Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2610 (starts 3/2/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/609354

    This week's show starts on a somewhat conventional note with a well-known classic from Simon & Garfunkel. It even stays that way for the most part during the first half of the show. But then, after a nice set from Procol Harum to open the second hour of the show, the acid starts to kick in and things get a little...weird, finishing out with several tunes that have never been heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before this week.

Artist:    Simon and Garfunkel
Title:    Mrs. Robinson
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s):    Paul Simon
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968
    Possibly the most enduring song in the entire Simon And Garfunkel catalog, Mrs. Robinson (in an edited version) first appeared on the soundtrack for the film The Graduate in 1967. It wasn't until the Bookends album came out in 1968 that the full four minute version was released. Also released as a single, the song shot right to the top of the charts, staying there for several weeks.

Artist:    Amboy Dukes
Title:    Journey To The Center Of The Mind 
Source:    LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released on LP: Journey To The Center Of The Mind and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Nugent/Farmer
Label:    Rhino (original label: Mainstream)
Year:    1968
    Detroit was one of the major centers of pop music in the mid to late 1960s. In addition to the myriad Motown acts, the area boasted the popular retro-rock&roll band Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, the harder rocking Bob Seger And The Heard, the non-Motown R&B band the Capitols, and Ted Nugent's outfit, the Amboy Dukes, who scored big in 1968 with Journey To The Center Of The Mind. And then came the MC5 and their "little brother" band, the Stooges, but that's another story.

Artist:    Small Faces
Title:    Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Source:    CD: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Writer(s):    Marriott/Lane/McLagon/Jones
Label:    Charly (original label: Immediate)
Year:    1968
    By spring of 1968 the Small Faces, from London' East End, had already established themselves on the UK charts with the kind of catchy pop tunes that were the meat of the mid-60s British music scene. After having a falling out with industry giant Decca Records in 1967, they signed to Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham's newly formed Immediate Records. After a decent, but somewhat hurried first album for the new label the band (whose name came from the fact that they were all short), took their time with a follow-up. The result was Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, generally regarded as one of the few LPs to actually rise to the challenge laid down by the Beatles the previous year with the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album opens with an instrumental title track, setting the tone for the rest of the LP.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Baby, You're A Rich Man
Source:    LP: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1967
    Baby, You're A Rich Man was one of the last actual collaborations between John Lennon and Paul McCartney and addresses the Beatles' longtime manager Brian Epstein, although not by name. Lennon came up with the basic question "how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?" (a popular term for the young and hip in late 60s London), which became the basis for the song's verses, which were combined with an existing, but unfinished, Paul McCartney chorus (Baby, You're A Rich Man, too). The finished piece was issued as the B side of the Beatles' second single of 1967, All You Need Is Love, and later remixed in stereo and included on the US-only LP version of Magical Mystery Tour.
          
Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Foxy Lady
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer:    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1967
    The US and UK versions of the Are You Experienced differed considerably. For one thing, three songs that had been previously released as singles in the UK (where single tracks and albums were mutually exclusive) were added to the US version of the album, replacing UK album tracks. Another rather significant difference is that the UK version of the album was originally issued only in mono. When the 4-track master tapes arrived in the US, engineers at Reprise Records created new stereo mixes of all the songs, including Foxy Lady, which had led off the UK version of Are You Experience but had been moved to a spot near the end of side two on the US album. The original mono single mix of Foxy Lady, meanwhile, was issued as a single in the US, despite the song being only available as an album track in the UK.
 
Artist:    Velvet Illusions
Title:    Acid Head
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Weed/Radford
Label:    Rhino (original label: Tell, also released on Metromedia Records)
Year:    1967
    Showing an obvious influence by the Electric Prunes (a suburban L.A. band that was embraced by the Seattle crowd as one of their own) the Velvet Illusions backtracked the Prunes' steps, leaving their native Yakima and steady gigging for the supposedly greener pastures of the City of Angels. After a few months of frustration in which the band seldom found places to practice, let alone perform, they headed back to Seattle to cut Acid Head before calling it quits.

Artist:    Cream
Title:    Dance The Night Away
Source:    CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer(s):    Bruce/Brown
Label:    Polydor/Polygram (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    The album Fresh Cream was perhaps the first LP from a rock supergroup, although at the time a more accurate description would have been British blues supergroup. Much of the album was reworking of blues standards by the trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, all of whom had established their credentials with various British blues bands. With their second album, Disraeli Gears, Cream showed a psychedelic side as well as their original blues orientation. Most of the more psychedelic material, such as Dance the Night Away, was from the songwriting team of Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown.

Artist:    Ten Years After
Title:    I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes
Source:    CD: Ten Years After
Writer(s):    Blind Willie Johnson, arr. Al Kooper
Label:    Deram
Year:    1967
    The first Ten Years After album had several cover tunes on it, including one that was actually a cover of a cover. Al Kooper of the Blues Project had initially reworked Blind Willie Johnson's adaptation of the traditional Lord I Can't Keep From Crying for inclusion on a blues sampler album for Elektra Records called What's Shakin', while at the same time working up a harder-edged version of the song for the Blues Project, which became the opening track for their Projections LP. Alvin Lee based his own interpretation of the tune on Kooper's solo arrangement, giving it a quiet intensity.

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
Source:    Mono Canadian import CD: 20 Years-The Ultimate collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    Polygram/Polytel (original US label: Reprise)
Year:    1966
    By 1966 Ray Davies's songwriting had taken a satirical turn with songs like Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, which lampooned the flamboyant lifestyle embraced by the Mods, a group of young fashionable Londoners who seem to have bought all their clothes on Carnaby Street. The Kinks, at this point, were having greater success in the UK than in the US, where they had been denied visas and were thus unable to tour to promote their records. That condition would only worsen until 1970, when the song Lola became an international smash, reviving the band's flagging fortunes.

Artist:    Animals
Title:    See See Rider
Source:    CD: The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals 1966-1968 (originally released on LP: Animalization and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ma Rainey
Label:    Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year:    1966
    One of the last singles released by the original incarnation of the Animals (and the first to use the name Eric Burdon And The Animals on the label), See See Rider traces its roots back to the 1920s, when it was first recorded by Ma Rainey. The Animals version is considerably faster than most other recordings of the song, and includes a signature opening rift by organist Dave Rowberry (who had replaced founder Alan Price prior to the recording of the Animalization album that the song first appeared on) that is unique to the Animals' take on the tune. 

Artist:    Seeds
Title:    No Escape
Source:    LP: The Seeds
Writer(s):    Saxon/Savage/Lawrence
Label:    GNP Crescendo
Year:    1966
    Following up on their 1965 Los Angeles area hit Can't Seem To Make You Mine, the Seeds released their self-titled debut LP the following year. The album contained what would be the band's biggest (and only national) hit, Pushin' Too Hard, as well as several other tracks such as No Escape that can be considered either as stylistic consistent or blatantly imitative of the big hit record. As Pushin' Too Hard was not yet a well-known song when the album was released, I tend to lean more toward the first interpretation.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source:    CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: The Grateful Dead
Writer(s):    McGannahan Skjellyfetti
Label:    Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1967
    The Grateful Dead's major label debut single actually sold pretty well in the San Francisco Bay area, where it got airplay on top 40 stations from San Francisco to San Jose. Around the rest of the country, not so much, but the Dead would soon prove that there was more to survival than having a hit record. Writing credits on The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) were given to McGannahan Skjellyfetti, which like the Rolling Stones' Nanker Phelge was a name used for songs written by the entire band (there was probably some royalties-related reason for doing so).

Artist:    Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Title:    You Can't Be Found
Source:    CD: The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading/The Great Conspiracy (original LP: The Great Conspiracy)
Writer(s):    Alan Brackett
Label:    Collectables (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1967
    Originally formed in 1964 as Ashes, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy was a popular Los Angeles club band. Signed to Columbia in late 1966, the group recorded two LPs for the label, both of which were released in 1967. Critics generally agree that the second album, on which the band was given more artistic freedom, was the better of the two. The first album, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading, did have its high points however, such as bassist Alan Brackett's You Can't Be Found. By the time a third album was released in 1969, both the membership and the record label had changed. The PBC disbanded the following year.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Let's Spend The Night Together
Source:    CD: Between The Buttons
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1967
    I seem to recall some TV show (Ed Sullivan, maybe?) making Mick Jagger change the words to "Let's Spend Some Time Together". I can't imagine anyone doing that to the Stones now. Nor can I imagine the band responding to such a request with anything but derisive laughter.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    Heroes And Villains 
Source:    Mono British import  CD: Peace And Love-The Woodstock Generation (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Wilson/Parks
Label:    Warner Strategic Marketing (original US label: Brother)
Year:    1967
    The last major Beach Boys hit of the 1960s was Heroes And Villains, released as a follow-up to Good Vibrations in early 1967. The song was intended to be part of the Smile album, but ended up being released as a single in an entirely different form than Brian Wilson originally intended. 
 
Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    Subterranean Homesick Blues
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1965
    1965 was the year Bob Dylan went electric, and got his first top 40 hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, in the process. Although the song, which also led off his Bringing It All Back Home album, stalled out in the lower 30s, it did pave the way for electrified cover versions of Dylan songs by the Byrds and Turtles and Dylan's own Like A Rolling Stone, which would revolutionize top 40 radio. A line from the song itself, "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows", became the inspiration for a radical offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) that called itself the Weathermen (later the Weather Underground).

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    Rack My Mind
Source:    CD: Roger The Engineer (original US title: Over Under Sideways Down)
Writer(s):    Dreja/McCarty/Beck/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label:    Great American (original label: Epic)
Year:    1966
            It may come as a surprise to some, but, despite their status as one of the most influential bands in rock history, the Yardbirds actually only recorded one studio album. The album, released in 1966, was originally titled The Yardbirds, but has since come to be known as Roger The Engineer, thanks to the distinctive cover drawn by band member Chris Dreja. In the US, the album was released under a different title (Over Under Sideways Down) and had an entirely different cover as well. To add to the confusion, a compilation of British singles and EP tracks had been released in the US under the title Having A Rave Up the previous year. Roger The Engineer was co-produced by Simon Napier-Bell and Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, and was made up entirely of original songs such as Rack My Mind. Samwell-Smith would leave the band to become a full-time producer not long after the album's release; his replacement would be a guitarist named Jimmy Page.
        
Artist:     Traffic
Title:     Giving To You
Source:     CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind
Writer(s):     Winwood/Capaldi/Wood/Mason
Label:     Island (original label: United Artists)
Year:     1967
     Traffic's first LP, Mr. Fantasy, was released in late 1967 under the name Heaven Is In Your Mind by United Artists Records in the US. The reason for this is not entirely clear, although the label may have been expecting the song Heaven Is In Your Mind to be a hit and wanted to capitalize on the title. As it turns out the song didn't do much on the US charts, despite the lead vocals of Steve Winwood, whose voice had already graced two top 10 singles by the Spencer Davis Group (Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man) earlier that year. More recently Island Records, which always had the UK rights to Traffic's material and has had US rights since the early 70s, decided to release CDs under both titles. Mr. Fantasy contains the mono mixes of the songs (plus mono bonus tracks), while Heaven Is In Your Mind has the stereo mixes of the same songs (with some slight differences in bonus tracks). One track that benefits from the stereo mix is Giving To You. Basically an instrumental, the song has a short lounge lizard style vocal introduction, along with some interesting spoken parts and stereo sound effects at the beginning and end of what is otherwise a rather tasty jam session.

Artist:    Procol Harum
Title:    Wish Me Well
Source:    CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer(s):    Brooker/Reid
Label:    A&M/Rebound
Year:    1968
    The second Procol Harum album, Shine On Brightly, saw the group moving in an increasingly progressive direction, incorporating elements of a variety of styles, including Indian, classical and even gospel music. An example of the latter is Wish Me Well. Gary Brooker's gospel-styled piano work and vocals on the track are enhanced by some tasty fills from guitarist Robin Trower.

Artist:    Procol Harum
Title:    A Whiter Shade Of Pale 
Source:    Simulated stereo LP: The Best Of Procol Harum (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Brooker/Reid
Label:    A&M (original label: Deram)
Year:    1967
    Often credited as the first progressive rock band, Procol Harum drew heavily from classical music sources, such as the Bach inspired theme used by organist Matthew Fisher as the signature rift for A Whiter Shade of Pale. The song itself hold the distinction of being the most-played song on the British airwaves over the past 70 years.

Artist:    Procol Harum
Title:    Rambling On
Source:    CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer(s):    Brooker/Reid
Label:    A&M/Rebound
Year:    1968
    Procol Harum is generally considered to be one of the first progressive rock bands, thanks in part to their second LP, Shine On Brightly. In addition to the album's showpiece, the seventeen minute In Held Twas In I, the album has several memorable tracks, including Rambling On, which closes out side one of the original LP. The song's rambling first-person lyrics (none of which actually rhyme) tell the story of a guy who, inspired by a Batman movie, decides to jump off a roof and fly. Oddly enough, he succeeds.

Artist:    Clark-Hutchinson
Title:    Improvisations On And Indian Scale
Source:    LP: A=MH²
Writer(s):    Clark/Hutchinson
Label:    Sire/London
Year:    1969
    By the 1980s, it had become common to find out that a "band" actually consisted by just one or two people, who used studio techniques to fill out their sound. The beginnings of this can be traced to the late 1960s when people like Andy Clark and Mitch Hutchinson were putting out albums like LP: A=MH². The album itself is made up mostly of lengthy pieces like Improvisations On And Indian Scale, which features Clark on pianos and Hutchinson on bass guitar. And rhythm guitar. And tympani. And lead guitar.

Artist:    Magicians
Title:    An Invitation To Cry
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Woods/Gordon
Label:    Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1965
    In the late 1960s Columbia emerged as one of the top rock labels, with bands such as Blood, Sweat & Tears, Moby Grape and Chicago selling millions of copies of their LPs. It may come as a surprise, then, that just two years before the release of the first Moby Grape album, Columbia had not signed a single rock act. Prior to 1965, Columbia had established itself as a leading force in Jazz, Classical, and what had been known as popular music as personified by such middle of the road acts as Mitch Miller, Anita Bryant and Percy Faith. In addition, Columbia had a virtual lock on Broadway show soundtrack albums, but, other than Bob Dylan, who had originally been signed as a pure folk artist, the label had nothing approaching rock and roll. That began to change, however, with the label's signing of Paul Revere and the Raiders on the West coast and a Greenwich Village based band called the Magicians on the East. While the label turned to staff producer Terry Melcher for the Raiders, they instead went with the management/production team of Bob Wyld and Art Polhemus, who would later find success at Mercury Records with the Blues Magoos. The Magicians, however, were not so successful, despite the presence of band members Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, who would go on to write major hits Happy Together and She's My Girl (among others) for the Turtles, as well as songs for other artists. It was Gordon, along with non-member James Woods, that wrote the Magicians' first single, An Invitation To Cry, which was released in November of 1965. I guess the mostly adolescent top 40 audience of the time just wasn't ready for a rock song in waltz tempo.

Artist:    Janis Ian
Title:    Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Janis Ian
Label:    Verve Folkways
Year:    1966
    Janis Ian began writing Society's Child, using the title Baby I've Been Thinking, when she was 13 years old, finishing it shortly after her 14th birthday. She shopped it around to several record labels before finally finding one willing to take a chance on the controversial song about interracial dating. The record was released in September of 1966 by M-G-M subsidiary Verve Folkways, a label whose roster included Dave Van Ronk, Laura Nyro and the Blues Project, among others. Despite being banned on several radio stations the song became a major hit when re-released the following year after being featured on an April 1967 Leonard Bernstein TV special. Ian had problems maintaining a balance between her performing career and being a student which ultimately led to her dropping out of high school. She would eventually get her career back on track in the mid-70s, scoring another major hit with At Seventeen, and becoming somewhat of a heroine to the feminist movement.

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    Interstellar Overdrive/The Gnome
Source:    CD: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer(s):    Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label:    Capitol (original label: Tower)
Year:    1967
    Syd Barrett was still very much at the helm for Pink Floyd's first LP, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, released in 1967. The group had already released a pair of Barrett-penned singles, Arnold Layne (which was banned by the BBC) and See Emily Play. Piper, though, was the first full album for the group, and some tracks, notably the nine-minute psychedelic masterpiece Interstellar Overdrive, were entirely group efforts. On the original UK version of the LP Overdrive tracks directly into a Barrett piece, the Gnome. The US version, issued on Tower records, truncated Overdrive and re-arranged the song order. The only CD version of Piper currently available, heard here, follows the original UK ordering of the tracks.

Artist:    John Renbourne
Title:    Transfusion
Source:    LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show (originally released on LP: Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng and ye Grene Knyghte 
Writer(s):    Charles Lloyd
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    In addition to being a founding member of Pentangle, guitarist John Renbourne maintained a successful solo career, releasing 20 studio albums and five live albums from 1965 to 2011. One of the most notable of these was the 1968 LP Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng and ye Grene Knyghte. The album featured Renbourne's own arrangement of traditional English folk ballads, along with more recent tunes such as Transfusion, written by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd. 

Artist:    Jacob Creek
Title:    Behind The Door
Source:    German import LP: Underground '70 (originally released in LP: Jacobs Creek)
Writer(s):    Lon Van Eaton
Label:    CBS (US label: Columbia)
Year:    1969
    Formed as Elisium in Trenton, NJ in 1968 by brothers Lon and Derrek Van Eaton, Jacobs Creek was based in New York, where a gig at Andy Warhol's Factory led to a contract with Columbia Records the following year. In addition to the Van Eatons (multi-instrumentalist Lon and vocalist Derrek, the band featured Steve Burgh on guitars, organ, vocals, Tim Case on drums, Bruce Foster on guitar, banjo and organ and Steve Mosley on drums. Columbia had signed several new rock bands in 1969, and when it came to promotion, Jacob Creek kind of slipped through the cracks. Still, they continued to get regular work in the New Jersey area for the next couple of years, finally disbanding in 1971. The Von Eatons then recorded some demos that found their way to George Harrison, who produced their album Brother for Apple in 1972.

Artist:    Alice Cooper
Title:    Still No Air
Source:    LP: Easy Action
Writer(s):    Cooper/Smith/Dunaway/Bruce/Buxton
Label:    Straight
Year:    1970
    Alice Cooper's second album, Easy Action, was no more of a commercial success than their first one, but it did have its moments. Still No Air, for instance, sneaks in references to West Side Story while showing glimpses of the hard rock the band would later become famous for.
 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2610 (starts 3/2/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/609352

    Quite a few tracks we've never played on the show before this week, including a lengthy live cover of Eight Miles High and a Ron "Pigpen" McKernan live solo track. Lots of good studio stuff in here as well, including an opening track that became a movie title.

Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    The Song Remains The Same
Source:    CD: Houses Of The Holy
Writer(s):    Page/Plant
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1973
    The Song Remains The Same was originally meant to be an instrumental overture to open the band's fifth album, Houses Of The Holy. Vocalist Robert Plant, however, had different ideas, and added what has been called his tribute to world music, expressing a belief in music as a universal language. A couple of the track's original elements survived, however. The song still serves as the opening track for the album, and is still followed immediately by The Rain Song. The two were often performed in sequence at the band's concerts as well. The Song Remains The Same is the name of Led Zeppelin's legendary concert film as well.

Artist:    Lighthouse
Title:    Eight Miles High
Source:    LP: Lighthouse "Live"
Writer(s):    Mcguinn/Clark/Crosby
Label:    Evolution
Year:    1972
    Around the same time that James William Guercio and Al Kooper were (separately) working on incorporating horns into rock music, former Paupers drummer Skip Prokop, along with fellow Canadian keyboardist Paul Hoffert, were already figuring out how to take it a step further by creating a band that featured a rock rhythm section augmented by a jazz horn section and classical strings. The two of them assembled a group of friends, studio musicians, members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, along with guitarist Ralph Cole to make a demo recording under the name Lighthouse. The group soon landed a contract with RCA, but after three albums was dropped due to poor sales. They then went through a series of personnel changes, reducing their total membership from 13 to 11. Lighthouse scored their first major US hit in 1971 with One Fine Morning on the Canadian label GRT and the Evolution label in the US. Despite a hectic schedule that included recording sessions and live performances 300 days a year they managed to find time to do a collaboration with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet company, Ballet High, touring across Canada and a production of Prometheus Bound with actress Irene Worth for CBC television. In 1972 they released Lighthouse "Live", the first Canadian album to go platinum (sales of 100,000 copies). One of the highlights of that album was their thirteen and a half long cover version of the Byrds' Eight Miles High. Lighthouse continued to go through personnel changes, and finally disbanded in 1976, although there have been several reunions since then.

Artist:    National Lampoon
Title:    Public Disservice Message: Care Packages To Europe
Source:    CD: The Best Of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, volume 3
Writer(s):    group effort
Label:    Rhino
Year:    Recorded 1973-74, released 1996
    The National Lampoon Radio Hour only ran for a little over a year, and was actually only a half hour long for most of its run. The show, created and produced by Michael O'Donoghue, featured material written by the same people who did the National Lampoon magazine, and featured an array of voice talent, including many of the performers who would later become the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players for NBC's Saturday Night Live. In 1996 Rhino Records put out a three CD box set called The Best Of The National Lampoon Radio Hour that included extensive liner notes. Unfortunately, all I have is the third CD in the set and no liner notes, thus I have no idea who the actual writers or performers were who gave us the Public Disservice Message: Care Packages To Europe. It sure sounds like the work of O'Donoghue, who went on to become head writer for Saturday Night Live for its first three seasons, making occasional on-camera appearances as bedtime storyteller Mr. Mike.

Artist:    Deep Purple
Title:    Black Night (1995 Roger Glover Mix)
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    Prior to 1970, Deep Purple had achieved a moderate amount of success in the US, but were pretty much ignored in the native England. That all changed, however, with the addition of two new members, lead vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. Following the experimental Concerto For Group and Orchestra, the band's new lineup released its first studio album, Deep Purple In Rock, on June 3, 1970. Two days later they released a non-album single called Black Night. The song was an instant hit, going all the way to the #2 spot on the British charts and quickly becoming part of the band's concert repertoire, usually as the first encore. A 1995 remix by Glover was released as a single on blue vinyl in 1995 for Record Store Day that runs nearly 30 seconds longer than the original 1970 US release.
    
Artist:    Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title:    Cinnamon Girl
Source:    CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1969
    My favorite Neil Young song has always been Cinnamon Girl. I suspect this is because the band I was in the summer after I graduated from high school used an amped-up version of the song as our show opener (imagine Cinnamon Girl played like I Can See For Miles and you get a general idea of how it sounded). If we had ever recorded an album, we probably would have used that arrangement as our first single. I finally got to see Neil Young perform the song live (from the 16th row even) with Booker T. and the MGs as his stage band in the mid-1990s. It was worth the wait.
  
Artist:    Harvey Mandel
Title:    Bradley's Barn
Source:    LP: Cristo Redentor
Writer(s):    Harvey Mandel
Label:    Philips
Year:    1968
    Harvey Mandel first came to national attention as the guitarist on Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite's South Side Band, one of the first blues albums to be also targeted to rock listeners. One of the standout tracks on the album was Christo Redemptor, which has come to be considered Musselwhite's signature song. Not long after the album was released, Mandel moved to San Francisco, performing regularly at the Matrix club and often jamming with fellow guitarists Elvin Bishop and Jerry Garcia. A chance meeting with local disc jockey Abe "Voco" Kesh led to Mandel's first solo LP, released in 1968. The album, made up entirely of instrumentals like Mandel's self-penned Bradley's Barn (one of the first songs to use a wah-wah pedal extensively), led to Mandel being invited to replace Henry Vestine in Canned Heat the following year.
    
Artist:    West, Bruce & Laing
Title:    Why Dontcha
Source:    CD: Why Dontcha
Writer(s):    West/Bruce/Laing
Label:    Columbia/Windfall
Year:    1972
    When Mountain's bassist/vocalist Felix Pappalardi announced, in January of 1972, that he would be leaving the band at the end of their current tour, the group's remaining two members, guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing, immediately set about looking for a replacement. From the start the choice was obvious; Pappalardi had produced all but the first album by Cream, and, as Mountain's producer, deliberately set out to model his new band on the legendary British supergroup, even to the point of developing a vocal style similar to that of Cream bassist Jack Bruce. In fact, one of Mountain's most popular songs, Theme From An Imaginary Western, was a cover of a Jack Bruce/Pete Brown composition from Bruce's first solo LP. It was quickly decided that, rather than continue on as Mountain, the band would call itself West, Bruce & Laing. They got to work on their first album, Why Dontcha, early in 1972, but, due to a combination of factors, including a schedule of live performances and a tendency to spend a lot of their off time getting high, the album was not finished until November of 1972. Although they had managed to negotiate a lucrative deal with Columbia, the label itself was not happy with the overall quality of the album and did not give it a lot of promotional support. Nonetheless, the album did fairly well, staying on the Billboard LP chart for a total of 20 weeks, peaking in the #26 spot. One of the highlights of Why Dontcha was the album's title track, which features lead vocals from Leslie West and features the kind of interplay between guitar, bass and drums that Cream was famous for.

Artist:    Allman Brothers Band
Title:    Hot 'Lanta
Source:    LP: At Fillmore East
Writer(s):    Allman/Allman/Betts/Trucks/Oakley/Johanson
Label:    Mercury (original label: Capricorn)
Year:    1971
    The only "new" song on the Allman Brothers' landmark album At Fillmore East was Hot 'Lanta, a piece that evolved out of a jam session and was only performed live. The melody line comes from guitarist Dickey Betts, who also contributes a solo, as do fellow guitarist Duane Allman and keyboardist Gregg Allman. 

Artist:    Bo Hansson
Title:    Playing Downhill Into The Downs
Source:    LP: Magician's Hat
Writer(s):    Bo Hansson
Label:    Charisma
Year:    1972
    Swedish multi-instrumentalist/composer Bo Hansson released his first solo instrumental progressive rock album, Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings, in 1970, after having read a copy of the Tolkien trilogy given to him by his girlfriend. The album, originally released in Sweden, was successful enough to be picked up for international distribution on the Charisma label in 1972. At around the same time, Hansson began work on his follow-up LP, Magician's Hat. This second effort was released in Sweden in late 1972 and once again picked up by Charisma for international release. Although not as successful as its predecessor, Magician's Hat is still quite listenable, especially on shorter tracks such as Playing Downhill Into The Downs, which clocks in at slightly over a minute and a half.

Artist:    James Gang
Title:    Alexis
Source:    CD: Bang
Writer(s):    Bolin/Cook
Label:    Atco
Year:    1973
    When Joe Walsh left the James Gang, many people thought it was all over for the Cleveland, Ohio band formed by drummer Jim Fox. The group recovered, though, adding two Canadians, guitarist Dominic Troiano and vocalist Roy Kenner, from the band Bush. The group recorded two more albums for ABC before Troiano left to replace Randy Bachman in the Guess Who. With their ABC Records contract now expired, the group was once again expected to ride off into the sunset, but instead added guitarist Tommy Bolin, formerly of the Boulder, Colorado band Zephyr, and signed a new contract with Atlantic's Atco label. The first album from the new lineup was 1973's Bang, considered the strongest James Gang album since Walsh's departure. Bolin, in particular, strutted his stuff, both as a guitarist and a songwriter, on several of Bang's tracks. He even took the lead vocals on Alexis, a song that I can't help but think is based on a true story.
 
Artist:    Mahogany Rush
Title:    Moonlight Lady
Source:    Canadian import CD: Strange Universe
Writer(s):    Frank Marino
Label:    Just A Minute (original label: 20th Century)
Year:    1975
    When it comes to Canadian musicians, the first names that come to mind are Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot, with the Guess Who and Rush immediately following. Often overlooked, however, is Mahogany Rush, a band that features the talented singer/songwriter Frank Marino on lead guitar. Marino has been accused of trying to rip off Jimi Hendrix, but I see it more as channeling the master guitarist rather than stealing from him. And let's face it: very few people have been able to do it better than Marino, as can be heard on Moonlight Lady, from the third Mahogany Rush album Strange Universe. 

Artist:    Ron McKernan
Title:    Katie Mae
Source:    LP: History Of The Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice)
Writer(s):    Lightnin' Hopkins
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1973
    Probably the rarest thing in the entire massive Grateful Dead catalog is a solo piece by Ron "Pigpen" McKernon. Even more rare is hearing McKernon play guitar in front of an audience. On February 14, 1970, he did just that. According to Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully "Pigpen went out on the stage and sat down in a chair ... it was the only time he ever did it. He sat down and played the bottleneck guitar. We'd been pushing him for years to do it and finally he just got loose enough and comfortable enough with the audience there at the Fillmore to go out and do it. He went out and sat down on the stage—it was Valentine's Day and he had a honey out in the crowd. He went out and played 'Katie Mae' to her." McKernan passed away while Owsley "Bear" Stanley was compiling the music for the 1973 live compilation album History Of The Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice), and Stanley deliberately chose McKernan's performance of Katie Mae to open the album.

Artist:    Steely Dan
Title:    Only A Fool Would Say That
Source:    CD: Can't Buy A Thrill
Writer(s):    Becker/Fagan
Label:    MCA (original label: ABC)
Year:    1972
    Steely Dan's first album, Can't Buy A Thrill, is best known for its two hit singles, Do It Again and Reeling In The Years. The LP, however, has plenty more good tracks, including Only A Fool Would Say That, which also appeared as a B side. 
 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2609 (starts 2/23/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/608482

    This week we have a series of short sets, each with its own mini-theme. The fun part is figuring out exactly what those themes are (hint: we don't tell you).

Artist:    Lovin' Spoonful
Title:    Do You Believe In Magic
Source:    CD: Battle Of The Bands (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Do You Believe In Magic)
Writer(s):    John Sebastian
Label:    Era (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year:    1965
    Do You Believe In Magic, the debut single by the Lovin' Spoonful, was instrumental in establishing not only the band itself, but the Kama Sutra label as well. Over the next couple of years, the Spoonful would crank out a string of hits, pretty much single-handedly keeping Kama Sutra in business. In 1967 the band's lead vocalist and primary songwriter John Sebastian departed the group for a solo career, and Kama Sutra itself soon morphed into a company called Buddah Records. Buddah (the misspelling being discovered too late to be fixed) soon came to dominate the "bubble gum" genre of top 40 music throughout 1968 and well into 1969, but eventually proved in its own way to be as much a one-trick pony as its predecessor. 

Artist:    Masters Of Stonehouse
Title:    If You Treat Me Bad Again
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Vol 6: Michigan Part Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ed Drake
Label:    AIP (original label: Discotheque)
Year:    1966
    The Masters Of Stonehouse was (were?) formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1964 by Paul Overiener (lead guitar, vocals), Bruce Robey (drums) and Bill Eckberg (rhythm guitar, lead vocals). An apparent fourth member was future Christian rock artist Ed Drake, although nobody seems to remember exactly what his role with Masters Of Stonehouse was, other than writing both songs on the band's only single. Not long after the release of If You Treat Me Bad Again, the band split up.

Artist:    Who
Title:    Rael
Source:    LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer(s):    Pete Townshend
Label:    Decca
Year:    1967
    The Who Sell Out, released in December 1967, was the last album by the group before their 1969 rock-opera Tommy. The last track on the LP, Rael, is itself a mini-opera that tells the story of a wealthy man who has taken on the role of a crusader, out to free his ancestral homeland from its current occupiers. He tells the captain of his ship to come back for him on Christmas Day to see if he is ready to return. If not, he tells the captain, the boat is yours. Of course the captain has no intention of returning, as he declares soon after putting back out to sea. The piece then goes into an instrumental passage that would be copied pretty much note for note on the Tommy album as part of the Underture. The track ends with a repeat of the owner's instructions to the captain. The events surrounding the recording of Rael have become the stuff of legend. The band spent an entire day recording and mixing the song, and were apparently so exhausted at the end of the session that they left without securing the multi-track master in a safe place. The cleaning woman came in the next morning and tossed the tape into the waste basket. She then emptied the ashtrays and other trash into the same waste basket. When the band came in around noon the recording engineer who had found the tape had the unenviable task of telling them what had happened. Pete Townsend was in a rage, and the engineer tried to placate him by saying "these things happen". Townshend then proceeded to throw a chair through the glass wall separating the studio from the control room, informing the engineer that "these things happen".

Artist:    Lothar And The Hand People
Title:    Milkweed Love
Source:    LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released on LP: Presenting…Lothar And The Hand People)
Writer(s):    Conly/Emelin/Ford/Flye/King
Label:    Elektra (original label: Capitol)
Year:    1968
    Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lothar and the Hand People found themselves relocating to New York City in 1967, releasing a series of singles that ranged from blue-eyed soul to pop. By 1968, however, the band had fully incorporated the Moog synthesizer and the theramine into their sound. Lothar was, in fact, the name of the theramine itself, essentially a black box with an audio modulater that was activated by waving one's hands above it. As for this week's track, Milkweed Love (from the band's debut LP)...well, you can decide for yourself what to think of it.

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    4th Time Around
Source:    Austrian import CD: Blonde On Blonde
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    It's often been speculated that Bob Dylan felt that John Lennon had ripped off his style for the 1965 song Norwegian Wood, and that he wrote 4th Time Around specifically to admonish Lennon for it (artistically speaking). Then again, that could simply be a case of rock critics, needing something to write about, coming up their own interpretation of things. Regardless of origins or intentions, the song was included on what many feel to be Dylan's finest album, Blonde On Blonde, which was released in 1966. Still, the song's closing line "I never asked for your crutch, now don't ask for mine" is a bit cryptic, isn't it?

Artist:    Janis Ian
Title:    Mrs. McKenzie
Source:    Mono LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s):    Janis Ian
Label:    Verve Forecast
Year:    1967
    Janis Ian was all of fourteen years old when she first recorded the song Society's Child. The song was recorded for Atlantic Records, but the label, fearing reprisals due to the song's subject matter (interracial romance), returned the master tape to Ian and refused to release the record. The song ended up being released on the Verve Forecast label three times between 1965 and 1967, when it finally became a top 20 hit. A self-titled album soon followed that was full of outstanding tracks such as Mrs. McKenzie. The album went out of print for a few years and was re-released on the Polydor label in the mid-70s following the success of Ian's comeback single, At Seventeen.

Artist:    Insect Trust
Title:    Foggy River Bridge Fly
Source:    LP: The Insect Trust
Writer(s):    Trevor Keohler
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1968
    It's sometimes assumed that psychedelic rock was purely a west coast phenomena. The truth is that there were psychedelic bands popping up all over the place in the late 1960s. New York's brand of psychedelia was decidedly more avant garde than in other locations, due to the city's position as a major art center. The most famous link between pop art and psychedelic rock was Andy Warhol's sponsorship of the Velvet Underground, but it was not the only one. The United States Of America was born directly out of the New York art scene before relocating to Los Angeles. Less known was the Insect Trust, an eclectic group that included saxophonist Robert Palmer, who would go on to greater fame as the longtime popular music critic for the new York Times, and vocalist Nancy Jeffries, who would end up being the record company executive who signed Suzanne Vega to A&M Records in the mid-1980s. Jeffries once said that The Insect Trust was known to be a safe opening act, due to not having a particular style associated with them that could upstage the headliner. A listen to the off-kilter (and short!) country track Foggy River Bridge Fly kind of verifies that statement. After a second, more R&B-oriented album for a different label, the Insect Trust disbanded in the early 1970s.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
Source:    Mono CD: Buffalo Springfield
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Atco
Year:    1966
    It's a fact: the people at Atco Records thought Neil Young's voice was "too weird" to record, and insisted that fellow Buffalo Springfield member Richie Furay sing most of his songs instead of Young himself. Among the Young tunes sung by Furay on the first Buffalo Springfield album is Flying On The Ground Is Wrong. By the time the band got around to recording a second LP things had changed a bit and Young sang all his own material.

Artist:     Harbinger Complex
Title:     I Think I'm Down
Source:     Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released on 45 RPM vinyl)
Writer:     Hockstaff/Hoyle
Label:     Rhino (original label: Brent)
Year:     1966
     Most garage/club bands never made it beyond a single or two for a relatively small independent label. The Harbinger Complex, from Freemont, California, however, benefitted from a talent search conducted by Bob Shad, owner of Mainstream Records. The band was one of about half a dozen acts from the Bay Area to be signed by Shad in July of 1966, with the single I Think I'm Down appearing on the Brent label later that year. The song was also included on Shad's Mainstream sampler LP, With Love-A Pot Of Flowers, in 1967.

Artist:    Castaways
Title:    Liar Liar
Source:    LP: KHJ Boss Goldens Volume 1 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    James Donna
Label:    Original Sound (original label: Soma)
Year:    1965
     The Castaways were a popular local band in the Minneapolis area led by keyboardist James Donna, who, for slightly less than two minutes at a time, dominated the national airwaves in 1965 with their song Liar Liar for a couple months before fading off into obscurity.

Artist:     Animals
Title:     Inside Looking Out
Source:     Simulated stereo LP: Animalization
Writer:     Lomax/Lomax/Burdon/Chandler
Label:     M-G-M
Year:     1966
     The last Animals single to feature original drummer John Steel, Inside Looking Out (a powerful song about life in prison) was adapted from an actual chain gang chant called Rosie, which was included as part of Alan Lomax's Popular Songbook around 1960 or so. Released as a single in early 1966, the song was later included on the LP Animalization. Three years later Grand Funk Railroad recorded an extended version of Inside Looking Out that became a staple of their live show.

Artist:    Jeff Beck
Title:    Tallyman
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s):    Graham Gouldman
Label:    Sundazed/Epic
Year:    1967
    Mickey Most (born Michael Peter Hayes) was a British record producer who was responsible for some of the biggest hits of the British Invasion, working with bands like the Animals and Herman's Hermits, as well as individual artists like Donovan and Lulu. In most instances he chose the songs himself for the bands to record, something that did not sit well with Eric Burdon of the Animals in particular. Nonetheless, he had the reputation as the man to go to for the best chance of getting a hit on the charts and he rarely disappointed. In 1967, guitarist Jeff Beck, having recently left the Yardbirds, had dreams of becoming a pop star, and turned to Most for help in making it happen. Most, as usual, picked out the songs for Beck's first two singles, the second of which was Tallyman, a song written by the same Graham Gouldman that had provided the Yardbirds with their first Beck era hit, Heart Full Of Soul. Beck would continue to work with Most for the next couple of years, although by the time the album Beck-Ola was released, Beck himself was choosing the material to record and starting with his next LP, Rough And Ready, would be producing his own records.
    
Artist:    Third Bardo
Title:    I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Evans/Pike
Label:    Rhino (original label: Roulette)
Year:    1967
    The Third Bardo (the name coming from the Tibetan Book of the Dead) only released one single, but I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time has become, over a period of time, one of the most sought-after records of the psychedelic era. Not much is known of this New York band made up of Jeffrey Moon (vocals), Bruce Ginsberg (drums), Ricky Goldclang (lead guitar), Damian Kelly (bass) and Richy Seslowe (guitar).

Artist:    (Not the) Chocolate Watchband
Title:    Dark Side Of The Mushroom
Source:    CD: No Way Out
Writer(s):    Cooper/Podolor
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year:    1967
    Just who played on Dark Side Of The Mushroom is lost to history. What is certain, however, is that it is not the Chocolate Watchband, despite its inclusion on that band's debut LP. Producer Ed Cobb apparently had his own agenda when it came to the Watchband, which included making them sound much more psychedelic on vinyl than when they performed onstage (in fact it is doubtful that Cobb ever actually attended any of the band's live gigs). To accomplish his goal, Cobb enlisted the help of songwriter/musician/studio owner Richie Podolor, who would later go on to produce Three Dog Night's records. Podolor put together the group of anonymous studio musicians that recorded Dark Side Of The Mushroom, which, despite its shady origins, is a decent slice of instrumental psychedelia. 

Artist:    Country Joe And The Fish
Title:    Bass Strings
Source:    CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer(s):    Joe McDonald
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    A lot of songs released in 1966 and 1967 got labeled as drug songs by influential people in the music industry. In many cases, those labels were inaccurate, at least according to the artists who recorded those songs. On the other hand, you have songs like Bass Strings by Country Joe and the Fish that really can't be about anything else. Then again, it was never going to be played on top 40 radio anyway.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    EXP/Up From The Skies
Source:    CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    The second Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Axis: Bold As Love, is very much a studio creation. Hendrix had been taking a growing interest in what could be done with multiple tracks to work with, and came up with a masterpiece. What makes the achievement even more remarkable is the fact that he actually only had four tracks to work with (compared to the virtually unlimited number available with modern digital equipment). EXP, which opens the album, is an exercise in creative feedback, using volume and panning to create the illusion of circular motion. The intro to the piece is a faux interview of a slowed-down Hendrix (posing as his friend Paul Caruso) by a slightly sped up bassist Noel Redding. The track leads directly into Up From The Skies, the only song on the album to be issued as a single in the US. Up From The Skies features Hendrix's extensive use of a wah-wah pedal, with vocals and guitar panning back and forth from speaker to speaker over the jazz-styled brushes of drummer Mitch Mitchell.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Little Wing
Source:    CD: Axis: Bold As Love 
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    Although it didn't have any hit singles on it, Axis: Bold As Love, the second album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was full of memorable tunes, including one of Hendrix's most covered songs, Little Wing. The album itself is a showcase for Hendrix's rapidly developing skills, both as a songwriter and in the studio. The actual production of the album was a true collaborative effort, combining Hendrix's creativity, engineer Eddie Kramer's expertise and producer Chas Chandler's strong sense of how a record should sound, acquired through years of recording experience as a member of the Animals.

Artist:        Ten Years After
Title:        Woodchopper's Ball
Source:     LP: Goin' Home-Ten Years After Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Undead)
Writer(s):    Bishop/Herman
Label:     Deram
Year:        1968
        Live albums were still somewhat of a rarity in the 60s, and generally featured material that had not been previously released in the studio. Such was the case with the second Ten Years After album, Undead. Guitarist Alvin Lee flat out smokes on Woodchopper's Ball, a song first recorded by the Woody Herman Orchestra in 1939.

Artist:    John Kay (Sparrow)
Title:    Twisted
Source:    CD: Born To Be Wild-A [Steppenwolf] Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    John Kay
Label:    MCA (original label: Columbia)
Year:    Recorded 1966, released 1969
    Toronto, Ontario's Yorkville Village had a thriving music scene in the mid-1960s that included such future stars as Joni Mitchell, David Clayton-Thomas, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfood and Rick James, among others. Also on the scene was a young singer who had spent most of his formative years in the area before his family had relocated to Buffalo, and later, Los Angeles. John Kay eventually found his way back to Toronto, where he joined a band called Sparrow. Not long after Kay joined the band, they decided to relocate to New York, where they managed to record a few tracks at the Columbia Records studios in 1966. Four of the songs were released as a pair of singles in 1966, but neither record charted. Among the unreleased tracks was a Kay song called Twisted, which remained unreleased until 1969, when Columbia, in the wake of the band's success under their new name, Steppenwolf, released all but one of the tunes on an album called John Kay and Sparrow. The label also released a single from the album under John Kay's name that featured Twisted as the B side. Twisted, along with the Sparrow's cover of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, is now available on the double-CD Steppenwolf anthology Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective. 

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:    Steppenwolf
Title:    The Ostrich
Source:    CD: Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: Steppenwolf)
Writer(s):    John Kay
Label:    MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1967
    Although John Kay's songwriting skills were still a work in progress on the first Steppenwolf album, there were some outstanding Kay songs on that LP, such as The Ostrich, a song that helped define Steppenwolf as one of the most politically savvy rock bands in history. An edited version of The Ostrich was released several weeks earlier than the album itself as the B side of Steppenwolf's first single, A Girl I Knew.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Think For Yourself
Source:    CD: Rubber Soul
Writer(s):    George Harrison
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1965
    By the end of 1965 George Harrison was writing an average of two songs per Beatles album. On Rubber Soul, however, one of his two songs was deleted from the US version of the album and appeared on 1966's Yesterday...And Today LP instead. The remaining Harrison song on Rubber Soul was Think For Yourself. Harrison later said that he was still developing his songwriting at this point and that bandmate John Lennon had helped write Think For Yourself.

Artist:    Turtles
Title:    Grim Reaper Of Love
Source:    Mono LP: Turtles' Golden Hits: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Portz/Nichol
Label:    Magic (original label: White Whale)
Year:    1966
    The Turtles had some early success in 1965 as a folk-rock band, recording the hit version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and PF Sloan's Let Me Be. By 1966, however, it was getting harder and harder for the group to get a hit record. One attempt was Grim Reaper Of Love, co-written by Turtles lead guitarist Al Nichol. Personally I think it's a pretty cool tune, but was probably a bit too weird to appeal to the average top 40 radio listener in 1966. Grim Reaper Of Love did manage to make it to the #81 spot on the charts, unlike the band's next two singles that failed to chart at all. It wasn't until the following year, when the Turtles recorded Happy Together, that the band would return to the top 40 charts, making it all the way to the top.

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Neil Diamond
Label:    Colgems
Year:    1967
    The members of the Monkees were already royally pissed off at Don Kirschner in early 1967 for releasing the album More Of The Monkees without the knowledge or input of the band itself (other than vocal tracks that had been recorded the previous year for use on The Monkees TV show). Things only got worse two months later when, after flying Davy Jones out to New York to record vocal tracks for a pair of new tunes with producer Jeff Barry, Kirschner released promo copies of the recordings to select radio stations as the third Monkees single, along with a promo package referring to Jones as "my favorite Monkee". This time, however, it was not only the band that was kept in the dark; apparently nobody associated with the Monkees knew anything about the release, which was intended to strengthen Kirschner's position as the Monkees' musical director. As a result Kirschner found himself fired for taking the unauthorized action, the single was cancelled, and the band members were given control over their own musical destiny. The Monkees immediately went to work on what would become their third consecutive #1 LP, Headquarters, but agreed to release one of the new songs, a Neil Diamond number called A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, with a different B side as their next single. 

Artist:    Beacon Street Union
Title:    Recitation/My Love Is
Source:    LP: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union
Writer(s):    Wayne Ulaky
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1968
    For a time in early 1968 my favorite album was The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, which is in a sense kind of strange, since I didn't own a copy of the LP. I did, however, have access to my dad's Dual turntable and Akai reel-to-reel tape recorder, and used to fall asleep on the couch with the headphones on nearly every night (hey, it beat sharing a room with my 8-year-old brother). So when one of my bandmates invited the rest of us over to hear his new album by this new band from Boston I naturally asked to borrow it long enough to tape a copy for myself.  As it turned out, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union is one of those albums best listened to with headphones on, with all kinds of cool (dare I say groovy?) stereo effects, like the organ and cymbals going back and forth from side to side following the spoken intro (by producer Tom Wilson, it turns out) on the album's first track, My Love Is. Years later I acquired a mono copy of the LP, but it just wasn't the same, so I spent even more years looking for a decent stereo copy. This one, although not perfect, is the third and best copy I could find.

Artist:    Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title:    It's Been Too Long
Source:    CD: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Writer(s):    Ron Polte
Label:    Rock Beat
Year:    1968
    One of the last of the Blues Project-inspired San Francisco jam bands to get a record contract was Quicksilver Messenger Service. Formed in 1966, the group was one of the top local attractions at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and was featured (along with Mother Nature and the Steve Miller Band) in the 1968 film Revolution. Finally getting a contract with Capital in mid-1968, the group, led by Gary Duncan and John Cippolina, went to work on a self-titled LP. Although some of the tracks reflected the band's propensity for improvisation, others songs on the album, such as It's Been Too Long, written by their manager, Ron Polte, feature relatively tight arrangements. 

Artist:    Move
Title:    Walk Upon The Water
Source:    British import CD: Think I'm Going Weird (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Roy Wood
Label:    Grapefruit (original US label: A&M)
Year:    1968
    Throughout the 1960s, it was common practice in the UK to follow up a new artist's first hit single with an LP, in order to cash in on that artist's popularity when they were still hot. For some reason, however, one of the most successful British bands, the Move, did not release an album until two months after their fourth single came out. This, however, was not the band's original plan. A newsletter released to the band's fan club around Christmas 1966 said that the Move's debut LP would be available by February of 1967, two months after their debut single, Night Of Fear hit the #2 spot on the British chart. But then their manager decided to torture the band's fans by delaying the album for a few months, until fall of 1967. But in April the band announced that they were offering a reward for the return of the master tapes, which had been stolen from a parked car in London's West End. The tapes were eventually found in a dumpster, but damaged beyond repair, necessitating a complete remix of the album. Eventually the LP did come out in April of 1968. By then four of the songs on the album, including Walk Upon The Water, had already been released as either A or B sides (and a fifth had been planned for release but cancelled at the last minute).

Artist:    Paupers
Title:    Yes, I Know
Source:    Mono LP: Ellis Island
Writer(s):    Campbell/Mitchell/Prokop
Label:    Verve Forecast (mono promo copy)
Year:    1968
    Rock history is filled with stories of bands that were legendary stage performers, yet had little success in the recording studio. One of the best examples of this phenomena is a Canadian band called the Paupers. Formed in Toronto in 1964 by guitarist/vocalist Bill Marion and drummer Skip Prokop, the Paupers (called the Spats until 1965) reportedly put in 40 hours a week rehearsing, and were generally considered the tightest band on the Toronto music scene. Marion left the group in 1966, and was replaced by Scottish-born Adam Mitchell, who, with Prokop, wrote nearly all the band's original material. In 1967 they signed with the Verve Forecast label and began making appearances in the Eastern US, often opening for major acts like Jefferson Airplane (and reportedly blowing them off the stage, so to speak). The band released their first LP, Magic People, in 1967, touring extensively to promote it, but the album did not sell well, and Prokop left the group before their second LP, Ellis Island, was released in 1968, deciding to try his hand as a session musician (he played on Peter, Paul and Mary's I Dig Rock 'N' Roll Music, among other things), and eventually was a co-founder of a band called Lighthouse. After a final single from Ellis Island, Cairo Hotel, failed to chart, the Paupers disbanded, with Mitchell going on to become a solo artist. A new version of the Paupers was formed later that year to pay off debts, but did not make any studio recordings.

Artist:    Circus Maximus
Title:    Wind
Source:    CD: Circus Maximus
Writer(s):    Bob Bruno
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    Circus Maximus was formed out of the chance meeting of multi-instrumentalist Bob Bruno and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker in Greenwich Village in 1967. From the start the band was moving in different directions, with Bruno incorporating jazz elements into the band while Walker favored country-rock. Eventually the two would go their separate ways, but for the short time the band was together they made some of the best, if not best-known, psychedelic music on the East Coast. The band's most popular track was Wind, a Bruno tune from their debut album. The song got a considerable amount of airplay on the new "underground" radio stations that were popping up across the country at the time.
 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2609 (starts 2/23/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/608481

    It's an all-1972 week on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion, with some really long tracks, including the full uninterrupted version of the Allman Brothers Band's Mountain Jam from Eat A Peach. And as a bonus we get to hear a genuine early '70s garage band.

Artist:    Captain Beyond
Title:    Dancing Madly Backward (On A Sea Of Air)/Armworth/Myopic Void
Source:    LP: Captain Beyond
Writer(s):    Evans/Caldwell
Label:    Capricorn
Year:    1972
    Never in my life have I been as impressed with a band I had never heard of before seeing them perform live as I was with Captain Beyond when I saw them in El Paso in 1972. They were so good I barely remember how the second band, Jo Jo Gunne sounded, and I'd totally forgotten who the actual headliner was (it turns out it was Alice Cooper). The next day I went out and bought Captain Beyond's debut LP and immediately saw on the back cover the words "Dedicated to the memory of Duane Allman". That was, for me, simply icing on an already tasty cake. Captain Beyond opened their set the same way they opened the album itself, with Bobby Caldwell's solo drum rift setting things up for Larry (Rhino) Reinhardt's opening power chords, played in unison with Lee Dorman's bass. Rod Evans's vocals were every bit as good, if not better, than they had been when he was an original member of Deep Purple, and the group was so tight it sounded like you were listening to the album itself. The first three songs, Dancing Madly Backward (On A Sea Of Air), Armworth and Myopic Void play as a single piece. Although all the songs are officially credited only to Evans and Caldwell, it turns out that there were contractual issues concerning Reinhardt and Dorman's status as members of Iron Butterfly at the time that prevented them from sharing songwriting credits on the Captain Beyond LP.

Artist:    Allman Brother Band
Title:    Mountain Jam
Source:    CD: Eat A Peach Deluxe Edition
Writer(s):    Lietch/Allman/Allman/Betts/Oakley/Johanson/Trucks
Label:    Mercury (original label: Capricorn)
Year:    1972
    Due to the limitations of vinyl records, the first released version of Mountain Jam was split over two of the four sides of the Allman Brothers Band's 1972 album Eat A Peach. CD technology, however, has made it possible to present the entire 33 minute long jam uninterrupted. The piece was recorded live at the Fillmore East in March of 1971.

Artist:    Wishbone Ash
Title:    Time Was
Source:    CD: Argus
Writer(s):    Turner/Turner/Upton/Powell
Label:    MCA/Decca
Year:    1972
    The most popular of Wishbone Ash's albums, Argus was the band's third effort, released in 1972. The album is full of medieval references on songs such as Time Was, the nine-minute opus that opens the LP. The album has proved so popular with the band's fans that Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash released a new studio re-recording of it in 2008, accompanied by a live Argus tour. Another former band member, Andy Powell, has since followed suit, with both groups performing Argus in its entirety as part of their stage repertoire. 

Artist:    Grand Theft
Title:    Scream (It's Eating Me Alive)
Source:    LP: Brown Acid: The Third Trip (originally released on LP: Grand Theft)
Writer(s):    Crowbar Schwartz
Label:    RidingEasy (originally self-released)
Year:    1972
    Originally conceived as a parody of Grand Funk Railroad by members of the Kirkwood, Washington country-rock band the Bluebirds, Grand Theft proved popular enough to get live bookings. Songwriter "Crowbar Schwartz" is probably a distant relative of Nanker Phelge. 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2608 (starts 2/16/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/607601

    Got a busy one this week. We start with a 1967 UK set, then start trippin' through the years over and over until we find ourselves taking in some Pop Art (of the Experimental kind). From there we continue trippin' through the years, stopping off in 1967 for a while before finishing things out with an all-American set from 1966.

Artist:    Small Faces
Title:    Itchycoo Park
Source:    LP: History Of British Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Marriott/Lane
Label:    Sire (original labe: Immediate)
Year:    1967
    Led by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, the Small Faces got their name from the fact that all the members of the band were somewhat vertically challenged. The group was quite popular with the London mod crowd, and was sometimes referred to as the East End's answer to the Who. Although quite successful in the UK, the group only managed to score one hit in the US, the iconic Itchycoo Park, which was released in late 1967. Following the departure of Marriott the group shortened their name to Faces, and recruited a new lead vocalist named Rod Stewart. Needless to say, the new version of the band did much better in the US than their previous incarnation.
 
Artist:    Who
Title:    I Can't Reach You/Medac (aka Spotted Henry)/Relax
Source:    Mono LP: The Who Sell Out 
Writer(s):    Pete Townshend
Label:    Decca
Year:    1967
    One day during my freshman year of high school my friend Bill invited a bunch of us over to his place to listen to the new console stereo his family had bought recently. Like most console stereos, this one had a wooden top that could be lifted up to operate the turntable and radio, then closed to make it look more like a piece of furniture. When we arrived there was already music playing on the stereo, and Bill soon had us convinced that this new stereo was somehow picking up the British pirate radio station Radio London. This was pretty amazing since we were in Mainz, Germany, several hundred miles from England or its coastal waters that Radio London broadcast from. Even more amazing was the fact that the broadcast itself seemed to be in stereo, and Radio London was an AM station. Yet there it was, coming in more clearly than the much closer Radio Luxembourg, the powerhouse station that we listened to every evening, when they broadcast in a British top 40 format. Although a couple of us were a bit suspicious about what was going on, even we skeptics were convinced when we heard jingles, stingers, and even commercials for stuff like the Charles Atlas bodybuilding course and Medac acne cream interspersed with songs we had never heard, like I Can't Reach You and Relax. Well, as it turned out, we were indeed being hoaxed by Bill and his older brother, who had put on his brand new copy of The Who Sell Out when he saw us approaching the apartment building they lived in. I eventually picked up a copy of the LP for myself, and still consider it my favorite Who album. 

Artist:    Bee Gees
Title:    New York Mining Disaster-1941
Source:    LP: History Of British Rock (originally released on LP: Bee Gees 1st)
Writer(s):    Barry & Robin Gibb
Label:    Sire (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    The very first Bee Gees song I ever heard was New York Mining Disaster-1941. It was nothing like the other songs being played on Denver's top 40 (technically top 60) station, KIMN, and I took an immediate liking to its unusual harmonies and sorrowful lyrics. For some reason, though, I never bought a copy of the single, or even the album that it was taken from until the 1990s, when I found a beat up used copy of Bee Gees 1st at a local music shop (that's since been replaced by a CD copy).

Artist:    Johnny Rivers
Title:    Whisky-a-Go-Go
Source:    LP: Johnny Rivers At Whisky-a-Go-Go
Writer(s):    arr. by Johnny Rivers
Label:    Imperial
Year:    1964
    Although not exactly a psychedelic album, Johnny Rivers At Whisky-A-Go-Go is nonetheless an important milestone in the history of psychedelic music in America. Released in 1964, it was the first album recorded at what was then a brand new venue on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. In fact the group consisting of Rivers (guitar/vocals), Joe Osborne (bass), Joe Sample(piano) and Eddie Rubin (drums) was the club's house band for their first year of operation. Rivers, in the early part of his career, was a blues and rock and roll purist, reviving such notable songs as Chuck Berry's Memphis. For the final track on the first side of his debut album, Rivers chose to put together bits and pieces of several classic blues songs that were, for the most part, unknown to his young audience, naming the entire piece after the Whisky A-G-Go itself. Although Rivers himself would go on to become part of the music industry establishment (starting Soul City Records in 1966), the Whisky soon became the epicenter of L.A.'s own underground rock scene, with such notables as Gypsy, Love and the Doors serving as house band at various times. 

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1965
    Unlike Positively 4th Street, which used the same musicians that played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album, Bob Dylan's December 1965 single Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window features a backing track by the Hawks, who would go on to be Dylan's tour band and later become famous in their own right as...The Band. The mono non-album track was not made available in any other form until 1978, when it appeared on a compilation called Masterpieces. An extended stereo mix of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window was finally released in 2015, on the limited Collector's Edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966. Although most sources say the song was recorded on November 30, 1965, there is a problem with that date, since a Long Island band called the Vacels had released their own version of the song on the Kama Sutra label in October of that year; hardly possible with a song that Dylan had not yet recorded himself, unless they had somehow laid hands on a demo of the song that has never surfaced. 

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    Over Under Sideways Down
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer:    Dreja/Relf/Samwell-Smith/McCarty/Beck
Label:    Epic
Year:    1966
     The only Yardbirds album to feature primarily original material was released under different titles in different parts of the world. The original UK version was called simply The Yardbirds, while the US album bore the Over Under Sideways Down title. In addition, the UK album was unofficially known as Roger the Engineer because of band member Chris Dreja's drawing of the band's recording engineer on the cover. The title cut was the last single to feature Jeff Beck as the band's sole lead guitarist (the follow-up single, Happenings Ten Years Time Ago, featured both Beck and new member Jimmy Page).

Artist:    Doors
Title:    My Eyes Have Seen You
Source:    LP: Strange Days
Writer(s):    The Doors
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1967
    It's strange. Some reviewers seem to think that the album Strange Days is inferior to the first Doors album. They justify this view by citing the fact that almost all the songs on both albums were already in the band's repertoire when they signed their record contract with Elektra. The implication is that the band naturally selected the best material for the first album, making Strange Days a collection of sloppy seconds. There is one small problem with this theory however. Pick a song at random from Strange Days and listen to it and in all likelihood it will sound every bit as good as a song randomly picked from the first album (and probably better than one picked from either of the Doors' next two LPs). In fact, I'll pick one for you: My Eyes Have Seen You. See what I mean?

Artist:    Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title:    Local Color
Source:    LP: Anthology (originally released on LP: What About Me) 
Writer(s):    John Cippolina
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    According to legend, Quicksilver Messenger Service was originally the brainchild of Dino Valenti and John Cipollina (and possibly Gary Duncan). The day after their first practice session Valenti got busted and spent the next few years in jail for marijuana possession. Meanwhile, Cipolina and Duncan decided to go ahead with the group and soon recruited bassist David Freiberg and guitarist Skip Spence. The group worked on material during off hours at the Matrix, a club created and managed by singer Marty Balin. Balin was in the process of putting together his own band and managed to convince Spence to switch to drums and join what would become Jefferson Airplane. To make up for stealing one their new bandmates, Balin introduced the remaining trio to drummer Greg Elmore and guitarist–singer Gary Duncan, whose band the Brogues had just called it quits. They still didn't have a name when they played their first gig in December of 1965, but Freiberg and new member Jim Murray figured out that all five members of the band had an astrological connection to the planet Mercury, which in turn led to them adopting  the name Quicksilver (another name for Mercury) Messenger (the assigned task of the Roman god Mercury) Service. Murray ended up leaving the band in 1967, leaving the remaining quartet to build up a solid following over the next few years. Duncan temporarily left the group following their second LP, Happy Trails, and was replaced by British keyboardist Nicky Hopkins for the album Shady Grove. The following year Valenti was released from San Quentin and he Duncan rejoined the band for the simultaneous recording of the band's next two albums in Hawaii. Most of the songwriting credits on these two albums went to Valenti, using the alias Jesse Orin Farrow, but for my money the best tracks are the few written by other band members, such as Cippolina's Local Color on the What About Me album.

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    Picture Book
Source:    LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (originally released on LP: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society)
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was the last studio album to feature the original Kinks lineup of Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and Mick Avory. Released in November of 1968 in the UK and early 1969 in the US, it was one of the first rock concept albums, and marked the end of the band's transition from pop stars to cult favorites. Picture Book, also released as the B side of the album's first single, is about looking though an old photo album and reflecting on its contents. Ray Davies later said that the track was not originally intended to be a Kinks song due to it being autobiographical in nature. Despite being lauded by the rock press The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was not a commercial success, and was outsold by The Kinks Greatest Hits, a compilation of their pre-1967 singles that was released around the same time.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    It's All Over Now
Source:    CD: Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Bobby & Shirley Womack
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1964
    During a 1964 on-air interview with the Rolling Stones, New York DJ Murray the K played a copy of a song called It's All Over Now by Bobby Womack's band, the Valentinos. The song had been a minor hit earlier in the year, spending two weeks in the top 100, and the Stones were reportedly knocked out by the record, calling it "our kind of song." Less than two weeks later the Stones recorded their own version of the song, which became their first number one hit in the UK. At first, Womack was reportedly against the idea of a British band recording his song, but changed his mind when he saw his first royalty check from the Stones' recording. 

Artist:    Jimmy Page
Title:    She Just Satisfies
Source:    European import 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s):    Page/Mason
Label:    Fontana
Year:    1965
    Already established as a studio guitarist and harmonica player, 21-year-old Jimmy Page cut his first single under his own name in 1965. The A side, She Just Satisfies, also featured vocals. It was his last release as a solo artist until 1988.

Artist:     Kinks
Title:     Dead End Street
Source:     Mono British import CD: Face To Face (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:     Ray Davies
Label:     Sanctuary (original US label: Reprise)
Year:     1966
     The last big US hit for the Kinks in the 60s was Sunny Afternoon in late 1966. The follow-up, Dead End Street, was in much the same style, but did not achieve the same kind of success (although it was a hit in the UK). The Kinks would not have another major US hit until the 1970 worldwide smash Lola.

Artist:     Moby Grape
Title:     Omaha
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer:     Skip Spence
Label:     Columbia
Year:     1967
     As an ill-advised promotional gimmick, Columbia Records released five separate singles concurrently with the first Moby Grape album. Of the five singles, only one, Omaha, actually charted, and it only got to the #86 spot. Meanwhile, the heavy promotion by the label led to Moby Grape getting the reputation of being over-hyped, much to the detriment of the band's career. 

Artist:     Beacon Street Union
Title:     Sadie Said No
Source:     British import CD: The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union/The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer(s):     Ulaky/Wright
Label:     See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year:     1967
     By the time The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union LP was released the band had already relocated to New York. That didn't stop executives from M-G-M from including the Union as part of its ill-fated "Bosstown Sound" promotion. In the short term it may have generated some interest, but it was soon clear that the "Bosstown Sound" was empty hype, which in the long run hurt the band's credibility. This is a shame, since the music on The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union is actually quite listenable, as can be heard on the tongue-in-cheek Sadie Said No, which opens the LP's second side.

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:    Monkees
Title:    Star Collector
Source:    CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.
Writer(s):    Goffin/King
Label:    Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year:    1967
    The Monkees were one of the first bands to utilize the Moog synthesizer on a rock record. One of the two tracks that uses the device extensively is Star Collector, a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and sung by the late Davy Jones. Usually Jones was picked to sing the band's love ballads. Star Collector, on the other hand, is a wild, almost humorous look at rock groupies; the type of song that on earlier Monkees albums would have been given to Peter Tork to sing. The synthesizer in Star Collector was programmed and played by Paul Beaver (of Beaver and Krause). Tork later said that he didn't think much of Beaver's performance, saying "he played it like a flute or something" rather than exploit the unique sounds the Moog was capable of producing.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    I Will
Source:    CD: The Beatles
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Parlophone (original label: Apple)
Year:    1968
    Once upon a time, as I walked home from the BX on Ramstein Air Force Base with my new unopened copy of The Beatles (aka the White Album) I wondered how they managed to fit 30 songs on a double LP set. After hearing I Will, a Paul McCartney tune that clocks in at one minute and fifty seconds, I had my answer.

Artist:    Tangerine Zoo
Title:    Nature's Children
Source:    CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released on LP: Tangerine Zoo)
Writer(s):    Medeiros/Smith
Label:    Big Beat (original label: Mainstream)
Year:    1968
    Many of the acts signed to Bob Shad's Mainstream label are considered by rock historians to be somewhat lacking in one or another categories, such as songwriting, virtuosity or just plain commercial viability. This has resulted in the reputations of the few quality bands appearing on the label to be somewhat unfairly tarnished by association. One of those bands that really deserves a second look is the Tangerine Zoo, from Swansea, Mass., a few miles south of Boston. The band, made up of Tony Taviera (bass), Wayne Gagnon (guitar), Ron Medieros (organ), Bob Benevides (lead vocals) and Donald Smith (drums), recorded two albums for the label, both of which were released in 1968. Tangerine Zoo had actually been approached by no less than two major labels (RCA Victor and Mercury) before deciding to go with Mainstream, the only label to offer them an album contract from the start. Unfortunately internal issues caused the Zoo to close down before they could record a third LP. 

Artist:    West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:    Ritual #1
Source:    CD: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer(s):    Markley/Harris
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    Technically, Volume III is actually the fourth album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. The first one was an early example of a practice that would become almost mandatory for a new band in the 1990s. The LP, titled Volume 1, was recorded at a home studio and issued on the tiny Fifa label. Many of the songs on that LP ended up being re-recorded for their major label debut, which they called Part One. That album was followed by Volume II, released in late 1967. The following year they released their final album for Reprise, which in addition to being called Volume III was subtitled A Child's Guide To Good And Evil. Included on that album were Ritual #1 and Ritual #2, neither of which sounds anything like the other.

Artist:    West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:    As Kind As Summer
Source:    LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer(s):    Markley/Harris
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1968
    The first time I heard As Kind As Summer from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.

Artist:     West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:     Shifting Sands (single mix)
Source:     Mono CD: A Child's Guide To Good and Evil (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Baker Knight
Label:     Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year:     1967
    The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band had its beginnings around 1964 when guitarist Michael Lloyd, veteran of several Los Angeles based surf bands, formed a new group called Laughing Wind with Shaun and Danny Harris (bass and lead guitar respectively) and drummer John Ware. In 1965 they attended a party hosted by Bob Markley, the adopted son of an oil tycoon and former host of Oklahoma Bandstand who had relocated to L.A. a few years earlier. It turned out that Markley and the members of Laughing Wind had something in common: they both were connected to Kim Fowley, the Ultimate Hollywood Hipster, as was a British band known as the Yardbirds that played at Markley's party. After seeing how the teenage girls gathered around the members of the Yardbirds, Markley decided he wanted to be in a rock band too, and let it be known that he wanted to become a member of Laughing Wind. The members of Laughing Wind were at first a bit doubtful about the whole thing, given that Markley had no discernable musical talent, but in the end decided his access to almost unlimited funds qualified him to be a band member. Markley immediately used that same leverage to change the band's name to the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and it was not long before they had a contract with a major record label. Their first single for Reprise was an original composition called 1906, a song about the first San Francisco earthquake as seen from a dog's point of view. Seriously. The B side of that single was a cover of a song by Baker Knight, a local bandleader who had worked with Michael Lloyd in the early 1960s. In retrospect, Shifting Sands would probably have been a better choice for the A side, but even then Markley was making questionable judgment calls, and the single went nowhere.

Artist:    Moonrakers
Title:    I'm All Right
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties Vol. 18 (Colorado) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Nanker Phelge
Label:    AIP (original label: Tower)
Year:    1965
    Once upon a time in Denver, Colorado, there was a band called the Surfin' Classics. Seeing as Denver is about a thousand miles from the nearest ocean, they soon dropped the surfin' part and became first the Classics and then the Moonrakers. Primarily a cover band, the group released four singles on the Tower label.The second of these, released in 1965, was a cover of the early Rolling Stones original I'm All Right. I believe this may be the only known cover of a song credited to Nanker Phelge, the fake name created to give equal royalty shares to all of the Rolling Stones' members, along with their manager Andrew Loog Oldham and keyboardist Ian Stewart.

Artist:    Cream
Title:    Rollin' And Tumblin'
Source:    CD: Fresh Cream
Writer(s):    McKinley Morganfield
Label:    Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year:    1966
    Right from the beginning Cream demonstrated two distinct sides: the psychedelic-tinged studio side and the blues-based live performance side. In the case of the US version of the band's first LP, Fresh Cream, that was literally true, as side one consisted entirely of original songs (mostly written by bassist Jack Bruce) and side two was nearly all covers of blues classics such as Muddy Waters's Rollin' And Tumblin'. What makes this particular recording interesting is the instrumentation used: guitar, vocals, harmonica and drums, with no bass whatsoever. This could be due to the limited number of tracks available for overdubs. Just as likely, though, is the possibility that the band chose to make a recording that duplicated their live performance of the song.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    Mr. Soul
Source:    LP: Retrospective-The Best Of Buffalo Springfield (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again)
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Atco
Year:    1967
    Executives at Atco Records originally considered Neil Young's voice "too weird" to be recorded. As a result many of Young's early tunes (including the band's debut single Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing), were sung by Richie Furay. By the time the band's second album, Buffalo Springfield Again, was released, the band had enough clout to make sure Young was allowed to sing his own songs. In fact, the album starts with a Young vocal on the classic Mr. Soul.

Artist:    Turtles
Title:    The Owl
Source:    CD: The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands (bonus track originally released on 12" 45 RPM EP picture disc: The Turtles-1968)
Writer(s):    The Turtles
Label:    FloEdCo (original label: Rhino)
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 1978
    In 1968 the Turtles decided to make their first attempt at producing themselves. White Whale Records rejected all but one of the four tracks they recorded (the exception being Surfer Dan, which was included on the concept album Battle Of The Bands). Ten years later Rhino rectified that error in judgment by putting all four tunes on a 12" 45 RPM picture disc called The Turtles-1968. Now all those songs, including The Owl, are available as bonus tracks on The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands, and they are among the best tracks on the entire CD.

Artist:    Spanky And Our Gang
Title:    Mecca Flat Blues
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Montgomery
Label:    Mercury
Year:    1969
    Spanky And Our Gang rose to prominence in 1967 with their hit singles Sunday Will Never Be The Same and Lazy Day, both taken from their first album. Their 1968 followup album included the song I'd Like To Get To Know You, which also made the top 20. But things went downhill quickly for the group when their lead guitarist and primary arranger, Malcolm Hale, was found dead (reportedly from bronchial pneumonia) in his home on October 31, 1968. The group continued on without him, but were never able to fully recover from the loss of their spiritual leader. A third album, Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme or Reason, which included the song Mecca Flat Blues was released in 1969, but was not a commercial success. The group disbanded shortly after its release.

Artist:    Spirit
Title:    Animal Zoo
Source:    CD: The Best Of Spirit
Writer:    Jay Ferguson
Label:    Epic
Year:    1970 
    The last album by the original lineup of Spirit was The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, released in 1970. The album was originally going to be produced by Neil Young, but due to other commitments Young had to bow out, recommending David Briggs, who had already produced Young's first album with Crazy Horse, as a replacement. The first song to be released as a single was Animal Zoo, but the tune barely cracked the top 100 charts. The album itself did better on progressive FM stations and has since come to be regarded as a classic. Shortly after the release of Twelve Dreams, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes left Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne.

Artist:    Grass Roots
Title:    Let's Live For Today
Source:    CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Julian/Mogull/Shapiro
Label:    Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1967
    This well-known 1967 hit by the Grass Roots started off as a song by the Italian band the Rokes, Piangi Con Mi, released in 1966. The Rokes themselves were originally from Manchester, England, but had relocated to Italy in 1963. Piangi Con Mi was their biggest hit to date, and it the band decided to re-record the tune in English for release in Britain (ironic, considering that the band originally specialized in translating popular US and UK hits into the Italian language). The original translation didn't sit right with the band's UK label, so a guy from the record company came up with new lyrics and the title Let's Live For Today. The song still didn't do much on the charts, but did get the attention of former Brill building songwriter Jeff Barri, whose current project was writing and producing a studio band known as the Grass Roots with his partner P.F. Sloan. The song became such a big hit that Barri and Sloan were forced to find a local cover band willing to go on tour as the Grass Roots.  
    
Artist:    Moody Blues
Title:    Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)
Source:    CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released on LP: Days Of Future Passed and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Justin Hayward
Label:    Priority (original label: Deram)
Year:    1967
    Tuesday Afternoon was the second single released from the Moody Blues' breakthrough 1967 LP Days Of Future Passed. At the insistence of producer Tony Clarke the album version of the song was retitled Forever Tuesday and was used as part one of a track called The Afternoon. When released as a single the following year, composer Justin Hayward's original title was restored to the piece, which was initially edited down to less than two and a half minutes for the 45 RPM pressing. The original album version of the song includes a separately recorded orchestral coda that segues directly into the next phase of the album, entitled The Evening. The version heard here is the LP version, but without the orchestral coda.

Artist:    Hearts And Flowers
Title:    Rock And Roll Gypsies
Source:    LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Of Houses, Kids And Forgotten Women)
Writer(s):    Roger Tillison
Label:    Cotillion (original label: Capitol)
Year:    1968
    Led by singer/songwriters Larry Murray and Dave Dawson, Hearts And Flowers is best known for launching the career of guitarist/vocalist Bernie Leadon, who joined the group for their second LP and would later go on to co-found the Eagles. That second album, Of Houses, Kids And Forgotten Women, is generally considered the most accessible of the group's three albums, and included the song Rock And Roll Gypsies, which was included on the Homer movie soundtrack album in 1970.

Artist:    Fantastic Zoo
Title:    Light Show
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Sixties Volume Three-LA 1967 Mondo Hollywood A Go-Go (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Cameron/Karl
Label:    AIP (original label: Double Shot)
Year:    1967
    The Fantastic Zoo had its origins in Denver, Colorado, with a band called the Fogcutters. When the group disbanded in 1966, main members Don Cameron and Erik Karl relocated to Los Angeles and reformed the group with new members. After signing a deal with local label Double Shot (which had a major hit on the charts at the time with Count Five's Psychotic Reaction), the group rechristened itself Fantastic Zoo, releasing their first single that fall. Early in 1967 the band released their second and final single, Light Show. The song did not get much airplay at the time, but has since become somewhat of a cult favorite.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    Let's Go Away For Awhile
Source:    Mono CD: Pet Sounds
Writer(s):    Brian Wilson
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1966
    After spending six months and a record amount of money making Good Vibrations, Brian Wilson and Capitol Records decided to use an existing track for the B side of the single rather than take the time to record something new. The chosen track was Let's Go Away For Awhile, a tune from the Pet Sounds album that Wilson described as the most satisfying instrumental piece he had ever written.

Artist:    Blues Project
Title:    The Flute Thing
Source:    Mono CD: Projections
Writer(s):    Al Kooper
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Verve Folkways)
Year:    1966
    The Blues Project was one of the most influential bands in rock history, yet one of the least known. Perhaps the first of the "underground" rock bands, the Project made their name by playing small colleges across the country (including Hobart and William Smith, where Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is produced). The Flute Thing, from the band's second album, Projections, features bassist Andy Kuhlberg on flute, with rhythm guitarist Steve Katz taking over the bass playing, joining lead guitarist Danny Kalb and keyboardist Al Kooper for a tune that owes more to jazz artists like Roland Kirk than to anything top 40 rock had to offer at the time.

Artist:    Cyrkle
Title:    Red Rubber Ball
Source:    45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer:    Simon/Woodley
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    Paul Simon moved to London in early 1965, after his latest album with Art Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning 3 AM, had been deleted from the Columbia Records catalog after just a few weeks due to poor sales. While in the UK Simon found himself performing on the same bill as the Seekers, an Australian band that had achieved some international success with folky pop songs like A World Of Our Own. Needing cash, Simon wrote (with Seekers guitarist/vocalist Bruce Woodley) Red Rubber Ball, selling the song to the group for about 100 pounds. After returning to the US and reuniting with Garfunkel, Simon offered the song to the Cyrkle, who took the song all the way to the #4 spot on the charts.