https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/468840-pe-2315
We've had battles of the bands before, but this week we have a battle between a band and an individual artist. Seems a bit unfair at first until you consider that the artist is none other than Donovan. As for the identity of the band, read on...
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: Kicks
Source: Simulated stereo CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released on 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mann/Weil
Label: Priority (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1966
Kicks was not the first pop song with a strong anti-drug message, but it was the first one to be a major hit, making it to the number four spot on the US charts and hitting number one in Canada. It remained Paul Revere and the Raiders' best known song until Indian Reservation went all the way to the top of the charts five years later.
Artist: Who
Title: Rael 1
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
The Who Sell Out, released in December 1967, was the last album by the group before their 1969 rock-opera Tommy. The last track on the LP, Rael, is itself a mini-opera that tells the story of a wealthy man who has taken on the role of a crusader, out to free his ancestral homeland from its current occupiers. He tells the captain of his ship to come back for him on Christmas Day to see if he is ready to return. If not, he tells the captain, the boat is yours. Of course the captain has no intention of returning, as he declares soon after putting back out to sea. The piece then goes into an instrumental passage that would be copied pretty much note for note on the Tommy album as part of the Underture. The track ends with a repeat of the owner's instructions to the captain. The events surrounding the recording of Rael have become the stuff of legend. The band spent an entire day recording and mixing the song, and were apparently so exhausted at the end of the session that they left without securing the multi-track master in a safe place. The cleaning woman came in the next morning and tossed the tape into the waste basket. She then emptied the ashtrays and other trash into the same waste basket. When the band came in around noon the recording engineer who had found the tape had the unenviable task of telling them what had happened. Pete Townsend was in a rage, and the engineer tried to placate him by saying "these things happen". Townshend then proceeded to throw a chair through the glass wall separating the studio from the control room, informing the engineer that "these things happen".
Artist: Al Kooper/Stephen Stills/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh
Title: Season Of The Witch
Source: CD: Super Session
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
In 1968 Al Kooper, formerly of the Blues Project, formed a new group he called Blood, Sweat and Tears. Then, after recording one album with the new group, he abruptly left the band. He then booked studio time and called in his friend Michael Bloomfield (who had just left own his new band the Electric Flag) for a recorded jam session. Due to his chronic insomnia and inclination to use heroin to deal with said insomnia, Bloomfield was unable to record an entire album's worth of material, and Kooper called in another friend, Stephen Stills (who had recently left the Buffalo Springfield) to complete the project. The result was the Super Session album, which surprisingly (considering that it was the first album of its kind), made the top 10 album chart. One of the most popular tracks on Super Session was an extended version of Donovan's "Season of the Witch", featuring Stills using a wah-wah pedal (a relatively new invention at the time). Kooper initially felt that the basic tracks needed some sweetening, so he brought in a horn section to record additional overdubs.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Nothing Is Easy
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
Not long after the release of the first Jethro Tull album, guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a blues enthusiast, left the group due to musical differences with lead vocalist/flautist Ian Anderson, who favored a more eclectic approach to songwriting. Abrahams's replacement was Martin Barre, who remains a member of the group to this day. One of the first songs recorded with Barre is Nothing Is Easy, a blues rocker that opens side two of the band's second LP, Stand Up. More than any other track on Stand Up, Nothing Is Easy sounds like it could have been an outtake from This Was, the band's debut LP.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Crumbling Land
Source: LP: Zabriskie Point (soundtrack)
Writer(s): Gilmour/Waters/Wright/Mason
Label: 4 Men With Beards (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1970
Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point has been described as "the worst film ever made by a director of genius". Nonetheless the film, first released in 1970 has become somewhat of a cult classic in recent years, thanks in part to an outstanding soundtrack featuring Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, John Fahey and other notable artists. One of Pink Floyd's (credited on the album cover as The Pink Floyd) contributions was a tune called Crumbling Land featuring vocals by David Gilmour and Rick Wright. Gilmour descibes the tune as "a kind of country & western number which he [film director Antonioni] could have gotten done better by any number of American bands. But he chose us — very strange."
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: Mono LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when he was approached by Marty Balin about joining a new band that Balin was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like early Hot Tuna, but with Balin's vocals rather than Kaukonen's.
Artist: Them
Title: I Happen To Love You (mono single version)
Source: Mono British import CD: Now And Them (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Goffin/King
Label: Rev-Ola (original US label: Ruff)
Year: 1967
Following the departure of frontman Van Morrison in June of 1966, the remaining members of Them returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell, formerly of a band called the Mad Lads, who had in fact opened for Them on several occasions. With no record deal, however, the band was at a loss as to what to do next; the solution came in the form of a recommendation from Carol Deck, editor of the California-based magazine The Beat, which led to the band relocating to Amarillo, Texas, where they cut a single for the local Scully label. The follow up single, released on Ruff Records, was a tune called Walking In The Queen's Garden that came to the attention of the people at Capitol Records, who reissued the single on their Tower subsidiary. Within a month the record company had issued a promo version of the single that shifted the emphasis to the original B side, a Gerry Goffin/Carole King collaboration called I Happen To Love You that had been previously recorded as an album track by the Electric Prunes. This led to the band relocating to California and recording Now And Them, the first of two albums the band released on the Tower label in 1968.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Four Hendred And Five
Source: LP: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union
Writer(s): Wright/Tartachny/Weisburg/Rhodes/Ulaky/Farrell
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
I'm at a bit of a loss to explain this track, so I'll just have to make an educated guess. The members of the Beacon Street Union were in the studio sometime in 1967 working on their debut LP, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, when somebody started fooling around with the speed controls on one of the tape decks. An instrumental piece, possibly some sort of warm up jam, was on the tape. Someone decided that it sounded pretty cool speeded up, so they included it on the album itself. Four Hundred And Five is credited to the entire band, with one extra name tacked on at the end. Wes Farrell would be the producer of their second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, and may have been on hand when Four Hundred And Five was recorded. Who knows? He may even have been the one that sped up the tape in the first place. Anyway, that's my guess. Feel free to come up with one of your own.
Artist: Kindred Spirit
Title: Blue Avenue
Source: Mono CD: An Overdose Of Heavy Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single B side_
Writer(s): Wayne Ulaky
Label: Arf! Arf! (original labels: Moxie and Intrepid)
Year: 1969
Known primarily as a flood-prone steel processing center for most of its existence, Johnstown, PA, like many industrial cities, had its own music scene, and for a short time its own local record label in the 1960s. Moxie Records only released two singles, the first being a 1969 cover of the Rolling Stones' Under My Thumb by Kindred Spirit, a popular local band consisting of lead vocalist Greg Falvo, guitarists Joe Nemanich and John Galiote, keyboard and keyboard bassist Jim Smedo, drummer Tom "Boots" McCullough and vocalist Carl Mundok. Although most bands got to put an original tune on the B side of singles (so they could collect royalties on record sales), Kindred Spirit instead recorded another cover song, the Beacon Street Union's Blue Avenue for their own single's flipside. As it turned out, Kindred Spirit ended up outlasting Moxie Records after the single was picked up by Mercury Records and released on their new Intrepid subsidiary label in November of 1969. The following year a second Kindred Spirit single, Peaceful Man, was released on Intrepid. As far as I can tell, Peaceful Man was an original tune (lead vocalist Falvo is listed as co-writer), although the B side of that record was a cover of an album track from the first Flock LP.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: Eleanor Rigby
Source: LP: Ecology
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Rare Earth
Year: 1970
Like them or not, nobody can deny that Rare Earth had a sound that was uniquely their own, as can be heard on this six and a half minute long version of Paul McCartney's Eleanor Rigby. The song appeared as the final track on their 1970 LP Ecology.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Yellow Submarine Songtrack (originally released on LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1967 (remixed 1999)
The top album of 1967 was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also the first US Beatles album to have a song lineup that was identical to the original UK LP. As such, it was also the first Beatles album released in the US to not include any songs that were also released as singles. Nonetheless, several tracks from the LP found their way onto the playlists of both top 40 AM and "underground" FM stations from coast to coast. Among the most popular of these tracks was John Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, which shows up on just about everyone's list of classic psychedelic tunes. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was one of several songs that were remixed by Abbey Road Studios engineer Peter Cobbin in 1999 for the Yellow Submarine Songtrack.
Artist: Beatles
Title: One After 909
Source: CD: Let It Be...Naked
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1970 (remixed 2003)
One of the earliest John Lennon compositions, One After 909 dates back to his days as a member of the Quarrymen with Paul McCartney, who helped him write the song sometime before 1960. The band tried to record the song during the mid-1960s, but were unable to produce a satisfactory take. Finally, as part of their Let It Be project, the band performed the song live on a London rooftop in January of 1969. The performance was included in the film and released on the Let It Be album in 1970.
Artist: Beatles
Title: When I'm Sixty-Four
Source: CD: Yellow Submarine Songtrack (originally released on LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1967 (remixed 1999)
When the original soundtrack album for the animated film Yellow Submarine came out in 1969, it only included a couple of songs that had previously been released, along with four new Beatles recordings and an entire album side featuring George Martin's orchestral film score. As such, most fans did not consider it a "real" Beatles album. When the film itself was re-released in 1999 it was decided to completely revamp the accompanying soundtrack album, removing the orchestral score and including all of the Beatles songs used in the film (with the exception of A Day In The Life) . To make it sound even more like a "new" Beatles album, all the songs, including Paul McCartney's When I'm Sixty-Four, were remixed from the original 8-track masters, something that had not been done for most other Beatles CD releases. To differentiate the new album from the original soundtrack LP, it was given a new title, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, as well as new cover art.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Means To An End
Source: CD: Traffic
Writer(s): Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1968
The final track on the self-titled second Traffic album is not truly a Traffic song at all. Means To An End only features two members of the band: Chris Wood (on drums and percussion) and Steve Winwood (everything else). Somehow I can't picture the band performing this one in concert.
Next we have, as promised, our first ever Battle of the Band vs. Artist, featuring the Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan and New York's Blue Magoos. All but one of these tracks are taken from original vinyl sources (the exception being a stereo remix of a mono album track), so be prepared for a bit of surface noise.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: I'll Go Crazy
Source: LP: Psychedelic Lollipop
Writer(s): James Brown
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
You don't often hear the name James Brown and the word psychedelic in the same sentence, but sure enough, there is a Brown cover on the first (or maybe second) album to use the word psychedelic in its title. The album in question is the Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop. The song I'll Go Crazy finishes out the first side of the album. Although it is a credible rendition of the tune, the recording does not fit comfortably with the likes of (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet and the psychedelicized Tobacco Road. Apparently the band agreed, as they never recorded another James Brown cover song.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Hickory
Year: 1965
Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do, originally released in 1965 as the B side of Donovan's first single, Catch The Wind, was not included on any of his original albums, although it has since been included on some CD reissues as a bonus track. Those CDs, the most recent of which was issued in 2002, are almost as hard to come by as the single itself.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Love Seems Doomed
Source: LP: Psychedelic Lollipop
Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
Unlike most of the tracks on the Blues Magoos' 1966 Debut LP, Psychedelic Lollipop, Love Seems Doomed is a slow, moody piece with a message. Along with the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit Kicks from earlier that year, Love Seems Doomed is one of the first songs by a rock band to carry a decidedly anti-drug message. While Kicks warned of the addictive qualities of drugs (particularly the phenomenon of the need larger doses of a drug to achieve the same effect over time), Love Seems Doomed focused more on how addiction affects the user's relationships, particularly those of a romantic nature. Love Seems Doomed is also a more subtle song than Kicks, which tends to hit the listener over the head with its message.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Catch The Wind
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Hickory
Year: 1965
Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch released his first single, Catch The Wind, in March of 1965. The record was an instant hit, going to the #4 spot on the British charts and later hitting #23 in the US. He ended up re-recording the song twice; first for his debut LP, What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, and then again for his 1969 greatest hits album, when Epic Records was unable to secure the rights to either of the original versions. This is the original single, which had background strings that were not present on any other version.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: LP: Psychedelic Lollipop
Writer(s): Esposito/Gilbert/Scala
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sunny South Kensington
Source: British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original US label: Epic)
Year: 1966 (remixed 1998)
Donovan followed up his 1966 hit single Sunshine Superman with an album of the same name. He then repeated himself with the song and album Mellow Yellow. The B side of the Mellow Yellow single was Sunny South Kensington, a tune done in much the same style as Superman. The song was also included on the Mellow Yellow album, and in 1998 was mixed in stereo for the first time.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Viola Lee Blues
Source: CD: Birth Of The Dead
Writer(s): Noah Lewis
Label: Rhino
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2003
The Grateful Dead established a reputation over the years for playing long extended jams. One of the earliest was their version of Viola Lee Blues, recorded in 1966 before they had their first album deal with Warner Brothers.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Handy
Source: CD: Wishbone Ash
Writer(s): Turner/Turner/Upton/Powell
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to feature two lead guitarists working in tandem, Wishbone Ash rose to fame as the opening act for Deep Purple in early 1970. After guitarist Andy Powell sat in with Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during a sound check, Blackmore referred Wishbone Ash to MCA, the parent company of the US Decca label. The band's first LP came out in December of 1970, with several extended-length tracks like Handy showcasing the band's strengths. Although Wishbone Ash went on to become one of Britain's top rock bands of the 1970s, they were never as successful in the US, despite relocating to the states in 1973.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Born On The Bayou
Source: LP: Bayou Country
Writer(s): John Fogerty
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1968
If there is any single song that sums up what Creedence Clearwater Revival was all about, it could very well be Born On The Bayou, the opening track of CCR's second LP, Bayou Country. The song, which was written by John Fogerty late at night, became the opening for nearly every Creedence concert over the next few years, and is considered by many to be the band's signature song. Oddly enough, John Fogerty had never set foot on a bayou in his life when he wrote the song, but had always been a fan of the movie Swamp Fever, as well as having a fascination with "every other bit of southern bayou information that had entered my imagination from the time I was born."
Artist: Eire Apparent
Title: Here I Go Again
Source: Mono Swedish import CD: Sunrise (bonus track originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Lutton/Graham/McCulloch/Stewart
Label: Flawed Gems (original UK label: Track)
Year: 1968
Eire Apparent was originally part of the same Northern Ireland music scene that produced Van Morrison and Them a few years earlier. The band was first signed to Track Records, where they released one UK-only single (produced by Chas Chandler), with Here I Go Again as the B side. This led to a spot opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and an album, Sunrise, that was produced by Hendrix himself. After the album failed to catch on, the group quietly disbanded.
Artist: Circus
Title: Yes Is A Pleasant Country
Source: CD: Think I'm Going Weird
Writer(s): Mel Collins
Label: Grapefruit
Year: Recorded 1967, released 2021
Formed around 1961 in Guildford, Surrey, England, the Stormsville Shakers were rooted in late 1950s American rock 'n' roll, and made their first recordings as the backup band for Larry Williams, who was touring the UK with Johnny "Guitar" Watson in 1965 (many early rock 'n' roll artists found it less expensive to perform backed by local bands rather than take an entire entourage on tour with them, especially overseas). By 1967, however, they had shifted their focus to psychedelia, changing their name to Circus and trading in saxophones for flutes. Although they only released two singles as Circus, they did record a handful of demo tapes, including Yes Is A Pleasant Country, written by bandmember Mel Collins, who would later go on the become a member of King Crimson (and is probably best known for his saxophone solo on the Rolling Stones song Miss You).
Artist: Los Shakers
Title: Break It All (US version)
Source: CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Hugo & Osvaldo Fatturosa
Label: Rhino (original label: Audio Fidelity)
Year: 1966
We're all familiar with the British Invasion of the American music industry that began with the arrival of the Beatles on US shores (well, technically an airport runway) in early 1964. Less known was a Uraguayan Invasion of Argentina about a year later. Inspired by the film A Hard Days Night, brothers Hugo and Osvaldo Fatturoso formed Los Shakers in the Uraguayan city of Montevideo in 1964. They soon signed with the Argentina-based Odeon label (Buenos Aires being less than 100 miles from Montevideo) and by 1965 had touched off an entire wave of Uraguayan bands recording songs in English for Argentinian labels and appearing on Argentinian TV shows. They even recorded a new version of their biggest hit, Break It All, for the Audio Fidelity label that was released in the US and Mexico in 1966. By 1967, however, bands in Argentina were favoring songs sung in Spanish, and the Uraguayan Invasion subsided, finally dying off entirely when a military dictatorship was established in Uraguay itself in 1973.
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