https://exchange.prx.org/p/612023
One-sixth of this week's show is Absolutely Free. The rest of the show is also free, just not absolutely, and includes a new Advanced Psych segment with a couple of tunes that have never been heard on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before, along with a mix of A sides, B sides and album tracks from 1966-1970.
Artist: Scott McKenzie
Title: San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): John Phillips
Label: Ode
Year: 1967
Some people are of the opinion that Scott McKenzie's 1967 hit San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair was one of the primary factors that led to the decline of the San Francisco counter-culture, thanks to a massive influx of people into the area inspired by the song. I wasn't there, so I really can't say how much truth there is to it.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Procol Harum
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: Deram
Year: 1967
For reasons that are lost to history, the first Procol Harum album was released five months earlier in the US than it was in the UK. It also was released with a slightly different song lineup, a practice that was fairly common earlier in the decade but that had been (thanks to the Beatles) pretty much abandoned by mid-1967. One notable difference is the inclusion of A Whiter Shade Of Pale on the US version (the British practice being to not include songs on LPs that had been already issued on 45 RPM records). The opening track of the UK version was Conquistador, a song that would not become well-known until 1972, when a live version with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra backing up the band became a hit single.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: It's Wonderful
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Once Upon A Dream)
Writer: Cavaliere/Brigati
Label: Rhino (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1967
Psychedelic rock is generally considered to have begun on the West Coast (although Austin, Texas has a legitimate claim as well). By the time of the Summer of Love, however, psychedelic rock was a national trend. New York had always been one of the major centers of the music industry, so it's not surprising that on the East Coast 1967 was the year of the psychedelic single. One of the most popular New York bands of the time was the Young Rascals, generally considered to be the greatest blue-eyed soul band of the era, if not of all time. Still, the times being what they were, the Rascals departed from their usual style more than once in '67, first with the smash hit How Can I Be Sure, and then with their own psychedelic single, It's Wonderful, released in November.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Martha
Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer(s): Paul Kantner
Label: RCA/BMG Heritage
Year: 1967
One of the most commercially accessible tunes on the third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, was a Paul Kantner song called Martha. Based on a real character (a young heiress who liked to hang out at the band's house at 2400 Fulton Street in San Francisco), the song was even used in a promotional film shown on a Perry Como TV special. Nonetheless, the song was never promoted as a single; in fact it was relegated to the B side of another Kantner song, Watch Her Ride, that barely scratched the bottom of the top 40 charts. Of course, by then the Airplane did not need a top 40 hit, as they were already becoming one of the first successful album-oriented rock bands.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
Source: Mono LP: Blonde On Blonde
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Sundazed/Columbia
Year: 1966
Lightnin' Hopkins' Automobile Blues (originally released between 1946 and 1950 and found on the 1965 LP Early Recordings) served as the template for Bob Dylan's Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat on his 1966 album Blonde On Blonde. The Pill-Box hat had been made fashionable by Jacqueline Kennedy just a few years before (although I always associate it with Lois Lane for some reason). On the other hand, even in the mid-1960s the use of a leopard skin pattern was considered tacky by many people. Dylan merged the two concepts into a tune satirizing faddish fashion following, much as Ray Davies of the Kinks had done with his Dedicated Follower Of Fashion earlier the same year. In addition to Dylan, (who makes a rare appearance as a lead guitarist in the song's intro as well as playing rhythm guitar throughout the tune) the final take of Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, completed in Nashville early in the morning on Mar 10, 1966, includes Kenny Buttrey on drums, Henry Strzelecki on bass, and Robbie Robertson on lead guitar.
Artist: Mouse And The Traps
Title: A Public Execution
Source: Mono CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Henderson/Weiss
Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)
Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Bob Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousin down in Tyler. Speaking of cousins, A Public Execution was inspired by a misunderstanding concerning a cousin and a motorcycle ride. According to Ronnie "Mouse" Weiss, his fiancee actually broke up with him after getting word that Mouse had been seen giving an attractive girl a ride. It turned out the attractive girl in question was his cousin from across the state who had come for a visit, but by the time the truth came out Weiss and his band had their first of many regional hit records.
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
Source: CD: Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Buffalo Springfield)
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
One of the most influential folk-rock bands to come out of the L.A. scene was Buffalo Springfield. The band had several quality songwriters, including Neil Young, whose voice was deemed "too weird" by certain record company people. Thus we have Richie Furay singing a Young tune on the band's first single, Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing.
Artist: Other Side
Title: Walking Down The Road
Source: CD: With Love-A Pot Of Flowers (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Al Shackman
Label: Big Beat (original labels: Mainstream/Brent)
Year: 1966
San Jose, California was at the center of the most vibrant and dynamic local music scenes in the country in the mid-1960s. By the end of 1966 both the Syndicate Of Sound and Count Five had cracked the national charts, while bands such as the Chocolate Watch Band were just beginning to make their mark. There was a lot of movement of musicians between bands as well, with groups like the Topsiders counting Sean Tolby (Watchband) and Skip Spence (Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape) among their early members. A move by the Topsiders to recruit Watchband guitarist/organist Ned Torney in 1966 resulted in an entirely new group, the Other Side, being formed. They soon had established enough of a reputation to get the attention of Golden State Recorders, who were auditioning acts for Mainstream Records owner Bob Shad. Shad signed the group immediately to his Brent label, releasing Walking Down The Road in early autumn. The stereo mix of Walking Down The Road was included on the compilation album With Love-A Pot Of Flowers on Shad's Mainstream label in late 1967, but by then the group had morphed into a band called Bogus Thunder, which would eventually become known as Gladstone, releasing a single on the A&M label in 1969.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: There's Always Tomorrow
Source: Mono LP: Midnight Ride
Writer: Levin/Smith
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Paul Revere and the Raiders was one of the many bands of the early 1960s that helped lay the groundwork for the temporary democratization of American popular music later in the decade (for more on that head over to hermitradio.com and click the link to "The Psychedelic Era"). After honing their craft for years in the clubs of the Pacific Northwest the Raiders caught the attention of Dick Clark, who called them the most versatile rock band he had ever seen. Clark introduced the band to Terry Melcher, which in turn led to Paul Revere and the Raiders being the first rock band ever signed to industry giant Columbia Records, at that time the second largest record company in the country. In addition to organist Revere the band featured Mark Lindsay on lead vocals and saxophone, Phil "Fang" Volker on bass, Drake Levin on lead guitar and Mike "Smitty" Smith on drums. Occassionally someone other than Lindsay would get the opportunity to sing a lead vocal part, as Smitty does on There's Always Tomorrow, a song he co-wrote with Levin shortly before the guitarist quit to join the National Guard. Seriously, the guy who played the double-tracked lead guitars on Just Like Me quit the hottest band in the US at the peak of their popularity to voluntarily join the military. I'd say there was a good chance that Drake Levin was not one of the guys burning their draft cards that year.
Artist: Adam
Title: Eve
Source: Mono CD: A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Taylor/London/Dawson/Schnug
Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Malo)
Year: 1966
Obviously a one-note gimmick, Adam consisted of Adam Taylor, Adam London, Adam Dawson and Adam Schnug, releasing one single called Eve in 1966. The following year a band called the Balloon Farm released A Question Of Temperature. It has long been suspected that they were both the same band. My own theory is that both tracks are the work of New York studio musicians having a little after-hours fun, similar to what was going on in Los Angeles with projects such as Sagittarius and the Ballroom.
Artist: Fairport Convention
Title: Portfolio
Source: British import CD: Fairport Convention
Writer(s): Dyble/Hutchings
Label: Polydor
Year: 1968
Fairport Convention is well known as one of the premier British folk bands of the 1970s. The band did not, however, start off that way. The original lineup, consisting of Ian McDonald (lead vocals), Judy Dyble (lead vocals, autoharp, recorder, piano), Richard Thompson (guitars, vocals, mandolin), Simon Nicol (guitars, vocals), Ashley Hutchings (bass), and Martin Lamble (percussion, violin), were an eclectic bunch with eclectic tastes that included the written works of Spike Milligan and James Joyce and the music of John Coltrane, Doc Watson, and the Butterfield Blues Band, among others. Their own music was a synthesis of folk, rock, jazz, blues and the avant-garde, and was hailed as Britain's answer to the Jefferson Airplane. The first self-titled Fairport Convention album was only released in the UK (which in later years would lead to some confusion, since the band's next LP, 1969's What We Did On Our Holidays, was released in the US in 1970 with no other name than Fairport Convention). Not every track on the original Fairport Convention LP had vocals. One of the strongest tracks, in fact, was an instrumental written by Dyble and Hutchings called Portfolio that manages, in just two minutes, to give a strong impression of where the band was at musically in 1968. As much as I like the much better known Sandy Denny version of Fairport Convention, I would have loved to have heard more from this original lineup of the band.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: The Great Banana Hoax
Source: LP: Underground
Writer(s): Lowe/Tulin
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The second Electric Prunes LP, Underground, saw the band gaining greater creative control over the recording process than at any other time in their career (until their reformation in the late 1990s). The album's opening track, The Great Banana Hoax, is notable for two reasons: first, it was composed by band members and second, it has nothing to do with bananas. The title probably refers to the rumor circulating at the time that Donovan's Mellow Yellow was really about smoking banana peels to get high. The song itself is an indication of the musical direction the band itself wanted to go in before it got sidetracked (some would say derailed) by producer David Hassinger, who would assert control to the point of eventually replacing all the original members of the band by their fourth album (yes, some producers had that kind of power in those days).
Artist: Butterfield Blues Band
Title: Spoonful
Source: Mono LP: What's Shakin'
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Sundazed (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
Unlike fellow New Yorkers the Blues Project, who were known for the long improvisational jams, the Butterfield Blues Band took a traditionalist approach to the blues, especially on their earliest recordings. Among those early tracks was a cover of Willie Dixon's Spoonful, which ended up not being used on their debut LP for Elektra. Jac Holzman, owner of Elektra, decided to issue the unused tracks (along with recordings from the Lovin' Spoonful, Eric Clapton's Powerhouse and others) on an anthology called What's Shakin' in 1966. The album itself was mostly overlooked by the record buying public at the time, but has since become an underground classic and has been recently reissued on both LP and CD.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Foxy Lady
Source: LP: The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume Two (originally released on LP: Are You Experienced)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The first track on the original release of Are You Experienced was Foxy Lady. The British custom of the time was to not include any songs on albums that had been previously released as singles. When Reprise Records got the rights to release the album in the US, it was decided to include three songs that had all been top 40 hits in the UK. One of those songs, Purple Haze, took over the opening spot on the album, and Foxy Lady was moved to the middle of side 2. For some reason Reprise Records misspelled the title as Foxey Lady, and continued to do so on posthumous compilations such as The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume Two.
Artist: Oracle
Title: Don't Say No
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single).
Writer(s): Ruthann Friedmann
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year: 1968
Before the days of arena rock, with two or three bands touring together and putting on virtually the same show night after night, headliner bands often looked to local talent for their opening act, making each stop on the tour a unique event. Sometimes the local opening band made enough of an impression to create a path to stardom for themselves as well, or at least to get a record contract. Take the case of a Lake Charles, Lousiana band known locally as the Great Society. Although they had not made any records, they had developed enough of a reputation to be able to score gigs across the state line in East Texas. One of those gigs was opening for the Music Machine in mid 1967. The Music Machine, at this point, was experiencing the frustration of being unable to score a successful followup to their 1966 hit Talk Talk and was on the verge of dissolving, with the various individual members starting to explore other options. Among those members was bassist Keith Olsen, who liked Great Society enough to convince them to come out to Los Angeles and let Olsen produce them. Things did not go exactly as planned, however, as a bad acid trip left the band in no shape to cut a record. Olsen, however, working with co-producer Curt Boettcher, did get the group to provide vocals for a studio project the two of them were working on, a Ruthann Friedmann song called Don't Say No. As there had already been a band in California called Great! Society as recently as 1966, it was decided to rename the group the Oracle for the release of Don't Say No on the Verve Forecast label in 1968. Although the record was not a hit, it did help open doors for Olsen, who would go on to discover and produce the duo known as Buckingham Nicks, along with their breakthrough album as members of Fleetwood Mac. Since then Olsen has become one of the top producers in the history of rock music, working with such well known artists as the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir, Eddie Money, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Heart, Joe Walsh, Starship, Santana, Kim Carnes, Jethro Tull, The Babys, Ozzy Osbourne, the Scorpions, .38 Special, Bad Company, Sammy Hagar, Russ Ballard, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Sheena Easton, Journey, Loverboy, and Lou Gramm. Not bad for a bass player from a band known as one-hit wonders.
Artist: Attic Sound
Title: Look Straight Through You
Source: CD: A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Rogers
Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Pioneer)
Year: 1967
When it comes to the subject of rare late-60s singles, it doesn't get much more obscure than the band known as the Attic Sound, who released one single, Look Straight Through You, in December of 1967, on the Pioneer label out of Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, nobody seems to know where the group itself hailed from, although there are some collectors in Michigan who claim they were from that state. Another source says they were from Silver Spring, Maryland, although it's hard to imagine how an East Coast band ended up recording for a Memphis label. Regardless, the record has come to be regarded as highly collectable, thanks to a strong hook with lots of reverb.
Artist: Dion
Title: Abraham, Martin And John
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dick Holler
Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)
Year: 1968
Although sometimes characterized as a protest song, Dion DiMucci's 1968 hit Abraham, Martin And John is really a tribute to three famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy (with a reference to the recently-assassinated Bobby Kennedy included in the final verse of the song). Most people in the business saw Dion, perhaps the most successful doo-wop artist of all time, as being near the end of his career by 1967, although he was one of only two rock musicians included on the cover collage of the Beatles' 1967 LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band beside the Beatles themselves (the other being Bob Dylan). In April of 1968, however, Dion experienced what he later called "a powerful religious experience" which led to him approaching his old label, Laurie Records, for a new contract. The label agreed on the condition that he record Abraham, Martin And John. The song, written by Dick Holler (who also wrote, strangely enough, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron), ended up being one of Dion's biggest hits and led to the revitalization of his career.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Long Beach, California was home to a band known as Things To Come, which featured drummer Russ Ward, who, as Russ Kunkel, would go on to become one of L.A.'s most in-demand studio drummers. Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock written by Ward/Kunkel.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: 969 (The Oldest Man)
Source: CD: American Woman
Writer(s): Randy Bachman
Label: Buddha/BMG (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1970
Although Burton Cummings was known primarily for his role as the Guess Who's lead vocalist, he got a chance to strut his stuff instrumentally as a flautist on 969 (The Oldest Man), an instrumental by Randy Bachman. Bachman himself showed a glimpse of the guitar prowess that he would become known for with his next band, Bachman Turner Overdrive, in the mid-1970s on the track.
Artist: Zim Band
Title: I Can See The Future
Source: CD: Multiverse
Writer(s): Zim
Label: self-published
Year: 2021
The Zim Band is a three-piece outfit operating out of Buffalo and Rochester, NY. Rather than go into it here, I'm going to refer you to their website https://thezimband.com/ while you listen to I Can See The Future from their 2021 CD Multiverse.
Artist: Petals
Title: The Mushroom Farm
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Kern/Wolf
Label: November Rain
Year: 1990
A few weeks ago I received a package from Cary Wolf of the Petals containing all of that band's early singles, most of which preceded the release of their first LP in 1992. Among them was The Mushroom Farm, released in 1990. Funs stuff!
Artist: Infrared Radiation Orchestra
Title: Maybe The Colors
Source: CD: Stairs
Writer(s): Vannais-Jackson/Draheim
Label: GTG
Year: 2026
According to guitarist Kim Draheim, Maybe The Colors was written by his then three-year-old granddaughter. Or at least the words and melody were. Draheim himself came up with chords that fit the song, as well as writing all the spoken parts. Maybe The Colors is featured on the 2026 Infrared Radiation Orchestra CD Stairs. In addition to Kim Draheim, Infrared Radiation Orchestra members are H. Elizabeth Alcott, Jon Arliss and Joe Sarofeen.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
Source: CD: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
Following the critical and commercial success of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Stones responded with their most psychedelic album ever, Their Satanic Majesties Request, with its own cover parodying the Sgt. Pepper cover. As an added touch, the Stones album featured cover art done on special holographic paper (the same material used for holo rings purchased from bubble gum machines) to simulate a 3D effect. The first side wrapped up with the nearly eight-minute long Sing This All Together (See What Happens), a sort of psychedelic jam track featuring an unusual array of instruments and effects.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Evening Gown
Source: LP: Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina
Writer(s): Brown/Feher
Label: Sundazed/Smash
Year: 1967
Although the Left Banke was known for their "baroque pop" sound, much of that sound was achieved by the use of studio musicians, particularly a string section brought in by producer Harry Lookofoski, himself an accomplished violinist. In fact, keyboardist Michael Brown, who was Lookofsky's son, was the only member of the Left Banke to actually play on every song on the group's first LP, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina. The full band did play on a few songs, including (probably) Evening Gown, which sounds like it was played by a garage band with a harpsichord (trust me, that's a compliment). Unfortunately, Evening Gown is also the shortest track on the album itself, clocking in at one minute and forty-six seconds.
Artist: Mothers Of Invention
Title: Absolutely Free (1st in a series of underground oratorios)
Source: LP: Absolutely Free
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1967
In the liner notes of the first Mothers Of Invention album, Freak Out, Frank Zappa included a long list of influences, both musical and conceptual. For the 1967 follow-up LP, Absolutely Free, Zappa seemingly drew on every one of those influences to create a complex musical tapestry that amazed, and often baffled, everyone who heard it. Zappa would continue to amaze and baffle critics and fans alike until his untimely death from cancer at age 47 in the early 1990s, leaving behind the most unique and varied body of work in musical history.
Artist: John Sebastian
Title: Red-Eye Express
Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: John B. Sebastian)
Writer(s): John Sebastian
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
John Sebastian's first solo album is one of those cases where the story behind the album is more interesting than the album itself. Sebastian had been the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the Lovin' Spoonful during their period of greatest success (1965-67), but had left the group in early 1968 to pursue a solo career. The band tried to carry on without him, but after a string of commercial failures disbanded in early 1969. Meanwhile, Sebastian had been putting together tracks like Red-Eye Express for his debut solo album with the help of many of his old friends from his pre-Spoonful days as a struggling folk singer in New York's Greenwich Village, including (among others) David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, several months before they began recording together as a group. By early 1969 the album was ready to be released, but a series of unexpected problems delayed the album for over a year. The most pertinent of these problems was the fact that MGM records felt that the Lovin' Spoonful still owed them one more album under their previous contract with Kama Sutra Records, which had been distributed by MGM. Since the Spoonful no longer existed, MGM wanted to release Sebastian's album in its place, despite the fact that Sebastian had left the band the previous year. Sebastian and his manager, Bob Cavallo, felt differently, and made a deal with producer Paul Rothchild to get the album released on the Reprise label. Reprise head Mo Ostin bought out Sebastian's Kama Sutra contract and prepared to release the album, John B. Sebastian, in spring of 1969. MGM fought the move, however, and the album's release was delayed until 1970, when the album actually appeared on both labels at the same time (albeit with different cover art). Eventually Reprise ended up with the exclusive rights to the album, and the MGM version was withdrawn. During all this legal wrangling Sebastian made an unscheduled appearance at Woodstock (he was there as an audience member, but got drafted to fill time on the second day of the festival following a major rainstorm that left the stage covered in water, making it impossible for electric instruments to be used until it could be cleaned up), which enhanced his reputation and generated interest in the upcoming album, which eventually peaked at the #20 spot on the Billboard album charts.
Artist: Infinity
Title: Venetian Glass
Source: Mono British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution (originally released on LP: Collected Works 1969-1970)
Writer(s): Baldwin/De Costa/Calver/Chesterton)
Label: Grapefruit (original label: Acme)
Year: Recorded 1969, released 2002
Infinity was formed in 1969 and quickly became a popular opening act for such groups as Marmalade and the Searchers. Between gigs they worked on a concept album to be called "Science? Fiction!", but were unable to find a record company willing to take a chance on a band that mixed progressive rock and light pop. One of the tracks that was completed before the band split up was Venetian Glass, a song that captures the group's sound fairly accurately.
Artist: Don Fardon
Title: Dreaming Room
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Miki Dallon
Label: GNP Crescendo
Year: 1968
Although Don Fardon is best known for the British hit version of J.D. Loudermilk's Indian Reservation, the B side of that single, a tune called Dreaming Room, is probably more representative of Fardon's style, which might be described as a slightly more psychedelic Tom Jones. Well, that's what I hear anyway.
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