Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1717 (starts 4/26/17)

This week it's mostly long sets, interspersed with short breathers. As an added bonus, the final half hour is an all San Francisco segment, featuring a set from Jefferson Airplane and tunes from two other popular Bay Area bands.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    For What It's Worth
Source:    LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released as 45 RPM single and added to LP: Buffalo Springfield)
Writer(s):    Stephen Stills
Label:    Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year:    1966
    Most people associate the name Buffalo Springfield with the song For What It's Worth. And for good reason. The song is one of the greatest protest songs ever recorded, and to this day is in regular rotation on both oldies and classic rock radio stations. The song was written and recorded in November of 1966 and released in December. By then the first Buffalo Springfield LP was already on the racks, but until that point had not sold particularly well. When it became clear that For What It's Worth was becoming a breakout hit, Atco Records quickly recalled the album and added the song to it (as the opening track). All subsequent pressings of the LP (and later the CD) contain For What It's Worth, making earlier copies of the album somewhat of a rarity and quite collectable.

Artist:        Turtles
Title:        You Know What I Mean
Source:        45 RPM single
Writer:        Bonner/Gordon
Label:        White Whale
Year:        1967
        1967 was a good year for the Turtles, mainly due to their discovery of the songwriting team of Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon. Not only did the former members of the Magicians write the Turtles' biggest hit, Happy Together, they also provided two follow-up songs, She's My Girl and You Know What I Mean, both of which hit the top 20 later in the year.

Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    Flowing Smoothly
Source:    CD: Mass In F Minor (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Brett Wade
Label:    Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1969
    By late 1968, the group was the Electric Prunes in name only. All the original members were gone, replaced by a group of musicians hand picked by producer Dave Hassinger to record the second of two albums written entirely by David Axelrod. Since ownership of the name Electric Prunes had been signed away to manager Lenny Poncher in the group's early days, there was nothing the actual band members could do about it. Not long after the release of the fourth Electric Prunes album, Release Of An Oath, in late 1968, the current group recorded a single, Hey, Mr. President, that was released in early 1969. The B side of that single, a tune called Flowing Smoothly, was written by one of the new members, bassist/guitarist Brett Wade. This same lineup, which also included former West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band guitarist Ron Morgan, also recorded the final Electric Prunes LP, Just Good Old Rock And Roll.

Artist:    Collectors
Title:    Dream Of Desolation
Source:    LP: Grass And Wild Strawberries
Writer(s):    Collectors/George Ryga
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1969
    Outside of Canada, the Collectors are best known for providing the instrumental tracks for the Electric Prunes album Mass In F Minor when the actual members of the Electric Prunes were taking too long learning the music written by David Axelrod. In their native land, however, the Collectors were already well established, having been together since 1961, when they were the house band for Vancouver's CFUN radio using the name C-FUN Classics. In 1966 they changed their name to the Collectors and hit the Canadian top 10 with their first single, Looking At A Baby. This was soon followed by their self-titled debut LP, which was released at around the same time as they were doing the studio work on Mass In F Minor. Their second album was an ambitious effort called Grass And Wild Strawberries, which featured music written by the band combined with lyrics from Canadian poet and playwright George Ryga on tracks like Dream Of Desolation. Following the departure of lead vocalist Howie Vickers in 1969 the band regrouped under the name Chilliwack, releasing several albums for A&M Records in the early 1970s.

Artist:    Fourth Way
Title:    The Far Side Of Your Moon
Source:    CD: A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single A side)
Writer(s):    Graves/Venet
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Soul City)
Year:    1968
    Although the title suggests something out of an 80s comic strip, The Far Side Of Your Moon is a genuine slice of psychedelia from 1968 that appeared as a single on the Soul City label, owned at the time by singer Johnny Rivers. Virtually nothing is known about the band itself (if Fourth Way was even a band at all). The song was co-written by Steve Venet, whose production credits include songs by the Astronauts and the Monkees.

Artist:    Jeff Thomas
Title:    Straight Arrow
Source:    Mono British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released in US as 45PM single)
Writer(s):    Jeff Thomas
Label:    Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Warner Brothers
Year:    1968
    To look at a publicity photo of Jeff Thomas, you'd think you had been transported to the late 1950s. Musically, he was squarely (pun intended) in the middle of the road, with a crooning style that was somewhat out of synch with the times. Somehow, though, he managed to write a tasty piece of psychedelia called Straight Arrow, which was released as his second of three singles in late 1968.

Artist:    Gene Clark
Title:    Los Angeles
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on CD: Flying High)
Writer(s):    Smith/Clark
Label:    Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 1998
    When the Byrds first started out in 1965 the member drawing the most attention was Gene Clark. In addition to being a defacto front man (he also played tambourine and harmonica), Clark was the band's original songwriter, penning such favorites as I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better, She Don't Care About Time and Set You Free This Time for their first two LPs. Problems started cropping up, however, when the band's management insisted that Roger McGuinn, rather than Clark, should sing lead on the band's singles, such as Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!. There was also tension in the band due to Clark's being paid more than the other members (due to songwriting royalties). Finally, Clark had anxiety issues concerning travel (especially by air) at a time when there was increasing demand for the band to go on tour to promote their records nationally and even internationally. This led to Clark leaving the group in 1966, his last major song for the band being a collaboration with McGuinn and David Crosby, Eight Miles High. After a critically-acclaimed but commercially disapointing album with the Gosdin Brothers, Clark briefly rejoined the Byrds (replacing the fired Crosby) just in time to make a TV appearance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, lip-synching to a pair of songs he didn't record. In 1968 Clark signed to A&M Records and began working with banjo player Doug Dillard as Dillard And Clark. Around this time, Clark recorded the song Los Angeles, but the track was not released until 30 years later.

Artist:    Otis Redding
Title:    (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
Source:    LP: Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Redding/Cropper
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1968
    Otis Redding's (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay, co-written by legendary MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, was released shortly after the plane crash that took the lives of not only Redding, but several members of the Bar-Kays as well. Shortly after recording the song Redding played it for his wife, who reacted by saying "Otis, you're changing." Redding's reply was "maybe I need to."

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

Artist:    Chicago
Title:    South California Purples
Source:    LP: The Chicago Transit Authority
Writer(s):    Robert Lamm
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    Chicago never considered themselves a jazz-rock band, despite all the hype from the rock press and the publicity people at Columbia Records. Rather, the defined themselves as a rock band with a horn section. Songs like Robert Lamm's South California Purples, which is basically a blues progression, lend credence to this view. The track, which showcases the guitar work of Terry Kath, was one of the most popular songs on the band's debut album and continued to be a concert staple until Kath's death in 1978.

Artist:    Iron Butterfly
Title:    Possession
Source:    CD: Heavy
Writer(s):    Doug Ingle
Label:    Atco
Year:    1968
            Iron Butterfly was formed in San Diego in 1966, but soon relocated to Los Angeles. Founders Doug Ingle (vocals, keyboards), Danny Weis (guitar) and Darryl DeLoach (vocals, tambourine) were joined by bassist Jerry Penrod and drummer Ron Bushy for the band's debut LP, Heavy, which was recorded in 1967. Not long after completing Heavy, Iron Butterfly disbanded, and the album was shelved. Ingle and Bushy quickly formed a new Iron Butterfly, which began touring almost immediately. This in turn led to Atco finally releasing Heavy in early 1968. The album did reasonably well, peaking at # 78 despite the fact that the single from the LP, a Doug Ingle composition called Possession, tanked. An earlier version of Possession was released in 1970.

Artist:    Janis Ian
Title:    Then Tangles Of My Mind
Source:    LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s):    Janis Ian
Label:    Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast
Year:    1967
    Janis Ian first came to national prominence at the age of 16 when her song Society's Child was featured on a Leonard Berstein TV special called Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution in 1967. Ian had written and recorded the song two years earlier for Atlantic Records, which chose not to release the record, instead returning the master to Ian herself. Ian then shopped the song around until it was picked up by the Verve Forecast label. The single was actually issued three times by the label before Ian's appearance on the Bernstein generated enough interest in the song to make it a hit, peaking at #14 on the national charts in the summer of 1967 despite being banned on several radio stations for being too controversial (the song was about inter-racial dating). The success of Society's Child led to Ian's self-titled debut LP being released that same year. Although not a major commercial success, the album boasts several excellent songs, including Then Tangles Of My Mind.

Artist:    Third Rail
Title:    Run Run Run
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Resnick/Resnick/Levine
Label:    Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year:    1967
    Run Run Run is actually a studio creation issued in 1967 from husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick collaborating with Joey Levine, who sings lead vocals on the track. They only performed the song live once (in Cincinatti, of all places) as the Third Rail. All three would find a home as part of the Kasenetz-Katz bubble gum machine that would make Buddah Records a major player in 1968, with Levine himself singing lead for one of the label's most successful groups, the Ohio Express.

Artist:    Traffic
Title:    Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush
Source:    Mono CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer(s):    Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label:    Island
Year:    1967
    For many years I was completely oblivious to the existence of a movie called Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush. The Traffic song of the same name, however, has been a favorite of mine for quite some time (I have black and white video footage of the band performing the song on some old British TV show). The song was released as a single in 1967 and was not included on either the US or UK version of the Mr. Fantasy album (originally known in the US as Heaven Is In Your Mind). It is now available as a bonus track on both mono and stereo CD versions of the album.

Artist:    Bee Gees
Title:    Turn Of The Century
Source:    CD: Bee Gees' 1st
Writer(s):    Barry and Robin Gibb
Label:    Reprise (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    Although they already had two albums released in Australia and New Zealand by the time they relocated to the UK in late 1966, the Bee Gees chose to call their next album Bee Gees' 1st. It was, after all, the group's first LP to be released in the northern hemisphere. More importantly, however, it was the first album to feature the Bee Gees as an actual band, thanks to the addition of lead guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen, both native Australians. The album itself is arguably the most psychedelic in the band's repertoire, as can be heard on the LP's opening track, Turn Of The Century. The song, written by brothers Barry and Robin Gibb, had audio "flutter" on the intro of the original Atco stereo LP version that has been corrected on the Reprise CD reissue of the album.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Thoughts And Words
Source:    Mono LP: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s):    Chris Hillman
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1967
    In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.

Artist:    Liberation News Service
Title:    Mid-Winter's Afternoon
Source:    Mono CD: A Deadly Dose Of Wild Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ed Esko
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Esko)
Year:    1967
    Liberation News Service was a Philadelphia band founded in 1965 by the Esko brothers, Ed and Jeff. Their first release was Mid-Winter's Afternoon, released on the band's own Esko label in 1967. Not long after its release the band added a new lead vocalist and changed their name to the Esko Affair, eventually getting a contract with Mercury Records and releasing singles in 1968 and 1969.

Artist:    Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters
Title:    New Dreams
Source:    LP: Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters
Writer(s):    Dave and Doris Woods
Label:    Verve Forecast
Year:    1967
    Although not exactly a household name, Dave Van Ronk was, in fact, one of the most important and influential figures on the Greenwich Village scene in the early 60s, serving as mentor to a host of young folk and blue musicians including Bob Dylan, whom he met when the latter first arrived in New York. Van Ronk was not known as a songwriter, preferring to put his unique stamp on songs by other composers such as Reverend Gary Davis, Joni Mitchell and even Dylan himself. Although Van Ronk generally worked as a solo artist, he did record an album in 1967 with an electric band called the Hudson Dusters. Alongside the kinds of songs you might expect from someone like Van Ronk, the Hudson Dusters included tunes such as New Dreams, probably the most psychedelic track Van Ronk ever recorded.

Artist:    Lovechain
Title:    Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly
Source:    Mono CD: A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Thomas/Mallius
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Westwood)
Year:    1969
    Canton, Ohio, was home to Westwood Records, which issued Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly as a single in 1969. Not much is known about the band Lovechain, however, except that they were reportedly from the Dover-New Philadelphia, Ohio, area. I can't help but think that Art Linkletter did not put his stamp of approval on this one.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix
Title:    Message To Love
Source:    LP: Band Of Gypsys
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    In the mid-1960s Jimi Hendrix sat in on some recording sessions with his friend Curtis Knight, signing what he thought was a standard release contract at the time. It wasn't until Hendrix was an international star that the signing came back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit by Capitol Records accusing him of breach of contract. The end result was that Hendrix ended up owing the label two albums, the first being an album called Get That Feeling that was made up of the material Hendrix had recorded with Knight. The second album was to be all new material, but at the time of the settlement in mid-1969 Hendrix had just disbanded the Experience and was experimenting around with different combinations of musicians before getting to work on his next studio project. Hendrix appeared at Woodstock with a number of these musicians, including his old Army buddy Billy Cox on bass. The two of them soon began to work up a live set with drummer Buddy Miles, who had made a guest appearance on the last Experience album, Electric Ladyland. The new three-piece group, calling itself Band Of Gypsys, played a two-night engagement at New York's Madison Square Garden over the New Year's holiday, using the best performances from both nights to compile a live album that was released by Capitol the following spring. Among the new songs that made their debut on Band Of Gypsys was Message To Love. The song is a fair indication of the direction that Hendrix's music was beginning to take.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Jiving Sister Fanny
Source:    CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco
Year:    Recorded 1969, released 1975
    Although it first appeared as the B side of Mick Jagger's 1975 single Out Of Time, Jiving Sister Fanny was actually recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1969. Out Of Time was even older, however, having been recorded by Jagger as a guide track for a 1966 Chris Farlowe single that Jagger produced using the actual instrumental track from that single. By 1975 both tracks (along with all of the '60s Rolling Stones recordings) were in the hands of Allen Klein, who paired the two songs up for single release on his Abkco label.

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

Artist:     Five Americans
Title:     Western Union
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer:     Rabon/Ezell/Durrell
Label:     Abnak
Year:     1967
     One of the biggest hits of 1967 came from a band from Southeastern State College in Durant Oklahoma, although they probably played at least as many gigs in neighboring Texas as in their home state. The Five Americans, having already scored a minor hit with I See The Light the previous year, hit the #5 spot on the national charts with Western Union, featuring a distinctive opening organ riff designed to evoke the sound of a telegraph receiver picking up Morse code.

Artist:    Spencer Davis Group
Title:    Gimme Some Lovin'
Source:    Mono CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits-1967 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Winwood/Winwood/Davis
Label:    Rhino (original label: United Artists)
Year:    1966
    One of many British bands to have far more success at home than abroad, the Spencer Davis Group nonetheless scored big in the US in early 1967 with two songs co-written and sung by 17-year-old Steve Winwood, who would soon leave the band to form Traffic. The first of these, Gimme Some Lovin' would gain renewed popularity in the 80s when it was prominently featured in The Big Chill, one of the first films to use a 60s nostalgia soundtrack.

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    Till The End Of The Day
Source:    Mono Canadian import CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    PolyTel (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1965
    Although the Kinks had, by 1965, largely moved beyond their hard-rocking roots into more melodic territory, there were a few exceptions. The most notable of these was Till The End Of The Day, which was released as a single toward the end of the year. Although it was not as big a hit as, say, You Really Got Me, it did prove that the band could still rock out when it wanted to.

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    The Times They Are A-Changin'
Source:    LP: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Times They Are A-Changin')
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1964
    I vaguely remember seeing a movie back in the 80s (I think it may have been called The Wanderers) about a street gang from an Italian-American neighborhood somewhere in New York City, circa 1960. I really don't remember much about the plot of the film, but I do remember a bit near the end, where the main character walks down a street in Greenwich Village and hears the sound of Bob Dylan coming from a coffee house singing The Times They Are A-Changin'. I've often thought of that scene and how it symbolized the shift from the conformist culture of the late 50s (represented by the peer pressure-driven gang life) to the turbulence that would characterize the 1960s.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    She's Leaving Home
Source:    LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1967
    One of the striking things about the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the sheer variety of songs on the album. Never before had a rock band gone so far beyond its roots in so many directions at once. One of Paul McCartney's most poignant songs on the album was She's Leaving Home. The song tells the story of a young girl who has decided that her stable homelife is just too unfulling to bear and heads for the big city. Giving the song added depth is the somewhat clueless response of her parents, who can't seem to understand what went wrong.
   
Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    She Has Funny Cars
Source:    Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Kaukonen/Balin
Label:    Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1967
    She Has Funny Cars, the opening track of Jefferson Airplane's second LP, Surrealistic Pillow, was a reference to some unusual possessions belonging to new drummer Spencer Dryden's girlfriend. As was the case with many of the early Airplane tracks, the title has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song itself. The song was also released as the B side to the band's first top 10 single, Somebody To Love.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    The Other Side Of This Life
Source:    LP: Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Writer(s):    Fred Neil
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1969
    Recorded at the Fillmore West in October of 1968 and released in 1969, Jefferson Airplane's version of Fred Neil's The Other Side Of This Life shows a side of the band that was seldom heard on their studio albums. The six and a half minute long piece features complex improvisation between guitarists Paul Kantner and Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casidy and drummer Spencer Dryden, along with strong vocal performances from Kantner, Marty Balin and Grace Slick, with melody and harmony lines interweaving between the three of them. The track rocks out harder than most of their studio recordings as well, prompting other musicians such as Rush's Geddy Lee to rank Bless Its Pointed Little Head among the best live albums ever recorded.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    White Rabbit
Source:       Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Grace Slick
Label:    Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1967
    The first time I heard White Rabbit was on Denver's first FM rock station, KLZ-FM. The station branded itself as having a top 100 (as opposed to local ratings leader KIMN's top 60), and prided itself on being the first station in town to play new releases and album tracks. It wasn't long before White Rabbit was officially released as a single, and went on to become a top 10 hit, the last for the Airplane.

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Ball And Chain
Source:    LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s):    Willie Mae Thornton
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968
    Big Brother And The Holding Company electrified the crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 with their performance of Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball And Chain. The rest of the world, however, would have to wait until the following year to hear Janis Joplin's version of the old blues tune, when a live performance recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium was included on the LP Cheap Thrills.

Artist:    Blue Cheer
Title:    Rock Me Baby
Source:    Dutch import LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer(s):    King/Josea
Label:    Philips
Year:    1968
    The first Blue Cheer LP, Vincebus Eruptum, is cited by some as the first heavy metal album, while others refer to it as proto metal. However you want to look at it, the album is dominated by the feedback-laden guitar of Leigh Stephens, as can be plainly heard on their version of B.B. King's classic Rock Me Baby. Although there seem to be very few people still around who actually heard Blue Cheer perform live, the power trio has the reputation of being one of the loudest bands in the history of rock music.