Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2623 (starts 6/1/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/621111

    This week, in addition to the usual assortment of singles, B sides and album tracks from the psychedelic era, we have a pair of artists' sets and a couple of somewhat unusual tracks that have never been played on the show before.

Artist:     Yardbirds
Title:     Heart Full Of Soul
Source:     45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer:     Graham Gouldman
Label:     Epic
Year:     1965
     Heart Full Of Soul, the Yardbirds' follow-up single to For Your Love, was a huge hit, making the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1965. The song, the first to feature guitarist Jeff Beck prominently, was written by Graham Gouldman, whose own band, the Mockingbirds, was strangely unable to buy a hit on the charts. Gouldman later went on to be a founding member of 10cc, who were quite successful in the 1970s.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
Source:    Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1966
    By mid-1966 there was a population explosion of teenage rock bands popping up in garages and basements all across the US, the majority of which were doing their best to emulate the grungy sound of their heroes, the Rolling Stones. The Stones themselves responded by ramping up the grunge factor to a previously unheard of degree with their last single of the year, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? It was the most feedback-laden record ever to make the top 40 at that point in time, and it inspired America's garage bands to buy even more powerful amps and crank up the volume (driving their parents to drink in the process).

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    Lucifer Sam
Source:    Mono LP: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Writer(s):    Syd Barrett
Label:    Tower
Year:    1967
    Beyond a shadow of a doubt the original driving force behind Pink Floyd was the legendary Syd Barrett. Not only did he front the band during their rise to fame, he also wrote their first two singles, Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, as well as most of their first LP, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. In fact it could be argued that one of the songs on that album, Lucifer Sam, could have just as easily been issued as a single, as it is stylistically similar to the first two songs. Sadly, Barrett's mental health deteriorated quickly over the next year and his participation in the making of the band's next LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets, was minimal. He soon left the group altogether, never to return (although several of his former bandmates did participate in the making of his 1970 solo album, The Madcap Laughs).

Artist:    Love Sculpture
Title:    Farandole
Source:    LP: Forms And Feelings
Writer(s):    Bizet, arr. by Dave Edmunds
Label:    Parrot
Year:    1968
    I repeat: Eat your heart out, Ted Nugent. This time in stereo.

Artist:    Fire Birds
Title:    No Tomorrows
Source:    CD: An Overdose Of Heavy Psych (originally released on LP: Light My Fire)
Writer(s):    Firebirds
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Crown)
Year:    1969
    Throughout the 50s and 60s there were literally hundreds of budget labels that made their fortunes fooling record buyers into thinking they were getting hit records at a discounted price, when in reality they were getting cheap cover versions by uncredited and underpaid studio musicians. One of the most successful of these budget labels was Crown, a label created in 1953 by the Bahari Brothers which specialized in low-priced LPs spotlighting either a specific genre (polka, blues, gospel, etc.) or a particular artist via a tribute album that did not include any recordings by the actual artist. In 1969 Crown released a pair of hard psychedelic LPs: Hair, by 31 Flavors, and Light My Fire, by the Firebirds. In reality, they were both by the same band, rumored to be a local Los Angeles group that was not actually called either the Firebirds or 31 Flavors. Unlike most Crown releases, however, these two albums featured original material such as No Tomorrow that would not have been out of place beside albums by Blue Cheer or early Grand Funk Railroad.

Artist:    Elephant's Memory
Title:    Midnight Cowboy
Source:    LP: Heavy Mix (originally released on LP: Songs From Midnight Rider)
Writer(s):    John Barry
Label:    Pickwick (original label: Buddah)
Year:    1969
    One of the hardest-to-describe bands of the late 1960s, Elephant's Memory was formed by singer/saxophonist/flautist/clarinetist Stan Bronstein and drummer Rick Frank, along with bassist/trombonist Myron Yules. One early member of the band was vocalist Carly Simon, although by the time the band recorded their debut LP in 1969 she had been replaced by Michal Shapiro. Filling out the band's 1969 lineup were keyboardist Richard Sussman and guitarists John Ward and Chester Ayres. Elephant's Memory's second album was titled Songs From Midnight Rider, which was a bit disingenuous, since out of the 11 songs on the LP, only two were actually from the movie soundtrack. Two more songs on the album were Elephant Memory's own interpretations of the film's best known pieces, including the instrumental theme heard here. Those four tracks made up the entire first side of the album, while the second side was made up entirely of songs that had already been released on their debut LP.

Artist:    Moody Blues
Title:    The Morning: Another Morning
Source:    CD: Days Of Future Passed
Writer(s):    Thomas/Knight
Label:    Deram/Polydor/UMe
Year:    1968
    The Moody Blues were struggling to remain viable as a group in late 1968 when their label, the British Decca company, asked them to record a rock version of Dvorak's 9th Symphony as a way to showcase a new stereo recording system they had developed, with the resulting album to appear on Decca's new rock-oriented label Deram. Once in the studio, however, the band worked with orchestral arranger Peter Knight to instead create a concept album about a typical day in the life of an average working person. That album was titled (by the record company) Days Of Future Passed, and it forever changed the fortunes of the Moody Blues. Using two studios, one for the band and the other for the orchestral sections, the album was recorded in just three weeks, with most tracks, such as The Morning: Another Morning, consisting of band recordings segueing directly into orchestral pieces. Despite the success of the album, the Moody Blues chose to work without an orchestra on their next album, In Search Of The Lost Chord.

Artist:    Blues Project
Title:    Steve's Song
Source:    LP: Projections
Writer(s):    Steve Katz
Label:    Verve Forecast
Year:    1966
    The members of the Blues Project came from a variety of backgrounds, including jazz, rock, classical and of course, blues. Guitarist Steve Katz had the strongest connection to the Greenwich Village folk scene and was the lead vocalist on the Project's recording of Donovan's Catch The Wind on their first LP. For their second album Katz wrote his own song, entitled simply Steve's Song. The tune starts with a very old-English style repeated motif that gets increasing complicated as it repeats itself before segueing into a more conventional mode with Katz on the lead vocal. Katz would write and sing simlarly-styled tunes, such as Sometimes In Winter, as a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears. 
 
Artist:    Doors
Title:    Roadhouse Blues
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Morrison/The Doors
Label:    Elektra/Rhino
Year:    1970
    After getting less than favorable reviews for their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, the Doors decided to go back to their roots for 1970s Morrison Hotel. One of the many bluesier tunes on the album was Roadhouse Blues, a song that soon became a staple of the group's live performances.

Artist:    Donovan/Jeff Beck Group
Title:    Barabajabal
Source:    CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released on LP: Barabajagal)
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    Sony Music Special Products (original label: Epic)
Year:    1969
    Donovan Leitch enlisted the Jeff Beck Group as collaborators for Barabajabal, a track from his 1969 album of the same name. Some pressings of the single list the title as Goo Goo Barabajabal (Love Is Hot), but since both the original LP track, and  Epic's July 1969 trade ad for the single say Barabajagal I'm going with that. 

Artist:     Beacon Street Union
Title:     Speed Kills
Source:     British import CD: The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union/The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer:     Ulaky/Wright
Label:     See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year:     1967
     Boston's Beacon Street Union had an interesting mix of tunes on their debut LP. Despite the title, Speed Kills is not an anti-drug song. Rather, the song addresses the frenetic pace of life the band members had encountered since relocating to New York City shortly before recording The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union.

Artist:    Simon And Garfunkel
Title:    At The Zoo
Source:    LP: Bookends (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Paul Simon
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1967
    Simon and Garfunkel did not release any new albums in 1967, instead concentrating on their live performances. They did, however, issue several singles over the course of the year, most of which ended up being included on 1968's Bookends LP. At The Zoo was one of the first of those 1967 singles. It's B side ended up being a hit as well, but by Harper's Bizarre, which took The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) to the top 10 early in the year.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    Good Vibrations
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Wilson/Love
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1966
    Although I had originally discovered top 40 radio in 1963 (when I received a small Sony transistor radio for my birthday), it wasn't until 1966 that I really got into it in a big way. This was due to a combination of a couple of things: first, my dad bought a console stereo, and second, my junior high school went onto split sessions, meaning that I was home by one o'clock every day. This gave me unprecedented access to Denver's two big top 40 AM stations, as well as an FM station that was experimenting with a Top 100 format for a few hours each day. At first I was content to just listen to the music, but soon realized that the DJs were making a point of mentioning each song's chart position just about every time that song would play. Naturally I began writing all this stuff down in my notebook (when I was supposed to be doing my homework), until I realized that both KIMN and KBTR actually published weekly charts, which I began to diligently hunt down at various local stores. In addition to the songs occupying numbered positions on the charts, both stations included songs at the bottom of the list that they called "pick hits". These were new releases that had not been around long enough to achieve a chart position. The one that most stands out in my memory was the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, a song I liked so much that I went out to the nearest Woolco and bought it the afternoon I heard it. Within a few weeks Good Vibrations had gone all the way to the top of the charts on both stations, and I always felt that some of the credit should go to me for buying the record when it first came out (hey I was 13, OK?). Over the next couple of years I bought plenty more singles, but to this day Good Vibrations stands out as the most influential 45 RPM record purchase I ever made.
    
Artist:    Cream
Title:    Dreaming
Source:    CD: Fresh Cream
Writer(s):    Jack Bruce
Label:    Polydor/Polygram (original label: Atco)
Year:    1966
    Although Cream recorded several songs that bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce co-wrote with various lyricists (notably poet Pete Brown), there were a few that Bruce himself wrote words for. One of these is Dreaming, a song from the band's first LP that features both Bruce and guitarist Eric Clapton on lead vocals. Dreaming is also one of the shortest Cream songs on record, clocking in at one second under two minutes in length.

Artist:    Fleur De Lys
Title:    Circles
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Pete Townshend
Label:    Rhino (original label: Immediate)
Year:    1966
    Circles was a song by the Who that was originally slated to be released in the UK on the Brunswick label in February of 1966 as a follow-up to the highly successful My Generation. A dispute between the band and the label and their producer, Shel Talmy, however, led to the Who switching labels and releasing another song, Substitute, in its place on March 4th, with Circles (retitled Instant Party) on the B side of the record. When Talmy slapped the band with a legal injunction, the single was withdrawn, and another band, the Fleur De Lys, took advantage of the situation, recording their own version of Circles and releasing it on March 18th on the Immediate label. Just to make things more confusing Brunswick issued the Who's version of Circles as the B side of A Legal Matter on March 8th, while the Who reissued Substitute with a different B side (that they didn't actually play on) on March 14th.

Artist:    Who
Title:    Whiskey Man
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer:    John Entwhistle
Label:    Decca
Year:    1966
    Although the Who had previously issued a pair of singles in the US, the first one to make any kind of waves was Happy Jack, released in late 1966 and hitting its peak the following year. The B side of that record was the song Whiskey Man. Like all the Who songs penned by bassist John Entwhistle, this one has an unusual subject: in this case, psychotic alcohol-induced hallucinations that are more enjoyable than reality.

Artist:    Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title:    Winds Of Change
Source:    British import CD: Winds Of Change
Writer(s):    Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label:    Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year:    1967
    The "new" Animals first album was Winds of Change, an ambitious effort that gave writing credit to all five band members for all the tracks on the album (with the exception of a cover version of the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black). The opening track is basically Eric Burdon paying tribute to all his musical heroes, and it's quite an impressive list, including jazz and blues greats as well as some of the most important names in the annals of rock and roll. 

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Girl
Source:    CD: Rubber Soul
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year:    1965
    Some people think Girl is one of those John Lennon drug songs. I see it as one of those John Lennon observing what's really going on beneath the civilized veneer of western society songs myself. Your choice.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Love You To
Source:    CD: Yellow Submarine Songtrack (originally released on LP: Revolver)
Writer(s):    George Harrison
Label:    Apple/Capitol
Year:    1966
    Following the release of Rubber Soul in December of 1965, the Beatles' George Harrison began to make a serious effort to learn to play the Sitar, studying under the master, Ravi Shankar. Along with the instrument itself, Harrison studied Eastern forms of music. His first song written in the modal form favored by Indian composers was Love You To, from the Revolver album. The recording also features Indian percussion instruments and suitably spiritual lyrics. 

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Ticket To Ride
Source:    LP: Help!
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1965
    Trying to figure out the Beatles' catalog can be a bit confusing, as Capitol Records, which had the rights to release the band's recordings in the US, had their own ideas about what should be on a Beatles album, which was often at odds with the wishes of the band members themselves. Some US albums, such as Beatles '65, had no British counterpart at all, while others had different track lineups than the original UK versions. Probably the most radically altered of the original LPs was the soundtrack album to the film Help! In the UK, side one of the album contained songs from the film itself, while side two contained a collection of unrelated studio recordings, some of which had been intended for, but not used in, the film. In the US, however, the Help album included incidental orchestral pieces heard throughout the movie interspersed with the songs heard on side one of the UK album. Among the tracks heard on both versions (albeit with lots of added reverb on the US release) was Ticket To Ride, which was also issued as a single in the US (using one of the songs from side two of the UK Help album as a B side). The tune has gone on to become one of the most recognizable Beatles songs ever recorded.
 
Artist:    Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title:    Cinnamon Girl
Source:    LP: 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:    Human Expression
Title:    Every Night
Source:    Mono LP: Highs In The Mid Sixties vol. 3: '67 Mondo Hollywood A-Go-Go (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    The Human Expression
Label:    AIP (original label: Accent)
Year:    1967
    One thing Los Angeles had become known for by the mid-1960s was its urban sprawl. Made possible by one of the world's most extensive regional freeway systems, the city had become surrounded by suburbs on all sides (except for the oceanfront). Many of these suburbs were (and are) in Orange County, home to Anaheim stadium, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. The O.C. was also home to the Human Expression, a band that recorded a trio of well-regarded singles for the Accent label. The first of these was a song called Every Night that was credited to the entire band.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    Cream Puff War
Source:    CD: The Grateful Dead
Writer(s):    Jerry Garcia
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1967
    The first Grateful Dead album was recorded in a matter of days, and was mostly made up of cover tunes that the band was currently performing. The two exceptions were The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), which was credited to the entire band, and Cream Puff War, a song written by guitarist Jerry Garcia. The two tracks were paired up on the band's first single as well. Cream Puff War, as recorded, ran nearly three and a half minutes, but was edited down to 2:28 at the insistence of the corporate shirts at Warner Brothers Records.

Artist:    Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Title:    Eventually
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on CD: Spreading From The Ashes)
Writer(s):    Alan Brackett
Label:    Rhino (original label: Ace/Big Beat)
Year:    Recorded 1966, released 2005
    The Peanut Butter Conspiracy (or PBC) was one of the more psychedelic of the local L.A. bands playing the various clubs along L.A.'s Sunset Strip during its golden years of 1965-68. As was the case with so many bands of that time and place, they never really got the opportunity to strut their stuff, although they did leave some decent tapes behind, such as Eventually, recorded in 1966 but not released until 2005.

Artist:    Penny Arkade
Title:    Swim
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on CD: Not The Freeze)
Writer(s):    Craig Vincent Smith
Label:    Rhino (original label: Sundazed)
Year:    Recorded: 1967; released 2009
    In 1967 Michael Nesmith, realizing that the Monkees had a limited shelf life, decided to produce a local L.A. band, Penny Arkade, led by singer/songwriter Craig Vincent Smith. Nesmith already had several production credits to his name with the Monkees, including a recording of Smith's Salesman on their 4th LP. Swim, like Salesman, has a touch of country about it; indeed, Nesmith himself was one of the earliest proponents of what would come to be called country-rock. In 1967, however, country-rock was still at least a year away and Nesmith was unable to find a label willing to release the record. 

Artist:    Davie Allan And The Arrows
Title:    Rockin' Angel
Source:    LP: The Wild Angels (soundtrack)
Writer(s):    Curb/Allan/Hatcher
Label:    Tower
Year:    1966
    Davie Allen is best known for providing music for the soundtracks of several teen-oriented and biker movies from the 1960s. Allan grew up in the San Fernando Valley of California, where he met Mike Curb, with whom he would form an instrumental surf band. Curb, who had a keen business sense, formed his own Curb Records label in 1963, issuing Allan's first single, War Path. Allan played on several other singles for Curb as a session guitarist, both on the Curb label and its successor, Sidewalk Records. Around that same time Curb made a deal with Roger Corman's American International Pictures to supply music for the director's youth-oriented films. This led to the formation of the Arrows, a loose aggregation of studio musicians that Allan would utilize for various projects. Most of the Arrows' early recordings were fairly unremarkable, although they did get some local L.A. radio airplay for a song called Apache '65. Allan's big break came when he acquired a fuzz box for his guitar, using it for his most famous recording, Blue's Theme from the film The Wild Angels. Most of Allan's contributions to the film's soundtrack were short instrumental pieces like Rockin' Angel. The film itself is notable for its cast, which included Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra and Bruce Dern, among others. 

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Can You See Me
Source:    LP: Smash Hits (originally released in UK on LP: Are You Experienced) 
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    MCA
Year:    1967
    Before releasing the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced, in the US, Reprise Records decided to make some changes to the track lineup, adding three songs that had been released as non-album singles in the UK. To make room for these, three songs were cut from the original UK version of the LP. The most popular of these three tracks was Can You See Me, a song that was included in the band's set when they made their US debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967.  Despite the audience's positive response to the song, the band apparently dropped Can You See Me from their live set shortly after Monterey. The song was originally slated to be released as the B side of The Wind Cries Mary, but instead was used as an album track. Can You See Me finally got released in the US in 1969, on the Smash Hits LP. 
  
Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    51st Anniversary
Source:    Mono Dutch import LP: The Singles (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Polydor (original UK label: Track)
Year:    1967
    The first Jimi Hendrix Experience single of 1967 (and the first for Track Records) was the classic Purple Haze, released on March 17, 1967. For the B side, the band chose one of producer Chas Chandler's favorite tracks, 51st Anniversary. The song expressed Hendrix's views on marraige by looking at it first from 51 years after the wedding, and then working his way back through the years. The first half, in Hendrix's words, was "just saying the good things about marraige, or maybe the usual things about marraige. The second part of the record tells about the parts of marraige which I've seen." Hendrix's own parents got married when his mother was just 17, just like the girl in the song. Musically, 51st Anniversary is somewhat unique for Hendrix in that it does not have a guitar solo, although the recording does feature five guitar overdubs linked together over the course of the track.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Remember
Source:    LP: Smash Hits (originally released in UK on LP: Are You Experienced) 
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Reprise (original UK label: Track)
Year:    1967
    It was common in the 1960s for artists to include "filler" material on their albums, with their best stuff being saved for single releases. Although the Jimi Hendrix Experience made making the best albums a priority, there was still material on their first LP that Hendrix himself considered filler. One of these was Remember, which was also one of three tracks deleted from the US version of the LP to make room for three UK singles that were not on the UK version of Are You Experienced. Still, filler for Jimi Hendrix is as good as or better than 99% of many other artists' best material at the time, as can be heard here.

Artist:    Standells
Title:    Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Ed Cobb
Label:    Tower
Year:    1966
    The Standells were probably the most successful band to record for the Tower label (not counting Pink Floyd, whose first LP was issued, in modified form, on the label after being recorded in England). Besides their big hit Dirty Water, they hit the charts with other tunes such as Why Pick On Me, Try It, and the punk classic Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White. Both Good Guys and Dirty Water were written by producer Ed Cobb, who has to be considered the most prolific punk-rock songwriter of the 60s, having also written songs for the "E" Types and Chocolate Watchband (both of which he also produced).

Artist:     Troggs
Title:     Wild Thing
Source:     Mono CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:     Chip Taylor
Label:     K-Tel (original label: Fontana)
Year:     1966
    I have a DVD copy of a music video (although back then they were called promotional films) for the Troggs' Wild Thing in which the members of the band are walking through what looks like a train station while being mobbed by girls at every turn. Every time I watch it I imagine singer Reg Presley saying giggity-giggity as he bobs his head. 

Artist:    Outsiders
Title:    What Makes You So Bad You Weren't Brought Up That Way
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    King/Kelley
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1966
    The Starfires were a Cleveland band founded in 1958 by 15-year-old guitarist Tom King that played mostly instrumental cover versions of R&B hits. Over the next few years they released several singles on small independent labels such as Pama (owned by King's uncle), usually billed as Tom King And The Starfires. In 1964, in the wake of the British invasion, the band added vocalist Sonny Geraci. Around this time King entered a songwriting partnership with his brother in law, Chet Kelley, providing the Starfires with most of the original material. In late 1965 the Starfires recorded a King/Kelley composition called Time Won't Let Me, which led to the band signing with Capitol Records. For reasons that are not entirely clear the band changed its name to the Outsiders before releasing the song in February of 1966. The success of Time Won't Let Me led to the Outsiders recording an entire album that included five King/Kelley originals along with half a dozen cover songs, a typical mix for 1966. Drummer Ronnie Harkai, who had played on Time Won't Let Me, enlisted in the Air Force shortly after recording the song, so another drummer, Jimmy Fox, who had been a member of the Starfires a few years earlier, was brought in to play on the album before going on to form his own band, the James Gang. Among the original tunes recorded for the LP was the slow ballad Girl In Love, which became the band's second single. The B side of that record, also taken from the album, was a garage-rock styled track called What Makes You So Bad You Weren't Brought Up That Way, one of the more overlooked gems of the psychedelic era.

Artist:    Love
Title:    Old Man
Source:    Comes In Colours (originally released on LP: Forever Changes)
Writer(s):    Bryan MacLean
Label:    Raven (original label: Elektra)
Year:    1967
    An often overlooked fact about the L.A. band Love is that they had not one, but two quality singer/songwriters in the group. Although Arthur Lee wrote the bulk of the band's material, it was Bryan McLean who wrote and sang one of the group's best-known songs, the haunting Alone Again Or, which opens their classic Forever Changes album. A second McLean song, Old Man, was actually one of the first tracks recorded for Forever Changes. At the time, the band's rhythm section was more into sex and drugs than rock and roll, and McLean and Lee arranged to have studio musicians play on Old Man, as well as on one of Lee's songs. The rest of the group was so stunned by this development that they were able to temporarily get their act together long enough to complete the album. Nonetheless, the two tunes with studio musicians were left as is, although reportedly Ken Forssi did step in to show Carol Kaye how the bass part should be played (ironic, since Kaye is estimated to have played on over 10,000 recordings in her long career as a studio musician).

Artist:    Turtles
Title:    The Walking Song
Source:    Mono LP: Happy Together
Writer(s):    Kaylan/Nichols
Label:    White Whale
Year:    1967
    When they weren't recording hit songs by professional songwriters, the Turtles were busy developing their own songwriting talents, albeit in a somewhat satirical direction. One early example is The Walking Song, which contrasts the older generation's obsession with material goods with a "stop and smell the roses" approach favored by the song's protagonist. This toungue-in-cheek style of writing would characterize the later careers of two of the band members, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, after performing with the Mothers at the Fillmore would become known as the Phlorescent Leech (later Flo) and Eddie.

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Love Is Only Sleeping (alternate mix)
Source:    CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones, LTD. (bonus track)
Writer(s):    Mann/Weill
Label:    Rhino
Year:    1967
    The Monkees's began work on their fourth LP, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD., using four-track tape recorders, the standard technology at the time. At some point during the making of the album the group was able to get access to state-of-the-art eight-track recorders, and in August of 1967 all the recordings made up to that point were copied over to the new machines. This mixdown of Love Is Only Sleeping, a song originally intended to be released as a single, was made from the original four-track master tape on July 7th.

Artist:    Small Faces
Title:    Itchycoo Park
Source:    CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Marriott/Lane
Label:    K-Tel (original label: 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 its previous incarnation before itself being destroyed by Stewart's solo career. 
     

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2623 (starts 6/1/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/621110

    Underground comedy was always a part of early 70s FM rock radio, and one of the biggest names in underground comedy was the Firesign Theatre. Their best known work was a 30s radio detective drama parody called The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger. Over the years the Firesign Theatre came up with more pieces featuring Nick and the gang, including The Three Faces Of Al, featured in its entirety on this week's edition of Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. Before getting down to the humor, though, we have some favorite tunes to warm up on, and afterwards a couple that have never been played on the show before.

Artist:    Grand Funk Railroad
Title:    Paranoid
Source:    CD: Grand Funk
Writer(s):    Mark Farner
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1969
    I spent a good portion of the summer of 1971 riding around in a 1954 Ford panel truck listening to Grand Funk (aka the Red Album) on 8-track tape. One thing I noticed was that, unlike the Black Sabbath song with the same name, Grand Funk Railroad's Paranoid has lyrics that actually make sense, albeit in a not entirely healthy way. The sad part, of course, is that there are actually people who live that way.

Artist:    Allman Brothers Band
Title:    Revival
Source:    CD: Idlewild South
Writer(s):    Dicky Betts
Label:    Mercury/UMe (original label: Capricorn)
Year:    1970
    The second Allman Brothers band was the first to include songs written by guitarist Dicky Betts. One of those songs, Revival, was also issued as the first single from the album. Originally written as an instrumental, Revival is one of the most easily recognizable songs in the Allman Brothers' catalog, and was the band's first single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending three weeks there.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Love Her Madly
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    The Doors
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1971    
    Released as a single in advance of the 1971 Doors album L.A. Woman, Love Her Madly was a major success, peaking just outside the top 10 in the US, and going all the way to the #3 spot in Canada. The album itself was a return to a more blues-based sound by the Doors, a change that did not sit well with producer Paul Rothchild, who left the project early on, leaving engineer Bruce Botnik to assume production duties. Rothchild's opinion aside, it was exactly what the Doors needed to end their run (in their original four man incarnation) on a positive note. 

Artist:    Firesign Theatre
Title:    The Three Faces Of Al
Source:    LP: The Three Faces Of Al
Writer(s):    Austin/Proctor/Bergman
Label:    Rhino
Year:    1984
    Undoubtably the Firesign Theatre's best-known and best-loved creation was private detective Nick Danger, Third Eye. The character first appeared in The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger, a parody of 1930s radio dramas that took up the entire second side of the 1969 album How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All. After showing up on a variety of albums, radio shows and even a movie over the next decade and a half, Danger finally got his own full-length album, The Three Faces Of Al, in 1984. David Ossman, who played the 1000-year-old man Catherwood in Further Adventures, had left the Firesign Theatre (temporarily, as it turned out) to be a producer at NPR, and did not participate in the writing or recording of The Three Faces Of Al.

Artist:    Doctor Hook And The Medicine Show
Title:    Makin' It Natural
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Silverstein/Comanor
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1972
    Before shortening their name to Dr. Hook and becoming a somewhat bland mainstream band in the mid-1970s, Doctor Hook And The Medicine Show were a showcase group for the songs of Shel Silverstein, among them Sylvia's Mother and its B side, Makin' It Natural. 

Artist:    Poco
Title:    From The Inside
Source:    CD: The Forgotton Trail (1969-74) (originally released on LP: From The Inside)
Writer(s):    Timothy B. Schmidt
Label:    Epic/Legacy
Year:    1971
    The lineup of pioneering country-rock band Poco was pretty much in flux right from the beginning, with original bassist Randy Meisner leaving the band even before their first album was completed. His eventual replacement was Timothy B Schmidt, who had actually auditioned for the band when it was being formed and had been turned down in favor of Meisner. Schmidt was never the most prolific songwriter in the band, only contributing one song apiece to their early LPs, including the title track of their third album, From The Inside. Schmidt would go on to provide backup vocals for Steely Dan on three of their most popular albums in the mid-1970s and would eventually join the Eagles, once again replacing Randy Meisner.

 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2622 (starts 5/25/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/620260

    This week we feature the entire second side of the 1971 Moody Blues album Every Good Boy Deserves (there really isn't much choice, since all the songs overlap each other). But of course that's only one segment of the show, and there's lots of good stuff in the other ones, including an extra long set of tunes from 1966 to start things off.

Artist:    Animals
Title:    Don't Bring Me Down
Source:    Mono LP: Animalization
Writer(s):    Goffin/King
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1966
    I originally bought the Animals Animalization album in early 1967 and immediately fell in love with the first song, Don't Bring Me Down. Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Don't Bring Me Down is one of the few songs written for the Animals by professional songwriters that lead vocalist Eric Burdon actually liked.

Artist:    Count Five
Title:    Psychotic Reaction
Source:    Simulated stereo LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label:    Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year:    1965
    San Jose, California, had a vibrant teen music scene in the late 60s, despite the fact that the relatively small (at the time) city was overshadowed by San Francisco at the other end of the bay (both cities were then, as now, considered part of the same metropolitan market). One of the more popular bands in town was Count Five, a group of five individuals who chose to dress up like Bela Lugosi's Dracula, capes and all. Musically, they idolized the Yardbirds (Jeff Beck era), and for slightly more than three minutes managed to sound more like their idols than the Yardbirds themselves (who by then had replaced Beck with Jimmy Page and had shifted musical gears).

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Hey Joe
Source:    CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer(s):    Billy Roberts
Label:    MCA (original US label: Reprise)
Year:    1966
    The first track recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was Hey Joe, a song that Hendrix had seen Tim Rose perform in Greenwich Village before relocating to London to form his new band. It was released as a single in the UK in late 1966 and went all the way to the # 3 spot on the British top 40. Hendrix's version is a bit heavier than Rose's and leaves off the first verse ("where you going with that money in your hand") entirely. Although Rose always claimed that Hey Joe was a traditional folk song, the song was actually copyrighted in 1962 by California folk singer Billy Roberts. By the time Hendrix recorded Hey Joe several American bands had recorded a fast version of the song, with the Leaves hitting the US top 40 with it in early 1966.

Artist:    Savoy Brown Blues Band
Title:    True Story
Source:    Simulated stereo LP: British Archives Volume 2 (originally released on LP: An Anthology Of British Blues Vol. 2)
Writer(s):    Chatman
Label:    RCA Victor (original label: Immediate)
Year:    Recorded 1966, released 1968
    The original Savoy Brown Blues Band lineup, consisting of Guitarist Kim Simmonds, bassist Ray Chappell, drummer Leo Mannings, pianist Bob Hall (who had replaced Trevor Jeavons almost immediately after the band's formation, which is why I consider him an original member), harmonica player John O'Leary and vocalist Brice Portius, cut four sides for the Purdah label in 1966. Two of these were issued as a single, while the other two, including True Story, remained unreleased until Immediate records included them on their Anthology Of British Blues series two years later.

Artist:    Butterfield Blues Band
Title:    Mary Mary
Source:    CD: East-West
Writer(s):    Michael Nesmith
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    Poor Mike Nesmith. One of his first compositions to get recorded was Mary Mary, which appeared on the classic 1966 Butterfield Blues Band album East-West. Unfortunately for Mr. Nesmith, the album contained no songwriting credits, leading Butterfield fans to assume the song was a band original. Not long after East-West was released Nesmith successfully auditioned for a new TV show about the adventures of an up-and-coming band called the Monkees. The TV show was an instant success, spawning a hit single and album in late 1966, making Nesmith quite famous. When a second Monkees album appeared in January of 1967 with their own version of Mary Mary on it, a lot of people assumed that Nesmith had ripped off the Butterfield Blues Band. In reality, it was the Monkees themselves that were getting screwed, as the album, featuring studio musicians under the supervision of Don Kirschner playing on all the tracks, was released without the knowledge or consent of the band itself.

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

Artist:     Steve Miller Band
Title:     Song For Our Ancestors
Source:     CD: Sailor
Writer:     Steve Miller
Label:     Capitol
Year:     1968
     Sometime around 1980 someone (I don't recall who) released an album called Songs of the Humpback Whale. It was essentially two LP sides of live recordings of the mammals in their natural habitat (the ocean, duh). This was soon followed by a whole series of albums of natural sounds recorded in high fidelity stereo that went under the name Environments. I wonder if the producers of those albums realized that they were following in the footsteps of San Francisco's Steve Miller Band, who's second LP, Sailor, opens with about a minute of ocean sounds (including whale songs) that serve as an intro to Miller's Song For Our Ancestors (which in turn segues into the album's second song, Dear Mary).

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) 
Source:    CD: Anthology 2 (mon version originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple/Parlophone
Year:    1970
    Basically a studio concoction assembled by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was originally intended to be released as a 1969 single by the Plastic Ono Band. The track was the result of four separate recording sessions dating back to 1967 and originally ran over six minutes long. The instrumental tracks were recorded around the same time the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in Spring of 1967. Brian Jones added a saxophone part on June 8th of that year. In April of 1969 Lennon and McCartney added vocals, while Lennon edited the entire track down from a monoraul mixdown to slightly over four minutes. The single was readied for a November release, but at the last minute was withdrawn. The recording was instead released as the B side of the Beatles' Let It Be single the following year. In 1996 the original tapes were re-edited to create a new stereo mix that runs a little over five and a half minutes in length. The new mix was included on the Anthology 2 CD.

Artist:    Love Sculpture
Title:    Sabre Dance
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Khachaturian, arr. Edmunds
Label:    Parrot
Year:    1969
    Eat your heart out, Ted Nugent.

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:    Luv'd Ones
Title:    I'm Leaving You
Source:    CD: If You're Ready! The Best Of Dunwich Records...Volume 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Gallagher/Vinnedge
Label:    Sundazed/Here 'Tis (original label: Dunwich)
Year:    1966
    Although nearly all of the original material performed by the Luv'd Ones was written by lead guitarist/vocalist Char Vinnedge, rhythm guitarist Mary Gallagher got a co-writing credit on I'm Leaving You. The song was issued as the band's second single for the Dunwich label, and was reissued five months later as the B side of their third and final single, Dance Kid Dance.

Artist:    Country Joe and the Fish
Title:    Section 43
Source:    CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer:    Joe McDonald
Label:    Vanguard
Year:    1967
    In 1966 Country Joe and the Fish released their original mono version of an instrumental called Section 43. The song was included on a 7" EP inserted in Joe McDonald's underground arts newspaper called Rag Baby. In 1967 the group recorded an expanded stereo version of Section 43 and included it on their debut LP for Vanguard Records, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. It was this arrangement of the piece (and quite possibly this recording) that was used in D. A. Pennebacker's film chronicle of the Monterey International Pop Festival that June.  

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Magic Of Love
Source:    45 RPM single (from box set Move Over)
Writer(s):    M. Spoelstra
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968
    Until 2011, the only available recordings of Magic Of Love by Big Brother And The Holding Company were of live performances in 1967 and 1968. What very few people realized, however, is that the band actually recorded a studio version of Magic Of Love for possible inclusion on their Cheap Thrills album in 1968. Ultimately, though, it was decided that Cheap Thrills would be presented as a set of live recordings, and only two (three if you count Turtle Blues) of the original studio tracks were used on the album (although other studio recordings disguised as live tracks were used as well). Thus the studio version of Magic Of Love was put on the shelf for over 40 years, finally surfacing as part of a special box set of four 45 RPM records called Move Over. 

Artist:    Show Stoppers
Title:    Nothing To Say Today
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    W.E. Hjerpe
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    The Show Stoppers were a Rochester, NY based club band that included Don Potter and Bat McGrath, who would go on to release an album together on the Epic label in 1969. The Show Stoppers were discovered by John Hammond in 1966 and signed to the Columbia label, where they released two singles. Both were rather pop-oriented, with better B sides. The first of these B sides was Nothing To Say Today, released in 1966. Both Potter and McGrath now reside in Nashville, where Potter became well-known as the creator of the "Judds sound" in the 1980s. Special thanks to Tom at the Bop Shop in Rochester (a record store that specializes in vinyl) for making these records available to me. 

Artist:    Moody Blues
Title:    Every Good Boy Deserves Favor-side two
Source:    LP: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor
Writer(s):    Lodge/Thomas/Hayward/Pinder
Label:    Threshold
Year:    1971
    The Moody Blues are probably the first rock band to become known for doing nothing but concept albums, starting with the 1967 LP Days Of Future Past. Their 1971 album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, is no exception, as each song on the LP leads directly into the next track. The second side of the LP consists of four songs, each one written by a different member of the group (a tactic that Pink Floyd was exploring at around the same time). The first of these is One More Time To Live, written by John Lodge. This is followed by Nice To Be Here, a Ray Thomas composition, and You Can Never Go Home, a tune from the pen of Justin Hayward. The album ends with My Song, written by Mike Pinder. Each song on the album is sung by the member that wrote the tune; despite this, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor maintains a consistency of sound throughout.
        
Artist:    Cyrkle
Title:    Bony Moronie
Source:    LP: Red Rubber Ball
Writer(s):    Larry Williams
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    The history of rock and roll is filled with one-hit wonders. Less common, however, are groups than managed to crack the upper reaches of the charts a second time, only to suffer diminishing returns with each subsequent effort. Such was the case with the Cyrkle, who burst on the scene with Red Rubber Ball and Turn Down Day in 1966. Originally a frat-rock band called the Rhondells, the group's fortunes turned in a big way on Labor Day of 1965, when New York attorney Nathan Weiss caught their gig in Atlantic City. Weiss in turn recommended the band to his business partner, Brian Epstein, who was looking for an American band to manage (I guess the Beatles weren't enough for him). Epstein renamed the band the Cyrkle (John Lennon providing the variant spelling) and set them up as the opening band for the Beatles' last US tour, including their final gig at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966. Along the way, the group signed with Columbia Records, recording two LPs and several singles for the label before disbanding in early 1968. The first album, Red Rubber Ball, was a solid example of sunshine pop, as evidenced by the band's unique arrangement of Larry Williams's Bony Moronie. Two of the band's members, Don Dannemann and Tom Dawes, went on to become successful jingle writers (Dannemann wrote the original Un-Cola song while Dawes came up with "Plop plop fizz fizz" for Alka-Seltzer. The other two members became successful in other fields; one, Marty Fried is a bankruptcy attorney and the other, Earl Pickens, is a surgeon. 
 
Artist:      David Bowie
Title:     Space Oddity
Source:      CD: Sound and Vision Sampler (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    David Bowie
Label:    Ryko (original US label: Mercury)
Year:     1969
     When David Jones first started his recording career he was a fairly conventional pop singer, even after changing his name to David Bowie (to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees). After several failed attempts to establish himself, Bowie released a song called Space Oddity in July of 1969, less than two weeks before the Apollo 11 moon landing. The song got off to a slow start, but by October was a hit in the UK, going all the way into the top 5 on the British charts. It was, however, banned by several radio stations in the US, and only charted three years later when it was re-released by RCA Victor, becoming Bowie's first US top 20 hit. The mellotron heard in the song, incidentally, was played by none other than Rick Wakeman, who would go on to become a member of Yes and a successful solo artist in the 1970s.

Artist:    Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title:    Cowgirl In The Sand
Source:    LP: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer:    Neil Young
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1969
    It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes you want to get sick yourself, doesn't it?

Artist:    Pearls Before Swine
Title:    These Things Too
Source:    LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show (originally released on LP: These Things Too)
Writer(s):    Tom Rapp
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    First there was folk-rock. Then came psychedelic rock. Somewhere among all this emerged something that has come to be called psychedelic folk. Perhaps the best example of this is a band called Pearls Before Swine, formed in Eau Gallie, Florida in 1965 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Rapp with high school friends Wayne Harley (banjo, mandolin), Lane Lederer (bass, guitar) and Roger Crissinger (piano, organ). Inspired by the Fugs, they sent some demo tapes to the New York-based ESP Disk' label, which had released the first Fugs recordings. They were quickly signed to the label and got to work on their first LP, One Nation Underground. The album was a critical success, but whatever money was generated from album sales mysteriously vanished before reaching any band members. This led to subsequent Pearls Before Swine albums being essentially solo albums from Rapp, although Harley was still around for the album These Things Too. Also prominently featured on These Things Too was Rapp's wife Elisabeth, a Dutch national whom he had met during sessions for the second Pearls Before Swine album, Balaklava. 

Artist:    Vanilla Fudge
Title:    Sketch
Source:    LP: The Beat Goes On
Writer(s):    Vanilla Fudge
Label:    Atco
Year:    1968
    Following the success of their debut LP (it hit #6 on the Billboard LP charts in September of 1967), the members of Vanilla Fudge concentrated their efforts on a pair of tunes that were released as a single in January of 1968. Meanwhile their producer, Shadow Morton, was working on a concept album without a whole lot of input from the band itself based around a recent Sonny And Cher hit single. The Beat Goes On was released in February of 1968. Each of the album four phases was centered around a different interpretation of Sonny Bono's composition. The band itself came up with the opening track on the album, appropriately titled Sketch, as it sets the stage for what comes after.

Artist:     Buffalo Springfield
Title:     Special Care
Source:      LP: Last Time Around
Writer:    Stephen Stills
Label:     Atco
Year:        1968
       Released after Buffalo Springfield had already split up, 1968's Last Time Around is an uneven album that nonetheless includes some tasty tracks that have been largely overlooked. A prime example is Stephen Stills's Special Care, sounding as much like early Crosby, Stills And Nash as it does Buffalo Springfield.
 
Artist:    West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:    A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Source:    CD: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer(s):    Markley/Harris
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Reprise) 
Year:    1968
    If there was ever a band that illustrated just how bizarre the late 60s could be, it was the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Formed at a party (hosted by Hollywood hustler Kim Fowley) by the Harris brothers, Shaun and Danny, sons of a noted orchestra conductor, and financed by lyricist Bob Markley, a borderline pedophile with lots of money to burn, the band also included a talented but troubled lead guitarist from Denver, Ron Morgan, and a multi-instrumentalist, Michael Lloyd, who would go on to become a highly successful record producer. As would be expected with such a disparate group, several members ended up quitting during the band's run; strangely enough, they all ended up returning to the band at one time or another. Their music was just as strange as their story, as the title track of their fourth album, Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil, illustrates vividly. Musically the song is powerful, almost anthemic, creating a mood that is immediately destroyed by a spoken bit (I hesitate to use the term "poetry") by the aforementioned borderline pedophile, against a backdrop of a more subdued musical bed with background vocals somewhat resembling Gregorian chant. And just what words of wisdom does Markley have to share with us? Let me give you a small sample: "a vampire bat will suck blood from our hands, a dog with rabies will bite us, rats will run up your legs, but nothing will matter." Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the whole thing is that the piece was created without benefit of drugs, as all the members of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (except for lead guitarist Ron Morgan) were notoriously drug-free, itself a bit of an oddity in late 60s Hollywood. Oddly enough, in spite of this (or maybe because of it), the track is actually quite fun to listen to. Besides, it only lasts two and a half minutes.


 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2622 (starts 5/25/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/620257 

    This time around we start with a set of tunes from 1969 before getting into slightly more recent musical territory, finishing out the hour with our first look at the 1972 edition of the band Zephyr.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    You Can't Always Get What You Want
Source:    CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1969
    When the Rolling Stones called for singers to back them up on their recording of You Can't Always Get What You Want, they expected maybe 30 to show up. Instead they got twice that many, and ended up using them all on the record. The song, which also features Al Kooper on organ, was orginally released as the B side of Honky Tonk Women in 1969. In the mid-1970s, after the Stones had established their own record label, Allen Klein, who had bought (some say stolen) the rights to the band's pre-1970 recordings, reissued the single, this time promoting You Can't Always Get What You Want as the A side. Klein's strategy worked and the song ended up cracking the top 40 and becoming one of the Stones' most beloved tunes.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Nothing Is Easy
Source:    European import LP: Stand Up
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original US label: Reprise)
Year:    1969
    Not long after the release of the first Jethro Tull album, guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a blues enthusiast, left the group due to musical differences with lead vocalist/flautist Ian Anderson, who favored a more eclectic approach to songwriting. Abrahams's replacement was Martin Barre, who remains a member of the group to this day. One of the first songs recorded with Barre is Nothing Is Easy, a blues rocker that opens side two of the band's second LP, Stand Up. More than any other track on Stand Up, Nothing Is Easy sounds like it could have been an outtake from This Was, the band's debut LP.

Artist:    Moody Blues
Title:    In The Beginning/Lovely To See You
Source:    CD: On The Threshold Of A Dream
Writer(s):    Edge/Hayward
Label:    Deram
Year:    1969
    If there is any one band known for their concept albums, it's the Moody Blues. Starting with the 1967 LP Days Of Future Past, every Moody Blues album has been a concept album (except for their live albums, of course). 1969 saw two of these albums being released by the group. The first was On The Threshold Of A Dream, which explores dreams and the inner psyche. The opening track, In The Beginning, consists of a dialogue between Justin Hayward (as a man attempting to define himself as a human being), Graeham Edge (as the voice of technology attempting to usurp the role of humanity) and Michael Pinder (as the inner voice of the original speaker), set against a background of electronic effects created by Edge. Heady stuff, but that' pretty much what the Moody Blues were about in 1969.

Artist:    Stevie Wonder
Title:    Don't Know Why I Love You
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Wonder/Hunter/Hardaway/Reiser
Label:    Tamla
Year:    1969
    According to Motown boss Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder and a lot of other people at the label put a lot of time and effort into the song originally titled I Don't Know Why. That wasn't to say, however, that they neglected the B side of the record. In fact, Berry later said that he had high expectations for both sides of every single Motownl released, figuring that if for some reason the A side didn't catch on, the B side stood a good chance of doing so instead. Such was the case here, as that B side was a little tune called My Cherie Amour. Not long after the record's original release, the Rolling Stones cut their own version of I Don't Know Why that was released as a single in 1975 by Allen Klein and credited at first to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. After several pressings Klein's company Abkco finally corrected the error, giving songwriting credit to Wonder, Paul Riser, Don Hunter and Lula Hardaway.

Artist:     Uriah Heep
Title:     The Park
Source:     European import CD: Salisbury
Writer:     Ken Hensley
Label:     Sanctuary/BMG (original US label: Mercury)
Year:     1971
     Uriah Heep's second album, Salisbury, saw the band shifting in a more progressive direction, thanks in large part to the input of keyboardist Ken Hensley, who wrote half the songs on the album. As the band's career progressed, Hensley would become the group's primary songwriter. One of the early Hensley tunes was the Park, a relatively quiet piece that gives David Byron a chance to exercise the higher end of his vocal range. 

Artist:    Joni Mitchell
Title:    Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire
Source:    LP: For The Roses (promo copy)
Writer(s):    Joni Mitchell
Label:    Asylum
Year:    1972
    After releasing several albums for Reprise, Joni Mitchell signed with David Geffen's Asylum label in 1972. Her first album for the label was For The Roses, which includes one of her first forays into jazz-folk fusion, Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire, a powerful portrait of a heroin addict's life. Alone among Mitchell's albums, For The Roses was selected by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2007. 

Artist:    Eagles
Title:    Outlaw Man
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    David Blue
Label:    Asylum
Year:    1973
    Although all the members of the Eagles are known for the songwriting abilities, some of the earliest singles were actually cover songs, including Peaceful Easy Feeling (by Jack Tempchin) and Outlaw Man (by David Blue). Blue was a recent addition to the Asylum roster, making him labelmates with the Eagles, and Outlaw Man was an obvious choice for inclusion on an album meant to have a modernized wild west theme. The song itself is a first person account of the life of an outlaw, with ambiguous enough lyrics to make it applicable to current times as well as the obvious 19th century. 

Artist:    Joe Walsh
Title:    Turn To Stone
Source:    LP: So What
Writer(s):    Walsh/Trebandt
Label:    ABC/Dunhill
Year:    1974
    Turn To Stone is one of Joe Walsh's better known solo tracks, but his 1974 recording of the tune on the album So What was not his first version of the song. That came two years earlier, on Walsh's first post James Gang LP, Barnstorm. Interestingly, the Barnstorm version credited Terry Trebandt (bassist for the Detroit-based Rationals) as co-writer of Turn To Stone, but was listed as a Walsh solo composition on So What.

Artist:    Mahogany Rush
Title:    Strange Universe
Source:    LP: Strange Universe
Writer(s):    Frank Marino
Label:    20th Century
Year:    1975
    Although there are countless guitarists that have been influenced by Jimi Hendrix in various ways, only one has been able to capture his entire sound from a production as well as performance standpoint. That one is Frank Marino, whose band, Mahogany Rush, has been recording since 1972. A listen to the title track of the 1975 album Strange Universe pretty much proves my point.

Artist:    Frank Zappa
Title:    Don't Eat Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast/Father Oblivion
Source:    CD: Apostrophe (')
Writer(s):    Frank Zappa
Label:    Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year:    1974
    Despite being one of the most prolific composer/performers of the 20th century, Frank Zappa only put three songs on the top 100 charts in his career. The first of these was an abbreviated version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow, the opening track on his 1974 LP Apostrophe ('). On the album itself the song segues directly into the next three tracks, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast and the instrumental Father Oblivion to form the suite heard here. 

Artist:    Zephyr
Title:    High-Flying Bird
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Billy Ed Wheeler
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1972
    Guitarist Tommy Bolin left Zephyr after their second LP, Going Back To Colorado. His replacement was Jock Bartley, who can be heard doing more jazz-oriented licks on Zephyr's cover of Billy Ed Wheeler's High-Flying Bird from their Sunset Ride album. After leaving Zephyr, Bartley went on to co-found the soft-rock band Firefall, while vocalist Candy Givens continued to front an ever-changing lineup of Zephyr members until her death in 1984.
 

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2621 (starts 5/18/26)

https://exchange.prx.org/p/619441

    Lots of artists' sets this time around; in fact one in each half hour segment of the show, with the first one featuring three tunes taken from the same classic album.

Artist:    Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title:    Kicks
Source:    CD: Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Mann/Weil
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1966    
    It may not have been the first pop song with a strong anti-drug message, but Kicks, as recorded by Paul Revere And The Raiders, was the first to be a certified hit, making it to the number four spot on the US charts and hitting number one in Canada. The song, written by Brill building husband and wife team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was also the highest charting single for Paul Revere and the Raiders until Indian Reservation made it all the way to the top five years later.

Artist:    Butterfield Blues Band
Title:    Two Trains Running
Source:    LP: East-West
Writer(s):    McKinley Morganfield
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1966
    By the 1960s, the blues had fallen out of favor with its traditional audience base. Jazz adherents considered it too primitive to take seriously, while those who listened regularly to gospel were convinced that the blues was "the Devil's music". Even R&B was abandoning its roots in favor of a more mainstream approach, especially in Detroit, where the Motown label was becoming a major force in pop music. There were still a few places left where blues was not a dirty word, however. Chicago, in particular, always took pride in its blues heritage, while in New York's Greenwich Village, a full-scale blues revival was underway. Within this revival there were both traditionalists and those who favored a more improvisational approach to the blues. Paul Butterfield's traditionalist approach can be heard on the Butterfield Blues Band's cover of the Muddy Waters tune Two Trains Running. Unlike the better-known Blues Project version of the tune, the Butterfield track (from the 1966 album East-West), maintains the song's original tempo and basic structure, clocking in at slightly under four minutes. 

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Paperback Writer
Source:    CD: Past Masters Volume Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple/Parlophone
Year:    1966
    Following a successful 1965 that culminated with their classic Rubber Soul album, the Beatles' first single release of 1966 was the equally classic Paperback Writer. The song was as influential as it was popular, to the point that the coda at the end of the song inspired Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to write what would become the Monkees' first number one hit: Last Train To Clarksville. 

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    I Know There's An Answer
Source:    Mono LP: Pet Sounds
Writer(s):    Wilson/Sachen
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1966
    One of the first songs recorded for the Pet Sounds album was Hang On To Your Ego, allegedly written by Brian Wilson on his second acid trip. Mike Love objected to some of the lyrics, particularly those of the chorus, and Wilson eventually decided to scrap them and write new ones, this time with the help of the group's road manager, Terry Sachen. The result was I Know There's An Answer.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    You Still Believe In Me
Source:    CD: Pet Sounds
Writer(s):    Wilson/Asher
Label:    Capitol/UMe
Year:    1966
    Although they were one of the first self-contained US rock bands, by 1966 the Beach Boys were using studio musicians almost exclusively on their recordings. At the same time Brian Wilson, who by then was writing all the band's music, had retired from performing with the band onstage. These factors combined to give Wilson the room to create the album that is often considered his and the band's artistic peak, Pet Sounds. Much of the material on the album, such as You Still Believe In Me, was written with the help of lyricist Tony Asher. Like many of the songs on Pet Sounds, You Still Believe In Me, heard here in a recently created stereo mix, includes unusual instrumentation such as a theramin and even a bicycle bell.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    Let's Go Away For Awhile
Source:    Mono LP: Pet Sounds
Writer(s):    Brian Wilson
Label:    Capitol/EMI
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:    Kim Fowley
Title:    Bubblegum
Source:    Import CD: Ah Feel Like Ahcid (originally released on LP: Outrageous)
Writer(s):    Cert/Fowley
Label:    Zonophone UK (original label: Imperial)
Year:    1969
    Like a hip Hollywood Forrest Gump, Kim Fowley kept popping up in various capacities throughout the 60s and 70s on records like Alley Oop (co-producer), Nut Rocker (writer, arranger) and the first three Runaways albums (producer and guy who introduced the band members to each other), working with such diverse talents as Gene Vincent, Helen Reddy and Kiss. He also managed to rack up an impressive catalog as a solo artist, with over two dozen albums to his credit. The most successful of these was his 1968 LP Outrageous, which includes the song Bubblegum (also called Bubble Gum). Despite the title, the track has nothing in common with bands like the 1910 Fruitgum Company. In fact, the song is sometimes cited as one of the first glam-rock recordings.

Artist:    H.P. Lovecraft
Title:    Spin, Spin, Spin
Source:    CD: Two Classic Albums from H. P. Lovecraft: H. P. Lovecraft/H. P. Lovecraft II (originally released on LP: H.P. Lovecraft II)
Writer(s):    Terry Callier
Label:    Collector's Choice/Universal Music Special Markets (original label: Philips)
Year:    1968
    The second album by H.P. Lovecraft (the band, not the author) is sometimes referred to as the ultimate acid rock album. In fact, it has been rumoured to be the first album made entirely under the influence of LSD (although the same has been said of the 1967 Jefferson Airplane LP After Bathing At Baxter's and other albums of the period as well). Regardless of its origins, H.P. Lovecraft II is certainly one of the most pyschedelic albums ever released. Like the band's first album, H.P. Lovecraft II contains several cover songs, including Spin, Spin, Spin, which opens the album. The tune was written by folk singer Terry Callier, an old friend of guitarist George Edwards from his pre-electric days, and features strong harmonies from Edwards and keyboardist Dave Michaels. 

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Comin' Back To Me
Source:    LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Marty Balin
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967
    Uncredited guest guitarist Jerry Garcia adds a simple, but memorable recurring fill riff to this Marty Balin tune. Balin, in his 2003 liner notes to the remastered release of Surrealistic Pillow, claims that Comin' Back To Me was written in one sitting under the influence of some primo stuff given to him by Paul Butterfield. Other players on the recording include Paul Kantner and Balin himself on guitars, Jack Casady on bass and Grace Slick on recorder.

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Through The Looking Glass
Source:    LP: Instant Replay
Writer(s):    Boyce/Hart/Baldwin
Label:    Colgems
Year:    1969
    Mickey Dolenz was the Monkees member with the most acting experience, having starred in the late '50s TV series Circus Boy. He was also the producers' singer of choice when it came to most of the band's upbeat tunes, including their first two hits, Last Train To Clarksville and I'm A Believer. After a major confrontation with music director Don Kirshner following the release of their second LP, More Of The Monkees, the band members themselves began to take a more active role in the production process, at first hiring Chip Douglas to produce the album Headquarters and then producing subsequent albums themselves. Following the release of the soundtrack album for the film Head, however, Peter Tork, who had been the strongest advocate for the band's independence, left the group, and the remaining members hired their former road manager, Brenden Cahill, to do essentially the same thing Kirschner had done in the early days. As a result, the seventh Monkees album, Instant Replay, has nine different producers listed for the various tracks on the LP. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who had produced Last Train To Clarksville, produced four of the songs on Instant Replay, including the album's opening track, Through The Looking Glass.

Artist:     Monkees
Title:     Randy Scouse Git
Source:     CD: Headquarters 
Writer:     Mickey Dolenz
Label:     Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year:     1967
     The original concept for the Monkees TV series was that the band would be shown performing two new songs on each weekly episodes. This meant that, even for an initial 13-week order, 26 songs would have to be recorded in a very short amount of time. The only way to meet that deadline was for several teams of producers, songwriters and studio musicians to work independently of each other at the same time. The instrumental tracks were then submitted to musical director Don Kirschner, who brought in Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith to record vocal tracks. Although some of the instrumental tracks, such as those produced by Nesmith, had Nesmith and Tork playing on them, many did not. Some backing tracks were even recorded in New York at the same time as the TV show was being taped in L.A. In a few cases, the Monkees themselves did not hear the songs until they were in the studio to record their vocal tracks. A dozen of these recordings were chosen for release on the first Monkees LP in 1966, including the hit single Last Train To Clarksville. When it became clear that the show was a hit and a full season's worth of episodes would be needed, Kirschner commissioned even more new songs (although by then Clarksville was being featured in nearly every episode, mitigating the need for new songs somewhat). Without the band's knowledge Kirschner issued a second album, More Of The Monkees, in early 1967, using several of the songs recorded specifically for the TV show. The band members were furious, and the subsequent firestorm resulted in the removal of Kirschner from the entire Monkees project. The group then hired Turtles bassist Chip Douglas to work with the band to produce an album of songs that the Monkees themselves would both sing and play on. The album, Headquarters, spent one week at the top of the charts before giving way to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. There were, however, no singles released from the album; at least not in the US. It turns out that the seemingly nonsensical title of the album's final track, Randy Scouse Git, was actually British slang for "horny guy from Liverpool", or something along those lines. The song was released everywhere but the continental US under the name Alternate Title and was a surprise worldwide hit. 

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    You And I
Source:    LP: Instant Replay
Writer(s):    Jones/Chadwick
Label:    Colgems
Year:    1969
    Davy Jones surprised everyone by bringing in Neil Young to play lead guitar on the only track on the album Instant Replay that Jones himself produced (and co-wrote). As it turns out You And I is one of the better songs on the album and rocks out harder than anything else Davy Jones ever came up with.

Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    Out On The Tiles
Source:    CD: Led Zeppelin III
Writer(s):    Bonham/Page/Plant
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1970
    The third Led Zeppelin is known for being a departure from the formula established on the band's first two albums. As a general rule, it is more acoustic in nature than other Zeppelin albums, thanks in large part to having been composed when Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were living in a cottage with no electricity called Bron-Yr-Aur. One exception to this acoustic direction, however, was Out On The Tiles, which was brought to the band by drummer John Bonham, and then fleshed out by Page and Plant. As it turns out, Out On The Tiles, more than any other track on Led Zeppelin III, presages the direction the band's music would take by the end of the 1970s.

Artist:    Keith West
Title:    She
Source:    European import CD: Tomorrow
Writer(s):    Keith West
Label:    Parlophone 
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 1999
    Tomorrow was a British band with an ongoing identity crisis. Originally known as the In Crowd, they recorded a pair of songs for use in the film Blow-Up in 1966, only to see those songs (and their appearance in the film itself) shelved when the movie's producer hired the Yardbirds to perform instead. They then changed their name to Tomorrow and began making a name for themselves on the London underground music scene. They also made an appearance in another film, Smashing Time, in 1967, only under the fictional name Snarks. Their music, however, was not used in that film, either. They did manage to release a pair of singles that year, but neither of them made the charts. Around that time lead vocalist Keith West participated in a project by Mark Wirtz called A Teenage Opera that resulted in West having a hit single called Excerpt from 'A Teenage Opera' (Grocer Jack). This led to promoters billing the band as Tomorrow featuring Keith West, which for obvious reasons did not go over well with the other band members. In fact, Tomorrow soon disbanded with West forming a new band with Tomorrow guitarist Steve Howe (Yes, that Steve Howe), Ronnie Wood (yes, that Ronnie Wood) and Aynsley Dunbar (yes, that Aynsley Dunbar). They recorded a handful of tracks, including the song She, but were unable to land a record deal. Eventually West got into production, mostly working with the advertising industry.

Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    Get Me To The World On Time
Source:    CD: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (originally released on LP: The Electric Prunes)
Writer(s):    Tucker/Jones
Label:    Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    With I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) climbing the charts in early 1967, the Electric Prunes turned to songwriter Annette Tucker for two more tracks to include on their debut LP. One of those, Get Me To The World On Time (co-written by lyricist Jill Jones) was selected to be the follow up single to Dream. Although not as big a hit, the song still did respectably on the charts (and was actually the first Electric Prunes song I ever heard on FM radio).

Artist:    The Raik's Progress
Title:    Call My Name
Source:    Mono LP: Sewer Rat Love Chant
Writer(s):    Tommy Scott
Label:    Sundazed
Year:    Recorded 1966, released 2003
    "A bunch of 17-year-old quasi-intellectual proto-punks" was how Steve Krikorian, later to be known as Tonio K, described his first band. Krikorian, along with friends Alan Shapazian, Steve Olson, Nick van Maarth, and Duane Scott, formed The Raik's Progress in 1966 in Fresno, California. By the end of the year they had already cut a single for a major label (Liberty) and would soon find themselves opening for Buffalo Springfield at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium. The Raik's Progress was best known for their stage show, which included sitting down and playing a game of poker between songs and other strange antics. Their music was equally eccentric, in that it combined influences from the more blues oriented British Invasion bands like the Animals and Them with an avant-garde sensibility more in line with what Frank Zappa's Mothers were doing at the time. Although they only released one single, the band did manage to record an album's worth of material before disbanding, including a cover of Call My Name, written by Scottish songwriter Tommy Scott and released by Van Morrison's band, Them, in 1966.

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    Still, I'm Sad
Source:    British import 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    McCarty/Samwell-Smith
Label:    Epic
Year:    1965
    The most influential Yardbirds song on US garage bands, as well as their biggest US hit, was their grunged out version of Bo Diddley's I'm A Man, which hit the top 10 in 1965. The B side of that record (in the US) was Still I'm Sad, possibly the first rock song to incorporate Gregorian chant. Interestingly enough, Still I'm Sad was released in the UK on the exact same day as in the US, but as the B side to an entirely different tune, Evil Hearted You.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Not Fade Away
Source:    Mono CD: Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Hardin/Petty
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1964
    The Rolling Stones' first top 5 hit in the UK was an updated version of the Buddy Holly B side Not Fade Away. The Stones put a greater emphasis on the Bo Diddley beat than Holly did and ended up with their first charted single in the US as well, establishing the Rolling Stones as the Yang of the British Invasion to the Beatles' Ying. It was a role that fit the top band from the city they call "The Smoke" well.

Artist:    Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
Title:    Wooly Bully
Source:    LP: Wooly Bully (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Domingo Samudio
Label:    M-G-M (original label: XL)
Year:    1964
    Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs were pioneers of what has come to be called Tex-Mex, a style that can best described as straight ahead rock and roll seasoned with traditional Mexican forms such as salsa and ranchero. The Pharaohs were already a popular band in their native Texas when they recorded Wooly Bully for the regional XL label in 1964. The song proved so popular that it (and the band's contract) was bought outright by M-G-M Records, at the time one of the largest labels in the country. Wooly Bully was re-released nationally on M-G-M in 1965 and ended up among the top 10 records of the year.

Artist:    Animals
Title:    We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (US version)
Source:    Mono CD: The Very Best Of The Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Mann/Weil
Label:    Abkco (original label: M-G-M)
Year:    1965
    In 1965 producer Mickey Most put out a call to Don Kirschner's Brill building songwriters for material that could be recorded by the Animals. He ended up selecting three songs, all of which are among the Animals' most popular singles. Possibly the most familiar of the three is a song written by the husband and wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil called We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. The song (the first Animals recording to featuring Dave Rowberry, who had replaced founder Alan Price on organ) starts off with what is probably Chas Chandler's best known bass line, slowly adding drums, vocals, guitar and finally keyboards on its way to an explosive chorus. The song was not originally intended for the Animals, however; it was written for the Righteous Brothers as a follow up to (You've Got That) Lovin' Feelin', which Mann and Weil had also provided for the duo. Mann, however, decided to record the song himself, but the Animals managed to get their version out first, taking it to the top 20 in the US and the top 5 in the UK. As the Vietnam war escalated, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place became a sort of underground anthem for US servicemen stationed in South Vietnam, and has been associated with that war ever since. Incidentally, there were actually two versions of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place recorded during the same recording session, with an alternate take accidentally being sent to M-G-M and subsequently being released as the US version of the single. This version (which some collectors and fans maintain has a stronger vocal track) appeared on the US-only LP Animal Tracks in the fall of 1965 as well as the original M-G-M pressings of the 1966 album Best Of The Animals. The original UK version, on the other hand, did not appear on any albums, as was common for British singles in the 1960s. By the 1980s record mogul Allen Klein had control of the original Animals' entire catalog, and decreed that all CD reissues of the song would use the original British version of the song, including the updated (and expanded) CD version of The Best Of The Animals. Abkco has continued to release various Animals compilation discs over the years, including some, such as The Very Best Of The Animals, that use the US version of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.

Artist:    Animals
Title:    I Can't Believe It
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Eric Burdon
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1965
    Eric Burdon did not write many songs for the original Animals, and most of those he did with collaborations with other band members. One of the few he did write on his own was I Can't Believe It, released as the B side of the single We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and the American (but not the British) version of the album Animal Tracks. 

Artist:    Animals
Title:    Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Source:    Mono LP: The Very Best Of The Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Benjamin/Marcus/Caldwell
Label:    Abkco (original label: M-G-M)
Year:    1965
    1965 was a huge year for the Animals. Coming off the success of their 1964 smash House Of The Rising Sun, the Newcastle group racked up three major hits in 1965, including Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, a song originally recorded by jazz singer Nina Simone. The Animals version speeded up the tempo and used a signature riff that had been taken from Simone's outro. The Animals version of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood made the top 20 in the US and the top five in both the UK and Canada.
 
Artist:    Shadows Of Knight
Title:    New York Bullseye
Source:    LP: Back Door Men
Writer(s):    Harry Pye
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Dunwich)
Year:    1966
    There are two tracks credited to Harry Pye on the second Shadows Of Knight album, Back Door Men. Both are instrumentals. The second of these, New York Bullseye, is basically a blues jam. All this, plus the fact that I can't seem to find any information on "Harry Pye", leads me to believe that Harry Pye was actually a close relative of Nanker Phelge and McGannahan Skjellyfetti, both of which were fictional entities used to secure royalties on recordings created by an entire band (the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, respectively.)

Artist:    West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:    Unfree Child
Source:    LP: Volume II
Writer(s):    Markley/Harris
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1967
    For those who are not familiar with reel-to-reel tape technology, here's a quick primer. As with all tape tech, a recording is created by a magnetic head imprinting patterns onto magnetic tape. This tape travels across the head at a predetermined speed. There were actually several speeds used over the years, all of which were standardized by measuring the length of tape travelling across the head in one second. In addition, each standard speed was exactly one half of the one above it, with the fastest having the highest quality. The fastest known speed was 30 inches per second (only used by computers, as far as I know), with 15 ips being the standard speed for studio recordings. Radio stations generally had machines that ran at either 15 or 7 1/2 ips, while home units ran at either 7 1/2 or 3 3/4. Dictating machines, which were virtually useless for recording music, used 1 7/8 or even 15/16 (which had so much tape hiss you could barely hear the recording itself). The advantage of halving the speed (besides the obvious economic advantage) is that the original key of the music is the same, albeit an octave lower. This made it possible to deliberately record something at the wrong speed, then play that recording back at the regular speed in the same key (but at half or double tempo). As the technology developed it became possible to put multiple tracks onto the same strip of tape, with first two, then three, four, eight and even sixteen tracks running parallel along the tape. This is what made it possible to record overdubs (by putting the original recording on one track and play it back while recording more stuff on another one), and to record in stereo. Unfree Child, which starts off a set of 1967 tracks from L.A. bands, has an intro that was actually recorded at a higher speed then played back at the next one down, giving it a deep growling sound. This type of effect, combined with backwards masking (created by playing the tape back to front and recording something on one of the unused tracks) is what got some heavy metal bands into trouble for putting hidden "Satanic" messages on their records.

Artist:    Max Frost And The Troopers aka the 13th Power aka Mom's Boys
Title:    Free Lovin'
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Wibier/Hemrick
Label:    Tower
Year:    1968
    One of the most intriguing mysteries in rock 'n' roll history concerned a band called the 13th Power. At the core of this mystery is the fact that nobody knew for sure whether there even was a band called the 13th Power. The first time I saw the name was on the 1968 soundtrack album from the movie Wild In The Streets. On that LP, all the songs that had been "performed" in the movie by Max Frost And The Troopers were credited to the 13th Power. However, the hit single from the movie, Shape Of Things To Come, listed Max Frost And The Troopers as the artist. To make things even more confusing, Tower Records, in the wake of the success of the single, released an entire album by Max Frost And The Troopers called (you guessed it) Shape Of Things To Come. Two tracks from that LP were subsequently released as a single on Mike Curb's Sidewalk label, with the 13th Power shown as the artist of record (sorry). The writing credits on those two tracks (and indeed, on most of the tracks on the Shape Of Things To Come album itself) included Paul Wibier, Dale Beckner, Stewart Martin, G. McClain and Barney Hector, all of which had been involved in writing songs for other soundtrack albums for Curb. (Just to confuse the matter even further some of those earlier songs were credited to a band called Mom's Boys.) Muddying the waters even further is a 13th Power single that came out in October of 1967 on the Sidewalk label, several months before the Wild In The Streets soundtrack album was released. The A side of that single was written by Wibier and Hector, while the B side is credited to Wibier/ McClain/ Martin/ Beckner and Hector. As a general rule, rock songs credited to five people are the work of an entire band, making this the likely lineup of the 13th Power (or Mom's Boys if you prefer).

Artist:     Vanilla Fudge
Title:     Need Love
Source:     Mono CD: The Complete Atco Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:     Stein/Bogart/Martell/Appice
Label:     Real Gone/Rhino (original label: Atco
Year: 1969
     Possibly the hardest rocking original ever recorded by Vanilla Fudge, Need Love was the lead single from Rock & Roll, the final album released prior to the band's initial breakup in 1970. Guitarist Vinnie Martell provided the lead vocals on the song.

Artist:    Wet Paint
Title:    Glass Road
Source:    CD: A Deadly Dose Of Wild Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Wet Paint
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Onyx)
Year:    1968
    Although most of the bands recording in the state of Massachusetts used studios in Boston, there were some exceptions. One such case was a band called Wet Paint, who recorded at Eastern Sounds Recordings in Metheun. Eastern even had its own in-house record label, Onyx, which is where Glass Road was released in 1968.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Masculine Intuition
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer:    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Original Sound
Year:    1966
    If you take out the cover songs that Original Sound Records added to the album without the band's knowledge or approval, Turn On The Music Machine has to be considered one of the best LPs of 1966. Not that the covers were badly done, but they were intended to be used for lip synching on a local TV show and were included without the knowledge or approval of the band, and that's never a good thing. Every one of the Sean Bonniwell originals on the other hand, combines strong musical structure and intelligent lyrics with musicianship far surpassing the average garage band. This is especially true in the case of Masculine Intuition, which was also issued as the B side of the band's second single.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    To The Light
Source:    Mono CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Bonniwell/Garfield
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1968
    Sean Bonniwell and his band the Music Machine hit the big time with their hit single Talk Talk in late 1966. Unfortunately, due in large part to circumstances beyond the band's control, they were never able to duplicate that success. Eventually, the band's grueling touring schedule took its toll, and all of the original members, save Bonniwell himself, were gone by the middle of 1967. Bonniwell was not quite ready to give up, however, and soon had a new Music Machine in place, recording a handful of new tunes and releasing them (along with several previously released singles by the original lineup) on an album called The Bonniwell Music Machine in late 1967. The new group's recording career did not stop there, however. Whenever possible, using whatever facilities were available, the band would book studio time for new tunes such as To The Light, which was released on 45 RPM vinyl in 1968. Bonniwell himself described the song as "Clip-Clop brevity and a vocal rendering almost too coy for platonic love nurturing a tormented libido", adding that the end result is a question: "Can friends become lovers and remain friendly?"

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    The People In Me
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer:    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Original Sound
Year:    1966
    After Talk Talk soared into the upper reaches of the US charts the Music Machine's management made a tactical error. Instead of promoting the follow-up single, The People In Me, to the largest possible audience, the band's manager gave exclusive air rights to a relatively low-rated Burbank station at the far end of the Los Angeles AM radio dial. As local bands like the Music Machine depended on airplay in L.A. as a necessary step to getting national exposure, the move proved disastrous. Without any airplay on influential stations like KHJ and KRLA, The People In Me was unable to get any higher than the # 66 spot on the national charts. Even worse for the band, the big stations remembered the slight when subsequent singles by the Music Machine were released, and by mid-1967 the original lineup had disbanded, although Bonniwell continued to tour with a new Music Machine for another year. 
 
Artist:     Donovan
Title:     Writer In The Sun
Source:     Mono British import CD: Mellow Yellow
Writer:     Donovan Leitch
Label:     EMI (original label: Epic)
Year:     1967
     In 1966-67 Donovan's career was almost derailed by a contractual dispute with his UK label, Pye Records. This resulted in two of his albums, Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow, not being issued in the UK. At the time he felt that there was a real chance that he would be forced into retirement by the dispute, and with that weighing heavily on his mind he wrote the song Writer In The Sun. Ironically his career was moving in the opposite direction in the US due to him switching from the relatively small Hickory label to Epic Records (a subsidiary of Columbia, at the time the second-largest record company in the US) and scoring top 10 singles with the title tracks from both albums. His success with those records in the US may have been a factor in Pye settling with the singer-songwriter and issuing a British album that combined tracks from the two albums in late 1967.

Artist:    Buckinghams
Title:    Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Source:    LP: The Buckinghams' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Time And Charges)
Writer(s):    Williams/Watson/Zawinul
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1967
    After winning a battle of the bands competition in late 1965, the Pulsations landed a job as the house band at a local Chicago TV station's teen-oriented variety show, All-Time Hits. At the suggestion of the show's producers they adopted the name Buckinghams, because it tied in with a popular local landmark, Buckingham Fountain (in Grant Park). The fact that it also sounded vaguely British was a factor as well. In early 1966 they signed a deal with local label USA Records, releasing several singles that year. The last of these, Kind Of A Drag, went on to become a national #1 in early 1967, which brought them to the attention of producer James William Guercio, which in turn led to the Buckinghams signing with Columbia Records in early 1967. The band's association with Guercio produced four top 20 singles in 1967. The highest charting of these was a vocal version of Joe Zawinul's Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (originally recorded by Cannonball Adderly) featuring lyrics by rock 'n' roll legends Larry Williams and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, whose own version of the tune had stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts earlier in the year.

Artist:    "E" Types
Title:    Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source:    CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Bonner/Gordon
Label:    Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year:    1967
    The E-Types were originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell experienced by passing motorists travelling along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to "nearby" San Jose (about 60 miles to the north) as often as possible, the E-Types became regulars on the local scene there, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.

Artist:     Astronauts
Title:     Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer:     Boyce/Venet
Label:     RCA Victor
Year:     1965
     The Astronauts were formed in the early 60s in Boulder, Colorado, and were one of the few surf bands to come from a landlocked state. They had a minor hit with an instrumental called Baja during the height of surf's popularity, but were never able to duplicate that success in the US, although they did have considerable success in Japan, even outselling the Beach Boys there. By 1965 they had started to move away from surf music, adding vocals and taking on more of a garage-punk sound. What caught my attention when I first ran across this promo single in a commercial radio station throwaway pile was the song's title. Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day, written by Tommy Boyce and producer Steve Venet, was featured on the Monkees TV show and was included on their 1966 debut album. This 1965 Astronauts version of the tune has a lot more attitude than the Monkees version. Surprisingly the song didn't hit the US charts, despite being released on what was then the biggest record label in the world, RCA Victor. 

Artist:     Troggs
Title:     Wild Thing
Source:     Simulated stereo LP: Golden Days Of British Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:     Chip Taylor
Label:     Sire (original label: Fontana)
Year:     1966
    I have a DVD copy of a music video (although back then they were called promotional films) for the Troggs' Wild Thing in which the members of the band are lip-synching the song as they walk through what looks like a train station while being mobbed by girls at every turn. Every time I watch it I imagine singer Reg Presley saying giggity-giggity as he bobs his head. 

Artist:    Mystery Trend
Title:    Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source:    Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Nagle/Cuff
Label:    Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year:    1967
    The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster (without actually specifying what he did), surprising friends, family and neighbors. Despite being an excellent tune, the song's lyrics were way too dark for top 40 radio in 1967, and the record sank like a stone.