https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/492548-pe-2336
This week, for the first time, we start the show with a battle of the bands. But wait! There's more! The other three segments all start off with an artist's set of their own. That still leaves room for plenty of album tracks, B sides and singles, including one from a band (Love Exchange) that has never been heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: A New Day Yesterday
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1969
From 1969 we have the opening track from the second Jethro Tull album, Stand Up. Although founding member Mick Abrahams (a guitarist with strong ties to the British blues scene) had just left the band, A New Day Yesterday still shows a blues influence in it's tempo and basic riff. Even then, though, bandleader and composer Ian Anderson was not content to stick to the conventional blues progression. Over the years Tull would continue to move further away from its beginnings as a British blues band.
Artist: 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 blues record collectors. 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: Jethro Tull
Title: Singing All Day
Source: CD: Benefit (bonus track)
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Capitol/Chrysalis
Year: 1970
Singing All Day is one of several tracks recorded during the sessions for the third Jethro Tull LP, Benefit, but not included on the album itself. The song finally got released in 1973 on the Living In The Past album and is now available as a bonus track on the CD version of Benefit.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: One Kind Favor
Source: Italian import 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): L T Tatman III
Label: Liberty
Year: 1968
Canned Heat's best known song is Going Up The Country, a single from the band's third LP, Living The Blues. The B side of that single, One Kind Favor, was also from the same album. One Kind Favor is one of two tracks on Living The Blues (the other being Boogie Music) credited to L.T. Tatman III, a name sometimes thought to be a pseudonym for one or more of the band members. Musically the song bears a strong resemblance to an earlier Canned Heat single, On The Road Again, which appeared on the band's second LP, Boogie With Canned Heat. Lyrically, it borrows heavily from Blind Lemon Jefferson's 1927 classic See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Teacher (2nd version)
Source: CD: Benefit
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1970
LPs released by British Groups often had different song lineups in the US and the UK. One of the reasons for this is that British labels generally did not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. In the US, however, running times were 5-10 minutes shorter per LP, and songs that had been included on British LPs would end up being dropped in favor of the latest hit single by the same artist. Jethro Tull, however, was generally an exception to this practice. Both of their first two LPs had exactly the same song lineup on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, the only notable exception was the song Teacher, which was released as a B side before the UK version of the group's third LP, Benefit, came out. The US version of Benefit has a re-recorded version of Teacher on it, replacing Just Trying To Be, which would not be issued in the US until the Living In The Past album. To my knowledge the original, slower version of Teacher (with no flute) has not been released in the US since its initial appearance.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Going Up The Country
Source: CD: The Very Best Of Canned Heat (originally released on LP: Living The Blues)
Writer(s): Alan Wilson
Label: Capitol (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Canned Heat built up a solid reputation as one of the best blues-rock bands in history, recording several critically-acclaimed albums over a period of years. What they did not have, however, was a top 10 single on the US charts. The nearest they got was Going Up The Country from their late 1968 LP Living The Blues, which peaked in the #11 spot in early 1969 (although it did hit #1 in several other countries). The song was written and sung by guitarist Alan "Blind Own" Wilson, who died at age 27 on September 3, 1970.
Artist: John Mayalll
Title: The Bear
Source: British import CD: Blues From Laurel Canyon
Writer(s): John Mayall
Label: Decca (original US label: London)
Year: 1968
During his 1968 visit to California, and specifically Laurel Canyon, John Mayall made several new friends. Among them was Robert Hite, vocalist for Canned Heat and one of the foremost blues enthusiasts in the country. When Mayall returned to his native UK he wrote an entire album's worth of songs about his experiences, calling it Blues From Laurel Canyon. The album's second side opens with a few measures based on Canned Heat's signature "boogie" beat before breaking into a song that refers to Hite by his nickname: The Bear.
Artist: Doors
Title: The Crystal Ship
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Ever feel like you've discovered something really special that nobody else (among your circle of friends at any rate) knows about? At first you kind of want to keep it to yourself, but soon you find yourself compelled to share it with everyone you know. Such was the case when, in the early summer of 1967, I used my weekly allowance to buy copies of a couple of songs I had heard on the American Forces Network (AFN). As usual, it wasn't long before I was flipping the records over to hear what was on the B sides. I liked the first one well enough (a song by Buffalo Springfield called Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It, the B side of For What It's Worth), but it was the second one, the B side of the Doors' Light My Fire, that really got to me. To this day I consider The Crystal Ship to be one of the finest slow rock songs ever recorded.
Artist: Doors
Title: Love Me Two Times
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Although the second Doors album is sometimes dismissed as being chock full of tracks that didn't make the cut on the debut LP, the fact is that Strange Days contains some of the Doors best-known tunes. One of those is Love Me Two Times, which was the second single released from the album. The song continues to get heavy airplay on classic rock stations.
Artist: Doors
Title: I Looked At You
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The first Doors album took about a week to make, and was made up of songs that the band had been performing live as the house band at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in the summer of 1966, including the dance floor friendly I Looked At You. Like all the songs on the first few Doors albums, I Looked At You is credited to the entire band.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Mr. Soul
Source: LP: Retrospective-The Best Of Buffalo Springfield (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1967
Executives at Atco Records originally considered Neil Young's voice "too weird" to be recorded. As a result many of Young's early tunes (including the band's debut single Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing), were sung by Richie Furay. By the time the band's second album, Buffalo Springfield Again, was released, the band had enough clout to make sure Young was allowed to sing his own songs. In fact, the album starts with a Young vocal on the classic Mr. Soul.
Artist: "E" Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
The E-Types were originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell experienced by passing motorists travelling along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to "nearby" San Jose (about 60 miles to the north) as often as possible, the E-Types became regulars on the local scene there, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Matilda Mother
Source: CD: An Introduction To Syd Barrett (originally released on LP: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn)
Writer(s): Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Listening to tracks like Matilda Mother, I can't help but wonder where Pink Floyd might have gone if Syd Barrett had not succumbed to mental illness following the release of the band's first LP, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, in 1967. Unlike the rest of the band members, Barrett had the ability to write songs that were not only adventurous, but commercially viable as singles as well. After Barrett's departure, it took the group several years to become commercially successful on their own terms (although they obviously did). We'll never know what they may have done in the intervening years were Barrett still at the helm of the band he co-founded.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Antique Doll
Source: Mono British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released on LP: Underground)
Writer(s): Tucker/Mantz
Label: Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Sometimes there is no comprehending what goes on in the mind of record company people. Take the Electric Prunes, for example. Their second single, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), put them right at the front of the pack of the psychedelic rock movement in early 1967. Their follow up single, Get Me To The World On Time, was a solid hit as well, which should have guaranteed them a good run. But even with that second single, problems with management's decision making were becoming apparent. For one thing, the song chosen as the second single's B side, Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less), had the potential to be a hit in its own right, but being put on a B side killed that idea entirely. It only got worse from there. The next single chosen was a novelty number from the band's second LP, Underground, called Dr. Do-Good. The tune was written by the same team of Annette Tucker and Nanci Mantz that had come up with both Dream and Lovin' Me More, but was played for laughs by the band. The choice of such a weird track is a complete puzzle, as there were several more commercial tunes on the LP, including one written by Tucker and Mantz themselves called Antique Doll. Unfortunately, the song was not even picked to be a B side, and has remained virtually unknown ever since. Rather than own up to their own mistakes, however, the band's management blamed the musicians themselves for their lack of commercial success, and eventually replaced the entire lineup of the original group (who had signed away the rights to the name Electric Prunes early on). Of course, the new lineups were even less successful than the original crew, but really, what else would you expect?
Artist: Byrds
Title: She Don't Care About Time
Source: Mono CD: Turn! Turn! Turn! (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
The Byrds scored two # 1 hits in 1965, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!. Both songs came from outside sources (Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger), despite the fact that they Byrds had a wealth of songwriting talent of their own. Gene Clark in particular was writing quality originals such as She Don't Care About Time, which was issued as the B side to Turn! Turn! Turn! but was inexplicably left off the LP. More recently the song, featuring a Roger McGuinn guitar solo based on the well-known Bach piece Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, has been included as a bonus track on the remastered CD version of the album.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: Simulated stereo CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Priority (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
Pushin' Too Hard was originally released to the L.A. market as a single in late 1965 and included on side one of the first Seeds album the following year. After being re-released as a single the song did well enough to go national in early 1967, peaking at #36 in February.
Artist: Turtles
Title: It Ain't Me Babe
Source: CD: 20 Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: It Ain't Me Babe)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1965
The Turtles started out as a local surf band called the Crossfires. In 1965 they were signed to a record label that technically didn't exist yet. That did not deter the people at the label (which would come to be known as White Whale) from convincing the band to change its name and direction. Realizing that surf music was indeed on the way out, the band, now called the Turtles, went into the studio and recorded four songs. One of those was Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Byrds had just scored big with their electrfied version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and the Turtles took a similar approach with It Ain't Me Babe. The song was a solid hit, going to the #8 spot on the national charts and leading to the first of many Turtles albums on White Whale.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Chicken Little Was Right
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: The Turtles
Label: White Whale
Year: 1967
Like many of the bands of the time, the Turtles usually recorded songs from professional songwriters for their A sides and provided their own material for the B sides. In the Turtles' case, however, these B sides were often psychedelic masterpieces that contrasted strongly with their hits. Chicken Little Was Right, the B side of She's My Girl, at first sounds like something you'd hear at a hootenanny, but then switches keys for a chorus featuring the Turtles' trademark harmonies, with a little bit of Peter And The Wolf thrown in for good measure. This capacity for self-parody would come to serve band members Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan well a few years later, first as members of the Mothers (performing Happy Together live at the Fillmore East) and then as the Phorescent Leach and Eddie (later shortened to Flo And Eddie).
Artist: Turtles
Title: You Baby
Source: CD: 20 Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: You Baby)
Writer(s): Sloan/Barri
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1966
After first hitting the charts with their version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, the Turtles released yet another "angry young rebel" song, P.F. Sloan's Let Me Be. Realizing that they needed to vary their subject matter somewhat if they planned on having a career lasting longer than six months, the band formerly known as the Crossfires went with another Sloan tune, You Baby, for their first single of 1966. Although the music was in a similar style to Let Me Be, the lyrics, written by Steve Barri, were fairly typical of teen-oriented love songs of the era. The Turtles would continue to record songs from professional songwriters for single release for the remainder of their existence, with their original compositions showing up mostly as album tracks and B sides.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Brave New World
Source: LP: Homer soundtrack (originally released on LP: Brave New World)
Writer(s): Steve Miller
Label: Cotillion (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
It took the Steve Miller Band half a dozen albums (plus appearances on a couple of movie soundtracks) to achieve star status in the early 1970s. Along the way they developed a cult following that added new members with each successive album. The fourth Miller album was Brave New World, the title track of which was used in the film Homer, a 1970 film that is better remembered for its soundtrack than for the film itself.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Picture Book
Source: LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (originally released on LP: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society)
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was the last studio album to feature the original Kinks lineup of Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and Mick Avory. Released in November of 1968 in the UK and early 1969 in the US, it was one of the first rock concept albums, and marked the end of the band's transition from pop stars to cult favorites. Picture Book, also released as the B side of the album's first single, is about looking though an old photo album and reflecting on its contents. Ray Davies later said that the track was not originally intended to be a Kinks song due to it being autobiographical in nature. Despite being lauded by the rock press The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was not a commercial success, and was outsold by The Kinks Greatest Hits, a compilation of their pre-1967 singles that was released around the same time.
Artist: Janis Ian
Title: Too Old To Go 'Way Little Girl
Source: Mono LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s): Janis Ian
Label: Verve Folkways
Year: 1967
In the early 1970s former Beatle John Lennon became known as a champion of the practice of writing songs from personal experience. Janis Ian was doing just that at age 15 when she recorded her self-title debut LP, released in January of 1967. Among the many autobiographical songs on the album is Too Old To Go 'Way Little Girl, about growing up with an overprotective mother in a male-dominated society.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Searchin'
Source: Mono LP: What's Shakin'
Writer(s): Lieber/Stoller
Label: Sundazed (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The Lovin' Spoonful came close to being the first rock band signed by Elektra Records. It was this inexperience with the world of pop music (as it was then called) that ultimately led the Spoonful to instead sign with Kama Sutra, the direct forerunner of Buddah Records. According to bassist Steve Boone, the band, and their production team, "wanted the benefits of being on Dick Clark" and appearing in magazines like Teen Beat, something the people at Kama Sutra were better equipped to deliver. Still, the band genuinely liked Jac Holtzman and wanted to do something to make up for not signing with his label, so they gave him four tracks that never appeared on Kama Sutra. Those four tracks ended up appearing, along with tunes from Eric Clapton's Powerhouse, the Butterfield Blues Band, and others, on a one-off anthology album called What's Shakin' in 1966. Two of the Spoonful recordings were original John Sebastian tunes. The other two were covers of vintage rock and roll tunes, including the Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller tune Searchin', which had been a hit for the Coasters in 1957. The two cover tunes show a side of the Lovin' Spoonful that was seldom, if ever, heard on their Kama Sutra recordings.
Artist: Front Line
Title: Got Love
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lanigan/Philipet
Label: Rhino (original label: York)
Year: 1965
The Front Line was a band from San Rafael, California whose story in many ways was typical of their time. Marin County, being a fairly upscale place, had its share of clubs catering to the sons and daughters of its affluent residents. Of course, these teens wanted to hear live performances of their favorite top 40 tunes and bands like the Front Line made a decent enough living catering to their preferences. Like most bands of the time, the Front Line had one song that was of their own creation, albeit one that was somewhat derivative of the kinds of tunes they usually performed (not to mention unusually short in duration) so as not to scare off their audience. That song was Got Love, which was released on the York label in 1965.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Think
Source: CD: Aftermath
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original US label: London)
Year: 1966
The 1966 album Aftermath marked a turning point for the Rolling Stones, as it was the first Stones album to be entirely made up of songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Although, as with all the early Stones releases, there were differences between the US and UK versions of the album, both releases included Think, a song that is fairly representative of the mid-60s Rolling Stones sound.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Honky Tonk Women
Source: LP: Through The Past, Darkly
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1969
After revitalizing their career with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man in 1968, the Stones delivered the coup-de-grace in 1969 with one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded: the classic Honky Tonk Women. The song was the band's first single without Brian Jones, who had been found dead in his swimming pool shortly after leaving the group. Jones's replacement, Mick Taylor (fresh from a stint with blues legend John Mayall), plays slide guitar on the track.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: It's Not Easy
Source: CD: Aftermath
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original US label: London)
Year: 1966
The Rolling Stones' Aftermath, along with the Beatles' Rubber Soul, began a revolution in rock music that was felt for several decades. Prior to those two releases, albums were basically a mix of original and cover songs meant to provide a little supplemental income for popular artists who had hit singles. Aftermath, however, was full of songs that could stand on their own. Even songs like It's Not Easy, which could have been hit singles for lesser artists, were completely overlooked in favor of tracks like Under My Thumb, which is arguably the first true rock classic not to be released as a single. Within the short span of two years, rock would find itself in a place where an artist could be considered a success without having a hit single, something that was completely unheard of when Aftermath was released.
Artist: Love Exchange
Title: Swallow The Sun
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): John Merrill
Label: Rhino (original label: Uptown)
Year: 1967
Comparisons have been made between the Love Exchange and another Los Angeles band, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. It only makes sense, after all, since both groups were best described as "psychedelic folk-rock" and both were fronted by a female vocalist. In the case of the Love Exchange, this was 16-year-old Bonnie Blunt. What really invites the comparison, however, is the fact that the Love Exchange's best-known song (and only single) Swallow The Sun was written by John Merrill, leader of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Despite their lack of recording success, the Love Exchange lasted until 1969, with their last appearance being at the Newport '69 Pop Festival.
Artist: Tomorrow
Title: My White Bicycle
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Hopkins/Burgess
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year: 1967
One of the most popular bands with the mid-60s London Mods was a group called the In Crowd. In 1967 the band abandoned its R&B/Soul sound for a more psychedelic approach, changing its name to Tomorrow in the process. Their debut single, My White Bicycle, was inspired by the practice in Amsterdam of leaving white bicycles at various stategic points throughout the city for anyone to use (Ithaca, NY currently does the same thing, except theirs are yellow and green). The song sold well and got a lot of play at local discoteques, but did not chart. Soon after the record was released, however, lead vocalist Keith West had a hit of his own, Excerpt From A Teenage Opera, which did not sound at all like the music Tomorrow was making. After a second Tomorrow single failed to chart, the individual members drifted off in different directions, with West concentrating on his solo career, guitarist Steve Howe joining Bodast, and bassist Junior Wood and drummer Twink Alder forming a short-lived group called Aquarian Age. Twink would go on to greater fame as a member of the Pretty Things and a founder of the Pink Fairies, but it was Howe that became an international star in the 70s after replacing Peter Banks in Yes.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Fall On You
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer(s): Peter Lewis
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
In a band overloaded with talent like Moby Grape was it's easy to overlook the contributions of the band's third guitarist, Peter Lewis. That would be a mistake, however. Although not as flashy as some of the other members, Lewis, the son of actress Loretta Young, showed his songwriting talents on tunes such as Fall On You from the first Moby Grape LP.
Artist: Who
Title: Silas Stingy
Source: Mono CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer(s): John Entwistle
Label: Polydor/UMC
Year: 1967
John Alec Entwistle did not write average songs. For example, his best known song, Boris The Spider, was about, well, a spider. Whiskey Man dealt with a drunk's imaginary friend. And then there was Silas Stingy, from The Who Sell Out. The song tells the story of a man who was so miserly he spent his entire fortune on protecting his money, thus ending up with nothing at all. One of my all-time favorite Who tracks.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: And The Address
Source: LP: Shades Of Deep Purple
Writer(s): Blackmore/Lord
Label: Tetragrammaton
Year: 1968
And The Address was, by all accounts, the very first Deep Purple song written by members of the band. In fact, the instrumental piece, which appeared as the opening track on the 1968 LP Shades Of Deep Purple, was actually written before Deep Purple itself was formed. Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore had answered an ad placed by Chris Curtis, a local musician who was trying to put together something called Roundabout, which would feature a rotating set of musicians on a circular stage, with Curtis himself fronting each group. The idea soon fell apart, but the first two people he recruited, Blackmore and Lord, decided to keep working together following Curtis's departure, eventually adding vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nicky Simper and drummer Ian Paice to fill out the band's original lineup. After securing a record deal, the band went to work on their debut LP, with And The Address being the first song they started to record. The song became the band's set opener for much of 1968, until it was replaced by another instrumental called Hard Road (Wring That Neck), which appeared on the band's second LP, The Book Of Taliesyn. Since then, And The Address has hardly ever been played live.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Water Woman/The Great Canyon Fire In General
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer(s): Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Among other things, Southern California is known for its periodic wildfires, which, fueled by hot Santa Ana winds, destroy everything in their path before they can be brought under control. In the summer of 1967, while the members of Spirit were living in L.A.'s Topanga Canyon and working on their first album, one of these wildfires took out about half of the canyon, inspiring vocalist Jay Ferguson to write The Great Canyon Fire In General. The track uses a marshall beat and banging piano, interspersed with fiery guitar work from Randy California, to represent the relentless fury of the blaze. Immediately preceding The Great Canyon Fire In General on the LP is Ferguson's Water Woman, a gently flowing tune that sounds like it could have been written by the demigod Pan himself.
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