https://exchange.prx.org/p/579693
This week we are featuring the entire first side of John Mayall's classic Blues From Laurel Canyon, an album written entirely while Mayall was on vacation in Southern California. From there, it's a set of long album tracks from Quicksilver Messenger Service, Spirit and (sort of) the Chocolate Watchband. But that's all in the second hour. To get things rolling we have a set of bonafide hit singles, followed by a mix of A & B sides (with a few LP tracks thrown in).
Artist: Shadows Of Knight
Title: Gloria
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Van Morrison
Label: Dunwich
Year: 1966
The original Them version of Van Morrison's Gloria found itself banned on the majority of US radio stations due to controversial lyrics. By changing one line (substituting "around here" for "up to my room") the suburban Chicago punk-blues band Shadows of Knight turned it into a huge hit and a garage band standard.
Artist: Count Five
Title: Psychotic Reaction
Source: Mono CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ellner/Chaney/Atkinson/Byrne/Michalski
Label: Priority (original label: Double Shot)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California, was home to one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the late 60s, despite its relatively small, pre-silicon valley population. One of the most popular bands on that scene was Count Five, a group of five guys who dressed like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and sounded like the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds. Fortunately for Count Five, Jeff Beck had just left the Yardbirds when Psychotic Reaction came out, leaving a hole that the boys from San Jose were more than happy to fill.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)
Source: LP: Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
Most people associate the name Buffalo Springfield with the song For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound). And for good reason. The song is one of the greatest protest songs ever recorded, and to this day is in regular rotation on both oldies and classic rock radio stations. The song was written and recorded in November of 1966 and rush released two days before Christmas. By then the first Buffalo Springfield LP was already on the racks, but until that point had not sold particularly well. When it became clear that For What It's Worth was turning into a major hit, Atco Records quickly recalled the album and added the song to it (as the opening track). All subsequent pressings of the LP (and later the CD) contain For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound), making earlier copies of the album somewhat of a rarity and quite collectable.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Lime Street Blues
Source: Mono LP: Best of Procol Harum (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M (original label: Deram)
Year: 1967
Anyone expecting more of the same when flipping over their new copy of A Whiter Shade Of Pale got a big surprise when they heard Lime Street Blues. The song, reminiscent of an early Ray Charles track, was strong enough to be included on their first greatest hits collection, no mean feat for a B side.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Song: Get Me To the World On Time
Source: Mono CD: The complete Reprise singles (originally released on LP: The Electric Prunes and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Tucker/Jones
Label: Real Gone/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Songwriter Annette Tucker usually worked with Nancy Mantz, and the pair was responsible for the Electric Prunes biggest hit, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). On Get Me To The World On Time, which originally appeared on the band's first LP, she instead teamed up with Jill Jones and came up with a kind of psychedelic Bo Diddley song that ended up being the Prunes second biggest hit (and the first rock song that I ever heard first on an FM station).
Artist: Mystic Tide
Title: Frustration
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets, Vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Joe Docko
Label: Elektra (original label: Solid Sound)
Year: 1967
Formed on Long Island in 1965, Mystic Tide released five singles over the next couple of years. Although none of the four charted, they are now considered psychedelic classics and are highly collectable. How collectable? Well, a copy of Frustration, the band's March 1967 single, sold for somewhere between $200 and $500 in 2018. Luckily, Lenny Kaye decided to include the song on Nuggets Vol. 2, released in 2023 as part of the 50th anniversary edition of the Nuggets album and in 2024 as a standalone double LP.
Artist: Van Dyke Parks
Title: The All Golden
Source: LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (originally released on LP: Song Cycle)
Writer(s): Van Dyke Parks
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1967
In late 1966 Brian Wilson began a collaboration with an unknown lyricist named Van Dyke Parks on an album that, although unreleased at the time, became one of the greatest legends in the history of rock. The album was called Smile, and it ultimately led to Parks signing a contract with Warner Brothers and being given total creative control and nearly unlimited funding by the label. The result was Song Cycle, at the time one of the most expensive albums ever produced (about three quarters of a million in today's dollars). The album, unfortunately, sold poorly, despite getting good reviews from music critics, and Warner Brothers responded by declaring the album a commercial flop and running an ad campaign with that as the theme. Among Parks' closest friends was Steve Young, an aspiring singer/singwriter who was later a key player in the Outlaw Country movement, but at the time was struggling financially. The All Golden references Young's situation.
rtist: Creation
Title: How Does It Feel To Feel
Source: Mono British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Garner/Phillips
Label: Polydor
Year: 1968
Creation was one of a handful of British bands that were highly successful in Germany, but were unable to buy a hit in their own country. Evolving out of a band known as the Mark Four, Creation was officially formed in 1966 by vocalist Kenny Pickett, guitarist Eddie Phillips, bassist Bob Garner and drummer Jack Jones. Their first single stalled out at #49 on the British charts, but went to #5 in Germany. The gap was even wider for their second single, which topped the German charts but did not chart in Britain at all. Garner and Phillips both left the band just as How Does It Feel To Feel was issued in early 1968. The band, with a fluctuating lineup, continued on for a few months but finally threw in the towel in late 1968.
Artist: Gun
Title: Sunshine (single version)
Source: Mono British import CD: Gun
Writer(s): Adrian Gurvitz
Label: Repertoire (original label: CBS)
Year: 1968
When I was a junior in high school I switched from guitar to bass to form a three-piece band called Sunn. Mostly what we did was jam onstage, although we did learn a handfull of cover songs as well. One of those songs we actually learned by playing it on the jukebox at the local youth center over and over. A British band called Gun had released a tune called Race With The Devil that caught on quickly with the dependent kids at Ramstein AFB in Germany. None of us, however, actually had a copy of the record. A rival band had already started playing Race With The Devil, so we decided to instead go for the B side, Sunshine. Luckily, the song has few lyrics, and tends to repeat them a lot, so we didn't have to spend a whole lot of nickels to get them all down. Ditto for the musical part, as the song is basically just three chords over and over. Still, it turned out to be one of our most popular numbers, since it was about the only song in our repertoire you could slow dance to. Also, the simple structure allowed Dave, the guitarist, to extend the song as long as he felt like jamming, which was generally all night. So, here we have the mono single version of Sunshine, as heard on the Ramstein Air Base youth center jukebox all those years ago.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Little By Little
Source: Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: The Rolling Stones)
Writer(s): Phelge/Spector
Label: Abkco (original UK label: Decca)
Year: 1964
After deciding on a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away for their first single of 1964, the Rolling Stones got together with Phil Spector and whipped up a B side for the record, recording it on February 4th. Three weeks later the single was released in the UK, and in April was included on the band's debut LP. A month and a half later Little By Little made its American debut as an album track on The Rolling Stones (subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers).
Artist: Who
Title: A Legal Matter
Source: Mono CD: The Who Sings My Generation
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1966
In early 1966 the Who parted company with their original UK record label, Brunswick, to hook up with the newly formed Reaction Records. This did not sit well with the people at Brunswick, who did their best to sabotage the band's Reaction releases. They did this by releasing single versions of songs from the band's only Brunswick album, My Generation, within days of each new Who single on Reaction. The first of these was The Kids Are Alright/A Legal Matter, which was released right after the first Who single on Reaction, Substitute. The strategy was for the most part unsuccessful, and all these songs ended up on the Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy album, released a couple years later. A Legal Matter was one of the first Who songs to feature Pete Townshend rather than Roger Daltry on lead vocals, possibly because Daltry was going through a divorce at the time and the song hit uncomfortably close to home.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original UK label: Polydor)
Year: 1966
The first track recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was Hey Joe, a song that Hendrix had seen Tim Rose perform in Greenwich Village before relocating to London to form his new band. It was released as a single in the UK in late 1966 and went all the way to the # 3 spot on the British top 40. Hendrix's version is a bit heavier than Rose's and leaves off the first verse ("where you going with that money in your hand") entirely. Although Rose always claimed that Hey Joe was a traditional folk song, the song was actually copyrighted in 1962 by California folk singer Billy Roberts. By the time Hendrix recorded Hey Joe several American bands had recorded a fast version of the song, with the Leaves hitting the US top 40 with it in early 1966.
Artist: First Edition
Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: The First Edition and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Mickey Newbury
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
In 1968, former New Christy Mistrels members Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle decided to form a psychedelic folk-rock band, the First Edition. Although Settle was the official leader on the first album, it was Rogers who would emerge as the star of the band, even to the point of eventually changing the band's name to Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. That change reflected a shift to country flavored pop that would eventually propel Rogers to superstar status.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: America
Source: LP: Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Bookends)
Writer(s): Paul Simon
Year: 1968/1972
Four years after the release of the album Bookends (and two years after the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel), Columbia decided to release the song For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her, from their final album Bridge Over Troubled Water, as a single, to coincide with the release of their Greatest Hits album. For the B side, they went even further back, pulling out the original tapes for the song America. The tracks on the Bookends album were deliberately overlapped to form a continuous audio montage, making this the first standalone version of America to be released by the duo.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Jersey Thursday
Source: Simulated stereo LP: The Pye History Of Pop Music Vol. 2-Donovan (originally released on LP: Fairytale)
Writer(s): Donovan Leitch
Label: Pye (original label: Hickory)
Year: 1965
Donovan's earliest albums were originally released in the US on the Hickory label, but did not sell particularly well. After the Scottish singer became more well-known his early material was reissued, first on the Janus label and later on the American wing of his original British label, Pye. Although neither of these labels had major label distribution, they did make songs like Jersey Thursday, from his second LP, Fairytale, available to a wider audience than when they were originally released.
Artist: Beatles
Title: And Your Bird Can Sing
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Yesterday...And Today
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Capitol/EMI
Year: 1966
At the time the Revolver album was being made, the Beatles and their producer, George Martin, worked together on the mono mixes of the songs, which were always done before the stereo mixes. In fact, the stereo mixes were usually done without the participation of the band itself, and generally were less time consuming. This led to a rather odd situation in June of 1966. Mono mixes had been made for three of the songs on Revolver at this point, and the band's US label, Capitol, was ready to release a new Beatles album. The problem was that they did not have enough new material for an entire album. Their solution was to use their Duophonic fake stereo process on the mono mixes and include them on the album, which was titled Yesterday...And Today. As a result, when Revolver was released in the US in the fall of 1966, it had three fewer songs than the original British version of the album. One of those three songs was And Your Bird Can Sing, a John Lennon composition that he considered a "throwaway", yet one that contains of the earliest examples of harmony lead guitars (on the intro) in rock. The song's original working title was You Don't Get Me, which lends authenticity to the story told by Cynthia Lennon of John's reaction to her gift of a clockwork bird in a gilded cage.
Artist: Janis Ian
Title: Society's Child (Baby, I've Been Thinking)
Source: Mono LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s): Janis Ian
Label: Verve Folkways
Year: 1966
Janis Ian began writing Society's Child, using the title Baby I've Been Thinking, when she was 13 years old, finishing it shortly after her 14th birthday. She shopped it around to several record labels before finally finding one (Now Sounds) to take a chance on the controversial song about interracial dating. The record got picked up and re-issued in 1966 by M-G-M's experimental label Verve Folkways (soon to be renamed Verve Forecast), a label whose roster included Dave Van Ronk, Laura Nyro and the Blues Project, among others. Despite being banned on several radio stations the song became a major hit when re-released yet another time in early 1967. Ian had problems maintaining a balance between her performing career and being a student which ultimately led to her dropping out of high school. She would eventually get her career back on track in the mid-70s, scoring another major hit with At Seventeen, and becoming somewhat of a heroine to the feminist movement.
Artist: Max Frost And The Troopers aka the 13th Power
Title: A Change Is Gonna Come
Source: CD: Shape Of Things To Come
Writer(s): Wibier/Beckner
Label: Captain High (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
The first thing you need to know about Max Frost And The Troopers is that they were a fictional rock band featured in the film Wild In The Streets. Sort of. You see, in the movie itself the band is never actually named, although Max (played by Christopher Jones) does refer to his followers as his "troops" throughout the film. The next thing you need to know is that Shape Of Things To Come was a song used in the film that became a hit record in 1968. The song itself was written by the Brill building songwriting team of Barry (Who Put The Bomp) Mann and Cynthia Weil, whose previous writing credits included Kicks and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, among other tunes. Shape Of Things To Come, along with several other Barry/Weil tunes used in the film, was credited to the 13th Power on the film's soundtrack LP, which was released on Capitol's Tower subsidiary label, but to Max Frost And The Troopers on a single issued by the same label. After the single became a hit, producer Mike Curb commissioned an entire album by Max Frost And The Troopers called, naturally, Shape Of Things To Come. The band on this album actually was the 13th Power, which as it turns out was a real band fronted by vocalist Paul Wibier, who had previously recorded for Curb, both under their own name and as the Moms. This album was also released in 1968 on the Tower label, and featured mostly songs written (or co-written) by Wibier himself, such as A Change Is Gonna Come. The name Max Frost And The Troopers popped up in a couple more 1968 film soundtracks before being permanently retired by the end of the year. What eventually happened to the 13th Power is not known.
Artist: Phil Ochs
Title: I Ain't Marching Anymore
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Phil Ochs
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1965
Phil Ochs' I Ain't Marching Anymore didn't get a whole lot of airplay when it was released in 1965 (unless you count a handful of closed-circuit student-run stations on various college campuses that could only be picked up by plugging a radio into a wall socket in a dorm room). Ochs was aware of this, and even commented that "the fact that you won't be hearing this song on the radio is more than enough justification for the writing of it." He went on to say that the song "borders between pacifism and treason, combining the best qualities of both." The following year Ochs recorded this folk-rock version of the song (backed up by members of the Blues Project) that was released as a single in the UK.
Artist: John Mayall
Title: Blues From Laurel Canyon-part one
Source: European import CD: Blues From Laurel Canyon
Writer(s): John Mayall
Label: Decca
Year: 1968
In July of 1968, in the middle of a concert tour of Germany, John Mayall made a decision to disband his group The Bluesbreakers, which at this point in time had seven members. After finishing out the band's live commitments, Mayall then got to work on assembling a new, smaller band consisting of himself on keyboards and vocals, Stephen Thompson on bass, Colin Allen on drums, and 17-year-old Mick Taylor on guitar. Once the new group was formed, Mayall promptly left London for a three-week stay in Southern California's Laurel Canyon, where he met several like-minded musicians, including Frank Zappa and the members of Canned Heat, as well as some of L.A.'s more famous groupies. While there he began chronicling his visit by way of a series of songs that would become his next album, Blues From Laurel Canyon. The first of these, Vacation, sets the stage for what is to follow and showcase's Taylor's guitar work. From there it's Walking On Sunset, a paeon to one of L.A.'s most famous boulevards. Laurel Canyon home describes his temporary abode, while 2401 describes a visit to the organized chaos of the Zappa household. The final three songs on side one, Ready To Ride, Medicine Man and Somebody's Acting Like A Child tell the tale of a romantic interlude, and are among Mayall's strongest material. Recorded in early August of 1968, the album was released in November, and helped cement Mayall's reputation as the godfather of British blues.
Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: The Fool
Source: LP: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Writer(s): Duncan/Freiberg
Label: Capitol
Year: 1968
There are differing opinions on just how serious legendary San Francisco singer/songwriter and general iconoclast Dino Valenti was being when, at a jam session with guitarist John Cippolina one night, he suggested that the two of them form a band. Since Valenti was busted for drugs the very next day (and ended up spending the next two years in jail), we'll never know for sure. Cippolina, however, was motivated enough to begin finding members for the new band, including bassist David Freiberg (later to join Starship) and drummer Skip Spence. When Marty Balin stole Spence away to join his own new band (Jefferson Airplane), he tried to make up for it by introducing Cippolina to vocalist/guitarist Gary Duncan and drummer Greg Elmore, whose own band, the Brogues, had recently disbanded. Taking the name Quicksilver Messenger Service (so named for all the member's astrological connections with the planet Mercury), the new band soon became a fixture on the San Francisco scene. Inspired by the Blues Project, Cippolina and Duncan quickly established a reputation for their dual guitar improvisational abilities. Unlike other San Francisco bands such as the Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service did not jump at their first offer from a major record label, preferring to hold out for the best deal. This meant their debut album did not come out until 1968, missing out on the initial buzz surrounding the summer of love. In one way this actually worked to the band's advantage, since by 1968 record companies were more willing to include lengthy improvisational tracks like The Fool, which took up the lion's share of the second side of the group's debut LP.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband (but not really)
Title: Inner Mystique
Source: CD: The Inner Mystique
Writer(s): Ed Cobb
Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
The Chocolate Watchband underwent a series of personnel changes starting in the late spring of 1967. By the end of that year the band no longer existed. This, apparently, was not considered a relevant fact by the people at Green Grass Productions, as they went ahead and released a new Chocolate Watchband album, The Inner Mystique, on the Tower label in February of 1968. Like the first Watchband album, The Inner Mystique had several tracks that were actually performed by studio musicians. In fact, the entire first side of the 8-song LP consisted of tracks put together by engineer Richie Podolor, and had nothing to do with the band itself. The third of these tracks, Inner Mystique, was written by the band's producer, Ed Cobb, who had also written the band's first official single, Sweet Young Thing, as well as several hits for the Standells, who were also signed to Green Grass. Somehow, the Chocolate Watchband managed to reform in time to record a third album, One Step Beyond, the following year, but that's a story for another time.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Elijah (alternate take)
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer: John Locke
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Since the mid-1960s many bands have had one long piece that they play in concert that is specifically designed to allow individual band members to strut their stuff. In a few cases, such as Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida or Lynnard Skynnard's Freebird, it becomes their best-known song. In most cases, though, a studio version of the piece gets put on an early album and never gets heard on the radio. Such is the case with Spirit's show-stopper Elijah, which was reportedly never played the same way twice (in fact, this alternate take is evidence of that). Elijah, written by keyboardist John Locke, starts with a hard-rockin' main theme that is followed by a jazzier second theme that showcases one of the lead instruments (guitar, keyboards). The piece then comes to a dead stop while one of the members has a solo section of their own devising. This is followed by the main theme, repeating several times until every member has had their own solo section. The piece ends with a return to the main theme followed by a classic power rock ending.
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