https://exchange.prx.org/p/613804
This week we have mostly long sets, including a battle of the bands that takes up an entire half hour and most of side one of the legendary Hawkwind debut LP.
Artist: Animals
Title: House Of The Rising Sun
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): trad., arr. Price
Label: M-G-M
Year: 1964
These days the edited version of the Animals' House Of The Rising Sun is virtually impossible to find, but in 1964 this three-minute version of the tune was the only one to get played on top 40 radio.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Source: Mono LP: Bringing It All Back Home
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Sundazed/Columbia
Year: 1965
I recently saw a picture of Bob Dylan sitting alone in a theater with the caption "Bob Dylan sitting with everyone that's a better songwriter than he is". While I may not go quite that far, I have to admit that you would have to search far and wide to find any song with lyrics equal to It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding). The song was first performed in October of 1964 and recorded in January of 1965 for inclusion on his album Bringing It All Back Home. Famous lines from the song include "Money doesn't talk, it swears," and "He not busy being born is busy dying." Dylan himself has repeatedly cited the song as one of his songs that means the most to him, and he has continued to perform it throughout his career (an estimated 772 times as of 2015).
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: Fire Engine
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer(s): Hall/Sutherland/Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
In the summer of 1971 the band I was in, Sunn, did a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs as part of our regular repertoire. For the siren effect at the beginning of the song we used our voices, which always elicited smiles from some of the more perceptive members of the audience. Listening to Fire Engine, from The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators, has the same effect on me, for pretty much the same reason. The main difference is that the Elevators actually did it with the tape rolling on one of their own original songs, something Sunn never got the opportunity to do.
Artist: Standells
Title: Riot On Sunset Strip
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Riot On Sunset Strip soundtrack)
Writer(s): Fleck/Valentino
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Anyone who doubts just how much influence bands like the Standells had on the punk-rock movement of the late 1970s need only listen to the 1967 title track from the movie Riot On Sunset Strip. The song, written by bandmembers Tony Valentino and John Fleck, sounds like it could have been an early Ramones recording. The song itself (and the movie) were based on a real life event. Local L.A. business owners had been complaining about the unruliness and rampant drug use among the teens hanging out in front of the various underage clubs that had been springing up on Sunset Strip in the wake of the success of the Whisky a Go Go, and in late 1966 the Los Angeles Police Department was called in to do something about the problem. What followed was a full-blown riot which ultimately led to local laws being passed that put many of the clubs out of business and severely curtailed the ability of the rest to make a profit. By 1968 the entire scene was a thing of the past, with the few remaining clubs converting to a more traditional over-21 approach. The unruliness and rampant drug use, meanwhile, seems to have migrated up the coast to San Francisco, where it managed to undo everything positive that had been previously accomplished in the Haight-Ashbury district.
Artist: Electric Flag
Title: Another Country
Source: LP: The Best Of The Electric Flag (originally released on LP: A Long Time Comin')
Writer(s): Polte/Bloomfield
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
In 1967, after leaving the Butterfield Blue Band, guitarist Michael Bloomfield decided to form what he called "An American Music Band." The band would incorporate all of Bloomfield's favorite musical genres, including jazz, rock, soul, and of course blues. Like his friend Al Kooper, Bloomfield wanted to work in a horn section as well. The result was the Electric Flag. After one soundtrack album for a Peter Fonda cult film that was mostly a Bloomfield solo effort (although credited to the band), the Electric Flag made its official debut with the 1968 LP A Long Time Comin'. Perhaps the track that came closest to incorporating all the elements that Bloomfield wanted into a single piece was Another Country, which, along with a short Bloomfield instrumental that served as a coda, takes up the last nine and a half minutes of A Long Time Comin'. Bloomfield would leave the group following the release of the LP, although the remaining members, including Barry Goldberg, Nick Gravenites and Buddy Miles, would record a follow-up without him.
Artist: Koobas
Title: Barricades
Source: British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released on LP: Koobas)
Writer(s): Ellis/Stratton-Smith/Leathwood
Label: EMI (original UK label: Columbia)
Year: 1969
The Koobas were a Merseybeat band that never managed to achieve the level of success enjoyed by bands such as the Beatles or Gerry and the Pacemakers, despite having the patronage of Beatles manager Brian Epstein and even appearing in the film Ferry Across The Mersey. They did record several singles for both Pye and Columbia, but with little to show for it. Nonetheless, EMI, the parent company of Columbia, commissioned an entire album from the band in 1969. Among the standout tracks from that self-titled LP was the five-minute long Barricades, a track that starts with a Motown beat, but before long morphs into a chaotic portrait of riot and revolution, complete with anarchic sound effects.
Artist: Easybeats
Title: Friday On My Mind
Source: Mono CD: Battle Of The Bands-Vol. Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Vanda/Young
Label: Era (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1966
Considered by many to be the "greatest Australian song" ever recorded, the Easybeats' Friday On My Mind, released in late 1966, certainly was the first (and for many years only) major international hit by a band from the island continent. Technically, however, Friday On My Mind is not an Australian song at all, since it was recorded after the band had relocated to London. The group continued to release records for the next year or two, but were never able to duplicate the success of Friday On My Mind. Ultimately vocalist Stevie Wright returned to Australia, where he had a successful solo career. Guitarists Harry Vanda and George Young, who had written Friday On My Mind, also returned home to form a band called Flash And The Pan in the early 1970s. Later in the decade Young would help launch the careers of his two younger brothers, Angus and Malcolm, in their own band, AC/DC.
Artist: Cream
Title: I Feel Free
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
After an unsuccessful debut single (Wrapping Paper), Cream scored a bona-fide hit in the UK with their follow-up, I Feel Free. As was the case with nearly every British single at the time, the song was not included on Fresh Cream, the band's debut LP. In the US, however, hit singles were commonly given a prominent place on albums, and the US version of Fresh Cream actually opens with I Feel Free. To my knowledge the song, being purely a studio creation, was never performed live by the band.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: Mono CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty
Label: Priority (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed making it to the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Too Many People
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Pons/Rinehart
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
The Leaves are a bit unusual in that in Los Angeles, a city known for drawing wannabes from across the world, this local band's members were all native Ellayins. Formed by members of a fraternity at Cal State Northridge, the Leaves had their greatest success when they took over as house band at Ciro's after the Byrds vacated the slot to go on tour. Like many bands of the time, they were given a song (Bob Dylan's Love Minus Zero) to record as a single by their producer and allowed to write their own B side. In this case the intended B side was Too Many People, written by bassist Jim Pons and guitarist Bill Rhinehart. Before the record was released, however, the producers decided that Too Many People was the stronger track and designated it the A side. The song ended up getting more airplay on local radio stations than Love Minus Zero, making it their first regional hit. The Leaves had their only national hit the following year with their third attempt at recording the fast version of Hey Joe, the success of which led to their first LP, which included a watered down version of Too Many People. The version heard here is the 1965 original. Eventually Pons would leave the Leaves, hooking up first with the Turtles, then Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Artist: Lost And Found
Title: Don't Move Girl
Source: Mono German import LP: Sixties Rebellion Vol. 5: The Cave (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Al Manfredi
Label: Way Back (original US label: Plus)
Year: 1966
Originally formed as the Nuts & Bolts in San Clemente, California, the Lost And Found relocated to Phoenix while still in their teens and cut their one and only single for the local Plus label in 1966 before returning to California in early 1967. The A side of that single, Don't Move Girl, was written by bassist Al Manfredi. Rounding out the band were lead guitarist Jim Jeffers, rhythm guitarist Mike Ingram and drummer Mike Ryer.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Purple Haze
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single and in US on LP: Are You Experienced?)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original US label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
Following up on the success of their first UK single, Hey Joe, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released Purple Haze in early 1967. The popularity of the two singles (released only in Europe) led to a deal with Reprise Records to start issuing the band's material in the US. By then, however, the Experience had already released Are You Experienced without either of the two hit singles on it. Reprise, hedging their bets, included both singles (but not their B sides), as well as a third UK single, The Wind Cries Mary, deleting several tracks from the original version of Are You Experienced to make room for them.
Artist: Art Of Lovin'
Title: Paul's Circus
Source: British import CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released in US on LP: The Art Of Lovin')
Writer(s): Paul Applebaum
Label: Big Beat (original US label: Mainstream)
Year: 1968
Although the so-called Boss-Town Sound was in reality mostly hype foisted on the public in 1968 by executives at M-G-M Records who were chafing at having missed out almost entirely on the whole San Francisco thing the previous year, there was at least one local band that fully embraced the concept. Ironically, the Art Of Lovin', from the Boston suburb of Newton, was not in any way connected to M-G-M. Powered by the vocals of Gail Winnick and the songwriting skills of guitarist Paul Applebaum, the band also included organist Barry Tatleman, bassist Johnny Lank and drummer Sandy Winslow. They made enough of an impression on Mainstream Records owner Bob Shad to be able to record an entire self-titled LP for the label, which included the somewhat whimsical piece Paul's Circus. Rather than pursue their musical careers further, however, the band members opted to disband the group and go to college shortly after the album was released.
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Brave New World
Source: LP: Homer soundtrack (originally released on LP: Brave New World)
Writer(s): Steve Miller
Label: Cotillion (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
It took the Steve Miller Band half a dozen albums (plus appearances on a couple of movie soundtracks) to achieve star status in the early 1970s. Along the way they developed a cult following that added new members with each successive album. The fourth Miller album was Brave New World, the title track of which was used in the film Homer, a 1970 film that is better remembered for its soundtrack than for the movie itself.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Title: 4+20
Source: CD: déjà vu
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Year: 1970
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were always more a collection of individuals than a true group. 4+20, from their second album, déjà vu, is a good illustration of this. The song features Stephen Stills on acoustic guitar and vocal, with no other voices or instruments on the recording.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Love You To
Source: CD: Revolver
Writer(s): George Harrison
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1966
Following the release of Rubber Soul in December of 1965, the Beatles' George Harrison began to make a serious effort to learn to play the Sitar, studying under the master, Ravi Shankar. Along with the instrument itself, Harrison studied Eastern forms of music. His first song written in the modal form favored by Indian composers was Love You To. The recording, featured on the 1966 Revolver album, also features Indian percussion instruments and suitably spiritual lyrics.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: Mono German import CD: Da Capo
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
The word "seven" does not appear anywhere in the song 7&7 Is. Truth to tell, I have no idea where Arthur Lee got that title from. Nonetheless, the song is among the most intense tracks to ever make the top 40. 7&7 Is starts off with power chords played over a constant drum roll (possibly played by Lee himself), with cymbals crashing over equally manic semi-spoken lyrics. The song builds up to an explosive climax: an atomic bomb blast followed by a slow post-apocalyptic instrumental that quickly fades away.
Artist: Them
Title: I Happen To Love You
Source: Mono LP: Now And Them
Writer(s): Goffin/King
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
I Happen To Love You was first recorded by the Electric Prunes for their 1967 album Underground. The band wanted to release the Gerry Goffin/Carole King tune as a single, but producer David Hassinger instead chose to issue a novelty track, To The Highest Bidder. Unlike the Prunes version, which emphasized the King melody line, Them's version of I Happen To Love You was done in much the same style as their earlier recordings with Van Morrison. Kenny McDowell provided the lead vocal.
Artist: Love
Title: The Castle
Source: German import CD: Da Capo
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
Considering that both of their first two LPs had cover photos taken against the backdrop of Bela Lugosi's former residence in the Hollywood Hills (known as Dracula's Castle), it is perhaps inevitable that Love would have a track called The Castle on one of these albums. Sure enough, one can be found near the end of the first side of the late1966 album Da Capo. The song is an early indication of the direction that band was moving in, away from the straight folk/garage-rock of their first LP toward the more sophiscated sound of Forever Changes, which would be released a year later.
Artist: Them
Title: Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
Source: British import CD: Now And Them
Writer(s): Jimmie Cox
Label: Rev-Ola (original US label: Tower)
Year: 1968
The artist that comes to mind when I see the title of this Jimmy Cox tune is, of course, Eric Clapton, who included it on the Derek and the Dominos Layla album. Them's version of Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, from the album Now And Them featuring vocalist Kenny McDowell, actually predates Clapton's by a couple years.
Artist: Love
Title: Alone Again Or
Source: CD: Forever Changes
Writer(s): Bryan MacLean
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1967
The only song Love ever released as a single that was not written by Arthur Lee was Alone Again Or, issued in 1970. The song had originally appeared as the opening track from the Forever Changes album three years earlier. Bryan McLean would later say that he was not happy with the recording due to his own vocal being buried beneath that of Lee, since Lee's part was meant to be a harmony line to McLean's melody. McLean would later re-record the song for a solo album, but reportedly was not satisfied with that version either.
Artist: Them
Title: Square Room
Source: Mono LP: Now And Them
Writer(s): Them
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
The first album Them recorded after relocating to the US was called Now and Them. Recorded in late 1967, the LP was released in January of '68. The standout track of the album is the nearly ten minute long Square Room, an acid rock piece that showcases the work of guitarist Jim Armstrong. An edit of the track had already appeared as the B side of a single before the album was released.
Artist: Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come
Title: Gypsy Escape
Source: British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Galactic Zoo Dossier)
Writer(s): Denis Taylor
Label: Polydor
Year: 1971
Arthur Brown became a household name in 1968 with the release of one of the great albums of British psychedelic music, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and it's #1 hit single, Fire. To help promote the album the band set out on a US tour; by the time the tour was over the band had decided to break up. After a series of unsuccessful projects, Brown re-emerged in 1970 with a new band, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. Unlike the Crazy World, which was one of the most purely psychedelic bands in British rock history, Kingdom Come was a pioneer of the new progressive rock movement and was one of the first bands to use synthesizers extensively. In fact, about the only thing the two bands had in common was Brown's distinctive vocals. Gypsy Escape, from the album Galactic Zoo Dossier, couldn't even make that claim, being an instrumental written by the band's light show guy, Denis Taylor (who was the only non-performing member of the band pictured on the album cover).
Artist: Hawkwind
Title: The Reason Is?/Be Yourself/Paranoia-Part 1
Source: LP: Hawkwind
Writer(s): Brock/Hawkwind
Label: 4 Men With Beards (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1970
The psychedelic era in the UK was short-lived compared to its US counterpart, and is generally considered to have started with the Beatles' Revolver album and ended with the Beatles' White Album. Among the many musicians who formed psychedelic bands was Alan Brock, who formed a band called the Famous Cure that spent most of its existence playing gigs in continental European countries such as the Netherlands. Brock became a professional busker in 1968, touring and even appearing on an album in that capacity for the next couple of years. In 1969 he reunited with former Famous Chef bandmate Mick Slattery and bassist John Harrison to form a band they initially called Group X, and then Hawkwind Zoo before finally settling on Hawkwind as a permanent name. Slattery left the group before their first LP, which, in addition to Brock and Harrison, included saxophonist Nik Turner, lead guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton and drummer Terry Ollis. The album itself is considered one of the earliest examples of space-rock, with instrumental pieces like The Reason Is sequeing directly into tunes like Be Yourself, which in turn seques into the short instrumental Paranoia-Part 1. Hawkwind has since released dozens of albums, EPs and singles (sometimes under assumed names) over the years, with Brock being the only continuous member of the group.
Artist: Sly And The Family Stone
Title: I Want To Take You Higher
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Stand and as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Sly Stone
Label: Priority (original label: Epic)
Year: 1969
Sylvester Stewart was a major presence on the San Francisco music scene for several years, both as a producer for Autumn Records and as a popular local disc jockey. In 1967 he decided to take it to the next level, using his studio connections to put together Sly And The Family Stone. The band featured a solid lineup of musicians, including Larry Graham, whose growling bass line figures prominently in their 1969 recording of I Want To Take You Higher. The song was originally released as a B side, but after the group blew away the crowd at Woodstock the recording was re-released as a single the following year.
Artist: Max Frost And The Troopers aka The 13th Power
Title: Shape Of Things To Come
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Wild In The Streets soundtrack)
Writer(s): Mann/Weil
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1968
Max Frost was a politically savvy rock star who rode the youth movement all the way to the White House, first through getting the support of a hip young Senator, then getting the age requirements for holding high political office lowered to 21, and finally lowering the voting age to 14. Everyone over 30 was locked away in internment camps, similar to those used during WWII by various governments to hold those of questionable loyalty to the current regime. What? You don't remember any of that? You say it sounds like the plot of a cheapie late 60s teen exploitation flick? Right on all counts. "Wild in the Streets", released in 1968, starred Christopher Jones as the rock star, Hal Holbrook as the hip young senator, and a Poseidon Adventure-sized Shelly Winter as the rock star's interred mom. Richard Pryor, in his film debut, played the band's drummer/political activist Stanley X. Shape Of Things To Come was a surprise hit single taken from the film, and was long thought to be the work of studio musicians under the supervision of Mike Curb, but is now known to have been recorded by an actual band called the 13th Power, led by vocalist/songwriter Paul Wibier, that had released a single called I See A Change Is Gonna Come for Curb's own Sidewalk label the previous year.
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