https://exchange.prx.org/p/614789
This time around it's an even longer and stranger trip through the years than usual, going all the way from 1966 to 1976. No Grateful Dead tunes, though (but there is an entire album side from Frank Zappa).
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Title: For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)
Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield-Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Bruce Palmer, Dewey Martin (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: Spirit
Title: I Got A Line On You
Source: European import CD: Pure....Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Family That Plays Together)
Writer(s): Randy California
Label: Sony Music (original label: Ode)
Year: 1968
Although not an instant hit by any measure, I Got A Line On You, from Spirit's second album, The Family That Plays Together, has proven to be the band's most popular song. Released in October of 1968, the song lingered below the top 100 for several weeks before college radio stations began playing it in late November. The tune finally peaked at #25 on March 15, 1969.
Artist: Cheech & Chong
Title: Sister Mary Elephant
Source: CD: Big Bambu
Writer(s): Marin/Chong
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Ode)
Year: 1972
SHADDUP!!
Artist: Savoy Brown
Title: Poor Girl
Source: CD: Looking In
Writer(s): Kim Simmonds
Label: Deram (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1970
Poor Girl, from the 1970 album Looking In, is probably Savoy Brown's best known recording. Shortly after Looking In was released, the entire band except for leader Kim Simmonds left Savoy Brown to form a new band: Foghat.
Artist: Doors
Title: The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)
Source: CD: Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (originally released on LP: L.A. Woman)
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1971
Following a downward slide starting in 1968, the Doors ended their original run on a high note in 1971 with the L.A. Woman album. Among the strong blues-based tracks on the album is The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat), an anthemic number that ranks up with other Doors album classics such as Five To One, When The Music's Over and The End. Big Beat indeed.
Artist: Mark Fry
Title: The Witch
Source: British Import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution (originally released in Italy on LP: Dreaming With Alice)
Writer(s): Mark Fry
Label: Grapefruit (original label: IT)
Year: 1972
One of the most obscure albums ever released, Dreaming With Alice is sometimes considered the ultimate example of acid folk music. Recorded in 1971 by teenaged British art student Mark Fry and released only in Italy on RCA's IT subsidiary, the album includes a track called The Witch, which is described in the book Galactic Ramble as "one of the creepiest songs you'll ever hear". Personally I don't really find anything creepy about it at all, although the track itself is quite hypnotic and highly listenable.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Woman From Tokyo
Source: CD: The Very Best Of Deep Purple (originally released on LP: Who Do We Think We Are)
Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label: Warner Archives/Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1973
Deep Purple's most successful period came to an end with the band's seventh LP, Who Do We Think We Are. The album, released in 1973, was the last for vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, both of whom had joined the band three years earlier. Those three years saw the group go from semi-obscurity (especially in their home country) to one of the world's most popular rock bands. Songs like Smoke On The Water and Highway Star had become mainstays of FM rock radio worldwide, but tensions within the band itself were starting to tear it apart. Nonetheless, the final album by the classic lineup of Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice featured some of the band's best material, including the LP's opening track, My Woman From Tokyo, which is still heard with alarming regularity on classic rock radio stations.
Artist: Frank Zappa
Title: Don't Eat Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast/Father Oblivion
Source: CD: Apostrophe (')
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1974
Despite being one of the most prolific composer/performers of the 20th century, Frank Zappa only put three songs on the top 100 charts in his career. The first of these was an abbreviated version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow, the opening track on his 1974 LP Apostrophe ('). On the album itself the song segues directly into the next three tracks, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast and the instrumental Father Oblivion to form a suite that is immediately followed by Cosmik Debris, the song that was released as the B side of Don't Eat Yellow Snow. Cosmik Debris was actually intended to be the A side of the single, but early airplay of the full-length version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow on FM rock radio prompted a change in plans.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Sick Again
Source: LP: Physical Graffiti
Writer(s): Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant/Stewart/Mrs. Valens
Label: Swan Song
Year: 1975
By the mid-1970s one of the most notorious aspects of rock stardom was the constant presence of groupies backstage after a concert. Although some musicians embraced the practice as being just one of the perks of being a star, some, including Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, were becoming uncomfortable with the whole thing. In particular, Plant found the fact that sometimes these girls were as young as twelve (particularly in the Los Angeles area) to be deeply disturbing, and so he wrote a song about it. Sick Again appears as the final track on the 1975 double LP Physical Graffitti.
Artist: Heart
Title: Sing Child
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Wilson/Wilson/Fossen/Fisher
Label: Mushroom
Year: 1975
I've always had a soft spot for Heart's first album, Dreamboat Annie. Maybe it's because the album's history parallels my entry into the world of college radio. Released in late 1975 in Canada, the album did not appear in the US until mid-1976. I had first started volunteering at KUNM in Albuquerque in late 1975. By the time Dreamboat Annie was released in the US, KUNM had moved into new facilities (with a significant power boost) and I had a regular daytime slot at the station. Having a musician's perspective, I focused on tracks like Sing Child, with its guitar solo, while the commercial FM rock stations were playing Magic Man and top 40 AM radio was playing Crazy On You. Such was the state of American radio in the mid-1970s.
No comments:
Post a Comment