from the owners of the Little Rascals film franchise, the group lengthened their name to the Young Rascals when they started making records in 1966. As of the Once Upon A Dream LP, they went back to their original name. At that time the band was concerned that they were starting to get stale and wanted to expand their musical horizons. The result was an album that was considered both their best (by critics) and worst (by fans). One of the songs that hearkened back to their original style was My World, which starts off side two of the LP.
Artist: Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
Title: Poor Old Organ Grinder
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tandyn Almer
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1969
Tandyn Almer had one of the most innovative minds in late 60s L.A., both in and out of the recording studio (he was the inventor of the dual-chamber bong, for instance). Poor Old Organ Grinder was a song originally intended for Tommy Flanders, the original lead vocalist for the Blues Project. Flanders, however, was not able to hit the high notes. As Almers was about to cancel the entire project one of the recording engineers, Billy Elder, convinced Almer to let him take a shot at the song, and the result is the recording heard here.
Artist: Graham Nash
Title: Man In The Mirror
Source: LP: Songs For Beginners
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
I recently mistakenly identified Graham Nash's Prison Song as being from the Songs For Beginners album. This is probably because I had this LP with me at the studios at the time and got confused (my copy of Prison Song is on 45 RPM vinyl). Hey, it happens at my age, OK? Anyway, here is a song from the LP itself, which was one of a group of solo albums from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young that were released after Deja Vu tore up the LP charts.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: The Behemoth
Source: CD: Dark Sides (originally released on LP: Back Door Men)
Writer: Pye
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
When it comes to garage punk bands of the sixties there are two that are generally considered to be at the top of the heap. Unlike the Standells, who started off as a bar band and only embraced the punk ethic when they hooked up with writer/producer Ed Cobb, the Shadows of Knight were the real deal. Coming from the Chicago suburbs, they literally got their start practicing in the garage, slowly graduating to parties and high school dances, getting banned from at least one high school campus in the process (something having to do with a student getting knocked up, rumor has it). The Shadows (as they were originally known) cited the British blues bands as their main influence, with a dose of Chicago blues thrown in for good measure. The Behemoth, a track from their second album, Back Door Men, was chosen for a 1967 B side as well.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: I'm Gonna Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bayer/Carr/D'Errico
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The follow-up single to the Shadows' hit single Gloria was I'm Gonna Make You Mine, possibly the loudest rocking song ever recorded at that point in time. By the way, the Knight part of their name came from the name of their high school sports teams, the Knights. They adopted it when they first started making records just in case there were any other bands out there called the Shadows.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Dark Side
Source: CD: Dark Sides
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Finishing out our set of tunes from the Shadows of Knight (bet ya didn't see that coming) we have the B side of their first hit, Gloria. Dark Side, written by guitarist Warren Rogers and singer Jim Sohns, is probably the quintessential Shadows of Knight song. It has all the classic elements of a garage rock song: three chords, a blues beat and lots of attitude. Oh, and the lyrics "I love you baby more than birds love the sky". What more can you ask for?
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Writer: Durill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: My Obsession
Source: LP: Between The Buttons
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
My Obsession is the kind of song that garage bands loved: easy to learn, easy to sing, easy to dance to. The Rolling Stones, of course, were the kings of this type of song, which is why so many US garage bands sounded like the Stones.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Triad
Source: CD: The Notorius Byrd Brothers (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
By fall of 1967 David Crosby had pretty much pissed off Jim (now Roger) McGuinn about as much as he could without getting kicked out of the Byrds. In June he had made statements to the effect that the US government was covering up the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and gone on stage and performed with a rival band, the Buffalo Springfield (filling in for Neil Young, who had just quit the band). And he did this all at the same time and place, the Monterey International Pop Festival. Nobody but the participants knows for sure what the final straw was that got Crosby booted from the band, but before it happened they had recorded this original version of song that would appear on the 1968 Jefferson Airplane album Crown of Creation. The Byrds version of Triad was naturally left off the album the group had been working on (the Notorious Byrd Brothers), only surfacing years later on a Byrds anthology album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Don't Step On The Grass, Sam
Source: CD: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
No hidden facts about this one. Just a great song.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike
Source: LP: Spirit of '67
Writer: Revere/Melcher/Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Often dismissed for their Revolutionary War costumes and frequent TV appearances, Paul Revere and the Raiders were actually one of the first great rock bands to emerge from the Pacific Northwest. Their accomplishments include recording Louie Louie BEFORE the Kingsmen did and being the first rock band signed to industry giant Columbia Records. The Great Airplane Strike is a good example of just how good a band they really were.
Artist: Who
Title: Happy Jack
Source: LP: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (originally released as 45 RPM single and on US LP Happy Jack)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
Happy Jack was originally released as a single in the UK in late 1966. It did not hit the US airwaves, however, until the early months of 1967. (I heard it for the first time on KLZ-FM, a Denver station whose format was a forerunner of progressive rock. KLZ-FM didn't call themselves a rock station. They instead marketed themselves as playing the top 100, as opposed to the top 60 played on KIMN, the dominant AM station in the city.) Although the song was not intended to be on an album, Decca Records quickly rearranged the track order of the Who's second album, A Quick One, to make room for the song, changing the name of the album itself to Happy Jack in the process. This rechanneled stereo mix of the song (using a much more realistic process than Capitol used with the Beach Boys' records) came out on the LP Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy in the early 1970s, but when the album was reissued on CD the original mono master was used instead.
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: Strange Days
Writer: CD: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Get Me To The World On Time
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Tucker/Jones
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Probably the most psychedelic song with a Bo Diddly beat ever recorded, Get Me To The World On Time was the second single released from the I Had To Much To Dream album. Both were co-written by Annette Tucker, although for World her partner was Jill Jones rather than Nancie Mantz. This is another one of those songs that was on the KLZ-FM top 100 that didn't get any local AM airplay.
Artist: Love
Title: Softly To Me
Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released on LP: Love)
Writer: Bryan McLean
Label: Raven (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Bryan McLean's role as a songwriter in Love was similar to George Harrison's as a Beatle. He didn't have many songs on any particular album, but those songs were universally among the best tracks on the album. The first of these was Softly To Me from the band's debut LP. Before the signing of Love in 1966, Elektra was a folk and ethnic music label whose closest thing to a rock band was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which was at that time very much into creating as authentic Chicago blues sound as possible for a band from New York. Love, on the other hand, was a bona-fide rock band that was packing the clubs on the Sunset Strip nightly. To underscore the significance of the signing, Elektra started a whole new numbering series for Love's debut album.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: You Keep Me Hangin' On
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Holland/Dozier/Holland
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The Vanilla Fudge version of You Keep Me Hangin' On was originally recorded and released in 1967, not too long after the Supremes version of the song finished its own run on the charts. It wasn't until the following year, however, the the Vanilla Fudge recording caught on with radio listeners, turning it into the band's only top 40 hit.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Are You Happy
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer: Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Speaking of catching on slowly, the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album seemed like a bottom feeder for the first year of its existence until progressive FM stations began playing the 17 minute title track. Sales of the album skyrocketed, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida ended up being to top selling LP of 1969. Of the remaining songs on the album Are You Happy probably got the most airplay, but not nearly as much as In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: The Dangling Conversation
Source: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The first Simon and Garfunkel album, Wednesday Morning 3AM, originally tanked on the charts, causing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to temporarily pursue solo careers. Simon went to England, where he wrote and recorded an album's worth of material. Meanwhile, producer Tom Wilson, fresh from producing Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, went into the studio with the original recording of the song Sound of Silence and added electric instruments to it. The result was a surprise hit that led Paul Simon to return to the US without issuing his solo album, reuniting with Art Garfunkel and re-recording several of the tunes he had recorded as a solo artist for a new album, Sounds of Silence. The success of that album prompted Columbia to re-release Wednesday Morning, 3AM, which in turn became a bestseller. Meanwhile, Simon and Garfunkel returned to the studio to record an album of all new material. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was yet another success that spawned several hit songs, including The Dangling Conversation, released as a single in fall of 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (mono mix)
Writer: Balin/Kaukonen
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when approached by Marty Balin to join a new band he was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like what Hot Tuna would sound like but with Balin's vocals instead of Kaukonen's.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy/Experience Hendrix
Year: 1968
Our first artist set of the night is by someone I promised myself I would play more of this year: Jimi Hendrix. In this particular case, all three tracks are from the third and final Experience album, Electric Ladyland. Although listed as seperate tracks on the album cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually ran together without a break on the album itself. In fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Source: CD: Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
The fourth non-album single released in the UK was Burning of the Midnight Lamp, which came out while the band was working on their second album, Axis: Bold As Love. The three previous singles (but not their B sides) had all been included on the US version of the band's first LP, Are You Experienced? By mid-1967, however, the practice of releasing US albums with a different song lineup than their British counterparts was on the way out, as the artists themselves were becoming more involved in the process. As a result, Axis: Bold As Love had exactly the same song lineup on both sides of the Atlantic, leaving Burning of the Midnight Lamp unreleased in the US until Hendrix decided to do a stereo remix and include it on Electric Ladyland.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Come On (Pt. 1)
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Earl King
Label: Legacy
Year: 1968
Despite being rated by many as the number one rock guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix's roots were in the blues. One of his most performed songs was Red House (a track that was left off the US release of Are You Experienced?), and the Experience's debut US performance at Monterey featured a amped-up version of the B.B. King classic Rock Me Baby. For the Electric Ladyland album Hendrix chose a relatively obscure tune from Earl King, originally recorded in 1962. Come On (Pt. 1) was one of only two cover songs on Electric Ladyland (the other being Dylan's All Along the Watchtower).
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Underdog
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: A Whole New Thing)
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
Sly and the Family Stone were a showstopper at the Woodstock festival in 1969, but their story starts years before that historic performance. Sylvester Stewart was a popular DJ and record producer in mid-60s San Francisco, responsible for the first recordings of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and the Great! Society, among others. During that time he became acquainted with a wealth of talent, including bassist Larry Graham. In 1967, with Autumn Records having been sold to and closed down by Warner Brothers, he decided to form his own band. Anchored by Graham, Sly and the Family Stone's first LP, A Whole New Thing, was possibly the first funk album.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Pipe Dream
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Pipe Dream, the Blues Magoos strong follow-up single to (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was handicapped by having an equally strong track, There's A Chance We Can Make It, on the other side of the record. As it was not Mercury's policy to push one side of a single over the other, stations were confused about which song to play. The result was that each tune got about an equal amount of airplay. With each song getting airplay on only half the available stations, neither tune was able to make a strong showing in the charts. This had the ripple effect of slowing down album sales of Electric Comic Book, which in turn hurt the careers of the members of the Blues Magoos.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Desiree
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Brown/Feher
Label: Rhino (original label: Smash)
Year: 1967
For a while it looked as if the Left Banke would emerge as one of the most important bands of the late 60s. They certainly got off to a good start, with back-to-back top 10 singles Walk Away Renee and Pretty Ballerina. But then bandleader Michael Brown and Smash Records made a serious misstep, issuing a Brown solo effort called utilizing studio musicians and trying to pass it off as a Left Banke record. The other band members refused to go along with the charade and sent out letters to their fan club membership denouncing the single. The outraged fans, in turn, threatened to boycott any radio stations that played the single. Brown and the rest of the band, meanwhile, managed to patch things up enough to record a new single, Desiree, and released the song in late 1967. By then, however, radio stations were leary of playing anything with the words Left Banke on the label, and the song failed to chart, despite being an outstanding single. Brown left the Left Banke soon after.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Truckin'
Source: single (reissue)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1971
The nearest thing the Grateful Dead had to a hit single before 1986 was Truckin', a feelgood tune sung by Bob Weir from the Workingman's Dead album. I actually have a video clip on DVD of the band doing the song live on some TV show.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Daydream
Source: single (reissue)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Buddah (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year: 1966
One of the most popular songs of 1966 was Daydream by the Lovin' Spoonful. Like many of the songs on the Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful album, Daydream is a departure from the style of the band's early singles such as Do You Believe In Magic. It's also one of the few songs with whistling in it to hit the number one spot on the charts.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Round
Source: CD: This Was
Writer: Anderson/Abrahams/Cornish/Bunker
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1968
Fishing out the first hour we have a one-minute piece from the first Jethro Tull album. It was probably just a short warm-up jam (or possibly a break song) that the band decided to include at the end of the album.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
In 1967 the talk of the town in L.A. was the hip new record label, Buddah, which had evolved from Kama Sutra records, home of the Lovin' Spoonful. The label had issued the first LPs by Captain Beefheart and the Jimi Hendrix produced Eire Apparent, among others, giving it tremendous street credibility. Within a year, however, that street cred had been replaced with derision, as Buddah had become known as the "bubble gum" label. The first step in that incredible journey was the issuance of Green Tambourine, a single by an Ohio band, the Lemon Pipers, in late 1967. The song became Buddah's first number one hit and paved the way for other bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express, both of which had several bubble gum hits (with titles like Chewy Chewy and Indian Giver and 1,2,3 Red Light) for the label in 1968.
Artist: Animals
Title: Hey Gyp
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released on US-only LP: Animalism)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1966
Shortly before the original Animals disbanded in 1966, M-G-M Records collected several songs that had yet to be issued in the US and put out an album called Animalism (not to be confused with Animalisms, a UK album from earlier that year). One of the more outstanding tracks on that album was this cover of a Donovan tune that almost seems like it was written with Eric Burdon's voice in mind.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Hotel Hell
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
The first album by the New Animals (generally known as Eric Burdon and the Animals) was Winds of Change, issued in mid-1967. Although the album was not particularly well-received at the time, it has, in more recent years, come to be regarded as a classic. Hotel Hell is a moody piece that showcases Eric Burdon's darker side.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: Monterey
Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
One of the first appearances of the New Animals on stage was at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The experience (pun intended) so impressed the group that they wrote a song about it. The song was issued both as a single and on the LP: The Twain Shall Meet. The single used a mono mix; the LP version, while in stereo, was overlapped at both the beginning and end by adjoining tracks, and was missing the first few seconds of the single version. The version used here was created by splicing the mono intro onto the stereo main portion of the song, fading it a bit early to avoid the overlap from the LP. This process (called making a "cut down") was first done by a company called Drake-Chenault, which supplied tapes to radio stations using the most pristine stereo versions of songs available. Whether Polydor used the Drake-Chenault version or did the cut down itself, the version is the same.
Artist: Rascals
Title: My World
Source: LP: Once Upon A Dream
Writer: Cavaliere/Brigati
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1968
The Rascals are pretty much universally acknowledged as the most popular blue-eyed soul band ever. To avoid lawsuits from the owners of the Little Rascals film franchise, the group lengthened their name to the Young Rascals when they started making records in 1966. As of the Once Upon A Dream LP, they went back to their original name. At that time the band was concerned that they were starting to get stale and wanted to expand their musical horizons. The result was an album that was considered both their best (by critics) and worst (by fans). One of the songs that hearkened back to their original style was My World, which starts off side two of the LP.
Artist: Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
Title: Poor Old Organ Grinder
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tandyn Almer
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1969
Tandyn Almer had one of the most innovative minds in late 60s L.A., both in and out of the recording studio (he was the inventor of the dual-chamber bong, for instance). Poor Old Organ Grinder was a song originally intended for Tommy Flanders, the original lead vocalist for the Blues Project. Flanders, however, was not able to hit the high notes. As Almers was about to cancel the entire project one of the recording engineers, Billy Elder, convinced Almer to let him take a shot at the song, and the result is the recording heard here.
Artist: Graham Nash
Title: Man In The Mirror
Source: LP: Songs For Beginners
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
I recently mistakenly identified Graham Nash's Prison Song as being from the Songs For Beginners album. This is probably because I had this LP with me at the studios at the time and got confused (my copy of Prison Song is on 45 RPM vinyl). Hey, it happens at my age, OK? Anyway, here is a song from the LP itself, which was one of a group of solo albums from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young that were released after Deja Vu tore up the LP charts.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: The Behemoth
Source: CD: Dark Sides (originally released on LP: Back Door Men)
Writer: Pye
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
When it comes to garage punk bands of the sixties there are two that are generally considered to be at the top of the heap. Unlike the Standells, who started off as a bar band and only embraced the punk ethic when they hooked up with writer/producer Ed Cobb, the Shadows of Knight were the real deal. Coming from the Chicago suburbs, they literally got their start practicing in the garage, slowly graduating to parties and high school dances, getting banned from at least one high school campus in the process (something having to do with a student getting knocked up, rumor has it). The Shadows (as they were originally known) cited the British blues bands as their main influence, with a dose of Chicago blues thrown in for good measure. The Behemoth, a track from their second album, Back Door Men, was chosen for a 1967 B side as well.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: I'm Gonna Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bayer/Carr/D'Errico
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The follow-up single to the Shadows' hit single Gloria was I'm Gonna Make You Mine, possibly the loudest rocking song ever recorded at that point in time. By the way, the Knight part of their name came from the name of their high school sports teams, the Knights. They adopted it when they first started making records just in case there were any other bands out there called the Shadows.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Dark Side
Source: CD: Dark Sides
Writer: Rogers/Sohns
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Finishing out our set of tunes from the Shadows of Knight (bet ya didn't see that coming) we have the B side of their first hit, Gloria. Dark Side, written by guitarist Warren Rogers and singer Jim Sohns, is probably the quintessential Shadows of Knight song. It has all the classic elements of a garage rock song: three chords, a blues beat and lots of attitude. Oh, and the lyrics "I love you baby more than birds love the sky". What more can you ask for?
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Writer: Durill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: My Obsession
Source: LP: Between The Buttons
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
My Obsession is the kind of song that garage bands loved: easy to learn, easy to sing, easy to dance to. The Rolling Stones, of course, were the kings of this type of song, which is why so many US garage bands sounded like the Stones.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Triad
Source: CD: The Notorius Byrd Brothers (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
By fall of 1967 David Crosby had pretty much pissed off Jim (now Roger) McGuinn about as much as he could without getting kicked out of the Byrds. In June he had made statements to the effect that the US government was covering up the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and gone on stage and performed with a rival band, the Buffalo Springfield (filling in for Neil Young, who had just quit the band). And he did this all at the same time and place, the Monterey International Pop Festival. Nobody but the participants knows for sure what the final straw was that got Crosby booted from the band, but before it happened they had recorded this original version of song that would appear on the 1968 Jefferson Airplane album Crown of Creation. The Byrds version of Triad was naturally left off the album the group had been working on (the Notorious Byrd Brothers), only surfacing years later on a Byrds anthology album.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Don't Step On The Grass, Sam
Source: CD: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer: John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
No hidden facts about this one. Just a great song.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: The Great Airplane Strike
Source: LP: Spirit of '67
Writer: Revere/Melcher/Lindsay
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Often dismissed for their Revolutionary War costumes and frequent TV appearances, Paul Revere and the Raiders were actually one of the first great rock bands to emerge from the Pacific Northwest. Their accomplishments include recording Louie Louie BEFORE the Kingsmen did and being the first rock band signed to industry giant Columbia Records. The Great Airplane Strike is a good example of just how good a band they really were.
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