https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/438317-pe-2238
Over half of the tunes on this week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era were released in 1967, including a couple of tracks we've never played before that feature guitarists that would later become quite famous. Also in the bill, a set of Beatles tunes made around the same time as the band was forming Apple Corps that became some of the earliest releases on the label.
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: Cream
Title: SWLABR
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
I distinctly remember this song getting played on the local jukebox just as much as the single's A side, Sunshine Of Your Love (maybe even more). Like most of Cream's more psychedelic material, SWLABR (an anagram for She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow) was written by the songwriting team of Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. Brown had originally been brought in as a co-writer for Ginger Baker, but soon realized that he and Bruce had better songwriting chemistry.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Cream Puff War
Source: CD: The Grateful Dead
Writer(s): Jerry Garcia
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1967
The first Grateful Dead album was recorded in a matter of days, and was mostly made up of cover tunes that the band was currently performing. The two exceptions were The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), which was credited to the entire band, and Cream Puff War, a song written by guitarist Jerry Garcia. The two tracks were paired up on the band's first single as well. Cream Puff War, as recorded, ran nearly three and a half minutes, but was edited down to 2:28 at the insistence of the corporate shirts at Warner Brothers Records.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Excuse, Excuse
Source: LP: The Seeds (originally released in France on EP: The Seeds Avec Sky Saxon)
Writer(s): Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1965
Although they branded themselves as the original flower power band, the Seeds have a legitimate claim to being one of the first punk-rock bands as well. A prime example is Excuse, Excuse. Whereas a more conventional song of the time might have been an angst-ridden tale of worry that perhaps the girl in question did not return the singer's feelings, Sky Saxon's lyrics (delivered with a sneer that would do Johnny Rotten proud) are instead a scathing condemnation of said girl for not being straight up honest about the whole thing. Excuse, Excuse was first released in late 1965 in France on an EP called The Seeds Avec Sky Saxon. The EP also included the band's debut single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine and its original B side, Daisy Mae, along with No Escape! All but Daisy Mae would be included on the band's self-titled debut LP the following April.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Rosy Won't You Please Come Home
Source: Mono LP: Face To Face
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Davies were a close-knit family living in Muswell Hill, North London in the mid-20th century. Close enough, in fact, for two of the family members, Ray and Dave, to form (with fellow Muswell Hill resident Peter Quaife) their own rock band in the 1960s. That band, the Kinks, became one of the most popular and influential bands of the British Invasion. In 1964 a third family member, Rosy, moved to Australia with her husband Arthur, which devastated brother Ray to the point that he, in his own words "collapsed in a heap on the sandy beach and wept like a pathetic child" on the day that they left. Two years later the Kinks recorded Rosy Won't You Please Come Home and included it on the album Face To Face. When that didn't work they tried an entire album: Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) in 1969.
Artist: Kim Fowley
Title: Strangers From The Sky
Source: Mono British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Fowley/Lloyd
Label: Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The 1960s Los Angeles music scene contained more than its share of colorful characters, so it takes quite a bit to stand out from even that group. Kim Fowley, however, definitely fits the bill, as he is more than willing to tell anyone who will listen. His first claim to fame is being the voice of the Hollywood Argyles, a studio concoction that had a huge hit with the novelty song Alley Oop in the early 1960s. Fowley met prodigy Michael Lloyd when Lloyd was only 13, and immediately recognized his potential. In late 1966 he was instrumental in hooking Lloyd up with the Harris brothers and local hipster Bob Markley, who together formed the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. It was while a member of the WCPAEB that Lloyd produced Fowley's Strangers From The Sky, recorded in Lloyd's own home 4-track studio with Lloyd playing all the instruments himself. In it's own way, Strangers From The Sky is every bit as bizarre as Alley Oop, although nowhere near as successful on the charts. Lloyd went on to become a big-time record producer, working with teen idols like the Osmonds and Shaun Cassidy as well as supervising the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Fowley continued to make his presence felt in both L.A. and London in several roles, including songwriter, producer and being the MC at the Toronto Rock And Roll Revival in 1969 (where he successfully pushed to get the Plastic Ono Band on the playbill). He famously introduced Sandy West to Joan Jett in the mid-1970s, which eventually led to the formation of the Runaways.
Artist: Del Shannon
Title: I Think I Love You
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: The Further Adventures Of Charles Westover)
Writer(s): Del Shannon
Label: Rhino (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Del Shannon? The guy who did Runaway back in '62? Yep. Also the same Del Shannon who Tom Petty has acknowledged as his number one inspiration and who was on the verge of being asked to replace the late Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys when he himself became the late Del Shannon. Unlike many of his early 60s contemporaries such as Bobby Vee or Fabian, Shannon was able to keep up with the times, as this piece of pure psychedelia (penned by Shannon himself) from the album The Further Adventures of Charles Westover demonstrates.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: You Keep Me Hangin' On (includes Illusions Of My Childhood part one and two)
Source: Mono LP: Vanilla Fudge
Writer(s): Holland/Dozier/Holland
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
The Vanilla Fudge version of You Keep Me Hangin' On was originally recorded and released in 1967, not too long after the Supremes version of the song finished its own run on the charts. It wasn't until the following year, however, the the Vanilla Fudge recording caught on with radio listeners, turning it into the band's only top 40 hit. The original album version was considerably longer than the single, however, due in part to the inclusion of a framing sequence called Illusions Of My Childhood (basically a series of short psychedelic instrumental pieces incorporating themes from familiar nursery rhymes such as Farmer In The Dell and Ring Around The Rosie). You Keep Me Hangin' On was originally mixed only in mono as a kind of audition tape for the band. Rather than re-record the song for their debut LP, the band chose to use that original mono mix.
Artist: Move
Title: (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1967
The most successful British band of the psychedelic era not to have a US hit was the Move, a band that featured Roy Wood and (later) Jeff Lynne, among other notables. The band was already well established in the UK by 1967, when their single Flowers In The Rain was picked to be the first record played on the new BBC Radio One. The B side of that record was the equally-catchy (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree. Both songs were written by Wood, although he only sang lead vocals on the B side.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Randy Scouse Git
Source: CD: Headquarters
Writer: Barry/Sager
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
The original concept for the Monkees TV series was that the band would be shown performing two new songs on each weekly episodes. This meant that, even for an initial 13-week order, 26 songs would have to be recorded in a very short amount of time. The only way to meet that deadline was for several teams of producers, songwriters and studio musicians to work independently of each other at the same time. The instrumental tracks were then submitted to musical director Don Kirschner, who brought in Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith to record vocal tracks. Although some of the instrumental tracks, such as those produced by Nesmith, had Nesmith and Tork playing on them, most did not. Some backing tracks were even recorded in New York at the same time as the TV show was being taped in L.A. In a few cases, the Monkees themselves did not hear the songs until they were in the studio to record their vocal tracks. A dozen of these recordings were chosen for release on the first Monkees LP in 1966, including the hit single Last Train To Clarksville. When it became clear that the show was a hit and a full season's worth of episodes would be needed, Kirschner commissioned even more new songs (although by then Clarksville was being featured in nearly every episode, mitigating the need for new songs somewhat). Without the band's knowledge Kirschner issued a second album, More Of The Monkees, in early 1967, using several of the songs recorded specifically for the TV show. The Monkees themselves were furious, and the subsequent firestorm resulted in the removal of Kirschner from the entire Monkees project. The group then hired Turtles bassist Chip Douglas to work with the band to produce an album of songs that the Monkees themselves would both sing and play on. The album, Headquarters, spent one week at the top of the charts before giving way to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. There were, however, no singles released from the album; at least not in the US. It turns out that the seemingly nonsensical title of the album's final track, Randy Scouse Git, was actually British slang for "horny guy from Liverpool", or something along those lines. The song was released as a single everywhere but the Western Hemisphere under the name Alternate Title and was a surprise worldwide hit.
Artist: Tomorrow
Title: The Incredible Journey Of Timothy Chase
Source: Mono British import CD: Tomorrow
Writer(s): Keith Hopkins
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
Originally formed as Four Plus One, and later The In Crowd, Tomorrow consisted of vocalist Keith West (born Keith Hopkins), guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Junior Wood and drummer Twink Alder. Despite being one of the first psychedelic bands to grace London's legendary UFO club and being featured on John Peel's Perfumed Garden radio show, Tomorrow was never a commercial success. One of the main reasons for this was West's decision to work with Mark Wirtz on a side project called A Teenage Opera which resulted in West having a hit single as a solo artist. This actually hurt the band, as promoters insisted on billing the band as Tomorrow featuring Keith West, which didn't sit to well with the other members. They did manage to record and release a self-titled album in 1968, but it did not sell well and was quickly relegated to the cut-out bins. Most of the band members themselves fared quite a bit better with Twink going on the join the Pretty Things and later found the Pink Fairies and Howe becoming a member of Yes, turning that band into a major success.
Artist: Donovan
Title: The Observation
Source: Mono British import CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original 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: Butch Engle And The Styx
Title: Hey, I'm Lost
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Elliott/Durand
Label: Rhino (original label: Onyx)
Year: 1967
In 1966 a local San Francisco department store held a battle of the bands at the Cow Palace. Unlike most events in the city that year, this one did not tie in to the emerging hippie culture. Rather, the event drew bands that were in their element when playing high school dances and teen clubs (although the decidedly hippie Charlatans did make an appearance). The winners of that battle were Butch Engle and the Styx. Eighteen months later Hey, I'm Lost, their only single, appeared on the Onyx label and was distributed throughout the bay area.
Artist: Whatt Four
Title: You're Wishin' I Was Someone Else
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Sanders/Johnson
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1967
By 1967 Mercury Records had long since moved beyond its roots as a regional Chicago label. In fact, Mercury, along with Capitol, Columbia, M-G-M, Decca and RCA Victor, was one of the "Big Six" record labels of the time, so called because between them they owned nearly all of the major record pressing plants in the country. It was really no surprise, then, to see Mercury signing local acts and releasing the records regionally in other parts of the country as well as Chicago. One such act was Riverside, California's Whatt Four, who took their shot at the brass ring in 1967 with a song called You're Wishin' I Was Someone Else.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Why (RCA Studios version)
Source: CD: Fifth Dimension (bonus track)
Writer(s): McGuinn/Crosby
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: Recorded 1965, released 1996
One of the highlights of the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album, released in early 1967, was a song co-written by David Crosby and Jim (Roger) McGuinn called Why. Many of the band's fans already knew that a different version of the song had already been released as the B side of Eight Miles High the previous year. What was not as well-known, however, was that both songs had been first recorded at the RCA Studios in Burbank in December of 1965, but rejected by Columbia due to their being produced at studios owned by a hated competitor. Crosby has since said that he prefers the RCA recordings to the later ones made at Columbia's own studios, calling it "stronger...with a lot more flow to it".
Artist: Sparkles
Title: No Friend of Mine
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as a 45 RPM single)
Writer(s) Turnbow/Parks
Label: Rhino (original label: Hickory)
Year: 1967
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the state of Texas would produce its share of garage/psychedelic bands. After all, the place used to be a medium-sized country. In fact, one of the first bands to actually use the word psychedelic in an album title was the 13th Floor Elevators out of Austin. The Sparkles hailed from a different part of the state, one known for its high school football teams as much as anything else: West Texas. Recorded in Big Spring, No Friend of Mine was one of a series of regional hits for the Sparkles that got significant airplay in cities like Midland, Odessa and Monahans.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: In The Midnight Hour
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Pickett/Cropper
Label: Tower
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2012
Among the many Chocolate Watchband recordings that were subjected to major changes by producer Ed Cobb was a cover of Wilson Pickett's R&B classic In The Midnight Hour, a song that was also covered by the Young Rascals. The biggest change Cobb made to the recording was to replace Dave Aguilar's original lead vocals with those of studio vocalist Don Bennett. Once Sundazed got the rights to the Watchband's recordings they included both versions on their CD version of the No Way Out album and in 2012 issued the mono mix of the Aguilar version for the first time as a single.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Revolution 1
Source: CD: The Beatles
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1968
The Beatles' Revolution has a somewhat convoluted history. The song, the first album track to be recorded for the band's own Apple label, was over eight minutes long and included what eventually became Revolution 1 and part of Revolution 9. The song's writer, John Lennon, at some point decided to separate the sections into two distinct tracks, both of which ended up on the Beatles self-titled double LP (aka the White Album). Lennon wanted to release Revolution 1 as a single, but was voted down by both George Harrison and Paul McCartney on the grounds that the song's tempo was too slow. Lennon then came up with a faster version of the song, which ended up being released a few weeks before the album came out as the B side to the band's 1968 single Hey Jude. As a result, many of the band's fans erroneously assumed that Revolution 1 was the newer version of the song.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Hey Jude
Source: CD: Past Masters-vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Parlophone
Year: 1968
Without a question, the biggest hit the Beatles ever had was Hey Jude. The song spent nineteen weeks on the charts, nine of them in the number one spot, making it the most popular song of 1968. It was also the first single released on the Apple label, and became the biggest-selling debut release for a record label in history, topping the charts in eleven countries. At over seven minutes in length, it held the record for longest-playing number one hit for 25 years. Hey Jude is also the most popular bar song in mid-world, as described in Stephen King's Dark Tower books. No wonder Paul McCartney still performs the song regularly.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Long, Long, Long
Source: CD: The Beatles
Writer(s): George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year: 1968
Written while the Beatles were in India studying Transcendental Meditiation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Long, Long, Long is one of four George Harrison compositions on the 1968 double LP The Beatles (aka the White Album). Of the four, Long, Long, Long is the most indicative of the direction Harrison's songwriting would take over the next few years, culminating with his three-disc box set, All Things Must Pass. The arrangement is sparse and the lyrics are deeply spiritual, yet open to interpretation. Harrison himself confirmed that the "you" in the lyrics refers to God rather than a specific person. Long, Long, Long is also one of the quietest Beatle songs ever recorded, standing in stark contrast to Helter Skelter, which precedes it on the album.
Artist: Mad River
Title: Wind Chimes
Source: Mono British import CD: The Berkeley EPs (originally released as 7" 33 1/3 RPM Extended Play mini-album)
Writer(s): Mad River
Label: Big Beat (original label: Wee)
Year: 1967
Unlike most San Francisco Bay Area bands of the mid to late 1960s, Mad River was already a functioning band when they arrived on the scene from their native Ohio in 1967. The group, consisting of Lawrence Hammond (vocals, bass), David Robinson (guitar), Rick Bockner (guitar) and Greg Dewey (drums, vocals), had been formed in 1965 as the Mad River Blues Band in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where all of the members were attending college. By the time they relocated to Berkeley in early 1967 they had developed a unique style of their own. Once in Berkeley, the band quickly established themselves as one of the most "underground" bands in the area, often appearing on the bill with Country Joe And The Fish. In fact, it was the latter band that inspired Mad River to record an EP later that year. Following an unsuccessful audition for Fantasy Records, Mad River cut a three-song EP for the small Wee label. The entire second side of the disc was a six and a half minute long piece called Wind Chimes. The band later recut the track for their first full-length album (on Capitol) the following year.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Happy Together
Source: CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits-1967 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Happy Together)
Writer(s): Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
The Turtles got off to a strong start with their cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, which hit the top 20 in 1965. By early 1967, however, the band had fallen on hard times and was looking for a way to return to the charts. They found that way with Happy Together, a song written by Gary Bonner and Mark Gordon, both members of an east coast band called the Magicians. Happy Together was the Turtles' first international hit, going all the way to the top of the charts in several countries and becoming one of the most recognizable songs in the history of popular music.
Artist: Sound Sandwich
Title: Apothecary Dream
Source: Mono LP: Ain't It Hard (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Johnny Cole
Label: Sundazed (original label: Viva)
Year: 1967
One of the more successful record producers in mid-60s Los Angeles was Snuff Garrett, whose credits include hits by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Cher and others. For a while Garrett even had his own record label. Viva Records was only around for a couple of years, but during that time they turned out some of the best-produced psychedelic records ever made. One example is 1967's Apothecary Dream, a tune written by producer Johnny Cole and performed by local L.A. band the Sound Sandwich. The band cut a second single the following January before Viva folded.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Short-Haired Fathers
Source: CD: Circus Maximus
Writer(s): Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village by guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Bob Bruno and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker in 1967. The group originally wanted to call itself the Lost Sea Dreamers, but changed it after the Vanguard Records expressed reservations about signing a group with the initials LSD. Of the eleven tracks on the band's debut LP, only four were written by Walker, and those were in more of a folk-rock vein. Bruno's seven tracks, on the other hand, are true gems of psychedelia, ranging from the jazz-influenced Wind to the proto-punk rocker Short-Haired Fathers. The group fell apart after only two albums, mostly due to the growing musical differences between Walker and Bruno. Walker, of course, went on to become one of the most successful songwriters of the country-rock genre. As for Bruno, he's still in New York City, concentrating more on the visual arts in recent years.
Artist: Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
Title: Too Many Fish In The Sea/Three Little Fishes
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Whitfield/Holland/Dowell
Label: New Voice
Year: 1967
Mitch Ryder (b. William Levise, Jr.) And The Detroit Wheels started off as Billy Lee And The Rivieras in the early 1960s, but decided to change their name when another group calling itself the Rivieras had a hit with a song called California Sun. They had their first hit in 1965 with Jenny Take A Ride, a song based loosely on the Little Richard hit Jenny Jenny. More hits followed, including the top 5 smash Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly in 1966. The band's last hit was a pastiche of the Motown hit Too Many Fish In The Sea and the 1940s vintage Three Little Fishes, done up 50s rock and roll style. Not long after the record charted producer Bob Crewe convinced Ryder to quit the group and go solo, a career move that did not work out well for either Ryder or the band. (Crewe also convinced Frankie Valli to leave the 4 Seasons at around that same time, perhaps feeling that a solo artist would be easier to control than a group. Then again, maybe he was just being cheap.)
Artist: Love
Title: Signed D.C.
Source: German import CD: Love
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra/Warner Strategic Marketing
Year: 1966
The only acoustic track on the first Love album was Signed D.C., a slow ballad in the tradition of House of the Rising Sun. The song takes the form of a letter penned by a heroin addict, and the imagery is both stark and disturbing. Although Lee was known to occasionally say otherwise, the song title probably refers to Love's original drummer Don Conka, who left the band before their first recording sessions due to (you guessed it) heroin addiction.
Artist: John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
Title: Driving Sideways
Source: LP: Crusade
Writer(s): Freddie King
Label: London
Year: 1967
Following the departure of Peter Green to form Fleetwood Mac in 1967, John Mayall recruited 18-year-old Mick Taylor to join his Bluesbreakers, joining a lineup that also included John McVie on bass, Keef Hartley on drums and saxophonists Chris Mercer and Rip Kant. The group recorded the entire album Crusade in one day in July, releasing the LP in both the UK and the US on September 1, 1967. Mayall would end up disbanding the Bluesbreakers after one more LP, with the various members going on to other bands while Mayall himself continued to record with a variety of musicians over a career that continues to this day.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Rambling On
Source: LP: Shine On Brightly
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Procol Harum is generally considered to be one of the first progressive rock bands, thanks in part to their second LP, Shine On Brightly. In addition to the album's showpiece, the seventeen minute In Held Twas I, the album has several memorable tracks, including Rambling On, which closes out side one of the original LP. The song's rambling first-person lyrics (none of which actually rhyme) tell the story of a guy who, inspired by a Batman movie, decides to jump off a roof and fly. Oddly enough, he succeeds.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix/Gypsy Sun & Rainbows
Title: Fire
Source: CD: Live At Woodstock
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy
Year: 1969
Despite announcing to the crowd that his stage band had had only two rehearsals and wouldn't be doing any of the "old stuff", they pulled off this blazing version of Fire about halfway through their set. I can tell you from firsthand experience that, except for the lead guitar and drum parts, Fire is a pretty easy song to learn and play along with, and since drummer Mitch Mitchell was part of the original Experience that had recorded the song in the first place, it ended up sounding pretty good.
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