https://exchange.prx.org/p/562984
This week we have a pair of artists' sets from time zones that are eight hour apart. From Scotland, we have singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch with three tracks never played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before, and then from Tacoma, Washington, the band that practically invented punk rock itself, the Sonics. There are lots of other goodies this week as well, including a rare Ray Charles B side and a nearly seven minite long album track from possibly the last group you ever expected to hear on a show called Stuck in the Psychedelic Era.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Suzy Q
Source: CD: Creedence Gold (originally released on LP: Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Writer(s): Dale Hawkins
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1968
Creedence Clearwater Revival is known mostly for their series of hit singles written by vocalist/guitarist John Fogerty; tight, relatively short songs like Green River, Proud Mary and Bad Moon Rising. The most popular track on their 1968 debut LP, however, was an eight and a half minute long rendition of a song that had originally hit the charts over ten years earlier. Suzy Q had been a top 30 single (and top 10 on the R&B charts) for Dale Hawkins in 1957, helping to launch a long career in the music business as an artist, producer and record company executive. CCR took the song to even greater heights, with the track, split over two sides of a 45 RPM single, barely missing the top 10 in 1968.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: The Prophet
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): Ulaky/Wright
Label: See For Miles (original US label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
The Beacon Street Union had already relocated to New York from their native Boston by the time their first LP, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, appeared in early 1968. Unfortunately, they were grouped together with other Boston bands such as Ultimate Spinach by M-G-M Records as part of a fictional "Boss-Town Sound", which ultimately hurt the band's chances far more than it helped them. The album itself is actually one of the better psychedelic albums of the time, with tracks like The Prophet, which closes out side two of the original LP, combining somewhat esoteric music and lyrics effectively.
Artist: Ultimate Spinach
Title: Suite: Genesis Of Beauty (part 3)
Source: LP: Behold And See
Writer(s): Ian Bruce-Douglas
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
In early 1968 M-G-M Records, a major label that had failed to sign any San Francisco bands, attempted to make up for this oversight by hiring a bunch of bands from Boston and promoting them as part of the "boss-town sound", despite there being no one particular sound peculiar to the bean city (except the obvious). Then again, there really was no such thing as a San Francisco sound either, but that didn't stop Matthew Katz from marketing the bands he managed (Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape and others) as such. Anyway, the one thing all these bands on M-G-M had in common is that their debut albums did better in the charts than their follow-up efforts. This could well be due to the fact that by the time those follow-ups hit the racks, the public was onto the phoniness of the whole promotion, but I think it might also be because the albums themselves didn't measure up to the earlier recordings. A prime example is Behold And See by Ultimate Spinach. The album itself is hard to review, since by the time you've finished listening to side two you've probably forgotten entirely what side one sounded like. Also somewhat confusing is a piece called Suite: Genesis Of Beauty that seems to be divided into four completely unrelated parts, albeit listenable ones.
Artist: Pretty Things
Title: Midnight To Six Man
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Taylor/May
Label: Rhino (original label: Fontana)
Year: 1965
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 fifth single, Midnight To Six Man, sums up the band's attitude and habits. Unfortunately, the song barely made the British top 50 and was totally ignored by US radio stations.
Artist: Association
Title: Along Comes Mary
Source: LP: And Then...Along Comes The Association
Writer: Tandyn Almer
Label: Valiant
Year: 1966
The Association are best known for a series of love ballads and light pop songs such as Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Many of these records were a product of the L.A. studio scene and featured several members of the Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians who played on dozens of records in the late 60s and early 70s. The first major Association hit, however, featured the band members playing all the instruments themselves. Produced, and possibly co-written, by Curt Boettcher, who would soon join Gary Usher's studio project Sagittarius, Along Comes Mary shows that the Association was quite capable of recording a classic without any help from studio musicians.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Help, I'm A Rock (single mix)
Source: Mono CD: Part One (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Ya gotta hand it to the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. It takes cojones to record a cover of a Frank Zappa tune, especially within a year of the original Mothers of Invention version coming out. To top it off, the W.C.P.A.E.B. even prepared a single edit of Help, I'm A Rock, although to my knowledge it was never released as such.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Source: CD: The Beatles
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1968
Sporting the longest title of any Beatles recording, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey is also one of the hardest-rocking late period Beatle tracks. There are two schools of thought concerning the subject matter of the lyrics. According to Lennon, the song is about himself and Yoko Ono, who was his constant companion during recording sessions for what would come to be known as the "White album". The other, more negative view, is that the one expressed by Paul McCartney that the Monkey was heroin, which both Lennon and Ono were getting into at the time. Since Lennon wrote the song, his version of things is the generally accepted one.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Trudi
Source: LP: Barabajagal
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
In May of 1969, Donovan recorded four tracks backed up by the Jeff Beck Group. Two of these, Barabajagal (Love Is Hot) and Trudi were released as a single in the UK of June 1969 and in the US two months later, concurrent with the release of the Barabajagal LP in both countries. The original UK pressings of the single give the title of the B side as Bed With Me, which actually fits the lyrics of the song better, but later pressings, including the LP, list it as Trudi.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Superlungs (second version)
Source: British import CD: Mellow Yellow (bonus track)
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: EMI
Year: Recorded 1967, released 2005
Donovan first recorded Superlungs, My Supergirl in 1966 for his Sunshine Superman album, but chose not to include it on the LP. The following year he recorded a second version of Superlungs, but ultimately ended up going back to the original version for inclusion on his 1969 album Barabajagal.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Pamela Jo
Source: LP: Barabajagal
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
Although not the longest song on Donovan's Barabajagal album (Atlantis holds that honor), the LP's final track, Pamela Jo, is unquestionably the one with the most lyrics. Lots and lots of words in that one. Look it up.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Blues From An Airplane
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s): Balin/Spence
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Blues From An Airplane was the opening song on the first Jefferson Airplane album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Although never released as a single, it was picked by the group to open their first anthology album, The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane, as well. The song is one of two tunes on Takes Off co-written by lead vocalist Marty Balin and drummer Skip Spence, who would soon leave the Airplane to co-found Moby Grape.
Artist: Family Tree
Title: Live Your Own Life
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Segarini/Dure
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The Family Tree was actually one of the first rock bands to play the Fillmore, but even then were seen as interlopers due to their propensity for dressing and sounding like the Beatles and other Mercybeat bands. Live Your Own Life was intended for release on San Francisco's premier local label, Autumn Records, but for some unknown reason ended up on Mira (the same label that released L.A. band the Leaves' first records). Live Your Own Life is sometimes known as The Airplane Song due to its perceived similarity to some early Jefferson Airplane recordings.
Artist: Modern Folk Quintet
Title: Night Time Girl
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (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: Procol Harum
Title: Rambling On
Source: CD: Shine On Brightly
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M/Rebound
Year: 1968
Procol Harum is generally considered to be one of the first progressive rock bands, thanks in part to their second LP, Shine On Brightly. In addition to the album's showpiece, the seventeen minute In Held Twas In I, the album has several memorable tracks, including Rambling On, which closes out side one of the original LP. The song's rambling first-person lyrics (none of which actually rhyme) tell the story of a guy who, inspired by a Batman movie, decides to jump off a roof and fly. Oddly enough, he succeeds.
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: Mono CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a haunting number that's always been a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Obviously 5 Believers
Source: Austrian import CD: Blonde On Blonde
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Sundazed/Columbia
Year: 1966
The earliest music recordings were made to be played through a single speaker (well, technically a big horn in the early days). Despite various advances in technology, this remained the case for half a century, until, in the 1950s, various engineers came up with a couple of ways to record in stereo (tape and stereo vinyl). Still, for a good ten years after stereo became commercially available, monoraul was still the industry standard for most recordings, with stereo mixes often created as an afterthought. This was literally the case with the 1966 Bob Dylan album Blonde On Blonde. Producer Bob Johnston says that they worked on the mono mix of the album for three or four days. At some point, one of the engineers reminded Johnston that they also needed to do a stereo mix. It took them about four hours. Nonetheless, for many years the only version of Blonde On Blonde available for sale was the stereo version, with the mono mix finally being reissued on vinyl in 2003. The album itself is considered one of Dylan's best, and has historical significance as the first double-LP to be released by a popular contemporary artist. One of the most overlooked songs on the album is Obviously 5 Believers, which closes out side three of the album. Dylan himself did not feel the need to spend much time on it, calling it "very easy", and the entire track was finished in four takes. Personally, I find it to be one of my favorite Dylan tracks. Oddly enough, Dylan does not play his own harmonica on the piece; it's actually the work of Charlie McCoy, with Robbie Robertson on guitar and Ken Buttrey on drums.
Artist: Kingston Trio
Title: Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Pete Seeger
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1961
Protest songs did not start in the 1960s. Indeed, two of the genre's torchbearers, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, had been around since the 1930s. But McCarthyism in the early 1950s had squelched virtually all non-conformist voices in the US, and it wasn't until late 1961, when the clean-cut Kingston Trio recorded their own version of Seeger's Where Have All The Flowers Gone, that a protest song received enough national exposure to become a genuine hit, going to the #21 spot on the top 40 charts in early 1962. Peter, Paul And Mary included their own version of the song on their chart-topping (five weeks at #1) debut LP later that year.
Artist: Sonics
Title: Boss Hoss
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released on LP: Here Are The Sonics)
Writer(s): Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1965
Surf music hit its peak of popularity in 1963, and by 1964 groups like the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean had shifted their focus from the surfboard to the means of getting that surfboard to the beach in the first place: the hot rod. But by 1965 the hot rod craze itself had run its course, and it took the Sonics, from Tacoma, Washington to put the final nail in the tires with Boss Hoss, a track from their debut LP that was also issued as a B side of a non-LP single called The Hustler. Like everything else they recorded, Boss Hoss was over the (rag) top, thanks to the songwriting talents of vocalist Gerald Roslie.
Artist: Sonics
Title: Strychnine
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: Here Are The Sonics)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1965
Like most rock albums from the mid-1960s, Here Are The Sonics was made up mostly of cover versions of popular songs like Good Golly Miss Molly and Roll Over Beethoven. The four original tunes on the album, including Strychnine, were all written by vocalist Gerry Roslie, who had joined the band in 1964.
Artist: Sonics
Title: He's Waitin'
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released on LP: Boom)
Writer(s): Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1966
If you were to ask a punk rock musician about his or her influences, one name that would certainly be near the top of the list is the Sonics. Formed in Tacoma, Washington in 1960 by guitarist Larry Parypa, the group began to take off with the addition of keyboardist Gerry Roslie, who took over lead vocals in 1964. Their first single, The Witch, released in late 1964, became the biggest selling locally produced single in the history of the entire Northwestern US, despite a lack of airplay due to its controversial subject matter. An LP, Here Are The Sonics, soon followed, along with several more singles on the local Etiquette label. Throughout 1965 the band continued to record new material between gigs, releasing a second LP, Boom, in February on 1966. I highlight of the album was He's Waitin' a song written to an unfaithful girlfriend. The final lines of the song make it clear just who "he" is:
"You think you are happy, I got news for you
Well, Satan found out, little girl, you're through"
Artist: 4 Seasons
Title: American Crucifixion Resurrection
Source: LP: Genuine Imitation Life Gazette
Writer(s): Gaudio/Holmes
Label: Philips
Year: 1969
The 4 Seasons had one of the most recognizable sounds on 60s top 40 radio, thanks in large part to the lead vocals of Frankie Valli, who managed to hit impossibly high notes with regularity. They also had one of the most successful runs of any vocal group in history, with hits like Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Rag Doll and Let's Hang On, among many others. In the mid 70s they had a resurgence with a pair of dance hits, Who Loves You and December 1963. In 1969, however, the band was not doing so well, with no major hits since Valli's solo hit Can't Take My Eyes Off You two years earlier. Looking to attract new listeners, the group released their most ambitious album, the Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. The cover was done in the style of an old-style newspaper, with various faux articles about various social goings on interspersed with disguised information about the songs themselves. Musically, the album covered a lot of new ground, including the deep psychedelia of American Crucifixion Resurrection, which at nearly seven minutes is the longest track the 4 Seasons ever released.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: On The Road Again
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Jones/Wilson
Label: Liberty
Year: 1968
Canned Heat was formed by a group of blues record collectors in San Francisco. Although their first album consisted entirely of cover songs, by their 1968 album Boogie With Canned Heat they were starting to compose their own material, albeit in a style that remained consistent with their blues roots. On The Road Again, the band's second and most successful single (peaking at # 16) from that album, is actually an updated version of a 1953 recording by Chicago bluesman Floyd Jones (which was in turn adapted from delta bluesman Tommy Johnson's 1928 recording of a song called Big Road Blues) that guitarist/vocalist Al "Blind Owl" Wilson reworked, adding a tambura drone to give the track a more psychedelic feel. Wilson actually had to retune the sixth hole of his harmonica for his solo on the track. I didn't even know a harmonica could BE retuned!
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: Uni (original label: All-American)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints is one of the iconic songs of the psychedelic era, yet when it was originally released to Los Angeles area radio stations on the local All-American label it was intended to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash. Somewhere along the line a DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense And Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Zipps
Title: Kicks And Chicks
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in the Netherlands as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Nuyten/Katerberg
Label: Rhino (original label: Relax)
Year: 1966
In 1966 various people in the US music industry were obsessed with what they called "drug songs" such as the Byrds' classic Eight Miles High. In reality, the real drug song action was in the Netherlands, where the Zipps (from a place called Dordrecht) were handing out publicity stickers that read "Be Stoned: Dig Zipps: Psychedelic Sound" and performing a song called LSD-25 on national television. The group was formed in 1965 by members of the Beattown Skifflers and the Moving Strings and quickly caught on with the local Beat crowd and early hippies. Their second single, Kicks And Chicks, was a documentation of the band's own way of life, with lines like "I read only books of Jack Kerouac, he's the only priest in my life" cementing the group's beat credentials. Although the Zipps never recorded a full-length LP, they remained a popular band on the local underground scene until they disbanded in 1971.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Turn! Turn! Turn!
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Pete Seeger
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
After their success covering Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, the Byrds turned to an even more revered songwriter: the legendary Pete Seeger. Turn! Turn! Turn!, with lyrics adapted from the book of Ecclesiastes, was first recorded by Seeger in the early 60s, nearly three years after he wrote the song.
Artist: Cream
Title: Spoonful
Source: LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released in UK on LP: Fresh Cream)
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Cotillion (original label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
When the album Fresh Cream was released by Atco in the US it was missing one track that was on the original UK version of the album: the band's original studio version of Willie Dixon's Spoonful. A live version of Spoonful was included on the LP Wheels of Fire, but it wasn't until the 1970 soundtrack album for the movie Homer that the studio version was finally released in the US. Unfortunately the compilers of that album left out the last 15 seconds or so from the original recording.
Artist: Things To Come (Illinois band)
Title: I'm Not Talkin'
Source: Mono CD: If You're Ready! The Best Of Dunwich Records...Volume 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mose Allison
Label: Sundazed/Here 'Tis (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Not to be confused with the California band Things To Come, this Illinois group released one single on the Dunwich label in 1966, a cover of the Yardbirds cover version of an old Mose Allison tune called I'm Not Talkin'. Other than that, absolutely nothing is known about this band, so if you have some info you'd like to pass along, you know where to send it, right?
Artist: Ray Charles
Title: The Train
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Ray Charles
Label: ABC
Year: 1966
Irony: the first single released by Ray Charles after getting out of rehab following a 16-year-long bout with heroin addiction was a song called Let's Go Get Stoned. But that's not what I'm playing this week. Instead, we have the pretty much forgotten B side of that 1966 single, a Charles composition called The Train. On the surface it seems to be a fairly typical call to try out a new dance called the Train, but then again "a train" was known in some circles as a euphemism for gang bang, and it's entirely possible Charles heard the phrase while in rehab.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: At The Zoo
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Bookends)
Writer(s): Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
Simon and Garfunkel did not release any new albums in 1967, instead concentrating on their live performances. They did, however, issue several singles over the course of the year, most of which ended up being included on 1968's Bookends LP. At The Zoo was one of the first of those 1967 singles. It's B side ended up being a hit as well, but by Harper's Bizarre, which took The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) to the top 10 early in the year.
Artist: Luke & The Apostles
Title: Been Burnt
Source: Mono LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ray Bennett
Label: Elektra (original label: Bounty)
Year: 1967
Just as New York had its Greenwich Village music scene, with groups like the Blues Project, Lovin' Spoonful and Paul Butterfield Blues Band playing small clubs like the Cafe au Go Go, so did Toronto have Yorkville Village, home of artists like Buffy Sainte Marie, Gordon Lightfoot and the Paupers, and a coffee house known as the Purple Onion. Elektra Records had opened a Canadian division in 1965 and Paul Rothchild, who was serving as a talent scout for the label, caught a local blues band called Luke & The Apostles at the Purple Onion one evening in late 1965. He was so taken with the group that he had their lead vocalist, Dave "Luke" Gibson, audition for label head Jac Holzman...over the phone. The band flew down to New York to record a pair of songs, including Been Burnt, but then Rothchild got busted for marijuana possession and did a year at Sing Sing (or some other NY state facility). The band continued to build a following in the Toronto area, going through a series of personnel changes in the process. In April of 1967, still waiting for their single to be released, the band returned to New York for a week-long engagement at the Cafe au Go Go, which led to a return engagement at the same club in May. While in New York the band spent an entire day at the Elektra studios, recording an album's worth of material. During their May gig, the band was offered a management contract by Albert Grossman (Bob Dylan's manager) and Bill Graham, with Graham offering a slot at the Fillmore West that summer. In between the two Cafe au Go Go gigs, Elektra released Been Burnt/Don't Know Why as a single, which ended up putting a strain on relations within the band itself, with some members wanting to go with Grossman and Graham while others wanted to stay with Rothchild and Holzman. Three months later, Gibson left the band to join another Canadian group, Kensington Market, and the rest of the band quickly fragmented, only to reunite briefly in 1970, releasing their second and final single on Canada's True North label. Since then the band has occasionally gotten back together and finally released their first (and only) LP, Luke & The Apostles, in 2017, 50 years after the first appearance of Been Burnt on vinyl.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Rack My Mind
Source: Mono CD: Roger The Engineer (original US title: Over Under Sideways Down)
Writer(s): Dreja/McCarty/Beck/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Great American (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
It may come as a surprise to some, but, despite their status as one of the most influential bands in rock history, the Yardbirds actually only recorded one studio album. The album, released in 1966, was originally titled The Yardbirds, but has since come to be known as Roger The Engineer, thanks to the distinctive cover drawn by band member Chris Dreja. In the US, the album was released under a different title (Over Under Sideways Down) and had an entirely different cover as well. To add to the confusion, a compilation of British singles and EP tracks had been released in the US under the title Having A Rave Up the previous year. Roger The Engineer was co-produced by Simon Napier-Bell and Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, and was made up entirely of original songs such as Rack My Mind. Samwell-Smith would leave the band to become a full-time producer not long after the album's release; his replacement would be a guitarist named Jimmy Page.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Dandelion
Source: Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco
Year: 1967
When the Rolling Stones' most expensive single to date, We Love You, got only a lukewarm response from American radio listeners stations began to flip the record over and play the B side, Dandelion, instead. The song ended up being one of the band's biggest US hits of 1967.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Salesman
Source: CD: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.
Writer(s): Craig Vincent Smith
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
The first song on the Monkees' fourth LP, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones, LTD. was also the most controversial. Michael Nesmith, as a side project, had been producing songs for a group led by Craig Vincent Smith called the Penny Arkade. One song in particular, Salesman, impressed Nesmith so much that he decided to produce a Monkees version of the song as well. The track was then used in a Monkees TV episode called The Devil And Peter Tork. NBC-TV at first refused to air the episode, claiming that the line "Salesman with your secret goods that you push while you talk" was a veiled drug reference (although producer Bert Schnieder was convinced the real reason was the liberal use of the word "hell" in the show's script).
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