https://exchange.prx.org/p/629953
This week, among other things, we have several sets of tunes from 1967, a Jefferson Airplane set and a surprise. So don't scroll down and look at the playlist too closely, OK? It all starts with a dedication...
Artist: Castaways
Title: Liar Liar
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Donna/Craswell
Label: Rhino (original label: Soma)
Year: 1965
The Castaways were a popular local band in the Minneapolis area led by keyboardist James Donna, who, for less than two minutes at a time, dominated the national airwaves with their song Liar Liar for a couple months in 1965 before fading off into obscurity.
Artist: Who
Title: In The City
Source: British import 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Entwhistle/Moon
Label: Reaction
Year: 1966
The war between the Who and Brunswick Records continued throughout 1966 with Brunswick responding to each new Who single with one of their own, using album tracks from the My Generation album. Despite this all the new Who singles on Reaction/Polydor that year made it to the top 5 in the UK, while the Brunswick singles did increasingly worse with each subsequent release. Brunswick finally gave up the battle after I'm A Boy (on Reaction) went all the way to # 2 on the UK charts, while Brunswick's La-La-La-Lies didn't even crack the top 100. The B side of I'm A Boy was In The City, a rare collaboration between bassist John Entwhistle and drummer Keith Moon. The song was included on the CD remastered version of the Who's second album, A Quick One, released in 1993.
Artist: Country Joe And The Fish
Title: Super Bird
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer(s): Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Country Joe and the Fish, from Berkeley, California, were one of the first rock bands to incorporate political satire into their music. Their I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag is one of the most famous protest songs ever written. Super Bird is even heavier on the satire than the Rag. The song, from the band's debut LP, puts president Lyndon Johnson, whose wife and daughter were known as "Lady-bird" and "Linda-bird", in the role of a comic book superhero.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Harris/Lloyd/Markley
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Unlike more famous L.A. groups like Love and the Doors, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was not a Sunset Strip club band. In fact, the WCPAEB really didn't play that many live performances in their career, although those they did tended to be at high profile venues such as the Hollywood Bowl. The band was formed when the Harris brothers, sons of an accomplished classical musician, decided to record their own album and release it on the small Fifa label. Only a few copies of that album, Volume One, were made and finding one now is next to impossible. That might have been the end of the story except for the fact that they were acquaintances of Kim Fowley, the Zelig-like record producer and all-around Hollywood (and sometimes London) hustler. Fowley invited them to a party where the Yardbirds were playing; a party also attended by one Bob Markley. Markley, who was nearly ten years older than the Harris brothers, was a former TV show host from the midwest who had moved out to the coast to try his luck in Hollywood. Impressed by the flock of young girls surrounding the Yardbirds, Markley expressed to Fowley his desire to be a rock and roll star and have the young girls flock around him, too. Fowley, ever the deal-maker, responded by introducing Markley to the Harris Brothers and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was born. With the addition of guitarist Michael Lloyd and the influence of Markley's not-inconsiderable family money, the group soon landed a contract with Reprise Records, where they proceeded to record the album Part One, which includes the tune I Won't Hurt You, which uses a simulated heartbeat to keep the...umm, beat.
Artist: Doors
Title: My Eyes Have Seen You
Source: European import CD: Strange Days
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
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: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s): Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter, including Thoughts And Words, on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: On With the Show
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
On With The Show, the final track on the last album from the Rolling Stones' psychedelic period, Their Satanic Majesties Request, makes you wonder if rock's Bad Boys were ever in the position of having to perform in a strip club. Then again, it could be about how some people go about getting their jollies, regardless of how the world is falling apart around them. Don't ask me, I suck at allegory.
Artist: Magic Mushrooms
Title: It's-A-Happening
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Casella/Rice
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1966
It's not known whether or not the Magic Mushrooms heard any of the tracks from the Mothers Of Invention album Freak Out when they recorded It's-A-Happening. Still, it's hard to imagine this bit of inspired weirdness being created in a vacuum. Besides this one single, nobody seems to have any knowledge whatsoever of the group known as the Magic Mushrooms, other than the fact that they hailed from Philadelphia, Pa., and, along with Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, may well have been the reason that A&M Records shied away from signing any more psychedelic rock bands for the next few years. (Well, there were Procol Harum and Joe Cocker, but their stuff was recorded for British labels and reissued in the US by A&M, so I'm not counting them).
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: You Don't Know
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Powell St. John
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
One of the most legendary psychedelic rock bands was the 13th Floor Elevators, based in Austin, Texas. Led by guitarist/vocalist Roky Erickson and featuring Tommy Hall on electric jug, the Elevators were among the first bands to use the word psychedelic in the title of their debut LP The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators. Most of the songs on the album were originals written by Hall and Erickson, but Hall asked the legendary Austin songwriter Powell St. John (the former Beatnik who would soon move to San Francisco and co-found Mother Earth with Tracy Nelson) to write a few songs, such as You Don't Know, for the band as well.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: Simulated stereo Canadian LP: Shapes Of Things (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty
Label: Priority (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Turtles
Title: It Ain't Me Babe
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: FloEdCo (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1965
The Turtles started out as a local high school surf band called the Crossfires. In 1965 they were signed to a record label that technically didn't exist yet. That did not deter the people at the label (which would come to be known as White Whale) from convincing the band to change its name and direction. Realizing that surf music was indeed on the way out, the band, now called the Turtles, went into the studio and recorded four songs. One of those was Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Byrds had just scored big with their version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and the Turtles took a similar approach with It Ain't Me Babe. The song was a solid hit, going to the #8 spot on the national charts and leading to the first of many Turtles albums (not to mention hit singles) on the White Whale label.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Electric Prunes)
Writer(s): Tucker/Mantz
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in late 1966 and hitting the charts in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on both the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation and Rhino's first Nuggets LP.
Artist: Them
Title: Square Room (single version)
Source: Mono British import CD: Time Out! Time In! For Them (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Armstrong/Harley/Henderson/McDowell
Label: Rev-Ola (original label: Sully)
Year: 1967
After Van Morrison left Them to try his luck as a solo artist, the rest of the band returned to their native Ireland to recruit a new vocalist, Kenny McDowell, before relocating to California. Their first record with the new lineup was a single on the Sully label of a song called Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of 16). The B side of the single was a piece called Square Room, that would end up being re-recorded in a much longer arrangement for their LP debut on Tower Records the following year.
Artist: Electric Flag
Title: Killing Floor
Source: LP: A Long Time Comin'
Writer(s): Chester Burnett
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Chicago native Mike Bloomfield began playing in local bands around 1955 at age twelve, soon forming his own band called the Hurricanes. At age 14 he attended a concert by blues singer Josh White and began incorporating blues into his own music while frequenting clubs on the city's south side. In 1959 his band played a song at a school gathering that was considered so offensive the entire band was expelled. He ended up graduating from high school at a local YMCA two years later. By then he was sitting in with people like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, eventually coming to the attention of talent scout John Hammond, who got him signed to Columbia's Epic label. Although he made some recordings for the label, they remained unreleased, and in 1965 he joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and, perhaps even more importantly, sat in with Bob Dylan, playing lead guitar on Like A Rolling Stone and most of the other songs on Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album. That summer he appeared onstage with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, a landmark performance that drew the ire of many traditional folk music fans. Later that year the Butterfields released their debut LP, following it up with the landmark East-West album in 1966. In 1967 Bloomfield left the Butterfield Blues Band to form the Electric Flag. Billed as An American Music Band, the Flag did a mixture of original tunes and blues covers such as Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor. The Electric Flag disintegrated after just one album, with Bloomfield joining Al Kooper, who he had met during the Highway 61 Revisited sessions, for the landmark Super Session album in 1968. Bloomfield suffered from chronic insomnia, which he attempted to treat with heroin. Bloomfield continued to record for the next dozen years, both as a solo artist and as a guest musician, but always seemed to remain pretty much in the background throughout the 1970s. Bloomfield died of what was ruled an accidental overdose due to cocaine and methamphetamine poisoning in 1981.
Artist: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Title: Helplessly Hoping
Source: LP: So Far (originally released on LP: Crosby, Stills and Nash)
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
By 1969 there was a significant portion of the record-buying public that was more interested in buying albums than in picking up the latest hit single. This in turn was leading to the emergence of album-oriented FM radio stations as players in the music industry. Crosby, Stills and Nash took full advantage of this trend. Although they did release a pair of singles from the debut LP (Marrakesh Express and Suite: Judy Blue Eyes), it was their album tracks like Helplessly Hoping that got major airplay on FM radio and helped usher in the age of the singer/songwriter, making the trio superstars in the process.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Sugar Magnolia
Source: LP: American Beauty
Writer(s): Hunter/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
One of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead catalog, Sugar Magnolia also has the distinction of being the second-most performed song in the band's history, with 596 documented performances. The song, written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, first appeared on the 1970 album American Beauty, but was not released as a single. A live version two years later, however, did see a single release, charting in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
Artist: Spanky And Our Gang
Title: Lazy Day
Source: LP: Spanky And Our Gang
Writer(s): Fischoff/Powers
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Sounding a bit like the Mamas and the Papas, Spanky And Our Gang had a series of hit records, starting with Sunday Will Never Be The Same, in 1967. The follow-up single, Lazy Day, actually had a longer chart life than its predecessor, although it did not chart quite as high. Both songs were featured on the group's debut LP. A second album yielded another major hit, I'd Like To Get To Know You, but, like many other hit-oriented bands of the time, Spanky And Our Gang were already starting to sound dated by 1968 and soon faded off into pop music history.
Artist: Drag Set
Title: Day And Night
Source: Mono British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Schindler/Brancaccio
Label: Grapefruit (original label: Go)
Year: 1967
For every British band to find international success in the mid-60s there were at least a dozen more that were never heard of outside their native land. Some of these bands (such as the Move and the Small Faces) were actually quite popular on their home turf, while others were barely able to scratch out a living and are for the most part long-forgotten. In between were the bands that had enough going for them to score a contract with one of the many new labels popping up, but were never able to get a record on the charts. Among those "in-betweeners" were a band called the Drag Set. They played gigs at the most popular London clubs in 1965 and 1966, which in turn led to them hooking up with Lionel Segal, who owned the Go label. The Drag Set released Day And Night in March of 1967, but the record went nowhere and the by the end of the year the band had renamed itself The Open Mind.
Artist: Love
Title: Bummer In The Summer
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Perhaps the least known tune on Love's third LP, Forever Changes, Bummer In The Summer sounds at first like a throwback to the band's earlier work. A closer listen, however, reveals a thematic similarity with the rest of the critically-acclaimed album, which is generally considered to be the band's finest work.
Artist: Seatrain
Title: Out Where The Hills
Source: British import CD: Seatrain/Marblehead Messenger (originally released on LP: Seatrain)
Writer(s): Kuhlberg/Roberts
Label: BGO (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1970
The addition of guitarist Peter Rowan to the Seatrain lineup for their self-titled second LP saw the group suddenly at the forefront of the country-rock movement, which can plainly be heard on songs like Out Where The Hills. Being more of an East Coast band, however, Seatrain was unable to build the same kind of audience as groups like Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and after just two more albums the group disbanded.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Come Up The Years
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s): Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
One of the most overused motifs in pop music is the "You're too young for me" song. This probably reflects, to a certain degree, a lifestyle that goes back to the beginnings of rock and roll (Chuck Berry did jail time for transporting a minor across state lines, Jerry Lee Lewis saw his career get derailed by his marraige to his 13-year-old cousin, etc.). Generally, the song's protagonist comes to a decision to put a stop to the relationship before it gets too serious. The Marty Balin/Paul Kantner tune Come Up The Years takes a more sophisticated look at the subject, although it still comes to the same conclusion (I can't do this because you're jailbait). In fact, the only rock songwriter I know of that came to any other conclusion on the matter was Bob Markley of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and that's what ultimately got him in trouble with the law. Oh, and it's been alleged that some of Kim Fowley's dealings with certain members of the Runaways was, let us say, less than professional, which may well have been the reason for them severing ties with him.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Good Shepherd
Source: CD: The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP:Volunteers)
Writer(s): Trad., arr. Kaukonen
Label: BMG/RCA
Year: 1969
Jorma Kaukonen is given credit for arranging the traditional tune Good Shepherd for the fifth Jefferson Airplane album, Volunteers. The song is a good example of how much the group's sound had changed over a three year period, moving in several different directions at once.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Run Around
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s): Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The first Jefferson Airplane album was dominated by the songwriting of the band's founder, Marty Balin, both as a solo writer and as a collaborator with other band members such as Paul Kantner. The shirts at RCA had problems with some of Balin and Kantner's lyrics; specifically they objected to the line "flowers that sway as you lay under me" in the song Run Around, saying it was sexually suggestive, and the band had to change it to "flowers that sway as you stay here by me" to get it included on Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. RCA had problems with two other Balin/Kantner tunes as well; one of them, Let Me In, had to undergo a similar change of lyrics, while another, Runnin' Round This World, was left off the album entirely.
Artist: Eyes
Title: When The Night Falls
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Terry Nolder
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
The Eyes formed in Whealing, West London in late 1962 as the Renegades, changing their name to Gerry Hart And The Hartbeats and finally The Eyes in 1964. The band was part of the Mod movement in mid-60s London, and was known as much for their visual image (they all wore rugby shirts and pink parkas with tire tracks across the back) as for the music they made. Like all Mod bands, the Eyes went for simply-structured tunes with repeated riffs, as can be heard on When The Night Falls, their 1966 debut single for a British label that had been formed to issue American recordings, which led British disc jockeys to jump to the conclusion that the Eyes were simply an American band trying to sound British. After three more singles and an EP failed to change that impression, the group decided to disband the following year.
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: Shake It Up (parts 1 & 2)
Source: Mono LP: The Exciting Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Revere/Lindsay
Label: Columbia Special Products (original label: Gardenia)
Year: 1962 (combined version: 1966)
In the 1960s it was common for local bands to release a single or two on a local label. Sometimes this led to even more singles on local labels, and if they were lucky, a contract with one of the major labels. If a band then hit it big, some enterprising enterpreneur would come along and buy up the rights to the older regional releases and then put them on an album, usually to the displeasure of the major label that had signed the group. In the case of Paul Revere And The Raiders, however, Columbia had the foresight to buy up the rights to the band's previous records themselves, including all eight singles the band had released on the Gardenia label from 1960 through 1963. Although for the most part they never did anything with them, they did include both sides of the band's sixth single, Shake It Up, on an album called The Exciting Years. The LP was issued on the Columbia Special Products label, leading me to believe that it was either a TV offer (not common in 1966) or more likely a free bonus album sent to members of the Columbia Record Club.
Artist: Red Crayola
Title: Hurricane Fighter Plane
Source: Stereo British import 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Thompson/Cunningham/Barthelme
Label: International Artists
Year: 1967 (single released 2011)
Rock history is dotted with stories of bands who reputations exceeded their actual recorded output. One such band was Red Crayola, a Texas band who found themselves labelmates with the 13th Floor Elevators in 1967. Formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas (Texas) in 1966, the band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme (brother of novelist Donald Barthelme) and Steve Cunningham. Although the Red Crayola (who were forced to change their name to Red Krayola in 1968) were only together for a couple of years, their legend continued to grow throughout the punk/new wave era and indy rock movements of the late 20th century and beyond. Which brings us to this curious single issued in 2011. The songs themselves were lifted from the first Red Crayola album, Parable Of Arable Land, and are even on the same label, International Artists...or are they? International Artists, a relatively small label owned by a group of Texas businessmen, ceased to exist in 1971, and this 2011 single is a British import. So what's the deal? Well, as it turns out, one of the original partners in International Artists was a guy named Lelan Rogers. In 1978 Rogers (perhaps with the help of his brother Kenny?) revived the label and reissued all twelve of the LPs that originally been released on International Artists. This was followed by various compilation albums, some of which included previously released material. By the early 2000s, the revived International Artists had become part of Britian's Charly Records, a company that specializes in archival material. Apparently the people at Charly felt there was enough interest in Red Crayola recordings to issue a yellow vinyl single 2011, with a newly remixed Hurrican Fighter Pilot on the A side and Pink Stainless Tail on the flip. As both these tracks overlap other stuff on the original LP, the single turns out to be a pretty good thing to have around.
Artist: Aquarian Age
Title: 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box
Source: British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Alder/Wood
Label: EMI (original label: Parlophone)
Year: 1968
Following the breakup of the influential British psychedelic band Tomorrow, the various members went their separate ways, with vocalist Keith West embarking on a solo career and guitarist Steve Howe doing studio work before becoming a member of Yes. The remaining two members, Junior Wood (bass) and Twink Alder (drums), continued to work with Abbey Road studios staff producer Mark Wirtz on a single, 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box, credited to the Aquarian Age. Probably the nearest American equivalent to the project was Sagittarius from Los Angeles producer Gary Usher. Both projects came from respected staff producers at major recording studios utilizing top studio talent, not to mention they both took their names from Zodiac signs.
And now for the surprise:
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Sufferin' Sucotash
Source: Mono British import CD: The Ultimate Turn On
Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell
Label: Big Beat
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2006
Before signing with Original Sound Records in late 1966, Sean Bonniwell's band, the Music Machine, recorded several demos. Among those demos was a tune called Sufferin' Sucotash, obviously inspired by a certain cartoon cat. If only Sean Bonniwell had sung it with a lisp...
Artist: Beatles
Title: She's Leaving Home
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
One of the striking things about the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the sheer variety of styles on the album. Never before had a rock band gone so far beyond its roots in so many directions at once. One of Paul McCartney's most poignant songs on the album was She's Leaving Home. The song tells the story of a young girl who has decided that her stable homelife is just too unfulling to bear and heads for the big city. Giving the song added depth is the somewhat clueless response of her parents, who can't seem to understand what went wrong.
Artist: Beatles
Title: I'll Be Back
Source: Mono CD: A Hard Day's Night (original US release: LP: Beatles '65)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1964
The original British version of A Hard Day's Night was a full LP that included several songs such as I'll Be Back that were not from the film itself. The US version, however, appeared on the United Artists label as a movie soundtrack album, and included incidental music written by George Martin in addition to Beatles songs from the film itself. The remaining songs ended up being released on US-only LPs such as Beatles '65.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Come On In
Source: British import CD: The Ultimate Turn On (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)
Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell
Label: Big Beat (original US label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
It only cost a total of $150 for the Music Machine to record both sides of their debut single at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, thanks to the band having been performing the songs live for several months. The band then took the tapes to Original Sound, who issued Talk Talk and Come On In on their own label. It may seem odd now, but original promo copies of the record show Come On In, a song that in many ways anticipated bands like the Doors and Iron Butterfly, as the "plug side" of the record, rather than Talk Talk, which of course went on to become the Music Machine's only major hit.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Double Yellow Line
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound, stereo LP version released on Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
One of the Original Sound singles that also appeared on the Warner Brothers LP Bonniwell Music Machine, Double Yellow Line features lyrics that were literally written by Bonniwell on the way to the recording studio. In fact, his inability to stay in his lane while driving with one hand and writing with the other resulted in a traffic ticket. The ever resourceful Bonniwell wrote the rest of the lyrics on the back of the ticket and even invited the officer in to watch the recording session. The officer declined the invitation.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone/EMI (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The top album of 1967 was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also the first US Beatles album to have a song lineup that was identical to the original UK LP. Consequently, it was also the first Beatle album released in the US to not include any songs that were also released as singles. Nonetheless, several tracks from the LP found their way onto the playlists of both top 40 AM and "underground" FM stations from coast to coast. Among the most popular of these tracks was John Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, which shows up near the top of just about everyone's list of classic psychedelic tunes.
Artist: Buckinghams
Title: I'll Be Back
Source: LP: Time And Charges
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
I have a confession to make: I've had a copy of the Buckinghams' 1967 Columbia debut LP since the late 1970s, when I found it at a thrift store near the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. All this time I thought the name of the album was Time And Changes. In early 2018 I realized that the actual title of the album is Time And Charges. It says so right on the label. And the front cover. And the spine of the album cover, for that matter. No idea how I missed that. Anyway, the album, despite being fairly light pop for the most part, does have some interesting tracks, such as a cover of the Beatles' I'll Be Back which was arranged for the band by producer James William Guercio, whose interest in rock bands with a horn section would lead him to produce the second (and most successful) Blood, Sweat & Tears album, as well as all the early Chicago LPs.
Artist: Chimps
Title: Fifth Class Mail
Source: CD: A Heavy Dose Of Lite Psych (originally released on LP: Monkeys A-Go-Go)
Writer(s): unknown
Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Wyncote)
Year: 1967
In the 1960s there were literally hundreds of record labels, many of which targeted specific audiences to the exclusion of all else. Among those were labels that specialized in exploiting current trends with cheap knockoffs, usually played by studio musicians using made up band names. Once in a while, a real band would record for these labels, but not under their actual name. One such case is the Chimps, who were in reality the Thomas A. Edison Electric Band, a Philadelphia band formed in 1966 that released one album (as the Edison Electric Band) on the Cotillion label in 1970, as well as a single for Cameo Records in 1967 shortly before that label's demise. As the Chimps, they released two albums for the Philadelphia based Wyncote label that were meant to capitalize on the popularity of the Monkees. The albums, Monkey Business and Monkeys A-Go-Go, both included a mix of Monkees cover songs and originals such as Fifth Class Mail, possibly the most psychedelic track the group ever recorded.
