https://exchange.prx.org/p/611104
This week we bid farewell to Country Joe McDonald with a set that combines some of his earliest and latest recordings. But first, a battle of the bands between northern and southern California groups and, as always a selection of singles, B sides and album tracks from 1964 to 1970.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: Mono CD: The Complete Reprise Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Electric Prunes)
Writer(s): Tucker/Mantz
Label: Real Gone Music/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in late 1966 and hitting the charts in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on both the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation and Rhino's first Nuggets LP.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Bringing Me Down
Source: Mono LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Released mainly to San Francisco Bay area radio stations and record stores, Jefferson Airplane's third single, Bringing Me Down, from the LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, is an early collaboration between vocalist Marty Balin and guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner. Balin had invited Kantner into the band without having heard him play a single note. It turned out to be one of many fortuitous decisions by the young bandleader.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Shadows (from The Name Of The Game Is Kill)
Source: Mono CD: The Complete Reprise Singles (originally released as 45 RPM promo single)
Writer(s): Gordon Phillips
Label: Real Gone Music/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Released only to radio stations, Shadows may well be the last song issued by the original lineup of the Electric Prunes in the 1960s. The song was recorded for a film called The Name Of The Game Is To Kill (a movie I know absolutely nothing about), and was issued in between two singles written by David Axelrod for concept albums that came out under the Electric Prunes name in 1968. Stylistically, Shadows sounds far more like the group's earlier work than the Axelrod material.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: How Suite It Is
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer(s): Kantner/Casady/Dryden/Kaukonen
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
The second side of After Bathing At Baxters starts off fairly conventionally (for the Airplane), with Paul Kantner's Watch Her Ride, the first third or so of something called How Suite It Is. This leads (without a break in the audio) into Spare Chaynge, one of the coolest studio jams ever recorded, featuring intricate interplay between Jack Casady's bass and Jorma Kaukonen's guitar, with Spencer Dryden using his drum kit as enhancement rather than as a beat-setter. In particular, Casady's virtuoso performance helped redefine what could be done with an electric bass.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Song: Get Me To the World On Time
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 6-Punk, Part Two (originally released on LP: The Electric Prunes and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Tucker/Jones
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Songwriter Annette Tucker usually worked with Nancy Mantz, and the pair was responsible for the Electric Prunes biggest hit, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). For Get Me To The World On Time, which originally appeared on the band's first LP, she instead teamed up with Jill Jones and came up with a kind of psychedelic Bo Diddley song that ended up being the Prunes' second biggest hit (and the first rock song that I ever heard first on an FM station).
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Tobacco Road
Source: Mono LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s): John D. Loudermilk
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
In their early days Jefferson Airplane, like most of their contemporaries, included several cover tunes in their repertoire. Unlike many other bands, however, the Airplane managed to stamp all of their covers with their own unmistakable sound. One excellent example of this is the Airplane's version of Tobacco Road, a song by John D. Loudermilk that had been a hit for the British invasion band Nashville Teens in 1964. The Airplane version, which appears on their debut LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, takes an entirely different approach than the Teens' rendition (or the similarly styled Blues Magoos version recorded around the same time as the Airplane's), laying off the power chords in favor of a jazzier approach more in tune with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's style of playing.
Artist: John D. Loudermilk
Title: Poor Little Pretty Girl
Source: LP: The Open Mind Of John D. Loudermilk
Writer(s): John D. Loudermilk
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
John D. Loudermilk was one of the most respected songwriters of the 1960s, best known for Tobacco Road, a hit for the Nashville Teens in 1964. In 1969 Loudermilk recorded an album for RCA Victor entitled The Open Mind Of John D. Loudermilk. The album featured songs in a variety of styles, often addressing unusual subjects. Poor Little Pretty Girl explores the down side of being attractive (bet you didn't know there was one, did ya?).
Artist: Kinks
Title: Little Miss Queen Of Darkness
Source: Mono LP: Face To Face
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
Although the Kinks were putting out some of their most classic recordings in 1966 (A Well Respected Man, Sunny Afternoon), the band was beset with problems not entirely of their own making, such as being denied visas to perform in the US and having issues with their UK label, Pye Records. Among those issues was the cover of their LP Face To Face, which bandleader Ray Davies reportedly hated, as the flower power theme was not at all representative of the band's music. There were internal problems as well, with bassist Peter Quaife even quitting the band for about a month during the recording of Face To Face. Although a replacement for Quaife, John Dalton, was brought in, the only track he is confirmed to have played on was a Ray Davies tune called Little Miss Queen Of Darkness.
Artist: Tomorrow
Title: My White Bicycle
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): Hopkins/Burgess
Label: Rhino (original label: Parlophone)
Year: 1967
One of the most popular bands with the mid-60s London Mods was a group called the In Crowd. In 1967 the band abandoned its R&B/Soul sound for a more psychedelic approach, changing its name to Tomorrow in the process. Their debut single, My White Bicycle, was inspired by the practice in Amsterdam of leaving white bicycles at various stategic points throughout the city for anyone to use (Ithaca, NY currently does the same thing, except theirs are yellow and green). The song sold well and got a lot of play at local discoteques, but did not chart. Soon after the record was released, however, lead vocalist Keith West had a hit of his own, Excerpt From A Teenage Opera, which did not sound at all like the music Tomorrow was making. After a second Tomorrow single failed to chart, the individual members drifted off in different directions, with West concentrating on his solo career, guitarist Steve Howe joining Bodast, and bassist Junior Wood and drummer Twink Alder forming a short-lived group called Aquarian Age. Twink would go on to greater fame as a member of the Pretty Things and a founder of the Pink Fairies, but it was Howe that became an international star in the 70s after replacing Peter Banks in Yes.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Parchman Farm
Source: Mono LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer(s): Mose Allison
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
If the release of the first Black Sabbath album in early 1970 marks the birth of heavy metal, then the release of the first Blue Cheer album in 1968 may be considered the point of conception for the form. Certainly, in terms of pure volume, Cheer was unequalled in their live performances (although the Grateful Dead's sound system had more wattage, Owsley Stanley used it judiciously to get the best sound quality as opposed to the sheer quantity of decibels favored by Blue Cheer), and managed to preserve that sense of loudness in the studio. Like Black Sabbath, the members of Blue Cheer had more than a passing familiarity with the blues as well, as evidenced by their inclusion of an old Mose Allison tune, Parchman Farm, on their debut LP, Vincebus Eruptum (the album included a cover of B.B. King's Rock Me, Baby as well). Contrary to rumors, guitarist Leigh Stephens did not go deaf and kill himself (although he did leave Blue Cheer after the band's second LP, moving to England and releasing a somewhat distortion-free solo album in 1969).
Artist: Koobas
Title: Barricades
Source: British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released on LP: Koobas)
Writer(s): Ellis/Stratton-Smith/Leathwood
Label: EMI (original UK label: Columbia)
Year: 1969
The Koobas were a Merseybeat band that never managed to achieve the level of success enjoyed by bands such as the Beatles or Gerry and the Pacemakers, despite having the patronage of Beatles manager Brian Epstein and even appearing in the film Ferry Across The Mersey. They did record several singles for both Pye and Columbia, but with little to show for it. Nonetheless, EMI, the parent company of Columbia, commissioned an entire album from the band in 1969. Among the standout tracks from that self-titled LP was the five-minute long Barricades, a track that starts with a Motown beat, but before long morphs into a chaotic portrait of riot and revolution, complete with anarchic sound effects.
Artist: Syd Barrett
Title: No Man's Land
Source: CD: The Madcap Laughs
Writer(s): Syd Barrett
Label: Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1970
Pink Floyd's original bandleader, Syd Barrett, began showing signs of mental illness as early as 1967. By 1968, his state of mind had deteriorated to the point that the rest of the band decided to continue on without him. Meanwhile, Barrett, after attempting to record a handful of solo tracks, found himself in psychiatric care at Cambridge. The following year, somewhat recovered, Barrett got to work on his first solo LP, working with producer Malcolm Jones on what would eventually become The Madcap Laughs. For the second session with Jones, Barrett brought in drummers Jerry Shirley from Humble Pie and Willie Wilson from Jokers Wild, with the latter playing bass on the sessions. The first song they worked on was No Man's Land, which they rehearsed in the studio before making several attempts at a final recording, eventually ending up using take 5.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Guinevere
Source: Mono LP: Sunshine Superman
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic/Sundazed
Year: 1966
Donovan's Sunshine Superman marked the beginning of a transition for the Scottish singer/songwriter from folk singer with a primarily British fan base to an international star at the forefront of the psychedelic era. One track on the album that shows a bit of both is Guinevere. The basic song is very much in the traditional British vein, with lyrics that deliberately hearken back to Arthurian times. Yet the entire track is colored by the presence of a sitar, a decidedly non-British instrument that was becoming popular among the psychedelic crowd in 1966.
Artist: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Title: Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssinia
Source: British import CD: Acid Daze (originally released in EU on CD box set: 20th Century Superstar)
Writer(s): Marc Bolan
Label: Uncut (original label: Universal)
Year: Recorded 1969, released 2002
Not all of Marc Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex material made it onto vinyl. Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssinia, a track recorded in 1969, had to wait until 2002 to be heard by the public at large, when it was included in a European box set called 20th Century Superstar.
Artist: Country Joe McDonald
Title: Round And Round
Source: CD: 50
Writer(s): Joe McDonald
Label: Rag Baby
Year: 2017
One of the most haunting tracks on the 2017 Country Joe McDonald album, 50, Round And Round is about nothing less than life itself. Well, our lives, at least. I kind of doubt that the various non-sentient species on our planet think much about this stuff. Regardless, it's a beautiful tune, well worth listening to.
Artist: Country Joe And The Fish
Title: Section 43 (Original EP version)
Source: Mono British import CD: The Berkeley EPs (originally released on EP)
Writer(s): Joe McDonald
Label: Big Beat (original label: Rag Baby)
Year: 1966
Rag Baby was an underground journal published by Country Joe McDonald in mid-60s Berkeley, California. In 1965 McDonald decided to do a "talking issue" of the paper with an extended play (EP) record containing two songs by McDonald's band, Country Joe and the Fish and two by singer Peter Krug. In 1966 McDonald published a second Rag Baby EP, this time featuring three songs by Country Joe and the Fish. Among those was the original version of Section 43, a psychedelic instrumental that would appear in a re-recorded (and slightly rearranged) stereo form on the band's first LP, Electric Music For The Mind And Body, in early 1967.
Artist: Country Joe McDonald
Title: Era Of Guns
Source: CD: 50
Writer(s): Joe McDonald
Label: Rag Baby
Year: 2017
Country Joe McDonald's last album, 50, contains several tunes that address topics like the environment, racism, the current political climate and other relevant issues. Era Of Guns addresses the proliferation of violence in modern times, repeating the world weary phrase "Just another day in the era of guns."
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: Shotgun
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Autry DeWalt
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
For their fourth LP, Vanilla Fudge returned to the formula that they found their original success with for the album Near The Beginning. Whereas their third LP, Renaissance, contained mostly original material, Near The Beginning was dominated by an extended version of the Junior Walker hit Shotgun. The single version of the song, which the group performed on the Ed Sullivan show, was the group's last song to hit the Billboard top 100, peaking at # 68. According to drummer Carmine Appice, it was the Vanilla Fudge version of Shotgun that convinced Jeff Beck to later form a band with Appice and bassist Tim Bogert.
Artist: Max Frost And The Troopers (aka the 13th Power)
Title: Shine It On
Source: CD: Shape Of Things To Come
Writer(s): Paul Wibier
Label: Captain High (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
Say what you will about Paul Wibier, he did know how to write a decent tune. Unfortunately, nobody knew who Paul Wibier was when he was actually writing and performing those songs. That's because he worked mostly with Mike Curb, who provided soundtracks for B movies performed by mostly anonymous musicians, Wibier being among the most anonymous. The best example of this is Max Frost And The Troopers, a name attached to a fictional band from a film called Wild In The Streets. Behind the scenes, Wibier provided the vocals for the soundtrack's songs, and when one of them, Shape Of Things To Come, became a legitimate hit record in 1968, Wibier ended up writing and singing on a whole album's worth of tunes by Max Frost And The Troopers, including Shine It One. The album, like the hit single, was called Shape Of Things To Come, which is not to be confused with the Wild In The Streets soundtrack LP, which contained some of the same songs, as well as the kind of incidental music found on 60s soundtrack albums. As to who the 13th Power actually was, the answer is...the 13th Power, Paul Wibier's own band, who also recorded as Mom's Boys.
Artist: Chylds
Title: Hay Girl
Source: Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties-Vol. 9-Ohio (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Lepar/Fana/Boldi
Label: AIP (original labels: Giant/Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
Originally known as the Echoes, Chylds changed their name at the insistence of their manager, who wanted them to call themselves the Wild Childs. The band was popular around the Cleveland area, and their first single, a tune called I Want More (Of Your Love), released on the local Giant Records label, proved popular enough to get picked up nationally by Warner Brothers. The B side of that tune was Hay Girl, an original tune that they manager claimed a co-writer's credit on. A second single was a minor national hit, but most of the band members were more interested in getting married and raising a family, and by 1969 Chylds were no more. One band member, drummer Joe Vitale, did go on to have a career in music, including stints as a member of Joe Walsh's band, Barnstorm (he co-wrote Rocky Mountain Way) and Crosby, Stills & Nash's touring band.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Seeds)
Writer(s): Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
Pushin' Too Hard is generally included on every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic, although it took the better part of two years to catch on. Originally released in 1965 as Your Pushin' Too Hard, the song was virtually ignored by local Los Angeles radio stations until a second single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, started getting some attention. After being included on the Seeds' debut LP in 1966, Pushin' Too Hard was rereleased and soon was being heard all over the L.A. airwaves. By the end of the year stations in other markets were starting to spin the record, and the song hit its peak of popularity in early 1967.
Artist: Mad River
Title: Wind Chimes
Source: Mono British import CD: Ah Feel Like Ahcid (originally released on LP: Mad River)
Writer(s): Mad River
Label: Zonophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
When Mad River's debut LP was released, the San Francisco rock press hailed it as "taking rock music as far as it could go." Indeed, songs like Wind Chimes certainly pushed the envelope in 1968, when bubble gum was king of top 40 radio and progressive FM stations were still pretty much in the future. One thing that helped was the band members' friendship with avant-garde poet Richard Brautigan, who pulled whatever strings he could to get attention for his favorite local band. Still, the time was not yet right for such a band as Mad River, who had apparently drained into the San Francisco Bay by the early 1970s.
Artist: Masters Apprentices
Title: Buried And Dead
Source: Australian import CD: The Master's Apprentices
Writer(s): Michael Bower
Label: Aztec (original label: Astor)
Year: 1967
Formed in 1964 by guitarists Mick Bower and Rick Morrison, drummer Brian Vaughton and bassist Gavin Webb, the Mustangs were an instrumental surf music band from Adelaide, South Australia that specialized in covers of Ventures and Shadows songs. In June of that year the Beatles came to Adelaide and were greeted by the largest crowd of their career (around 300,000 people). The popularity of the Beatles among the locals prompted the Mustangs to add vocalist Jim Keays and switch to British-influenced Beat music. In late 1965, having been introduced to the blues through records by bands like the Yardbirds and Rolling Stones, the band changed its name to the Masters Apprentices, with Bower explaining that "we are apprentices to the masters of the blues—Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James and Robert Johnson". The band decided to relocate to Melbourne in early 1967, taking on Steve Hopgood as the band's new drummer when Vaughton decided to stay in Adelaide. They released their debut LP in 1967, although the people at Astor Records mistakenly added an apostrophe to Masters on the album cover. Among the many Bower originals on the album was Buried And Dead, which was also released as the band's second single. Unfortunately, Bower suffered a nervous breakdown in September, and the band was left without a songwriter. By the end of 1967 the Masters Apprentices were on the verge of disintegrating, which led Keays to reorganize the band in January of 1968 with several new members, retaining only Gavin Webb from the original Mustangs lineup. He also ended up leaving the group due to stomach ulcers in April of 1968.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Summer In The City
Source: LP: Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
Writer(s): Sebastian/Sebastian/Boone
Label: Sundazed/Kama Sutra
Year: 1966
The Lovin' Spoonful changed gears completely for what would become their biggest hit of 1966: Summer In The City. Inspired by a poem by John Sebastian's brother, the song was recorded for the album Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful. That album was an attempt by the band to deliberately record in a variety of styles; in the case of Summer In The City, it was a rare foray into psychedelic rock for the band. Not coincidentally, Summer In The City is also my favorite Lovin' Spoonful song.
Artist: Mamas and the Papas
Title: Somebody Groovy
Source: LP: If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: John Phillips
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1965
The Mamas and the Papas were blessed with strong vocals and even stronger songwriting. Their debut single, California Dreamin', written by John & Michelle Phillips, is one of the defining songs of the mid-sixties. The B side of that single, released in 1965, was another John Phillips tune, Somebody Groovy.
Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer(s): Chet Powers (Dino Valenti)
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1964, released 2007
At first glance this version of Let's Get Together could be mistaken for a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the 1967 Youngbloods version was re-released with the title shortened to Get Together, that the song became a major hit.
Artist: Rovin' Kind
Title: Didn't Want To Have To Do It
Source: Mono CD: If You're Ready! The Best Of Dunwich Records...Volume Two (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): John Sebastian
Label: Sundazed/Here 'Tis (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1967
As a general rule, cover bands don't get recording contracts. There are, however, exceptions, such as the Chicago-based Rovin' Kind, a band co-led by guitarist/vocalists Paul Cotton and Kal David. The group released five singles (all covers such as John Sebastian's Didn't Want To Have To Do It ) on four different labels before moving to California in 1968 and becoming Illinois Speed Press, finally recording original material written by Cotton. The duo split up when Cotton joined Poco as their lead guitarist, with Kal David going on to form The Fabulous Rhinestones. David also provided the voice for Sonny Eclipse, the animatronic that performs at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. I guess that's a different kind of cover artist.
Artist: Doors
Title: People Are Strange
Source: CD: Strange Days (also released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1967
The first single from the second Doors album was People Are Strange. The song quickly dispelled any notion that the Doors might be one-hit wonders and helped establish the band as an international act as opposed to just another band from L.A. The album itself, Strange Days, was a turning point for Elektra Records as well, as it shifted the label's promotional efforts away from their original rock band, Love, to the Doors, who ironically had been recommended to the label by the members of Love.
Artist: Cream
Title: Take It Back
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The very first album I recorded on my dad's new Akai X-355 reel-to-reel deck was Cream's 1967 LP Disraeli Gears. It was also the very first CD I ever bought (along with Axis: Bold As Love). Does that tell you anything about my opinion of this album?
