https://exchange.prx.org/p/540212
As a general rule we generally try to present a mix of relatively well-known tunes and more obscure stuff within each set on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. This week, though, we are doing it a bit differently and front-loading a whole bunch of tracks we've never played on the show in the first half-hour, with the more familiar tunes (including the first three Jefferson Airplane songs I ever heard on the radio, in order) coming later in the show. We do, however, start the whole thing off with a couple of hit singles...
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: The Last Time
Source: Mono CD: Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original US label: London)
Year: 1965
Released in early 1965, The Last Time was the first Rolling Stones single to hit the top 10 in both the US and the UK (being their third consecutive #1 hit in England). Despite that, it would be overshadowed by their next release: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which went to the top of the charts everywhere and ended up being the most popular song of the year.
Artist: Hollies
Title: Stop Stop Stop
Source: British import 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Clarke/Hicks/Nash
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1966
The last Hollies song to be released in 1966 was Stop Stop Stop, a tune that was actually a rewrite of a 1964 B side. The song was written by Allan Clarke, Terry Hicks and Graham Nash, and was one of the first songs to be published under their actual names (as opposed to the fictional L. Ransford). The song itself was a major hit, going into the top 10 in eight countries, including the US, UK and Canada.
Artist: Sopwith Camel
Title: Walk In The Park
Source: LP: Sopwith Camel
Writer(s): William Sievers
Label: Kama Sutra
Year: 1967
Although they were from San Francisco, the Sopwith Camel sounded more like their East Coast labelmates the Lovin' Spoonful, particularly on tracks like Walk In The Park. Written by guitarist William "Truckaway" Sievers, the tune appeared on their first (and until 1973 only) LP, entitled simply Sopwith Camel.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Cry Baby Cry (take one)
Source: CD: Anthology 3
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Capitol
Year: 1968
Some songs take a lot of work to get just right. As can be heard here, John Lennon's Cry Baby Cry was one of the few that sounded pretty good on the first try. Written in late 1967, the song was inspired by an ad in a magazine (or possibly a newspaper), with the original signature line being "Cry baby cry, make your mother buy."
Artist: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Title: Romany Soup
Source: CD: Unicorn
Writer(s): Marc Bolan
Label: A&M (original US label: Blue Thumb)
Year: 1969
Legendary British disc jockey John Peel makes a guest appearance on the third Tyrannosaurus Rex album, Unicorn, reading an excerpt from Marc Bolan's Woodland Story. Peel's contribution is followed by the last track on the album, Romany Soup, which consists of a single line repeated over and over with an increasing number of overdubs (22 in all) being added as the song progresses, finishing out the album with a wall of sound.
Artist: Modern Folk Quintet
Title: Night Time Girl
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 10-Folk-Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Kooper/Levine
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1966
The Modern Folk Quintet can be seen two ways: either as a group that constantly strived to be on the cutting edge or simply as fad followers. Starting off in the early 60s, the MFQ found themselves working with Phil Spector in the middle of the decade, complete with Spector's trademark "wall of sound" production techniques. When that didn't work out they signed with Lou Adler's Dunhill Records, cutting Night Time Girl, a tune that sounds like a psychedelicized version of the Mamas and the Papas.
Artist: Beach Boys
Title: Can't Wait Too Long
Source: CD: Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
Writer(s): Brian Wilson
Label: Capitol
Year: Recorded 1967-8, released 1993
Brian Wilson was not entirely idle after abandoning his original Smile project in mid-1967. In October he began working on a new composition called Can't Wait Too Long (sometimes called Been Away Too Long). Recorded in separate sections in the same manner as Good Vibrations and Heroes And Villains, the song was never finished, with Wilson himself supplying partial lyrics for the tune. Various sections of Can't Wait Too Long have been released over the years, with the most coherent version appearing on the 1993 four-CD Beach Boys compilation box set Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys.
Artist: Avant-Garde
Title: Honey And Gall
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Bubba Fowler
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
The Avant-Garde was a psych-pop duo formed by future game show host Chuck Woolery and Elkin "Bubba" Fowler in 1967. Although they were signed to a major label, Columbia, the duo, backed by studio musicians, only released three singles before going their separate ways. Fowler's Honey And Gall was a tune originally recorded as the B side of their 1967 debut single and then re-recorded as the B side of their second, and most successful single, Woolery's Naturally Stoned, in 1968.
Artist: Lovin' Spoonful
Title: Do You Believe In Magic
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)
Writer: John Sebastian
Label: Buddah (original label: Kama Sutra)
Year: 1965
Do You Believe In Magic, the debut single by the Lovin' Spoonful, was instrumental in establishing not only the band itself, but the Kama Sutra label as well. Within the next five years, the Spoonful (and later John Sebastian as a solo artist) would crank out a string of hits. Not to be outdone, Kama Sutra would itself morph into a company called Buddah Records and come to dominate the "bubble gum" genre of top 40 music throughout 1968 and well into 1969.
Artist: Animals
Title: Inside Looking Out
Source: Simulated stereo LP: The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals-Vol. II (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Lomax/Lomax/Burdon/Chandler
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1966
One of the last songs recorded by the Animals before their first breakup, Inside Looking Out (a powerful song about life in prison) was covered a few years later by Grand Funk Railroad, who made it one of their concert staples. This has always been one of my all-time favorite rock songs.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Get Me To The World On Time
Source: CD: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (originally released on LP: The Electric Prunes)
Writer(s): Tucker/Jones
Label: Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
With I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) climbing the charts in early 1967, the Electric Prunes turned to songwriter Annette Tucker for two more tracks to include on their debut LP. One of those, Get Me To The World On Time (co-written by lyricist Jill Jones) was selected to be the follow up single to Dream. Although not as big a hit, the song still did respectably on the charts (and was actually the first Electric Prunes song I ever heard on FM radio).
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Termination
Source: LP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer(s): Brann/Dorman
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Although most Iron Butterfly songs were written by keyboardist/vocalist Doug Ingle, there were a few exceptions. One of those is Termination, from the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, which was written by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman. From a 21st century perspective Termination sounds less dated than most of Ingle's material.
Artist: Santana
Title: Persuasion
Source: CD: Santana
Writer(s): Santana (band)
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1969
Santana was originally a free-form jam band, but at the insistence of manager Bill Graham began to write more structured songs for their first studio LP. Released in 1969, the album received less than glowing reviews from the rock press, but following the band's successful appearance at Woodstock, the LP eventually peaked at # 4 on the Billboard album charts. One of the lesser known tracks on the album was Persuasion, a good example of the band doing what their manager told them to do.
Artist: Country Joe And The Fish
Title: Death Sound Blues
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer(s): Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
I generally use the term "psychedelic" to describe a musical attitude that existed during a particular period of time rather than a specific style of music. On the other hand, the term "acid rock" is better suited for describing music that was composed and/or performed under the influence of certain mind-expanding substances. That said, the first album by Country Joe and the Fish is a classic example of acid rock. I mean, really, is there any other way to describe Death Sound Blues than "the blues on acid"?
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer(s): Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
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 the title track of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Mauds
Title: Searchin'
Source: Mono CD: Oh Yeah! The Best Of Dunwich Records
Writer(s): Lieber/Stoller
Label: Sundazed
Year: Recorded 1967, released 1991
Chicago's most popular white R&B cover band in the mid-1960s, the Mauds had a less than spectacular recording career. In fact, the best recordings were made for the Dunwich label in 1967, but went unreleased until 1991, when Sundazed put out a CD called Oh Yeah! The Best Of Dunwich Records. Their version of the old Coasters hit Searchin' does the Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller writing team proud.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Two Sisters
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The Kinks have had a long, productive recording career since their vinyl debut in 1964, but not all of their records have been major commercial successes. Among the least successful saleswise, yet one of the best in terms of pure quality, was the 1967 album Something Else By The Kinks. It was the band's first LP to be mixed in stereo, and contained several of Ray Davies's finest tunes, as well as strong contributions by his brother Dave. 1966 had seen Ray Davies perfect his slice-of-life songwriting with a satirical edge style with songs like A Well Respected Man, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion and Sunny Afternoon. The compositions on Something Else, while still rooted in daily life, were not quite as satirical, as can be heard on Two Sisters. The song manages, in just two minutes, to tell the story of a married woman coming to terms with her feelings of envy for her single sister.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Somebody To Love
Source: Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s): Darby Slick
Label: Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
If not for Somebody To Love, no one would even remember that Grace Slick and her husband Jerry were once in a band with her brother-in-law, Darby, who wrote the song.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: White Rabbit
Source: LP: The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer: Grace Slick
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
A few years back a co-worker asked me about what kind of music I played on the show. When I told him the show was called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era he immediately said "Oh, I bet you play White Rabbit a lot, huh?" As a matter of fact, I do, although not as much as some songs.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Embryonic Journey
Source: Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s): Jorma Kaukonen
Label: Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
Jorma Kaukonen originally considered Embryonic Journey to be little more than a practice exercise. Other members of Jefferson Airplane insisted he record it, however, and it has since come to be identified as a kind of signature song for the guitarist, who played the tune live when the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: I Am A Rock
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds of Silence)
Writer(s): Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The success of I Am A Rock, when released as a single in 1966, showed that the first Simon And Garfunkel hit, The Sound Of Silence, was no fluke. The two songs served as bookends to a very successful LP, Sounds Of Silence, and would lead to several more hit records before the two singers went their separate ways in 1970. This was actually the second time I Am A Rock had been issued as a single. An earlier version, from the Paul Simon Songbook, had been released in 1965. Both the single and the LP were only available for a short time and only in the UK, and were deleted at Simon's request.
Artist: Huns
Title: Love Is Gone
Source: Mono CD: The Huns Conquer Ithaca, NY 1966
Writer(s): Steve Dworetz
Label: Jargon
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2017
Like most college towns, Ithaca, NY (home of both Ithaca College and Cornell University) has always had a thriving local music scene. In the mid-1960s that scene was dominated by bands doing mostly covers of current top 40 hits. Bassist Frank Van Nostrand and organist John Sweeney, however, wanted to do something different. The two Ithaca College juniors were fans of the more rebellious bands like the Animals, Kinks and especially the Rolling Stones, who were already establishing themselves as the bad boys of British rock. As their fellow students began to stream in to register for the upcoming school year, Sweeney and Van Nostrand were camped out at their own table, looking to recruit like-minded musicians to form a new band that would soon come to be known as the Huns. By the time the school year was over, the Huns had racked up a total of 51 gigs at a combination of local clubs, frat houses and parties. They even made an appearance on a mock TV show produced by fellow student Lynn Cates as a class project. Although the video of that performance is long gone, the audio dub survived for over 50 years, and has been made into a CD called The Huns Conquer Ithaca, NY 1966. Recorded on March 10, the album captures the Huns at the peak of their popularity, before hassles with the college dean over hair length (among other things) led to the dismissal of both Sweeney and Van Nostrand and the subsequent breakup of the band itself. The opening track of the CD, Love Is Gone, shows a band pretty far removed from what was popular in the Eastern US at the time; in fact it feels more like the cutting edge bands populating the mid-60s club scene in Los Angeles.
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Masculine Intuition
Source: 45 RPM single B side (promo copy)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Original Sound
Year: 1966
If you take out the cover songs that Original Sound Records added to the album without the band's knowledge or approval, Turn On The Music Machine has to be considered one of the best LPs of 1966. Not that the covers were badly done, but they were intended to be used for lip synching on a local TV show and were included without the knowledge or approval of the band, and that's never a good thing. Every one of the Sean Bonniwell originals on the other hand, combines strong musical structure and intelligent lyrics with musicianship far surpassing the average garage band. This is especially true in the case of Masculine Intuition, which was also issued as the B side of the band's second single.
Artist: Luv'd Ones
Title: Dance Kid Dance
Source: Mono CD: Truth Gotta Stand (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Char Vinnedge
Label: Beat Rocket (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
In 1963, 20-year-old Char Vinnedge of Niles, Michigan, who had been playing piano since the age of four, helped her brother pick out an Airline guitar from Montgomery Ward. It soon became apparent that he was never going to learn to the play the thing, however, and Char ended up buying it from him. She soon found that she had an affinity for the instrument, and by 1964 had recruited her younger sister Faith (who chose to play bass because that was what Paul McCartney played), along with drummer Faith Orem and rhythm guitarist Terry Barber, to form a group called the Tremelons. Barber soon left the group, to be replaced by Mary Gallagher, and in 1966 the band was signed to Chicago's Dunwich Records, changing their name to the Luv'd Ones at the suggestion of label owner Bill Traut. They ended up releasing three singles for Dunwich that year, the last of which was the antiwar song Dance Kid Dance. After the Luv'd Ones disbanded, Vinnedge spent the next few years studying and deconstructing the music of Jimi Hendrix, eventually coming to the attention of bassist Billy Cox and recording an album called Nitro Function with him in 1971 that for some reason was only released in Europe.
Artist: Turtles
Title: A Walk In The Sun
Source: Mono LP: It Ain't Me Babe
Writer(s): Howard Kaylan
Label: White Whale
Year: 1965
Trivia fact: the members of the Turtles had to get their parents to sign permission slips before they could record their debut LP, It Ain't Me Babe. Yep, they were that young when they scored their first top 10 single in 1965. With that in mind, it might be come as a surprise that vocalist Howard Kaylan had already written a few songs, including A Walk In The Sun, that were included on the album itself. The band, formed when all the members were still in high school, had been known prior to 1965 as the Crossfires, playing mostly surf music. They were the first, and most successful, artists signed to the Los Angeles based White Whale label.
Artist: La De Das
Title: How Is The Air Up There?
Source: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in New Zealand as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Kornfeld/Duboff
Label: Rhino (original labels: Zodiac/Philips)
Year: 1966
New Zealand had a surprisingly active music scene in the late 1960s, with bands like the La De Das at the center of the action. Formed in Auckland in 1964, the group started off as the Mergers, changing their name at around the same time they signed with the local Zodiac label. Their first single, How Is The Air Up There?, was a huge hit in New Zealand, leading a string of hit singles and three albums for the band, which eventually called in quits in the 1970s.
Artist: "E" Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: Mono LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bonner/Gordon
Label: Elektra (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
The E-Types were originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell experienced by passing motorists travelling along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to "nearby" San Jose (about 60 miles to the north) as often as possible, the E-Types became regulars on the local scene there, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Barry McGuire
Title: Eve of Destruction
Source: LP: 93 KHJ Boss Goldies (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: P.F. Sloan
Label: Original Sound (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1965
P.F. Sloan had already established a reputation for writing songs that captured the anger of youth by the time he wrote Eve Of Destruction, which Barry McGuire took into the top 10 in 1965. It would be McGuire's only major hit, and represented folk-rock at the peak of its popularity.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Mellow Yellow
Source: Mono CD: Donovan's Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1966
Although the Mellow Yellow album came out in early 1967, the title track had been released several months earlier as a followup to Donovan's breakthrough US hit Sunshine Superman. Ironically, during Donovan's period of greatest US success none of his recordings were being released in his native UK, due to a contract dispute with Pye Records. Incidentally, electric banana didn't turn out to be a sudden craze after all, and it is not Paul McCartney whispering "quite rightly" on the chorus. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: If 6 Was 9
Source: LP: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA/Experience Hendrix (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Before 1967 stereo was little more than an excuse to charge a dollar more for an LP. That all changed in a hurry, as artists such as Jimi Hendrix began to explore the possibilities of the technology, in essence treating stereophonic sound as a multi-dimensional sonic palette. The result can be heard on songs such as If 6 Were 9 from the Axis: Bold As Love album, which is best listened to at high volume, preferably with headphones on. Especially the spoken part in the middle, when Jimi says the words "I'm the one who's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want." It sounds like he's inside your head with you.
Artist: Moby Grape
Title: Murder In My Heart For The Judge
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Wow)
Writer(s): Miller/Stevenson
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
Moby Grape was one of those bands that probably should have been more successful than they were, but were thrown off-track by a series of bad decisions by their own support personnel. First, Columbia Records damaged their reputation by simultaneously releasing five singles from their debut LP in 1967, leading to accusations that the band was nothing but hype. Then their producer, David Rubinson, decided to add horns and strings to many of the tracks on their second album, Wow, alienating much of the band's core audience in the process. Still, Wow did have its share of fine tunes, including drummer Don Stevenson's Murder In My Heart For The Judge, probably the best-known song on the album. The song proved popular enough to warrant cover versions by such diverse talents as Lee Michaels, Chrissy Hynde and Three Dog Night.
Artist: Who
Title: Amazing Journey
Source: British Import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Tommy)
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: Polydor (original US label: Decca)
Year: 1969
After achieving major success in their native England with a series of hit singles in 1965-67, the Who began to concentrate more on their albums from 1968 on. The first of these concept albums was The Who Sell Out, released in December of 1967. The Who Sell Out was a collection of songs connected by faux radio spots and actual jingles from England's last remaining pirate radio station, Radio London. After releasing a few more singles in 1968, the Who began work on their most ambitious project yet: the world's first rock opera. Tommy, released in 1969, was a double LP telling the story of a boy who, after being tramautized into becoming a sightless deaf-mute, eventually emerges as a kind of messiah, only to have his followers ultimately abandon him. One of the early tracks on the album is Amazing Journey, describing Tommy's voyage into the recesses of his own mind in response to the traumatic event that results in his "deaf, dumb and blind" condition.
Artist: Youngbloods
Title: Get Together
Source: LP: The Youngbloods
Writer(s): Chet Powers
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
The Youngbloods, led by transplanted New Yorker Jesse Colin Young, were the second San Francisco band signed to industry leader RCA Victor Records. Their first album was released in 1967 but was overshadowed by the vinyl debuts of the Grateful Dead and Moby Grape, among others. In fact, the Youngbloods toiled in relative obscurity until 1969, when their own version of Dino Valenti's Let's Get Together (from the 1967 LP) was used in a TV ad promoting world peace. The song was subsequently released (with the title slightly shortened) as a single and ended up being the group's only hit record (as well as Valenti's most famous composition, albeit published under his birth name of Chet Powers). This in turn led to the album being re-released, with the original title and artwork intact but with the LP retitled Get Together on the label itself.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Rock And Roll Woman
Source: LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Buffalo Springfield Again and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Buffalo Springfield did not sell huge numbers of records (except for the single For What It's Worth) while they were together. Nor did they pack in the crowds. As a matter of fact, when they played the club across the street from where Love was playing, they barely had any audience at all. Artistically, though, it's a whole 'nother story. During their brief existence Buffalo Springfield launched the careers of no less than four major artists: Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They also recorded more than their share of tracks that have held up better than most of what else was being recorded at the time. Case in point: Rock And Roll Woman, a Stephen Stills tune that still sounds fresh well over 50 years after it was recorded.
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