Thursday, June 30, 2011

Show # 1126 playlist

One advantage in having the week off from my day job is that I had plenty of time to assemble the notes for this week's show. Before getting to that, however, I want to welcome some new stations to the show, including:

KFOK-LP 95.1 in Georgetown, California
KEOS-FM 89.1 in Bryan, Texas
KWMR-FM 90.5 in Point Reyes, California and 89.9 in Bolinas, California
KKRN 88.5 FM in Bella Vista, California

KWMR is running the show Thursday nights from 10-Midnight Pacific, and KKRN is running it Wednesdays at 2PM Pacific. I'm not sure about the others. Anyway, to all of you listening to Stuck in the Psychedelic Era on these stations, welcome aboard!

Artist: Kinks
Title: Situation Vacant
Source: LP: Something Else
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
Ray Davies's songwriting on the 1967 album Something Else By The Kinks can probably best be characterized as presenting slices of life in three minutes or less. In the case of Situation Vacant we have the story of a man who accedes to the demands of his mother-in-law. How does it all turn out? Guess you'll have to listen to the song to find out.

Artist: Doors
Title: Take It As It Comes
Source: CD: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
L.A.'s Whisky-A-Go-Go was the place to be in 1966. Not only were some of the city's most popular bands playing there, but for a while the house band was none other than the Doors, playing songs like Take It As It Comes. One evening Jack Holtzman of Elektra Records was among those attending the club, having been invited there to hear the Doors by Arthur Lee (who with his band Love was already recording for Elektra). After hearing two sets Holtzman signed the group to a contract with the label, making the Doors only the second rock band to record for Elektra.

Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Sweet Young Thing
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Uptown)
Year: 1967
There is actually very little on vinyl that captures the flavor of how the Chocolate Watchband actually sounded when left to their own devices, as most of their recorded work was heavily influenced by producer Ed Cobb. One of the few recordings that does accurately represent the Watchband sound is Sweet Young Thing, the first single released under the band's real name (Blues Theme, a Watchband recording credited to the Hoggs, had been released in 1966 by Hanna-Barbera records).

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

Artist: Gypsy
Title: As Far As You Can See (As Much As You Can Feel)
Source: LP: In The Garden
Writer: Enrico Rosenbaum
Label: Metromedia
Year: 1971
From late 1969 to mid 1970 Gypsy was the house band at L.A's Whisky-A-Go-Go. During that period they released their first album, featuring the song Gypsy Queen. By the time the band's second LP, In The Garden, was released the group had gone through several personnel changes, with only keyboardist James Walsh, guitarist James Johnson and bandleader Enrico Rosenbaum, who played guitar and sang lead vocals, left from the lineup that had recorded the first LP. The new members included Bill Lordan (who would go on record several albums with Robin Trower) on drums and the legendary Willie Weeks on bass.

Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Catfish Blues
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: trad. Arr. Hendrix
Label: Legacy
Year: 1967
This week we have a set of posthumously-released Jimi Hendrix recordings, starting off with a live performance from 1967 on the Dutch TV show Hoepla, featuring the original Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: In From The Storm
Source: CD: Voodoo Soup (originally released on LP: The Cry Of Love)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
Although nobody knows for sure what the final track lineup would have been for Jimi Hendrix's first studio album since 1968's Electric Ladyland, most everyone associated with him agrees that it would have been a double LP and that In From The Storm would have been included on it. The song was first released on The Cry Of Love, the first posthumus Hendrix album, and subsequently was included on Voodoo Soup, Alan Douglas's first attempt at recreating that legendary fourth album. The song also appears on First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, the CD that has replaced Voodoo Soup in the Hendrix catalog. The recording features Hendrix on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Hendrix's old army buddy Billy Cox on bass.

Artist: Band Of Gypsys
Title: Bleeding Heart
Source: CD: Blues
Writer: Elmore James
Label: Legacy
Year: 1969
Before forming the Experience, Jimi Hendrix made a handful recordings with Curtis Knight and signed a contract with record producer Ed Chalpin giving Hendrix 1% of all royalties from the songs, which were released on a pair of singles that went nowhere. After Hendrix became a star, Chalpin began to insist that Hendrix was still under contract to him. Chalpin leased the recordings (along with some jam sessions Hendrix had done with Knight) to Capitol, which released the LP: Get That Feeling in late 1967. The legal battles were not over, however, and after the Experience broke up Hendrix agreed to record an album of new material for Capitol. This album was recorded live at the Fillmore East by a group consisting of Hendrix, Cox and drummer Buddy Miles (Electric Flag) on New Years Eve 1969 and released under the name Band of Gypsys. This group also recorded several studio tracks, although none of them were released during Hendrix's lifetime. One of those tracks was this recording of the old Elmore James tune Bleeding Heart.

Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Title: Freedom
Source: CD: Voodoo Soup (originally released on LP: The Cry Of Love and as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
The first single released from The Cry Of Love was Freedom. The song is technically incomplete, as the last few bars of the guitar solo are a "scratch track" that would have been re-recorded had Hendrix lived to finish his fourth studio LP. As is the case with most of The Cry Of Love, the recording features the "new" Experience consisting of Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox.

Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Alive And Well And Living In
Source: LP: Living In The Past (originally released in UK on LP: Benefit and as a 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1970 (US release: 1973)
The only Jethro Tull album to have a different track lineup in the UK and the US was Benefit, released in 1970. As it was the custom in Britain not to include singles on LPs, the song Teacher was not included on the UK release. In the US, however, Teacher was stuck in the middle of side two and the song Inside was moved to side one, replacing Alive And Well And Living In. The deleted song did not get released in the US until the Living In The Past compilation in 1973, which collected various singles, EP tracks and live recordings (along with one song from each of the band's first four LPs) that had not been previously released in the US.

Artist: David Bowie
Title: Bombers
Source: Sound+Vision Sampler (originally released as bonus track on CD reissue of Hunky Dory in 1990)
Writer: David Bowie
Label: Ryko
Year: 1971
When CDs fist started coming out in the mid 1980s, the track lineups were the same as the album versions. One of the first companies to include bonus tracks was Ryko with its Sound+Vision series of remastered David Bowie albums in 1990. Bombers was a 1971 recording that appeared for the first time on the remastered Hunky Dory CD.

Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Jeff's Boogie
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Dreja/Relf/Samwell-Smith/McCarty/Beck
Label: Epic
Year: 1966
We finish out the first hour with one of the best B sides ever issued: the instrumental Jeff's Boogie, which appeared as the flip side of Over, Under, Sideways Down in 1966 and was included on an LP with the same name (that LP, with a different track lineup and cover, was issued in the UK under the name Yardbirds, although it has since come to be known as Roger The Engineer due to its cover art). Although credited to the entire band, the song is actually based on Chuck Berry's guitar boogie, and features some outstanding guitar work by Jeff Beck.

Artist: Alice Cooper
Title: Halo Of Flies
Source: LP: Killer
Writer: Cooper/Smith/Dunaway/Bruce/Buxton
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1971
According to Alice Cooper, Halo Of Flies was written to prove the band could do progressive rock in the vein of King Crimson. It ended up being a concert favorite and holds up as well if not better than any of Cooper's recordings.

Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: I Won't Hurt You
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Markley/Harris/Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The first West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album was recorded at a home studio and released on the tiny Fifa label in 1966. The LP consisted of mostly cover songs. One of the few originals was I Won't Hurt You, which was re-recorded for the band's first major label release, which they called Part One. Living up to the name Experimental, the song uses a recording of a heartbeat for the rhythm track.

Artist: Blues Project
Title: No Time Like The Right Time
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year: 1967
By early 1967 the Blues Project found themselves in an odd position: they were drawing crowds at college campuses across the nation and had an outstanding reputation among the musicians' community for their improvisational abilities. What they didn't have was a hit single. If it were a couple of years later this wouldn't have mattered much, but at the time having a hit single was the only measure of success that record companies cared about. The group's last, and best, attempt at recording a hit was keyboardist Al Kooper's No Time Like The Right Time. Quite frankly, it is one of the best psychedelic singles ever recorded and should have been a bigger hit than it was.

Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1967
The Music Machine was by far the most advanced of all the bands playing on Sunset Strip in 1966-67. Not only did they feature tight sets (so that audience members wouldn't get the chance to call out requests between songs), they also had their own visual look that set them apart from other bands. Dressed entirely in black (including dyed hair), and with leader Sean Bonniwell wearing one black glove, the Machine projected an image that would influence such diverse artists as the Ramones and Michael Jackson in later years. Musically, Bonniwell's songwriting showed a sophistication that was on a par with the best L.A. had to offer, demonstrated by a series of fine singles such as The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly. Unfortunately, problems on the business end prevented the Music Machine from achieving the success it deserved and Bonniwell eventually quit the music business altogether in disgust.

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

Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation.

Artist: Byrds
Title: The Day Walk (Never Before)
Source: CD: Turn! Turn! Turn! (bonus track)
Writer: Gene Clark
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1965
Nobody knows for sure why The Day Walk (Never Before) was left off the original release of the Byrds second LP, Turn! Turn! Turn! The most likely explanation is that Columbia, having very little experience with rock bands, was using the Capitol Beatle LPs as a model. This meant no more than a dozen songs per album, with a running time of around 35 minutes. As the band had more than 35 minutes' worth of material recorded, something had to be cut (although for my money Oh! Susannah would have been a better choice for the cutting room floor).

Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Atom Heart Mother Suite
Source: LP: Atom Heart Mother
Writer: Waters/Gilmour/Wright/Mason/Geesin
Label: Harvest
Year: 1970
The longest continuous piece of music ever committed to vinyl by Pink Floyd was not something from the Wall or Dark Side of the Moon, but the 23 1/2 minute Atom Heart Mother Suite (Shine On You Crazy Diamond is actually longer, but was interrupted by being split across two sides of an LP). The suite was also the last Pink Floyd piece to credit anyone outside the band as a songwriter; in this case Scottish composer/arranger Ron Geesin, who was brought in to help orchestrate and tie together the various sections of the piece. Primarily an instrumental, the piece has several distinct sections, although on vinyl and most CDs it is treated as a single track. Indeed, the drum and bass parts, which were the first tracks recorded, were recorded as a continuous take, giving the entire piece a consistent tempo throughout. The title was taken from a newspaper headline about a pregnant woman who had been fitted with a pacemaker; the actual headline was "Atom Heart Mother Found". Pink Floyd never performed the piece live, and in recent years none of the band members has had anything good to say about it.

Artist: Traffic
Title: (Roamin' Thru' The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Capaldi/Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
In its original run, Traffic only released two full albums (and a third that consisted of non-LP singles, studio outtakes and live tracks). The second of these, simply titled Traffic, featured several memorable tunes, including this Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi collaboration.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Show # 1125 Playlist (week of 6/23/11)

Well, once again the playlist is up a bit late this week, and it's pretty much for the same reason as last week. Next week I'm on vacation from my day job, so I should have plenty of time to get the playlist done.

This week we have a bit set of songs from the Blues Project, as well as tracks from several of the bands that the Project had a profound influence on when they played San Francisco in the spring of 1966. There's lots of other stuff as well, as always. So why don't we just get on with it?

Artist: Dino Valenti
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (first released on CD: Someone To Love-The Early San Francisco Sounds)
Writer: Chet Powers
Label: Rhino (original label: Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1964, first released 1996 (UK only)
At first glance this may look like a cover tune. In reality, though, Dino Valenti was one of several aliases used by the guy who was born Chester Powers. Perhaps this was brought on by his several encounters with the law, most of which led to jail time. By all accounts, Valenti was one of the more bombastic characters on the San Francisco scene, making this an appropriate track to start off this week's show. The song was first commercially recorded by Jefferson Airplane in 1966, but it wasn't until 1969, when the Youngbloods shortened the title to Get Together, that the song became a national hit.


Artist: Barbarians
Title: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Morris/Morris
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1965
From Boston we have the Barbarians, best known for having a one-handed drummer named Moulty who wore a hook on his other arm (and was probably the inspiration for the hook-handed bass player in the cult film Wild In The Streets a few years later). In addition to Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, which was their biggest hit, the group recorded an inspirational tune (inspirational in the 80s self-help sense, not the religious one) called Moulty that got some airplay in 1966.

Artist: Blues Project
Title: Fly Away
Source: LP: special DJ record (originally released on LP: Projections)
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
Al Kooper was a guitarist with some talent (but no professional experience) on keyboards who was already sufficiently connected enough to be allowed in the studio when Bob Dylan was recording his Highway 61 Revisited album. Not content to be merely a spectator (Mike Bloomfield was already there as a guitarist), Kooper noticed that there was an organ in the studio and immediately sat down and started playing on the sessions. Dylan was impressed enough with Kooper's playing to not only include him on the album, but to invite him to perform with him at the upcoming Newport Jazz Festival as well. The gig became probably Dylan's most notorious moment in his career, as several folk purists voiced their displeasure with Dylan's use of electric instruments. Some of them even stormed the stage, knocking over Kooper's keyboards in the process. After the gig Kooper became an in-demand studio musician. It was in this capacity (brought in to play piano by producer Tom Wilson) that he first met Danny Kalb, Andy Kuhlberg, Tommy Flanders, Roy Blumenthal and Steve Katz, who had recently formed the Blues Project and were making their first recordings for Columbia Records at their New York studios. Kooper had been looking for an opportunity to improve his skills on the keyboards (most of his gigs as a studio musician were for producers hoping to cash in on the "Dylan sound", which he found limiting), and soon joined the band as their full-time keyboardist. In addition to his instrumental contributions to the band, he provided some of their best original material as well. One such tune is Fly Away, from the Projections album (generally considered to be the apex of the Blues Project's career).

Artist: Blues Project
Title: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
Source: LP: Live At Town Hall (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Kooper/Levine/Brass
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
Al Kooper left the Blues Project in early 1967. That probably should have been the end of the story, but the record company instead decided to patch together some recordings made while Kooper was still with the band to create a new album. They called the album Live At Town Hall, despite the fact that several tracks were not recorded live, instead being studio tracks with audience sounds overdubbed onto the beginning and end of each track. One of these studio tracks was Where There's Smoke, There's Fire, which actually predates the Projections album and was released as a single (without the fake audience sounds) in June of 1966.

Artist: Blues Project
Title: Violets Of Dawn (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: LP: special disc jockey record
Writer: Anderson
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
Although Columbia decided not to sign the Blues Project, the songs they recorded for the label in late 1965 ended up being released as their first single for Verve in January of 1966. The A side was Violets of Dawn, written by folk singer Tim Anderson. The song was not a hit, however, despite its release during the heyday of the folk-rock movement. The original lead vocalist, Tommy Flanders, sounds just a bit out of his element here, as he, by all accounts, had a Mick Jagger-like quality about him that was better suited for the band's more energetic material.

Artist: Blues Project
Title: (Electric) Flute Thing
Source: LP: Live At Town Hall
Writer: Al Kooper
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1967
As mentioned earlier, several tracks on Live At Town Hall were not recorded live at all. In fact, of the few live recordings on the album, only (Electric) Flute Thing was actually recorded at Town Hall. The other live tracks on the LP were from a 1966 recording at Stonybrook University. All of the live tracks suffer from poor sound quality, which, considering they were among the first attempts ever at recording a progressive blues/rock band in concert, is not all that surprising.

Artist: Blues Project
Title: Back Door Man
Source: LP: special disc jockey record (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Dixon/Burnett
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
The B side of the Blues Project's first single is much more indicative than the A side of how the band sounded with original lead vocalist Tommy Flanders. Verve Records was very excited about the potential of the band when they signed them, seeing them as America's answer to the Rolling Stones. Before the release of their first album, Live At Cafe Au-Go-Go, the band was flown out to Hollywood and given the red carpet treatment by Verve's parent company, M-G-M. Then something happened that would change everything. There had already been friction between band members even before the trip to L.A, and Flanders' girlfriend, who had accompanied the band out to California, stirred things up even more by suggesting that Flanders was the true star of the band and should be treated as such. This led to a showdown at the Hilton Hotel, where the band was staying, that resulted in the girlfriend announcing that Flanders was quitting the band to start a solo career. Flanders, of course, went along with the idea. If this story seems vaguely familiar, you probably saw the movie Spinal Tap. Unlike in the movie, however, the Blues Project actually benefitted from the change, as it forced them to concentrate more on their instrumental prowess. The result was a band that became known for its improvisational abilities, continuing to play to capacity crowds as the house band at the Cafe Au-Go in Manhattan and working their way out to the west coast, playing college campuses and coffee houses along the way. On their arrival in San Francisco they played at the Matrix, where manager and part-owner Marty Balin had just formed his own new band, Jefferson Airplane. The Matrix was essentially a musicians' club, and was frequented by members of several local bands, including the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company. All of these musicians were influenced by the group that has come to be considered the mother of all jam bands: The Blues Project.

Artist: Premiers
Title: Get On This Plane
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Delgado/Uballez
Label: Rhino (original label: Faro)
Year: 1966
The Premiers were a band from East L.A. best known for their 1964 hit Farmer John. After that national success, the group continued to record, cranking out a series of local hits for Faro Records. The last of these was Get On This Plane from 1966.

Artist: Moby Grape
Title: 8:05
Source: LP: Moby Grape
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Three of the members of Moby Grape had previously recorded together as the Frantics (heard on last week's show). The song 8:05, from the first Moby Grape album, was written by the same two members (guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson) that wrote the aformentioned Frantics tune, Human Monkey. I thought it might be nice to compare the two, but really they don't sound a bit like each other. Whereas Human Monkey is somewhat, well, Frantic, 8:05 is considerabally mellower, with the emphasis more on vocal harmonies.

Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Light Your Windows
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Quicksilver Messenger Service)
Writer: Duncan/Freiberg
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
One of the last of the legendary San Francisco bands that played at Monterey to be signed to a major label was Quicksilver Messenger Service. Inspired by a conversation between Dino Valenti (see this week's first song) and guitarist John Cippolina, there are differing opinions on just how serious Valenti was about forming a new band at that time. Since Valenti was busted the very next day (and ended up spending the next two years in jail), we'll never know for sure. Cippolina, however, was motivated enough to begin finding members for the new band, including bassist David Freiberg (later to join Starship) and drummer Skip Spence. When Marty Balin stole Spence away to join his own new band (Jefferson Airplane), he tried to make up for it by introducing Cippolina to vocalist/guitarist Gary Duncan and drummer Greg Elmore, whose own band, the Brogues, had recently disbanded. Taking the name Quicksilver Messenger Service (so named for all the member's astrological connections with the planet Mercury), the new band soon became a fixture on the San Francisco scene. Inspired by the Blues Project, Cippolina and Duncan quickly established a reputation for their dual guitar improvisational abilities. Unlike other San Francisco bands such as the Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service did not jump at their first offer from a major record label, preferring to hold out for the best deal. This meant their debut album did not come out until 1968, missing out on the initial buzz surrounding the summer of love.

Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Lady Of The Island
Source: CD: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
Lady Of The Island is almost a Graham Nash solo tune. It does, however, feature some interesting counterpoint vocals by David Crosby near the end of the song.

Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Ego Trip
Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach
Writer: Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1967
1967 was the year of the "Boss-Town Sound", a gimmick used to promote several Boston-based bands signed to the M-G-M label (M-G-M having been asleep at the wheel during the recent band-signing frenzy in San Francisco). Derided in the music press as a crass attempt to manipulate record buyers, the ultimate victims of this fraud were the bands themselves, many of which were actually quite talented. The most famous of these bands, Ultimate Spinach, was the brainchild of keyboardist Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote all the material for the group's first two LPs. When the stigma of being part of the whole boss-town thing became too much to deal with, Bruce-Douglas left the group. Although the Ultimate Spinach name continued to be used, subsequent albums had little in common musically with the two Bruce-Douglas LPs.

Artist: Balloon Farm
Title: A Question Of Temperature
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Appel/Schnug/Henny
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1967
Few, if any, bands managed to successfully cross bubble gum and punk like the Balloon Farm with this 1967 classic, originally released on the Laurie label. Band member Mike Appel went on to greater fame as Bruce Springsteen's first manager.

Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Gimme Some Lovin'
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Winwood/Winwood/Davis
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
The movie The Big Chill used this track as the backdrop for a touch football game at an informal reunion of former college students from the 60s. From that point on, movie soundtracks became much more than just background music and soundtrack albums started becomming best-sellers. Not entirely coincidentally, 60s-oriented oldies radio stations began to appear in major markets as well. Ironically, most of those "oldies" stations are now playing songs that were current hits when The Big Chill first appeared in theaters in the 1980s.

Artist: Kinks
Title: Waterloo Sunset
Source: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: PolyTel
Year: 1967
One of the most beautiful tunes ever recorded by the Kinks (and one I haven't played on the show until this week) is Waterloo Sunset, a song that was a hit single in the UK, but was totally ignored by US radio stations. The reason for this neglect of such a stong song is a mystery, however it may have been due to the fear that American audiences would not be able to relate to all the lyrical references to places in and around London.

Artist: Tornados
Title: Telstar
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: J. Meek
Label: London
Year: 1962
Before the Beatles kicked off the British Invasion in 1964 there had only been two British recordings that had been able to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The first was Strangers On The Shore, a jazz piece by saxophonist Mr. Acker Bilk. The second chart-topper (the first by a rock band) was the Tornados' Telstar, a quasi-surf instrumental named for the first transatlantic communication satellite.

Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: The Wizard
Source: LP: Demons And Wizards
Writer: Hensley/Clark
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Although Uriah Heep had been around since 1969, they didn't get much attention in the US until their Demons And Wizards album in 1972, which included their biggest hit, Easy Livin'. The opening track was appropriately titled The Wizard, and it signalled a subtle shift in the band's style from early heavy metal to a more progressive/metal hybrid sound.

Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Milk Cow Blues
Source: CD: No Way Out
Writer: K. Arnold
Label: Sundazed
Year: 1966
The first Chocolate Watchband album was released in 1967, but the band had actually made a handful of recordings prior to its release. One of those, Milk Cow Blues, did not get released until Sundazed included the song as a bonus track on its reissue of the band's debut album, No Way Out. Original vocalist Dave Aguilar is at his snarling Mick Jaggeresque best on this 1966 recording.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: D.C.B.A.-25
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
Named for the chords used in the song. As for the "25"...it was 1967. In San Francisco. Paul Kantner wrote it. Figure it out.

Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Little Miss Strange
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Noel Redding
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
When Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to England in 1966 he introduced him to several local musicians, including drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Noel Redding. Hendrix talked Redding into switching to bass, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born. Redding, however, still had aspirations of being a front man and wrote this tune in 1968. As it turned out, Little Miss Strange would be one of only two Redding tunes the band would ever record and is most notable for Hendrix's double tracked harmony guitar parts. After the Experience split up Redding formed Fat Mattress, but that band had little success.

Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Bouree
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1969
The second Jethro Tull album, Stand Up, saw the band moving a considerable distance from its blues-rock roots, as flautist Ian Anderson asserted himself as leader and sole songwriter for the group. Nowhere is that more evident than on the last track of the first side of Stand Up, the instrumental Bouree, which successfully melds jazz and classical influences into the Jethro Tull sound.

Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: St. Stephen
Source: CD: Aoxomoxoa
Writer: Hunter/Garcia/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
One of the Grateful Dead's most recognizable tunes is St. Stephen. The song first appeared on the 1969 album Aoxomoxoa, remained in the Grateful Dead stage repertoire for pretty much their entire existence.

Artist: Leaves
Title: Too Many People
Source: CD: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Pons/Rinehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that the members were all native L.A.ins. Founded by bassist Jim Pons and some of his fraternity brothers at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. Like many bands of the time, they were given a song to record as a single by their producer (Love Minus Zero) and allowed to write their own B side. In this case that B side was Too Many People, written by Pons and guitarist Bill Rinehart. The song ended up getting more airplay on local radio stations than Love Minus Zero, making it their first regional hit. The Leaves had their only national hit the following year with their third attempt at recording the fast version of Hey Joe. Eventually Pons would leave the Leaves, hooking up first with the Turtles, then Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.

Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Title: A Public Execution (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: More Nuggets
Writer: Henderson/Weiss
Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)
Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s.

Artist: Doors
Title: Five To One
Source: CD: Waiting For The Sun
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1968
The nice thing about a prolific band like the Doors is that there are still plenty of songs that have yet to be played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era. After this week's show, there is one less of those.

Artist: King Crimson
Title: 21st Century Schizoid Man
Source: LP: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer: Fripp/McDonald/Lake/Giles/Sinfield
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
There are several bands with a legitimate claim to starting the art-rock movement of the mid-70s. The one most other musicians cite as the one that started it all, however, is King Crimson. Led by Robert Fripp, the band went through several personnel changes over the years. Many of the members went on to greater commercial success as members of other bands, including guitarist/keyboardist Ian McDonald (Foreigner), and lead vocalist/bassist Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) from the original lineup. Additionally, poet Peter Sinfield, who wrote all King Crimson's early lyrics, would go on to perform a similar function for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, including their magnum opus Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends. Other original members included Michael Giles on drums and Fripp himself on guitar. This week's track has special significance as the first song on the first album by King Crimson. Enjoy!

Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Hungry Freaks, Daddy
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Verve)
Year: 1966
Speaking of first songs from first albums from groups led by a musical genius that launched the careers of several major stars we have Hungry Freaks, Daddy from the album Freak Out. I've had a copy of this on vinyl for many years and only recently acquired a CD copy. I was amazed to hear instruments on this track that I didn't realize were there before (a xylophone being the most prominent). The song itself is the first of many Zappa songs over the years that take aim at society in general and the mainstream culture in particular. As would be the case throughout Zappa's songwriting career, the lyrics have a satirical edge that distinguishes them from the run of the mill protest song.

Artist: Monkees
Title: Don't Wait For Me
Source: LP: Instant Replay
Writer: Michael Nesmith
Label: Colgems
Year: 1969
By 1969 the Monkees were a trio, Peter Tork having left when it became inarguably clear that they would never be, in his eyes, a real band. Don't Wait For Me is a good example of the direction Michael Nesmith's songwriting would take once he himself left the group to form the First National Band.

Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Coconut Grove
Source: LP: John Sebastian Songbook, Vol. 1
Writer: Sebastian/Yanovsky
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1966
Our final track of the night is a song that originally appeared on the album Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful. The album itself was an attempt to play in a variety of styles. Coconut Grove manages to evoke images of the South Pacific without devolving into Rogers and Hart/Hammerstein territory.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Show # 1124 Playlist (starts 6/16/11)

First off I want to apologize to everyone who catches the show on Thursday night for not having these notes ready before airtime. The reason is fairly simple: I had to wait until Tuesday to record the show and haven't had the chance to work on the notes until today (Friday). The one good thing about recording the show so late is that I was able to get some requests included in a relatively timely manner. Speaking of which, I've been busy building a backlog of shows for the late summer, so obviously those don't include any requests. At this point I don't know exactly when, or even if, they will be airing, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. This week we once again start off with an artist set; this time around it's the "good old Grateful Dead", with the emphasis on old.

Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: New, New Minglewood Blues
Source: CD: The Grateful Dead
Writer: McGannahan Skjellyfetti
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1967
You may be wondering just who McGannahan Skjellyfetti is. Well, I guess you could say it's a close relative of Nanker Phelge, the pseudonym used for early Rolling Stones songs that were written by the entire band. I'm not an expert on the Dead by any means, but I believe that this track features "Pig Pen" McKernan on vocals.

Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Turn On Your Love Light
Source: LP: Live Dead
Writer: Joe Scott
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
The first official live album by the Dead features all the original members plus Tom Constantine (T.C.) on keyboards and Mickey Hart on drums. The Grateful Dead have always included several cover tunes in their live sets, and Bobby "Blue" Bland's Turn On Your Love Light was always a popular favorite in the band's early years. Again, I don't really have the ear for Dead vocals, but I'd say it's either Pig Pen or Bob Weir on this one. Clarification, anyone?

Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: CD: The Grateful Dead
Writer: Jacobs/Carter
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1967
Most versions of Sitting On Top Of The World (such as the one by Cream) have a slow, melancholy tempo that emphasizes the irony of the lyrics. This track, on the other hand, goes at about twice the speed and has lyrics I have never heard on any other version. I suspect this is because, like most of the songs on the first Dead album, the tune was part of their early live repertoire; a repertoire that called for a lot of upbeat songs to keep the crowd on their feet. Is this Pig Pen again on the vocals? I think so, but am open to any corrections you might want to send along (just use the contact button on the www.hermitradio.com website).

Artist: Turtles
Title: The Last Thing I Remember, The First Thing I Knew
Source: 12" 45 RPM Picture Disc: Turtles 1968
Writer: The Turtles
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
In order to get these notes published more quickly I'm doing some cutting and pasting from previous notes, starting with this one from back in January: In 1968 the Turtles rebelled against their record company. They did not attempt to break the contract or go on strike, though. Instead, they simply went into the studio and produced four songs that they themselves wrote and chose to record. The record company, however, chose not to issue any of the self-produced recordings (although one, Surfer Dan, did end up on their Battle of the Bands album a few months later). Finally, in the late 1970s a small independent label known for issuing oddball recordings by the likes of Barnes and Barnes (Fish Heads) and professional wrestler Fred Blassie (Pencil-Neck Geek) put out a 12-inch picture disc featuring the four tunes. That label also began reissuing old Turtles albums, starting it on a path that has since become the stock in trade for Rhino Records.

Artist: Love
Title: 7 & 7 Is
Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Raven (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In the fall of 1966 my parents took by brother and me to a drive-in movie to see The Russians Are Coming and The 10th Victim (don't ask me why I remember that). In an effort to extend their season past the summer months, that particular drive-in was pioneering a new technology that used a low-power radio transmitter (on a locally-unused frequency) to broadcast the audio portion of the films so that people could keep their car windows rolled all the way up (and presumably stay warm) instead of having to roll the window partway down to accomodate the hanging speakers that were attached to posts next to where each car was parked. Before the first movie and between films music was pumped through the speakers (and over the transmitter). Of course, being fascinated by all things radio, I insisted that my dad use the car radio as soon as we got settled in. I was immediately blown away by a song that I had not heard on either of Denver's two top 40 radio stations. That song was Love's 7&7 Is, and it was my first inkling that there were some great songs on the charts that were being ignored by local stations. I finally heard the song again the following spring, when a local FM station that had been previously used to simulcast a full-service AM station began running a "top 100" format a few hours a day.

Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: If You Want This Love
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Part One)
Writer: Baker Knight
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The first WCPAEB album, Volume One, had a limited print run on a small independent label in L.A. After landing a contract with Reprise, they recut many of the songs (most of which were cover tunes) from Volume One and called the new album Part One. This is one of those recut tracks.

Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: You Keep Me Hangin' On
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Holland/Dozier/Holland
Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The LP version of the Vanilla Fudge's cover of the Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On ran something like 6-7 minutes. For single release the song was cut down considerably, clocking in at around three minutes. It was also available only in mono, which is how Rhino chose to present it when they released thier first Nuggets series (not to be confused with Lenny Kaye's original collection from 1972) in the early 1980s.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
A while back a co-worker was asking me about what kind of music I played on the show. When I told him the show was called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era he immediately said "Oh, I bet you play White Rabbit a lot, huh?" As a matter of fact, I do, although not as much as some songs (see the post from show # 1032, in which I run down the list of which songs got played the most in 2010).

Artist: Nazz
Title: Open My Eyes
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Todd Rundgren
Label: Rhino (original label: SGC)
Year: 1968
The Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, among others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts (a new version would become a solo hit for Rundgren five years later).

Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: CD: Retrospective
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth). Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock and Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 40 years after it was recorded.

Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Quite Rightly So
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
In 1969, while living on Ramstein AFB in Germany, my dad managed to get use of one of the basement storage rooms in building 913, the 18-unit apartment building we resided in. For a few months (until getting in trouble for having overnight guests and making too much noise...hey I was 16, whaddaya expect?) I got to use that room as a bedroom. I had a small record player that shut itself off when it got to the end of the record, which meant I got to go to sleep every night to the album of my choice. As often as not that album was Shine On Brightly, a copy of which I had gotten in trade for another album (the Best of the Beach Boys I think) from a guy who was expecting A Whiter Shade of Pale and was disappointed to discover it was not on this album. I always thought I got the better end of that deal, despite the fact that there was a skip during the fade of Quite Rightly So, causing the words "one was me" to repeat over and over until I scooted the needle over a bit. Luckily Quite Rightly So is the first song on the album, so I was usually still awake to do that.

Artist: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Title: Fire
Source: CD: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (this version originally released on mono version of LP)
Writer: Brown/Crane/Finesilver/Ker
Label: Polydor (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1968
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was unusual for their time in that they were much more theatrical than most of their contemporaries, who were generally more into audio experimentation than visual. I have a video of Fire being performed (or maybe just lip-synched). In it, all the members are wearing some sort of mask, and Brown himself is wearing special headgear that was literally on fire. There is no doubt that The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown sowed the seeds of what was to become the glitter-rock movement in the early to mid 70s. Until this week the only copy I had of Fire was the original 45. In response to a request I picked up a copy of the CD and was surprised to learn that the mono version of side one was included on the disc, due to the mixes being considerably different than the stereo versions. Of course I had to play the mono version of Fire, which really does sound quite a bit different that the version I'm used to hearing (especially the completely different sound effect at the end of the song).

Artist: Ars Nova
Title: Automatic Love
Source: CD: Ars Nova
Writer: Wyatt Day
Label: Sundazed (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1968
Until I got a request for them recently I was totally unfamiliar with the band Ars Nova, although I vaguely remember seeing the name somewhere. As it turns out they were one of the few New York based psychedelic bands. Like other New York-based bands, Ars Nova had an avant garde slant that is for the most part missing from bands from other parts of the country (Fifty-Foot Hose and the United States of America being notable exceptions). Automatic Love is a satirical piece that (like most good satire) contains a warning about the general direction society has been moving in since the advent of the industrial revolution.

Artist: Blind Faith
Title: Had To Cry Today
Source: LP: Blind Faith
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: Polydor
Year: 1969
One of the most eagerly-awaited albums of 1969 was Blind Faith, the self-titled debut album of a group consisting of Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream, Steve Winwood from Traffic and Rich Grech, who had played bass with a band called Family. The buzz about this new band was such that the rock press had to coin a brand-new term to describe it: supergroup. On release, the album shot up to the number one spot on the charts in record time. Of course, as subsequent supergroups have shown, such bands seldom stick around very long, and Blind Faith set the pattern early on by splitting up after just one LP and a short tour to promote it. The opening track of the album was a pure Winwood piece that showcases both Winwood and Clapton on seperate simultaneous guitar tracks.

Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s
Writer: Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michaelski
Label: Rhino (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, had a vibrant teen music scene in the late 60s, despite the fact that the relatively small city was overshadowed by San Francisco at the other end of the bay (both cities are considered part of the same metropolitan market). One of the more popular bands in town was this 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).

Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Love Or Confusion
Source: CD: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
A little-known fact is that the original European version of Are You Experienced, in addition to having a different song lineup, consisted entirely of mono recordings. When Reprise got the rights to release the album in North America, its own engineers created new stereo mixes from the 4-track master tapes. As most of the instrumental tracks had already been mixed down to single tracks, the engineers found themselves doing things like putting the vocals all the way on one side of the mix, with reverb effects and guitar solos occupying the other side and all the instruments dead center. Such is the case with Love Or Confusion, with some really bizarre stereo panning thrown in at the end of the track. It's actually kind of fun to listen to with headphones on, as I did when I bought my first copy of the album on reel-to-reel tape (the tape deck was in the same room as the TV).

Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Boogie Music
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: L.T. Tatman III
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Canned Heat was formed in 1966 by a group of Bay Area blues purists. Although a favorite on the rock scene, the band continued to remain true to the blues throughout their existence. The band's most popular single was Going Up the Country from the album Living the Blues. An edited version of Boogie Music, also from Living the Blues, was issued as the B side of that single. This is a stereo mix of that version, featured on a United Artists anthology album released in 1969.

Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Silver And Gold
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Rhino
Year: 1969
Country Joe and the Fish were one of a handfull of acts to appear at both the Monterey and Woodstock festivals. Whereas at Monterey they were perhaps the quintessential psychedelic band, their Woodstock performance reflected the band's move to what they themselves described as "rock and soul" music. Silver and Gold was certainly one of the hardest rocking songs the band had ever performed, but was not released until 2009, when Rhino released its multi-disc Woodstock anniversary collection.

Artist: Donovan
Title: Hampstead Incident
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
The Beatles started a trend (one of many) when they used a harpsichord on the Rubber Soul album, released in December of 1965. By early 1967 it seemed that just about everyone had a song or two with the antique instrument featured on it. Unlike many of the recordings of the time, "Hampstead Incident" manages to use the harpsichord effectively without overdoing it.

Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.

Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Song For Our Ancestors
Source: LP: 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.

Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Reasons For Waiting
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Strictly speaking, Reasons For Waiting is not a Jethro Tull piece. Rather, it is an Ian Anderson solo work with orchestration. This was quite a departure from the first Tull album, which was (like most debut albums) made up of songs already in the group's live performance repertoire (the exception being Mick Abrahams's Move On Along, which in addition to having Abrahams on lead vocals, added a horn section).

Artist: Kinks
Title: Brainwashed
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1970
Starting in 1966, Ray Davies started taking satirical potshots at a variety of targets, with songs like A Well Respected Man, Dedicated Follower of Fashion and the classic tax-protest song Sunny Afternoon. This trend continued over the next few years, although few new Kinks songs were heard on US radio stations until the band released the international hit Lola in 1970. One single that got some minor airplay in the US was the song Victoria, from the album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). The B side of that track was Brainwashed, one of the hardest rocking Kinks tunes since their early 1964 hits like You Really Got Me.

Artist: Frantics
Title: Human Monkey
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Miller/Stevenson
Label: Rhino (original label: Action)
Year: 1966
Emulating some of Motown's more energetic early records we have the Frantics, a band that would soon shed a couple members and pick up a couple others, changing their name to Moby Grape in the process.

Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Train For Tomorrow
Source: CD: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Lowe/Tulin/Spignola/Williams/Ritter
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Although the bulk of material on the Electric Prunes first LP was from outside sources, there were a few exceptions. One of the more notable ones was Train For Tomorrow, an innovative piece credited to the entire band that shows what this group could have done if allowed more artistic freedom.

Artist: Electric Flag
Title: Soul Searchin'
Source: LP: Best Of The Electric Flag (originally released on LP: An American Music Band)
Writer: Buddy Miles
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
The Electric Flag only released two albums, both in 1968, before founding guitarist Mike Bloomfield got restless (as was his habit), and moved on to other things. That didn't stop Columbia from releasing a "Best of" album, though. At least there's no doubt what year this requested song was originally released.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Show # 1123 Playlist (starts 6/9)

Once again I managed to get notes written a couple days ahead of this week's first airing. I'm almost certain that won't be the case next time around, sorry to say. This week we're switching things around a little by putting an artist set at the beginning of the show (lately they've all been in the last half hour). We follow that up with a set of songs from British artists, then a set from bands working out of L.A. before settling in to a series of progressions through the years (with a few random tracks thrown in, of course). Also noticeable is the fact that very few of these songs have been played on the show yet this year.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: She Has Funny Cars
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Kaukonen/Balin
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
I thought it might be fun to do an artist set that sort of ties together thematically; in this case songs with titles that refer in some way to vehicular travel (although in the third case it's kind of a stretch unless you happen to be a race car driver). The title of the first track, She Has Funny Cars, was a reference to some unusual possessions belonging to new drummer Spencer Dryden's girlfriend. The title has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song itself.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Chaffeur Blues
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Lester Melrose
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The Jefferson Airplane's original female vocalist was Signe Toly Anderson. Unlike Grace Slick, who basically shared lead vocals with founder Marty Balin, Anderson mostly functioned as a backup singer. The only Airplane recording to feature Anderson as a lead vocal was Chaffeur Blues, a cover of an old Lester Melrose tune. The song was featured on the band's first LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Marty Balin
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Another strong album track from the Airplane's second LP, Surrealistic Pillow. Marty Balin says he came up with the song title by combining a couple of random phrases from the sports section of a newspaper. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds works out to 216 MPH, by the way.

Artist: Argent
Title: Closer To Heaven
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Russ Ballard
Label: Epic
Year: 1972
After the Zombies split up in 1968 keyboardist Rod Argent set out to form a new band to be known simply as Argent. The new group scored its biggest hit in 1972 with the song Hold Your Head Up. Guitarist/keyboardist Russ Ballard provided the B side to that record.

Artist: Troggs
Title: Night Of The Long Grass
Source: CD: Golden Hits
Writer: unknown
Label: Masters
Year: 1967
Continuing our set of tunes from British bands we have a group originally known as the Troglodytes. After scoring a huge international hit in 1966 with Wild Thing (which the band hated), the group, now known as the Troggs, cranked out a series of singles that did well in the UK but for the most part did not make an impression on US listeners. One of the best of those British hits was Night Of The Long Grass, which got airplay across Europe in the summer of '67.

Artist: Beatles
Title: Across The Universe
Source: CD: Past Masters vol. 2 (originally released on charity album for the World Wildlife Fund)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original label unknown)
Year: 1968
Undoubtably the most successful British band of all was the Beatles. Across The Universe was recorded in 1968 and was in serious contention for release as a single that year (ultimately Lady Madonna was chosen instead). The recording sat in the vaults until 1969, when it was included on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund (hence the sounds of flapping wings at the beginning and end of the track). Phil Spector would eventually get his hands on the master tape, slowing it down and adding strings and including it on the Let It Be album. Personally I prefer this untampered-with version.

Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Intermission
Source: LP: Electric Comic Book
Writer: Esposito
Label: Mercury
Year: 1967
Lots of bands that play multiple sets in clubs work up a break song to let the audience know they'll be back in a few minutes. Very few of them, however, actually record their break song. The Blues Magoos, never ones to do things half way, took it a step further by including it as the closing track of the first side of the second album, Electric Comic Book.

Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: There's Always Tomorrow
Source: LP: Midnight Ride
Writer: Levin/Smith
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
We move now to sunny Los Angeles, circa 1966, where we find a band from Boise, Idaho starring in Dick Clark's daily national dance show, Where The Action Is. Paul Revere and the Raiders were one of the many bands of the early 1960s that helped lay the groundwork for the temporary democratization of American popular music later in the decade (for more on that click the "era" button at hermitradio.com). After honing their craft for years in the clubs of the Pacific Northwest the Raiders caught the attention of Clark, who called them the most versatile rock band he had ever seen. Clark introduced the band to Terry Melcher, which in turn led to Paul Revere and the Raiders being the first rock band ever signed to industry giant Columbia Records, at that time the second largest record company in the country. In addition to organist Revere the band featured Mark Lindsay on lead vocals and saxophone, Phil "Fang" Volker on bass, Drake Levin on lead guitar and Mike "Smitty" Smith on drums. Occassional someone other than Lindsay would get the opportunity to sing a lead vocal part, as Smitty does on There's Always Tomorrow, a song he co-wrote with Levin shortly before the guitarist quit to join the National Guard. Seriously, the guy who played the double-tracked lead guitars on Just Like Me quit the hottest band in the US at the peak of their popularity to voluntarily join the military. I'd say there was a good chance he was not one of the guys burning their draft cards that year.

Artist: Seeds
Title: Fallin' In Love
Source: LP: The Seeds
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1966
Another group of immigrants to the L.A. scene were the Seeds. Nobody seemed to know for sure where the various members hailed from; one popular theory at the time held that they were actually visitors from another planet. Their music certainly had an otherworldly quality when compared to the rest of the (mostly folk-rock) bands playing the Sunset Strip in 1966. Sky Saxon's vocals in particular sounded nothing like anything that had been heard before (or since) as Fallin' In Love amply demonstrates.

Artist: Beach Boys
Title: Let's Go Away For Awhile
Source: CD: Pet Sounds
Writer: Brian Wilson
Label: Capitol
Year: 1966
Although the Beach Boys are known primarily as a vocal group, their catalog is sprinkled with occassional instrumental pieces, usually featuring the youngest Wilson brother, Carl, on lead guitar. By 1966, however, the band was using studio musicians extensively on their recordings. This was taken to its extreme on the Pet Sounds album with the tune Let's Go Away For Awhile, which was made without the participation of any of the actual band members (except composer/producer Brian Wilson, who said at the time that the track was the most satisfying piece of music he had ever made).

Artist: Monkees
Title: All Of Your Toys
Source: CD: Listen To The Band
Writer: Bill Martin
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1967, released 1987
When the Monkees were formed in 1966 it was soon apparent that they were not ready to begin recording as a band. Studio musicians were brought in from both coasts to lay down the tracks that the band members would later add vocals to. It was implied at the time that the Monkees would start playing on their own records as soon as they were able to. For the band members that moment came in early 1967 when they recorded All Of Your Toys, written by Bill Martin, a friend of Michael Nesmith's. Don Kirschner, who was musical director for the entire Monkees project, had different ideas and issued an album of tracks from the 1966 sessions (More of the Monkees) as well as a new single (She Hangs Out). These were all released without knowledge of or permission from the Monkees themselves, and ultimately led to the firing of Kirschner and the immediate recall of the single. To add insult to injury, the Monkees discovered that, due to a clause in their contract that stipulated that all their material would be published by Screen Gems, they could not release their recording of All Of Your Toys (which was published through another company). The song was finally released in 1987 by Rhino on the Missing Links album.

Artist: Leaves
Title: Twilight Sanctuary
Source: CD: All The Good That's Happening
Writer: unknown
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The Leaves were one of those groups that never really caught on outside the L.A. area, despite maintaining a full schedule of gigs from 1965-67 and appearing in a handful of low budget films. In fact, low budget seems to be the operative term when it comes to the Leaves. After having minor success on the national charts with their first album for Mira, the group was signed to Capitol. The band only recorded one LP for Capitol, and it has to be considered one of the most inconsistent LPs ever recorded. A first listen to All The Good That's Happening leaves one with the impression that the album was recorded by several different bands, none of which really seemed to gel. To add insult to injury, Capitol only released the album in mono, despite their debut album being available in both stereo and mono versions.

Artist: Them
Title: Don't Look Back
Source: Them
Writer: Hooker
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
This week's first progression through the years starts with a cover of a John Lee Hooker tune from the first Them album. Van Morrison's vocals still resembled Mick Jagger's at that early point in his career, as Don't Look Back clearly demonstrates.

Artist: Choir
Title: It's Cold Outside
Source: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Daniel Klawon
Label: Rhino (original label: Canadian-American)
Year: 1966
In the mid 1990s Tom Hanks produced a movie called That Thing You Do, about a fictional band called the Wonders that managed to get one song on the national charts before fading off into obscurity. It was, of course, a tribute to the many bands from all over the country that had a similar story in the mid-1960s. One of those bands was The Choir, from Cleveland Ohio. Formed as the Mods in 1964, the Choir scored a regional hit with It's Cold Outside in 1966. The song was picked up for national distribution by Roulette Records in 1967 and was a moderate success.

Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
1967 was the year of the Turtles, starting with Happy Together, followed in quick succession by She'd Rather Be With Me, Guide For The Married Man and She's My Girl. I always seem to get a good response when I play this song, so here it is.

Artist: Cream
Title: Anyone For Tennis
Source: Goodbye Cream (bonus track-originally released on The Savage Seven soundtrack)
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
In 1968, shortly before the official breakup of Cream, Eric Clapton recorded Anyone For Tennis for the soundtrack of the movie The Savage Seven. Conveniently, the soundtrack album was issued on Atco, the same label that released Cream's records in the US. The song was not included on the initial release of the album Goodbye Cream but was added for subsequent releases, including the CD version.

Artist: Jo Jo Gunne
Title: Run Run Run
Source: 45 RPM single (promo copy)
Writer: Ferguson/Andes
Label: Asylum
Year: 1972
After Spirit called it quits following the disappointing sales of the Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes hooked up with Andes's brother Matt and William "Curly" Smith to form Jo Jo Gunne. Their best known song was Run Run Run, which hit the British top 10 and the US top 30 in 1972, receiving considerable amount of airplay on progressive rock stations as well.

Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dennis Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The Del-Vettes, from Chicago's affluent North Shore (they once showed up for a high school dance by driving their matching white Corvettes into the gym) started off in 1963 covering surf hits. When the British Invasion hit in 1964 the Vettes became enamoured of the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Their best-known song is Last Time Around, one of the earliest known examples of death-rock.

Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Death Sound
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Speaking of death-rock, we have this blues number from the first Country Joe and the Fish album, featuring some of guitarist Barry Melton's finest licks. Am I getting morbid here or what?

Artist: Nice
Title: America
Source: LP: Autumn To Spring (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bernstein/Sondheim
Label: Charisma
Year: 1968
Sometime in 1969 I went to see a band called Marshall Hammond (named for their amps and organ, apparently) at the roller rink on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. None of us caught the name of the opening act, but I remember this version of this song in particular being performed by them. Were they the Nice? I kind of doubt it, but there's always the possibility, I suppose.

Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Communications Breakdown
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin
Writer: Page/Jones/Bonham
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
Speaking of 1969 I remember toward the end of that year the jukebox at the teen club on Ramstein adding the first Led Zeppelin single. Although Good Times Bad Times got played quite a bit, the B side, Communications Breakdown, got played even more. It wasn't long before everyone I knew had a copy of the album, making it easy to borrow a copy to put on reel-to-reel tape.

Artist: James Gang
Title: Woman
Source: CD: James Gang Rides Again
Writer: Fox/Peters/Walsh
Label: MCA
Year: 1970
Ending our second progression through the years of the week we have yet another song I associate with a particular place; in this case a coffee house in Alamogordo, NM that I could be found hanging out in after school during my senior year. The place had a room with an old console stereo in it, and a stack of half a dozen albums that someone had donated to the place. Side one of James Gang Rides Again must have been played a hundred times on that thing, often over and over when everybody was too stoned to get up to change the record.

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

Artist: Brogues
Title: I Ain't No Miracle Worker
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1965
Our third and final progression through the years this week starts in 1965 with the definitive version of what has come to be regarded as a punk standard, despite none of the various recordings of the song ever hitting the charts. The Brogues themselves never had any great success outside their native Merced, although two of the members, Gary Duncan and Greg Elmore, would go on to join Quicksilver Messenger Service the following year.

Artist: Kinks
Title: Dead End Street
Source: CD: Face To Face (bonus track-originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label-Reprise)
Year: 1966
The last big US hit for the Kinks in the 60s was Sunny Afternoon in late 1966. The 1967 follow-up, Deadend Street, was in much the same style, but did not achieve the same kind of success (although it was a hit in the UK). The Kinks would not have another major US hit until Lola in 1970.

Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Woods
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
One of the all-time great rock songs. 'Nuff said.

Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Larry Murray
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Hearts and Flowers is known as one of the pioneering country-rock bands, but in 1968 they recorded what could well be regarded as a lost psychedelic masterpiece. Producer Steve Venet reportedly had Sgt. Pepper in mind as he crafted out Tin Angel over a period of weeks, paying attention to the minutest details of the recording process. The result speaks for itself.

Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer: Dickie Peterson
Label: Philips
Year: 1968
Our closing track this week could well be considered the first heavy metal song. Blue Cheer was the loudest, heaviest band on the San Francisco scene, and maybe the whole world in 1968, and Last Time Around was the most feedback-drenched track on their debut album, Vincebus Eruptum. Appropriately, it was also the closing track on the LP.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Show # 1122 Playlist (starts 6/2)

Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
It's been a while since I started off the show with a hit record, so here, for your listening enjoyment, is one of the iconic songs of the psychedelic era. The Blues Magoos were one of the most visible psychedelic bands, partly because of their electric coats (seriously!) but mostly because they operated out of New York City. After scoring a minor success with their version of John D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road the group hit it big with (We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet. Released in late 1966, the single hit its peak in February of 1967.

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

Artist: Spirit
Title: She Smiles
Source: LP: The Family That Plays Together
Writer: Jay Ferguson
Label: Epic (original label: Ode)
Year: 1968
The second Spirit album saw the band moving away from its jazz-rock roots somewhat. Lead vocalist Jay Ferguson, who had written the bulk of material for the first LP, did not supply as many tunes for The Family That Plays Together. One of those he did contribute was She Smiles.

Artist: Flock
Title: Tired Of Waiting For You
Source: CD: The Flock
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: BGO (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1969
The Flock was one of those bands that made an impression on those who heard them perform but somehow were never able to turn that into massive record sales. Still, they left a pair of excellent LPs for posterity. The most notable track from the first album was this cover of the 1965 Kinks hit, featuring solos at the beginning and end of the song from violinist Jerry Goodwin, who would go on to help John McLaughlin found the Mahavishnu Orchestra a couple years later.

Artist: Canned Heat
Title: On The Road Again
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Jones/Wilson
Label: Silver Spotlight (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
Canned Heat was formed by a group of blues record collectors in San Francisco. Although their first album consisted entirely of cover songs, by 1968 they were starting to compose their own material, albeit in a style that remained consistent with their blues roots. On The Road Again is built on the same repeating riff the band used for their extended onstage jams such as Refried Boogie and Woodstock Boogie; the same basic riff that ZZ Top would use for their hit LaGrange a few years later.

Artist: Traffic
Title: Pearly Queen
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island
Year: 1968
The second Traffic LP was less overtly psychedelic than the Mr. Fantasy album, with songs like Pearly Queen taking the band in a more funky direction. When the band reformed in 1970 without Dave Mason (who had provided the most psychedelic elements) the songwriting team of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, who had written Pearly Queen, continued the trend.

Artist: Chambers Brothers
Title: You Got The Power-To Turn Me On
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Willie Chambers
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
The Chambers Brothers are one of the oddities of the psychedelic era. Formed in the fifties as a gospel group, the band slowly became more secularized over a period of time. This change led ultimately to their best-known song, Time Has Come Today, released in 1967 but not getting significant airplay until the following year. Time Has Come Today, however, was unlike any other song in their repertoire, which was much more funky in nature. You Got The Power-To Turn Me On, released as a B side in 1970, is a more typical example of the Chambers Brothers sound.

Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Let Me In
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Our longest progression through the years this week starts in 1966 with a song from Jefferson Airplane's first LP. At this early point in the band's career they were led by vocalist Marty Balin, who had hand-picked the original members. Among those charter members was Paul Kantner, who Balin had asked to join the band without ever having heard him sing or play. Balin said later that he just knew that Kantner was someone he wanted for his new band. Kantner very quickly developed into a strong singer/songwriter in his own right, and it all started with the song Let Me In (co-written by Balin), Kantner's first recorded lead vocal for the band.

Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: Fire In My Bones
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere (bonus track)
Writer: unknown
Label: Charly
Year: 1967
From 1967 we have a song that was recorded in the 13th Floor Elevators' cabin hideaway following their return to Texas after touring the West Coast. The band was alternating their time between playing gigs (many of which were booked by their label, International Artists) and working on material for their second LP. One of the songs that didn't make the album was Fire In My Bones. A 5-inch open reel tape of the song was found years later, but there was no documentation with it, thus making the question of who actually wrote it unanswerable.

Artist: Insect Trust
Title: Going Home
Source: LP: The Insect Trust
Writer: Barth/Jeffries
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
The Insect Trust was one of those New York bands that got overlooked during the psychedelic era. Like most New York bands, the group was more artsy than bands from other parts of the country, playing a unique type of psychedelic rock that had been replaced by a more R&B-influenced style by the time their second LP was released. Going Home, from the first album, showcases the vocals of Nancy Jeffries.

Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Marrakesh Express
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm (originally released on LP: Woodstock 2)
Writer: Graham Nash
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
The Woodstock festival was a turning point in the careers of several artists, not the least of which were Crosby, Stills and Nash. Although it was only their second live performance, all the members were known to a majority of concertgoers through their previous associations with the Byrds (David Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills) and the Hollies (Graham Nash). Marrakesh itself had already been released as a single, but had received limited airplay in the US. In the UK, on the other hand, the song was Radio Luxembourg's pick hit of the week when it was first released and within two weeks had gone to the top of the influential station's playlist.

Artist: Blues Image
Title: Ride Captain Ride
Source: CD: Open
Writer: Blues Image
Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
We wrap up our five-year progression with the best-known song from Florida's Blues Image. I don't exactly know why, but I always feel good when I hear Ride Captain Ride. Maybe it's just one of those life soundtrack things, but I honestly can't think of any particular memory it brings up.

Artist: Bobby Fuller Four
Title: Baby My Heart
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68
Writer: Sonny Curtis
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1966; released 2009.
The Bobby Fuller Four perfected their blend of rock and roll and Tex-Mex in their native El Paso before migrating out to L.A. After scoring a huge hit with I Fought The Law, Fuller was found dead in his hotel room of unnatural causes. This track, unreleased until 2009, is an indication of what might have been had Fuller lived long enough to establish himself further.

Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Midnight Ride)
Writer: Boyce/Hart
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1966
One of the great record company gaffes was the failure of Columbia to realize the potential of (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone as a hit single. Instead, it was released as a B side and included on the Midnight Ride album. A few months later the producers of the Monkees saw what Columbia didn't and the song became a classic, despite Paul Revere and the Raiders having the superior version of the song.

Artist: Who
Title: Disguises
Source: LP: Magic Bus (originally released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original UK label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
Disguises was the opening cut for the Who's 1966 Ready Steady Who EP. The EP was made in the wake of a successful TV appearance on Ready Steady Go, the UK equivalent of American Bandstand. Oddly enough, none of the songs on the EP were performed on the TV show. Disguises is full of electronic effects that remind me of the kind of sounds we used to hear when listening to distant AM radio stations at night. This could well be deliberate, as there were no rock radio stations operating legally in the UK, and listeners were forced to try to get either Radio Luxembourg, which at that time was broadcasting an American style top 40 format in English targeted to a British audience, or one of the pirate radio stations operating off the coast with power limited to what could be provided on a boat. Either of these would produce the kind of static fading in and out noises heard on Disguises, and deliberately putting such noises onto a record sounds like something the Who might have been inclined to do.

Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Short-Haired Fathers
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
We started off the first hour with a New York band so it only seems appropriate to end it with one as well. Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village by guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Bob Bruno and guitarist Jerry Jeff Walker in 1967. The group recorded two albums for Vanguard before Walker left to pursue a solo career. Nobody seems to know what happened to Bob Bruno, other than a now-deleted Wikipedia entry by Bruno himself.

Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Sookie Sookie
Source: CD: Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf)
Writer: Covay/Cropper
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1968
Not every song on the first Steppenwolf album was an original composition. In fact, some of the best songs on the LP were covers, from Hoyt Axton's The Pusher to Willie Dixon's Hoochie Coochie Man. A third cover, Sookie Sookie, was actually released as a follow-up single to Born To Be Wild, but failed to chart. The song had been an R&B hit a couple years earlier for Don Covay and was co-written by the legendary MG's guitarist Steve Cropper.

Artist: John D. Loudermilk
Title: Peace Of Heart
Source: The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk
Writer: John D. Loudermilk
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
John D. Loudermilk was one of the most prolific songwriters of the 60s, penning hits such as A Rose And A Baby Ruth and Tobacco Road. In 1969 he was persuaded to record an album of his own songs. Rather than re-record his past hits he came up with a whole new set of songs for the LP, entitled The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk.

Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Just Trying To Be
Source: LP: Living In The Past
Writer: Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: Recorded 1970, released 1973
The album Living In The Past was an anthology consisting mostly of tracks that had previously been unavailable in the US. These included songs that had been released in the UK on EPs and as single B sides as well as some studio outtakes. One of those outtakes was Just Trying To Be, recorded around the same time as the Benefit album.

Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: San Tropez
Source: LP: Meddle
Writer: Roger Waters
Label: Harvest
Year: 1971
In the years between the departure of Syd Barrett and the release of Darl Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd crafted out a reputation for being one of the most experimental bands around. One of their best-known albums of this period was the 1971 LP Meddle, which included album-rock radio standard One Of These Days. A lesser-known track from that album is San Tropez, a quiet piece from keyboardist Roger Waters.

Artist: Turtles
Title: The Walking Song
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: 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 type 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 sbecome known as the Phlorescent Leech (later Flo) and Eddie.

Artist: Bonzo Dog Band
Title: I'm The Urban Spaceman
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies
Writer: Neil Innes
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
The Bonzo Dog Dada Band (as they were originally called) was as much theatre (note the British spelling) as music, and were known for such antics as starting out their performances by doing calisthentics (after being introduced as the warm-up band) and having one of the members, "Legs" Larry Smith tapdance on stage (he was actually quite good). In 1967 they became the resident band on Do Not Adjust Your Set, a children's TV show that also featured sketch comedy by future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin and David Jason, the future voice of Mr. Toad and Danger Mouse. In 1968 they released their only hit single, I'm The Urban Spaceman, co-produced by Paul McCartney. Neil Innes would go on to hook up with Eric Idle for the Rutles projects, among others, and is often referred to as the Seventh Python.

Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Title: Underdog
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: Sylvester Stewart
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
Sly and the Family Stone were a showstopper at the Woodstock festival in 1969, but their story starts years before that historic performance. Sylvester Stewart was a popular DJ and record producer in mid-60s San Francisco, responsible for the first recordings of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and the Great! Society, among others. During that time he became acquainted with a wealth of talent, including bassist Larry Graham. In 1967, with Autumn Records having been sold to and closed down by Warner Brothers, he decided to form his own band. Anchored by Graham, Sly and the Family Stone's first LP, A Whole New Thing, was possibly the first funk album.

Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Title: I Need A Man To Love
Source: Cheap Thrills
Writer: Joplin/Albin
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Big Brother and the Holding Company recorded their first album at the Chicago studios of Mainstream records in 1967. Mainstream, however, was a jazz label and their engineers had no idea how to make a band like Big Brother sound good. When the band signed to Columbia the following year it was decided that the best way to record the band was onstage at the Fillmore West. As a result, when Cheap Thrills was released, four of the seven tracks were live recordings, including the Janis Joplin/Peter Albin collaboration I Need A Man To Love.

Artist: Firesign Theatre
Title: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?
Source: CD: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?
Writer: Proctor/Bergman/Austin/Ossman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1969
Tonight's featured piece is the entire first side of the second Firesign Theatre album. The group, consisting of Phil Proctor, Peter Bergman, Phil Austin and David Ossman, pioneered a type of "counter-culture comedy" that would be followed up on by such stars as Cheech and Chong, George Carlin, and the Credibility Gap (with Harry Shearer and Michael McKean), as well as the National Lampoon Radio Hour (featuring Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Christopher Guest and others).

How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All starts off with Proctor's parody of well-known Los Angeles car dealer Ralph Williams, whose ads ran late at night on local TV stations. Soon the TV viewer himself (played by Bergman) begins to interract with the salesman (Ralph Spoilsport of Spoilsport Motors!), eventually going for a test drive in one of Spoilsport's vehicles. He soon discovers that the vehicle is much more than just a car, as it has the ability to transport the driver to entirely different times and places through the use of its climate control system. As the customer visits the "land of the pharaohs" he is accosted by a strange hunting party led by someone who sounds like W.C. Fields. Eventually the customer finds himself in a hotel lobby, where he finds himself in the middle of a radio pageant celebrating (somewhat iconoclastically) American history. This leads to him being drafted and finding himself at a USO show, where we, the listeners, eventually learn that the whole thing was an old movie being shown on late night TV. Once again Ralph Spoilsport shows up, but this time selling something a bit more illicit. Apparently he samples his own product, as the piece ends with the salesmen quoting (more or less) from James Joyce's Ulysses.