https://exchange.prx.org/p/621110
Underground comedy was always a part of early 70s FM rock radio, and one of the biggest names in underground comedy was the Firesign Theatre. Their best known work was a 30s radio detective drama parody called The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger. Over the years the Firesign Theatre came up with more pieces featuring Nick and the gang, including The Three Faces Of Al, featured in its entirety on this week's edition of Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. Before getting down to the humor, though, we have some favorite tunes to warm up on, and afterwards a couple that have never been played on the show before.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Paranoid
Source: CD: Grand Funk
Writer(s): Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
I spent a good portion of the summer of 1971 riding around in a 1954 Ford panel truck listening to Grand Funk (aka the Red Album) on 8-track tape. One thing I noticed was that, unlike the Black Sabbath song with the same name, Grand Funk Railroad's Paranoid has lyrics that actually make sense, albeit in a not entirely healthy way. The sad part, of course, is that there are actually people who live that way.
Artist: Allman Brothers Band
Title: Revival
Source: CD: Idlewild South
Writer(s): Dicky Betts
Label: Mercury/UMe (original label: Capricorn)
Year: 1970
The second Allman Brothers band was the first to include songs written by guitarist Dicky Betts. One of those songs, Revival, was also issued as the first single from the album. Originally written as an instrumental, Revival is one of the most easily recognizable songs in the Allman Brothers' catalog, and was the band's first single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending three weeks there.
Artist: Doors
Title: Love Her Madly
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1971
Released as a single in advance of the 1971 Doors album L.A. Woman, Love Her Madly was a major success, peaking just outside the top 10 in the US, and going all the way to the #3 spot in Canada. The album itself was a return to a more blues-based sound by the Doors, a change that did not sit well with producer Paul Rothchild, who left the project early on, leaving engineer Bruce Botnik to assume production duties. Rothchild's opinion aside, it was exactly what the Doors needed to end their run (in their original four man incarnation) on a positive note.
Artist: Firesign Theatre
Title: The Three Faces Of Al
Source: LP: The Three Faces Of Al
Writer(s): Austin/Proctor/Bergman
Label: Rhino
Year: 1984
Undoubtably the Firesign Theatre's best-known and best-loved creation was private detective Nick Danger, Third Eye. The character first appeared in The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger, a parody of 1930s radio dramas that took up the entire second side of the 1969 album How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All. After showing up on a variety of albums, radio shows and even a movie over the next decade and a half, Danger finally got his own full-length album, The Three Faces Of Al, in 1984. David Ossman, who played the 1000-year-old man Catherwood in Further Adventures, had left the Firesign Theatre (temporarily, as it turned out) to be a producer at NPR, and did not participate in the writing or recording of The Three Faces Of Al.
Artist: Doctor Hook And The Medicine Show
Title: Makin' It Natural
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Silverstein/Comanor
Label: Columbia
Year: 1972
Before shortening their name to Dr. Hook and becoming a somewhat bland mainstream band in the mid-1970s, Doctor Hook And The Medicine Show were a showcase group for the songs of Shel Silverstein, among them Sylvia's Mother and its B side, Makin' It Natural.
Artist: Poco
Title: From The Inside
Source: CD: The Forgotton Trail (1969-74) (originally released on LP: From The Inside)
Writer(s): Timothy B. Schmidt
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1971
The lineup of pioneering country-rock band Poco was pretty much in flux right from the beginning, with original bassist Randy Meisner leaving the band even before their first album was completed. His eventual replacement was Timothy B Schmidt, who had actually auditioned for the band when it was being formed and had been turned down in favor of Meisner. Schmidt was never the most prolific songwriter in the band, only contributing one song apiece to their early LPs, including the title track of their third album, From The Inside. Schmidt would go on to provide backup vocals for Steely Dan on three of their most popular albums in the mid-1970s and would eventually join the Eagles, once again replacing Randy Meisner.
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