https://exchange.prx.org/p/558727
This week we have an all-British 3-way battle of the bands between two groups who never shared a gig themselves, but were the opening acts for the third one at one time or another (one of them several times). To follow it up we have a Beatles set with an unusual beginning. And earlier in the show we have a Byrds set as part of a 17-song first hour.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: LP: Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Seeds)
Writer(s): Sky Saxon
Label: Elektra (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
Pushin' Too Hard is generally included on every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic, although it took the better part of two years to catch on. Originally released in 1965 as You're Pushin' Too Hard, the song was virtually ignored by local Los Angeles radio stations until a second single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, started getting some attention. After being included on the Seeds' debut LP in 1966, Pushin' Too Hard was rereleased and soon was being heard all over the L.A. airwaves. By the end of the year stations in other markets were starting to spin the record, and the song hit its peak of popularity in early 1967.
Artist: Eric Clapton And The Powerhouse
Title: I Want To Know
Source: LP: What's Shakin'
Writer(s): Paul Jones
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
In mid-1966 a curiousity appeared on the record shelves from a small, New York based record company specializing in folk and blues recordings. The label was Elektra and the LP was called What's Shakin'. It was basically a collection of mostly unrelated tracks that had been accumulating in Elektra's vaults for several months. Elektra had sent producer Joe Boyd to England to help open a new London office for the label, and while there he made the acquaintance of several local blues-rock musicians, some of which he talked into recording a few songs for Elektra. These included guitarist Eric Clapton (from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers), vocalist Steve Winwood and drummer Pete York (from the Spencer Davis Group), bassist Jack Bruce and harmonica player Paul Jones (from Manfred Mann), and pianist Ben Palmer, a friend of Clapton's who would become a Cream roadie. Recording under the name The Powerhouse, the group recorded four tracks in the studio, three of which were used on What's Shakin' (the fourth, a slow blues, has since gone missing). Only one of the three tracks was an original composition. I Want To Know was written by Jones, although on the label it was credited to his then-wife, Sheila MacLeod.
Artist: Country Joe And The Fish
Title: Death Sound Blues
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer(s): 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: Amboy Dukes
Title: Flight Of The Byrd
Source: German import CD: Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Writer(s): Ted Nugent
Label: Repertoire (original US label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
For their second LP, Detroit's Amboy Dukes decided to divide the songwriting on the album evenly between lead guitarist Ted Nugent and rhythm guitarist/vocalis Steve Farmer, with Nugent getting side one of the original LP and Farmer writing side two. As it turned out, the two ended up contributing to each other's side, but there were still some tracks, such as Nugent's Flyte Of The Byrd, that were solo compositions. The song itself gives a hint as to the direction the band's music would take over the next couple of years.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Boredom
Source: LP: A Salty Dog
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1969
The third Procol Harum album, A Salty Dog, saw other members besides Gary Brooker, who with lyricist Keith Reid had written virtually all the songs on the band's first two LPs, providing material for the group to record. The Brooker/Reid team did provide some songs, however, such as Boredom, and would continue to dominate the group's sound for as long as the band existed.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: The Sound Of Silence
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer(s): Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
The Sound Of Silence was originally an acoustic piece that was included on Simon and Garfunkel's 1964 debut album, Wednesday Morning 3AM. The album went nowhere and was soon deleted from the Columbia Records catalog. Simon and Garfunkel themselves went their separate ways, with Simon moving to London and recording a solo LP, the Paul Simon Songbook, and Art Garfunkel going back to college in New York. While Simon was in the UK, something unexpected happened. Radio stations along the east coast began playing the song, getting a strong positive response from college students, particularly those on spring break in Florida. On June 15, 1965 producer Tom Wilson, who had been working with Bob Dylan on Like A Rolling Stone earlier in the day, pulled out the master tape of The Sound Of Silence and, utilizing some of the same studio musicians, added electric instruments to the existing recording. The electrified version of the song was released to local radio stations, where it garnered enough interest to get the modified recording released as a single. It turned out to be a huge hit, prompting Paul Simon to move back to the US and reunite with Art Garfunkel.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1965
San Jose, California, had a vibrant teen music scene in the late 60s, despite the fact that the relatively small (at the time) city was overshadowed by San Francisco at the other end of the bay (both cities were then, as now, considered part of the same metropolitan market). One of the more popular bands in town was Count Five, a group of five individuals who chose to dress up like Bela Lugosi's Dracula, capes and all. Musically, they idolized the Yardbirds (Jeff Beck era), and for slightly more than three minutes managed to sound more like their idols than the Yardbirds themselves (who by then had replaced Beck with Jimmy Page and had shifted musical gears).
Artist: Soft Machine
Title: Feelin', Reelin', Squealin'
Source: Mono British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Kevin Ayers
Label: Polydor
Year: 1967
The Soft Machine is best known for being at the forefront of the jazz-rock fusion movement of the 1970s. The bands roots were in the city of Canterbury, a sort of British equivalent of New York's Greenwich Village. Led by drummer Robert Wyatt, the band was first formed as the Wilde Flowers in 1963 with Kevin Ayers as lead vocalist. Heavily influenced by modern jazz, beat poetry and dadaist art, the Wilde Flowers were less a band than a group of friends getting together to make music from time to time. Things got more serious when Ayers and his Australian beatnik friend Daevid Allen made a trip to Ibiza, where they met Wes Brunson, an American who was heir to a fortune. Brunson provided financial backing for a new band called Mister Head, which included Ayers, Wyatt, Allen and Larry Nolan. By late 1966 the group had added Mike Rutledge and changed its name to Soft Machine (after Allen had secured permission to use the name from author William Burroughs), performing regularly at London's legendary UFO club. After the departure of Nolan, the band recorded its first single for Polydor in early 1967. Both sides were written by Ayers, who by then was playing bass and sharing the vocals with Wright. The B side of that single was Feelin', Reelin', Sqealin', a track that helped define British psychedelic music.
Artist: Humane Society
Title: Eternal Prison
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Danny Minnich
Label: Rhino (original label: New World)
Year: 1968
Simi Valley, California, was home to the Humane Society, a band who, at least on vinyl, showed a decidedly schizophrenic face to the world. The A side of their first single, released on the Liberty label in 1967, was Tip Toe Thru The Tulips (yes, the same song that Tiny Tim became famous for). The B side, on the other hand, was the truly psychotic Knock Knock. The following year they repeated the pattern with another forgettable A side backed with Eternal Prison, one of the creepiest psychedelic tracks ever recorded.
rtist: Byrds
Title: Everybody's Been Burned
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s): David Crosby
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
There is a common misconception that David Crosby's songwriting skills didn't fully develop until he began working with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. A listen to Everybody's Been Burned from the Byrds' 1967 LP Younger Than Yesterday, however, puts the lie to that theory in a hurry. The track has all the hallmarks of a classic Crosby song: a strong melody, intelligent lyrics and an innovative chord structure. It's also my personal favorite tune from what is arguably the Byrds' best album.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Turn! Turn! Turn!
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Turn! Turn! Turn!)
Writer(s): Pete Seeger
Label: Cotillion (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1965
After their success covering Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, the Byrds turned to an even more revered songwriter: the legendary Pete Seeger. Turn! Turn! Turn!, with lyrics adapted from the book of Ecclesiastes, was first recorded by Seeger in the early 60s, nearly three years after he wrote the song.
Artist: Byrds
Title: C.T.A.-102
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s): McGuinn/Hippard
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds always exhibited an interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life. C.T.A.-102, from the Younger Than Yesterday album, addresses this subject from the angle of aliens tuning in to earth broadcasts to learn our language and culture and finding themselves exposed to rock and roll (and apparently liking it). The song was co-written by McGuinn's like-minded friend, Bob Hippard.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Some of the best rock and roll songs of 1966 were banned on a number of stations for being about either sex or drugs. Most artists that recorded those songs claimed they were about something else altogether. In the case of Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, "stoned" refers to a rather unpleasant form of execution (at least according to Dylan). On the other hand, Dylan himself was reportedly quite stoned while recording the song, having passed a few doobies around before starting the tape rolling. Sometimes I think ambiguities like this are why English has become the dominant language of commerce on the planet.
Artist: Luke & The Apostles
Title: Been Burnt
Source: Mono LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ray Bennett
Label: Elektra (original label: Bounty)
Year: 1967
Just as New York had its Greenwich Village music scene, with groups like the Blues Project, Lovin' Spoonful and Paul Butterfield Blues Band playing small clubs like the Cafe au Go Go, so did Toronto have Yorkville Village, home of artists like Buffy Sainte Marie, Gordon Lightfoot and the Paupers, and a coffee house known as the Purple Onion. Elektra Records had opened a Canadian division in 1965 and Paul Rothchild, who was serving as a talent scout for the label, caught a local blues band called Luke & The Apostles at the Purple Onion one evening in late 1965. He was so taken with the group that he had their lead vocalist, Dave "Luke" Gibson, audition for label head Jac Holzman...over the phone. The band flew down to New York to record a pair of songs, including Been Burnt, but then Rothchild got busted for marijuana possession and did a year at Sing Sing (or some other NY state facility). The band continued to build a following in the Toronto area, going through a series of personnel changes in the process. In April of 1967, still waiting for their single to be released, the band returned to New York for a week-long engagement at the Cafe au Go Go, which led to a return engagement at the same club in May. While in New York the band spent an entire day at the Elektra studios, recording an album's worth of material. During their May gig, the band was offered a management contract by Albert Grossman (Bob Dylan's manager) and Bill Graham, with Graham offering a slot at the Fillmore West that summer. In between the two Cafe au Go Go gigs, Elektra released Been Burnt/Don't Know Why as a single, which ended up putting a strain on relations within the band itself, with some members wanting to go with Grossman and Graham while others wanted to stay with Rothchild and Holzman. Three months later, Gibson left the band to join another Canadian group, Kensington Market, and the rest of the band quickly fragmented, only to reunite briefly in 1970, releasing their second and final single on Canada's True North label. Since then the band has occasionally gotten back together and finally released their first (and only) LP, Luke & The Apostles, in 2017, 50 years after the first appearance of Been Burnt on vinyl.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Jumpin' Jack Flash
Source: LP: Through The Past, Darkly (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1968
After the late 1967 LP Their Satanic Majesties Request was savaged by the critics, the Rolling Stones decided to make a big change, severing ties with their longtime producer Andrew Loog Oldham and replacing him with Jimmy Miller, who had made a name for himself working with Steve Winwood on recordings by both the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. The collaboration resulted in a back-to-basics approach that produced the classic single Jumpin' Jack Flash. The song was actually the second Stones tune produced by MIller, although it was the first to be released. The song revitalized the band's commercial fortunes, and was soon followed by what is generally considered to be one of the Stones' greatest albums, the classic Beggar's Banquet (which included the first Miller-produced song, Street Fighting Man).
Artist: Bloodrock
Title: Wicked Truth
Source: CD: Bloodrock
Writer(s): John Nitzinger
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1970
I first heard of Bloodrock when our lead vocalist showed up at practice one day with their first album in hand and said "we gotta learn a couple of these songs". One of those songs was Wicked Truth, written by Fort Worth's John Nitzenger, who would go on to pen several more Bloodrock tunes over the next couple of years before releasing his first solo LP in 1972.
Artist: Chicago
Title: 25 Or 6 To 4
Source: CD: Chicago
Writer(s): Robert Lamm
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
For their second LP, Chicago (which had justdropped the words "Transit Authority" from their name in response to a threatened lawsuit) tried out all three of their vocalists on each new song to hear who sounded the best for that particular song. In the case of Robert Lamm's 25 Or 6 To 4, bassist Peter Cetera did the honors. The song became a top 10 single both in the US and UK. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lamm says 25 Or 6 To 4 is not a drug song. Instead, he says, the title refers to the time of the morning that he was awake and writing the tune.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: There's A Chance We Can Make It
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Following up on their biggest hit, (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the Blues Magoos released a song called There's A Chance We Can Make It backed with Pipe Dream for their next single. Unfortunately for both songs, some stations elected to play There's A Chance We Can Make It while others preferred Pipe Dream. The result was that neither song charted as high as it could have had it been released with a weaker B side. This had the ripple effect of causing Electric Comic Book (the album both songs appeared on) to not chart as well as its predecessor Psychedelic Lollipop had. This in turn caused Mercury Records to lose faith in the Blues Magoos and not give them the kind of promotion that could have kept the band in the public eye beyond its 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate result was that for many years, there were an excessive number of busboys and cab drivers claiming to have once been members of the Blues Magoos and not many ways to disprove their claims, at least until the internet made information about the group's actual membership more accessible.
The first rock 'n' roll concerts were revues featuring several artists performing two or three songs (usually their hits) and then vacating the stage for the next act, with disc jockeys like Alan Freed sponsoring the event and usually serving as emcees. Although these revues continued well into the 1960s, they eventually gave way to shows that only featured two or three artists doing longer sets, with the most popular group being the last to take the stage. This week we feature a battle of the bands between three British groups, one of which was a headliner by the middle of the decade, while the other two, on separate occasions, served as their opening act. We begin, appropriately, with the two opening bands...
Artist: Who
Title: My Generation (live TV version)
Source: Mono LP: The Kids Are Alright
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: MCA
Year: 1967
On September 15, 1967, the Who made their only appearance on an American TV variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. After performing their upcoming single, I Can See For Miles, the band members were introduced by Tommy Smothers before breaking into what was then their signature song, My Generation. Unbeknownst to the other band members, drummer Keith Moon had planted a small explosive device in his drum set, which he set off during the song's typically chaotic final seconds. The resulting explosion set guitarist Pete Townshend's hair on fire and a flying cymbal left a gash in Moon's own arm.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: It's All Meat
Source: British import CD: Winds Of Change
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
More than just about any other British invasion band, the Animals identified strongly with US Rhythm and Blues artists like John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles; all of their albums were filled with R&B covers, even as late as 1966, when other British bands were recording almost nothing but songs they wrote themselves. After the original group disbanded in late 1966, lead vocalist Eric Burdon set about forming a new version of the Animals. This new band, which came to be known as Eric Burdon And The Animals, shifted the emphasis to original compositions. Much of their original material, however, still had a strong connection to black American culture, especially in Burdon's lyrics on songs such as It's All Meat from the 1967 Winds Of Change album. Burdon would continue to move in this direction, culminating with his collaborations with the Los Angeles band War in the 1970s.
And who did those two bands open for? None other than the group who, in 1965, were ranked the #1 singles act of the year by Billboard magazine, Herman's Hermits.
Artist: Herman's Hermits
Title: Saturday's Child
Source: LP: There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World
Writer(s): Graham Gouldman
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Herman's Hermits were unique among British Invasion groups in that they were far more popular in the US than they were in their native land during the early years of the British Invasion, with several of their US top 10 singles not even being released as A sides in the UK. This was still true in 1967, when their LP There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World failed to chart in the UK while topping out at the #13 spot in the US. Among the notable tracks on that album was the Hermits' own version of Saturday's Child, a song written by David Gates (who would go on to fame as front man for Bread in the 1970s) and originally recorded by the Monkees for their 1966 debut LP.
rtist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: Gratefully Dead
Source: Mono British import CD: Winds Of Change (bonus track originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
One of the most successful singles by Eric Burdon And The Animals was a tribute to the summer of Love called San Franciscan Nights taken from their 1967 debut LP, Winds Of Change. The B side of that single was Good Times, from the same album. At first the band's British label was reluctant to release San Francisco Nights as a single, but eventually decided to go for it. Since Good Times had already been released as a single in the UK (making the top 10), the group recorded a new B side for San Franciscan Nights's UK release, a tune written by the band called Gratefully Dead. To my knowledge, the track has never been issued in the US.
Artist: Who
Title: Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (live TV version)
Source: Mono LP: The Kids Are Alright
Writer(s): Townshend/Daltry
Label: MCA
Year: 1965
One of the earliest singles from the Who, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere, [Wow! That's a lot of commas] is the only known songwriting collaboration between guitarist Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey. The band performed the song on one of their many appearances on the British TV show Ready Steady Go! The show itself was sort of a British version of American Bandstand, with members of the audience dancing and interracting with the program's hosts.
Artist: Herman's Hermits
Title: Rattler
Source: LP: There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World
Writer(s): Bruce Woodley
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Bruce Woodley was a co-founder and primary songwriter for the Seekers, an Australian Band that had their greatest success with the song Georgy Girl in 1966. Woodley was also the co-writer, with Paul Simon, of Red Rubber Ball, a major hit for American band the Cyrkle. Rattler is a country-flavored pop song Woodley wrote for the 1967 Herman's Hermits album There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World, which was recorded in late 1966 and released in the spring of 1967. The Seekers own version of Rattler was included on an album called Seekers Seen in Green later that same year.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: Good Times
Source: Mono British import CD: Winds Of Change
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
By the end of the original Animals' run they were having greater chart success with their singles in the US than in their native UK. That trend continued with the formation of the "new" Animals in 1967 and their first single, When I Was Young. Shortly after the first LP by the band now known as Eric Burdon And The Animals came out, M-G-M decided to release the song San Franciscan Nights as a single to take advantage of the massive youth migration to the city that summer. Meanwhile the band's British label (also M-G-M but run by different people) decided to instead issue Good Times, (an autobiographical song which was released in the US as the B side to San Franciscan Nights) as a single, and the band ended up with one of their biggest UK hits ever. Riding the wave of success of Good Times, San Franciscan Nights eventually did get released in the UK and ended up becoming a hit there as well.
Artist: Herman's Hermits
Title: Jezebel
Source: LP: There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World
Writer(s): Wayne Shanklin
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
Originally recorded by Frankie Laine with the Norman Luboff Choir and Mitch Miller and his orchestra on April 4, 1951 and released as both a 78 RPM and 45 RPM single later that same month, Wayne Shanklin's Jezebel was a major hit, going to the #2 spot on the Billboard chart. There have been numerous covers of the song recorded over the years, including versions by Gene Vincent in 1956 and the Everly Brothers in 1961. Herman's Hermits recorded their own version of Jezebel for their 1967 album There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World. It may well be the most psychedelic recording they ever made.
Artist: Who
Title: A Quick One, While He's Away (live version)
Source: LP: The Kids Are Alright
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original US label: Decca)
Year: Recorded 1968, released 1979
The Who's Pete Townshend is rightfully acknowledged as the creator of the musical form known as rock-opera. However, most people assume his first rock-opera was Tommy, released as a double-LP in 1969. In reality, Townshend had already composed an released a shorter rock opera called A Quick One While He's Away in late 1966 which became the title track of the Who's second LP (although the album itself was retitled Happy Jack for its US release). In December of 1968 the Who were invited to participate in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a telefilm meant to be broadcast by the BBC. The idea was to film a live concert on a stage made up to look like a big top, but the entire process took far longer than planned, starting at around 2PM on December 11th and going continuously until 5 the next morning. The Who were one of the first acts to be filmed. The Stones, on the other hand, were the headliners and naturally were scheduled to perform last. The fact that they didn't go onstage until early in the morning after having been active in the filming process since the previous morning took its toll on the members of the Rolling Stones, and the band decided to withhold the film indefinitely. The fact that the Who, having spent most of the year touring, were at a performing peak, and in the opinion of everyone present had upstaged the Stones, probably had something to do with that decision as well. The telefilm itself sat in limbo until 1996, when it was finally completed and released on CD and home video, although the Who's performance of A Quick One While He's Away was included in the 1979 concert film The Kids Are Alright and accompanying soundtrack album.
Artist: Beatles
Title: She's Leaving Home
Source: Mono LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Capitol/EMI
Year: 1967
One of the striking things about the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the sheer variety of songs on the album. Never before had a rock band gone so far beyond its roots in so many directions at once. One of Paul McCartney's most poignant songs on the album was She's Leaving Home. The song tells the story of a young girl who has decided that her stable homelife is just too unfulling to bear and heads for the big city. Giving the song added depth is the somewhat clueless response of her parents, who can't seem to understand what went wrong. Although nobody seemed to notice for several years, the original mono version of She's Leaving Home runs a touch faster than the stereo version (and thus is in a slightly higher key). This week we are presenting the opening few seconds of each version so that you can hear the difference for yourselves.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Norwegian Wood
Source: CD: Rubber Soul
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1965
The first Beatles song to feature a sitar, Norwegian Wood, perhaps more than any other song, has come to typify the new direction songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney began to take with the release of the Rubber Soul album in December of 1965. Whereas their earlier material was written to be performed as well as recorded, songs like Norwegian Wood were first and foremost studio creations. The song itself was reportedly based on a true story and was no doubt a contributing factor to the disintegration of Lennon's first marraige.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Capitol/EMI
Year: 1967
The top album of 1967 was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also the first US Beatles album to have a song lineup that was identical to the original UK LP. As such, it was also the first Beatles album released in the US to not include any songs that were also released as singles. Nonetheless, several tracks from the LP found their way onto the playlists of both top 40 AM and "underground" FM stations from coast to coast. Among the most popular of these tracks was John Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, which shows up on just about everyone's list of classic psychedelic tunes.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Long Hot Summer Night
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
When Chas Chandler first discovered Jimi Hendrix playing at a club in New York's Greenwich Village in 1966, he knew that he had found one seriously talented guitarist. Within two years Hendrix would prove to be an outstanding songwriter, vocalist and producer as well. This was fortunate for Hendrix, as Chandler would part company with Hendrix during the making of the Electric Ladyland album, leaving Hendrix as sole producer. Chandler's main issue was the slow pace Hendrix maintained in the studio, often reworking songs while the tape was rolling, recording multiple takes until he got exactly what he wanted. Adding to the general level of chaos was Hendrix's propensity for inviting just about anyone he felt like to join him in the studio. Among all these extra people were some of the best musicians around, including keyboardist Al Kooper, whose work can be heard on Long Hot Summer Night.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer(s): Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's the title track of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy album.
No comments:
Post a Comment