https://exchange.prx.org/p/538643
This week, framed by sets from two of the grittier bands of the British Invasion, we have a show made up mostly of trips back through the years, with breaks for an 80s Advanced Psych segment and a long set from 1967.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sympathy For The Devil
Source: CD: Beggars Banquet
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
Beggar's Banquet was a turning point for the Rolling Stones. They had just ended their association with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their mid-60s records, and instead, (following one self-produced album) were working with Jimmy Miller, who was known for his association with Steve Winwood, both in his current band Traffic and the earlier Spencer Davis Group. Right from the opening bongo beats of Sympathy For The Devil, it was evident that this was the beginning of a new era for the bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio, and occupies the #32 spot on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sad Day
Source: Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richard
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1966
Several Rolling Stones singles released in the 1960s had different B sides in the UK and the US. As a result, songs like Sad Day, which was the B side of 19th Nervous Breakdown in the US, remained unreleased in the UK for several years. Sad Day finally appeared in the UK on a compilation album called No Stone Unturned, and was even released as the only single from that LP. Neither the single nor the LP itself was authorized by the band, who had lost control of their own pre-1971 catalog to Allen Klein when they terminated their contract with the British Decca label.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dear Doctor
Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
In late 1968 four new albums by four different bands were competing for space on the record racks: The Beatles (white album), Cream's Wheels Of Fire, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland and the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet. I can't imagine four albums that influential (or even that good) ever being released around the same time again. Just to further illustrate the point we have the song Dear Doctor. Compared to most of the songs on these four albums, the Appalachian-styled Dear Doctor is, at best, a novelty number. Yet taken on its own merits the song compares favorably with probably 90% of what's been recorded by any rock band (and a lot of country artists as well) in the years since.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Hand Me Down World
Source: LP: The Best Of The Guess Who (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Kurt Winter
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1970
Following the departure of longtime guitarist (and vocalist Burton Cummings' writer partner) Randy Bachman in May of 1970, the remaining members of the Guess Who (Cummings, bassist Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson) immediately brought in two new guitarists, Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, to beging work on the band's next album, Share The Land. The group had already recorded seven new songs with Bachman, and those were all scrapped in favor of new material, including Winter's Hand Me Down World, which was released in June of 1970 while the rest of the album was still being recorded. One of the Guess Who's most political songs, Hand Me Down World is basically a rejection of all things Establishment, and made the top 20 in the US. The album Share The Land went on to become the Guess Who's most successful album.
Artist: Idle Race
Title: Hurry Up John
Source: British import CD: Insane times (originally released on LP: Idle Race)
Writer(s): Jeff Lynne
Label: Zonophone (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1969
Virtually unknown in the US, the Idle Race released three LPs in the UK before frontman Jeff Lynne departed the group to join up with Roy Wood's band, the Move. Hurry Up John, a 1969 album track from the second Idle Race LP, is a classic sample of Britain's underground music scene.
Artist: Vanilla Fudge
Title: Where Is My Mind
Source: Mono CD: The Complete Atco Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mark Stein
Label: Real Gone/Rhino (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
When Vanilla Fudge first released You Keep Me Hangin' On as a single in June of 1967, the record flopped. Undaunted, the band continued to work on their debut LP, which included both sides of the single and was a major success when it was released in August of 1967, going all the way to the #6 spot on the Billboard album chart. Still, the band wanted a hit single, so they returned to the studio to cut two new tracks. One of these was an original composition by keyboardist Mark Stein called Where Is My Mind, which was chosen to be the A side of the new single, released in January of 1968. Unfortunately for the band, that record got such a cold reception from radio stations that their label quickly issued a special copy of the single featuring only the record's B side, a cover of Dusty Springfield's The Look Of Love (which also stiffed). It was not until June of 1968, when You Keep Me Hangin' On was reissued as a single, that Vanilla Fudge got their first (and only) top 40 hit.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1967
The Music Machine was by far the most advanced of all the bands playing the L.A. club scene in 1966. Not only did they feature tight sets (ensuring 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 groups. With all the band members dressed entirely in black (including dyed hair) and 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, which was re-recorded in stereo for release on the album Bonniwell Music Machine a few months later. Unfortunately, problems on the business end prevented the Music Machine from achieving the success it deserved and Bonniwell, disheartened, dissillusioned and/or disgusted, quit the music business altogether in 1970.
Artist: Who
Title: Boris The Spider
Source: LP: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (originally released on LP: Happy Jack)
Writer: John Entwhistle
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1966
For many years, Boris the Spider was bassist John Entwhistle's signature song. Eventually Entwhistle got sick of singing it and wrote another one. Truth is, he wrote a lot of songs, but like the Beatles's George Harrison, did not always get the recognition as a songwriter that more prolific bandmate Pete Townshend got. This was one of the first album tracks I ever heard played on an FM station (KLZ-FM in Denver, the first FM in the area to play something besides classical, jazz or elevator music).
Artist: Pretty Things
Title: Don't Bring Me Down
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Golden Days Of British Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Johnnie Dee
Label: Sire (original label: Fontana)
Year: 1964
Once upon a time in London there was a band called Little Boy Blue And The Blue Boys. Well, it wasn't really so much a band as a bunch of schoolkids jamming in guitarist Dick Taylor's parents' garage on a semi-regular basis. In addition to Taylor, the group included classmate Mick Jagger and eventually another guitarist by the name of Keith Richards. When yet another guitarist, Brian Jones, entered the picture, the band, which was still an amateur outfit, began calling itself the Rollin' Stones. Taylor switched from guitar to bass to accomodate Jones, but when the Stones decided to add a "g" and go pro in late 1962, Taylor opted to stay in school. It wasn't long, however, before Taylor, now back on guitar, showed up on the scene with a new band called the Pretty Things. Fronted by vocalist Phil May, the Things were rock and roll bad boys like the Stones, except more so. Their second single, Don't Bring Me Down, was their biggest hit single, making it into the British top 10 in late 1964. As was the case with all the Pretty Things' records, Don't Bring Me Down was unable to crack the US charts.
Artist: The Ban
Title: Place Of Sin
Source: Mono British import CD: With Love-A Pot Of Flowers (bonus track)
Writer(s): Tony McGuire
Label: Big Beat
Year: Recorded 1965, released 2010
The Ban was a garage band from Lompoc, California, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Tony McGuire, organist Oilver McKinney, bassist Frank Strait and drummer Randy Gordon. They made a handful of recordings for the Brent label in 1965, with the song Bye Bye being released as a single. Among the other McGuire compositions the Ban recorded was Place Of Sin, a song that was probably too far ahead of its time to be released in 1965. Unfortunately, before the Ban could generate interest in their single, McGuire was drafted, and the Ban moved to San Bernadino, adding a new member and changing their name to the Now. Later, they relocated to San Francisco, where they were snagged by the infamous manager Matthew Katz, who renamed them the Tripsichord Music Box.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and Hey Joe. The Byrds' David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin, who had recently replaced founding member Bill Rinehart on lead guitar, came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but California-based folk singer Billy Roberts had copyrighted the song in 1962 and had reportedly been heard playing the tune as early as 1958.
Artist: Santana
Title: Soul Sacrifice
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Santana)
Writer(s): Brown/Malone/Rolie/Santana
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1969
Of all the bands formed in the late 1960s, very few achieved any degree of popularity outside of their local community. Fewer still could be considered an influence on future stars. Most rare of all are those who managed to be both popular and influential while maintaining a degree of artistic integrity. One name that comes immediately to mind is Santana (both the band and the man). It might be surprising, then, to hear that the first Santana album, released in 1969, was savaged by the rock press, particularly the San Francisco based Rolling Stone magazine, who called it boring and repetitious. It wasn't until the band performed Soul Sacrifice (heard here in its original studio version) at Woodstock that Santana became major players on the rock scene.
Artist: Moody Blues
Title: Ride My See-Saw
Source: CD: The Best Of The Moody Blues (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): John Lodge
Label: Polydor (original label: Deram)
Year: 1968
Although it was only a minor hit when originally released in 1968, Ride My See-Saw has gone on to become one of the most popular songs in the Moody Blues catalog, and is considered to among the ten best Moody Blues songs by critics on both sides of the Atlantic.
Artist: Pearls Before Swine
Title: Drop Out!
Source: LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released on LP: One Nation Underground)
Writer(s): Tom Rapp
Label: Elektra (original label: ESP-Disk)
Year: 1967
First there was folk-rock. Then came psychedelic rock. Somewhere among all this emerged something that has come to be called psychedelic folk. Perhaps the best example of this is a band called Pearls Before Swine, formed in Eau Gallie, Florida in 1965 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Rapp with high school friends Wayne Harley (banjo, mandolin), Lane Lederer (bass, guitar) and Roger Crissinger (piano, organ). Inspired by the Fugs, they sent some demo tapes to the New York-based ESP Disk' label, which had released the first Fugs recordings. They were quickly signed to the label and got to work on their first LP, One Nation Underground. The album featured a variety of additional instruments, including autoharp, vibraphone and audio oscillator (played by Harley), English horn, swinehorn, sarangi, celeste, and finger cymbals (played by Lederer), and harpsichord and clavioline (played by Crissinger). Studio drummer Warren Smith provided percussion for the album. Like later Pearls Before Swine albums, One Nation Underground was made up almost entirely of Rapp originals such as Drop Out! Unlike later Rapp compositions, the song has a rock beat, and is essentially an invitation to follow Timothy Leary's advice and follow your own path rather than the one prescribed by mainstream society.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
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: Yardbirds
Title: Heart Full Of Soul
Source: Mono Australian import CD: Over, Under, Sideways, Down (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Graham Gouldman
Label: Raven (original label: Epic)
Year: 1965
The Yardbirds' follow-up single to For Your Love, Heart Full Of Soul, was a huge hit, making the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1965. The song, the first to feature guitarist Jeff Beck prominently, was written by Graham Gouldman, who also wrote For Your Love. For some odd reason Gouldman's own band, the Mockingbirds, was strangely unable to buy a hit on the charts, despite Gouldman's obvious talents as a songwriter. Gouldman would eventually go on to be a founding member of 10cc, who were quite successful in the 1970s.
Artist: Gestures
Title: Run Run Run
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dave Menten
Label: Rhino
Year: 1964
Soma Records was a small regional label based out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, best known for the Castaways hit Liar Liar. Soma did not have the resources to properly promote or distribute a national hit, which is a shame, as the Gestures' (originally the Jesters until someone discovered the name was already in use) Run Run Run was a fine effort, sounding a lot like the early Who several months before the Who themselves first hit the US airwaves.
Artist: Snakefinger
Title: I Come From An Island
Source: LP: Greener Postures
Writer(s): Snakefinger/The Residents(?)
Label: Ralph
Year: 1980
South London born Philip Charles Lithman got the name Snakefinger from members of the Residents after they saw a photograph of the guitarist playing the violin and observed that his finger looked like a snake about to attack the instrument. He first met the mysterious San Francisco group in 1969, appearing with the group onstage for their first public performance in 1971 before returning to his native England in 1972 to form his own band, Chilli Willi And The Red Hot Peppers. He eventually ended up back in San Francisco, appearing as a guest musician on several Residents releases as well as releasing his first solo albums on the Residents' own Ralph Records label. His second solo LP, Greener Pastures, included a mixture of solo compositions and songs co-written by the Residents. In keeping with the Residents' policy of deliberate obscurity, however, It is not known which category I Come From An Island falls into.
Artist: R.E.M.
Title: Stumble
Source: 12" EP: Chronic Town
Writer(s): Buck/Berry/Mills/Stipe
Label: I.R.S.
Year: 1982
Following the release of the first recording of Radio Free Europe as a single on the independent Hib-Tone label in 1981, R.E.M. returned to Drive-in Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to record Chronic Town, a five-song EP to be released on a proposed new label called Dasht Hopes. Before any of that could happen, however, the band signed a deal with I.R.S. Records, who bought out the band's contracts with both Hib-Tone and Dasht Hopes and released Chronic Town on August 24, 1982. The longest track on Chronic Town was Stumble, which helped establish the band's sound. Although the EP itself is long out of print, all five tracks were included on the CD edition of Dead Letter Office, released in 1987.
Artist: George Harrison
Title: When We Was Fab
Source: CD: Cloud Nine
Writer(s): George Harrison
Label: Dark Horse
Year: 1987
George Harrison recorded two different songs referencing his years as a member of the world's most popular rock band. The first, All Those Years Ago, was done in Harrison's own early 80s style, and was released not long after the death of former bandmate John Lennon. The second, When We Was Fab, was stylistically a throwback to the Beatles' most psychedelic period, with a strong resemblance to Lennon's I Am The Walrus from Magical Mystery Tour. The song appeared on Harrison's Cloud Nine album, which was recorded around the same time as the first Traveling Wilburys album, and features guest appearances from some of the other members of that group, including Beatles fans Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.
Artist: Country Weather
Title: Fly To New York
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released only to radio stations, later included on Swiss CD: Country Weather)
Writer: Baron/Carter/Derr/Douglass
Label: Rhino (original label: RD)
Year: Recorded 1969, released 2005
Country Weather started off as a popular dance band in Contra Costa County, California. In 1968 they took the name Country Weather and began gigging on the San Francisco side of the bay. In 1969, still without a record contract, they recorded an album side's worth of material, made a few one-sided test copies and circulated them to local radio stations. Those tracks, including Fly To New York, were eventually released on CD in 2005 by the Swedish label RD Records.
Artist: Pentangle
Title: Pentangling
Source: LP: The Pentangle
Writer(s): Cos/Jansch/McShea/Renbourne/Thompson
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Once in a while an album comes along that is so consistently good that it's impossible to single out one specific track for airplay. Such is the case with the debut Pentangle album from 1968. The group, consisting of guitarists John Renbourne and Bert Jansch, vocalist Jacqui McShea, bassist Terry Cox, and drummer Danny Thompson, had more talent than nearly any band in history from any genre, yet never succumbed to the clash of egos that characterize most supergroups. Enjoy all seven minutes of Pentangling.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: The Wind Cries Mary
Source: LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The US version of Are You Experienced was significantly different than its UK counterpart. For one thing, the original UK album was only available in mono. For the US version, engineers at Reprise Records, working from the original multi-track masters, created all new stereo mixes of about two-thirds of the album, along with the A sides of the three singles that the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released in the UK, which were then added to the album, replacing three of the original tracks. The third of these singles was The Wind Cries Mary, which had hit the British charts in February of 1967. The tune opens up side two of the American LP.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: CD: Heaven Is In Your Mind
Writer(s): Capaldi/Wood/Winwood
Label: Island (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's Dear Mr. Fantasy from Traffic's 1967 debut LP Mr. Fantasy. The album was originally released in a modified version in the US in early 1968 under the title Heaven Is In Your Mind, but later editions of the LP, while retaining the US track order and running time, were renamed to match the original British title.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: A Girl Named Sandoz
Source: Mono CD: The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins
Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
The original Animals officially disbanded at the end of 1966, but before long a new group, Eric Burdon And The Animals, had arrived to take its place. Unlike the original Animals, this new band wrote nearly all their own material, with credits going to the entire membership on every song. The first single from this new band was a song called When I Was Young, a semi-autobiographical piece with lyrics by Burdon that performed decently, if not spectacularly, on the charts in both the US and the UK. It was the B side of that record, however, a tune called A Girl Named Sandoz, that truly indicated what this new band was about. Sandoz was the name of the laboratory that originally developed and manufactured LSD, and the song itself is a thinly-veiled tribute to the mind-expanding properties of the wonder drug. It would soon become apparent that whereas the original Animals were solidly rooted in American R&B (with the emphasis on the B), this new group was pure acid-rock (with the emphasis on acid).
Artist: Smoke
Title: My Friend Jack
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Rowley/Gill/Luker/Lund
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1966
My Friend Jack was well on its way to becoming a huge international hit when it was suddenly recalled in the UK by EMI's Columbia label. The reason, as it turns out, is that the "sugar lumps" mentioned throughout the song were in fact LSD-laced sugar cubes; a fact that apparently did not matter so much in Germany, where the song held the #1 spot on the charts for seven weeks. The Smoke was formed in Yorkshire in 1965 as the Shots, and released one single that year that did not go anywhere, in spite of (or perhaps because of) backing by some of London's most notorious mobsters. After the name change the group released My Friend Jack and ended up spending much of 1967 touring in Germany, where they released several more singles before the original lineup split up in 1968 (although Smoke records by various personnel would continue to be released well into the 1970s).
Artist: Doors
Title: Unhappy Girl
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
After the success of their first album and the single Light My Fire in early 1967, the Doors quickly returned to the studio, releasing a second LP, Strange Days, later the same year. The first single released from the new album was People Are Strange. The B side of that single was Unhappy Girl, from the same album. Both sides got played a lot on the jukebox at a neighborhood gasthaus known as the Woog in the village of Meisenbach near Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, where I spent a good number of my evening hours.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Heaven And Hell
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Vanda/Young
Label: Rhino (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1967
Throughout the mid-60s Australia's most popular band was a group of immigrants calling themselves the Easybeats. Often referred to as the "Australian Beatles", their early material sounded like slightly dated British Beat music (Australia had a reputation for cultural lag, and besides, half the members were English). By late 1966 guitarist Harry Vanda (one of the two Dutch members of the group) had learned enough English to be able to replace vocalist Stevie Wright as George Young's writing partner. The new team was much more adventurous in their compositions than the Wright/Young team had been, and were responsible for the band's first international hit, Friday On My Mind. By then the Easybeats had relocated to England, and continued to produce fine singles such as Heaven And Hell.
Artist: Kinks
Title: I'm A Lover Not A Fighter
Source: LP: Kinks-Size
Writer(s): Jay D Miller
Label: Reprise
Year: 1964
From 1964-1966 there were major differences between the US and UK catalogs of British Invasion bands such as the Kinks. This is partly because British albums tended to have longer running times, generally containing two or three more songs than their US counterparts. In addition, many groups released songs on 45 RPM Extended Play records in the UK, a practice that had been discontinued by most US labels in the late 1950s. A final factor was the British policy of not including songs that had been released as singles (or their B sides) on LPs. These extra songs usually ended up being released in the US on LPs that had no direct UK counterpart. One such album was 1965's Kinks-Size, which included I'm A Lover Not A Fighter, a rare Kinks cover song that was on the UK version of their 1964 debut LP.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Such A Shame
Source: Mono LP: Kinkdom (also released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1965
The B side of a 45 RPM record was usually thought of as filler material, but in reality often served another purpose entirely. Sometimes it was used to make an instrumental version of the hit side available for use in clubs or even as a kind of early kind of Karioke. As often as not it was a chance for bands who were given material by their producer to record for the A side to get their own compositions on record, thus giving them a share of the songwriting royalties. Sometimes the B sides went on to become classics in their own right. Possibly the band with the highest percentage of this type of B side was the Kinks, who seemed to have a great song on the flip side of every record they released. One such B side is Such A Shame, released as the flip of A Well Respected Man in 1965. It doesn't get much better than this.
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