https://exchange.prx.org/p/589861
This week we continue to mine new acquisitions as we feature half a dozen tracks that have never been heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. Plus, a return engagement from two of our Advanced Psych artists from three weeks ago (but with different tunes), and to finish things out an example of the kind of song mix often heard in the 1960s that could never happen today.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Eight Miles High (RCA Studios version)
Source: CD: Fifth Dimension (bonus track) (originally released on LP: Never Before)
Writer(s): McGuinn/Crosby/Clark
Label: Columbia/Legacy (original label: Re-Flyte)
Year: Recorded 1965, released 1987
In December of 1965, while Turn! Turn! Turn! was the number one song in the nation, the Byrds booked time at RCA Studios in Los Angeles to record a pair of songs, Eight Miles High and Why, which were intended to the be the band's next single. Columbia Records, however, had a policy prohibiting the use of a rival's studios (especially RCA's) and insisted that the Byrds re-record both songs, which were then issued as a single and included on the album Fifth Dimension. Meanwhile, the original recorded version of Eight Miles High remained unreleased until 1987, when it was included on an album of early unreleased Byrds recordings on the Re-Flyte label called Never Before. Both David Crosby and Roger McGuinn have said that they actually prefer the earlier version to the well-known Columbia recording.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Leave
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
Although Buffalo Springfield are generally acknowldeged to be among the pioneers of a softer rock sound that would gain popularity in the 70s with bands like the Eagles, Poco and Crosby, Stills and Nash, they did occasionally rock out a bit harder. Of particular note is lead guitarist Neil Young doing blues licks on Leave, a Stephen Stills tune from the first Buffalo Springfield album, released in 1966.
Artist: Unrelated Segments
Title: Where You Gonna Go?
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 6-Punk, part two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mackavich/Stults
Label: Rhino (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1967
The Unrelated Segments were a Detroit band that had most of its success regionally. Their nearest brush with national fame came when Story Of My Life was picked up for national distribution by Hanna-Barbera, the record label associated with such well-known TV stars as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and (later) Scooby-Doo. Hannah-Barbera not being known for its hit records, it's probably no surprise that the song did not climb too high on the national charts, although it did do well in several midwestern cities. A followup single, Where You Gonna Go, was released later that year on the Liberty label. Although not a national hit, it garnered the band enough local popularity to get bookings as the opener for the likes of Spirit, the Who and the Jeff Beck group.
Artist: Cryan' Shames
Title: Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith And Jones
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Guillory/Fairs
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Originating in the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale, Illinois, the Cryan' Shames had their greatest national success with a cover version of the Searchers' Sugar And Spice in 1966. They were rewarded for that success by being signed to the Columbia label later that year, but were never again able to break the national top 50. They did, however, score several hits in the Chicago area, including It Could Be We're In Love, which hit the #1 spot of both WCFL and WLS in 1967. The Shames went through several personnel changes in the late 1960s, and by the time their seventh single, Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith And Jones, was released in 1968 only two of the band's founding members, Tom "Toad" Doody and Jim Pilster (aka JC Hooke) were still with the group. As of this writing the Cryan' Shames are still active, fronted by Doody and Pilster.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: Paint It Black
Source: British import CD: Winds Of Change
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins/Jagger/Richards
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
One of the highlights of the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967 was the onstage debut of Eric Burdon's new Animals, a group much more in tune with the psychedelic happenings of the summer of love than its working class predecessor. The showstopper for the band's set was an extended version of the Rolling Stone's classic Paint It, Black. That summer saw the release of the group's first full LP, Winds Of Change, which included a studio version of Paint It, Black.
Artist: Fantastic Zoo
Title: Light Show
Source: Mono LP: Highs In The Sixties Volume Three-LA 1967 Mondo Hollywood A Go-Go (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Cameron/Karl
Label: AIP (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1967
The Fantastic Zoo had its origins in Denver, Colorado, with a band called the Fogcutters. When the group disbanded in 1966, main members Don Cameron and Erik Karl relocated to Los Angeles and reformed the group with new members. After signing a deal with local label Double Shot (which had a major hit on the charts at the time with Count Five's Psychotic Reaction), the group rechristened itself Fantastic Zoo, releasing their first single that fall. Early in 1967 the band released their second and final single, Light Show. The song did not get much airplay at the time, but has since become somewhat of a cult favorite.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles' members themselves, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by Gary Bonner and Al Gordon, the same team that came up with Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Donovan
Title: There Is A Mountain
Source: British import CD: Mellow Yellow (bonus track originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1967
1967 was a year that saw Donovan continue to shed the "folk singer" image, forcing the media to look for a new term to describe someone like him. As you may have already guessed, that term was "singer-songwriter." On There Is A Mountain, a hit single from 1967, Donovan applies Eastern philosophy and tonality to pop music, with the result being one of those songs that sticks in your head for days.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Yellow Submarine Songtrack (originally released on LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1967 (remixed 1999)
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. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was one of several songs that were remixed by Abbey Road Studios engineer Peter Cobbin in 1999 for the Yellow Submarine Songtrack.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
By mid-1966 there was a population explosion of teenage rock bands popping up in garages and basements all across the US, the majority of which were doing their best to emulate the grungy sound of their heroes, the Rolling Stones. The Stones themselves responded by ramping up the grunge factor to a previously unheard of degree with their last single of the year, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? It was the most feedback-laden record ever to make the top 40 at that point in time, and it inspired America's garage bands to buy even more powerful amps and crank up the volume (driving their parents to go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper in the process.)
Artist: Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Title: You Should Know
Source: CD: Is Spreading/The Great Conspiracy (originally released on LP: The Great Conspiracy)
Writer(s): John Merrill
Label: Collectables (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1967
The second album by the Peanut Butter Conspiracy saw the band asserting its independence from producer Gary Usher, whose Brian Wilson influenced production style had included bringing in studio musicians to make the band sound more commercial. The Great Conspiracy, however, was a much more psychedelic album, although in some cases, such as You Should Know, the psychedelia was toned down for more of a pop approach.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Girl In Your Eye
Source: LP: Spirit
Writer(s): Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode
Year: 1968
Spirit was born in 1965 when drummer Ed Cassidy left the Rising Sons after breaking his arm and settled down with his new wife, who had a teenaged son named Randy. It wasn't long before Ed and Randy (who played guitar) formed a new band called the Red Roosters. The group lasted until the spring of 1966, when the family moved to New York for a few months, and Randy met an up and coming guitarist named James Marshall Hendrix. Hendrix was impressed with the teenaged Cassidy (whom he nicknamed Randy California) and invited him to become a member of his band, Jimmy James And The Blue Flames, that was performing regularly in Greenwich Village that summer. After being denied permission to accompany Hendrix to London that fall, Randy returned with his family to California, where he soon ran into two of his Red Roosters bandmates, singer Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes. The three of them decided to form a new band with Ed Cassidy and keyboardist John Locke. Both Cassidy and Locke had played in jazz bands, and the new band, Spirit, incorporated both rock and jazz elements into their sound. Most of the songs of the band's 1968 debut album were written by Ferguson, who tended to favor a softer sound on tracks like Girl In Your Eye. On later albums Randy California would take a greater share in the songwriting, eventually becoming the de facto leader of Spirit following the departure of Ferguson and Andes to form Jo Jo Gunne.
Artist: Aerovons
Title: World Of You
Source: CD: Insane Times (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Hartman
Label: Zonophone (original label: Parlophone)
Year: 1969
Originally from St. Louis, Mo., the Aerovons were such big fans of the Beatles that they moved to England in hopes of meeting their idols. They had enough talent in their own right to get a contract with EMI, recording an album's worth of material at Abbey Road in 1969. Although only two singles from those sessions were originally released (on Parlophone, the same label that the Beatles' records were on), the Aerovons finally got some recognition many years later when an acetate of their unreleased album was discovered and remastered for release on the RPM label. Perhaps more important for the band members, they got to meet the Beatles while recording at Abbey Road!
Artist: Mountain
Title: Theme From An Imaginary Western
Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Mountain Climbing)
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: Sony Music (original label: Windfall)
Year: 1970
Keyboardist Felix Pappaliardi worked closely with the band Cream in the studio, starting with the album Disraeli Gears, so it was only natural that his new band Mountain would perform (and record) at least one song by Cream's primary songwriting team, Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. If Mississippi Queen was guitarist Leslie West's signature song, then Theme From An Imaginary Western was Felix's, at least until Nantucket Sleighride came along.
Artist: Daily Flash
Title: Jack Of Diamonds
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Lalor/MacAllistor/Kelihor/Hastings
Label: Rhino (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1966
The practice of writing new lyrics to an old tune got turned around for the Seattle-based Daily Flash's feedback-drenched recording of Jack Of Diamonds, which pretty much preserves the lyrics to the old folk song, but is musically pure garage-rock, which is itself an anamoly, since the Daily Flash is generally known for NOT being a garage-rock band. Instead they are considered a forerunner of such San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Artist: Pleasure Seekers
Title: Never Thought You'd Leave Me
Source: Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Volume Six: Michigan Part Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dave Leone
Label: Elektra (original label: Hideout)
Year: 1966
One of the first all-female bands that played their own instruments in rock (and almost certainly the first in Detroit) was the Pleasure Seekers. Formed by then 16-year-old Patti Quatro and her 14-year-old sister Suzie, they were soon joined by the Ball sisters, Nancy and Mary Lou, and pianist Diane Baker. Brashly claiming they could play better than any of the bands currently appearing at the Hideout, the local teen night club, Patti convinced the club's owner Dave Leone, to give them a tryout. They soon became regulars and began to build a local reputation, which in turn led to the release of Never Thought You'd Leave Me, their first single on Leone's Hideout label. Although Leone's name appears on the credits as sole songwriter, it's likely that at least the music was the creation of the band members themselves.
Artist: Fleur De Lys
Title: Circles
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): Pete Townshend
Label: Rhino (original label: Immediate)
Year: 1966
Circles was a song by the Who that was originally slated to be released in the UK on the Brunswick label in February of 1966 as a follow-up to the highly successful My Generation. A dispute between the band and the label and their producer, Shel Talmy, however, led to the Who switching labels and releasing another song, Substitute, in its place on March 4th, with Circles (retitled Instant Party) on the B side of the record. When Talmy slapped the band with a legal injunction, the single was withdrawn, and another band, the Fleur De Lys, took advantage of the situation, recording their own version of Circles and releasing it on March 18th on the Immediate label. Just to make things more confusing Brunswick issued the Who's version of Circles as the B side of A Legal Matter on March 8th, while the Who reissued Substitute with a different B side on March 14th.
Artist: Love
Title: My Little Red Book
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer(s): Bacharach/David
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
The first rock record ever released by Elektra Records was a single by Love called My Little Red Book. The track itself (which also opens Love's debut LP), is a punked out version of tune originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the What's New Pussycat movie soundtrack. Needless to say, Love's version was not exactly what composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David had in mind.
Artist: Kingsmen
Title: Louie Louie
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Richard Berry
Label: Rhino (original labels: Jerden/Wand)
Year: 1963
Although Paul Revere and the Raiders had recorded the song just a few days earlier, the version of Louie Louie that is remembered as the greatest party song of all time came from another Portland, Oregon band, the Kingsmen. With its basic three-chord structure and incomprehensible lyrics, the most popular song to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest was considered a must-learn song for garage bands everywhere. The fact that the FBI actually launched an investigation into the possibility that the lyrics were obscene just made the recording that much more popular.
Artist: Sand Pebbles
Title: Red, Orange, Purple & Blue
Source: Australian import CD: Ceduna
Writer(s): Sand Pebbles
Label: Sensory Projects
Year: 2008
Neighbours is the longest-running drama series on Australian television, having aired its first episode in March of 1985. It is also the unlikely origin point for Sand Pebbles, a band formed in 2001 by three Neighbours screenwriters. Those three founding members, bassist Christopher Hollow, guitarist Ben Michael and drummer Piet Collins were soon joined by guitarist/vocalist Andrew Tanner. The band's fourth album, Ceduna, also featured guitarist/vocalist Tor Larsen. The album, released in 2008, opens with Red, Orange, Purple & Blue.
Artist: Sugar Candy Mountain
Title: Tired
Source: LP: 666
Writer(s): Reiter/Halsey
Label: People In A Position To Know
Year: 2016
It's easy to read something into both the band name and album title of the 2016 release 666 by Sugar Candy Mountain. It's better, however, to not do any of that and instead simply listen to any of the album's 10 tracks for what they are: good music. Sugar Candy Mountain was officially formed on 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Ash Reiter and multi-instrumentalist Will Halsey, natives of Oakland, California who relocated to Joshua Tree not long after the band was formed.
Artist: Romeo Void
Title: I Mean It
Source: LP: itsacondition
Writer(s): Iyall/Zincavage/Woods/Bossi
Label: 415
Year: 1981
Formed in 1979 at the San Francisco Art Institute by vocalist Deborah Iyall and bassist Frank Zincavage, Romeo Void also included saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, guitarist Peter Woods, and a (shades of Spinal Tap!) succession of drummers. Their first LP, Itsacondition (sometimes referred to as It's A Condition) was released in 1981. I first ran across this album while doing a contemporary alternative rock show called Rock Nouveaux on KUNM in Albuquerque in the early 1980s. Although most of the album was fast-paced and punkish in nature, it was I Mean It, the haunting closing track from side one, that stood out from just about everything else that was happening musically at the time.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: CD: Volume 3-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who would go on to join Sugarloaf for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: McGough & McGear
Title: So Much To Love
Source: Mono CD: McGough & McGear
Writer(s): McGough/McGear
Label: Real Gone (original UK label: Parlophone)
Year: 1968
The Scaffold was a uniquely English performance trio consisting of comic John Gorman, poet Roger McGough and musician Mike McGear formed in 1964 in Liverpool. In 1968 McGough and McGear decided to make a record album, utilizing McGear's contacts in the record industry to secure a contract with EMI's Parlophone label (his older brother was a member of a band signed to the label). Unlike the first Scaffold album, a live performance released later the same year, McGough & McGear was a studio creation that included guest appearances from Jimi Hendrix (who plays guitar on So Much To Love), and drummer Mitch Mitchell. Mike McGear, incidentally, was a stage name for Peter Michael McCartney, whose older brother Paul provided backup vocals for So Much To Love as well as being listed (along with McGear and Paul Samwell-Smith) as co-producer of the LP. Other contributors to the album include Graham Nash, Jane Asher and Dave Mason.
Artist: Blossom Toes
Title: Everyone's Leaving Me Now
Source: Mono British import CD: If Only For A Moment (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Poli Palmer
Label: Sunbeam (original label: Marmalade)
Year: 1968
Multi-instrumentalist John "Poli" Palmer was only a member of Blossom Toes for a short time, but he was with the group long enough to get one of his own songs, Everyone's Leaving Me Now, released on a single, albeit as the B side. Palmer would go on to become an integral member of Family following the departure of saxophonist Jim King in 1969.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Shine On Brightly
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M/Rebound
Year: 1968
Although it was never released as a single, the title track of Procol Harum's second album, Shine On Brightly, is probably their most commercially viable song on the album. Opening with power chords from organist Matthew Fischer and augmented by guitarist Robin Trower, the song quickly moves into psychedelic territory with some of Keith Reid's trippiest lyrics ever, including the refrain "my befuddled brain shines on brightly, quite insane." One of their best tracks ever.
Artist: The End
Title: Building Up A Dream
Source: Mono British import CD: Think I'm Going Weird
Writer(s): Brown/Giffin/Graham/Taylor
Label: Grapefruit
Year: 1968
One of the most obscure of all British beat bands, the End actually released more records in Spain than in the UK, despite being managed by Bill Wyman. Some of their best work, however, wasn't released at all, including Building Up A Dream, which was recorded in early 1968 following the band's return from (where else?) Spain. Not satisfied with the initial song, parts of it became an entirely different track called Cardboard Watch, which appeared on their LP Introspection. Unfortunately for The End, Wyman's problems (as a member of the Rolling Stones) with Allen Klein held up the release of the album way past the expiration date of the British psychedelic era, at which time The End had already changed its name to Tucky Buzzard and become a hard rock band.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: CD: Highway 61 Revisited
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
Bob Dylan incurred the wrath of folk purists when he decided to use electric instruments for his 1965 LP Highway 61 Revisited. The opening track on the album is the six-minute Like A Rolling Stone, a song that was also selected to be the first single released from the new album. After the single was pressed, the shirts at Columbia Records decided to cancel the release due to its length. An acetate copy of the record, however, made it to a local New York club, where, by audience request, the record was played over and over until it was worn out (acetate copies not being as durable as their vinyl counterparts). When Columbia started getting calls from local radio stations demanding copies of the song the next morning they decided to release the single after all. Like A Rolling Stone ended up going all the way to the number two spot on the US charts, doing quite well in several other countries as well. Personnel on this historic recording included guitarist Michael Bloomfield, pianist Paul Griffin, drummer Bobby Gregg, bassist Joe Madho, guitarist Charlie McCoy and tambourinist Bruce Langhorne. In addition, guitarist Al Kooper, who was on the scene as a guest of producer Tom Wilson, sat in on organ, ad-libbing a part that so impressed Dylan that he insisted it be given a prominent place in the final mixdown. This in turn led to Kooper permanently switching over to keyboards for the remainder of his career.
Artist: Critters
Title: Mr. Diengly Sad
Source: CD: Battle Of The Bands-Vol. Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Don Ciccone
Label: Era (original label: Kapp)
Year: 1966
The Critters were formed when Don Ciccone, who sang and played guitar, and saxophonist Bob Podstawski joined a New Jersey band called the Vibratones in 1964, transforming them from an instrumental group into one of the first American bands to compete directly with the British Invasion bands. The band soon released their first single on the Musicor label, switching to Kapp Records the following year. Mr. Diengly Sad became the group's only top 20 hit, peaking at #17 as the summer of 1966 was coming to a close. The group split up in 1968, and after a stint in the military Ciccone joined the 4 Seasons for awhile (temporarily replacing Frankie Valli, who had left the group for a solo career), and later toured with Tommy James And The Shondells. Eventually Ciccone formed a new incarnation of the Critters in 2007, releasing an album called Time Pieces that included updated versions of their first top 40 hit, Younger Girl, and a slightly retitled Mr. Dyingly Sad. Don Ciccone passed away on October 8, 2016 at the age of 70 after suffering a heart attack.
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor/Polygram (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 4-6 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
