https://exchange.prx.org/p/582273
Our Advanced Psych segment is back, with three tracks that have never been played on the show before, all from the 21st century. We also have an extra long set that starts in 1966 and goes up to 1971 before reversing direction, finally ending up with a Zombies tune from 1968 making its Stuck in the Psychedelic Era debut. Also on tap, an artists set from the Animals and an unusual number of regressions through the years.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Victoria
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Ray Davies
Label: Polygram/PolyTel (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
The Kinks were at their commercial low point in 1969 when they released their third single from their controversial concept album Arthur or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire. Their previous two singles had failed to chart, even in their native England, and the band had not had a top 20 hit in the US since Sunny Afternoon in 1966. Victoria was a comeback of sorts, as it did manage to reach the #62 spot in the US and the #33 spot in the UK.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: A Song For Jeffrey
Source: CD: This Was
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1968
Jethro Tull's second single (and first European hit) was A Song For Jeffrey from their debut LP, This Was. The Jeffrey in the song title is Jeffrey Hammond, who, according to the liner notes, was "one of us, though he doesn't play anything". The notes go on to say he "makes bombs and stuff". In fact, Hammond would replace bassist Glen Cornick a few albums later and remain with the group for several years. The song itself proved popular enough that when the band compiled their first Anthology album, Living In The Past, A Song For Jeffrey was chosen to open the album.
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Title: First Train Home
Source: Mono LP: The Original Fleetwood Mac
Writer(s): Peter Green
Label: Sire
Year: 1967
Fleetwood Mac was formed as an outgrowth of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Mayall had gifted guitarist Peter Green with studio time, and Green promptly enlisted the aid of bandmates Mick Fleetwood (drums) and John McVie (bass) to cut three tunes at Decca's West Hempstead studios in the summer of 1967. One of those three was a song Green called Fleetwood Mac in honor of his rhythm section. One of the other two (and quite possibly the first Fleetwood Mac song ever recorded) was First Train Home. Those two songs remained unreleased until 1971, when they appeared on a compilation album called The Original Fleetwood Mac, along with other studio outtakes from late 1967 and early 1968.
Artist: Shadows of Knight
Title: Oh Yeah
Source: CD: Gloria
Writer: Elias McDaniel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
The original British blues bands like the Yardbirds made no secret of the fact that they had created their own version of a music that had come from Chicago. The Shadows Of Knight, on the other hand, were a Chicago band that created their own version of the British blues, bringing the whole thing full circle. After taking their version of Van Morrison's Gloria into the top 10 early in 1966, the Shadows (which had added "of Knight" to their name just prior to releasing Gloria) decided to follow it up with an updated version of Bo Diddley's Oh Yeah. Although the song did not have a lot of national top 40 success, it did help establish the Shadows' reputation as one of the premier garage-punk bands.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: I'm A Man
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Great Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single).
Writer(s): Elias McDaniel
Label: Epic
Year: 1965
It's pretty much a given that the Rolling Stones were the most influential band in the world when it came to inspiring American garage bands. The single song that had the most influence on those bands, however, was probably the Yardbirds high-energy cover of Bo Diddley's I'm A Man, which electrified the US charts in 1965. I spell M....A.....N....Yeah!
Artist: Animals
Title: See See Rider
Source: LP: Animalization
Writer(s): Ma Rainey
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1966
One of the last singles released by the original incarnation of the Animals (and the first to use the name Eric Burdon And The Animals on the label), See See Rider traces its roots back to the 1920s, when it was first recorded by Ma Rainey. The Animals version is considerably faster than most other recordings of the song, and includes a signature opening rift by organist Dave Rowberry (who had replaced founder Alan Price prior to the recording of the Animalization album that the song first appeared on) that is unique to the Animals' take on the tune.
Artist: Eric Burdon And The Animals
Title: It's All Meat
Source: British import CD: Winds Of Change/The Twain Shall Meet (originally released on LP: Winds Of Change)
Writer(s): Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: BGO (original US label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
More than just about any other British invasion band, the Animals identified strongly with US Rhythm and Blues artists like John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles; all of their albums were filled with R&B covers, even as late as 1966, when other British bands were recording almost nothing but songs they wrote themselves. After the original group disbanded in late 1966, lead vocalist Eric Burdon set about forming a new version of the Animals. This new band, which came to be known as Eric Burdon And The Animals, shifted the emphasis to original compositions. Much of their original material, however, still had a strong connection to black American culture, especially in Burdon's lyrics on songs such as It's All Meat from the 1967 Winds Of Change album. Burdon would continue to move in this direction, culminating with his collaborations with the Los Angeles band War in the early 1970s.
Artist: Animals
Title: Cheating
Source: LP: Animalization
Writer(s): Burdon/Chandler
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1966
As a general rule, the original Animals wrote very little of their own material, preferring to record covers of their favorite blues songs to supplement the songs from professional songwriters that producer Mickie Most picked for single release. One notable exception is Cheating, a strong effort from vocalist Eric Burdon and bassist Chas Chandler that appeared on the Animalization album. The hard-driving song was also chosen for release as a B side in 1966.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
The first rock band signed to Elektra Records was Love, a popular L.A. club band that boasted two talented songwriters, Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean. On the heels of their first album, which included the single My Little Red Book and one of the first recordings of the fast version of Hey Joe, came their most successful single, the manic 7&7 Is, released in July of 1966.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Coloured Rain
Source: LP: Best Of Traffic (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer(s): Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
Traffic, in its early days, was a band with an almost schizophrenic identity. On the one hand there was Steve Winwood, who was equally adept at guitar, keyboards and vocals and was generally seen as the band's leader, despite being its youngest member. His opposite number in the band was Dave Mason, an early example of the type of singer/songwriter that would be a major force in popular music in the mid-1970s. The remaining members of the band, drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi and flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood, tended to fall somewhere between the two, although they more often sided with Winwood in his frequent creative disputes with Mason. One of these disputes involved the choice of the band's second single. Mason wanted to follow up the successful Paper Sun with his own composition, Hole In My Shoe, while the rest of the band preferred the group composition, Coloured Rain. Mason won that battle, but would end up leaving the band before the release on the group's first LP, Mr. Fantasy. This in turn led to the album being revised considerably for its US release, which was issued under a completely different title, Heaven Is In Your Mind, with most of Mason's contributions being excised from the album (although, oddly enough, Hole In My Shoe, which was not on the original LP, was included on the US album). One final example of the band's schizophrenic nature was in the way the group was marketed. In the US, Traffic was, from the beginning, perceived as a serious rock band along the lines of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In their native land, however, they were, thanks in part to the top 40 success of both Paper Sun and Hole In My Shoe as well as Winwood's fame as lead vocalist for the Spencer Davis Group, dismissed as a mere pop group. Mason would rejoin and leave the group a couple more times before achieving solo success in the mid-70s with the hit We Just Disagree, while Traffic would go on to become a staple of progressive FM rock radio in the US.
Artist: Iron Butterfly
Title: Most Anything You Want
Source: CD: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Writer(s): Doug Ingle
Label: Atco
Year: 1968
Iron Butterfly will forever be known for the seventeen minute long In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, but, contrary to popular belief, they did record other songs as well, releasing four studio albums from 1968-1971. The In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida lineup of Doug Ingle (vocals, organ), Ron Bushy (drums), Lee Dorman (bass) and Erik Brann (guitar) was only around for two of those LPs, however, and can be heard on tracks like Most Anything You Want, which opens the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: Laughing
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Canned Wheat)
Writer(s): Bachman/Cummings
Label: Priority (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1969
Following the success of their American LP debut, Wheatfield Soul (and the hit single These Eyes), the Guess Who headed back to the studio to record their fifth album, Canned Wheat. RCA Victor had a policy stating that groups signed to the label had to use RCA's own studios, whether they wanted to or not. The Guess Who and their producer, Jack Richardson, however, felt that RCA's New York studios were to inferior to A&R studios, where Wheatfield Soul had been recorded, and to prove their point secretly re-recorded two songs, Laughing and Undun, at A&R. They then sent dubs of the two new recordings to the shirts at RCA, who immediately issued the recordings as the band's next single, unaware that they had been recorded at A&R. By the time RCA realized what was going on, the single was already climbing the charts (eventually hitting the #10 spot), and ended up using the two new recordings on Canned Wheat. The remainder of the album was made up of the tracks recorded at RCA Studios. Their next album, American Woman, would be recorded at RCA's brand new Mid-America Recording Center in Chicago.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: One Of These Days
Source: CD: Meddle
Writer(s): Waters/Wright/Gilmour/Mason
Label: Pink Floyd Records (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1971
In their early years Pink Floyd was a band that was talked about more than heard, at least in the US. That began to change with the release of their 1971 LP Meddle and its opening track, One Of These Days, which got a significant amount of airplay on progressive FM radio stations.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Soldier
Source: LP: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer(s): Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
The final album by the original Spirit lineup, Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, charted lower than any of the group's earlier releases. It did, however, go on to become the band's only gold record, thanks to continued steady sales over a period of years. Soldier, the final track on the album, is a slow, quiet piece from guitarist Randy California that has an almost religious quality to it.
Artist: Enoch Smoky
Title: It's Cruel
Source: Mono CD: A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Douglas/Gedz/Collignon
Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Pumpkin Seed)
Year: 1969 (?)
Iowa's first state capitol, Iowa City, is home to the University of Iowa. In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was also home to a band known as Enoch Smoky. They released their only single, It's Cruel, sometime around 1969, but apparently someone forgot to get proper copyright clearance for the B side, a cover of Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven, and the single was quickly recalled. Although Enoch Smoky, whose name was taken from a Kiowa native American chief, continued to play gigs for several more years, including a European tour in the early 1970s, they never recorded again as a band.
Artist: Zombies
Title: Butcher's Tale (Western Front-1914)
Source: CD: Odessey And Oracle
Writer(s): Chris White
Label: Varese Sarabande (original label: Date)
Year: 1968
Like the Moody Blues, the Zombies were a band that enjoyed early success with an international hit single (She's Not There), but were unable to place any of their follow-up singles on the top 40 charts. A change of labels in 1967, however, gave them the opportunity to record an album made up entirely of original material. The result was the 1968 LP Odessey And Oracle. Although it was largely overlooked at the time of its release, it has since become one of the most acclaimed albums of all time, ranking at #100 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time List. Because of a tight budget, the LP was made over a period of months beginning in June of 1967. Butcher's Tale (Western Front-1914), written and sung by Chris White, was recorded in July of 1967 and released in the US as a single in June of 1968. The song, which is written from the point of view of an Allied soldier during World War I, uses only a pump organ (played by Rod Argent) for instrumentation, with sound effects created by playing a Pierre Boulez album backwards and sped up.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: Recitation/My Love Is
Source: LP: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union
Writer(s): Wayne Ulaky
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1968
For a time in early 1968 my favorite album was The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union, which is in a sense kind of strange, since I didn't own a copy of the LP. I did, however, have access to my dad's Dual turntable and Akai reel-to-reel tape recorder, and used to fall asleep on the couch with the headphones on nearly every night (hey, it beat sharing a room with my 8-year-old brother). So when one of my bandmates invited the rest of us over to hear his new album by this new band from Boston I naturally asked to borrow it long enough to tape a copy for myself. As it turned out, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union is one of those albums best listened to with headphones on, with all kinds of cool (dare I say groovy?) stereo effects, like the organ and cymbals going back and forth from side to side following the spoken intro (by producer Tom Wilson, it turns out) on the album's first track, My Love Is. Years later I acquired a mono copy of the LP, but it just wasn't the same, so I spent even more years looking for a decent stereo copy. This one, although not perfect, is the third and best copy I could find.
Artist: Sugar Candy Mountain
Title: Who I Am
Source: LP: 666
Writer(s): Reiter/Halsey
Label: People In A Position To Know
Year: 2016
It's easy to read something into both the band name and album title of the 2016 release 666 by Sugar Candy Mountain. It's better, however, to not do any of that and instead simply listen to any of the album's 10 tracks for what they are: good music. Sugar Candy Mountain was officially formed on 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Ash Reiter and multi-instrumentalist Will Halsey, natives of Oakland, California who relocated to Joshua Tree not long after the band was formed. They are joined on Who I Am (which seems to be somewhat autobiographical) by guitarist Bryant Denison and keyboardist Jason Quever (who also mixed the album).
Artist: London Souls
Title: Dizzy
Source: CD: The London Souls
Writer(s): London Souls
Label: Soul On10
Year: 2011
Despite the implications of their name, the London Souls were actually a New York City band that was formed in 2008 by guitarist Tash Neal and drummer Chris St. Hilaire. The two met as teenagers, jamming with friends in rehearsal rooms rented by the hour. After recording a 16-song demo in 2009 they released their first actual album, The London Souls, in 2011. The duo made their mark by applying a 21st century sensibility to psychedelic era and classic rock concepts, resulting in songs like Dizzy (which in no way resembles the old Tommy Roe song of the same name). A second album, Here Come The Girls, was originally planned for a 2013 release, but was delayed until 2015 after Tash Neal was injured in a hit-and-run accident. Although they never officially disbanded, the London Souls have been inactive since 2018.
Artist: Sand Pebbles
Title: Scenic
Source: Australian import CD: Ceduna
Writer(s): Sand Pebbles
Label: Sensory Projects
Year: 2008
Neighbours is the longest-running drama series on Australian television, having aired its first episode in March of 1985. It is also the unlikely origin point for Sand Pebbles, a band formed in 2001 by three Neighbours screenwriters. Those three founding members, bassist Christopher Hollow, guitarist Ben Michael and drummer Piet Collins were soon joined by guitarist/vocalist Andrew Tanner. The band's fourth album, Ceduna, also featured guitarist/vocalist Tor Larsen. The closing track on Ceduna is Scenic, a long space jam that is just a touch on the psychedelic side.
Artist: Stephen Stills
Title: Love the One You're With
Source: Promo CD: Carry On sampler (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino/Atlantic
Year: 1971
Depending on your point of view Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) have either split up several times over the years or have never actually split up at all. It was during one of these maybe split-ups that Stills recorded Love the One You're With, one of his most popular tunes. Presumably he and singer Judy Collins were no longer an item at that point.
Artist: Jeff Beck Group
Title: Spanish Boots
Source: LP: Beck-Ola
Writer(s): Beck/Stewart/Wood
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
The second album by Jeff Beck (and the first officially credited to the Jeff Beck Group) was a curious mixture of cover tunes and band originals, with no two compositions sharing the same songwriting credits. The first original to appear on the album is Spanish Boots, written by Beck, Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart. The tune features Beck on guitar, Stewart on vocals and Wood on bass, with Nicky Hopkins on piano and Tony Newman on drums.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: You Never Had It Better
Source: Mono CD: Underground (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Snagster/Schwartz/Poncher
Label: Collector's Choice
Year: 1968
Following the lack of a hit single from their second album, Underground, the Electric Prunes took one last shot at top 40 airplay with a song called Everybody Knows Your Not In Love. The band might have had better luck if they had pushed the flip side of the record, You Never Had It Better, which is a much stronger song. As it is, the record stiffed, and producer David Hassinger reacted by stripping the band of any creative freedom they might have had and made an album called Mass in F Minor using mostly studio musicians. The band, having signed away the rights to the name Electric Prunes to their manager before getting their record contract, could do nothing but watch helplessly as Hassinger, working with composer David Axelrod, created an album that had little in common with the original band other than their name. Because of this, the original members soon left, and Hassinger brought in a whole new group for two more albums before retiring the Prunes name for good. In recent years several members of the original band (including James Lowe and Mark Tulin, who were the actual songwriters of You Never Had It Better, despite what it says on the label) reformed the Electric Prunes. Whether or not they had to get permission to use the name is unknown.
Artist: Cream
Title: World Of Pain
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer(s): Pappalardi/Collins
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Whereas the first Cream LP was made up of mostly blues-oriented material, Disraeli Gears took a much more psychedelic turn, due in large part to the songwriting team of Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. The Bruce/Brown team was not, however, the only source of material for the band. Both Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker made contributions, as did Cream's unofficial fourth member, keyboardist/producer Felix Pappalardi, who co-wrote World Of Pain with his wife Janet Collins. Pappalardi would later become a founding member of Mountain, playing bass parts on his keyboards.
Artist: We The People
Title: Mirror Of Your Mind
Source: Mono CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Thomas Talton
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
We The People was formed when a newspaper reporter in Orlando, Florida talked members of two local bands to combine into a garage/punk supergroup. The result was one of the most successful regional bands in Florida history. After their first recording got airplay on a local station, they were signed to record in Nashville for Challenge Records (a label actually based in Los Angeles) and cranked out several regional hits over the next few years. The first of these was Mirror Of Your Mind. Written by lead vocalist Tom Talton, the song is an in-your-face rocker that got played on a number of local stations and has been covered by several bands since.
Artist: Doors
Title: We Could Be So Good Together
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1968
Released in advance of the third Doors album, We Could Be So Good Together was the B side of one of the most unusual songs to ever make the top 40 charts: The Unknown Soldier. Unconfirmed rumors about We Could Be So Good Together say that the song was actually written in the band's early days before their signing with Elektra Records, but was left off the first two Doors albums. Lyrically it does seem to share an optimism with earlier Jim Morrison lyrics that was largely replaced by cynicism in his later years. The single version contains a short Thelonius Monk riff about a minute and a half into the song that is missing from the LP version heard on Waiting For The Sun.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: The Birdman Of Alkatrash
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released as A side)
Writer(s): Mark Weitz
Label: Uni (original label: All-American)
Year: 1967
Thee Sixpence was a Los Angeles band that consisted of Ed King (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Luciano (vocals), Lee Freeman (rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals), Gary Lovetro (bass), Steve Rabe (guitar, vocals), and Gene Gunnels (drums). The band released four singles on the local All-American label in 1966. In early 1967 Gunnels, Rabe, and Luciano all left the band, to be replaced by keyboardist Mark Weitz and drummer Randy Seol. At the same time, they decided to change their name to Strawberry Alarm Clock. Their first single under their new name was a Weitz composition called The Birdman Of Alkatrash. For some reason local radio stations instead began playing the other side of the record and, after being re-released on MCA's Uni label, it became one of the biggest hits of 1967, going all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. That other side? Incense and Peppermints.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Reason To Believe
Source: Mono LP: Tim Hardin I
Writer(s): Tim Hardin
Label: Verve Folkways
Year: 1966
Tim Hardin is one of those people whose songs are better known than they themselves were. A prime example is Reason To Believe, which most people associate with Rod Stewart, who released it as a single in 1971. Hardin's original version of the song is considerably shorter than Stewart's clocking in at just under the two minute mark.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Magical Mystery Tour
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Apple/Parlophone (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
1967 had been a great year for the Beatles, starting with their double-sided hit single Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, followed by the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album and their late summer hit All You Need Is Love, with its worldwide TV debut (one of the few events of the time to utilize satellite technology). The next project, however, did not go over quite so well. It had been over two years since the group's last major movie (HELP!), and the band decided that their next film would be an exclusive for broadcast on BBC-TV. Unlike the previous two films, this new project would not follow traditional filmmaking procedures. Instead it would be a more experimental piece; a series of loosely related songs and comedy vignettes connected by a loose plot about a bus trip to the countryside. Magical Mystery Tour made its debut in early December of 1967 to overwhelmingly negative reaction by viewers and critics alike (partially because the film was shown in black and white on the tradition minded BBC-1 network; a later rebroadcast in color on BBC-2 went over much better). The songs used in the film, however, were quite popular. Since there were only six of them, far too few for a regular LP, it was decided to issue the album as a pair of 45 RPM EPs, complete with lyric sheets and booklet recounting the story from the film. The original EPs were available in both stereo and mono versions in Europe and the UK. In the US, where the six tunes were supplemented by the band's five remaining single sides from 1967 to create an LP, Magical Mystery Tour was only available in stereo. Although both the EP and LP versions have different sequencing than the telefilm, all three open the same way, with the film's title song.
Artist: Blues Project
Title: Hoochie Coochie Man
Source: CD: The Blues Project Anthology
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Polydor
Year: Recorded 1966, released 1997
Featuring the most recognizable riff in blues history, Hoochie Coochie man was first recorded in 1954 by Muddy Waters, becoming his biggest hit. It was also the turning point for songwriter Willie Dixon, who was able to leverage the song's success into a position with Chess Records as the label's chief songwriter. The song has been recorded by dozens of artists over the years, including several rock bands. One of the most unusual versions of Hoochie Coochie Man was recorded by the Blues Project for the 1966 debut LP, Live At The Cafe Au Go Go. The Project's version speeds up the tempo to a frantic pace, pretty much obscuring the song's signature riff in the process. It was one of several tracks that was intended for the LP, but cut when lead vocalist Tommy Flanders abruptly left the group before the album's release.
