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This week Rockin' in the Days of Confusion is experiencing playlist overlap, as almost all of the songs on this week's show have also been played on our companion series, Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. In fact, the only two exceptions are the first and last songs of the hour, which have never been played on either show before this week.
Artist: Foghat
Title: Road Fever
Source: LP: Foghat (aka Rock & Roll)
Writer(s): Price/Peverett
Label: Bearsville
Year: 1973
Generally considered one of the best tracks on Foghat's second LP, Road Fever is a solid rocker about life on the road, a theme that the band would return to several more times over the years.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Suzy Q
Source: CD: Creedence Gold (originally released on LP: Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Writer(s): Dale Hawkins
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1968
Creedence Clearwater Revival is known mostly for their series of hit singles written by vocalist/guitarist John Fogerty; tight, relatively short songs like Green River, Proud Mary and Bad Moon Rising. The most popular track on their 1968 debut LP, however, was an eight and a half minute long rendition of a song that had originally hit the charts over ten years earlier. Suzy Q had been a top 30 single (and top 10 on the R&B charts) for Dale Hawkins in 1957, helping to launch a long career in the music business as an artist, producer and record company executive. CCR took the song to even greater heights, with the track, split over two sides of a 45 RPM single and heard here uninterrupted, barely missing the top 10 in 1968.
Artist: Renaissance
Title: Innocence
Source: LP: Renaissance
Writer(s): Relf/McCarty/Hawken/Cennamo
Label: Elektra
Year: 1969
Many people remember Renaissance as the progressive rock band of the 70s that featured Annie Haslam on vocals and borrowed heavily from classical music, particularly of the Romantic period. What's not as well known, however, is that the band was originally formed by former Yardbirds members Keith Relf and Jim McCarty and had an entirely different lineup. Nonetheless, it is technically the same band, and much of the classical influence they were famous for is present on this first album.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Clean Love
Source: CD: Open
Writer(s): Blues Image
Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
The story of Blues Image is tied closely with the legendary south Florida nightclub Thee Image. Blues Image was the house band there (and had helped set up the club itself) and were already well known and respected in musicians' circles by the time they released their first LP in 1969. Although the LP sold moderately, it failed to generate any airplay on either top 40 or progressive FM radio. The group came up with a genuine hit single, Ride Captain Ride, in 1970, but their second LP, Open, charted even lower than their first one, despite having some outstanding tracks, including Ride Captain Ride and one of the best blues-rock tracks ever recorded, the eight-minute long Clean Love. Frustrated by the lack of success, guitarist Mike Pinera left the band to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after an even less successful third LP Blues Image called it quits. Drummer Joe Lala, who had co-founded the band with Pinera, went on to become a successful studio percussionist and later, film and TV actor.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Wild Horses
Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: Rolling Stones)
Year: 1971
Although it was recorded in 1969, the release of Wild Horses was held up for over a year because of ongoing litigation between the Rolling Stones, who were in the process of forming their own record label, and Allen Klein, who had managed to legally steal the rights to all of the band's recordings for the British Decca label (most of which had appeared in the US on the London label). Eventually both Wild Horses and Brown Sugar (recorded at the same sessions) became the joint property of the Rolling Stones and Klein and were released as singles on the new Rolling Stones label in 1971.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way/Animal Zoo/Love Has Found A Way/Why Can't I Be Free
Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer(s): California/Ferguson/Locke
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1970
Spirit was one of those bands that consistently scored well with the critics, yet was never truly able to connect with a large segment of the record buying audience at any given time. Perhaps their best album was Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, released in 1970 to glowing reviews. Despite this, the album actually charted lower than any of their three previous efforts, and would be the last to feature the band's original lineup. In the long haul, however, Twelve Dreams has become the group's top selling album, thanks to steady catalog sales over a period of years. Unlike many more popular records of the time, Twelve Dreams sounds as fresh and original today as when it first appeared, as can be easily heard on the four-song medley that makes up the bulk of the LP's first side. Indeed, despite never having charted as a single, Nature's Way, a Randy California tune which starts the sequence, is one of the best-known songs in the entire Spirit catalog. Additionally, its ecological theme segues naturally into Animal Zoo, a Jay Ferguson tune with a more satirical point of view. Love Has Found A Way, written by vocalist Ferguson and keyboardist John Locke, can best described as psychedelic space jazz, while Why Can't I Be Free is a simple, yet lovely, short coda from guitarist California. Although Spirit, in various incarnations, would continue to record for many years, they would never put out another album as listenable as Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Heartbreaker (original version)
Source: CD: On Time
Writer(s): Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
The second single released from the first Grand Funk Railroad album, Heartbreaker was a concert staple for the band. Unlike most of Grand Funk's early material, Heartbreaker is a slow ballad that speeds up toward the end, building to a typical Spinal Tap, er, Grand Funk, finish. The version heard here, made from the same master tape, has a slightly longer intro than the final album track.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Sugar Magnolia
Source: CD: Skeletons From The Closet (originally released on LP: American Beauty)
Writer(s): Hunter/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
One of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead catalog, Sugar Magnolia also has the distinction of being the second-most performed song in the band's history, with 596 documented performances. The song, written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, first appeared on the 1970 album American Beauty, but was not released as a single. A live version two years later, however, did see a single release, charting in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
Artist: Michael Nesmith
Title: Different Drum
Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: And The Hits Just Keep On Comin')
Writer(s): Michael Nesmith
Label: Sony Music (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1972
Michael Nesmith titled his 1972 album And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' in reaction to pressure from the shirts at RCA Victor to come up with more hit singles. The one true hit song on the album was Different Drum, which Linda Ronstadt had taken into the top 20 with her band the Stone Poneys in 1968. Like all the other songs on the LP, Nesmith's semi-acoustic version of Different Drum has four verses (as opposed to the three used by Ronstadt) and features Nesmith on vocals and guitar accompanied by Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar.
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