Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2447 (starts 11/18/24)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/551300 

    For a change there are no artists' sets or battles of the bands this week; just 31 tunes from 31 artists, including half a dozen tracks that have never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. The trip starts in 1965...

Artist:    Kim Fowley
Title:    The Trip
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Hardesty/Fowley/Geddes
Label:    Rhino (original label: Corby)
Year:    1965
    Kim Fowley was well-known among the movers and shakers of both the L.A. and London music scenes as an important promoter and record producer, as well as the guy who threw some of the best parties in town. To the general public, however, he remained largely unknown except maybe as the guy who initially brought together the members of the Runaways and produced their first several albums. A decade earlier, Fowley recorded possibly the first, and probably the only, psychedelic novelty record, The Trip, in 1965.

Artist:     Barry McGuire
Title:     Eve of Destruction
Source:     CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll hits-1965 (originally released as 45 RPM single.
Writer:     P.F. Sloan
Label:     Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year:     1965
     P.F. Sloan had already established a reputation for writing songs that captured the anger of youth by the time he wrote Eve Of Destruction, which Barry McGuire took into the top 10 in 1965. It would be McGuire's only major hit, and represented folk-rock at the peak of its popularity. Sloan would go on to form a partnership with fellow songwriter Steve Barri, producing a long string of hits for a group they called the Grass Roots.

Artist:    Simon And Garfunkel
Title:    We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'
Source:    CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM B side and included on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer(s):    Paul Simon
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1965
    In late 1965, a New York based Columbia Records staff producer, Tom Wilson, decided to perform an experiment. He had just put the finishing touches on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album, and was high on the potential of integrating electric rock instruments into folk music. Around this same time, The Sound Of Silence, a song by the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel that Wilson had produced the previous year, had begun to get airplay on radio stations in Boston and throughout the state of Florida. Without the knowledge of the duo (who had by then split up) Wilson remixed the song, adding electric guitar, bass and drums, essentially creating a whole new version of the song and, for that matter, a whole new genre: folk-rock. The new electric version of The Sound of Silence, backed by We've Got a Groovey Thing Goin', was released in September of 1965, and it soon became obvious that it was going to be a hit. The only problem was that by the time all this happened, Simon and Garfunkel had gone their separate ways, briefly reuniting in April of 1965 to record We've Got a Groovey Thing Going, but not releasing it at the time. Simon had relocated to London and recorded a UK-only LP called the Paul Simon Songbook in June of 1965, releasing it two months later. By mid-November The Sound Of Silence was the #1 song in Boston, and had entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Simon returned to the states, got back together with Art Garfunkel and, on December 13, 1965 began recording tracks for a new album. On January 1, 1966 The Sound Of Silence hit the #1 spot on the Hot 100. Two weeks later the LP Sounds Of Silence, which included a new stereo mix of We've Got A Groovey Thing Going made from the original 4-track master tape, was released. By the way, this song is the only instance I know of of the word "groovy" being spelled "groovey".

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    I Want To Tell You
Source:    British import LP: Revolver
Writer(s):    George Harrison
Label:    Parlophone/EMI (original US label: Capitol)
Year:    1966
    The first pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape I ever bought was the Capitol version of the Beatles' Revolver album, which I picked up about a year after the LP was released. Although my Dad's tape recorder had small built-in speakers, his Koss headphones had far superior sound, which led to me sleeping on the couch in the living room with the headphones on. Hearing songs like I Want To Tell You on factory-recorded reel-to-reel tape through a decent pair of headphones gave me an appreciation for just how well-engineered Revolver was, and also inspired me to (eventually) learn my own way around a recording studio. The song itself, by the way, is one of three George Harrison songs on Revolver; the most on any Beatles album up to that point, and a major reason that, when pressed, I almost always end up citing Revolver as my favorite Beatles LP.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Old John Robertson (single version)
Source:    CD: Younger Than Yesterday (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    McGuinn/Hillman
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1967
    In late 1967 the Byrds released a non-album single of a new David Crosby song, Lady Friend. The B side of that single was a song written by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman called Old John Robertson. The tune, about a man that Hillman knew growing up, was a strong indication of the band's ongoing transition from folk-rock to what would come to be known as country-rock. A newer mix of the song was included on the 1968 Byrds album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
        
Artist:    Mother Earth
Title:    The Kingdom Of Heaven (Is Within You)
Source:    LP: Living With The Animals
Writer(s):    Powell St. John
Label:    Mercury
Year:    1968
    The name Powell St. John is an unfamiliar one to most people, which is a shame, as he played an important role in the development of psychedelic rock and was later a founding member of Mother Earth. St. John, who grew up in Laredo, Texas, moved to Austin in the early 60s and was one of the city's more prominent beatniks, performing with a young Janis Joplin as a member of the Waller Brothers Band. In 1966 he was asked by Tommy Hall to come up with songs for Hall's band, the 13th Floor Elevators, to record, providing them with tunes that appeared on their first two LPs. Not long after that St. John relocated to San Francisco, where he formed Mother Earth with another newcomer to the area, Tracy Nelson. The two shared lead vocal duties on the first two Mother Earth albums, with St. John taking center stage for the title track of the band's first LP, Living With The Animals, as well as the album's closing song, The Kingdom Of Heaven (Is Within You). When Nelson decided to move the band's base of operations to a farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee, St. John elected to stay in the San Francisco area, where he has maintained a relatively low profile ever since.

Artist:    Tiffany Shade
Title:    An Older Man
Source:    Mono British import CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released in US on LP: Tiffany Shade)
Writer(s):    Barnes/Leonard
Label:    Big Beat (original label: Mainstream)
Year:    1967
    From 1967 through 1970 Bob Shad's Mainstream label released over two dozen rock albums. Most of these albums were by bands that were known only to audiences in their own hometowns. Indeed, most of these albums were highly forgettable. This was due in large part to the fact that Shad would book the absolute minimum amount of studio time required to get an LP's worth of material recorded. This generally meant using the first take of every recording, even if the band felt they could do better if they had a little more time. As a result, most late 60s Mainstream LPs ended up on the budget rack not long after their release, and, at least in some cases, even the band members themselves considered the whole thing a waste of time and effort. Such is the case with Cleveland's Tiffany Shade, which consisted of guitarist/lead vocalist Mike Barnes, keyboardist Bob Leonard, drummer Tom Schuster and bassist Robb Murphy. The group's manager recommended the group to Shad, who booked two eight-hour sessions for the band at the Cleveland Recording Company. Fortunately, the band was better prepared than most of the Mainstream bands, and actually turned out a halfway decent album, thanks in large part to Barnes's talent as a songwriter, which can be heard on tunes like An Older Man, co-written by Leonard.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    51st Anniversary
Source:    Mono Dutch import LP: The Singles (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Polydor (original UK label: Track)
Year:    1967
    The first Jimi Hendrix Experience single of 1967 (and the first for Track Records) was the classic Purple Haze, released on March 17, 1967. For the B side, the band chose one of producer Chas Chandler's favorite tracks, 51st Anniversary. The song expressed Hendrix's views on marraige by looking at it first from 51 years after the wedding, and then working his way back through the years. The first half, in Hendrix's words, was "just saying the good things about marraige, or maybe the usual things about marraige. The second part of the record tells about the parts of marraige which I've seen." Hendrix's own parents got married when his mother was just 17, just like the girl in the song. Musically, 51st Anniversary is unique in that it is the only Hendrix song ever released that did not have a guitar solo, although the recording does feature five guitar overdubs linked together over the course of the track.

Artist:    Weeds
Title:    It's Your Time
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s):    Bowen/Wynne
Label:    Behemoth (original label: Teenbeat Club)
Year:    1966
    The Weeds were formed in La Vegas in 1966 by Fred Cole (lead vocals), Eddie Bowen (guitar), Ron Buzzell (guitar), Bob Atkins (bass guitar), and Tim Rockson (drums). Cole had already established himself as a recording artist with other local bands that played at the Teenbeat Club (thought to be the first teens-only club in the US) in Paradise, a Las Vegas suburb, and it wasn't long before the Weeds released It's Your Time on the club's own record label. Not long after the single was released the band drove to San Francisco, where they had been promised a gig at the Fillmore Auditorium, but when they arrived they discovered that no one there knew anything about it. Rather than return to Las Vegas, the Weeds decided to head north for Canada to avoid the draft, but they ran out of gas in Portland, Oregon, and soon became part of that city's music scene. Cole would eventually become an indy rock legend with his band Dead Moon, co-founded by his wife Toody, herself a Portland native.
    
Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source:    Mono CD: The Complete Reprise Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Electric Prunes)
Writer(s):    Tucker/Mantz
Label:    Real Gone Music/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1966
    The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in late 1966 and hitting the charts in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on both the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation and Rhino's first Nuggets LP.

Artist:     West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:     Smell of Incense
Source:     LP: Volume II
Writer:     Markley/Morgan
Label:     Reprise
Year:     1967
     One of the commercially strongest songs on the second West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album for Reprise was Smell of Incense. The length of the track, however (over five minutes), meant it would never get airplay on AM radio, although Texas natives England Dan Seals and John Ford Coley took the song to the # 56 spot on the charts while still in high school in 1968 with their band Southwest F.O.B.

Artist:    Spirit
Title:    Fresh Garbage
Source:    CD: Spirit
Writer(s):    Jay Ferguson
Label:    Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year:    1968
    Much of the material on the first Spirit album was composed by vocalist Jay Ferguson while the band was living in a big house in California's Topanga Canyon outside of Los Angeles. During their stay there was a garbage strike, which became the inspiration for the album's opening track, Fresh Garbage. The song starts off as a fairly hard rocker and suddenly breaks into a section that is pure jazz, showcasing the group's instrumental talents, before returning to the main theme to finish out the track.The group used a similar formula on about half the tracks on the LP, giving the album and the band a distinctive sound right out of the box.

Artist:    Johnny Winter
Title:    The Good Love
Source:    LP: Second Winter
Writer(s):    Dennis Collins
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    The first thing you should know about Johnny Winter's 1969 album Second Winter is the fact that it was actually his THIRD album. It was, however, his second one recorded for a major label, as his debut LP, The Progressive Blues Experiment, had originally appeared on the local Texas label Sonobeat (although it was picked up for national release by Imperial a few months after its initial late 1968 appearance). The second notable thing about Second Winter is that the album only had three LP sides, with the fourth side being a blank disc with no grooves. The reason the band did this was that they had recorded more material for the album than they could fit on a standard LP without sacrificing sound quality, but did not want to leave any of the material unreleased. As was the case with both Winter's earlier albums, most of the material on the first two sides of Second Winter were cover songs, including The Good Love, written by Dennis "Crash" Collins.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    Truckin'
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Hunter/Garcia/Lesh/Weir
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    The nearest thing the Grateful Dead had to a hit single before 1986 was Truckin', a feelgood tune sung by Bob Weir from the American Beauty album. I actually have a video clip on DVD of the band doing the song live on some TV show.

Artist:    Move
Title:    Message From The Country
Source:    LP: Message From The Country
Writer(s):    Jeff Lynne
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1971
    The Move was one of those bands that was extremely popular in its native UK without having any success whatsoever in the US. Although primarily a singles band, they did manage to release four albums over a period of years, the last of which was Message From The Country. Even as the album was being recorded, several members, including Jeff Lynne, were already working on the first album by the Move's successor, the Electric Light Orchestra. A conscious effort was made, however, to keep the two projects separate, with the Move album getting the more psychedelic material (such as the title track), while ELO took a more prog-rock approach.

Artist:     Blues Project
Title:     Violets Of Dawn (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source:     LP: The Best Of The Blues Project (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer:     Eric Anderson
Label:     Verve Forecast
Year:     1966
     Although Columbia decided not to sign the Blues Project, the songs they recorded for the label in late 1965 ended up being released as their first single for Verve in January of 1966. The B side of that single was Violets of Dawn, written by folk singer Eric Anderson. The recording was also included, with fake clapping overdubbed over the end of the song, on the band's debut LP, Live At Cafe Au Go Go, despite the fact that lead vocalist Tommy Flanders had quit the band before the album came out. Speaking of Flanders, he sounds just a bit out of his element here, as he, by all accounts, had a Mick Jagger-like quality about him that was better suited for the band's more energetic material.

Artist:    Jerry Howard
Title:    Wild In The Streets
Source:    CD: Shape Of Things To Come (originally released on LP: Wild In The Streets soundtrack)
Writer(s):    Hemric/Baxter
Label:    Captain High (original label: Tower)
Year:    1968
    If the song Wild In The Streets sounds to you like something you'd hear over the opening credits of a youth-oriented movie from the late 1960s, it's because that's exactly what it is. The film itself deals with a youth takeover of the United States led by rock star Max Frost, and features a mixture of songs played by "Max Frost And The Troopers" (in reality a group called the 13th Power that was under contract to the film's music director, Mike Curb, and various configurations of studio musicians. The title track itself was written by Guy Hemric and Les Baxter and sung by Jerry Howard.

Artist:    Psychedelic Furs
Title:    New Dream
Source:    Stereo 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Butler/Astin/Butler
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1987
    By 1987 most of the music coming from the Psychedelic Furs sounded more 80s new wave than psychedelic, but there were exceptions. One of the more notable is New Dream, which appeared as the non-album B side of Heartbreak Beat in 1987.

Artist:    King Crimson
Title:    Discipline
Source:    LP: Discipline
Writer(s):    King Crimson
Label:    Warner Brothers/EG
Year:    1981
    In 1981, after a seven-year hiatus, Robert Fripp decided to reform his old band, the legendary King Crimson. Not content to rehash the past, however, Fripp assembled a new lineup, with only drummer Bill Bruford being retained from any of the band's previous incarnations. Filling out the new lineup were guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew (who had played with Talking Heads and Frank Zappa's band) and bassist Tony Levin, who also played Chapman stick on the album. All the tunes on Discipline are credited to the entire band, although the instrumental title track that finishes out the album shows a stronger Fripp presence than some of the others.

Artist:    27 Devils Joking
Title:    Indian Joe
Source:    LP: Actual Toons
Writer(s):    Brian S. Curley
Label:    Live Wire
Year:    1986
    This seems like a good place to talk about Craig Ellis. Craig was a talented, if somewhat troubled songwriter/guitarist/vocalist whom I first heard of in the early 1980s when I ran across a single by a group called Cosmic Grackles at KUNM radio at the University of New Mexico. I finally met Craig in late1986, when both of us were recording at Bottomline Studios in southeast Albuquerque. I was working on something called Civilian Joe ("A Real American Zero"), while Craig was putting together a project called Uproar At The Zoo involving guitarist Larry Otis and drummer John Henry Smith, among others. Around that same time I interviewed a guy from Santa Fe named Brian S. Curley, who was appearing on my Rock Nouveaux radio show to promote his new group, 27 Devils Joking. During the interview Brian mentioned that he had until recently been working with Craig Ellis, and that 27 Devils Joking was actually a result of a falling out between the two. Which brings us to Indian Joe, a track from the first 27 Devils Joking LP, Actual Toons. You see, in early 1987 Craig gave me a cassette tape of some of his most recent work, including a song called Indian Joe. It's the same song, using an almost identical arrangement, yet on the LP the song is listed as being the sole work of Brian Curley. One of these days I'll find that old cassette tape Craig gave me and try to figure out once and for all whose song it really is.
        
Artist:    Shadows of Knight
Title:    Oh Yeah
Source:    LP: Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Elias McDaniel
Label:    Elektra (original label: Dunwich)
Year:    1966
    The original British blues bands like the Yardbirds made no secret of the fact that they had created their own version of a music that had come from Chicago. The Shadows Of Knight, on the other hand, were a Chicago band that created their own version of the British blues, bringing the whole thing full circle. After taking their version of Van Morrison's Gloria into the top 10 early in 1966, the Shadows (which had added "of Knight" to their name just prior to releasing Gloria) decided to follow it up with an updated version of Bo Diddley's Oh Yeah. Although the song did not have a lot of national top 40 success, it did help establish the Shadows' reputation as one of the premier garage-punk bands.

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:    Notes From The Underground
Title:    Why Did You Put Me On
Source:    CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Notes From The Underground)
Writer(s):    Mark Mandell
Label:    Rhino (original label: Vanguard)
Year:    1968
    If you notice any resemblance between the band known as Notes From The Underground and the better known Country Joe And The Fish, it's probably intentional. After all, both bands were from Berkeley, California, and both could be heard playing regularly at a club called the Jabberwock. To take it one step further, both the Fish and the Notes recorded for Vanguard Records, the only San Francisco Bay area bands to do so. One notable difference is the cleaner production heard on songs like Why Did You Put Me On, from the 1968 LP Notes From The Underground, compared to either of the Fish's 1967 albums for the label.    
 
Artist:    Seeds
Title:    The Wind Blows Your Hair
Source:    Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Saxon/Bigelow
Label:    Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year:    1967
    The Wind Blows Your Hair is actually one of the Seeds' better tracks. Unfortunately, by the time it was released as a single in October of 1967 the whole idea of Flower Power (which the Seeds were intimately tied to) had become yesterday's news (at least in ultra-hip L.A.) and the single went nowhere.

Artist:    Chocolate Watch Band
Title:    Let's Talk About Girls
Source:    LP: Nuggets (originally released on LP: No Way Out)
Writer(s):    Manny Freiser
Label:    Elektra (original label: Tower)
Year:    1967
    I find it sadly ironic that the first cut on the first album released by San Jose, California's Chocolate Watchband had a vocal track by Don Bennett, a studio vocalist under contract to Tower Records, replacing the original track by Watchband vocalist Dave Aguilar. Aguilar's vocals were also replaced by Bennett's on the Watchband's cover of Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour on the same album. In addition, there are four instrumental tracks on the album that are played entirely by studio musicians. Worse yet, the entire first side of the Watchband's second LP was done by studio musicians and the third Watchband LP featured an entirely different lineup. The final insult was when Lenny Kaye, who assembled the original Nuggets collection in the early 1970s, elected to include this recording, rather than one of the several fine tracks that actually did feature Aguilar on vocals.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source:    LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer(s):    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1967
     The Music Machine was by far the most advanced of all the bands playing the L.A. club scene in 1966. Not only did they feature tight sets (ensuring that audience members wouldn't get the chance to call out requests between songs), they also had their own visual look that set them apart from other groups. With all the band members dressed entirely in black (including dyed hair) and wearing one black glove, the Machine projected an image that would influence such diverse artists as the Ramones and Michael Jackson in later years. Musically, Bonniwell's songwriting showed a sophistication that was on a par with the best L.A. had to offer, demonstrated by a series of fine singles such as The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly, which was re-recorded in stereo for release on the album Bonniwell Music Machine a few months later. Unfortunately, problems on the business end prevented the Music Machine from achieving the success it deserved and Bonniwell, disheartened, dissillusioned and/or disgusted, quit the music business altogether in 1970.

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    I Need You
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1965
    After a series of hard-rocking hits in 1964 such as You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, the Kinks mellowed out a bit with songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You the following year. Lurking on the other side of Set Me Free, though, was a song that showed that the band still knew how to rock out: I Need You.

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:    Anthony And The Imperials
Title:    Don't Tie Me Down
Source:    LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Adams/Pike/Randazzo
Label:    Elektra (original label: Veep)
Year:    1968
    No longer little, Anthony Gourdine and his vocal group, the Imperials, moved into slightly more psychedelic territory with their 1968 single Don't Tie Me Down. Like many of their hits, Don't Tie Me Down was co-written by their producer, Teddy Randazzo, who had been friends with the group members since childhood.

Artist:     Rascals
Title:     Easy Rollin'
Source:     CD: Time Peace-The Rascals' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Once Upon A Dream)
Writer(s):     Cavaliere/Brigati
Label:     Atlantic
Year:     1968
     The Rascals are pretty much universally acknowledged as the most popular blue-eyed soul band ever. When members of the Harmonica Rascals objected to them releasing records under the name Rascals the group lengthened their name to the Young Rascals in 1966. As of the Once Upon A Dream LP, they went back to their original name. At that time the band was concerned that they were starting to get stale and wanted to expand their musical horizons. The result was an album that was considered both their best (by critics) and worst (by fans). The song Easy Rollin' which opens the LP, is a good indication of the band's new direction.

Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    How Many More Times
Source:    LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Led Zeppelin)
Writer(s):    Page/Jones/Bonham
Label:    Cotillion (original label: Atlantic)
Year:    1969
    Like many early Led Zeppelin songs, How Many More Times was originally credited to the band members (except, for contractual reasons, singer Robert Plant). More recent releases of the song, however, list Chester Burnett (Howlin' Wolf) as a co-writer, despite the fact that he and the members of Led Zeppelin had never met. This is because of the similarity, especially in the lyrics, to a 1951 Howlin' Wolf record called How Many More Years. The band reportedly tried to trick radio programmers into playing the eight and a half minute song by listing it on the album cover as being three minutes and thirty seconds long. I doubt anyone was fooled.

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2447 (starts 11/18/24)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/551299 

    It's another trip back through the years 1976 to 1970, highlighted by an entire LP side of Jeff Beck.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Ship Of Fools
Source:    CD: Morrison Hotel
Writer(s):    Morrison/Krieger
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1970
    1969 was, if nothing else, a turbulent year for the Doors. The band had made headlines for a March 1st performance in Miami that resulted in lead vocalist Jim Morrison's arrest for indecent exposure. In July, the group released their fourth album, The Soft Parade, which was heavily criticized for its use of strings and horns and an overall more commercial sound that the band had previously exhibited. That same month Morrison gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine in which he stressed the importance of country and blues to American culture. It was not a big surprise then, that the band's next album, Morrison Hotel, featured a more stripped down sound, perhaps even more so than their first LP. Side one of the album, subtitled Hard Rock Cafe, starts off strong with one of the band's most iconic songs, Roadhouse Blues, and ends on a similar note with Ship Of Fools. The group would continue in this direction and even improve on it on their next LP, L.A. Woman. Sadly, L.A. Woman would be the last Doors studio album before Morrison's death.

Artist:    Todd Rundgren
Title:    When I Pray
Source:    45 RPM single B side (taken from LP: Faithful)
Writer(s):    Todd Rundgren
Label:    Bearsville
Year:    1976
    For his seventh album, singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren decided to do something a bit different. The first side of Faithful was made up entirely of cover songs, while side two of the LP was all Rundgren originals. Both sides of the album got praise from the rock press, with Rolling Stone rock critic John Milward calling it "his strongest collection of pop tunes since...Something/Anything." The only single from the album followed the same cover/original pattern, with Rundgren's dead-on cover of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations backed with When I Pray, a rather tasty tune utilizing exotic rhythms to create a hypnotic effect.

Artist:    Frank Zappa/Mothers Of Invention
Title:    San Ber'dino
Source:    CD: Strictly Commercial-The Best Of Frank Zappa (originally released on LP: One Size Fits All)
Writer(s):    Frank Zappa
Label:    Ryko (original label: Discreet)
Year:    1975
    Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention continued in the same vein as the albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe (') with the 1975 LP One Size Fits All. One of the highlights of the album is San Ber'Dino, which features "flambe vocals" toward the end of the track from one of Zappa's musical heroes, Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

Artist:    Jeff Beck
Title:    Cause We've Ended As Lovers/Thelonius/Freeway Jam/Diamond Dust
Source:    CD: Blow By Blow
Writer(s):    Wonder/Middleton/Holland
Label:    Epic
Year:    1975
    Following the dissolution of Beck, Bogert And Appice in 1974, guitarist Jeff Beck, after doing session work for various bands, decided to work on his first entirely instrumental solo album. To help with the project he recruited keyboardist Max Middleton from the second Jeff Beck Group and hired George Martin to produce the album. Filling out the group instrumentally were bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey. The songs on Blow By Blow have a tendency to run together, including the entire second side of the original LP, beginning with Cause We've Ended As Lovers,a piece that first appeared on the 1974 album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta. Beck's version, an instrumental, includes a dedication to fellow guitarist Roy Buchanan. From there the side continues with another Stevie Wonder composition,Thelonius, a tribute song that features Wonder on clavinet. The third track is Freeway Jam, an easily recognizable tune from Middleton. The side winds up with Diamond Dust, written (but not recorded) by Brian Holland, who had been Beck's backup guitarist in the second incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group and had gone on to become a founding member of a group called Hummingbird.

Artist:    Queen
Title:    Doing All Right
Source:    LP: Queen
Writer(s):    May/Staffell
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1973
    Before there was a band called Queen, there was Smile. Formed by guitarist Brian May and bassist Tim Staffell, the group soon recruited drummer Roger Taylor and, eventually, keyboardist/vocalist Farrokh Basada, who suggested the band change its name to Queen. Staffell left the band before the group's first album (replaced by John Deacon), but not before co-writing a song called Doing All Right, which Staffell originally sang lead vocals on. When Queen finally got a record contract in 1973, they included Doing All Right on the debut LP, with Basada, who by then had taken the stage name Freddie Mercury, doing the vocals in a style deliberately similar to that of Staffell.

Artist:     Yes
Title:     America
Source:     British import LP: The New Age of Atlantic
Writer:     Paul Simon
Label:     Atlantic
Year:     1972
     Following the success of the Fragile album and the hit single Roundabout, Yes went into the studio to cut a ten and a half minute cover of Paul Simon's America for a UK-only sampler album called The New Age Of Atlantic. The track was then edited down for single release in the US as a followup to Roundabout. The original unedited track was finally released in the US on the 1974 album Yesterdays, which also included several tracks from two earlier Yes albums that featured an earlier lineup of the band that included guitarist Peter Banks and keyboardist Tony Kaye. Paul Simon's America was, in fact, the only track on Yesterdays that featured the classic Yes lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squires, Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    I Got The Blues
Source:    LP: Sticky Fingers
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Rolling Stones
Year:    1971
    The Rolling Stones payed tribute to Otis Redding on the song I Got The Blues, from their 1971 LP Sticky Fingers. In addition to the band's early '70s lineup of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, the track includes contributions from saxophonist Bobby Keys and trumpeter Jim Price, along with an organ solo by Billy Preston.

Artist:    Hotlegs
Title:    Neanderthal Man
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Godley/Creme/Stewart
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    Sometime around the end of 1968 Eric Stewart, the former member of the Mindbenders who had provided the lead vocals for A Groovy Kind Of Love, along with songwriter Graham Gouldman and a guy named Peter Tattersill, went in together on a recording studio, renaming it Strawberry Studios in early 1969. A deal with American bubble-gum music impressarios Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz to book the studio for three months gave the trio the cash to upgrade their equipment. Working with fellow musicians Lol Godley and Kevin Creme, Stewart came up something called Neanderthal Man to test what they could do in the studio with the new equipment. The experimental piece came out so well that they decided to issue it as a single under the name Hotlegs. Over the next couple of years the trio, joined by Gouldman, began the build up the studio's clientele, which included, among others, Neil Sedaka. Finally, in 1974, the four of them decided to become a real band, taking the name 10cc. The rest is history.

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2446 (starts 11/11/24)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/550410

    This week's show starts with the kind of stuff you'd expect in our last half hour, including an entire set of tunes that have never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before, while our final half hour sounds more like our usual first half hour. In between we have a battle of California bands, one from San Francisco and the other from Los Angeles, along with a few surprises.

Artist:    Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title:    Fortunate Son
Source:    LP: Willy And The Poor Boys
Writer(s):    John Fogerty
Label:    Fantasy
Year:    1969
    John Fogerty says it only took him 20 minutes to write what has become one of the iconic antiwar songs of the late 1960s. But Fortunate Son is not so much a condemnation of war as it is an indictment of the political elite who send the less fortunate off to die in wars without any risk to themselves. In addition to being a major hit single upon its release in late 1969 (peaking at #3 as half of a double-A sided single), Fortunate Son has made several "best of" lists over the years, including Rolling Stone magazine's all-time top 100. Additionally, in 2014 the song was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Artist:    Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young
Title:    Sea Of Madness
Source:    LP: Woodstock-Music From The Original Soundtrack And More
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Cotillion
Year:    1969
    Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to perform a few songs at Woodstock, including one of his own compositions, Sea Of Madness, and would be a full member of the group when their next album, Deja Vu, came out. The recording used for the Woodstock soundtrack album, however, was made in September of 1969 at the Fillmore East.

Artist:    Ten Years After
Title:    Woman Trouble
Source:    CD: Stonedhenge
Writer(s):    Alvin Lee
Label:    Deram
Year:    1969
    In the late 60s and early 70s it was fashionable for a garage band to use a jazzy-sounding instrumental for its break song. Don't ask me why, it just was. Sunn, the band I was in (in various iterations) from 1969-71, was no exception. Hell, maybe we were the only ones doing it, for all I know. The first incarnation of the band used a piece inspired by Bobby Troup (the writer of Route 66), who appeared in short segments between shows of AFTV, the only English language TV station in Germany at the time. He'd always start the segment with a quick guitar lick and the words "Hi! I'm Bobby Troup". Our guitarist borrowed the rift and came up our first break song, which he called "Dedicated to Bobby Troup". We kept on using that one up through the summer of 1970, when both of our fathers' overseas tours ended. I ended up in New Mexico, while Dave found himself in Oklahoma. In early 1971 Dave hopped on a Greyhound bus, bound for California, but only had enough money ($48.60) for a ticket to Alamogordo, NM, where I was living. By then Dave had already gone through two more incarnations of Sunn, so when we decided to reform the band it was (unofficially) Sunn IV. Late that spring, Dave decided to return to Oklahoma; two weeks later (right after graduation) our other guitarist, Doug, and I followed Dave there to form the fifth and final incarnation of Sunn. It was, by far, the most professional version of the band, once we had settled on a final lineup that included a third guitarist DeWayne, on rhythm (Dave and Doug split the lead guitar duties), and his close friend Mike on drums (I played bass). Rather than revive our old instrumental break song, we decided to use Woman Trouble, a Ten Years After track from the Stonedhenge album, instead. The song was different enough from our hard rock repertoire (mostly covers of LP tracks) that it served notice to the audience that something was up. After a verse and chorus I would introduce each band member at the end of their solo (except DeWayne, who, like the guy in the Sultans Of Swing, had no desire to do anything but play chords). We then went back for a repeat of the verse, then took our break. Good times, those.

Artist:    Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title:    The Hat
Source:    British import CD: Just For Love
Writer(s):    Chet Powers (using an alias)
Label:    BGO (original US label: Capitol)
Year:    1970
    There are several different versions circulating about how Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, aka Jesse Oris Farrow, came to be a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service. From what I can tell, the most likely of these is that sometime in the mid-1960s, when he was trying to establish himself as a solo artist, he invited guitarists John Cipollina and Jim Murray to come over and jam, with the intention of possibly using them as a backup band. Soon after that, however, he was busted for pot possession and spent the next two years at San Quentin. Meanwhile, Cipollina and Murray decided to go ahead and from a band anyway, which, after a few personnel changes, took the name Quicksilver Messenger Service. After Valenti (as he was usually known) was released from prison he tried to resume his solo career, but in 1970 ended up joining the band he helped inspire. His own songwriting dominated the next Quicksilver album, Just For Love, with some songs, such as the ten minute long jam The Hat, credited to Farrow, and others credited to Valenti.

Artist:    Fleetwood Mac
Title:    Man Of The World (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Source:    LP: Vintage Years
Writer(s):    Peter Green
Label:    Sire (original UK label: Immediate)
Year:    1969
    The importance of attention to detail cannot be overstated. For example, the people at Blue Horizon Records failed to notice that their contract with the most popular band on the label, Fleetwood Mac, was about to expire. When it did, the band's management immediately (sorry about the pun) got to work negotiating a new contract with a different label, Reprise. While that was going on, they quickly released a single on a third label, Immediate, knowing that the label was on its last legs but wanting to take the time to get the best contract with Reprise they could. That single was a song called Man Of The World, a highly introspective piece by guitarist/bandleader Peter Green that reflected his own growing discomfort with rock stardom that would eventually lead to him leaving Fleetwood Mac.

Artist:    Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title:    Sea Shell
Source:    LP: The Best Of The Strawberry Alarm Clock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Carter/Gilbert
Label:    Sundazed/Uni
Year:    1968
    You'd think that after John Carter and Tim Gilbert took full credit for a song (Incense And Peppermints) originally conceived as an instrumental by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King the members of the Strawberry Alarm Clock would want nothing more to do with the two professional songwriters. Yet, a year and a half later the band released another song credited to the same duo, Sea Shell. It turns out that the song, and several others on the 1968 LP The World in a Sea Shell , were recorded under duress at the insistence of the band's management after the commercial failure of their second LP, Wake Up...It's Tomorrow. The World in a Sea Shell, however, also tanked, and after one more LP the band called it quits, with King going on to join a group that had opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock named Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Artist:    Steppenwolf
Title:    Hoochie Coochie Man
Source:    CD: Steppenwolf
Writer(s):    Willie Dixon
Label:    MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1968
    A major driving force behind the renewed interest in the blues in the 1960s was the updating and re-recording of classic blues tunes by contempory rock musicians. This trend started in England, with bands like the Yardbirds and the Animals in the early part of the decade. By the end of the 60s a growing number of US bands were playing songs such as Hoochie Coochie Man, a tune originally recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954. Like Cream's Spoonful and Led Zeppelin's You Shook Me, Hoochie Coochie Man was written by Willie Dixon. The 1968 Steppenwolf version of the song slows the tempo down a touch from the original version and features exquisite sustained guitar work from Michael Monarch.

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Daily Nightly
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer(s):    Michael Nesmith
Label:    Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year:    1967
    One of the first rock songs to feature a Moog synthesizer was the Monkees' Daily Nightly from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD. Micky Dolenz, who had a reputation for nailing it on the first take but being unable to duplicate his success in subsequent attempts, was at the controls of the new technology for this recording of Michael Nesmith's most psychedelic song (he also sang lead on it). The Moog itself had been programmed by electronic music pioneer Paul Beaver especially for this recording.

Artist:    Groupies
Title:    Primitive
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Cortez/Derosiers/Hendleman/McLaren/Peters/Venet
Label:    Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year:    1966
    You know, with a name like the Groupies you would expect an all-female band or at least something like the Mothers of Invention. Instead we get a band from New York City that billed itself as "abstract rock." I guess that's using the term abstract in the same sense that scientific journals use it: to distill something complicated down to its basic essence, because these guys were musically exactly what the title of their only single implied: primitive.

Artist:     Guess Who
Title:     American Woman
Source:     CD: The Best Of The Guess Who (originally released on LP: American Woman)
Writer:     Bachman/Cummings/Peterson/Kale
Label:     BMG/RCA
Year:     1970
     From 1968-1970 I was living on Ramstein Air Base, which was and is a huge base in Germany with enough Canadian personnel stationed there to justify their own on-base school. For much of the time I lived there I found myself hanging out with a bunch of Canadian kids and I gotta tell you, they absolutely loved everything by the Guess Who, who were, after all, the most successful Canadian band in history. In particular, they all loved the band's most political (and controversial) hit, the 1970 tune American Woman. I rather liked it myself, and immediately went out and bought a copy of the album, one of the first to be pressed on RCA's Dynaflex vinyl. Luckily, the album is now available on CD, which sounds much better than Dynaflex ever did.
     
Artist:    King Crimson
Title:    Peace: A Beginning/Pictures Of A City
Source:    LP: In The Wake Of Poseidon
Writer(s):    Fripp/Sinfield
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1970
    The second King Crimson album, In The Wake Of Poseidon, was very much in the mold of the band's popular debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. If anything, the album was musically tighter than its predecessor, but did not receive as much airplay. There are similarities between individual tracks on the albums as well, with Pictures Of A City, which opens the LP, bearing some resemblance to 21st Century Schizoid Man, the main difference being an extremely quiet 51 second long intro called Peace: A Beginning. The next LP would see the first of several personnel changes in the band, with Robert Fripp being the only member to remain with King Crimson over its entire existence.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Eleanor Rigby
Source:    CD: Revolver
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1966
    The Beatles' Revolver album is usually cited as the beginning of the British psychedelic era, and with good reason. Although the band still had one last tour in them in 1966, they were already far more focused on their studio work than on their live performances, and thus turned out an album full of short masterpieces such as Paul McCartney's Eleanor Rigby. As always, the song was credited to both McCartney and John Lennon, but in reality the only Beatle to appear on the recording was McCartney himself, and then only in a vocal capacity. The instrumentation consisted of simply a string quartet, arranged and conducted by producer George Martin. Released as a double-A-sided single, along with Yellow Submarine, the song shot to the upper echelons of the charts in nearly every country in the western world and remains one of the band's most popular and recognizable tunes.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
Source:    CD: The Doors
Writer(s):    Weill/Brecht
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1967
    1967 was a breakthrough year for Elektra Records, which had only signed its first full-fledged rock band (Love) the previous year. Between Love's second and third albums and the first two Doors LPs, Elektra had by the end of the year established itself as a player. Although never released as a single, Alabama Song, a reworking of the song from the 1927 play Little Mahogonny, managed to make it onto the Best of the Doors album and has been a classic rock staple for years.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Somebody To Love
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Darby Slick
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967
    Over 40 years after the fact, it's hard to imagine just how big an impact Jefferson Airplane's fifth single had on the garage band scene. Whereas before Somebody To Love came out you could just dismiss hard-to-cover songs as being not worth learning, here was a tune that was undeniably cool, and yet virtually impossible for anyone but the Airplane to play well (and even they were unable to get it to sound quite the same when they performed it live). The mono single mix of the song heard here has noticeably less reverb than the more familiar stereo album version.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    The Spy
Source:    LP: Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (originally released on LP: Morrison Hotel)
Writer(s):    Jim Morrison
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1970
    As the 1960s drew to a close, the Doors, who had been riding high since 1967, were at a low point. In fact, it could be argued that the last few months of 1969 were the worst in the band's career. Vocalist Jim Morrison had been arrested for indecent exposure for an incident onstage in Miami the previous March. This had resulted in the cancellation of over two dozen performances as well as a sizable number of radio stations refusing to play their records. In June, the band released their fourth album, The Soft Parade, which was critically panned for its overuse of horns and strings. The album was also the first to give individual members of the band songwriting credits (previously all songwriting credits were shared by the four band members). This was brought about by Morrison's wish to distance himself from the lyrics of the album's opening track, Tell All The People, which had been written by guitarist Robby Krieger. Adding to the problems, Morrison had been arrested for causing a disturbance on an airplane and charged under a new hijacking law that carried a fine up of to $10,000 and ten years in prison. In November, the Doors started work on their fifth album, to be called Morrison Hotel (with the second side subtitled Hard Rock Cafe). After the poor reception of The Soft Parade the band decided to take a back to basics approach. One thing that did not change, however, was the policy of band members taking individual song credits. Thus, we have songs like The Spy (originally called Spy In The House Of Love), which was inspired by Morrison's fiery relationship with his longtime girlfriend Pamela Coulson. Morrison Hotel would end up being a turning point for the Doors; their next LP, L.A. Woman, is universally considered one of their best.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    White Rabbit
Source:       LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Grace Slick
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967
    The first time I heard White Rabbit was on Denver's first FM rock station, KLZ-FM. The station branded itself as having a top 100 (as opposed to local ratings leader KIMN's top 60), and prided itself on being the first station in town to play new releases and album tracks. It wasn't long before White Rabbit was officially released as a single, and went on to become a top 10 hit, the last for the Airplane.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Ship Of Fools
Source:    LP: Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (originally released on LP: Morrison Hotel)
Writer(s):    Morrison/Krieger
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1970
    In July, the Doors released their fourth album, The Soft Parade, which was heavily criticized for its use of strings and horns and an overall more commercial sound that the band had previously exhibited. That same month Morrison gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine in which he stressed the importance of country and blues to American culture. It was not a big surprise then, that the band's next album, Morrison Hotel, featured a more stripped down sound, perhaps even more so than their first LP. Side one of the album, subtitled Hard Rock Cafe, starts off strong with one of the band's most iconic songs, Roadhouse Blues, and ends on a similar note with Ship Of Fools. The group would continue in this direction and even improve on it on their next LP, L.A. Woman. Sadly, L.A. Woman would be the last Doors studio album before Morrison's death in 1971.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    She Has Funny Cars
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Kaukonen/Balin
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967
    She Has Funny Cars, the opening track of Jefferson Airplane's second LP, Surrealistic Pillow, was a reference to some unusual possessions belonging to new drummer Spencer Dryden's girlfriend. As was the case with many of the early Airplane tracks, the title has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song itself. The song was also released as the B side to the band's first top 10 single, Somebody To Love. The mono mix used for the single has noticably less reverb than the more familiar stereo version of the song.

Artist:    Orange Bicycle
Title:    Amy Peate
Source:    British import CD: Lets Take A Trip On An Orange Bicycle (The Anthology) originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Wilson Malone
Label:    Morgan Blue Town (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1969
    The Orange Bicycle were a somewhat obscure British group led by drummer/vocalist Wil Malone. The band had one successful single, Hyacinth Threads, which topped the French charts in the summer of 1967. Amy Peate was the B side of that first single.
    
Artist:    Circus Maximus
Title:    Lost Sea Shanty
Source:    LP: Circus Maximus
Writer(s):    Jerry Jeff Walker
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village by keyboardist Bob Bruno and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker. Although Bruno's compositions initially got the most airplay on progressive FM radio, it was Walker who ultimately went on to become a star as a singer/songwriter. Lost Sea Shanty, from the first Circus Maximus album, may well be his first recorded work.

Artist:    Love
Title:    Stephanie Knows Who
Source:    Mono Germian import CD: Da Capo
Writer(s):    Arthur Lee
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    Following up on a strong, if not spectacular debut LP followed by a national hit record (7&7 Is), Love went into the studio with two new members to record their second album, Da Capo. By this point Love had established itself as the most popular band on the Sunset Strip, and the music on Da Capo is a fair representation of what the group was doing onstage (including the 17 minute Revelation, which takes up the entire second side of the LP). The opening track, Stephanie Knows Who, is hard proto-punk, showcasing the band's tightness with abrupt changes in tempo throughout the song. The tune, originally released as a single in October of 1966 but quickly withdrawn in favor of She Comes In Colors, also features the harpsichord playing of "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who switched over from drums to keyboards for the LP, making way for Michael Stewart, who stayed with the band for their next LP, Forever Changes.

Artist:    Love
Title:    7&7 Is
Source:    Mono LP: Nuggets vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Arthur Lee
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    The word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. In fact, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.

Artist:    Love
Title:    The Castle
Source:    German import CD: Da Capo
Writer(s):    Arthur Lee
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    Considering that both of their first two LPs had cover photos taken against the backdrop of Bela Lugosi's former residence in the Hollywood Hills (known as Dracula's Castle), it is perhaps inevitable that Love would have a track called The Castle on one of these albums. Sure enough, one can be found near the end of the first side of 1967's Da Capo, an album that was all but buried by the attention being given to the debut LP of Love's new labelmates, the Doors, which came out around the same time. The song itself is an indication of the direction that band was moving in, away from the straight folk/garage-rock of their first LP toward the more sophiscated sound of Forever Changes, which would be released later the same year.

Artist:    Butterfield Blues Band
Title:    All These Blues
Source:    CD: East-West
Writer(s):    Traditional
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    The second Butterfield Blues Band album, East-West, saw the group starting to experiment with variations on the Chicago blues style that characterized their debut LP. There were still plenty of more traditional tracks on the album, however, such as All These Blues, which some sources credit to Walter Johnson.

Artist:     Blues Project
Title:     Cheryl's Going Home
Source:     Mono CD: Projections
Writer:     Bob Lind
Label:     Sundazed/Verve Folkways
Year: 1966
     One of the more unlikely songs to appear on an album by one of rock's first jam bands, Cheryl's Going Home was originally a B side, released by Bob Lind in 1965. It's possible that the Blues Project recorded it as a possible single of their own but for some reason decided against it. Only the band members and producer Tom Wilson know for sure.

Artist:    Standells
Title:    Why Did You Hurt Me
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer:    Dodd/Valentine
Label:    Tower
Year:    1966
    Why Did You Hurt Me is a bit of a musical oddity. The song, which was released B side of their second single, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, starts off as a growling three-chord bit of classic garage rock, but then goes into a bridge that sounds more like flower pop, with flowing melodic harmonies. This leads into a short transitional section that has little in common with what had come before and finally (somewhat awkwardly) segues back into the three chord main section to finish the song. The important thing, however, is that the piece was written by band members Dick Dodd and Tony Valentine, thus generating royalties for the two (royalties on singles were divided equally among the songwriters on both sides of a record, regardless of which song what actually a hit).

Artist:    Jury
Title:    Who Dat?
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in Canada as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Bill Ivaniuk
Label:    Rhino (original label: Quality)
Year:    1966
    Formed by members of two Winnipeg bands, the Chord-U-Roys and the Phantoms, in 1964, the Jury released three Beatles-inspired singles on the Canadian London label in 1965 before switching to the locally-owned Quality label the following year. Their only single for Quality was Who Dat?, a savage piece of garage rock that got enough regional airplay to pique the interest of a small American label, Port, which promptly reissued the single in the US.  Nonetheless, the group disbanded before 1966 was over.

Artist:    Lovin' Spoonful
Title:    Summer In The City
Source:    LP: Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
Writer(s):    Sebastian/Sebastian/Boone
Label:    Sundazed/Kama Sutra
Year:    1966
    The Lovin' Spoonful changed gears completely for what would become their biggest hit of 1966: Summer In The City. Inspired by a poem by John Sebastian's brother, the song was recorded for the album Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful. That album was an attempt by the band to deliberately record in a variety of styles; in the case of Summer In The City, it was a rare foray into psychedelic rock for the band. Not coincidentally, Summer In The City is also my favorite Lovin' Spoonful song.

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.
 

 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2446 (starts 11/11/24)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/550409

    It's once again free-form week on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion, with 14 tunes, five of which have never been played on the show before. One of them, in fact, is from an artist making his Rockin' in the Days of Confusion debut, although those of you who remember the Dr. Demento show may recognize the song itself.

Artist:    Steve Miller Band
Title:    Living In The U.S.A.
Source:    LP: Anthology (originally released on LP: Sailor)
Writer(s):    Steve Miller
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1968
    Although generally considered a San Francisco act, the Steve Miller Band, in truth, was never really confined to a single geographical area. Miller himself was originally from Chicago, and had cut his musical teeth in Texas. The first Steve Miller Band album was recorded in London, while their second effort, Sailor, was made in Los Angeles. Appropriately enough, the best-known track from Sailor, and the first Steve Miller Band song to get significant national radio exposure, was Living In The U.S.A., a song that is still heard fairly often on classic rock radio stations.

Artist:    Nektar
Title:    Desolation Valley/Waves
Source:    LP: A Tab In The Ocean
Writer(s):    Nektar
Label:    Passport (original German label: Bellaphon)
Year:    1972 (US release: 1976)
    On the surface it seems like a story you've heard before: a group of young British musicians go to Hamburg, Germany to hone their craft, building up a cult following in the process. But this story is not about the Beatles. It is about Nektar, formed in 1969 by Roye Albrighton on guitars and vocals, Allan "Taff" Freeman on keyboards, Derek "Mo" Moore on bass, Ron Howden on drums, and Mick Brockett and Keith Walters on lights and special effects. The band's first LP, A Tab In The Ocean, was originally released in Germany in 1972 on the Bellaphon label, leading many people to assume Nektar was in fact a German band and an early example of "Kraut Rock". Nektar would eventually become closely associated with the progressive rock movement of the early to mid 1970s, thanks in large part to A Tab In The Ocean finally being released in a remixed form in the US in 1976. Like fellow prog-rockers Genesis and Gentle Giant, Nektar began to commercialize their sound with shorter songs containing fewer time and key changes as the decade wore on; unlike those other bands, however, Nektar did not become more popular because of the changes. Indeed, by 1978, the band had decided to call it quits, although two of the members reformed the band briefly the following year, releasing one album in 1980 before disbanding again in 1982. The nearest thing to a commercial pop song on A Tab In The Ocean is Desolation Valley, which opens the LP's second side. This piece segues into Waves, a quiet instrumental. Both parts are credited simply to Nektar.

Artist:    Second Hand
Title:    Reality
Source:    British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Reality)
Writer(s):    Elliott/Gibbons
Label:    Polydor
Year:    1968
    Formed in Streatham, South London, in 1965 by vocalist/keyboardist Ken Elliott, guitarist Bob Gibbons and drummer Kieran O'Connor, the Next Collection soon won a local battle of the bands and the opportunity to make a demo recording at Maximum Sound Studios. This brought them to the attention of producer Vic Keary, who got them signed to Polydor in 1968 under the name Moving Finger. Just as the album Reality was about to be released, however, another band called the Moving Finger released a single on another label, forcing Elliot and company to come up with a new band name, as well as new packaging for the LP. The name they chose was Second Hand, since all of their equipment had been bought used. Apparently the delay also caused some rethinking on the part of the people at Polydor, who had initially been enthusiastic supporters of the band. When Reality was released in late 1968 it got no promotional support whatsoever from the label, and was a commercial failure. In recent years, however, Second Hand's Reality, including the title track, has come to be recognized as one of the pioneering albums of the prog-rock movement, predating bands like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer by several years.

Artist:    Andromeda
Title:    Journey's End (reprise)
Source:    British import CD: The Definitive Collection (originally released in UK on LP: Andromeda)
Writer(s):    John Du Cann
Label:    Angel Air (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    Recorded 1969, released 2000
    Before joining Atomic Rooster, guitarist John Du Cann fronted his own band, Andromeda. The group, one of the first true progressive rock bands, released one album and one single on the British RCA Victor label in 1969. They also recorded several demos for a projected second album, including Journey's Ende (reprise). However, while the band was shopping around for a record deal Du Cann was offered a spot in Vincent Crane's band, Atomic Rooster, which brought the story of Andromeda to an abrupt end.

Artist:    Jeff Beck
Title:    Greensleeves
Source:    CD: Truth
Writer(s):    traditional
Label:    Epic/Legacy
Year:    1968
    Jeff Beck's first solo album, like his early singles, was not limited to a single genre. Truth contained hard rock, blues, and even the traditional tune Greensleeves, played straight as a solo guitar piece.

Artist:    Crosby, Stills And Nash
Title:    Dark Star
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Stephen Stills
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1977
    It may come as a surprise that the second Crosby, Stills And Nash LP, CSN, came out eight years after the first one, even if you consider that the deja vu and Four-Way Street albums, released in 1970-71, were only one band member (Neil Young) away from being by the same group. Then again, if you were around at the time, and had heard about the horrendous backstage fights in dressing rooms around the country, it might not all that much surprising. Whatever the reason, the album CSN did not appear until 1977. CSN did include a few songs that got airplay on several radio formats, however. Stephen Stills's Dark Star, which also appeared as the B side of the album's first single, got heard quite a bit on FM rock radio (which by 1977 was already being supplanted by the more commercial album-oriented rock format), while the A side of the single, Just A Song Before I Go, became a soft-rock staple.

Artist:    Blues Image
Title:    Fugue U/Parchman Farm/Wrath Of Daisey
Source:    CD: Open
Writer(s):    Blues Image/Allison
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year:    1970
    Despite drawing decent crowds in Florida (and, later, Los Angeles) and getting rave reviews from the rock press, as well as their fellow musicians, Blues Image was never able to sell a lot of albums. This is a shame, as almost all of their material was as good or better than anything else being recorded in 1969-70. A classic example is the medley of Fugue U (emulating J.S. Bach), a jazz-rock arrangement of Mose Allison's Parchman Farm and the latin-rock instrumental Wrath Of Daisey). Guitarist Mike Pinera went on to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly the following year.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    For A Thousand Mothers
Source:    European import LP: Stand Up
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original US label: Reprise)
Year:    1969
    For years, the only copy I had of Jethro Tull's For A Thousand Mothers was a homemade cassette tape. As a result I was under the impression that this was actually two separate songs. Long silences will do that. Long silences will also trip the sensors on automated radio station equipment, which partially explains why such a great track has always gotten far less airplay than it deserves.

Artist:    Santana
Title:    Samba Pa Ti
Source:    Mexican import LP: Los Grandes Exitos De Santana (originally released on LP: Abraxas)
Writer(s):    Carlos Santana
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1970
    One of the most enduring tracks from Santana's second LP, Abraxas, Samba Pa Ti starts off as a slow instrumental, slowly picking up the pace and adding percussion to give it a decidedly latin flavor. As far as I know, Carlos Santana still includes Samba Pa Ti in his concert repertoire.

Artist:    Little Feat
Title:    Teenage Nervous Breakdown
Source:    CD: Sailin' Shoes
Writer(s):    Lowell George
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1972
    The shortest track on Little Feat's second album, Sailin' Shoes, is also the song most rooted in the traditional rock 'n' roll style. A Lowell George composition, the lyrics are a tongue-in-cheek commentary on some of the concerns voiced by various critics over the years about the effects of rock 'n' roll on American youth.

Artist:    Ten Year:s After
Title:    Year 3000 Blues
Source:    LP: Cricklewood Green
Writer:    Alvin Lee
Label:    Deram
Year:    1970
    Most rock songs with science fiction themes tend to fall into the genre known as space-rock. Not so with Ten Years After's Year 3000 Blues from the Cricklewood Green album, which is more of a country and western parody.

Artist:    Jef Jaisun
Title:    Friendly Neighborhood Narco Agent
Source:    LP: Dr. Demento's Delights (originally released on 7" EP0
Writer(s):    Jef Jaisun
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Cantbustem)
Year:    1969
    Although originally released in 1969 on a three-song EP, Jef Jaisun's Friendly Neighborhood Narco Agent became nationally popular in the mid-1970s when it began being regularly featured on the Dr. Demento radio show. In 1975 it was included on the LP Dr. Demento's Delights. As a condition for including the song on the album, Jaisun insisted that Warner Brothers also release the song as a single.

Artist:    George Harrison
Title:    Miss O'Dell
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    George Harrison
Label:    Apple
Year:    1973
    One of the most popular of George Harrison's non-album tracks, Miss O'Dell appeared as the B side of his hit single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) in 1973. Chris O'Dell was, in one person's words, "the ultimate insider" in the world of rock (she was one of the backup singers on Hey Jude, for instance), and helped Harrison recruit the many musicians that participated in his Concert For Bangla-Desh. The song was written while Harrison was waiting for a visit from O'Dell in Los Angeles, who missed the meeting in part because of a reluctance to deal with the various hangers-on that had attched themselves to Harrison while he was in town.

Artist:    Badfinger
Title:    No Matter What
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Pete Ham
Label:    Apple
Year:    1970
    Aside from the Beatles, the band most closely associated with Apple Records was Badfinger. Originally known as the Iveys, Badfinger was the first band signed to Apple and remained with the label throughout its existence. Led by Pete Ham, Badfinger had a string of successful singles for the label, including No Matter What, a Ham composition from the band's second LP, No Dice. The song, released in 1970, is considered by many to be the earliest example of what would come to be known as power pop later in the decade.
        

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2445 (starts 11/4/24)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/549638 

    This week's show starts short and fresh before expanding a bit in the first hour. For the second half, well, ya lotta Love the Beatles before digging pretty deep into the past.

Artist:    Nazz
Title:    Open My Eyes
Source:    CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Nazz)
Writer(s):    Todd Rundgren
Label:    Rhino (original label: SGC)
Year:    1968
    Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, among others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts. A newly recorded solo version of Hello It's Me would become Rundgren's first major top 40 hit five years later.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    Rock And Roll Woman
Source:    LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Stephen Stills
Label:    Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth) while they were together. Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock And Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 50 years after it was recorded.

Artist:    Hollies
Title:    It's You
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Clarke/Hicks/Nash
Label:    Imperial
Year:    1966
    The last Hollies single to be released in 1966 was also the first to feature original compositions by Allan Clarke, Terry Hicks and Graham Nash on both sides of the record. Both sides have somewhat atypical lyrics for the time, with Stop Stop Stop describing a weekly ritual of the singer attempting to molest a dancer (stripper?) in the middle of her act, while the B side, It's You, talks about who is really the problem in a relationship going bad.

Artist:    Link Cromwell (Lenny Kaye)
Title:    Crazy Like A Fox
Source:    Czech import LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Kusik/Adams
Label:    Elektra/Rhino (original label: Hollywood)
Year:    1966
    Imagine you're the guy who gets to compile the first-ever collection of psychedelic garage rock singles from the mid-1960s. Naturally, having recorded one yourself, you would consider including that tune on the album, but in this instance the compiler, Lenny Kaye, chose modesty instead, and the song Crazy Like A Fox (written by his uncle, Larry Kusik and co-producer Ritchie Adams and released under the name Link Cromwell) remained only available as an obscure and highly collectable single for nearly 50 years, when it finally appeared on a couple of almost as obscure CD compilations in the UK, along with a box set of punk 45s. Finally, in 2023, Kaye supervised the 50th anniversary re-release of Nuggets, the aformentioned first-ever collection of psychedelic garage rock singles from the mid-1960s. This time, however, Kaye included the 2-LP volume 2 that had been tentatively planned but never actually compiled, along with a bonus disc called Also Dug-Its. And Kaye finally included his own Crazy Like A Fox on that bonus disc. Enjoy!

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Bringing Me Down
Source:    LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Balin/Kantner
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1966
    Released mainly to San Francisco Bay area radio stations and record stores, Jefferson Airplane's third single, Bringing Me Down, from the LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, is an early collaboration between vocalist Marty Balin and guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner. Balin had invited Kantner into the band without having heard him play a single note. It turned out to be one of many fortuitous decisions by the young bandleader.
    
Artist:    Modern Folk Quintet
Title:    Night Time Girl
Source:    Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 10-Folk-Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Kooper/Levine
Label:    Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1966
    The Modern Folk Quintet can be seen two ways: either as a group that constantly strived to be on the cutting edge or simply as fad followers. Starting off in the early 60s, the MFQ found themselves working with Phil Spector in the middle of the decade, complete with Spector's trademark "wall of sound" production techniques. When that didn't work out they signed with Lou Adler's Dunhill Records, cutting Night Time Girl, a tune that sounds like a psychedelicized version of the Mamas and the Papas.

Artist:    Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title:    Just Like Me
Source:    Mono LP: Nuggets vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Dey/Brown
Label:    Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1965
    Just Like Me was the first top 10 single from Paul Revere And The Raiders, a band that deserves much more credit than they are generally given. The group started in the early part of the decade in Boise, Idaho, when Revere (his real name) hooked up with saxophonist Mark Lindsay. Like most bands at the time, the Raiders' repertoire consisted mostly of instrumentals, as PA systems were a luxury that required more space than was generally allotted to a small town band. It wasn't long before the Raiders relocated to Portland, Oregon, where they became a popular attraction at various clubs. After a hiatus caused by Revere's stint in the military, the band resumed its place as one of the founding bands of the Portland music scene. They soon made their first visit to a recording studio, recording Richard Berry's Louie Louie at around the same time as another popular Portland band, the Kingsmen. The Kingsmen's version ended up being a huge national hit while the popularity of the Raiders' version was mostly restricted to the West Coast, thanks in large part to the active lack of support from Columbia Records, whose head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R), Mitch Miller, was an outspoken critic of rock 'n' roll. Undeterred, the band continued to grow in popularity, recording another single in 1964 (Like Long Hair) and going on tour. It was while playing in Hawaii that the band was noticed by none other than Dick Clark, who hired them to be the house band on his new afternoon TV show, Where The Action Is. Under the leadership of Mitch Miller Columbia Records had done their best to ignore the existence of rock 'n' roll (an effort that was somewhat undermined by one of their most popular artists, Bob Dylan, in 1965, when he went electric). Columbia had, however, a more open-minded West Coast division that included producer Terry Melcher, son of singer Doris Day and co-producer of the Rip Chords' hot rod hit Hey Little Cobra. With the Raiders now being seen daily on a national TV show, the label assigned Melcher to produce the band's records. It was a partnership that would lead to a string of hits, starting with Steppin' Out in 1965. The next record, Just Like Me, was the first of a string of top 10 singles that would last until early 1967, when rapidly changing public tastes made the band seem antiquated compared to up and coming groups like Jefferson Airplane. Just Like Me, which was actually a cover of a song first recorded by another Pacific Northwest band, the Wilde Knights, still holds up well after all these years. Much of the credit for that has to go to Drake Levin, whose innovative double-tracked guitar solo rocked out harder than anything else on top 40 radio at the time (with the possible exception of a couple of well-known Kinks songs).

Artist:    Turtles
Title:    You Baby
Source:    CD: Battle Of The Bands Vol. Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Sloan/Barri
Label:    Era (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 last 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. Almost without exception 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:    John's Children
Title:    Desdemona
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):    Marc Bolan
Label:    Rhino (original label: Track)
Year:    1967
    After a pair of failed singles, the Ashtead, Surrey band known as John's Children brought in a new lead guitarist, Marc Bolan, who wrote their third release, Desdemona. Although Desdemona was indeed a much stronger song than the band's earlier efforts, it found itself banned by the BBC for the line "lift up your skirt and fly". Since by then BBC-1 was the only legal top 40 station left operating in the UK (Radio Luxembourg being on the continent), the song did not get heard by most British listeners. Bolan soon left the group to form his own psychedelic folk band, Tyrannosaurus Rex, with percussionist Steve Peregrine Took.

Artist:    Peppermint Trolley Company
Title:    9 O'Clock Businessman
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Casey Cunningham
Label:    Acta
Year:    1968
    The Peppermint Trolley Company is a band who are not known for arranging and recording the original version of the Brady Bunch theme. Yet they did, for the show's pilot episode. Once the show got picked up by the network, however, new vocals were recorded by other people (although the arrangement remained the same). Other than that, the Peppermint Trolley Company's main claim to fame was for a song called Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind that peaked in the #59 spot in early 1968. The group actually released a total of nine singles over a period of four years, with almost as many personnel changes along the way. Among the late joiners was drummer Chris Cunningham, who wrote the more interesting B side of Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind, a tune called 9 O'Clock Businessman.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Teacher (US version)
Source:    LP: Living In The Past (originally released on LP: Benefit)
Writer:    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
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 single before the UK version of the group's third LP, Benefit. The US version of Benefit has a longer 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 (which included the US version of Teacher as well).

Artist:     Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title:    Down By The River
Source:    CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1969
    Down By The River is one of four songs on the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that Neil Young wrote while running a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 39.5 degrees for people in civilized nations that use the Celsius, aka centrigrade, scale). By some strange coincidence, they are the four best songs on the album. I wish I could have been that sick in my days as a wannabe rock star.

Artist:    Al Kooper/Stephen Stills/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh
Title:    You Don't Love Me
Source:    CD: Super Session
Writer(s):    Willie Cobbs
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1968
    You Don't Love Me was originally recorded and released as a single by Willie Cobbs in 1960. Although the song is credited solely to Cobbs, it strongly resembles a 1955 Bo Diddley B side, She's Fine She's Mine, in its melody, lyrics and repeated guitar riff. The Cobbs single was a regional hit on the Mojo label in Memphis, but stalled out nationally after being reissued on Vee-Jay Records, due to the label pulling promotional support from the song due to copyright issues. A 1965 version by Junior Wells with Buddy Guy saw some minor changes in the lyrics to the song; it was this version that was covered by Al Kooper and Stephen Stills for the 1968 Super Session album. The recording extensively uses an effect called flanging, a type of stereo phase-shifting that was first used on the Jimi Hendrix track Bold As Love.

Artist:    Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title:    Birds In My Tree
Source:    LP: Incense And Peppermints
Writer(s):    Bunnell/Bartek
Label:    Sundazed/Uni
Year:    1967
    The Strawberry Alarm Clock had a history of not acknowledging everyone involved in making their records, especially near the beginning of their career. For instance, the lead vocalist on Incense And Peppermints itself, Greg Munford, was not even a member of the band. Furthermore, four of the ten songs on the album, including Birds In My Tree, we co-written (with bassist George Bunnell) by Steve Bartok, who also provided flute parts for several songs, but received no credit for his work. Birds In My Tree, incidentally, was chosen as the B side for the band's second single, Tomorrow.

Artist:    First Edition
Title:    Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source:    CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released on LP: The First Edition and as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Mickey Newbury
Label:    Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    In 1968, former New Christy Minstrels members Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle decided to form a psychedelic rock band, the First Edition. Although Settle wrote (and sang lead on) most of the songs on the first album, it was Rogers who would emerge as the star of the group, thanks to the fact that one of the two songs he sang lead on, Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), became a huge top 40 hit. It wasn't long before the official name of the band was changed to Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. That change reflected a shift from psychedelic to country flavored pop that would eventually propel Rogers to superstar status, leaving the First Edition far behind.

Artist:    Circus Maximus
Title:    Chess Game
Source:    CD: Circus Maximus
Writer(s):    Bob Bruno
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    New York's Greenwich Village based Circus Maximus was driven by the dual creative talents of guitarist/keyboardist Bob Bruno and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker. Although Walker went on to have the greatest success, it was Bruno's more jazz-influenced songwriting on songs like Chess Game that defined the band's sound. Bruno is now a successful visual artist, still living in the New York area.

Artist:    Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title:    Winds Of Change
Source:    British import CD: Winds Of Change/The Twain Shall Meet
Writer(s):    Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label:    BGO (original label: M-G-M)
Year:    1967
    In late 1966 the original Animals disbanded, and Eric Burdon began working on a new solo album called Eric Is Here. Unsatisfied with the results of the project, Burdon set about creating a new version of the Animals, which was at first known as the New Animals but would soon come to be called Eric Burdon And The Animals. The new band's first LP was Winds of Change, an ambitious album that gave writing credit to all five band members for all the tracks on the album (with the exception of a cover version of the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black). The album's title track, which opens the LP, is basically Eric Burdon paying tribute to all his musical heroes, and it's quite an impressive list, including jazz and blues greats as well as some of the most important names in the annals of rock and roll.

Artist:    Crow
Title:    Evil Woman Don't Play Your Games With Me
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Wagner/Weigand/Weigand
Label:    Amaret
Year:    1969
    Minneapolis has always had a more active local music scene than one might expect from a medium-sized city in the heart of the snow belt. Many of the city's artists have risen to national prominence, including a band called Crow, who's 1969 single Evil Woman Don't Play Your Games With Me, hit close to the top of the charts in early 1970. The band had been formed in 1967 as South 40, changing its name to Crow right around the same time they signed to Amaret Records in 1969.

Artist:    Love
Title:    Alone Again Or (alternate mix)
Source:    CD: Forever Changes
Writer:    Bryan MacLean
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1967
    Bryan McLean, the "other" singer/songwriter of the L.A. band Love, once said that he was unhappy with the way his best-known song, Alone Again Or, sounded on the band's Forever Changes album, due to the producer's decision to give Arthur Lee's harmony line a greater prominence in the mix than McLean's lead vocal. This was probably done for consistency's sake, as Lee was the lead vocalist on an overwhelming majority of Love's recordings. This mono alternate mix uses a different balance of vocals, although McLean's part is still not as prominent as McLean would have preferred. McLean himself re-recorded the song on an early 70s solo album, but reportedly was still not satisfied with the way the song sounded.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    The Fool On The Hill
Source:    British import stereo 45 RPM Extended Play album: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Parlophone
Year:    1967
    The Beatles only came up with six new songs for their 1967 telefilm Magical Mystery Tour, enough to fill up only one side of an LP. Rather than use outtakes and B sides to complete the album (which they had done in 1965 for the Help album), the band chose to release the six songs on a two-record 45 RPM Extended Play set, complete with a booklet that included the storyline, lyric sheets and several still photographs from the film itself. Magical Mystery Tour appeared in this form in both the UK and in Europe, while in the US and Canada, Capitol Records instead issued the album in standard LP format, using the band's 1967 singles and B sides to fill up side two. None of the songs from the telefilm were issued as singles, although one, I Am The Walrus, was used as the B side to the Hello Goodbye single. Another song, Fool On The Hill, was covered by Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66, making the US charts in early 1968. By the 1980s, however, the only version of the song still played on the radio was the original Beatles version, with the footage from the Magical Mystery Tour telefilm used as a video on early music TV channels.

Artist:    Love
Title:    Old Man
Source:    CD: Forever Changes
Writer(s):    MacLean/Breadcrust
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1967
    An often overlooked fact about the L.A. band Love is that they had not one, but two quality singer/songwriters in the band. Although Arthur Lee wrote the bulk of the band's material, it was Bryan McLean who wrote and sang one of the group's best-known songs, the haunting Alone Again Or, which opens their classic Forever Changes album. A second McLean song, Old Man, appears later on the same side of the album.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Flying
Source:    British import 45 RPM EP: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year:    1967
    1967 was an odd year for the Beatles. They started it with one of their most successful double-sided singles, Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, and followed it up with the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. From there, they embarked on a new film project. Unlike their previous movies, the Magical Mystery Tour was not made to be shown in theaters. Rather, the film was aired as a television special shown exclusively in the UK. The airing of the film coincided with the release (in the UK and Europe) of a two-disc extended play 45 RPM set featuring the six songs from the special. In the US, however, where EPs were considered to be virtually extinct, the songs became one side of an album that collected all the non-LP single sides they had released that year on the other. Among the songs from the film is Flying, a rare instrumental track that was credited to the entire band.

Artist:    Love
Title:    My Little Red Book
Source:    LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: Love)
Writer(s):    Bacharach/David
Label:    Rhino (original 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 a 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 when they wrote the song.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    She Said She Said
Source:    CD: Revolver
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year:    1966
    The last song to be recorded for the Beatles' Revolver album was She Said She Said, a John Lennon song inspired by an acid trip taken by members of the band (with the exception of Paul McCartney) during a break from touring in August of 1965. The band's manager, Brian Epstein, had rented a large house in Beverly Hills, but word had gotten out and the Beatles found it difficult to come and go at will. Instead, they invited several people, including the original Byrds and actor Peter Fonda, to come over and hang out with them. At some point, Fonda brought up the fact that he had nearly died as a child from an accidental gunshot wound, and used the phrase "I know what it's like to be dead." Lennon was creeped out by the things Fonda was saying and told him to "shut up about that stuff. You're making me feel like I've never been born." Both lines ended up being used in She Said She Said, which took nine hours to record and mix, and is one of the few Beatle tracks that does not have Paul McCartney on it (George Harrison played bass). Ironically, Fonda himself would star in a Roger Corman film called The Trip (written by Jack Nicholson and co-starring Dennis Hopper) the following year.

Artist:    Hawkwind Zoo
Title:    Hurry On Sundown (demo version)
Source:    Mono British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution
Writer(s):    Dave Brock
Label:    Grapefruit
Year:    Recorded 1969, released 2013
    The first single by Hawkwind was a tune called Hurry On Sundown, which was also included on their first LP in 1970. The previous year the band had recorded a more psychedelic demo of the song while they were still calling themselves Hawkwind Zoo. That recording remained unreleased until 2013, when it appeared on the British compilation box set Love, Poetry And Revolution.

Artist:    Grass Roots
Title:    Mr. Jones (A Ballad Of A Thin Man)
Source:    Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1965
    In late 1965 songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan (Eve of Destruction) and Steve Barri decided to create a series of records by a band called the Grass Roots. The problem was that the existing L.A. band calling itself the Grass Roots had no interest in recording for Sloan and Barri. Angered by being treated rudely by one of the band members, Sloan and Barri did a little research and came to the realization that the existing Grass Roots had not legally copyrighted the name, so Sloan and Barri did so themselves and then found another band to record as the Grass Roots. This of course forced the existing band to come up with a new name, but that's a story for another time. Meanwhile, the band Sloan and Barri recruited was the Bedouins, one of the early San Francisco bands. As the rush to sign SF bands was still months away, the Bedouins were more than happy to record the songs Sloan and Barri picked out for them. The first single by the newly-named Grass Roots was a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones (A Ballad Of A Thin Man). The band soon got to work promoting the single to Southern California radio stations, but with both the Byrds and the Turtles already on the charts with Dylan covers it soon became obvious that the market was becoming saturated with folk-rock. After a period of months the band, who wanted more freedom to write and record their own material, had a falling out with Sloan and Barri and it wasn't long before they moved back to San Francisco, leaving drummer Joel Larson in L.A. The group, with another drummer, continued to perform as the Grass Roots until Dunhill Records ordered them to stop. Eventually Dunhill would hire a local L.A. band called the 13th Floor (not to be confused with Austin, Texas's 13th Floor Elevators) to be the final incarnation of the Grass Roots; that group would crank out a series of top 40 hits in the early 70s. The Bedouins never had the opportunity to record again.

Artist:     Blues Project
Title:     Caress Me Baby
Source:     CD: The Blues Project Anthology (originally released on LP: Projections)
Writer:     Jimmy Reed
Label:     Polydor (original label: Verve Folkways)
Year:     1966
     After deliberately truncating their extended jams for their first LP, Live At The Cafe Au-Go-Go, the Blues Project recorded a second album that was a much more accurate representation of what the band was all about. Mixed in with the group's original material was this outstanding cover of Jimmy Reed's Caress Me Baby, sung by lead guitarist and Blues Project founder Danny Kalb, running over seven minutes long. Andy Kuhlberg's memorable walking bass line would be lifted a few year later by Blood, Sweat and Tears bassist Jim Fielder for the track Blues, Part II.

Artist:    Janis Ian
Title:    Janey's Blues
Source:    LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s):    Janis Ian
Label:    Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year:    1967
    Following the success of her first hit single, Society's Child, singer/songwriter/poet Janis Ian released her self-titled debut LP in early 1967, follwing it up with two more albums, For All The Seasons Of Your Mind and The Secret Life Of J. Eddy Fink, over the next year or so. Although there were singles released from each of these, none of them got much chart action. Finally, in late 1968, her label decided to go back to her debut LP for her fifth single, Janey's Blues. I suspect the song's length (nearly five minutes) automatically kept many AM radio DJs from playing the song, which is a shame, as Janey's Blues is one of the undiscovered gems of the late 1960s.

Artist:    Fairport Convention
Title:    Jack O' Diamonds
Source:    British import CD: Fairport Convention
Writer(s):    Dylan/Carruthers
Label:    Polydor
Year:    1968
    The recording history of the premier English folk-rock band, Fairport Convention, can be more than a little confusing. A large part of the problem was caused by A&M Records, who had the rights to release the band's material in the US, starting with the band's second LP. Rather than go with the original album title, What We Did On Our Holidays, A&M retitled the album Fairport Convention, releasing it in 1970. The problem is that the band's first album, released in the UK on Polydor in 1968, was also titled Fairport Convention. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the lineup on the 1968 Polydor LP differs from that of every other Fairport album, most notably in the absence of the band's most visible member, vocalist Sandy Denny. Fairport Convention (the band) was formed in 1967, and was consciously following in the footsteps of Jefferson Airplane, albeit from a British perspective. Like the Airplane, the original Fairport lineup had a wealth of talent, including Martin Lamble on drums and violin, Simon Nicol on guitars, Judy Dyble on autoharp, recorder and piano, Richard Thompson on guitar and mandolin, Ashley Hutchings (then known as Tyger Hutchings) on bass and Ian MacDonald (who later became known as Iaan Matthews), who shared lead vocals with Dyble. Musically the band was far more rock-oriented than on later LPs, as can be heard on tracks like Jack Of Diamonds, a song that the band credited to Bob Dylan and Ben Carruthers. This can be attributed, at least in part, to a general disdain among the youth of Britain for the traditional English folk music that was taught to every schoolchild in the country (whether they wanted it or not). Later albums would find Fairport Convention doing more and more traditional folk, eventually becoming the world's most popular practicioners of the art, although they never entirely abandoned their rock roots.

Artist:    Donovan
Title:    The Love Song
Source:    LP: Barabajagal
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    Epic
Year:    1969
    The 1969 LP Barabajagal marked the end of the highly productive alliance between singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch and producer Mickie Most, who parted ways over divergent musical visions. In fact, only six of the 10 tracks on Barabajagal were produced by Most, including The Love Song, which opens the original LP's second side. Donovan would never again attain the commercial success he had while working with Most.

Artist:     Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Title:     Here I Am I Always Am
Source:     LP: The Legendary A&M Sessions
Writer:     Don Van Vliet
Label:     A&M
Year:     1965
     In 1965 Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, took his magic band into the studio for the first time. Beefheart's reputation at the time was as an outstanding interpreter of classic blues, electrified for a young white audience that had made stars out of the Yardbirds and other British blues artists. Van Vliet, though, already was beginning to show a taste for the bizarre, and the recordings were deemed commercially lacking by the shirts at A&M Records. It wasn't until Beefheart was well established as one of the world's foremost avant-garde rock artists that the label finally issued the recordings on an LP called The Legendary A&M Sessions. Compared to the content of albums such as Trout Mask Replica, even Van Vliet's own Here I Am I Always Am sounds almost mainstream.

Artist:    The Raik's Progress
Title:    Why Did You Rob Us, Tank?
Source:    Mono LP: Sewer Rat Love Chant (originally released in US as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Krikorian/Shapazian/van Maarth/Olson/Scott
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Liberty)
Year:    1966
    Fresno, California, was home to the Raik's Progress, once described as "a bunch of 17-year-old quasi-intellectual proto-punks" by frontman Steve Krikorian, who later became known as Tonio K. The Raik's progress only released one single, Sewer Rat Love Chant, which appeared on the Liberty label in 1966. The B side of that single, Why Did You Rob Us, Tank?, was an apparent dig at their manager, but when questioned about what prompted the title, Krikorian was a bit vague in his answer, saying it could have been about anything from gate receipts to not paying for burgers.