https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/382036-pe-2135
Quite a few artists' sets this week, including one that includes both versions of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and a couple of the Doors' most obscure tunes (and one popular one to balance it out). Other highlights include a seldom-heard Alan Wilson tune from the second Canned Heat album, an even more obscure LP track from the Spencer Davis Group and a strange one-off B side from two members of the British band Tomorrow.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Magic Carpet Ride
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf The Second)
Writer(s): Moreve/Kay
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the psychedelic era itself.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: An Owl Song
Source: LP: Boogie With Canned Heat
Writer(s): Alan Wilson
Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Canned heat's 1967 debut LP was made up entirely of blues cover tunes. Their next one, however, contained several original tunes, including An Owl Song, written and sung by guitarist Alan Wilson. Although Robert Hite would continue to handle the bulk of the band's lead vocals, it was Wilson whose voice was heard on Canned Heat's best-known song, Going Up The Country.
Artist: Max Frost And The Troopers
Title: Captain Hassel
Source: European import CD: Shape Of Things To Come (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Beckner/Hector/Martin/McClain/Wibier
Label: Captain High (original US label: Sidewalk)
Year: 1967
If anyone needed proof that the fictional band known as Max Frost And The Troopers was in reality the 13th Power, it is provided by Captain Hassel, which, along with I See A Change Is Gonna Come was released as the only 13th Power single on Mike Curb's Sidewalk label in 1967, a year before the film Wild In The Streets (featuring Max Frost And The Troopers) came out. Further proof is provided on the soundtrack album of the 1968 film, on which a reworked version of Captain Hassel retitled Free Lovin' is credited to the 13th Power. Later that same year, Tower Records released an entire LP credited to Max Frost And The Troopers that included a stereo mix of the original recording of Captain Hassel with its original title restored.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Museum
Source: Mono LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Museum is a song from one of Donovan's early albums that he re-recorded for his Mellow Yellow LP in 1967. The new arrangement, like many of the tracks on Mellow Yellow, uses electric guitar, violin and hand percussion (bongos, etc.) to supplement Donovan's acoustic guitar.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Universal Soldier
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM EP and in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Buffy Sainte-Marie
Label: Rhino (original labels: UK: Pye, US: Hickory)
Year: 1965
Before Sunshine Superman became a huge hit in the US, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was making a name for himself in the UK as the "British Dylan." One of his most popular early tunes was Universal Soldier, an antiwar piece that was originally released in the UK on a four-song EP. The EP charted well, but Hickory Records, which had the US rights to Donovan's records, was reluctant to release the song in a format (EP) that had long since run its course in the US and was, by 1965, only used by off-brand labels to crank out soundalike hits performed by anonymous studio musicians. Eventually Hickory decided to release Universal Soldier as a single, but the record failed to make the US charts.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Hampstead Incident
Source: Mono LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
The Beatles started a trend (one of many) when they used a harpsichord on the Rubber Soul album, released in December of 1965. By early 1967 it seemed that just about everyone had a song or two with the antique instrument featured on it. Unlike many of the recordings of the time, Hampstead Incident manages to use the harpsichord, as well as several other instruments not normally associated with folk-rock, effectively without overdoing it.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Paperback Writer
Source: CD: Past Masters Volume Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Parlophone
Year: 1966
Following a successful 1965 that culminated with their classic Rubber Soul album, the Beatles' first single release of 1966 was the equally classic Paperback Writer. The song was as influential as it was popular, to the point that the coda at the end of the song inspired Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to write what would become the Monkees' first number one hit: Last Train To Clarksville.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Blue Jay Way
Source: British import stereo 45 RPM EP: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s): George Harrison
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
One night in 1967, while staying at a rented house on Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood hills, Beatle George Harrison got a phone call. Some friends that he was waiting for had gotten lost in the fog and were trying to find their way to the house. Harrison gave them some directions and suggested they ask a police officer for help. To help keep himself awake while waiting for his friends to show up, Harrison wrote a song about the situation that eventually became his only musical contribution to the band's new project, a telefilm called Magical Mystery Tour. Some people consider it the best track in the movie.
Artist: Beatles
Title: You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
Source: Mono CD: Past Masters-vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Parlophone
Year: 1970
Basically a studio concoction assembled by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was originally intended to be released as a 1969 single by the Plastic Ono Band. The track was the result of four separate recording sessions dating back to 1967 and originally ran over six minutes long. The instrumental tracks were recorded around the same time the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in Spring of 1967. Brian Jones added a saxophone part on June 8th of that year. In April of 1969 Lennon and McCartney added vocals, while Lennon edited the entire track down to slightly over four minutes. The single was readied for a November release, but at the last minute was withdrawn. The recording was instead released as the B side of the Beatles' Let It Be single the following year.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
We Love You was, upon its release in the summer of 1967, the most expensive Rolling Stones record ever produced (as well as the last Rolling Stones record to be produced by Andrew Loog Oldham), and included a promotional film that is considered a forerunner of the modern music video. We Love You did well in the UK, reaching the # 8 spot on the charts, but it was the other side of the record, Dandelion, that ended up being a hit in the US. The song was dismissed at the time by John Lennon, who referred to it as the Stones' answer to All We Need Is Love, but in retrospect the song is now seen as a tongue-in-cheek response to the ongoing harassment of the band by law enforcement authorities at the time.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: The Lantern
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
The Rolling Stones hit a bit of a commercial slump in 1967. It seemed at the time that the old Beatles vs. Stones rivalry (a rivalry mostly created by US fans of the bands rather than the bands themselves) had been finally decided in favor of the Beatles with the chart dominance of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that summer. The Stones' answer to Sgt. Pepper's came late in the year, and was, by all accounts, their most psychedelic album ever. Sporting a cover that included a 5X5" hologram of the band dressed in wizard's robes, the album was percieved as a bit of a Sgt. Pepper's ripoff, possibly due to the similarity of the band members' poses in the holo. Musically Majesties was the most adventurous album the group ever made in their long history, amply demonstrated by songs like The Lantern. The Stones' next LP, Beggar's Banquet, was celebrated as a return to the band's roots.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dandelion
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
If there was a British equivalent to the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations in terms of time and money spent on a single song, it might be We Love You, a 1967 single released by the Rolling Stones. To go along with the single (with its state-of-the-art production) the band spent a considerable sum making a full-color promotional video, a practice that would not become commonplace until the advent of MTV in the 1980s. Despite all this, US radio stations virtually ignored We Love You, choosing to instead flip the record over and play the B side, a tune called Dandelion. As to why this came about, I suspect that Bill Drake, the man behind the nation's most influential top 40 stations, simply decided that the less elaborately produced Dandelion was better suited to the US market than We Love You and instructed his hand-picked program directors at such stations as WABC (New York), KHJ (Los Angeles) and WLS (Chicago) to play Dandelion. The copycat nature of top 40 radio being what it is, Dandelion ended up being a moderate hit in the US in the summer of '67.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Bes' Friends
Source: LP: Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful
Writer(s): John Sebastian
Label: Sundazed/Kama Sutra/BMG Heritage
Year: 1966
Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful was an attempt by one of the most popular bands in the US to sound as different as possible on every track on an album. For the most part they succeeded, especially on songs like Bes' Friends. The song, done in a style that brings to mind the band's Greenwich Village compatriot Dave Van Ronk, is notable for its extensive use of harmonia and clarinet, making it sound like it was performed by a Salvation Army band in early 20th century New Orleans.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Daily Nightly
Source: CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones, LTD.
Writer(s): Michael Nesmith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (Dolenz also sang lead on the tune).
Artist: Aquarian Age
Title: Good Wizzard Meets Naughty Wizzard (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Source: Mono British import CD: Tomorrow (bonus track)
Writer(s): Alder/Wood/Wirtz
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1968
In 1968, with Tomorrow on the verge of breaking up, bassist John "Junior" Wood and drummer John "Twink" Alder, working with producer Mark Wirtz to create a pair of recordings released as a single and credited to the Aquarian Age. The B side, Good Wizzard Meets Naughty Wizzard, features a dialog between Junior and Twink set against a musical background composed by Wirtz.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Sorry
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in Australia as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Wright/Young
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year: 1966
While Beatlemania was sweeping the northern hemisphere, a similar phenomena known as Easyfever was all the rage down under. Formed in the migrant hostels on the edge of Sydney, the Easybeats signed with Parlophone in 1965, and hit the top of the Australian charts with their second single. From that point on, the Easybeats were the # 1 band in the country, cranking out hit after hit, including Sorry from 1966. Like all the band's Australian hits, Sorry was written by the team of vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young. The day after Sorry was released as a single, the Easybeats relocated to London. At around the same time lead guitarist Harry Vanda replaced Wright as Young's primary writing partner; together they wrote the international smash Friday On My Mind. The Easybeats continued to record into the early 70s, but with only moderate success. Eventually most of the band members returned to Australia; Wright to embark on a successful solo career and Vanda and Young to form a group called Flash And The Pan. A few years later, George Young helped his younger brothers Angus and Malcolm find success with their own band, AC/DC.
Artist: Deep Feeling
Title: Pretty Colours
Source: Simulated stereo British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution
Writer(s): Jackson/Palmer/Capaldi
Label: Grapefruit
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2013
The word supergroup was coined to describe bands made up of members who were already well known as members of other bands. I'm not sure, however, what you would call a band made up of the same people, only before they became members of the bands they were famous for. Such a band was Deep Feeling. Originally called the Hellions, the band included Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi (Traffic), Joh "poli" Palmer (Family) and Luther Grosvenor (Spooky Tooth). In 1966 Deep Feeling made a handful of recordings for Giorgio Gomelsky with the intention of putting out an album. Among them was a tune called Pretty Colours. Before the album could be completed, however, Capaldi accepted an invitation from Mason (who had left Deep Feeling before the sessions started) to join him in a new band to be called Traffic. The Deep Feeling recordings were shelved, with Pretty Colours finally seeing the light of day in 2013, when it was included on a British anthology box set called Love, Poetry And Revolution.
Artist: Doors
Title: You Make Me Real
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Jim Morrison
Label: Elektra
Year: 1970
Although generally considered at the time to be the beginning of a return to form for the Doors, the album Morrison Hotel only provided one single for the band, and that one stalled out halfway up the top 100. You Make Me Real was a Jim Morrison composition that has the feel of early rock 'n' roll hits, thanks in large part to Ray Manzarek's use of Jerry Lee Lewis style tack piano. For reasons that are not really clear, Elektra Records, which had been releasing all their singles in stereo since 1968, decided to return to mono pressings for a short period in 1970. According to people who have better ears for this sort of thing than I do, You Make Me Real was even given a separate mono mix for its single release, although the record's B side, the original studio version of Roadhouse Blues, used what is known as a "fold down" mix, which simply combined the left and right channels of the stereo mix rather than create a new one. Morrison Hotel was the last Doors album to credit the individual members as songwriters. The 1971 followup, L.A. Woman, would mark a return to the band's earlier practice of crediting all songs to "the Doors".
Artist: Doors
Title: Yes, The River Knows
Source: CD: Waiting For The Sun
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1968
Despite mixed reviews from the rock press, the third Doors LP, Waiting For The Sun, was the band's only album to hit the #1 spot on the charts. As was the case with their previous two albums, all the songs on Waiting For The Sun were credited to the entire band. Yes, The River Knows, however, was actually written by guitarist Robby Krieger. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek had this to say nearly 30 years after the song was released: "The piano and guitar interplay is absolutely beautiful. I don't think Robby and I ever played so sensitively together. It was the closest we ever came to be being Bill Evans and Jim Hall."
Artist: Doors
Title: Roadhouse Blues
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Morrison/The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1970
After getting less than favorable reviews for their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, the Doors decided to go back to their roots for 1970s Morrison Hotel. One of the many bluesier tunes on the album was Roadhouse Blues, a song that soon became a staple of the group's live performances.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer(s): Grace Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
The first time I heard White Rabbit was on Denver's first FM rock station, KLZ-FM. The station branded itself as having a top 100 (as opposed to local ratings leader KIMN's top 60), and prided itself on being the first station in town to play new releases and album tracks. It wasn't long before White Rabbit was officially released as a single, and went on to become a top 10 hit, the last for the Airplane.
Artist: Dion
Title: Abraham, Martin And John
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dick Holler
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1968
Although sometimes characterized as a protest song, Dion DiMucci's 1968 hit Abraham, Martin And John is really a tribute to three famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy (with a reference to the recently-assassinated Bobby Kennedy included in the final verse of the song). Most people in the business saw Dion, perhaps the most successful doo-wop artist of all time, as being near the end of his career by 1967, although he was one of only two rock musicians included on the cover collage of the Beatles' 1967 LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band beside the Beatles themselves (the other being Bob Dylan). In April of 1968, however, Dion experienced what he later called "a powerful religious experience" which led to him approaching his old label, Laurie Records, for a new contract. The label agreed on the condition that he record Abraham, Martin And John. The song, written by Dick Holler (who also wrote, strangely enough, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron), ended up being one of Dion's biggest hits and led to the revitalization of his career.
Artist: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Title: Long Time Gone
Source: CD: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Writer(s): David Crosby
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
In addition to showcasing some of the most popular bands of 1969, the Woodstock festival helped several relatively new acts attain stardom as well. Among these newer artists were Santana, Ten Years After and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The biggest Woodstock success story, however, was Crosby, Stills and Nash, whose appearance at the event was only their second live performance. In addition to the group's live set, the movie and soundtrack album of the event included the original studio recording of Long Time Gone from the debut Crosby, Stills and Nash LP.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Wish Me Up
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single B side (reissue)
Writer(s): March/Saxon
Label: Sundazed/M-G-M
Year: 1970
By the time the 60s had come to an end, the Seeds, who had spearheaded the flower power movement in the middle of the decade, were on their last legs. Only Sky Saxon and Daryl Hooper were left from the original group, and they had lost their contract with GNP Crescendo. Their manager was able to secure a deal to record a pair of singles for M-G-M, but, as can be heard on the B side of the first single, Wish Me Up, the old energy just wasn't there anymore.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: All Along The Watchtower
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although there have been countless covers of Bob Dylan songs recorded by a variety of artists, very few of them have become better known than the original Dylan versions. Probably the most notable of these is the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of All Along The Watchtower on the Electric Ladyland album. Hendrix's arrangement of the song has been adopted by several other musicians over the years, including Neil Young (at the massive Bob Dylan tribute concert) and even Dylan himself.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Manic Depression
Source: LP: Smash Hits (originally released on LP: Are You Experienced?)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
After miraculously surviving being shot point blank in the head (and then bayoneted in the back for good measure) in the Korean War (and receiving a Silver Star), my dad became somewhat of a minor celebrity in the early 50s, appearing on a handful of TV and radio game shows as a kind of poster boy for the Air Force. One result of this series of events was that he was able to indulge his fascination with a new technology that had been developed by the Germans during WWII: magnetic recording tape. He used his prize winnings to buy a Webcor tape recorder, which in turn led to me becoming interested in recording technology at an early age (I distinctly remember being punished for playing with "Daddy's tape recorder" without permission on more than one occasion). He did not receive another overseas assignment until 1967, when he was transferred to Weisbaden, Germany. As was the usual practice at the time, he went there a month or so before the rest of the family, and during his alone time he (on a whim, apparently) went in on a Lotto ticket with a co-worker and won enough to buy an Akai X-355 stereo tape recorder from a fellow serviceman who was being transferred out and did not want to (or couldn't afford to) pay the shipping costs of the rather heavy machine.The Akai was pretty much the state of the art in home audio technology at the time. The problem was that we did not have a stereo system to hook it into, so he bought a set of Koss headphones to go with it. Of course all of his old tapes were in storage (along with the old Webcor) back in Denver, so I decided that this would be a good time to start spending my allowance money on pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes, the first of which was Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Akai had an auto-reverse system and I would lie on the couch with the headphones on to go to sleep every night listening to songs like Manic Depression. Is it any wonder I turned out like I did?
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience II
Title: Angel
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: The Cry Of Love)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1971
Shortly after the untimely death of Jimi Hendrix in September of 1970, Reprise released the first of many posthumous Hendrix albums, The Cry Of Love. Like millions of other Hendrix fans, I immediately went out and bought a copy. I have to say that there are very few songs that have ever brought tears to my eyes, and even fewer that did so on my very first time hearing them. Of these, Angel tops the list. The song features the second Jimi Hendrix Experience lineup with Billy Cox on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. Mitchell and Eddie Kramer mixed the song posthumously.
Artist: Animals
Title: Gin House Blues (actual title Me And My Gin)
Source: Mono LP: Animalization
Writer(s): Harry Burke
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1966
Whoever did up the actual physical labels for the Animals' records made several errors of attribution. For example, there is a track on the Animalization album that is listed as Gin House Blues. In fact, the song is actually called Me And My Gin. Both songs were originally recorded by Bessie Smith, which may account for the error. Regardless, the Animals did an outstanding job on the song.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Hey Darling
Source: CD: I'm A Man (bonus track originally released in UK on LP: Second Album)
Writer(s): Winwood/Davis
Label: Sundazed (original label: Fontana)
Year: 1966
The longest track on the Spencer Davis Group's Second Album, Hey Darling is a soulful slow blues number written by Davis and 17-year-old vocalist Steve Winwood, whom I believe also plays lead guitar on the song. Good stuff!
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: I'm Not Satisfied
Source: CD: Freak Out!
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1966
Frank Zappa, in his original liner notes for the Freak Out album, describes I'm Not Satisfied as "safe and harmless and designed that way on purpose". That is, until you realize that the lyrics are from the point of view of someone who has decided that life sucks and is contemplating suicide.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
If ever a song could be considered a garage-punk anthem, it's Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, the follow-up single to the classic Dirty Water. Both songs were written by Standells' manager/producer Ed Cobb, who might be considered the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: Love Is A Beautiful Thing
Source: CD: Time Peace-The Rascals Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Collections)
Writer(s): Cavaliere/Brigati
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
One of the strongest tracks on the 1967 Young Rascals album Collections was actually released as a B side in 1966, six months before the album actually came out. Love Is A Beautiful Thing, which was paired with You Better Run (a song that didn't appear on LP until the Groovin' album), was written by organist Felix Cavaliere and drummer Eddie Brigati (although early pressings of the single credit bassist Gene Cornish as co-writer rather than Brigati). To this day I associate Love Is A Beautiful Thing with one of the most popular local cover bands in Weisbaden, Germany when I was a freshman in high school. The band, made up entirely of sons of American servicemen, called itself the Collections, and played virtually every song on the album, as well as tunes by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and other popular R&B artists.
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