https://exchange.prx.org/p/506724
This week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era includes three tunes from the Jimi Hendrix Experience that originally appeared in Europe and the UK only on 45 RPM vinyl, a "mini concert" from the Beatles, and a set of tunes from three different bands all featuring Steve Winwood on lead vocals. We also have Bill Wyman's first and only single of the 1960s and a Status Quo tune that's NOT Pictures Of Matchstick Men.
Artist: Kinks
Title: You Really Got Me
Source: Mono CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: K-Tel (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1964
Although the Beatles touched off the British Invasion, it was the sheer in-your-face simplicity of You Really Got Me, recorded by an "upstart band of teenagers" from London's Muswell Hill district named the Kinks and released in August of 1964 that made the goal of forming your own band and recording a hit single seem to be a viable one. And sure enough, within a year garages and basements all across America were filled with guitars, amps, drums and aspiring high-school age musicians, some of whom would indeed get their own records played on the radio.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Too Many People
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Pons/Rinehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that in Los Angeles, a city known for drawing wannabes from across the world, this local band's members were all native Ellayins. Formed by members of a fraternity 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 (Bob Dylan's Love Minus Zero) to record as a single by their producer and allowed to write their own B side. In this case the intended B side was Too Many People, written by bassist Jim Pons and guitarist Bill Rhinehart. Before the record was released, however, the producers decided that Too Many People was the stronger track and designated it the A side. 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, the success of which led to their first LP, which included a watered down version of Too Many People. The version heard here is the 1965 original. Eventually Pons would leave the Leaves, hooking up first with the Turtles, then Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michalski
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 Count Five, a group of five individuals who chose to dress up like Bela Lugosi's Dracula, capes and all. Musically, they idolized the Yardbirds (Jeff Beck era), and for slightly more than three minutes managed to sound more like their idols than the Yardbirds themselves (who by then had replaced Beck with Jimmy Page and had come under the influence of producer Mickey Most).
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: She Has Funny Cars
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Kaukonen/Balin
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. The mono mix used for the single has noticably less reverb than the more familiar stereo version of the song.
Artist: Status Quo
Title: Ice In The Sun
Source: British import CD: Acid Daze (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Wilde/Scott
Label: Uncut (original label: Cadet Concept)
Year: 1968
Status Quo scored an international hit with Pictures Of Matchstick Men in early 1968, but their followup single, Black Veils Of Melancholy, failed to chart, even in their native land. Critics called the tune a carbon copy of Pictures, and the band wisely changed direction a bit for their third single, Ice In The Sun. Although not a hit in the US, it did make the British top 10 and went into the top 20 in Germany, Belgium and Ireland.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Undun
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Randy Bachman
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Following the release of the Wheatfield Soul album (and the hit single These Eyes), RCA tied the Guess Who down to a long-term contract. One of the stipulations of that contract was that the band would make subsequent recordings at RCA's own studios. After recording the tracks for their follow-up album, Canned Wheat, the band members felt that the sound at RCA was inferior to that of A&R studios, where they had recorded Wheatfield Soul, and secretly re-recorded a pair of tunes at A&R and submitted dubs of the tapes to RCA. The tunes, Laughing and Undun, were issued as a double-sided single in 1969, with both sides getting a decent amount of airplay. Once word got out that the songs had been recorded in a non-RCA studio, the label realized the error of their ways and relaxed the exclusivity policy, although not in time for the band to re-record the rest of the album.
Artist: Animals
Title: I Can't Believe It
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Eric Burdon
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1965
Eric Burdon did not write many songs for the original Animals, and most of those he did with collaborations with other band members. One of the few he did write on his own was I Can't Believe It, released as the B side of the single We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and the American (but not the British) version of the album Animal Tracks.
Artist: Shadows Of Knight
Title: I'll Make You Sorry
Source: LP: Back Door Men
Writer(s): Joe Kelley
Label: Sundazed (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Following the success of the Shadows Of Knight's debut single and LP (both titled Gloria), the band went back into the studio with a bit more experience under their belt and came up with their finest album, Back Door Men. Like Gloria, Back Door Men contained a mixture of Chicago blues and garage/punk, but overall had a greater diversity of style than its predecessor. Surprisingly, every song on the album worked, including guitarist Joe Kelley's vindictive punk rocker I'll Make You Sorry, which was also released as a B side.
Artist: Country Joe And The Fish
Title: Love
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer(s): McDonald/Melton/Cohen/Barthol/Gunning/Hirsch
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Most of the songs on the first Country Joe And The Fish album, Electric Music For The Mind And Body, were written and sung by Country Joe McDonald. An exception was the song Love, which was written by the entire band and sung by Barry Melton, aka The Fish.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Purple Haze
Source: Dutch import LP: The Singles (originally released in the UK as a 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Polydor (original label:Track)
Year: 1967
Purple Haze has one of the most convoluted release histories of any song ever recorded. Originally issued in the UK on the Track label and in Europe on the Polydor label as a single, it scored high on the British charts. When Reprise got the rights to release the first Hendrix album, Are You Experienced, in the US, they chose to replace the first track on the album with Purple Haze, moving the original opening track, Foxy Lady, to side two of the LP. Purple Haze next appeared on the Smash Hits album, which was released pretty much everywhere. The song's next appearance was on a European double LP release on Polydor called The Singles, which collected all the tracks that had previously appeared on 7" vinyl anywhere, including posthumous releases. This was the way things stayed until the early 1990s, when MCA acquired the rights to the Hendrix catalog and re-issued Are You Experienced with the tracks restored to the UK ordering, but preceded by the six non-album sides (including Purple Haze) that had originally been released prior to the album. Most recently, the Hendrix Family Trust has again changed labels and the US version of Are You Experienced is once again in print, this time on Sony's Legacy label. This means that the song has now been released by all three currently existing major record conglomerates.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: 51st Anniversary
Source: Simulated stereo British import LP: Smash Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Polydor (original label: Track)
Year: 1967
The first Jimi Hendrix Experience single of 1967 (and the first for Track Records) was the classic Purple Haze, released on March 17, 1967. For the B side, the band chose one of producer Chas Chandler's favorite tracks, 51st Anniversary. The song expressed Hendrix's views on marraige by looking at it first from 51 years after the wedding, and then working his way back through the years. The first half, in Hendrix's words, was "just saying the good things about marraige, or maybe the usual things about marraige. The second part of the record tells about the parts of marraige which I've seen." Hendrix's own parents got married when his mother was just 17, just like the girl in the song. Musically, 51st Anniversary is unique in that it is the only Hendrix song ever released that did not have a guitar solo, although the recording does feature five guitar overdubs linked together over the course of the track.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Highway Chile
Source: Mono Dutch import LP: The Singles (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Polydor (original label: Track)
Year: 1967
The Jimi Hendrix Experience already had three hit singles in the UK before releasing their first LP, Are You Experienced, in May of 1967. The following month the band made its US debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The gig went over so well that Reprise Records soon made arrangements to release Are You Experienced in the US. To maximize the commercial potential of the LP, Reprise decided to include the A sides of all three singles on the album, even though those songs had not been on the British version. The B sides of all three singles, however, were not included on the album. Among those missing tracks was Highway Chile, a somewhat autobiographical song that was originally paired with The Wind Cries Mary.
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Dallas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face. The song was produced by the legendary Dale Hawkins, who wrote and recorded the original version of Suzy Q in the late 1950s.
Artist: Davie Allan And The Arrows
Title: Blue's Theme
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Wild Ones-soundtrack and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Curb/Allan
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
It is entirely possible that the Chocolate Watchband (or more accurately, the unknown producers of their first recording) were indirectly responsible for giving guitarist Davie Allan his biggest hit single. In 1966, movie producer Roger Corman hired Mike Curb to comeup with soundtrack music for his 1966 film The Wild Ones. Curb in turn contacted his longtime friend (and frequent collaborator) Davie Allan to actually record the soundtrack with his band, the Arrows. The film was released in July of 1966, with the soundtrack album appearing soon after. The obvious high point of the album was the instrumental track Blue's Theme (which technically should have been Blues's Theme, since the film's main character, played by Peter Fonda, was named Heavenly Blues), but at first there were reportedly no plans to release the song as a single. However, late in the year the Chocolate Watch Band were making their very first visit to a recording studio, and were asked to knock out a quick cover of Blues Theme, which was released (sans apostrophe) on the HBR label, credited to The Hogs. Curb must have heard about this as it was being prepared for release, as he managed to put out a single release of the original Davie Allan version of Blue's Theme before the HBR single hit the racks. Either that, or (more likely) the HBR producers simply had bad info about Curb's intentions in the first place.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: The First Edition and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mickey Newbury
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
In 1968, former New Christy Mistrels members Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle decided to form a psychedelic folk-rock band, the First Edition. Although Settle was the official leader on the first album, it was Rogers who would emerge as the star of the band, even to the point of eventually changing the band's name to Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. That change reflected a shift to country flavored pop that would eventually propel Rogers to superstar status.
Artist: Move
Title: Blackberry Way
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1968
Although they never had a hit single in the US, the Move, led by guitarist Roy Wood, was quite successful in their native UK. Their most successful single was Blackberry Way, released as a non-LP single in 1968, which went all the way to the top of the British charts, also hitting the top 20 in several European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand. Blackberry Way was the only Move single produced by Jimmy Miller, who was asked to take over production on the track by Denny Cordell, who had accidentally overbooked himself. The band's regular vocalist, Carl Wayne, reportedly refused to sing the song, leaving Wood to provide his own lead vocals for the recording.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: Only When You're Lonely
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Sloan/Barri
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1966
After the first band hired by songwriter/producers PF Sloan and Steve Barri to be the Grass Roots quit midway through the recording of their first album, Sloan himself took over lead vocal duties, singing on over half the songs on the LP, including Only When You're Lonely. The song was released as a single two months before the album itself, which featured instrumental tracks by the Wrecking Crew and other Los Angeles session musicians.
Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Rock And Roll Gypsies
Source: LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Of Houses, Kids And Forgotten Women)
Writer(s): Roger Tillison
Label: Cotillion (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Led by singer/songwriters Larry Murray and Dave Dawson, Hearts And Flowers is best known for launching the career of guitarist/vocalist Bernie Leadon, who joined the group for their second LP and would later go on to co-found the Eagles. That second album, Of Houses, Kids And Forgotten Women, is generally considered the most accessible of the group's three albums, and included the song Rock And Roll Gypsies, which was included on the Homer movie soundtrack album in 1970.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Blue Avenue
Source: British import CD: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union/The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens (originally released in US on LP: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union)
Writer(s): Wayne Ulaky
Label: See For Miles (original US label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
Although never issued as a single in the US, Blue Avenue, from The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, was the band's most popular song among UK radio listeners. This is due to the fact that the song was played by England's most influential DJ, John Peel, on his "Top Gear" show. One of the many garage bands I was in learned the song and played it at a failed audition for the Ramstein AFB Airman's club, although all five guys in the audience seemed to get a kick out of seeing and hearing me strum my guitar's strings on the wrong side of the bridge.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1966
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
One of the first tracks recorded for the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the title track itself, which opens up side one of the LP. The following song, With A Little Help From My Friends (tentatively titled Bad Finger Boogie at the time), was recorded nearly two months later, yet the two sound like one continuous performance. In fact, it was this painstaking attention to every facet of the recording and production process that made Sgt. Pepper's such a landmark album. Whereas the first Beatle album took 585 minutes to record, Sgt. Pepper's took over 700 hours. At this point in the band's career, drummer Ringo Starr was generally given one song to sing (usually written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) on each of the group's albums. Originally, these were throwaway songs such as I Wanna Be Your Man (which was actually written for the Rolling Stones), but on the previous album, Revolver, the biggest hit on the album ended up being the song Ringo sang, Yellow Submarine. Although no singles were released from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends received considerable airplay on top 40 radio and is one of the most popular Beatle songs ever recorded.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Yellow Submarine
Source: CD: Yellow Submarine Soundtrack (originally released on LP: Revolver)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1966
When EMI released the entire Beatles catalog on CD for the first time, they issued the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album with the same mix of Beatles tracks and incidental music written by George Martin that had been originally released in 1969. This version only included two songs (All You Need Is Love and the title track itself) that had been previously released, even though several more Beatles songs had been used in the film itself. When the film itself was re-released in 1999, however, it was decided to release an entirely different album called the Yellow Submarine Songtrack that included 15 Beatles tunes and no incidental music. Unlike the 1987 CD, which had used the original mixes from the 1969 LP, the Yellow Submarine Songtrack featured remixes by Peter Cobbin of Abbey Road Studiosof all 15 songs. Ringo's vocals, which on the original mix of the title track had been panned entirely to one side (which made for a weird listening experience on a stereo with one channel blown) were now centered, with John Lennon's responses panned from side to side. The various sound effects used in the song are a bit louder in the mix as well.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/A Day In The Life
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
One of the great accidents of record production was the splice that turned the chicken at the end of Good Morning Good Morning into a guitar, starting off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and ultimately leading into A Day In The Life, with it's slowly dissolving orchestral chord that brings the number one album of 1967 to a close.
Artist: Phil Ochs
Title: I Ain't Marching Anymore
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Phil Ochs
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1965
Phil Ochs' I Ain't Marching Anymore didn't get a whole lot of airplay when it was released in 1965 (unless you count a handful of closed-circuit student-run stations on various college campuses that could only be picked up by plugging a radio into a wall socket in a dorm room). Ochs was aware of this, and even commented that "the fact that you won't be hearing this song on the radio is more than enough justification for the writing of it." He went on to say that the song "borders between pacifism and treason, combining the best qualities of both." The following year Ochs recorded this folk-rock version of the song (backed up by members of the Blues Project) that was released as a single in the UK.
Artist: Byrds
Title: John Riley
Source: LP: Fifth Dimension
Writer(s): Gibson/Neff
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The third Byrds album, Fifth Dimension, saw many changes in the group, not the least of which was the loss of the band's primary songwriter, Gene Clark. In addition, the band made a conscious decision not to include any Bob Dylan cover songs on the album. Combined with a change of producer this made for a very different sounding album than the Byrds' first two efforts. Among the album's four cover songs was a traditional English folk ballad called John Riley that had been previously recorded by Judy Collins and Joan Baez, among others. The Byrds version of John Riley, based on the Baez interpretation of the song, showcases the band's rich harmonies, perhaps more than any other track on Fifth Dimension.
Artist: Bill Wyman (backed up by the rest of the Rolling Stones)
Title: In Another Land
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer(s): Bill Wyman
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
In Another Land was the first Rolling Stones song written and sung by bassist Bill Wyman, and was even released in the US as a Wyman single. The song originally appeared on the Stones' most psychedelic album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, in late 1967.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Hurdy Gurdy Man
Source: British import CD: The Hurdy Gurdy Man)
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
In early 1968 Donovan Leitch decided to try his hand at producing another band, Hurdy Gurdy, which included his old friend bassist Mac MacLeod. However, creative differences with the band led to Donovan recording the song himself and releasing it as a single in May of that year. The song is done in a harder rock style than most of Donovan's recordings, and features some of London's top studio musicians, including Clem Cattini on drums, Alan Parker on guitar and future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones on bass. It has long been rumoured that Jimmy Page and John Bonham also participated, but their presence is disputed. Donovan reportedly wanted to use Jimi Hendrix on the recording, but the guitarist was unavailable.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Gimme Some Lovin'
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Winwood/Winwood/Davis
Label: United Artists
Year: 1966
By mid-1966 the Spencer Davis Group had already racked up an impressive number of British hit singles, but had yet to crack the US top 40. This changed when the band released Gimme Some Lovin', an original composition that had taken the band about an hour to develop in the studio. The single, released on Oct 28, went to the #2 spot on the British charts. Although producer Jimmy Miller knew he had a hit on his hands, he decided to do a complete remix of the song, including a brand new lead vocal track, added backup vocals and percussion and plenty of reverb, for the song's US release. His strategy was successful; Gimme Some Lovin', released in December of 1966, hit the US charts in early 1967, eventually reaching the #7 spot. The US remix has since become the standard version of the song, and has appeared on countless compilations over the years.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush
Source: Mono CD: Smiling Phases (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Winwood/Capaldi/Wood/Mason
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
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, however, as a bonus track on both the mono (Mr. Fantasy) and stereo (Heaven Is In Your Mind) versions of the CD.
Artist: Blind Faith
Title: Do What You Like
Source: British import LP: Blind Faith
Writer: Ginger Baker
Label: Polydor
Year: 1969
Ginger Baker basically invented the rock drum solo, or at least was the first to record one in the studio, with the track Toad from the Fresh Cream album, released in 1966. A live version of the song was featured on the Wheels Of Fire album in 1968. The following year, recording technology had progressed to the point of allowing a true stereo mix of Baker's massive double bass drum setup for the track Do What You Like, a much more sophisticated composition than Toad. Featuring a vocal track from Steve Winwood as well as solos by all four band members, Do What You Like runs about 15 minutes in length.
Artist: Cream
Title: Deserted Cities Of The Heart
Source: British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: Polydor (original US label: Atco)
Year: 1968
The most psychedelic of Cream's songs were penned by Jack Bruce and his songwriting partner Pete Brown. One of the best of these was chosen to close out the last studio side of the last Cream album released while the band was still in existence. Deserted Cities Of The Heart is a fitting epitaph to an unforgettable band.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Garcia/Hunter
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment