Artist: Nazz
Title: Open My Eyes
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Todd Rundgren
Label: Rhino (original label: SGC)
Year 1968
The Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, among others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts (a new version would become a solo hit for Rundgren five years later).
Artist: New Breed
Title: Want Ad Reader
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Floegel/Hullin/Phillips/Schmidt
Label: Rhino (original label: World United)
Year 1966
The New Breed was Sacramento's most popular local band in the mid-1960s. Although they did not score any national hits they did launch the career of Timothy B. Schmidt, who later went on to replace Randy Meisner in Poco (and even later replaced Meisner in the Eagles). The rest of the New Breed didn't do too badly, either. After changing their name to Glad and recording an album for Dunhill (with Schmidt still a member), the group eventually became known as Redwing, recording five country-rock albums in the 70s.
Artist: Paupers
Title: Another Man's Hair On My Razor
Source: LP: Ellis Island
Writer: Adam Mitchell
Label: Verve Forecast
Year 1968
Originally from Toronto, Canada, the Paupers migrated to New York City in time to open for groups such as Jefferson Airplane, reportedly blowing them off the stage in the process. For some mysterious reason the band was unable to duplicate their stage success on vinyl and after two albums (Ellis Island being the second), quietly disbanded. Drummer Skip Prokop, however, stayed in New York, become one of the city's most sought-after studio musicians.
Artist: Standells
Title: Why Pick On Me
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year 1966
Ed Cobb was, in many ways, the Ed Wood of the record industry. The bands who recorded under his guidance, such as LA.'s Standells, have become legends of garage rock. Wood wrote the first three singles released by the Standells, including their biggest hit, Dirty Water, and its follow-up, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White. Why Pick On Me, the title track of the band's second LP, was the third single released by the band, although it did not chart as well as its predecessors.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Epistle To Dippy
Source: CD: Mellow Yellow (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original US label: Epic)
Year 1967
Following up on his successful Mellow Yellow album, Donovan released Epistle To Dippy in the spring of 1967. The song, utilizing the same kind of instrumentation as Mellow Yellow, was further proof that the Scottish singer was continuing to move beyond the restrictions of the "folk singer" label and was quickly becoming the model for what would come to be called "singer/songwriters" in the following decade.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Gonna Have A Good Time
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Vanda/Young
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year 1968
The Easybeats were Australia's most popular band in the sixties. Formed in 1964 at a migrant hostel in Sidney (all the members came from immigrant families), the band's earliest hits were written by rhythm guitarist George Young (older brother of AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young) and lead vocalist "Little" Stevie Wright. By 1966, however, lead guitarist Harry Vanda (originally from the Netherlands) had become fluent in English and with the song Friday On My Mind replaced Wright as Young's writing partner (although Wright stayed on as the band's frontman). One of the Easybeats' biggest hits in Australia was Good Times from the album Vigil. I can't verify whether Gonna Have A Good Time is actually Good Times or not, but what little information I have (such as the fact that Good Times was covered by INXS for the film The Lost Boys and my own memory of hearing a remake of this song sometime in the late 80s) leads me to believe that the two are one and the same. Young and Vanda later recorded a series of records under the name Flash and the Pan that were very successful in Australia and Europe. Stevie Wright went on to become Australia's first international pop star.
Artist: Fifty Foot Hose
Title: Rose
Source: LP: Cauldron
Writer: David Blossom
Label: Limelight
Year 1968
Although most of the more avant-garde bands of the psychedelic era were headquarted in New York, there were some exceptions, such as San Francisco's Fifty Foot Hose. The core members of the band were founder and bassist Louis "Cork" Marcheschi, guitarist David Blossom, and his wife, vocalist Nancy Blossom. The group used a lot of unusual instruments, such as theramin, Moog synthesizer and prepared guitar and piano. After one album the group called it quits, with most of the members joining the cast of Hair. In fact, Nancy Blossom played lead character Sheila in the San Francisco production of the musical.
Artist: Them
Title: Go On Home Baby
Source: LP: Them (UK title: The Angry Young Them)
Writer: Bert Berns/Wes Farrell
Label: Parrot
Year 1965
With Van Morrison one of rock's most respected songwriters it may come as a surprise that he only wrote five songs on his debut album with the band Them. The rest of the songs on the LP were covers, three of them from songwriter Bert Berns, who wrote Twist and Shout and Piece of My Heart, among others. If the song's signature line seems familiar it's because it is virtually identical to the one in the 1966 Beach Boys hit Sloop John B.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Linda and Keith Colley
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Los Angeles-based Knickerbockers went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. I did a little research and was surprised to discover that this is the first time I've played One Track Mind since Stuck in the Psychedelic Era went into syndication a year ago.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: My Best Friend
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: RCA Victor
Year 1967
Although drummer Skip Spence had left Jefferson Airplane after the group's first LP, he did leave a song behind. My Best Friend was actually released as a single before Somebody To Love, making it the first single released from the Surrealistic Pillow album.
Artist: Southwest F.O.B.
Title: Smell Of Incense
Source: LP: Smell Of Incense
Writer: Markley/Morgan
Label: Hip
Year 1968
When I first ran across this album I immediately recognized the title as being the same as one of the better songs by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. As it turns out it's because Southwest F.O.B. issued their version of the Bob Markley/Ron Morgan song as their only single, and used it as the opening track on their only LP as well. What I didn't realize at the time is that Southwest F.O.B (F.O.B. standing for "freight on board") was the launching pad for the careers of England Dan Seals and John Ford Coley. The duo had a string of solo hits in the late 1970s, and Seals went on to become one of the top country artists of the 1980s (his song Bop is still heard on many country stations).
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Catch The Wind
Source: LP: DJ sampler (originally released on LP: Live at the Cafe Au Go Go)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Verve Forecast
Year 1966
One of the more underrated talents in US rock is guitarist Steve Katz. One of the original members of the Blues Project, Katz always comes across as a team player, subsuming his own ego to the good of the band. When it was time for Andy Kuhlberg to play a flute solo onstage at Monterey, Katz was the one who obligingly shifted over to bass guitar to cover for him. Steve Katz did occasionally get the chance to shine, though. As a singer/songwriter he provided Sometimes In Winter for the album Blood, Sweat and Tears and Steve's Song for the Blues Project's Projections album. One of his more obscure recordings is the Blues Project version of Donovan's Catch The Wind from the band's debut album and included on a special DJ sampler album distributed to radio stations in 1966.
Artist: Monkees
Title: She
Source: CD: Listen To The Band (originally released on LP: More of the Monkees)
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year 1967
I originally found the song She to be a source of endless frustration. As a thirteen-year-old when the Monkees first TV show hit the airwaves, I was dead center in the target audience for the band. I embraced the role for a while, at least long enough to buy a copy of More Of The Monkees the day it came out. Unfortunately, the only record player we had was a old portable that used a sapphire needle. I got the record home, opened up the shrink wrap and listened to the record skip through most of the first song. As the Sears store I bought the album at was halfway across the city I had to wait a couple days before taking it back to get another copy. I got that one home, opened it and...yep, it skipped too, as did my third and final copy. I figured out years later that by 1967 even the cheapest portable record players were using diamond needles and that major labels like RCA were using pressing methods geared toward the newer machines. In 1968 I finally got one of those cheap portables as a birthday present, but by then was more into the Who and Procol Harum.
Artist: Humane Society
Title: Eternal Prison
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Danny Minnich
Label: Rhino (original label: New World)
Year 1968
If I had heard of the Humane Society when they were around, I probably would have bought this record. Unfortunately for me, they got little attention outside of the L.A. area and I was about 6,000 miles east of L.A. in Ramstein, Germany. At least I had my Procol Harum and Who albums.
Artist: Bob Seger System
Title: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Bob Seger
Label: Capitol
Year 1969
People who are familiar with the 70s and 80s hits of Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band may be surprised to hear how much raw energy there is on Seger's early recordings with the Bob Seger System. The best known of these early records is Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, released as a single in 1969. The song did pretty well at the time, but it would be several years before Seger would return to the charts.
Artist: Mother Earth
Title: Take Me In Your Arms, Rock Me A Little While
Source: LP: Satisfied
Writer: Holland/Dozier/Holland
Label: Mercury
Year 1970
Although the band was named Mother Earth (after the Memphis Slim song) they could have just as easily been called the Tracy Nelson band. Nelson had migrated to the San Francisco area from Wisconson in the early 60s and was already a fixture on the scene when she formed Mother Earth in 1968. As her recording of Take Me In Your Arms, Rock Me A Little While (which had been a hit for Kim Weston in the mid 60s and would later be covered by the Doobie Brothers) shows, Nelson had a style and substance all her own and did not seem in the least bit interested in following current trends in order to sell records.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Catfish Blues
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Canned Heat)
Writer: Robert Petway
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year 1967
Like many other US cities in the 1960s, San Francisco had a small but enthusiastic community of collectors of blues records. A group of them got together in 1966 to form Canned Heat, and made quite an impression when they played the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. This led to a contract with Liberty Records and an album consisting entirely of cover versions of blues standards. One standout track from that album is Robert Petway's Catfish Blues, expanded to over six minutes by the Heat.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: 1906 (single mix)
Source: Volume 3: A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Markley/Morgan
Label: Sundazed
Year 1967
I have recently been in contact with Robert Morgan, brother of the late Ron Morgan, guitarist for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. I asked him if his brother had ever received royalties from song's like Smell of Incense, which was released as a single by the Texas band Southwest F.O.B. He replied that Ron had received a check for something like eight dollars shortly before his death, but that he had always felt that bandleader Bob Markley had paid him fairly for his services. He then went on to say that Ron Morgan was more interested in making his mark than in getting any financial compensation. Attitudes like that are why I do this show. It's hard to imagine many of today's pop stars making a statement like that and meaning it.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: The Clown's Overture
Source: CD: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Fallon
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year 1968
The second album from the Beacon Street Union was a departure from the first LP, with several tracks utilizing strings and horns. One track in particular, The Clowns' Overture, is entirely orchestral, with no apparent participation by the band members themselves. This was probably done at the behest of producer Wes Farrell, who would have his greatest success as the man behind the music of the Partridge Family a couple years later.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: She's My Baby
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released twice as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stewart/Alaimo/Curcio
Label: Rhino (original label: Autumn, reissued on Reprise)
Year 1966
The Mojo Men were formed in the early 60s in Rochester, NY. After spending a few years playing frat parties in southern Florida, the band migrated to San Francisco in 1965, where they landed a contract with Autumn Records. Their last single for Autumn was She's My Baby, produced by Sly Stone. When Autumn went out of business in 1966, new owner Warner Brothers Records renewed the band's contract, re-issuing She's My Baby on its Reprise subsidiary.
Artist: Who
Title: Bucket T
Source: LP: Magic Bus (original released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Atfield/Christian/Torrance
Label: MCA (original label: Track)
Year 1966
Ready Steady Go was Britain's answer to American Bandstand. A hugely popular one-shot special edition of the show called Ready Steady Who aired in 1966. A five song EP (also called Ready Steady Who) had an entirely different set of songs than the TV special, and included some real oddities such as their version of the Batman theme and Bucket T, a hot rod song from earlier in the decade.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: Where Were You When I Needed You
Source: CD: Temptation Eyes
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year 1966
The Grass Roots were the brainchild of songwriters Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan. The first thing they recorded was a demo version of Where Were You When I Needed You using studio musicians and featuring the songwriters themselves on vocals. When Dunhill Records president Lou Adler expressed an interest in the concept Sloan and Barri started shopping around for an existing band that would be willing to change its name to the Grass Roots and perform Sloan and Barri's songs. The band that got the job was the Bedouins, a San Francisco group that had already released a record under their own name. The first record to be released under the Grass Roots banner was a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones (Ballad Of A Thin Man), that received moderate airplay on Southern California radio stations. The group then cut a new version of Where Were You When I Needed You, but parted company with Sloan and Barri before the record was released, citing a lack of artistic freedom and moving back to San Francisco. Dunhill decided to release the record anyway and it ended up as the Grass Roots' first single to hit the Billboard Hot 100. Once again Sloan and Barri found themselves with a name but no band, and after briefly flirting with the idea of hiring another existing group ended up assembling an entirely new lineup. This new group, which ended up recording yet another version of Where Were You When I Needed You, went on to score a string of hit singles in the 1970s. The version of the song heard on tonight's show is probably this third version, as Temptation Eyes was a budget compilation CD issued in the early 90s and aimed at fans of the later group (I got my copy free from a radio station I worked at at the time).
Artist: Spirit
Title: Love Has Found A Way/Why Can't I Be Free
Source: CD: The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer: California/Locke
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year 1970
Spirit's Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus album, despite being well-received by the rock press, ended up being the original group's last effort. The album is now seen as being ahead of its time and is often cited by later musicians as being a major influence on their own music. Really, though, nothing I could say could even begin to do justice to the tracks heard here. Just crank up the speakers and enjoy.
Artist: Cream
Title: Pressed Rat And Warthog
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Baker/Taylor
Label: Atco
Year 1968
Tonight's artist spotlight is on Cream, one of the most important bands in rock history. Formed in 1966 by guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, Cream was one of the first supergroups, made up of former members of the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Graham Bond Organisation (yeah I know, the Brits spell things weird).
Our opening track, Pressed Rat And Warthog, is one of those songs you either love or hate. I loved it the first time I heard it but had several friends that absolutely detested it. As near as I can tell, Ginger Baker actually talks that way. Come to think of it, all the members of Cream have pretty heavy accents.
Artist: Cream
Title: Sunshine Of Your Love
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Bruce/Brown
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year 1967
Only a handful of songs can truly be described as "iconic". Sunshine Of Your Love, with its often-imitated signature riff, the line-by-line trading off of lead vocals by Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton and one of the best-known lead guitar solos in rock history, certainly qualifies.
Artist: Cream
Title: Spoonful
Source: Homer soundtrack (originally released in UK on LP: Fresh Cream)
Writer: Willie Dixon
Label: Cotillion (original label: Polydor)
Year 1966
When the album Fresh Cream was released by Atco in the US it was missing one track that was on the original UK version of the album: the original studio version of Willie Dixon's Spoonful. A live version of Spoonful was included on the LP Wheels of Fire, but it wasn't until the 1970 soundtrack album for the movie Homer that the studio version was finally released in the US.
Artist: Cream
Title: Take It Back
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year 1967
The very first album I recorded on my dad's new Akai X-355 reel-to-reel deck was Disraeli Gears. It was also the very first CD I ever bought (along with Axis: Bold As Love). Does that tell you anything about my opinion of this album?
Artist: Cream
Title: Deserted Cities Of The Heart
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: Atco
Year 1968
The most psychedelic of Cream's songs were penned by Jack Bruce and his songwriting partner Pete Brown. One of the best of these was chosen to close out the last studio side of the last Cream album released while the band was still in existence. Deserted Cities Of The Heart is a fitting epitaph to an unforgettable band.
Artist: Wildflower
Title: Coffee Cup
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: A Lot Of Flowers)
Writer: Ehret/Ellis
Label: Rhino
Year 1967
Although the vast majority of tracks heard on tonight's show have never been played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era, all of them are by artists that have been featured on the show in the past...with one exception. The Wildflower was somewhat typical of the San Francisco brand of folk-rock; less political in the lyrics and less jangly on the instrumental side. Although Coffee Cup was recorded in 1965, it did not get released until the summer of love two years later.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Show # 1120 (starts 5/19)
I managed to get all this stuff ready early this week, so those of you who listen on gulchradio.com Thursday nights can follow along for a change.
Artist: Cream
Title: Rollin' And Tumblin'
Source: LP: Live Cream
Writer: McKinley Morganfield
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Cream was a band with a split personality. In the studio the group put out some of the best psychedelic tunes ever recorded, such as Strange Brew, Tales of Brave Ulysses and White Room. As a live band, however, Cream had a reputation for playing extended improvisational jams, many of them based on blues classics. Such is the case with their version of the Muddy Waters classic Rollin' And Tumblin, recorded in 1968 at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium and released in 1970.
Artist: Zephyr
Title: Sail On
Source: CD: Zephyr
Writer: Bolin/Givens
Label: One Way (original label: ABC Probe)
Year: 1969
Boulder, Colorado was home to Zephyr, a blues-rock band originally centered around the powerful vocals of Candy Givens. As time went on, however, fellow member Tommy Bolin emerged as one of rock's top guitarists. Bolin would leave Zephyr after a couple albums to join the James Gang (replacing Dominick Troiano) and later take Richie Blackmore's place in Deep Purple as well as recording a pair of well-regarded solo albums. Unfortunately Bolin, like so many other talented young musicians, died in his mid 20s of a drug overdose, just as his career was kicking into high gear.
Artist: Emitt Rhodes
Title: Holly Park
Source: LP: The American Dream
Writer: Emitt Rhodes
Label: A&M
Year: 1969
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album.
Artist: Turtles
Title: You Know What I Mean
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: White Whale
Year: 1967
1967 was a good year for the Turtles, mainly due to their discovery of the songwriting team Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon. Not only did the former members of the Magicians write the Turtles' biggest hit, Happy Together, they also provided two follow-up songs, She's My Girl and You Know What I Mean, both of which hit the top 20 later in the year.
Artist: Beatles
Title: The Word
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
The original concept for the album Rubber Soul was to show the group stretching out into R&B territory. The US version of the album, however, deleted several of the more soulful numbers in favor of folk-rock oriented songs. This was done by Capitol records mainly to cash in on the sudden popularity of the genre in 1965. Not all of the more R&B flavored songs were replaced, however. John Lennon's The Word appeared on both US and UK versions of Rubber Soul.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: A Sad Song
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
After a pair of LPs that were almost pure rock and roll blues, Ten Years After decided to get more experimental with their third album, Stonedhenge. A Sad Song shows the influence of John Mayall, who had a huge impact on virtually all British blues musicians of the era.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty
Label: Epic
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Alabama Bound
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on CD: The Amazing Charlatans in 1996)
Writer: Trad. Arr. Ferguson/Hicks/Hunter/Olsen/Wilhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967
Despite being one of the most important bands on the San Francisco scene, the Charlatans did not have much luck in the recording studio. Their first sessions were aborted, the planned LP for Kama Sutra was shelved by the label itself, and the band was overruled in their choice of songs to be released on their first (and only) single issued from the Kama Sutra sessions. In 1967, however, they did manage to get some decent tracks recorded. Unfortunately, those tracks were not released until 1996, and then only in the UK. The centerpiece of the 1967 sessions was this six-minute recording of a traditional tune that is considered by many to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: Season of the Witch
Source: LP: Renaissance
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The Vanilla Fudge are generally best remembered for their acid rock rearrangements of hit songs such as You Keep Me Hangin' On, Ticket To Ride and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). Their third album, Renaissance, while actually featuring more original material that their previous albums, still included a couple of these cover songs. The best-known of these was this rather spooky (and a little over-the-top) version of Donovan's Season Of The Witch, a song that was also covered by Al Kooper and Stephen Stills the same year on the first Super Session album.
Artist: Incredible String Band
Title: When You Find Out Who You Are
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Robin Williamson
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
The Incredible String Band were the best-known practicioners of what has come to be called Psychedelic Folk music. By 1969 they had established themselves enough that when they refused to take the stage on the rainy first day of Woodstock, the promoters obliged them by rescheduling the group for the following night, immediately following Canned Heat. As a result the String Band was the only acoustic act that did not play on Friday, when technical problems made it impossible for the electric bands to play.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Gravy
Source: LP: Head
Writer: Davy Jones
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
A one-liner from Davy Jones. If you blinked you missed it.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Girl From The City
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: P. Marshall
Label: Uni
Year: 1970
The Strawberry Alarm Clock have the distinction of being one of the most referred to bands of the psychedelic era, despite only having one real hit record. How this came to be is a bit of a mystery. I suspect it's probably because they had a cool name that people tend to remember. The fact that they appeared in at least one Hollywood movie probably didn't hurt, either. Regardless, they cranked out a series of singles from 1967 to 1970, but were unable to equal the success of their first hit, Incense and Peppermints. The last of these singles was 1970's Girl From The City, a song that sounds a bit like the Band could have recorded it.
Artist: Doors
Title: End Of The Night
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Our extended set of 1967 tunes starts with this track from the first Doors album. End Of The Night is one of those songs that seems to define a band's sound, in this case dark and moody.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
One of the more pleasant surprises of 1967 was the emergence of Byrds bassist Chris Hillman as a talented songwriter in his own right. Prior to the release of Younger Than Yesterday Hillman's byline had only appeared on a couple of collaborations. From that album on, however, Hillman's songs would be among the strongest material the band recorded.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Long Day's Flight
Source: CD: Underground
Writer: Weakly/Yorty
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
We continue our visit to the year 1967 with a set of tunes from the Electric Prunes. Originally from the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, the Prunes were often mislabelled as a Pacific Northwest band (more on that in a minute). Long Day's Flight, an anthemic track from the band's second LP, was released as a single in the UK, but not in the US.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Capt. Glory
Source: CD: Underground
Writer: Lowe
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Whereas the I Had Too Much To Dream album consisted mostly of songs from professional songwriters such as Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, the second Electric Prunes LP, Underground, had a greater percentage of original material. One example is Capt. Glory, written by lead vocalist Jim Lowe.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Topango Windows
Source: LP: Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Epic (original label: Ode)
Year: 1968
Ed Cassidy had already made a name for himself on the L.A. jazz scene when he married the mother of guitarist Randy California. He soon started jamming with his teenage stepson's friends, leading to the formation of a band initially known as Spirits Rebellious (but soon shortened to Spirit), one of the first rock bands to heavily incorporate jazz elements in their music. The majority of the songs on the group's self-title first album were written by lead vocalist Jay Ferguson, who would eventually leave the group to co-found Jo Jo Gunne and in recent years has been a soundtrack composer for movies and TV shows, including the theme song of the US TV show The Office.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Boogie Music
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Living The Blues)
Writer: L.T. Tatman III
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Unlike most American blues-rock bands that took their cues from British blues bands, Canned Heat were purists, preferring to base their style on the original US blues artists. They soon, however, developed a style that was uniquely their own. Boogie Music, from the album Living The Blues, is a good example of the Canned Heat style.
Artist: O'Jays
Title: Back Stabbers
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Huff/McFadden/Whitehead
Label: Philadelphia International
Year: 1972
The two hotspots of soul music in the late 60s were Detroit, Michigan (Motown Records) and Memphis, Tennessee (Stax Records). By the early 70s, however, Memphis was eclipsed by Philadelphia, thanks to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, founders of and in-house producers for Philadelphia International Records. One of the first major hits for the label was Back Stabbers by the O'Jays, a Cleveland, Ohio vocal group that had been recording with only moderate success since the early 60s. Back Stabbers hit the top spot on the R&B charts in 1972 and crossed over to the top 40 as well, peaking at #3.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Source: Highway 61 Revisited
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
This week's final half hour is centered around some of the songwriter/performers who made the biggest impact on the psychedelic era. Although Bob Dylan is not usually thought of as a psychedelic artist, he was the first major folk artist to go electric and was instrumental in introducing several of his fellow musicians to mind-expanding substances. The Highway 61 Revisited album is generally regarded as being among the most influential of Dylan's albums.
Artist: Love
Title: You I'll Be Following
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Love)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Arthur Lee was the king of the underground L.A. music scene during its heyday of 1966-67. His band Love (originally called the Grass Roots: they had to change it when they discovered P.F Sloan and Steve Barri had beaten them to it) ruled the Sunset Strip. Although Love never did any extensive touring, preferring to stay close to their home turf, they nonetheless gained a following in the UK, where Lee's songwriting influenced an entire generation of British songwriters.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
Sean Bonniwell's songwriting ability was so far above and beyond the average garage rock writing that it seems almost unfair to call it garage rock at all. Nonetheless, Bonniwell himself has embraced the label; far be it from me to disabuse him of the notion.
Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title: Cowgirl In The Sand
Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes you wish you could be that sick sometime.
Artist: Donovan
Title: The Observation
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan was at first hailed as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan, but by 1967 he was proving that he was much more than that. The Observation is one of many innovative tunes that helped redefine Donovan from folk singer to singer/songwriter, transforming the entire genre in the process.
Artist: Randy Newman
Title: Last Night I Had A Dream
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randy Newman
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Randy Newman has, over the course of the past forty-plus years, established himself as a Great American Songwriter. His work includes dozens of hit singles (over half of which were performed by other artists), nearly two dozen movie scores and eleven albums as a solo artist. Newman has won five Grammys, as well as two Oscars and Three Emmys. To my knowledge, Last Night I Had A Dream could quite possibly be his first recorded work as a solo artist, as it came out the same year as his first album, which does not include the song.
Artist: Cream
Title: Rollin' And Tumblin'
Source: LP: Live Cream
Writer: McKinley Morganfield
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Cream was a band with a split personality. In the studio the group put out some of the best psychedelic tunes ever recorded, such as Strange Brew, Tales of Brave Ulysses and White Room. As a live band, however, Cream had a reputation for playing extended improvisational jams, many of them based on blues classics. Such is the case with their version of the Muddy Waters classic Rollin' And Tumblin, recorded in 1968 at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium and released in 1970.
Artist: Zephyr
Title: Sail On
Source: CD: Zephyr
Writer: Bolin/Givens
Label: One Way (original label: ABC Probe)
Year: 1969
Boulder, Colorado was home to Zephyr, a blues-rock band originally centered around the powerful vocals of Candy Givens. As time went on, however, fellow member Tommy Bolin emerged as one of rock's top guitarists. Bolin would leave Zephyr after a couple albums to join the James Gang (replacing Dominick Troiano) and later take Richie Blackmore's place in Deep Purple as well as recording a pair of well-regarded solo albums. Unfortunately Bolin, like so many other talented young musicians, died in his mid 20s of a drug overdose, just as his career was kicking into high gear.
Artist: Emitt Rhodes
Title: Holly Park
Source: LP: The American Dream
Writer: Emitt Rhodes
Label: A&M
Year: 1969
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album.
Artist: Turtles
Title: You Know What I Mean
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: White Whale
Year: 1967
1967 was a good year for the Turtles, mainly due to their discovery of the songwriting team Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon. Not only did the former members of the Magicians write the Turtles' biggest hit, Happy Together, they also provided two follow-up songs, She's My Girl and You Know What I Mean, both of which hit the top 20 later in the year.
Artist: Beatles
Title: The Word
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
The original concept for the album Rubber Soul was to show the group stretching out into R&B territory. The US version of the album, however, deleted several of the more soulful numbers in favor of folk-rock oriented songs. This was done by Capitol records mainly to cash in on the sudden popularity of the genre in 1965. Not all of the more R&B flavored songs were replaced, however. John Lennon's The Word appeared on both US and UK versions of Rubber Soul.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: A Sad Song
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
After a pair of LPs that were almost pure rock and roll blues, Ten Years After decided to get more experimental with their third album, Stonedhenge. A Sad Song shows the influence of John Mayall, who had a huge impact on virtually all British blues musicians of the era.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty
Label: Epic
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Alabama Bound
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on CD: The Amazing Charlatans in 1996)
Writer: Trad. Arr. Ferguson/Hicks/Hunter/Olsen/Wilhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967
Despite being one of the most important bands on the San Francisco scene, the Charlatans did not have much luck in the recording studio. Their first sessions were aborted, the planned LP for Kama Sutra was shelved by the label itself, and the band was overruled in their choice of songs to be released on their first (and only) single issued from the Kama Sutra sessions. In 1967, however, they did manage to get some decent tracks recorded. Unfortunately, those tracks were not released until 1996, and then only in the UK. The centerpiece of the 1967 sessions was this six-minute recording of a traditional tune that is considered by many to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: Season of the Witch
Source: LP: Renaissance
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
The Vanilla Fudge are generally best remembered for their acid rock rearrangements of hit songs such as You Keep Me Hangin' On, Ticket To Ride and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). Their third album, Renaissance, while actually featuring more original material that their previous albums, still included a couple of these cover songs. The best-known of these was this rather spooky (and a little over-the-top) version of Donovan's Season Of The Witch, a song that was also covered by Al Kooper and Stephen Stills the same year on the first Super Session album.
Artist: Incredible String Band
Title: When You Find Out Who You Are
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Robin Williamson
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
The Incredible String Band were the best-known practicioners of what has come to be called Psychedelic Folk music. By 1969 they had established themselves enough that when they refused to take the stage on the rainy first day of Woodstock, the promoters obliged them by rescheduling the group for the following night, immediately following Canned Heat. As a result the String Band was the only acoustic act that did not play on Friday, when technical problems made it impossible for the electric bands to play.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Gravy
Source: LP: Head
Writer: Davy Jones
Label: Colgems
Year: 1968
A one-liner from Davy Jones. If you blinked you missed it.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Girl From The City
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: P. Marshall
Label: Uni
Year: 1970
The Strawberry Alarm Clock have the distinction of being one of the most referred to bands of the psychedelic era, despite only having one real hit record. How this came to be is a bit of a mystery. I suspect it's probably because they had a cool name that people tend to remember. The fact that they appeared in at least one Hollywood movie probably didn't hurt, either. Regardless, they cranked out a series of singles from 1967 to 1970, but were unable to equal the success of their first hit, Incense and Peppermints. The last of these singles was 1970's Girl From The City, a song that sounds a bit like the Band could have recorded it.
Artist: Doors
Title: End Of The Night
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Our extended set of 1967 tunes starts with this track from the first Doors album. End Of The Night is one of those songs that seems to define a band's sound, in this case dark and moody.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
One of the more pleasant surprises of 1967 was the emergence of Byrds bassist Chris Hillman as a talented songwriter in his own right. Prior to the release of Younger Than Yesterday Hillman's byline had only appeared on a couple of collaborations. From that album on, however, Hillman's songs would be among the strongest material the band recorded.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Long Day's Flight
Source: CD: Underground
Writer: Weakly/Yorty
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
We continue our visit to the year 1967 with a set of tunes from the Electric Prunes. Originally from the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, the Prunes were often mislabelled as a Pacific Northwest band (more on that in a minute). Long Day's Flight, an anthemic track from the band's second LP, was released as a single in the UK, but not in the US.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Capt. Glory
Source: CD: Underground
Writer: Lowe
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Whereas the I Had Too Much To Dream album consisted mostly of songs from professional songwriters such as Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, the second Electric Prunes LP, Underground, had a greater percentage of original material. One example is Capt. Glory, written by lead vocalist Jim Lowe.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Topango Windows
Source: LP: Spirit
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Epic (original label: Ode)
Year: 1968
Ed Cassidy had already made a name for himself on the L.A. jazz scene when he married the mother of guitarist Randy California. He soon started jamming with his teenage stepson's friends, leading to the formation of a band initially known as Spirits Rebellious (but soon shortened to Spirit), one of the first rock bands to heavily incorporate jazz elements in their music. The majority of the songs on the group's self-title first album were written by lead vocalist Jay Ferguson, who would eventually leave the group to co-found Jo Jo Gunne and in recent years has been a soundtrack composer for movies and TV shows, including the theme song of the US TV show The Office.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Boogie Music
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Living The Blues)
Writer: L.T. Tatman III
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Unlike most American blues-rock bands that took their cues from British blues bands, Canned Heat were purists, preferring to base their style on the original US blues artists. They soon, however, developed a style that was uniquely their own. Boogie Music, from the album Living The Blues, is a good example of the Canned Heat style.
Artist: O'Jays
Title: Back Stabbers
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Huff/McFadden/Whitehead
Label: Philadelphia International
Year: 1972
The two hotspots of soul music in the late 60s were Detroit, Michigan (Motown Records) and Memphis, Tennessee (Stax Records). By the early 70s, however, Memphis was eclipsed by Philadelphia, thanks to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, founders of and in-house producers for Philadelphia International Records. One of the first major hits for the label was Back Stabbers by the O'Jays, a Cleveland, Ohio vocal group that had been recording with only moderate success since the early 60s. Back Stabbers hit the top spot on the R&B charts in 1972 and crossed over to the top 40 as well, peaking at #3.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Source: Highway 61 Revisited
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
This week's final half hour is centered around some of the songwriter/performers who made the biggest impact on the psychedelic era. Although Bob Dylan is not usually thought of as a psychedelic artist, he was the first major folk artist to go electric and was instrumental in introducing several of his fellow musicians to mind-expanding substances. The Highway 61 Revisited album is generally regarded as being among the most influential of Dylan's albums.
Artist: Love
Title: You I'll Be Following
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Love)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Arthur Lee was the king of the underground L.A. music scene during its heyday of 1966-67. His band Love (originally called the Grass Roots: they had to change it when they discovered P.F Sloan and Steve Barri had beaten them to it) ruled the Sunset Strip. Although Love never did any extensive touring, preferring to stay close to their home turf, they nonetheless gained a following in the UK, where Lee's songwriting influenced an entire generation of British songwriters.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
Sean Bonniwell's songwriting ability was so far above and beyond the average garage rock writing that it seems almost unfair to call it garage rock at all. Nonetheless, Bonniwell himself has embraced the label; far be it from me to disabuse him of the notion.
Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title: Cowgirl In The Sand
Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Reprise
Year: 1969
It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes you wish you could be that sick sometime.
Artist: Donovan
Title: The Observation
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan was at first hailed as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan, but by 1967 he was proving that he was much more than that. The Observation is one of many innovative tunes that helped redefine Donovan from folk singer to singer/songwriter, transforming the entire genre in the process.
Artist: Randy Newman
Title: Last Night I Had A Dream
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randy Newman
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Randy Newman has, over the course of the past forty-plus years, established himself as a Great American Songwriter. His work includes dozens of hit singles (over half of which were performed by other artists), nearly two dozen movie scores and eleven albums as a solo artist. Newman has won five Grammys, as well as two Oscars and Three Emmys. To my knowledge, Last Night I Had A Dream could quite possibly be his first recorded work as a solo artist, as it came out the same year as his first album, which does not include the song.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Show # 1119 playlist (starting 5/12)
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
Possibly the loudest rockin' recordings of 1966 came from the Shadows of Knight. A product of the Chicago suburbs, the Shadows (as they were originally known) quickly established a reputation as the region's resident bad boy rockers (lead vocalist Jim Sohns was reportedly banned from more than one high school campus for his attempts at increasing the local teen pregnancy rate). After signing a record deal with the local Dunwich label, the band learned that there was already a band called the Shadows and added the Knight part (after their own high school sports teams' name). Their first single was a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria that changed one line ("around here" in place of "up to my room") and thus avoided the mass radio bannings that had derailed the original Them version. I'm Gonna Make You Mine was the follow up to Gloria, but its lack of commercial success consigned the Shadows to one-hit wonder status until years after the band's breakup, when they finally got the recognition they deserved as one of the founding bands of garage/punk, and perhaps its greatest practicioner.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Please Don't Worry
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Farner/Brewer
Label: Capitol
Year: 1970
Grand Funk Railroad bridged the gap from garage rock to heavy metal, almost single-handedly creating arena rock in the process. Their sound was as raw and unpolished as any garage band (at least at first) and the rock press universally detested them. Nonetheless, Mark Farner, Mel Schacher and Don Brewer struck a (power) chord with the concertgoing/record-buying public and was the first band to consistently play to sellout crowds at large-scale venues such as sports arenas. Grand Funk played loud; so loud, in fact, that it was impossible to hear anything but the band itself when they were playing (even your own screaming). Please Don't Worry, from Grand Funk Railroad's self-title second album (often referred to as the red album), is as typical an early Grand Funk song as you're going to find, with its driving power chords and screaming lead guitar solo and Mark Farner's distinctive barely-on-key vocals.
Artist: Flower Travellin' Band
Title: Satori (part 1)
Source: Satori
Writer: Flower Travellin' Band
Label: Phoenix
Year: 1971
The Flower Travellin' Band was perhaps the first Japanese heavy metal band. Their first album, released in 1968, consisted entirely of cover songs of the hardest rocking US and UK bands. It wasn't until 1971 that the group finally cut an album of original material. The album was called Satori and consisted of five tracks (called Satori parts one through five). I have to admit I had never heard of them until a couple week's ago when a listener sent me some info about them. After a bit of searching I was able to get a copy of the Satori CD, which goes to show that you folks do have input into what gets played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Death Sound Blues
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
I generally use the term "psychedelic" to describe a musical attitude that existed during a particular period of time rather than a specific style of music. On the other hand, the term "acid rock" is better suited for describing music that was composed and/or performed under the influence of certain mind-expanding substances. That said, the first album by Country Joe and the Fish is a classic example of acid rock. I mean, really, is there any other way to describe Death Sound Blues than "the blues on acid"?
Artist: Them
Title: Square Room
Source: LP: Now and Them
Writer: Them
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to try his luck as a solo artist, the rest of the band went back to Ireland, recording an album as the Belfast Gypsys before recruiting new vocalist Kenny McDowell and relocating to California. After securing a record deal with Tower Records they went to work on the Now and Them album in late 1967, releasing the LP in January of '68. The standout track of the album is the nearly ten minute Square Room, an acid rock piece that showcases the work of guitarist Jim Armstrong.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Psychodrama City
Source: CD: 5D (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
1966 was a pivotal year for the Byrds. Having lost their main songwriter, Gene Clark, both David Crosby and Jim McGuinn stepped up to provide original material for the band to record. Psychodrama City is really more of a studio jam with vocals added to it, but is interesting in that Crosby uses the opportunity to tell the story of why Clark had left the band (he had a fear of flying and had refused to board a plane to go on tour).
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and this tune of unknown origin. David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but other sources cite the song as being an old folk song from the 1800s. I suspect the truth is that the lyrics and basic chords probably do go back a long ways, but the more modern elements, such as the distinctive climbing bass line between verses that is common to both fast and slow rock versions of the song, were added in the 60s, quite possibly by Powers.
Artist: Tommy James and the Shondells
Title: Ball Of Fire
Source: CD: Best Of Tommy James and the Shondells (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: James/Vale/Sudano/Wilson/Naumann
Label: Rhino (original label: Roulette)
Year: 1969
From a modern perspective it seems obvious that the only thing keeping Roulette Records going in the late 60s was the string of hits on the label by Tommy James and the Shondells. Oddly enough, Tommy James was one of many acts that initially tanked on the label. It was only when a Pittsburgh DJ began playing a two year old copy of Hanky Panky he had rescued from the throwaway pile in 1966 that the band's career took off. By then, however, the original Shondells had long-since disbanded and James found himself suddenly in demand with no band to back him up. He soon found a new group of Shondells and began cranking out an amazing streak of hits, including I Think We're Alone Now, Mony Mony, Crystal Blue Persuasion and Crimson and Clover among others. One of those others was Ball Of Fire. Although this 1969 single was not among the band's biggest hits, it did get a fair amount of airplay and is quite typical of the group's style at that point in their career. James would continue as a solo artist after the Shondells split up, scoring his last hit in 1971 with Draggin' The Line.
Artist: ? And The Mysterians
Title: 96 Tears
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: The Mysterians
Label: Abkco (original label: Cameo)
Year: 1966
96 Tears tore up the charts in late summer of 1966, not stopping until it got all the way to the number one spot. It was the first single by a hispanic artist to top the charts, although no one knew it at the time. ? was born Rudy Martinez, although he has legally changed his name to ?. Not much is known about the Mysterians themselves, though, as the band has deliberately cultivated an aura of mystery (ugh) throughout its existence.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Number One
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on EP)
Writer: Michael Wilhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Line)
Year: Recorded: 1965; released: 1982
Our numbers set continues with a song recorded in 1965 by one of the most legendary bands on the San Francisco scene. The Charlatans came directly from the jug band tradition that included contemporaries Jerry Garcia and Joe McDonald. Unlike the later SF bands, the Charlatans stayed closer to their roots and really did not embrace rock until late in their existence, after several personnel changes left them only a shadow of their former selves. Where the Charlatans truly stood out, though, was in their visual image. Decked out in clothes found in antique stores and thrift shops, the group looked as though they had just stepped out of an old west saloon on a Saturday night. Ironically, their generally scruffy appearance was at odds with the Hollywood western movie version of a cowboy, but in retrospect was probably closer to the way people of that time actually looked.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Unlike the previous two number songs, the word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. In fact, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Here Comes The Sun
Source: CD: Abbey Road
Writer: George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1969
In a way, George Harrison's career as a songwriter parallels the Beatles' recording career as a band. His first song to get any attention was If I Needed Someone on the Rubber Soul album, the LP that marked the beginning of the group's transition from performers to studio artists. As the Beatles' skills in the studio increased, so did Harrison's writing skills, reaching a peak with the Abbey Road album. As usual, Harrison wrote two songs for the LP, but this time one of them (Something) became the first single released from the album and the first Harrison song to hit the #1 spot on the charts. The other Harrison composition on Abbey Road was Here Comes The Sun. Although never released as a single, the song has gone on to become Harrison's most enduring masterpiece.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Wond'ring Aloud
Source: CD: Aqualung
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1971
If the first three Jethro Tull albums can be considered steps on a path, then Aqualung would have to be the destination. The first Tull album to achieve massive commercial success, Aqualung shows the band finally divorced from its beginnings as a blues band and firmly in the control of Ian Anderson. An expanded version of Wond'ring Aloud called Wond'ring Again was recorded around the same time and was included on the 1973 album Living In The Past.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Scarecrow
Source: CD: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Even people with only a passing familiarity with rock history know the name Pink Floyd. The album Dark Side Of The Moon set records for longevity on the Billboard album charts and the movie The Wall was a midnight movie standard for years. With all that success it's easy to overlook the contributions made by the band's original lead guitarist and primary songwriter Syd Barrett. After two succesful singles, both written by Barrett, the band booked time in the Abbey Road studios to record their first LP, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (coincidentally, the Beatles were also at Abbey Road at that time recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). Again, Barrett was the writer of record of the majority of material on the album, either as part of a group writing effort or, as is the case with Scarecrow, the sole songwriter. Sadly, mental health issues would sideline Barrett after Piper hit the racks and after contributing only a couple songs to the follow-up LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets, Barrett left Pink Floyd altogether, to be permanently replaced by David Gilmour.
Artist: Flock
Title: Tired Of Waiting For You
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock was one of a trio of rock bands recording for Columbia and utilizing horn sections that got the attention of the rock press in 1969. Like the Chicago Transit Authority, the Flock hailed from the windy city. What made the Flock stand out, however, was the presence of Jerry Goodman, who played electric violin. Led by leadguitarist/vocalist Fred Glickstein, the group released two albums before Goodman departed to help found the Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin. Tired Of Waiting For You is a reworking of the 1965 Kinks classic, with solos by Goodman at the beginning and end of the track.
Artist: Undisputed Truth
Title: You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Gordy
Year: 1972
Starting in 1969 with the Temptations Psychedelic Shack, producers/songwriters Norm Whitfield and Barrett Strong carved out their own little piece of psychedelia within the Motown empire. The songs produced by the duo, mostly by the post-Eddie Kendrick Temptations and the Undisputed Truth, gave the celebrated Motown rhythm section a chance to stretch beyond the limitations of the standard Motown formula. You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth was issued in 1972 as a follow up to the Undisputed Truth's first and biggest hit, Smiling Faces Sometimes. The song only did moderately well, stalling out in the lower regions of Billboard's Hot 100 (although it did do better on the R&B charts). When Whitfield left Motown a couple years later to form his own company he brought the Undisputed Truth along with him.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: More And More
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Writer: Vee/Juan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1969
In my notes for the Flock song above I made reference to a trio of bands but only gave the names of two. The third (chronologically the first) of these bands was Blood, Sweat and Tears, formed in 1968 by Al Kooper. Kooper left after the first album, to be replaced on lead vocals by David Clayton Thomas. The result was one of the most successful bands of the year. The album Blood, Sweat and Tears boasted three top 10 singles and at least as many memorable album tracks, including the energetic R&B-flavored More and More.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: PolyTel (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
Starting off a set of tracks from 1966 we have the classic Sunny Afternoon. 1966 was the year that Ray Davies's songwriting began to take a sardonic turn. Sunny Afternoon, using a first person perspective, manages to lampoon the idle rich through mock sympathy. Good stuff.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: You're A Lonely Girl
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1966
In late 1965 songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan (Eve of Destruction) and Steve Barri decided to create a series of records by a band called the Grass Roots. The problem was that there was no band called the Grass Roots (at least not that they knew of), so Sloan and Barri decided to recruit an existing band and talk them into changing their name. The band they found was the Bedouins, one of the early San Francisco bands. As the rush to sign SF bands was still months away, the Bedouins were more than happy to record the songs Sloan and Barri picked out for them. The first single by the newly-named Grass Roots was a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones (Ballad Of A Thin Man). The B side was You're A Lonely Girl, a Sloan/Barri composition. The Bedouins would soon grow disenchanted with their role and move back to San Francisco, leaving Sloan and Barri the task of finding a new Grass Roots. Eventually they did, and the rest is history. The Bedouins never recorded again.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Didn't Want To Have To Do It
Source: LP: Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1966
Here is a little-known fact for you: when the creators of the Monkees TV series first conceived of the idea of a weekly show about a rock band, their idea was to use an existing band: The Lovin' Spoonful. Higher ups at Screen Gems and Columbia Pictures, however, realized the potential that such a show would have to sell records, and decided against using a band that was already under contract to another record company. Thus, the Lovin' Spoonful were spared having to deal with the compromises that would have been undoubtably forced on them had the proposed show been successful in its original form.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hidden Treasure
Source: LP: Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island
Year: 1971
The original Traffic lineup split up after only two albums (although a third was issued after the split). In 1970, the members reunited for a live album called Welcome To The Canteen. This was followed by the next official Traffic album, John Barleycorn Must Die. The success of that album led to the release of Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, the band's most commercial successful LP. Hidden Treasure is the seldom-heard opening track from that album.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Can't Be So Bad
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Jerry Miller
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Although the second Moby Grape album, Wow, is generally considered inferior to the first, it does have its moments of brilliance. One of these is the Jerry Miller song Can't Be So Bad. I guarantee this one will get stuck in your head after only one listen.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Things Are Better In The East
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's (bonus track)
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
The third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, saw Marty Balin hanging back and letting the other group members shine. Whereas a majority of songs on the first two albums were Balin compositions (both solo and in collaboration with Paul Kantner), his only composition on Baxter's was Young Girl Sunday Blues, co-written by Kantner. Balin was not completely idle during this period, however, as this demo recording of Things Are Better In The East demonstrates.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Crown Of Creation
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
After the acid rock experimentalism of After Bathing At Baxter's, the Airplane returned to a more conventional format for 1968's Crown Of Creation album. The songs themselves, however, had a harder edge than those on the early Jefferson Airplane albums, as the band itself was becoming more socio-politically radical. The song Crown of Creation draws a definite line between the mainstream and the counter-culture.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Martha (mono single version)
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's (bonus track)
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
Jefferson Airplane made no secret of their residence at 2400 Fulton Street in San Francisco. In fact, the place was a known hangout for various freaks, acid-heads and hippy types. One the hangers-on, a young heiress, was the inspiration for this song, released as the B side to Watch Her Ride.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Triad
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: David Crosby
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
It's interesting to contrast the attitudes of the band members of the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane to David Crosby's Triad. Whereas both Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman expressed discomfort with the song (to the point of not releasing it), the Airplane members, particularly Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, embraced the tune, giving it a featured spot on the Crown of Creation album. The song itself is based on ideas put forth by Robert A. Heinlein in his Science Fiction masterpiece Stranger In A Strange Land.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: rejoyce
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
Grace Slick was never shy about indulging her experimental side, as this adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses demonstrates. Slick said at the time that she assumed the Airplane's listeners had at least some college education and would recognize the source material. She later lamented the fact that the larger record buying public just didn't get it. Sadly, they still don't. Personally I'd take four minutes of Grace Slick being experimental over four minutes of Lady Ga-Ga being commercial anyday.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Electric Church Red House
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy
Year: 1968
As part of my ongoing effort to play more Hendrix in 2011 we have this track from the 2010 album Jimi Hendrix: Blues. This "Electric Church" version of Hendrix's signature blues tune Red House features all the members of the Experience plus guest organist Lee Michaels. Unlike the version of Red House included on the Are You Experienced album, this track features Noel Redding playing an actual bass guitar.
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
Possibly the loudest rockin' recordings of 1966 came from the Shadows of Knight. A product of the Chicago suburbs, the Shadows (as they were originally known) quickly established a reputation as the region's resident bad boy rockers (lead vocalist Jim Sohns was reportedly banned from more than one high school campus for his attempts at increasing the local teen pregnancy rate). After signing a record deal with the local Dunwich label, the band learned that there was already a band called the Shadows and added the Knight part (after their own high school sports teams' name). Their first single was a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria that changed one line ("around here" in place of "up to my room") and thus avoided the mass radio bannings that had derailed the original Them version. I'm Gonna Make You Mine was the follow up to Gloria, but its lack of commercial success consigned the Shadows to one-hit wonder status until years after the band's breakup, when they finally got the recognition they deserved as one of the founding bands of garage/punk, and perhaps its greatest practicioner.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Please Don't Worry
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Farner/Brewer
Label: Capitol
Year: 1970
Grand Funk Railroad bridged the gap from garage rock to heavy metal, almost single-handedly creating arena rock in the process. Their sound was as raw and unpolished as any garage band (at least at first) and the rock press universally detested them. Nonetheless, Mark Farner, Mel Schacher and Don Brewer struck a (power) chord with the concertgoing/record-buying public and was the first band to consistently play to sellout crowds at large-scale venues such as sports arenas. Grand Funk played loud; so loud, in fact, that it was impossible to hear anything but the band itself when they were playing (even your own screaming). Please Don't Worry, from Grand Funk Railroad's self-title second album (often referred to as the red album), is as typical an early Grand Funk song as you're going to find, with its driving power chords and screaming lead guitar solo and Mark Farner's distinctive barely-on-key vocals.
Artist: Flower Travellin' Band
Title: Satori (part 1)
Source: Satori
Writer: Flower Travellin' Band
Label: Phoenix
Year: 1971
The Flower Travellin' Band was perhaps the first Japanese heavy metal band. Their first album, released in 1968, consisted entirely of cover songs of the hardest rocking US and UK bands. It wasn't until 1971 that the group finally cut an album of original material. The album was called Satori and consisted of five tracks (called Satori parts one through five). I have to admit I had never heard of them until a couple week's ago when a listener sent me some info about them. After a bit of searching I was able to get a copy of the Satori CD, which goes to show that you folks do have input into what gets played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Death Sound Blues
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
I generally use the term "psychedelic" to describe a musical attitude that existed during a particular period of time rather than a specific style of music. On the other hand, the term "acid rock" is better suited for describing music that was composed and/or performed under the influence of certain mind-expanding substances. That said, the first album by Country Joe and the Fish is a classic example of acid rock. I mean, really, is there any other way to describe Death Sound Blues than "the blues on acid"?
Artist: Them
Title: Square Room
Source: LP: Now and Them
Writer: Them
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to try his luck as a solo artist, the rest of the band went back to Ireland, recording an album as the Belfast Gypsys before recruiting new vocalist Kenny McDowell and relocating to California. After securing a record deal with Tower Records they went to work on the Now and Them album in late 1967, releasing the LP in January of '68. The standout track of the album is the nearly ten minute Square Room, an acid rock piece that showcases the work of guitarist Jim Armstrong.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Psychodrama City
Source: CD: 5D (bonus track)
Writer: David Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
1966 was a pivotal year for the Byrds. Having lost their main songwriter, Gene Clark, both David Crosby and Jim McGuinn stepped up to provide original material for the band to record. Psychodrama City is really more of a studio jam with vocals added to it, but is interesting in that Crosby uses the opportunity to tell the story of why Clark had left the band (he had a fear of flying and had refused to board a plane to go on tour).
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and this tune of unknown origin. David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but other sources cite the song as being an old folk song from the 1800s. I suspect the truth is that the lyrics and basic chords probably do go back a long ways, but the more modern elements, such as the distinctive climbing bass line between verses that is common to both fast and slow rock versions of the song, were added in the 60s, quite possibly by Powers.
Artist: Tommy James and the Shondells
Title: Ball Of Fire
Source: CD: Best Of Tommy James and the Shondells (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: James/Vale/Sudano/Wilson/Naumann
Label: Rhino (original label: Roulette)
Year: 1969
From a modern perspective it seems obvious that the only thing keeping Roulette Records going in the late 60s was the string of hits on the label by Tommy James and the Shondells. Oddly enough, Tommy James was one of many acts that initially tanked on the label. It was only when a Pittsburgh DJ began playing a two year old copy of Hanky Panky he had rescued from the throwaway pile in 1966 that the band's career took off. By then, however, the original Shondells had long-since disbanded and James found himself suddenly in demand with no band to back him up. He soon found a new group of Shondells and began cranking out an amazing streak of hits, including I Think We're Alone Now, Mony Mony, Crystal Blue Persuasion and Crimson and Clover among others. One of those others was Ball Of Fire. Although this 1969 single was not among the band's biggest hits, it did get a fair amount of airplay and is quite typical of the group's style at that point in their career. James would continue as a solo artist after the Shondells split up, scoring his last hit in 1971 with Draggin' The Line.
Artist: ? And The Mysterians
Title: 96 Tears
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: The Mysterians
Label: Abkco (original label: Cameo)
Year: 1966
96 Tears tore up the charts in late summer of 1966, not stopping until it got all the way to the number one spot. It was the first single by a hispanic artist to top the charts, although no one knew it at the time. ? was born Rudy Martinez, although he has legally changed his name to ?. Not much is known about the Mysterians themselves, though, as the band has deliberately cultivated an aura of mystery (ugh) throughout its existence.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Number One
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on EP)
Writer: Michael Wilhelm
Label: Rhino (original label: Line)
Year: Recorded: 1965; released: 1982
Our numbers set continues with a song recorded in 1965 by one of the most legendary bands on the San Francisco scene. The Charlatans came directly from the jug band tradition that included contemporaries Jerry Garcia and Joe McDonald. Unlike the later SF bands, the Charlatans stayed closer to their roots and really did not embrace rock until late in their existence, after several personnel changes left them only a shadow of their former selves. Where the Charlatans truly stood out, though, was in their visual image. Decked out in clothes found in antique stores and thrift shops, the group looked as though they had just stepped out of an old west saloon on a Saturday night. Ironically, their generally scruffy appearance was at odds with the Hollywood western movie version of a cowboy, but in retrospect was probably closer to the way people of that time actually looked.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Unlike the previous two number songs, the word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. In fact, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Here Comes The Sun
Source: CD: Abbey Road
Writer: George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1969
In a way, George Harrison's career as a songwriter parallels the Beatles' recording career as a band. His first song to get any attention was If I Needed Someone on the Rubber Soul album, the LP that marked the beginning of the group's transition from performers to studio artists. As the Beatles' skills in the studio increased, so did Harrison's writing skills, reaching a peak with the Abbey Road album. As usual, Harrison wrote two songs for the LP, but this time one of them (Something) became the first single released from the album and the first Harrison song to hit the #1 spot on the charts. The other Harrison composition on Abbey Road was Here Comes The Sun. Although never released as a single, the song has gone on to become Harrison's most enduring masterpiece.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Wond'ring Aloud
Source: CD: Aqualung
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1971
If the first three Jethro Tull albums can be considered steps on a path, then Aqualung would have to be the destination. The first Tull album to achieve massive commercial success, Aqualung shows the band finally divorced from its beginnings as a blues band and firmly in the control of Ian Anderson. An expanded version of Wond'ring Aloud called Wond'ring Again was recorded around the same time and was included on the 1973 album Living In The Past.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Scarecrow
Source: CD: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer: Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol
Year: 1967
Even people with only a passing familiarity with rock history know the name Pink Floyd. The album Dark Side Of The Moon set records for longevity on the Billboard album charts and the movie The Wall was a midnight movie standard for years. With all that success it's easy to overlook the contributions made by the band's original lead guitarist and primary songwriter Syd Barrett. After two succesful singles, both written by Barrett, the band booked time in the Abbey Road studios to record their first LP, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (coincidentally, the Beatles were also at Abbey Road at that time recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). Again, Barrett was the writer of record of the majority of material on the album, either as part of a group writing effort or, as is the case with Scarecrow, the sole songwriter. Sadly, mental health issues would sideline Barrett after Piper hit the racks and after contributing only a couple songs to the follow-up LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets, Barrett left Pink Floyd altogether, to be permanently replaced by David Gilmour.
Artist: Flock
Title: Tired Of Waiting For You
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock was one of a trio of rock bands recording for Columbia and utilizing horn sections that got the attention of the rock press in 1969. Like the Chicago Transit Authority, the Flock hailed from the windy city. What made the Flock stand out, however, was the presence of Jerry Goodman, who played electric violin. Led by leadguitarist/vocalist Fred Glickstein, the group released two albums before Goodman departed to help found the Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin. Tired Of Waiting For You is a reworking of the 1965 Kinks classic, with solos by Goodman at the beginning and end of the track.
Artist: Undisputed Truth
Title: You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Gordy
Year: 1972
Starting in 1969 with the Temptations Psychedelic Shack, producers/songwriters Norm Whitfield and Barrett Strong carved out their own little piece of psychedelia within the Motown empire. The songs produced by the duo, mostly by the post-Eddie Kendrick Temptations and the Undisputed Truth, gave the celebrated Motown rhythm section a chance to stretch beyond the limitations of the standard Motown formula. You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth was issued in 1972 as a follow up to the Undisputed Truth's first and biggest hit, Smiling Faces Sometimes. The song only did moderately well, stalling out in the lower regions of Billboard's Hot 100 (although it did do better on the R&B charts). When Whitfield left Motown a couple years later to form his own company he brought the Undisputed Truth along with him.
Artist: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Title: More And More
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Writer: Vee/Juan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1969
In my notes for the Flock song above I made reference to a trio of bands but only gave the names of two. The third (chronologically the first) of these bands was Blood, Sweat and Tears, formed in 1968 by Al Kooper. Kooper left after the first album, to be replaced on lead vocals by David Clayton Thomas. The result was one of the most successful bands of the year. The album Blood, Sweat and Tears boasted three top 10 singles and at least as many memorable album tracks, including the energetic R&B-flavored More and More.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: PolyTel (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
Starting off a set of tracks from 1966 we have the classic Sunny Afternoon. 1966 was the year that Ray Davies's songwriting began to take a sardonic turn. Sunny Afternoon, using a first person perspective, manages to lampoon the idle rich through mock sympathy. Good stuff.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: You're A Lonely Girl
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1966
In late 1965 songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan (Eve of Destruction) and Steve Barri decided to create a series of records by a band called the Grass Roots. The problem was that there was no band called the Grass Roots (at least not that they knew of), so Sloan and Barri decided to recruit an existing band and talk them into changing their name. The band they found was the Bedouins, one of the early San Francisco bands. As the rush to sign SF bands was still months away, the Bedouins were more than happy to record the songs Sloan and Barri picked out for them. The first single by the newly-named Grass Roots was a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones (Ballad Of A Thin Man). The B side was You're A Lonely Girl, a Sloan/Barri composition. The Bedouins would soon grow disenchanted with their role and move back to San Francisco, leaving Sloan and Barri the task of finding a new Grass Roots. Eventually they did, and the rest is history. The Bedouins never recorded again.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Didn't Want To Have To Do It
Source: LP: Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1966
Here is a little-known fact for you: when the creators of the Monkees TV series first conceived of the idea of a weekly show about a rock band, their idea was to use an existing band: The Lovin' Spoonful. Higher ups at Screen Gems and Columbia Pictures, however, realized the potential that such a show would have to sell records, and decided against using a band that was already under contract to another record company. Thus, the Lovin' Spoonful were spared having to deal with the compromises that would have been undoubtably forced on them had the proposed show been successful in its original form.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Hidden Treasure
Source: LP: Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island
Year: 1971
The original Traffic lineup split up after only two albums (although a third was issued after the split). In 1970, the members reunited for a live album called Welcome To The Canteen. This was followed by the next official Traffic album, John Barleycorn Must Die. The success of that album led to the release of Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, the band's most commercial successful LP. Hidden Treasure is the seldom-heard opening track from that album.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Can't Be So Bad
Source: LP: Wow
Writer: Jerry Miller
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Although the second Moby Grape album, Wow, is generally considered inferior to the first, it does have its moments of brilliance. One of these is the Jerry Miller song Can't Be So Bad. I guarantee this one will get stuck in your head after only one listen.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Things Are Better In The East
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's (bonus track)
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
The third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, saw Marty Balin hanging back and letting the other group members shine. Whereas a majority of songs on the first two albums were Balin compositions (both solo and in collaboration with Paul Kantner), his only composition on Baxter's was Young Girl Sunday Blues, co-written by Kantner. Balin was not completely idle during this period, however, as this demo recording of Things Are Better In The East demonstrates.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Crown Of Creation
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
After the acid rock experimentalism of After Bathing At Baxter's, the Airplane returned to a more conventional format for 1968's Crown Of Creation album. The songs themselves, however, had a harder edge than those on the early Jefferson Airplane albums, as the band itself was becoming more socio-politically radical. The song Crown of Creation draws a definite line between the mainstream and the counter-culture.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Martha (mono single version)
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's (bonus track)
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
Jefferson Airplane made no secret of their residence at 2400 Fulton Street in San Francisco. In fact, the place was a known hangout for various freaks, acid-heads and hippy types. One the hangers-on, a young heiress, was the inspiration for this song, released as the B side to Watch Her Ride.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Triad
Source: CD: Crown of Creation
Writer: David Crosby
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
It's interesting to contrast the attitudes of the band members of the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane to David Crosby's Triad. Whereas both Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman expressed discomfort with the song (to the point of not releasing it), the Airplane members, particularly Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, embraced the tune, giving it a featured spot on the Crown of Creation album. The song itself is based on ideas put forth by Robert A. Heinlein in his Science Fiction masterpiece Stranger In A Strange Land.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: rejoyce
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
Grace Slick was never shy about indulging her experimental side, as this adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses demonstrates. Slick said at the time that she assumed the Airplane's listeners had at least some college education and would recognize the source material. She later lamented the fact that the larger record buying public just didn't get it. Sadly, they still don't. Personally I'd take four minutes of Grace Slick being experimental over four minutes of Lady Ga-Ga being commercial anyday.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Electric Church Red House
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy
Year: 1968
As part of my ongoing effort to play more Hendrix in 2011 we have this track from the 2010 album Jimi Hendrix: Blues. This "Electric Church" version of Hendrix's signature blues tune Red House features all the members of the Experience plus guest organist Lee Michaels. Unlike the version of Red House included on the Are You Experienced album, this track features Noel Redding playing an actual bass guitar.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Show # 1118 playlist (5/5+/11)
This week's show is full of odds and ends from all over. And there are a lot of them. In fact, only four tracks on the show run longer than four minutes. On the other hand, there are three tracks with a run time of less than two minutes. With song lengths in that range you'd almost think this was a punk-rock show. Truth to tell, some of the songs do qualify as early punk. For the most part, though, there is a lot of variety of styles among tonight's artists. I suspect that in some cases this is due more to regional differences than any conscious effort on the part of the musicians to create a particular style of their own, although artists like Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience are certainly examples of the latter.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Action
Source: LP: Just Like Us
Writer: Boyce/Venet
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Paul Revere and the Raiders were formed in the early 60s in Boise, Idaho. After temporarily disbanding due to Revere's stint in the Army, the group reformed in time to be the first band to record Richard Berry's Louie Louie in 1963. After establishing a reputation as one of the most polished bands on the Pacific Northwest scene, the group caught the eye (and ear) of Dick Clark, who signed them up to be the host band for his new daytime music show, Where The Action Is. The group relocated to Los Angeles, becoming the first rock band signed to Columbia Records in the process. One of their early recordings for the label was the theme song used on the TV show itself, although a longer version by Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon was released as a single and got considerably more airplay than the Raiders' version.
Artist: Kingsmen
Title: Louie Louie
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Richard Berry
Label: Rhino (original label: Wand)
Year: 1963
Although Paul Revere and the Raiders had recorded the song first, it's the Portland-based Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie that is remembered as the greatest party song of all time. With its basic three-chord structure and incomprehensible lyrics, the most popular song to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest was considered a must-learn song for garage bands nationwide.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: The Little Black Egg
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Charles Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Kapp)
Year: 1967
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Pretty Ballerina
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Michael Brown
Label: Smash
Year: 1967
The Left Banke, taking advantage of bandleader Michael Brown's industry connections (his father owned a New York recording studio), ushered in what was considered to be the "next big thing" in popular music in early 1967: baroque pop. After their debut single, Walk Away Renee, became a huge bestseller, the band followed it up with Pretty Ballerina, which easily made the top 20 as well. Subsequent releases were sabotaged by a series of bad decisions by Brown and the other band members that left radio stations leery of playing any record with the words "Left Banke" on the label.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Ego Trip
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
1967 was also the year of the "Boss-Town Sound", a gimmick used to promote several Boston-based bands signed to the M-G-M label (M-G-M having been asleep at the wheel during the recent band-signing frenzy in San Francisco). Derided in the music press as a crass attempt to manipulate record buyers, the ultimate victims of this fraud were the bands themselves, many of which were actually quite talented. Ultimate Spinach was the brainchild of keyboardist Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote all the material for the group's first two LPs. When the stigma of being part of the whole boss-town thing became too much to deal with, Bruce-Douglas left the group. Although the Ultimate Spinach name continued to be used, subsequent albums had little in common musically with the two Bruce-Douglas LPs.
Artist: Swingin' Medallions
Title: Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Vetter/Smith
Label: Rhino (original label: Smash)
Year: 1966
This band from tiny Greenwood, South Carolina, scored a hit that was almost as popular in frat houses as Louie Louie. The song, Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love), was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and released nationally in 1966 on Mercury's subsidiary label, Smash Records.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: LP: Procol Harum Live
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
Procol Harum was formed in 1966 in Southend-on-sea, Essex, England. One of the songs on their 1967 debut album was Conquistador. Five years later the live version of the song, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, was released as a single, becoming the second-biggest hit for the group (after A Whiter Shade Of Pale).
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Born Cross-Eyed
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/Peterman
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After cranking out their first LP in a matter of days, San Francisco's Grateful Dead took a full six months to record, edit and mix the follow-up album, Anthem Of The Sun. Most of the tracks on the album run together and feature an experimental mix of live and studio material. The sole exception is Born Cross-Eyed, which has a running time of barely over two minutes.
Artist: Kinks
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sand And Foam
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
When Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland's Donovan Leitch first came to prominence, he was hailed as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan. By 1966 he was recognized as the most popular folk singer in the UK. But Donovan was already starting to stretch beyond the boundaries of folk music, and in the fall of that year he released his first major US hit, Sunshine Superman. From that point on he was no longer Donovan the folk singer; he was now Donovan the singer-songwriter. Donovan continued to expand his musical horizons in 1967 with the release of the Mellow Yellow album and singles such as There Is A Mountain. The B side of Mountain was Sand And Foam, an acoustic number from the Mellow Yellow album.
Artist: It's A Beautiful Day
Title: White Bird
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: It's A Beautiful Day)
Writer: David and Linda LaFlamme
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
San Francisco's It's A Beautiful Day made the mistake of signing a management contract with Matthew Katz, who at the time was also managing Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane. What the members of It's A Beautiful Day did not realize at the time was that both those bands were doing everything in their power to get out of their contracts with Katz. The first thing Katz did after signing It's A Beautiful Day was to ship the band off to Seattle to become house band at a club Katz owned called the San Francisco Sound. Unfortunately for the band, Seattle already had a sound of its own and attendance at their gigs was sparse. Feeling downtrodden and caged (and having no means of transportation to boot) classically-trained 5-string violinist and lead vocalist David LaFlamme and his keyboardist wife Linda LaFlamme translated those feelings into a song that is at once sad and beautiful: the classic White Bird.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Simple Song Of Freedom
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Tim Hardin
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
Although born in Eugene, Oregon, Tim Hardin is best known as a mainstay of the folk music scene centered in New York's Greenwich Village in the 60s. He had greater success as a songwriter than as an artist, penning such tunes as If I Were A Carpenter and Reason To Believe. Hardin was one of many acoustic acts that took the stage on the first day of the festival, when technical problems made it impossible for the electric bands to perform as originally scheduled.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, was home to one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the late 60s, despite its relatively small, pre-silicon valley population. One of the most popular bands on that scene was Count Five, a group of five guys who dressed like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and sounded like the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Fortunately for Count Five, Jeff Beck had just left the Yardbirds when Psychotic Reaction came out, leaving a hole that the boys from San Jose were more than happy to fill.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: Good Lovin'
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Resnick/Clark
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
Garfield, New Jersey was the point of origin for the band that came to define the term "blue-eyed soul". Led by Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere, the Rascals (adding the name Young to avert a lawsuit from a group called the Harmonica Rascals) racked up an impressive number of top 40 hits over a period of about three years. After scoring a pair of relatively minor hits with You Better Run and I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore, the group hit the big time with Good Lovin', taking the tune into the top 5 in 1966.
Artist: Monkees
Title: While I Cry
Source: CD: Listen To The Band (originally released on LP: Instant Replay)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1968
Los Angeles, California, like many other US cities, had a vibrant local music scene, mostly centered on the all-ages clubs along Sunset Strip. Unlike other cities, however, L.A. was also the world's entertainment capitol. These two worlds, while occupying the same physical space, seldom interracted. Thus, we had bands like Love, the Seeds and the Leaves dominating the local scene while more mainstream artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were conducting business as usual in the big recording studios. There were some crossovers, however, such as Gary Lewis (son of comedian Jerry Lewis) and the Playboys and Dino, Desi and Billy (featuring the sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz); teen bands with connections to the mainstream establishment. One of the strangest intersections of the two worlds was the Monkees. Of the four members, only Mickey Dolenz was a native Angelino. The rest hailed from Washington, DC (Peter Tork), Manchester, England (Davy Jones) and Houston, Texas (Michael Nesmith). Tork, however, was indeed connected with the local scene, having been recommended to the Monkees producers by his friend Stephen Stills. Nesmith had even stronger credentials, having written the song Mary Mary for the Butterfield Blues Band. Although by many accounts Tork was the more accomplished musician (he played multiple instruments), it was Nesmith who had the greatest success in the long run. One of the last Nesmith songs to appear on a Monkees album was While I Cry, from the 1968 LP Instant Replay (the first Monkees without Tork). Nesmith would eventually leave the group to form the First (and later Second) National Band and later become a movie (Repo Man) and video producer (he created MTV, selling the rights to Time Warner in the early 1980s).
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Wrong
Source: CD: Turn On The Music Machine
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
One of the strongest bands on the local L.A. scene was the Music Machine, led by Sean Bonniwell. As I had a lot to say about them last week, I'll just point out here that Wrong, as well as being one of Bonniwell's originals on the first Music Machine album, was issued as the B side to Talk Talk in 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Crushingura
Source: CD: Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Crown of Creation)
Writer: Spencer Dryden
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
The first San Francisco band signed to a major record label was Jefferson Airplane. By the time their fourth album, Crown of Creation, was released, original members Signe Anderson and Skip Spence had been replaced by Grace Slick and jazz drummer Spencer Dryden. The two were responsible for some of the band's most avant-garde recordings, such as Slick's Rejoyce (from After Bathing At Baxter's) and Dryden's Crushingura, a piece using prepared piano and studio effects.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: She's My Baby
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Stewart/Alaimo/Curcio
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although generally considered to be one of the early San Francisco bands, the Mojo Men actually originated in Rochester, NY. After spending most of the early 60s in Florida playing to fraternities, the band moved out the West Coast in 1965, becoming mainstays on the San Francisco scene.
Artist: Every Mother's Son
Title: Come On Down To My Boat
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Farrell/Goldstein
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
New York, for being the largest city in the world (at the time) had relatively few popular local bands. Perhaps this is because of the wealth of entertainment and cultural choices in the Big Apple. In fact, the only notable local music scene was in Greenwich Village, which was more into folk and blues than mainstream rock. There were a few rock bands formed in New York, though. One example was Every Mother's Son, one-hit wonders with Come On Down To My Boat in 1967.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Is It Any Wonder
Source: CD: Happy Together
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Magic
Year: 1967
The Turtles started off as an L.A.-based surf band called the Crossfires. After signing to White Whale Records in 1965 the group jumped on the folk-rock bandwagon, scoring a national hit with their cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. After a less than stellar 1966 the group regained their momentum with the release of Happy Together in 1967. At the same time they began to develop the skewed viewpoint that would characterize the work of the band's two co-leaders, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, in the 1970s when they became known as Flo and Eddie. Is It Any Wonder, the song heard here, is a bit of a mystery to me. It was included on the European release of the Happy Together CD as a bonus track, but I have not been able to find out where it first appeared (or indeed, whether or not it had ever been released at all). If you have any more information about the song, feel free to drop me a line through the contact button at www.hermitradio.com
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah
Year: 1967
Oxford, Ohio's Lemon Pipers have the distinction of being the first band to score a number one hit for the Buddah label. Unfortunately for the band, it was their only hit.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Bye Bye Johnny
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released in UK on EP: The Rolling Stones)
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: London (original label: Decca UK)
Year: 1964
At the same time the Beatles were honing their craft in Liverpool and Hamburg in the early 60s, the city of London was developing its own local music scene. On any given night one could hear the sounds of American blues and R&B artists of the 1950s, as interpreted by young British musicians, coming from London's many clubs. The most successful of these young British blues cover bands was the Rolling Stones. Unlike the Beatles, the Stones didn't write much of their own material, at least not at first. Instead they chose to record their own versions of songs by Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and the like. After a couple moderately successful singles Decca Records UK decided to let the band record some non-single tracks. They were not yet convinced, however, that the Rolling Stones were a big enough act to sell an entire LPs worth of material. Instead, they chose to release a four-song EP titled, simply, The Rolling Stones. One of the tracks recorded for that EP was Bye Bye Johnny, a song Chuck Berry wrote as an "answer" to his own Johnny B. Goode.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
By 1967 the Rolling Stones were writing all their own material. Although Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had achieved considerable success as songwriters (to the point of providing material for other artists to record), the group's album sales had been slipping. Their 1967 LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request, had been a disappointment, both commercially and critically, and the group knew that they needed a strong single to get back on track. The result was We Love You, the most expensive single the band had ever recorded. Accompanied by a promotional film generally acknowledged to be one of the first rock videos, the song did well in Europe and the UK but was relegated to B side status in the US.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: What To Do
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released on LP: Aftermath)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
1966's Aftermath is generally considered to be one of the Brian Jones era Rolling Stones' best albums. While the hit single Paint It, Black and the LP track Under My Thumb are the best-known songs on the album, What To Do is perhaps a more typical Stones song of the period.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dandelion
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
When We Love You got only a lukewarm response from American radio listeners stations began to flip the record over and play the B side, Dandelion, instead. The song ended up being one of the band's biggest US hits of 1967.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Not Fade Away
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Petty/Hardin
Label: London
Year: 1964
The Rolling Stones first top 5 hit in the UK was an updated version of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away. The Stones put a greater emphasis on the Bo Diddly style beat than Holly did and ended up with their first charted single in the US as well, establishing the Rolling Stones as the Yang of the British Invasion to the Beatles' Ying. It was a role that fit the top band from the city they call "The Smoke" well.
Artist: Human Expression
Title: Optical Sound
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Quarles/Foster
Label: Rhino (original label: Accent)
Year: 1967
One thing Los Angeles had become known for by the mid-1960s was its urban sprawl. Made possible by one of the world's most extensive regional freeway systems, the city had become surrounded by suburbs on all sides (except for the oceanfront). Many of these suburbs were (and are) in Orange County, home to Anaheim stadium, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. The O.C. was also home to the Human Expression, a band that recorded a trio of well-regarded singles for the Accent label. The last of these was Optical Sound. True to its name, the song utilized the latest technology available to achieve a decidedly psychedelic sound.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
Los Angeles has a long history of attracting young people from all over who are out to make a name for themselves in the entertainment world. In most cases that ambition reaches far beyond the borders of the city itself. For the most part, though, the Seeds, led by Sky Saxon, seemed content to be the city's premier Flower Power band (credible sources even indicate that the Seeds actually coined the term Flower Power). Although Pushin' Too Hard made the national charts in 1967, most of the Seeds' singles, such as The Wind Blows Her Hair, were hits mainly in the L.A. area.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler (more on him in a minute), moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Heart Beat, Pig Meat
Source: LP: Zabriskie Point soundtrack
Writer: Gilmour/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label: 4 Men With Beards
Year: 1970
Without really meaning to, Chas Chandler had a profound effect on British rock; first as bassist for the Animals, then even more so as the guy who convinced Jimi Hendrix to move to London. While psychedelic music was developing in the US (particularly in L.A., San Francisco and Austin, Texas) in early 1966, it didn't really start in the UK until the first single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Hey Joe/Stone Free) hit the record racks. Then, practically overnight, British psychedelic bands starting popping up all over the place. First and foremost among these was Pink Floyd. Formed by university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett in 1965, Pink Floyd created a curious mix of avant-garde album tracks and catchy psychedelic singles (the latter written by Barrett). After Barrett left the band due to mental health issues (replaced by guitarist David Gilmour), Pink Floyd worked on soundtracks for several movies, including Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point. Although the film itself was a critical and box-office disaster (appearing on several all-time worst movie lists), the soundtrack album itself contains several rarities, including the opening track, Heart Beat, Pig Meat.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Bron Y-Aur Stomp
Source: Led Zeppelin III
Writer: Page/Plant/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
Although often regarded as the fathers of Heavy Metal, Led Zeppelin was actually capable of playing in a variety of styles. Evolving out of the standard-bearing band of the London blues scene (the Yardbirds), Led Zeppelin soon moved into uncharted territory, recording music that incorporated elements of both American and British folk music as well as rock. Much of the group's third LP (Bron Y-Aur Stomp in particular) sounds like it could have been written and performed in the heart of Appalachia.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: Country Dawg
Source: LP:Spaceship Earth
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Liberty
Year: 1971
Although it was considered a major city even in the 1960s, Denver, Colorado did not have the most vibrant of local music scenes. Why this was is a mystery to me, and I lived there until I was 14. The area has produced some successful bands over the years, however, and possibly the most successful of these was Sugarloaf, named for a nearby mountain (and ski resort). The band's second album saw the addition of Robert Yeazel on guitar, who wrote Country Dawg.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Baby, What's Wrong
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: Raven
Year: 1963
The first demo recorded by the Yardbirds in 1963 was their version of the Jimmy Reed tune, Baby, What's Wrong. Even then Eric Clapton's guitar work made one sit up and take notice.
Artist: Music Explosion
Title: Little Bit O' Soul
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Carter/Lewis
Label: Laurie
Year: 1967
Mansfield, Ohio, was home to the Music Explosion who made their mark as one-hit wonders in early 1967 with Little Bit O' Soul.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
We finish the night with this iconic track from the Electric Prunes. Contrary to persistent rumors the Prunes were not from the Pacific Northwest, although they did spend a lot of time performing there. In truth, they hailed from L.A.'s San Fernando Valley (home of countless valley girls), at the time a rather large suburb, now part of the city proper.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: Action
Source: LP: Just Like Us
Writer: Boyce/Venet
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Paul Revere and the Raiders were formed in the early 60s in Boise, Idaho. After temporarily disbanding due to Revere's stint in the Army, the group reformed in time to be the first band to record Richard Berry's Louie Louie in 1963. After establishing a reputation as one of the most polished bands on the Pacific Northwest scene, the group caught the eye (and ear) of Dick Clark, who signed them up to be the host band for his new daytime music show, Where The Action Is. The group relocated to Los Angeles, becoming the first rock band signed to Columbia Records in the process. One of their early recordings for the label was the theme song used on the TV show itself, although a longer version by Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon was released as a single and got considerably more airplay than the Raiders' version.
Artist: Kingsmen
Title: Louie Louie
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Richard Berry
Label: Rhino (original label: Wand)
Year: 1963
Although Paul Revere and the Raiders had recorded the song first, it's the Portland-based Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie that is remembered as the greatest party song of all time. With its basic three-chord structure and incomprehensible lyrics, the most popular song to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest was considered a must-learn song for garage bands nationwide.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: The Little Black Egg
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Charles Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Kapp)
Year: 1967
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Pretty Ballerina
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Michael Brown
Label: Smash
Year: 1967
The Left Banke, taking advantage of bandleader Michael Brown's industry connections (his father owned a New York recording studio), ushered in what was considered to be the "next big thing" in popular music in early 1967: baroque pop. After their debut single, Walk Away Renee, became a huge bestseller, the band followed it up with Pretty Ballerina, which easily made the top 20 as well. Subsequent releases were sabotaged by a series of bad decisions by Brown and the other band members that left radio stations leery of playing any record with the words "Left Banke" on the label.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Ego Trip
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
1967 was also the year of the "Boss-Town Sound", a gimmick used to promote several Boston-based bands signed to the M-G-M label (M-G-M having been asleep at the wheel during the recent band-signing frenzy in San Francisco). Derided in the music press as a crass attempt to manipulate record buyers, the ultimate victims of this fraud were the bands themselves, many of which were actually quite talented. Ultimate Spinach was the brainchild of keyboardist Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote all the material for the group's first two LPs. When the stigma of being part of the whole boss-town thing became too much to deal with, Bruce-Douglas left the group. Although the Ultimate Spinach name continued to be used, subsequent albums had little in common musically with the two Bruce-Douglas LPs.
Artist: Swingin' Medallions
Title: Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Vetter/Smith
Label: Rhino (original label: Smash)
Year: 1966
This band from tiny Greenwood, South Carolina, scored a hit that was almost as popular in frat houses as Louie Louie. The song, Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love), was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and released nationally in 1966 on Mercury's subsidiary label, Smash Records.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: LP: Procol Harum Live
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
Procol Harum was formed in 1966 in Southend-on-sea, Essex, England. One of the songs on their 1967 debut album was Conquistador. Five years later the live version of the song, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, was released as a single, becoming the second-biggest hit for the group (after A Whiter Shade Of Pale).
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Born Cross-Eyed
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/Peterman
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After cranking out their first LP in a matter of days, San Francisco's Grateful Dead took a full six months to record, edit and mix the follow-up album, Anthem Of The Sun. Most of the tracks on the album run together and feature an experimental mix of live and studio material. The sole exception is Born Cross-Eyed, which has a running time of barely over two minutes.
Artist: Kinks
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sand And Foam
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
When Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland's Donovan Leitch first came to prominence, he was hailed as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan. By 1966 he was recognized as the most popular folk singer in the UK. But Donovan was already starting to stretch beyond the boundaries of folk music, and in the fall of that year he released his first major US hit, Sunshine Superman. From that point on he was no longer Donovan the folk singer; he was now Donovan the singer-songwriter. Donovan continued to expand his musical horizons in 1967 with the release of the Mellow Yellow album and singles such as There Is A Mountain. The B side of Mountain was Sand And Foam, an acoustic number from the Mellow Yellow album.
Artist: It's A Beautiful Day
Title: White Bird
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: It's A Beautiful Day)
Writer: David and Linda LaFlamme
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
San Francisco's It's A Beautiful Day made the mistake of signing a management contract with Matthew Katz, who at the time was also managing Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane. What the members of It's A Beautiful Day did not realize at the time was that both those bands were doing everything in their power to get out of their contracts with Katz. The first thing Katz did after signing It's A Beautiful Day was to ship the band off to Seattle to become house band at a club Katz owned called the San Francisco Sound. Unfortunately for the band, Seattle already had a sound of its own and attendance at their gigs was sparse. Feeling downtrodden and caged (and having no means of transportation to boot) classically-trained 5-string violinist and lead vocalist David LaFlamme and his keyboardist wife Linda LaFlamme translated those feelings into a song that is at once sad and beautiful: the classic White Bird.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Simple Song Of Freedom
Source: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Tim Hardin
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
Although born in Eugene, Oregon, Tim Hardin is best known as a mainstay of the folk music scene centered in New York's Greenwich Village in the 60s. He had greater success as a songwriter than as an artist, penning such tunes as If I Were A Carpenter and Reason To Believe. Hardin was one of many acoustic acts that took the stage on the first day of the festival, when technical problems made it impossible for the electric bands to perform as originally scheduled.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, was home to one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the late 60s, despite its relatively small, pre-silicon valley population. One of the most popular bands on that scene was Count Five, a group of five guys who dressed like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and sounded like the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Fortunately for Count Five, Jeff Beck had just left the Yardbirds when Psychotic Reaction came out, leaving a hole that the boys from San Jose were more than happy to fill.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: Good Lovin'
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Resnick/Clark
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
Garfield, New Jersey was the point of origin for the band that came to define the term "blue-eyed soul". Led by Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere, the Rascals (adding the name Young to avert a lawsuit from a group called the Harmonica Rascals) racked up an impressive number of top 40 hits over a period of about three years. After scoring a pair of relatively minor hits with You Better Run and I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore, the group hit the big time with Good Lovin', taking the tune into the top 5 in 1966.
Artist: Monkees
Title: While I Cry
Source: CD: Listen To The Band (originally released on LP: Instant Replay)
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1968
Los Angeles, California, like many other US cities, had a vibrant local music scene, mostly centered on the all-ages clubs along Sunset Strip. Unlike other cities, however, L.A. was also the world's entertainment capitol. These two worlds, while occupying the same physical space, seldom interracted. Thus, we had bands like Love, the Seeds and the Leaves dominating the local scene while more mainstream artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were conducting business as usual in the big recording studios. There were some crossovers, however, such as Gary Lewis (son of comedian Jerry Lewis) and the Playboys and Dino, Desi and Billy (featuring the sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz); teen bands with connections to the mainstream establishment. One of the strangest intersections of the two worlds was the Monkees. Of the four members, only Mickey Dolenz was a native Angelino. The rest hailed from Washington, DC (Peter Tork), Manchester, England (Davy Jones) and Houston, Texas (Michael Nesmith). Tork, however, was indeed connected with the local scene, having been recommended to the Monkees producers by his friend Stephen Stills. Nesmith had even stronger credentials, having written the song Mary Mary for the Butterfield Blues Band. Although by many accounts Tork was the more accomplished musician (he played multiple instruments), it was Nesmith who had the greatest success in the long run. One of the last Nesmith songs to appear on a Monkees album was While I Cry, from the 1968 LP Instant Replay (the first Monkees without Tork). Nesmith would eventually leave the group to form the First (and later Second) National Band and later become a movie (Repo Man) and video producer (he created MTV, selling the rights to Time Warner in the early 1980s).
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Wrong
Source: CD: Turn On The Music Machine
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Collectables (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
One of the strongest bands on the local L.A. scene was the Music Machine, led by Sean Bonniwell. As I had a lot to say about them last week, I'll just point out here that Wrong, as well as being one of Bonniwell's originals on the first Music Machine album, was issued as the B side to Talk Talk in 1966.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Crushingura
Source: CD: Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Crown of Creation)
Writer: Spencer Dryden
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
The first San Francisco band signed to a major record label was Jefferson Airplane. By the time their fourth album, Crown of Creation, was released, original members Signe Anderson and Skip Spence had been replaced by Grace Slick and jazz drummer Spencer Dryden. The two were responsible for some of the band's most avant-garde recordings, such as Slick's Rejoyce (from After Bathing At Baxter's) and Dryden's Crushingura, a piece using prepared piano and studio effects.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: She's My Baby
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Stewart/Alaimo/Curcio
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although generally considered to be one of the early San Francisco bands, the Mojo Men actually originated in Rochester, NY. After spending most of the early 60s in Florida playing to fraternities, the band moved out the West Coast in 1965, becoming mainstays on the San Francisco scene.
Artist: Every Mother's Son
Title: Come On Down To My Boat
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Farrell/Goldstein
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
New York, for being the largest city in the world (at the time) had relatively few popular local bands. Perhaps this is because of the wealth of entertainment and cultural choices in the Big Apple. In fact, the only notable local music scene was in Greenwich Village, which was more into folk and blues than mainstream rock. There were a few rock bands formed in New York, though. One example was Every Mother's Son, one-hit wonders with Come On Down To My Boat in 1967.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Is It Any Wonder
Source: CD: Happy Together
Writer: Sloan/Barri
Label: Magic
Year: 1967
The Turtles started off as an L.A.-based surf band called the Crossfires. After signing to White Whale Records in 1965 the group jumped on the folk-rock bandwagon, scoring a national hit with their cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. After a less than stellar 1966 the group regained their momentum with the release of Happy Together in 1967. At the same time they began to develop the skewed viewpoint that would characterize the work of the band's two co-leaders, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, in the 1970s when they became known as Flo and Eddie. Is It Any Wonder, the song heard here, is a bit of a mystery to me. It was included on the European release of the Happy Together CD as a bonus track, but I have not been able to find out where it first appeared (or indeed, whether or not it had ever been released at all). If you have any more information about the song, feel free to drop me a line through the contact button at www.hermitradio.com
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: Psychedelic Pop
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah
Year: 1967
Oxford, Ohio's Lemon Pipers have the distinction of being the first band to score a number one hit for the Buddah label. Unfortunately for the band, it was their only hit.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Bye Bye Johnny
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released in UK on EP: The Rolling Stones)
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: London (original label: Decca UK)
Year: 1964
At the same time the Beatles were honing their craft in Liverpool and Hamburg in the early 60s, the city of London was developing its own local music scene. On any given night one could hear the sounds of American blues and R&B artists of the 1950s, as interpreted by young British musicians, coming from London's many clubs. The most successful of these young British blues cover bands was the Rolling Stones. Unlike the Beatles, the Stones didn't write much of their own material, at least not at first. Instead they chose to record their own versions of songs by Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and the like. After a couple moderately successful singles Decca Records UK decided to let the band record some non-single tracks. They were not yet convinced, however, that the Rolling Stones were a big enough act to sell an entire LPs worth of material. Instead, they chose to release a four-song EP titled, simply, The Rolling Stones. One of the tracks recorded for that EP was Bye Bye Johnny, a song Chuck Berry wrote as an "answer" to his own Johnny B. Goode.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
By 1967 the Rolling Stones were writing all their own material. Although Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had achieved considerable success as songwriters (to the point of providing material for other artists to record), the group's album sales had been slipping. Their 1967 LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request, had been a disappointment, both commercially and critically, and the group knew that they needed a strong single to get back on track. The result was We Love You, the most expensive single the band had ever recorded. Accompanied by a promotional film generally acknowledged to be one of the first rock videos, the song did well in Europe and the UK but was relegated to B side status in the US.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: What To Do
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released on LP: Aftermath)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
1966's Aftermath is generally considered to be one of the Brian Jones era Rolling Stones' best albums. While the hit single Paint It, Black and the LP track Under My Thumb are the best-known songs on the album, What To Do is perhaps a more typical Stones song of the period.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dandelion
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
When We Love You got only a lukewarm response from American radio listeners stations began to flip the record over and play the B side, Dandelion, instead. The song ended up being one of the band's biggest US hits of 1967.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Not Fade Away
Source: LP: More Hot Rocks (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Petty/Hardin
Label: London
Year: 1964
The Rolling Stones first top 5 hit in the UK was an updated version of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away. The Stones put a greater emphasis on the Bo Diddly style beat than Holly did and ended up with their first charted single in the US as well, establishing the Rolling Stones as the Yang of the British Invasion to the Beatles' Ying. It was a role that fit the top band from the city they call "The Smoke" well.
Artist: Human Expression
Title: Optical Sound
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Quarles/Foster
Label: Rhino (original label: Accent)
Year: 1967
One thing Los Angeles had become known for by the mid-1960s was its urban sprawl. Made possible by one of the world's most extensive regional freeway systems, the city had become surrounded by suburbs on all sides (except for the oceanfront). Many of these suburbs were (and are) in Orange County, home to Anaheim stadium, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. The O.C. was also home to the Human Expression, a band that recorded a trio of well-regarded singles for the Accent label. The last of these was Optical Sound. True to its name, the song utilized the latest technology available to achieve a decidedly psychedelic sound.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
Los Angeles has a long history of attracting young people from all over who are out to make a name for themselves in the entertainment world. In most cases that ambition reaches far beyond the borders of the city itself. For the most part, though, the Seeds, led by Sky Saxon, seemed content to be the city's premier Flower Power band (credible sources even indicate that the Seeds actually coined the term Flower Power). Although Pushin' Too Hard made the national charts in 1967, most of the Seeds' singles, such as The Wind Blows Her Hair, were hits mainly in the L.A. area.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Castles Made Of Sand
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the south. After a short stint leading his own soul band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Hendrix, at the behest of one Chas Chandler (more on him in a minute), moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Heart Beat, Pig Meat
Source: LP: Zabriskie Point soundtrack
Writer: Gilmour/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label: 4 Men With Beards
Year: 1970
Without really meaning to, Chas Chandler had a profound effect on British rock; first as bassist for the Animals, then even more so as the guy who convinced Jimi Hendrix to move to London. While psychedelic music was developing in the US (particularly in L.A., San Francisco and Austin, Texas) in early 1966, it didn't really start in the UK until the first single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Hey Joe/Stone Free) hit the record racks. Then, practically overnight, British psychedelic bands starting popping up all over the place. First and foremost among these was Pink Floyd. Formed by university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett in 1965, Pink Floyd created a curious mix of avant-garde album tracks and catchy psychedelic singles (the latter written by Barrett). After Barrett left the band due to mental health issues (replaced by guitarist David Gilmour), Pink Floyd worked on soundtracks for several movies, including Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point. Although the film itself was a critical and box-office disaster (appearing on several all-time worst movie lists), the soundtrack album itself contains several rarities, including the opening track, Heart Beat, Pig Meat.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Bron Y-Aur Stomp
Source: Led Zeppelin III
Writer: Page/Plant/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
Although often regarded as the fathers of Heavy Metal, Led Zeppelin was actually capable of playing in a variety of styles. Evolving out of the standard-bearing band of the London blues scene (the Yardbirds), Led Zeppelin soon moved into uncharted territory, recording music that incorporated elements of both American and British folk music as well as rock. Much of the group's third LP (Bron Y-Aur Stomp in particular) sounds like it could have been written and performed in the heart of Appalachia.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: Country Dawg
Source: LP:Spaceship Earth
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Liberty
Year: 1971
Although it was considered a major city even in the 1960s, Denver, Colorado did not have the most vibrant of local music scenes. Why this was is a mystery to me, and I lived there until I was 14. The area has produced some successful bands over the years, however, and possibly the most successful of these was Sugarloaf, named for a nearby mountain (and ski resort). The band's second album saw the addition of Robert Yeazel on guitar, who wrote Country Dawg.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Baby, What's Wrong
Source: CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: Raven
Year: 1963
The first demo recorded by the Yardbirds in 1963 was their version of the Jimmy Reed tune, Baby, What's Wrong. Even then Eric Clapton's guitar work made one sit up and take notice.
Artist: Music Explosion
Title: Little Bit O' Soul
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Carter/Lewis
Label: Laurie
Year: 1967
Mansfield, Ohio, was home to the Music Explosion who made their mark as one-hit wonders in early 1967 with Little Bit O' Soul.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
We finish the night with this iconic track from the Electric Prunes. Contrary to persistent rumors the Prunes were not from the Pacific Northwest, although they did spend a lot of time performing there. In truth, they hailed from L.A.'s San Fernando Valley (home of countless valley girls), at the time a rather large suburb, now part of the city proper.
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